Not the easiest opponent, but AMG got injured in Charleston so her current form may be questionable. Kaia leads H2H 3-1, last 2 matches were tough 3 setters. Minella/Pironkova should be a lot easier.
Tough opener, but given the form she showed in Katowice, she should win this. Can't wait to see the match,luckily I have the Moroccan sports tv which broadcasts the tournament on my television GL Kaia
I think she can win this but it will be tough
If she gets by then I think that she will go very far
If she can get to the SF that would be a great achievement
She would be on track to defend her Estoril points that way
I don't see her beating Cibulkova though
Although if someone like Bertens beats Cibulkova first she has a chance for a Final or even Title
Against Anabel. I remember their last match, 3rd set was a real battle, games were very long.
But it's still a tough quarter, in fact a tough top part of the draw. No easy matches in Marrakech.. and I thought this could have been an easier tournament
I have posted Katowice photos of Kaia, put videos of her vs Zanievska up and have asked for threads to be pinned
I will try to upload her vs Henin again tomorrow
Anabel will be tough, but she had that horrible injury in Charleston, and she was already in woeful form before that, so Kaia has a good chance imo. Fingers crossed!
Beat Anabel 46 63 62 This was too much for me to handle, I could not watch it after she got broken in the 2nd set
Minella next, this will be their first meeting
It seems the Estonian coaches are like a pool where they are selected :lol:
Seriously though, I think this is a good move
Thbere were doubts about Marten when he started with Anett and he has done a good job IMO so I am happy for him and Kaia
Wasn't she being coached by Alo?
And will she definitely stop with Marten at the end of June or will she maybe continue on?
It must be better for him to be able to coach someone who is higher up and he probably gets payed more regularly
How involved is Kaia's father BTW?
I was really hopeless when she got broken in the second set. But then she leveled her game up. I think she played really well in the third.Confidence is really creating big contrast in her game.
Her own words :
"I started well, I was leading 4:1 in the first set. Then she changed her game a bit and started to hit higher balls. I was a little confused for a moment. I tried to attack them but made many mistakes. My confidence disappeared.
The second set started very competitively. At one point in the second set, I do not know at the moment why it happened but I got the initiative. I felt better, I was more patient, hit some higher balls back and then she had to figure out what to do with them. In the deciding set I felt quite confident. I did not take many risks, I hit the ball back and attacked when I got the opportunity.
Märten Tamla will help me as tennis coach during this and couple of next tournaments. We'll see how the cooperation works out. He has been helping me at practice before, now we try, how it works out during tournaments. Märten come to court today as well and gave some good advice."
She can at least use her protected ranking. Maybe it's wise to play some ITFs if things doesn't start going better:shrug:
Winning a round at RG will already be good (in terms of rankingpoints).
EDIT: She seems to be disappointed herself
My game fell apart today. In the first set I played quite well. In the second set I tired to vary the rythm more but my shots were too short. She attacked them and got initiative. I lost my rhythm, made mistakes and lost my confidence. Everything was vary higgledy-piggledy today. Tomorrow I will travel to Estoril where new tournament will start on Monday
Cirstea vs Medina Garrigues Kanepi vs Mladenovic
Robson vs Morita
U.Radwanska vs Cibulkova
Hope they put her match in a televised court, since she's the defending champion Meanwhile.. a really tough ask for her to defend the title.But we'll see
Hard to comment anything after the Marrakesh tournament where she could have had such an easy road to the final. When she is ON, she can easily go far here, but she is so unpredictable atm.
This is the first time Kaia is playing a WTA tournament where she is the defending champion.