[aguy9797]

Let's keep it straight.

Maria played well yesterday. When was the last time Maria's serve stats were that good? When was the last time she won that many points charging the net?

The problem with Maria's game is that her tennis arsenal is very limited, thus when her game plan does not work she can't pull a plan B out of her sleeve. This is a curse of all ball-bashers.

Per Aga. I think it was an outstanding example of assuming a perfect strategy, and then a perfect execution thereof. She had a very clear blueprint in her mind, and followed it to perfection. Aga's variety was Maria's nightmare, as it completely exposed her lack of mobility.

Each time when Maria found herself outmaneuvered and out of position, she was forced to make yet another error. These were all forced errors, errors forces by Aga's deep, fantastic placement of the ball.

Now, for Aga it is all mental. Aga is not Martina Hingis, Aga is Aga Radwanska, very unique, unorthodox player that woman tennis do not see often. Aga had kept on losing to power players in the past (like Venuses, Marias, etc.) because of her lack of believe, she was losing those matches in her head.

It is the same mechanism with her losses to Vika right now. Aga loses to Vika, at the moment, not because she is a worse tennis player but because Aga let herself think she can't beat Vika (which apparently started during their match at AO, and was reinforced by Aga's subsequent stupid comments creating pressure Aga does not handle well).

With the growing confidence, Aga should overcome all those mental obstacles. Nothing is guaranteed in tennis. I guess, this is why we all love it so much, but I think there is a high likelihood that we can expect big things coming from Aga in the future.

You go, Aga!!...and in the meantime please withdraw from Charleston, it does not make any sense for you to play another week of tennis, take a break, go home and recharge your battery

[pov]

Yes. Very much so.


5 (4) 2008 DOHA HARD S M.Sharapova 6-4 6-320 (16)
49 2009 TORONTO HARD Q M.Sharapova 6-2 7-6(5)13 (14)
25 2009 TOKYO - PAN PACIFIC HARD S M.Sharapova 6-3 2-6 6-412 (11)
15 (5) 2010 STANFORD HARD S M.Sharapova 1-6 6-2 6-211 (3)
15 (10) 2010 CINCINNATI HARD R 16 M.Sharapova 6-2 6-39 (7)
8 (7) 2011 FRENCH OPEN CLAY R16 M.Sharapova 7-6(4) 7-513 (12)


Randwanska's only prior win was in 2007. The only thing that can be said to support "non-shocking" is that recently Sharapova seems to lose in the finals no matter who she's playing.

[Irute]

I don't think it was shocking. I know Aga lost a lot of matches prior to this one, however I felt she always had a shot and should not be written off. This time she came through. It was a big effort on her part but not a huge surprise.

[Trih]

Originally Posted by aguy9797

Let's keep it straight.

Maria played well yesterday.

No. Period.
It doesn't matter if she served good and didn't make too many DF's, she played very bad and deserved to lose, end of discussion.

[Utterchaos]

The only reason Fluffdwanska won is because these courts are slower than clay, allowing her to wait for errors and keep the ball in play. Lets not delude ourselves here, she hit 5 winners in a whole match, she is by no means a shotmaker. On grass or indoors, she's gonna be hit off the court by any decent ballstriker because matches again st Radwanska are 100% on other's player racquet.

[Imperfect Angel]

Probably but it's not like she's ranked outside top 30 or is an unknown player. She's a crafty player, plus she has one win against Maria before. Players like her who's been on tour for years pretty much has the experiences to play against unstable opponents like Maria.

[Kworb]

I don't think it was shocking. When Aga plays well she is a nightmare for Sharapova.

[dany.p]

Lets not get to carried away now. No doubt Radwanksa played a smart, tactically sound match, and she wholeheartedly deserved the win. But the head to head is still 7-2 in sharapova's favour .

It will be interesting to see how there future matches turn out.

[Miracle Worker]

Yes. Tired, injured and non playing for 8 months Venus was better in match against Radwanska than world number 2 Maria.

Something was wrong yesterday.

[goldenlox]

Anyone who saw the last 5 games of Maria's 1st set in the semis knew that her game is not super consistent.
I think the h2h, and Maria's semi win made her the favorite ( to me). But I'm not surprised.
If Caro played Aga in the FO final that wouldnt surprise me. They're both capable when they're holding serve

[pov]

Originally Posted by Kworb

I don't think it was shocking. When Aga plays well she is a nightmare for Sharapova.

^ Really? so the 7 wins Sharapova had were all because Radwanska didn't play well?

[aguy9797]

Originally Posted by pov

Yes. Very much so.


5 (4) 2008 DOHA HARD S M.Sharapova 6-4 6-320 (16)
49 2009 TORONTO HARD Q M.Sharapova 6-2 7-6(5)13 (14)
25 2009 TOKYO - PAN PACIFIC HARD S M.Sharapova 6-3 2-6 6-412 (11)
15 (5) 2010 STANFORD HARD S M.Sharapova 1-6 6-2 6-211 (3)
15 (10) 2010 CINCINNATI HARD R 16 M.Sharapova 6-2 6-39 (7)
8 (7) 2011 FRENCH OPEN CLAY R16 M.Sharapova 7-6(4) 7-513 (12)


Randwanska's only prior win was in 2007. The only thing that can be said to support "non-shocking" is that recently Sharapova seems to lose in the finals no matter who she's playing.

of course those stats scream loud that Maria is a favorite.

My point, however, is that the last 2-3 years was a "trial and error" period for Aga. Early losses to power players destroyed her confidence and she needed some time to figure out how to deal with power and "reestablish" her confidence.

I think she has finally put it together in her head, thus she should start winning more matches against players she used to lose to in the past.

[Knizzle]

Considering Aga's 5 previous matches and how I saw her being so calm and not making any errors, it wasn't a big shock. She seemed ready for this title.

[young_gunner913]

No to upset, it was a BOMBSHELL!!!!11!!11!!!1

[aselto]

Originally Posted by JJohnyTheSaviOuR

Yes. Tired, injured and non playing for 8 months Venus was better in match against Radwanska than world number 2 Maria.

Something was wrong yesterday.

What are you talking about? Williams won 5 games in her match, Sharapova won 9.

I am not surprised (obviously). Aga has improved a lot since their last meetings and her previous 3 matches were against at least decent ballstrikers (Muguruza, Williams, Bartoli), so she got used to powerful shots before facing Sharapova.