[Ryan]

The surface is great for both of them really. Sam can't be TOO rushed on her backhand, and Caro has time to scramble and neutralize rallies. I think it depends on how good Sam's serve is, and how deep Caroline can get her balls.

[Protoss]

Originally Posted by C. W. Fields

Sofia is now an 'official' punchbag: H2H 7-2 Caro.
But considering how tough their latest matches have been, Sofia doesn't feel much like a punchbag to me!

I count it as 8-1. Caro won a FedCup match against Arvidsson in 2010 that isn't counted in the Wta's stats plus I don't the Bastad retirement an actual loss given that Caro was up a set there.

I'd say the toughness of their recent matches has much to do with Caro's drop in her level of play compared to the past. For instance, Caro played a horrible match in Indian Wells against Arvidsson but still won in 3.

[TennisFan66]

Originally Posted by C. W. Fields

Stosur is 55/45 favorite in my eyes.

Interestingly enough, punters have Caro as a very small fave.

GO PUNTERS GO

[Protoss]

Originally Posted by Ryan

The surface is great for both of them really. Sam can't be TOO rushed on her backhand, and Caro has time to scramble and neutralize rallies. I think it depends on how good Sam's serve is, and how deep Caroline can get her balls.

Maybe not by someone like Caro but I think players like Vika can still rush Stosur's backhand though. Basically someone who hits sufficiently big and or takes ball relatively early is who I have in mind.

I think that a medium pace to medium fast hard court is Caro's best surface. The court speed helps out her offensive game and her serve but the conditions aren't so fast as to prevent Caro from running down a lot of balls.

[C. W. Fields]

An important factor about Caro's game but which is rather difficult to measure from outside, is how easy she is to read. One of the reasons why Caro has been losing to Aga lately is that when Caro tries to finish off a point, Aga almost always goes to the right side and often manages to save the point. She simply KNOWS Caro, she can read her game.
I think it's also part of the reason why there was so little bite in Caro's serve in the SF yesterday. Sofia has known Caro since she was barely a teenager and I think she can often read from Caro's motion how she's going to serve, and then it's no wonder the serve doesn't make much of a dent.
A main reason why Serena's serve is so good, is that she makes the exact same motion whether she serves down the T, to the body or OOC. I think it would be a big step to get back into the top of the game, if Caro could learn to disguise her strokes better, not just on the serve but all around.

In the final today, I have hopes that Caro will get more out of her serve than she did yesterday. She hasn't played Stosur for two years and it's not my inpression that they hang out together or practice together. In short, Stosur doesn't know Caro anywhere near as well as Aga or Sofia, so I'm hoping Caro will be able to take her by surprise more often than she can her close friends.

[bruce goose]

Originally Posted by C. W. Fields

Yes, same time as today and yesterday.

I just came across and article saying Rory wanted to follow Caro in Moscow but he couldn't get a visa!?

Thanks for the input here and in your following posts...some good insight in those other ones.Had already left by the time you replied,then came home late after a night with my gf...and then woke up in time to catch the 2nd half of the match but couldn't get a clear live feed for my slow PC.

As you likely already know,Caro was 2 games away from winning,on serve,in the 2nd but is now down a break in the 3rd as of this post.....Still not an insurmountable deficit,of course,and am hoping for the best

[goldenlox]

Caroline wins her 20th title, coming back from 1-3 in set 3.
62 46 75.
A very good sign that she stayed in the match after Sam had won 6 of 7 games to turn the match around.
Caro is getting there. I think a good sign going into 2013 AO

[Blu€]

Yes, great week for Caro. When she's confident she plays so much better, Sam has beaten some really good players this year and she gave Azarenka a really hard time at the US, so I'm very pleased Caro managed to keep focus in that 3rd set, considering her poor record this year in 3 sets matches, winning 3 of them this week is a really good sign. Glad she didn't have to play a tie break

[DownInAHole]

Originally Posted by Blu€

Yes, great week for Caro. When she's confident she plays so much better, Sam has beaten some really good players this year and she gave Azarenka a really hard time at the US, so I'm very pleased Caro managed to keep focus in that 3rd set, considering her poor record this year in 3 sets matches, winning 3 of them this week is a really good sign. Glad she didn't have to play a tie break

I think you are speaking for all of us.

[marineblue]

Originally Posted by Blu€

Yes, great week for Caro. When she's confident she plays so much better, Sam has beaten some really good players this year and she gave Azarenka a really hard time at the US, so I'm very pleased Caro managed to keep focus in that 3rd set, considering her poor record this year in 3 sets matches, winning 3 of them this week is a really good sign. Glad she didn't have to play a tie break

Me too, I think my nerves would be able not take the tiebreak after 2hr of this

[Jorn]

Now the BIG Question, will she play in Sofia, now she can get back into TOP 10?

[TennisFan66]

Originally Posted by Jorn

Now the BIG Question, will she play in Sofia, now she can get back into TOP 10?

The even bigger question is, what exactly are the rules?

If she is qualified and doesn't play, will she then get a zero pointer?

[bruce goose]

Could only catch live scores for the finale and noticed that Stosur fired an ace on that 1st MP...but then Caroline closed it out right afterwards.Indeed,regardless of her Sofia decision,it's hard to imagine that this Moscow win WOULDN'T help Caroline,at least SOMEhow,as she moves toward 2013

[Burisleif]

Originally Posted by Jorn

Now the BIG Question, will she play in Sofia, now she can get back into TOP 10?

In her speech she said "a nice way to end the year"... ?

[DownInAHole]

I can't find the quote but I'm sure she recently said that if she didn't qualify for the YEC that she would be playing in Sofia. It was fairly recently, if you dig through the "articles and interviews" thread I'm sure you will find it.

I'm assuming that she will be playing there.