[stromatolite]

Originally Posted by Huntress55

Maybe its cause she seems so quiet but is capable of such deadly shots... like a sneaky assassin

This is pretty plausible actually, at least on those occasions when her deadly shots come off. I can't help thinking of the USO final (again!): Sam tore Serena from limb to limb, but looked like an angel from start to finish

[plokploky]

Falconi/Dulgheru-if she fails against these people, then she ain't winning RG. Even if they play their best, her 40% is enough to beat them, or at least, it should be.

Davis/Martic/Petrova-I actually think martic is going through in this section, cause petrova was hilariously bad last time she played and martic in is good form, and again sam should be able to beat these players even when not fully on.

Kirilenko/Begu/Hradecka/Martinez Sanchez/Dominguez Lino/Lisicki-I want hradecka to come through, but if she can beat begu and kirilenko, then sam probabliy won't win. But that won't happen. If lisicki makes it far enough to face sam, then she's going to win unfortunately. When sabine can beat as consistent a player as maria, then sam won't have a chance, but if its kiri that makes it through, then I think sam has a good chance to make QFs.

From then on, god knows.

[Siderophyre]

Originally Posted by plokploky

Falconi/Dulgheru-if she fails against these people, then she ain't winning RG. Even if they play their best, her 40% is enough to beat them, or at least, it should be.

Davis/Martic/Petrova-I actually think martic is going through in this section, cause petrova was hilariously bad last time she played and martic in is good form, and again sam should be able to beat these players even when not fully on.

Kirilenko/Begu/Hradecka/Martinez Sanchez/Dominguez Lino/Lisicki-I want hradecka to come through, but if she can beat begu and kirilenko, then sam probabliy won't win. But that won't happen. If lisicki makes it far enough to face sam, then she's going to win unfortunately. When sabine can beat as consistent a player as maria, then sam won't have a chance, but if its kiri that makes it through, then I think sam has a good chance to make QFs.

From then on, god knows.

Totally agree on Martic. I was just looking at the draw and came to the same conclusion as you Martic gets through and Sam should be OK.

As for Sabine - I really don't think she would beat Sam. She's done it once out of 5 times I think. She's been playing crap lately and quite frankly she can rarely hit more than 4 shots in a row without an error. If her serve is really on it could be tight, but her second serve really is rubbish. I'd actually be slightly more worried about Kiri, because she seems to get really psyched to play Sam. Again, though, her form hasn't been great.

I'll say I'm cautiously optimistic - but now watch her lose to Dulgheru in straights.

[SilverPersian]

Originally Posted by stromatolite

Does anyone know if Sam and Casey are playing doubles again?

Yep, they're up against Klepac and Rosolska. Hopefully they can get a win this time

[stromatolite]

^Sounds promising! Casey and Ash Barty beat them easily in Brisbane in January, so surely with Sam on her side they can get a win this time as well.

[SilverPersian]

Falconi got through her first round match because her opponent pulled out.

She is 5"4'

[Theodoropen]

Originally Posted by SilverPersian

I think IW is one of the slower hardcourts.

My impression was that IW/Miami is the "slow" American hardcourt season, and the USO series is the "fast" American hardcourt season.

Belated thanks for this!

Originally Posted by SilverPersian

Falconi got through her first round match because her opponent pulled out.

She is 5"4'

Falconi is only 4 feet 5 inches tall?

Sorry for being such an imperial measurement pedant. That messed with my eyes for a moment until I finally figured out what was up.

[Theodoropen]

Sam and Casey should win their first match but I'm not sure how much further they'll go. It doesn't seem like a pairing made in heaven but it's hard to tell what the deal is when we haven't been able to see them play. I'm speculating that the no-ad scoring is messing them up.

On a general note, I wish they would fecking hurry up and start streaming the tournament.

[stromatolite]

Originally Posted by SilverPersian

Falconi got through her first round match because her opponent pulled out.

She is 5"4'

Originally Posted by Theodoropen

Falconi is only 4 feet 5 inches tall?

Sorry for being such an imperial measurement pedant. That messed with my eyes for a moment until I finally figured out what was up.

Funny that heights are about the only thing that I still find easier in imperial measures. If you'd said that she was 1.63m I would have had to spend about 10 mins converting it to feet an inches (not inches and feet) before letting out a woohoo. Actually I already let out a woohoo before I knew she was vertically challenged, based on her 100 ranking, her 3-7 WL this year, the fact that she hasn't beaten a top 100 player since the USO, and the fact that she only got through to R2 because Dulgheru retired. In fact, with all these things going for her, Sam's bound to lose this match

[stromatolite]

Originally Posted by Theodoropen

Sam and Casey should win their first match but I'm not sure how much further they'll go. It doesn't seem like a pairing made in heaven but it's hard to tell what the deal is when we haven't been able to see them play. I'm speculating that the no-ad scoring is messing them up.

On a general note, I wish they would fecking hurry up and start streaming the tournament.

Sam and Casey are 4th up on court 8, which means they'll have to do without my moral support this time around (saving my sleepless nights for Sam's singles matches). You're right about the ad rule I think, from what I've seen they've lost a lot of games from deuce. Even discounting that, their doubles pairing hasn't gotten off to a very good start, which is strange because I'm pretty sure Casey is a decent doubles player and Sam's record speaks for itself. I fancy them to beat Klepac and Rosolska.

[SilverPersian]

Originally Posted by Theodoropen

Falconi is only 4 feet 5 inches tall?

Sorry for being such an imperial measurement pedant. That messed with my eyes for a moment until I finally figured out what was up.

Whoops. I must have missed school the day we learnt which way round the " and " went

In less good news, Lauren Davis somehow beat Martic today, which means that Petrova will probably be waiting for Sam in R3.

[stromatolite]

Originally Posted by SilverPersian

Whoops. I must have missed school the day we learnt which way round the " and " went

In less good news, Lauren Davis somehow beat Martic today, which means that Petrova will probably be waiting for Sam in R3.

I would have been more nervous about Martic tbh. She's had quite a good season to date, but Nadia's has been terrible. It wouldn't even shock me that much if Lauren Davis beat her the way she's been playing. If that happens she'll come at Sam bent on revenge for the ignominious introduction to big girl's tennis she gave her at last year's AO

[SilverPersian]

Yeah, but like you said in another post, I'm not entirely convinced that Petrova won't suddenly return to top 3 form the instant she steps out on court against Sam

[stromatolite]

Nadia's got the weapons to hurt Sam for sure, and she's arguably an even bigger headcase, so could well start playing out of her skin at precisely the moment when things seem most hopeless. I'm not ruling anything out at this stage, but realistically I think Sam should expect to progress to the 4th round at least. If she gets that far it I think it would be a good thing for her to have played a big hitter like Nadia, that could help prepare her for what I think will be more serious opposition from Sabine or Kiri.

[SilverPersian]

Samacqua won 62 60