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Simona's grass court season 2019

23K views 292 replies 47 participants last post by  Rads101 
#1 ·
Simona is scheduled to play Eastbourne next week and then Wimbledon.
Here's hoping she has a longer stay in England and more grass court wins than last year.
The Eastbourne draw will be pasted in here once it's confirmed Simona is in it, but from today's Instagram post it looks like she has started practicing on grass, possibly at Devonshire Park.

https://www.instagram.com/simonahalep/?hl=en

Come on Simona!
 
#3 · (Edited)
2019 Eastbourne WTA Premier tournament
The top 8 seeds receive a bye into the 2nd round.
Seeds:
1 Australia Ashleigh Barty
2 Czech Republic Karolína Plíšková
3 Netherlands Kiki Bertens
4 Germany Angelique Kerber
5 Ukraine Elina Svitolina
6 Romania Simona Halep
7 United States Sloane Stephens
8 Belarus Aryna Sabalenka
9 Latvia Anastasija Sevastova
10 Switzerland Belinda Bencic
11 Denmark Caroline Wozniacki
12 China Wang Qiang
13 Czech Republic Markéta Vondroušová
14 United Kingdom Johanna Konta
15 Germany Julia Görges
16 Estonia Anett Kontaveit

16 out of the Top 20 ranked players of WTA battling for only 470 points next week. I guess there'll be a lot of withdrawals.

Other entrants:
- Wildcards:
United Kingdom Harriet Dart
United Kingdom Katie Swan
United Kingdom Heather Watson

- Protected ranking:
Germany Anna-Lena Friedsam

- Qualifiers:
France Fiona Ferro
Slovenia Polona Hercog
Russia Veronika Kudermetova
United States Jessica Pegula
Australia Samantha Stosur
Ukraine Dayana Yastremska

-Lucky Losers:
Australia Daria Gavrilova (replacing Donna Vekić)
Poland Magda Linette (replacing Alison Riske)
Pauline Parmentier (replacing Wang Qiang)
 
#4 ·
Good section.... "healthy" if I can call it like that. Not necessarily easy, but if she goes to win, she should get at least as far as Kerber, and the opponents would be good training for Wimbledon... assuming she's willing to put in the effort to "train" with enough of them: ;)

(1)Barty v BYE
Rodina v Jabeur
Sakkari v Q/LL
Vekic v (14)Konta

(9)Sevastova v Q/LL
(wc)Swan v Zhang
Cornet v (wc)Watson
(5)Svitolina v BYE

(4)Kerber v BYE
Q/LL v Kenin
Sasnovich v Peterson
Tsurenko v (15)Goerges

(12)Wang Qiang v Q/LL
Q/LL v Strycova
Giorgi v Hsieh
(6/wc)Halep v BYE

(8)Sabalenka v BYE
Zidansek v Suarez Navarro
Kasatkina v Petkovic
Flipkens v (11)Wozniacki

(16)Kontaveit v (wc)Dart
Q/LL v Friedsam
Collins v Putintseva
(3)Bertens v BYE

(7)Stephens v BYE
Buzarnescu v Ostapenko
Tomljanovic v Alexandrova
Q/LL v (10)Bencic

(13)Vondrousova v Zheng
Puig v Mertens
Gasparyan v Siniakova
(2)Pliskova v BYE
 
#5 ·
I would be surprised if we don't get some withdrawals and LL involvement in this draw. I found an amusing article predicting that the Eastbourne final would be between Simona and Bertens.

WTA Eastbourne Nature Valley International 2019 draw preview and predictions | Eight of WTA?s top 10 pack Eastbourne draw

Given Giorgi's record this year, the likely first opponent for Simona is Hsieh, with Strycova to follow. This needs to be looked upon as a nice tough test for Simona. It will be fascinating to see if, with so few points to defend, she can relax and produce her best tennis.
 
#16 ·
They started a little rusty, especially Raluca. But gradually Raluca got better, doing the right things, especially at the net.
Simona was a litle bit passive, but one important change from the earlier times: she attacked more the sides of the doubles court with DTL shots. This is very important.
 
#13 ·
So Simona and Raluca are into the QF stage of the doubles. They went 5-2 down in the first set and 4-1 down in the second, but played well when needed. Good volleying practice for Simona. With a 16 team draw and some of the top teams absent, they could get further if they really put in the effort.
It had been scheduled on centre and was switched to court 1, which may have accounted for the difficulty finding a stream at the start of the match. It is bizarre that with R1 of the singles starting, including Watson and Konta, none of today's Eastbourne matches were on WTA TV. From Monday we have coverage on BBC as well.
Simona should be starting her singles on Tuesday, we have to hope for good weather.

Well done Simona and good luck for your match(es) on Tuesday!
 
#14 ·
I think it would be totally wrong to put more effort in the doubles than in singles! Doubles are just for cleaning the rust.
And regarding the singles, anyone of the opponents would be a good match up on grass. I would prefer Hsieh though, a rematch of the last year' Wimby R3 would be just great! :smile2:
 
#20 ·
That's a good win from Simona. They didn't show any W/UE stats, but it seemed to me that Simona was keeping it simple, serving well and really going after Hsieh's serve. Simona looked rather elegant executing a backhand smash, maybe she could have been a gymnast as well.

Well done Simona and good luck for tomorrow!
 
#21 · (Edited)
Simona-Hsieh: 62 60

Much better effort than previously:
- This time Simona served much better, and she was more conscious with her placements. (For instance, in the last game she placed 2 Down-the-T line serves out of the last 3, with very good result.)
- She used the right combo of AGGRESSIVE PLACEMENTS and POWERFUL ENOUGH (long enough) SHOTS, hitting her balls out of Hsieh's reach. This is VERY important against any of the top defenders, and especially against the top defenders with tricky shots (like Aga Radwanska, Hsieh, or Bertens).
- Simona didn't let her tennis softened up after 4-0 lead in the 2nd set. :yeah:
- Simona put the needed efforts to serve out a 6-0 bagel. :hatoff:

So, mentally/tactically this was a very well constructed match, cooked by the book: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD71JeX4Vk0
 
#23 ·
Simona-Hsieh: 62 60

Much better effort than previously:
- This time Simona served much better, and she was more conscious with her placements. (For instance, in the last game she placed 2 Down-the-T line serves out of 3, with very good result.)
- She used the right combo of AGGRESSIVE PLACEMENTS and POWERFUL ENOUGH (long enough) SHOTS, hitting her balls out of Hsieh's reach. This is VERY important against any of the top defenders, and especially against the top defenders with tricky shots (like Aga Radwanska, Hsieh, or Bertens).
- Simona didn't let her tennis softened up after 4-0 lead in the 2nd set. :yeah:
- Simona put the needed efforts to serve out a 6-0 bagel. :hatoff:

So, mentally/tactically this was a very well constructed match, cooked by the book...
I hope she won't have any trouble with Hercog tomorrow, because she really needs a pre-Wimbledon warm-up match with Kerber! ..just to drop all the rust. :smile2:
 
#26 ·
Simona started well but there was a marked improvement from Hercog in set 2, though to some extent it was made easier for her by Simona.
Overall it should be good preparation for Simona to play some big hitting before Wimbledon.
I believe that is her first win on the Eastbourne centre court, which gets some of the biggest crowds for women's tennis outside grand slams. It's a lovely setting on a sunny day and I hope she enjoyed it.

Well done Simona and good luck for the QF!
 
#27 ·
In the 2nd set Polona Hercog found her tennis and started to hit with enormous power. Also her movement and hitting accuracy was very good. Simona could handle Hercog's power, but didn't use aggressive enough placements (didn't attack the sidelines closely enough).

For the 3rd set she had to take little higher risks, and it worked. But after she captured the 3-0 lead, she reverted back to a little more passive play, what is always dangerous against an in-form big hitter.

Her serving out placements were not that great today, but she produced several very nice shots at the net. :hatoff:
 
#30 ·
Good match by Simo especially in the first set. Next match against Kerber is going to be very interesting. I hope Simo goes motivated to get revenge. Last time they played in grass Kerber took on 2016.
 
#32 ·
In the first set it looked a bit perfunctory from Simona and Raluca seemed to struggle serving in the wind. They started the second set better, but their opponents weren't that good. It's some useful ranking points and $ for Raluca so she should be happy with Simona's efforts so far.
It looks to me like Simona doesn't have any taping on her ankles in this tournament, I'll be interested to see if she continues like that subsequently.

Good luck for tomorrow Simona!
 
#34 ·
Halep-Kerber:
So far Simona is playing a stupid kind of tennis (at 1-1). She's postponing her reasonably aggressive placements, giving all the opportunities to Keber to attack, and when she decides herself "to do something", she's impatient and erratic.

This mindset suggests that she still doesn't understand what is the needed strategy against another top defender of higher age: RELENTLESS AGGRESSIVE OPPONENT MOVEMENT + AGGRESSIVE PLACEMENTS (attacking directly the lines and the corners). So, WHAT THE HELL Simona is doing?!? :facepalm:
 
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