the beginning of the end

 

The end of the middle set

 

Gracheva slayed. Very impressed. Well done!

Iga still has the Olympics on her mind.
Iga is starting to tweak her game for faster surfaces. In her pre Cinnci interview she said she’s not expecting much from this tournament. I bet she’s happy with just the win. Hoping for less of set 2 in the next match. Kostyuk is playing very well

 

I stopped watching early in the 2nd set thinking it was over. Gracheva apparently raised her level,
and Iga got a little tight, blowing 5 match points. Good to see her restore order in the 3rd set.

 

It was A Tale of Two Świties tonight. At 6-0 5-2 it was 25 winners to 0 or something like that.

 

It was A Tale of Two Świties tonight. At 6-0 5-2 it was 25 winners to 0 or something like that.

Say what??

 

Slowtek

 

No suprise

 

Oh well a win is a win, Iga beat Grechava in R32 in Beijing and won the 🏆 and it’s the R32 here 🤞

 

Iga always plays like shit in Cincy and idk why

 

She sucks on fast courts

 

I watched only the 2nd set onwards. What a mess. Iga wasted 4 MPs , the match could have been over in 50 mins. I never doubted that Iga would clean this up even after she broke herself at 2-1 in the deciding set. Varvara is consistent and can get to alot of balls but her rally shots just dont have much bite or zip in them and its almost a criminal offence for Iga to need 6 match points against her. Varvara was so happy at the end and was smiling like she won ... that tells you all you need to know.

Iga needs to improve against Marta next!

 

5 MPs actually...

 

Wtf I turned it off at 5-2 I hate the WTA so much right now

 

TYPICAL

 

Loved it, what a fun match

 

I thought after Iga lost to Putintseva and Zheng, we might see an upset here. She isnt winning NY, imo

 

If you win early round matches like this, it's a perfect situation really. Go through a rough patch, find your way out of it, etc. Much more gained than a 6-0, 6-2 routine. A good palete cleanser after the Zheng loss.

 

lol gracheva after winning the 2nd

 

Good lord what the shit was that second set, she got the win at least

 

Good lord what the shit was that second set, she got the win at least

U said it urself!

 

I pretend to not see it!

 

Second set from 5-2 onwards was weird. The concentration lapse was unbelievable. Glad she was able to right the ship in the 3rd set. The trauma would have been immense if she lost this from 5 mps up and a bagel in the first.

 

Well... Remember Iga won USO playing like shit? This match was not too different from that ugly run two years ago🤢🤢🤢

 

 

If I were Iga, I’d use this match as a learning tool to never let up until you’ve won the very last point needed to win because one never knows when the momentum can suddenly shift. I found this out the hard way more than once in my career

 

Embarassing meltdown. Guaranteed loss to Andreeva/Paolini now

 

!

Embarassing meltdown. Guaranteed loss to Andreeva/Paoli now

Do you ever take note of how many likes your hateful responses get?

Just asking for a friend.

 

Absolutely putrid level from Iga in that second set. I truly wonder if she has some scarring from the second set collapse against Qinwen. Anyway, there were two service games in Set 2 were noting. One, Gracheva held to love simply by the fact that Iga smashed 4 straight unforced error returns. Set 2 Game 2 Iga had 30-30 and she just booted home two returns badly. Remarkable since her first set was nearly perfect, only losing 8 points total.

 

Also worth mentioning that Iga's first time hitting the Wilson Regular Duty balls on this surface since 2022. That said, hard to blame the ball change when her first set was so flawless.

 

Let's remember - Iga has a worse record at Cincinnati than any other 1000 event or slam, only a 50% match win rate before this win and her semi loss last year was the only time she has been beyond the third round in 5 appearances. So she has finally moved into positive win-loss (6-5), but this cannot be a happy place for the Pole, even Wimbledon is better.

 

Well, every player has a tournament that sucks at. Maybe it's the case.