Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Stuttgart 2014

[MargaretMcAleer]

JJ wins 64 63

Nice to see Alisa in a q/final after battling her illness with cancer.Keep working hard Alisa.

 

[golds girl]

And that's when it ends, Carla retires while serving.
Sara will face Masha in the semis. Masha leads Sara 4-0 H2H

Carla's suffering with her wrist. Anyone know the state of Caroline's? (Hoerngren?) Wrist injuries seem to be nearly contagious these days.

Moxie, I'm wondering if it's been the translation to clay? Does the grip or motion change somehow leading to stress? I've never played on clay so asking the more educated around here?

And on the retirement note, I'm sure a lot of these are actual injuries but how many are just 'I feel a slight twinge and don't want to endanger my FO chances':huh:

 

[Hoergren]

Saturday, April 26, 2014 - Semi final day

Center court
13:30 [6] Maria Sharapova (RUS) V [8] Sara Errani (ITA)
15:30 Antonia Lottner / Anna Zaja (GER / GER) V [2] Cara Black / Sania Mirza (ZIM / IND)
18:30 [5] Jelena Jankovic (SRB) V [9] Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
20:30 [1] Sara Errani / Roberta Vinci (ITA / ITA) V Jelena Jankovic / Alisa Kleybanova (SRB / RUS)

Well Marias 10th place is in danger - she has to win to keep it.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

My semi/finals picks are

Sharapova and Ivanovic

Doubles

Cara Black/Sania Mirza
Errani/Vinci.

 

[Moxie]

And that's when it ends, Carla retires while serving.
Sara will face Masha in the semis. Masha leads Sara 4-0 H2H

Carla's suffering with her wrist. Anyone know the state of Caroline's? (Hoerngren?) Wrist injuries seem to be nearly contagious these days.

Moxie, I'm wondering if it's been the translation to clay? Does the grip or motion change somehow leading to stress? I've never played on clay so asking the more educated around here?

And on the retirement note, I'm sure a lot of these are actual injuries but how many are just 'I feel a slight twinge and don't want to endanger my FO chances':huh:

I think the transition is an issue. The clay makes the balls heavier. Djokovic spoke to that.

As to actual injuries, at least Suarez Navarro today was actually injured. She was in a position to win the match today, and I'm sure she would have taken it if her wrist hadn't been in the balance.

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFYChFvMrrE[/video]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGE2tXvPjHQ[/video]

 

[10isfan]

Golds Girl, players try to generate more spin on clay. They do this not only with the low to high swing, but also by flicking their wrists just after impact. This could explain the wrist injuries.

 

[my sherona]

Hmm let me see.. I'm picking Maria Sharapova for her first title of the year.

 

[RJD11]

Hmm let me see.. I'm picking Maria Sharapova for her first title of the year.

Maria Sharapova will face Sara Errani in the semifinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
on Saturday- the winner will be in the Top 10, the loser won't.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Masha won the opening set 6-1
Behind 1-4 in the second set, Sara is looking at 2 break points. I doubt Sara can over-come this deficit.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Trade breaks and Masha leads 5-2

She will serve for the match.

 

[my sherona]

Maria for the win !!! :-0

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-_0BPPAG-o[/video]

 

[10isfan]

It looks like Pova will win the title. It has looked that way since she survived the first round vs Safarova. She has a good chance to win FO. No one can stop her except Li and Serena. Avoiding two people in the draw is not that difficult.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Second semi is on, I am tuned in.
Entertaining second game.
On serve 1-1

 

[golds girl]

Second semi is on, I am tuned in.
Entertaining second game.
On serve 1-1

Pretty surprised I haven't seen any meltdowns from Jelena being down a break. By now, she'd be pretty vocal.

 

[golds girl]

And that's when it ends, Carla retires while serving.
Sara will face Masha in the semis. Masha leads Sara 4-0 H2H

Yes I'd bet some money that Masha will blast Errani off the court:s

And she does as expected with a 6-1 6-2 win. I think Errani will settle down to her true ranking somewhere in the 15-20 range by the end of the year. She really doesn't have any significant weapons except retrieval skills.

Hopefully the Stuttgart Final is competitive. WTA really needs some of these finals that are bruisers like you see in ATP

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Okay Ana don't go walkabout in the 2nd set like you normally can do?

Ana wins the 1st set 63

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Ana needs to go to the Serena Williams Ball Toss Academy.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

The Toss gets erratic when she feels pressure.

JJ seems to be at full speed.