WTA Tour/Non-India Fed Cup

[PKBasu]

Venus does hate the clay. But Ostapenko's R1 loss is pretty dramatic: the Ukrainian-Russian from Latvia looked invincible last year, but is gone in no time this year!

[prasen9]

Ostapenko, Venus, and Konta already out!

That's women's tennis.

Wawrinka, Kolschreiber, Mueller out!

That's men's tennis.

[suresh]

Ostapenko, Venus, and Konta already out!

That's women's tennis.

Wawrinka, Kolschreiber, Mueller out!

That's men's tennis.

[PKBasu]

Serena through to the second round, and up to 321 in the live rankings. Wimbledon will naturally give her a seeding, but the ranking will matter for other tournaments.

[prasen9]

She should have several injury-protected tournaments. Seeding is not done by the injury-protected rankings, I guess. If she goes deep in the French, she will be seeded highly in future tournaments.

[suresh]

Serena being unseeded is not really Serena's problem. It is a headache for other seeds though as it is a matter of time (= matches played) before she regains her form.

[PKBasu]

Wimbledon is the only Slam that does not follow the ATP rankings mechanically when doing its seedings. They do now have a formula (that gives additional weight to grass performance) to do the seeding. But I suspect they will override everything else and give Serena a seeding for this year. That will only be fair to the other top players in the draw!

[PKBasu]

Serena has struggled in every match, but is now in R3 of singles (having scalped the 17th seeded Barty) and R2 in doubles (after conceding the first set to Aoyama/Kato, but sweeping the third 61). Each match is getting her into better form, but I doubt she can sustain this for the whole fortnight. At Wimbledon, though, I think an all-Williams final is a distinct possibility (unless the draw makes the sisters play each other sooner).

[S_K_S]

Saw the 2nd and 3rd set against Barty and it was a brilliant match with high quality tennis. Barty matched her but it was sheer willpower and belief from Williams that took her over the line.

[prasen9]

Too bad Serena had to withdraw. Whether she would be match fit was always the question. Not the quality of her tennis. I am not saying that she should not have been seeded. She should have been and should be seeded at Wimbledon after the organizers check with her that she is fully fit. Or if she plays some tournaments before and does reasonably well.

The bottom half has only Keys and Stephens and upstarts plus the young and hugely talented Kasatkina. The top half is where the action is. Halep, Muguruza, and Sharapova all there. Along with Garica or Kerber.

[S_K_S]

How the so called experts missed her injury during the doubles yesterday I'll never know. To think these people are paid to watch and attend a slam. Considering how severe the injury was during the doubles it will be need a Salah-esque bit of good luck and good fortune for her to play Wimbledon.

[prasen9]

Keys took out the last unseeded player and entered the semis. If it goes by seed, we will have Keys-Stephens and Halep-Muguruza. Of course, you cannot discount Sharapova, who plays well at the French and any of the others.

[PKBasu]

Sloane Stephens was very impressive today. Let's see if Keys can avenge her defeat at the US Open (I doubt it!).

[prasen9]

Simona Halep is 5'6" and Sloane Stephens is 5'7". Glad to see two ladies of reasonably normal height (at least for the western world) instead of the big six footers (Venus, Garbine, Kvitova, Maria, Azarenka, Ivanovic, or even Ostapenko, C-Woz who are 5'10") dominate. The shortest GS winner I can remember in the last seven/eight years was possibly Francesca Schiavone at 5'5".

[punarayan]

The big racquets have given the big folks a big advantage. Clay is the equalizer and now my favorite surface. Big racquets put a big dent in Indian tennis in the 80s. Both of these ladies are deserving and Schiavona winning the French was a sweet moment for me, given the height and the one-handed backhand.