Monday, May 01, 2017

Weekend Tennis Roundup


I had just been saying to Damian that being a Dominic Thiem fan was a little less fun than it might be because he "never wins." But he sure made progress this past week in Barcelona, knocking out Andy Murray en route to the final, where he was outclassed by Rafael Nadal. Here's hoping the Austrian hunk has something left in the tank by the time we get to Paris, where Rafa has returned to clear-favorite status.


I hope Rico gave him a good rubdown after the match.


Speaking of naked fun: Nadal went for a celebratory swim after winning his 10th title in Barcelona and nearly LOST HIS SHORTS!


Lucas Pouille's big butt won his first title on clay in Budapest, beating Aljaž Bedene 6-3, 6-1. 


Laura Siegemund thrilled her home crowd by winning the second and biggest title of her career at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, outlasting French youngster Kristina Mladenovic, 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(5). Siegemund first made the Stuttgart final 12 months ago as a qualifier, and was among the last into the main draw this year, earning a wildcard. Once there, the German veteran continued her habit of eliminating Top 10 opposition in Stuttgart, knocking out another three this week in Svetlana Kuznetsova, Karolina Pliskova, and Simona Halep en route to her second straight final. Stuttgart also saw the controversial return of Maria Sharapova, whose overly excited reaction to winning her first-round match really turned me off. Proud of Mladenovic for knocking her out in the semis.


And finally, top seed Elina Svitolina defeated Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-4 to win in Istanbul. It was her third title of 2017, although she didn't face a top 60 player along the way.

1 comment:

Mike in Asheville said...

I liked Thiem's comment during trophy presentation -- "there are a lot worse things than losing to the best clay court tennis layer ever."