Iga Świątek shines, on Thursday she photographed herself with fans and signed autographs for them, and her rivals fought and worked hard to advance to the quarter-finals. Miracles happened on the court. Spartan Maria Sakkari – probably the greatest athlete in the tour – scratched against Laura Siegemund. Her muscles, great muscles, and fantastic physical preparation were of no use to her. Nothing in this meeting happened as it should be from her point of view.
Retired due to illness
The Greek woman, considered by experts to be the greatest possible threat to Christmas, scratched at 4: 6, 1: 3 due to illness. Actually, an infection. What exactly happened – it is not known. The fact is, however, that Sakkari is no longer in the tournament and the tennis player who won the Polish woman three times in the previous season is no longer a threat to her. The match of both players could have happened in the semi-finals.
Maria Sakkari had problems from the beginning of the match against Laura Siegemund. What happened to the usually brave Greek woman?
In the quarter-finals, Emma Raducanu awaits Christmas, who won 6-0, 2: 6, 6: 1 with the German Tamara Korpatsch after a turbulent match on Thursday. After the game, she drowned in the arms of coach Torben Beltz, because for the first time on earth she advanced to the quarter-finals, but with such tennis she will not score more than five games with Iga.
Will it jump to a new level?
For the match with our champion to be more even on Friday, the British would have to jump to a completely new, unknown level. And for that, it’s probably too early.
Iga in two! See and listen to a short analysis before the match Świątek – Raducan
Something like this at this stage of the career is difficult to predict. Raducanu has only won two games on the ground so far. With the achievements of Świątek, this indicator is simply ridiculous. Why, just look at the way both tennis players move.
Cat versus snail
Iga grew up on the ground, all movements on this surface are smooth, short, catlike, dynamic and economical. Such as to be great in positioning and finishing points as quickly as possible. On the contrary, Emma slides on the flour like panczenach, is unable to get the balance right, you can see that she learned the game in the UK in a completely different reality. This cannot be changed in a few days now. The snail in Bolt will not allow you to pupate.
See what Iga Świątek should be getting ready for on Friday. This is how Emma Raducanu defeated Tamara Korpatsch in the second round
Both tennis players competed in 2018 at Wimbledon. Iga then won the entire tournament, won the youth championship, and on the way to the title she gave her opponent from the Islands only one game. We do not rule out that such a scenario will also take place now.
without expectations and emotions
– Iga is number one in the world, he has won all the tournaments recently, so I will not feel any pressure before this match. I do not have to do anything in this meeting, I will not impose any expectations or emotions on myself. There is an opponent in great shape waiting for me, playing at the highest possible level, so I have a very intense competition ahead of me, which is definitely a good lesson for the future – she assessed.
Paul Bados is still smiling. But these may be the last moments like this
She also received a solid lesson on Thursday when she was seeded with two Paul Bados. And it was a lesson in humility, although happily ended for the Spanish woman. The earlier sparring with Iga Świątek did not really help her prepare for this challenge. The torment with Jelena Rybakina from Kazakhstan, although ended with a winning tie-break in the third set, drained a lot of energy from her.
She kept a cool head
If the Spaniard had dreamed of winning the tournament before, she probably no longer had any illusions that she would be able to do it this week. It must be admitted, however, that in the decisive parts of the meeting she kept her composure …
See the key actions in Bados – Rybakin’s clash. Heavy Artillery!
Now she has a fight with her friend, Ond Jabeur. Tunisia dealt much more efficiently with Daria Kasatkina 6: 3, 6: 3. The Russians were not lucky that day, because Ekaterina Aleksandrowa also said goodbye to the event. She succumbed to the dramatic game of Anett Kontaveit.
Record still improved
The Estonian is screwing her great indoor record – she has already won the 22nd game in a row indoors – and dismissed her opponent 2: 6, 6: 3, 7: 6 (5). This time, however, her fate hung in the balance. One wrong move, one small shortcoming, and the outcome could have been reversed in this clash.
See Anett Kontaveit’s epic finish in the second round in Stuttgart
The battle of last year’s finalist, Aryna Sabalenka, seeded from No. 3, with Bianca Andreescu, US Open 2019 winner returning to the courts after an injury, was also very interesting. The Belarusian woman is known for its ebb and flow, but this time everything was relatively calm for her.
Only seven doubles
It committed a total of only seven double service errors. For other tennis players it would already be a reason for analysis, for her you can say that everything was under control. The tennis player from Minsk won 6: 1, 3: 6, 6: 2.
In the game Sabalenka – Andreescu there was something to hang your eye on. Anyway, check it out for yourself. Will the Belarusian woman fight for victory in Stuttgart this year?
Summing up the Thursday events at Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, it must be said that the opponents did everything to make this day as pleasant as possible for Iga Świątek. Almost all of them showed a shaky form, which only strengthened the feeling that this tournament must be won by a Pole. May this be what happened next Sunday …
RESULTS
STUTTGART. WTA 500 tournament (total prizes 611 thousand euro).
Round II
Paula Badosa (Spain, 2) – Jelena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) 6-2 4- 6 7-6 (4)
Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus, 3) bt Bianca Andreescu (Canada) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
Laura Siegemund (Germany) v Maria Sakkari (Greece, 4) 6: 4, 3: 1 and retired
Ludmila Samsonova (Russia) bt Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic, 6) 6: 4 6: 4
Ons Jabeur (Tunisia, 7) bt Daria Kasatkina (Russia) 6-3 6-3
Emma Raducanu (UK 8) bt Tamara Korpatsch (Germany) 6-0, 2-6, 6-1
These are the quarter-finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart
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