Tennis 2019: Plus ça change...

jon abbey

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Hehe, Brad Gilbert: "Pouille, if you're watching this, I guess you just change the channel".

And that's it, Kei retires. 6-1, 4-1.

Novak and Nadal both look amazing, one more match for each before what could be an epic final. Nadal has a tougher semi in Tsitsipas but he also gets an extra day of rest (I hate this scheduling).
 

jon abbey

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Women's semis have started on ESPN2, Collins is up a break early on Kvitova, 3-2.
 

Mr. Wednesday

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After going to a tiebreak in the first set (which Kvitova won fairly comfortably), Collins gets bageled in the second.
 

jon abbey

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So many clean winners from Osaka out of pretty routine rallies, really love her. No days off between a quarter and semi is dumb, though...
 

jon abbey

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Osaka has more than two winners per game, 29 in the first 13 games. She reminds me of Martina Hingis but she is much bigger and more powerful (5'11"). Chris Evert just said if it s a Kvitova/Osaka final, she thinks that will be the hardest hitting women's final ever, which is something since neither of those are named Williams.
 

jon abbey

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Pliskova rope-a-dopes another set from a better player, hanging around and eventually surviving all her service games, being badly outplayed for the entire set until coming out of nowhere to break Osaka at love at 5-4, onto set 3. Pliskova has to be running low on gas though.
 

jon abbey

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Osaka up to 44 winners in 20 games and counting, but she is struggling to stay on serve in the third right now. Kvitova seems to have figured out Osaka's serve just in time.

Fights off three break points, 1-1 now. Come on Naomi!
 

jon abbey

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This was a superb tournament on both sides until the quarters, the quarters and semis have both been mostly duds. I couldn't even remember who Djokovic was playing in the semi tonight until I looked it up, and I've been following this pretty closely (it's Pouille). The women's final looks like it should be a good one though, Kvitova has yet to lose a set and Osaka is amazing when on, and the men's final should be an alltime classic if Djokovic gets through tonight fairly easily as expected.
 

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Yeah i'm upset I can't watch the finals live without waking up at 3:30am. As I usually am for the Aussie Open, but this year in particular. Two years ago the Federer-Wawrinka semi and the Federer-Nadal Final, both of which went 5 sets, were still on when I got up, though, so I got to watch 1.5 sets each of that and it was awesome.
 

jon abbey

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Nadal destroyed Tsitsipas last night, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0, over in just 1:46. With the extra day of rest for Nadal and with how great he is playing, Djokovic knew he needed to get through this semi quickly and wow, did he ever. 6-0, 6-2, 6-2, just 1:23. This is going to be an amazing amazing final, two alltime greats playing at the top of their games.
 

InstaFace

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Sets lost en route to final:
Djokovic 2 (Shapovalov 3R, Medvedev R16)
Nadal 0

If Nadal wins, he's the first player to own a double career grand slam.
 

jon abbey

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This match has been fantastic so far.

First set: No breaks, twelve straight holds. Both players have break points but neither can convert, Kvitova looks like the slightly better player throughout the set but Osaka plays some amazing points in the tiebreaker and takes it 7-2, first set Kvitova has lost all tournament.

Second set: Kvitova finally wins a break point and goes up 2-0, but Osaka comes right back with 4 straight games. Three straight holds brings it to 5-4 on Osaka's serve, but she plays a loose game and Kvitova gets back into it at 5-5, which is where we are right now.
 

jon abbey

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Kvitova with a tough hold to make it 6-5 and then a surprisingly easy break to take the second set, onto the third.
 

jon abbey

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And she serves it out from there, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.

A year ago she was ranked 72nd, now she is 1st, first #1 ever from Asia, man or woman. Congrats Naomi!!
 

Deathofthebambino

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I woke up around 4:00 a.m. and the channel happened to be on ESPN, and of course, I got sucked into this and watched the whole rest of the match. When Osaka took a 5-3 lead after her serve in the 2nd set, she was absolutely rolling. At 5-3, she had a triple match point on Kvitova's serve (0-40) and Kvitova made a couple good shots, and an ace, and Osaka literally fell apart. She was still up 5-4 and on serve after giving away that game, and couldn't do anything from there, Kvitova broker her to make it 5-5 and then Kvitova just steamrolled her to win the set. Osaka was fighting back tears at one point, and had to leave the court between sets to gather herself.

In the third set, Osaka showed literally no emotion. Didn't get happy, didn't get upset, just zero emotion from start to finish. When she was rolling in the middle of the 2nd set, she was all fired up, so it was a complete departure from what she showed earlier. I thought she was going to blow it, but she managed to find her game, and pulled it out. I think Chris Evert was right on when she said that Osaka was going to learn a lot about herself and her game from this tournament. She had to fight back so many times, and she did.

It was really nice to see her win the next grand slam after Serena shit all over what should have been her breakthrough performance at the US Open. Her public speaking though...woof.
 

jon abbey

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In the third set, Osaka showed literally no emotion. Didn't get happy, didn't get upset, just zero emotion from start to finish.
Yes, my (Japanese) wife was very focused on this aspect too, and actually it even carried over after the match. She was so deep into this calm/'zen' focused mindset that she wasn't even smiling at the ceremony afterwards, but it was exactly what she needed to get the win.

Osaka is a fascinating player, she had never played Kvitova and her tough lefty serve before but she turned down the chance to practice with a lefty before the match. You could see her struggling in Kvitova's first few service games, but eventually she figured it out (although it involved the very ballsy approach of cheating towards the line to return the big kick swing serve and giving Kvitova the one right down the middle, but it worked because Kvitova clearly preferred going wide and missed a bunch of times when going down the T.)
 

jon abbey

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Took a nap to try to stay up for all of this one, it's going to be a CLASSIC.

Both Nadal and Djokovic are playing as well as they ever have, and the only other time they met here, the match lasted a ridiculous 5:53, and that's not with an extended 5th set (7-5 Novak). They have met more than any two players in the Open era (27-25 Novak), I'm excited.
 

jon abbey

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Djokovic had a really tough draw, Nadal much easier. Nadal had 66 straight service holds coming in, that didn’t last long.
 

jon abbey

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Whoa, Nadal just took a full swing whiff, this is crazy. Fourth straight hold at love, 5-2.
 

jon abbey

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He missed it because he somehow hit his thigh with the racket on the back swing, keep in mind Nadal had won all 18 sets coming in.
 

jon abbey

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Nadal looks back to himself by the end of the set, but still getting steamrolled in every Novak service game, 6-3 first set, 20-1 in points on Novak's serve (!!). Nadal has held three times in a row, but Novak is winning almost every extended rally and making him look ordinary.
 

jon abbey

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Another love service game, 24-1 in points now, 1-1 in the second.
 

jon abbey

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Five straight holds for Nadal, he must be killing himself inside for coming out so flat for the first few games. 2-1 Nadal in the second, on serve.
 

jon abbey

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Djokovic breaks after a rare back and forth at net, up 3-2 now and this one is looking like it will not last too long.
 

jon abbey

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Nadal finally shows up in a Novak service game, pushing it to two deuces but Novak pulls it out. 4-2.
 

jon abbey

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This is Nadal's 25th Grand Slam final, he has never lost in straight sets before. 6-3, 6-2, 3-1 now, just an asskicking from the first point.
 

jon abbey

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This is such an ass-kicking that I wonder who will be favored in the French, Novak who has won three Grand Slams in a row or 11 time champion (!!!) Nadal. They surprisingly haven't played in the French since 2015, Djokovic won a quarterfinal in straight sets, Nadal beat him the other six times they played there.