Venus Williams trailed Veronika Kudermetova 14 in both sets but managed to prevail 64 75, for her first big win in quite some time. The wildcard, now 43, doesn’t seem to have any plans for retiring soon.
John Isner, on the otherhand, lost another heartbreaker 76 76 to Jordan Thompson. After a semi run in Newport, Isner has lost first round in Atlanta, 2R Cabo and now 1R Cincy. His ranking of 106 isn’t good enough for direct entry into US Open, he will need a USTA wildcard to avoid qualies.
Adrian Mannarino and Richard Gasquet met for only the third time in their careers today in Cincy. The 35 year old won today against the 37 year old Gasquet 64 63. Gasquet had won their first two matches, 2016 in Cincy 76 36 61 and 2011 in Australian Open 63 76 64. All three clashes were round of 64 duels. Mannarino is currently ranked 32, Gasquet is 53.
Felix Auger-Aliassime ended his five match losing streak by defeating Matteo Berrettini 46 62 63.
Novak Djokovic signed autographs for twenty minutes after his practice session today. Djokovic’s practice filled a small stadium which was packed full.
Novak quote: “After twenty years in professional tennis there is still a fire burning.”
Most Grand Slams won after the age of 30 (Open Era only)
1. Djoković – 11*
2. Nadal – 8*
3. Federer, Laver, Rosewall, Connors – 4
4. Wawrinka, Agassi – 2
5. Sampras, Newcombe – 1
(* denotes still active).
Cincinnati Masters · John Isner · Novak Djokovic · Richard Gasquet · Venus Williams · Western & SouthernOpen
Matt · August 14, 2023 at 10:29 pm
Was at Cincy the first two days, interesting situation where Siegemund retired at 2-5 0-30 down in the 3rd after having three match points against Cornet. It was a very tense handshake, with the two exchanging words.
Thompson is an interesting character, in his first match he complained constantly about the wind (about every point) and in the second there was a child crying behind the court for a few points which almost sent him into a tailspin. An Aussie spectator waiting to enter told Thompson’s coaches he would go speak with the parents of the child.
Kokkinakis made a great comeback in his second match, down a set and 1-5 in the 2nd set tiebreak. His team was working hard to keep him positive. Favorite phrase repeated frequently by one of his team members, “You never know”…
One qualifier who showed lots of intensity and fight was Shevchenko, loved the energy!
Cincy is such a great tourney, with close access to players and it’s fun being able to sit so close to player teams in the stands. Hoping it stays in town, but it is looking more like it will be moving to Charlotte in a couple of years.
catherine · August 15, 2023 at 2:46 am
Plenty of restlessness among the higher ranked women players and evidence that the WTA isn’t held in great esteem re the stupid, and harmful, scheduling of late night matches (or anything else for that matter)
https://www.flashscore.co.uk/news/tennis-cincinnati-wta-singles-swiatek-calls-for-focus-on-players-and-end-to-late-night-scheduling/lbBj7ZjL/
Isn’t there a saying about killing the goose ?
Scoop Malinowski · August 15, 2023 at 8:09 am
Matt, Thanks I like these details. Cincy is maybe the second longest standing US tournament in one location after Newport. If it’s always been at the same Mason location?I know it’s very popular, hard to believe the new owner Ben Navarro would move it to NC. To bury Cincy could be a mistake.
Scoop Malinowski · August 15, 2023 at 8:10 am
Players revolt will stop the late night early morning matches.
catherine · August 16, 2023 at 1:57 am
The new WTA website is awful. I wonder how many ‘design consultants’ were paid money to produce it ? Total mess.
I think I’ll stick to Flashscore.
Scoop Malinowski · August 16, 2023 at 7:55 am
Catherine, it looks a little better now but it’s a reflection of the state of the wta. atp site much much better. Presume all the equal prize money screaming isn’t equating to an equal budget for the tour sites. If wta demands – and gets – equal prize money they should produce an equal web site.
catherine · August 16, 2023 at 1:21 pm
It’s a little more complicated with women. Men, and mens’ sports are quite straightforward.
However, I see no reason for the WTA site to be so mediocre. I suspect it’s just lack of imagination. There are lots of good designers out there. Just no thought going into it. I’ve seen better tennis blogs TBH. Match Call Migrants have some really attractive artwork. No reason the WTA site shouldn’t combine news etc with good design.
Also the WTA seems terrified of anything remotely controversial or even informative. Doesn’t stand up for the players.
Scoop Malinowski · August 16, 2023 at 7:51 pm
Catherine, the wta site is low budget, they need imaginative content like Biofiles and off beat features to showcase the players charisma and personality, but they declined my Biofiles for years. They do a very lousy job promoting the players, the site is a disappointment and could be infinitely better.
Scoop Malinowski · August 17, 2023 at 1:51 pm
Federer’s BBC TV commentating job for Wimbledon 2023 was nixed for unknown reasons. https://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/news-roger-federer-join-bbc-s-wimbledon-2023-coverage-commentary-role-reports
catherine · August 18, 2023 at 11:23 am
Iga Swiatek called for an end to online hate and criticism and urged tennis fans to show more empathy after the world number one received angry messages following her 3-6 6-1 6-1 victory over China’s Zheng Qinwen at the Cincinnati Open on Thursday.
“Today’s match wasn’t perfect. We all saw that. But the amount of hate and criticism me and my team get after losing a set is ridiculous,” Swiatek said.
“I want to encourage people to be more thoughtful when they comment on the Internet.
“We all sacrifice a lot. We’re all working really hard to be in that place. We’re always giving 100% of what we can do every day. It’s sad for me to see that people I work with and myself, we’re really judged.”
Swiatek said she experienced similar issues following her loss in the Dubai final shortly after claiming the Doha title.
“I was pretty proud of my results but people really just saw the last match and that I lost in the final and they shouldn’t,” Swiatek said.
“I’m putting a lot of energy for it not to hit too deeply, but I realised that sometimes people – I don’t know if they’re my fans or not but they want me to play better – cause me to waste a lot of energy to ignore them.”
Follow Federer’s advice to Raducanu – just don’t read this stuff. It’s beneath you.
catherine · August 18, 2023 at 1:15 pm
The BBC’s activities these days are a mystery to everyone.
Maybe it just came down to ££££££s.
Scoop Malinowski · August 18, 2023 at 2:02 pm
It’s the penalty of massive tennis betting. Bettors who lose money on players are going to vent their frustrations. I don’t remember this issue before tennis betting exploded.
Scoop Malinowski · August 18, 2023 at 2:03 pm
The truth will emerge eventually.