Saturday 25 June 2016

Cuevas makes 1st grass court final

The Wimbledon draws are out now for both Ladie's and Gentlemen's Singles, but before we discuss the possible implications for what may occur on Monday and the fortnight to come, the Eastbourne and Nottingham courts need to be cleared and titles are close to being handed out.

Steve Johnson resumed his quarter final clash with Kevin Anderson at 3-4 in the final set at Nottingham and quickly wrapped up the last three games to claim a semi final spot 7-6 5-7 6-4.

Johnson proceeded to defeat Andreas Seppi in that semi final 6-4 6-4.  The set scores may have been the same, but the second set was a much more decisive win for the American who will play Pablo Cuevas in the final.

Cuevas defeated Gilles Muller in the other semi in three sets, despite not managing to gain a single break point on the Muller serve in the first two sets.
Muller won the first set courtesy of one service break 6-3 and the second set required a tie break as neither man could penetrate the others serve for twelve games.  Cuevas levelled the match here, and with momentum took control to book his place in the final 3-6 7-6 6-4.
Pablo has had success on clay courts of the world, but this is his first final on the grass, a significant breakthrough.

Eastbourne finally had some luck with the weather, enabling remaining quarter finals to be either completed or started.
Aga Radwanska lost her advantage to a typically pugnacious Dominika Cibulkova who rallied from 4-6 2-3 to win her way into the semi finals 4-6 7-6 6-3.
Karolina Pliskova thrashed Elena Vesnina in straight sets, while Johanna Konta also won in two sets, but her win over Ekaterina Makarova was far from comprehensive at 7-6 6-4.

The semi finals were able to be held and qualifier Monica Puig's run came to an end, thanks to a merciless Dominika Cibulkova 6-2 6-1.  The Slovakian was never under pressure on serve, only facing one break point (unconverted) for the match, whereas she had ten such opportunities, of which four service breaks came, two in each set.

Domi will fight for the title in a final against Czech number two Karolina Pliskova whose semi final victory over Johanna Konta came a little harder.  
Konta won a first tie breaker after each player held serve six times from six attempts, with no break points created.  Konta created five break points in Set Two, but couldn't convert any, whereas Pliskova managed to break once from only two chances and squared the match at 6-7 6-3.  Konta was overwhelmed in the decider with Pliskova breaking twice more to win the match 6-7 6-3 6-3.

No comments:

Post a Comment