Sorry, Sunshine. Not today.
Or as Sven might say, NOT TODAY!!!!
Apropos, methinks.
SAM!
A fantastic match from Sam, where we saw her play within herself, engage in intelligent shotmaking, and play the big points well, beating the current #1 and Never-Loser Caro, 64 63. Seriously, this only her third loss since Wimbledon, which is crazy because she also plays, like, four tournaments a week.
Just a really clean and awesome performance from Sam. The first set was pretty tight, with Sam having to climb out of break point holes seemingly on every service game. But once she finally started serving and hitting into Caro's forehand, things seemed to get easier. She was able to open up space on the court and not let Caro dictate with her backhand, which she hits much harder, flatter, and with more angle. Caro can't dictate with her forehand and started leaving balls shorter or more in the middle of the court, which gave Sam a chance to take control with her forehand.
But perhaps more importantly than her tactical execution, Sam played well on the key points. Caro had six break point on the match. Sam saved them all. Sam had three. She converted them all. Not bad for a chick who was down 0-4 in the first set to Fran yesterday.
So Sam takes the clear lead in the Maroon Group. She'll play Lena tomorrow. A win obviously clinches the group for her (and she would play the #2 to come out of the White Group in the semis) and a loss would still get her into the semis depending on the result of the Fran/Caro match.
"Turnaround, bright eyes..."
