2016 women's tennis thread

[shivfan]

First topic message reminder :

The Australian Open final has set the bar for what could be an interesting season....

Can Johanna Konta build on her thrilling run to the semis?

Can Kerber add to her first Grand Slam title, and take the torch from Serena when she eventually steps down?

And will Serena ever win that 22nd Slam to tie it up with Graf?

[Born Slippy]

Serena should win this. The courts suit her a lot better than Oz. Question though is whether she will be influenced by nerves again. If so, Kerber isn't a good player to face as she will make Serena play a lot of balls. I think Serena's looked less edgy here though - Serena in 2.

[Born Slippy]

Excellent ladies final. Kerber played excellent stuff but Serena was too good in the end. 22 slams - well-deserved.

[shivfan]

Serena wins 7-5,6-3....

Great scenes at the end. Kerber clearly remembers how gracious Serena was when the tables were turned in Melbourne, and returned the favour.

[sirfredperry]

Really good final. Kerber will play a lot worse than that and still win comfortably. Serena's serving was so good it was almost unfair. Some of the guys would want a serve as good as that.

[Mad for Chelsea]

Congrats to Jo Konta for winning her first WTA level title, beating Venus Williams in three hard sets in Stanford. An excellent match too, Konta hitting a remarkable 42 winners. Konta beat the two top seeds Cibulkova and Williams in the semi and final (she was seeded third herself). Great effort

[Born Slippy]

Impressive from Konta, who beats Venus 75 57 62. She hit twice the number of winners and should have won more easily. Currently looks a genuine contender for the big events.

[Guest]

Yes congratulations to Konta. She is continuing & maybe consolidating the step change in performance level from about 14 months ago. Beating this years Wimbledon quarter-finalist in the semi-final and this years Wimbledon semi-finalist in the final is an excellent achievement. Her ranking is predicted to go from 18 to 14. She could get me back to watching women's tennis. Britain now has three women in the top 100 and four men in the top 100. Things are beginning to look better for British tennis.

[sirfredperry]

Konta has weapons - big serve and big ground strokes. Also, she seems to do well on the big occasion. Saw a few clips of the final on the WTA website. Some really good ball-striking.

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