This lunch has been dedicated to the final games of the match of Mirra Andreeva, who has beaten 6-3 7-5 Sara Saito. I think Andreeva has won Petit As some years ago, but I may be wrong (and I don’t check the fact on purpose, I want to take the bet), whilst I never heard before of Saito. Both girls are 15 and I would wish we had Italian girls playing as such at that age. I managed to see no more than the last 10-15 minutes, so what I will say about this match is very limited. Saito seemed a bit passive; possibly she suffered a bit Andreeva’s higher pace; Andreeva should, as soon as possible, stop to scream at every point she scores or misses, because all this screaming is hardly bearable. I might be getting old… and I guess she does not give a sh… rectius she is not particularly interested in what I think, so ok as such. I leave to another time any technical consideration on the Russian girl, if I can make any.
The other match I have seen is the one between our old friend, 2nd seed and 3rd ITF ranked player Diana Shnaider (whose surname I realised to have misspelled for about two years) and Argentinian Luciana Moyano. I was curious to see how Shnaider game developed since last time I saw her. Let’s start from the fact that the Russian is an “old” player, as she ages 18 and is hugely built; Moyano is 16 and the gap between the two in terms of power was just too much. Mojano is a gracious player with some abilities and nice shots, but today she couldn’t to much against Shnaider’s furious forehands. I think the Argentinian is an interesting profile but I need to see her in a match in which she is given a bit more chances, as today’s one was between a heavyweight and a welter: no chance for the latter.
As per Shnaider, see the title: just don’t let her hit her forehand, which is quite devastating. She hits the shot pretty flat and she is very good in hitting over the ball (which is a bad attempt to translate an Italian term meaning to hit the forehand by smashing the ball a bit: hope this helps). Even if her execution is risky, she rarely misses ad the final result is that her forehand is by far her dominant shot and maybe one of the best you can see in the junior circuit. I would expected a bit more on her serve, while the backhand is quite ok, even if not at the level of the forehand. I remember that when she was younger, Diana was mentally a bit fragile. This also emerged in today’s match, in which in 10 minutes she piled up inexplicable unforced errors and lost a couple of games in a row; though, she eventually managed to regain focus and she never had problems again. Thus, she may have improved this side of the game (as one would expect from a grown up girl).
As said, Diana is quite old for Bonfiglio standards, as best players normally cease to play this tournament at 16 or 17 maximum. Maybe Diana thought to play a junior Grade A was the best way to prepare Paris, instead of playing ITF pro tournaments, which pose different challenges than juniors’. Though do not think that the permanence of Shnaider on the junior tour is a sign that she is late in her development as a player: she has just won a 60k beating Bartunkova (the “Ova non-Ova”) in the final and lovely “Diotisalvi” Maja Chwalinska in the semis; just before she won a 25k, a 15k and reached the semifinal in another 25k (having been beaten by Cocciaretto). She ranks 330 in WTA live ranking, a more than respectable position at her age and, curiously enough, just one spot behind the 1st junior ITF ranked player, Marcinko.
Shnaider is one of the four Russians in the third round: she will play against one of them, Alina Korneeva; the others are Andreeva and Zaytseva. But tomorrow I want to see again Hovde, who will play against Vandewinkel. And I have asked information to my American counsel on the U.S. males: there are five of them in the third round! Maybe I’ll get the chance to see one of them.
