This Week's Drop Shots: February 10th, 2021
“This Week’s Drop Shots” details the latest results, hot takes, and breaking news from around the tennis world in a quick and easy-to-read format.
Congrats tennis fans: you’ve made it to Wednesday! There’s so much tennis going on that it’s hard to keep track of, but that’s why we’re here. Also, too much tennis isn’t a bad problem to have…
Aussie Open
Wow, where to begin? With COVID around, professional tennis hasn’t felt like this in a long time. The fans, the atmosphere…it may not be back to normal, but it’s a good start. If you haven’t been watching all the matches, here are some key takeaways for you:
Men’s Draw - Upsets and Takeaways (Only a Few)
Ruusuvuori took down (10) Monfils on Day 1 in a 5-set thriller, but couldn’t back it up and reach the 3rd round
Tiafoe gave (1) Djokovic a tough match, but in the end it wasn’t enough to set up an all-American battle against (27) Fritz, who will now face the world number 1
(17) Wawrinka battled back from 2 sets to love down and earned himself match points, only to fall to the notorious major-upsetter Fucsovics
Kyrgios narrowly escaped his clash with (29) Humbert to set up the blockbuster match with (3) Thiem
Other Aussies have looked good as well: (21) De Minaur took down Sandgren convincingly, O’Connell shocked the tennis world with his win over Struff in the 1st round, Popyrin upset (13) Goffin to start the tournament, and Kokkinakis is still lurking in the bottom quarter of the draw
We already mentioned Kyrgios vs. Thiem as an upcoming match to watch, but here are a few others to get ready for:
(11) Shapovalov vs. (20) Auger-Aliassime (R3)
(24) Ruud vs. Paul (R2)
(15) Carreño Busta vs. (18) Dimitrov (R3)
(22) Coric vs. McDonald (R2)
Women’s Draw - Upsets and Takeaways (Only a Few)
(8) Andreescu, who we all had questions about, was upset by Hsieh in the 2nd round to blow open this section of the draw
(2) Halep barely escaped Tomljanovic to advance to the 3rd round and face (32) Kudermetova
Mladenovic took down big-hitting (20) Sakkari in the 1st round to set up her path to a potential deep run
American Pegula pulled off a huge upset in the 1st round by taking out title contender (12) Azarenka
Several Americans (in addition to Pegula) are still alive in this draw…to name just a few: Gauff, (10) Williams, (4) Kenin, Collins, (22) Brady
Must-see matches? There are plenty to go around. Here are some of our favorites:
(5) Svitolina vs. Gauff (R2)
(11) Bencic vs. Kuznetsova (R2)
(22) Brady vs. Brengle (R2)
(3) Osaka vs. (27) Jabeur (R3)
Need to check ALL the scores? There are a few different places to do that, but here is a link to a comprehensive scoreboard that’s easy to navigate. Also, do you want to make $$$ off your Aussie Open picks? Head to dkng.co/crackedopen and start winning today! Follow us on social media for daily picks and listen to the podcasts for extra tips.
College Tennis!
We know this is a pivot from the action down in Australia (where most tennis fans are focused right now), but it would be a shame if we didn’t talk about the exciting world of college tennis. Over the weekend, Gruskin was on the call in Stillwater for the ITA National Women’s Indoor Championships, and it did not disappoint. UNC survived a tough test from Texas in the finals, escaping 4-3 to claim back-to-back Indoor Championships for the first time in program history!
This weekend, we’ll be covering National Indoors for the men at Illinois. Follow us on social media to get updates and watch the stream/commentary of the matches! It’s going to be nonstop action in Champaign!
Har-Tru Partnership
We’re incredibly excited to announce our partnership with Har-Tru! Not only do they provide the best products/services for court surfacing and equipment, but they LOVE college tennis. They've partnered with and brought on several former college greats to their team, because they want to help college tennis grow and succeed.
If you need anything for your facilities — from full resurfacing to windscreens and general equipment — Har-Tru is the place to go. Check out everything they have to offer at hartru.com!
Event Recap - B16s L2 in Indianapolis
We’ve always said we want to be the best for professional, college, and junior tennis…so it’s only fitting that we recap our high-level B16s tournament in Indy this weekend! We saw some grueling matches from future college tennis players, but here’s how the event wrapped up:
Finals: (2) Nikita Filin def. (1) Kase Schinnerer 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 6-2
3rd Place: Stefan Regalia def. Aaron Gu 6-0, 6-3
We’re looking forward to hosting more junior events throughout the year!