Groundstrokes

A year later, I returned to the tennis center, and Frances, now 12, had replaced the moon ball with fearsome topspin groundstrokes that shot off the court and smacked into the back fence with a thud.

Medvedev was so overpowering on Monday that Rublev fell to the ground while at the net late in the second set as he attempted to fend off his friend’s heavy groundstrokes — then covered his face with his hands in despair.

Sinner broke in the first game and although Alcaraz broke back to make it 2-2, the 21-year-old Italian sensed his moment was arriving and showed confidence in his powerful groundstrokes.

Swiatek had won 10 consecutive matches in the desert until being stopped by Rybakina’s powerful groundstrokes that repeatedly rushed Swiatek and forced her into uncharacteristic errors.

The 33-year-old, who had lost her previous two meetings with Moscow-born Kazakh Rybakina, pounced early in the second set but dropped serve immediately as her opponent found her range again with some blistering groundstrokes.

The pair of Cougars used punishing groundstrokes to win the bulk of their points and recorded a service break in the fourth game of the second set -- to go up 3-1 -- after failing to hold serve in the previous game.

Despite De Minaur’s determined defensive efforts, Sinner’s remarkable consistency and powerful groundstrokes proved to be the difference in the high-quality battle between the top-seeded Italian and the fifth-seeded Australian.

It’s been a few years since Osaka played this capably and confidently, hammering big serves at up to 122 mph (197 kph) and imposing groundstrokes.

Murray landed only 36per cent of his first serves which was never going to end well against a player with Wawrinka's brutish groundstrokes.

Nadal showed exemplary athleticism and court coverage to get his racket to Djokovic’s crunching groundstrokes as the bewildered Serbian watched on, fast running out of ideas on how to win important points.

On Wednesday, Nadal faces the Argentine Diego Schwartzman, whose punishing groundstrokes and court savvy seem prime to produce a marathon fight.

She can lob and generate acute angles with off-speed groundstrokes.

Zverev had beaten Djokovic for the ATP Finals trophy in November, where his long-limbed groundstrokes proved too powerful to handle.

The 25-year-old isn’t known to possess the most powerful of groundstrokes though.

Thiem, mixing heavy topspin and flat groundstrokes and angling balls across the sidelines, saved a break point at 1-2 and two more at 2-3 and there were signs that Nadal was struggling with his timing - over-cooking several forehands.

His groundstrokes, return of serve, baseline game, anticipation, phenomenal eye–hand coordination were always among the best in the game.