WTA Pick 'em: BOTP - US Open 2013

[super8]

Hello!

This is all a bit last-minute - but if you are up for taking part in a little WTA pick em, then I shall post up a BOTP entry form for the US Open shortly..

I am pretty busy doing other stuff, and hadn't actually realised that the draw was today - I thought that it was next week - that is how out of touch I have been about dates..

Anyway.. the form that I shall attach shortly is the main draw, pre-placement of qualifiers.

I won't be able to post the post-qualies draw until Sunday night. However, the tournament starts at about 4pm on Monday, so for some, that might be enough time to submit something. If that is too short notice, then hopefully the form that I shall post shortly will be ok.

Again - my apologies for the late notice with this..

[super8]

Here is the BOTP entry form..

I shall be away for most of the weekend, but shall keep track of this thread & will check my mail here - so do drop me a line if you have any queries..

UPDATE: Form attached is now a version that includes all qualifiers..

[JAMES4578]

Sharapova has been the one making headlines off court but now won't be action of course as she's pulled out with a shoulder injury.

[banskogirl]

Thanks Super8 can't get this to open on the ipad so if have a few minutes later will try to get mind done!

[super8]

Sharapova has been the one making headlines off court but now won't be action of course as she's pulled out with a shoulder injury.

She's had a pretty ropey time since the French open, hasn't she?

The Sugarpova thing was a bit odd, I thought.

On a micro level, what I did find interesting was that a Wild Card had been awarded to Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier - but she declined it and asked for it to be given to Virginie Razzano.

As the wild card was designated to go to a Frenchwoman, this wish appears to have been granted.

I don't usually pay too much attention to this - but this must be pretty unusual, both in terms of the declining of a wild card, as well as being able to say who it should go to..

[super8]

Thanks Super8 can't get this to open on the ipad so if have a few minutes later will try to get mind done!

Ah, good stuff! Hopefully this isn't too problematic. It's a shame that Apple devices v Microsoft products just don't mix very well..

[JAMES4578]

I've now posted mine over at cc,thanks Super8!

[Linda]

Just sent mine by email :)

[DaveArneRiise]

Entered, can you confirm you received mine OK Super8?

[cazza99]

Sent mine :)

[super8]

Confirmed as received via e-mail: Linda, DAR, cazza.

Also, the BOTP entry form on this thread is now the version including qualifiers.

No need to resubmit if you have already used the pre-qualies version..

[Helen40]

Just sent mine via email :-)

[super8]

Just sent mine via email :-)

Confirmed as received..

As per usual, this will be kept open for a little bit after the start time, for those with Bank Holiday plans and perhaps only able to submit predictions later this afternoon..

[RoastLamb]

I did mine yesterday but when I tried to send it found it had disappeared into the ether. I don't have time now to redo it. Sorry.

[super8]

I did mine yesterday but when I tried to send it found it had disappeared into the ether. I don't have time now to redo it. Sorry.

Oh no.. that is frustrating..!

I've had a few issues like that recently, so can certainly empathise. Technology, eh?

[cazza99]

I did mine yesterday but when I tried to send it found it had disappeared into the ether. I don't have time now to redo it. Sorry.

Sometimes mine gets saved into a temp area and I don't realise and it is then difficult to find. One way to find it is to open the initial form again and see where it tries to save it.

[RoastLamb]

I did open it again and it was blank. Took me ages to fill out too. Sigh.

[super8]

I did open it again and it was blank. Took me ages to fill out too. Sigh.

Oh no! :(

I'd been ready to post exactly what cazza had posted too - but cazza had been quicker off the mark. Sometimes the saved version is even embedded within the original e-mail itself. That has got me out of jail, on occasions when I'd wondered if I'd lost a file.. Anyway, just a thought..

Will hopefully get everyone's entries sorted out tomorrow night. It is a tricky week for doing this as I was away all last weekend, then away this coming weekend, from Wednesday night to Monday night. I hope that I can make at least a bit of headway with this tomorrow, to at least get it up and running..

[super8]

Hello

The roll call for BOTP is as follows:

Alli
Big Al
Cazza99
DaveArneRiise
DN
fah51
Helen40
IconA
James4578
Liam Valid
Linda
Mojoworking
nevets
NL/Super8
tlim
vivahate


16 of us, in total.

Let me know asap if you have submitted predictions but your name is not on this list (hopefully this won't be the case!)


Will get day 1 table posted later today..

[super8]

eResults & BOTP Table: Day 1

Very brief reports for now, as struggling for time..

I will also be away from Thursday until Monday, so there will need to be some catching up upon my return..

Round 01 Results (top half of draw)

1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-0 6-1 (100-0)
15-Sloane Stephens (U.S.) beat Mandy Minella (Luxembourg) 4-6 6-3 7-6(5) (100-0)
16-Sabine Lisicki (Germany) beat Vera Dushevina (Russia) 6-2 7-6(3) (100-0)
18-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) beat Lauren Davis (U.S.) 6-0 6-0 (100-0)
23-Jamie Hampton (U.S.) beat Lara Arruabarrena Vecino (Spain) 6-4 6-2 (100-0)
24-Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-2 6-4 (100-0)
3-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spain) 6-1 6-2 (100-0)
5-Li Na (China) beat Olga Govortsova (Belarus) 6-2 6-2 (100-0)
8-Angelique Kerber (Germany) beat Lucie Hradecka (Czech Republic) 6-1 6-1 (100-0)
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (U.S.) beat Mathilde Johansson (France) 6-3 6-1 (100-0)
19-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) beat Sharon Fichman (Canada) 7-5 5-7 6-1 (94-6)
25-Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) beat Vania King (U.S.) 4-6 7-6(4) 6-1 (94-6)
30-Laura Robson (Britain) beat Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spain) 7-5 6-0 (94-6)
32-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) beat Virginie Razzano (France) 7-5 6-0 (94-6)
9-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat Madison Keys (U.S.) 6-3 6-4 (94-6)
Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) beat Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) 4-6 6-4 7-5 (94-6)
Urszula Radwanska (Poland) beat Irina Begu (Romania) 6-1 6-3 (88-12)
Zheng Jie (China) beat Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) 6-1 6-3 (88-12)
Caroline Garcia (France) beat Shelby Rogers (U.S.) 6-3 6-2 (81-19)
Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) beat Olga Puchkova (Russia) 6-1 6-0 (81-19)
Coco Vandeweghe (U.S.) beat Aleksandra Krunic (Serbia) 6-4 7-6(5) (75-25)
Kristina Mladenovic (France) beat Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) 6-1 1-6 6-1 (75-25)
Ashleigh Barty (Australia) beat Estrella Cabeza Candela (Spain) 6-1 6-4 (63-37)

Kurumi Nara (Japan) beat Alexandra Cadantu (Romania) 6-2 6-2 (38-62)
Sofia Arvidsson (Sweden) beat Petra Cetkovska (Czech Republic) 1-6 6-4 6-1 (38-62)
Alisa Kleybanova (Russia) beat Monica Puig (Puerto Rico) 6-4 3-6 7-5 (25-75)
Galina Voskoboeva (Kazakhstan) beat Monica Niculescu (Romania) 6-4 6-3 (19-81)
Paula Ormaechea (Argentina) beat Kimiko Date-Krumm (Japan) 6-3 7-6(7) (13-87)
Venus Williams (U.S.) beat 12-Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) 6-1 6-2 (13-87)
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Slovakia) beat Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland) 6-1 5-7 7-6(4) (6-94)

Maria Teresa Torro (Spain) beat Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) 6-0 6-4 (0-100)
Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (Austria) beat 29-Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) 7-6(2) 6-3 (0-100)

[super8]

BOTP Stats & Predictions as below

(Predictions is an attached file for download)

[JAMES4578]

First big upset as Sam Stosur goes down in 3 to 17 year old american qualifier Victoria Duval despite being a set and 4-2 up at one point. She had recently split from long term coach David Taylor and despite some disappointing results lately which has seen her drop out of the top 10 she did beat Azarenka to win the Carlsbad event at the beginning of the month. Not good for me as I had her in the quarters,though I see everyone at least put her in the 4th round.

[super8]

That was quite a surprise, wasn't it! Former USO champion, of course…

BOTP table after day 02 as follows..

[super8]

BOTP after day 03.

Not many matches today..!

Am about to go away, so next update on Monday or Tuesday..

[JAMES4578]

Another upset as Kvitova goes down to Riske,perpaps Petra under performing not so much of a surprise these days but the 6-3, 6-0 scoreline to the American ranked 81 must be a worry,though apparently health issues. In the event only had her going another round.

[super8]

Hello :)

Back from my wanderings. No contact with any news, interweb, 3G throughout that time, so have no idea how things have been going with US Open!

In process of catching up with BOTP. Will do 1 day at a time, but should be fully up to date by end of today - hopefully!

Have done day 4 - which completed the results for round 2 matches.

Here are the results/ stats and BOTP table..

1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Galina Voskoboeva (Kazakhstan) 6-3 6-0 (100-0)
16-Sabine Lisicki (Germany) beat Paula Ormaechea (Argentina) 6-2 6-3 (100-0)
2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat Aleksandra Wozniak (Canada) 6-3 6-1 (100-0)
21-Simona Halep (Romania) beat Donna Vekic (Croatia) 6-2 6-1 (100-0)
26-Alize Cornet (France) beat Ajla Tomljanovic (Croatia) 6-2 6-2 (100-0)
10-Roberta Vinci (Italy) beat Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 4-6 6-1 6-2 (94-6)
13-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Alexandra Dulgheru (Romania) 6-2 6-1 (94-0)
14-Maria Kirilenko (Russia) beat Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) 6-3 6-1 (94-0)
25-Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Slovakia) 6-4 6-1 (94-0)
6-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) beat Chanelle Scheepers (South Africa) 6-1 6-2 (94-6)
8-Angelique Kerber (Germany) beat Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 6-4 2-6 6-3 (94-6)

9-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat Alisa Kleybanova (Russia) 6-3 6-2 (88-6)
7-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat Bojana Jovanovski (Serbia) 6-2 6-4 (81-0)
24-Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands (U.S.) 6-4 6-4 (75-25)
27-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Peng Shuai (China) 6-1 4-6 6-4 (75-25)

Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) beat Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (Austria) 6-2 6-3 (19-0)
Christina Mchale (U.S.) beat Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 6-4 3-6 7-5 (6-0)
Flavia Pennetta (Italy) beat 4-Sara Errani (Italy) 6-3 6-1 (6-94)
Karin Knapp (Italy) beat 22-Elena Vesnina (Russia) 6-1 6-4 (6-94)
Kurumi Nara (Japan) beat 19-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 7-5 6-1 (6-94)

Alison Riske (U.S.) beat 28-Mona Barthel (Germany) 6-4 6-2 (0-88)
Camila Giorgi (Italy) beat Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan) 6-4 7-6(8) (0-25)
Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Victoria Duval (U.S.) 6-2 6-3 (0-0)
Julia Glushko (Israel) beat Sachia Vickery (U.S.) 7-5 6-3 (0-0)

A few blanks for BOTP folk there - eek!! For those Hantuchova & Glushko results, we had Petrova, Stosur. Dani and surprise package Julia Glushko (qualifier from Israel actually play each other in the next round.

Or should say - have played each other already. I'm catching up here..!!

Quick mentions for the lone maverick picks (6%ers):

Mchale - DN
Pennetta - NL/S8
Knapp - James4578
Nara - IconA (Good pick!!)

Very tight at the top of the table. As I was updating it for the results, about 6 different BOTPers were in the lead at one point or another. Shows how things can and probably will change with the odd result here and there.

[super8]

BOTP: Day 5 (last Friday's matches!)

I had previously written that there were 6 matches played on this day - according to Reuters. There were actually 8, so I have updated the summary & results..

Results and stats for the 8 matches played:

1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) 6-3 6-1 (100-0)
3-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat 32-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) 6-4 7-6(1) (100-0)
5-Li Na (China) beat 30-Laura Robson (Britain) 6-2 7-5 (94-6)
15-Sloane Stephens (U.S.) beat 23-Jamie Hampton (U.S.) 6-1 6-3 (88-12)
8-Angelique Kerber (Germany) beat 25-Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) 6-0 6-4 (88-6)
9-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat Kurumi Nara (Japan) 6-4 7-6(5) (75-0)
18-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) beat Zheng Jie (China) 6-2 6-4 (38-0)
24-Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) beat 16-Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 6-4 7-5 (19-81)

Most folk picked 6 or 7 out of the 8 results correctly, with the Ekat Mak match upsetting the BOTP applecart somewhat. It was a good result for iconA, James4578 and tlim, mind!

The CSN win over little Jie was also a good pick for 38% of BOTPers. Everyone else had opted for Flipper.

BOTP table, as below. Until the Suarez-Navarro result, there had not been much change in the table. Anyone who picked that win therefore tended to move up the table, or consolidate their position. Big Al and James moved up into the top 3, closing in on Dave still in pole position and NL/ S8, in second place.

Poor alli seem to have residency of the BOTP basement just now. Could be equally as competitive at both ends of the table, at this rate..

Day 6 report to follow. I already have the 8 results from that one, so hopefully no rewrites needed, this time!

[super8]

BOTP: Day 06

Ok.. the 8 round 03 results from the bottom half of the draw were as follows:

2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat 26-Alize Cornet (France) 6-7(2) 6-3 6-2 (100-0)
10-Roberta Vinci (Italy) beat Karin Knapp (Italy) 6-4 6-3 (75-0)
13-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Christina Mchale (U.S.) 4-6 7-5 6-4 (63-0)

21-Simona Halep (Romania) beat 14-Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 6-1 6-0 (38-56)

Alison Riske (U.S.) beat 7-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-0 (0-81)
Camila Giorgi (Italy) beat 6-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 4-6 6-4 6-3 (0-81)
Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Julia Glushko (Israel) 3-6 7-5 7-6(4) (0-0)
Flavia Pennetta (Italy) beat 27-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 7-5 6-1 (0-19)

Blimey. BOTP was chugging along nicely - and then.. carnage.

4 of the 8 matches drew blanks from BOTP crowd!

The Dani v Glushko match was of course a double-bagel match. Should have been a Stosur v Petrova match, that. Obviously Kvitova & Wozaniacki relatively big surprises. Also Flavia Pennetta rolling back the years to defeat Kuznetsova. 81% had picked Errani to take that round 4 slot.

I think we had our first swing vote match today, with Halep v Kirilenko being a 38:56 split. The fact that Simona beat Kirilenko 1 and 0 is quite a result. Shows her as a form player in recent months, and I guess puts Heather Watson's round 1 defeat into context?

The swing match certainly had an impact at the top of BOTP table, where big al moved up to share pole position with DAR. The other big change was poor James taking a big tumble from 3rd to 11th, with most of the other movements in the table being as a result of that.

So.. round 03 completed. Day 07 results to follow later on.

[super8]

BOTP Report: day 07

Day 07 saw the 4 round 4 matches from the top half of the draw completed.

Results as follows:

1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat 15-Sloane Stephens (U.S.) 6-4 6-1 (100-0)
5-Li Na (China) beat 9-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 6-3 6-0 (69-25)

18-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) beat 8-Angelique Kerber (Germany) 4-6 6-3 7-6(3) (6-75)
24-Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) beat 3-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 6-4 6-4 (0-94)

Quite wildly variable pick rates for these 4 matches!

Obviously the big shock was Aga Rad exiting at the hands of Ekat Mak, who seems on an Eastbourne-style streak again.

SuperNa v Lady JaJa was the 50:50 match, this time. Who knows how that swing pick will impact BOTP eventually?

Maverick points for the lone pick of CSN goes to nevets - bravo!

nevets was the BOTP headline for the day, top-scoring with an excellent 3 out of 4 picks, and motoring 6 places up the table to 3rd spot. Not a good day for joint leader DAR who picked 1 out of 4, and tumbled to 4th as a result - but still not far off the pace.

big al moved into first place outright, with NL/ S8 remaining in second place.

With the points per win increasing, nevets' ascent just shows how much things can change now in BOTP. Who knows how this will pan out?

[super8]

BOTP - Day 08

Just 3 of the remaining 4th round matches were played today. Results as follows:

10-Roberta Vinci (Italy) beat Camila Giorgi (Italy) 6-4 6-2 (31-0)
Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Alison Riske (U.S.) 6-3 5-7 6-2 (0-0)
Flavia Pennetta (Italy) beat 21-Simona Halep (Romania) 6-2 7-6(3) (0-38)

Another tough day for the BOTP crowd, it seems!

It was - relatively speaking - a good day for you if you were one of the 31% of folk who picked Roberta Vinci to win. You would then be the only people to score points today!

Those who had picked Kirilenko got out of jail a wee bit, with Flavia Pennetta continuing her run at the expense of in-form Simona Halep.

Great to see Dani Hantuchova continue her dream run too. I'm sure that in the US Open BOTP back in 2009, many would have had Dani and Flavia doing well back then.

From the BOTP table, it is therefore easy to tell most of the folk who picked Vinci - NL/ S8, nevets, Cazza and Linda - but also Alli, who closed the gap a little on tlim at the BOTP basement.

As a result, there were several changes to the top 4 of the table. Big Al dropped to 3rd, whilst NL/S8 and nevets moved into the top 2 positions. Both Cazza and Linda motored up 4 places to join DAR in 4th spot.

One more round 4 match to complete on day 9 (today) - then it's 5 points per win.

….. and that is BOTP up to date!! Many thanks for your patience with this. I should be relatively prompt with updates for the remainder of the tournament.. :)

[super8]

Quick BOTP Update.

The quarter finals look like this:

Serena Williams (USA) [1]
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) [18]

Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) [24]
Na Li (CHN) [5]

Roberta Vinci (ITA) [10]
Flavia Pennetta (ITA)

Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [2]


No-one has more than 5 quarter finalists left, due to the collective efforts of CSN, Dani, Flavia and Ekat Mak.

btw - if they win their quarter final matches, then that will be the BOTP comp done and dusted!!

I suspect that the odds on that will be very long though...

[Linda]

Welcome back Super8 and many thanks for taking the time to do all these updates :thanks:

[super8]

BOTP: Day 09

Well, today saw completion of the final 4th round match, plus the quarter final matches from the top half of the draw.

Here is the BOTP table after those matches.

Brief summation:

Serena 100%
Vika 94%
Na Li 25%

Will add a wee bit more when it's not so late!

[super8]

BOTP: Day 09

Ok - here are the results from yesterday.

Round 4

2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat 13-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 4-6 6-3 6-4 (94-0)

Quarter Finals

1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat 18-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 6-0 6-0 (100-0)
5-Li Na (China) beat 24-Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) 6-4 6-7(5) 6-2 (25-0)

Well, the biggest winners from the 3 matches were those who picked Na Li to make the semi finals. A ver handy 5 points for Big Al, DN, fah51 and vivahate. 69% of BOTP folk had picked Aga Rad and 6% had picked Lisicki.

The result of this was that Big Al displaced NL/S8 at the top of the BOTP table, and DN and fah51 moved up 3 and 4 places respectively to 4th and 5th..

Strangely the table reads as follows:

1-5 Centre Court Folk
6-10 Andy Murray Folk
11-16 Centre Court Folk

How odd!

Anyway (ahem) back to the tennis. It's still tight at the top - 5 more matches to go.. how will they impact BOTP?

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 10

Well, the 2 quarter final marches from the bottom half of the draw were played today:

2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-2 6-3 (94-0)
Flavia Pennetta (Italy) beat 10-Roberta Vinci (Italy) 6-4 6-1 (-)

The only person not picking the Belarussian to make the semis was Alli who had hit maverick mode in picking little Dom. If only, Alli, if only!!

By all accounts, Flavia played a super match to defeat her friend and compatriot, and reach the semi final of a slam for the very first time. Forza Flavia!!

It is interesting to note how open Flavia's quarter of the draw actually was. Whilst Serena, Vika were shoe-ins for their quarters, and the other quarter a split between Li Na and Aga Rad, the openness of the other quarter was reflected in the BOTP picks for the semi finalist.

These were as follows:

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) [6] 31.25
Simona Halep (ROU) [21] 25.00
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) [14] 18.75
Sara Errani (ITA) [4] 18.75
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) [27] 6.25

The BOTP vote was very spread out!! It is telling that Pennetta beat 3 of the players on this list to make the semis - just shows how richly she deserves her semi final berth.

How does this impact the BOTP table? Well, apart from Alli consolidating her position in the BOTP basement, the fact that everyone else scored 5 points meant that it was a case of 'as you were'..

Moving onwards to the Semi Finals tomorrow. It's the brand new USO schedule this weekend, isn't it? How dose everyone feel about the new format? I think the women's final is on Sunday and men's on Monday - is that right?

[super8]

BOTP Results: Day 11: Semi Finals

Hello,

Well, here are the results, BOTP stats and table after the semi final matches played on Friday:

1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat 5-Li Na (China) 6-0 6-3 (100-0)
2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 6-4 6-2 (88-0)


Well, just about everyone picked the favourites to make the final - and the favourites duly justified the BOTP faith. Everyone picked Serena to make the final, and only 2 folk didn't pick Azarenka. Cibulkova had Alli's vote, of course - and iconA picked Wozniacki to make another US Open final.

The uniformity of the picks therefore meant that the BOTP table was pretty static again. The only movement in the table was iconA swapping places with tlim to become alli's new neighbour in the BOTP basement.

It's a shame that neither Pennetta nor Li Na were able to pull off an upset - but I guess the rankings don't lie, and Azarenka might well be the one most likely to challenge Serena.

One more result to go, then. Can Vika win her first US Open slam after serving for this title last year - or will Serena make yet more progress in that slam winners' list?

[super8]

Hello,

Well, here is the final BOTP table, stat, result:

1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat 2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 7-5 6-7(6) 6-1 (94-6)

I guess that in some ways, it was similar to the men's final - eventual winner wins the first set, fightback from opponent, and final/ winning set not quite the stirring climax that everyone might have hoped for. And worthy finalists, playing well in spite of the windy conditions.

Well, everyone had points riding on this result. The lone BOTPer picking Vika was Liam and of course everyone else went for Serena. Predictable, perhaps, but vindicated by the end result.

So, the uniformity of the BOTP predictions means once again that there is very little change in the table. The winner of the US Open 2013 BOTP is therefore Big Al, who is making a bit of a habit of winning these WTA Pick 'ems. Well done Al!!

In second place was, um, NL/ Super8, who actually got the most correct picks. The pivotal result deciding this BOTP was probably the Li Na/ Aga Rad semi final pick. I am pretty certain that this isn't the first time that picking Li Na has helped Al secure a BOTP title.

In 3rd place was nevets, who recovered so well from his slow start. I suspect that had Flavia Pennetta not gone on a rampage in her quarter of the draw, then nevets might well have won this one on the back of a good run from Halep. Just can't legislate for players who show no form at all prior to the tournament!!

At the other end of the table, poor Alli secured residency of the BOTP basement early on and didn't seem keen to relinquish the keys to this. Alli had a few maverick picks, which could really have reaped big dividends in what is often quite an unpredictable slam - but I guess many of the results did go to plan.

Overall, I think that we all did pretty well, in spite of the likes of Pennetta, Makarova, Giorgi, Riske ripping up the form book. If I get time over the next few months, I will cobble together some stats in terms of BOTP rankings over a number of the tournaments. I shall have to figure out the maths to that though! There has now been 19 BOTPs, so it seems worth doing something with that.

Anyway, I will sign off for now. Many thanks to you all for taking part at such notice, and for being patient with my wanderings, mid-tournament. I hope that you enjoyed it.

[Linda]

Many thanks for running this again and congrats to the top scorers! :clap: :clap: