RallyIQ

Beijing · SF · Hard · 5 Oct 2024

Karolina Muchova v Qinwen Zheng

67–51 in points · Karolina Muchova won

Why it went the way it did

Karolina Muchova won 8.3 more points than Qinwen Zheng relative to what the serve alone predicted. Qinwen Zheng's biggest leaks: forehand execution −4.7, backhand execution −2.7, serve 2nd execution −1.8.

Each shot moves its hitter's chance of winning the point. Those moves are split into direction choice, shot selection and execution, and summed here. Read both columns together: one player's gain is the other's loss.

ShotKarolina MuchovaQinwen Zheng
DirSelExecTotalDirSelExecTotal
Serve 1st +0.2 +0.1 +0.6 +0.9 +0.6 +0.1 −1.4 −0.8
Serve 2nd +0.1 ±0.0 −0.4 −0.3 ±0.0 ±0.0 −1.8 −1.7
Return +0.2 −0.9 −0.3 −1.1 ±0.0 +0.3 −0.5 −0.2
Forehand +0.2 +0.6 +1.3 +2.2 +0.4 +1.3 −4.7 −3.0
Backhand −0.4 +0.8 −1.1 −0.7 +0.1 +0.4 −2.7 −2.2
Slice ±0.0 −1.7 ±0.0 −1.7 ±0.0 −0.8 −0.7 −1.4
Net +0.2 +0.1 +0.2 +0.4 +0.3 +0.7 −0.8 +0.2
Touch +0.1 +0.1 −0.2 −0.1 +0.1 ±0.0 +0.3 +0.3
All shots +0.5−0.9 ±0.0−0.4 +1.6+2.0 −12.3−8.7

Set by set

SetKarolina MuchovaQinwen ZhengNet, Karolina
1−0.6−2.2 +1.5
2+0.2−6.6 +6.8

Adaptation

First-serve direction mix set by set, with the share of points each direction won. The scores measure whether the server moved toward the directions that had been winning earlier in this match, set to set and every two to three service games, in points per 100 first serves. Read them as a habit, not a gain: across the tour, a direction's edge in early sets barely predicts the later ones. Whether the returner responded can't be told apart from noise within one match.

Karolina Muchova serving

SetWideBodyT
1 70% 70% 12% 25% 18% 83%
2 61% 86% 22% 100% 17% 50%

Set to set −1.33 per 100 first serves in sets 2+

Within sets −0.21 per 100 first serves, every two to three service games

Qinwen Zheng serving

SetWideBodyT
1 55% 73% 5% 0% 40% 63%
2 78% 59% – 22% 44%

Within sets +1.59 per 100 first serves, every two to three service games

Counterfactual: the best direction every time

If each shot had gone in the direction that is usually worth most for that stroke and position, this is how many more points each player would expect to win. It's an upper bound: the best direction isn't always on, and the chart can't see the ball's pace or position.

Karolina Muchova

4.0 points left on the table across 143 shots 2.79 per 100 shots

  1. Serve +1: mid-depth return to your middle hit BH through the middle ×4; BH crosscourt rates higher · 0.25 pts
  2. Rally, shots 5–8: drive to your backhand side hit BH through the middle ×5; BH crosscourt rates higher · 0.21 pts
  3. Serve +1: mid-depth return to your middle hit BH through the middle + approach ×1; BH crosscourt + approach rates higher · 0.21 pts
  4. Serve +1: mid-depth return to your middle hit FH volley through the middle ×1; FH volley crosscourt rates higher · 0.20 pts

Qinwen Zheng

3.8 points left on the table across 152 shots 2.48 per 100 shots

  1. Return of a 1st serve, wide, ad court hit BH through the middle ×8; BH crosscourt rates higher · 0.23 pts
  2. Return +1: drive to your middle hit FH through the middle ×3; FH down the line rates higher · 0.19 pts
  3. Return of a 1st serve, wide, ad court hit BH down the line ×2; BH crosscourt rates higher · 0.19 pts
  4. Serve +1: short return to your forehand side hit FH through the middle ×1; FH crosscourt rates higher · 0.14 pts