Wk.19- Gracias, Madrid

One could make a case that the WTA just had the sort of week that dreams are made of.

Week 19's event in Madrid included the early-outs of the likes of players named Azarenka, Li, Wozniacki, Radwanska and Kvitova. But it didn't really matter. Even as some occurrences produced a spate of hand-wringing last week, the women's game's two biggest names set off on a collision course for the final. And that's always a good thing. Although it all ended in fairly predictable fashion, Madrid was all about the journey, as one of the best shows in sport took a rare, non-slam dance in the worldwide spotlight. So what if much of what was talked about actually happened occurred OFF the court, it was still a fabulously fun week.

We saw Maria Sharapova make headlines for magazine covers and being the focal point of press-related spy games as photographic evidence was finally uncovered -- perhaps because of a parked-in-public-view blue Porsche won in Stuttgart by a certain blond, Siberian-born candy maven -- of the Russian's much-rumored relationship with Bulgarian tennis (soon-to-be supernovic?) star Grigor Dimitrov. Gotcha!

After one win, Sharapova wrote "How did you catch us?" on a courtside camera lens. Priceless.

We saw Sloane Stephens put on a full frontal assault against Serena Williams via a magazine interview and social media, shining a light on the world #1's egregious use of the "unfollow" button and her unwillingness to buddy-up to the player who got a win against her in Melbourne. Essentially, it all single-handedly set back the young Bannerette's entire generation in the eyes of every living generation that came before it, until an actual grown-up -- Venus Williams -- quite possibly brokered a Stephens face-saving "peace deal." That Venus managed this while also taking the time to purchase a stake in the WTT along with Andy Roddick says much about her multi-tasking abilities. Venus for WTA CEO!

After another win, Sharapova wrote about her going over ten million followers on Facebook. Not quite as priceless, but a nice "See, I'm just like everyone else" moment for Maria.

Oh, some things happened ON the court, too. I mean, who could overlook the return of Victoria Azarenka? In two straight-sets matches, she managed to show sides of the "bratty" Vika that all the Whack-a-Vika aficionados love to look down their noses at, while also giving those of us who tend to fall under her I'll-say-what-I-want-because-I'm-thinking-it-at-the-moment charm when she reminded everyone why we still feel that nagging tightening in the gut whenever they see a match being umpired by Mariana Alves.

Oh, how did it take so long for this space to make Vika its "face?"

Meanwhile, there were actual on-court impressions made, too. Imagine that. Namely, that Serena might just be ready to make up for lost time in Paris starting in a couple weeks. After getting off to not-great starts most of last week -- winning a 1st set tie-break vs. Yulia Putintseva in the 1st Round, dropping a love set to Anabel Medina-Garrigues and falling behind 4-2 in the 3rd in the QF, and winning a tight 7-5 1st set over Sara Errani in the SF -- Williams had no such difficulty when she faced off with Sharapova in the final, as the world's top two ranked players met to decide the #1 ranking.

Going into Sunday, the Russian hadn't lost a set all week, but she was never really in contention in the final. Of course, that's nothing new in tennis' "best non-rivalry rivalry," as the one set won by Sharapova when the two met in the Miami final in March was just an aberration in a head-to-head history that has been remarkably one-sided for nearly nine years. Since getting Williams' attention (Are you listening, Sloane? If you ask Maria about the bear trap you stepped in last week, you might want to go ahead and start gnawing on your foot right now.) with two wins over her in 2004, Sharapova never sees the "Serena hospitality" that the American sometimes bestows upon others, when she has a hard time getting herself focused and all the working parts of her game into gear on certain days. Maria pretty much always gets the Serena who sternly asks, "What are you doing on MY court?" when they meet. As a result, Sharapova just isn't the same mentally strong player against Williams that she is against most other mortals. I guess that goes with knowing that if your opponent plays her best you have little chance to win, an odd reality for the four-time slam champ.

Against Serena, Maria learns how "the other half" lives.

In the Madrid final, as has been the pattern with far lesser opponents in Williams' past, it was a case of Serena winning the 1st set in the tunnel before the warm-up, meaning she really only had to win one set for the title, the fiftieth of her career and fourth of 2013. While Williams was on top of her game from point #1, Sharapova was far from it. In fact, she opened the match with a double-fault, the first of three straight service games that she began with a DF. She was broken in the first two as Serena built a 4-0 advantage. In Game #5, the Russian managed to hold on her fifth game point after double-faulting on two previous GP. While Williams would easily take the 1st set at 6-1, Sharapova coach Thomas Hogstedt told her to go forward, and that she had nothing to fear against Williams. What was the worst that could happen, that she'd lose to her once again?

Sharapova took to Hogstedt's words early in the 2nd. After Williams framed a shot and followed it with an error to hand the Russian a break in Game #1, Sharapova had a nice hold for 2-0 and seemed set to maybe at least make a match of the set. It didn't last long, though, as DF #6 led to a love break for 3-3. Serena saved a BP with a huge serve and held for 4-3, effectively ending Sharapova's chances in the match. Up 5-4, with Sharapova on serve, Williams outhit Sharapova on the first two points of the game, then saw a DF and forehand error on match point finally put the period on the end of Serena's 6-1/6-4 win, her twelfth straight over her opponent. Williams served at nearly an 80% clip for the match, highlighting just how much of a difference there can be between a world #1 on her "worst surface" against a world #2 on her best.

Who knew?

And now comes Rome, where Sharapova is the two-time defending champion, and where this very same match-up could greet us next weekend. The last time Williams won in Rome was 2002... hmm, the very same year she last won Roland Garros. It sort of makes me think back to the potentially telling, as statements like this from Williams have a tendency to be, "lament" made by Serena before the season about her lack of a second RG trophy. "I only have one lonely trophy. He has spider webs on him," she said. It sort of sounded then like she was planning on doing a little housecleaning, and it still does for a player who is now 28-1 on clay over the last two seasons, and who has an intense desire to erase from existence that single loss -- a squandered-lead shocker to Virginie Razzano in Paris -- that she already likes to say never really happened.

No matter what occurs this week in Rome, Sharapova might still go to Paris as the favorite to defend -- or maybe the CO-fave with you-know-who, but that notion would all rest on Serena's renowned bad luck in the City of Lights rearing its ugly head yet again. Another win in Rome, in the final over Sharapova, just might set a course that even Williams' Paris demons might not be able to alter.

Maria might always have Paris, but Serena wants it back. In the post-final ceremony in Madrid, Williams surprisingly addressed the crowd with some passable Spanish. "Gracias," she said, before sheepishly handing off the microphone with a chuckle.

After last week in Madrid, on and off court, the WTA might be saying the same thing.



*WEEK 19 CHAMPIONS*
MADRID, SPAIN (Premier €4.033/RCO)
S: Serena Williams/USA def. Maria Sharapova/RUS 6-1/6-4
D: Pavlyuchenkova/Safarova (RUS/CZE) d. Black/Erakovic (ZIM/NZL)


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Serena Williams/USA

...career tour title #50 came a day after career tour match win #500 for Williams, who pushed her record on clay to 28-1 over the last two seasons, and her head-to-head against Sharapova to 13-2. Currently riding a 19-match win streak, Serena thus passes Azarenka's "unofficial" (since two walkover exits were thrown into the mix) tour-best season mark of eighteen in a row. Last year, of course, Vika strung together a 26-match streak. Williams would get to twenty-four with a title in Rome this week.
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RISERS: Sara Errani/ITA & Ekaterina Makarova/RUS
...no one's overlooking Errani anymore, and certainly not on clay. If they are, well, then they aren't paying much attention. Or they broadcast for ESPN2, I guess. No difference. Anyway, Errani, interestingly continuing the practice of foregoing the regular doubles pairing with Roberta Vinci (even as the pair still sport a 28-match clay winning streak), put up her fourth SF-or-better result of 2013, getting Madrid wins over Urszula Radwanska, Sorana Cirstea, Varvara Lepchenko and Ekaterina Makarova before putting up a close 1st set (7-5) against Serena in the final four. Speaking of Makarova, she, too, continues to move up the rankings. After Madrid wins over Lucie Safarova, Victoria Azarenka and Marion Bartoli en route to the QF, the Hordette is back in the Top 20 at #20, just one spot off the career-best ranking she held in January.
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SURPRISES: Lucie Safarova/CZE & Asia Muhammad/USA
...coming into this season, Safarova had only won one tour doubles title in a career that spanned a decade. So far in 2013, she's already won two. In Charleston, with Kristina Mladenovic, she defended the title she'd won there a year earlier with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. This weekend in Madrid, she picked up another crown with the Russian, who joined with her to defeat Mladenovic (w/ Galina Voskoboeva) in the semis. In the new rankings, Safarova is now up to a career-best doubles rank of #22. Meanwhile, 22-year old Asia Muhammad won this week's ITF "Hey, Didn't You Used to Be...?" Award, taking the $25K challenger in Raleigh, North Carolina with wins over Maria-Fernanda Alves, Jamie Loeb, Samantha Crawford and Chalena Scholl in the final. It's Muhammad's second career ITF win, but her first since taking a $10K crown in 2007. In fact, she hasn't even reached an ITF semifinal since 2008. Asia was so hot last week that she threw in an appearance in the doubles final, too, just for kicks and giggles.
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VETERANS: Maria Sharapova/RUS & Anabel Medina-Garrigues/ESP

...another final (the 50th of her career), another loss to Serena (#13). The Madrid defeat is Sharapova's fifth straight in a final against Williams over the last seven seasons, and the twelfth consecutive loss to her since the start of '05. Straight sets wins over Alexandra Dulgheru, Christina McHale, Sabine Lisicki, Kaia Kanepi and Ana Ivanovic, not to mention eschewing any potential flower shop endorsements, appearing on a swimsuit cover for Latin American Esquire magazine, and being officially "outed" as Grigor Dimitrov's girlfriend on the streets of Madrid just days after his upset of world #1 Novak Djokovic had made Sharapova the big story of the week. Well, until she no longer was, that is. One final stinging stat: Sharapova is 28-4 this season, with three of those losses coming to Serena. Meanwhile, Medina-Garrigues had a pretty good, pretty fortuitous week in Madrid. A wild card in the draw, she saw Venus Williams pull out of her 1st Round match with the Spanish vet. Instead, AMG got "lucky loser" Stefanie Voegele, then another LL in Madison Keys in the 2nd, and a walkover from Yaroslava Shvedova in the 3rd. Facing off with Serena in the QF, she actually bageled Williams in the 2nd set and led 4-2 in the 3rd before the predictable happened and the American pulled things together. At least it freed AMG up to head to Rome to attempt to qualify for the main draw there, which she did over the weekend, wrapping up a berth with a win on Sunday over Yulia Putintseva, with whom Serena had opened up the week in Madrid with a 1st Round win. Sometimes the Tennis Gods like to wrap things up in a little bow, which they can then unravel at a later date.
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COMEBACKS: Ana Ivanovic/SRB & Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova/CZE
...well, it's been five years since AnaIvo won Roland Garros, and it's becoming harder and harder to remember the moment. But she's still trying to fight her way back into the Top 10, and is making some decent progress. In Madrid, she notched wins over Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Chanelle Scheepers (who'd defeated JJ in the 1st Round), Laura Robson and Angelique Kerber before falling to Sharapova in the semifinals. She's now at #13 in the rankings, 650 points behind #10 Sam Stosur. Zahlavova-Strycova, now back from her six-month doping violation suspension, claimed the $75K Trnava, SVK challenger with wins over Katerina Siniakova, Serbian Bad Luck Charm Vesna Dolonc, Serbian Good Luck Charm Aleksandra Krunic and Karin Knapp in the final. Coming in ranked #189, BZS had been 0-3 this season since returning to action in mid-April after having tested positive last year for a stimulant she'd said had entered her system when she used the weight loss supplement ACAI Berry Thin.
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FRESH FACE: Laura Robson/GBR
...all right, so it was an up-and-down week for Robson. But after the slip-slidey nature of her season following her Australian Open upset of Petra Kvitova, I think she'll take Madrid and run with it for as long as she can (which might not be long, as she'll face Venus in the 1st Round in Rome). Either way, last week in Spain, Robson threw coach Zeljko Krajan over the side, got a straight sets win over Agnieszka Radwanska in the 2nd Round, led Ana Ivanovic 5-2 in the 3rd set and had two chances to serve out the match against the eventual semifinalist. She didn't, but why quibble? At least she didn't get into a social media battle with a player who'll now forever after (and a day) have her name on her you-know-what list. And I'm not talking about Aga, either.
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DOWN: Victoria Azarenka/BLR
...playing for the first time since mid-March, when she pulled out of the Indian Wells QF with foot and ankle injuries, Azarenka showed a bit of rust on both her game and her on-court demeanor in Madrid. On the bright side, she battled with Oeiras champ Anastasia Pavlychenkova in the 1st Round, winning a pair of tie-breaks to advance, but then went down in straights one round later to Ekaterina Makarova. A few rackets sacrificed their natural lives in the effort, as well, as did chair umpire Mariana Alves' belief (far-flung hope?) that some of her own worst on-court moments had been lost to time and memory lapses. Ummm, no. Just like Serena, who's had her own issues with Alves in the past, Vika doesn't forget. Hmmm, that sounds like a good #13 for the "Reasons to Love Vika" list I started last season.
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ITF PLAYER: Caroline Garcia/FRA
...two years ago, the then 17-year old Pastry made quite the name for herself in Paris when she took a 6-3/4-1 lead against Maria Sharapova in their 2nd Round match at Roland Garros. Garcia ultimately lost that match, but her future seemed bright. It still might be, but she's pretty much hovered between #130-150 ever since. Her win at the ITF circuit event in Cagnes-sur-mer, France -- she defeated Maryna Zanevska in the final -- gave her the second $100K challenger title of her career. Still just 19, Garcia climbs to a new career-high rank of #114 this week.
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JUNIOR STAR: Maria Bouzkova/CZE
...one Maria had ultimate success this weekend. It's just that this one was Czech, not Russian. The 14-year old Maiden, the #2 seed at the Grade 1 Mediterranee Avenis junior event in Morocco, claimed the her first G1 title with a win in the final over American Johnise Renaud. From Prague, the #81-ranked girl also lost in the doubles final with Sara Tomic (what an odd she must have had, huh?), who'd been the #1-ranked singles seed at the start of the week. Of some interest, Bouzkova's ITF site bio says that she started playing tennis at the age of 1. Which begs the question, do they even make rackets that small?
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1. Madrid 1st Rd. - Azarenka d. Pavlyuchenkova
...7-6(8)/7-6(3). Vika saved three set points in the 1st, winning on her own ninth. In the 2nd, she saved three more after squandering a 5-2 lead. Once more, Pavlyuchenkova takes two steps forward, and one step back after winning in Oeiras a couple of days before. Naturally, befitting her whiplash-style results, A-Pav went on to win the doubles.
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2. Madrid 2nd Rd. - Makarova d. Azarenka

...1-6/6-2/6-3. Vika didn't end her week as well as Pavlyuchenkova, though. Instead, she jumped in a time machine, broke a few rackets and delivered a withering little retort to chair umpire Mariana Alves that might just have to be included on the "Reasons to Love Vika" list, too. In fact, let's call it Entry #14. In case you can't make out Vika's words, she said, "After all you've done, how are you still in the game?" Remember, Alves' list of questionable moments go all the way back to the 2004 U.S. quarterfinal between Serena and Jennifer Capriati, which included the slew of controversial calls from Alves that almost single-handedly brought the current instant replay system into the sport.
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3. Madrid 2nd Rd. - Hantuchova d. Kvitova
...2-6/6-2/6-3. Wake me when it's over. Hey, where's that time machine?
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4. $10K Villa Maria Final - Montserrat Gonzalez d. Camila Silva
...6-3/4-6/6-3. The 18-year old from Paraguay wins her second straight title in her third consecutive final. Hmmm, I wonder if Sharapova would consider buying a summer home at this place? I'm sure there are places to park blue Porsches.
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5. $10K Sharm El Sheikh Final - Ipek Soylu/TUR d. Camilla Rosatello/ITA
...7-5/6-1. The 17-year from Turkey wins her first career ITF singles crown.
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HM- Rome Q2 - Oudin d. Hampton
...4-6/6-3/6-3. Hmmm, somehow I doubt that Oudin's advice earlier this season to Sloane Stephens included getting into a magazine/social media playground fight with the baddest female tennis player on earth. Ah, kids.
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1. Madrid Final - S.Williams d. Sharapova
...6-1/6-4. It's now been 101 months (and counting) since Sharapova last defeated Serena.
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2. Madrid 2nd Rd - Robson d. A.Radwanska 6-3/6-1
Madrid 3rd Rd. - Ivanovic d. Robson 5-7/6-2/7-6
...you mess with The Rad, you eventually get the horns. This time, pretty quickly, as Robson blew a 5-2 3rd set lead vs. AnaIvo, failed in two attempts to serve out the match, and then the "little Rad" sitting on her shoulder caused the Brit to be unbalanced and serve a DF on match point. Tsk, tsk.
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3. $50K Fukuoka Doubles SF - Namigata/E.Sema d. Bobusic/Sanders
...6-3/6-2. A week after getting some early-season payback in singles (in Gifu) against Sanders for "crimes against the Sema sisters," Erika gets it in doubles. And she didn't even have to leave Japan to do it, either.
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4. Madrid Doubles Final - Pavlyuchenkova/Safarova d. Black/Erakovic
...6-2/6-4. Black fails to get what would have been her biggest title since winning Madrid in '09 with Liezel Huber.
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5. Madrid 1st Rd. - S.Williams d. Putintseva 7-6/6-1
Madrid QF - S.Williams d. Medina-Garrigues 6-3/0-6/7-5
Rome Q2 - Medina-Garrigues d. Putintseva 4-6/7-6/7-5
...AMG wins the Serena Consolation Bowl.
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**MOST FINAL MATCH-UPS, 2012-13**
4...S.WILLIAMS (4) vs. SHARAPOVA (0)
4...Azarenka (3) vs. Sharapova (1)
3...S.Williams (2) vs. Azarenka (1)

**MOST WTA FINALS, 2011-13**
17...MARIA SHARAPOVA (7-10)
16...Victoria Azarenka (11-5)
15...SERENA WILLIAMS (13-2)
13...Caroline Wozniacki (8-5)
11...Petra Kvitova (9-2)
10...Agnieszka Radwanska (8-2)
10...Li Na (4-6)

**#1 vs. #2, 2012-13**
2012 Indian Wells Final - #1 Azarenka d. #2 Sharapova
2012 Stuttgart Final - #2 Sharapova d. #1 Azarenka
2012 Beijinb Final - #1 Azarenka d. #2 Sharapova
2012 WTA SF - #2 Sharapova d. #1 Azarenka
2013 Doha Final - #1 Azarenka d. #2 S.Williams
2013 Miami Final - #1 S.Williams d. #2 Sharapova
2013 MADRID FINAL - #1 S.WILLIAMS d. #2 SHARAPOVA
--
RECORDS: S.Williams (2-1), Azarenka (3-2), Sharapova (2-4)

**2013 SINGLES TITLES DEFENDED**
Australian Open - Victoria Azarenka, BLR
Doha - Victoria Azarenka, BLR
Acapulco - Sara Errani, ITA
Charleston - Serena Williams, USA
Stuttgart - Maria Sharapova, RUS
MADRID - SERENA WILLIAMS, USA





ROME, ITALY (Premier $2.216m/red clay outdoor)
12 Final: Sharapova d. Li
12 Doubles Champions: Errani/Vinci
13 Top Seeds: S.Williams/Sharapova
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=QF=
#1 S.Williams d. Pavlyuchenkova
#6 Li d. #4 A.Radwanska
#3 Azarenka d. Lisicki
#2 Sharapova d. #7 Errani
=SF=
#1 S.Williams d. #6 Li
#2 Sharapova d. #3 Azarenka
=FINAL=
#1 S.Williams d. #2 Sharapova

...will Serena be able to psych out Sharapova for Paris with a win here?


All for now.

Read more...

Wk.18- A Revolutionary Russian Renaissance?

Has it really been nine years since the official rise of the Hordettes?

Back in 2004, after gathering their forces on the borders of the WTA, the Russians "stormed the castle," taking three straight slams, the WTA Championships and the first of four Fed Cup titles over a five-year stretch. Anastasia Myskina, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova became slam champions, with Elena Dementieva twice being a major runner-up to her countrywomen. That season, four Russians finished the year ranked in the Top 6, and the nation has been a consistent force in the sport ever since. With numbers on their side, the Hordettes dominated large stretches of WTA action throughout the rest of the 2000's.

Two players from the generation (Sharapova and Dinara Safina) eventually rose to #1 in the world, and at least two Hordettes finished in the year-end Top 10 every season for nine straight years once Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva first did it in '03. Since Anna Kournikova became the first post-Soviet era Russian to find WTA success in 1997, finishing in the Top 10 in 2000, eight other Russian women have reached the Top 10 since '01, more than any other nation during that span. In all, they've won seven slam crowns, produced twelve major runner-ups, one singles Gold Medalist, and put four other players on the Olympic medal stand (including a sweep of all three spots in Beijing in '08). Ultimately, the level-headed Sharapova, after surviving career-threatening shoulder surgery, emerged as the most enduring Russian force in the sport, outlasting pretty much all of her more emotionally-hampered Russian countrywoman as a slam threat and completing a Career Grand Slam last season in Paris. For a while, it seemed as if the Russian pool of talent would be never-ending and forever slam-worthy.

But that notion has changed a little over the last few seasons.

Oh, the Hordettes still populate the tour, but the numbers have dwindled a bit and, save Sharapova, who had to stage a four-year comeback to do it, their slam "worthiness" hasn't been in the discussion for a while. The leading edge of players of the 2000's Russian tennis revolution, as is to be expected over the course of a nearly decade of play, has become tattered and torn, with many key figures disappearing altogether. Myskina is long gone, while Dementieva likely left a season or two too soon. The injury-plagued Safina doesn't appear to ever be coming back, while her injured countrywoman Vera Zvonareva had yet to play a match in '13. The enigmatic Kuznetsova, for her part, is still around, but sometimes doesn't seem to "be" on the court even when she is; while Anna Chakvetadze's fall from Top 5 player to "Do You Remember Her?" status came after a particularly nasty off-the-court hostage incident. Meanwhile, a slew of Russian-born players now play for Kazakhstan, and the expected second wave of "NextGen" Russian success has been slow in coming.

Some of their most impressive statistical numbers have taken hits, too. In 2012, for the first time since 2002, only a single Russian (Sharapova) finished in the Top 10. The Hordettes' streak of leading the tour as the nation with the most different singles champions in a given season ended (three nations had three to Russia's two). And while there were still more Russian singles finalists than from any other nation in 2011-12, Hordettes filled less than twenty final slots in those seasons after averaging twenty-nine a season from 2003-10. In 2011, only seven singles titles were won by Russians, the lowest total since 2002, when they won six. Then, in 2012, only six titles were claimed by Hordettes. 2012 was the only the second season since '03 in which a WTA final was not contested between two Russian women, and the first since '05. There has been at least one Russian in the semifinals of thirty-one of the last thirty-six slams, but only Sharapova has managed the feat over the last eight majors. And while the one-Russian-in-the-Top 10 streak was extended to ten years last year, no Hordette has authored a Top 10 ranking debut since 2007, when Chakvetadze was the last Russian to climb so high for the very first time.

Needless to say, it's not exactly a "buy now" trend.

Recently, though, there has been at least some light visible at the end of the proverbial Russian revolution tunnel, if such a thing exists. For one, almost single-handedly, Sharapova has lifted the standing of the entire group. She (briefly) returned to #1, won Roland Garros and seems on the verge of adding to her career slam haul this season and/or over the next few years. Not only that, but several late-blooming Russians are finding career-best success as the tour has become a more hospitable place for veterans. Maria Kirilenko, 26, had her best season-ending rank (#14) in '12, while 30-year old Nadia Petrova (at #12) had her best season since '08 last year. Ekaterina Makarova, 24, saw her first Top 20 season in '12 and has shined in Fed Cup play in '13, while earlier this season Elena Vesnina (26) finally won her first career title and has twice teamed with Makarova to win deciding doubles matches in FC play this year. Speaking of Fed Cup, with a group of players I "lovingly" call the Russian "B-Teamers," the Hordettes overcame a 2-0 deficit against the Slovak Republic in the semis to reach the final. They'll host the championship in Moscow later this season, looking for their first FC crown since 2008.

While the (so far) lack of follow-up success of the NextGen Hordettes surely hasn't constituted it being called a "lost generation," ala the post-Williams Sisters/Davenport/Capriati generation of Bannerettes, the younger group -- and the revolutionaries' late-blooming generational counterparts -- that have come after the 2004'ers has surely turned out to be an unpolished, less striking lot. They win, but rarely big, following in the footsteps of the likes of Safina and Zvonareva, who crumbled on court in their potentially-grandest days, not the big moment grabbing players like the multiple slam-winning Sharapova and Kuznetsova.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, now 21, has always been the key player who would determine precisely how the NextGen Hordettes would be viewed. A junior champ extraordinaire, she was touted while still a young teen as the "next Russian champion." For the most part, it hasn't happened. Blessed with a slam-competitive power groundstroke game, she's nonetheless had a hard time breaking through at big events. She reached two slam QF in '11, but failed after leading Francesca Schiavone in Paris 6-1/4-1 in her bid to reach her first slam semifinal, then immediately slumped in '12 and fell from her Top 20 ranking to barely inside the Top 40. Fitness questions and sometimes-freakish week-to-week consistency have bedeviled her up-then-down seasons the last few years. Earlier this year, she notched two Top 10 wins in Brisbane before being pollaxed by Serena Williams in the final. Still, her talent, even with all the two-steps-forward-and-one-step-back shenanigans, has shined through enough to allow her to grab five titles since 2010, the last coming this weekend in Oeiras, Portugal. With two titles in hand, on two different surfaces, already this season, has Pavlyuchenkova turned some sort of corner? Only time will tell.

The overall track record of the Russians has improved in 2013, too. After just two different Russians won singles titles last season, four have already done so this year. Pavlyuchenkova's Oeiras crown, coming a week after Sharapova's in Stuttgart -- the first time since '11 that two Hordettes have won titles in back-to-back weeks on tour -- gives the Russians six total titles in '13 through eighteen weeks, tying last year's full season mark, and just one fewer than 2011's total of seven.

While the overall impact of the follow-up generation of Russians, as well as most of the generations of players that will forever after come around down the road, will never edge close to the impact of the group of now-gone and current veteran Horde members who remain to "play for history," or simply play out the back-half (at best) of their careers, the lasting influence of the Hordettes who led the way nearly a decade ago will only grow stronger if Russia continues to be a WTA power player after proven champions like Sharapova are long gone.

Until another "next champion" comes along, Pavlyuchenkova is still the "key" player when it comes to the continuation of Russian success in the shadow of the revolution. As she goes, so will go the NextGen Hordettes.

Anastasia, it's your serve.



*WEEK 18 CHAMPIONS*
OEIRAS, PORTUGAL (Int'l $235K/RCO)
S: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS def. Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP 7-5/6-2
D: Y.Chan/Mladenovic (TPE/FRA) d. Jurak/Marosi (CRO/HUN)


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS

...while Pavlyuchenkova is still looking for consistency and a true grand slam breakthrough worthy of her position in the post-2004's Hordette generation, she's still managing to collect a fair number of singles titles on her way to where she's always been expected to be. Her Oeiras crown was her second of the season, and fifth of her career, and came after a string of wins over Shahar Peer, Estrella Cabeza-Candela, Elena Vesnina, Romina Oprandi and Carla Suarez-Navarro.
=============================
RISERS: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP & Romina Oprandi/SUI
...what with Elena Vesnina finally getting her first tour singles title earlier this year, CSN has become the most "hard-luck" player in the WTA. Once again, she put up a good showing in Oeiras, knocking out Marina Erakovic, Yanina Wickmayer, Monica Puig and defending champ Kaia Kanepi, getting a bit of payback after losing to the Estonian in the final a year ago when this tournament was held in Estoril. This was CSN's second '13 final, and the fifth of her career. Thing is, she's now 0-5 in those matches. Meanwhile, Oprandi, 27, continued to put up good "late-bloomer" numbers, getting Oeiras victories over Kiki Bertens, Peng Shuai and Svetana Kuznetsova to reach the semifinals, just the third such tour-level result of her career, but the first since she did it in 2011 on the grass in 's-Hertogenbosch.
=============================
SURPRISES: Monica Puig/PUR & Madison Keys/USA
...it's good to be lucky, and a "loser." Apparently. Both teenagers lost qualifying matches this past week, but ended up getting the last laugh. In Oeiras, Puig, after a nice win over Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor, was taken out by Galina Voskoboeva, only to slip into the main draw and get upset victories over Julia Goerges and Francesca Schiavone to reach her first career tour-level QF. This weekend in Madrid, Keys was felled by fellow Bannerette Bethanie Mattek-Sands, only to be a late replacement for Tamira Paszek in the main draw and get a HUGE 1st Round win over Li Na. In Sydney in January, Keys took Li to three sets in a quarterfinal match-up.
=============================
VETERANS: Petra Rampre/SLO & Shahar Peer/ISR
...33-year old Rampre, ranked #277 in the world, tied her best-ever ITF result with her third career $50K challenger title, winning the Indian Harbour Beach event in Florida with a 6-0/6-1 win in the final over Dia Evtimova. She got previous victories over the likes over Laura Pous-Tio and youngsters Mayo Hibi and Belinda Bencic. Earlier in Oeiras, Peer went 3-0 in qualifying -- getting wins over Karin Knapp, Anastasia Rodionova and Catalina Castano -- before falling in the 1st Round to eventual champ Pavlyuchenkova. Peer has put up a 9-2 mark in her recent forays into tour-level Q-rounds.
=============================
COMEBACKS: Kaia Kanepi/EST & Alexandra Dulgheru/ROU
...even though the Portugal Open wasn't held in Estoril, where she won the title a year ago, Oeiras was a mostly-suitiable replacement for Kanepi, who continued her latest comeback from injury by getting wins over Kristina Mladenovic, Sorana Cirstea and Ayumi Morita en route to the semifinals, where she lost to CSN, the player she beat in last year's final... hmmm, considering that, maybe "mostly-suitable" wasn't the right way to describe things. Oh, well. Forward movement is still good for the Estonian, who got a 1st Round win Sunday in Madrid over Flavia Pennetta. Dulgheru, a Top 30 player in 2011, was out from March to November last season after surgeries on both knees, an absence that caused her to take a nearly 200-spot tumble down the rankings. In January, Dulgheru won a small ITF event in Antalya, Turkey to begin to get a little traction in her comeback. Ranked at #363 this weekend in Madrid, her third tour-level event since she returned to the court at the end of last year, the Romanian won two qualifying matches (including one over Marina Erakovic) to reach the main draw.
=============================
FRESH FACES: Kristina Mladenovic/FRA & An-Sophie Mestach/BEL
...who wouldn't want to play doubles with Mladenovic? I mean, at the very least, you'd have a good shot to reach a final. In Oeiras, the Pastry reached her third consecutive doubles final -- with three different partners -- and won her third doubles crown of the season (also with three different partners). Chan Yung-Jan (who also won a 125 Series crown w/ her then-teenaged partner in '12) pulled the long straw this week in Portugal, celebrating with Mladenovic as Kristina won her fifth tour-level doubles crown since last August. And, altogether now, she's won those five titles with... five different partners. At the $50K challenger in Gifu, Japan, 19-year old Waffle Mestach claimed the biggest title of her career. After early wins over Yurika Sema and Kimiko Date-Krumm (via retirement), ASM won a 1-6/6-3/6-0 final over China's Wang Qiang, who dropped her second ITF singles final in as many weeks.
=============================
DOWN: Marion Bartoli/FRA & Caroline Wozniacki/DEN
...La Trufflette did well in her first-ever Fed Cup singles action two weeks ago, but her stint with new coach Jana Novotna has yet to bear any fruit on the regular tour. While she still sports the WTA's longest active Top 20 streak -- 309 weeks as of Monday -- Bartoli had dropped four consecutive tour-level singles matches after her 1st Round exit in Oeiras last week until finally getting a win on Sunday in Madrid when Elena Vesnina retired in the 2nd set of their 1st Round match. Meanwhile, a day after wishing a Twitter birthday to Rory McIlroy -- "Happy birthday to the most amazing person I know! @McIlroyRory today u are the oldest you have ever been and the youngest you will ever be! -- Wozniacki was sent packing from Madrid with little trouble in a 6-2/6-4 loss to Yaroslava Shvedova. After looking as if she might be picking up some momentum, the Dane, wrapped around caddying a bit for her favorite golfer at the Masters week or so ago, has skidded off course with a 2-4 mark since reaching the Indian Wells final.
=============================
ITF PLAYER: Yvonne Meusburger/AUT
...the 29-year old Australian won her second challenger of the season at the $25K event in Wiesbaden. Her fourteenth career circuit crown came after she ran off wins over Jill Craybas, Barbora Krejcikova, Anna-Lena Friedsam, Dinah Pfizenmaier and Sharon Fichman in the final.
=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Belinda Bencic/SUI
...the Melanie Molitor-coached 16-year old, the #5 junior in the world, had her best bigger-event result at the $50K challenger in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida. A winner of two previous $10K titles, Bencic reached the semifinals here after reaching the main draw as a qualifier (def. Allie Will), then upsetting the #1 seed (Tatjana Maria) and Shelby Rogers en route to the final four.
=============================


1. Oeiras Final - Pavlyuchenkova d. Suarez-Navarro
...7-5/6-2. A-Pav joins Serena and Sharapova as the only women with '13 titles on multiple surfaces.
=============================
2. Oeiras 1st Rd. - Schiavone d. Dominguez-Lino
...6-3/6-2. A couple of days later, an "instant rematch" of the Marrakech final plays out pretty much the same way as the original.
=============================
3. Oeiras 2nd Rd. - Puig d. Schiavone 6-3/6-2
Madrid 1st Rd. - Keys d. Li 6-3/6-2
...maybe it was something about "6-3/6-2?" Either way, two "lucky losers" have gotten extremely fortunate over the past week.
=============================
4. Madrid 1st Rd. - Ivanovic d. Mattek-Sands
...6-7(10)/6-3/6-2. Not so much "luck" for the qualifier who defeated "lucky loser" Keys in the final qualifying round in Madrid, though. Hmmm... there's (partially) that "6-3/6-2" scoreline again, too.
=============================
5. Madrid 1st Rd. - Hantuchova d. Stephens
...6-3/7-5. Stephens is becoming the "most predictable" player on tour. Even this, in some way, probably should have been seen coming, I guess. Habitual name-droppers -- surely you remember all of Sloane's comments in interviews about "me and Serena" over the past year -- tend to get bitten by their "bonds" with said "names" at some point down the line.
=============================
6. Oeiras SF - Suarez-Navarro d. Kanepi
...6-4/6-1. One year, a different city and a round earlier, CSN gets some payback for losing to Kanepi in 2012's Estoril final in Portugal.
=============================
7. $10K Villa Allende Final - Montserrat Gonzalez d. Constanza Vega
...6-4/6-1. The 18-year old from Paraguay gets her first ITF singles crown. She won her first in doubles, too.
=============================
8. $25K Wiesbaden Doubles SF - Dabrowski/Fichman d. Knoll/Krunic
...6-4/6-2. Aleksandra can't win 'em all.
=============================
9. Madrid 1st Rd. - Kvitova d. Wickmayer
...4-6/7-5/6-4. It's just never easy, is it?
=============================
10. Madrid 1st Rd. - Scheepers d. Jankovic
...6-7/6-3/6-3. Did Ricardo & Sabine put the juju jinx on JJ last week? This one prevented a 2nd Round JJ/AnaIvo match, by the way.
=============================


1. Oeiras 1st Rd. - U.Radwanska d. Cibulkova
...2-6/6-4/6-4. What do the Radwanskas have against Dominika anyway? First, Aga served her a pair of bagels in January, then Ula gives her an extra kick while she's still down following the Slovak Republic's historic Fed Cup collapse.
=============================
2. Oeiras 2nd Rd. - Morita d. U.Radwanska 6-2/6-3
Madrid 1st Rd. - Errani d. U.Radwanska 6-3/6-1
...Ayumi and Sara, expect some Radwanskian retribution later. But not when Errani ties Venus & Serena for most career weeks (8) as doubles #1 this week.
=============================
3. $50K Gifu 1st Rd. - E.Sema d. Sanders
...6-1/6-4. Storm went 3-0 vs. the Semas over a span of two weeks about a month or so ago. I guess revenge IS a dish best served cold.
=============================


**2013 WTA TITLES**
3...Serena Williams (Brisbane, Miami, Charleston)
2...Maria Sharapova (Indian Wells, Stuttgart)
2...Victoria Azarenka (Australian Open, Doha)
2...Agnieszka Radwanska (Auckland, Sydney)
2...ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA (Monterrey, Oeiras)

**2013 SINGLES FINALS - RUSSIANS**
3...Maria Sharapova (2-1)
3...ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA (2-1)
1...Maria Kirilenko (1-0)
1...Elena Vesnina (1-0)
1...Oga Puchkova (0-1)

**CAREER TITLES - ACTIVE RUSSIANS**
29...Maria Sharapova
13...Svetlana Kuznetsova
13...Nadia Petrova
12...Vera Zvonareva
8...Anna Chakvetadze
6...Maria Kirilenko
5...ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA

**MOST 2013 FINALISTS - BY NATION**
9...RUSSIA (6 wins)
5...Italy (3)
5...United States (3)
5...Germany (1)
4...Czech Republic (2)
4...SPAIN (1)
3...China (1)

**2013 CONSECUTIVE DOUBLES FINALS**
4...Errani/Vinci (January-February, 3-1)
4...Petrova/Srebotnik (2-2)
3...KRISTINA MLADENOVIC (2-1)

**2013 ITF TITLES**
4...Reka-Luca Jani, HUN
4...MELANIE KLAFFNER, AUT
3...Jovana Jaksic, SRB
3...Julia Kimmelmann, GER
3...Tara Moore, GBR
3...Aliaksandra Sasnovich, BLR





MADRID, SPAIN (Premier $4.033K/red clay outdoor)
12 Final: S.Williams d. Azarenka
12 Doubles Champions: Errani/Vinci
13 Top Seeds: S.Williams/Sharapova
=============================
=QF=
#1 S.Williams d. #6 Li Shvedova
#3 Azarenka d. #7 Errani
#4 A.Radwanska d. #11 Petrova
#2 Sharapova d. #9 Stosur
=SF=
#1 S.Williams d. #3 Azarenka
#2 Sharapova d. #4 A.Radwanska
=FINAL=
#1 S.Williams d. #2 Sharapova

...remember, Serena -- even without the blue clay -- has lost on clay to only Virginie Razzano since last spring. If Maria were to prevail over Serena, well, truthfully, it might be bad news for the Russian in Paris.... it possibly serving to focus Serena's sights on that title even more. So maybe Sharapova should just let the "natural" course of things play out in Madrid (i.e. watch Williams lift the trophy), then take the same course of action Roland Garros, where Serena's luck is rarely ever good, while Maria's was quite fantastic one year ago.


All for now.

Read more...

Wk.17- April's No Place for Fools

April is almost over. Do you know where your WTA leading ladies are?

**APRIL's TOP PLAYERS**
1. Roberta Vinci, ITA
...dominated Petra Kvitova in the Katowice final, then did it again (and even better) in Fed Cup
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2. Serena Williams, USA
...a title in Charleston began her clay court season. Can she end it with an even bigger, eleven-years-in-the-making second crown in Paris?
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3. Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
...2013's Russian Fed Cup star. Of course, this doesn't mean she'll be honored with anything other than a possible doubles role in the final when the "bigger name" Hordettes are more likely to show up.
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4. Italian Fed Cup Team
...five finals in eight years
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5. Russian Fed Cup Team
...back from a 0-2 hole against the Slovaks in the FC semis to reach their eighth final since 1999
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6. Maria Sharapova, RUS
...is Stuttgart just the start of another Sharapova Spring?
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7. Makarova/Vesnina, RUS
...two deciding doubles FC matches down, one more to go?
=============================
8. Francesca Schiavone, ITA
...proving her worth once again on clay, one good week in Marrakech just put her 2013 record over .500
=============================
9. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
...Monterrey makes you wonder, "Why doesn't she do this more often?"
=============================
10. Angelique Kerber, GER
...a runner-up in Monterrey, and a semifinalist in Stuttgart
=============================

COMEBACK: Jelena Jankovic, SRB
SURPRISE: Stefanie Voegele, SUI
FRESH FACE: Annika Beck, GER
JUNIOR STAR: Jelena Ostapenko, LAT
DOWN: Slovakian Fed Cup Team
ITF PLAYER: Mariana Duque-Marino, COL



*WEEK 17 CHAMPIONS*
STUTTGART, GERMANY (Premier $794K/RCI)
S: Maria Sharapova/RUS def. Li Na/CHN 6-4/6-3
D: Barthel/Lisicki (GER/GER) d. Mattek-Sands/Mirza (USA/IND)
MARRAKECH, MOROCCO (Int'l $235K/RCO)
S: Francesca Schiavone/ITA def. Lourdes Dominguez-Lino/ESP 6-1/6-3
D: Babos/Minella (HUN/LUX) d. Martic/Mladenovic (CRO/FRA)


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Maria Sharapova/RUS

...once more, the clay season is bringing out the best in Sharapova. Oh, it wasn't easy to defend her Stuttgart title. She had to go three sets against Lucie Safarova, Ana Ivanovic and Angelique Kerber before taking out Li Na in straights in the final, but career title #29 -- with four coming on red clay the last two seasons -- surely puts her in the driver's seat once more for Roland Garros. This was Sharapova's third straight final this season (w/ Indian Wells and Miami), and the 49th of her career. Her twenty-nine wins tie Arantxa Sanchez Vicario for 17th on the all-time WTA list, one behind Tracy Austin. On Monday, Sharapova heads to Moscow to promote the introduction of Sugarpova to the Russian market. I hope she brings some packages with her to Paris next month... they might be nice thank-you gifts for all the ball girls and boys after the women's final.
=============================
RISER: Angelique Kerber/GER
...Kerber's title drought is now nearly thirteen months, but her results continue to be consistent enough to keep her ranking comfortably nestled within the Top 10. Her week in Stuttgart was another example of a very good week -- singles wins over Anastasia Palvyuchenkova, who beat her in the Monterrey final earlier this season, and Yaroslava Shvedova, and a doubles SF run with Andrea Petkovic that featured wins over Makarova/Vesnina and Groenefeld/Peschke -- that nevertheless didn't actually produce any hardware for her trophy case.
=============================
SURPRISE: Mandy Minella/LUX
...the 27-year old from Luxembourg, after carving out a nice career on the ITF circuit, is turning out to be another of the tour's many late bloomers. Minella had her best year-end ranking (#75) last year, setting a career-high (#66) in September. Last week, she got wins over Estrella Cabeza-Candela, Kaia Kanepi and Silvia Soler-Espinosa to reach her second career semifinal (Bad Gastein '12). In doubles, where she'll soon be Top 50, Minella teamed with Timea Babos to win her second career tour doubles crown (both with Babos in '13, along with another runner-up result as a duo).
=============================
VETERANS: Li Na/CHN & Lourdes Dominguez-Lino/ESP
...in Stuttgart, just her second event back since her injury-marred Australian Open final, Li is already showing the sort of form that got her a slam title in Paris two years ago. Wins over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Petra Kvitova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands put Li in her third final of the season, where she lost to Maria Sharapova. Remember, though, back in '11 Li opened her campaign with a runner-up in Melbourne that morphed into a title at Roland Garros five months later. I'm just sayin'. In Marrakech, LDL advanced to her fifth career tour singles final (she's won twice) with victories over Misaki Doi, Tsvetana Pironkova, defending champ Kiki Bertens and Mandy Minella. All five of Dominguez-Lino's finals have come on red clay (three times in Bogota).
=============================
COMEBACKS: Francesca Schiavone/ITA & Bethanie Mattek-Sands/USA
...Schiavone, 32, might not have anything near the presence on the tour that she did a couple of seasons ago, but put her on the red clay and there's a shot she might weave a little magic once again. She did in Marrakech to claim her sixth career WTA singles crown (five on red clay) and become the oldest tour singles champ this season. Schiavone hadn't reached anything as good as a semifinal since she won in Strasbourg right before last year's Roland Garros, and had put up a 14-20 record (5-9 in '13) since then, before her five-match winning streak in Morocco over the likes of Petra Martic, Simona Halep, Alize Cornet, Chanelle Scheepers and Lourdes Domingues-Lino. In Stuttgart, Mattek-Sands continued her dual-threat comeback in both singles and doubles. She and Sania Mirza reached their third final of the season, while BMS qualified in singles then upset Yanina Wickmayer, Sara Errani and Sabine Lisicki to reach the semifinals.
=============================
FRESH FACES: Timea Babos/HUN & Ons Jabeur/TUN
...Babos, 19, made it through singles qualifying in Marrakech, then lost in the 1st Round. But she made up for that in doubles, teaming with Mandy Minella to reach and win her second straight tour final (she last won in Monterrey with Date-Krumm). Babos & Minella also won the title in Bogota this season, meaning the young Hungarian is tied with Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci (with 3) for the most doubles titles this season. Meanwhile, in a $25K challenger in Tunis, Tunisia's Jabeur, 18, claimed her first ITF title since 2010 -- and her biggest yet -- with wins over Renata Voracova, Yana Buchina and Sara Sorribes Torro in the final. Combined with her Fed Cup action last week, Jabeur has put together a nine-match winning streak.
=============================
DOWN: Petra Kvitova/CZE
...just when you think it might be safe to "go back into the water" -- i.e. the coast being clear enough to wonder whether Kvitova's strike-a-match comeback against Sara Errani in Fed Cup play last weekend might serve to wake up her potential for a few weeks -- Kvitova heads off to Stuttgart and barely escapes her 1st Round match against teenager Annika Beck, winning in a 3rd set after dropping a 2nd set tie-break at love to the German. Next up was another three-setter versus Julia Goerges, then a straight sets QF loss to Li Na. Clay, even indoor clay, isn't really Kvitova's best surface, but as the Czech's career continues to only occasionally resemble the one many thought she'd have by now when she won Wimbledon in '11 and earned Player of the Year honors, it's also time to wonder if Petra's career might ultimately less resemble that of a Serena (who took more than two years to win slam #2 after her surprise first major in '99) and instead look more like that of an AnaIvo (who showed great slam championship promise, until she actually won one).
=============================
ITF PLAYER: Shelby Rogers/USA
...the 20-year old Bannerette matched her biggest career title by picking up the $50K challenger in Charlottesville, Virginia. Rogers notched wins over Alison Riske, Allie Will, Patricia Mayr-Achleitner and, in the final, fellow American Allie Kiick, 17, who was looking to get by far her biggest title yet. Rogers won the match 6-3/7-5.
=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Jelena Ostapenko/LAT
...the Latvian Express that is 15-year old Ostapenko continues on without a stop for rest and refueling. One week after starring in Fed Cup zone play, she was back in junior action last week, winning the Grade 1 Beaulieu-sur-Mer event in France as the #1 seed. Never dropping a set throughout the week, Ostapenko defeated Serbian Nina Stojanovic 6-0/6-3 in the final.
=============================


1. Stutt Final - Sharapova d. Li

...6-4/6-3. As Sharapova improves 2013 defending champs' combined record in finals to 5-1, she displays the open-arms victory stance that is starting to become a signature move.
=============================
2. Marr Final - Schiavone d. Dominguez-Lino
...6-1/6-3. "Luck" of the draw, these two have been drawn to meet again in the 1st Round in Oeiras this week.
=============================
3. Stutt 1st Rd - Kvitova d. Beck 7-5/6-7(0)/6-3
Oeiras Q1 - King d. Beck 6-1/7-5
...one could say that maybe Beck, with some nice recent results, is ready to make a move. But then came this weekend's qualifying in Portugal. Oh, Petra.
=============================
4. Stutt Doubles Final - Barthel/Lisicki d. Mattek-Sands/Mirza
...6-4/7-5. This is Barthel's first career tour doubles title, and Lisicki's second (the last came in this same event in '11, partnering with Sam Stosur).
=============================
5. Stutt 1st Rd - Suarez-Navarro d. Wozniacki

...7-6/6-1. Maybe Rory was still on Caro's mind? CSN held her to a "driver" and a "tee" on the scoreline.
=============================
6. Stutt 1st Rd - Pavlyuchenkova d. Makarova 6-7/7-5/6-4
Stutt 2nd Rd - Mattek-Sands d. Errani 6-0/4-6/6-1
Stutt Doubles 1st Rd - Kerber/Petkovic d. Makarova/Vesnina 6-1/7-6
...so much for -- and likely proof of? -- a "Fed Cup hangover."
=============================
7. Marr Doubles 1st Rd - Kania/Olaru d. Pennetta/Schiavone
...4-6/6-4/10-8. Hmmm, can you have a Fed Cup hangover if you didn't actually play in FC, and only watched? After what Francesca did after this, I guess that one's already been answered.
=============================
8. Stutt 2nd Rd - Lisicki d. Jankovic
...7-6/7-5. Ricardo's revenge? JJ saved six set points in the 1st, and two match points in the 2nd... but she still lost in straight sets.
=============================
HM- $25K Tunis Doubles Final - Krunic/Piter d. Jani/Pashkova
...6-2/3-6/10-7. A week after Fed Cup disappointment, Aleksandra gets right back on the horse in a big doubles match. Bravo! (Though, I am missing being able to chant the name of a certain Hungarian with the initials RLJ three times right now.)
=============================


1. Stutt Doubles 1st Rd. - Kops-Jones/Spears d. Black/An.Rodionova
...6-1/6-0. Somehow, I doubt that Liezel -- who reached the QF with Janette Husarova -- has much sympathy. Arina may be another story, though.
=============================
2. $50K Istanbul Doubles Final - Bychkova/N.Kichenok d. Eraydin/Naydenova
...3-6/6-2/10-5. Who says Nadiya needs Lyudmyla to pick up a doubles title?
=============================


**2013 FINALS ON MOST SURFACES**
2 - Sara Errani, ITA (hard,red clay)
2 - Jelena Jankovic, SRB (red clay,green clay)
2 - Petra Kvitova , CZE (hard,red clay)
2 - LI NA, CHN (hard,red clay)
2 - MARIA SHARAPOVA, RUS (hard,red clay) *
2 - Serena Williams, USA (hard,green clay) *
--
* - won titles on both surfaces

**MOST IN WTA IN 2013**
[finals]
4...Serena Williams (3-1)
3...MARIA SHARAPOVA (2-1)
3...Sara Errani (1-2)
3...LI NA (1-2)
[semifinals]
5...MARIA SHARAPOVA (3-2)
4...Serena Williams (3-0+W)
4...LI NA (3-1)
4...Agnieszka Radwanska (2-2)
4...ANGELIQUE KERBER (1-3)
[semifinals - North Americans]
4...Serena Williams (3-0+W)
2...BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS (1-1)
2...Sloane Stephens (0-2)
2...Venus Williams (0-2)

**MOST CONSECUTIVE WEEKS IN TOP 10**
[active streaks]
135...Victoria Azarenka
109...Maria Sharapova
103...Petra Kvitova
90...Samantha Stosur
82...Agnieszka Radwanska
56...Serena Williams
50...Angelique Kerber
47...Sara Errani
38...Li Na
12...Caroline Wozniacki

**2013 DOUBLES TITLES**
[Individuals]
3...Sara Errani, ITA
3...Roberta Vinci, ITA
3...TIMEA BABOS, HUN
[Teams]
3...Errani/Vinci, ITA/ITA
2...BABOS/MINELLA, HUN/LUX
2...Mattek-Sands/Mirza, USA/IND
2...Petrova/Srebotnik, RUS/SLO

**OLDEST 2013 CHAMPIONS**
32y10m1w - FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE, ITA (Marrakech)
31y6m1w - Serena Williams, USA (Charleston)
31y6m - Serena Williams, USA (Miami)
31y3m2w - Serena Williams, USA (Brisbane)
30y10m1w - Li Na, CHN (Shenzhen)
30y1m - Roberta Vinci, ITA (Katowice)

**SHARAPOVA CAREER SINGLES TITLES BY SURFACE**
17...Hard Court
7...Red Clay
3...Grass
2...Carpet
--
NOTE: 2012-13 - 4 red clay, 1 hard court

**KVITOVA RECENT INDOOR RESULTS NOTES**
[2011]
21-0 season indoor record
[2012]
Extended official indoor streak to 27 con. wins (31 con. "unofficial" wins w/ Hopman Cup)
Sharapova ends indoor win streak in Stuttgart (red clay)
Loses Wimbledon match to S.Williams under roof
A.Radwanska hands first indoor hard court loss since 2010 (WTA Championships)
Goes 1-1 in Fed Cup final, indoors in Prague
[2013]
7-3 indoor record for season (1-1 hard court w/ loss to Mladenovic, 6-2 on red clay)

**ALL-TIME WTA TITLE LEADERS**
167...Martina Navratilova
154...Chris Evert
107...Steffi Graf
92...Margaret Court
68...Evonne Goolagong
67...Billie Jean King
55...Lindsay Davenport
55...Virginia Wade
53...Monica Seles
49...Serena Williams
44...Venus Williams
43...Justine Henin
43...Martina Hingis
41...Kim Clijsters
33...Conchita Martinez
30...Tracy Austin
29...MARIA SHARAPOVA
29...Arantxa Sanchez Vicario


Whoa! Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Maria.





OEIRAS, PORTUGAL (Int'l $235K/red clay outdoor)
12 Final (Estoril): Kanepi d. Suarez-Navarro
12 Doubles Champions (Estoril): Chuang/Zhang
13 Top Seeds: Bartoli/Cibulkova
=============================
=SF=
#3 Pavlyuchenkova d. #1 Bartoli
Schiavone d. Kanepi
=FINAL=
#3 Pavlyuchenkova d. Schiavone

...will it be either the Russian or Italian momentum that continues? Don't rule out Kuznetsova here, either, because, well, just because she's Sveta and you never know.


All for now.

Read more...

Wk.16.2- Three Men & a Flag... and Vinci Makes Them All Cry

The rain, the rain. It came and went. And it took with it the Czech fans sent… to Palermo, as well as the two-time defending champs' shot to three-peat.

Oh, and Roberta Vinci had something to do with that, too.

*TWO THINGS THAT WERE GOOD*
1. Sam Stosur and the Aussies not making things complicated
2. Roberta Vinci showing that what works in Poland works in Italy just as well

*ONE THING THAT WASN'T*
1. Lucie Safarova getting back to her Fed Cup "norm"

*AND A PICTURE THAT SAYS IT ALL*


*WEEK 16*

=Semifinals=
Italy (H) def. Czech Repubilc 3-1
Russia (H) def. Slovak Republic 3-2
=World Group Playoffs=
Australia def. Switzerland (H) 3-1
Germany (H) def. Serbia 3-2
Spain (H) def. Japan 4-0
USA (H) def. Sweden 3-2
=World Group II Playoffs=
Poland def. Belgium (H) 4-1
France (H) def. Kazakhstan 4-1
Argentina (H) def. Great Britain 3-1
Canada def. Ukraine (H) 3-2
=Zone II Promotion Finals=
[Europe/Africa]: Tunisia def. Lithuania 2-1
[Europe/Africa]: Latvia def. Montenegro (H) 2-1


[Semifinals MVPs - contd.]
Roberta Vinci/ITA
...after leading the Italians to a 1st Round win with a pair of wins on Day 2 back in February, was there any doubt that the semifinal against the Czechs was going to end up on Vinci's racket? After stunning Petra Kvitova on Day 1, repeating her Katowice final win (only better) by breaking the Czech's serve all eight games she faced it, to give Italy a 2-0 lead it just seemed a matter of time before Team Italia celebrated another trip to the FC final. But when Kvitova surged back against Sara Errani on Sunday after dropping the opening set, then the rains pushed play back to Monday, there was a thought that the Czechs might be able to muster something after all. But Vinci put an end to that with her slice-heavy, attacking game, which took out Lucie Safarova in three sets and ended the Czechs' FC reign. The 2-0 mark raises Vinci's career FC singles mark to 4-4, and extends her current '13 winning streak to seven matches. The Italians will host the Russians in the final later this year.
=============================

[WG PO MVPs - contd.]
Sam Stosur/AUS
...Sam's calf held up through the water-soaked weekend, as well as through two singles matches on Monday in Australia's delayed WG Playoff meeting with Switzerland. In fact, hungry for some action, she opened up by bageling Stefanie Voegele in the 1st set before going on to win 6-0/6-4, then handled Romina Oprandi in straight sets, as well. The sweep pushes Stosur's career FC record to an impressive 24-11, and somewhat rights her out-of-Australia ship after her six-match winning streak in FC matches played anywhere other than Down Under was dealt a severe blow in February with her pair of come-from-ahead losses against the Czechs.
=============================

[FRESH FACE]
Ashleigh Barty/AUS
...the 16-year old Aussie made her Fed Cup singles debut in a not exactly "comfortable" spot, on the road in Switzerland, in the fourth singles match played on Monday, trying to clinch the tie for Australia due to Jarmila Gajdosova's loss in Match #2. As it turned out, she made short work of Stefanie Voegele, winning 6-3/6-4 to clinch the 3-1 win in the WG Playoff. Expect this to be just the start of a beautiful friendship between the teenager and this competition.
=============================


1. FC SF - Vinci d. Kvitova
...6-4/6-1. Sure, nine of the ten games in the 1st set featured breaks of serve, but at least Vinci didn’t follow the pattern the entire match. Kvitova lost all eight service games, as well as her first two vs. Errani on Sunday.
=============================
2. FC SF - Kvitova d. Errani
...2-6/6-2/6-0. With a heavily-taped serving shoulder, Kvitova took a while to get going. But when she did, Errani was but a tiny Italian bug in her path, scurrying about in the hope of not getting stepped on. Kvitova, in front stands that were just 20% filled due to the bad weather on Sunday, kept the Czechs alive in the tie. Even if it was just an overnight thing.
=============================
3. FC SF - Vinci d. Safarova
...6-3/6-7/6-3. With the Czech traveling fan contingent consisting of, as the Fed Cup website calls it, “three men and flag,” Vinci didn’t give them much to cheer about. Safarova’s 0-2 mark in this tie put an abrupt end to the four-match winning streak that has played such a big -- and sometimes not secondary, even with Petra around -- part in the Czech team’s undefeated run in ties since the spring of 2010.
=============================


**RECENT FED CUP FINALS**
2000 United States def. Spain 5-0
2001 Belgium def. Russia 2-1
2002 Slovak Republic def. Spain 3-1
2003 France def. United States 4-1
2004 Russia def. France 3-2
2005 Russia def. France 3-2
2006 Italy def. Belgium 3-2
2007 Russia def. Italy 4-0
2008 Russia def. Spain 4-0
2009 Italy def. United States 4-0
2010 Italy def. United States 3-1
2011 Czech Republic def. Russia 3-2
2012 Czech Republic def. Serbia 3-1
2013 Russia at Italy

**OVERALL FED CUP TITLES**
17...United States
6...Australia
5...Czechoslovakia
5...Spain
4...Russia
3...Italy
2...Czech Republic
2...France
2...West Germany/Germany
1...Belgium
1...Slovak Republic
1...South Africa
[2000's]
4...Russia
2...Italy
1...Belgium
1...France
1...Slovak Republic
1...United States
[2010's]
2...Czech Republic
1...Italy

=2013 Final=
Russia at Italy
=2014 World Group=
Australia
Czech Republic
Germany
Italy
Russia
Slovak Republic
Spain
United States
=2014 World Group II=
Argentina
Canada
France
Japan
Poland
Serbia
Sweden
Switzerland


All for now.

Read more...

Wk.16.1- Makarova Does Moscow

Ah, a Fed Cup weekend so good that, well, it threatens to never end.

A quick rundown of some stand-outs from 2013's second weekend of Fed Cup action (part 1):

*FIVE THINGS THAT WERE GOOD*
1. A-Rad, vowing revenge and, naturally, getting it...as well as a nice ride atop the rest of the Polish team

2. Marion Bartoli, proving French coach Amelie Mauresmo's perseverance was well worth the effort
3. Jelena Ostapenko, a Fed Cup achiever at the tender age of 15
4. Canada, still rising up in the rather long shadow of its tennis neighbors to the south
5. Ekaterina Makarova, Russia's new "clutch" Fed Cup performer... at least when the "B-Team" is around

*THREE THINGS THAT WEREN'T*
1. Current Sloane Stephens. Still.
2. Petra Kvitova, at least for three sets (to be continued)
3. Aleksandra Krunic's "good luck"... at least when combined with teammate Vesna Dolonc's "bad luck"

*ONE THAT REMAINS TO BE SEEN*
The two days of rain in Switzerland that totally wiped out the Swiss women's World Group Playoff tie against Australia. It either has given Sam Stosur's ailing calf an important two extra days to heal, or the damp conditions that will likely persist into Monday's play will just make the injury linger longer.

*AND ONE THAT HOPES TO REPEAT HISTORY, as it's already assured another edition of Backspin for this week*
Sunday's rain also pushed back the conclusion of Italy's semifinal tie against two-time defending champion Czechs. After having fallen behind 2-0, and then seeing Petra Kvitova drop the 1st set of Match #3, things weren't looking good on Sunday for a comeback similar to Russia's from 0-2 down against the Slovaks this weekend. But another day means the Czech's need to only go 2-0 on Monday, not 3-0 in a single day. Might that be enough light to lead the Czechs back to the final?

*WEEK 16*

=Semifinals=
Italy (H) vs. Czech Repubilc - Italy leads 2-1
Russia (H) def. Slovak Republic 3-2
=World Group Playoffs=
Australia vs. Switzerland (H) - to be played on Monday
Germany (H) def. Serbia 3-2
Spain (H) def. Japan 4-0
USA (H) def. Sweden 3-2
=World Group II Playoffs=
Poland def. Belgium (H) 4-1
France (H) def. Kazakhstan 4-1
Argentina (H) def. Great Britain 3-1
Canada def. Ukraine (H) 3-2
=Zone II Promotion Finals=
[Europe/Africa]: Tunisia def. Lithuania 2-1
[Europe/Africa]: Latvia def. Montenegro (H) 2-1


[Semifinals MVPs]
Ekaterina Makarova/RUS (overall P.O.W.)
...when things look dire, call on Makarova. At least that's what Russian FC coach Shamil Tarpischev must remember to write on his hand -- in ink -- whenever the Hordettes are participating in a Fed Cup tie from here on out. After all, in February, with Russia down 2-1 again Japan, Tarpischev sent Makarova (then without a singles win in her FC career) out with the mission to prevent the heavily-favored Russian team from being eliminated. She got a singles win, then teamed with Elena Vesnina to win the deciding doubles, too. Well, with déjà vu bells ringing all over Moscow, the same thing happened on Sunday. Russia was down 2-1 after being swept in the Saturday singles, and Tarpischev replaced Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (0-1 on Day 1) with Makarova in the second singles match of the day. She got her second career FC win with her back against the wall, coming back from a break down (she trailed 4-2) in the 3rd set to knock off Daniela Hantuchova (with 30 career FC wins, and a 2-0 record against Makarova) on her fourth match point, taking the final four games of the match. Then, once more, Makarova and Vesnina (winners in Indian Wells a few weeks ago) teamed to come back from a set down versus Hantuchova and Dominika Cibulkova and get the win to send Russian back to the Fed Cup final after a one-year absence. Russia's comeback was just the fifth from a 2-0 deficit in World Group play since the current format of play began, and the first since another group of Hordettes did it against France in 2011.
=============================

[WG PO MVPs]
Anna-Lena Groenefeld & Sabine Lisicki, GER
...neither Groenefeld nor Lisicki set foot on the court for singles in Stuttgart in Germany's WG Playoff encounter with Serbia, but they turned out to be the most important players in the building. Tied 2-2 after four singles matches, ALG and Lisicki jumped into the fray and finally put an end to Serbia's FC "luck" with deciding doubles matches, handily winning 2 & 4 in the 3-2 tie victory.
=============================
Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP
...there any number of Spanish women over the years who'd come to mind when you'd want to put together a team to win a FC tie on red clay in Barcelona, including, in fact, Team Espana's coach Conchita Martinez. As it was, it was CSN that Martinez installed as singles player #1 for Spain's WG Playoff tie with Japan, and she turned out to be a perfect fit. CSN defeated both Misaki Doi and Ayumi Morita (handing her a second straight loss, after her previous 11-match winning streak) in straight sets, raising her career FC mark to .500 at 7-7.
=============================
Serena Williams/USA
...hold onto your seats, I'm going to say something absolutely shocking. Ready? All right, here it goes... Serena went undefeated this weekend! I know, hard to believe, isn't it? Well, maybe not. After all, her straight sets wins over both Johanna Larsson and Sofia Arvidsson in the U.S.'s WG Playoff tie with Sweden ran her career FC singles mark to 10-0 (and extends her season winning streak to 13 matches). She's 3-0 in FC doubles, too, but thanks to Venus' win in Match #4, she didn't have to try to improve upon that mark on Sunday.
=============================

[WG II PO MVPs]
Agnieszka Radwanska/POL
weeks ago, Aga was vowing "revenge" on Belgium for the Waffles' defeat of the Poles the last time they were in the WG II Playoffs, back in 2010. She got it, going 2-0 in Poland's 4-1 road win and extending her FC winning streak to ten matches. Although, Kirsten Flipkens DID end A-Rad's FC straights sets match winning streak at nine, taking the 1st set in their match on Sunday. Of course, Aga wasn't TOO upset about it, considering she didn't throw another of those 360-degree, backhand flip volleys off a net cord shot at Flipkens like she did a few weeks ago. I guess The Radwanska is in a somewhat "mellow" mood at the moment. I'm sure it won't last long, though.
=============================
Marion Bartoli/FRA
...it took nine years for 28-year old "newbie" Bartoli to make her FC singles debut, but it finally happened this weekend. And La Trufflette made the most of it, too, leading the Pastries to a 4-1 WG II Playoff win over Kazakhstan. Bartoli never lost a set, opening play by bageling Galina Voskoboeva in the 1st set of a 6-0/6-3 win, then winning 4 & 3 against Yaroslava Shvedova on Day 2.
=============================
Paula Ormaechea/ARG
...Ormaechea's mid-match retirement in what could have been the clinching match in February's match-up with Sweden ultimately spelled doom for Argentina. But in the WG II Playoff tie with Great Britain, Ormaechea got to finish what she started. After a straight sets Day 1 win over Johanna Konta, Ormaechea followed up on Day 2 with a three-set win over Laura Robson in Buenos Aires in the match that always seemed destined to be won by whichever would ultimately be the winning nation. It was, as Argentina won 3-1.
=============================
Eugenie Bouchard & Sharon Fichman, CAN
...things were a bit shaky on Saturday, as the Canadians narrowly avoided a 2-0 hole against Ukraine in the WG II Playoffs after the nations split a pair of three-setters. After another singles split on Saturday, Bouchard and Fichman combined to take out their fellow young counterparts Elina Svitolina and Lesia Tsurenko in the deciding doubles match. It was Bouchard's first FC match in doubles, while Fichman is now 13-4.
=============================

[RISERS]
Maria Kirilenko/RUS
...while fiance Alex Ovechkin has been burning up the NHL lately, Kirilenko surely wasn't on Saturday. Her straight sets loss to Daniela Hantuchova put the Russians down by what seemed to be an insurmountable 2-0 score. Playing the first match on Sunday, whether or not the Hordettes went down meekly or made a run at a comeback was all on Kirilenko's shoulders. When she took out Dominika Cibulkova 7-5/6-1, the drive to the final was suddenly on once again. So what if she's still only 2-3 in career FC singles matches. Right now, her one victory on Sunday keeps the hopes of a fifth Russian Fed Cup title -- the first since 2008 -- alive and well.
=============================
Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina, RUS
...earlier this season, the doubles duo of Makarova and Vesnina were riding a 20-1 string that stretched back to last season. After winning the deciding doubles match for Russia in the FC 1st Round against Japan in February, they followed up by winning their third career title as a duo in Indian Wells. With a second FC clincher now under their belts against the Slovak Republic, what will be this Russian pair's SECOND encore?
=============================
Mona Barthel/GER

...Barthel has gotten off to greats season starts the last two years, but then has seemed to veer well off path after that. Despite her obvious talent, she comes up very small at times. Making her FC debut in the WG Playoffs, Barthel battled Ana Ivanovic to a tie-break in the 1st set, but lost it, then eventually dropped Match #1 in three sets. But with Germany down 2-1, Barthel returned on Day 2 to try to keep her team alive. Rather than fold as she sometimes has in the clutch in any months other than January or (early) February, Barthel won a three-setter over Bojana Jovanovski to get her maiden FC win and set things up for Groenefeld and Lisicki's push for victory in the doubles.
=============================
Urszula Radwanska/POL
...Aga provided incentive and most of the points in Poland's 4-1 WG II Playoff road win over Belgium, but it was Ula that got the clinching point. After having lost on Day 1 to Kirsten Flipkens -- putting U-Rad in the small minority of women who can say they failed to beat the Waffle in FC play -- she came back to defeat Alison Van Uytvanck in Match #4 to wrap things up. She's now 11-9 in FC singles in her career.
=============================

[FRESH FACES]
Ons Jabeur/TUN (Zone MVP)
...in the Europe/Africa II zone playoffs, Jabeur led the way as Tunisia advanced out of pool play and won the deciding Promotional Playoff over Lithuania. Jabeaur, 18, went 4-0 in singles play, upping her career FC mark to 14-2.
=============================
Elina Svitolina/UKR
...the Ukrainians didn't get past the Canadians in a 3-2 loss in WG II Playoff action, but Svitolina did just about all she could to give them a chance. Entering with a 0-3 career FC mark, the teenager notched a pair of wins over Team Canada's leading stars -- Eugenie Bouchard, from a set down on Day 1, and Sharon Fichman in straights on Day 2 to send things to the deciding doubles match.
=============================

[JUNIOR]
Jelena Ostapenko/LAT (Zone MVP)
...the 15-year old has already reached the Australian Open Girls QF and won ITF singles and doubles crowns in 2013. This past week, Ostapenko made her Fed Cup debut. And it was more than successful. She went 4-0 in singles, then teamed with Diana Marcinkevica in the Promotional Playoff to win the deciding doubles match -- coming back from a set down -- to defeat Danka Kovinic/Danica Krstajic of host nation Montenegro 2-1.
=============================

[SURPRISES]
Silvia Soler-Espinosa/ESP
...SSE had just a 2-3 career FC record heading into this weekend's WG Playoff tie with Japan, while Ayumi Morita was 16-7 with eleven straight wins. But that mattered little on the clay in Barcelona on Day 1, when Soler-Espinosa took down Morita 2 & 3 to give Spain what turned out to be an unassailable 2-0 lead after Saturday's singles action.
=============================
Maria Irigoyen/ARG
...Ormaechea did the heavy lifting in Argentina's WG II Playoff win over the Brits in Buenos Aires, but it was Irigoyen, normally a doubles specialist (she had 1-4 singles and 8-3 doubles FC marks), who was called upon to secure the clinching point in Match #4 against Elena Baltacha. She had to go three sets, but Irigoyen did it, taking the 3rd at 6-1 and rendering her usual spot -- the doubles match -- "dead" and called off altogether in Argentina's 3-1 win.
=============================

[VETERAN]
Venus Williams/USA
...it wasn't pretty, but it didn't really matter. After Serena's second victory of the weekend put the Bannerettes within one win of victory, coach Mary Joe Fernandez went the "safe" route by calling on Venus to face off with Johanna Larsson rather than roll the dice with Sloane Stephens. Venus won 6-3/7-5, running her career FC singles mark to 15-2, but only after a 3rd set that saw her serve fall apart. First, it seemed, because of nerves, and then later because of her lingering back injury which caused her to resort to just trying to get her serve inside the box. It didn't always go well. She threw in seven double-faults in the 2nd set alone, and failed to convert on seven match points before she finally clinched the vital third point in the tie for the Americans.
=============================

[COMEBACKS]
Ana Ivanovic/SRB
...some of the blame for Serbia's 1st Round loss in February had to be placed at the feet of the country's two best players, Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, either not being available to play or, in AnaIvo's case, being a late, injury-related withdrawal. Well, Ivanovic was back this weekend for the WG Playoff tie with Germany, and her 2-0 singles mark single-handedly kept the tie alive until the doubles. 15-6 in FC singles, and 3-2 in doubles, one is tempted to ask whether things might have turned out differently had Ivanovic teamed with Krunic in the deciding doubles match. But why cry over spilt milk, right? Of course, I would have raised an eyebrow on this issue BEFORE the match, as well.
=============================
Alize Cornet/FRA
...with the late, illness-related withdrawal of Bartoli from France's World Group tie earlier this year, the Pastries were essentially lost at sea with their "best" roster player sporting a hideous 1-8 career FC singles mark. That player was Cornet, but she didn't even get onto the court in singles in France's February crushing at the hands of the Germans. She was called on this weekend in the WG II Playoffs, though. After Bartoli's easy Match #1 win on Saturday, Cornet's three-set loss to Yaroslava Shvedova dropped her FC record to 1-9. But after Bartoli got the Pastries to within a single win of a tie victory, Cornet DID manage to return and get the clincher in Match #4, defeating Ksenia Pervak (her first loss in four FC matches) 6-3/6-1. If confidence is a journey... small steps.
=============================

[DOWN]
Slovakian Fed Cup Team's experience
..the Slovaks went to Moscow with a decided FC experience advantage (54 singles wins to six for each combined squad) over the Russians. And after they went up 2-0 with wins from Cibulkova and Hantuchova on Saturday, it seemed like the script was written for the Slovak squad to return to the FC final for the first time since winning the title in 2002. But it just wasn't meant to be, as Hantuchova lost a break advantage in the 3rd set in the final singles match, and then she and Cibulkova lost a set lead in the deciding doubles.
=============================
Serbian Fed Cup Team's "good luck charm"
...my, what a difference a year makes. In 2012, Serbia climbed all the way into its first FC final. Now, after back-to-back losses with less-than-complete teams, the Serbs will find themselves back in Group II play next February. As things played out, Ana Ivanovic did her part as the #1 singles player, going 2-0 and overcoming Bojana Jovanovski's 0-2 mark as the tie with Germany went to the doubles. But after Aleksandra Krunic had previously teamed with Jovanovski and Jelena Jankovic to win deciding matches, "wet blanket" Vesna Dolonc, the new Serb who was initially placed on the Serbian roster in the 1st Round in February instead of Krunic, proved that a third partner isn't always a "charm." Krunic's "good luck" was neutralized by Dolonc's "bad" vibes -- she's now 1-2 in FC singles/doubles matches, with her one win coming via a Cibulkova retirement when the Slovak was leading their match 6-4/5-4 in February's 1st Round -- and the rest was history. Unfair, you say? Sure... maybe. But prove otherwise. Ha!
=============================
Ayumi Morita/JPN
...even while losing to Russia in the 1st Round in February, Morita was a star, going 2-0 to run her FC singles winning streak to eleven straight matches. Well, all that ended in Barcelona against the Spaniards. Morita's magic went "poof," as she lost to Silvia Soler-Espinosa and Carla Suarez-Navarro, both in straight sets, in Japan's 4-0 wipeout at the hands of Spain in the WG Playoffs.
=============================
Lesia Tsurenko/UKR
...with the tennis version of the Hunger Games taking place in Kiev over the weekend, it was a battle for survival amongst a slew of youngsters. And all of them notched wins, too! Well, check that. All of them notched wins save for one player. And that would be Tsurenko. In Ukraine's 3-2 WG II Playoff loss to Canada, Tsurenko had a hand in all three points lost -- two in singles, and then as part of the doubles duo with Elina Svitolina that lost the deciding match to Eugenie Bouchard and Sharon Fichman. Quite a difference from last year, when Tsurenko nearly led a FC 1st Round upset of Italy by defeating Francesca Schiavone (1 & 2!) and Sara Errani (via retirement), when assisting in the taking of a love set in doubles from Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci.
=============================
Sloane Stephens/USA
...well, at least Sloane got to carry the American flag around the court in celebration of the U.S.'s WG Playoff win over Sweden. Even though it was Venus Williams, not Sloane, who was called upon to get the clinching singles win on Sunday to avoid having things go to the doubles. And even though it WAS Sloane who came up very small in her FC singles debut on Saturday against Sofia Arvidsson, losing in three sets in a match in which she racked up 74 unforced errors and (shades of vs. Vika in Oz) she came out very flat in the 3rd after a weather delay. Stephens fell behind 4-0 and failed in her one attempt -- at 30/30 in Game #5 -- to possibly get a break to get back into the contest. What with her post-AO slide, and bad FC debut, it's impossible to question Mary Joe Fernandez's move to go with a more experienced player on Day 2, even if that player had been Varvara Lepchenko rather than Venus. It wasn’t Stephens, whose time will eventually come, and that was all the really mattered for the U.S. team when it came to victory or defeat.
=============================

[ITF]
TOP PLAYER: Ajla Tomljanovic/CRO
...the 19-year Croat linked with the Evert Academy won the biggest challenger event of her career at the $50K in Dothan, Alabama. Tomljanovic, who reached the Miami 4th Round last month with wins over Ksenia Pervak and Julia Goerges, notched victories last week over Michelle Larcher de Brito, Shelby Rogers (they later teamed to reach the doubles SF), Allie Kiick and Alison Riske before coming back from a set down in the final to defeat Zhang Shuai. The title is the fourth of Tomljanovic's career on the ITF circuit, but her first since 2011.
=============================
COMEBACK: Michaella Krajicek/NED
...it's hard to believe Krajicek, sister of former Wimbledon champ Richard and a three-time tour singles champion in her own right, is still just 24 years old. It's been a long, strange trip for the young Dutch woman, who had much early success in her career, winning those titles in 2005 and '06, finishing in the year-end Top 40 in 2006-07, and reaching a career-high #30 in 2008. Her results have been up and down ever since, and not even that over the past year. Krajicek's '12 year was pretty much devastated by illness and a knee injury that has mostly kept her off tour for the last eleven months. Going into last week, she was ranked #922 as she went to the $10K event in Heraklion, Israel to play just her third match since last May. She hadn't won a match since Miami last March. Well, she made up for that last week, sweeping both the singles and doubles titles, defeating Indy De Vroome 3-6/6-2/6-4 in the final to get her first ITF singles crown since 2010. Krajicek and countrywoman De Vroome teamed to grab the doubles crown.
=============================
JUNIOR STARS: Elise Mertens/BEL & Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA
...the 17-year old Waffle Mertens, the #8 junior and a Girls quarterfinalist at the Australian Open in January, won her first career ITF title in the $10K event in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. She defeatd Spaniard Arabela Fernandez-Rabener in straight sets in the final. Meanwhile, 16-year old Brazilian Haddad Maia won the latest $10K Antalya challenger, defeating Czech Tereza Martincova in the final, to grab her fourth career circuit crown (and her second this season). She's now 12-2 in ITF matches in '13, and 10-4 in junior action.
=============================


1. FC SF - Makarova/Vesnina d. Cibulkova/Hantuchova
...4-6/6-3/6-1. Cibulkova is now 1-8 in Fed Cup doubles matches. Slide over on the bench, Vesna.
=============================
2. WG PO - Arvidsson d. Stephens
...6-4/4-6/6-1. Will Sloane get FC advice from Kirsten Flipkens next?
=============================
3. WG PO - Groenefeld/Lisicki d. Dolonc/Krunic
...6-2/6-4. Lisicki is now 3-0 in FC doubles... but there's no way "good luck" and Lisicki can appear on the same plain of existence.
=============================
4. WG II PO - Bartoli d. Voskoboeva
...6-0/6-3. La Trufflette will always remember her first time. Amelie might, too.
=============================
5. WG II PO - Bouchard/Fichman d. Svitolina/Tsurenko
...6-4/6-3. Welcome to the World Group, Canada! Don't take it for granted, eh? (And don't fill up on Canadian "bacon" or Canada Mints, either!)
=============================
HM- WG II PO - Ormaechea d. Robson
...6-4/4-6/6-2. Robson's third loss since the AO to a player outside the Top 100, and the sixth against a player ranked below her on the WTA computer.
=============================


1. WG PO - V.Williams d. Larsson
...6-3/7-5. The eighth match was the charm for VW, but the seven 2nd set DF's and obvious continued difficutly with her back wasn't.
=============================
2. WG II PO - A.Radwanska d. Flipkens
...4-6/6-1/6-2. Was The Rad showing kindness to Kirsten, giving her a "free" set to make things "even" for that 360-degree shot? Ah, silly Belgian... nothing is ever "free" when it comes to you-know-What.
=============================
3. WG II PO - U.Radwanska d. Van Uytvanck
...6-1/6-4. One good ride for a Radwanska deserves another!

=============================
HM- $25K Namangan Final - N.Kichenok d. Kalashnikova
...6-2/6-3. In her third final of '13, Nadiya finally gets a win. And, wouldn't you know it, it comes at the expense of the player who took out her sister Lyudmyla in the 2nd Round. Ah, twins.
=============================


**RECENT FED CUP FINALS**
2000 United States def. Spain 5-0
2001 Belgium def. Russia 2-1
2002 Slovak Republic def. Spain 3-1
2003 France def. United States 4-1
2004 Russia def. France 3-2
2005 Russia def. France 3-2
2006 Italy def. Belgium 3-2
2007 Russia def. Italy 4-0
2008 Russia def. Spain 4-0
2009 Italy def. United States 4-0
2010 Italy def. United States 3-1
2011 Czech Republic def. Russia 3-2
2012 Czech Republic def. Serbia 3-1
2013 Russia vs. Czech Republic or Italy

**BACK FROM 2-0 DEFICIT IN WORLD GROUP PLAY**
1996 Australia def. Canada
1999 Austria def. Australia
2004 Spain def. Belgium
2011 Russia def. France
2013 Russia def. Slovak Republic

=2013 Final=
Russia vs. Czech Republic or Italy
=2014 World Group=
Czech Republic
Germany
Italy
Russia
Slovak Republic
Spain
United States
[Australia or Switzerland]
=2014 World Group II=
Argentina
Canada
France
Japan
Poland
Serbia
Sweden
[Australia or Switzerland]





STUTTGART, GERMANY (Premier $794K/red clay outdoor)
12 Final: Sharapova d. Azarenka
12 Doubles Champions: Benesova/Zahlavova-Strycova
13 Top Seeds: Sharapova/Li
=============================
=SF=
#1 Sharapova d. #7 Wozniacki
#2 Li d. #4 Errani
=FINAL=
#1 Sharapova d. #2 Li

...Sharapova clay court defense of her Roland Garros title begins. Neither top seed is coming off a Fed Cup weekend, and they should be mentally fresh (or, unlike Errani, having to make a mid-week trip to Germany... if she even stays in the draw at all) . So, no need to go against chalk in the end.


MARRAKECH, MOROCCO (Int'l $235K/red clay outdoor)
12 Final (Fes): Bertens d. Pous-Tio
12 Doubles Champions (Fes): Cetkovska/Panova
13 Top Seeds: Cibulkova/Cirstea
=============================
=SF=
#5 Bertens d. Soler-Espinosa
#2 Cirstea d. #3 Cornet
=FINAL=
#2 Cirstea d. #5 Bertens

...Cibulkova is the #1 seed, but is dealing with the Slovakian collapse in Moscow. Cornet, meanwhile, is feeling good after clinching a tie for France. Bertens is the defending champion, but I'll go with the Romanian. Yeah, I know... nothing like a "winning formula." Oh, well.


All for now. More on Monday.

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