Sunday, July 03, 2016

W.7- Lists-a-Palooza!



On the Middle Sunday, it was time for a few matches. And lists. Always with the lists.


*2016 WIMBLEDON WOMEN'S FINAL 16*
[by ranking]
#1 - Serena Williams
#3 - Aga Radwanska
#4 - Angelique Kerber
#5 - Simona Halep
#8 - Venus Williams
#9 - Madison Keys
#12 - Carla Suarez-Navarro
#14 - Svetlana Kuznetsova
#18 - Dominika Cibulkova
#23 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
#29 - Lucie Safarova
#30 - CoCo Vandeweghe
#35 - Ekaterina Makarova
#49 - Misaki Doi
#50 - Elena Vesnina
#96 - Yaroslava Shvedova
[by age]
36...Venus Williams
34...Serena Williams
31...Svetlana Kuznetsova
29...Elena Vesnina
29...Lucie Safarova
28...Yaroslava Shvedova
28...Angelique Kerber
28...Ekaterina Makarova
27...Carla Suarez-Navarro
27...Aga Radwanska
27...Dominika Cibulkova
25...Misaki Doi
25...Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
24...Simona Halep
24...CoCo Vandeweghe
21...Madison Keys
[by nation]
4...Russia (Kuznetsova,Makarova,Pavlyuchenkova,Vesnina)
4...United States (Keys,Vandeweghe,S.Williams,V.Williams)
1...Czech Republic (Safarova)
1...Germany (Kerber)
1...Japan (Doi)
1...Kazakhstan (Shvedova)
1...Poland (A.Radwanska)
1...Romania (Halep)
1...Slovakia (Cibulkova)
1...Spain (Suarez-Navarro)
[by career slam Round-of-16's]
53 - Serena Williams
45 - Venus Williams
29 - Svetlana Kuznetsova
25 - Aga Radwanska
13 - Ekaterina Makarova
12 - Angelique Kerber
10 - Carla Suarez-Navarro
8 - Dominika Cibulkova
8 - Simona Halep
8 - Lucie Safarova
6 - Madison Keys
5 - Yaroslava Shvedova
4 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
4 - Elena Vesnina
2 - CoCo Vandeweghe
1 - Misaki Doi
[w/ consecutive slam Round of 16's]
8...Serena Williams
5...Madison Keys
3...Aga Radwanska
3...Carla Suarez-Navarro
2...Simona Halep
2...Svetlana Kuznetsova
2...Venus Williams
[by career WI Round of 16's]
14 - Serena Williams
14 - Venus Williams
9 - Aga Radwanska
5 - Svetlana Kuznetsova
3 - Angelique Kerber
3 - Lucie Safarova
3 - Yaroslava Shvedova
2 - Dominika Cibulkova
2 - Simona Halep
2 - Madison Keys
2 - Ekaterina Makarova
2 - Carla Suarez-Navarro
2 - CoCo Vandeweghe
2 - Elena Vesnina
1 - Misaki Doi
1 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
[w/ consecutive WI Round of 16's]
5...Aga Radwanska
3...Lucie Safarova
2...Madison Keys
2...CoCo Vandeweghe
2...Serena Williams
2...Venus Williams
[by preseason ""Grand Slam Master Power 50" rankings]

=Tiers: Green 1-2, Blue 3-7, Pink 8-15, Orange 16-26,
Red 27-34, Purple 35-42, White 43-50, Off-Book (10)=
1 - Serena Williams
4 - Simona Halep
8 - Angelique Kerber
9 - Aga Radwanska
11 - Ekaterina Makarova
12 - Venus Williams
15 - Madison Keys
20 - Dominika Cibulkova
25 - Lucie Safarova
26 - Carla Suarez-Navarro
34 - Svetlana Kuznetsova
40 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
44 - CoCo Vandeweghe
---
Off-Book - none
---
Unlisted - Misaki Doi
Unlisted - Yaroslava Shvedova
Unlisted - Elena Vesnina
[WTA career slam Round of 16's - active]
53...SERENA WILLIAMS
45...VENUS WILLIAMS
36...Maria Sharapova
29...SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA
25...AGA RADWANSKA
22...Victoria Azarenka
22...Jelena Jankovic
21...Patty Schnyder
19...Ana Ivanovic
18...Francesca Schiavone
16...Caroline Wozniacki
15...Daniela Hantuchova
14...Petra Kvitova
13...EKATERINA MAKAROVA
12...ANGELIQUE KERBER
11...Samantha Stosur
--
ALSO: Petrova (21), Zvonareva (16)
[WTA slam Round of 16's since 2010 - active]
21...SERENA WILLIAMS
19...Maria Sharapova
17...Victoria Azarenka
17...AGA RADWANSKA
13...EKATERINA MAKAROVA
12...ANGELIQUE KERBER
12...Petra Kvitova
12...Caroline Wozniacki
11...SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA
10...Ana Ivanovic
10...Jelena Jankovic
10...VENUS WILLIAMS
9...Samantha Stosur
[2016 slam Rd. of 16's - youngest]
18 - Belinda Bencic (AO)
20 - Madison Keys (AO)
21 - Margarita Gasparyan (AO)
21 - Daria Gavrilova (AO)
21 - Annika Beck (AO)
21 - Anna-Lena Friedsam (AO)
21 - Madison Keys (RG)
21 - Madison Keys (WI)
21 - Yulia Putintseva (RG)
21 - Elina Svitolina (RG)
[2016 slam Rd. of 16's - oldest]
36...Venus Williams (WI)
35...Venus Williams (RG)
34...Serena Williams (WI)
34...Serena Williams (RG)
34...Serena Williams (AO)
32...Samantha Stosur (RG)
31...Svetlana Kuznetsova (WI)
30...Svetlana Kuznetsova (RG)
29...Barbora Strycova (AO)
29...Lucie Safarova (WI)
29...Elena Vesnina (WI)
[2016 slam Rd. of 16's - unseeded]
AO - Annika Beck, GER
AO - Anna-Lena Friedsam, GER
AO - Margarita Gasparyan, RUS
AO - Daria Gavrilova, AUS
AO - Johanna Konta, GBR
AO - Barbora Strycova, CZE
AO - Zhang Shuai, CHN (Q)
RG - Kiki Bertens, NED
RG - Tsvetana Pironkova, BUL
RG - Yulia Putinteva, KAZ
RG - Shelby Rogers, USA
WI - Misaki Doi, JPN
WI - Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
WI - Yaroslava Shvedova, KAZ
WI - Elena Vesnina, RUS
[2016 slam Rd. of 16's - 1st-time GS 4th Rd.'s]
AO - Annika Beck, GER
AO - Anna-Lena Friedsam, GER
AO - Margarita Gasparyan, RUS
AO - Daria Gavrilova, AUS
AO - Zhang Shuai, CHN
RG - Yulia Putintseva, KAZ
RG - Shelby Rogers, USA
WI - Misaki Doi, JPN
[2016 slam Rd. of 16's - lowest-ranked]
#133 - Zhang Shuai, CHN (AO)
#108 - Shelby Robers, USA (RG)
#102 - Tsvetana Pironkova, BUL (RG)
#96 - Yaroslava Shvedova, KAZ (WI)
#72 - Anna-Lena Friedsam, GER (AO)
#60 - Yulia Putintseva, KAZ (RG)
#58 - Margarita Gasparyan, GER (AO)
#58 - Kiki Bertens, NED (RG)
#55 - Annika Beck, GER (AO)
[2016 slam Rd. of 16's]
3...MADISON KEYS, USA
3...AGA RADWANSKA, POL
3...CARLA SUAREZ-NAVARRO, ESP
3...SERENA WILLIAMS, USA
2...SIMONA HALEP, ROU
2...ANGELIQUE KERBER, GER
2...SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA, RUS
2...EKATERINA MAKAROVA, RUS
2...VENUS WILLIAMS, USA
[2016 slam Rd. of 16's - by nation]
10..USA (2/4/4)
8...RUS (3/1/4)
4...ESP (1/2/1)
4...GER (3/0/1)
3...POL (1/1/1)
3...ROU (0/2/1)
2...CZE (1/0/1)
2...KAZ (0/1/1)
2...SUI (1/1/0)
2...AUS (1/1/0)
1...BLR (1/0/0)
1...BUL (0/1/0)
1...CHN (1/0/0)
1...GBR (1/0/0)
1...JPN (0/0/1)
1...NED (0/1/0)
1...SVK (0/0/1)
1...UKR (0/1/0)


Whew!



=DAY 7 NOTES=
...for just the fourth time ever, and the first since in a dozen years, there was play on the Middle Sunday. A quick whip-around the grounds...

Elena Vesnina def. (Q) Julia Boserup 7-5/7-5
...with this, Russia was assured of placing at least one Hordette in a slam Round of 16 at a 63rd of the past 64 slams. The one "miss," of course, was in the aftermath of the original Massacre at SW19 in 2013. As it turned out, the Russians ended up having filled 25% of the 4th Round by the end of the day.

In a tight match that included eight games that went to deuce (w/ twenty total 40/40 points), Vesnina had to scrap for everything she got against the Bannerette qualifier/Penn State student. In the 1st set, the Russian had to save a BP en route to a hold for 5-4, then saved three more in game #11. Up 15/40 a game later, Vesnina saw Boserup save three SP before the Hordette took the set with a forehand return winner. In the 2nd, Vesnina went up 3-1, fired an ace for a 4-1 lead, and led 4-2, 40/love in game #7. But, still, Boserup reached BP. The Russian hit an ace up the "T" to save it, then did the same thing on a second BP a few moments later before firing a forehand long on BP #3 that broke her serve and ended a 10-minute game. An ace got the hold for 6-5 four games later, then Vesnina reached MP when a shot off the Russian's racket dribbled over the net cord and plopped onto Boserup's side of the court. Boserup's wide crosscourt forehand ended the proceedings, sending Vesnina to her first Wimbledon Round of 16 since 2009.

CoCo Vandeweghe def. Roberta Vinci 6-3/6-4
...Vandeweghe simply overpowered the Italian, hitting 21 winners (to Vinci's 9) on Centre Court (again... the AELTC must love her). She's only faced two BP all week, is 11-1 on grass this season, 7-1 at Wimbledon the last two years, and now 4-0 vs. Top 10ers in 2016.



Afterward, Vandeweghe said, "Roberta's a really tough opponent with a lot of craftiness to her game. She makes you beat her. I tried to stay focused and keep pressing. At times I felt I was in the clouds a little bit, making a few loose errors but overall I was happy with the match. It was really quite cool, similar to when I played Maria [Sharapova] on quarter-final day [last year]."

Hmmm, is that the first mention of you-know-who by a WTA player at this Wimbledon? If so, it's ironic that it comes on July 3, a significant anniversary in the Sharapova cannon (see below).

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Timea Bacsinszky 6-3/6-2
...another Hordette, as Pavlyuchenkova finally reached her first Wimbledon Round of 16 in her tenth SW19 appearance, and her first in a slam since she reached the QF at the U.S. Open in 2011. She got the set-turning break for 5-3 in the 1st, winning on her fourth BP of the game after having taken a 15/40 lead but seeing Bacsinszky still manage to reach GP. The Russian saved a BP and served out the set a game later. In all, she led 24-11 in winners, and staved off all three of the Swiss woman's BP chances on the day. Both of Pavlyuchenkova's Top 30 wins this season have come against Bacsinszky.



Hmmm, just how long ARE the odds that the old Backspin "What If...?" that featured Venus Williams defeating Pavlyuchenkova in the 2015 Wimbledon final at age 35 could actually HAPPEN... just a year later in 2016? Well, at least half of it has a legitimate shot, right?

Hey... this is the closest it's even been to becoming a reality, so I HAVE to mention it!

Serena Williams def. Annika Beck 6-3/6-0
...Serena was never really tested, winning in :51 while out-pointing the young German 57-26 and holding a 25-2 advantage in winners. It's her 300th career slam MD victory, passing Chris Evert for second amongst women on the Open era list, and putting her just six wins behind all-time leader Martina Navratilova (306). Roger Federer is currently at 305.



Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Sloane Stephens 6-7(1)/6-2/8-6
...Sveta makes it three Hordettes in the Round of 16 in a tight three-set (naturally) match in which she had to stage a late rally to advance.

Stephens had saved a SP in game #12 of the 1st set, holding to force a TB. Once there, she surged to a 4-0 lead and took the breaker 7-1. Kuznetsova quickly went up 3-0 in the 2nd and won 6-2. In the deciding set, Kuznetsova opened with a break for 1-0, but Stephens broke back a game later.

Kuznetsova had a heated discussion with chair umpire Marijana Veljovic (I may be mistaken, but I THINK she was also the umpire who twice dinged Venus for a time violation the other day, as well) after she'd issued an off-court coaching violation to Sveta. The incident seemed to put off the Russian's game for a while. Possibly not coincidentally, Stephens soon after raced to a 5-2 lead and served for the match at 5-3. She quickly fell behind 15/40 and Kuznetsova broke her with a forehand winner. The Russian then staged a comeback from love/30 to hold for 5-5. Stephens seemed to possibly tire (or maybe it was just frustration) in the later stages of the set, twice slumping to the grass after losing a point in which she really didn't outright slip and fall, once at the baseline and then again at the net after Kuznetsova had passed her.

Up love/40 on Stephens' serve in game #13, the Hordette saw the Bannerette's forehand error give her a break lead at 7-6. Kuznetsova's backhand passing shot put her up 30/15 a game later, but Stephens battled back, getting to a drop shot and then putting away a volley to reach BP. But she followed up by firing a backhand long, then a forehand wide to give Kuznetsova her first (and only) MP. Another unforced backhand error from Stpehens ended it after 2:29.

At the net, Stephens opened her arms wide and engulfed Kuznetsova in an embrace.




Ekaterina Makarova def. Barbora Strycova 6-4/6-2
...the Russian (the fourth to win today) continued to climb back into the mix, frustrating an exasperated Strycova throughout (well, at least after the two exchanged breaks in the first six games of the match, until Makarova held for 4-3). The win sets up an all-Russian Round of 16 match for Makarova vs. her doubles partner, Vesnina.



...Makarova & Vesnina returned later in the day to win in doubles over the all-Crumpet duo of Jocelyn Rae & Anne Smith.

Elsewhere in doubles, #1 Hingis/Mirza and #2 Garcia/Mladenovic (after dropping a love 1st set vs. the all-Shuai pair of Peng & Zhang) won to reach the Round of 16. As did Christina McHale & Jelena Ostapenko (def. King/Kudryavtseva), Goerges/Ka.Pliskova (oh, my) and Jelena Jankovic & Aleksandra Krunic. In that last one, the Serbs defeated the #3-seeded Chan sisters in three sets. They'd led by a set and break at 3-1, but were forced to a decider, winning a 6-2 set that ended with The Bracelet knocking off back-to-back-to-back volleys while JJ admired the action from a few feet to her right. It wasn't the first time that JJ enjoyed the best seat in the house on the day, either.

Naturally, with JJ around, odd things are REQUIRED to happen. In this one, it was a stray ball bouncing over the wall... and being picked up by a dog, who then quickly made off for parts unknown with the bounty. (At least I THINK I saw that happen -- I was late posting this because I was going back over the match on Watch ESPN trying to find the moment, but I can't remember when it happened... and now I wonder if if might have been an hallucination.)

LATE NOTE: Found it! At 3-3, 15/15 in the 2nd set (about 1:25:30 into the Watch ESPN replay) a police dog Spaniel makes off with a ball... though I'm not sure if it the ball came from the JJ/Bracelet match, as it may have been from the next court over. Still...

And in the resumption of that The Dashas-vs.-The Dynamic Duo match from yesterday, which was stopped due to darkness with Gavrilova/Kasatkina having come back from a break down in the 3rd to tie Mattek-Sands/Safarova at 5-5, well, it didn't take long to wrap things up. In fact, the warm-up may have lasted longer than the match play today. The Dashas quickly went up love/30 on the BMS serve in the opening game, then broke the slam-winning pair at 15 with a Kasatkina volley. With the Russian serving for the match at 6-5, Gavrilova cut off a Mattek-Sands backhand to put away a poach volley winner to reach MP. Kasatkina's forehand down the line ended the 6-2/0-6/7-5 match after about six minutes of Saturday match time (and part of that included the changeover between games #11 and #12). The Dashas were 5-for-5 on BP chances in the match.



...the girls singles FINALLY started on Sunday. Some results of note: Ukraine's Anastasia Zarytska def. #11 Yuki Naito (JPN), #5 Kayla Day (USA) def. Peru's Dominique Schaefer, Brit Gabriella Taylor knocked off Bannerette Morgan Coppoc, and #9 Usue Arconada (USA) won a 9-7 3rd set over Poland's Iga Swiatek.

...on the ITF circuit:

* - Spanish veteran Silvia Soler-Espinova won her fifth career ITF title -- her first since 2011, and the biggest of her career -- in the $50K in Rome, defeating Laura Pous-Tio on the final. SSE, 28, has reached two tour-level singles finals, in 2014 and earlier this year in Bogota.

* - Second-ranked Argentine Nadia Podoroska, 19, won her eighth career ITF title in the $25K Denain, France event.



* - 24-year old Bulgarian Isabella Shinikova added a sixth title to her season circuit-leading 2016 total in the $25K in Torun, Poland. It's her 17th career crown, and the win gives her a 15-2 record in finals since mid-2014. After finishing last season at #330, Shinikova is now in the Top 175.


*- in Helsingborg, Sweden it was Susanne Celik winning her second consecutive title. The 21-year old Swede's defeted Chilean Daniela Seguel in the final.

* - Bannerette Jamie Loeb, 21, improved her career ITF singles record to 6-0 with a win the $25K El Paso over Caitlin Whoriskey, defending the title she won a year ago. 28-year old Whorisky is 1-7 in ITF singles finals since 2009.



* - #9-ranked junior Amina Anshba, who ended RG girls champ Rebeka Masarova's run of clay domination in Berlin in mid-June, won her first pro singles title at the $10K in Kazan in her native Russia. The 16-year old (#698) defeated #1-seeded Yana Sizikova in the semis, then #2 Anastasia Gasanova in the final, winning the 3rd set at love.

* - Korea's Jeong Su-Nam defeated Hanna Chang in the $10 Gimcheon final. It's 18-year old Bannerette Chang's second consecutive final. She won her first career title a week ago.

* - and in the $10K in Antalya, Slovak Zuzana Zlochova took the title, but the real story was the other finalist -- Suzy Larkin. A 24-year old Brit who's never had a WTA ranking and hadn't played a pro match since 2007 (she went just 2-4 then) until this past May. She qualified, then ran off wins over the #5, #4 and #2 seeds before losing to #6-seed Zlochova in the final. She'll soon have her first-ever ranking.




NOTE ON DAY 7: A little later than anticipated, but I told you this was coming seven days ago...



She's 11-1 on grass. It's not THAT big a longshot.

LIKE ON DAY 7: The FIRST Middle Sunday acton (though they don't show the clip here where the fans were counting the groundstrokes during warm-up)...



Here's at least a longer version of Connors' entrance onto Centre Court that day in 1991 (a few months before his U.S. Open semi run at age 39)...


TENNIS FACT ON DAY 7:



John Isner is never going to win a major title, or likely ever even reach a semi. But his place in tennis history -- his career legacy, really -- will be to be known for playing marathon slam final sets that see the scoreboard routinely light up with numbers that you rarely ever see when anyone else is playing, but come to expect when Isner is involved. Be it 19-17, 22-20 or, you know, 70-68... nothing ever really surprises but, even though we all saw it happen back 2010, it's still hard to fathom how "The Match On the Edge of Forever" isn't some sort of sentient fiction that has perniciously infiltrated our collective mind and managed to be transformed to "fact." Long after he's gone from the tour, "Isneresque" and "pulling an Isner" will likely outlive anything else he's ever done or will ever do in the sport.




But, really, when you think about it... that's not ALL bad.

TENNIS OPINION ON DAY 7:




No. When Doohan upset Becker at Wimbledon the German was coming off back-to-back title runs as a teenager, and seemed unbeatable with his only career loss at the tournament coming when he'd retired with an ankle injury three years earlier (think Rafa-at-Roland Garros vibes).


Even with thirty straight slam wins, no one thought Djokovic was unbeatable... and his career isn't unalterably intertwined with SW19 as Becker's was/is. Additionally, everyone knew that Sam Querrey is talented (former #17, and is still Top 50, with eight career titles), just frustratingly inconsistent when it comes to putting up good results. No one had any notion that Doohan was capable of a win, even on his best day. 1987 was his career year, but while he was #70 at the time of the match (mostly because the Aussie reached the Round of 16 at the AO), he'd been ranked outside the Top 300 months earlier. This account by Scott Ostler in the L.A. Times the day of the match described Doohan as "a two-legged piece of cannon-fodder." Querrey was never considered that... and that level of expectation is sort of what defines a "major upset."

The only real connection between those two matches is that Becker was "involved" in both of them.

As far as recent upsets, though, Sampras/Bastl... now there you might have something.

LIKE ON DAY 7: Sveta being Sveta... and all the GOOD that comes with that phrase.




LIKE ON DAY 7: Who says the Revolution is over?



And none of them are members of the coming Second Horde of teenage juniors, either.

REALIZATION ON DAY 7: Truthfully, it's bigger news that it's no longer a surprising stat...



BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME ON DAY 7: And there she goes...



LIKE ON DAY 7: More Sania, day-by-day...



PETRA ON DAY 7:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster...And treat those two impostors just the same

A photo posted by Petra Kvitova (@petra.kvitova) on



She could be talking about Wimbledon... or a few of the comments under this photo on her Instagram page. Some people.

ANOTHER STRAWBERRIES-AND-CREAM-AND-PLAYER PIC ON DAY 7:



LIKE ON DAY 7: When you win an ITF title AND look a little like Arya Stark...



LIKE ON DAY 7: I see you, gigantic slug.



LIKE ON DAY 7: Daring to stand out...




...and, finally...

Serena won. The weather held. A new week has begun.

Sunday (Official Radwanskian Massacre Day): CALM
Day 1: CONCERN
Day 2: PARANOIA
Day 3 (Observed Radwanskian Massacre Day): CONCERN
Day 4: ALARM
Day 5: PARANOIA
Day 6: ALARM
Day 7: CONCERN


Of course, Aga returns tomorrow. So...




*LADIES' SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Serena Williams/USA vs. #13 Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS
#21 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS vs. #27 CoCo Vandeweghe/USA
#3 Aga Radwanska/POL vs. #19 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK
Ekaterina Makarova/RUS vs. Elena Vesnina/RUS
#5 Simona Halep/ROU vs. #9 Madison Keys/USA
Misaki Doi/JPN vs. #4 Angelique Kerber/GER
#8 Venus Williams/USA vs. #14 Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP
Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ vs. #28 Lucie Safarova

*LADIES' DOUBLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Hingis/Mirza (SUI/IND) vs. McHale/Ostapenko (USA/LAT)
x vs. x
Jankovic/Krunic (SRB/SRB) vs. Groenefeld/Peschke (GER/GER)
#10 Atawo/Spears (USA/USA) vs. x/x
#6 Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE) vs. Williams/Williams (USA/USA)
x vs. x
#8 Goerges/Ka.Pliskova (GER/CZE) vs. Broady/Watson (GBR/GBR)
x vs. #2 Garcia/Mladenovic (FRA/FRA)















The last time there was play on the Middle Sunday was in 2004. And twelve years ago today -- July 3, 2004 -- a certain Russian officially stepped into the spotlight.


My original take on that final: The Passion of the Supernova
My Time Capsule Series look back (2014): The Season of the Hordettes, Pt.II: 2004 Wimbledon



*WIMBLEDON "LAST QUALIFIER STANDING"*
=2006=
Severine Bremond, FRA (QF)
=2007=
Olga Govortsova, BLR
Nika Ozegovic, CRO
Tatiana Perebiynis, UKR
Agnes Szavay, HUN
Hana Sromova, CZE (all 2nd Rd.)
=2008=
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, ESP
Barbora Strycova, CZE (all 3rd Rd.)
=2009=
Melanie Oudin, USA (4th Rd.)
=2010=
Kaia Kanepi, EST (QF)
=2011=
Misaki Doi, JPN (3rd Rd.)
=2012=
Camila Giorgi, ITA (4th Rd.)
=2013=
Eva Birnerova, CZE
Petra Cetkovska, CZE
Michelle Larcher de Brito, POR (all 3rd Rd.)
=2014=
Tereza Smitkova, CZE (4th Rd.)
=2015=
Olga Govortsova, BLR (4th Rd.)
=2016=
Julia Boserup, USA
Jana Cepelova, SVK
Marina Erakovic, NZL (all 3rd Rd.)




TOP QUALIFIER: Mandy Minella/LUX
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #5 Simona Halep/ROU
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: #7 Tamira Paszek/AUT d. Andrea Hlavackova/CZE 6-3/5-7/10-9 ret. (Paszek MP in 2nd, ankle injury; Paszek up 5-3 3rd; Hlavackova ret. w/ cramps, collapses onto back after match)
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. #3 Aga Radwanska/POL d. Ana Konjuh/CRO 6-2/4-6/9-7 (3 MP, one on net cord; Konjuh rolled ankle stepping on ball)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF):
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #29 Daria Kasatkina/RUS (def. Duval/USA in :51)
FIRST SEED OUT: #25 Irina-Camelia Begu/ROU (lost 1st Rd. to Witthoeft/GER)
UPSET QUEENS: Germans
REVELATION LADIES: Russians
NATION OF POOR SOULS: China (1-4 1st Rd.; only win by LL Duan Yingying)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Jana Cepelova/SVK, Marina Erakovic/NZL, Julia Boserup/USA (all 3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Tara Moore/GBR and Evgeniya Rodina/RUS (both 2nd Rd.)
LAST BRIT/CRUMPET STANDING: Johanna Konta/GBR and Tara Moore/GBR (both 2nd Rd.)
IT ("??"): xx
Ms.OPPORTUNITY: xx
COMEBACK: xx
CRASH & BURN: #2 Garbine Muguruza/ESP (reigning RG champ and '15 Wimbledon finalist; lost 1st Rd. in under an hour to qualifier Cepelova/SVK)
ZOMBIE QUEEN (TBD at QF): Nominees: #28 Safarova (1st Rd. - down 7-6/5-2, 5-3 in 3rd and saved 3 MP vs. Mattek-Sands; 3rd Rd. - saved MP at 9-8 vs. Cepelova, who served for match at 5-3; won 12-10 3rd set); #3 A.Radwanska (2nd Rd - Konjuh 3 MP, one on a net cord; Konjuh turned ankle stepping on a ball in game #15 of 3rd set, Radwanska wins 9-7); #1 S.Williams (down 2-0 in 3rd vs. McHale in 2nd Rd.); #8 V.Williams (2nd Rd. - longest 3rd set of Wimb. career, 10-8 vs. Kasatkina); #13 Kuznetsova (3rd Rd. - Stephens led 5-2, and served for match at 5-3 3rd; won 8-6 3rd)
THE RADWANSKA AWARD (June 26 official/Day 3 observed): 74 s/d matches are scheduled: due to rain, 41 are cancelled, 15 suspended and 18 completed. Only 6 matches were both started and finished solely on Day 3, with 4 of those played under the Centre Court roof. But Aga Radwanska opens the Centre Court schedule and wins without incident, while her '16 RG conqueror Tsvetana Pironkova loses in previously unscheduled C.C. match.
DOUBLES STAR: xx
KIMIKO DATE-KRUMM VETERAN CUP (KDK CUP): xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx





All for Day 7. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 6:47 PM 

2 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Stat of the Day- 10- Number of years it has been since a Japanese woman reached the 4th round of a slam before today. With that in mind, here is a quick list on who the last player was from each country to reach the round of 16, not including the player there now. For the US and Russia, it is different, as I looked for the last slam in which they had 4 or more.
US-16 French- swap in Vandeweghe for Rogers, the other 3 are the same.
Russia-13- AO- swap in Pavlychenkova, swap out the Maria's Kirilenko/Sharapova.
Japan-06- W- Sugiyama
Poland- 08- AO- Domachowska
Slovakia- 13- US- Hantuchova
Germany- 16- AO- Friedsam/Beck
Czech Republic- 16 -AO- Strycova
Spain- 16- F- Muguruza
Romania- 16 - F- Begu
Kazakhstan- 16- F- Putinseva

The other thing to notice is that we really don't have any outliers in the sweet 16. Doi is the only one never to be seeded at a slam, and she was one match win away from being seeded at the french. One thing that might surprise you is that even in an era with the Williams sisters dominance on grass, 11 of the 16 have a grass title. Listed are the last title for those:
S.Williams- 15 Wimbledon
V.Williams 08 Wimbledon
Keys 16 Birmingham
Vandeweghe 16 Den Bosch
Makarova 10 Eastbourne
Vesnina 13 Eastbourne
Kuznetsova 04 Eastbourne
Cibulkova 16 Eastbourne
Radwanska 08 Eastbourne
Halep 13 Den Bosch
Kerber 15 Birmingham

Sun Jul 03, 08:27:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Good stuff, Colt. :)

Another thing I noticed in doing the Final 16 list is that, so far, all the players who've reached multiple Round of 16 at slams this season are in THIS Final 16. Not sure what it means, but I don't remember having that be the case before when I've done those lists.

Sun Jul 03, 09:30:00 PM EDT  

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