Sunday, September 15, 2019

Decade's Best: 2014-16 U.S. Open

In the decade's middle years, the veterans seized the spotlight. Some more expectedly than others...




==2014 NEWS & NOTES==
Serena Williams, 32, won her third straight U.S. Open title, defeating Caroline Wozniacki 6-3/6-3 to claim career slam #18, matching the career total of both Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert.



Williams didn't lose a set during the tournament, and never dropped more than three games in any set. Her sixth U.S. title tied Evert's Open era record in New York.

Meanwhile, the Open final capped the Dane's resurgent summer in the wake of her broken engagement to golfer Rory McIlroy. Wozniacki's friendship with Williams flourished during the period, during which she put together a North American hard court campaign that included a Rogers Cup QF (a loss to Serena), Cincinnati final (Williams, again) and her first slam final in five years (her third loss to Serena in four events). Her run returned her to the Top 10. In November, she ran the New York City marathon, finishing with a time of 3:26:33.

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Peng Shuai and Ekaterina Makarova were first-time slam semifinalists. Peng joing Li Na and Zheng Jie as players from China to go so far in a major, though her run ended on a disappointing note, with Peng cramping and having to retire vs. Wozniacki down 7-6/4-3. She was wheeled off the court, and hasn't advanced beyond the 2nd Round at any U.S. Open since.


The '14 Open represents Peng's only slam result better than the Round of 16. She won just nine additional combined slam MD matches between 2015-19.

Makarova's SF results came after four QF finishes in majors between 2012-14, and the Russian would make it two in a row by also reaching the Final Four at the 2015 AO. She's yet to reach another major QF since, but has reached #8 in singles(2015), #1 in doubles (2018), and has claimed three WD slams, one MX, as well as a WTAF title and Olympic Gold in doubles.

In doubles, Makarova joined with fellow Hordette Elena Vesnina to win their second slam crown (first since '13 RG), defeating Martina Hingis & Flavia Pennetta in the final. The duo had beaten Venus & Serena Williams in the QF in the sisters' final Open WD appearance of the decade.

The final was Hingis' first in a major since the 2002 Australian Open singles and doubles. Hingis' comeback picked up steam in '14, as she won Miami with Sabine Lisicki and went 2-2 in finals with Pennetta.

Sania Mirza picked up her third career slam MX title, joining with Bruno Soares to defeat Abigail Spears & Santiago Gonzalez in the final.
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Draw notes:

* - 17-year old Swiss Belinda Bencic, a two-time junior slam winner (RG/WI) in '13, reached the women's QF in her slam Flushing Meadows debut. She wouldn't have her next slam QF+ until 2019, when she reached the U.S. semis.

* - Serbian qualifier Aleksandra Krunic upset #27 Madison Keys and #3 Petra Kvitova on her way to the Round of 16, where she lost in three sets to #16 Victoria Azarenka


* - Italians flourished once again, as Flavia Pennetta reached the QF (her fifth QF-or-better result in New York in six appearances since 2008), Sara Errani the Round of 16 (def. Venus in the 3rd Rd.) and Roberta Vinci the 3rd Round.

* - wild card Madison Brengle ten-year quest to record a MD win at a major finally became a success. The Bannerette had gone 0-fo-27 in slam qualifying attempts in her career (failing to make it through the Q-rounds in 24 straight majors), and been 0-4 in slam 1st Rounds (when given a WC) in her career before her '14 opening round victory over Julia Glushko.

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Firsts & lasts:

* - 15-year old wild card CiCi Bellis made her slam debut and upset #12-seed Dominika Cibulkova in the 1st Round, becoming the youngest to record a MD match win at Flushing Meadows since Anna Kournikova in 1996 (and the youngest U.S. player since Mary Joe Fernandez in 1986).



* - two years after the USTA controversially withheld funds due to "fitness issues," former junior #1 Taylor Townsend, 18, made her U.S. Open MD debut as a wild card, losing in the 1st Round to eventual champ Serena Williams. In Mixed doubles, she teamed with Donald Young (son of her coach, Donald Young Sr.) to reach the semifinals, having recorded a 2nd Round win over #2-seeded Andrea Hlavackova (DC) & Alexandra Peya en route.

* - two-time slam semifinalist (2008 WI/2010 AO) Zheng Jie played her final U.S. Open singles match, losing to countrywoman Peng Shuai in the 1st Round

* - Maria Kirilenko played her final slam match, a 1st Round Day 1 night match at Ashe Stadium vs. fellow Russian Maria Sharapova. Kirilenko dropped the final twelve games in a 6-4/6-0 defeat. She played her final tour matches in September, reaching the Seoul singles and doubles semis, then losing in the 1st Round in Beijing. She's yet to play since. Kirilenko was married in January 2015, had a baby in July of that year, then another in 2017.

* - NCAA champ (Univ. of Virginia) Danielle Collins make her slam debut via a wild card, falling in the 1st Round to Simona Halep after taking the 1st set in a tie-breaker.

* - 43-year old Kimiko Date-Krumm played her final U.S. Open MD match, losing in the 1st Round in a three-setter vs. Venus Williams. Their combined age of 77 was the most on tour in a match in the Open era.) Date fell in U.S. Open qualifying in 2015.
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Unseeded Marie Bouzkova defeated Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina to take the girls title, becoming the first Czech to win the junior title at Flushing Meadows in twenty-three years. Bouzkova defeated #2-seed Alona Ostapenko, the reigning Wimbledon girls champ, in the 2nd Round.



Ipek Soylu and Swiss partner Jill Teichmann claimed the girls doubles, with Soylu becoming the first Turk to win a junior slam crown.
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Yui Kamiji won her first U.S. Open wheelchair singles crown, defeating defending champ Aniek Van Koot 6-3/6-3 in the final. She and Jordanne Whiley teamed to win the doubles, defeating DC Jiske Griffioen & Van Koot to complete their Grand Slam for the '14 season. They'd go on to win a fifth consecutive slam title in Melbourne the following January.

Kamiji ended the season as the reigning champ in six of the seven slam disciplines, coming up short in only the Australian Open singles, where she was runner-up in three sets to Sabine Ellerbrock.
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The 47-year partnership between CBS and the U.S. Open ended...

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CITY SIGHTS:

Caroline Wozniacki's hair gets wrapped around her racket in the middle of a point vs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich...

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["To the Exceptional Go the Spoils" - September 7, 2014]


==QUOTES==
* - "People have been trying to retire me since I was, like 25. For some reason in tennis, we always do that to our players, it's weird. We don't encourage them to stick around. It's like, 'get out of here.'" - Venus Williams

* - "According to Kimiko (Date), I have another decade." - Venus Williams

* - "She's loyal and is fun to hang around. That's something that I think is very important in a friend." - Caroline Wozniacki, on Serena Williams

* - "I think everyone in general plays the match of their lives against me. So every time I step on the court, I have to always be a hundred times better. If I'm not, then I'm in trouble. If I'm not playing a great, great match, these girls when they play me, they play as if they're on the ATP Tour, and then they play other girls completely different. It's never easy being in my shoes." - Serena Williams

* - "Serena, you deserve it. You played better than me today and you deserve to be the champion. ... You are an inspiration on the court and off it. You're an unbelievable champion and a great friend. The drinks are on you tonight." - Caroline Wozniacki, to Williams






==2015 NEWS & NOTES==

Flavia Pennetta's maiden slam title at age 33 capped off an historic run by herself and her fellow Italians in the majors during the decade, which saw two of them (w/ Francesca Schiavone at RG in '10) become major champions and two others (Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci) reach slam singles finals after no women before them from the nation had ever managed either feat in the long history of the sport.

The Open had traditionally been Pennetta's best slam, as she'd reached four QF and a semi in New York since 2008.

Naturally, after all the group's years of camaraderie as friends, Fed Cup teammates and doubles partners (Errani/Pennetta also reached the WD semis at this Open), Pennetta shared the spotlight in the final with longtime friend Vinci, who'd reached the final with quite possibly what was the biggest match win at Flushing Meadows during the 2010's, her semifinal upset of three-time defending champ Serena Williams.



After having posted wins over previous slam winners Sam Stosur and Petra Kvitova, and future major winner Simona Halep, Pennetta faced Vinci in the first all-Italian slam final. After a close 1st set, Vinci noticeably faded in the 2nd as Pennetta won 7-6(4)/6-2, becoming the oldest first-time major champ and the one who traveled the longest road (49 slam appearances) to get there.




During the post-match trophy presentation, Pennetta then shocked the tennis world by announcing that this had been her last U.S. Open, and that she'd soon retire from the sport.
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While Pennetta's win was somewhat overshadowed by her retirement announcement, Vinci's semifinal win over Williams was (and is) the signature moment of the '15 U.S. Open. The #40-ranked Vinci -- a former doubles #1 and Career Doubles Slam winner who'd never won a set off Serena in singles -- kept Williams off balance with a variety of spins and drop shots, coming back from a break down in the 3rd set. After losing her lead, Vinci's tactics helped assure that Williams was never able to regain her edge.



Williams had been riding a 33-match slam winning streak and was seeking her first Grand Slam season in '15, after having had non-calendar "Serena Slam" runs in 2002-03 and 2014-15, having completed her second four-in-a-row major title streak at Wimbledon earlier in the summer.

Vinci's win assured that eight different women would will the eight women's slam singles finalist spots in 2015. Her post-match interview effectively brought down the house on Ashe, as the 32-year old Vinci apologized to the crowd for her win ("Sorry, guys!"), calling it "best moment of my life"

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The "dream team" doubles combination of Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza made their U.S. Open debut -- after Indian Wells, Miami and Wimbledon wins since the duo was first formed in the spring -- and took the title, defeating Casey Dellacqua & Yaroslava Shvedova in the final.



The win was Hingis' first U.S. Open title since winning the 1998 doubles. Hingis/Mirza would win a third straight major in Melbourne in January '15, but their partnership would ultimately last just fourteen months (during which they went 14-3 in finals) before they decided to go their seperate ways.

Defending WD champs Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina didn't defend their title, as Makarova didn't play doubles at all (and Vesnina entered alongside Genie Bouchard). Meanwhile, #2 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Lucie Safarova withdrew because of the Czech's abdominal injury.

Hingis doubled up on major titles, also winning the MX with Leander Paes with a 10-7 match tie-break win in the final over Mattek-Sands & Sam Querrey. It was the pair's third slam win in 2015, and they'd complete a Career Mixed Slam as a team at Roland Garros in '16. In her comeback, Hingis added a total of six MX crowns between 2015-17.


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Draw notes:

* - a broadcast partner in the years preceding 2015, ESPN assumed *full*-event coverage of the Open in the U.S. for the first time

* - #3 seed Maria Sharapova withdrew on the eve of the tournament due to a leg injury. It was the second time in three years the '06 champion pulled out of the U.S. Open with an injury.

* - a year after making her debut in the MD as a 15-year old old, CiCi Bellis lost in qualifying. But she did post a 4-6/6-1/6-4 victory in the opening Q-round that ended Kimiko Date-Krumm's U.S. Open career. There was a 28-year age gap between the 16 and 44-year olds.



* - a year after recording her first career slam MD win ten years after she played her first match in a slam event, Madison Brengle reached the 3rd Round. After winning a 3:21 contest with Zheng Saisai, she followed up with another victory over Anna Tatishvili. 2015 saw Brengle finally break through on tour. After having just five tour-level MD wins coming into the season, she recorded 25 during the season, reached her first WTA final (Hobart), had her maiden Round of 16 result in a major (AO), set a career high ranking (#35) and got her first Top 10 win (Petra Kvitova). But after falling in the 3rd Round, Brengle didn't win another MD match at Flushing Meadows the rest of the decade, going 0-4.

* - the U.S.'s Varvara Lepchenko reached the Round of 16, her best result at Flushing Meadows, and tying her career best result at a major ('12 RG)

* - Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep reached the QF for the first time at the U.S. Open

* - British qualifier Johanna Konta (world #97) defeated #9-seeded Garbine Muguruza in a 7-6(4)/6-7(4)/6-2 contest that broke the U.S. Open women's match length record at 3:23, topping the 2011 Samantha Stosur/Nadia Petrova contest. The win was Konta's 15th consecutive that summer, as she eventually advanced to her first career slam Round of 16. 21-year old Muguruza -- who had just reached the Wimbledon final, and had two RG quarterfinals and a pair of AO Round of 16 results on her career resume -- had recorded her first career MD win at Flushing Meadows in the 1st Round.



* - on Night 6, #25 Genie Bouchard defeated Dominika Cibulkova in a late evening 3rd Round match. Later, in a dark locker room, she slipped on a wet floor and suffered a concussion that led her to withdraw from her Round of 16 singles (sending Roberta Vinci to the QF) and doubles (ending partner Elena Vesnina's title defense attempt) matches. After battling the injury for months, Bouchard ultimately sued the USTA for negligence. The organization battled against the charges for over two years, with the case eventually going to court, where Bouchard took the stand to testify. She won the case, as the USTA was declared to be "mostly at fault" (75%), but her career (thus far) has never really recovered. The Canadian's 4th Round result in '15 was her sixth in eight majors in 2014-15, during which she had a 26-7 record. She's gone 11-15 in majors since, never advancing past the 3rd Round as she's had difficulty stringing victories and good results together and often struggled to maintain a Top 100 ranking.

* - in the QF, Serena and Venus Williams met in the U.S. Open for the first time since 2008 (they played in back-to-back finals in 2001-02). In their 27th meeting, on the 14th anniversary of the '01 final, Serena pulled away in the 3rd set to win 6-2/1-6/6-3. She fired an ace on MP to reach the Open SF for a seventh consecutive time.
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Firsts & lasts:

* - lucky loser Dasha Kasatkina, in the MD due to Sharapova's withdrawal, made her slam debut and reached the 3rd Round, the best result by a LL at a major since 1993

* - slam debuts were made by Sofia Kenin (as a WC), Maria Sakkari (as a qualifier), Jessica Pegula (the Buffalo, New York native qualified and defeated Alison Van Uytvanck, notching what was her only slam MD win in the decade)

* - U.S. Open debuts were made by Alona Ostapenko (at 18, the youngest slam qualifier in '15) and Anett Kontaveit (another qualifier, she reached the Round of 16 before losing to Venus Williams -- but didn't win another slam MD match until the '17 RG)

* - Daniela Hantuchova played in her last U.S. Open, losing in the 1st Round to Misaki Doi
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Dalmi Galfi won the girls singles, becoming the first Hungarian to claim the U.S. Open junior title and the country's first singles slam winner since Agnes Szavy in Paris in 2005. Galfi defeated Bannerette Sofia Kenin 7-5/6-4 in the final.

Meanwhile, 14-year old Canadian Bianca Andreescu made her first of two appearances in the girls competition at Flushing Meadows, losing in the 1st Round to U.S. teen Raveena Kingsley, 6-1/6-1.

Viktoria Kuzmova & Aleksandra Pospelova (SVK/RUS) defeated the all-Hordette duo of Anna Kalinskaya & Anastasia Potapova to win the doubles.
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Brit Jordanne Whiley defeated doubles partner and best friend Yui Kamiji, the defending champ and world #1, in the wheelchair final to win her maiden slam singles crown, 4-6/6-0/6-1. The match took place in the shadow of Arthur Ashe Stadium as the Djokovic/Federer men's final was being played, with the cheers from the big court often echoing in the background while the two women battled for the title.



Jiske Griffioen & Aniek Van Koot won the doubles, their second title at Flushing Meadows in three years.

While Whiley won three more slam doubles titles in 2015-16, and reached the RG and Wimbledon singles semis in 2016, she didn't play another U.S. Open match the remainder of the decade. The competition wasn't held in '16 due to the summertime Paralympics, and she missed the tournament in 2016-17 due to having her first child. In 2019, she was ranked in the Top 8, but was pushed out of the MD at Flushing Meadows due to a wild card given to U.S. player Dana Mathewson.
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CITY SIGHTS:

Serena's animal print dress...

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["La Dolce Flavia" - September 12, 2015]


==QUOTES==
* - "For me! For me!" - Roberta Vinci, imploring the crowd to cheer for her during her semifinal match vs. Serena Williams

* - "I feel good right now. I can maybe touch the sky with my finger. ... Today is my day. Sorry, guys. - Roberta Vinci, after defeating Serena Williams in the semifinals

* - "I don't want to talk about how disappointing it is for me. If you have any other questions, I'm open for that." - Serena Williams, during her post-match press conference

* - "I (would) rather win, alongside Sania (Mirza) and Leander (Paes), grand slam titles than having to struggle with my body. ... No, thank you. I was just, like, practicing yesterday and I almost hurt myself." - Martina Hingis, answering why her comeback was restricted to doubles, with no singles

* - "Before I started this tournament, like one month ago, I made a big decision in my life. ... And this is the way I would like to say goodbye to tennis. I’m really happy. It’s what all the players want to do, going out with this kind of big trophy. So this one was my last match at the U.S. Open and I couldn’t think to finish a better way." - Flavia Pennetta, during the post-final trophy presentation








==2016 NEWS & NOTES==


Angelique Kerber's yellow brick road to never-before-seen success cut yet another brilliant 2016 path, this time through New York. By the time the U.S. Open was over, the German had swept through seven matches at a major for the second time (w/ AO) that season (dropping just one set, in the final vs. Karolina Pliskova), put behind her disappointing summer losses in the Wimbledon, Olympic and Cincinnati finals, become the first German winner of the U.S. title (1996) and the first from her country to be ranked #1 since her idol (and recent confidant) Steffi Graf and, at 28, the oldest woman to ever make her debut in the top spot.



Kerber would go on to reach the WTA Finals championship match (a loss to Dominika Cibulkova) and finish the season at #1.

Her win in NYC ended Serena Williams' record-tying (w/ Graf from 1987-91) streak of 186 consecutive weeks in the #1 ranking. Though she lost in the semifinals for a second straight year (this time to Pliskova, who became the fourth player to defeat *both* Williams sisters in the same slam -- the first to do so since Kim Clijsters in '09 -- as she'd defeated Venus in the Round of 16), Serena *did* manage to pass Roger Federer on the all-time career slam match win list during the tournament.


Pliskova, the first Czech finalist in New York since Helena Sukova in 1993, had never reached the 4th Round of a major before her '16 runner-up performance. She and Kerber had met earlier that summer in the Cincinnati final, with Pliskova winning and denying the German the #1 ranking. She "consoled" (though some thought it to be something else) Kerber in the post-match ceremony, noting that "maybe next time" she'd get the win and the top spot.

Kerber took her at her word, apparently, as she rose to #1 (Graf last the spot in 1997) following her defeat of Pliskova at Flushing Meadows. The Czech would go on to claim the #1 ranking *from* Kerber the following July.


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A year after being unable to compete in the U.S. Open doubles competition due to injury, Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Lucie Safarova (aka "Team Bucie") won their third slam as a team, defeating '14 Open champs Makarova/Vesnina in the semis and then top-seeded (and reigning RG champs) Caroline Garcia & Kristina Mladenovic in a 2-6/7-6(5)/6-4 final.




Mattek-Sands & Safarova would ultimately win five slam crowns from 2015-17, though they'd come up a Wimbledon title short of completing a Career Doubles Slam together. At the '16 U.S. Open, both had arrived fresh off having won medals at the Rio Olympics, with BMS winning Gold in Mixed with Jack Sock, and Safarova Bronze in Women's Doubles with Barbora Strycova.

Germany's Laura Siegemund grabbed her first career slam title in the Mixed doubles, teaming with Mate Pavic to defeat the all-U.S. duo of CoCo Vandeweghe and Rajeev Ram. The duo swept through their five matches without dropping a set.
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Draw notes:

* - the new Grandstand court debuted, along with the new retractable roof on Ashe Stadium, forever ending the days of time-filling TV replays (including the '91 Jimmy Connors vs. Aaron Krickstein Labor Day classic) during long rain delays.

* - after having become the first Turkish woman to win a slam MD match in Paris that spring, Cagla Buyukakcay won another in New York over Irina Falconi.


* - in the 1st Round, Madison Keys and Alison Riske played the latest-ending women's match in U.S. Open history, with Keys wrapping up a 4-6/7-6(5)/6-2 win at 1:48 a.m. in the tournament's first edition of what would be multiple episodes over the years of "Late Night with Madison." Riske has been two points from the win in the 2nd set.

* - in a 2nd Round match, (now near Top 10) Brit Johanna Konta defeated Tsvetana Pironkova in a three-setter, winning 6-2/5-7/6-2 after seemingly having been on the verge of retirement.

Played in the middle of the afternoon, with the heat and humidity (perhaps deceptively) at its worst, the 2016 AO semifinalist and Stanford champ Konta suddenly (but "gracefully," as she would wryly note) went down in a heap while serving to stay in the 2nd set (down BP, at 5-6, in fact, after missing on a first serve). Dropping her racket and going to a knee, Konta was audibly wheezing and gasping for breath, and was soon on her back, wrapped in ice packs and wet towels while she waited for medical attention and the chair umpire kept a watchful eye on her as she ran around to get things organized and the correct personnel to the court as quickly as possible. Once the trainers got there, Konta was treated and, eventually, made it back to her chair. "My whole body is in shock," she said, as the trainers told her to close her eyes and concentrate on breathing.




In surprisingly quick fashion, she soon returned to the baseline, but only to serve her second serve (well long), securing the break for Pironkova and knotting the match at one set each. After a break between sets, Konta came back seemingly none the worse for wear. She got an early break lead over Pironkova, led 2-0, and never looked back, putting away a victory that was anything but routine.



* - Anastasia Sevastova defeated reigning Roland Garros champ Garbine Muguruza (#3 seed) in the 2nd Round en route to reaching her first career slam QF. She was the first Latvian to get so far in a major since Larisa Neiland in Wimbledon in 1994. Sevastova had been retired from the sport for nearly two years due to multiple injuries and illnesses from 2013-15.



* - fresh off having shockingly won Olympic Gold in Rio, Puerto Rico's Monica Puig lost on Day 1 to Zheng Saisai, becoming the first newly-honored Olympic singles champ to lose so early at Flushing Meadows.

Less than a month earlier, Puig had become Puerto Rico's first Gold medalist of any kind (and first female medalist, period) when she put on a show that included wins over RG champ Muguruza, former Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and AO champ (and eventual U.S. winner) Kerber in a three-set final. It was the performance of the year in 2016, as well as quite possibly the performance of the entire decade.



Kerber and Kvitova filled out the rest of the singles medal stand...

/

* - Croatia's Ana Konjuh defeated Aga Radwanska to reach her first career slam QF. Two months earlier at Wimbledon, Konjuh had lost it the 2nd Round to Radwanska after having held 3 MP, only to injure her ankle when stepping on a ball during a point and then ultimately losing a 9-7 3rd set.

* - two years after making noise as a 15-year old, CiCi Bellis qualified and returned to the U.S. Open MD, reaching the 3rd Round. In 2017, she'd reach the Top 35 at age 18 and play in the 3rd Round at Roland Garros, garnering the tour's "Newcomer of the Year" award. But in 2018, elbow, arm & wrist injuries took her out of the game as she underwent four surgeries in less than a year. As the decade comes to a close, she hasn't played since March '18.

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Firsts & lasts:

* - former U.S. Open singles quarterfinalist (2009) and MX champ (2011) Melanie Oudin made her final U.S. Open appearance. After having won an opening qualifying round match over Caroline Dolehide, Oudin fell to Myrtille Georges a round later. The win had been her first at the tournament since the final round of '14 Open qualifying, and was just her second qualifying appearance since 2012. By the time she retired at age 25 in August 2017, Oudin's career had been beset by illness (a muscle-damaging condition) and arrhythmia since her early exploits. After reaching the QF in '09, Oudin was just 1-3 in MD matches at Flushing Meadows the rest of her career.

* - 14-year old qualifying wild card Amanda Anisimova, the RG girls finalist, played her first pro women's match of any kind in the opening Q-round, defeating #17-seeded Veronica Cepede Royg 3 & 4. She fell in a 3rd set TB to Eri Hozumi a round later. She'd return a year later and win the girls title at Flushing Meadow.

* - Japan's Naomi Osaka made her U.S. Open debut, defeating #28-seed CoCo Vandeweghe in the 1st Round and advancing to the 3rd Round (the third major in '16 at which she debuted by winning two MD matches). There she lost to #8 seed Madison Keys in three sets, squandering a 5-1 3rd set lead after twice serving for the match. Keys won the deciding tie-break 7-3.



A year later, Keys would reach the women's final, while the year after that Osaka would *win* the title, after defeating Keys in the semis.

* - Belgian qualifier Elise Mertens made her slam debut. In 2019, she'd reach the Open semifinals.

* - former world #1 Ana Ivanovic played her final professional match, a 1st Round loss to Denisa Allertova. It was the Serb's fifth straight defeat that season. She didn't play again in '16, and announced her retirement in late December.
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Kayla Day became the third U.S. girl to win the junior singles since the start of the decade, after just one ('08 CoCo Vandeweghe) has previously been crowned champion since 1995. Day defeated Slovak Viktoria Kuzmova by a score of 3 & 2 in the final.

The two semifinalists who *didn't* make the final were two more North Americans, Bannerette Sofia Kenin (lost to Kuzmova) and Canada's Bianca Andreescu (Day). Three years later, Andreescu would be crowned the women's champion in New York.



U.S. wild cards Jada Hart & Ena Shibahara defeated fellow Bannerettes Day & Caroline Dolehide to claim the girls doubles. Shibahara began representing Japan in 2019.
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Due to the Paralympic games, wheelchair competition wasn't held at Flushing Meadows in 2016. In Rio, new world #1 Jiske Griffioen swept the Golds, defeating Aniek Van Koot in the singles final (while Yui Kamiji won Bronze), and then joining with her to win the doubles with a victory over countrywomen Marjolein Buis & Diede de Groot.


For 19-year old de Groot, the Paralympics were her top event debut. The teenager reached the singles semis (falling to Griffioen in a 3rd set TB, then losing the Bronze Medal match vs. Kamiji). At the season-ending Masters competitions, de Groot reached the singles SF and won the doubles title with Lucy Shuker.

De Groot (aka "Diede the Great) didn't make her slam debut until the '17 AO, but by the end of the decade had completed a Career Slam in singles *and* doubles, becoming the first in the sport's history to win all eight majors. She won 15 slam s/d crowns in the final three years of the 2010's, becoming the dominant women's WC player in the world... and quite possibly laying the foundation for a 2020's run at some of mentor Esther Vergeer's longstanding slam wheelchair title records.

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CITY SIGHTS:

Simona Shortz!...



The Arthur Ashe Stadium roof debuts. Ta-dah!!...

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["Kerberific!" - September 11, 2016]


==QUOTES==
* - "When I was a kid I was always dreaming to be #1 and win grand slams. All the dreams came true this year and I'm just trying to enjoy every moment on court and off court. ... It’s the best year in my career. It’s just incredible. Everything started here in 2011 and now I’m... standing here with the trophy. It means so much to me." - Angelique Kerber
















































All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 1:16 AM 

3 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

A bunch of references to Hingis and Date-Krumm. I wonder who could have inspired that?

Pliskova moving up on that Ms. Backspin list :)

Andreescu looks so young there.

I do think Vinci/Williams is the match of the decade. Puig's Olympic run is one of the best, but if picking a non slam, Bencic's 2015 Toronto run is it for me.

Sun Sep 15, 12:41:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

They probably would have been there anyway, though. :)

See, I told ya. :P

I've been meaning to find the very first photo I ever saw of Andreescu. It was after she won a junior event in 2014 or '15, and I either included it in the weekly post or started to follow her and bring up her results after that. It was weird that it caught my eye at the time, but it did. She was holding up some sort of banner with her name on it (maybe something like "BV Andreescu" for Bianca Vanessa). I think the whole Canadian-with-Romanian-roots stuck in my head early on, and that multiple Canadians had won the same title for a few years.

Anyway, what I was getting at is that she looked even *younger* in *that* photo. ;)

(I'm going to try to find that photo this week, I think.)

I had both Puig and Bencic's runs as the performances of the year those seasons, and it's rare for that not to go to a slam winner. It probably is one or the other, though a few of Serena's more dominant slams runs (and maybe Latvian Thunder in Paris) would be in the mix.

Mon Sep 16, 04:04:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Here it is, along with the 2015 story and video.

Mon Sep 16, 04:28:00 AM EDT  

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