Decade's Best: 2017-19 U.S. Open
The U.S. Open played host to the spectacular closing act of "The Summer of Sloane," as Sloane Stephens had started the summer hard court season without a win on the year after returning from foot surgery and an 11-month tour absence, then ended it as a maiden slam champ.
"Future" Sloane, after years of sterling promise but frustrating inconsistency that had left her nothing more than simply a "Current" Sloane, was suddenly and unexpectedly unleashed upon the WTA landscape during the summer months as Stephens reached back-to-back Premier semis in Toronto and Cincinnati, notched three Top 10 wins, and rose from #957 to #17 in the rankings in less than two months, completing a 15-2 hard court run with a 6-3/6-0 win in the final over fellow first-time slam finalist, countrywoman and good fried Madison Keys in the first all-U.S. final at Flushing Meadows since 2002.
.@SloaneStephens is your 2017 #USOpen champion!
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 9, 2017
She defeats Keys 6-3, 6-0.
?????? pic.twitter.com/EXuTr0TKmk
Two days earlier, we'd witnessed the unofficial, long-awaited hand-out-the-commemorative-cigars birth of "Future Sloane" in the closing stages of Stephens' semifinal win over Venus Williams, when she fired a backhand winner down the line to avoid going match point down to the seven-time slam singles champion. From that moment forward, Stephens, who'd escaped a 3-1 3rd set hole vs. Anastasija Sevastova a round earlier in the QF, fully embraced her destiny and didn't look back, becoming the second unseeded U.S. champ in the Open era ('09 Clijsters).
With hard work and precise shotmaking deep in the 3rd set, @SloaneStephens reaches the #USOpen finals! ?? ???? @MBUSA pic.twitter.com/MivLEosR8Y
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 8, 2017
As of September 9, 2017 all the documents (and one big check for $3.7 million dollars) were signed, sealed and delivered. Future Sloane and Current Sloane, with their powers combined, were gloriously one in the same.
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Stephens, Keys, Williams and CoCo Vandeweghe combined to give the '17 Open the first four-strong set of Bannerette slam semifinalists since the 1985 Wimbledon, and the first such quartet in New York since 1981.
While we'd been seeing signs of life on this front for a few years, including previous slam semifinals runs (all of them in Melbourne from 2013-17) from three of the historic group of four U.S. semifinalists at this Open (with the fourth of the fabulous four being the most fab of them all, two-time '17 slam finalist Williams at age 37, who was the first to *twice* compete in slam semis a full decade apart, as in 1997/2007/2017), the one thing this NewGen of U.S. players had yet to do was win a slam, or even reach a major final. Since Serena had claimed her first slam title in 1999, and Venus her own in 2000, only Lindsay Davenport (once in 2000) and Jennifer Capriati (three in 2001-02) have managed to get the red-white-and-blue into the winner's circle at a major. Until this '17 U.S. final, that is, when Keys and Stephens met to decide who would be both "the next" and "the first" to etch their name into U.S. tennis history in the first all-Bannerette slam final to not include a Williams since 1990, and the first without the sisters to feature two U.S.-born women since 1979.
Friends, teammates and unlikely slam finalists after 2016 injuries (Stephens' foot, Keys' wrist) delayed the start of their seasons, and '17 surgeries made their level of play a question mark for the remainder of the year, neither Sloane nor Madison would have ever predicted their ultimate New York fate. Until that summer, there was no real reason to think that it wouldn't be 2018 before they might hit their stride once again. But it was on North American hard courts that all that changed, with Keys winning in Stanford and Stephens reaching back-to-back Premier semifinals before their dueling exploits at Flushing Meadows. At times at this slam, Keys had looked to be a dominant -- and more consistent -- force without peer, while Stephens' grit and inner desire (once questioned in her first go-around with stardom) were traits that were necessary to pull her through several tight matches.
Meanwhile, Williams had reached back to her glory days to defeat Petra Kvitova (who'd led 3-1 in all three sets, yet lost two of the three) in the QF and reach a *third* slam semifinal in a season for the first time since 2002. Vandeweghe, the '08 girls champ at Flushing Meadows, had knocked off another Czech, '16 runner-up Karolina Pliskova (the #1 seed) to reach her second (w/ AO) major semifinal of the season. Keys had reached a previous slam SF in Melbourne in 2015, two years after Stephens had done the same.
Draw notes:
* - Reigning Australian Open champ Serena Williams missed the U.S. Open for the first time since 2010, having announced soon after her win in Melbourne that she'd been in the early stages of pregnancy during her title run. During the Open, Williams made late summer headlines once again by delivering her first child, daughter Alexis Olympia, on September 1.
* - defending champ Angelique Kerber's run was short-lived, ended uncerimoniously in the 1st Round by 19-year old Naomi Osaka, 6-3/6-1. The German was the second DC to lose in New York in her first match ('05 Kuznetsova). The win was the first over a Top 10 player in the career of Osaka, who'd been 0-9 in such matches, and had squandered a 5-1 3rd set lead vs. Madison Keys in her most recent U.S. Open appearance in the 3rd Round in 2016.
A year later, Osaka would win the women's title.
* - meanwhile, Maria Sharapova made her grand slam return following her 16-month suspension due to a failed drug test at the 2016 Australian Open. A wild card, she drew #2-seed Simona Halep in the 1st Round, a match predictably scheduled on Ashe Stadium court on Night 1.
In her first U.S. Open appearance since 2014 (and just her second since '12), Sharapova won 6-4/4-6/6-3 in 2:44 in one of the best Night 1 matches under the lights in tournament history, improving to 7-0 vs. the Romanian in yet another close match in their head-to-head series. Sharapova led 6-4/4-1 and had a BP for 5-1, but 1-for-11 numbers on BP in the 2nd set allowed Halep to force things to a 3rd. With Sharapova serving for the match at 5-3 in the final set, Halep had a BP chance before the Russian served out what turned out to arguably be her biggest slam victory in her comeback for the remainder of the decade (though she did post victories over Karolina Pliskova and Caroline Wozniacki in 2018 and '19, respectively). She went on to reach the Round of 16, her first of four such results in eight major appearances from 2017-19 (including a QF in Paris in '18). She'd reached the 4th Round or better in eight straight slams (and 14/15) prior to her suspension.
* - Latvian Anastasija Sevastova reached her second straight QF, defeating Sharapova in three sets in the 4th Round.
Estonian Kaia Kanepi became the first qualifier to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals since Barbara Gerken in 1981.
* - Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova's loss in the quarterfinals led to Wimbledon champ Garbine Muguruza assuming the #1 singles ranking for the first time following the tournament.
* - the "breakout Bannerette" role was played by Jennifer Brady, who reached her second slam Round of 16 (AO) of the season in her U.S. Open debut. Meanwhile, Shelby Rogers upset #25 Dasha Gavrilova in the 2nd Round in a 3:31 match which broke the women's U.S. Open match length record. Rogers trailed 4-2 in the 3rd set, winning on her fifth MP.
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Firsts & lasts:
* - Czech Marketa Vondrousova made her U.S. Open debut, while Bannerette Sofia Kenin (a wild card) recorded her first career slam MD win in the 1st Round over #32-seed Lauren Davis en route to the 3rd Round.
* - Francesca Schiavone played in her final U.S. Open, though her most recent match win in New York was all the way back in 2011. The former RG champ would arrive in NYC to announce her retirement (and hint at her desire to one day coach a grand slam winner) at the Open in 2018.
Jelena Jankovic's appearance in New York, which ended with a 1st Round loss to Petra Kvitova, would be the former #1 and '08 U.S. Open finalist's final singles match of the decade, though she has to "officially" retire.
* - 17-year old Canadian Bianca Andreescu made her women's qualifying round debut at the U.S. Open, losing in the opening round in a 3rd set TB to Liu Fangzhou. She'd lose in the first round of qualifying again in 2018, then win the women's title in 2019.
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???????? (?? @cameraworkusa) #usopen pic.twitter.com/ctvxSfnyLo
— World TeamTennis (@WorldTeamTennis) September 10, 2017
Martina Hingis picked up career slams #24 and #25 in the women's doubles and mixed, victories that would give her her final major titles as she'd retire once again at season's end. With Hingis playing alongside 2019 partner Latisha Chan, they defeated Chan's sister Hao-ching (w/ Zhang Shuai) in the QF, then Hingis' former partner Sania Mirza (w/ Peng Shuai) in the SF. A 6-3/6-2 win in the final over Czechs Lucie Hradecka & Katerina Siniakova completed Chan/Hingis' no-sets-lost title run.
2016 champs Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Lucie Safarova were unable to defend their title due to BMS' knee injury at Wimbledon, at which the duo had been seeking to win a fourth straight major title.
Hingis teamed with Jamie Murray to win the mixed crown, defeating Chan Hao-ching & Michael Venus in the final. It was the second straight slam won by the pair (w/ Hingis' retirement, Murray would win in New York in 2018-19 with Mattek-Sands).
The MX title was Hingis' sixth in her final comeback (2013-17), combining with her four WD major wins to give her a final tally of 5-13-7 career slam titles in WS/WD/MX.
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In the women's wheelchair singles final, top-seeded Yui Kamiji made her case for holding onto her high position in the women's game, as the 23-year old from Japan held off the latest rush from 20-year old #2-seed Diede de Groot. In the first singles match-up between the two on a slam stage, Kamiji claimed her fifth career slam singles crown with a 7-5/6-2 victory. The 23-year old from Japan won three of the four singles slams in 2017 (de Groot won SW19), as well as the RG & WI doubles (her 10th & 11th slam titles).
A pregnant Jordanne Whiley, the '15 singles champ at the most recent U.S. Open wheelchair event, missed the '17 event due to her pregnancy, as she would the '18 event.
The win allowed Kamiji to enter 2018 with a chance to become the first player to win all eight slam singles & doubles crowns, needing only a singles win at Wimbledon to complete the Career Slam set. As it turned out, it was de Groot (who had won just two of the eight titles through the '17 Open) who'd become the first to accomplish the feat mid-way through the '19 season.
De Groot claimed that second career slam win in the doubles, teaming with countrywoman Marjolein Buis to defeat Dana Mathewson & Aniek Van Koot in the final to win her first slam doubles crown.
16-year old Amanda Anisimova won the all-Bannerette girls singles final over 13-year old Coco Gauff, the third straight such U.S.-dominated championship match in the' 17 junior slam season (featuring five different players, along with Whitney Osuigwe, Claire Liu and Ann Li). Her 6-0/6-2 win made it three straight girls slam champs from the U.S., four at the last five majors, two in a row at Flushing Meadows, and four in seven in New York. Gauff didn't go down meekly, saving ten MP on serve in the final game of the match before Anisimova finally closed out the win.
Olga Danilovic & Marta Kostyuk shared the girls doubles crown, defeating Lea Boskovic & Wang Xiyu in the final. It was Danilovic's second consecutive '17 girls doubles slam title.
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CITY SIGHTS:
Aga Radwanska's frilly flower dress...
Maria Sharapova's "crystals and lace" dress vs. Halep...
Sloane Stephens receives her $3.7m check...
* - "It's primetime, baby. I love it!" - Maria Sharapova, upon defeating Simona Halep on Night 1
* - "It's difficult, but who better to be out there with than with a friend?" - Madison Keys, on facing Sloane Stephens in the final
* - "I should just retire now. I told Maddy, I'm never going to be able to top this." - Sloane Stephens
* - "It shows you what happens when something you love is taken away from you." - Sloane Stephens
BEST. DAY. EVER. ?????? pic.twitter.com/R8ARc09Qwb
— Sloane Stephens (@SloaneStephens) September 10, 2017
For the second straight year, the U.S. Open played host to a major breakthrough slam moment as big-hitting 20-year old Naomi Osaka stormed her way to her maiden slam crown, proving her springtime breakout title in Indian Wells had just scratched the surface of what she was capable of achieving. Osaka dropped just one set en route to becoming Japan's first slam champion, the youngest winner at Flushing Meadows since 2006 (Maria Sharapova), the third maiden slam champ of 2018 and the fifth in the last seven majors.
Your 2018 #USOpen champion...@Naomi_Osaka_ ???? pic.twitter.com/yAPFaezBpz
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 8, 2018
All THAT was what was important. But still.
During the match, Osaka had been awarded (via penalty) a point and a game during the course of a contest which she totally controlled for all but a few-minutes-long stretch during a tournament in which no player was better than she and at the end of which she didn't allow her comparable lack of big event experience to spoil her efforts against the greatest champion she'll ever face, on the biggest stage on which she'll ever play. No woman at the '18 U.S. Open deserved the title more, and no one could have deserved how things spun out of control in the final games any less. But still.
Once again at Flushing Meadows, as had happened in 2009 *and* 2011, the plight of Serena Williams, the 6-2/6-4 final runner-up, in a losing effort (yet again) dominated the news cycle due to (yet again) an uncalled for angry outburst from the future Hall of Famer and living legend after she'd been subjected to the enforcement of the written rules of play and conduct that govern the sport.
The whole distraction began when Williams' coach, Patrick Mouratoglou (and thereby, Serena, as well) was cited early in the 2nd set by chair umpire Carlos Ramos for an attempt to send her a signal from the stands. Later, Williams said that she was unaware of the signal, but Mouratoglou admitted to the offense after the match. Though he countered with an "everybody does it" excuse, it rendered moot any objection to the generally-known-to-be-a-strict-rule-enforcer Ramos' decision.
Soon after, Osaka saved her 19th consecutive BP with a winner to end a 19-shot rally, then saved two more (one w/ an ace). On her fourth BP chance in game #4, Williams got the break via a backhand error from Osaka, taking a 3-1 lead. But rather than use the moment on which to build the foundation for a comeback, Williams' own serve let her down. Up 30/15, she had back-to-back DF to fall down BP. A backhand error gave the break back to Osaka, and Williams crushed a racket in anger and frustration, earning herself a second code violation and a point penalty (the second step following the coaching infraction).
When she learned of the penalty, rather than accept it and go on, Williams berated Ramos, demanding "an apology" for the *first* violation earlier in the set, flashing an anger similar to, though not on the level of, her verbal assault and threats against a lineswoman in the '09 Open semifinal after a foot fault call.
During the next changeover, Williams, being beaten to the punch at nearly every turn between the lines by her opponent, again turned her full attention to Ramos, refusing to let go of the earlier (actual) coaching violation and later point penalty (after actually breaking a racket), continuing to blast the umpire with heated accusations that included calling him a "thief" who "stole a point" from her, publicly impugning his integrity for enforcing -- and this was the important part -- the actual rules. It was the straw that broke the camel's (and nearly the match's) back, and Ramos issued a third code violation for verbal abuse, resulting in a full game penalty (as the rules state) that took the game out of a serving Osaka's hands and put her up 5-3.
Once Williams got wind of the (new, or newly elevated) situation, she exploded, as expected. She called out the tournament referee -- though for what is unknown, since everything played out pretty much according to the book, whether she chose to acknowledge as much or not -- and ranted about being treated "unfairly," commenting about men's players saying worse without being penalized (she was right on the latter assertion, though maybe not when they do it with two code violations already in the book). Naturally, the just-as-uninformed (but just as vocal) New York crowd chose to side with Williams, creating an uneasy situation as Osaka worked her way toward closing out the match and winning her first major title.
All in all, it was a bad look. One, honestly, not seen on Ashe since, well, probably the last time Williams was involved in another ugly incident there.
Finally, Osaka had the chance to serve out the match at 5-4, while all eyes (and cameras) were still on Williams. Again, the newcomer didn't blink and/or emotionally implode as her more experienced idol (and, on this day, opponent) had earlier. She fired a big serve up the middle to get within two points of the title at 30/15. An ice-cold ace -- the kind Williams has blasted under similar circumstances in the past -- gave her her first MP. After Williams saved it with a down the line winner, Osaka got off another big wide serve which Williams could only struggle to just get a racket on, ending the contest and making her the sport's newest superstar.
Suddenly, as "The Great Wave of Osaka" crashed onto the shores of the WTA, it was a whole new world... along with a large, lingering dose of the unwanted old one.
What followed the match was maybe the most surreal trophy presentation in grand slam history. The usual act of singling out the championship umpire was not followed (for fear of a riot breaking out amongst unruly "fans"), and the crowd (mostly uninformed of the progression of the rules violations throughout the controversy, then confused and angered when the penalties were rightfully enforced) chose in the aftermath to boo anyone and everyone with a microphone as if *they* had anything to do with it (though not Serena, who bore as much or more responsibility than anyone, it should be noted).
Finally, Williams remembered who she was, and (playing the role of arsonist-turned-firefighter) spoke up to defuse the situation, calling for an end to the boos so that Osaka would not have her moment spoiled (though it may have been too late). It worked, up to a point, or at least avoided a *truly* wretched embarrassment to play out.
Still, Osaka seemed as sorry for winning as she was excited as she should have been for having done so. That it all happened against her idol, too, added another layer of unfortunate coincidence.
Afterward, Williams' actions, while rightfully condemned by some, would be propped up and excused by many (some with high enough standing to know better) who chose to attempt to portray her as a "crusader" fighting oppression within the boundaries of the sport rather than as a superstar who now has a long and sordid history of sporting her worst behavior in her home slam precisely when the fates have turned against her. For all that Williams has done and will do in her career, it's a fact that will forever hover around her legacy, even if it will likely only do so in footnote form once an appropriate amount of time has passed and memories fade.
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Ash Barty & CoCo Vandweweghe defeated Timea Babos & Kristina Mladenovic, the reigning AO champs, 3–6/7–6(2)/7–6(6) in the women's doubles final, winning the maiden slam crown for both after having saved two MP in the 2nd set. The pair converted on their third MP in the 3rd set. Barty had been 0-4 in slam WD finals between 2013-17 while partnering with Casey Dellacqua.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands teamed with defending champ Jamie Murry (w/ Hingis '17) to win the MX title, defeating Alicja Rosolska & Nikola Mektic in the final. The pair won match TB's in both the SF and the final. The MX win was the third of BMS' career, and got her within a Wimbledon title of a Career Mixed Slam, having won previous titles in Melbourne (2012) and Paris (2015).
.@matteksands & @jamie_murray celebrate winning the US Open Mixed Doubles title pic.twitter.com/M8xe5GnbPl
— Jimmie48 Photography (@JJlovesTennis) September 8, 2018
In the MX competition, 14-year old junior Coco Gauff made her slam draw debut alongside Chris Eubanks. The wild cards upset #3-seeds Chan Hao-ching & Henri Kontinen in the 1st Round before losing a round later to eventual finalists Rosolska/Mektic.
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Draw notes:
* - the new Louis Armstrong Stadium debuted, replacing the temporary stadium that had filled its spot on the USTA grounds in 2017
* - Anastasija Sevastova joined countrywoman Alona Ostapenko ('17 RG champ and '18 Wimb. SF) in Latvian tennis history, following up her back-to-back U.S. Open QF runs with her maiden career slam semifinal result after getting a measure of vengeance against defending Open champion Sloane Stephens by defeating the Bannerette in the quarterfinals one year after having lost to her in the same round despite having led 3-1 in the 3rd set.
* - Serena and Venus Williams met in the 3rd Round, providing still another opportunity for their storied history and special connection to be revisited on the big stage. Unfortunately, that was about *all* there was to the match, as Serena won 6-1/6-2. Venus' three games won tied for the fewest by either sister in a match in their 30 career meetings. Serena won 88% of her first serve points, fired 10 aces and faced just one BP.
* - ball-crushing Aryna Sabalenka's 3rd Round upset of #5 Petra Kvitova on Louis Armstrong gave the court something of a "doomsday" reputation in its inaugural tournament, as the #1, #2 and #4 ( as well as Garbine Muguruza and Kiki Bertens) all also saw their Open journeys end on the court.
Sabalenka's win advanced her to her maiden slam Round of 16, where she faced off with eventual champion Osaka in a "Boom-Shaka-Osaka" match-up in which the Belarusian took the only set off the Japanese star that she'd lose all tournament.
* - #1 seed Simona Halep, the reigning Roland Garros champ, lost in the 1st Round at Flushing Meadows for the second straight year (again on Day 1), falling to Kaia Kanepi. Her defeat made her the first #1 seed to exit in the 1st Round in New York in the Open era.
#2 Caroline Wozniacki lost in the 2nd Round to Lesia Tsurenko, making the '18 event the first U.S. Open (and just the second slam in the Open era) at which neither of the top two seeds reached the 3rd Round.
* - two-time finalist Victoria Azarenka, now a mother and having gone through a long custody fight over her son, received a wild card into the MD and made her first appearance at the Open since 2015. She lost in the 3rd Round to Sloane Stephens. Before her absence, Azarenka had posted RU-RU-QF-QF resuts in New York from 2012-15.
* - Carla Suarez-Navarro's Round of 16 win over Maria Sharapova ended the Russian's 22-match U.S. Open night session unbeaten streak. The match took place on the Spaniard's 30th birthday.
Meanwhile, Sharapova's fellow Original Hordette Vera Zvonareva, the 2010 U.S. Open runner-up, qualified and played in her first MD match at Flushing Meadows since 2011. She lost in the 2nd Round to Aryna Sabalenka. Since her last appearance, 34-year old Zvonareva had undergone shoulder surgery in 2013 and taken a one and a half year hiatus in 2013-14, then another two-year break from 2015-17 during which she got married and had a baby.
Zvonareva posted her first Top 10 win in seven years in 2018 and returned to the Top 100 in January '19.
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Firsts and lasts:
* - Amanda Anisimova ('17 U.S. girls champ) and Margarita Gasparyan (after three knee surgeries, playing in her first major since the '16 Wimbledon) made their U.S. Open MD debuts
* - Whitney Osuigwe ('18 RG girls champ), Dayana Yastremska and Karolina Muchova (a qualifier, she reached the 3rd Rd.) made their slam debuts. In the 2nd Round, #202 Muchova upset Garbine Muguruza in a match on Armstrong that ended at 1:08 a.m.
* - 39-year old Patty Schnyder touched on *both* ends of the first and last discussion. After making her way through qualifying (as the oldest U.S. Open qualifier ever), she played in her first slam MD match since the 2011 Roland Garros (and her first at the U.S. Open since '10). The Swiss, former slam semifinalist ('04 AO) and two-time U.S. Open quarterfinalist ('98/'08) had retired in May 2011, and had a daughter in 2014. She returned to tennis in mid-2015, and it took over three years for her to work her way back to the slam level. She'd lost in three previous 2017-18 attempts in slam qualifying events.
Schnyder lost to Maria Sharapova in the 1st Round (an Armstrong night match on Day 2) 6-2/7-6(6) in their first meeting in a decade. It turned out to her slam swan song, as Schnyder played just one more match (a qualifying loss vs. Varvara Lepchenko in Luxembourg in October) before retiring again in November. Soon after, she announced that she was pregnant with her second child, another daughter born in July 2019.
* - former Wimbledon finalist and world #2 Aga Radwanska, unseeded for the first time at a major since the 2007 Wimbledon, lost to Tatjana Maria in the 1st Round in what would be her final slam appearance. The best Polish women's player of all time, the resident magician of the WTA tour announced her retirement at the end of her '18 campaign.
Wang Xiyu became the first Chinese girl (mainland, so no TPE, as Liang En-shuo became the first Taiwanese girl to do it in Melbourne in January ) to be crowned a slam junior singles champ, defeating French Pastry Clara Burel 7-6(4)/6-2 in the singles final. At Wimbledon that summer, Wang and Wang Xinyu had become the first all-CHN duo to win a slam GD crown. The wins were among the earliest signs of the long-awaited move being made by the "Li Na Generation" in China.
Wang would become the girls #1 in October. Burel, who reached the finals but lost at the Australian and U.S. Opens, as well as the Youth Olympics, in 2018 would go on to win the Junior Masters title and finish the year as the girls #1.
THe girls QF were a collection of high-end achievers, as Wang and Burel were joined by the likes of girls #1 Coco Gauff ('17 U.S. RU, '18 RG W), and future junior #1's Leylah Annie Fernandez ('19 AO RU & RG W) and Maria Camila Osorio Serrano ('19 U.S. W).
In the all-U.S. girls doubles final, Gauff & Caty McNally (aka "McCoco") defeated Hailey Baptiste & Delayna Hewitt.
Wheelchair #1 Diede de Groot won her first U.S. Open women's wheelchair singles crown, avenging her 2017 loss in the final by defeating #2-seeded defending champ Yui Kamiji 6-2/6-3 one day after they combined to take the doubles title. It was the 21-year old Dutch woman's fourth career slam singles win, tying Jiske Griffioen for third all-time behind Esther Vergeer and Kamiji. In a sign of another "changing of the guard," the victory was de Groot's sixth win in seven meetings against Kamiji over the previous year, after having lost eleven of the first thirteen matches in their head-to-head series.
Top seeded de Groot & Kamiji had earlier combined for the women's doubles championship, defeating #2 Marjolein Buis & Aniek Van Koot 6-3/6-4. It was the third slam win in 2018 for both, as they combined to win at SW19, while Kamiji won the AO with Buis and de Groot took the RG title with Aniek van Koot.
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CITY SIGHTS:
The 50th Open era edition of the U.S. Open saw the introduction of a new tournament logo...
Serena's coat and tutu...
* - "You owe me an apology. Say you are sorry. How dare you insinuate that I was cheating. You stole a point from me. You are a thief!" - Serena Williams, to chair umpire Carlos Ramos in the final
* - "When I step on the court, I'm not a Serena fan -- I'm just a tennis player playing another tennis player. But when I hugged her at the net, I felt like a little kid again." - Naomi Osaka
Following in the late-decade footsteps of Sloane Stephens and Naomi Osaka, 19-year old Canadian Bianca Andreescu's remarkable breakout season hit still another zenith with her maiden slam run at the U.S. Open in her *first* career appearance in the MD at Flushing Meadows.
While she, like Osaka in '18, defeated Serena Williams in a straight sets final -- 6-3/7-5 -- the multi-faceted game of Andreescu saw her improve upon many of the accomplishments the Japanese star had pulled off a year earlier. The first Canadian slam champ, she was the first teen to claim a major title since 2006, the youngest since 2004, and the first to ever win in her U.S. debut (Venus Williams had been the last player to reach the final in her first appearance in '97).
Canada’s first singles slam champion, @Bandreescu_ and her trophy at the @usopen pic.twitter.com/44ORSQPdwt
— Jimmie48 Photography (@JJlovesTennis) September 8, 2019
While the age gap between the two was the largest in major final history, Andreescu's youth never betrayed her ambition. Sporting Capriati-like power off the ground, Hingisian touch and audacity, Clijstersesque court coverage, as well as a hint of Williams' own well-timed serving prowess, Andreescu became the first slam champ born in the 2000's and moved into the Top 10 after having started the year outside the Top 150. She even managed to hold off one of Serena's patented comeback bids, as she'd rallied from 5-1 (and MP) down in the 2nd to knot the set at 5-5 (with the crowd roaring in approval), but then never won another game.
Williams' loss dropped her to 0-4 in slams finals in 2018-19 since her return to tennis after having a baby. At 37, she was oldest slam finalist in the Open era and was appearing in a record 10th U.S. Open final (and 33rd overall). She exits the decade *still* one major win away from tying Margaret Court's all-time mark of 24, as well as one win from setting a new record for Open era U.S. titles with #7. She *did* manage to tie Chris Evert's tournament record by raising her match win total at Flushing Meadows to 101, though a win in the final would have set 102 as a *new* standard, as well.
For once, a Williams loss in New York didn't include any embarrassing outbursts or outright controversy. One could make a case that Serena was cognizant of staying "inside the lines" after the chaos of the '18 final, but it might be more a case of Williams having too much respect (and a sincere like) for her opponent to lose her concentration amidst any in-match frustrations. When the two had met in the Rogers Cup final in Toronto -- a hop, skip and a jump away from Andreescu's Mississauga, Ontario hometown -- Serena had been forced to retire after just a few games due to back spasms, and seemed genuinely touched by the immediately caring reaction from the teenager (herself no stranger to a series of injuries in her young career, including a shoulder that cost her multiple months of action soon after she'd won Indian Wells earlier in the season) in the aftermath.
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Traditionally, the U.S. stars -- some of them always shinier than others before the start of the tournament -- come out to play at the Open. The 2019 version of the tournament was no different.
Qualifier Taylor Townsend shined the brightest in the early going. Years after her dust-up with the USTA as a junior, Townsend became a star in her own right with her 2nd Round upset of Wimbledon champ Simona Halep. After dropping the 1st set, lefty Townsend changed up her tactics -- adopting the style of her idol Martina Navratilova, she chose to constantly rush the net, as a serve-and-volley monster and otherwise, until she'd ultimately racked up 106 net approaches by match's end -- and Halep was never able to adequately adjust. After being unable to convert two MP at 5-4 in the 3rd, Townsend saw Halep reach MP at 6-5. She couldn't close out the win, either. Finally, the Bannerette claimed the 7-4 TB win on MP #3. It was Townsend's first career Top 10 victory, after she'd help MP but ultimately lost vs. Top 10er Kiki Bertens at Wimbledon earlier in the summer, while Halep fell in the first two rounds at the Open for the third straight year.
Townsend reached the Round of 16, where she fell in three sets to Andreescu.
Meanwhile, 15-year old Coco Gauff didn't last as long as Townsend in her U.S. Open debut, but she garnered even more attention. Fresh off her star-making Round of 16 run at Wimbledon (ended, ironically enough, by Halep), the teenage wild card reached the 3rd Round, becoming the youngest to do so at Flushing Meadows since 1996 (Anna Kournikova). There she met top seed and defending champ Naomi Osaka under the lights on Ashe in the sort of headlining "show" that U.S. Open night matches are made for.
Osaka, not unexpectedly, got the better of her junior opponent, winning 6-3/6-0. But, in the end, it wasn't the result that caused the meeting to continue to draw headlines *after* it was over, and the attention wasn't garnered because of the sort of negative situation that had occurred the *last* time Osaka played a big match on Ashe, either. Instead, it was the simple act of camaraderie and respect -- perhaps on some level because it came at a time when both qualities were seemingly in short supply on the U.S. cultural and political landscape -- shown between the players after the match that will likely cause it to live on as the two quite possibly develop a rivalry/friendship over the next decade. In the (still) long shadow of her own experiences on Ashe during and after last year's final, Osaka chose to play the role of Comforter of the Court, consoling the disappointed Gauff and even asking her to stick around for the post-match on-court interview and even get the chance to address the crowd that had so winningly supported the teenager throughout the match and tournament.
At least *someone* learned something from the '18 women's final debacle.
Gauff's doubles partner Caty McNally ("McCoco" upset #9-seeds Melichar/Peschke and reached the 3rd Rd.), nearly stole the show in *her* early round singles match, taking Serena Williams to three sets under the lights in the 2nd Round. The 17-year old, just like Andreescu in the final, had not yet been born when Williams won her maiden slam title in New York in 1999.
Meanwhile, wild card (via the USTA's Playoff Challenge) Kristie Ahn put on a breathtaking career highlight run, as the 27-year old ex-Stanford star rode the wave of what had already been a career year all the way to the Round of 16 after having not played a U.S. Open MD match since 2008, having never recorded a win in a major, and fighting against the wishes of her parents to finally get "a real job" once her tennis dream had run its course (she'd promised to give it up if her hard work hadn't produced the necessary results by the end of 2019). With wins over a pair of former slam champs (Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alona Ostapenko), Ahn found that success, becoming the first Asian-American to reach the 4th Round since Lilia Osterloh in 2000, and setting a record for the longest gap between a slam debut ('08 US) and a first MD win.
Before this week, @kristieahn had never won a Grand Slam match...
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 31, 2019
She now finds herself in R4 of the #USOpen after a straight-sets win over Ostapenko! pic.twitter.com/driN9iTDQM
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Draw notes:
* - for the second time in three years, Maria Sharapova drew a huge name in the 1st Round and found herself -- unseeded in her third U.S. Open back since her suspension -- under the lights on Ashe on opening night. This time her opponent wasn't Simona Halep, whom she defeated in 2017, but instead was Serena Williams, the player who has beaten her like a drum for fifteen years running.
The same scenario came about here, as Williams played a nearly perfect match, winning their first U.S. Open encounter 6-1/6-1 to extend her winning streak over Sharapova to 19 matches (she leads 20-2).
* - after having reached her maiden slam semifinal at Wimbledon in July, Elina Svitolina followed with an even better (as far as her consistent level of play and the quality/health of her opponents) semifinal result at the U.S. Open. Her run included a nighttime win over Madison Keys, dropping the Bannerette to 9-1 in career night session matches at Ashe Stadium after several seasons of her repeatedly emerging victories in a series of "Late Night with Madison" outings under the lights.
* - Wang Qiang reached her first career slam QF, defeating #2 seed and reigning RG champ Ash Barty in the Round of 16, joining countrywomen Li Na and Peng Shuai as having advanced so far in New York.
Meanwhile, Belinda Bencic returned to the QF for the first time since she reached the Final 8 in her debut Open in 2014. The Swiss had knocked off top-seeded Naomi Osaka in the Round of 16, giving her a third #1 victory in 2019 over the defending champ. The loss ended Osaka's 10-match U.S. Open winning streak, and her 17-match run in hard court slams (back-to-back majors wins in NYC and Melbourne) dating back to the previous year at Flushing Meadows.
* - Roland Garros champ Ash Barty reached the Round of 16, becoming the first Aussie to reach the 4th Round at all four majors in a single season since 1973
* - for the first time since the 2014 Australian Open (and at the U.S. Open since '12), the women's singles quarterfinal round consisted of *eight* seeded players.
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Firsts & lasts:
* - Wang Xiyu, the '18 girls champ, and Iga Swiatek both made their slam debut
* - players making their U.S. Open debuts were qualifier Anna Kalinskaya (who defeated '17 champ Sloane Stephens in the 1st Round) and some Canadian teenager. You might know her: Bianca Andreescu. Yeah, she only won the whole thing.
Even before she won the title, Andreescu had already accomplished something significant when she became the first Canadian to reach the QF in New York since Patricia Hy-Boulais in 1982, the first each the Open semis since Carling Bassett in 1984, and the first to ever reach the final.
* - Johanna Konta became the first Brit to reach the U.S. Open QF since Jo Durie in 1983
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After having already pulled off a rare "Sunshine Double" in Indian Wells and Miami earlier in the year, Elise Mertens & Aryna Sabalenka added another huge "get" to their partnership by taking the women's doubles crown -- a maiden slam win for both women -- with a 7-5/7-5 win in the final over Victoria Azarenka & Ash Barty.
Barty had been the WD defending champ (winning in '18 w/ CoCo Vandeweghe), and was looking to become the first to win the Open title in consecutive years with different partners for the first time since 2006-07. Azarenka was looking to add her first WD slam crown to her previous singles and MX titles.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Jamie Murray successfully defended their MX championship, defeating Chan Hao-ching/Michael Venus in the final to become the first repeat champs at Flushing Meadows since Anne Smith & Kevin Curren won back-to-back titles in 1981-82.
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In the girls singles, #4-seeded Maria Camila Osorio Serrano wrapped up her junior career with a defeat of Bannerette qualifier Alexandra Yepifanova 6-1/6-0 to become the first Colombian girl to win a girls slam crown. The 17-year old was the first South American to win a girls major since Maria-Emilia Salerni won in New York in 2000 (and first ever from a nation on the continent other than Argentina). She became the girls #1 after the U.S. Open.
Latvian Kamilla Bartone teamed with Russia's Oksana Selekhmeteva to win the junior doubles, defeating the all-Pastry duo of Aubane Droguet & Selena Janicijevic.
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After suffering a rare slam defeat in the Wimbledon singles final, wheelchair #1 Diede de Groot got right back on her previous career path at Flushing Meadows. The Dutch player once again swept both the singles and doubles titles at a major, defeating rival Yui Kamiji (#2 seed) 4-6/6-1/6-4 to defend her Open crown from a year ago, and also teaming with Aniek Van Koot to defeat Sabine Ellerbrock & KG Montjane 6-2/6-0 in doubles to win her seventh straight slam doubles title *and* complete a Grand Slam in doubles (winning all four majors w/ countrywoman Van Koot) for 2019.
The Grand Slam was Van Koot's second of her career, having won all four doubles titles in 2013 with Jiske Griffioen.
22-year old de Groot's singles win gave her five title runs in the last six slams, and seven in the last nine. Already having become the first wheelchair player to win all eight slam crowns in a career, she was one set away (the 3rd vs. countrywoman and doubles partner Van Koot at SW19) from becoming the first to win all eight in a *single season.*
As the decade ended, "Diede the Great's" (predestined?) establishment as the sport's most dominant performer this side of Esther Vergeer -- and maybe her evolution into a player who could challenge a few of her mentor's *realistic* slam records -- was nearly complete.
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CITY SIGHTS:
Serena's cloak...
And her "Purple People Eater" dress...
Mike and Spike...
??Mike and Spike??@MikeTyson and Spike Lee are in the house tonight...#USOpen pic.twitter.com/x51f9fdxYL
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 27, 2019
Rebel Wilson and Anna Wintour...
Coco Gauff's court dress...
And "Call me Coco" shoes...
"McCoco!"...
Teenage Dream Team ??@CocoGauff ???????? @CatyMcNally#McCoco #USOpen pic.twitter.com/ZYBjlRrTgs
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 1, 2019
And introducing *another* Coco... Coco Andreescu:
i love this dog, coco andreescu pic.twitter.com/tj3qES9DTj
— Becca Laurie (@imbeccable) September 5, 2019
The @Bandreescu_ credential request list went up by one as Coco Andreescu needs her own.
— Tennis.Life (@tennislifenews) August 25, 2019
The pose for the pic is epic tho.#Entourage pic.twitter.com/H992pb06De
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* - "When I played her before (and lost)... I think I played not to lose. Today I just played to win. I said 'f' it.'" - Taylor Townsend, on defeating Simona Halep
* - "I'm going to try and milk this as long as I can." - Kristie Ahn during her breakout Round of 16 run
* - "For me, this is kind of the moment that I live for. Even if the crowd isn't for me. ... I'm the type of person that loves when people come and watch. I'd rather be in a stadium where people are completely against me and it's completely full rather than a side court with ten people but they're for me." - Naomi Osaka, after winning the headlining 3rd Round night match vs. 15-year old Coco Gauff
* - "If anyone could win this -- other than Venus! -- I’d want it to be Bianca Andreescu." - Serena Williams, in her post-match speech after losing in the final to Andreescu
* - "I'm honestly speechless. I need someone to pinch me right now. Is this real life?" - Bianca Andreescu
posted by Todd.Spiker @ 1:01 PM
4 Comments:
Compared to the other writeups, the focus on the future stands out. From Juniors Anisimova and Gauff, to vets Osaka and Andreescu, they aren't wasting any time.
Of course, as we close out a decade that began with Serena and Clijsters being big stories, we head into a brand new decade which will begin with... hmmm, Serena and Clijsters being big stories.
There's a lot of room under the big tent for all the various parts of the tour to get "their due," though. Unlike the men's tour, which is perpetually stuck in a discussion loop revolving around just three players (and occasionally a fourth), there's a lot of *there* there and something for everyone to latch onto.
Washington's football team has sent Todd into hiding :)
Seriously, hope things are ok.
With the Wuhan-Beijing swing in full effect, the rankings are jumbled. Wang and Sevastova drop out of the Top 20, while Vondrousova is back in. Ans unless Wozniacki pulls a Sabalenka and defends her points, either Vekic or Riske will enter the Top 20.
Stat of the Week- 23- The amount of different slam QF this season out of 32 spots.
Almost the same as last year, in which we had 22. Just like last year, in which we only had 1 out of 22 that hand not made a SF during the regular season(Serena), this year we have 2 so far. But before you find out who, lets list the others:
Slam QF or better with titles-2019-Only last title listed.
Bencic-Dubai
Anisimova-Bogota
Martic-Istanbul
Kvitova-Stuttgart
Riske-Rosmalen
Barty-Birmingham
Andreescu-Toronto
Keys-Cincinnati
Pliskova-Zhengzhou
Osaka-Osaka
Muchova-Korea
Finalists-2019
Vondrousova-Istanbul
Konta-Rome
Vekic-Nottingham
Williams-Toronto
Pavlyuchenkova-Osaka
Semi-finalists-2019
Svitolina-Indian Wells
Halep-Miami
Stephens-Madrid
Strycova-Birmingham
Wang Q.-Bronx
That leaves 2. Going by stats, you would think Bertens and Kenin should be there, but no, it is Zhang and Collins.
Collins is 27th in the race, and pulling a Pironkova. Not in a good way. Pironkova famously had over half of her 2010-2011 points from Wimbledon, while with only a few weeks left to go in this season, has more points from the Australian Open(780), than the rest of the season(770).
That is not good. Actually, we have had someone do even worse in that category recently in Olga Danilovic. She got 280 pts for winning Moscow last year, then accumulated only 198 pts in 22 events. She regressed, and if Collins can't end this season strong, she is a good bet to do so once those SF points come off.
Haha! I just got way behind (I knew it was going to happen when I decided to finish up the *entire* DB 2017-19 post on Saturday, and then didn't quite get *that* done). I'll be just about back "on schedule" for the first time in a while, though, once I get the Decade Players thing up in the next day or two. Whew!
[In truth, sort of wishing for 0-16 at this point... while seeing if the Mystics will add another check in the Washington title column, and the Nats don't fall on their sword in the postseason yet again after fighting back from the dregs of spring to win the wild card spot.]
Collins' AO semi seems like it happened *ages* ago.
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