Thursday, January 23, 2020

AO.4 - See CiCi Win

See CiCi recover. See CiCi fight. See CiCi win.





=DAY 4 NOTES=
...the Australian Open is always "the weather and/or natural disaster slam." Already this year we've seen horrendous fires, rain that wiped out much of Day 1, windy conditions on Day 3, and today it was overnight rain that had brought down ash from the aforementioned fires onto the outside courts.



With the process to get ready for action suddenly requiring high-pressure cleaning of the court surfaces, play was delayed for quite a bit at the start of the day. Of course, *this* slam has *three* unsullied indoor courts, so all that didn't stop the tournament from continuing to put one foot in front of the other to start the day. Of course, then still *more* rain came before most of the outer courts (all but Court 3, which got a set in) had even been cleaned sufficiently enough to allow play to begin on them in the first place.

At Melbourne Arena, #19 Donna Vekic was the first to advance, defeating Alize Cornet 6-4/6-2 to reach the 3rd Round in Melbourne for the first time in eight tries. It's her third such result in four majors, and fourth in seven. The Croat only reached the 3rd Round once (in #2 at the '13 RG) in her first nineteen career slam appearances.

On MCA, #6 Belinda Bencic proved to meet the height requirement to ride the Ostapenko rollercoaster. After running out to a two-break, 3-0 lead in the opening set, the Swiss saw Alona Ostapenko reel off four straight games. But right when the Latvian seemed set to find a groove when it came to holding serve, she was broken again in game #9. The two then exchanged breaks once more, and Bencic finally served out the set at 7-5.

In the 2nd, the continual breaks of serve continued, but Ostapenko held enough times to take a 5-2 lead. Naturally, though, she then dropped the last five games of the match to lose 7-5/7-5. Bencic, after seeing her own serve be as unreliable as her opponent's, ended things with an ace (of course she did). This is the fifth straight major at which Bencic has reached at least the 3rd Round, with her high water mark being a semifinal result at last summer's U.S. Open.



Ostapenko came into the day having won 10 of 11 matches dating back to the end of the '19 season, a stretch which saw her find ways to corral her oft-wayward serve (at least as far as her aces/DF counts were concerned) as she's managed to push her ranking inside or around the Top 40. At the very least, after Ostapenko fell into the #80's last season, new coach Marion Bartoli (and mother Jelena) have something to work with once again, maybe because she isn't carrying with her the wrist injury she had to begin '19 and seemed to linger well into the season. But until she finds some *consistency* with her serve her outings seem destined to always be caught in a constant push/pull that results in a loss in a match like this, which was there to be had once it was clear that Bencic was having as much trouble as Ostapenko when it came to stringing together service holds.

On Laver, Garbine Muguruza showed once again this season that her mental and physical reserve have been bolstered (seemingly) by her new coaching arrangement with Conchita Martinez. After beginning this tournament by dropping a love set to Madison Brengle (and looking on the brink of retirement after having been sick and bedridden last week) before ultimately winning 0-6/6-1/6-0, the Spaniard had an even more symmetrical time of things vs. Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic today. After dropping serve to open the match, Muguruza took the 1st set 6-3, dropped the 2nd at 3-6, then raced to a 3-1 lead in the 3rd. Tomljanovic got things back on serve, but was broken in a crucial game to fall behind 5-3. Muguruza then served out another 6-3 set. And if felt so good.



...in recent seasons, the WTA has featured quite a few amazing stories, from Mirjana Lucic-Baroni's 18-year slam semifinal drought to Bianca Andreescu's stunning rise. As the day wore on, we got our first true taste of a story that could be one of the best of 2020, as CiCi Bellis emerged from two years of wrist injury hell to post a victory over #20-seed Karolina Muchova, signaling that the player who was once *the* young U.S. star in the making a few seasons ago -- before the likes of Coco Gauff, Sofia Kenin, Caty McNally and a whole host others who have popped up in her absence -- could very well soon be injecting herself back into that mix.

20-year old Bellis was the junior #1 in '14, and burst onto the slam stage at that year's U.S. Open, taking a wild card into the MD and stunning #12 seed Dominika Cibulkova in her debut match. The 15-year old was stopped in three sets a round later by Zarina Diyas, but two years later reached the 3rd Round at Flushing Meadows again in just her *second* career slam MD. In 2017, she upset #17 Kiki Bertens at Roland Garros en route to another 3rd Round (she fell to Caroline Wozniakci in three sets) in just her third slam appearance. She climbed into the Top 40 that season at age 18, and was named the tour's Newcomer of the Year.

Then she found trouble.



A 2018 wrist injury took her off tour in March of that year, and ultimately led to four surgeries (three on her wrist, one on her elbow). A doctor told her her tennis career was over, but Bellis didn't give up. Finally, after being out for twenty months, she returned in a 125 challenger in November and won three matches. In the opening weeks of '20, Bellis posted a win over #59 Marie Bouzkova in Hobart, her best win in some twenty-three months. Ranked #600, she entered this Australian Open using a protected ranking (she'd been #44 in her last event in '18) and recorded her firt MD slam since since the '17 RG over Tatjana Maria.

Today was another thing, though. In only the ninth match of her comeback, Bellis handled Wimbledon quarterfinalist Muchova's all court game and made everyone remember why she'd been viewed as the best new Bannerette hope in years back in 2017. She beat the #22-ranked Czech 6-4/6-4 to reach yet another slam 3rd Round.





The win is her best since defeating the world #21 in February 2018 in Dubai. That player was Elise Mertens, now ranked #17, who just so happens to be Bellis' *next* opponent. The #16-seeded Waffle took out Heather Watson today to improve to 9-2 in her Australian Open career, which included a semifinal run in her debut just two years ago.

...meanwhile, as expected, Ash Barty is the Last Aussie Standing. Losses by (last remaining) wild cards Patricia Hon (vs. #17 Angelique Kerber) and Arina Rodionova (vs. #9 Bertens) wrapped up the honor for the third straight year in Melbourne for the world #1.

Iga Swiatek ended Carla Suarez-Navarro's AO career, taking out the veteran Spaniard 6-3/7-5.

...meanwhile, the mixed doubles draw always includes some interesting duos. This AO is no different. A sampling: Ostapenko/Paes (Leander should bring along a helmet), V.Williams/Cabal (at least the Colombian will have *one* eligible partner at this slam) and Kyrgios/Anisimova (I wonder if that was set up before he defended her against that question in the press conference, or after?).

In doubles, Sania Mirza's return to slam action for the first time since the '17 U.S. Open didn't last long. After winning a title last week in Hobart (w/ Nadiia Kichenok) while playing with a heavily taped calf, Mirza had already pulled out of her MX partnership with Rohan Bopanna for this event. Today, and and Kichenok played just nine games in their 1st Round match aginast Han Xinyun & Zhu Lin before ending the match via retirement, down 6-2/1-0.



...in a somewhat surprising move, as even Ash Barty didn't have *both* her 1st and 2nd Round matches scheduled under the lights (and won't tomorrow vs. Elena Rybakina, either), #4 Simona Halep returns to the night session on Night 4. This time on Laver, she'll face the last remaining qualifier (Brit Harriet Dart) to play her 2nd Round match. Thus far, the other five have all gone out. On MCA, #5 Elina Svitoliva plays Lauren Davis, the same Lauren Davis who took Halep to the edge of oblivion in the early rounds of the 2018 AO.




...AS TENNIS AUSTRALIA FACES ITS BIGGEST MOMENT OF RECKONING/COMPROMISE/WALLENDA-LIKE TIGHTROPE-WALKING ON DAY 4:

An even-handed rundown of (most of) the controversy...




...RALLY AROUND THE TRUE "G.O.A.T." ON DAY 4:





[from Vergeer's "Decade's Best" Player of the Decade list section...]

...taking everything into account, Vergeer's peerless career may prove to be *the* most dominant of any athlete in pro sports history. The Dutch legend's wheelchair tennis exploits almost single handedly lifted up the sport's recognition around the world map as she set every conceivable record available, including some that one can rest assured will *never* be broken.

After being paralyzed following a nine-hour surgery for vascular myelopathy around her spinal cord as a child, Vergeer became a multi-sport wheelchair athlete before finally settling on a tennis career. She was part of the Dutch team that won the European Wheelchair Championship in 1997.

Granted, if this list concerned Vergeer's *entire* tennis career she'd be ranked far higher (than #8), but for its purposes she only competed in the first three years of the decade. Still, during that time, she put up remarkable numbers in the closing chapters of her career: winning seven slam singles and eight slam doubles crowns, two 2012 Paralympic Golds, three WC Masters crowns (2s/1d) and officially retired in early 2013 (her last event had been the Paralympics the previous summer) as the #1 ranked player in the world, a position she'd held nearly continuously since 1999. Her only slam defeats in the decade came in the '10 Roland Garros WD final and '12 Wimbledon WD semis.

When it comes to her overall career, the amazing accomplishments become *astounding* ones. Over the course of her pro career, Vergeer won 21 singles and 27 doubles slams, 14 WC Masters singles titles and nine in doubles, and four Paralympics Golds in singles and three in doubles (w/ one Silver). All are records. She was undefeated in slam singles competition during her career, spent 668 weeks at #1, was 695-25 in singles and retired with an ungodly, still-active winning streak of 470 matches that stretched back a decade (she only faced one MP -- vs. Korie Homan in the '08 Paralympic Gold Match -- during the streak). From March '01 forward, she was 559-1. Vergeer won 148 career titles, including a streak of 120 straight.

Said Vergeer on the occasion of her retirement, "To be honest, I don't really know or remember what it feels like to lose in singles. I know what it's like to lose a Monopoly game and I don't like that."


...LIKE ON DAY 4:




...LIKE ON DAY 4:




...DETAILS ON DAY 4:




...NOT TO SOUND LIKE A BROKE RECORD, BUT... ON DAY 4:

...why isn't the WTA selling merchandise along the lines of something like this? It shouldn't be this difficult.




...LIKE ON DAY 4:

The story continues...





...LIKE ON DAY 4:

To Buis is divine...




...LIKE ON DAY 4:

Most of the new outfits at this AO are pretty good (a trend: more muted colors, after a few years of very-loud-and-incredibly-bright things that sometimes seemed to glow in the Aussie sun). I particularly like this one from Lacoste (worn here by Kontaveit). I think it's the zipper thing in the front that truly sells it.






Now, where was I? Oh, yeah.

[ Grabbing the wheel from the passenger seat and steering the vehicle back onto the intended route, the "Six Degrees of Hutchence" does a 180-degree spin in the middle of the rural road, heads back to the highway and then turns off down the side road we saw earlier before taking yesterday's scenic tangent in order to take a few selfies. ]

I'm sad to say that I didn't really have much of a history with David Bowie's music until recently. Of course, I knew of him and recognized the talent and creativity, and was familiar with a few of his songs, from "Under Pressure" (partially because of the whole "Ice Ice Baby" sampling controversy), and "Life on Mars?" (largely due to that great BBC show by the same name) to "The Man Who Sold the World" (w/ Jordis Unga) and few others that I likely didn't even realize were *his* songs.

But, in truth, it really wasn't until after his death in 2016 that I really starting poking around in his music, often because of these "And finally..." sections the last few years. Naturally, now I'm upset with myself for not fully appreciating much of what he did while he was still doing a lot of it (though I would have been too young to experience his early work as it happened), but the great thing about music (and YouTube, of course) is that such meaningful trips are open-ended and can outlast the actual music (and those who performed and listen to it) and become *new* all over again. I look forward to little moments like these at each slam because it gives me a chance to see and listen to things I should have a long time ago.

So, just a few great Bowie performances from a short trip down the YouTube rabbit hole...


["Heroes" - Berlin, 2002]



["Under Pressure" backstage rehearsal - w/ Annie Lennox and Queen, for Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, 1992]
...I've used this here before, but I'm still taken by how Bowie casually owns the room while singing *and* smoking a cigarette, then steps back and lets Annie Lennox have her moment (all while George Michael sings along from the shadows).



["Starman" - 1972]
...had to get something from the Ziggy Stardust era in here, right?



Maybe I'll just do a Part II of this for Day 5, and for a few days "Six Degrees of Hutchence" transforms into a filling-in-my-mental-music-gap Bowie experience. There are no rules here, after all.







Psst... Leander. H-E-L-M-E-T.



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*AO "COMEBACK PLAYER" WINNERS*
2007 Serena Williams, USA
2008 Zi Yan & Zheng Jie, CHN
2009 Jelena Dokic, AUS
2010 Justine Henin, BEL
2011 Aga Radwanska, POL
2012 Maria Sharapova, RUS
2013 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2014 Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2015 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2016 Andrea Hlavackova & Lucie Hradecka, CZE/CZE
2017 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, CRO
2018 Angelique Kerber, GER
2019 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2020 CiCi Bellis, USA

*AO "LAST WILD CARD STANDING" WINNERS*
2008 Jessica Moore, AUS (2nd Rd.)
2009 Jelena Dokic, AUS (QF)
2010 Justine Henin, BEL (RU)
2011 J.Dokic/AUS, C.Garcia/FRA & A.Molik/AUS (2nd)
2012 Casey Dellacqua, AUS & Olivia Rogowska, AUS (2nd)
2013 Madison Keys, USA (3rd Rd.)
2014 Casey Dellacqua, AUS (4th Rd.)
2015 K-C.Chang/TPE, O.Dodin/FRA & I.Falconi/USA (2nd)
2016 Han Xinyun, CHN (2nd Rd.)
2017 Ash Barty, AUS (3rd Rd.)
2018 Olivia Rogowska, AUS (2nd Rd.)
2019 Kimberly Birrell, AUS (3rd Rd.)
2020 Patricia Hon, AUS & Arina Rodionova, AUS (3rd)

*AO "LAST QUALIFIER STANDING" WINNERS*
=2006=
Olga Savchuk, UKR (3rd Rd.)
=2007=
Anne Kremer, LUX (all 2nd Rd.)
Alla Kudryavtseva, RUS
Tamira Paszek, AUT
Julia Vakulenko, UKR
Renata Voracova, CZE
=2008=
Marta Domachowska, POL (4th Rd.)
=2009=
Elena Baltacha, GBR (all 2nd Rd.)
Alberta Brianti, ITA
Sesil Karatantcheva, KAZ
=2010=
Yanina Wickmayer, BEL (4th Rd.)
=2011=
Vesna Manasieva (now Dolonc/SRB), RUS (3rd Rd.)
=2012=
Nina Bratchikova, RUS (3rd Rd.)
=2013=
Valeria Savinykh, RUS (both 3rd Rd.)
Lesia Tsurenko, UKR
=2014=
Zarina Diyas, KAZ (3rd Rd.)
=2015=
Lucie Hradecka, CZE (3rd Rd.)
=2016=
Zhang Shuai, CHN (QF)
=2017=
Mona Barthel, GER (both 4th Rd.)
Jennifer Brady, USA
=2018=
Denisa Allertova, CZE (4th Rd.)
=2019=
Bianca Andreescu, CAN (all 2nd Rd.)
Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
Astra Sharma, AUS
Iga Swiatek, POL
Natalia Vikhlyantseva, RUS
=2020=
Harriet Dart, GBR (all 2nd Rd.) * - to play 2r vs. Halep
Nao Hibino, JPN
Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
Ann Li, USA
Caty McNally, USA
Greet Minnen, BEL

*AO "LAST AUSSIE STANDING" WINNERS*
2008 Casey Dellacqua (4th Rd.)
2009 Jelena Dokic (QF)
2010 Samantha Stosur (4th Rd.)
2011 Samantha Stosur (3rd Rd.)
2012 C.Dellacqua, J.Dokic, O.Rogowska (2nd)
2013 Samantha Stosur (2nd Rd.)
2014 Casey Dellacqua (4th Rd.)
2015 C.Dellacqua, J.Gajdosova, S.Stosur,A.Tomljanovic (2nd)
2016 Dasha Gavrilova (4th Rd.)
2017 Dasha Gavrilova (4th Rd.)
2018 Ash Barty (3rd Rd.)
2019 Ash Barty (QF)
2020 Ash Barty

*AO "EARLY-ROUND TOP PLAYER" WINNERS, w/ result*
2002 (Week 1 POW) Martina Hingis, SUI [RU]
2003 (Week 1 POW) Kim Clijsters, BEL [SF]
2004 (Week 1 co-POW) Kim Clijsters, BEL [RU] & Justine Henin, BEL [W]
2005 (Week 1 POW) Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS [QF]
2006 (Week 1 POW) Amelie Mauresmo, FRA [W]
2007 Kim Clijsters, BEL [SF]
2008 Maria Sharapova, RUS [W]
2009 Dominika Cibulkova, SVK [4th]
2010 Kim Clijsters, BEL [3rd]
2011 Kim Clijsters, BEL [W]
2012 Victoria Azarenka, BLR [W]
2013 Maria Sharapova, RUS [SF]
2014 Serena Williams, USA [4th]
2015 Genie Bouchard, CAN [QF]
2016 Victoria Azarenka, BLR [QF]
2017 Karolina Pliskova, CZE [QF]
2018 Angelique Kerber, GER [SF]
2019 Serena Williams, USA [QF]
2020 ?
--
* - won title



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Totally agree, and it's not really all that "controversial" a statement. Needs to be said more, though. Thing is, everyone loves "The Wire" now and talks about how great it was (true), but hardly anyone watched it when it was actually airing the first time around.






TOP QUALIFIER: #31 Ann Li/USA
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3 - #5 Anna Kalinskaya/RUS def. Wang Xiyu/CHN 4-6/7-6(2)/6-2 (down 6-4/5-3, MP at 5-4)
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): Nominee: 2nd Rd. - Wozniacki d. #23 Yastremka 7-5/7-5 (double-break down in both sets)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr./Doub.): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Paula Badosa/ESP (def. Larsson/SWE)
FIRST SEED OUT: #32 Barbora Strycova/CZE (1st Rd. - lost to Cirstea/ROU)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Paula Badosa/ESP, Barbora Krejcikova/CZE, Ann Li/USA, Greet Minnen/BEL, Elena Rybakina/KAZ
UPSET QUEENS: Spain
REVELATION LADIES: Kazakhstan
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Nominee: RUS (4-8 in 1st Rd.)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: In 2nd Rd.: Dart, Hibino(L), Krejcikova(L), A.Li(L), McNally(L), Minnen(L)
LAST WILD CARDS STANDING: Patricia Hon/AUS and Arina Rodionova/AUS (both 2nd Rd.) [PR: CiCi Bellis/USA - in 3rd Rd.]
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: Ash Barty (in 3rd. Rd.)
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT (??): xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: CiCi Bellis/USA
CRASH & BURN: Nominees: #11 Sabalenka (1r/CSN; 4th con. slam 1r/2r, and 7/9 career); #24 Stephens (1r/Zhang; 4th 1st Rd. exit in 9 slams since won '17 U.S.)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Nominees: Sh.Zhang (1st Rd. - Stephens served for match in 2nd); Wozniacki (2nd Rd. - down double-break in 1st/2nd sets vs. Yastremska, wins in straights on MP #6); Gauff (2nd Rd. - down 3-0 in 3rd vs. Cirstea)
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: xx
LADY OF THE EVENING: Nominees: Barty, Halep, Sh.Zhang
DOUBLES STAR: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx





All for Day 4. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 3:01 AM 

3 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

To lighten the mood about Vergeer's news, I see Vergeer, and raise Edwin Moses. Similar to Verger not losing a match for 10 years, Moses went 9 years and 9 months without one. Won 122 consecutive races. Neither stat seems real.

Giorgi is a poor man's Keys. Has stretches where she is so good you wonder why she can't do it consistently.

Bruises on Collins legs looks like Cupping.

If it rains, Riske/Goerges is the only one of 8 matches on a no roof court. Winner plays Barty. Hmmm. Jabeur/Wozniacki gets a roof, though it is the only match with 2 unseeded players.

With Svitolina winning, all 8 of the next day's matches will have at least one seed. By pedigree, Vekic/Swiatek may end up out there, but curious to see if Bertens, who prefers outside courts, gets preference.

Stat of the Day- 11- First round losses for Sania Mirza at slams.

Out of 49, but yesterday's was the first due to retirement. Mirza was like Hingis in that she would play with anybody, but would drop you in a heartbeat if things went south.

List of partners she lost 1st rd with:
Chakvetadze
Stewart
Morariu
Birnerova
King
Dushevina
Voracova
Mattek-Sands
Shvedova
N.Kichenok

If you notice, that is only 10. Mattek-Sands had enough success not to get cut after 1 loss. And Mirza started the trend early. First ever slam MD was French Open 2005 with Chakvetazde and reached 2nd rd. Then lost 1st rd at Wimbledon with her, and she was replaced at the next slam with Bryanne Stewart.

Thu Jan 23, 10:38:00 AM EST  
Blogger Diane said...

A reminder that Tarzan's brother's name is Ziggy Stardust (Tarzan has lymphoma, btw, but is doing fine). You may recall that they were both semi-ferals, and I named him Ziggy Stardust because he seemed to have dropped down from space :D

Thu Jan 23, 10:59:00 AM EST  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

C-
Ah, yes. Edwin Moses doesn't get much mention these days.

Hmmm, that must be one of the things Collins is doing to cope with her rheumatoid arthritis?

Haha -- I guess that explains the whole, we'll not winning *every* tournament now, so (in unison) "good bye to you" end to Hingis/Mirza. ;)

D-
Ah, I was hoping for a feline Ziggy update when I added that. Nice to hear about Tarzan. :)

Thu Jan 23, 03:01:00 PM EST  

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