Sunday, March 01, 2020

Wk.8- The Nine Ten Lives of Heatherenko!

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, and try again.




futuristic-fonts


*WEEK 8 CHAMPIONS*
DOHA, QATAR (Premier 5/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR def. Petra Kvitova/CZE 6-3/6-3
D: Hsieh Su-wei/Barbora Strycova (TPE/CZE) def. Gaby Dabrowski/Alona Ostapenko (CAN/LAT) 6-2/5-7 [10-2]
ACAPULCO, MEXICO (Int'l/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Heather Watson/GBR def. Leylah Annie Fernandez/CAN 6-3/6-7(8)/6-1
D: Desirae Krawczyk/Giuliana Olmos (USA/MEX) def. Sharon Fichman/Kateryna Bondarenko (CAN/UKR) 6-3/7-6(5)


kosova-font
eggs-font
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR
...in Doha, citing her father, who passed away during the offseason, as her inspiration, Sabalenka claimed the title at her second straight Premier 5 event (after Wuhan last fall). The Belarusian, the #9 seed, received a 1st Round bye after she was moved from her original place in the draw to fill the vacant #2 spot after Dubai champ Simona Halep withdrew from the tournament. She responsded with wins over Anett Kontaveit, Maria Sakkari, Zheng Saisai and Svetlana Kuznetsova to advance to her tenth career tour-level final. There, she defeated Petra Kvitova 6-3/6-3 to pick up her sixth career crown. 6-1 in her last seven WTA finals, all on hard courts, Sabalenka leads the tour with the most titles on the surface since the start of the 2018 season (one more than Naomi Osaka).



While Sabalenka's win prevented Kvitova from re-entering the Top 10, the Belarusian now finds herself at #11, just 10 points behind #10 Osaka. She last ranked in the Top 10 a week before the start of last year's U.S. Open.
===============================================
RISER: Ons Jabeur/TUN
...in a season already complete with a laundry list of players breaking through new career barriers on a weekly basis, Jabeur continued to write an historic 2020 chapter to her career in Doha, reaching the QF of high-level premier event for the first time.



Since putting on an Australian Open run that included wins over Konta, Garcia, Wozniacki and Q.Wang that made her the first Arab woman to reach the QF of a major, Jabeur has taken the confidence she gained from those exploits to made one think she might just be a short time away from putting down an even *larger* mark in one of the big regular season tournaments on the tour schedule over the next few months. This past week, after having knocked off her second Top 20 player (Riske) of the season in Dubai, she took down Katerina Siniakova, Jennifer Brady and Karolina Pliskova (her fourth career Top 10 victory) to reach the QF. Jabeur fell in a pair of TB sets to Petra Kvitova, but will next move up five spots to a new career high of #39, establishing yet another benchmark for an Arab player in WTA history and moving ever closer to her first seeded position at a slam.
===============================================
SURPRISES: Renata Zarazúa/MEX and Desirae Krawczyk/Giuliana Olmos (USA/MEX)
...the home crowd hasn't had a great deal to cheer when it's come to singles action in the long history of the Acapulco event. From 2001-19, Mexican women went a combined 5-26 in MD action, with just one player (Melissa Torres Sandoval in '07) reaching as deep as the QF in the draw. They'd gone just 1-10 since 2013. But the player who'd registered that "1" -- Zarazúa def. Kristyna Pliskova two years ago -- changed all that this week.



Ranked #270, Zarazúa took her wild card as the only home player in the MD and ran with it. After the 22-year old's monumental upset of #1-seeded Sloane Stephens in the 1st Round, she rallied from 6-4/4-2 down to defeat Katie Volynets to reach her first career QF (the first Mexican to accomplish the feat in a tour-level event in thirteen years). But Zarazúa wasn't finished. A win over Tamara Zidansek made her the first woman from Mexico to reach a WTA SF since 1993 (Angelica Gavaldon in San Juan), and the first to ever do so in tournament history. Her week ended with a defeat at the hands of Leylah Fernandez, but she'll see her ranking climb a massive 82 spots this week, up to #188, just two off her career high from '18.

Ah, but that wasn't the end of the fun for the locals.



In doubles, for the first time ever, a player from Mexico won a tour title *in* Mexico. Two years ago in Monterrey, Olmos became the first player from the nation to reach a WTA final in the Open era; and last season she followed up by reaching the Acapulco final, as well. Then later in the summer, in Nottingham, she became the first to win a tour title (alongside Krawczyk) before reaching yet another final (this time w/ Alexa Guarachi) in Guangzhou in the fall. This time the Mexican, Austrian-born and a former USC Trojan NCAA star, got to celebrate in front of the home fans. The #2-seeded Olmos/Krawczyk won a 10-3 match TB over Rus/Zidansek in the QF, followed by straight sets victories over Dolehide/Sharma (SF) and K.Bondarenko/Fichman (F) to earn the crown. It's the third title for Krawczyk, who also picked up a previous 2018 win with Guarachi.


===============================================
VETERANS: Petra Kvitova/CZE and Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS
...in Doha, Kvitova renewed her series with Ash Barty (their seventh meeting in 2019-20), posted her sixth career #1 win (her first since def. Wozniacki in Doha two years ago), and reached her first final since last April, yet once again she came up short of a return to the Top 10 when she fell in straights to Aryna Sabalenka. The Czech's path was cleared by additional wins over Carla Suarez-Navarro, Alona Ostapenko (3 sets) and Ons Jabeur (two TB's) during the week. The Belarusian jumps Kvitova in the rankings, as Petra falls back to #12.



Meanwhile, in the same week that fellow Original Hordette Maria Sharapova retired, 34-year old Kuznetsova put on an admirable "Remember me?" week that saw her reach her first WTA semifinal since reaching the Cincinnati final last summer. After victories over Cagla Buyukakcay and Iga Swiatek, Sveta received a walkover from an ill Amanda Anisimova and then knocked off #9 Belinda Bencic in the QF to record her first Top 10 win since her trio of victories in Cincy. The win was her nineteenth in Doha, a tournament record, and her reward was a final four berth for the first time there since 2007 (RU to Henin). Kuznetsova lost to eventual champ Sabalenka, but she'll climb fourteen spots in the rankings on Monday, back into the Top 32 as a *seeded* Sveta in the upcoming European majors is now a distinct possibility. Her last slam seeding was as #8 at the U.S. Open in 2017.
===============================================
COMEBACK: Heather Watson/GBR
...recent seasons have been pretty lean ones for Watson, who won three tour titles between 2012-16, ranked as high as #35 in 2015 (the same year she was two points from upsetting Serena Williams at SW19), won the Wimbledon MX title in '16 and then returned to the final a year later. After finishing with season rankings of #75 or lower from 2016-18, Watson finally began to stir again late last year. After starting 2019 by losing her first six matches, she closed out her season on a 12-1 run that included a $100K challenger title before she ended her year October in Tianjin by reaching her first final in three and a half years, though she still finished outside the Top 100 as the curtain came down.

She's carried over her momentum into 2020, starting the year by reaching a semifinal in Hobart. This week in Acapulco, she improved her season mark to 9-3 with her first WTA title run in nearly four years. Wins over Coco Vandeweghe, Kateryna Bondarenko, Christina McHale and Wang Xiyu got Watson into her fifth career final. While Canadian teen Leylah Annie Fernandez forced her into a third set after saving five MP in the 2nd set, Watson came back strong in the 3rd and (finally) won on MP #10. Watson is the second woman (Bacsinszky's sweep in '15) to win singles at *both* the Acapulco and Monterrey events in Mexico, having claimed the latter in her most recent tour title run in '16.

And, thus, in the tradition of "Sombrerenko!" (two-time Acapulco champ Lesia Tsurenko), "Heatherenko!" is born...



Watson will jump 20 spots in the rankings to #49, venturing inside the Top 50 for the first time since June 2016.
===============================================
FRESH FACES: Leylah Annie Fernandez/CAN and Wang Xiyu/CHN
...as part of one generation of WTA stars peel off into retirement (from Wozniacki and Sharapova, to additional announcements from Vania King and Johanna Larsson in just last few weeks and days), the PDQ waves of another continue to move in. In Acapulco, two recent junior slam champs made their first big moves on the WTA tour.



17-year old Fernandez, the '19 Roland Garros girls champ, entered the fray as a qualifying wild card, and ended it as a first-time WTA finalist pushing Heather Watson to a tenth MP before finally succumbing to what seemed like inevitable defeat... well, until it no longer did, and then after it finally did again. The world #190, with the confident smoke coming off her Fed Cup upset of Belinda Bencic still wafting through the air, qualified with victories over Lizette Cabrera and Varvara Lepchenko. In the MD, she advanced to the final without dropping a set vs. Nina Stojanovic, Nao Hibino, Anastasia Potapova and this week's Mexican Cinderella story, Renata Zarazúa. After finding herself a set and a break down vs. Watson in the final, LAF (not aka The Latvian Air Force) saved five MP in two different games and the 2nd set TB before pushing things to a 3rd, then stubbornly refused to go quietly again at 5-1 in the 3rd, saving four more on Watson's serve (and even holding a BP) before the Brit finally converted on her tenth attempt around three quarters of an hour after she'd appeared set to wraps things up early on Saturday night. Fernandez rises 64 spots to a new career high of #126 on Monday, making her the youngest player on tour *not* named Coco.

On the other side of the Acapulco draw, 18-year old qualifier Wang, the '18 U.S. Open junior winner, opened MD play by upsetting #2-seeded defending champ Wang Yafan, then followed up by taking down two-time tournament champ Sara Errani and Zhu Lin to reach her first tour-level semifinal, where she fell in two to Watson.



Wang will move from #127 to #106, a new career high, this week. She's just 23 points away from becoming the sixth Chinese woman in the Top 100.
===============================================
DOWN: Sloane Stephens/USA, Sofia Kenin/USA and Venus Williams/USA
...former slam winners all, they were a combined 0-3 in Week 8, losing to players who were ranked an average #140.

The #1 seed in Acapulco, '17 U.S. Open winner Stephens took the chance to turn around her freefalling position on tour and, well, picked up *more* downward momentum. #270-ranked wild card Renata Zarazua's Cinderella semifinal run began with a 1st Round upset of Stephens, 6-4/6-2, who fell to 0-4 on the season with her fifth straight defeat. (which has included additional losses vs. #129 and #201). She's lost to seven #100+ ranked players since the start of 2019.

Also in Acapulco, seven-time major champ Williams failed to convert seven MP vs. #125-ranked Slovenian teen Kaja Juvan, dropping a three-setter to the qualifier for her fourth straight defeat (0-2 in '20), equaling the career-worst losing streak she set last summer.

Reigning Australian Open champ Kenin's loss was at least against a more known quantity, as the Bannerette fell to #25 Dayana Yastremska in her opening 2nd Round match in Doha, 6-3/7-6(4). At 1-3 since winning in Melbourne, not a *shock* after her whirlwind major title run, it's enough to officially register this moment as her first significant speedbump since reaching the Top 10.



She's the #1 seed this week in the new event in Lyon. The draw offers her an opportunity to right the ship, or could provide further proof that she likely needs a brief rest. Of the nine opening weeks of the '20 season, this will be Kenin's eighth week in action in five different nations, with a return to (and then crisscrossing of) North America likely coming in March).

===============================================
ITF PLAYERS: Oceane Dodin/FRA and Eva Lys/GER
...the return to relevence of Dodin continues, though this past week on a smaller scale that the Saint Petersburg QF run (w/ wins over Kuznetsova and Konta) of a few weeks ago. The Pastry claimed the title at the $25K challengerin Macon, France to pick up her tenth career circuit crown. Wins over Jaqueline Cristian and Harmony Tan advanced Dodin into her fifth ITF final in the last eight months, and her three-set win over countrywoman Jessika Ponchet allowed her to collect her second singles crown in the past five. She's received a wild card into the MD of this week's inaugural tour-level event in Lyon, where she'll open vs. Mandy Minella.

In Altenkirchen, the German fans got to see first-hand their nation's entry into the Gen PDQ office pool as 18-year old Lys claimed her maiden pro singles crown. The unranked wild card, the 2019 Eddie Herr junior champ in December, took the title without dropping a set, getting victories over Maja Chwalinska, Andreea Mitu, and veteran Bibiane Schoofs in a 6-2/6-4 final.


===============================================
JUNIOR STAR: Romana Cisovska/SVK
...on the indoor hard courts of the Grade 1 Yeltsin Cup in Kazan, Russia the 17-year old Slovak picked up her biggest career title (she had a pair of Grade 2 wins in '18 before being out four months due to injury at the end of that season), and her first on the ITF junior circuit on a surface other than clay. The #14 seed, Cisovska took down five higher-seeded opponents -- including previous 2020 Grade 1 champs Julia Avdeeva (1r) and Kristina Dmitruk (F), and four of the top six seeds (#4, #6, #5 and #3) in the tournament in consecutive matches to end the week -- en route to the winner's circle.


===============================================
DOUBLES: Hsieh Su-wei/Barbora Strycova, TPE/CZE
...well, in Qatar, they were at it again.



A week after winning in Dubai, Hsieh & Strycova took off with the Doha crown, as well, becoming the first duo to sweep the Middle East desert events since 2012 (Huber/Raymond). After wins over the Kickenok sisters and Bencic/Kenin, the veteran pair won a 12-10 match TB over Krejcikova/Siniakova in the semis, then another (at 10-2) over Dabrowski/Ostapenko in the final. Playing in their fifth straight final dating back to last season, Hsieh/Strycova have won three titles in four events in '20 (they're 17-1 this season) and are now 53-11 in their career partnership, with eight titles. Meanwhile, a week after losing the #1 WD ranking to Kristina Mladenovic, Hsieh will reclaim it on Monday while Strycova (the '19 #1) leapfrogs both Mladenovic and Timea Babos into the #2 spot.


===============================================
WHEELCHAIR: --
...no tournaments this week (the one that was scheduled in Thailand was cancelled due to the coronavirus). But, this (albeit a week late):


===============================================









kosova-font


1. Acapulco Final - Heather Watson def. Leylah Annie Fernandez
...6-3/6-7(8)/6-1. Up a set and a break, Watson saw her lead slip away in the 2nd. LAF held two SP on the Brit's serve at 5-4, then two more at 6-5, but Watson buckled down to hold and got things to a TB. She held quadruple MP at 6-2, and then had a 5th MP at 8-7 before Fernandez converted on her own 6th SP to win 10-8 and force a 3rd set. After an in-between set break, Watson came out showing no signs of frustration after having lost her lead, and maintained her calm when, serving at 5-1, she failed to convert MP #7, #8 and #9 and even saw the Canadian teen hold a BP. Finally, MP #10 proved to be the charm as Watson added an Acapulco title to the win she got in Mexico in Monterrey back in 2016.
===============================================


2. Acapulco 1st Rd. - Renata Zarazúa def. Sloane Stephens
...6-4/6-2. When a loss by a recent (and healthy) former slam champ to a wild card ranked #270 doesn't really spark the sort of draw-dropping response one might suspect under such a circumstance, is it crazy to think that Future Sloane's future might not involve her wielding a racket for as long as one might think for a player still just 26 years old?



Yeah, you're probably right. Commanders don't leave the battlefield in the middle of the battle, and that 24-23 record since the start of '19 isn't nearly as bad as it seems like that mark *should* be.
===============================================


3. Doha Final - Aryna Sabalenka def. Petra Kvitova
...6-3/6-3. Sabalenka is *still* looking for the igniting event that will propel her to the heights so many expect her to reach during her career. But, make no mistake, she knows how to play big finals. Since the summer hard court season in '18, she's 9-2 in singles/doubles finals, winning three Premier 5's (+ the Elite Trophy event) in singles, and a slam and two Premier Mandatory titles in doubles.
===============================================


4. Acapulco 2nd Rd. - Renata Zarazúa def. Katie Volynets
...4-6/7-5/6-0. Down 6-4/4-2, Zarazúa saved seven BP in game 7 in the 2nd, then went on to reel in 11 of 12 games and win in 2:42 to become the first Mexican woman in thirteen years to reach the Acapulco QF (then the first tour singles semifinalist in twenty-seven years a round later).
===============================================
5. Doha SF - Petra Kvitova def. Ash Barty
...6-2/2-6/6-4. You say you want to see more rivalries, friendly or otherwise? Well, these two have played *seven* times in the last thirteen months. Kvitova leads the overall head-to-head 5-4.


===============================================
6. Doha 2nd Rd. - Elena Rybakina def. Alison Van Uytvanck
...5-7/6-2/7-6(8). Rybakina just can't help herself. She faced a MP vs. the Belgian, but *still* managed to win to improve to 21-4 on the season, the most victories at this point in a WTA campaign since Elena Dementieva in 2009. Finally, with the big North American spring hard court season kicking off in short order, the Kazakh carved out a bit of down time for herself by pulling out of her 3rd Round match.


===============================================
7. Doha 1st Rd. - Barbora Strycova def. Petra Martic
...4-6/6-1/6-2. In her last five matches, Martic has played Strycova twice (1-1) and Hsieh Su-wei (1-0) once. In singles.


===============================================
8. Doha 1st Rd. - Alona Ostapenko def. Jil Teichmann
...7-5/2-6/7-5. In a match that saw both players break the other seven times, and the losing player hold a 111-110 points edge, Ostapenko found an echo of Thunder with a go-for-broke game that saw her collect 47 winners (Teichmann had 24) vs. 54 UE (21).
===============================================
9. Acapulco 1st Rd. - Katie Boulter def. Francesca Di Lorenzo
...2-6/6-3/6-2. Back from injury, and fresh off a SF run at a $25K in Grenoble, Boulter posted her first tour-level win since *last* year's Acapulco event.
===============================================
10. Doha SF - Aryna Sabalenka def. Svetlana Kuznetsova
...6-4/6-3. Sveta's semifinal loss came in her 999th career (all levels) match *, leaving her one outing away from becoming the 14th player to reach quadruple-digits in the Open era.

* - according to the latest edition of the WTA Media Guide (which still has Kerber's 2017 slam results *completely* transposed in her bio for a *third* straight year... so take that note with a grain of salt)

But if the numbers *are* right...

=CAREER MATCHES IN OPEN ERA (all levels), through Week 8=
1661 Martina Navratilova
1455 Chris Evert
1168 Virginia Wade
1100 Patty Schnyder
1093 Francesca Schiavone
1061 Venus Williams
1057 Jelena Jankovic
1054 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
1048 Samantha Stosur
1036 Conchita Martinez
1025 Stephanie Foretz
1017 Steffi Graf
1006 Alberta Brianti
999 Svetlana Kuznetsova
999 Tamarine Tanasugarn

===============================================
11. Doha 2nd Rd. - Amanda Anisimova def. Elina Svitolina
...6-3/6-3. So, Svitolina was blown out in her first match of the week *again*? Yawn. Wake me when the storyline changes.


===============================================
12. Yeltsin Cup Final - Elizaveta Gavrilova/Ekaterina Maklarova def. Bianca Behulova/Alessandra Simone
...6-3/6-4. All right, blink. It's not *that* Gavrilova, nor *that* Makarova... in fact, it's Mak-LA-rova. Oh, and it's not *that* Bianca, either.

Although, judging from her Instagram profile pic change this week, she *did* seem a bit bored...

===============================================





kosova-font


1. Acapulco 1st Rd. - Kaja Juvan def. Venus Williams
...4-6/7-6(4)/6-2. Backspin's 2019 "Player Whose Name You'll Know..." pick, 19-year old qualifier Juvan (#125) posted the biggest win of her career over Williams, saving seven MP in the 2nd set (after Venus had rallied from 4-2 down to take the 1st) and handing the future Hall of Famer her fourth straight defeat, tying a career worst run. Williams, 0-2 vs. a pair of teenagers this season (Gauff), is 1-6 in her last seven matches dating back to 2019.
===============================================


2. Doha Final - Hsieh Su-wei/Barbora Strycova def. Gaby Dabrowski/Alona Ostapenko
...6-2/5-7 (10-2). Dabrowski/Ostapenko staged a comeback from 6-2/4-1 down to force a match TB, but couldn't prevent Hsieh/Strycova from becoming the fifth #1 seeded doubles duo (they've done it three times alone) to pick up the title in the season's first eleven tournaments. The final closed out another optimistic week for Ostapenko. She and Dabrowski had already upset Mertens/Sabalenka and Babos/Mladenovic (both via match TB's) en route to the final, while the Latvian posted singles wins over Jil Teichmann and Strycova, and took Petra Kvitova to three sets in the 3rd Round.
===============================================
3. Doha 3rd Rd. - Ons Jabeur def. Karolina Pliskova
...6-4/3-6/6-3. Jabeur's second Top 3 win since October (Halep) helped fuel her latest history-making feat: becoming the highest-ranked Arab woman in tour history.
===============================================
4. Acapulco 1st Rd. - Anastasia Potapova def. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
...4-6/7-5/6-1. The Hordette forged a comeback win from a 6-4/4-0, 30/love deficit vs. AKS. Oh, Schmeidy.
===============================================
5. Doha 1st Rd. - Vera Zvonareva def. Hsieh Su-wei
...6-4/6-4. Yes, *another* of the Original Hordettes posted a MD tour win during Sharapova's retirement, too. It's Zvonareva's first tour-level MD win since Roland Garros.


===============================================





futuristic-fonts


kosova-font


Vika (back) in the house!


[@vichka35]












View this post on Instagram

Tofu trains harder than me ?? @tofu_sausage

A post shared by Daria Gavrilova (@daria_gav) on














mf-xinghei-font


kosova-font

*2018-20 WTA FINALS*
10 - 3/6/1...Ash Barty (7-3)
10 - 5/4/1...PETRA KVITOVA (7-3)
10 - 4/5/1...Kiki Bertens (6-4)
10 - 6/3/1...Simona Halep (5-5)
9 - 3/5/1...Karolina Pliskova (7-2)
9 - 4/4/1...ARYNA SABALENKA (6-3)

*2020 BIGGEST AGE DIFFERENCE IN FINAL*
13 years - S.Williams(38) def. Pegula(25) - Auckland
10 years - Rybakina(20) def. Sh.Zhang(30) - Hobart
10 years - WATSON(27) def. FERNANDEZ(17) - ACAPULCO

*2020 LOW-RANKED WTA SEMIFINALISTS - #100+*
#283 Leonie Kung/SUI (Hua Hin) - RU
#270 RENATA ZARAZUA/MEX (ACAPULCO)
#190 LEYLAH ANNIE FERNANDEZ/CAN (ACAPULCO) - RU
#127 WANG XIYU/CHN (ACAPULCO)
#105 Patricia Maria Tig/ROU (Hua Hin)
#101 Heather Watson/GBR (Hobart)

*2020 YOUNGEST WTA WS FINLALISTS*
17 - LEYLAH ANNIE FERNANDEZ, CAN (ACAPULCO-L)
19 - Leonie Kung, SUI (Hua Hin-L)
19 - Dayana Yastremska, UKR (Adelaide-L)
20 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ (Shenzhen-L)
20 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ (Hobart-W)
20 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ (Saint Petersburg-L)
20 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ (Dubai-L)

*2020 WTA CHAMPIONS BY RANKING*
#1 - Ash Barty (Adelaide)
#2 - Karolina Pliskova (Brisbane)
#2 - Simona Halep (Dubai)
#8 - Kiki Bertens (Saint Petersburg)
#10 - Serena Williams (Auckland)
#13 - Aryna Sabalenka (Doha)
#15 - Sofia Kenin (Australian Open)
#30 - Elena Rybakina (Hobart)
#34 - Ekaterina Alexandrova (Shenzhen)
#42 - Magda Linette (Hua Hin)
#69 - Heather Watson (Acapulco)

*2020 WTA CHAMPIONS BY AGE*
20 - Elena Rybakina (Hobart)
21 - Sofia Kenin (Australian Open)
21 - Aryna Sabalenka (Doha)
23 - Ash Barty (Adelaide)
25 - Ekaterina Alexandrova (Shenzhen)
27 - Heather Watson (Acapulco)
27 - Karolina Pliskova (Brisbane)
28 - Magda Linette (Hua Hin)
28 - Kiki Bertens (Saint Petersburg)
28 - Simona Halep (Dubai)
38 - Serena Williams (Auckland)

*VENUS WILLIAMS LOSSES TO #100+*
NR - Kim Clijsters (2009 U.S. Open 4th)
#674 Bethanie Mattek-Sands (2019 San Jose 1st)
#313 Coco Gauff (2019 Wimbledon 1st)
#223 Peng Shuai (2016 Beijing 1st)
#152 Bianca Andreeescu (2019 Auckland QF)
#143 Petra Kvitova (2008 Memphis 1st)
#140 Sonya Jeyaseelan (1999 A.Island 2nd)
#125 Barbara Schwartz (1999 R.Garros 4th)
#125 KAJA JUVAN (2020 ACAPULCO 1st)
#119 Kateryna Bondarenko (2015 Istanbul 1st)
#115 Nathalie Dechy (1997 Toronto 1st)
#109 Olga Puchkova (2013 Florianopolis SF)

*CAREER WTA HARD COURT TITLES - active*
47 - S.Williams(2020:1)
31 - Clijsters,V.Williams
19 - Azarenka
18 - Kvitova
14 - Kuznetsova
10 - Halep(1), Ka.Pliskova(1)
9 - Pavlyuchenkova, Svitolina, Zvonareva
7 - [Jankovic], Kerber
6 - SABALENKA(1)
[2018-20]
6 - ARYNA SABALENKA (2/3/1)
5 - Naomi Osaka (2/3/0)
4 - Ash Barty (1/2/1)
4 - Kiki Bertens (2/1/1)
4 - Karolina Pliskova (1/2/1)

*2020 WEEKS AT DOUBLES #1*
[1Q]
1/6: Barbora Strycova
1/13: Barbora Strycova
1/20: Barbora Strycova
1/27: Barbora Strycova
2/3: Hsieh Su-wei
2/10: Hsieh Su-wei
2/17: Hsieh Su-wei
2/24: Kristina Mladenovic
3/2: Hsieh Su-wei

*"QUEEN OF MEXICO" WINNERS - Acapulco/Guadalajara 125/Monterrey*
2015 Timea Bacsinszky, SUI (won Acap/Mont singles)
2016 A.Medina-Garrigues/A.Parra-Santonja, ESP (won Acap/Mont WD)
2017 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS (4-time Mont.WS)
2018 Lesia Tsurenko, UKR (2 con. Acapulco WS)
2019 Garbine Muguruza, ESP (2 con. Monterrey WS)
2020
[2nd place]
2015 Caroline Garcia, FRA (RU Acap/Mont singles)
2016 Sloane Stephens, USA (Acap) & Heather Watson, GBR (Mont)
2017 Lesia Tsurenko, UKR (Acapulco WS)
2018 Giuliana Olmos, MEX (first MEX player in MONT.WD final)
2019 Maria Sanchez, USA (Guad/Mont WD W)
2020
[2020 nominees, post-Acap.]
Heather Watson, GBR (Acapulco W; first to win both Acap/Mont WS)
Renata Zarazua, MEX (Acapulco SF, first MEX WTA SF since 1993)
Giuliana Olmos, MEX (Acapulco WD W; first MEX title in Mexico)
Leylah Fernandez, CAN (Acapulco RU at 17)

*2020 TOP JUNIOR EVENT CHAMPIONS*
COFFEE BOWL CRC G1: Mi Lan, CHN
COPA BARRANQUILLA COL G1: Dana Guzman, PER
RPM JUNIOR OPEN CZE G1: Kristina Dmitruk, BLR
TRARALGON AUS G1: Polina Kudermetova, RUS
MUNDIAL JUVENIL DE TENIS ECU G1: Julia Garcia, MEX
VICCOURT CUP UKR G1: Julia Avdeeva, RUS
AUSTRALIAN OPEN JUNIORS: Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, AND
ASUNCION BOWL PAR G1: Dana Guzman, PER
PORTO ALEGRE BRA G1: Matilde Paoletti, ITA
BANANA BOWL BRA GA: Elvina Kalieva, USA
YELTSIN CUP RUS G1: Romana Cisovska, SVK

*2020 SLAM-WTAF/PREMIER MAND.+5/OLYMPICS CHAMPIONS*
Australian Open - Sofia Kenin, USA
Doha - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
Indian Wells -
Miami -
Madrid -
Rome -
Roland Garros -
Wimbledon -
Olympics -
Montreal -
Cincinnati -
US Open -
Wuhan -
Beijing -
WTAF -
[doubles]
Australian Open - Timea Babos/Kristina Mladenovic, HUN/FRA
Doha - Hsieh Su-wei/Barbora Strycova, TPE/CZE
Indian Wells -
Miami -
Madrid -
Rome -
Roland Garros -
Wimbledon -
Olympics -
Montreal -
Cincinnati -
US Open -
Wuhan -
Beijing -
WTAF -





futuristic-fonts


kosova-font




kosova-font




kosova-font

Favorite TV series ever...




kosova-font




kosova-font




kosova-font




kosova-font




kosova-font




kosova-font




kosova-font

Hmmm, the reaction to certain people (you know the ones) when faced with the prospect of -- clutch the pearls -- saying something respectful about a Career Slam winner who had a global impact on her sport upon her retirement?



Apparently, they think they're taking some sort of stand for "justice," when they really just look and sound as foolish as a dog looks comical when turning up a snout to broccoli.


kosova-font

WTA Theme Song nomination...?





All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 4:51 PM 

3 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Mexico had a good week.

Your 2020 youngest finalists list is really just 3 slam RU and Rybakina.

Jabeur is up to 39, but not in IW MD as of yet. The 6 week rule, which is being modified to 4 in some cases, due to Hong Kong and Budapest being cancelled on short notice, means that she is still 2 out.

Venus now runs like Dirk Nowitski. Juvan exposed her movement, and I don't have to compare to 2002. I can use 2017 and see the difference. Her problem now is that without her IW points, she will be outside the Top 80, which means only slams and lov level internationals.

Expecting good weeks from Teichmann and Potapova.

Bouzkova trying to pull a Sabalenka. She gets a Monterrey seed after the draw was made as Putintseva pulled out. Late note-so does Linette, so Davis has a seed.

Fernandez and Zarazua were in Monterrey Q when it first came out.

Sweden's Cornelia Lister might be this week's biggest loser. Larsson probably would have taken her as an Olympic partner. Lister's only other 300 ranked Swede is Peterson at 270.

Stat of the Week - 16 - The amount of WTA titles won by Vania King.

Hmmm, let me correct that.

Stat of the Week - 16 - The amount of WTA titles won by Johanna Larsson.

This is actually correct, as the 31 yr old Larsson retires immediately, while the also 31 yr old King will play Charleston.

King won 1 more doubles title-15, while Larsson won 1 more singles title-2. Almost fitting that they retired with little fanfare, as neither were what you would call a star, but both had their moments.

King only had 1 singles title, but faced women from their home country(China-2/Thailand-1) in all of her finals. Larsson played 3 of her 5 in Sweden.

The one surprising thing is that Larsson was over .500 on all 3 surfaces in finals, while King was under on all 3. Larsson, who famously didn't win a match on grass in singles for 6 years, won her only doubles grass title last year in Mallorca. That was her final title. Reached 19 of 23 finals with Flipkens or Bertens.

King only won 1 grass title, but it was a slam. Won with Shvedova, 12 of her 33 finals were with her or Groenefeld.

They may not have had the lasting impact of Sharapova, but being a working professional on tour for over a decade still says something.

Quiz Time!
Maria Sharapova reached finals in 16 different countries. In which country did she not reach a final?

A.Turkey
B.Japan
C.Russia
D.Spain





Answer!

It should be noted that the 4 slam nations are the highest on the list. (B)Japan is the highest non slam nation with 4. She never lost there, and in fact won her first career title vs Aniko Kapros way back in 2003.

(D)Spain is an obvious no, because of her clay prowess, but also because the finals were played there.

Going with that theme, that is why (A)Turkey is wrong, as she also reached the finals there in 2012. Did she win? Um, she played Serena, making Turkey and United Arab Emirates the only countries in which she reached a final and never won.

That leaves (C)Russia. It happens. Sometimes somebody has an inexplicable hole on their resume, and this is it. But I kind of think that 5 slams, 36 titles, and a career high #1 ranking will make sure she doesn't lose any sleep over it.

Sun Mar 01, 06:52:00 PM EST  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Hmmm, but does it make that longstanding prediction of a Mexican woman playing in a slam singles MD any more likely? Yeah, probably not.

Rybakina's filling a whole lot of lists so far this year. ;)

Quiz: I went with Russia, because I just didn't remember any, as for so long the only stop was the Kremlin Cup. (And I ignored that the going with the he's-trying-to-be-tricky-thing hasn't worked well of late.) ;)

Hey, I got that one! :)

Sun Mar 01, 10:14:00 PM EST  
Blogger colt13 said...

Re:Prediction- Zarazua is now high enough for French Open Q.

Re:Jabeur- She is now directly in IW MD as Collins pulled out. Also means that Petkovic isn't ready as she was player ahead of Jabeur.

Tue Mar 03, 11:33:00 AM EST  

Post a Comment

<< Home