Thursday, September 03, 2020

US.4 - The Pironkova Effect

After an absence of over three years, Tsvetana Pironkova returned to tennis at this U.S. Open. It didn't take long for her to get back to her old tricks.



The now 32-year old Bulgarian last played at the '17 Wimbledon before seeing an injury break turn into maternity leave, with no real knowledge of whether she'd *ever* return to the WTA tour. During her career, she'd been armed with a love of fast surface tennis, a wicked slice forehand and the intelligence to know just when to step forward and let loose with a winner that could frustrate any opponent not familiar with her style of play (or even those who were). But, more than anything, Pironkova was known for upsets. Big ones. In the biggest events.

In her very first career slam match, at the 2006 Australian Open, Pironkova upset Venus Williams. It'd be the first of three wins over Venus in slam competition over a six-year stretch. She was never seeded higher than #32 herself in her 47 career slams prior to this one (four times she was #32, in consecutive majors in 2010-11 after she'd made an unseeded run to the Wimbledon SF in '10). Over the span of a decade, Pironkova recorded eleven upsets of seeds in her slam career before she went away.

Well, it's 2020... so naturally there she is emerging from the mist. She even *announced* her comeback in the early March days of the COVID-19 shutdown. Of course she did.

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A post shared by Tsvetana Pironkova (@tpironkova) on



Facing off in the 2nd Round today against #10 Garbine Muguruza, you *knew* upset #12 was possible. The Spaniard, who reached the AO final in January, only played her first Restart match two days ago, having come back to the tour a bit later than most due to an injury. It was a given that Muguruza was going to face frustrations on this day, it was just a matter of whether she could overcome it. Well...



Actually, after getting off to a slow start in her 1st Round win, Garbi got off to a fast one today. She led 3-1, and served at 5-4. But she was broken. And, well, then the Pironkova Effect began to take hold. Muguruza soon found herself down 5-6. Serving to force a tie-break, Muguruza fought off a break point/set point, but then saw Pironkova get another chance after she fired a forehand that bounced off the net cord and popped over the approaching Spaniard... and landed inside the baseline behind her.

Of course it did.

Pironkova eventually converted on her third BP/SP, winning the set 7-5 with a backhand down the line. That's when Muguruza threw her racket across the court, then retrieved in and produced one of *the* great racket destruction scenes of recent vintage. It brought to mind Aga Radwanska's now-famous disappearing racket head act... though Garbi had to help along the situation to produce the same effect.

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Pironkova ultimately prevailed in the 2nd. She served for the match at 5-3, and held at love. She finished with an ace. Naturally.



The win is Pironkova's biggest in a major since defeating Radwanska (of cour-... well, you know) at Roland Garros four years ago. It's her twelfth win over a seed in her slam career.

=PIRONKOVA CAREER SLAM WINS OVER SEEDS=
2006 AO 1st Rd. - #10 Venus Williams (in slam debut)
2006 WI 1st Rd. - #13 Anna-Lena Groenefeld
2010 WI 4th Rd. - #11 Marion Bartoli
2010 WI QF - #2 Venus Williams
2011 WI 3rd Rd. - #2 Vera Zvonareva
2011 WI 4th Rd. - #23 Venus Williams
2013 WI 1st Rd. - #21 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
2015 RG 1st Rd. - #22 Barbora Strycova
2016 RG 1st Rd. - #16 Sara Errani
2016 RG 3rd Rd. - #19 Sloane Stephens
2016 RG 4th Rd. - #2 Aga Radwanska
2020 US 2nd Rd. - #10 Garbine Muguruza
[seeded at major; final result]
2010 US - #32 (2nd Rd.)
2011 AO - #32 (2nd Rd.)
2011 RG - #32 (2nd Rd.)
2011 WI - #32 (QF)



Meanwhile, for Muguruza, the clay awaits. She's never posted her best results in the Open, having advanced past the 2nd Round only once (a Round of 16 in 2017) while winning two other majors (RG/WI), and reaching two more finals (AO/WI), a semi (RG) and three QF (AO/RG) since 2014. She gets a "mulligan" here, considering the combined circumstances. Hopefully, we'll see the reinvigorated Garbi from January again in a few weeks.

Next up for Pironkova is Donna Vekic. The Croat is the #18 seed. Hmmm.

(Run, Donna! Run!)




=DAY 4 NOTES=
...so, on Thursday, simultaneously at one point, the action in the women's draw included a mother with a history of toppling slam seeds competing (and triumphing) in her first event in three years against a two-time slam winner and former #1 (and epic racket snapper, it turned out), a young surprise slam winner on the court in her home major in her first big-time event since becoming a new star, a 16-year old who used the five-month shutdown to "redo" her game facing off with a 19-year old who both reached a slam semi and tragically lost her father/coach since the start of last season, an Arab woman continuing to break new ground in professional tennis, as well as a Greek woman (who just a week ago defeated *both* Coco and Serena in a matter of days) doing the same. And it was only about noon.

Yeah. They Got the Beat.

...two days ago, 16-year old wild card Katrina Scott's unlikely journey to the U.S. Open began with an eye-opening victory in her slam debut. Today she had #22-seed Amanda Anisimova walking a tightrope for much of their 2nd Round match, threatening to win yet again.



That Scott found herself in such a position is both *such* an "American story," as well as one filled with so many improbable occurrences that it could only happen in real life, because no one could make it up and pack it all into a story about a single person and not be called a "hack."

As many news articles have pointed out in recent days, Scott's mother, a ballet dancer, immigrated to the U.S. at age 17 because her mother was in need of cancer treatment. Katrina was put into ballet classes at eighteen months, then switched to figure skating at age 3. One day, when her mother was late to pick her up after practice, she got an alternate ride with a friend who first had to go to a tennis lesson. While there, Katrina picked up a racket... and the Californian's life changed forever.

Of course, it didn't end there, as what had been planned as a multi-month break from competition, after having made the decision to turn pro last year (after reaching the U.S. Open girls QF, and getting a Q-round women's win over Katie Swan), in order to "redevelop" her game and totally rework her forehand to make it more offensive, turned into a nine-month stretch away due to the COVID-19 pandemic and tour shutdown. When play finally resumed, #637-ranked Scott was given a WC into the Open draw largely due to so many top players being absent (and no qualifying rounds taking place).

Blessed with a big first serve and easy power, Scott this week showed that the under-18 collection of Bannerette talent does *not* begin and end with Coco Gauff.

Had she won today, what with her Black Lives Matter t-shirt and avowed excitement over the realization that Stefanos Tsitsipas is an actual real-live person (because he walked right past her), Scott may have broken the internet. As it is, she'll just have to wait a while longer for that. But it could happen one day, and maybe soon.



Scott burst out of the gates on Day 4 against Anisimova, herself already a slam semifinal veteran ('19 RG) at age 19, by taking a 4-1 lead. After Anisimova saved break points for 5-1, Scott didn't fret over the lost opportunity and instead held a game later for 5-2. At 5-3, she held two set points before Anisimova struck, bringing the game to deuce and reaching BP. Scott saved it with a second serve up the "T" and easy put-away. A double-fault gave the break to Anisimova, but again Scott didn't dwell on it. Instead she broke her fellow Bannerette at 15 to take the set 6-4.

From there on, Anisimova showed her experience. But Scott didn't wilt and float away. She held a BP up 3-2 in the 2nd, perhaps getting that close to wrestling away a surge of momentum that she may have never given up. But Anisimova held for 3-3. After Scott held at love a game later. Anisimova finally got the break in game #9, then served out the set at 6-4.

Anisimova broke Scott to open the 3rd, and then again for 3-0. Still, though, Scott threatened to get back in the swing of things. She battled from 40/15 down to reach deuce in game #4, but Anisimova held. The 15-year old was up love/30 when down 1-4 in the set, close enough (especially w/ her first serve skills) to offer up thoughts of doing in that set what Varvara Gracheva did yesterday in her comeback from 5-1 down in the 2nd set vs. Kristina Mladenovic. But Anisimova held firm. After failing to put away her first match point in game #7, then seeing Scott reach GP, the 19-year old finally secured the set and the win.



A year ago, Anisimova didn't play the U.S. Open after pulling out following her father Konstantin's death due to a heart attack last August. She hasn't posted many great results since then (just one SF, in Auckland), but perhaps her world has finally settled down enough for her to begin to pick up where she left off last spring, when she was *this close* to reaching the RG final (leading eventual champ Ash Barty 7-6/3-0 in the semis).



...by the way, a Backspin first here, as Madison Brengle's actions yesterday following her upset of #19 Dayana Yastremska fully warrant it. After her on-court interview, Brengle started to exit the court, then stopped when she saw Arina Rodionova (whom she'd defeated in the 1st Round on Monday) with a mini-bottle of wine. With a shout of, "Alcohol!" she grabbed the drink, "clinked" with the Aussie, then quickly downed the invigorating wine. Thus, in the spirit of The Goddess herself, the Bannerette earns an out-of-Roland Garros-competition "Légion de Lenglen" honor.




...today, #15 Maria Sakkari rallied from a set down to catch and defeat Bannerette Bernarda Pera, 2-6/6-3/6-2, while #9 Johanna Konta led Swarmette Sorana Cirstea by a set and a break, only to eventually lose 2-6/7-6(5)/6-4.

Meanwhile, #2-seeded Australian Open champ Sonia Kenin continued her quiet path through the first week. One might think that a newly-minted (well, in January... but everything in 2020 seems to have happened what feels like three *years* ago) major champion in her first post-title slam event might have gotten an early round featured night match by this point in her home slam, but Kenin has not. She won her ninth straight slam match today, ousting Canadian teen Leylah Fernandez 6-4/6-3.



Perhaps Kenin's second 2020 slam match-up with Ons Jabeur (they met in the AO QF) in the 3rd Round will get a primetime slot?

...in the early evening, 2017 U.S. Open finalists #26 Sloane Stephens and #7 Madison Keys advance in three sets, dropping just seven combined games in four sets.



...tonight, in a odd (i.e. dumb) bit of scheduling, it's likely that #3 Serena Williams' match with Margarita Gasparyan will take place on Ashe at the same time as what *should* have (at least) been the top daytime match (on Armstrong) between #5 Aryna Sabalenka and countrywoman Victoria Azarenka. If the all-BLR clash, a rematch of a 1st Round U.S. Open meeting a year ago (won by Sabalenka in three) starts late, well, the Andy Murray 2nd Rounder is set to takeover Ashe after Williams. So ESPN likely will offer very little on-air coverage of what (going in, at least) is probably *the* top match of the day. Just sayin'.







UMMM... ON DAY 4:




WHERE'S CLIFF DRYSDALE WHEN YOU NEED HIM? ON DAY 4:

Not that *any* other returning mother having success would elicit the sort of undue callisthenics associated with a certain Belgian.




LIKE ON DAY 4:

Day later Trainspotting...




LIKE ON DAY 4:

When you think you're being smart and cool, and Twitter (and Michael McKean) tell you otherwise.



A better effort...




A SUMMER TRADITION ON DAY 4:





Nearly four years ago (though, really, even before that), the current U.S. political and cultural landscape opened wide and swallowed what had largely been the guiding notion and heart of the nation. We've yet to recover, and things will likely get worse before they get better. Whether the process begins in a few months or, sigh, even a few years.

I found it interesting to read what I wrote in this space four years ago, in the first post-Election Day regular edition of Backspin in November 2016.

Thus...


"And, finally, after a crazy week in these United States, a nation turns its lonely eyes to... 'Schoolhouse Rock?' Well, not really. But sort of. Maybe. I don't know, I just think that I've always managed to feel a little better about almost anything, and see things with more clarity, after listening to a few selections from the brilliant Saturday morning series that taught at least one lucky generation of kids (including a certain Backspinner), in three-minute installments, about how a bill becomes a law, 'Mother Necessity,' interjections and, in maybe the creative team's best overall work, U.S. history.

Looking back at a few of my old favorites, it was easy to feel a bit of old patriotic spirit stirring. It was almost a hopeful feeling, in fact. Or maybe it was just nostalgia for what made this country great in the first place, and has kept it centered, sometimes in spite of itself, for nearly 250 years... but which, at the moment, seems to threaten to crack at the seams every other day. The intrinsic ideals that helped to build the nation, while hardly perfect and guilty of quite a few shameful acts throughout its history, have been those that were at least come by with general sincerity, and given life both in mind as well as action, with notions about inclusivity, understanding, and appealing to the aspiring traits of any and all individuals because, in the end, a united people was the ultimate goal of and the foundation for a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

All the people.

Somewhere along the way, some have lost sight of many of those founding ideals, which makes 'essential' a few reminders from the 'Schoolhouse Rock' archive to serve as one part salve, one part antidote, and many more parts simply serving as an opportunity to gather together the strands of history -- accompanied by a few catchy lyrics set to music -- in an effort to keep alive the hope that, at our center, we'll continue to find ways to be worthy of our better angels, and not consumed by our worst."


I'd say that was pretty on the money about what to anticipate over what were the following four years. If anything, I maybe undersold it. Unfortunately.

["No More Kings"]
["The Shot Heard 'Round the World"]
["The Preamble"]
["The Great American Melting Pot"]










kosova-font









Surely to be a future Twitter go-to...










kosova-font

**U.S. OPEN "UPSET QUEENS" WINNERS**
2004 Russia
2005 United States
2006 France
2007 Russia
2008 China
2009 United States
2010 Taiwan
2011 Romania
2012 Romania
2013 United States
2014 United States
2015 United States
2016 China
2017 Japan
2018 Sweden
2019 Russia
2020 United States
[2020]
AO: Spain
RG: (September)
WI: CANCELLED
US: United States

**U.S. OPEN "COMEBACK" WINNERS**
2007 Vera Zvonareva, RUS
2008 Anna-Lena Groenefeld, GER
2009 Kim Clijsters, BEL
2010 Francesca Schiavone, ITA
2011 Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond, USA/USA
2012 Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2013 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2014 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2015 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2016 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2017 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2018 Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
2019 Taylor Townsend, USA
2020 Tsvetana Pironkova, BUL
[2020]
AO: CiCi Bellis, USA
RG: (September)
WI: CANCELLED
US: Tsvetana Pironkova, BUL

**U.S. OPEN "ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEW YORK" WINNERS**
2008 Jelena Jankovic, SRB
2009 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2010 Samantha Stosur, AUS
2011 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2012 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2013 Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
2014 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, CRO
2015 Dasha Kasatkina, RUS
2016 Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2017 Madison Keys, USA and Sloane Stephens, USA
2018 Katerina Siniakova, CZE
2019 Donna Vekic, CRO
2020 Varvara Gracheva, RUS
[2020]
AO: Coco Gauff, USA [2nd Rd. - down 3-0 in 3rd vs. Cirstea]
RG: (September)
WI: CANCELLED
US: Varvara Gracheva, RUS [2nd Rd. - down 6-1/5-1, 4 MP vs. Mladenovic]

**RG "Légion de Lenglen" WINNERS**
[formerly "Joie De Vivre" Award, 2011-15]
2011 Virginie Razzano, FRA
2012 Virginie Razzano, FRA
2013 Serena Williams, USA
2014 Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
2015 Francesca Schiavone, ITA
2016 Alize Lim, FRA
2017 Caroline Garcia, FRA
2018 Serena Williams, USA
2019 Court Simonne-Mathieu
2020 US Open Special: Madison Brengle, USA



TOP QUALIFIER: DNP
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): Top Half Nominee: Kerber; Bottom Half Nominee: TBD
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: DNP
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): Nominee: 2nd Rd. - Gracheva def. Mladenovic
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP NIGHT SESSION WOMEN'S MATCH: xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #12 Marketa Vondrousova/CZE (def. Minnen/BEL)
FIRST SEED OUT: #32 Rebecca Peterson/SWE (1st Rd.-lost to Flipkens/BEL)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Bonaventure/BEL, Fernandez/CAN, Gracheva/RUS, Scott/USA, Tig/ROU
UPSET QUEENS: United States
REVELATION LADIES: Belarus (5-0 in 1st Rd.)
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Australia (0-5 1st Rd.; #1 Barty and former U.S. champ Stosur DNP)
CRASH & BURN: #1 Karolina Pliskova/CZE (2nd Rd.-Garcia; tied for second earliest exit by U.S. Open #1 seed)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEW YORK: Varvara Gracheva, RUS (2nd Rd.: down 6-1/5-1, 4 MP at 5-2 vs. Mladenovic)
IT ("TBD"): Nominees: Gracheva, Kostyuk, Li, Swiatek, Anisimova, McNally
Ms.OPPORTUNITY: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: DNP Q
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: in 2r: Bellis(L), Scott(L), Vickery
LAST BANNERETTE STANDING: in 2r: Anisimova(W), Bellis(L), Brady(W), Brengle(W), Kenin(W), Keys(W), Li(W), McNally, Pegula(W), Pera(L), Riske(L), Rogers(W), Scott(L), Stephens(W), Vickery, S.Williams
COMEBACK PLAYER: Tsvetana Pironkova/BUL (first event since '17 Wimb; def. #10 Muguruza in 2nd Rd.)
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Nominees: Kerber, S.Williams, Azarenka
DOUBLES STAR: xx
BIG APPLE BANNERETTE BREAKTHROUGH: Nominees: Brady, Li, Pegula, Rogers, Brengle
BROADWAY-BOUND: Nominee: S.Williams
LADY OF THE EVENING: Nominee: Osaka (2-0 in night sessions)
JUNIOR UNDER 18 BREAKOUT: Katrina Scott/USA (16; slam debut as wild card, 1st Rd. win)
RG "Légion de Lenglen" HONOREE: U.S. OPEN SPECIAL: Madison Brengle/USA (chugs wins after 2nd Rd. victory)





Be Safe. All for Day 4. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 7:08 PM 

3 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Rain messed with the schedule, so 3 matches are incomplete. McNally/Alexandrova 1-1, Vickery 1-0 over Swiatek, and Mertens 1-0 over Sorribes Tormo.

Kenin is on Serena's side of the bracket, so I think Williams-Stephens gets the night match on Saturday. Any of Kenin, Keys, and Anisimova all could get day slot.

Scott didn't close today, but overall, this was a great experience for her.

Sabalenka got destroyed.

Mladenovic won in doubles, so she is still in prison.

Stat of the Day- 35- Number of consecutive years Bulgaria had at least 1 player in the US Open singles draw.

Pavlina Stoyanova Nola. She is the reason the streak continued. A player that only reached a career high of 68, she went 2-16 in her slam career.

Those 2 wins were both at the US Open. The first was in 1998, when she beat Nicole Pratt, then lost to Serena. Then lost in the 2nd rd to another American in 2000-Meghan Shaughnessy. Had she won, she would have faced Venus.

Nola played the Open each year from 1997-2001, helping cover the otherworldly amazing run from the Maleeva sisters, whom with the exception of 1998 & 1999, had at least one in the draw every year from 1982-2005.

Magdalena Maleeva handed off the baton after that year to Pironkova, who extended it from 2006-2016.

Viktoriya Tomova could not keep the streak going, losing in qualifying every year from 2016-19. She finally got in this year as a direct entrant, just as Pironkova comes back.

Doubtful this streak goes as long, but representation matters.



Fri Sep 04, 12:05:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Nicolas said...

Cirstea's and Konta's match quality was absurd.
Also Kerber is hiting some pretty god slices.

Fri Sep 04, 10:03:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

C-

I didn't realize that ESPN *and* ESPN2 were showing matches last night, so Azarenka/Sabalenka (what there was to see, at least) *did* get airtime. Good luck, Vika. ;)

(Sabalenka's slam disappointments are really a *thing* now.)


N-

I didn't get to see any of Cirstea/Konta, but it's nice to see a good slam result from the Romanian.

Fri Sep 04, 12:52:00 PM EDT  

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