Monday, March 22, 2021

Wk.8- Hordettes Hear a(nother) Horde

Is it time to Fear the Kasatkina all over again?




Thing is, the goings-on this past week in Saint Petersburg weren't just a confirmation that now *two*-time 2021 singles champ (the first on tour this season, too, after back-to-back struggling campaigns) Dasha Kasatkina has found her way back to tour "contender" status, but that the same can be said of her Russian countrywomen as a whole.

Though the force of personality that was Maria Sharapova is gone from the tour, after a few relatively lean years (especially when compared to their former standards), the Hordettes have been inching their way back into the women's tennis conversation. While a few of the OH's (The Original Hordettes) are still around, the younger generations -- the twentysomething who entered the scene about a decade after the Russian Tennis Revolution fully took hold back in 2004 (w/ three different slam champions crowned, and a pair of all-Hordette meetings in major finals), as well as a whole new batch of Gen PDQ teenagers -- have started to take on the look of a throng of talented individuals ready to burst through the gates and cause a little havoc in tennis arenas around the globe.

Well, it *all* came to something of a head in Saint Petersburg, Russia over the past week. There, the Golden Age of Russian tennis crisscossed with the rising level of current and future Hordette promise to produce a truly historic set of accomplishments.

In one event, Russians filled seven of the eight quarterfinal spots, a feat not seen on tour since 1993, when U.S. women stacked the deck in an event in Oakland that ended with Martina Navratilova defeating Zina Garrison Jackson in the final. Lindsay Davenport and Lori McNeil were semifinalists, along with quarterfinalist countrywomen Mary Joe Fernandez, Ann Grossmann and Caroline Kuhlman. Only Croatia's Iva Majoli was an "interoper."



In Saint Petersburg, it was a diverse collection of OH's (Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva), members of the follow-up generation coming back from injury or slumps (Kasatkina and Margarita Gasparyan), the current Russian #1 (Ekaterina Alexandrova) and her recent rankings shadow (Veronika Kudermetova), and one of the season's biggest revelations (Anastasia Gasanova) who filled the QF with overflowing Hordettes (and one Romanian, Jaqueline Cristian). The four-strong semis was the first all-nation block since four Bannerettes reached the U.S. Open semis in 2017, and the event concluded with the 30th all-Russian singles final in tour history.

When the dust settled, the Hordettes had pulled off the remarkable feat of having Russians go undefeated against the world in main draw play, with their only defeats coming at the hands of fellow Russians.

While the return of anything resembling the "Golden Age" is unlikely, it does appear that the recent Russian tennis winter is over. The thaw, and the return of the growth the comes along with it, has arrived.



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*WEEK 8 CHAMPIONS*
SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (WTA 500/Hardcourt Indoor)
S: Dasha Kasatkina/RUS def. Margarita Gasparyan/RUS 6-3/2-1 ret.
D: Nadiia Kichenok/Raluca Olaru (UKR/ROU) d. Kaitlyn Christian/Sabrina Santamaria (USA/USA) 2-7/6-3 [10-8]
MONTERREY, MEXICO (WTA 250/Hardcourt Outdoor)
S: Leylah Fernandez/CAN def. Viktorija Golubic/SUI 6-1/6-4
D: Caroline Dolehide/Asia Muhammad (USA/USA) d. Heather Watson/Zheng Saisai (GBR/CHN) 6-2/6-3


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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Dasha Kasatkina/RUS
...after two seasons of wishing and hoping, it can now officially be said aloud with a little conviction. The Kasatkina is back.

Before the 2021 season began, even if you'd suspected that the 23-year old Russian was finally going to rediscover her groove after two years of mostly wandering in the confidence wilderness following her career-best Top 10 campaign in 2018 (apparently, I was undecided, as I just realized that I didn't include Dasha in *any* of my preseason prediction this year, which is a good reminder of just how far off the radar she'd slid), I doubt that *any* of the true believers would have admitted to it being a believable scenario that Kasatkina would turn out to be the new season's very first two-time singles champ. And, yet, that's exactly what she pulled off this past week in Saint Petersburg when she was the Last Russian Standing amidst a virtual horde of Hordettes the likes of which we haven't seen take charge of an evert in quite some time (maybe since the Beijing Olympics in '08, when Russians swept the medal stand).



"I'm proud of how I was able to manage the pressure," Kasatkina said of her emerging as the champion back home in Russia. "I felt differently during this tournament and I'm really proud of that." Her title run made her the first Hordette to win the event (a tour-level tournament since 2016, no Russian had reached the final), and gives her *two* career titles (w/ Moscow '18) in her home nation (as well as a '17 Moscow final, and 1-1 mark in doubles finals in that same Kremlin Cup event).

In typical swashbuckling Kasatkina fashion, nearly every round was a rough-and-tumble battle. She opened things up by ending the 13-match winning streak of Danish teen Clara Tauson, finishing things off in two sets with a love TB after twice having failed to serve out the match. Against Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Kasatkina came back from dropping the 1st set, then won on her second MP in a match-closing TB in the 3rd after she'd not secured her first MP before being pushed into the "extra" contest. The win put Kasatkina into her biggest QF since Beijing in October '19.

In her QF win (from a set down) over Veronika Kudermetova, Kasatkina saved 13 of 15 BP to reach her third career Saint Petersburg SF, where she again rallied after dropping the 1st set, this time against Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the final, Kasatkina's hard work was "rewarded" with an unfortunate 2nd set retirement from fellow Hordette Margarita Gasparyan due to a 1st set back injury.

The title is Kasatkina's fourth on the WTA tour, and second this season after taking home the crown in the add-on Phillip Island event in Melbourne during the second week of the Australian Open last month. 15-4 on the season, Kasatkina will climb to #42 (from #61) this week, within striking distance of reclaiming the mantle as the top ranked Russian (#34 Ekaterina Alexandrova).

It hasn't gotten much play, but in a recent time frame during which new coaching hires, with both good (Muguruza) and bad (Pliskova) immediate results, have been well publicized, Kasatkina's adding of Carlos Martinez early last season seems to have been one of the most effective decisions over the past year-plus from *any* player. Struggling with confidence and form when he arrived, the Russian seems to have reclaimed a large portion of the fighting spirit she had while putting together back-to-back slam QF runs (RG/WI) three seasons ago, as well as reaching the Charleston, Dubai and Indian Wells finals in less than a calendar year in 2017-18.
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RISERS: Viktorija Golubic/SUI and Sara Sorribes Tormo/ESP
...while Golubic remains the third-ranked Swiss player on tour, she's been the most in-form of the bunch. The 28-year old, after entering the '21 season having not reached a tour final since 2016, has now joined Garbine Muguruza and Dasha Kasatkina as the only women to have reached *two* this season. Unlike the other two, though, Golubic has yet to win a title this year.



Reaching the final in her second straight WTA event in '21 (again as a qualifier), Golubic recorded Monterrey MD wins over Anna Blinkova, Lauren Davis, Anna Kalinskaya and Ann Li before finally seeing her run come to an end at the hands of Leylah Fernandez, the second teenager (w/ Clara Tauson in Lyon) to defeat her in a singles final this season.

Still, her week sends Golubic back into the Top 100 (to #81) for the first time since last year's shutdown. She's a combined 25-5 (13-3 WTA, 12-2 ITF) in 2021.

The night before Kasatkina became the first two-time singles title winner of 2021, Sorribes lost out on a chance to join her on Sunday. A week after winning her maiden tour singles crown in Guadalajara, the 24-year old Spaniard was playing for a spot in a *second* consecutive tour final. She'd already posted wins over Lesia Tsurenko and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, but couldn't get past teenager Leylah Fernandez in the semis, falling to the Canadian in straight sets to end her seven-match winning streak.



Still, Sorribes' W/SF Guadalajara/Monterrey two-fer is good enough to earn the unofficial "Queen of Mexico" title for the next year.
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SURPRISES: Jaqueline Cristian/ROU and Anastasia Gasanova/RUS
...while Russians dominated the headlines in Saint Petersburg... there was another.



Romania's Cristian, 22, was the lone non-Hordette woman to reach the singles quarterfinals in Saint Petersburg. After making it through qualifying (def. a Russian there, Alina Charaeva, in the final round), she posted back-to-back MD wins over Vera Lapko and Alona Ostapenko to reach her first career tour-level QF. She led Svetlana Kuznetsova by a set, but was ultimately dispatched in three by the Original Hordette.

A ten-time ITF champ since 2015, Cristian's singles ranking will crack the Top 150 for the first time this coming week as she goes up 19 spots to a career-best #141.



Earlier this season, Gasanova's Abu Dhabi qualifying run and upset of Karolina Pliskova provided the new season one of its first surprise results (less so now, as the Czech has continue to look shaky). Now ranked #241, the 21-year old recorded the (new) biggest week of her career in Saint Petersburg. After qualifying (def. Ana Konjuh), Gasanova put together a run of marathon victories, following up a three-hour win over Katarina Zavatska with another three-hour battle that saw her save three MP against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and advance after winning back-to-back 2nd/3rd set tie-breaks. She fell a round later in her first career WTA QF to Vera Zvonareva, but will break into the Top 200 for the first time this week, rising to #183.
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VETERANS: Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS and Vera Zvonareva/RUS
...while the endgame of Saint Petersburg revolved around the comeback stories of a pair of Russians, and the week's momentum was powered by the growing group of newcomers from the country, the through line of the event (and the recent era of Russian tennis) stretched all the way back to the nation's tennis Revolution of the early 2000's as a pair of thirtysomething Original Hordettes put on semifinal runs that very nearly set up their first meeting on the court in nine years.

A week after reaching the 3rd Round in Dubai for the first time since 2011, Kuznetsova, 35, downed Wang Xinyu in her opening match to reach her first QF in a year (Doha '20), then rallied from a set and a break down against Romanian QF interloper Jaqueline Cristian to reach her 74th career tour-level semi. There, after taking the 1st set, Kuznetsova was worn down by younger countrywoman Dasha Kasatkina in a three-set affair. The loss left Kuznetsova a match short of playing for her first title since the summer of '18 (Washington) and prevented her from reclaiming the honor of being the top-ranked Russian on tour. But she'll still inch up to #35, making her the second-highest ranked Hordette, just 35 points behind Ekaterina Alexandrova, heading into Miami.

Of the now-thirty all-Russian singles finals in tour history, Kuznetsova and Zvonareva have surprisingly never met in one (though they did meet in the junior Orange Bowl final in '01, as Kuznetsova finished off Zvonareva to end a week in which she defeated future pro stars Karolina Sprem, Bethanie Mattek, Jelena Jankovic and Marion Bartoli). Had they both won their Saint Petersburg semis, the long-overdue final would have happened two decades into their respective careers. As it is, their biggest match-up remains in the Eastbourne semis in 2004. The two OH's have faced off twelve times in pro (ITF/WTA) events, with Kuznetsova winning eight times. The first meeting took place over twenty years ago in a $10K challenger in 2000, while they've met just once ('12 Sydney) since 2008.



While Kuznetsova came up just short in the bottom half of the Saint Petersburg draw, the top half saw 36-year old Zvonareva (#145), who'd had to make her way through qualifying, string together MD wins over Anastasia Rodionova, Fiona Ferro (in 3:10) and Anastasia Gasanova for her first QF/SF berth since this same event two years ago. A year after having defeated Margarita Gasparyan 2 & 2 in the first round of Saint Petersburg qualifying, Zvonareva fell 3 & 6 to her countrywoman in the semifinals this time around as the veteran fell one match short of her first WTA singles final appearance since October 2011 (Tokyo).
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COMEBACK: Margarita Gasparyan/RUS
...Gasparyan's perseverance tour had its latest stop in Saint Petersburg this week, with the 26-year old once more flashing the ability (and that one-handed backhand) that in the middle of the last decade had tapped her as arguably THE one to watch when it came to the field of Russians expected to fill in the tour spot (seemingly) about to be vacated by the Original Hordettes.



Gasparyan won her maiden tour title at age 20 in 2015, reaching the 4th Round of the Australian Open and cracking the Top 50 a season later. Then came the injuries, including a devastating knee injury that nearly ended her career. She finally returned after three surgeries, missing sixteen months and going two years without a tour-level MD win. Gasparyan staged a miraculous comeback in 2018, though, winning her second career tour title that season in Tashkent. Since the, she's often sparked, even while battling her body along the way. She had Elina Svitolina, who she'd already beaten once on grass that summer, dead to rights in the 2nd Round of the '19 Wimbledon, coming within two points of victory up 7-5/5-4, only to injure her leg (*that* leg) and end up retiring two games later (she still led 42-15 in winners, and 82-81 in points). Svitolina went on to reach the semifinals.

In Saint Petersburg, the world #126 was given a wild card. After dropping a 1st set TB to Kristina Mladenovic, Gasparyan won 12 of 14 games to end the match and didn't drop another set (8/8) en route to the final, knocking off Katerina Siniakova (reaching her first WTA 500 QF since 2015), top-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova (for her first tour SF since April '19), and fellow wild card Vera Zvonareva (one of those Original Hordettes Gasparyan was *supposed* to replace) to reach the biggest final of her career.

But Gasparyan is still Gasparyan, so it should come as no shock that her run ultimately ended at the hands of Dasha Kasatkina after a back injury forced her retirement down 6-3/2-1 in the final.

Gasparyan will climb 39 spots all the way to #87 this week. While she has ranked higher since her return from injury (as high as #54 in '19), she hasn't *finished* a season any higher than #87 since before the knee, when she was the year-end #62 in 2015.

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FRESH FACES: Leylah Fernandez/CAN and Kamilla Rakhimova/RUS
...after forcing Heather Watson to use *ten* MP opportunities before finally putting away a win in their three-set meeting in the Acapulco final a year ago, it should have come as no surprise that Leylah Fernandez had unfinished business in Mexico.



This year, in Monterrey, 18-year old Fernandez rushed her way (well, not before each of her serves, but every player has their process) through the draw, claiming her maiden tour title without dropping a set. The Canadian posted straight sets wins over CoCo Vandeweghe, Kristina Kucova, Viktoria Kuzmova and Guadalajara champ Sara Sorribes Tormo to reach her second tour-level final. There, she immediately jumped on Swiss vet Viktorija Golubic to the tune of a 5-0 lead in the opening set. She'd go on to win 6-1/6-4 to become the eighth different player in tour history to win a WTA singles title while representing Canada. Only three have won more than a single title, and none more than three.

She'll jump 19 spots in the new rankings, reaching a career-best #69.



Already having picked up her first WTA doubles title last month in the Phillip Island event in Melbourne, 19-year old Rakhimova continued to make her name known in 2021 tennis circles this week with a brief but memorable appearance in the teeming-with-Hordettes event that took in Saint Petersburg.

After posting a MD win over countrywoman wild card Daria Mishina, Rakhimova gave #2 seed Veronika Kudermetova, who'd had a chance to become the top-ranked Russian this week, all she could handle in their 2nd Round match. While the teenager was ranked #150, there was very little separating her from Kudermetova, already a 500 level finalist in Abu Dhabi this season, on the court. Rakhimova took the 2nd set after dropping a tight 7-5 1st, pushing things to a deciding TB in the 3rd. She led the breaker 2-0, extending her late-match point streak to six (as Kudermetova suddenly went error-prone) and ultimately serving two with a 5-4 lead, with the match (and her maiden WTA QF) virtually on her racket. She couldn't carry the match over the finish line, though, as Kudermetova's greater experience finally won out with an eleventh hour surge that saw her take three straight points to escape with the win.
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DOWN: Sloane Stephens/USA and Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS
...yes, it does seem quite rote to put Stephens in this category, as she's been on a severe downturn for so long now that *no* loss should be considered an upset.

Hence, her one-and-out (and in a particuarly unsightly fashion, too) appearance as the #1 seed this week in Monterrey barely registers. Still, it's worth noting that when the draw came out and set up a 1st Round meeting between Stephens (remarkably still #48... "thank you?" pandemic rankings) and lucky loser Kristina Kucova (#151) the thought that the former U.S. Open champ might actually get a win *still* wasn't a prevailing thought. Even when you consider that her 30-year old Slovakian opponent's only other wins this season were in the 1st Round of a $60K challenger in January and in the opening round of qualifying (over Aliona Bolsova) this past weekend, and that Kucova's last Top 100 win came a full year ago in the opening round of Monterrey qualifying (vs. Jasmine Paolini).

As it was, Kucova won handily, 6-2/6-2, and it's hard to call the result a surprise. Stephens is now 0-4 on the season, and has lost five straight back to 2020 (a streak that began, ironically, with a loss to Bolsova in the RG 2nd Rd.). She's 1-8 back to her loss at the U.S. Open last season, and 8-23 starting with the 3rd Round Wimbledon exit in the last SW19 event in 2019.

Her blink-and-you-missed-her appearance in Monterrey was as predictable as GOP legislators trying to eradicate the right to vote of any U.S. citizen (with a special emphasis on *certain* groups) who didn't vote Republican in the last election.

Is it time for Stephens to start to think about doing something other than playing professional tennis? After all, she's looked as if she's had one (or more) feet out the door for a while. At the very least, a long break to determine if she *really* wants to do this would seem to seriously be on the table.

Granted, while her on-court struggles predate 2020-21, Stephens *has* had a great deal of COVID-related tragedy in her family over the past year, so it's safe to assume that her focus has been rightfully elsewhere. But that's just another reason that a sabbatical of some undetermined length isn't a crazy notion. Stephens acknowledged this week that she's come back strong after being out of the sport for over a year, winning her slam title after missing over a year following foot surgery. She seems to think that means she can still "turn it on" at any moment, but maybe the *better* take on that might be that she needs some time away to recharge, recommit and rediscover her desire to win. Just sayin'.



Meanwhile, though Alexandrova has capably filled the role as the most consistent Hordette on tour the last two seasons, finishing '20 as the highest-ranked Russian in the WTA and winning her maiden tour title early last season, she's encountering some stiff competition for the honor in the early months of 2021.

The 26-year old came into Saint Petersburg, where she was the #1 seed, on a three-match losing streak, with back-to-back opening match losses to teenagers (Coco Gauff and Clara Tauson). With her status as the #1 Hordette on tour in jeopardy this week, she notched an opening win over Tereza Martincova, but fell in the QF to Margarita Gasparyan. After leading the tour in indoor match wins since the start of the 2018 Linz event, going a combined 33-8, Alexandrova is now 1-2 under the roof this year.

She managed to hold onto her Top Russian standing, but the race is suddenly very crowded after so many of Alexandrova's countrywomen surged in Saint Petersburg. As it is, heading into Miami, Alexandrova is at #34, with Svetlana Kuznetsova at #35, Veronika Kudermetova #37 and Dasha Kasatkina at #42. The four women are separated by just 190 points on the WTA computer.
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ITF PLAYER: Linda Noskova/CZE
...and they just keep comin'.

In Bratislava, 16-year old Czech Noskova, seen in recent years as a cog (along w/ the Fruhvirtova sisters) in her nation's junior team competitions (where she notched wins over Katrina Scott and Oksana Selekmeteva in '19), claimed her first pro singles title in a $15K challenger. After knocking of the event's #2 seed (Czech Jesika Maleckova) in the 2nd Round, Noskova finished off her maiden title run with a 4-6/7-6(4)/7-5 win (after saving two MP) in the final over #3-seeded Slovak Tereza Smitkova, a former Top 60 player (2015) who put on a Round of 16 run at Wimbledon in '14.

Currently the #16-ranked junior, Noskova reached the QF in last year's Roland Garros girls competition. She'd already put together a back-to-back RU/SF run in a pair of $15K events in Sharm El Sheikh earlier this season, as well as two more semis late last year. Noskova is 12-3 so far in '21.

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JUNIOR STAR: Johanne Christine Svendsen/DEN
...has the virtual top been popped on a virtual "can of Danes?" For in the wake of the ITF and tour-level rise of 18-year old Clara Tauson, this week it was 16-year old Svendsen stepping into the spotlight.



In the Grade 1 Copa Barranquilla event in Colombia, Svendsen (jr. #215) swept the singles and doubles competitions to claim the biggest titles of her junior career. She posted victories over three of the tournament's top four seeds -- #1 Madison Sieg/USA (QF), #4 Solana Sierra/ARG (SF) and #3 Julia Garcia/MEX (F) -- en route to the championship, where she closed out #30 junior Garcia in a love 3rd set . Svendsen took the doubles alongside Croatia' Lucija Ciric Bagaric, defeating top-seeds Garcia/Sierra in the QF before getting a win in the final over Sieg & Brenda Fruhvirtova.
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DOUBLES: Nadiia Kichenok/Raluca Olaru, UKR/ROU
...after reaching the Saint Petersburg final without losing a set, Kichenok and Olaru had to do a little extra work against Bannerettes Kaitlyn Christian & Sabrina Santamaria to go home with the title. But after dropping the opening set, the duo (playing together for the second week in a row, after falling in the 2nd Round in Dubai, and the fourth time ever after a '19 QF in Moscow and 1st Round exit at RG in '15) rallied and won the match via a 10-8 match tie-break.

Kichenok now has five WTA doubles titles to her name, while Olaru picks up her tenth. Christian and Santamaria had both been seeking their maiden tour title in their second WTA final as a pair ('18 Acapulco), while they're an additional 0-4 with other partners in tour-level finals.

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1. Saint Petersburg 2nd Rd. - Anastasia Gasanova def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
...1-6/7-6(8)/7-6(4). Gasanova wins the Battle of the Anastasias to reach her maiden tour QF, saving three MP in the 2nd set before forcing a 3rd set by winning a 10-8 TB. She served at 5-4 in the 3rd, only to see Pavlyuchenkova get the break to force a deciding TB, again won by Gasanova (7-4) to finally end one of the tournament's several three-hour contests.

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2. Saint Petersburg 1st Rd. - Anastasia Gasanova def. Katarina Zavatska 6-2/6-7(6)/7-5
Saint Petersburg 2nd Rd. - Vera Zvonareva def. Fiona Ferro 6-7(6)/7-5/7-6(2)
...played back-to-back on the day's schedule, both matches went over three hours with Hordettes prevailing.

Gasanova trailed 5-2 in the 2nd set, only to force a TB, where she fell behind 5-1. After knotting the TB at 6-6, she saw Zavatska win to force a 3rd. It'd take another twelve games to get the job finished. In fact, it was the longest match in tournament history. Well, until about three hours later...



Next up was Zvonareva, who took even longer (3:10 -- according to the WTA stats -- to 3:04) and more games (38 to 33) before the long day's action was finally complete.
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3. Saint Petersburg 2nd Rd - Veronika Kudermetova d. Kamilla Rakhimova
...7-5/3-6/7-6(5). Another dramatic marathon filled with too many great rallies to count, as 19-year old Rakhimova nearly clipped the #2 seed to reach her first WTA QF. She served two up 5-4 in the deciding tie-break, only to see Kudermetova rise up in the closing moments to snatch the final three points to survive and advance.

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4. Saint Petersburg 1st Rd. - Dasha Kasatkina def. Clara Tauson
...6-4/7-6(0). Tauson's 13-match winning streak comes to an end, but she didn't go quietly. The Dane recovered from being a break down in the 2nd set three times, then saw Kasatkina twice fail to serve out the match despite coming within two points of finishing her off. Ultimately, a TB was needed to do the deed. Kasatkina won it at love, and the rest was history.

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5. Saint Petersburg Final - Dasha Kasatkina def. Margarita Gasparyan
...6-3/2-1 ret. And Kasatkina becomes the fourth Hordette -- w/ Myskina, Chakvetadze and Kuznetsova -- to win a tour singles title in Russia with a victory over a fellow Russian in the final.

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6. Monterrey Final - Leylah Fernandez def. Viktorija Golubic
...6-1/6-4. The season's three youngest champs -- Tauson, Fernandez and Swiatek -- have all defeated Swiss women in the final.

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7. Monterrey Final - Caroline Dolehide/Asia Muhammad def. Heather Watson/Zheng Saisai
...6-2/6-3. After winning match TB's in the QF and SF, Dolehide (1st WTA title) and Muhammad (now 6-0 in tour-level finals) combine to prevent Watson from winning her fourth career WTA title (Mont/Acap WS, Acap WD) in events held in Mexico.

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8. Saint Petersburg - Dasha Kasatkina def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich
...5-7/6-3/7-6(2). The Kasatkina win -- from a set down and after failing to convert a MP before being forced to a deciding TB -- that assured that there'd be seven Russians in the QF, the most by any single nation in a tour-level event since 1993 (Oakland/U.S.).
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9. Monterrey 1st Rd. - Kristina Kucova def. Sloane Stephens
...6-2/6-2. At this point, would another huge comeback run from Stephens in the coming months be an even *more* surprising turn of events than the one she pulled off in 2017 en route to the U.S. Open title?

After all, that surge was "only" after recovering from injury. *This* Stephens hasn't been dealing with any sort of major ailment over the past nearly two years time, but has still only won a one more match (8) since Wimbledon '19 than she won during that two week run in Flushing Meadows.
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10. Saint Petersburg 2nd Rd. - Jaqueline Cristian def. Alona Ostapenko
...6-3/7-6(9). Contrary to popular belief, Saint Petersburg wasn't *only* a great happening for Russians.

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11. Monterrey 1st Rd. - Leylah Fernandez def. CoCo Vandeweghe
...6-3/6-2. Vandeweghe has now lost seven straight MD matches at tour level, and is 1-16 in such outings dating back to Rosmalen in June 2018 (and 5-21 back to Stuttgart in April of that year).
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12. Saint Petersburg QF - Svetlana Kuznetova def. Jaqueline Cristian
...6-7(5)/6-3/6-3. Kuznetsova's win over the only non-Hordette to reach the Saint Petersburg QF assured that no Russians would be harmed -- well, other than at the hands of another Russian -- in the completion of this tennis event.



In all, Hordettes were 20-9 in MD action, including 6-1 in the 1st Round and 7-2 in the 2nd, with all nine losses coming in Russian-vs.-Russian match-ups along the way.
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13. Monterrey 1st Rd. - Anna Kalinskaya def. Nadia Podoroska 6-4/6-4
Monterrey QF - Viktorija Golubic def. Anna Kalinskaya 6-2/6-4
...Podoroska remains in the Top 50, but the Argentine hasn't carried over any sort of momentum from her Yarra Valley QF run and maiden Australian Open MD win to open '21. A #1 seed for the first time in her career at a tour-level event, she fell in the 2nd Round in Guadalajara, then followed that up with a 1st Round exit as the Monterrey #2 seed.

Meanwhile, while Kalinskaya didn't ultimately become the fifth Russian semifinalist of Week 8, she *was* the eighth quarterfinalist.

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14. Monterrey 1st Rd. - Zhu Lin def. Genie Bouchard
..7-5/7-6(3). Once again, Bouchard fails to back up an encouraging comeback run (Guadalajara RU) with anything resembling a consistent follow-up. Of course, this is nothing new. The Canadian has only posted multiple MD wins in back-to-back events in the same season once (Istanbul/RG last September) since her Sydney SF/AO 3r two-fer at the beginning of 2017.season.
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15. Monterrey 1st Rd. - Harriet Dart def. Heather Watson
...6-4/7-6(1). A former Monterrey singles champ (2016), as well as a two-time champ in Acapulco (2020 singles, 2018 doubles), Watson was tripped up by her fellow Brit in the 1st Round.

Picking up where Misaki Doi left off, this was the second week in a row in which Dart has found her way into a tour-level MD as a lucky loser.
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16. Monterrey 1st Rd. - Tamara Zidansek def. Renata Zarazua 7-6(8)/6-3
Saint Petersburg SF - Margarita Gasparyan def. Vera Zvonareva 6-4/7-6(9)
...what a difference a year can make.

Last season in Acapulco, Zarazua became the first Mexican woman to reach a tour singles SF since 1993. This year, she fell in the 2nd Round in Guadalajara, and the 1st in Monterrey.

Meanwhile, Gasparyan and Zvonareva met in the opening round of qualifying at the 2020 Saint Petersburg event. This year, after losing a year ago, Gasparyan flipped the script by *winning* over her veteran countrywoman to reach the biggest final of her career.
===============================================
HM- Santo Domingo DOM J2 Final - Marina Stakusic def. Kayla Cross
...7-5/6-2. 16-year old Stakusic wins the all-Canadian J2 junior final over 15-year old Cross, claiming her biggest career title while not losing a set all week. Unseeded, Stakusic defeated three seeds on her way to the title after having lost a week ago (to Linda Fruhvirtova) in the SF in another J2 event in the same city.

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


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This one's match didn't make the list, but the point deserves the attention...





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1. Saint Petersburg 1st Rd. - Vera Zvonareva def. Arina Rodionova
...6-1/6-3. En route to her semifinal result, Zvonareva took out her former countrywoman Rodionova, a recent victim of an Instagram hack (looks like the years-ago saga of her lost -- and then found -- pet cat is gone forever), in her opening MD match.

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=SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA=



=MONTERREY, MEXICO=





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*2021 WTA FINALS*
3 - Garbine Muguruza, ESP (1-2)
2 - DASHA KASATKINA, RUS (2-0)
2 - VIKTORIJA GOLUBIC, SUI (0-2)

*2021 YOUNGEST WTA SINGLES CHAMPIONS*
18y,2m - Clara Tauson, DEN (Lyon - d. Golubic) *
18y,6m,2w - LEYLAH FERNANDEZ, CAN (Monterrey - d. Golubic) *
19y,9m - Iga Swiatak, POL (Adelaide - d. Bencic)
--
* - first-time title tinner

*2021 YOUNGEST WTA FINALISTS*
[singles]
18 - Clara Tauson, DEN (Lyon-W)
18 - LEYLAH FERNANDEZ, CAN (Monterrey-W)
19 - Iga Swiatek, POL (Adelaide-W)
20 - Ann Li, USA (Melb.Grampians-not played)
[doubles]
19 - Kamilla Rakhimova, RUS (Melb.Phillip Island-W)
19 - Anastasia Potapova, RUS (Melb.Phillip Island-L)
20 - Olga Danilovic, SRB (Lyon-L)

*2021 BIGGEST AGE DIFFERENCE IN WTA FINAL*
10 years - Mertens (25) def. Kanepi (35) - Melb.Gippsland
10 years - Tauson (18) def. Golubic (28) - Lyon
10 years - FERNANDEZ (18) def. GOLUBIC (28) - Monterrey

*2021 QUALIFIERS/WILD CARDS IN WTA FINALS*
Clara Tauson, DEN - Lyon (18, #139, Q) [W]
Viktorija Golubic, SUI - Lyon (28, #129, Q)
Genie Bouchard, CAN - Guadalajara (27, #144, WC)
VIKTORIJA GOLUBIC, SUI - Monterrey (28, #102, Q)
MARGARITA GASPARYAN, RUS - Saint Petersburg (26, #126, WC)

*2021 LOW-RANKED WTA FINALISTS*
#144 - Genie Bouchard, CAN (Guadalajara)
#139 - Clara Tauson, DEN (Lyon-W)
#129 - Viktorija Golubic, SUI (Lyon)
#126 - MARGARITA GASPARYAN, RUS (Saint Petersburg)
#102 - VIKTORIJA GOLUBIC, SUI (Monterrey)

*CAREER WTA TITLES - CANADA*
3 - Bianca Andreescu (2019)
2 - Carling Bassett-Seguso (1983-87)
2 - Helen Kelesi (1986-88)
1 - Genie Bouchard (2014)
1 - LEYLAH FERNANDEZ (2021)
1 - Aleksandra Wozniak (2008)
1 - Jill Hetherington (1988)
1 - Patricia Hy-Boulais (1986)

*WTA TITLES - RUSSIANS, active*
18 - Svetlana Kuznetsova
12 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
12 - Vera Zvonareva
4 - DASHA KASATKINA
3 - Elena Vesnina
2 - Margarita Gasparyan
1 - Ekatrina Alexandrova
1 - Alla Kudryavtseva

*ALL-RUSSIAN WTA FINALS*
[indvidual]
12 - Elena Dementeieva (6-6)
10 - Svetlana Kuznetsova (5-5)
7 - Dinara Safina (3-4)
5 - Maria Sharapova (3-2)
4 - Anastasia Myskina (4-0)
4 - Elena Vesnina (1-3)
2 - Anna Chakvetaeze (2-0)
2 - MARGARITA GASPARYAN (1-1)
2 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (1-1)
2 - Vera Zvonareva (1-1)
2 - Nadia Petrova (0-2)
1-0 = KASATKINA,Kleyblanova,Kudryavtseva
0-1 = Bardina,Bovina,Likhovtseva,Pervak,Potapova
[30 WTA finals]
2003 Doha - Myskina d. Likhovtseva
2004 Doha - Myskina d. Kuznetsova
2004 Roland Garros - Myskina d. Dementieva
2004 US Open - Kuznetsova d. Dementieva
2004 Hasselt - Dementieva d. Bovina
2004 Moscow - Myskina d. Dementieva
2006 Indian Wells - Sharapova d. Dementieva
2006 Miami - Kuznetsova d. Sharapova
2006 Moscow - Chakvetadze d. Petrova
2006 Linz - Sharapova d. Petrova
2007 Hobart - Chakvetadze d. Bardina
2008 Doha - Sharapova d. Zvonareva
2008 Dubai - Dementieva d. Kuznetsova
2008 Berlin - Safina d. Dementieva
2008 Beijing Olympics - Dementieva d. Safina
2008 Tokyo - Safina d. Kuznetsova
2009 Auckland - Dementieva d. Vesnina
2009 Sydney - Dementieva d. Safina
2009 Stuttgart - Kuznetsova d. Safina
2009 Rome - Safina d. Kuznetsova
2009 Roland Garros - Kuznetsova d. Safina
2009 Tokyo - Dementieva d. Sharapova
2010 Kuala Lumpur - Kleybanova d. Dementieva
2010 Istanbul - Pavlyuchenkova d. Vesnina
2010 Tashkent - Kudryavtseva d. Vesnina
2011 Baku - Zvonareva d. Pervak
2015 Moscow - Kuznetsova d. Pavlyuchenkova
2017 Indian Wells - Vesnina d. Kuznetsova
2018 Tashkent - Gasparyan d. Potapova
2021 Saint Petersburg - Kasatkina d. Gasparyan

*RECENT WTA ALL-NATION FINALS*
[2017]
(USA) Australian Open - S.Williams d. V.Williams
(RUS) Indian Wells - Vesnina d. Kuznetsova
(AUS) Strasbourg - Stosur d. Gavrilova
(USA) Stanford - Keys d. Vandeweghe
(USA) US Open - Stephens d. Keys
[2018]
(CHN) Nanchang - Q.Wang d. Sai.Zheng
(RUS) Tashkent - Gasparyan d. Potapova
[2019]
(FRA) Lausanne - Ferro d. Cornet
(JPN) Hiroshima - Hibino d. Doi
[2020]
(USA) Auckland - S.Williams d. Pegula
(BLR) Ostrava - Sabalenka d. Azarenka
[2021]
(RUS) Saint Petersburg - Kasatkina d. Gasparyan
*"QUEEN OF MEXICO" PODIUM - Acapulco/Guadalajara/Monterrey since '15*
[1st place]
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 Heather Watson, GBR (Acapulco W; second to win both Acap/Mont WS)
2021 Sara Sorribes Tormo, ESP (Guad. W & Mont. SF)
[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 Renata Zarazua, MEX (Acapulco SF, first MEX WTA SF since 1993)
2021 Leylah Fernandez, CAN (Mont.W - 1st WTA title; '20 Acap RU)
[3rd place]
2021 D.Krawczyk/G.Olmos (Guad RU: in F of all 3 WTA MEX events 2018-21)

*RECENT WTA NO-MULTIPLE-TITLES STREAKS TO OPEN SEASON*
2015 - 8 events (#9: Simona Halep - Shenzhen/Dubai)
2016 - 10 events (#11: Sloane Stephens - Auckland/Acapulco)
2017 - 8 events (#9: Karolina Pliskova - Brisbane/Doha)
2018 - 8 events (#9: Petra Kvitova - Saint Petersburg/Doha)
2019 - 18 events (#19: Petra Kvitova - Sydney/Stuttgart)
2020 - 11 events (#12: Sofia Kenin - Australian Open/Lyon)
2021 - 11 events (#12: Dasha Kasatkina - Melb.Phillip Island/Saint Petersburg)





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Stay the course.
All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 2:32 AM 

4 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

St. Petersburg is always a little extra. Nice to see that they still brought the dancers and music, even with a limited crowd.

Both runner ups in Golubic and Gasparyan have one handed backhands.

Now that the purge is coming, it seems the tennis world reset itself. Cristian and Fernandez had their best runs right before the shutdown last year.

Amused that Tauson and Fernandez played each other in a junior slam, then got their first title against the same woman within weeks.

Also, your youngest finalist list is 3 junior slam champs and a runner up.

Love the Russian finals list.

Gasanova reminds me of Kenin 3-4 years ago. Not saying that she has that type of upside, but is intense and gives herself a chance.

You threw me off, as Arina lost to Zvonareva.

Stat of the Week- 4- Number of years it had been since 2 women from the same country won a title in the same week.

The amusing thing about this, is that I started looking into this because Czech women Krejcikova and Bouzkova had reached their respective SF, while it was ultimately Muguruza and Sorribes Tormo who did the deed.

That was Sorribes Tormo's first title, and that isn't a shock, because to have this happen, you need two levels of players, plus a country that has more than one.

Where the shutdown in 2020 caused a decrease in double booked weekends, it should not be a surprise that it didn't happen last year. But not in 2018 or 2019? That is a mild surprise, though 2018 was a year in which a country expected to do so(USA) won 1 title the whole season.

So it last happened in 2017.

(CZE)Pliskova- Brisbane/Siniakova- Shenzhen
(RUS)Kasatkina-Charleston/Pavlyuchenkova-Monterrey
(RUS)Sharapova-Tianjin/Pavlyuchenkova-Hong Kong
(GER)Goerges-Moscow/Witthoft-Luxembourg

Just like Sorribes Tormo winning her first, the last 4 times, it has involved a first(Siniakova, Kasatkina, Witthoft) or last(Sharapova, also Witthoft).

Quiz Time!

Sorribes Tormo is the 17th Spaniard to have won a singles title. How many have won titles on grass?

A.1
B.2
C.3
D.8

Interlude- Four legends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9M5iGlqi0A


Answer!

(A)1 is wrong, but amusing to me, because that is the number of title winners that haven't won a title on clay. And that should be easy to figure out, as Sorribes Tormo just did it.

(D)8 is also out, but was used as it is both the number of women with titles only on clay and the number of women who have won on multiple surfaces. Every player with more than 3 titles won on multiple surfaces. Below that, only Suarez Navarro and Arruabarrena have.

(B)2 is wrong, but is the number of slams, since the team of Martinez and Muguruza won Wimbledon. That makes (C)3 correct, as Sanchez Vicario also has one title on grass. No Spaniard has more than 1.

Mon Mar 22, 05:14:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

7.5 On the Up Side- The Purge.

1.Andreescu- The firefly. Without Serena, watch her get a night match and light up. With her R16 retirement last time, she can actually gain points here, if she can beat Osaka.
2.Osaka- The last week for her to be the Big Bad(TM Buffy) before we move to clay. Without an imminent slam, no walkover is expected, so who is taking her out? 9-4 on clay in 2019, and yes, 2 of those by walkover, this is her event to win.
3.Gauff- Still expect a good clay season, but know this- Gauff is the last person to beat Osaka on hard, on court. That alone makes her a threat. Her challenge may be a clash vs Halep.
4.Collins- Health is a concern, but reached the SF in 2018 by beating 5 player with a higher ranking. She's a better player now, so it could happen again.
5.Rybakina- Miami debut for her, as well as Swiatek(2019 Q) and Teichmann, among others. I think her season gets a reset here, because of trying to match last season's start, she gets to start playing events new to her.
6.Li- Due to her 2017 junior Wimbledon RU, she got Q WC to both IW and Miami. 3 years later, she makes her main draw debut here, and only her 8th overall. Her movement is on par with Bouzkova, with less defense, but more offense. Getting one or two wins will keep her going in the right direction.
7.Golubic- 25-5 since the calendar flipped to 2021, she isn't in Q draw here. That's a shame, as she probably could have made it, as the only time she lost in Q this year was for AO.
7.5.Alexandrova- Remember Australia? There were questions about quarantine and hard quarantine. Brady showed the alternate path could be taken. Well, at one point, none of the 32 seeds played last week. Now with Muchova and Williams late pullouts, Alexandrova and Kudermetova are the two that did. How will they measure up? Also note that Russia now has an Olympic fight with 5 women now in the Top 50. Alexandrova-34, Kuznetsova-35, Kudermetova-37, Kasatkina-42, and absent from Miami Pavlyuchenkova-46.

Mon Mar 22, 05:34:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

7.5 On the Down Side.

1.Sabalenka- Actually still a threat here, but surprisingly has only played 3 matches here in singles. Plus with losses to Williams and Muguruza, still looking for that signature win for 2021.
2.S.Williams- Can you hold a party at Serena's house without Serena? 76-10 in her Miami career, she is out due to oral surgery. Known for marching to the beat of her own drum, no clue on when we next see her.
3.Zvonareva- Turned back the clock to 2011. Her movement was excellent, and her always evident fighting spirit was on display. So why is she here? Out of Miami, she will next play on clay. She has to tread water, as she hasn't reached a QF on the surface since 2012 Charleston. An aggressive slider on hard, she is less so on clay, so as long as she can get to grass season healthy, then she can go for her first title since Baku in 2011.
4.Stephens- I do feel bad about her off court situation, as she has lost family to COVID. From a tennis perspective, has there ever been a slam winner with as many sub 100 losses as Stephens? Chris O'Neil didn't get much of a chance to play, so that would be unfair to guess her. On a 1-8 stretch, she has 6 losses to players ranked below 100 since the start of 2020. The good thing is that she does have 3 wins against that group, and plays a qualifier here. Hasn't had a Top 100 win in 18 months.
5.Osuigwe- I'm split on this. Part of me thinks that she didn't deserve a wild card, then realized that she actually qualified for AO. This is a step back, as she got MDWC in both 2018 and 2019. Has one WTA MD win in her career as she beat Osaka. Mari Osaka. Miami did make up for this decision with Q WC for young talents in Eala and Fruhvirtova. Also split on 2nd straight MDWC for Wang Xinyu(I agree) and Wang Xiyu(I don't).
6.Riske- Olympic hopes are on life support. The #5 American, she is on a 1-8 run. Worse, she almost has to go deep here as she has lost her last 7 matches on clay. 2020 isn't a shock, but she didn't win on clay in 2019 either.
7.Kontaveit- The Olympics are in jeopardy. In doubles. There may be no room at the inn for Estonia, as we will only have 32 teams, and Kontaveit at #117, is from the 33rd country ranked. 34th is Luxembourg/Minella at 123, though if she used SR, she may be as high as 103.
7.5.Kenin- I put her, but will use in tandem with Azarenka, as there are serious questions if either are ready. Both have reached slam finals since the restart, and it would be a shame to set themselves back for one event. Time will tell if Miami changes the course of their seasons, both good or bad.

Mon Mar 22, 06:02:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Oh, good catch on yet another Tauson/Fernandez link. ;)

The recent junior slam champs are really hitting early in their pro careers of late, after a couple of years there where the girls winners have had slow starts to their pro careers:

=JR.SLAM WINNERS w/ WTA TITLES=
2014: 2/4 (Kasatkina/Ostapenko, + Bouzkova RU)
2015: 0/4
2016: 0/4 (Potapova RU)
2017: 1/4 (Anisimova)
2018: 2/4 (Gauff/Swiatek)
2019: 2/4 (Tauson/Fernandez)

Geez, I can't believe I accidentally listed Rodionova as Anastasia. That hasn't happened in a while, considering she hasn't played in a couple of years now.

Quiz: well, one was easy (Conchita), but I couldn't immediately think of another clear one in the moment. (YEAH, I KNOW, I LOST MY MIND... I'M SORRY, MUGU.) I went with two because I *thought* ASV had won one at some point, so I *should* have said 3. Obviously, I sort of head-butted the wall, Gus Frerotte-style, on that one. :(

Hmmm, I suspect we'll have to wait another year for the Legends competition to return to Wimbledon. :/

I updated the new Russian rankings in the post. I'll be glad when the rankings are back to normal so there aren't these discrepancies in the live ranking sites during the week. Even the TC announcer had said Kasatkina would be back in the Top 40 with the title.

And Mari Osaka was actually given a MD WC to get that 1st Rd. match vs. Osuigwe in the Miami Open in 2019. *Still* maybe the most wrongheaded WC decision in a tour-level event (let alone a big one like that) in memory.

Mon Mar 22, 03:58:00 PM EDT  

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