Sunday, April 11, 2021

Wk.11- Charleston Crowns a New Hordette Queen

Another week, another Russian champion. Feels a little like old times.






futuristic-fonts


*WEEK 11 CHAMPIONS*
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA USA (WTA 500/Green Clay Outdoor)
S: Veronika Kudermetova/RUS def. Danka Kovinic/MNE 6-4/6-2
D: Nicole Melichar/Demi Schuurs (USA/NED) d. Marie Bouzkova/Lucie Hradecka (CZE/CZE) 6-2/6-4
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (WTA 250/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Maria Camila Osorio Serrano/COL def. Tamara Zidansek/SLO 5-7/6-3/6-4
D: Elixane Lechemia/Ingrid Neel (FRA/USA) d. Mihaela Buzarnescu/Anna-Lena Friedsam (ROU/GER) 6-3/6-4


kosova-font
eggs-font
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Veronika Kudermetova/RUS
...Kudermetova opened the early hard court season with a final run, the first in her WTA career, in Abu Dhabi. Now, as the clay court season began in Charleston, the #15-seeded Russian jumped right into the fray once more with another opening week final appearance. She lost in Week 1 to Aryna Sabalenka, but finally claimed her maiden tour title this time around.

The 23-year old pulled off her career accomplishment without dropping a set, becoming the first winner of the event to do so since Serena Williams in 2012, as she posted straight sets victories over Desirae Krawcyzk (making a rare MD appearance in singles), Emma Navarro, Kurumi Nara, Sloane Stephens, Paula Badosa and then Danka Kovinic in the final.



The title lifts lifts Kudermetova into the Top 30 (#29) for the first time, making her the highest-ranked Hordette on tour (Alexandrova, Kuznetsova, Kasatkina and Pavlyuchenkova all ranked between #34-40). She's also the only player (so far) in '21 to reach finals on multiple surfaces, she took over the WTA season lead in aces from Ash Barty by adding her totals this week, and with 16 victories on the year is behind only Garbine Muguruza (21) in match wins.

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


RISERS: Tamara Zidansek/SLO and Paula Badosa/ESP
...Zidansek, who climbed as high as #56 two years ago, has been hanging around the Top 100 for a while now, finishing the last three seasons there and not dropping outside in the weekly rankings since May 2018. Despite putting up impressive ITF numbers (17 titles in 24 finals), the 23-year old Slovenian has never quite made her mark on the WTA tour even while winning back-to-back 125 titles in Bol in 2018-19 and three doubles crowns. She reached a tour-level final in Nuremberg in '19, but then went 3-8 in WTA MD the rest of that season.

In 2021, after getting big wins over Jennifer Brady and Leylah Fernandez in Abu Dhabi to open her campaign, Zidansek arrived in Bogota having posted MD wins in back-to-back WTA events in Mexico before falling in the qualifying in Miami. In Bogota, she strung together wins over Anna Kalinskaya, Giulia Gatto Monticone, Sara Errani and Viktoriya Tomova to reach her second tour-level singles final. After taking the 1st set against Colombia teen Maria Camila Osorio Serrano, Zidansek fell in three. Still, her second nice tour-level run of the opening months of '21 improves her season record to 9-7, and she'll rise from #93 to #80 in the new rankings.



Badosa isn't the first young star to nearly drown in the wave of anxiety and depression brought on by the pressure of feeling the need to translate a successful junior career (the Spaniard won the Roland Garros girls crown in '15) into a just-as-exceptional one on the pro level, especially when many expect you (perhaps especially when you're the daughter of two models) to also rack up off court endorsements that might make you a household name around the globe.

It didn't happen early for Badosa, but credit to her for managing to avoid being eaten alive by that fact and instead taking the more gradual route to WTA success. Having improved her year-end ranking every season since '16, moving from ITF success to more modest achievements on the tour level (bolstered by last year's Round of 16 at RG), the now 23-year old Spaniard was hit with another unexpected wave of anxiety at the start of '21. After opening her season with two wins (Sevastova and Cornet, then a three-set loss to Kudermetova) in Abu Dhabi, Badosa found herself on a Melbourne-bound plane with a COVID positive passenger. She was sent into an immediate two-week quarantine. Then, after she tested postive herself on Day 7 her two-week quarantine clock was moved back to zero and a 14-day lockdown became *21* days, accompanied by a return of some of her old internal unease. She emerged to lose in the Australian Open 1st Round to qualifier Liudmila Samsonova, though did manage to make it a close contest (7-6/6-7/5-7).

After rebounding with a SF run in Lyon, Badosa went 1-2 in Saint Petersburg and Miami (losses to Ostapenko and Jabeur), but her fine play in Charleston proved to be yet another case of the Spaniard gathering herself after a bit of disappointment and producing something good. After a win over Varvara Gracheva, Badosa notched her first career Top 20 win over Belinda Bencic in three sets (surging in the 3rd after having frustratingly failed to close out the match in the 2nd). An additional win over Caty McNally led directly into her first Top 10 victory, a wasting-no-time upset of world #1 Ash Barty in the QF.

Badosa (like many all week) wasn't able to make much of a dent in Veronika Kudermetova's armor in the semis, but her week's work will lift her from #71 to a career-best #62, as her step-by-step progress up the tour ladder continues.

===============================================
SURPRISES: Harmony Tan/FRA and Viktoriya Tomova/BUL
...23-year old Pastry Tan, already having won her biggest career title at a $60K in January (def. recent WTA quarterfinalist Jaqueline Cristian in the final), qualified in Bogota and advanced all the way to her maiden tour-level semifinal, taking out Mihaela Buzarnescu, Daniela Seguel and Lara Arruabarrena before finally falling to eventual champ Osorio Serrano. She'll jump from #190 to a new career high of #158 this week.



Tomova, 26, posted her first significant result since contracting COVID last year in Palermo. The Bulgarian, 6-9 on the season coming into Bogota and with four consecutive losses (and seven straight WTA MD defeats over the past 13 months), ran off three straight victories over Anna-Lena Friedsam, Wang Yafan and Nuria Parrizas Diaz to reach her first career tour-level semifinal. She lost to Tamara Zidansek, but will jump twenty spots to a new career high of #126.

===============================================
VETERAN: Nuria Parrizas Diaz/ESP
...as recently as a week ago, Parrizas Diaz was "simply" a 29-year old Spaniard who'd been a successful challanger circuit player for a number of years, winning 20 ITF titles since 2013 and finally making her Top 200 breakthrough last season. Coming into the week, she was 16-1 on the ITF level in '21, winning a circuit-leading three $25K crowns. Ranked #171, she made it through Bogota qualifying last weekend to reach her maiden tour-level MD after having failed to do so in her four previous qualifying attempts on tour (though her first didn't come until last season, and three have been at majors). She then proceeded to post wins over Cristina Bucsa and Arantxa Rus to reach her first QF. She played Viktoriya Tomova to three sets before falling to the Bulgarian in the battle to see which would get a maiden WTA semifinal berth.



Parrizas Diaz will jump to another new career high of #159 on Monday.
===============================================


COMEBACKS: Danka Kovinic/MNE and Sloane Stephens/USA
...a former Top 50 player (she was as high as #46 in early '16) and two-time tour finalist (2015-16), Kovinic had a difficult time recovering from the initial downturn she suffered after parting ways with her longtime coach five years ago. She dropped to as low as #182 in 2018 before finding her footing again and beginning her climb back.

The Montenegrin's 9-5 close to her '20 season included QF results in Istanbul and a $100K challenger, as well as two MD wins in Rome and her first MD victory in a major (US) since 2017. The mini-run lifted her season-ending ranking to #77, her best finish since 2015. The 26-year old arrived in Charleston having started a disappointing 2-5 this year, but she suddenly found her form on the clay. Both her career Top 10 wins, as well as one WTA final, had come on red clay, and she'd reached a previous QF on the green variety in Charleston in 2015 (as a qualifier).

What happened next were wins over two previous '21 title winners, Leylah Fernandez and Petra Kvitova, a three-hour tussle with Yulia Putintseva in which she rallied from 7-6/5-4 down to win nine of the last ten games and reach her first SF since 2016, and a straight sets victory over Ons Jabeur put Kovinic in her first (and biggest ever) tour final since Istanbul that same year. She wasn't able to become the first woman from her nation to win a tour singles title, as she fell to 0-3 in WTA title matches with her loss to Veronika Kudermetova, but she'll climb from #91 to #65 on Monday, her best weekly standing in five years.



Meanwhile, in the same Charleston event, former tournament champ Stephens *finally* found a little light at the end of what had become an increasingly dark tunnel. After a 1st Round win over lucky loser Wang Xinyu, Stephens handled defending champ Madison Keys in a match-up of the '17 U.S. Open finalists, recording her first two-win event since last year's U.S. Open, ending a streak of eight consecutive tournaments with one or fewer victories. An even better win over the dangerous Ajla Tomljanovic followed, giving Stephens her first three-match winning streak and QF result since Roland Garros in 2019 (bringing to a close a drought that lasted 25 events). She lost in the QF to eventual champ Veronika Kudermetova, but it did nothing to dampen the thought that maybe... maybe... Stephens' pulling out of her tailspin could possibly have been as "simple" as stringing together a few wins. We'll see.

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


FRESH FACE: Maria Camila Osorio Serrano/COL
...before Kudermetova became the fifth first-time tour champion of '21 on Sunday afternoon, Osorio Serrano had already become the fourth a few hours earlier, and a little bit farther south.

The #180-ranked 19-year old, a former junior #1 and '19 U.S. Open girls champ, was given a MD wild card into her home nation event in Bogota (just her fifth tour-level MD appearance, but third in the tournament) and proceeded to have the week of her career. After a win over Sachia Vickery, Osorio notched her first career Top 100 win over Tereza Martincova, reaching the QF two years after she'd first done so in Bogota (she lost in three sets to eventual champ Amanda Anisimova, two months before the Bannerette reached the RG semis). Osorio followed up by defeating Stefanie Voegele (to reach her first SF), Harmony Tan (her maiden tour final) and then Tamara Zidansek in the championship match, coming back from dropping the opening set (the first she'd lost all week) to win 5-7/6-3/6-4.



Osorio is the third Colombian to win in Bogota, but the first since Mariana Duque Marino in 2010. She'll rise to a career-best #135 on Monday.

===============================================
DOWN: Sofia Kenin/USA and Elena Rybakina/KAZ
...a year ago, Kenin and Rybakina were the talk of the WTA (well, at least their results said they *should* have been) before the shutdown. This year, not so much.

Kenin fell to fellow Bannerette Lauren Davis in the 2nd Round in Charleston after having claimed the opening set. The loss drops her to 7-6 on the season (which has also included a surprise appendectomy) after having started 2020 on a 14-5 run and winning the Australian Open. Kenin was 23-9 overall last season, also reaching a second slam final in Paris.

Rybakina retired in the 1st Round against Caty McNally in the same Volvo Open. The Kazakh is 6-7 on the year, and 3-7 in her last ten matches. She famously was white-hot to start '20, launching her campaign by going 21-4 and reaching four finals before the shutdown. While not quite operating at the same high level in the Restart, Rybakina still played in a fifth final and went 8-6 overall.

===============================================
ITF PLAYER: Julia Grabher/AUT
...the 24-year old Austrian took home her eighth career ITF crown, and the biggest of her career, with a title in the $60K challenger in Bellinzona, SUI. Ranked #226, Grabher upset top-seeded Oceane Dodin in a pair of TB sets in the 2nd Round, then followed up with additional wins over Maryna Zanevska, Mona Barthel and Ekaterine Gorgodze to reach her 20th career final. There, she downed Italian qualifier Lucia Bronzetti 2 & 3 to take the tournament championship.

Grabher is currently the #2-ranked Austrian behind #154 Barbara Haas.

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


DOUBLES: Nicole Melichar/Demi Schuurs, USA/NED
...after pulling out a 10-4 match TB in their opening match against Perez/Vandeweghe, Melichar & Schuurs coasted to their third title as a pair (second in '21, w/ Abu Dhabi) by allowing no more than six total games in any of their three remaining matches, defeating Czechs Marie Bouzkova & Lucie Hradecka in a 6-2/6-4 final.

For Melichar, who now finds herself in good position to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team as she breaks into the doubles Top 10 for the first time, it's career title #10, while Schuurs now has 14.

And in keeping with the old Petko Charleston tradition, it was time to dance...

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




kosova-font
1. Charleston 2nd Rd. - Shelby Rogers def. Amanda Anisimova
...1-6/7-5/6-4. It ain't over 'til it's over.

Rogers' fate seemed sealed in the 2nd set, as she trailed Anisimova 6-1/4-1 before the teenager called for a surprise medical time out. She left the court and returned with a wrap on her thigh (and maybe groin?), and held GP for a 5-1 lead. She didn't convert, and Rogers gradually seized control of the match. The 3rd began with six straight breaks of serve, as the ailing Anisimova became increasingly salty (even sarcastically sneering at fans cheering on fellow South Carolinian Rogers after a good point). Rogers failed to serve out the match at 5-3, but quickly got the break a game later to advance.

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


2. Charleston 1st Rd. - Alexa Guarachi/Desirae Krawczyk def. Vania King/Yaroslava Shvedova
...6-2/7-6(5). And, thus, King's tennis career officially (and belatedly, as this was supposed to occur a year ago before the shutdown prevented it) comes to an end.

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


3. Bogota Final - Maria Camila Osorio Serrano def. Tamara Zidansek
...5-7/6-3/6-4. While Osorio's 1st set loss prevented her from becoming the fourth different teen to win her maiden WTA title in no-sets-lost fashion over the last two seasons (after Swiatek, Tauson and Fernandez), the home favorite's run still made her the third Colombian to take the title (w/ four-time champ Fabiola Zuluaga and Mariana Duque Marino) as well as the youngest WTA singles champ (19y,3m) to ever hail from the nation.

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


4. Bogota 1st Rd. - Giuliana Gatto-Monticone def. Astra Sharma
...4-6/7-5/6-1. The umpire's incorrect scorekeeping robbed Sharma of a break in game #3 of the 3rd set, resulting in an eventual hold by the Italian, who then went on to sweep the remaining four games. Sharma's complaints after the game's end was announced were dismissed by the umpire, who demanded that the Aussie recount each point she won to prove her account correct, while the on-site WTA supervisor apparently sought to blame *her* for not better keeping track of the score during the game (as opposed to, you know, the chair umpire performing what is essentially the *only* clear item in the job description) and calling attention to the error earlier.

Players have been (often wrongly, though the "corrective" measures later get little to no attention) publicly accused and punished (see Anna Tatishvili at RG) for things that bring a match result into question, and that umpire should be dealt with accordingly. It was likely a mistake, but one that just can't be made.

(This sort of thing is why Tennis Channel so linking itself with an online betting site is such a bad look.)

===============================================
5. Charleston 2nd Rd. - Alize Cornet def. Elise Mertens
...7-5/6-3. Sometimes even Ms.Consistency stubs her toe. Cornet's win ended Mertens' run of eleven straight multiple win events, as the Waffle's exit is just her second one-and-done result in her last twenty-six tournaments.
===============================================


6. Charleston QF - Danka Kovinic def. Yulia Putintseva
...6-7(2)/7-5/6-1. Putintseva's season has already been loaded with losses in winnable matches (she lost three times in the 1Q after having held MP), and this defeat by Kovinic comes close to joining that list. The Kazakh led 7-6/5-4 in what turned out to be a three-hour contest that ended with Putintseva losing nine of the last ten games. At least in this one she didn't squander a MP.
===============================================


7. Bogota 1st Rd. - Nuria Parrizas Diaz def. Cristina Bucsa 6-3/6-2
Bogota 2nd Rd. - Nuria Parrizas Diaz def. Arantxa Rus 7-6(4)/2-6/6-1
...in the wake of Sara Sorribes Tormo's multiple runs in North America, as well as Garbine Muguruza's high level of play in the 1Q, Spanish women (perhaps?) took inspiration with some encouraging results of their own a little farther south.

Parrizas Diaz qualified to make her tour debut, notched her first WTA MD win and reached her maiden QF, while...

Bogota Q1 - Lara Arruabarrena def. Carol Zhao 6-0/6-0
Bogota Q1 - Lara Arruabarrena def. Yuliana Monroy 6-0/6-0
Bogota 1st Rd. - Lara Arruabarrena def. Jessica Plazas 6-0/6-1
...Arruabarrena got off to a blazing start, playing the juggernaut role in Colombia through qualifying and early in the MD.
===============================================
8. Bogota 1st Rd. - Sara Errani def. Sara Sorribes Tormo
...7-5/7-5. Sorribes Tormo, though, didn't fare as well in her return to her favorite surface, falling in straight sets to a player whose grinding style she's credited as being one of the inspirations for her own.



Charleston 3rd Rd. - Yulia Putintseva def. Garbine Muguruza 6-0/2-2 ret.
...meanwhile, Muguruza pulled up while holding a commanding lead on Putintseva, retiring with a thigh injury that presents the first real red flag in what has been a (though she's been close to *so much* more) wonderful '21 season for the Spaniard.

===============================================
9. Charleston 1st Rd. - Emma Navarro def. Renata Zarazua
...6-4/6-3. 19-year old University of Virginia freshman Navarro, a Charleston native and the RG girls runner-up two years ago (as well as the RG girls doubles champ that year), records her first career tour-level MD victory.

===============================================
10. Charleston 2nd Rd. - Sloane Stephens def. Madison Keys
...6-4/6-4. The defending champ (Keys '19) and the former champ (Stephens '16) face off for the third time (second in Charleston) since they met to decide the U.S. Open title in 2017. Stephens improved to 4-1 in the series, but that these two are having to meet *this* early in the tournament says a great deal about where both women (both with oft-perplexing careers to date) find themselves on the *current* tour landscape.
===============================================
11. Charleston 2nd Rd. - Ash Barty def. Misaki Doi 6-2/6-1
Charleston 3rd Rd. - Ash Barty def. Shely Rogers 7-6(3)/4-6/6-4
Charleston QF - Paula Badosa def. Ash Barty 6-4/6-3
...Barty's first foray on clay since she won Roland Garros nearly two years wasn't spectacular, but it was good enough, a nice transitional event between her triumph on Miami hard courts and the upcoming EuroClay season on the dirt.

===============================================
12. Charleston 3rd Rd. - Danka Kovinic def. Petra Kvitova
...6-4/6-1. Kvitova's title run in Doha masks what has otherwise been a pretty mediocre (at best) start to '21. The Czech, who dropped out of the Top 10 this past week, has gone a combined 5-5 in her other events this season. On the bright side, Kvitova will return to #10 on Monday.

===============================================
13. Charleston 2nd Rd. - Lauren Davis def. Sofia Kenin
...4-6/6-3/6-4. Davis' fifth career Top 10 win matches the biggest of her career, as her victory over #4 Kenin joins her upset of then-#4 Victoria Azarenka at Indian Wells in '14.



Davis lost a round later to Coco Gauff, but narrowly avoided something worse...

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


14. Bogota Final - Elixane Lechemia/Ingrid Neel def. Mihaela Buzarnescu/Anna-Lena Friedsam
...6-3/6-4. In the first tour final for both (in just their second pairing, along with Istanbul last September), Lechemia and Neel grab their maiden titles with a straight sets victory on the clay. The duo had won a 13-11 MTB in the QF over Kania/Wachaczyk, then advanced past Bolsova/Sharma (the Aussie won the Bogota title with Zoe Hives in the last edition of the event in '19) in the SF.

===============================================
15. $25K Cordoba ARG Final - Beatriz Haddad Maia def. Panna Udvardy
...6-2/6-2. Haddad claims her second straight ITF crown, improving to 22-4 on the season and 49-6 since her return from suspension last season.
===============================================
16. $15K Sharm El Sheikh EGY Final - Lee Ya-hsuan def. Olivia Gadecki 6-3/6-3
$15K Sharm El Sheikh EGY Final - Alicia Barnett/Lina Glushko def. Elena-Teodora Cadar/Olivia Gadecki 6-4/6-2
...18-year old Aussie Gadecki made a splash back in February with her tour debut in Gippsland, which featured a win over #4 Sofia Kenin. This week, she reached her first two pro finals, though she ended up on the wrong end of both.
===============================================
17. $15K Shymkent KAZ Final - Jessie Aney def. Evialina Laskevich
...6-4/6-2. A two-sport athlete who played college tennis for four years at North Carolina, then college hockey as a grad student at UConn, 22-year old Aney picks up her first career title.

===============================================
18. $15K Antalya TUR Final - Andreea Rosca def. Miriam Kolodziejova 7-5/6-3
$15K Antalya TUR Final - Lee So-ra/Misaki Matsuda def. Lucie Havlickova/Miriam Kolodziejova 6-2
...meanwhile, in the what's-she-doing-now? category, Czech Kolodziejova reached (but lost) a pair of ITF finals in Antalya. Kolodziejova, now 23, won a pair of junior doubles slam crowns (AO/RG) back in 2015 playing alongside Marketa Vondrousova.

Despite her inability to add to her total here, Kolodziejova has claimed six ITF singles crowns and eight in doubles (the first three w/ Vondrousova) in her career.
===============================================



kosova-font
1. Charleston Final - Veronika Kudermetova def. Danka Kovinic
...6-4/6-2. Kudermetova's first title, a tour-best third claimed by a Hordette in 2021, continues to push Russia back to the top of the nations list this season after many down years. Russia's five finals also tops the tour charts.

The nation led the WTA outright in seasonal final appearances every year from 2006-12, but has only tied for the top spot (2017) once since. The high water mark came in the late 2000's, right in the heart of the Revolution, as Russians filled 38 finalist spots in '08 (winning 18 titles), and won a high of nineteen crowns in '06. That was the same year that a Russian -- Nadia Petrova -- first claimed the Charleston crown.

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






This coming week, the 2020-21 Fed Cup Billie Jean King Cup begins to pick up the loose ends of last year's postponed, new-format event. In eight match-ups, the qualifying round losers face off with the zone winners (both groups were determined in February of '20), with the winners moving into the '22 Qualifying Round and the losers returning to zone play. The 12-team event final, originally set to take place this spring, is now supposed to played later this year in Budapest.







=CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA=



=BOGOTA, COLOMBIA=







futuristic-fonts


kosova-font






















mf-xinghei-font


kosova-font

*2021 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
Lyon - Clara Tauson, DEN (18/#139) d. Golubic
Guadalajara - Sara Sorribes Tormo, ESP (24/#71) d. Bouchard
Monterrey - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (18/#88) d. Golubic
Bogota - MARIA CAMILA OSORIO SERRANO, COL (19/#180) d. Zidansek
Charleston - VERONIKA KUDERMETOVA, RUS (23/#38) d. Kovinic

*2021 WTA FINALS*
3 - Garbina Muguruza, ESP (1-2)
2 - Ash Barty, AUS (2-0)
2 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (2-0)
2 - VERONIKA KUDERMETOVA, RUS (1-1)
2 - Viktorija Golubic, SUI (0-2)

*2021 YOUNGEST WTA FINALISTS*
18 - Clara Tauson, DEN (Lyon-W)
18 - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (Monterrey-W)
19 - MARIA CAMILA OSORIO SERRANO, COL (Bogota-W)
19 - Iga Swiatek, POL (Adelaide-W)
20 - Ann Li, USA (Melb.Grampians-not played)
20 - Bianca Andreescu, CAN (MIAMI-L)

*2021 WTA TITLE RUNS w/o DROPPING SET*
Adalaide - Iga Swiatek, POL
Lyon - Clara Tauson, DEN (Q+MD)
Monterrey - Leylah Fernandez, CAN
Charleston - VERONIKA KUDERMETOVA, RUS

*2021 WC/Q IN WTA FINAL*
Clara Tauson, DEN (Q) - Lyon (W)
Viktoriya Golubic, SUI (Q) - Lyon
Genie Bouchard, CAN (WC) - Guadalajara
Viktorija Golubic, SUI (Q) - Monterrey
Margarita Gasparyan, RUS (WC) - Saint Petersburg
MARIA CAMILA OSORIO SERRANO, COL (WC) - Bogota (W)

*2021 LOW-RANKED FINALISTS*
#180 - MARIA CAMILA OSORIO SERRANO, COL (Bogota)[W]
#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)

*LOW-RANKED WTA CHAMPIONS - last 10 seasons, 2012-21*
#299 - Margarita Gasparyan, RUS - 2018 Tashkent
#233 - Marketa Vondrousova, CZE - 2017 Biel
#208 - Melanie Oudin, USA - 2012 Birmingham
#187 - Olga Danilovic, SRB - 2018 Moscow RC
#182 - Peng Shuai, CHN - 2016 Tianjin
#180 - MARIA CAMILA OSORIO SERRANO, COL - 2021 Bogota
#174 - Lara Arruabarrena, ESP - 2012 Bogota

*2021 FIRST-TIME WTA SEMIFINALISTS*
Abu Dhabi - Marta Kostyuk, UKR
Melb.Grampians - Ann Li, USA (DNP F)
Lyon - Clara Tauson, DEN (W)
Guadalajara - Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA
Bogota - MARIA CAMILA OSORIO SERRANO, COL (W)
Bogota - HARMONY TAN, FRA
Bogota - VIKTORIYA TOMOVA, BUL

*2019-21 WINS OVER #1*
3 - Belinda Bencic, SUI
3 - Sofia Kenin, USA
2 - Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
1 - PAULA BADOSA, ESP
1 - Ash Barty, AUS
1 - Kiki Bertens, NED
1 - Jennifer Brady, USA
1 - Danielle Collins, USA
1 - Hsieh Su-wei, TPE
1 - Petra Kvitova, CZE
1 - Karolina Muchova, CZE
1 - Naomi Osaka, JPN
1 - Yulia Putintseva, KAZ
1 - Alison Riske, USA
1 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
1 - Katerina Siniakova, CZE
1 - Serena Williams, USA
[wins-by-nation, 2019-21]
7 - USA
3 - CZE,SUI
2 - FRA
1 - AUS,BLR,ESP,JPN,KAZ,NED,TPE

*#50+ def. #1 - since 2005*
#226...2009 Beijing 2nd - Zhang Shuai d. Safina
#188...2008 US Open 2nd - Coin d. Ivanovic
#133...2005 Ind.Wells F - Clijsters d. Davenport
#133...2008 Wimbledon 3rd - Zheng Jie d. Ivanovic
#132...2009 Tokyo 2rd - Chang Kai-chen d. Safina
#116...2018 Beijing 1st - Jabeur d. Halep
#95...2009 Marbella 1st - Zakopalova d. S.Williams
#94...2008 Montreal 3rd - Paszek d. Ivanovic
#78...2014 Charleston 2nd - Cepelova d. S.Williams
#76...2011 Cincinnati 2nd - McHale d. Wozniacki
#73...2011 Bastad 2nd - Arvidsson d. Wozniacki
#71...2021 Charleston QF - Badosa d. Barty
#68...2017 Rome 2nd - Kontaveit d. Kerber
#67...2019 Dubai 2nd - Mladenovic d. Osaka
#61...2021 Australian Open QF - Pegula d. Barty
#55...2019 Wimbledon 4th Rd. - Riske d. Barty
#53...2020 Brisbane 2nd Rd. - Brady d. Barty
#52...2009 US Open 3rd - Kvitova d. Safina

*2021 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
3...Aoyama/Shibahara, JPN/JPN (3-0)
3...Carter/Stefani, USA/BRA (0-3)
2...MELICHAR/SCHUURS, USA/NED (2-0)
2...Krejcikova/Siniakova, CZE/CZE (1-1)
[individuals - 2020-21]
6 - 4/2 (4-2) = NICOLE MELICHAR, USA
6 - 3/3 (1-5) = Luisa Stefani, BRA
5 - 5/x (4-1) = Hsieh Su-wei, TPE
5 - 5/x (4-1) = Barbora Strycova, CZE
5 - 3/2 (3-2) = Desirae Krawczyk, USA
5 - 2/3 (1-4) = Hayley Carter, USA
4 - 1/3 (4-0) = Shuko Aoyama, JPN
4 - 2/2 (4-0) = DEMI SCHUURS, NED
4 - 1/3 (4-0) = Ena Shibahara, JPN
4 - 2/2 (3-1) = Alexa Guarachi, CHI
4 - 3/1 (1-3) = Xu Yifan, CHN
4 - 2/2 (2-2) = Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
4 - 2/2 (2-2) = Katerina Siniakova, CZE

*2020-21 FIRST-TIME WTA DOUBLES CHAMPS*
[2020]
Arina Rodionova, AUS (Hua Hin)
Taylor Townsend, USA (Auckland)
[2021]
Caroline Dolehide, USA (Monterrey)
ELIXANE LECHEMIA, FRA (Bogota)
INGRID NEEL, USA (Bogota)
Ankita Raina, IND (Phillip Island)
Kamilla Rakhimova, RUS (Phillip Island)

*OLDEST 2021 WTA FINALISTS - s/d*
36 - Samantha Stosur, AUS (AO mixed- L)
36 - Darija Jurak, CRO (Dubai doubles- W)
35 - Kaia Kanepi, EST (Gippsland singles- L)
35 - LUCIE HRADECKA, CZE (Charleston doubles- L)

*2021 REACHED FINAL IN HOME NATION*
Melb.Yarra Valley - Ash Barty, AUS (W)
Saint Petersburg - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (W)
Saint Petersburg - Margarita Gasparyan, RUS
Bogota - MARIA CAMILA OSORIO SERRANO, COL (W)
[doubles]
AO Mixed - Samantha Stosur, AUS
Guadalajara - Giuliana Olmos, MEX
Miami - Hayley Carter, USA
Charleston - NICOLE MELICHAR, USA (W)

*WTA TITLES - RUSSIANS (active)*
18 - Svetlana Kuznetsova
12 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
12 - Vera Zvonareva
4 - Dasha Kasatkina
3 - Elena Vesnina
2 - Margarita Gasparyan
1 - Ekaterina Alexandrova
1 - VERONIKA KUDERMETOVA
1 - Alla Kudryavtseva





futuristic-fonts


kosova-font


kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font





kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font





Just hold on a little while longer.
All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 10:43 PM 

5 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Don't follow college hockey, but impressed with Amey.

I see that, and bring you Katarina Adamovic.
https://okstate.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/katarina-adamovic/5275

Is Daria Snigur on the clock? She's now the only 2019 junior without a WTA title. The Brengle type has never been in a WTA main draw.

Swing For a Cause- Kudermetova hit the bullseye by hitting the building first, then having it skitter upwards. Her smile was almost as big as when she won the trophy.

Kovinic has now taken a set off Kvitova all the times they have played.

Rybakina- The McNally pic is a thing. Zheng Saisai was standing the same way against her, and had some success.

Osorio Serrano is another one of the women that lost in AO Q that have bettered their season.

Is Rogers the pick for this week? Charleston draw is bottom heavy, with all Q in top.

No LL in as of this second, though Linette is the only player in singles or doubles slated to play BJK Cup later this week.

That is Fri-Sat.

Halep's shoulder caused her to pull out.

You know how Ann Coulter could actually be right, but the way she speaks sometimes obscures the message? The FFT is moving RG back a week. I actually like the move, but the fact that they released the news before the joint statements seems shady.

Also makes we wonder what will happen to the British grass season. In order, it is Nottingham, Birmingham, Eastbourne. One thing they do differently, is that they have the same main sponsor for all 3 events, Nature Valley the last time. I don't know if that affects whether Nottingham gets played.

Stat of the Week- 117- Career high rank for Silvana Urroz of Chile.

Montenegro. Colombia. Russia. So many stories this week. So why did I choose Chile?

Well, Daniela Seguel made the main draw of Bogota. Shen she did so in 2018, then won a match, it was the first time in 38 years that someone from Chile had done so.

That woman was Urroz.

How did a woman from Chile make it on tour? Makes sense, when you realize she played college tennis at Lamar. From there, she won a match at the French Open in 1977, reached 117 in singles in 1978, then reached a doubles final in Hong Kong in 1980.

Her career was mostly over by 1982, but is up there as one of the most successful Chilean players in history.

Quiz Time!

Who has the most total wins in Kazakhstan's BJK Cup history?

A.Yaroslava Shvedova
B.Yulia Putintseva
C.Galina Voskoboeva
D.Alissa Velts

Interlude- Conchita Martinez HOF.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1iq0fyFdXE


Answer!

I felt obligated to have something about BJK Cup this week. Preview goes up Thursday.

(D)Velts seems like the obvious no. You would be correct, but isn't the lowest on this list. One of the 90's players, she went 17-19 during her time. Barely playing on tour, her high rank was 913, culminating in Tashkent Q.

That was in 2000, and there are actually 2 players in qualifying that are still active. Amanmuradova and Lepchenko.

(A)Shvedova is wrong, because I said total. She is tied with Diyas for most singles wins with 14, and has 24 overall.

(B)Putintseva is wrong, which isn't surprising. What is, may be the fact that Velts has more wins, 17 to 16. Part of that can be chalked up to it taking time for the Russian born Putintseva to gain eligibility, but that is true of everybody on this list.

Speaking of that, Russian born Rybakina is now eligible.

That leaves the most accomplished Kazakh ever in (C)Voskoboeva. Also an Olympian, Galina has the most doubles wins with 20, going 28-14 overall.

Mon Apr 12, 08:54:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Snigur *is* 5-1 in ITF finals (w/ the loss a $100K in Dec.'19), has a title this year, and has broken the Top 200. So there's positive movement, at least.

When players do something like that while receiving Rybakina's (or others') serve, part of me wonders why they don't just throw in a serve that buzzes the top of their opponent's head. Then we'd see if they'd be brave enough to do it again the next time. McNally might move closer. ;)

FFT: especially after all the heat they got last year when they announced the "new date" for the '20 RG without telling the other organizations. :/

(By the way, I added the link to a story about all that to the post and sidebar.)

Quiz: my first inclination was Voskoboeva when I saw the list, but then I stupidly picked Shvedova. :((

Conchita vid: I *think* I've said this before, but something like that could be the heart of a tour marketing campaign. I mean, it's no bland, forgettable hashtag that's easy to denigrate, but, you know...

Mon Apr 12, 11:03:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

Linda got the Cornet Experience last night. Was excited for this match because Cornet had already played Brenda F. in that UTS match last year, and didn't look out of place.

Cornet, along with Venus and Andreescu, walks that fine line of never giving up, even to putting themselves in peril.

Even with Fruhvirtova's serve going away in the tiebreak, it is much improved. She used to serve from the far edges of the baseline to get angles, now it is more traditional.

Wed Apr 14, 10:02:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

She was so earnest in the press conference--not very 15-year-old-like at all. And she seemed in awe of Alize. Poor Alize--she starts playing up to her potential (which she does now and then) and gets injured.

Wed Apr 14, 10:34:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Hoergren said...

Sometimes stats can be interesting like this

A little comparison of Clara and today's opponent ... there are many similarities
Clara: 18 years old (born December 21) Serrano: 19 years old (born December 22)
Clara: Won her first WTA in Lyon in March Serrano: Won his first WTA in Bogota in April
Clara in 2021: 23 wins, 5 defeats Serrano in 2021: 16 wins, 5 defeats
Clara ranking January 1: 152 Serrano ranking January 1: 186
Clara ranking now: 101 (+51 places) Serrano ranking now: 135 (+51 places)
Clara against top 100 i 2021: 4-1 Serrano against the top 100 in 2021: 4-1

Fri Apr 16, 02:37:00 AM EDT  

Post a Comment

<< Home