Sunday, May 30, 2021

RG.1- It was the Best of Times, It was the Worst of Times...

While "the future" has taken center stage with a slew of first-time singles champions and teenage achievers through the opening months of this 2021 WTA season, let's not forget about the veterans who have done the heavy lifting on tour for the *past* decade.

On Day 1 in Paris, two former multi-slam champions took their turns in the spotlight, ultimately emerging on opposite ends of the spectrum.



As it turned out, we got a potentially extra-early "Zombie Queen of Paris" sighting on Court Suzanne Lenglen today, as #11 Petra Kvitova faced off with qualifier Greet Minnen. Naturally, P3tra showed up, too.

After Kvitova, a '20 RG semifinalist, broke the Belgian when she served for the 1st set to knot the score at 5-5, Minnen won a 7-3 tie-break to take the match lead. The 2nd set began with eight straight service holds before Kvitova broke to go up 5-4. But Minnen, seeking her first career MD victory in Paris, got the break back and held for 6-5. A game later, Kvitova was forced to save a MP before forcing a tie-break. Tight until the very end, the Czech broke the 5-5 tie and took the final two points to win the breaker and send things to a deciding 3rd. Having faced down the end of her '21 Roland Garros, Kvitova shifted into a new gear and won the set at 6-1 to avoid her first one-and-done Paris appearance since 2010.

Kvitova had 11 double-faults on the day, but her 43 winners (vs. 44 UE) kept her in the match and, eventually, helped her win it.



#26 Angelique Kerber's season has had the feel of an afterthought. The former #1 arrived in Paris just 8-8 on the year, with just one QF result (Grampians), and having gone just 2-5 vs. the Top 25 (and one win was Simona Halep's retirement in Rome while leading 6-1/3-3). Today against qualifier Anhelina Kalinina she barely had a chance.

Kalinina raced to 5-0 leads in both the 1st and 2nd sets of the 1st Round match, the Ukrainian's first MD appearance at RG. While the 23-year old came in on a 13-match winning streak (back-to-back challenger titles and 3-0 qualifying run) and sporting a 16-1 mark on the season, it was hard to envision such an occurrence actually happening considering the vast experience gap on such a big stage.

That difference *did* ultimately play a part in the final scoreline, though, as Kerber rallied late in both sets, dropping the 1st "only" 6-2 and then pushing Kalinina to the brink of a 3rd a set later. Kalinina was broken twice while serving for the match in the 2nd. Trying for a third time at 5-4, she took a 30/love lead only to see the German get the game to deuce. Kalinina failed to put away her first MP, but a second was all she'd need to finish off Kerber by a 6-2/6-4 score, making her the First Seed Out at this RG.

In fact, this is the second time in three years that Kerber has earned that (dis)honor, as well as the second time she's been FSO at a major this year (AO vs. Pera). Her current ten-major run of failing to reach a QF is the longest in her career since it took her fifteen slam MD (2007-11) to post such a result for the first time ('11 U.S. SF).



Kvitova and Kerber had been set to possibly face off in the Round of 16 of this RG, just weeks after they'd met in the 2nd Round in Madrid (Petra 6-4/7-5 in meeting #14, but first in over two years).

#15 will have to wait. But, as for Kvitova, whatever happens next is just dessert.



Or, you know, additional turns on the dirty dance floor. It's just a matter of how many it'll be.




=DAY 1 NOTES=
...at every slam, the "race" to be first player to advance to the 2nd Round is always an interesting sideshow on Day 1. Sometimes it's an open-and-shut situation with a particular player blitzing her opponent off the court so quickly that there was never a question who'd finish first. Then there are days like today.

Early on, as Kalinina and #33 Paula Badosa (vs. Lauren Davis) took set and a break leads in the middle of the 2nd set, it seemed to be a two-woman race. But Romanian Ana Bogdan was lurking, taking a set and 4-3 lead against lucky loser Elisabetta Cocciaretto. As it turned out, Kalinina took the aforementioned "scenic route" while Badosa got a great deal of push back from the plucky Bannerette, who'd push things to a tie-break after the Spaniard had broken to lead 5-4. While Kalinina was sitting in the changeover area up 5-0, Bogdan served out a 6-1/6-3 win to record the First Victory honors. So Cocciaretto was not only the first to exit the MD, but she lost *twice* at this year's RG.

Sometimes the Tennis Gods are no-good-dirty-rotten trouble makers.

After Kalinina had finally put Kerber away, #2 Naomi Osaka edged toward victory in an it-didn't-seem-to-have-to-be-quite-that-tight match. Perhaps since she won't be taking time to go to any press conferences, Osaka is going to use her "extra" time to get more clay experience in her matches. Up 5-2 and with two SP in the 1st on Patricia Maria Tig's serve, Osaka was forced to try to serve out the set. She was instead broken, missing on a sitter at the net with a long forehand to drop the game and go back on serve at 5-4. She then broke the Romanian at love to take a set lead.

Before Osaka finally took the 1st, Badosa had put away Davis in a 7-3 tie-break to win in straight sets to become the second woman through to the next round.



Osaka had to battle a bit in the 2nd set, as well, as things were knotted at 5-5, and went to a TB after Osaka didn't put away a MP at 6-5. She won the breaker 7-4 to advance to the 2nd Round (she's yet to reach the Round of 16 in Paris, but has reached the 3rd in three of four years before skipping the '20 event entirely) with her 15th straight win in slam play, and actually managed to do a brief on-court interview with Fabrice Santoro. Hopefully he didn't cause her to question anything she did in a close match against a player ranked 61 spots below her in the WTA rankings, or else he or someone else will be out of luck when it comes to a similar privilege should she win her upcoming contest against Bogdan.



...2020 RG quarterfinalist Danielle Collins took to the court for the first time since Miami after having been diagnosed with endometriosis and undergone surgery to remove a tennis ball-sized cyst from her uterus. Collins, who was also diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis two years ago, had been dealing with an unknown ailment for a few years and now seems to be on the road to recovery. She had to go through a good deal of rehab just to be healthy enough to make it to Paris, as doctors had to tear through her abdominal muscles to get to the cyst, but she made good on all her work on Day 1 by eliminating qualifier Wang Xiyu in three sets, 6-2/4-6/6-4.



...elsewhere, Danka Kovinic defeated wild card Pastry Clara Burel to get her first MD win in Paris since 2015.

In her first slam MD in three years, Elena Vesnina (playing with a protected ranking after returning from having a baby) recorded her first singles win of any kind since defeating Laura Siegemund in the Rome 1st Round in 2018 (and her first at a major since the AO that year), defeating lucky loser Olga Govortsova. The Russian didn't come close to putting up a Golden Set, but she handled the Belarusian vet 6-1/6-0, outhitting her by huge margins in winners (32-6) while facing just one BP all match.



...#3 Aryna Sabalenka enters this RG with a lot of pressure on her shoulders, having recently joined the short list (Smashnova, Medina-Garrigues) of players with double-digit tour titles but zero slam QF results in her career. While those two former players reached the Top 20 (#15 and #16, respectively), the Belarusian has climbed as high as #4, so every major without a deep second week run will only build upon itself.

Maybe she should skip the press conference so she doesn't have to think about it all. Hmmm.

Sabalenka handled a potentially dangerous opponent in the 1st Round, taking out qualifier Ana Konjuh (in her first slam MD in three years) 6-4/6-3 after trailing 4-2 in the 1st, improving to 12-2 this clay season (in which she's won Madrid and reached the Stuttgart final), 26-7 on the year and 35-7 since her career-best RG run to the 3rd Round last fall.



...last year, Clara Tauson celebrated her slam debut in Paris by taking out seeded Jennifer Brady in the 1st Round in one of the most thrilling major introductions in recent memory. Today the Dane had less of a spotlight moment, facing qualifier Ekaterine Gorgodze in her slam MD debut, but she handled her business and notched her *second* career slam win with a 6-4/6-2 victory.

Two years ago, Amanda Anisimova joined fellow teen Marketa Vondrousova as first-time slam semifinalists in Paris. She led eventual champ Ash Barty by a set and 3-0 (after winning the 1st after trailing 5-0, 15/40), only to fall in three. Ansimiova only lasted two today, as Charleston champ Veronika Kudermetova (#29) knocked out the (still a) teenager 7-6(5)/6-1, winning 83% of her first serve points.

2019 RG girls champ Leylah Fernandez, who reached the 3rd Round last year in Paris, didn't put up many good numbers this clay season following her title run in Monterrey, but she dominated Anastasia Potapova in a 6-2/6-1 win on Sunday.

...one never knew what to expect when #15 Victoria Azarenka met unseeded Svetlana Kuznetsova today, so it likely comes as no surprise that the vets went three sets with the two trading off on holding an advantage on the other. After Azarenka claimed the opening set, Kuznetsova dominated the 2nd, jumping to a 3-0 lead en route to a 6-2 win. In the 3rd, it was Vika who led 3-0 and carried her momentum to a 6-4/2-6/6-3 win.

The win levels Azarenka's RG record at 5-5 since her career-best SF run in 2013.



Kuznetsova is another story. A winner in 2009, finalist in 2006, semifinalist in 2008, and four-time quarterfinalist with five more Round of 16 runs (all 12 results were packed into a 14-year stretch from 2004-17), the Russian has now exited Paris in the 1st Round four straight times, and in eight of her last ten slam MD appearances.

She made her slam MD debut in 2002 in Melbourne. Reigning RG champ Iga Swiatek was eight months old.

...with losses on Sunday by Clara Burel, Elsa Jacquemot and Diane Parry, the Pastries are still seeking their first MD win at this RG. Wild card Oceane Dodin is set to play the final match on Court Matheiu against #23 Madison Keys.

...meanwhile, in the conclusion of some of the week's ITF challenger events...

20-year old Latvian Daniela Vismane picked up her third career title at the $25K on home soil in Liepaja, defeating Norway's Malene Helgo 6-4/6-4 in the final.



In Shymkent, Kazakhstan, Zhibek Zulambayeva swept the singles and doubles titles in her home nation in the $15K event. She defeated Belarus teen Kristina Dmitruk 7-5/6-0 in the final, and teamed with Pole Martyna Kubka to win the doubles. It's the 21-year old's second career title.

In Santa Margarida de Montbui, Spain, Lithuania's Justina Mikulskyte, 21, did the same, improving to 3-1 in her career in pro singles finals and 10-3 in doubles.







...NEWS ON DAY 1:

Caty McNally's injury in qualifying *did* prove to change the doubles field...




...but it also created an even bigger fan draw in the competition.

...LIKE ON DAY 1:

The Roland Garros social media team, unlike last fall, seems to have at least showed up this year.




...FINALLY A REASON TO SECRETLY ROOT FOR A SECOND WEEK RUN ON DAY 1:

Just to witness the resulting chaos, hypocrisy, sniveling sycophancy and all-around good times...




...LIKE ON DAY 1:

Hey, "Night Court" was trending today. Probably the most underrated part of NBC's "Must See TV" Thursday lineup (and wherever else it migrated to) back in the day.




...NOTE ON DAY 1:

Hmmm, a reigning slam champ swallows hard and takes his prescribed medicine after a hugely disappointing result in a big event. But wouldn't it just have been easier to skip it and pay a fine so that he didn't have to publicly take authorship of such a disheartening occurrence and risk feeling bad about it? Why, yes, it would have. But that's what a professional does, even one who at times in the past *hasn't* always been the most professional individual in the room. Hmmm. It might even make him stronger to have faced it rather than hidden from it. Double (or triple?) hmmm.



...LIKE ON DAY 1:

A great moment in Indianapolis 500 history...




And what was one in "Dancing with the Stars" history, too...




...MEMORIAL DAY IS TOMORROW... ON DAY 1:



Might see a few of those old friends again tomorrow. Depends on the weather.

...IT NEVER ENDS (APPARENTLY) ON DAY 1:







In the 125th edition of the tournament, a look back (literally, if possible) at some of the former women's champions whose names and faces have been lost (and some whose haven't) to the long history of the event and, of course, time.

1897 Adine Masson/FRA
1898 Adine Masson/FRA
1899 Adine Masson/FRA
1900 Yvonne Prévost/FRA
1901 Suzanne Girod/FRA
1902 Adine Masson/FRA
1903 Adine Masson/FRA
1904 Kate Gillou/FRA
1905 Kate Gillou/FRA
1906 Kate Gillou-Fenwick/FRA
1907 Comtesse de Kermel/FRA
1908 Kate Gillou-Fenwick/FRA

Françoise "Adine" Masson was the first women's champion of the event (then The French Tennis Championships) back in 1897, and was declared the champion five of the first seven years of the tournament. In two of the years (1898-99) she didn't have to play a match to retain the crown, as she was the only woman entered in the event. In her final championship year in 1903, Masson defeated Kate Gillou in a three-set final (a first).

A year later, Gillou would defeat Masson in the final to win her first of three straight titles, and four between 1904-08.

Photos of Masson seem to be hard to come by, but here's Gillou...



Gillou lived long enough to see *two* French women -- one before WWI and one after -- nicknamed "The Goddess" become eventual champions of the event, as well as the first U.S. woman, a woman representing Nazi Germany, an African-American, and two different Aussies do the same, but passed away (in 1964) four years before the start of the Open era.

To be continued...













kosova-font


Two Radwanskas = Double Trouble
























kosova-font

*RECENT RG "FIRST VICTORY" HONORS*
2009 Li Na/CHN (d. Domachowska/POL) & A.Pavlyuchenkova/RUS (d. Olaru/ROU)
2010 Dominika Cibulkova/SVK (def. Ivanova/RUS)
2011 Simona Halep/ROU (def. Kudryavtseva/RUS)
2012 Samantha Stosur/AUS (def. Baltacha/GBR)
2013 Sara Errani/ITA (def. Rus/NED)
2014 Aga Radwanska/POL (def. Sh.Zhang/CHN)
2015 Teliana Pereira/BRA (def. Ferro/FRA)
2016 A.Pavlyuchenkova/RUS (def. Sorribes Tormo/ESP)
2017 Petra Kvitova/CZE (def. Boserup/USA)
2018 Ekaterina Makarova/RUS (def. Sai.Zheng/CHN)
2019 Petra Martic/CRO (def. Jabeur/TUN)
2020 Kamilla Rakhimova/RUS (def. Rogers/USA)
2021 Ana Bogdan/ROU (def.Cocciaretto/ITA)

*RECENT RG "FIRST SEED OUT"*
2005 #25 Dinara Safina/RUS (Razzano/FRA)
2006 #18 Elena Likhovtseva/RUS (Sprem/CRO)
2007 #31 Severine Bremond/FRA (Krajicek/NED)
2008 #15 Nicole Vaidisova/CZE (Benesova/CZE)
2009 #19 Kaia Kanepi/EST (Shvedova/KAZ)
2010 #10 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (Dulko/ARG)
2011 #19 Shahar Peer/ISR (Martinez-Sanchez/ESP)
2012 #30 Mona Barthel/GER (Davis/USA)
2013 #11 Nadia Petrova/RUS (Puig/PUR)
2014 #25 Kaia Kanepi/EST (Niculescu/ROU)
2015 #31 Caroline Garcia/FRA (Vekic/CRO)
2016 #32 Alona Ostapenko/LAT (Osaka/JPN)
2017 #31 Roberta Vinci/ITA (Puig/PUR)
2018 #9 Venus Williams/USA (Q.Wang/CHN)
2019 #5 Angelique Kerber/GER (Potapova/RUS)
2020 #17 Anett Kontaveit/EST (Garcia/FRA)
2021 #26 Angelique Kerber/GER (Kalinina/UKR)





TOP QUALIFIER: Varvara Lepchenko/USA
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: Jaqueline Cristian/ROU def. #13 Mayar Sherif/EGY 7-5/5-7/7-6(1) (Sherif saves 2 MP in 2nd, rallies from 5-3 in 3rd, but Cristian ends 3-hr. match w/ TB win)
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.-WC): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Ana Bogdan/ROU (def.Cocciaretto/ROU)
FIRST SEED OUT: #26 Angelique Kerber/GER (1st Rd./Kalinina)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Day 1 wins: none
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Day 1 wins: Kalinina; (LL: 0-2)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Day 1 record: 0-3 (Dodin to play)
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: Day 1 wins: Vesnina
LAST PASTRY STANDING: Day 1 record: 0-3 (Dodin to play)
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT "...": xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominee: Collins, Vesnina
CRASH & BURN: xx
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Nominee: Kvitova (1r-MP vs. Minnen)
DOUBLES STAR: xx
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): xx
Mademoiselle/Madam OF THE EVENING: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUTS: xx
Légion de Lenglen HONOREE: Collins (w/ health issues)
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: [June 1 award]






All for Day 1. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 5:04 PM 

2 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Keys d Dodin.

After seeing the clip of Bouzkova playing lefty, was pleasantly surprised to see her go 3.

One of the things that makes the Osaka situation different, is people get fined for missing press conferences after they lose. To have someone win and skip them? It will be interesting how long this will go, and if there is another story on the women's side to overshadow it.

Konjuh losing is actually a best case scenario. Won 3 matches this week, gets a healthy sum for a quality loss, then gets to go home, literally as she has WC for Bol 125K next week.

Due to the French Open being pushed back a week, Garcia needs to do well here. She won't lose French Open points, but Nottingham will come off the same week. Could be as low as 75, and even with the over quota countries, that may not make it.

Stat of the Day- 43 - The number of the Top 100 that have yet to reach QF on grass.

The grass season starts next week in Nottingham, and this season should be a doozy.

Instead of looking at just the winners, since the grass season is so short, and we know about Muguruza, Halep, Serena, etc, let's take a look at QF or better that have not done so recently.

Also note that Vesnina, Konjuh and Venus rank too low, but each have grass titles.

QF or better- 5 or more years since last time:

5-Brengle
5-Zheng
5-Golubic
5-Keys
5-Cirstea
6-Davis
6-Stephens
6-Azarenka
8-Hercog
8-Kanepi
9-Doi
9-Hsieh
10-Zvonareva

Statistically, 2-3 of these should get off this list at a 250 or 500 event.

What about the other 43? Here's the list of the Top 10 MD grass wins without a QF

16-McHale
12-Van Uytvanck
11-Diyas
9 -Siniakova
7 -Begu
4 -Gasparyan
4 -Peterson
4 -Collins
4 -Rogers
4 -Linette
4 -Wang Q.

Peterson, Collins and Van Uytvanck have numbers which trend up on grass.

Are there any with 0 MD wins? Would you believe 19! Grass season will be wide open.

19(0)
Andreescu
Swiatek
Pegula
Krejcikova
Podoroska
Ferro
Teichmann
Kovinic
Tig
Fernandez
Li
Stojanovic
Gracheva
Tauson
Paolina
Martincova
Trevsian
Osorio Serrano
Zhu

The situations are not created equal. Some, like Podoroska and Stojanovic, have played Q, but haven't done so in 4 years. Others, like Fernandez, Tauson, Osorio Serrano, the 2019 junior slam winners, plus Gracheva, haven't played any.

It's going to be a bumpy ride.



Sun May 30, 11:21:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Siniakova seems to have hit an uptick of late, so maybe she'll take her name off that list soon and prove her Czech grass court genes.

Mon May 31, 01:07:00 PM EDT  

Post a Comment

<< Home