Monday, May 31, 2021

RG.2- Iga with a "W"

Less than a year after lifting the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen last fall, defending Roland Garros champ Iga Swiatek proved in her '21 tournament debut that not a whole lot has charged in the last eight months. At least not regarding her relationship status with the terre battue.



In 2020, Swiatek ran roughshod over the field on her way to her maiden slam crown, and she's backed up her exploits this season. While climbing into the Top 10, the Polish teen has won a pair of titles, not dropping a set in Adelaide and then showing that she could also scramble and claw her way to a crown Rome, saving two MP in the 3rd Round against Barbora Krejcikova before double-bageling Karolina Pliskova in the final, the first love & love WTA final in five years, and surrending a tour record thirteen points in a WTA 1000 championship match, a total that nearly cut the previous record (Serena Williams, 24 in '15 Miami F) in half.

Today in Paris, the #8 seed faced off with good friend Kaja Juvan, as Court Chatrier proved to be the site of Swiatek's 20th birthday party.



A top junior, Juvan is still bulding her WTA resume, but she's already reached a slam 3rd Round ('21 AO), defeated a Williams (Venus/'20 Acapulco), upset a former slam champ in a major (Kerber/'20 RG), pushed Serena to three sets on a big stage ('19 Wimbledon) and cracked the Top 100 (this February).

The 20-year old Slovenian tested positive for COVID in March during the Monterrey event, from which she had to withdraw after having qualified and notched a win over Maria Camila Osorio Serrano in the 1st Round. She came into the day having gone 0-3 since (all three setters), and was simply overwhelmed by the moment and her friend in the opening set, dropping it at love while recording zero winners (to 12 UE).

Juvan rebounded in the 2nd and gave Swiatek a run, which is something few did even for a short stretch in Paris a year ago when she never dropped more than four games (twice, vs. Hsieh and Kenin) in any of the fourteen sets she played. Juvan managed to put up better first service numbers (percentage in *and* percentage of points won) than Swiatek in the 2nd, fired two aces and collected 18 winners (to Swiatek's 12) while holding her own (44-45) as far as the total points won. The two were knotted at 5-5 in the set, and Juvan had two BP chances to serve for the 2nd set and try to end Swiatek's 15-set streak in Paris. Her narrow miss of a down the line forehand past her flat-footed opponent proved to be key.

There are many reasons why Swiatek has risen into the upper echelon of players on tour so early in her career, and one of those is that her opponents rarely get multiple chances to beat her. If they miss out on an opportunity, it might not come around again. It didn't for Juvan. Swiatek held for 6-5 and immediately went up love/40 on Juvan's serve a game later. The Slovenian saved the first MP with an ace, and made Swiatek work for her win. But she *did* get it, converting on her fourth MP chance in the game to win 6-0/7-5, extending her RG set streak to 16 and Paris winning streak to eight, while improving her clay court record this spring to 9-1.

After beginning the day with a hug from Juvan, Swiatek ended the match the same way.



Afterward, Marion Bartoli led a round of "Happy Birthday" for the champ, as the (almost) regular scheduling (only a week later, as week 1 would have been week 2 if the start of RG hadn't been slightly delayed this year) could prove to make such an occurrence a virtual rite of spring in Paris on the final day of May for years to come.



We already know what 19 looked like for Swiatek at Roland Garros. So far, 20 is looking quite nice, as well. Who knows what form 21, 22 and so on will take, but it's surely seems like the journey there will be something to look forward to.




=DAY 2 NOTES=
...in other early action, qualifier Maria Camila Osorio's great clay court spring run came to an end with a 7-5/6-4 loss to Madison Brengle in the Colombian's slam MD debut. At the same time, French wild card Harmony Tan became the first Pastry to advance (hey, one of them *had* to) at this RG with a 4 & 4 win over countrywoman Alize Cornet, who'd retired from her final match in Strasbourg last week but still managed to keep her consecutive slam MD streak alive by appearing in her 57th straight, just five off of Ai Sugiyama's women's record of 62. Nothing is a given, though, as Francesca Schiavone got as close as 61 a few years ago before being forced to qualify to keep her streak alive, only to fall in the second round in Melbourne in '16.

This was Tan's first career slam MD win.



...and now, As the Former Semifinalists Turn...

After her fellow 2019 maiden slam semifinalist Amanda Anisimova lost on Day 1, #20 Marketa Vondrousova didn't suffer the same fate on Day 2, getting past Estonian vet Kaia Kanepi in three sets.

#19 Johanna Konta, another '19 semifinalist, was also sent home early today by Belgrade finalist Sorana Cirstea, losing 7-6(5)/6-2. The Brit hasn't won a match in Paris since her final four run. In fact, well... this is her career RG results line: 1r--1r-1r-1r-SF-1r-1r.

So far, Konta is 3-7 on the season. Dimitri Zavialoff, her coach during that '19 season before the two split for a time last year, was brought on before this season for another run. Konta has had a who's-who of coaches in recent years, changing things up nearly every season, so Zavialoff should probably keep his running shoes on (and packing bags ready) if history is any indication. Just Google "Johanna Konta coach" and get ready for your head to soon spin.

Ah, but it doesn't end there...

Last year's surprise semifinalist (as a qualifier), Nadia Podoroska put up just three total games in a 6-0/6-3 loss to #10 Belinda Bencic.

#16 Kiki Bertens, the '16 semifinalist still seeking her first WTA singles win this season after returning from offseason Achilles surgery (she *did* get one in BJK Cup play), lost 6-1/3-6/6-4 to Polona Hercog. Bertens had led 4-2 in the 3rd set. The Slovenian has reached two RG 3rd Rounds nine years apart, in 2010 and then again in '19.



...Swede Rebecca Peterson also staged a comeback on her way to her third 1st Round win Paris in the last four years, winning after trailing Shelby Rogers by a set and 5-2. Rogers twice served for the match, but ultimately fell 6-7(3)/7-6(8)/6-2. Rogers' countrywoman, 19-year old qualifier Hailey Baptiste posted her first career slam MD win, defeating the returning-from-injury Anna Blinkova in straights.



After years of bad luck and injury, veteran Laura Siegemund finally had her slam breakthrough result last fall in Paris, reaching the QF on her favorite surface. Well, that party won't be held again for the German at this major, as she was ousted in her opening match by Caroline Garcia. Garcia, who reached the Round of 16 last year, got her 15th career RG win with the 6-3/6-1 victory, the most wins she has at any slam.

Garcia's big win at last year's RG was over Elise Mertens in the 3rd Round. The #14-seeded Belgian also won today, advancing past Storm (Don't Call Me Summer) Sanders 6-4/6-1. Mertens has reached at least the 3rd Round in each of her previous four RG appearances.

Elsewhere...

(blink)

There! Did you see her? Awwl, you missed her. Try again.

via GIPHY



All right...



It was hard to tell what to expect from #6 Bianca Andreescu at this major. Already dealing with recent injuries (one, or was it two?), her brief appearance last week in Strasbourg before she withdrew included her first matches on clay since 2019, when she'd won a 1st Round match in Paris and then had to pull out before her second. She faced off with #85-ranked Slovenian Tamara Zidansek today.

Never mind the ranking, but Zidansek burned hot early this clay season, reaching the Bogota final (losing to Osorio Serrano) and taking Ash Barty to three sets in the 2nd Round in Madrid. Of late, she'd fallen early in a 125 (Sasnovich) and in Rome (Pera), but she was hardly a pushover. Still, she was 0-3 in her RG MD career, and Andreescu had opportunities to pull away late in this match, but couldn't quite get the job done.

After winning the opening set TB, Andreescu has rallied from 4-2 down in the 2nd to get things back on serve and head to another TB. Zidansek pulled it out, and forced the Canadian to save BPs early in the 3rd. Andreescu saved them and held for 2-2, then took a break lead at 5-4. She couldn't serve out the win, though, dropping serve a game later. She saved a MP at 6-5 and held to force a third tie-... no, RG is the last slam that plays out the final set. So they played on.

At 7-7, Andreescu had a BP look on Zidansek's serve, but the Slovenian held firm and then took a 15/40 lead on return a game later. Her converted MP ended the 3:20 match and gave her a 6-7(1)/7-6(2)/9-7 win, her first at RG, to make her the second woman from her nation to knock off a seeded player on Day 2.



Andreescu will at least get a little extra rest (and rehab?) time heading into the grass season. She hasn't played at Wimbledon since the '18 qualifiying, and lost her only MD outing at the AELTC in '17 (falling to Kristina Kucova). After that, assuming her body holds up, she'll surely be looking to "make" her season on summer hard courts, both at the Olympics and in North America.

via GIPHY



...the match-up between 2020 RG finalist, #4 Sofia Kenin, and '17 champion Alona Ostapenko was always an opportunity for one of the two to quite possibly seize control of their career narrative, at least for a while. As it turned out, it was Kenin who resurrected a large chunk of her old fight, refusing to lose and officially opening a new chapter in her career.

While Ostapenko has shown flashes of her old self in the four years (!!!) since her title run, such spurts haven't lasted long. With her RG win factored in, the Latvian's results in Paris tell the tale of her entire career: 1r-W-1r-1r-3r.

As Tennis Channel's Lindsay Davenport noted today, on some level, Kenin is trying "not to become the next Ostapenko" after finding good times hard to come by in '21 after winning the Australian Open and then reaching another major final in Paris last year. After opening her season with a three-win QF run in Abu Dhabi, Kenin has flamed out in her AO title defense (2nd Rd.), lost to a player so inexperienced that she didn't even have an official ranking (Olivia Gadecki), had an appendectomy, returned quite early with little success, and then fired her father Alex as coach. She came into the day with a 7-8 season mark, having lost four straight.

After the two split the first two sets by identical 6-4 scores, with Kenin taking the 1st and Ostapenko the 2nd, it was the Bannerette who charged into the 3rd. She took a 3-0 lead and didn't look back, fighting and shouting encouragement to herself down the stretch just as she did during her biggest results of a season ago. She closed out the match with a 6-4/4-6/6-3 score, posting her first win without her dad in the stands, and evening up her season record.

The reality of an (unofficial) "clean slate" and (hopeful) "new starting point" couldn't be much more clear than that.



...#12 Garbine Muguruza was arguably *the* in-form player in the early going in '21, and came *this close* to upending history when she held two MP against eventual AO champ Naomi Osaka in the Round of 16. She eventually reached back-to-back Doha & Dubai finals (going 1-1), but a knee injury in Charleston has wreaked havoc with her clay season. The '16 Roland Garros champ pulled out of Madrid and played just three matches in Rome before arriving in Paris.

She was clearly not ready to go, and Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk proved to be the beneficiery. The 18-year old dominated the 1st set against the limited Spaniard. After a medical timeout, Kostyuk pulled back and allowed Muguruza space to get back into the match, and she took a 3-1 lead. But it didn't last. Kostyuk won 6-1/6-4, and hopefully Muguruza will have time to get right for the bulk of the remainder of the '21 campaign.



...a few months ago, Sara Sorribes Tormo was *the* revelatory player of 2021. She'd gone 15-5 on hard courts, won her first tour title in Guadalajara, then followed up with a SF in Monterrey and Miami QF. And her most favored clay courts were up next. But a funny thing happened on the way to Paris. The Spaniard had a hard time getting her footing on the dirt, and (as in her thing) played some very long matches, which likely led to her retirement in the 3rd set of her 2nd Round match in Parma. But she still has Roland Garros.

But things didn't go her way there, either. Sorribes fell 4-6/6-4/6-4 today to Zheng Saisai, falling to 2-5 on the clay this spring and 1-5 in her RG career.

...#22 Petra Martic got off to a woeful start this season, but then brought in Francesca Schiavone for a trial run as coach and the Croat immediately found herself in a WTA 1000 semi in Rome. The '19 RG quarterfinalist arrived in Paris hoping to build upon that at the place where Schiavone's legend was born. Or at least cemented.

But another Italian, Camila Giorgi, stood in her way on Monday.

The longtime firebrand blasted her way to a 6-2/5-2 lead today. She served for the match and held two MP in the 2nd set, but Martic surged back, won a TB and took things to a 3rd. Giorgi again got the lead there at 4-2, only to soon find things knotted again at 4-4. But Giorgi struck back, going up love/40 on Martic's serve a game later and getting the break. She served out a 6-2/6-7(5)/6-4 victory.

The Italian has only advanced past the 2nd Round once in her previous seven RG appearances, and her (now) six wins in Paris are the fewest number she has in any slam.

...Day 2 ended with (finally) the result of that roof being placed on Court Chatrier (Lenglen will get one soon, though I wonder if it'll totally ruin the curvy aesthetics of the stadium) a while back, with #7 Serena Williams facing Irina Camelia Begu in the first official night session match at Roland Garros.

Things were interesting at times, as Williams grabbed a 5-2 lead before the Romanian got back on serve late in the set. With Williams' serve not quite hitting its ceiling, Begu got a break and served for the set at 6-5. Serena forced a TB, where the Romanian held two SP at 6-4. Of course, Williams then raised her level of play significantly and swept the final four points to win 8-6.



Begu had a few shots to keep close in the 2nd set, but Williams predictably carried her late 1st set surge all the way to the finish, winning 7-6(6)/6-2 to improve to 77-1 in slam 1st Rounds.







...MEANWHILE... ON DAY 2:


First this...




Then this...




Make of it all what you will...


...HEARD (and not heard) ON DAY 2:

Tennis Channel leaves coverage of Muguruza/Kostyuk at 5-4 in the 2nd in order to *prepare* for the Serena Williams match, telling people that they can watch the end on their extra pay channel... meanwhile, NBC was showing it for free. Something never mentioned by TC. One game later, the match ends before Williams/Begu even walk onto court and NBC's Mary Carillo, as the network ends its coverage, tells viewers that they can watch the rest of the day's coverage on Tennis Channel.

...NOTED ON DAY 2:

While the Roland Garros social media has shown up for this slam, the WTA's (shocker) seems to be taking very long snack breaks. Perhaps for croissants? The tour's Twitter feed -- during a major -- is going hours without a single post, and hasn't even bothered to retweet the RG posts about important moments involving THE TOUR's own players.




Frenchwoman Jeanne Matthey was a four-time French Championships winner in the early years of the events, but she made far more headlines (good and interesting ones) off the court than she did on it.

1909 Jeanne Matthey/FRA
1910 Jeanne Matthey/FRA
1911 Jeanne Matthey/FRA
1912 Jeanne Matthey/FRA

Born in Alexandria, Egypt to a Swiss father and French mother, Matthey moved to Paris at age 14 in 1900. Naturally, she crossed paths in her late twenties with *the* French tennis prodigy of the era, defeating a 14-year old Suzanne Lenglen in the semifinals of an event in Chantilly (then def. French champ Kate Gillou-Fenwick in the final).



Years after her tennis victories, Matthey was a Red Cross nurse during World War I. Having served time on the frontline, her right arm was seriously wounded, causing her to give up tennis. In 1972, at age 86, she attended Roland Garros, joking that she "consisted of many pieces" because of her war injuries.

In 1927, Matthey was honored with the bronze Medal of Honour for public assistance (médaille d'honneur de l'assistance publique) for her nursing work during the war.

Come World War II, Matthey was back in the eye of the storm. She worked with the French resistence, relaying messages. She was arrested and tortured by the Nazi Gestapo and found herself in a concentration camp in 1945.

In 1952, she was made a knight in the Legion of Honour (Order of Légion d'Honneur), then an officer six years later. In 1962 she was promoted to commander, the highest French order of merit, both military and civil, that can be bestowed by a French government or regimes.

Matthey not only lived an honorable life, but also a long one. Having seen the early years of the then-French Championships, she saw the dawn of the Open era (1968), five first-time major champions crowned in Paris in the 1970s, and the likes of Gibson, Court, Goolagong, King and Evert lift the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen, including the latter in '75 after defeating a Czech-born woman named Martina (who dropped to 0-2 in slam finals) in the championship match.

She died in 1980 at age 94 in Paris.

To be continued...













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*RG MATCHES - WOMEN*
94 - Steffi Graf
85 - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
80 - SERENA WILLIAMS
80 - Conchita Martinez
78 - Chris Evert
71 - Venus Williams (to play 1r)
70 - Svetlana Kuznetsova
[wins]
84 - Steffi Graf
72 - Chris Evert
72 - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
67 - SERENA WILLIAMS
56 - Maria Sharapova
52 - Svetlana Kuznetsova
51 - Martina Navratilova
48 - Venus Williams (to play 1r)

*MOST CONSECUTIVE SLAM MD APPEARANCES - WOMEN"*
62 - Ai Sugiyama, JPN
61 - Francesca Schiavone, ITA
57 - ALIZE CORNET, FRA*
56 - Jelena Jankovic, SRB
-
*-active streak




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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: [through Day 2] Baptiste/USA, Martincova/CZE, Tan/FRA
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: 1r wins: Baptiste, Kalinina
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: 1r wins: Tan
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: 1r wins: Buzarnescu, Vesnina
LAST PASTRY STANDING: 1r wins: Garcia, Tan
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT "...": xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: Collins, Suarez-Navarro, Vesnina
CRASH & BURN: Nominees: #6 Andreescu (1r-Zidansek); Podoroska ('20 SF; 1r-3 games vs. Bencic); #2 Osaka (w/d before 2nd Rd.); #26 Kerber (2 con. '21 slam FSO; 2/3 RG FSO)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Nominees: Kvitova (1r-MP vs. Minnen); Peterson (1r-set and 5-2 vs. Rogers); Hercog (1r-4-2 3rd vs. Bertens)
DOUBLES STAR: xx
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): xx
Mademoiselle/Madam OF THE EVENING: Nominee: S.Williams
JUNIOR BREAKOUTS: xx
Légion de Lenglen HONOREE: Collins (w/ health issues)
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: [June 1 award]






All for Day 2. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 5:50 PM 

3 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Well, that escalated quickly.

Osaka is trending on non sports sites. The thing that irritates me about this, it that coverage of women's sports is already poor. To use an old reference, the WNBA could play 20 good games in a row, but Plenette Pierson's fight is the one that gets the coverage. As you mentioned, the WTA should be tweeting about Zidansek, Kostyuk, Swiatek or others that won today. They are going to get overshadowed by this mess.

Back to the fun stuff. Ostapenko served 5 times in the final set. She held once.

Kenin still doesn't look right, but a win isn't a bad thing.

Andreescu needs matches. The stark difference between her normal game and today was the fact that she didn't change speeds much. Very little creativity, which means she's not feeling the ball. Needs matches to do that.

Liking the 19th and 20th century French open winners.

Stat of the Day- 2- The number of Bol winners with multiple titles.

The post pandemic WTA calendar has some goodies, with 125K events now being run the second week of a slam with regularity. Next week's Bol field should be interesting, especially with 250 Nottingham opening the grass season-Bol is on clay.

Bol used to be a tour stop, with a one shot in 1991, then running from 1995-2003 as anything from a Tier 3 to Tier 5. Mostly known as a stop for players to get their first title, Gloria Pizzichini(96), Corina Morariu(99), and Tina Pisnik(00) were the three that picked up their only title.

When it comes to local flavor, Silvija Talaja(96) and Iva Majoli(02) both reached the final, but Mirjana Lucic was the one that brought home the title, both in 97 and 98.

The event came back as a 125K in 2016, and there has been one player to win twice. Tamara Zidansek. Winner in 2018 and 2019, she isn't the first Slovenian to have won, that was Pisnik, but she might be otherwise occupied next week.

Mon May 31, 07:52:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Hoergren said...

So Colt you don't think this is important to talk about - the Osaka thing? It's time for a change i think. Time for the slams to open up for player influence like in the WTA area. There is NO players being asked at the slams, at coooperative meetings. SO yea I think it's more important than to report on matches apart from the result - while this is discussed.

Tue Jun 01, 04:19:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

The thing about the expert tour marketing arm is that they've barely even tweeted out anything about the tournament at all. You'll get 12-15 matches completed and they tweet something (and only after the match is over) for maybe 2 or 3, and only in a blue moon retweet a RG result tweet. They didn't even post a tweet about Osaka withdrawing, and haven't yet with Kvitova, either.

Oh, and Petra hurt herself doing press, so... :/

I'm liking the next early French winner And Finally... yes, there was a "goddess" before "La Divine."

Really, I think the Osaka thing has been a case study in how *not* to handle such situations, from all sides. But such when does tennis ever handle anything correctly without the roadside being littered with carnage and "bad looks" all around? Pretty much par for the course.

Tue Jun 01, 12:54:00 PM EDT  

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