Tuesday, June 15, 2021

2021 Clay Court Awards

More than enough honors to go around...










#1 - BARBORA et JANA DO PARIS
...with her late coach Jana Novotna serving as her inspiration, Barbora Krejcikova becomes the first woman since 2000 to sweep the singles and doubles titles at Roland Garros. The first woman Czech representative to win the title since 1981, she's the sixth straight maiden winner to be crowned in the women's competition in Paris, the second straight unseeded RG champ and the second '21 major titlist (Osaka/AO) to save MP -- vs. Maria Sakkari in the SF -- en route to the winner's circle. Her doubles title with Katerina Siniakova was the duo's second at Roland Garros since 2018.

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#2 - SABALENKA'S SPANISH EYES
...one event after having lost to #1 Ash Barty in the Stuttgart final, Aryna Sabalenka gets revenge on the Aussie in the Madrid final, bageling her in the 1st set and then taking the final three games of the 3rd, sweeping the last two at love. Career title #10 moved her to a new career high of #4.

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#3 - IGA WITH AN ITALIAN "I"
...proving she could scramble her way to a title as well as dominate, Iga Swiatek maneuvers around a series of potholes in the draw -- falling down a double-break in the 1st against Alison Riske, seeing Madison Keys hold 3 SP in the opening set, saving two MP vs. Barbora Krejcikova -- and then ends with a flourish, defeating Elina Svitolina and Coco Gauff in straights on the same day to reach the final, where she delivered a double-bagel loss to Karolina Pliskova, the tenth such total defeat in a final in WTA tour history. The win pushed the Pole into the Top 10 for the first time.

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#4 - COCO IN COMMAND
...after pushing through a series of three-set matches over the opening months of the season, Coco Gauff catches a wave and drops just one set (vs. Siniakova) while sweeping the singles and doubles (w/ Caty McNally) titles in Parma, picking up her first clay court titles and improving to 5-0 in career s/d finals on the WTA tour.

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#5 - THE RETURN OF DIEDE THE GREAT
...after a lackluster '20 campaign that saw her follow up her 7-of-8 major win season of '19 by twice failing to reach a slam singles final (AO/RG) and losing twice in slam doubles title matches (AO/US), wheelchair #1 Diede de Groot backs up her table-resetting Australian Open title sweep with another two-for-two performance at Roland Garros, once again defeating world #2 Yui Kamiji in the singles final for slam crown #10 (the only woman to reach double-digits other than the great Esther Vergeer), then teaming with Aniek Van Koot to win the doubles (the duo's fourth straight RG win). It's 24-year old de Groot's seventh sweep of both titles at a slam in her career.

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#6 - BARTY STANDS HER GROUND IN STUTTGART
...when given the opportunity (and healthy, which she wasn't late in the clay season), Barty has more than backed up her #1 ranking. In Stuttgart, the Aussie battled past two Top 10 opponents -- Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina -- who served for the match, then took the final in three sets over Aryna Sabalenka, putting together a nine-game mid-match streak after dropping the 1st set while picking up her tour-best third title of the season. With her first clay title in hand since winning Roland Garros in 2019, Barty then won the doubles alongside Jennifer Brady.

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#7 - BADOSA'S BID
...while Paula Badosa's clay court spring at times fell just short of the high water mark, no player was more consistent. The Spaniard went 17-3, claimed her maiden tour title in Belgrade, recorded her first Top 10/#1 win on the same day (def. Barty in Charleston), was 4-1 vs. the Top 25, as a wild card reached her biggest tour SF at the WTA 1000 Madrid (becoming the first Spanish woman to ever reach the final four), and then ended the stretch with her maiden slam QF at Roland Garros, falling just short vs. Tamara Zidansek in an 8-6 3rd set.

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#8 - FRENCH FREE-FOR-ALL FOURSOME
...an event that has hosted the breakthrough of a multitude of champions and stars for years, Roland Garros saw four first-time slam semifinalists emerge at this year's event. While eventual champ Barbora Krejcikova was the third-lowest ranked (#33) RG champ ever, #31-seeded finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova set the record for the longest wait to reach a slam SF/F (52 MD appearances), and #17 Maria Sakkari and unseeded Tamara Zidansek (#85) were, respectively, the first Greek and Slovenian woman to ever reach a major semifinal.

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#9 - RUSSIAN INVADES CHARLESTON
...Veronika Kudermetova claims her maiden tour title in Charleston without dropping a set, becoming the first winner of the event to do so since Serena Williams in 2012.

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#10 - HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
...#180-ranked 19-year old Colombian Maria Camila Osorio Serrano takes her MD wild card into her home nation event in Bogota (just her fifth tour-level MD appearance) and proceeds to have the week of her career. She notched her first Top 100 victory, then triumphed over future RG semifinalist Tamara Zidansek in the final, coming back from dropping the opening set to claim her maiden tour title.

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#11 - WORTH THE WAIT
...now a tour veteran at 31, Sorana Cirstea finally wins her second tour singles title twelve and a half years after she claimed her first, the third longest between title runs in tour history. The Romanian concluded her no-sets-lost jaunt by coming back from 5-2 down in the 2nd in the final against Elise Mertens to take down the Belgian in straights by winning a 7-3 tie-break to end the match.

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#12 - WELCOME TO SHARMASTON
...in the Charleston 250, Aussie Astra Sharma tamed the teenage twosome of Linda Fruhvirtova and Maria Camila Osorio Serrano, then turned the momentum in her favor late in the 2nd set against Ons Jabeur and went on to win in three in the final, recording her first career Top 30 victory and providing an appropriate response to an horrendous situation the previous week in Bogota in which Sharma had a key break of serve stolen from her because the umpire couldn't correctly keep score, then was scolded by the umpire and the WTA supervisor for not keeping track of the score herself *and* not being able to immediately recount how she won every point in the game (as if that's in her job description) in order to "prove" she was correct.

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#13 - A POLISH SAVIOR (but not *that* one)
...in the opening weekend of the newly-dubbed Billie Jean King Cup, 23-year old Magdalena Frech of Poland -- who'd yet to break the Top 100 in her WTA career, had just one slam MD victory, and never recorded a Top 10 victory -- proved to be the most indispensable individual in the entire late-week Cup competition, becoming the only player to have a hand in all three of her team's points in the eight playoff tie match-ups on hand.



Frech's straight sets match #1 win over Brazilian Carolina Alves gave little hint of what was to come, while her 3:04, back-from-a-set-down victory over a very game Laura Pigossi in match #3 turned out be far more important than anyone realized once Katarzyna Kawa was upset by Alves in the next match, forcing the tie to the deciding doubles. There, Frech teamed up with the redemption-minded Kawa, facing off against Alves and a very-fresh Luisa Stefani. The NCAA product boosted Brazil to a 1st set win, but Frech helped lead her *second* comeback victory of the day to finally clinch the 3-2 victory.
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#14 - A ROMAN HOLIDAY FOR TWO
...after starting out the week as doubles alternates for the main draw, Sharon Fichman & Giuliana Olmos became champions. It took four match tie-breaks in five matches in Rome to do it, but the best friends/doubles partners both picked up the biggest wins of their careers with the title run. A 10-3 MTB win over Mattek-Sands/Pegula was followed by a 10-4 triumph over Hsieh/Mertens and 10-6 win over Gauff/V.Kudermetova to send Fichman/Olmos into the semis. Playing both the semi and final on Sunday, the duo took out Aoyama/Shibahara in straights, then defeated Mladenovic/Vondrousva 10-5 in the decider to take the crown.



For Fichman it was tour title #4, while Olmos added yet another layer to what is becoming an historic career. Already the only Mexican player to win a tour-level s/d title in the Open era (one WD in each of the last two seasons), Olmos' third (of course) also raised the bar one more notch by being the biggest ever claimed by a woman from her nation.
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#15 - THE (CZECH) KID
...after 15-year old Czech Linda Fruhvirtova turned heads on the junior and ITF circuits, she brought the show to the tour-level WTA 250 event in Charleston. She didn't disappoint. In just her second WTA MD and fifteenth overall professional event, the wild card battled to an impressive maiden tour-level win in the 1st Round against Alize Cornet. After being on top of the French vet for a set and a half, but not being able to serve out the match on two attempts in the 2nd or convert a MP, Fruhvirtova outlasted Cornet in a physically draining affair that ended with the Pastry retiring at 4-4 in the final set. Fruhvirtova followed up by rallying from 4-2 down in the 1st against Emma Navarro to win in straights before ultimately falling 4 & 3 to eventual champ Astra Sharma in the QF. The kid jumped 138 spots in the rankings the following Monday to climb into the Top 375, making her the youngest player in the Top 650.

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THE WINNER FOR "BEST ONE-LEGGED CHAMPAGNE CELEBRATION" IS...
...Kiki Bertens, following the Netherlands' BJK Cup victory over China in longtime captain Paul Haarhuis' final competition










1. Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
...(15-3 in clay season; 11-1 wd); won two titles each in singles (Strasbourg/RG) and doubles (Madrid/RG), ended the clay season on a 12-match winning streak, shot into the singles Top 15 and returned to doubles #1

2. Diede de Groot, NED
...(11-0; 7-0); undefeated in singles (20/20 sets) and doubles (14/14 sets), won three titles each in s/d, and followed up her AO title sweep with another at RG

3. Paula Badosa, ESP
...(17-3); put together a SF-SF-W run before RG, winning her maiden title in Belgrade, and then reached her first career slam QF in Paris

4. Ash Barty, AUS
...(14-4); her Stuttgart s/d sweep, Madrid RU and Charleston/Rome QF put her at the top of the clay court list this spring, but injuries caused her to retire from her final two events

5. Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova, CZE/CZE
...(11-1 wd); won Madrid, then their second RG (w/ '18) crown, as Krejcikova reclaimed the WD #1 ranking

6. Coco Gauff, USA
...(16-4); came into her own on clay this spring with a Charleston QF, Rome SF, Parma s/d sweep and her first slam QF at Roland Garros (making her the youngest slam quarterfinalist since 2006, and the youngest from the U.S. since 1997)

7. Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
...(13-3); got off to a 10-1 start, reaching the Stuttgart final and then winning Madrid in a two-week run of finals vs. Barty, but her 3rd Rd. exit at RG leaves her as the only player in the current Top 20 never to have reached a slam semifinal (her best major results are a pair of 4th Rounds - '18 US/'21 AO)

8. Iga Swiatek, POL
...(12-2); didn't defend her RG title, but reached the QF as well as the doubles final. Won the singles title in Rome to reach the Top 10.

9. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
...(10-3); her Madrid SF was her best WTA 1000 result snce 2010, then she broke the tour record for perserverance in Paris by reaching her maiden slam final in her 52nd career MD appearance in a major

10. Tamara Zidansek, SLO
...(15-5); opened the clay season with a Bogota final appearance, and ended it in the RG semis (as the world #85). In between were qualifying runs in Madrid and Rome. Now in the Top 50.

11. Sorana Cirstea, ROU
...(11-3); the clay season's best Romanian (gasp) returns to the Top 50 after winning in Istanbul (her first tour title in 12 and a half years), reaching the Strasbourg final, and posting her best RG result (4r) since 2009

12. Maria Camila Osorio Serrano, COL
...(16-3); the teenager won Bogota as a WC, reached the Charleston and Belgrade semis and qualified to make her slam MD debut at RG. Cracked the Top 100.

13. Desirae Krawczyk, USA
...(12-6 WD; 3-0 MX); won the RG MX title (her maiden slam win) with Joe Salisbury, Strasbourg with Alexa Guarachi (+ Charleston/Parma SF), and then reached the Stuttgart final with Bethanie Mattek-Sands

14. Veronika Kudermetova, RUS
...(14-4); got off to a blazing start with a title in Charleston, but had diminishing results (W-SF-3r-3r-2r) as the spring wore on. Held two MP in 2nd Round RG loss to Siniakova.

15. Maria Sakkari, GRE
...(9-4); thrilling RG run (def. both '20 finalists, Kenin and Swiatek) to become first Greek in Open era to reach slam semi, but was just 4-3 on the dirt before Paris. Had a MP vs. eventual champion Krejcikova in a classic SF in Paris.

16. Caty McNally, USA
...(13-0 wd); won two tour-level WD titles (Charleston 250 w/ Hailey Baptiste, Parma w/ Coco Gauff), as well as $100K challenger w/ Storm Sanders. RG singles qualifying injury kept her from playing RG doubles with Gauff.

17. Ons Jabeur, TUN
...(13-4); reached Charleston 500 SF and 250 final, then Roland Garros Round of 16.

18. Demi Schuurs, NED
...(11-3 wd); went 6-2 with Nicole Melichar, winning Charleston, and reached Madrid final w/ Gaby Dabrowski

19. Sharon Fichman/Giuliana Olmos, CAN/MEX
...(9-3); won Rome, the biggest career title for both

20. Karolina Pliskova, CZE
...(8-4); reached third straight Rome final, as well as Stuttgart QF (maybe saving Sascha Bajin's job, at least for now)

HM- Astra Sharma, AUS (Charleston 250 champ) and Danka Kovinic, MNE (SF in both Charleston 500/250)




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RISERS: Elise Mertens/BEL, Elena Rybakina/KAZ and Marketa Vondrousova/CZE
SURPRISES: Viktoriya Tomova/BUL, Jule Niemeier/GER and Harmony Tan/FRA
VETERANS: Petra Martic/CRO, Polona Hercog/SLO and Victoria Azarenka/BLR
COMEBACKS: Ana Konjuh/CRO, Dasha Kasatkina/RUS and Sloane Stephens/USA
FRESH FACES: Marta Kostyuk/UKR, Jil Teichmann/SUI and Hailey Baptiste/USA
JUNIOR STARS: Linda Noskova/CZE, Linda Fruhvirtova/CZE and Erika Andreeva/RUS
DOUBLES: Krunic/Stojanovic (SRB/SRB), Lechemia/Neel (FRA/USA) and Elena Vesnina/RUS
ITF: Anhelina Kalinina/UKR, Claire Liu/USA and Weronika Falkowska/POL
WHEELCHAIR: Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot (NED/NED) and Yui Kamiji (JPN)
NCAA: Emma Navarro/USA (Virginia) and Estela Perez Somarriba/ESP (Miami)
DOWN: Simona Halep/ROU, Naomi Osaka/JPN and Garbine Muguruza/ESP
MOST IMPROVED: Paula Badosa/ESP, Tamara Zidansek/SLO and Katerina Siniakova/CZE

=COACHES=
1. Tom Hill (Sakkari)
2. Aleksandr Pavlyuchenko (Pavlyuchenkova)
3. Javier Marti (Badosa)
4. Ales Kartus (Krejcikova)
5. Marjan Cuk (Zidansek)
6. Ricardo Sanchez (Osorio Serrano)
7. Craig Tyzzer (Barty)
8. David Witt (Pegula)
9. Cori Gauff (Gauff)
10. Francesca Schiavone (Martic)

=BJK CUP=
1. Magdelena Frech, POL
2. Arantxa Rus, NED
3. Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA
4. Katie Boulter, GBR
5. Leylah Fernandez, CAN
6. Olga Danilovic/Yaroslava Shvedova, KAZ
7. Arantxa Rus/Demi Schuurs, NED
8. Maria Carle, ARG
9. Magdalena Frech/Katarzyna Kawa, POL
10. Elina Svitolina, UKR










1. Roland Garros SF - Barbora Krejcikova def. Maria Sakkari 7-5/4-6/9-7
...after Krejcikova claimed her fourth straight game and go up 5-3 in the 1st, Sakkari upped her intensity and broke Krejickova at love when she served for the set, then held at love to tie things at 5-all. After the Czech held serve, she got another chance at the set when Sakkari's forehand sailed long to give Krejickova a double-SP lead at 15/40. Sakkari's forehand bounced off the net cord and out as Krejickova took the 1st at 7-5.

Sakkari held a GP for a 5-1 lead in the 2nd, only to pull an open-court forehand wide. Krejcikova got a break for 4-2 instead. Sakkari would ultimately prevail in the set, but that Krejcikova kept a measured pace throughout after such a slow start, spoke much to her ability to remain calm and not allow the pressure of the moment to take her off her game and lose focus. She held to force Sakkari to serve things out, which the Greek finally did after committing two forehand errors on her first two SP, sending a passing shot off Krejcikova's racket to win the set 6-4 and knot the match. Sakkari took an early break lead in the 3rd.

Throughout the 3rd set, Krejcikova edged close to pulling back even with Sakkari, but the Greek's "Spartan fight" always seemed to pull her through. Sakkari saved a BP in game #4, and seemed to be "rollin' downhill." She came back from love/30 to hold two games later for 4-2. Krejcikova kept close, forcing the Greek to play things out. Sakkari took a 30/15 lead on serve in game #8 on a line shot that Krejcikova questioned but the chair umpire wouldn't overturn (replay showed it to indeed be out, as the Czech believed), holding for 5-3.

A game later, Krejcikova missed on a backhand to go down 15/30, then faced MP when her forehand shot bounced off the net cord onto her own side of the court.

MP down, Krejcikova followed up a shot behind Sakkari with a swing volley winner to extend the match, and held for 5-4. Still, the Greek served for a spot in the final, only to open the game with back-to-back forehand errors. She battled back to 30-all, then saved a BP with a first-shot backhand winner. But a bad drop shot gave Krejcikova another BP opportunity. Pushing Sakkari well behind the baseline, at one point nearly to the back wall, with high bouncing shots, the Czech then dragged the Greek into to sidelines, from which Sakkari netted a backhand to complete the service break and tie the score at 5-5.

Starting to take over rallies more and more with well-constructed points, Krejcikova held for 6-5 and 7-6, putting pressure on Sakkari to hold in order to stay in the match. In game #14, as Sakkari rushed the net behind a deep groundstroke, the Czech sent back a shot that dipped over the net and at the feet of the Greek. The ball tied her up, giving Krejcikova two MP. The first went away with a Krejcikova error, and the second with a Sakkari backhand winner.

A Krejcikova shot that dribbled over the net gave her a third MP, which Sakkari promptly saved with an ace. Sakkari then held for 7-7, but two games later was back having to hold to stay alive once again. Krejcikova's backhand winner down the line got the game to 30/30, and Sakkari's DF gave her a fourth MP. Sakkari's forehand sailed long and Krejcikova lifted her arms into a "V" pattern, only to hear the chair umpire overrule the match-winning "out" call and say it was in. The Czech immediately went to the wayward mark and circled it, but the umpire refused to return the call to its original form after reviewing the mark (replays seemed to indidate that that ball had indeed landed well out.

While others were rightfully up in arms, Krejcikova simply played on. She got a fifth MP, saved by Sakkari with a backhand winner. Sakkari even held a GP of her own. But the Greek's wide error to give Krejcikova a sixth MP finally proved to be the final bridge the Czech was forced to cross. Moving to the net to reach a short ball, Krejcikova routinely placed a backhand winner down the line and -- for the second time in a matter of minutes -- she'd advanced to her maiden slam singles final, winning the longest women's semi at Roland Garros in the Open era (3:18) as Spartan fight was not enough to overcome the heart of a resilient Czech.

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2. Roland Garros QF - Tamara Zidansek def. Paula Badosa 7-5/4-6/8-6
...in a match to see which would advance to their maiden slam semi, #85-ranked Zidansek's lethal forehand led the way, with an assist from Badosa's inability to keep away from it at the most important moments of their match.

In the 2nd, Zidansek let a straight sets win slip away. After breaking Badosa in games #4 and #6, she saw her her 3-1 and 4-2 edges evaporate when she couldn't consolidate her edge. The Slovenian tighten up and pulled back on her aggressive tactics, and Badosa took full advantage, stringing together a 10-point winning streak that allowed her to serve out the set.

In the deciding 3rd, game #13 proved to be the key in determining the winner. A Zidansek DF put her down 15/40, but with the chance to serve for the semifinals just one point away Badosa continued to allow the Slovenian's forehand to be her key to victory. The Slovenian hit back-to-back forehand winners to save BP, but DF'd to give the Spaniard another. That's when those two missed BP chances came back to haunt Badosa, as a Zidansek shot took a bad bounce near the baseline, skipping under Badosa's racket to save her service game. Still holding on in the crucial moment, Zidansek fired three more forehand winners in the game, with the last -- on her fourth GP -- securing the hold for 7-6.

A poorly executed drop shot and two more errors put Badosa behind 15/40 a game later. Zidansek missed wide on an angled forehand attempt to end the match on MP #1, but didn't on her down the line forehand a point later. It was her 48th winner on the day, and 39th put away by her forehand. She thus became the first Slovenian to ever reach a slam singles semifinal, and secured her Top 50 breakthrough.

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3. Charleston 250 1st Rd. - Linda Fruhvirtova def. Alize Cornet 6-2/6-7(7)/4-4 ret.
...an impressive and memorable maiden MD win for the 15-year old, as the match turned into a battle of attrition as Cornet was hobbled by a thigh injury and Fruhvirtova slowed by an bad ankle down the stretch.

While her serve began to let her down after a sterling first set and a half of play (she twice failed to serve out the match in the 2nd, and squandered a MP in the TB), the young Czech didn't let her inability to hold serve in the 3rd cause her to lose concentration in her receiving games. The two combined for eight straight breaks to begin the final set, then with Fruhvirtova a point from a hold (40/30) it was Cornet -- dragging her leg around and finally in too much pain to go on -- who succumbed and decided to end things with a retirement.

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4. Madrid 2nd Rd. - Belinda Bencic def. Bernarda Pera
...3-6/6-1/7-6(5). With the clock pushing toward midnight in the closing stages, Bencic and Pera battle to a near-draw as neither drops serve in the 3rd set, then a bank of lights blew out five points into the deciding TB. With the lighting partially restored, they played one... until Pera ended a very competitive match with an unfortunate DF at MP down.

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5. Madrid 3rd Rd. - Elise Mertens def. Simona Halep
...4-6/7-5/7-5. Halep was seemingly cruising to victory in the 2nd, but then the DFs started. The rest of the match, her issues with holding serve led to an overall waning confidence and (far too) tentative play from the Romanian, who often didn't go for her shots (when she did, she'd surge back ahead of Mertens, only to then fail to keep up the pressure). In the end, it all came back to haunt her.

Halep led 3-1 in the 3rd, but Mertens edged back to 3-3. In game #7, at 30/30, Halep scrambled to a drop shot and Mertens netted an easy backhand volley into the open court. Halep broke for 4-3, and she appeared to have finally wrestled away the lead for good. But she immediately gave the break back a game later. Serving to stay in the match at 5-6, Halep played tentatively once again and fell behind 15/40. After saving one MP, a shaky second serve was jumped on by the Belgian, who fired a return that Halep could barely get her racket on, ending the match.
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6. Madrid 3rd Rd. - Karolina Muchova def. Maria Sakkari
...6-0/6-7(9)/7-5. Muchova jumped on Sakkari early, holding two MP in the 2nd set TB on the Greek, only to fail to convert either as Sakkari eventually pushed things to a 3rd set on her fifth set point. The Greek won the breaker 11-9. Sakkari led 5-3 in the deciding set, and served at 5-4. But Muchova's final push got the break and swept the final four games, with the Czech finally putting away the win by breaking Sakkari on MP #4.
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7. Rome 1st Rd. - Sara Sorribes Tormo def. Camila Giorgi
...7-6(4)/6-7(7)/7-5. Sorribes made her belated first clay court win of the season a memorable one, as she surged back from 4-0 down in the 3rd, with Giorgi serving for the match at 5-3. Sure, it took 3:51 to get it done, but a win is a win, right?
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8. Roland Garros QF - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Elena Rybakina 6-7(2)/6-2/9-7
...Rybakina took the early lead in the 1st, but her 4-1 advantage disappeared as Pavlyuchenkova forced things to a TB. Rybakina again got off to the quicker start, leading 5-0 and winning 7-2. The Russian took the 2nd, then got an early break in the 3rd to lead 2-0, but Rybakina surged to briefly hold a break lead of her own at 3-2. Pavlyuchenkova immediately got things back on serve, and had the serve-first edge as the set was pushed into extra games, with Rybakina having to hold to stay alive while a game down.

The Kazakh held routinely at 15 from 4-5 and 5-6 down, then ralled from 15/30 at 6-7 to keep the match going, but faltered down the final stretch. Down MP at 8-7, Rybakina closed the match with a DF that handed Pavlyuchenkova the victory to end her winless slam QF stretch (0-6) to reach her first career slam SF, making her the first Hordette to reach that stage at a major since the 2016 Wimbledon.
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HM- Charleston 250 1st Rd. - Nao Hibino def. Misaki Doi 7-5/5-7/6-6 (1-0) ret.
...the wild one.

In a 3:14 match in which both players battled against cramps, Doi charged back from 7-5/5-1 down, saving two MP as Hibino twice failed to serve out the win. Doi eventually led 5-2, 40/love in the 3rd against her countrywoman and doubles partner. Hibino saved five total MP, and eventually pushed things to a TB while Doi was doubling over and "walking" around the court straight-legged between points. Finally, after dropping the first point of the TB, Doi could take no more and was forced to retire.

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=BEST TIE-BREAK=
Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Coco Gauff def. Aleksandra Krunic 7-6(11)/6-4
...after a tight opening set against qualifier Aleksandra Krunic went to a tie-break at Roland Garros, Coco Gauff quickly took a 5-1 lead. Krunic then reeled off five straight points to reach SP at 6-5. She would hold a total of three SP before Gauff held her first at 9-8. Gauff missed a down the line backhand, then Krunic fired an ace to get her fourth SP. Gauff continued to deny the Serb the set, but couldn't put away her own second SP. After racing to a Krunic drop shot, then winning the rally with a reflex volley winner that landed in the backcourt, Gauff's ensuing third SP proved to be the charm. She won the wonderfully competitive breaker 13-11.

Not unexpectedly, Krunic was deflated by the result of the tie-break. Gauff raced to a 4-0 lead in the 2nd, but Krunic fought back to get within sight in the set. Still, Gauff put her away in straights.

=THE MATCH THAT ALMOST WAS=
Madrid 3rd Rd. - Belinda Bencic def. Ons Jabeur 7-6(2)/4-3 ret.
...neither woman was broken in the match, but Jabeur was injured while moving into a shot in the backcourt in the 2nd set. After seeing a trainer and trying to continue, she retired a short time later.



=I'M NOT OUT OF ORDER. YOU'RE OUT OF ORDER! THE WHOLE FREAKIN' SYSTEM IS OUT OF ORDER!=


Bogota 1st Rd. - Giuliana Gatto-Monticone def. Astra Sharma 4-6/7-5/6-1
...the chair umpire's incorrect scorekeeping robs 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 chair performing what is essentially the *only* clear item in the job description) and calling attention to the error earlier.







1. Roland Garros 3rd Rd. - Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Iga Swiatek def. Hsieh Su-wei/Elise Mertens 5-7/6-4/7-5
...the RG doubles produced one of the comebacks of the year, as #14-seeded Mattek-Sands/Swiatek trailed top-seeded Hsieh/Mertens 5-1 in the 3rd set. Over the next four games, Hsieh/Mertens held MP in each game -- 2 at 5-1, 3 at 5-2, 1 at 5-3, and another at 5-4 -- but couldn't hold off "Team Tek Tek Boom" (it's Mattek, so apparently they *have* to have a nickmame). After having being unable to convert any of seven MP, Hsieh/Mertens held GP in game #12 to extend the set but were broken to drop the 3rd 7-5. The Court Simonne-Mathieu marathon lasted 3:11.

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2. Madrid 1st Rd. - Jil Teichmann def. Elina Svitolina 2-6/6-4/7-6(5)
...a Svitolina collapse is far from an *uncommon* occurrence, though at least this one was aided by the play of a gutsy Teichmann.

Svitolina served up 5-1 in the 3rd, then had four MP (including from 15/40) on the serve of the Swiss at 5-2. She was broken again when serving at 5-3, as *everyone* on tour seems to find their fighting spirit against Svitolina. The Ukrainian had MP #5 and #6 at 6-5 in yet another Teichmann service game, but again couldn't convert either. In the deciding TB, Svitolina had an early mini-break lead at 2-1, then turned around Teichmann's 4-2 lead to get to 4-4. The Swiss got the lead back, then converted on her first MP to win 7-5 as Teichmann became the first player in '21 to win *two* matches (w/ Adelaide QF vs. Sevastova, where she faced two and won on her seventh) after having been down MP.
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3. Roland Garros 2nd Rd. - Katerina Siniakova def. Veronika Kudermetova 7-6(7)/5-7/7-5
...after squandering a 7-6(7)/3-0 lead, Siniakova had to rally from 5-1 down in the 3rd. Kudermetova twice served for the match, and held two MP (at 5-1 and 5-3, and she was two points awat at 5-4). She even had to overcome some rather shaky umpiring. Ultimately, Siniakova got the set back to 5-5, held and then broke the faltering Kudermetova to seal the victory.
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4. Stuttgart QF - Elina Svitolina def. Petra Kvitova 6-7(4)/7-5/6-2
...the previous month in Miami, Kvitova led Svitolina 6-2/5-4 (on serve), then rallied from 0-3 down in the 3rd to lead 4-3 before the Ukrainian eventually served out a comeback victory on her second try as Kvitova struggled across the finish line in the Florida heat. Indoors in Stuttgart, the Czech made that loss look routine.

Here, Stuttgart defending champ Kvitova led 7-6/4-1 and 15/40 on Svitolina's serve. She failed to get the break for the huge lead there, but held BP in every Svitolina service game in the set. She ultimately only broke once in the 2nd, but still led 5-2 and held MP in consecutive Svitolina serve games at 5-2 and 5-4. But as the scoreline got tighter, so did Kvitova. She missed multiple overheads, including one on BP down at 5-3, then again at 5-5, 30/30.

After Svitolina had had just four BP on Kvitova's serve up until 7-6/5-2, she converted on two of three chances to close out the set, serving things out at 7-5 after having saved two BP in her previous serve game (Kvitova was 3-for-16 on BP in the first two sets). Svitolina would ultimately win 11 of the final 13 games, yet still missed on two MP chances up 5-1 in the 3rd, finally putting Kvitova away on MP #4 two games later in a loss that led to several falls from the Top 10 for the Czech this spring.
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5. Rome QF - Karolina Pliskova def. Alona Ostapenko 4-6/7-5/7-6(1)
...just your typical Ostapenko match, in which Pliskova fired off 13 DF, including three in a single game in which the Lativan held three MP at 5-4 in the 3rd. Still, Ostapenko didn't take the match right then and there, only to see the Czech force a deciding TB with a bloop net cord on GP two games later and then go on to win the breaker at 7-1 to advance to the semis for a third straight year in Rome. Pliskova would go to reach her third straight Rome final, but fall love & love to Iga Swiatek.

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6. Stuttgart SF - Ash Barty def. Elina Svitolina 4-6/7-6(5)/6-2
...Barty pulls one out on her 25th birthday, while Svitolina hands back her bid for her seventh career #1 win (which would have tied Svetlana Kuznetsova for third amongst active players, behind Serena's 17 and Venus' 15).

A round after her Houdini-esque escape against Kvitova, Svitolina paid the Tennis Gods back with interest, as she ralled from 4-1 down in the 2nd with four consecutive games that allowed her to serve for the match at 6-4/5-4. After Svitolina dropped serve, Barty held to force a TB, which the Ukrainian again led (4-2) before losing the final five points. Barty took control in the 3rd, breaking to take a 2-1 lead that she never relinquished.
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7. Roland Garros 3rd Rd. - Paula Badosa def. Ana Bogdan 2-6/7-6(4)/6-4
...after dropping the 1st set, Badosa led 5-3 in the 2nd, only to see Ana Bogdan rip off three straight games and hold a MP at 6-5. Badosa saved it and won a 7-4 TB then, with the Romanian serving up 4-3 in the 3rd, gathered a late break to get back on serve and saved three BPs in the following game to finally take the lead in the match. The Spaniard broke Bogdan to end the 2:51 affair en route to her first slam QF.

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8. Rome 3rd Rd. - Iga Swiatek def. Barbora Krejcikova 3-6/7-6(5)/7-5
...in a match-up that would prove to be somewhat historic a few weeks later, Swiatek prevailed in a meeting of the 2020 and '21 RG champs.

after the two combined for six breaks of serve in the nine games of the 1st set, Krejcikova held two MP at 6-5 on Swiatek's serve in the 2nd. The Pole held to force a TB, won it 7-5, then saw the two combine for a run of twenty straight service holds over the 2nd and 3rd sets before Swiatek broke Krejcikova to take the match. It's the first time the teenager has ever come back from MP down to a win a WTA MD match in her career. In all, Swiatek faced 16 BP (saving 11) and held a slim (117-115) edge in total points on the day.
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HM- Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Petra Kvitova def. Greet Minnen 6-7(3)/7-6(5)/6-1
...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. Kvitova shifted into a new gear and won the set at 6-1 to avoid her first one-and-out Paris appearance since 2010.

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=HARD COURT EXCEPTION=
NCAA Women's Chsp. SF - Estela Perez-Somarriba/MIAMI def. Abbey Forbes/UCLA 6-7(5)/7-5/6-3
...in a three-hour bit of drama, defending NCAA champion Perez-Somarriba stages a comeback from 7-6/5-0 down, saving a MP. The Spaniard would return to the final, but lose to freshman Emma Navarro (Virginia).



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=CARLA: THE RETURN=
After fighting for her life in 2020, the 32-year old Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, a seven-time slam quarterfinalist (twice at RG), only had to face Sloane Stephens in the 1st Round in Paris. Well, that and her own body, worn down and having to be built back up all over again after a six-month regime of chemotherapy and radiotherapy to even get to the point of being able to walk onto Court Simonne-Mathieu on Day 3.



For a bit, it looked as if CSN's return would be one for the ages, as she took a 4-1 lead in the 1st set, saw Stephens get things back on serve, but then held on to take the set 6-3. She took an early break lead in the 2nd, as well, before Stephens surged and led 4-2. Stephens' advantage didn't last, either, as Suarez Navarro broke back and things went to a tie-breaker. There, CSN led 3-1 before Stephens pulled ahead and won 7-4.

The 3rd saw the two exchange breaks in the opening two games, then Stephens be unable to hold a break lead late, as CSN knotted things at 4-4. But, with Spaniard laboring and clearly exhausted after having to play such a hard match at this point in time, Stephens' break in game #9 proved to be decisive. Serving for the match, Stephens went up 40/15 and closed out the win on her second MP with an ace, winning 3-6/7-6(4)/6-4.





1. Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Tamara Zidansek def. Bianca Andreescu 6-7(1)/7-6(2)/9-7
...after winning the opening set TB, Andreescu 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 her maiden RG win (she'd been 0-3 in the MD), which she then turned into a stunning run to the semifinals.

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2. BJK Playoffs Match #2 - Maria Carle/ARG def. Elena Rybakina/KAZ 6-4/3-6/6-0
...in Rybakina's King Cup debut, the #23-ranked Kazakh's slow-starting '21 continued when she was upended by #430 Carle (in her singles debut) in what the Argentine called a "perfect match." Rybakina, who'd retired in her most recent tour match in Charleston (and gone 3-7 in her last 10 WTA outings), took a medical time out in the 3rd set, which she ultimately lost at love. Later, she said that she'd been suffering from heat stroke and felt better once she got back to her hotel room.



Match #4 - Maria Carle/ARG def. Yulia Putintseva/KAZ 6-7(3)/7-6(3) ret.
...while it ultimately came in a losing team effort (for team captain Yaroslava Shvedova rose from the bench to help carry the Kazakhs to a win in the deciding doubles), Carle's turn for Argentina was that of a star.

Already having lost three times in matches this season in which she held MP, and losing another when she nearly did, Putintseva served for the tie-clinching win vs. Carle, coming within two points of victory. But she didn't put the win away, started to cramp, asked for and got an off-court MTO *during* Carle's service game (ARG Captain Mercedes Paz didn't like that, needless to say... and neither would have Yulia had she been witnessing it from that side of the net), came back and served underhanded because of the pain in her legs, lost the 2nd set TB, then fell to the ground a few points into the 3rd set and couldn't get back up, retiring to force the deciding doubles.
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3. BJK Playoffs Match #3 - Marcela Zacarias/MEX def. Heather Watson/GBR 6-3/7-6(1)
...proving to be this BJK Playoffs' epitome of what this competition is about, Zacarias had what could very likely end up being her career-best moment this spring. It doesn't matter that it came in what turned out to be an "inconsequential" match in an ultimately losing effort for her team.

She'd have to do something remarkable to top the reactions she had after her win over Watson.

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4. Parma 2nd Rd. - Katerina Siniakova def. Serena Williams 7-6(4)/6-2
...Siniakova records her sixth career Top 10 win (but just her third since she had three in '17). Of note: four of the Czech's six wins have come over former/current #1's: Halep, Wozniacki, Osaka (who was #1 at the time, at RG) and Serena. #68 Siniakova was the second-lowest ranked player to defeat Williams since January 2017, topped only the then-#116 Shelby Rogers in the QF of Lexington last summer at the beginning of the Restart.

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5. Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Anhelina Kalinina def. Angelique Kerber 6-2/6-4
...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.

Of cousre, while "experience" is indeed a thing, seeing that this makes it back-to-back '21 slam in which Kerber has been the First Seed Out, as well as the second time she's held the dishonor in three years in Paris, maybe there are more than a few isses with the three-time slam winning German's game of late.
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HM- Charleston 2 1st Rd. - Alycia Parks def. Grace Min 6-1/6-4
...in her MD debut, the 20-year old qualifier (#313) records her maiden tour-level victory against a fellow Bannerette ranked some 110 spots above her.
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=THE NEAR-MISS=
Madrid Q1 - Kristina Mladenovic def. Ane Mintegi del Olmo 6-3/5-7/7-6(1)
...with her solo act already flagging this season, singles player Mladenovic (a former event finalist in '17) nearly crashlanded in Madrid against 17-year old wild card Mintegi del Olmo, the world #716 (jr.#32) who was playing her first career match of any kind in a WTA event. Mladenovic trailed 5-2 in the 3rd, but pulled herself up from a truly disaterous result (no matter if this match turns out to be a "remember her when..." moment for the young Spaniard, she just *couldn't* lose this one) by forcing a TB and winning it 7-1.

Mladenovic continued her "singles-first" mantra at Roland Garros, where she didn't even attempt to win her third straight WD crown in her home slam, skipping the doubles altogether. In the Pastry's lone doubles excursion this clay season, she reached the Madrid final alongside Marketa Vondrousova.

With Barbora Krejcikova showing that playing doubles needn't be a detriment to a player's singles game, one wonders if Mladenovic (now ranked #59 in singles), a former Top 10er, might reconsider her options.




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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 3:43 AM 

3 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

10 week clay season went by quick. Will be interesting to see how many play the 4 week clay season after Wimbledon.

The rebuttal:

Still have Badosa/Bogdan over Krejcikova/Sakkari. Oddly enough, both had MP overturned.

HM-Istanbul- Pavlyuchenkova/Potapova.


1.Krejcikova- Won the small one(Strasbourg) and the big one. Then won doubles.
2.Barty- Stuttgart winner and Madrid RU brought the highest level when healthy.
3.Swiatek- Rome winner dominated on clay. At the point where RG QF is a disappointment.
4.Badosa- Belgrade winner also brought it in high level events.
5.Osorio Serrano- 250 queen won on home turf, then brought high level of play worldwide.
6.Sabalenka- Madrid winner now getting high level wins on clay deep in events. Yeah, slam problem still exists.
7.Gauff- Am I that jaded that doubling in Parma and RG QF for a 17 yr old ranks this low? Especially since we know how this ended, those 5 SP hurt.
8.Kudermetova- Charleston winner didn't close well, but got that first title.
9.Konjuh- The first person on this list not to win a clay title this year, the Belgrade RU did this the hard way, having 6 of her clay wins this year in Q.
10.Suarez Navarro- You could argue Fruhvirtova or Cirstea, but a tournament that ended with an amazing story actually started off with one. With no preconceived notion of play or health, Suarez Navarro almost pulled off one for the ages. But in truth, walking off the court, with her head held high, was a win.

Tue Jun 15, 11:56:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

Wimbledon handed out wild cards. Well, some of them. Venus gets one, though if the rumors are right, she won't need it as most Chinese women will withdraw.

On the other hand, 2019 junior winner Snigur does not get one. She stays in Q.

Bertens announced her retirement, effective by the end of the season.

Wed Jun 16, 08:50:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

Sorry to see Kiki go, but not a surprise. I think I was at the head of the line in believing that she could win the French Open, then--when the idea finally became popular--she was forced to retire that year (2018?) when her chances looked very strong (shades of Petrova in 2006) because of illness. After that, the injuries just overtook her. It's sad. Kiki is a delightful person and will be missed.

Wed Jun 16, 05:05:00 PM EDT  

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