Tuesday, June 01, 2021

RG.3- Ash's to Ashes?

While Iga Swiatek is *technically* the defending champ at this Roland Garros, Ash Barty sort of is, too, since she didn't get the chance to fight for the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen after having lifted her in 2019.

The Aussie returned to the scene of her greatest triumph on Day 3. She won yet again, extending her streak in Paris as well as adding onto her tour-leading win total for this season, but she left enough lingering questions about her health to make one wonder if hers is a story destined to not end quite so nicely this time around.



The last time we saw the world #1 in a match that mattered she was retiring from her Madrid semifinal against Coco Gauff with an arm injury. Playing today against Bernarda Pera, though, it was the strapping on her hip/thigh that proved to be the most worrisome ailment to consider.

After winning a 6-4 1st set against the #70-ranked Bannerette, Barty became increasingly bothered by her lower body injury in the 2nd. As Pera built up a 5-3 lead, serving the set out a game later, the Aussie was clearly in an uncharacteristically negative frame of mind. A medical timout between the 2nd and 3rd sets allowed her to finish the match, but the questions it all raised never went away.



Barty, having issues on serve due to pain while pushing off on her bad limb, seemed to be there for the taking by Pera, whose aggressive play put her in position to grab a career-defining victory. But a brief letdown, with a patch of passive, error-prone play at a particularly key time in the 3rd set, proved to be a case of Pera letting the Aussie off the hook.

With the set tied at 2-2, Barty held at love and then broke Pera to take a 4-2 lead. Just like that, the tide was turned. Barty swept the final two games to win her eighth straight RG match, 6-4/3-6/6-2. The match ended with, appropriately, Pera netting a short ball on MP.



Barty remains 21-3 on clay since the start of the '19 RG, including 14-3 this season alone. Her 28 overall singles wins lead the tour in 2021. But now the question isn't whether or not her form will prevail, or if she can maintain her season's mastery over Top 20 (10-1) and Top 10 (6-1) players, it's whether or not her body will *allow* her to do any of that.



Quick! Where are Simona Halep's doctors, trainers and physios? They or some people just like them are needed by another world #1. STAT!




=DAY 3 NOTES=
...while Day 2's big headlines included a withdrawal and a birthday, the 1st Round remained to be completed on Day 3.

Early in the day, Grampians finalist Ann Li, playing for the first time since March, made her '21 clay debut a nearly spotless one, dispatching Margarita Gasparyan 6-0/6-1 to improve her season record to 10-2. The 20-year old Bannerette has now won at least one match in all four of her slam MD appearances. She's yet to play at Wimbledon, where she had her best junior slam result, reaching the '17 final against Claire Liu in what at the time was the first all-U.S. girls slam singles final since 1992.

Last fall, #13 Jennifer Brady didn't take too well to the heavier conditions at Roland Garros. Or, you know, to young Dane Clara Tauson, who ousted her in the 1st Round in her slam debut. Since then, Tauson has continued to rise (she won another RG 1st Rounder the other day), while so has Brady, reaching the AO final earlier this year. We found out today that Brady has parted ways with coach Michael Geserer, ending a combination that was touted from all corners and rooftops Down Under as being one of the key reasons why the Bannerette has risen up the rankings since last year's Restart.



In her first match with Brad Stine in her corner, Brady defeated Anastasija Sevastova 6-3/6-3.

With Ash Barty's long-term partnership with coach Craig Tyzzer being the exception to the general rule on the women's tour, I guess we'll see in a few months whether or not this decision looks as good on Brady's results as it did today. Many WTA players have seemed to take the odd step of changing things up almost immediately after reaching their greatest heights on tour. Sometimes it's worked out (Osaka, on the court, at least), sometimes it hasn't (there are sooo many to choose from). To be continued.

...in other Day 3 results, Jasmine Paolini won her second straight 1st Round match at RG, defeating qualifier Stefanie Voegele to join countrywoman Camila Giorgi and Martina Trevisan in the 2nd Round.



#5 Elina Svitolina advanced in straight sets over French wild card Oceane Babel but, as is her pattern, she opened the door enough to give the teenager life in her slam MD debut. Babel led in the 2nd 5-2 and served for the set a game later before the Ukrainian swept the remaining games in the match to win 6-2/7-5.

Kristina Mladenovic (def. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, 4 & love) and top-ranked Pastry Fiona Ferro (def. Liang En-shuo, who had an early break lead in the 3rd) prevailed over qualifiers to join countrywoman Caroline Garcia and Harmony Tan in the 2nd Round. Usually, you see wholesale outfit changes as the clay season leads into the grass court schedule. But, really, Ferro's predominantly-white attire today would fit in quite well at the AELTC...



Belgrade champ Barbora Krejcikova would have likely been forgiven had her recent high and late arrival in Paris led to an early exit in her attempt to back up her RG 4th Round run from last year. It almost happened, too. Fellow Czech Kristyna Pliskova led 7-5/3-1, but Krejcikova rallied to win in three.

Of note: Krejcikova has won the last two slam MX doubles competitions (AO 2020-21) held over the last two seasons, and three (also AO, in '19) of the last six. This year's RG MX draw will only consist of 16 teams, rather than the usual 32. One assumes Krejcikova will play on one of them.



Wild card Astra Sharma defeated qualifier Irina Bara to reach the 2nd Round in Paris for a second straight year, setting up another shot at her for the player she defeated in the Charleston 250 final in April, #25 Ons Jabeur, who defeated Yulia Putintseva.

...the fate of #30 Anett Kontaveit is almost always a head-scratcher. So talented, and having put up results (to a point) on all surfaces during her career. Yet the 25-year old Estonian arrived in Paris without a tour singles title since 2017 and looking for her first MD win in Paris since her Round of 16 RG run three years ago. Kontaveit reached her seventh career final earlier this season at the Grampians event, but had to share runner-up honors with Li when the final was cancelled due to COVID concerns heading into the Australian Open.

Having just parted ways with coach Nigel Sears (2018-21), Kontaveit exited in the 2nd Round in Madrid in her last outing, her first with new coach Ain Suurthal. A third straight 1st Round RG exit seemed at hand against Vikotorija Golubic, as the Swiss veteran led their Day 3 match 7-6/4-2 and held a MP on Kontaveit's serve as she attempted to force a 2nd set tie-break down 5-6. At least in this case, Kontaveit found the right formula for success, holding and then taking the TB 7-5. She then bageled Golubic in the 3rd and lived to fight another day.



Earlier this season, Hsieh Su-wei put on a headline-grabbing QF run at the Australian Open, achieving a slam singles career best at age 35. Since then, Hsieh had posted just one singles win (in Madrid qualifying) in five matches. Today she appeared to have Wang Qiang, a recent finalist in Parma (her first tour final in two and a half years, after reaching four in five months in '18), in her sights, taking the 1st set. But Wang was the one who proved to be the most resilient on the day, taking the 2nd to force a deciding set, and then recovering after being broken when serving for the match at 5-4, sweeping the final two games to win 2-6/6-4/7-5.

...meanwhile, Venus Williams made history today. Some good. Some bad.



First, she appeared in her 24th MD at Roland Garros. That's good. Remarkable, really. But she also lost 3 & 1 to #32 Ekaterina Alexandrova, extending what is now the longest losing streak of her career (6 matches). The loss gives her four consecutive 1st Round exits in Paris, as well as four in her last five slams, and six of eight. Since her amazing '17 run in majors at age 36 -- RU-4r-RU-SF -- Williams has lost in her opening match in eight of thirteen slam appearances.

At least she's still in one draw, though, as her teaming in doubles with Coco Gauff reads like a multi-generational dream (there's a 23-year age difference between the two) we haven't seen the likes of since Martina Navratilova played with Svetlana Kuznetsova during the final stages of her comeback as she neared 50 years of age in the early 2000s (they reached the U.S. Open final in '03).

Oh, and Venus also gave us this today...



Meanwhile, Williams' doubles partner is still alive in the singles, too. #24 Gauff, who seems to have truly figured something out this EuroClay season, weathered the typical storms today that generally come up during one of her matches, making her one of the most reliably entertaining players going right now. After previously being seemingly unable to avoid going three sets, the 17-year old has developed an ability to surge at just the right time in order to *avoid* needlessly going the distance in matches, tiring herself over the course of a long event, not to mention not giving an opponent multiple chances to take her out. The most recent result of this? She swept the singles and doubles titles in Parma.

After a tight opening set against qualifier Aleksandra Krunic went to a tie-break, 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 straight sets, 7-6(11)/6-4, the eighth match in her last nine that have been wrapped in less than three sets.



...in the last women's 1st Round match to be played, Carla Suarez Navarro returned for her first match since her cancer diagnosis last year.



After fighting for her life in 2020, the 32-year old Spaniard, a seven-time slam quarterfinalist (twice at RG), only had to face Sloane Stephens today. 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.

Stephens was in an unenviable position today. As one Tennis Channel announcer said, to get a win that she very much needs would also sort of make her seem as if she "was killing Bambi." For a bit, it looked as if she wouldn't have such a worry. CSN 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.



Meanwhile, the inimitable WTA social media team was at it again after this one. After (shockingly) taking the time to post a series of welcome back messages from fellow players to CSN today, once the emotional and meaningful (on so many levels) match was over, this is the greatly informative, perfectly-reading-the-temperature-of-the-room tweet that the WTA feed posted...



Yep, it sure seems to hit all the right chords and encapsulate the feelings of the moment, don't you think? About fifteen minutes later, they followed up with a tweet featuring the post-match hug between Stephens and Suarez-Navarro, but I think the original response is a much better indication of the true attention to detail during this major that we're gettting from the media and marketing department on what is the tour's most immediate link to the public on a daily basis.

Having now played her final Roland Garros, Suarez Navarro will continue forward with her goal to retire on her own terms (she'd announced that '20 would be her final season *before* her diagnosis), and hopes to play Wimbledon, the Olympics and maybe the U.S. Open before she exits the stage one last time.

...well, it's that time at a slam again. A 1st Round recap...

In all, the U.S. led the field of 64 1st Round winners with 12, followed by the Czechs (7, though Kvitova won't play the 2nd Rd.), Russians (6) and (in a bit of a surprise) the French (4, with three coming from their four automatic entrants into the field, but just one from the seven wild cards). The group of 3-1 nations was a mix of old and new, with Australia, Belarus and Italy in a three-way tie.

The only undefeated, multi-player nation was Poland (2-0), while there were seven with two or more entrants that went winless. Croatia, Germany and Serbia tied for the worst mark at 0-3. Spain had the most losses, going a combined 1-4, with Paula Badosa the only remaining hope.

UPSET QUEENS/REVELATION LADIES: Of the six seeded women who lost in the 1st Round, four were knocked off by two nations (w/ two each). Ukraine saw Anhelina Kalinina (def. #26 Kerber) and Marta Kostyuk (def. #12 Muguruza) upset two former #1's, while Slovenia contributed wins from Tamara Zidansek (def. #6 Andreescu) and Polona Hercog (def. #16 Bertens). Additionally, Slovenian Kaja Juvan put on a good show in the 2nd set of her loss to Iga Swiatek.

The GenPDQ contingent of Bannerettes is in full force in Paris, with the likes of Gauff, Brady, Li, Baptiste, Pegula and Collins getting wins; while the Italians are proving to have life after the Quartet, with a three-strong group (Giorgi, Paolini & Trevisan) in the 2nd Round. The Czechs include Vondrousova, Muchova, Krejcikova, Siniakova and Martincova.

The U.S. in no longer a revelation, so the RL honor came down to to the Ukrainians, Czechs and Italians. With Krejcikova and Siniakova *both* contributing in singles, I'll go with the Maidens.

I'll hold off on the UQ, since Kerber seems like something of a sitting duck at the moment and Garbi was injured, Ukraine needs a "second act." Slovenia was more of a contender for RL (that way Juvan could be factored in), as Bertens is still in comeback mode and Andreescu is well, a little "blinky," as is often the case. The Italians got a seeded win from Giorgi (#22 Martic), and could still be a factor, as could the Bannerettes and Russians under the right circumstances.

NATION OF POOR SOULS: It seems wrong to tilt toward Spain (1-4), so in looking at the group of 0-3 nations, Germany stands out the most. Andrea Petkovic nearly pulled off an "old school" win today over Muchova, but clay-loving Laura Siegemund fell in the 1st Round after reaching the QF a year ago and Angelique Kerber was the First Seed Out for a second straight '21 slam and for the second time in three years in Paris. Plus, where is the next generation? Didn't we go through this right after the Graf era with German women's tennis before -- finally -- the current crop of veterans broke through with some significant results starting about a decade ago?

"Crash & Burn" is still to be determined, as is the "Zombie Queen of Paris."

It *is* LPT Day, though. Aka Justine Henin's birthday. One never knows what will come up on June 1st, especially after *last* year's award couldn't be given on June 1st (the tour was shut down), so it went to Simona Halep after she won on Day 1 -- on her *own* birthday -- in the fall version of Roland Garros in 2020. But today was pretty easy, as Carla Suarez Navarro, with one of the few one-handed backhands over the past twenty years that exists even in the *shadow* of that of Henin, made her return to action on this day, thereby earning the Coupe La Petit Taureau as a parting gift for all her Parisian memories.

Keep it in a dry place, Carla. Otherwise it might warp.






...WELCOME BACK ON DAY 3:




...SO MUCH FOR THAT ON DAY 3:




So, will this be used as fodder to allow players to skip press conferences in the future?

At any rate, as Elena Vesnina was set to face Kvitova in the 2nd Round, this assures that there will be a Russian in the 3rd Round of the 81st of the last 83 slams.

...RECOMMENDATION ON DAY 3:

If you didn't catch the History Channel documentary the other day on the Tulsa race massacre of 1921, and still can, you should watch it. One thing the past year has done is drag this horrific story back into the light of day after being shamelessly buried for 100 years because no one wanted to admit that it actually happened. History is messy and accountability is often missing, but things such as this shameful moment in U.S. history -- which never really ended because of the silence, and the reverberating after effects -- is something that should and needs to be remembered, especially in today's national climate.



...LIKE ON DAY 3:








A one-day pause today on the former champion round-up, as the 1st Round awards took up too much time. So, an unabridged 1st Round nation's won/lost list fills in...

=RG 1st ROUND WON/LOST - BY NATION=
12-6 - USA
7-2 - CZE
6-4 - RUS
4-7 - FRA
3-1 - AUS,BLR,ITA
3-2 - UKR
3-3 - ROU
2-0 - POL
2-1 - JPN,KAZ,SLO
2-3 - CHN
1-0 - DEN,GRE,MNE,SWE,TUN
1-1 - CAN,EST
1-2 - BEL,SUI
1-4 - ESP
0-1 - ARG,COL,GEO,SVK
0-2 - GBR,LAT,NED,TPE
0-3 - CRO,GER,SRB

















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Like staring at Future Simona, eh?




























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*Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU WINNERS*
2016 Yulia Putintseva, KAZ
2017 Elina Svitolina, UKR
2018 Mihaela Buzarnescu, ROU
2019 Simona Halep, ROU
2020 Simona Halep, ROU
2021 Carla Suarez Navarro, ESP

*RG "REVELATION LADIES" WINNERS' NATION/REGION*
2006 France
2007 Italy
2008 Czech Republic
2009 Australia
2010 Germany
2011 North America
2012 France
2013 North America/Atlantic
2014 Spain
2015 Australia (The New Aussies)
2016 France
2017 Muslim women
2018 Romania
2019 Russia
2020 Romania
2021 Czech Republic

*2021 FIRST SLAM MD WINS*
=AO=
Olga Danilovic, SRB
Liudmila Samsonova, RUS
Mayar Sherif, EGY
Nina Stojanovic, SRB
=RG=
Hailey Baptiste, USA
Tereza Martincova, CZE
Harmony Tan, FRA

*RG "NATIONS OF POOR SOULS"*
2012 ROU (1-5 in 1st Rd.; Cadantu double-bageled)
2013 CZE (2-8 in 1st Rd.)
2014 CHN (0-4 in 1st; Sh.Zhang "1st Loss" & #2 Li, AO champ)
2015 USA (4-13 in 1st Rd.; most players in draw)
2016 ITA (Quartet 0-3 in 1st Rd.; Pennetta retired)
2017 GER (2-5 1st Rd.; #1 Kerber out)
2018 LAT (both DC Ostapenko & Sevastova out 1st Rd.)
2019 ITA (0-2; first none in RG 2nd Rd. since 1982)
2020 USA (4 seeds pre-3r, Serena w/d 2r, US QF/SF Rogers/Brady 1r, Venus 1r, Gauff 2r w/ 19 DF)
2021 GER (0-3 in 1st Rd.; Kerber FSO 2 con GS/2 of 3 RG; Siegemund 1r)

*VENUS WILLIAMS - LONG CAREER LOSING STREAKS*
6 - 2021 (active)
5 - 2019-20
5 - 2020
4 - 2019

*SERENA & VENUS WILLIAMS CAREER SLAM RESULT COMPARISON*
[Serena / Venus]
1st Round - 1 / 16
2nd Round - 3 / 10 (Serena in RG 2nd Rd.)
3rd Round - 10 / 13
4th Round - 9 / 11
QF - 9 / 11
SF - 7 / 7
RU - 10 / 9
W - 23 / 7




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This sort of stuff really needs to stop being reported by traditionally legitimate news sources with any sense of "normalized" urgency, as it's a continual case of being unwittingly (or maybe wittingly) complicit in his attempts to continue to breath oxygen into the lungs of people's delusions at a time when polls show that, slowly but hardly surely, his relevance is starting to ebb in some important voting quarters and -- maybe -- this phenomenon will die a natural death in enough places that it *might* eventually lose steam. Or one would hope. :/

Of course, if they can somehow report it with accompanying foreboding Darth Vader theme music, or maybe the sort that you hear when then clowns run around at the circus, then have at it.

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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: Baptiste/USA, Martincova/CZE, Tan/FRA
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: Czech Republic
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Germany (0-3 in 1st Rd.; Kerber FSO 2 con GS/2 of 3 RG; Siegemund 1r)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: 1r wins: Baptiste, Kalinina, Lepchenko
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: 1r wins: Sharma, Tan
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: 1r wins: Buzarnescu, Vesnina
LAST PASTRY STANDING: 1r wins: Ferro, Garcia, Mladenovic, Tan
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT "...": xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: Collins, Vesnina
CRASH & BURN: Nominees: 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: Peterson (1r-set and 5-2 vs. Rogers); Hercog (1r-4-2 3rd vs. Bertens); Krejcikova (1r-set and 3-1 vs. Kr.Pliskova); Kontaveit (1r-saved MP in 2nd set vs. Golubic)
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), Osaka (drama/controversy)
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: Carla Suarez Navarro, ESP (June 1 - returned after '20 cancer diagnosis)






All for Day 3. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 7:29 PM 

2 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Even with this odd start, only 6 seeds were out after round 1. Two more in Osaka and Kvitova will be out.

The bottom quarter only has 4 seeds left.

Stat of the Day- 7- Slam QF for Carla Suarez Navarro.

The storybook ending almost happened. Alas, it was not to be.

A 2 time singles winner on tour, Suarez Navarro had an interesting career arc. She reached 11 singles finals, the first 6 being 250 events. In the last of those 6(Portugal), she finally got her first title. The last 5 were premier level.

Qatar 2016 was her final singles title, a week in which she reached the doubles final with Errani, the only final in her career without Muguruza.

Purveyor of the one handed backhand, her game harkens back to another era. Only 32, it seems fitting, as in her best year(2014), she played events like Paris, Florianopolis, Katowice, Oeiras and Bad Gastein. She went 51-24 that season, the peak of a 4 year stretch in which she won 44, 52, 41, and 39 matches respectively.

With a calendar that doesn't exist anymore, it should be no surprise that her MD debut was in Vina del Mar-Chile 2008. She qualified, but lost to Rossana de los Rios, then got her first MD win vs Mattek Sands in Bogota shortly after.

She has now played a WTA level match in 14 straight years,and even if the former #6 in singles and 11# in doubles never wins another, she will have won in life.

Tue Jun 01, 08:22:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

CSN's career arc was not unlike that of another one-handed backhand wonder: Francesca Schiavone. I'm not sure, but I think that Schiavone played in 9 finals before she finally won one, and this was because she finally engaged help for the psychological flaw in her otherwise beautiful game.

Wed Jun 02, 09:45:00 AM EDT  

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