Friday, June 04, 2021

RG.6- A Pavlyuchenkovian Resurfacing

A month from her 30th birthday, if her work during this first week at Roland Garros is any indication, it seems that Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is finally settling into her position as a veteran presence on tour after having followed up a spectacular junior career with a good, but less-great-than-initially-anticipated, nearly decade-and-a-half run in the WTA.



Pavlyuchenkova was a rare three-time junior slam winner in 2006-07. Coming of age in the middle of the heyday of the Russian Tennis Revolution, she was expected to become the next Hordette who'd win slams (like Sharapova, Kuznetsova and Myskina), reach #1 (Safina) or play in major finals (Zvonareva). But, to date, that hasn't happened.

Much of the Russian's pro career has been a tennis Rorschach test to determine whether it should be viewed as "half-full," or "half-empty."

Taken on its own, without the heightened expectation of her early days, Pavlyuchenkova has had a great career. She's a 12-time tour title winner, has reached the QF at all four majors and ranked as high as #13. But, the sport being what it is (i.e. a constant comparison of numbers, accomplishments, and what-have-you-done-latelys), even those numbers suffer under greater scrutiny.

For one, the Russian has been stuck on twelve titles for two years, and once and if she gets #13 she immediately joins a list of one, as in being the *only* player in tour history with more than a dozen titles who hasn't yet at least reached the semifinal stage at a major.

Since reaching her first QF at Wimbledon in 2016, Pavlyuchenkova has gone 0-3 at SW19. Her QF runs at both RG and the U.S. Open (both in '11), before today, had been followed by zero Round of 16 results in seventeen combined MD appearances at those two majors. More consistent at the Australian Open, Pavlyuchenkova reached three QF in four years betwen 2017-20, then fell in the 1st Round in Melbourne this February.

While she's played in an impressive twenty finals in her career, the Russian's last was in 2019. That #13 ranking came a decade ago, and she hasn't cracked the Top 20 since '18.

At some point, even the player has to recognize this trend, and wonder whether the tide will ever surge back her way, especially when players a full decade younger than she begin winning majors and populating the Top 20. Though she's always been a "cyclical" sort of player who burns brightly, goes away, then returns after a respectable interval to remind everyone what she's capable of, only to then drift back into the shadows for a bit once again, Pavlyuchenkova acknowledged today that she's had her own questions about her continued place in the game.



Pavlyuchenkova came into this slam sporting a 9-9 mark on the year, but during the clay season she'd already popped her head back out into the WTA world. As she does on occasion. Her Madrid semifinal, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka (her opponent today), was her first in a WTA 1000 event since 2010 (Cincinnati). During that event, she'd posted victories over the likes of Keys, Ka.Pliskova, Brady and Muchova.

Pavlyuchenkova is the #31 seed at this RG, her first slam seeding since 2018 after having been seeded in 33 of 35 majors at one point back to 2009. But against the Madrid champ and Stuttgart finalist from this spring, the #3-seeded Sabalenka, a player currently in her own half-full/half-empty career period, it was the Russian who proved to have the better mentality.

After dropping the 1st set 6-4, but taking the 2nd at 6-2, Sabalenka seemed positioned to continue on in her attempt to put together her first deep slam run (she's yet to reach a slam QF, and is one of just three players in tour history with 10+ title without such a major final eight result on her resume). But after an off-court medical time-out, it was Pavlyuchenkova who played the 3rd with purpose. Sabalenka began firing errors (17 of 39 UE on the day came in the set), had a 38% first serve percentage, and just six winners (matching the Russian's number, after leading her 16-11 and 19-5 in sets 1 and 2).

Sabalenka never won a game, while Pavlyuchenkova's 6-4/2-6/6-0 win gives her her best RG result since 2011. Her 36th career Top 10 win is her 16th over a Top 5 player.



Much like the emergence of a brood of 17-year cicadas, Pavlyuchenkova always (eventually) has her moment. We seem to be in the middle of another one as we speak. If she makes the most of it, she could even change the entire conversation about whether her career is half-full, half-empty or, maybe, just right.




=DAY 6 NOTES=
...sometimes you never know what you're going to get in a major. Just ask Tamara Zidansek.

The #85-ranked 23-year old has made *something* of a name for herself in recent seasons, but did anyone rightly see the second-ranked woman from Slovenia finding her way into her maiden slam Round of 16 in Paris? With two tour-level finals ('19 Nuremberg, and Bogota this year), a pair of WTA 125 wins (2018-19) and seventeen ITF circuit crowns, Zidansek has gotten close to the Top 50 in the past but hadn't really shown she was ready for a second-week-of-a-major type of run. Until you start to look at what she's been doing the last few months.

1-5 after last season's Restart, ending '20 on a four-match losing streak, Zidansek started this season promisingly enough, getting wins in Abu Dhabi over Jennifer Brady and Leylah Fernandez before taking just two games from Marta Kostyuk. She was less than stellar the rest of the early-season hard court campaign, but burst into the clay season with a final run in Bogota that saw her take Maria Camila Osorio Serrano to three sets before falling to the teenager in their battle to see which would win their maiden tour title. She qualified in Madrid, defeating Hsieh Su-wei in back-to-back matches (Q2 and then 1st Rd. as a LL) before facing Ash Barty. She took the Aussie, an eventual finalist, to three sets before finally being ousted. In Rome, she defeated Sloane Stephens to reach the MD, but lost to Bernarda Pera 3 & 2.

So she seemed to be edging up to *something*, but it took her 1st Round 3:20 marathon win (9-7 3rd) over #6 Bianca Andreescu to notch her first career Top 10 win to give one any possible idea of what might be coming. A straight sets win over Madison Brengle followed, leading into today's match against Katerina Siniakova, who saved MPs to defeat #29 Veronika Kudermatova in the 2nd Round. Zidansek dropped the 1st set at love to the Czech, but slowly took control.

After taking a 3-1 lead in the 2nd, the Slovene thwarted Siniakova's attempt to complete the win in short order, winning a 7-5 TB to force a deciding 3rd. She broke at love to start the set, and backed it up with a hold. After back-to-back love holds, she led 4-2. A break of the Czech's serve gave Zidansekthe chance to successfully serve out the 0-6/7-6(5)/6-2 win.



...2021 has been nothing like 2020 for #21 Elena Rybakina. For most people that'd be a good thing, but not the Kazakh. After starting 21-4 and reaching four finals before last year's shutdown in March, this season has gone very differently for the 21-year old. Rybakina began the year 8-9, reaching the QF in only her first event in Abu Dhabi, and dealt with a hard quarantine in Australia and additional health concerns that didn't dare cross her on the pre-pandemic version of the tour a year ago. After of string of seven events without producing multiple match wins, Rybakina took three weeks off to exclusively practice before heading into Roland Garros. The decision seems to have helped her turn a corner.

Today she downed Elena Vesnina 6-1/6-4 to reach her first career Round of 16, firing twelve aces on the day and completing her third consecutive straight sets win this week.



...elsewhere, (hopefully) free of the back issues that have limited her this season, #15 Victoria Azarenka downed #23 Madison Keys 2 & 2 to reach her first RG Round of 16 since her semifinal berth in 2013.

Veteran Romanian Sorana Cirstea thwarted the rise of Dasha Kasatkina, taking out the Russian 3 & 2 to reach her first slam 4th Round since the Australian Open in 2017. Her only other such result in a major was a Roland Garros QF in 2009. Likely now assured of a return to the Top 50. Cirstea is yet another of the form claycourters from this spring (she's 11-2) so far carrying over their momentum to Paris.



Though neither Kasatkina nor Vesnina advanced to the 4th Round, Pavlyuchenkova had already taken care of that. This will be the 73rd time in the last 82 slams that a Hordette has reached the Round of 16.

...as the second week begins this weekend, #7 Serena Williams is the highest remaining seed in the bottom half of the draw. Playing with a heavily strapped leg, Williams nonetheless handled Danielle Collins in a 6-4 1st set before showing signs of her movement being somewhat hampered. She fell behind 4-1 in the 2nd, but flipped the switch (as she does) to sweep the final five games and advance to her 63rd career slam Round of 16 (and 13th in Paris, though her first since '18 and just her second since '16).

Naturally, as if it hadn't already started, the "SW24" talk will officially pick up steam. Still, with her lingering injury and today's 47% first serve percentage, there are just as many warning signs as optimistic ones. Even if she manages to emerge from the bottom half, the top half likely promises to produce a finalist who will closely resemble the sort of player that has defeated Williams in her last four slam finals: younger, surging opponents with nothing to lose and playing with far less pressure on their shoulders than an all-time great attempting to match the all-time slam mark in what could easily be her last chance to be one win away from making even more history.



...two years after reaching the RG final in her third appearance in the MD in Paris, #20 Marketa Vondrouova, finally healthy after dealing with injuries for much of the last two years, defeated Polona Hercog to reach her second slam Round of 16 this year.



Meanwhile, the final spot in the 4th Round in the bottom half of the draw proved to produce the tighest battle. In the end, springtime superhero #33-seed Paula Badosa had to scramble to secure her spot in a second consecutive RG Round of 16.



After dropping the 1st set, Belgrade winner Paula 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.



A tour-leading 16-2 on clay this spring, Badosa reached the SF or better in each of her other clay events, making the final four in Charleston (w/ a win over #1 Ash Barty) and Madrid (a loss to Barty) before winning in Serbia (w/o dropping a set).



...in mixed doubles, two-time defending champs Latisha Chan & Ivan Dodig (the 2018-19 champs, after the MX wasn't contested in Paris last fall) lost 6-3/6-1 in their opening match today, falling to #3 Demi Schuurs & Wesley Koolhof.

...in the opening round of wheelchair action, the top four rollers advanced in straights sets. #1 Diede de Groot double-bageled Anjelica Bernal and will face countrywoman Aniek Van Koot, who won 1 & 2 over French wild card Emmanuelle Morch, in the semifinals. The other side of the draw will see defending champ and #2 seed Yui Kamiji, who defeated doubles partner and best friend Jordanne Whiley 6-2/6-1, next get South African KG Montjane, a 3 & 4 winner today over the U.S.'s Dana Mathewson.






*WOMEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
x vs. x
x vs. x
x vs. x
x vs. x
#7 Serena Williams/USA vs. #21 Elena Rybakina/KAZ
#15 Victoria Azarenka/BLR vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS
Tamara Zidansek/SLO vs. Sorana Cirstea/ROU
#20 Marketa Vondrousova/CZE vs. #33 Paula Badosa/ESP

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Hsieh/Mertens (TPE/BEL) vs. #14 Mattek-Sands/Swiatek (USA/POL)
x vs. x
x vs. (WC) Burel/Paquet (FRA/FRA)
#9 Fichman/Olmos (CAN/MEX) vs. Martic/Rogers (CRO/USA)
Linette/Pera (POL/USA) vs. #10 Hradecka/Siegemund (CZE/GER)
x vs. #3 Melichar/Schuurs (USA/NED)
Pliskova/Pliskova (USA/USA) vs. #12 Niculescu/Ostapenko (ROU/LAT)
Dabrowski/Fernandez (CAN/CAN) vs. #2 Krejcikova/Siniakova (CZE/CZE)

*MIXED DOUBLES QF*
x vs. x
Krawczyk/Salisbury (USA/GBR) vs. Jurak/Fraah (CRO/COL)
x vs. #3 Schuurs/Koolhof (NED/NED)
x vs. x

*WHEELCHAIR WOMEN'S SINGLES SF*
#1 Diede de Groot/NED vs. Aniek Van Koot/NED
KG Montjane/RSA vs. #2 Yui Kamiji/JPN

*WHEELCHAIR WOMEN'S DOUBLES*
#1 de Groot/Van Koot (NED/NED) vs. Mathewson/Montjane (USA/RSA)
Bernal/Morch (COL/FRA) vs. #2 Kamiji/Whiley (JPN/GBR)






...A GOOD (AND TRUTHFUL) READ ON DAY 6:



...ANNINVERSARY ON DAY 6:



...DOING "THE SERENA" ON DAY 6:



...IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING ABOUT THE TWO-TIME RG SEMIFINALIST ON DAY 6:



...BUT WHAT DOES THE TENNIS CHANNEL DRAFTKINGS DESK SAY ABOUT IT?... ON DAY 6:






Kea Bouman, the 1927 French Championships winner, collected a lot of "first" and "last" honors in her one and only trip to the winner's circle in Paris. In the wake of Suzanne Lenglen's decision to turn pro, Bouman was the initial champion in the post-La Divine era, as well as the first non-French winner of the title. Born in Almelo, Netherlands, she's *still* the only Dutch woman to be crowned a slam singles champion.



With her singles win coming in a year in which the event was held at Stade Français in Saint-Cloud, Bouman was the final women's champion to be crowned before the tournament made its move to what has become its permanent home at Roland Garros. Sandwiched between two all-time greats, she was also the last champion before Helen Wills Moody won her first title in Paris, her first of three in a row and four in five years.

1925 Suzanne Lenglen/FRA
1926 Suzanne Lenglen/FRA
1927 Kea Bouman/NED
1928 Helen Wills Moody/USA
1929 Helen Wills Moody/USA
1930 Helen Wills Moody/USA

As with many tennis stars of the era, Bouman was the first female Dutch athlete to win an Olympic medal, taking the Bronze in MX in 1924 in Paris (w/ Hendrik Timmer). In 1929, she won her only other grand slam crown, taking the French doubles alongside Spain's Lilí Álvarez. She reached the singles QF at both Wimbledon (1926) and the U.S. (1927). A four-time consecutive national tennis champion (1923-26), Bouman was an accomplished multi-sport athlete, as well. She was the Dutch national champ in golf and also held a spot on the Netherlands' field hockey team.


Bouman & Bill Tilden


Bouman died in 1998 at the age of 94.



To be continued...













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*BEST 2021 SLAM RESULTS*
[protected ranking]
RG 3rd Rd. - Elena Vesnina, RUS
AO 2nd Rd. - Mona Barthel, GER
AO 2nd Rd. - Rebecca Marino, CAN (Q)
RG 2nd Rd. - Mihaela Buzarnescu, ROU

*WORST RG RESULTS BY AO CHAMP IN OPEN ERA*
=1st Round=
1978 Chris O'Neil
1979 Barbara Jordan
2000 Lindsay Davenport
2014 Li Na
2016 Angelique Kerber
=2nd Round=
1987 Hana Mandlikova
2004 Justine Henin
2011 Kim Clijsters
2021 Naomi Osaka







TOP QUALIFIER: Varvara Lepchenko/USA
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #8 Iga Swiatek/POL
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): 1st Rd. - Tamara Zidansek/SLO def. #6 Bianca Andreescu/CAN 6-7(1)/7-6(2)/9-7 (3:20; Andreescu broke for 5-4 lead in 3rd)
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: Hailey Baptiste/USA, Tereza Martincova/CZE, Harmony Tan/FRA
UPSET QUEENS: Slovenia
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: Hailey Baptiste/USA, Anhelina Kalinina/UKR, Varvara Lepchenko/USA (all 2nd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Astra Sharma/AUS and Harmony Tan/FRA (2nd Rd.)
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: Mihaela Buzarnescu/ROU (2r), Elena Vesnina/RUS (3r)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: Fiona Ferro, Caroline Garcia, Kristina Mladenovic, Harmony Tan (all 2nd Rd.)
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT "...": xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: Cirstea, Kasatkina, Pavlyuchenkova
CRASH & BURN: Ash Barty/AUS and Naomi Osaka/JPN (#1 seed ret. 2r; #2 seed w/d 2r; second time in Open era top two out before 3r)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS (early-round): Katerina Siniakova, CZE (2nd Rd.: down 5-1 in 3rd vs. V.Kudermetova, saved 2 MP)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS (mid/late-round): Nominee: Badosa (3rd Rd.-MP vs. Bogdan)
DOUBLES STAR: xx
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Nominees: Azarenka, Cirstea, Pavlyuchenkova, S.Williams
Mademoiselle/Madam OF THE EVENING: Nominee: S.Williams
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
Légion de Lenglen HONOREE: Naomi Osaka/JPN (press drama and tournament withdrawal)
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: Carla Suarez Navarro, ESP (June 1 - returned after '20 cancer diagnosis)






All for Day 6. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 7:34 PM 

2 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

An opportunity missed for Sabalenka, but the truth is that she has struggled holding her serve all week.

The fact that the schedule was front loaded meant that Badosa/Bogdan was the late match with almost nothing else going. It was worth the price of admission, at least until curfew.

Bogdan has always had that offensive game, but her defense was loads better that I have ever seen. Badosa also brought it. I don't know how much she will have for her next match, but this win should pay off later in the year. By ranking, not a big deal, but she would not have won this last year.

Stat of the Day- 16- Years in which Martina Navratilova won a grass event.

She won 32 grass titles, a number that seems absurd. Seriously, how many active players other than Serena and Venus have done so on all?

Martina did play when the Australian Open was still played on grass, but take a look at the events the season in which she won her first. That was 1977, though that event, New South Wales, was played in Nov. 1976.

1977 Grass Events

Colgate Sydney
Melbourne
Marlboro Sydney
Australian Open
Beckenton
Edinburgh
Wimbledon
Palm Springs

Palm Springs was the week after Wimbledon, while you had both an Aussie swing and a British one.

It was much tougher to win at the end of her career, as by 1993, they only had 3 events, Birmingham, Eastbourne, Wimbledon.

Navratilova's final grass title was Eastbourne, which she won for the 11th time.

Fri Jun 04, 08:27:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Next week is going to be very strange, with the second week of a slam AND a tour event in Nottingham AND a 125 happening in Bol.

The extra event in Melbourne was a necessity, and being on-grounds felt like an unofficial extension of the AO.

CoCo Vandeweghe is in the one-round Nottingham qualifying. Not sure of her form, but she could be an interesting entrant in a grass event against players likely still disappointed about their early RG exits.

Sat Jun 05, 12:06:00 AM EDT  

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