Sunday, September 26, 2021

Wk.35- Anett!!!

In winning her second title in a month, Anett Kontaveit put the "!!!" in Ostrava!!!








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*WEEK 35 CHAMPIONS*
OSTRAVA!!!, CZECH REPUBLIC (WTA 500/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Anett Kontaveit/EST def. Maria Sakkari/GRE 6-2/7-5
D: Sania Mirza/Zhang Shuai (IND/CHN) def. Kaitlyn Christian/Erin Routliffe (USA/NZL) 6-3/6-2
COLUMBUS, OHIO USA (WTA 125 Challenger/Hard Court Indoor)
S: Nuria Parrizas Diaz/ESP def. Wang Xinyu/CHN 7-6(2)/6-3
D: Wang Xinyu/Zheng Saisai (CHN/CHN) def. Dalili Jakupovic/Nuria Parrizas Diaz (SLO/ESP) 6-1/6-1


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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Anett Kontaveit/EST
...it was nice to confirm this week that Ostrava!!! is still Ostrava!!!, as it was easy to worry that over the past year it might have become Ostrava!! or, horror of horrors, maybe just Ostrava! or worse. It was also nice to see that the summer surge that finally got Kontaveit back on the WTA title board is still living and breathing, as well. After reaching the Eastbourne final in June, Kontaveit had four straight one-and-done tournaments before winning in Cleveland, after which she fell in the 3rd Round of the U.S. Open to Iga Swiatek. In the Czech Republic, though, she picked right back up where she'd left off in The Land.

As a result, with a current 12-1 run and 16-6 mark since the start of the grass season (even with that five-match losing streak in the middle), the 25-year old Estonian -- 26 on Christmas Eve, so we know she's difficult to buy birthday gifts for -- has put together in 2021 what can rightly be called her "career season." Maybe that'll suffice as a present for this year.

While Kontaveit didn't have much of a run in any of the '21 majors (just a consistently okay 3r-3r-1r-3r) she's won more singles titles in the last month than she'd won since reaching her first tour title in the spring of '17, and she's done so after being just 1-5 in WTA finals heading into this season. Over the course of this year, she's reached four finals after never reaching more than one per season since her initial breakout three-final campaign four years ago. In fact, she may well have made this a *three*-title year had she been able to actually play the Grampians final in Melbourne back in February rather than having to share "finalist" honors with Ann Li after schedule delays due to a Covid case caused the final to be cancelled (the semis were played on the day before the start of the AO).

In Ostrava!!!, Kontaveit didn't drop a set all week, posting wins over Sorana Cirstea, Paula Badosa, Belinda Bencic and Petra Kvitova, all tour title winners this season. In the final against Maria Sakkari, who was the Estonian's final victim in the Grampians event (via a 11-9 3rd set TB in the semis), Kontaveit won 6-3/6-2.

Perhaps Kontaveit is "getting the hang of this" whole *finishing* thing at last, or maybe her spring parting with coach Nigel Sears after three years together (she's reached three finals since, winning two to triple her career haul) has simply served as a much needed "refresh" and is a case of "change for the sake of change" proving to be an immediate asset. Since August, Dmitry Tursunov has been serving as coach on a trial basis. I suppose we'll have a better idea about this "new" Anett come 2022, when Kontaveit will have a chance to add to her lone career slam QF result ('20 AO).

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RISER: Maria Sakkari/GRE
...Ostrava!!! saw Sakkari skip over one obstacle -- a nine-match losing streak in semifinals that dated back to 2019, and included five losses in '21, two in slam final fours -- but she couldn't quite grab her second career title after having picked up her maiden (and only WTA) win following her *last* semifinal victory in Rabat 28 months ago.

Sakkari's victories over Alona Ostapanko, Tereza Martincova and Iga Switaek were still enough to allow her to pick up another career honor, though, as she'll become the first Greek woman to reach the Top 10 on Monday.

===============================================
SURPRISE: Tereza Martincova/CZE
...in Ostrava!!!, the under-the-radar Czech continued to build the foundation for something better that has been coming along pretty well throughout 2021, a season which has far outdistanced any other campaign in her decade-long career.

Martincova entered this season having never broken into the Top 100, never won a slam MD match nor reached a tour final. She'd already done all that this season -- in order, in April, at Roland Garros (which she followed with a Wimbledon 3rd Rd. result), and in her hometown of Prague -- before this week posting wins over Katerina Siniakova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (the latter her third Top 20 win, and second this year) to reach her fifth QF of '21.

Martincova lost to Maria Sakkari, but the 26-year old will claim another career high ranking on Monday, rising from #61 to #53. She finished last season at #120, which still stands as her best year-ending standing... but only for a couple more months.



Additionally, Martincova was awarded an "I Survived a Match against Maria Sakkari" t-shirt as a parting gift.

===============================================


VETERAN: Nuria Parrizas Diaz/ESP
...the 30-year old's remarkable season continues to add new chapters as we head into the fall, as the Spaniard improved to 7-0 in singles finals in 2021 (2-0 WTA 125, 5-0 ITF) with a title run in the 125 Columbus event, completing a string of wins over U.S. (Kalieva, Baptiste), South American (Haddad Maia) and Chinese (Zheng Saisai, Wang Xinyu in the final) women over the course of the week.

Having been told at age 24 that she should retire following a shoulder injury, after more than a year away from the sport, Parrizas Diaz returned and hasn't had any sort of recurrence of the injury in recent seasons. After having had decent success on the ITF level for a while, she's significantly kicked things up several levels this season, breaking into the Top 100, making her tour MD (reaching 2 QF) and slam debuts and adding a $100K and two 125 challenger wins to a career in which her biggest title had previously been a series of $25K events. Now with a combined 53-15 record on the year, Parrizas Diaz will rise to another new career high of #72 on Monday.



The only thing Parrizas Diaz didn't do this week was *sweep* the titles in Columbus, coming up short in the doubles final alongside Dalila Jakupovic.
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COMEBACKS: Anastasia Potapova/RUS and CoCo Vandeweghe/USA
...slowly, Potapova's comeback from last year's season-ending ankle surgery (her campaign concluded *before* the shutdown) is, no pun intended, finding some semblance of footing.

A former Wimbledon girls champion (2016) and two-time tour finalist (2018) who reached her career high (#64) in '19, not long after upsetting Angelique Kerber in the RG 1st Round, Potapova ended her recent slide (0-4, after a 12-10 stretch that included a QF at the WTA 1000 in Dubai in March, which featured the Russian's first two Top 20 wins -- Keys and Bencic -- since that Paris upset over Kerber ) in Ostrava!!!. Her week began a successful qualifying run (def. Alexandrova) and included a 1st Round win over Caroline Garcia. She took Petra Kvitova to three sets in the 2nd Round.



Meanwhile, Vandeweghe put on a good run at the 125 challenger in Columbus, reaching the semifinals after posting wins over Peyton Stearns, Renata Zarazua and top-seeded Ann Li before a loss to Wang Xinyu. The 29-year old, who has struggled with injuries since her breakout 2017 season (two slam semis, Top 10 ranking), had arrived in Ohio on a five-match losing streak that had followed a good 7-2 stretch on grass. Vandeweghe's week's work represented just her second multi-win event since reaching the QF in a pre-shutdown 125 challenger in Newport Beach last year.

Coming in at #153, Vandeweghe will rise to #143 on Monday, surpassing Venus Williams (new #151) in the current standings of the four Bannerettes who reached the '17 U.S. Open semis (#49 Keys, #63 Stephens). What a difference four years can make.
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FRESH FACE: Anastasia Zakharova/RUS
...another week, another Hordette.

In Ostrava!!!, 19-year old Zakharova produced her second straight successful tour-level qualifiying run (after Luxembourg a week ago, after which she lost to Oceane Dodin in three sets), putting away her first Top 100 victory against Rebecca Peterson and then taking down '21 WTA singles titlist Astra Sharma to reach another MD. It was her third tour-level MD appearance in recent months, having also played in the 1st Round in Gdynia (a three-set defeat by Ekaterine Gorgodze) as a lucky loser.

Zakharova fell in straight sets to Sara Sorribes Tormo this week, but will rise from #222 to a new career high of #208. The Russian is 6-1 in career ITF singles finals.

This weekend in Nur-Sultan, Zakharova successfully qualified for a *third* straight WTA event.

===============================================
DOWN: Angelique Kerber/GER
...Kerber's hot summer run has officially cooled off with the arrival of fall. The German had won 17 of 19 matches and climbed back into the Top 20 heading into her 4th Round U.S. Open encounter with Leylah Fernandez. She led the Canadian by a set and a break (6-4/4-2) before falling in three to the eventual finalist.

This week, Kerber dropped her second straight match in Ostrava!!!, losing to Jil Teichmann 2 & 3.
===============================================
ITF PLAYERS: Arantxa Rus/NED and Anna Bondar/HUN
...for Rus, the climb back continues in the closing months of her first full season as a 30-year old. "Back in the day," the Dutch woman was a junior slam champ ('08 AO) who'd shown early WTA promise. In 2011-12, she compiled a 9-7 slam record, reached a RG Round of 16 and climbed as high as #61. Then things went very bad. While she was still relevant on the ITF circuit beginning in '13, her tour-level stock dropped precipitously. Over the course of the end of '12 and mid-way through '13, Rus tied a tour record with 17 consecutive losses at tour level as her ranking fell to #160 by the end of that season. She's been slowly building back ever since.

Rus' $80K title this weekend in Valencia, Spain is the biggest of her career. A 6-4/7-6(3) win in the final over Mihaela Buzarnescu sealed the triumph, giving her three ITF titles in '21. She's also reached a pair of WTA 125 finals this season, losing both. She'll climb to #69 on Monday, edging closer to her career high of nearly a decade ago, and is on course for a seventh straight improvement on her season-ending ranking (she ended '20 at #73). Though she's given some big name players a run in recent years, Rus has yet to reclaim her early slam promise. Since that 2011-12 stretch in majors, she's gone just 1-13 in major MD (while losing 13 times in qualifying, and not playing in any slam competition at all from 2014-17 when her ranking struggled to stay in the Top 200).



In Wiesbaden, Germany, Bondar swept the singles and doubles crowns, picking up her biggest pro singles title (and first since '19) with a 6-2/6-4 win in the final over Clara Burel. It's the 11th ITF win for the 24-year old Hungarian (a WTA quarterfinalist in Gdynia earlier this season), whose previous ten titles came in $25K or less events. Bondar won the doubles alongside Lara Salden.
===============================================
JUNIOR STAR: Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE
...look out, here they come. Not just the young Czechs, but the Fruhvirtovas.

In this case, it was the younger of the two sisters, Brenda, who starred in the Astrid Bowl in Charleroi-Marcinelle, Belgium. Second-seeded, the 14-year old (girls #35) grabbed her second high level junior title in a matter of weeks, adding to her College Park win last month a second career J1 crown with a 1-6/6-3/6-1 win in the final, yet another all-Czech battle with 17-year old Barbora Palicova (a Roehampton semifinalist this summer, where she lost to the older Fruhvirtova sister, Linda).

With three title runs (w/ a J2 in a July) in her last five events, Fruhvirtova has put together a 16-2 stretch.

===============================================


DOUBLES: Sania Mirza/Zhang Shuai, IND/CHN
...with a history of being on *opposite* sides of the net (w/ Mirza winning 5 of 7 WD match-ups), the veteran duo played together for just the second time in Ostrava!!!. After splitting two matches as a duo last week in Luxembourg, they picked up a title this time around.

The #2 seeds, Mirza/Zhang survived back-to-back match TB early in the week, then went on to defeat the #4 (Hozumi/Ninomiya) and #3 (Christian/Routliffe in a 6-3/6-2 final) seeded pairs to get the win. For Mirza, it's career title #43, tying Virginia Ruano Pascual for 19th place on the all-time tour list, and her first since her early return-from-pregnancy win in Hobart at the start of last season while partnering Nadiia Kichenok (they defeated Zhang and Peng Shuai in the final). Zhang, just off her U.S. Open title with Sam Stosur, has grabbed three tour titles in '21 and has accumulated eleven in total during her WTA career.

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WHEELCHAIR: KG Montjane/RSA
...with a few of the top WC players back in action the week before the start of the World Team Cup (an event, unsurprisingly, thoroughly dominated by the Dutch to the tune of 31 titles in 34 years) in Italy, the biggest event on the schedule was a Series 2 event in Johannesburg, South Africa. Fittingly, it was swept by home favorite Montjane, who picked up her first singles title since 2019 with a 6-1/6-4 victory in the final over former #1 Jiske Griffioen. The two joined forces to win the doubles crown.

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1. Ostrava!!! Final - Anett Kontaveit def. Maria Sakkari
...6-3/6-2. Kaia Kanepi, also a title winner this weekend on the ITF circuit, still leads Kontaveit 4-3 when it comes to career WTA titles claimed by Estonian women. But if this *new* Anett, finally with "closer" abilities intact, intends to stick around that lead won't last for long... maybe not even until the end of the year.

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2. Ostrava!!! 1st Rd. - Yulia Putintseva def. Zhang Shuai
...5-7/7-6(7)/6-4. After losing so many matches earlier this year after holding MP, Putintseva is starting to turn the stat back to "even." Here the Kazakh saved a MP and won in 3:24.

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3. Ostrava!!! 1st Rd. - Tereza Martincova def. Katerina Siniakova
...5-7/6-4/7-6(7). In a battle of Czechs, Martincova rallies from 5-0 down in the deciding TB to win en route to another QF.

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4. Columbus 125 Final - Nuria Parrizas Diaz def. Wang Xinyu
...7-6(2)/6-3. Maybe if Parrizas Diaz has a decent run in a major in '22 her amazing *rise* this season will be recognized by the tour social media arm (which barely bothers to mention that 125 events like this are even taking place) and/or the "big media" that really only drops in for two-week stretches four times a season. But what the Spaniard has done this year has almost made the term "late bloomer" seem obsolete.

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5. Ostrava!!! SF - Maria Sakkari def. Iga Swiatek
...6-4/7-5. The Greek advances, ending her nine-match SF losing streak, and will make her Top 10 debut (the third to do so in '21, after Swiatek and Krejcikova), while Iga cracks the Top 5 as she climbs from #6 to a new career high of #4.
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6. Ostrava!!! QF - Anett Kontaveit def. Belinda Bencic
...6-4/6-3. Bencic has won 15 of her last 19 matches, and is 20-7 since the start of the grass season (after a 12-11 start to '21). She won Olympic Gold in Tokyo, but aside from that maybe her two best moments came on points in tournaments that she didn't win. In Berlin and, this week, in a 2nd Round match vs. Sorribes Tormo.

Here are both points...

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7. Ostrava!!! 2nd Rd. - Anett Kontaveit def. Paula Badosa
...6-3/6-4. It was not a good day for Paula.

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8. Columbus 125 1st Rd. - Louisa Chirico def. Maddison Inglis
...6-3/1-6/6-2. The 25-year old Chirico, who returned this summer after missing nearly two years (July '19 to June '21) with shoulder surgery, qualifies and posts a MD win in her ninth event back, winning all three matches in three sets before falling to Madison Brengle in the 2nd Round in straights. She'd recorded wins in just one of her first eight comeback tournaments (2 Q and 1 MD in a $60K in June).

Now ranked #432, Chirico once ranked as high as #58 in 2017. In 2015, she made her slam MD debut in Paris as a wild card and reached the Washington D.C. QF that summer. A season later she was a surprise Madrid semifinalist, then followed up by qualifying at Roland Garros and winning a 1st Round match there (she's 1-7 in majors overall).

Chirico lost in RG and US qualifying earlier this year.
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9. Columbus 125 1st Rd. - Renata Zarazua def. Caroline Dolehide
...6-4/1-6/7-6(8). Zarazua rallies from 6-2/4-1 down, saving two MP.
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10. Columbus 125 1st Rd. - Zheng Saisai def. Asia Muhammad
...6-7(4)/6-3/7-6(0). A Chinese player faces off against an African-American with the geographically/culturally diverse name of Asia Muhammad in a town (now controversially) named for Christopher Columbus. Ah, tennis.
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11. Columbus 125 Final - Wang Xinyu/Zheng Saisai def. Dalila Jakupovic/Nuria Parrizas Diaz
...6-1/6-1. Neither Wang (F) nor Zheng (SF) got the best of Parrizas Diaz in the singles, but they combined to do so in the doubles title match.
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12. $25K Johannesburg RSA Final - Alina Charaeva def. Richel Hogenkamp
...2-0 ret. Not the specific ending one would like, as her Dutch opponent had to retire after just two games, but the moment still capped a week in which 19-year old Hordette Charaeva (a RG girls finalist 50 weeks ago) picked up her first pro title since 2018.

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13. $25K Fort Worth USA Final - Kaia Kanepi def. Kayla Day
...6-2/6-1. Kanepi began the year notching wins over the likes of Sabalenka and Kenin Down Under, now (even w/ a ranking of #68) she's handling #574 Day in a $25K to pick up her 19th career ITF title (to go along with 4 on the WTA level, the last in '13).
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14. $15K Monastir TUN Final - Olga Helmi def. Clara Vlasselaer
...6-1/6-3. The 21-year old Dane, the second-ranked (just outside the Top 500) from her nation behind Clara Tauson, picks up her third trophy of '21.

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1. Ostrava!!! 1st Rd. - Elena Rybakina def. Veronika Kudermetova
...6-1/6-3. Kudermetova hasn't won multiple matches in an event since Rome. The Russian was 24-11 on the season at the time of her 3rd Round loss there to Ash Barty. She's gone 4-9 since.
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2. Chicago 1st Rd. - Kim Clijsters vs. Hsieh Su-wei
...finally, Clijsters is set to hit the court again. And she draws Hsieh. The Tennis Gods are feelin' frisky, I see.
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=OSTRAVA!!!, CZECH REPUBLIC=




=COLUMBUS, OHIO USA=






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*2021 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
5 - Ash Barty, AUS [Yarra V.,Miami,Stuttgart,Wimb.,Cincy]
3 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE [Strasbourg,RG,Prague]
2 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR [Abu Dhabi,Madrid]
2 - Iga Swiatek, POL [Adelaide,Rome]
2 - Danielle Collins, USA [Palermo,San Jose]
2 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS [P.Island,Saint Petersburg]
2 - ANETT KONTAVEIT, EST [Cleveland,Ostrava!!!]
2 - Clara Tauson, DEN [Lyon,Luxembourg]

*2021 WTA FINALS*
6 - Ash Barty, AUS (5-1)
4 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (3-1)
4 - ANETT KONTAVEIT, EST (2-1-1)
4 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (2-2)
3 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (2-1)
3 - Belinda Bencic, SUI (1-2)
3 - Garbine Muguruza, ESP (1-2)
3 - Karolina Pliskova, CZE (0-3)

*RECENT TOP 10 SINGLES DEBUTS*
2018 [5] Goerges,Stephens,Osaka,Bertens,Kasatkina
2019 [3] Sabalenka,Barty,Andreescu
2020 [1] Kenin
2021 [3] Swiatek,Krejcikova,Sakkari

*MIRZA - TITLE-WINNING PARTNERS*
14 - Martina Hingis (2015-16)
6 - Bethanie Mattek-Sands (2007,12-13,15,17)
5 - Cara Black (2013-14)
3 - Liezel Huber (2004-06)
2 - Mahesh Bhupathi (2009,12 MX)
2 - Elena Vesnina (2011)
2 - Barbora Strycova (2016)
1 - Chuang(2009), Gallovits(2010), N.Kichenok(2019), King(2007), Niculescu(2016), Peer(2007), An.Rodionova(2012), Santangelo(2007), Shvedova(2011), Soares(2014 MX), Sh.Zhang(2021), J.Zheng(2013)

*2021 WTA LONG MATCHES*
3:55 Gdynia QF - Kucova def. Gorgodze
3:51 Rome 1st Rd. - Sorribes Tormo def. Giorgi
3:40 US Open 1st Rd. - Mertens def. Peterson
3:40 US Open 1st Rd. - Masarova def. Bogdan
3:33 Melbourne (Gippsland) 3rd Rd. - Begu def. Konta
3:29 US Open 4th Rd. - Sakkari def. Andreescu
3:24 Ostrava 1st Rd. - Putintseva def. Sh.Zhang

*2021 WTA 125 FINALS*
Saint-Malo, FRA (rc) - Viktorija Golubic/SUI def. Jasmine Paolini/ITA
Bol, CRO (rc) - Jasmine Paolini/ITA def. Arantxa Rus/NED
Bastad, SWE (rc) - Nuria Parrizas Diaz/ESP def. Olga Govortsova/BLR
Charleston, USA (gc) - Varvara Lepchenko/USA def. Jamie Loeb/USA
Belgrade, SRB (rc) - Anna Karolina Schmiedlova/SVK def. Arantxa Rus/NED
Concord, USA (hc) - Magdalena Frech/POL def. Renata Zarazua/MEX
Chicago, USA (hc) - Clara Tauson/DEN def. Emma Raducanu/GBR
Karlsruhe, GER (rc) - Mayar Sherif/EGY def. Martina Trevisan/ITA
Columbus, USA (hci) - Nuria Parrizas Diaz/ESP def. Wang Xinyu/CHN

*2021 TOP JUNIOR EVENT CHAMPIONS*
SVYATOPETRIVSKE VILLAGE UKR J1: Anastasiia Gureva/RUS
SALINAS ECU J1: Natalia Szabanin/HUN
ASUNCION BOWL PAR J1: Petra Marcinko/CRO
PORTO ALEGRE BRA J1: Natalia Szabanin/HUN
BANANA BOWL BRA GA: Oceane Babel/FRA
BARRANQUILLA COL J1: Johanne Christine Svendsen/DEN
SAN DIEGO USA J1: Alexandra Yepifanova/USA
VILLENA ESP J1: Diana Shnaider/RUS
PLOVDIV BUL J1: Michaela Laki/GRE
YELTSIN CUP RUS J1: Alina Shcherbinina/RUS
RICANY CZE J1: Julia Middendorf/GER
BYTOM POL J1: Dominika Salkova/CZE
ROLAND GARROS: Linda Noskova/CZE
ROEHAMPTON GBR J1: Linda Fruhvirtova/CZE
WIMBLEDON: Ane Mintegi del Olmo/ESP
MILAN ITA GA: Alexandra Eala/PHI
EUROPEAN 18U CHSP. (CLOSED B1) SUI: Antonia Ruzic/CRO
PANCEVO SRB J1: Ksenia Zaytseva/RUS
COLLEGE PARK USA J1: Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE
US OPEN: Robin Montgomery/USA
HANNOVER GER J1: Ksenia Zaytseva/RUS
ASTRID BOWL BEL J1: Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE

*WHEELCHAIR WORLD TEAM CUP WINNERS, w/ host nation*
2021 [ITA] - ?
2020 DNP
2019 [ISR] - Netherlands
2018 [NED] - Netherlands
2017 [ITA] - China
2016 [JPN] - Netherlands
2015 [TUR] - Netherlands
2014 [NED] - Netherlands
2013 [TUR] - Netherlands
2012 [KOR] - Netherlands
2011 [RSA] - Netherlands
2010 [TUR] - Netherlands
2009 [GBR] - Netherlands
2008 [ITA] - Netherlands
2007 [SWE] - Netherlands
2006 [BRA] - Netherlands
2005 [NED] - Netherlands
2004 [NZL] - Netherlands
2003 [POL] - Netherlands
2002 [ITA] - Netherlands
2001 [SUI] - Netherlands
2000 [FRA] - Netherlands
1999 [USA] - Australia
1998 [ESP] - Netherlands
1997 [GBR] - Netherlands
1996 [AUS] - Netherlands
1995 [NED] - Netherlands
1994 [GBR] - United States
1993 [AUT] - Netherlands
1992 [BEL] - Netherlands
1991 [USA] - Netherlands
1990 [USA] - Netherlands
1989 [USA] - Netherlands
1988 [USA] - Netherlands
1987 [USA] - Netherlands
1986 [USA] - Netherlands





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Diane is at 1:42:19...




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"Man in the Mirror," "Dirty Diana" and "Ease on Down the Road'


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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 8:04 PM 

8 Comments:

Blogger Diane said...

I am humbled by and appreciative of your promotion of my poetry. As always, thank you :)

Sun Sep 26, 10:49:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

Diane, even to an untrained ear such as myself, your poetry is good.

Parrizas Diaz is sort of like Siegemund and Buzarnescu with the long injury break, then late career jolt.

Kvitova will not play BJK Cup in November.

One thing to notice when evaluating Raducanu? We know that she won a slam before playing a WTA level match on clay, but she didn't play any on ITF circuit either.

Linz moved from 2nd week of IW and will be played the same week as the finals. Which means they will play the same week as last year.

Luxembourg is cancelled for 2022.

Speaking of that, every event that played this year should have the chance to come back for 2022. Even if the stands looked empty, we went from events selling tickets 6 months in advance to some events not even being announced until 4 weeks out.

Martincova/Siniakova was a tour match that felt like a BJK Cup match. 2 home country women in an extremely emotional match. Siniakova seems to have picked up the mantle from Strycova of being the emotional Czech. Add a final set tiebreak, both players saving match points, and a match that went 3:06 should get down ballot votes for Match of the Year.

Bencic/Sorribes Tormo was a nice cat and mouse match. Slices, volleys, drop shots, lobs, etc, they put on a show.

Stat of the Week- 16- Number of years since a US event has been played after the US Open.

With Chicago and Indian Wells, it feels like 2005 all over again. That year, the final Philadelphia event was played, as well as WTA Finals in Los Angeles.

It was the end of an era regarding the finals, as between 1972-2005, it was held in the US every year but one, Munich 2001.

Philly almost had the same time frame. Starting in 1971, they played 21 non consecutive years. They actually played in February that season, with Louisville, Los Angeles and Phoenix being the 3 events(out of 10) played in the US after the Open.

Quiz Time!

Philadelphia(Tier 2) had 15 different winners. How many did not win a slam?

A.0
B.2
C.3
D.4

Interlude- Halloween costume worth using?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xzWrON5dNY


Answer!

(A)0 doesn't seem possible, and you would be correct. However that is the number of women who did not reach a slam final.

(C)3 is wrong, but the number of surprising names not on the winners side. No Serena. No Venus. Navratilova? Reached the final and lost to Evert.

(B)2 is wrong, but the number of finalists that didn't reach a slam final. Both runner ups in Kerry Harris and Lori McNeil reached slam SF.

That leaves (D)4 as correct, as one time slam finalist Anke Huber, two time slam finalists Rosie Casals(1971 winner) and Olga Morozova and three time slam finalist Wendy Turnbull each won in Philly.

One final note: Both the final Philadelphia event and the WTA Finals were won by Amelie Mauresmo, in back to back weeks.

Mon Sep 27, 01:57:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Up Side- Stateside Edition.

1.Niemeier- Nur Sultan pick in what might be the wildest draw of the year. Not playing as well as she did earlier in the year, but this is a crapshoot as literally everybody falls into one of 4 categories- Kazakh player, Returning from injury, in 1st or 2nd WTA season, or in final season. This will be fun.
2.Vondrousova- Can she pull a Kontaveit and win Chicago? Kontaveit had gone 4 years without a title until she won Cleveland. Vondrousova has gone 4 without one, since beating Kontaveit in Biel for her only title.
3.Haddad Maia- Qualified for her first WTA MD since her suspension in Chicago. Having won 9 ITF titles since her return, she tries to get her first MD win since 2019.
4.Zakharova- Oh my goodness. If I had any guts, I would pick her this week. But can I really pick someone ranked 210? Can I pick someone without a MD win(0-3) in her career? An exciting, but very raw player, she has a bunny hop before her serve, and uses a drop shot, not as a tactical move, but as a bailout. Even with that, watching her is like 2017 Sabalenka or 2016 Ostapenko. You will be amazed.
5.Tsurenko- Has had a lousy year. Only 1 MD win, only 2 Top 100(Siniakova, Trevisan) wins. But in a Nur Sultan draw in which she could play herself into form, if she can stay healthy.

Mon Sep 27, 02:09:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Down Side.

1.Yastremska- Like Haddad Maia, coming off a suspension. Hasn't had the same success. 3-7 since her return, she is 0-5 in 3 set matches and played 7 tiebreaks. Ranking dropped from 38 to 72. May need to drop to high end ITF events(60 K and up) plus 125K to build stamina and confidence.
2.Vekic- Started the year at 32, and is now at 99. Missed 3 1/2 months and hasn't been the same player. Currently on 2-6 streak.
3.Brengle- What is the opposite of the Ace Queen? Brengle leads the tour in matches without an ace-18. If you thought Errani, she has 1 in 19.
4.Kudermetova- The good is a career high 28 wins. The bad is that since she won Charleston, she has gone 11-12.
5.Martic- Has only had a couple of good events all year. Currently on a 4-10 stretch, without back to back wins since Parma in May.

Mon Sep 27, 02:22:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

Thank you, colt--that means a lot to me.

Mon Sep 27, 09:20:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

D-

A pleasure. :)


C-

Quiz: went w/ 2, just because I figured it probably wasn't zero. Had me thinking that maybe I'd guessed right, and then... :/

Ah, I miss the old Letterman Halloween costumed kids who hardly ever seemed to know what to make of it all.

Nur-Sultan... hmmm, now maybe a "Name You'll Know..." winner? Juvan, Gracheva? Konjuh says she doesn't want it to be called a "comeback" anymore, so maybe a first title in six years would be appropriate?

So all that probably means it'll be a semi-chalky winner like Van Uytvanck (it *is* indoors, after all, and Tauson isn't around). ;)

Looks like we might not see Barty again until 2022. As 2021's Road Warrior, I guess she's earned the break.

Wed Sep 29, 12:37:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

* - P.S.: no Barty means a de Groot "Ms.Backspin" season gets bumped up a notch, too.

Wed Sep 29, 12:39:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

Good call on indoor queen Van Uytvanck.

Raducanu gets expected IW WC, so do Clijsters and Jacquemot in the non American section.

Next post will be a day late, as IW MD will not come out until Monday.

Fri Oct 01, 09:33:00 AM EDT  

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