Sunday, February 13, 2022

Wk.6- Super Estonian

Anett in the house!







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*WEEK 6 CHAMPIONS*
SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (WTA 500/Hard Court Indoor)
S: Anett Kontaveit/EST def. Maria Sakkari/GRE 5-7/7-6(4)/7-5
D: Anna Kalinskaya/Caty McNally (RUS/USA) def. Alicja Rosolska/Erin Routliffe (POL/NZL) 6-3/6-7(5) [10-4]




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Anett Kontaveit/EST
...back in the comfort of home -- well, at least *indoors* just like back home -- Kontaveit picked up where she left off down the final stretch of '21, reaching her sixth final (and winning a fifth title) in her last eleven events while extending her indoor match win streak to 20, the best on tour since Petra Kvitova (23 WTA, 27 w/ Fed Cup) a decade ago.

After needing three sets to eliminate Jil Teichmann to start the week, Kontaveit ran off three straight sets wins over Sorana Cirstea, Belinda Bencic (who talked this week of still feeling the effects of contracting Covid last year) and Alona Ostapenko. She carried over her momentum into the final against Maria Sakkari, taking a 5-2 1st set lead and serving for the set at 5-3. Then the wheels began to fall off.

Kontaveit dropped seven straight games and on multiple occasions saw a string of errors appear to point her in the direction of defeat. But the grit she showed late last season came in handy, as she'd ultimately author comebacks in both the 2nd (from 2-0 down) and 3rd (5-2 back, with Sakkari serving at 5-3) to improve her singles mark beginning with her pre-U.S. Open title run in Cleveland to 38-6.

After having stood at 1-6-1 in tour finals after losing in Eastbourne last summer, Kontaveit has since gone 5-1 to nearly level off her career tour final win percentage in less than half a year.

And, thus, Kontaveit continues to wear the crown as the tour "regular season" champ over the past six months. But, obviously, there's still work to do. While she's not yet at the long-term level of "unevenness" of, say, Elina Svitolina, Kontaveit will now achieve another new career high (#6) even while still seeking just her second career slam QF result. Her only Final 8 run at a major was now two years ago, and she hasn't reached even the second week of any slam in the last five even while climbing the ranking ladder. In the most recent (almost) three-year stretch (since Miami '19), she's also only posted one QF result in a 1000-level event, as well.

Of course, Kontaveit's season-closing WTAF runner-up last year stands out as a "can-do" result that proves what she's *capable* do. But it also shines an ever bigger spotlight on what she (so far) has *not* done.

But it's only February, and we've yet to see "New Anett" for a full season, so...


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RISER: Maria Sakkari/GRE
...Sakkari overcame some significant longstanding obstacles in Saint Petersburg, but it still wasn't enough to overcome Kontaveit in a singles final. Again.

Since winning her only tour title in Rabat in May '19, the Greek came into this week having gone 1-12 in SF/F matches since (including losses in two slam semis). Last fall, Sakkari ended her nine-match SF losing streak with a win in Ostrava!!!, only to find Kontaveit waiting to take her out in the final. She experienced a severe case of deja vu in Week 6, as wins over Anastasia Potapova, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Elise Mertens placed Sakkari in yet another semi. This time, though, she overcame a very game Irina-Camelia Begu to win a three-set, three-hour tussle and reach her fourth tour-level singles final. Naturally, Kontaveit would be there to face her.

Sakkari had a slew of chances to end the Estonian's long indoor winning streak. After rallying from 5-2 down in the 1st set to lead 7-5/2-0, Sakkari lost her 2nd set break advantage and was taken to a 3rd. In the 3rd, she led 3-0, and 5-2 before serving for the match at 5-3. Again, though, Kontaveit surged back, sweeping the last four games to lift yet another title and drop Sakkari to 1-3 in WTA finals as the Estonian essentially swaps places with her in the Top 10 (w/ Kontaveit going from #9 to #6, Sakkari from #7 to #8).


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SURPRISE: Aliaksandra Sasnovich/BLR
...Sasnovich has already put together an unexpted final run (Melbourne 2) this season, so her QF result in Saint Petersburg doesn't qualify as as much of a "surprise" as a continuation of an early season mini-theme.



The 27-year old improved to 8-3 on the year with wins over Magda Linette and Jaqueline Cristian before a three-set loss to Alona Ostapenko. After starting '22 outside the Top 100, Sasnovich has already climbed into the Top 65. She ranked as high as #30 back in 2018 after posting her best career slam season (3r-2r-4r-3r) and reaching her (still) biggest final (Brisbane).

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VETERAN: Irina-Camelia Begu/ROU
...Begu, 31, had quite the week in Saint Petersburg, posting possibly her best week of results in over five years as she recorded a trio of Top 70 wins over the likes of #67 Zhang Shuai, #23 Petra Kvitova and #42 Tereza Martincova before falling in a three-hour semifinal clash with #7 Maria Sakkari, just missing out on a second career tour-level final in Russia ('14 Kremlin Cup RU) and second on the WTA vs. Anett Kontaveit since just last summer (Cleveland RU).

The Romanian's three wins accounted for just the second occasion (w/ '21 Philip Island, def. Podoroska, Blinkova and Q.Wang) in which she's defeated so many Top 70 players in a single event since her run to the Rome semifinals in 2016 on the backs of four wins over players (Gasparyan, Azarenka, Kasatkina & Doi) ranked in the Top 52 before she fell to then-#1 Serena Williams.


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COMEBACK: Alona Ostapenko/LAT
...this spring will be the five-year anniversary of Ostapenko's magnificent Roland Garros title run, and every little rumble of Latvian Thunder continues to bring a curl to the corners of one's mouth. We had more than few instances of that, courtesy of both thunder *and* touch, in Saint Petersburg.



Ostapenko strung together wins over Wang Xinyu, Andrea Petkovic and Aliaksandra Sasnovich to reach her first semifinal of the season (fourth since last summer). Facing Anett Kontaveit, her conquered opponent in last year's Eastbourne final, the Latvian had a Top 20 return (her first since October '18) within reach but fell in straight sets to become the Estonian's latest victim in her remarkable indoor winning streak.

Ostapenko will come in around #21 this week, just a bit behind #20 Coco Gauff. Both will be in Dubai.

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FRESH FACE: Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE
...a week ago, 14-year old Fruhvirtova won her maiden pro title to become the youngest winner on the ITF circuit in six years.



This week, she just went out and won a second.

In the $25K challenger in Tucuman, Argentina, the teenager improved to 14-2 as a pro (she debuted in December, after having gone 17-3 in junior play in November/December, with two of the three losses coming in a stretch of three consecutive appearances in finals vs. older sister Linda), reaching the final without dropping a set vs. Gabriella Price, Katharina Gerlach, Barbara Gatica and Elizabeth Mandlik. In the final she faced Paula Ormaechea, the same Argentine veteran the young Czech had defeated in the semis a week ago.

After the two split the first two sets, Fruhvirtova fell behind a break early in the 3rd, trailing 3-1. She broke Ormaechea's serve to knot the score at 3-3, then saved three BP (starting at 15/40) to get the key hold a game later. After getting another break, the Czech couldn't serve out the win at 5-3, but managed to break Ormaechea for a third straight time to complete the 6-3/1-6/6-4 win.

Hmmm, after the headline-grabbing tour debut last spring in Charleston of 16-year old (then 15) Linda, one has to start to wonder if -- ala another pair of tennis-playing sisters -- maybe the *biggest* story in the family might end up centering around the younger sibling in the mix. The kid has compiled five Top 250 wins in less than two weeks, and even while clearly fatigued down the stretch in this one still managed to climb out of a scoreboard hole, finding a way to remain consistent off the ground and outlast top-seeded Ormaechea in front of a home crowd.



Age restrictions will keep Fruhvirtova from making *too* big of a splash *too* soon in senior events, but the early returns are more than a little eye-popping.
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DOWN: Camila Giorgi/ITA
...Giorgi rose to new career heights with her title run in Montreal last summer. This week in Saint Petersburg the Italian played in her seventh event since winning in Quebec, falling in her first match for a fifth time with a straight sets loss to Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Still, Giorgi managed to put her own spin on the standard black tennis dress. Although, it *does* have a very Sharapova-in-a-U.S. Open-night-match feel to it.


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ITF PLAYER: Katie Boulter/GBR
...the 25-year old Brit continues to climb, step by step, after her '19 back injury, and this week catapulted over a significant milestone by winning her first singles title since her return, taking the crown at the $60K challenger in Grenoble, France. Wins over Stefanie Voegele, Daniela Vismane, Martina Trevisan and Tatjana Maria preceded a 7-6(2)/6-7(6)/6-2 triumph in the final over Russia's Anna Blinkova after having initially failed to convert 8 MP in the 2nd set (she finally got the win on #11).

After having slipped outside the Top 300 last year, Boulter recently slid back into the Top 150, and will move up to around #132 on Monday. She was last in the Top 100 in May '19, just after she'd injured her back while while fighting through a pair of marathon Fed Cup matches vs. Kazakhstan in April of that year.


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JUNIOR STAR: Luciana Moyano/ARG
...the J1 Ascuncion Bowl in Lambare, Paraguay was claimed by the 8th-seeded Moyano (girls' #78). It's the 16-year old Argentine's biggest career ITF girls title by a wide margin, besting the J4 she won on home soil in Cordoba last August.

Moyano played four three-set matches in five rounds this week, only handling arguably her *toughest* opponent (top-seeded Luca Udvardy in the SF) in straights before defeating South Africa's Gabriella Broadfoot in a 6-4/3-6/6-2 final.


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DOUBLES: Anna Kalinskaya/Caty McNally, RUS/USA
...reaching her second tour-level final without Coco Gauff as her partner, McNally teamed with home favorite Kalinskaya to take the Saint Petersburg title in their first tournament as a pair.

Kalinskaya/McNally opened with a win over #4-seeds Hozumi/Ninomiya (Adelaide 2 champs), then outlasted the all-Hordette duo of Potapova/Zvonareva in a 14-12 match TB in the semis. In the final, the pair won another match TB (by a more sane 10-4 score) over Alicja Rosolska & Erin Routliffe.



It's McNally's fifth WTA doubles win (second of the non-McCoco variety, after last year's Charleston 250 run w/ Hailey Baptiste), and Kalinskaya's third, as the Russian redeemed herself after a runner-up result (w/ Viktoria Kuzmova) in the '19 version of the event.
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1. Saint Petersburg Final - Anett Kontaveit def. Maria Sakkari
...5-7/7-6(4)/7-5. Ultimately, in a match of swinging momentum, the "winning way" that Kontaveit picked up through the last third of the '21 season (a run which included a win over the Greek in the Ostrava!!! final) pushed her over the finish ahead of Sakkari, who is still finding her way when it comes to "finishing" some of the great runs she starts.

Sakkari rallied from 5-2 down in the 1st, seizing upon Kontaveit's string of errors and poor serving stretch to win seven straight games. Then it was Kontaveit's turn, as she staged a comeback from an early break deficit at 2-0 in the 2nd to finally take a 4-3 on-serve lead and win a 7-4 TB to force a 3rd set. There, again, Sakkari grabbed the early lead, charging ahead 3-0. She led 5-2 and served for the title at 5-3, only to see the last shift in momentum go Kontaveit's way. The Estonian swept the final five games to get the win, extending her indoor streak to 20 matches.



When Kontaveit and Sakkari met in the Ostrava!!! decider last fall, they were ranked #30 and #12, respectively. This time around they combined to take part in the second meeting of Top 10ers (w/ Sydney, Badosa def. Krejcikova) to decide a title through the first seven events of '22.
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2. Saint Petersburg SF - Maria Sakkari def. Irina-Camelia Begu
...6-4/6-7(4)/6-4. Sakkari fights off the challenge of the Romanian in three hours, getting just her second win in her last thirteen singles semifinal appearances (including a Saint Petersburg loss in '20).


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3. Saint Petersburg 1st Rd. - Petra Kvitova def. Jule Niemeier
...6-2/6-1. Good Petra.


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4. Saint Petersburg 2nd Rd. - Irina-Camelia Begu def. Petra Kvitova
...6-4/6-0. Bad Petra.
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5. Dubai Q2 - Ajla Tomljanovic def. Heather Watson
...7-5/6-7(3)/7-6(6). Watson held a MP, but the Aussie held on and rallied to win the 3:27 match, which had a combined 43 BP (Tomljanovic converted 6 of 15, and Watson 5 of 28).
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6. Dubai Q1 - Madison Brengle def. Amanda Anisimova
...7-5/7-6(5). Call Cahill! STAT!
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7. Dubai Q1 - Magdalena Frech def. Kristina Mladenovic
...6-4/7-6(4). Coming into this match, Mladenovic was at #98 and Frech at #99.
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8. Dubai Q1 - Harriet Dart def. Sarah Behbehani
...6-0/6-0. Wild card Behbehani, making her WTA debut, is a 32-year old, San Francisco-born mother of two representing Kuwait, in case you were wondering. Her only other two pro singles matches came in low-level, Middle East-based ITF challengers in 2015 and '17. Those two matches, like this one, saw her lose in double-bagel fashion.

I'd say that the audacity of that Miami qualifying wild card for Mari Osaka back in '19 has officially been "surpassed."
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9. Dubai Q2 - Harriet Dart def. Liudmila Samsonova
...2-6/6-3/7-6(5). The win over the Kuwaiti (apparently) started Dart's ball rollin' downhill, as she followed up with her first career Top 50 victory.
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10. $25K Canberra AUS Final - Asia Muhammad def. Priscilla Hon
...6-7(6)/6-3/6-2. Already a tour-level WD champ (Melbourne 1 to improve to 7-0 in tour finals) Down Under in '22, Muhammad swept the s/d crowns in the Aussie-dominated draw (23/32 WS, 21/32 WD individuals) in Canberra, winning her 11th career (11-4 finals) singles and 34th doubles (34-19, 23-7 since '15) crown in ITF competition. In singles, she defeated Aussie Dasha Saville and Jaimee Fourlis before taking out Hon, dropping just one set all week, and teamed with Arina Rodionova to win the WD final over Alison Bai & Fourlis.
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11. $15K Monastir TUN Final - Kristina Dmitruk def. Valentina Ryser
...6-2/6-1. The 18-year old Belarusian, a U.S. Open girls finalist last year (and Wimbledon GD champ), grabs her maiden pro title with a straight sets win over the 20-year old Swiss.
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12. $15K Antalya TUR Final - Séléna Janicijevic def. Angelica Moratelli
...6-3/6-2. The 19-year old Pastry improves to 4-0 in career singles finals as a pro, with all coming since last August.
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1. Ascuncion Jr. Final: Luca Udvardy/Nina Vargova def. Nikola Daubnerova/Amelle Smejkalova
...7-6(5)/6-1. Udvardy & Vargova win the #1-seeds vs. #2-seeds battle, as the 16-year old girls' #30 (sister of Panna) picks up her third J1 doubles crown of the season with a third different partner (one of whom was this week's opponent, Daubnerova, in San Jose). She's also won a J1 singles title (Salinas) in '22.


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2.$25K Cancun MEX Final - Darja Semenistaja def. Lina Glushko 6-2/6-4
$25K Cancun MEX Final - Kateryna Bondarenko/Carol Zhao def. Lina Glusho/Jacqueline Cabaj Awad 7-5/6-7(5) [10-7]
...the 19-year old Latvian downs Glushko to claim her eighth ITF title since last July, improving to 8-0 in challenger finals.

In the doubles final, Glushko fell again, this time to Canadian Zhao and veteran Ukrainian Bondarenko, who picked up her first ITF challenger win since 2014. Bondarenko has won a pair of tour-level singles titles (nine years apart, in 2008 and '17) and four in doubles over the years.
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A Garland avalanche (Part 1 of 2)...

"Waltz with a Swing," 1936
"Zing Went the Strings of My Heart," 1938
"Nobody," 1940
"Embreacable You," 1943
"For Me and My Gal" w/ Gene Kelly, 1942
"On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," 1946
"A Couple of Swells" w/ Fred Astaire, 1948
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," 1944




And the *original* version of this very familiar song, from "Meet Me in St.Louis," rather than one of the (oh, say...) 1000 other recordings of it since then...







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*WTA SINGLES TITLES - 2020-22*
7 - 1/5/1 - Ash Barty, AUS
5 - 0/4/1 - ANETT KONTAVEIT, EST
5 - 3/2/0 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
4 - 3/0/1 - Simona Halep, ROU
3 - 0/3/0 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
3 - 0/3/0 - Garbine Muguruza, ESP
3 - 0/2/1 - Paula Badosa, ESP
3 - 2/1/0 - Elina Svitolina, UKR
3 - 1/2/0 - Iga Swiatek, POL
[indoor titles in 2020s]
4 - ANETT KONTAVEIT, EST
2 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
2 - Clara Tauson, DEN
1 - Ash Barty, AUS
1 - Kiki Bertens, NED (ret.)
1 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS
1 - Sofia Kenin, USA
1 - Alison Riske, USA
1 - Alison Van Uytvanck, BEL
1 - Donna Vekic, CRO

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2020s*
9 (1/6/2) Ash Barty (8-1)
9 (1/7/1) ANETT KONTAVEIT (5-3-1)
6 (1/5/0) Garbine Muguruza (3-3)
6 (5/0/1) Elena Rybakina (1-5)
6 (3/3/0) Aryna Sabalenka (5-1)
5 (3/1/1) Simona Halep (4-1)
5 (0/4/1) Barbora Krejcikova (3-2)
5 (2/3/0) Karolina Pliskova (1-4)

*MOST 2022 WTA SF*
2 - Ash Barty, AUS (2-0)
2 - Madison Keys, USA (1-1)
2 - ANETT KONTAVEIT, EST (1-1)
2 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (0-2)
2 - Iga Swiatek, POL (0-2)

*2022 OLDEST WTA FINALISTS*
31 - Alison Riske, USA (Adelaide 2 - L)
30 - Simona Halep, ROU (Melbourne 1 - W)
[doubles]
37 - Darja Jurak Schreiber, CRO (Adelaide 1 - L)
36 - ALICJA ROSOLSKA, POL (Saint Petersburg - L)
35 - Andreja Klepac, SLO (Adelaide 1 - L)
34 - Sara Errani, ITA (Melbourne 1 - L)

*2022 YOUNGEST WTA FINALISTS*
20 - Amanda Anisimova, USA (Melbourne 2 - W)
[doubles]
20 - CATY McNALLY, USA (Saint Petersburg - W)

*TOP 10 FINAL MATCH-UPS*
[2020]
Rome - #2 Halep d. #4 Ka.Pliskova
[2021]
Miami - #1 Barty d. #9 Andreescu
Stuttgart - #1 Barty d. #7 Sabalenka
Madrid - #7 Sabalenka d. #1 Barty
WTA Finals - #5 Muguruza d. #8 Kontaveit
[2022]
Sydney - #9 Badosa d. #4 Krejcikova
Saint Petersburg - #9 Kontaveit d. #7 Sakkari

*MOST EVENTS BEFORE TWO-TIME CHAMP TO START SEASON, since 1987*
--[w/ first w/ two titles]--
1987 - 5th - Hana Mandlikova - Brisbane/AO
1988 - 4th - Pam Shriver - Brisbane/Sydney
1989 - 5th - Martina Navratilova - Sydney/Tokyo
1990 - 3rd - Natasha Zvereva - Brisbane/Sydney
1991 - 12th - Jana Novotna - Sydney/OKC
1992 - 5th - Gabriela Sabatini - Sydney/Tokyo
1993 - 7th - Monica Seles - AO/Chicago
1994 - 5th - Steffi Graf - AO/Tokyo
1995 - 13th - Steffi Graf - Paris Indoors/Delray
1996 - 4th - Monica Seles - Sydney/AO
1997 - 5th - Martina Hingis - Sydney/AO
1998 - 8th - Patty Schnyder - Hobart/Hanover
1999 - 6th - Martina Hingis - AO/Tokyo
2000 - 13th (w/ 1 DNP F) - Lindsay Davenport - AO/IW
2001 - 3rd - Justine Henin - Gold Coast/Canberra
2002 - 7th - Martina Hingis - Sydney/Tokyo
2003 - 8th - Serena Williams - AO/Paris Indoors
2004 - 6th - Justine Henin - Sydney/AO
2005 - 14th - Maria Sharapova - Tokyo/Doha
2006 - 8th - Amelie Mauresmo - AO/Paris Indoors
2007 - 14th - Justine Henin - Dubai/Doha
2008 - 8th - Justine Henin - Sydney/Antwerp
2009 - 3rd - Elena Dementieva - Auckland/Sydney
2010 - 6th - Elena Dementieva - Sydney/Paris Indoors
2011 - 6th - Petra Kvitova - Brisbane/Paris Indoors
2012 - 5th - Victoria Azarenka - Sydney/AO
2013 - 4th - Aga Radwanska - Auckland/Sydney
2014 - 6th - Li Na - Shenzhen/AO
2015 - 9th - Simona Halep - Shenzhen/Dubai
2016 - 11th - Sloane Stephens - Auckland/Acapulco
2017 - 9th - Karolina Pliskova - Brisbane/Doha
2018 - 9th - Petra Kvitova - Saint Petersburg/Doha
2019 - 19th - Petra Kvitova - Sydney/Stuttgart
2020 - 12th - Sofia Kenin - AO/Lyon 12
2021 - 12th (w/ 1 DNP F) - Dasha Kasatkina - Melb.Phillip Island/Saint Petersburg
2022 - 6th - Ash Barty - Adelaide 1/AO

*MOST DIFF. WD #1's IN A SEASON (CAPS: 1st-time #1)*
1984: 1 = NAVRATILOVA
1985: 2 = Navratilova-SHRIVER
1986: 2 = Shriver-Navratilova
1987: 1 = Navratilova
1988: 1 = Navratilova
1989: 1 = Navratilova
1990: 3 = Navratilova-SUKOVA-NOVOTNA
1991: 4 = Sukova-Novotna-G.FERNANDEZ-ZVEREVA
1992: 5 = Novotna-NEILAND-Zvereva-SANCHEZ VICARIO-Sukova
1993: 3 = Sukova-Zvereva-G.Fernandez
1994: 2 = G.Ferandez-Zvereva
1995: 3 = Zvereva-Sanchez Vicario-G.Fernandez
1996: 1 = Sanchez Vicario
1997: 3 = Sanchez Vicario-Zvereva-DAVENPORT
1998: 4 = Zvereva-Davenport-HINGIS-Novotna
1999: 5 = Zvereva-Novotna-Hingis-Davenport-KOURNIKOVA
2000: 8 = Kournikova-Hingis-Davenport-MORARIU-RAYMOND-STUBBS-HALARD DECUGIS-SUGIYAMA
2001: 2 = Sugiyama-Raymond
2002: 2 = Raymond-SUAREZ
2003: 4 = Suarez-CLIJSTERS-Sugiyama-RUANO PASCUAL
2004: 2 = Suarez-Ruano Pascual
2005: 2 = Ruano Pascual-C.BLACK
2006: 3 = C.Black-STOSUR-Raymond
2007: 4 = Stosur-Raymond-C.Black-L.HUBER
2008: 2 = C.Black-L.Huber
2009: 2 = C.Black-L.Huber
2010: 5 = C.Black-L.Huber-S.WILLIAMS-V.WILLIAMS-DULKO
2011: 5 = Dulko-PENNETTA-PESCHKE-SREBOTNIK-L.Huber
2012: 4 = L.Huber-Raymond-ERRANI-VINCI
2013: 2 = Vinci-Errani
2014: 4 = Errani-Vinci-PENG-HSIEH
2015: 3 = Errani-Vinci-MIRZA
2016: 2 = Mirza-Hingis
2017: 5 = Mirza-MATTEK SANDS-SAFAROVA-Hingis-L.CHAN
2018: 7 = Hingis-L.Chan-MAKAROVA-VESNINA-BABOS-KREJCIKOVA-SINIAKOVA
2019: 4 = Krejcikova-Siniakova-MLADENOVIC-STRYCOVA
2020: 3 = Strycova-Hsieh-Mladenovic
2021: 6 = Hsieh-SABALENKA-MERTENS-Mladenovic-Krejcikova-Siniakova
2022: 1 = Siniakova






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The winner of the Super Bowl (don't really care one way or the other about the Rams or Bengals)...







All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 8:19 PM 

6 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

The red hot poker that is Kontaveit was patchy, but still won. So want her to have slam success.

I had Giorgi's dress on my list, but for a different reason. She is wearing Giomila, her mother's clothing line.

IW entry list is out, and it confirmed what we expected. Osaka is 6 out, Kenin 16. While nobody expects Osaka to play Q, it will be interesting to see if Kenin does.

Also, that is 6 out with Pliskova and Jabeur in. The only MD player out is Andreescu, Sevastova pulled out but was in Q.

Stat of the Week- 148- Career high ranking for Alice Valentine.

It's Valentine's Day!

Truthfully, I fudged the numbers. That is a correct rank for Valentine in her ITF senior days, not for her WTA days, as most of her sporadic career was played before the ranking system.

Born in Cleveland, her claim to fame is losing in Wimbledon qualifying in 1971(as A.A.Valentine).

One of the few Valentine's on tour, the most successful one seems to be Gertrude Valentine Brown, who played back in the 30's and 40's.

Quiz Time!

Which of these players has had the longest indoor winning streak?

A.Jana Novotna
B.Anett Kontaveit
C.Justine Henin
D.Lindsay Davenport

Interlude- New Commanders QB?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gawl6H_voo4


Answer!

The fact that Anett has been so hot indoors has forced the powers that be to check out indoor history. However, some of those numbers are questionable.

Graf(43) and Seles(32) check out. They also were #1 at both the start and end of their streak.

Sadly, (A)Novotna's numbers don't match up. She won Leipzig, Brighton and Essen, losing at the YEC, giving her only 16.

(D)Davenport should have an asterisk. She did win 19 straight in 2001, but injured her knee at the YEC, after which she lost due to Walkover. She missed 6 months, then won 3 more matches in Moscow before losing on court.

(B)Kontaveit is wrong for now. She is at 20 and counting, but unlike Graf(25), Seles(20), Henin(15) and Davenport(13), she only has 6 Top 20 wins in this stretch.

(C)Henin is correct with 22, a streak that ended with retirement. No, not the first, but the second. One of the few to have the streak include indoor clay, she started the streak at Stuttgart in 2007 before her first retirement, then ended it with a title at Stuttgart in 2010. Due to her injury at Wimbledon that season, she never had another chance to play indoors.

Mon Feb 14, 11:21:00 AM EST  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Up Side- Dubai 500.

1.Swiatek- Having a good start to the season. Can she do what Radwanska did in 2012 and walk away with the title?
2.Krejcikova- In the shuffled part of the draw. Still expected to go deep, as she was RU last year. That is a theme for Czech players, as she was the 4th RU(Pliskova, Strycova, Kvitova) since Kvitova won in 2013.
3.Stosur- Doubles specialist might get the ranking to back that up. With a little luck, Stosur might hop back in the Top 10 for the first time since July 2019. If and when she reaches 8, it would be the first time since 2010.
4.Cirstea- We have had it happen once a year recently. What is it? Someone reaching a career high that had been set a decade earlier. Cirstea, now with explosive forehand, set her CH of 21 in 2013. Now at 30, she is only 600 pts out of 20th.
5.Ostapenko- 40 winners vs Petkovic. ROS has improved. Looks like a Top 20 player, which might happen this week.

Mon Feb 14, 11:32:00 AM EST  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Down Side.

1.Gauff- Only a 3 match streak(including Pegula today) but that masks some curious numbers. Her wins by rank-in order 306, 49, 50, 65. The red flag is that she hasn't had a Top 40 win since Eastbourne.
2.Behbehani- The good? Kuwait having representation. The bad? Sarah lost in 29 minutes, not by retirement, but in a completed match!
3.Babos- And the player hurt most by the pandemic? Probably Babos in terms of her career. If she is happy off court, more power to her. But it does bring up the question of what she wants. #4 in doubles when the pandemic started, she now sits at 71. Most likely will drop out of the Top 100 for the first time since May 2012. Also, her last 7 singles events have been ITF. Not sure how long she will grind it out.
4.Kerber- Of the Players in the Top 50 that have been on court, Kerber is the highest ranked one without a win. The only other? Osorio. She is signed up for IW, but retirement talk is swirling.
5.Halep- Depending on how the week goes, she could end up outside the Top 30. While she has looked decent on court, the constant switches off court raise red flags. Unclear if Halep can pull a Collins and fly solo.

Mon Feb 14, 11:42:00 AM EST  
Blogger Diane said...

My favorite from For Me and My Gal (and one of JG favorites, period): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWryDF_yyH0

Mon Feb 14, 01:34:00 PM EST  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

C-

Kenin's "no respect" angle will pick up quite a bit of momentum if she can't get a WC, as a recent home nation (and hard court) slam winner (and additional slam finalist), who can't get a MD wild card into the biggest (or 1 of 2) non-slam U.S. events. She at least deserves that. That said, I bet she's in qualifying.

Marjory Love is demanding some attention! ;)

Quiz: thought this might be Davenport. :/

QB: haha! I don't remember that commercial (they must have aired it only during Caps games). I remember this one more. (Not sure how "Chief Zee" -- who was just a fan w/ no team affiliation who showed up at games -- got in there.) Oh, and Ovie would probably complete more passes than Haskins ever did (or quite a few others over the last 20 years, for that matter).

P.S. - everyone is hoping the current Congressional hearing situation will result in Snyder eventually being forced to sell the team, setting off a series of celebratory parades in the area... but that's likely just the last vestiges of hope slipping through the cracks.

I mean, the team had *two* years but still came out with an alternate logo that didn't have the correct championship season years ('82/'87/'91, while they had '83/'88/'92) then tried to act as if the years represented the Super Bowl wins (though no one ever counts it that way -- it's not the "'86 Bears" or "'73 Dolphins" it's the '85 Bears and '72 Dolphins as champs, or teams just use the SB Roman numeral designation).

You know, I did an AO post wondering if the early Kvitova/Cirstea match-up was a case of 31-year olds meeting and then going off in opposite directions, and I'm sticking with that.

Not sure what to make of all the Simona stuff. She seems happy, and her results (when healthy) have been good. She wants to prove she can reach top level w/o Darren (or anyone else)?


D-

Good one! Hadn't heard it in quite a while.

I didn't realize that that was Gene Kelly's debut movie. He's probably the greatest movie dancer of the era (his grace & athleticism combination was unmatched), but she's really the star there (and you get that feeling that he was fine w/ that, which says a lot about GK, too). His "Singin' in the Rain" might be *the* single best musical number of the time.

Tue Feb 15, 01:35:00 PM EST  
Blogger Diane said...

On the same subject (more or less), someone once asked Fred Astaire who his favorite partner was (we know it wasn't Ginger Rogers), and--without hesitation--he said, "Rita Hayworth"--that she was perfect. They were simply wonderful together, and the chemistry is obvious. Really, if there was ever anyone who "danced on air," it was Hayworth.

Tue Feb 15, 03:31:00 PM EST  

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