Monday, February 28, 2022

Wk.8- Incisive with an "I"

Guess who?










futuristic-fonts




*WEEK 8 CHAMPIONS*
DOHA, QATAR (WTA 1000/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Iga Swiatek/POL def. Anett Kontaveit/EST 6-2/6-0
D: Coco Gauff/Jessie Pegula (USA/USA) def. Veronika Kudermetova/Elise Mertens (RUS/BEL) 3-6/7-5 (10-5)
GUADALAJARA, MEXICO (WTA 250/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Sloane Stephens/USA def. Marie Bouzkova/CZE 7-5/1-6/6-2
D: Kaitlyn Christian/Lidziya Marozava (USA/BLR) def. Wang Xinyu/Zhu Lin (CHN/CHN) 7-5/6-3




kosova-font


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Iga Swiatek/POL
...unlike many of the spate of recent first-time slam champions, Swiatek hasn't seemed to have to openly deal with the slew of "issues" that have always tended to follow breakout maiden winners. She hasn't hit a prolonged slump, seen her ranking plummet nor her off-court processes turned on their head to the detriment of her on-court progress. She hasn't once, even while having not yet won #2, seemed a shadow of her slam-winning self or had to "search" for the winning formula that she once captured in a bottle, nor has she pulled herself off tour while casting the longstanding inherent pressures that naturally come with such success as a whoa-is-life tale of personal enlightenment that she alone had the courage to acknowledge. Even the Pole's one easily-questioned-at-the-time move, her switching of coaches from Piotr Sierzputowski to Tomasz Witkorowski this past offseason, after having given so much credit for her success to the synergistic integrity of the previous team's structure, seems to be working out just fine.

So far in '22, Swiatek has gotten off to a 14-3 start that has seen her extend her second-week streak at majors to six, reaching a slam SF in Melbourne, won her biggest career hard court title this week in Doha (posting three Top 10 wins in the process), and in the coming week will match her career-high with a climb to #4 in the rankings. Not bad. Not bad at all. Actually, it was even a bit better than that.



For the week, Swiatek dropped just one set (back in the 2nd Round vs. Viktorija Golubic), then proceeded to allow just 3, 5, 7 and 2 games in the rest of her matches against the likes of Dasha Kasatkina, #2 Aryna Sabalenka (her best win since def. #2 Halep in the Round of 16 in Paris two season ago), Maria Sakkari and, in her second career 1000 final (w/ '21 Rome), the (still) streaking (w/ nine straight wins) Anett Kontaveit. Swiatek's 2 & love victory over the Estonian continued her trend of all-out dominance in tour finals. Winning 6-2/6-0 in incisive fashion to win in her fourth straight final appearance starting with the '20 Roland Garros, the 20-year old has allowed (combined) eleven total games in those championship matches, and just six in the last three. Three of the those six sets have seen Swiatek put up love sets against her opponent.


===============================================
RISERS: Anett Kontaveit/EST and Marie Bouzkova/CZE
...Kontaveit's six-month crash course in winning continued in Doha, but she's still yet to ace a truly big final exam.

In her early twenties, while the Estonian was seemingly "on the cusp" of something better (or should have been), she essentially spent quite a few seasons not *winning* anything (losing in six of seven finals from 2017 to mid-'21) while many in her tennis generation were learning "how to win" on the sport's biggest stages. Ever since bringing in Dmitry Tursunov as coach last summer, though, the 26-year old's mid-career extensive study in climbing the tour ladder, learning how to win titles on progressively bigger and better stages over higher and higher ranked opponents, has seen her win more matches, reach more finals and claim more titles than anyone else on tour. But she's got a *few* more classes to attend.



In Doha, stepping outside and away from her recent indoor dominance, Kontaveit reached her first career 1000 level final (she reached the Wuhan Premier 5 equivalent back in '18) following wins over Ana Konjuh, Elise Mertens, Ons Jabeur and Alona Ostapenko (ending the Dubai champ's nine-match run in the latter contest), only to notch two games in the final over an incredibly in-form Iga Swiatek, a player who has seemed to have the whole "winning finals on the big stage" trait down pat since her career's near-infancy.

Still, even with the loss, Kontaveit's run to the final edged her ahead of Ash Barty for the most tour singles finals on tour this decade, with *eight* of those those ten finals having come since last June. Kontaveit will crack the Top 5 for the first time this week, and is right on the heels of new #4 Swiatek and breathing down the neck of the slightly-slipping #3 Aryna Sabalenka and (trading spots on Monday with the Belarusian) #2 Barbora Krejcikova, with all of them still well behind the top-ranked Aussie.

With so many more opportunities left this season, it seems only a matter of time before Kontaveit finally gets a "100%" on at least one of these high-level tests. Maybe even as soon as the coming month. Well, maybe as long as she steers clear of a certain Pole on the final weekend of play, I guess.

In Guadalajara, Bouzkova once again edged close to claiming the now long overdue maiden tour singles title that has so far eluded her, only to remain just short of her goal. The 23-year old Czech, having seen her ranking slip to #96 due to recent injury issues after ranking in the Top 50 late in 2020, produced her best tennis in a year, when she reached the semifinals of the same tournament last March before falling to eventual champ Sara Sorribes Tormo.

This week Bouzkova posted wins over Misaki Doi, Lucia Bronzetti and (in a round-earlier rematch) Sorribes Tormo in the QF to return to the Final Four. A victory over Wang Qiang put the Czech into her third career tour final, one each in the last three seasons (including another run in Mexico in Monterrey in '20). Just as in her previous two finals, Bouzkova went three sets with her opponent, but her inability to secure the 1st set vs. Sloane Stephens after leading 4-1 put her into catch-up and hold-on mode the rest of the match. The Czech maintained her 4-1 lead in the 2nd set, knotting the match. But after saving BP to hold in her first two serve games in the final set, Bouzkova couldn't convert a BP on Stephens serve in game #5, then saw Stephens hold and finally convert a BP a game later to grab take the lead. Bouzkova didn't win another game.

Despite showing flashes in the past, including a '19 Toronto SF run as a qualifier during which she recorded wins over Leylah Fernandez, Stephens, Alona Ostapenko and Simona Halep before taking Serena Williams to three sets, Bouzkova is now 0-3 in tour finals (she also lost a WTA 125 final in Guadalajara in '19).


===============================================
SURPRISE: Anna Kalinskaya/RUS
...what looked about to be a potentially game-changing week in Guadalajara for the Hordette, but for a back injury that brought things to an unnatural end, turned out to "only" be one of the best of her tour career.

As it is, 23-year old Kalinskaya, a Roland Garros junior finalist (def. by Badosa) seven seasons ago, reached her second tour-level semifinal ('19 Washington) with a string of wins over young oppopents, knocking out Zheng Qinwen, Wang Xinyu and Camila Osorio to set up a match against Sloane Stephens to reach her first career tour final. The '17 U.S. Open champ already represented the Russian's only career Top 10 win, coming in the 1st Round at Flushing Meadows two years after Stephens' title run.



Kalinskaya entered the match with a lingering back injury, and chose to stand during changeovers throughout the match. Still, she led Stephens by a set and double-break at 6-3/3-0 before the former slam champ (who had *zero* winners in the 1st set) finally began to find her game just as Kalinskaya's back became harder and harder for her to play with. Next to serve up 4-3, Kalinskaya went off court for treatment, and seemed even worse for wear when she returned, getting broken at love and soon seeing Stephens surge to a 5-4 on-serve lead.

Kalinskaya held to knot the set, but lost the 2nd 7-5 and then decided to abandon the match following the between-set break, sending Stephens to her first final in four seasons. It was a result that surely leaves a bad immediate aftertaste for the Hordette, but the preservation of her health should at least allow her the chance to carry over her momentum into her next scheduled event after rising to a new career high of #86 (up from #100) on Monday.
===============================================



VETERANS: Sloane Stephens/USA and Wang Qiang/CHN
...seeing Stephens come even close to living up to her talent (i.e. winning titles) shouldn't feel like finding a forgotten $10 bill in the pocket of a rarely-worn pair of pants, but we've pretty much gotten used to that sensation by now. Whenever we get even a brief, largely imperfect but still intriguing, glimpse of what Sloane is capable of -- and that's a pretty dead-on description of what happened in Guadalajara -- we should probably just feel fortunate for it, because one never knows when such a phenomenon will flash across the tennis landscape again.

Stephens was hardly back in anything close to her best form from the past this week, as she once again bounced around from uninspired to engaged over the course of five matches. But she came into Guadalajara without a match win in '22, no singles final appearances since the '18 WTA Finals, and without having won a singles crown since Miami nearly four full years ago, and she managed to take care of all three by Sunday night. So that counts as a mostly unqualified success.

Stpehens opened with a headline-grabbing encounter in the 1st Round with qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova, a 14-year old Czech literally *half* the 28-year old's age. The gulf in experience was evident from the start. Sloane followed up with a straight sets win over Chloe Paquet, but then had to rally from 6-3/3-0 to defeat Dasha Saville in the QF, and was fortunate enough to be facing a SF opponent in Anna Kalinskaya who was nursing a bad back. The Russian led by a set and a double-break before her body let her down and ultimately forced her retirement before the start of the 3rd.

In the final against Marie Bouzkova, Stephens fell behind 4-1 in both the 1st and 2nd sets. Her comeback to win the opener proved key, as was her ability to pull out at least a little of her past toughness to win a multi-game early 3rd set battle in which both women had to save multiple BP. After Bouzkova had saved BP in back-to-back service games (including pulling out of a love/40 hole in game #2), Stephens saved one on her own serve in game #5 before breaking the Czech a game later and then blanking Bouzkova in the remaining games of the match, winning 7-5/1-6/6-2.

The title is the seventh of Stephens' career, though her run gave little indication that "The Future" is anywhere but (at least for now) in the past. Of course, Sloane being Sloane, if she were to find a way to string together a successive series of good results, maybe that fire *can* be re-lit. At least for a short period of time that might produce a superior result or two before Stephens' game goes into another of its sudden (and frustrating) periods of hibernation.



Meanwhile, Wang continues to walk toward the light and out of the WTA darkness that she's (mostly) inhabited the past two seasons.



Wang was one of the many Chinese players who never returned to the post-shutdown tour during the '20 season and upon her return last year posted just one positive result, a final run in Parma last May. Outside of that 4-1 week, Wang was just 6-13 the rest of the season.

Wang's two Australian Open victories last month represented her first multi-win event since Parma, and just her second in two full years. This week's semifinal in Guadalajara is her best result since that same event. Ranked at #144 (her lowest standing since July '14) after being at #28 pre-shutdown at this time two years ago, Wang defeated Lauren Davis, Harmony Tan and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova before falling in straight sets to Marie Bouzkova one round short of the final.

The 30-year old will jump 28 spots to #116 in the new week.
===============================================
COMEBACKS: Alona Ostapenko/LAT and Dasha Saville/AUS
...while she wasn't able to carry it out to a "Desert Double" reality, Dubai champ Ostapenko immediately (as in starting less than 24 hours after she lifted the trophy) carried over her heart-stoppoing run to Doha, adding four victories to extend her winning streak to nine matches with two *more* wins over former slam champs (making in *six* over the two-week stretch).

After opening with a win over Oceane Dodin, Ostapenko took out Amanda Anismova in three sets before polishing off major winners Barbora Krejcikova and Garbine Muguruza in straights to advance to her third SF of the season.



Against Anett Kontaveit, Ostapenko was outplayed but *still* found herself a BP from knotting the score at 5-5 in the 2nd, a final chance at turning the match around that was lost when a lunging crosscourt forehand from the baseline from the Estonian plunked off the net cord and died with an advancing Ostapenko just a step from putting away a down the line shot that *might* have given her new life. As it turned out, the match instead ended two points later.

A two-time AO second week performer and four-time tour singles finalist (winning New Haven) in 2016-17, Saville (nee Gavrilova) has largely existed most of the last two+ seasons as a fun internet celebrity hoping "to go viral," a proud doggo mommy to Tofu, and a soon-to-be bride and (now) newlywed. After reaching the Top 25 in 2018, lingering Achilles issues saw her end the last three seasons at #237-#446-#419. Saville played just seven matches in '20, and five in '21, finally returning for BJK Cup play last November after undergoing surgery early in the year.

A #610-ranked wild card in Guadalajara, Saville earned back her tennis player stripes this week, opening with a (tour season-long) 3:36 win over Emma Raducanu that ended just seven games into the 3rd set when the U.S. Open winning Brit retired with a hip injury to give the Aussie her first Top 20 win since upsetting Petra Kvitova in Beijing in September '18. She followed up with an additional victory over Caroline Dolehide to reach her first WTA QF since Strasburg '19.

Saville was finally ousted in a three-set contest by Sloane Stephens even after the Aussie had led 6-3/3-0, but will now see her ranking jump over 200 spots to just outside the Top 400.


===============================================
FRESH FACES: Coco Gauff/USA and Hailey Baptiste/USA
...she's been around for so long now, even at just age 17, it's become easy for some to scoff that Gauff's progress on tour isn't happening fast *enough*, even as she's now a fairly regular Top 20 presence (she'll return on Monday after a one-week absence), a multiple tour title winner (in singles and doubles) with four Top 4 victories since the start of '20 and is less a year past her maiden slam QF (RG) run last spring, all while still not yet old enough to vote.

In Doha, Gauff posted her fourth 1000 level QF+ since the start of last season, knocking off Shelby Rogers, Caroline Garcia and #4-ranked Paula Badosa in one of her most complete matches yet. She fell in straight sets to Maria Sakkari in the Final Eight, but then added her fourth career doubles title with a run alongside Jessie Pegula, grabbing her biggest WD crown so far.

Gauff, who'll turn 18 in two weeks, is *still* the only under-18 player ranked in the Top 175 (recent girls #1 VJK is the only other in the Top 200).



Meanwhile, 20-year old Baptiste's Guadalajara qualifying run included victories over Marcela Zacarius and Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, as well as a MD victory over Viktoria Kuzmova and a three-set loss to Camila Osorio. The Washington, D.C. native will climb eight spots to a new career high of #123 on Monday. The only other under-21 Bannerettes ranked higher are Gauff and Amanda Anisimova.



This weekend, Baptiste lost in the final qualifying round in Monterry to top-seeded Pastry Diane Parry.
===============================================
DOWN: Elena Rybakina/KAZ
...the Kazakh got off to a good start this season, reaching the final in Adelaide, her first final appearance since September '20 in Strasbourg. Since then, though, Rybakina has struggled to rebound from injury. After pulling out mid-tournament at three consecutive events -- Sydney 2r w/o, AO 2r ret, St.P 2r ret -- she returned to action in Doha, only to fall in her opening match in a 4 & 3 loss to lucky loser Jaqueline Cristian, who picked up her first career Top 20 victory.

Rybakina entered the week at #20, and (for now) will retain her Top 20 status, which she's held consecutively since last June. She climbed as high as career-best #12 just last month.
===============================================
ITF PLAYER: Katie Swan/GBR
...after dealing with injuries and a loss of confidence in recent seasons, Swan took another step forward with a $25K title run in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. The Brit ended her week with back-to-back straight sets wins over Bannerettes Danielle Lao and Sachia Vickery, with the latter proving that "fortune favors the brave" by rebounding from last week's worst-tournament-she's-ever-played-in experience in Cancun (though she didn't get her first singles title since '17).

With this win, Swan improves to 10-0 in career singles finals on the ITF circuit.


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



JUNIOR STAR: Lucie Havlickova/CZE
...the Czech junior barrage continued in the Banana Bowl (JA) in Criciuma, Brazil with Havlickova making it *twelve* J1/JA/slam events claimed by Maidens (along with the BJK Cup 16s team event) since the start of 2021.

The #43-ranked girl, 16-year old Havlickova strung together eight wins (all in straight sets), making her way through qualifying to claim her first high level junior title. The #7 seed, Havlickova posted wins over last week's J1 Porto Alegre finalist Mia Kupres (CAN), #3-seed Luca Udvardy (HUN), #5 Qavia Lopez (the Bannerette def. the Czech in the 1r of the AO juniors) and #8 Annabelle Xu (CAN) in the final en route to the crown.
===============================================



DOUBLES: Coco Gauff/Jessie Pegula, USA/USA
...hmmm, are they "Pegoco?," or maybe "PeGauff?" Either way, they're the new Doha doubles champions.

After going just 1-3 in their previous partnerships (including a 1st Rd. exit last week in Dubai), Gauff & Pegula won the biggest career title for both in 2022's first 1000 level event. After a win over Dubai finalists L.Kichenok/Ostapenko to open the week, the Bannerette pair won a 10-7 match TB over #3-seeds Shibahara/Sh.Zhang, a straight sets SF over Aoyama/Krunic and then another match TB (10-5) in the final over Dubai champs V.Kudermetova/Mertens, who were attempting to become the third WD duo (w/ Huber/Raymond '12 and Hsieh/Strycova '20) to pull off a "Desert Double."



The win gives Gauff four tour-level WD wins (this was her first F/W without Caty McNally by her side), while for Pegula it's her second win title season (w/ her maiden WTA crown coming Week 1 in Melbourne), tying world #1 Katerina Siniakova for the tour's early season lead.
===============================================









kosova-font



1. Doha Final - Iga Swiatek def. Anett Kontaveit
...6-2/6-0. Swiatek has allowed a total of eleven games in her last four finals... and she avoided being injured in the post-match by Kontaveit's swinging ponytail, too.


===============================================
2. Guadalajara 1st Rd. - Dasha Saville def. Emma Raducanu
...5-7/7-6(4)/4-3 ret. Raducanu failed to put the #610-ranked, comeback-minded Aussie away in the 2nd set after serving at 5-3. The Brit held an early break lead in the 3rd, but Saville, herself having to consult a physio mid-match, continued to apply the pressure and ultimately saw Raducanu retire with a hip injury seven games into the final set. Even with the abbreviated final stanza, the 3:36 match length is the longest on tour this season.



The win is Saville's first Top 20 victory since 2018.
===============================================
3. Doha 1st Rd. - Tereza Martincova def. Elina Svitolina
...6-7(2)/7-5/7-6(5). Before all hell broke loose back home, Svitolina lost a 5-3 3rd set lead and fell in 2:59 to the Czech. She's 3-5 on the season, but now has other more important concerns.



Still, Svitolina is the top seed in Monterrey this week. She plays Russian Anastasia Potapova in the 1st Round. Of course she does.
===============================================



4. Guadalajara Final - Sloane Stephens def. Marie Bouzkova
...7-5/1-6/6-2. Bouzkova led 4-1 in both the 1st and 2nd sets, but could only put away the 2nd. In the decider, the Czech saved BP in both of her first two service games, holding from love/40 down in game #2, but couldn't seize the lead as she failed to convert BP on Stephens' serve in game #5. Worse for the Czech, she then dropped serve a game later and saw Stephens carry the momentum to the end, winning the final four games of the match to take home her first tour title in nearly four years (and ending her three-final losing streak over that stretch).

Stephens is the third different Bannerette to lift a singles title through the season's first two months.

And, enter the sombrero...


===============================================
5. Doha 3rd Rd. - Alona Ostapenko def. Barbora Krejcikova 6-3/6-2
Doha QF - Alona Ostapenko def. Garbine Muguruza 6-2/6-2
...the Latvian, in "easier" than expected fashion, defeats her fifth and sixth former grand slam champions over a nine-match stretch.



It still didn't provide enough momentum to knock off Anett Kontaveit.
===============================================
6. Doha 3rd Rd. - Coco Gauff def. Paula Badosa
...6-2/6-3. Quite possibly Gauff's best match yet? At any rate, it's career Top 10 win #5, and her third over a world #4. Her win last spring in Rome over #1 Barty came via a retirement.
===============================================
7. Doha QF - Lucie Hradecka/Sania Mirza def. Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova
...7-6(5)/4-3 ret. The veteran duo ends doubles #1 Siniakova's 20-match WTA/slam (non-BJK) winning streak (12 w/ Krejcikova) that dated back to last season, a stretch that saw the Czech win four titles (including the WTAF and AO) with three different partners (also w/ Ostapenko and Pera) and claim sole possession of the top ranking.

Hradecka/Mirza also knocked off the *other* half of this year's AO final, Danilina/Haddad Maia, but ultimately saw their run end in the SF against V.Kudermetova/Mertens.

Meanwhile, Krejcikova rises to singles #2 and this week accomplishes the rare feat of simultaneously ranking in the Top 2 of *both* disciplines.
===============================================
8. Guadalajara SF - Sloane Stephens def. Anna Kalinskaya
...3-6/7-5 ret. What could have been for Kalinskaya, who led by a set and double-break before her linging back injury finally became too much to win with, then too much to bear.

In Kalinskaya's only previous tour SF (Washington '19) she was also forced to deal with a bad back.


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



9. Doha SF - Anett Kontaveit def. Alona Ostapenko
...6-1/6-4. In a match-up of a player on a nine-match winning streak (Ostapenko) vs. another who'd won eight straight (Kontaveit), the Estonian wins in two. After playing from behind all match, though, Ostapenko *did* have an opening late in the 2nd with Kontaveit serving for the match. She held a BP, and was prepared to send Kontaveit's lunging crosscourt forehand down the line for a momentum-changing (?) winner, only to see the ball catch the net cord and die on the court one step out of reach. The match came to a close two points later.


===============================================
10. Doha 1st Rd. - Caroline Garcia def. Simona Halep
...6-4/6-3. Fighting to latch onto something while riding a three-match losing streak, the Pastry grabbed hold in the 1st Round in Doha with an upset of Halep days after the Romanian had been blitzed in a love 3rd set in Dubai by Alona Ostapenko. The resulting defeat gives Halep her first back-to-back losses in consecutive events since her return from her calf injury last summer.



Garcia lost a round later to Coco Gauff.
===============================================
11. Doha 1st Rd. - Elise Mertens def. Jasmine Paolini 6-3/2-6/7-5
Doha 2nd Rd. - Elise Mertens def. Petra Kvitova 7-5/1-2 ret.
...Mertens rallied from a 4-1 3rd set deficit vs. the Italian, with Paolini failing to serve out the match at 5-3.

A round later, Doha DC Kvitova retired with a left wrist injury. The Czech will fall outside the Top 30 for the first time since January 2011, six months before she won her maiden slam crown at Wimbledon.


===============================================
12. Doha 2nd Rd. - Madison Brengle walkover Victoria Azarenka
...Vika's hip injury, after her dramatic 1st Round comeback vs. Yulia Putintseva, counts as her sixth walkover exit from a tour event since the start of last season.
===============================================



13. Guadalajara Final - Kaitlyn Christian/Lidziya Marozava def. Wang Xinyu/Zhu Lin
...7-5/6-3. Christian becomes the third different Bannerette -- after Pera and Pegula -- to win maiden tour-level doubles titles in '22. She's previously been 0-5 in tour finals. For Marozava, it's career title #3.


===============================================
14. Doha 3rd Rd. - Ons Jabeur def. Tereza Martincova
...6-1/3-6/6-3. Jabeur in an event in the Middle East = simply irresistible.


===============================================
15. Doha 3rd Rd. - Aryna Sabalenka def. Jil Teichmann
...6-2/6-1. Sabalenka's first DF-less match since Doha in 2020. She still lost a round later to Iga, though.
===============================================
16. Doha SF - Iga Swiatek def. Maria Sakkari
...6-4/6-3. Since winning her only tour title in Rabat in May '19, the Greek has gone 2-14 in SF/F matches.
===============================================
17. $60K Nur-Sultan KAZ Final - Anzhelika Isaeva def. Greet Minnen
...6-4 ret. Minnen's retirement stops her attempt at back-to-back $60K challenger wins, as 21-year old Russian qualifier Isaeva picks up her first career title.


===============================================
18. $25K Macon FRA Final - Reka-Luca Jani def. Wang Yafan
...6-4/6-3. Wang comes up a match short of back-to-back title runs, as 30-year old Hungarian Jani grabs her 24th career singles crown.


===============================================
19. $15K Monastir TUN Final - Clervie Ngounoue/Hanne Vandewinkel def. Mara Guth/Mia Mack
...6-2/6-2. AO girls doubles champ Ngounoue, 15, picks up her first pro title (in the same week she reached her second of back-to-back ITF singles QF in her 7th pro event) while playing alongside 17-year old Belgian Vandewinkel (who also wins her maiden crown) against the all-German team of Guth, 18, and Mack, 17.


===============================================
20. $60K Nur-Sultan Final - Linda Noskova/Ekaterina Makarova def. Anna Siskova/Maria Timofeeva
...6-2/6-3. 17-year old Czech Noskova, last year's RG girls singles champ, picks up her first pro WD title to go along with the four wins in singles challenger events since the start of '21.
===============================================
HM- Doha 2nd Rd. - Dasha Kasatkina def. Jaqueline Cristian
...2-6/2-2 ret. Shades of countrywoman Buzarnescu. One match after she'd entered the Doha MD as a LL and posted her first career Top 20 win (def. Rybakina) with her maiden MD victory in a WTA 1000 event, Cristian leads Kasatkina before suffering a knee injury that will now require surgery.


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






kosova-font


1. Guadalajara 1st Rd. - Sloane Stephens def. Brenda Fruhvirtova
...6-2/6-2. The big opening night debut in Guadalajara turned out to *just* be a simple hello to Brenda Fruhvirtova and not the eye-popping moment that her sister Linda's introduction was last spring in Charleston. Still, it's not every day that one sees a 14-year old on the WTA tour. It's only the ninth time it's happened since the turn of the century.




===============================================
2. $15K Sharm El Sheikh EGY Final - Cody Wong Hong-yi def. Mirra Andreeva
...6-4/6-1. Then again, maybe there's *another* in the tour's near future.

14-year old Hordette Andreeva, like Brenda F. the younger sister of another (17-year old #252 Erika, a title-winner in Sharm El Sheikh last season), reached her maiden pro singles final this weekend in Egypt mere weeks after the younger Fruhvirtova became the youngest ITF title-winner in six years. The girls' #17, Andreeva didn't get her maiden title, falling to Hong Kong 19-year old Cody (who won her second career crown), but one suspects this won't be the last we're hear of her.

This was just Andreeva's *second* pro event appearance, after all.
===============================================
3. Monterrey Q1 - Jule Niemeier def. Bianca Fernandez
...6-3/6-2. 18-year old Fernandez, the younger sister of tournament defending champ Leylah, makes her debut in a tour event via a qualifying wild card.

They're scheduled to play doubles together this week, as well.
===============================================







kosova-font





kosova-font



Hmmm... Stan still alive for the craziest, and maybe most admirable, considering the era, Career Slam ever?




kosova-font





kosova-font



Based on the tour's track record, I suspect the ATP will announce that TPTB will soon begin to consider whether to suspend Zverev for a period to take place around 2025, or some other time in the future. They promise.




(Clears Throat...)




That'll teach him...




So... then *nevermind*, right?


kosova-font














futuristic-fonts


kosova-font


























kosova-font





*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
4 - 1/2/1 - IGA SWIATEK, POL

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2020s*
10 (1/7/2) ANETT KONTAVEIT (5-4-1)
9 (1/6/2) Ash Barty (8-1)
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*
3 - ANETT KONTAVEIT, EST (2-1)
3 - ALONA OSTAPENKO, LAT (1-2)
3 - IGA SWIATEK, POL (1-2)
2 - Ash Barty, AUS (2-0)
2 - Simona Halep, ROU (1-1)
2 - Madison Keys, USA (1-1)
2 - Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (0-0 +WW)
2 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (0-2)
2 - MARIA SAKKARI, GRE (0-2)

*2022 YOUNGEST WTA FINALISTS*
20 - Amanda Anisimova, USA (Melbourne 2 - W)
20 - IGA SWIATEK, POL (DOHA - W)
[doubles]
17 - COCO GAUFF, USA (DOHA - W)
20 - Caty McNally, USA (Saint Petersburg - W)
20 - WANG XINYU, CHN (GUADALAJARA - L)

*2022 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
2 (2-0) = JESSIE PEGULA, USA
2 (2-0) = Katerina Siniakova, CZE
2 (1-1) = Anna Danilina, KAZ
2 (1-1) = Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
2 (1-1) = VERONIKA KUDERMETOVA, RUS
2 (1-1) = ELISE MERTENS, BEL
2 (0-2) = Tereza Martincova, CZE

*U.S. - CAREER TITLES (active)*
73 - Serena Williams
49 - Venus Williams
7 - SLOANE STEPHENS
6 - Madison Keys
5 - Sofia Kenin
3 - Alison Riske
2 - Amanda Anisimova
2 - Danielle Collins
2 - Coco Gauff
2 - CoCo Vandeweghe
1 - Jennifer Brady
1 - Lauren Davis
1 - Irina Falconi
1 - Ann Li
1 - Christina McHale
1 - Jessica Pegula

*RECENT BANANA BOWL CHAMPIONS*
2016 Panna Udvardy, HUN
2017 Whitney Osuigwe, USA
2018 Camila Osorio, COL
2019 Diane Parry, FRA
2020 Elvina Kalieva, USA
2021 Oceane Babel, FRA
2022 Lucie Havlickova, CZE

*"QUEEN OF MEXICO" PODIUM - Acapulco/Guadalajara/Monterrey*
[1st place]
2015 Timea Bacsinszky, SUI (won Acap/Mont singles)
2016 A.Medina-Garrigues/A.Parra-Santonja, ESP (won Acap/Mont WD)
2017 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS (4-time Mont.WS)
2018 Lesia Tsurenko, UKR (2 con. Acapulco WS)
2019 Garbine Muguruza, ESP (2 con. Monterrey WS)
2020 Heather Watson, GBR (Acapulco W; second to win Acap+Mont WS)
2021 Sara Sorribes Tormo, ESP (Guad. W & Mont. SF)
2022 ?
[2nd place]
2015 Caroline Garcia, FRA (RU Acap/Mont singles)
2016 Sloane Stephens, USA (Acap) & Heather Watson, GBR (Mont)
2017 Lesia Tsurenko, UKR (Acapulco WS)
2018 Giuliana Olmos, MEX (first MEX player in MONT.WD final)
2019 Maria Sanchez, USA (Guad/Mont WD W)
2020 Renata Zarazua, MEX (Acapulco SF, first MEX WTA SF since '93)
2021 Leylah Fernandez, CAN (Mont.W - 1st WTA title; '20 Acap RU)
[3rd place]
2021 D.Krawczyk/G.Olmos (Guad RU: in F of all 3 WTA MEX 2018-21)
2022 ?









futuristic-fonts


kosova-font


kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font


*THREAD*




kosova-font



kosova-font




kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font


Shouldn't have been necessary... and it wasn't a *choice* but a correction of an *error*. But, fine. The bar is verrry low.




kosova-font



kosova-font




kosova-font








All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 1:35 AM 

7 Comments:

Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Hopefully the embeds show up, since my computer pretty much came to a standstill while I was posting (I could see a grand total of *one* while previewing the post, and none once I got on the page) and really couldn't check anything at all. But I wasn't going to push the headache to Monday, so I just went with it.

Mon Feb 28, 03:23:00 AM EST  
Blogger Diane said...

Ah, that explains the lack of embeds. I thought I was having trouble at my end again, like I did--what, a few months ago?

Mon Feb 28, 10:00:00 AM EST  
Blogger colt13 said...

They are coming up for me. The Debbie Ryan one says image removed.

The Spiderman meme is funny.

I stand with Ukraine.

I also stand with the Russian athletes and people who speak out against this. Why? I assume that over the last couple of years, people overseas saw January 6th, and also saw media and emergency workers shot with rubber bullets, and wondered what was wrong with us. Don't judge us on the actions of the madman that was in office. I won't judge the average Russian because of Putin.

Rant over, back to tennis.

Cirstea and Van Uytvanck probably favorites in Lyon, but wouldn't mind Yastremska winning it and starting her new life. Ivanna and Dayana got doubles WC, but lost, which in the overall scheme of things, doesn't really matter.

Svitolina is the favorite in Monterrey. The Fernandez sisters get doubles WC after Bianca got one for Q.

The oldest player in the doubles Top 10 in Stosur gets bumped out by Gauff, who now is the youngest player there by 17 years as Shibahara is 24.

Speaking of Shibahara, both her and Aoyama played with different partners in Doha, and are split on IW preliminary list.

Kenin will drop to around 130 with Lyon points dropping off.

Asia Muhammad drops a load of doubles points this week, but that will only drop her 3-4 spots. Not so lucky is 2020 Monterrey winner and 2020 Acapulco RU Kateryna Volodko.

Raducanu played 3:36 last week. Had only played 5:18 all year up to that point.

The irony? Kalinskaya retires vs Stephens after accusing Osorio of faking. Osorio got out to 4-1 lead, called trainer at 4-3. She was accused of faking then. Won 1 game rest of match.

WTA announced July and August schedule. Budapest is back, Granby, Canada is added. Granby is the week before USO, as is Cleveland, so it may not have a huge field because of USO Q, but Bianca Fernandez and other next gen Canadians will have a showcase.

B.Fruhvirtova. Is her backhand a bit loopy? Yes. Was her footwork off? Also yes. With that said, this was a great first step. 1. Qualified. 2. Did not eat a bagel. Didn't embarrass herself.

Singles Race:Selected Few

4- Collins
17-Sabalenka
32-Brengle
43-Osaka
73-Kenin
85-Saville
96-Raducanu
101-Fernandez
180-B.Fruhvirtova
196-Kerber

Raducanu has been a bit of a smokescreen for Fernandez.



Mon Feb 28, 12:59:00 PM EST  
Blogger colt13 said...

Stat of the Day- 11- The number of slam finalists in the last decade that did not play the same event the next year.

That stat needs context, and it did that to throw you off.

Pavlyuchenkova announced that she would miss the next 10 weeks, which means she might miss Roland Garros. If she does, she would be the second RU not to make it back as Brady did not play Australia.

The men's side seems to have a bigger problem, as seemingly within months of reaching a final, Thiem, Nishikori and Anderson broke down, while Del Potro, Murray and Wawrinka struggled to stay healthy after winning titles.

So on the women's side, is this more prevalent than in the old days? With the 60's partially containing the Open Era, and the 40's being wartime, I used the 50's and compared it to the 10's.

Stats have 80 finalist slots in each, 21 Wimbledon was used since 2020 was skipped. First the numbers, then the notes for the 50's.

W-14
RU-10
SF-12
QF-11
4TH-1
3RD-2
2ND-1
1ST-0
X-29

The biggest number is 29. 29 of 80 women finalists didn't bother to return the next year.

There are women who show up multiple times, the most famous being Mo Connolly, who didn't defend some her titles in 1954-55 due to her career ending injury, but she didn't defend her 1953 Australian Open title either.

She was one of 6 women, along with Julia Sampson, Shirley Fry, Angela Buxton, Doris Hart and Althea Gibson, who retired a year after reaching a slam final.

The only player to lose in the 2nd rd was Zsuzsi Kormoczy, who followed up her 1959 French Open RU with this, a match she was reading when she retired.

The only 4th rd result was from 1958 RG RU Shirley Bloomer, she got married, played under Shirley Brasher, then after playing 3 slams in 1959, never played anything other than her home slam on Wimbledon, which she did 11 times between 1960-74.

Angela Mortimer won Australia in 1958 in her only appearance. That was after going W-RU at RG in 55-56 never to return.

Patricia Ward was USO RU in 1955. Did not return but played Wimbledon 6 more times.

So what about this generation?

W-9
RU-7
SF-7
QF-14
4TH-11
3RD-9
2ND-6
1ST-6
X-11

11 is worse than expected, but normalized once you realize that between injury and pregnancy, Serena accounted for 4. Bartoli, Li and Pennetta are the ones that retired within a year.

One big difference was RG. In the 50's 6 of 10 winners were RU the next year. Connolly repeated. The other 3 didn't show. This time they were the only slam not to have a repeat winner.

The 6 with first round flameouts? V.Williams, Ostapenko, Vondrousova, Bouchard, Kerber, and Serena, who retired in what might be her last slam match.

Quiz Time!

Who was the first year end Top 100 player from Ukraine?

A.Alona Bondarenko
B.Natalia Medvedeva
C.Elena Brioukhovets
D.Olga Lugina

Interlude- The whole thing is worth watching, but if you want to hear Mo Connolly's voice, go to the 8 min mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrjSW8okfyY


Answer!

(D)Lugina is wrong. Though she reached a career high of 96 in 1998, she never ended the year in the Top 100, just missing at 103 in 1997.

It is not (C)Brioukhovets. The number 2 player for Ukraine for the bulk of her career, her 2 Top 100 seasons were for USSR in 1990-91. With a career high of 46 in both singles and doubles, she had more success as a doubles player.

(A)Bondarenko is also wrong. Part of the most accomplished Ukranian duo, she finished in the Top 100 6 consecutive years. Overall, that is less than her sister Kateryna, who has 7 non consecutive ones.

(B)Medvedeva is the original. Back in 1990, USSR won 4 singles titles- Medvedeva-1, Meskhi-1, Zvereva-2. By 1992, Meskhi represented Georgia, Zvereva CIS, then Belarus, while Medvedeva represented Ukraine. Her 2nd career title-Linz 1992, was the first under the new flag.

With a career high of 23 in 1993, 8 years in the Top 100(3 USSR- 5 UKR), and 4 titles, she was the flag bearer until the Bondarenko sisters and Svitolina came along.

Mon Feb 28, 01:45:00 PM EST  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Again, don't know what the problem is (and I'm not even going to try and fix it, either). It happened in Week 1 for no apparent reason in a post that was undertaken exactly just like the 1000 or so others, then was fine in posts after that. I refuse to use brain energy to try and figure out Blogger anymore.

Here's the thread with the SF photo. I think the image re-posted is pretty much the same one (but the original showed the photographer).

Agree with the UKR sentiments, as well as the (I think) wrong-headed notions of some people who act as if the RUS/BLR players shouldn't be allowed to play. I generally agree with the banning of the representative teams in ITF events (BJK,Davis,etc.) because they're "state-supported," but it's not as if the individual players on the two tours have *anything* to do with anything. And, really, the players from any of the nations, in a regular tour match, aren't *really* representing a country, it just so happens that that's where they're from. Truthfully, tennis (and say, golf) doesn't even have to put *any* flag or identifier next to any player's name.

On that, I know what Svitolina was getting at when she refused to play unless the flag was removed from Potapova or any other RUS/BLR player. Not really sure that that move accomplishes other than being symbolic, but I also suppose that *that* isn't a small thing, either.

I saw someone note that something along the lines of the Olympics using an Olympic flag symbol for players in odd circumstances (or as a way for the IOC to not actually ban players from a banned country, or not recognize Taiwan as it's own nation... but all that's a whole other discussion, isn't it?) could be done. Say, a WTA symbol next to their names? Someone else suggested RUS/BLR players could renounce the use of the flag/designation (or not, up to them), which is another idea, I guess.

Really, though, that's all a big mess, and really doesn't *do* anything no matter what course of action is taken. I thought Kostyuk's comments, though, were right on point.

The RUS/BLR athletes, assuming they haven't been open supporters of Putin or Lukashenko beyond what would be expected of any athlete having to make the best of bad choices under such a regime (i.e. not having the added difficulty during all this of, say, someone like Alex Ovechkin who has supported Putin in the past after being given all sorts of advantages by him due to his celebrity), are in a very difficult situation. I mean, look at the blowback that Azarenka got the other day after her statement, which seemed fine to me, esp. considering that she has walk a fine line with family still in BLR (and maybe RUS, too?). Considering the history, players from areas that were once Soviet republics probably have family from all over.

...

Hadn't realized that with Aoyama/Shibahara. That's too bad. They've been such a good team.

I guess, of course, Connelly and Seles will always be shoulder-to-shoulder in the "What If?" discussion.

Quiz: well, of course, it couldn't have been until sometime in either the 1990s or early 2000s, so I went with the biggest name from the time -- Bondarenko -- just because it'd just be a wild guess otherwise.

Thu Mar 03, 12:57:00 PM EST  
Blogger Diane said...

Speaking of Ovechkin, I remember Dementieva often going out of her way to tell us how great Putin was. I assumed that was probably required athlete-speak.

Fri Mar 04, 12:46:00 PM EST  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Yeah, that's the problem athletes from nations such as (in this case, and under these conditions) RUS and BLR, esp. those in sports where they travel the globe most of the year, away from family, or essentially live almost full-time in another country. You never know exactly what they're dealing with behind the scenes and what one step "out of line" might mean for them and those around them (see Peng).

That said, when players *do* step out and publicly criticize authoritarian regimes they should be commended. But, again, even then we don't know if their personal/family situation is of a nature to "allow" it more than it might be for others (again, see Peng, who said what she did why still *in* China, unlike most of the Russians these past two weeks who have spoken out from afar).

Sat Mar 05, 01:07:00 PM EST  

Post a Comment

<< Home