Sunday, April 24, 2022

Wk.16- Hot Wheels!

In Stuttgart, Iga remained Queen of the Road.







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*WEEK 16 CHAMPIONS*
STUTTGART, GERMANY (WTA 500/Red Clay Indoor)
S: Iga Swiatek/POL def. Aryna Sabalenka/BLR 6-2/6-2
D: Desirae Krawczyk/Demi Schuurs (USA/NED) def. Coco Gauff/Zhang Shuai (USA/CHN) 6-3/6-4
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (WTA 250/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Anastasia Potapova/RUS def. Veronika Kudermetova/RUS 6-3/6-1
D: Marie Bouzkova/Sara Sorribes Tormo (CZE/ESP) def. Natela Dzalamidze/Kamilla Rakhimova (RUS/RUS) 6-3/6-4




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Iga Swiatek/POL
...Swiatek's road to her latest title in Stuttgart wasn't as smooth as it was in Miami, but it also wasn't littered with the sort of slow starts she had to overcome in Indian Wells, either. Aside from one match, the world #1 continued to be on top of her game, and in the one outing in question she *still* managed to find her footing against a surging opponent at precisely the most important moments in the contest. As a result, while her 28-set streak came to an end on the indoor red clay, her 23-match, four-event title run remains as she heads into the very heart of the EuroClay campaign that precedes Roland Garros.

Swiatek seemed set to breeze through another field when she opened the week by allowing just two games to German wild card Eva Lys. Even when Emma Raducanu, in now her *fifth* pro match on clay, managed to get eight games off her in a 6-4/6-4 contest the pats on the back were going to the Brit for at least hanging in there. In the semis, though, Liudmila Samsonova had other ideas.

The Hordette seized upon squandered early leads (3-0 and 4-1) by Swiatek to steal the 1st set, and had the Pole's back against the wall at 4-4 in the 2nd, only to see Iga call upon her inner champion's reserve and get the late break and serve out the set to send things to a 3rd. There, she again took the early lead only to see Samsonova erase a pair of break advantages and play deep on serve into the final set, even leading 5-4 at one stage. But, again, Swiatek rose up and finished with a break-and-hold combo that put away the match.

The tightness of the semifinal didn't turn out to be a preview of the final, as Swiatek took down Aryna Sabalenka 2 & 2 to improve to 33-3 on the season, catching the retired Ash Barty for most tour titles in the 2020s with her seventh over the course of the past three seasons. Her three wins on clay lead the tour during that time.

Swiatek's tour-leading four titles in '22 can't be accused to being of the "cheapo" variety, either, as three have come with victories in the final over Top 10 opponents. During her 23-match run, she's 5-0 vs. the Top 10, 8-0 vs. the Top 20 and 13-0 vs. the Top 30.


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RISERS: Veronika Kudermetova/RUS and Liudmila Samsonova/RUS
...quick! Who has reached the most WTA singles finals in 2022? Yes, that'd be Iga. Ah, but who is second on the list? Believe it or not, that'd be Kudermetova, who's starting to develop a habit of coming up JUST short of something big.

Probably the reason that Kudermetova's more than somewhat under-the-radar singles success -- with three finals in Melbourne, Dubai and now Istanbul through less than four months of action -- has mostly remained so is because she's yet to win a singles title this season to go along with the doubles crown she won with Elise Mertens in Dubai (which she thankfully won, considering she was also a runner-up in 1000 events in Doha and Miami with the Belgian... after also falling in the WD finals at Wimbledon and Indian Wells last year, and being a non-medal *4th* place at the Olympics, after winning in Istanbul last spring).



Kudermetova's path in Istanbul to her fifth tour singles final included wins over Marina Melnikova, Anna Bondar and defending champ Sorana Cirstea. She lost in straights in the final to fellow Hordette Anastasia Potapova to fall to 1-4 in career WTA singles finals, 0-3 this season alone.



Meanwhile, Samsonova nearly became *the* story of Stuttgart in the semifinals, but also came up just short.

The 23-year old is usually one of the lesser-noted Hordettes on tour, but when she soared the highest in '21 she was quite impressive, winning her maiden title in one of the performances of the season in taking the grass crown in Berlin as a qualifier while defeating the likes of Vondrousova, Kudermetova, Keys, Azarenka and Bencic. She ended her season by leading the Russian Tennis Federation to the BJK Cup crown, posting an undefeated debut week in the event (5-0 combined) as she teamed with V.Kudermetova to win a deciding doubles vs. France in rr play, then recorded both points vs. the U.S. in the semis (def. Stephens, then winning another DD), and ultimately providing the clinching point in the final against Switzerland with another win over Bencic.

Back in Germany, Samsonova roared into the semifinals with wins over Chloe Paquet, Karolina Pliskova (her first actual Top 10 win, despite those big-name wins in Berlin last summer) and home favorite Laura Siegemund. In the semis against #1 Iga Swiatek, Samsonova stormed back from a break down to take the 1st, ending the Pole's 28-set winning streak, and then rallied again in the 3rd set, twice coming from a break down to lead, on serve, at 5-4 before Swiatek (as she'd done to end the 2nd) finished with a break-and-hold flourish to win her 22nd straight match.



Despite being forced to miss Wimbledon (and w/ the team's suspension meaning the BJK Cup title can't be defended), recent results are a good sign for the immediate future for Samsonova. After a slow 4-5 start to the year, she's now reached the Indian Wells 4th Round and Stuttgart SF in her last three events (bookending a disappointing 1st Rd. exit vs. Madison Brengle in Miami), and (as of now) should at least be able to work around the Wimbledon/LTA ban to at least have a shot to defend her Berlin title if she chooses to contest the grass season following Roland Garros.

Samsonova will be at a new career high of #26 in the new rankings.

An interesting note here about Samsonova's tennis history and "representation," as well as her comments about the "importance" (or lack of it) of the sport in Russia, considering Wimbledon's performative actions this week to ban her from play this year's event along with the other Hordettes, Belarusians and their ATP and junior counterparts.


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SURPRISE: Julia Grabher/AUT
...the 25-year old Austrian has been a reliable ITF circuit presence for nearly a decade, winning nine challenger titles since 2015, including her very first on hard court ($25K Porto) this February after having advanced to only clay court finals in nineteen (of 20) career finals over the previous seven years. Last week in BJK Cup play, Grabher posted her first Top 50 win with an upset of Slovenia's Tamara Zidansek.

After qualifying with wins over Hordettes Anastasia Tikhnova and Kamilla Rakhimova, Grabher belatedly knocked down another career door in Istanbul, posting her first career tour-level MD win -- she'd been 0-5 in MD 1st Round, w/ three attempts having come in her home event in Linz -- and the first by *any* Austrian on tour since 2020 with a 1st Round victory this week over Pemra Ozgen. She followed up with an even bigger win over Jil Teichmann to reach her maiden QF before falling to defending champion Sorana Cirstea.



Grabher, having cracked the Top 150 (#148) for the first time in February, had slipped in the rankings in recent weeks but will shoot up 38 spots on Monday to back inside the Top 160.
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VETERAN: Sorana Cirstea/ROU
...a year after going to Istanbul and winning her first tour singles title since 2008 -- a twelve and a half year gap that ranks as the third-longest in tour history between titles -- Cirstea wasn't able to successfully defend her crown this time around, but she battled her way back to another semifinal, saving two MP vs. Arantxa Rus in the 2nd Round and handling Austrian Julia Grabher in straights in the QF before a loss to Veronika Kudermetova.



The 32-year old Romanian's second '22 semifinal result adds another highlight to what has been a very good start to a season that has included additional 4th Round runs at the Australian Open and Indian Wells. Cirstea's Round of 16 finish in Melbourne was her second at a major in a year (w/ '21 RG) after she'd posted a total of two in her previous 48 slam MD appearances between the '08 and '21 AO.

Cirstea came into Istanbul ranked #24, not far off the career high of #21 she set nearly a decade ago ('13). She'll fall back slightly in the new rankings, but remains one of just four players aged 32+ (w/ Azarenka, Kerber and Kvitova) in the Top 32 (w/ Alize Cornet just outside that).
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COMEBACKS: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR and Bianca Andreescu/CAN
...considering her position in the rankings, one would have thought that Sabalenka would have benefitted greatly in '22 from Ash Barty's retirement, but the now #4-ranked Belarusian has had a slow-starting campaign often filled with DF's and disappointment. In Stuttgart, at the same point where she lifted her game last year with back-to-back finals there and in Madrid in what turned out to be a two-part final series with Barty, Sabalenka again found her form.

Opening with a three-set victory over the returning Bianca Andreescu, Sabalenka followed up by ending Anett Kontaveit's 22-match indoor winning streak, then eliminated Paula Badosa (taking another three-set affair after having won the first after trailing 5-2) to reach her first final since Madrid last May. The wins over Kontaveit and Badosa were her first over Top 10 players this season, as four of Sabalenka's last six Top 10 wins (2021-22) have come on clay after eleven of the first twelve (2018-20) of her career had been pulled off on hard court (w/ 1 on grass).

In her return trip to the Stuttgart final, Sabalenka lost in straights to #1 Iga Swiatek after falling in three against #1 Barty in '21. She now heads to Madrid to defend the title she claimed with a three-set victory over Barty in last year's final.



For the first time in seven months (Oct./Indian Wells), St.Bibi was back. Ranked #121, '19 U.S. Open champ Andreescu arrived in Germany for her Stuttgart debut after a long time away to get healthy (physically and mentally) after legitimately questioning her future in the sport last year.

Looking like the no-lead-is-safe Andreescu of old, the 21-year old Canadian opened with a straight sets wins over Jule Niemeier, denying the German the opening set despite her having served for the set and held a SP. The comeback ended a round later against two-time Stuttgart finalist Aryna Sabalenka, as Andreescu dropped her fifth straight vs. a Top 10 opponent (all after starting her career 8-0 vs. similar opponents), but she pushed the Belarusian to three sets and will now have something tangible to build on as she attempts to inject herself back into the competitive WTA ranks over the spring and summer.


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FRESH FACES: Anastasia Potapova/RUS and Eva Lys/GER
...after flashing not long after her successful junior career (which saw her win the '16 girls Wimbledon crown, two years before Swiatek did the same), Potapova reached a pair of tour finals in '18 and won MD matches at three majors a season later as she rose as high as #64. But her '20 ankle injury stopped her quick rise. The Hordette started to show comeback promise last season, reaching the 3rd Round at the Australian Open and QF of the Dubai 1000 event. But it was this week when she finally picked up the tangible hardware that makes her (re-)climb all the more credible.



Potapova made her way through qualifying in Istanbul, then ticked off a string of impressive victories en route to her third tour final, but first in three and a half years, as she took out young Czech Nikola Bartunkova, then more experienced prey in Petra Martic, Sara Sorribes Tormo, Yulia Putintseva and, in the final, countrywoman Veronika Kudermetova. Potapova was taken to three sets in the opening round of qualifying by Dea Herdželaš, but then proceeded to win 13 of her final 14 sets as she went 7-0 on the week.

The 21-year old fell out of the Top 100 in February and arrived in Istanbul at #122, but will rise back to #78 on Monday.

In Stuttgart, 20-year old German Lys (#342) took her qualifying wild card and played her way into her maiden WTA main draw with wins over Nastasja Schunk and Jule Niemeier, then posted a 1st Round win over Viktorija Golubic. She got just two games off of Iga Swiatek (more than a few far more accomplished tour players in recent weeks, in should be noted), but will surely benefit from having faced off with a world #1 so early in her tour career.

Lys will climb 58 spots to a new career high of #284 on Monday.


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ITF PLAYERS: Lucia Bronzetti/ITA and Louisa Chirico/USA
...Bronzetti recently made a run to the Round of 16 in Miami as a lucky loser, but the Italian dropped down to the challenger level this week in Chiasso, Switzerland. It proved to be a good move, as the world #88 reached the $60K final without dropping a set, then downed Swiss Simona Waltert 2-6/6-3/6-3 to claim her biggest career title. She'll move up a new career high of #81 this week.



Six years ago, a 19-year old Chirico put on a stunning run as a qualifier to the Madrid semis and later that season climbed as high as #64 in the rankings. Results have been hard to come by since, but in recent weeks the 25-year old has seen some significant movement. Last week, she reached the SF of a $100K challenger in Palm Harbor, Florida, falling there to Wang Xiyu. This week in a $60K in Charlottesville, Virginia, she took the title, this time defeating Wang in the final, 6-4/6-3, to pick up her biggest career title and first singles crown since 2019. She'll climb to around #213 in the new rankings, her best standing in four years.


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JUNIOR STARS: Anastasiya Lopata/UKR and Diana Shnaider/RUS
...17-year old Ukrainian Lopata picked up her biggest career title at the J1 Beaulieu-sur-Mer event in France, not dropping a set all week and finishing up with a victory over Slovenian Ela Nala Milic in the final. The girls' #67, whose previous best title had come in a J3 tournament, Lopata reached the QF of a J1 on clay in Villena in March.

Meanwhile, 18-year old Shnaider ('22 AO girls doubles champ) won her second straight challenger crown (3rd career) to improve her recent clay court stretch to 16-1 with a win in the $15K Shymkent (KAZ) final over countrywoman Ekaterina Maklakova, 6-2/7-5.
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DOUBLES: Desirae Krawczyk/Demi Schuurs (USA/NED) and Marie Bouzkova/Sara Sorribes Tormo (CZE/ESP)
...both Krawczyk (3 MX slam wins and a RG WD final) and Schuurs (4 1000 titles and 5 1000 RU) have had great doubles success with other partners, but their title run in Stuttgart is their first as a pair.

Teaming up for the first time in Indian Wells, the duo went a combined 1-3 there and in Miami and Charleston in the weeks that followed. The third different surface (red clay) turned out to be the charm, as they took a 10-7 MTB in the semis over Bucsa/Zidansek and then handled Gauff/Sh.Zhang in a 6-3/6-4 final. It's Krawcyzk's seventh career tour level WD crown, while Schuurs' 15th is her first since taking Charleston last year with former partner Nicole Melichar.



In Istanbul, best friends Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo went home with the trophies, never losing a set all week.



A 6-3/6-4 win in the final over the all-Hordette pair of Natela Dzalamidze/Kamilla Rakhimova gives both Bouzkova and Sorribes three tour WD titles in their careers, and surely gives them something brilliant to talk about, too.


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DOWN: AELTC & LTA
...if I was going with a player here, I suppose it'd be Istanbul #1 seed Elise Mertens. She added a loss to #76 Rebecca Peterson (ret. down 7-5/4-1) in the 1st Round to a pair of recent defeats by Dasha Saville (#279) and Linda Fruhvirtova (#409) to drop her third straight, but *officially* I'll look elsewhere...

After a long history of many dumb decisions that seemed designed to allow the powers that be to break their arms needlessly patting themselves on the back for things that others raised their eyebrows over, Wimbledon may have topped itself with this one, which appears to be more an acute case of perfomative hypocrisy than any of the moralistic reasons that have been professed to be behind the reasoning.



No one has questioned the banning of RUS/BLR *teams* from events like the BJK and Davis Cups because in those cases the nations are truly being "represented," but players are essentially independent contractors that only happen to hail from the nation whose initials are often found by their names. Banning individual players in non-team affiliated events feels like a case of playing right into an autocrat's hands and his "us vs. the world" view.

So, rather than find a sensible way to support the innocent victims of Putin's war in Ukraine, either by, say, donating a significant amount of the tournament's '22 earnings or, I don't know, maybe making an attempt to truly act as *one*, breaking down all potential political walls, and entirely eliminating any players' national affiliation (i.e. flags and initials by names) from the event (really, it's never served a purpose other than providing information to fans), the AELTC (Wimbledon) and LTA decided to bar all Russian and Belarusian tennis players from playing even though they have absolutely nothing to do with their governments' actions, cannot influence their decisions and, if anything, their banishment will only turn them into possible fodder to be used by Putin as anti-West propaganda on state television ("As I have said, they are all against us, especially Europe, which is why it is important for all Russians to band together in our effort to shield ourselves from..." or something along those lines). The ban scoops up the likes of players, such as Andrey Rublev, who have been outspoken against the war from the start, and doesn't even bother to bring up the potential pitfalls of Russian players speaking out against an autocratic government while still having family back home that could bear some of the consequences of speaking his/her mind. (How quickly we've forgotten #WhereIsPengShuai?)



I tend to agree with the eye-rolling nature (at best) of the action, especially with the sticky (and hypocritical, considering the actions of some nations in the past, including the U.S. and U.K. and, at the moment, China) precedence this could set, and that the players *should* consider trying to put together a boycott or protest about the treatment of fellow athletes. But, even though *they* could soon be subject to the same sort of capricious decisions under different circumstances and political climates in the future, the chances of such a thing are likely less than infinitesimal. While many players care about other players on an individual basis, good luck getting the whole to give much effort to back large groups of their fellow athletes, especially if it might cost them a small bit in the short term. Remember how it was like pulling teeth to get much support during the initial "#WhereIsPengShuai?" movement? It took Serena and Osaka saying something for it to get *any* traction, and then nothing since.



Of course, it doesn't help when someone in the middle of the developments like Elina Svitolina (speaking understandably 100% on emotion, but 0% on sense, practicality and fairness), who kicked things off weeks ago by saying she'd refuse to play against a Russian opponent, says things like this...



Svitolina can speak/demand into the void all she wants, but it's hard to believe (at least at this point) that either tour is going to flat out ban/persecute players simply because of the actions of Putin. It goes against pretty much everything that the tours are *supposed* to stand for.

And anyone that says that this isn't "respecting" or hearing the opinions/feelings of any of the suffering Ukrainian players (which I've seen stated), well, that's just untrue. Respecting and hearing another's views doesn't also mean agreeing with *all* of them, and certainly doesn't require getting on bended knee and doing whatever they desire to be done because it's "good" (but is it really?) for them but decidedly less so (if not outright "detrimental") for almost everyone else, either.



Cases can be made for the RUS/BLR ban in a tennis tournament, but opinions are just that.



If anything, as noted earlier, having *no* players play under *any* flag in individual events (anything other than at the Olympics or in BJK/Davis Cup), which I suggested a few months ago, from here forward would make more sense, as well as be more likely to be enacted. As bad as it sounds, I'm also close to holding the same (maybe a tad too flippant-sounding, but not intentionally so) sentiment here that I had with Osaka... if you (i.e. in this case, Svitolina or another Ukrainian player) don't want to play against a certain opponent, then pull out of the event and don't play. It'd be a bold "protest," largely because it would be seen as a personally detrimental act and a matter of choosing to stand by one's announced principles.



Leave it to Wimbledon to turn something that seemed pretty much unanimous on the international sports landscape -- that Putin's actions in Ukraine are deplorable and that Ukraine should be supported in all sensible ways -- and turn it into a controversy that creates another us-versus-them scenario, pits generally like-minded groups against one another, leads one side to ridiculously (and expectedly, in this age of we-agree-or-you-should-die) accuse the other of being pro-Putin or some such if they don't agree with the AELTC/LTA actions, thereby causing more rifts in a society that doesn't need and can't stand many more of them.

I'd sarcastically say "good job, everyone"... but we know they can't hear anything over the sound of cheering themselves for being (rather ironically) the "most moral" and "right-thinking" chaps on the block.
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1. Stuttgart Final - Iga Swiatek def. Aryna Sabalenka
...6-2/6-2. The fifth all-Top 10 final of 2022, three of which have featured Swiatek, saw the top-ranked Pole extend her winning streak to 23 matches and four straight titles, while Sabalenka fell in the Stuttgart final for a second straight year to the then-#1 ranked woman in the world.

Last year, Sabalenka got some measure of revenge for her loss to Ash Barty by defeating the Aussie in the Madrid final. Can history repeat itself again?



The last time a women's #1 lost a singles match was at last year's U.S. Open, when Shelby Rogers upset Barty.
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2. Stuttgart SF - Iga Swiatek def. Liudmila Samsonova
...6-7(4)/6-4/7-5. A rare (recently, at least... i.e. post-I.W.) tug-of-war for Swiatek, who lost 1st set leads of 3-0 and 4-1 as Samsonova ended her 28-set winning streak, the longest on tour since Serena in 2012-13. Iga broke-and-held to close out the 2nd, then twice took (and lost) break leads in the 3rd. After having trailed 3-1, Samsonova soon held an on-serve lead at 5-4 before, once more, Swiatek broke and held to close out the match for her 22nd consecutive win.

Maybe *more* impressively, the win improved the world #1's '22 three-set mark to 8-1, and 6-0 after losing the 1st set this season (after she'd gone 4-14 when falling behind in 2020-21).


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3. Stuttgart 2nd Rd. - Anett Kontaveit def. Ekaterina Alexandrova
...2-6/6-3/7-6(5). Kontaveit, like Swiatek, had to battle to keep her streak alive. After leading 5-3 in the 3rd, and serving at 5-4, the Estonian was forced to a deciding TB by Alexandrova, which Kontaveit won to extend her indoor streak to 22 matches.



Stuttgart QF - Aryna Sabalenka def. Anett Kontveit
...6-4/3-6/6-1. But Kontaveit's luck ran out a round later, as Sabalenka ousted her from Stuttgart at the QF stage for a second straight year.


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4. Istanbul 2nd Rd. - Sorana Cirstea def. Arantxa Rus
...3-6/6-1/7-5. Rus didn't put up her usual fight last week in BJK play, dropping a pair of straight setters against Spain, but was back at it in Istanbul, making defending champ Cirstea save two MP in order to avoid an early exit.


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5. Stuttgart 1st Rd. - Bianca Andreescu def. Jule Niemeier
...7-6(5)/6-3. In her first match in seven months, Andreescu immediately showed the rallying ability that helped her win Indian Wells, Toronto and U.S. Open titles three seasons ago. Niemeier served for the 1st set and held a SP, but the Canadian slammed the door shut and ultimately finished off the German in two.


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6. Stuttgart 1st Rd. - Emma Raducanu def. Storm Sanders
...6-1/6-2. A week after her first matches (in BJK Cup play, she went 1-1) on clay in her pro career, Raducanu again rises to the occasion in her first tour event on the surface.



Stuttgart QF - Iga Swiatek def. Emma Raducanu
...6-4/6-4. After a second win over Tamara Korpatsch, Raducanu met her Stuttgart end at the hands of Swiatek, encouragingly taking eight games off the world #1 in her first career match against a Top 10 player. The eight games looked even more magnificent before Samsonova got sixteen vs. Iga a round later.


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7. Stuttgart 1st Rd. - Eva Lys def. Viktorija Golubic
...5-7/7-5/7-5. #342-ranked qualifier Lys gets a win in 3:09 in her tour MD debut to notch her first career Top 100 victory, adding her name to the list of NextGen Germans (Niemeier, Schunk, Middendorf) that could form the heart of the country's BJK Cup in the near-future.


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8. Stuttgart 1st Rd. - Tamara Korpatsch def. Camila Giorgi 3-6/7-6(2)/6-1
Stuttgart 1st Rd. - Ons Jabeur def. Marketa Vondrousova 4-6/6-2/6-3
...sometimes the week *after* a wildly successful Cup weekend can but rough.
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9. $25K Orlando Q1 - Dia Evtimova def. Gail Falkenberg
...6-0/6-0. It's that time of year again... when we get a series of Gail Falkenberg sightings in U.S. challenger events.

The 75-year old popped up in Orlando qualifiying, her first event since last July, against veteran Bulgarian Evtimova, the current #695 (Top 150 eleven years ago) who has totaled up over 1000 matches (and 560+ wins) in her career. The end result was predictable, as Falkenberg has seemed to exist in the surreal landscape between admirable novelty and questionable sideshow almost since she played her first pro match (in Brazil) in 1986.



Falkenberg has gone 6-88 in the stretch, with her last victory coming in 1996, and her last winning set (the only one she's won since 1998) coming in April 2016. At this point, though, the eyebrow-raising aspects of this story come in the fact that the last *game* she won was in 2018. Falkenberg fell hard during this match, and needed assistance (including from Evtimova) to get to her feet, but played on and finished the match.

Since playing her first pro match at age 39, Falkenberg has appeared in tournaments in nine different countries (AUS,BRA,CAN,El Salvador,GBR,MEX,NZL,VEN and the U.S.) and on four countinents.
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10. Stuttgart 2nd Rd. - Paula Badosa def. Elena Rybakina
...6-2/4-6/7-6(4). After staging a comeback to defeat Angelique Kerber in BJK play, Rybakina nearly did the same against Badosa, rallying from 4-1 down in the 3rd to force a TB before losing anyway.

Badosa's run ended in the SF, but she'll rise to a new career high of #2 this week.
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11. Stuttgart 1st Rd. - Dasha Kasatkina def. Coco Gauff
...6-4/6-2. In 2021, Gauff rode the rollercoaster, playing seven straight three-set matches (going 6-1) in one stretch. This loss to Kasatkina came in her twelfth consecutive straight sets outing, during which she's gone 6-6.
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12. Stuttgart 2nd Rd. - Laura Siegemund def. Maria Sakkari
...6-4/3-1 ret. After an opening win over Tamara Zidansek, Siegemund once again makes her way through a Stuttgart draw.

Siegemund's best career singles stretch in 2016-17 involved success in Stuttgart. It was a period during which she reached the Top 30 in singles and posted eight of her ten career Top 10 wins during those back-to-back clay campaings. She ran off three Top 10 wins in the '16 event -- defeating the likes the Pavlyuchenkova, Halep, Vinci and Radwanska on the week -- en route to a runner-up result; then a year later the German claimed her biggest career title there, recording three more Top 10 victories while defeating Sh.Zhang, Kuznetsova, Ka.Pliskova, Halep and Mladenovic in succession. Suddenly considered (at worst) a dark horse contender at Roland Garros, Siegemund never made it to Paris, injuring her knee in May, not to return until March of the following season. She's never been able to fully recapture such a run in singles since, though she *did* reach her lone slam QF at RG in 2020.



Siegemund's retirement win over Sakkari was her first Top 10 win since that '17 clay season, as she's battled through a series of injuries ever since, seeing the majority of her success (including a U.S. Open win in '20, and Miami this year) coming in doubles.


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13. $15K Antalya TUR Final - Julia Middendorf def. Victoria Kan
...6-1/4-1 ret. Germans didn't rule in Stuttgart, but 19-year old German Middendort did in Antalya. Last year, Middendorf qualified in Stuttgart to make her tor MD debut, three years after she'd made her pro debut as a 15-year old in the event's qualifying rounds.


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14. $15K Chiang Rai THA Final - Luksika Kumkhum def. Talia Gibson
...6-0/6-1. Kumkhum wins her second straight challenger title, while 17-year old Aussie Gibson reaches her maiden pro singles final. Gibson also reached her first pro doubles final, winning the title with fellow 17-year old Aussie Catherine Aulia.


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15. $25K Monastir TUN Final - Zhu Lin def. Victoria Mboko
...6-1/4-6/6-4. Zhu picks up her third singles title since December (the smallest of the three, after a WTA 125 in December and $60K in March), while 15-year old Canadian Mboko reaches her first final in just her fifth pro event. Mboko led 4-2 in the 3rd.

The girls' #12, Mboko has collected a few J1 titles on the junior level this season, including the Traralgon doubles and Porto Alegre (BRA) singles/doubles crowns, and reached the AO doubles final alongside fellow Canadian Kayla Cross (with whom she won the two J1 doubles titles, and also defeated in the singles final in Brazil).


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HM- $25K Nottingham GBR Final - Eden Silva def. Robin Montgomery
...6-4/6-4. Reigning U.S. Open junior champ Montgomery, 17, reaches her third career pro final (first since '20) but doesn't go home with her second title. Instead, Brit Silva wins her first title since 2017.


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






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1. Stuttgart 2nd Rd. - Karolina Pliskova def. Petra Kvitova
...6-4/4-6/7-6(5). Kvitova led 4-1 in the 3rd, but Pliskova raised her game to get the win over her countrywoman. Still facing an uphill climb in her late-starting season, though, she again wasn't able to follow-up with a second victory, falling to Liudmila Samsonova.

Though she won a pair of matches in rr play at last year's WTA Finals, Pliskova hasn't won back-to-back matches since the U.S. Open.


===============================================
2. Istanbul Final - Anastasia Potapova def. Veronika Kudermetova
...6-3/6-1. In a week where they and all their countrywomen (and men) were pretty much indiscriminately banned from Wimbledon, it was sort of fitting that we got the 31st all-Hordette final in tour history, and the second in Istanbul (2010: Pavlyuchenkova/Vesnina). Combined with the final in Stuttgart, if not for Iga Swiatek's late SF surge against Liudmila Samsonova, we'd have had an all-banned singles finals weekend featuring three Russians and a Belarusian.

While Stuttgart's ultimate finalists were a combined 16-6 in career tour finals, Istanbul's last two women standing entered a combined 1-5. So... something had to give.

As it was, Potapova picked up her maiden tour title in her third final appearance, while Kudermetova dropped to a disappointing 1-4 (0-3 in '22 alone).


===============================================
3. $25K Santa Margherita di Pula ITA Final - Darya Astakhova/Ekaterina Reyngold def. Anna Turati/Bianca Turati
...7-6(6)/6-4. The Turatis fall in their third pro singles final together.
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HM- $25K Monastir TUN Final - Estelle Cascino/Jessika Ponchet def. Polina Kudermetova/Sofya Lansere
...6-0/4-6 [10-7]. Polina, Veronika's 18-year old sister, wasn't able to pick up a title for the family, either. Thankfully, the teenager *has* won an ITF singles title this season.
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Real sporting event security, or something you'd never see the likes of during a pro tennis match... well, unless a future ATP player gets especially testy with a chair umpire after a loss and they attempt to flee the racket-wielding offender, I guess.




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MOST CONSECUTIVE WINS, since 2003*
34 - Serena Williams (2013)
32 - Justine Henin (2007-08)
26 - Victoria Azarenka (2012)
25 - Serena Williams (2013-14)
24 - Justine Henin-Hardenne (2005)
23 - IGA SWIATEK (2022) #-active streak
22 - Justine Henin-Hardenne (2003)
22 - Kim Clijsters (2005)
22 - Lindsay Davenport (2004)
--
LONGEST SINCE 2000: 35-Venus Williams, 2000
[additional undefeated streaks]
27 - S.Williams (2014-15; w/o between 15 and 12-match streaks)
23 - N.Osaka (2020-21; walkover losses after #4 and #14)

2022 - TOP 10 FINALS*
Sydney - #9 Badosa def. #4 Krejcikova
Saint Petersburg - #9 Kontaveit def. #7 Sakkari
Doha - #8 Swiatek def. #7 Kontaveit
Indian Wells - #4 Swiatek def. #6 Sakkari
STUTTGART - #1 SWIATEK def. #4 SABALENKA

LONGEST INDOOR STREAKS, since 1989*
43 - Steffi Graf (1989-90)
32 - Monica Seles (1991-93)
22 - Lindsay Davenport (2001-02)
22 - Justine Henin (2007-10)
22 - ANETT KONTAVEIT (2021-22)
21 - Jana Novotna (1994)

*2022 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
4 - IGA SWIATEK, POL (Doha/I.W./Mia/Stutt)
2 - Ash Barty, AUS (Adelaide/Australian)
[2020-22]
7 - 1/5/1 - Ash Barty
7 - 1/2/4 - IGA SWIATEK
5 - 0/4/1 - Anett Kontaveit
5 - 3/2/0 - Aryna Sabalenka
4 - 3/0/1 - Simona Halep
3 - 0/3/0 - Barbora Krejcikova
3 - 0/3/0 - Garbine Muguruza
3 - 0/2/1 - Paula Badosa
3 - 2/1/0 - Elina Svitolina
[2020-22 Clay Court]
3 - IGA SWIATEK, POL
2 - Simona Halep, ROU
2 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2022*
4 - IGA SWIATEK, POL (4-0)
3 - VERONIKA KUDERMETOVA, RUS (0-3)
2 - Ash Barty, AUS (2-0)
2 - Anett Kontaveit, EST (1-1)
2 - Maria Sakkari, GRE (0-2)
[2020-22]
10 - 1/7/2 - Kontaveit (5-4-1)
9 - 1/6/2 - Barty (8-1)
7 - 1/2/4 - SWIATEK (7-0)
7 - 3/3/1 - SABALENKA (5-2)
6 - 1/5/0 - Muguruza (3-3)
6 - 5/0/1 - Rybakina (1-5)
5 - 3/1/1 - Halep (4-1)
5 - 0/4/1 - Krejcikova (3-2)
5 - 0/2/3 - V.KUDERMETOVA (1-4)
5 - 2/3/0 - Ka.Pliskova (1-4)

*2022 LOW-RANKED WTA FINALISTS*
#237 Tatjana Maria/GER (Bogota)-W
#212 Laura Pigossi/BRA (Bogota)
#140 Dayana Yastremska/UKR (Lyon)
#122 ANASTASIA POTAPOVA/RUS (ISTANBUL)-W
#107 Aliaksandra Sasnovich/BLR (Melbourne 2)

*2022 YOUNGEST WTA FINALISTS*
19 - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (Monterrey - W)
20 - Camila Osorio, COL (Monterrey-L)
20 - Amanda Anisimova, USA (Melbourne 2 - W)
20 - Iga Swiatek, POL (Doha - W)
20 - Iga Swiatek, POL (Indian Wells - W)
20 - Iga Swiatek, POL (Miami - W)
20 - IGA SWIATEK, POL (STUTTGART - W)
[doubles]
17 - Coco Gauff, USA (Doha - W)
18 - COCO GAUFF, USA (STUTTGART - L)
20 - Caty McNally, USA (Saint Petersburg - W)
20 - Wang Xinyu, CHN (Guadalajara - L)
20 - KAMILLA RAKHIMOVA, RUS (ISTANBUL - L)

*2022 QUALIFIERS IN FINALS*
Melbourne 2 - Aliaksandra Sasnovich, BLR (L)
Bogota - Tatjana Maria, GER (W)
Bogota - Laura Pigossi, BRA (L)
ISTANBUL - ANASTASIA POTAPOVA, RUS (W)

*ALL-RUSSIAN WTA FINALS*
[indvidual]
12 - Elena Dementeieva (6-6)
10 - Svetlana Kuznetsova (5-5)
7 - Dinara Safina (3-4)
5 - Maria Sharapova (3-2)
4 - Anastasia Myskina (4-0)
4 - Elena Vesnina (1-3)
2 - Anna Chakvetadze (2-0)
2 - Margarita Gasparyan (1-1)
2 - ANASTASIA POTAPOVA (1-1)
2 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (1-1)
2 - Vera Zvonareva (1-1)
2 - Nadia Petrova (0-2)
1-0 = Kasatkina,Kleyblanova,Kudryavtseva
0-1 = Bardina,Bovina,V.KUDERMETOVA,Likhovtseva,Pervak
[31 WTA finals]
2003 Doha - Myskina d. Likhovtseva
2004 Doha - Myskina d. Kuznetsova
2004 Roland Garros - Myskina d. Dementieva
2004 US Open - Kuznetsova d. Dementieva
2004 Hasselt - Dementieva d. Bovina
2004 Moscow - Myskina d. Dementieva
2006 Indian Wells - Sharapova d. Dementieva
2006 Miami - Kuznetsova d. Sharapova
2006 Moscow - Chakvetadze d. Petrova
2006 Linz - Sharapova d. Petrova
2007 Hobart - Chakvetadze d. Bardina
2008 Doha - Sharapova d. Zvonareva
2008 Dubai - Dementieva d. Kuznetsova
2008 Berlin - Safina d. Dementieva
2008 Beijing Olympics - Dementieva d. Safina
2008 Tokyo - Safina d. Kuznetsova
2009 Auckland - Dementieva d. Vesnina
2009 Sydney - Dementieva d. Safina
2009 Stuttgart - Kuznetsova d. Safina
2009 Rome - Safina d. Kuznetsova
2009 Roland Garros - Kuznetsova d. Safina
2009 Tokyo - Dementieva d. Sharapova
2010 Kuala Lumpur - Kleybanova d. Dementieva
2010 Istanbul - Pavlyuchenkova d. Vesnina
2010 Tashkent - Kudryavtseva d. Vesnina
2011 Baku - Zvonareva d. Pervak
2015 Moscow - Kuznetsova d. Pavlyuchenkova
2017 Indian Wells - Vesnina d. Kuznetsova
2018 Tashkent - Gasparyan d. Potapova
2021 Saint Petersburg - Kasatkina d. Gasparyan
2022 Istanbul - Potapova d. V.Kudermetova

*RECENT BEAULIEU-SUR-MER (J1) CHAMPIONS*
2017 Katerina Zavatska, UKR
2018 Eleonora Molinaro, LUX
2019 Elsa Jacquemot, FRA
2020-21 DNP
2022 Anastasiya Lopata, UKR





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At least *some* people (for now) aren't letting history repeat itself (and I also assume no buildings in Paris will now be stormed in an attempted coup).


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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 10:21 PM 

7 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

No Up/Down side yet as Madrid has a Thursday start.

Pavlyuchenkova is in the draw for now, potential French open seeds Krejcikova, Svitolina and Vondrousova are out, so is Osorio, who is down to 53 in the rankings.

Q draw is out, with Alexandrova the top seed barring any late withdrawals. Tasty matchups include Brengle/Yastremska again, Potapova/Saville, and a possible 2nd rd between Bronzetti/Martic.

Like the Energizer Bunny, Swiatek is still going.

We almost had 2 finals with players from parts unknown this weekend.

Raducanu slides well on clay. 8 games vs The Machine is a good thing.

Bartunkova is young. So young, that she got up from a changeover and skipped to the baseline. Probably 2 years away from making a big impact, there are lots of things to like about her game. On the Czech scale, less Pliskova, more Muchova/Strycova. Backhand will be her best weapon, but her creativity will be a close second.

Istanbul was playing extremely slow, so I don't think Grabher's results will travel that well. Still, nice to see her, or any Austrian for that matter, having a good week.

You mention not playing under the flag. Other solo sports like golf do, and if you took that component out, sponsorship would drop in half.

Banning athletes for Wimbledon would be a slippery slope. Anybody with a grudge could do it, and that would be bad for all. I feel for players like Alexandrova, who has been based in Czech Republic for almost a decade, so much so that she was the non Czech on that COVID tour. Ironically, she made her BJK Cup debut for Russia just last year.

Normally, I would say that the ban is illegal, but....

Mon Apr 25, 01:50:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

Con't

Stat of the Week- 14- Consecutive number of years Wimbledon did not have a German in the field.

History repeats itself. After World War 2, Wimbledon banned German and Japanese players.

How could they get away with that? Well, this was the same year that Australia had an all Aussie affair down under, as all 23 players were home grown. Being that the political climate is different now, we can hope that things will be different.

So what gives me hope? A Ukranian! Even though that really isn't important for this nugget, it will show that Wimbledon does sometimes think outside of the box.

In 2006, Viktoriya Kutuzova won her 1st rd match, then got food poisoning at Wimbledon. She withdrew, but Wimbledon tried to make up for it by giving her WC the next year.

The fact that we have a few before Wimbledon cutoff means there is time for compromise.

Projected numbers suggest(singles only) that 26 women would be affected between MD and Q. Taipei, Chile, Uzbekistan and Luxembourg would get only representative in Q through this. Probably not the way they want, as any country could then justify conflict for banishment.

So what about the old ban? Well, back in 1939, Germany had 4, oops, 3 women in the draw. Thilde Dietz, Inge Schumann and Annelise Ullstein. That 4th? 1931 & 1936 RU Hilde Sperling. Having played for Germany in 1931, she had since married and represented Denmark in recent years.

Sperling was least affected by the ban, as she was 38 by the time Wimbledon restarted in 1946.

Schumann seems to have stopped play in the early 40's.

Dietz probably would have come back. She played in Germany until the early 50's.

Ullstein lucked out. Unclear if she gamed the system, or was just living life, she got married and changed her name to Bossi. She played the event from 47-50, reaching the 4th rd in 1947 representing Italy.

She played until the first German(West) came back in 1951. That was Ernst Buchholz. The women had to wait until 1953, when then 28 yr old Erika Vollmer made her debut. Playing Wimbledon every year from 53-59, she made her slam debut at RG the prior year, playing that event 5 times.

Japan was sort of a shadow ban, as going back to 1900, that had not been one in the main draw. That would have to wait until the Open Era, when 17 yr old trailblazer Kazuko Sawamatsu made her debut.

That isn't her biggest claim to fame. Lasting until 1975, the fact she did meant that she was the first Japanese woman reflected in the new computer rankings. She was ranked 16.

There isn't a way to pacify players from Ukraine, as they are angry at seeing their homeland destroyed. But there is a way to overturn the ban. Unity between the WTA and ATP. Getting the ITF on board. And making the tour inclusive for everyone.

Mon Apr 25, 01:51:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

Quiz Time!

We had an all Russian final. Which Russian has the most consecutive years in reaching a final?

A.Maria Sharapova
B.Nadia Petrova
C.Elena Dementieva
D.Svetlana Kuznetsova

Interlude- Lil Sweet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IuJCFg54j4&list=LL&index=2


Answer!

Kudermetova and Potapova have a long way to go, Potapova not having consecutive years, and Kudermetova at 2.

(B)Petrova is wrong. Although she reached finals in 9 different years, her 03-08 streak is only 6, leaving her short of others like Safina, who had an 8 year streak between 02-09.

Streaky (D)Kuznetsova is wrong, which shocks no one. The surprise is that she had an 8 year streak, this coming from a woman who went winless in both seasons before she won a slam. Her 04-11 streak of 8 actually puts her behind sometime doubles partner Zvonareva, who had a 10 yr streak of her own. She has not reached a final since her first retirement.

(C)Dementieva is wrong, though the twist is that once she reached her first final, she did so for the rest of her career. Starting with a splash, her first final was the Olympics in 2000. She didn't win a title until 2003, but you could count on her reaching one every year through 2010.

The birthday girl in (A)Sharapova was the obvious choice. Not just because she reached finals, but won them, doing so every year from 2003-2015. With wartime probably setting back the next generation, it will be some time before Russia sees the likes of this group.

Mon Apr 25, 02:06:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

Backspin Jukebox made me cry--in a good way. 🙏🏻 🐈‍⬛ ❤️

Tue Apr 26, 10:41:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Up Side- Play Doh Edition.

1.Sakkari- Too easy to put Swiatek here every week. Swiatek has had 14 losses in the last 52 weeks, to a total of 9 different women. Barty, Jabeur and Ostapenko beat her twice. Sakkari did 3 times. If she gets by Keys, she could be the one to stop the streak.
2.Putintseva- The dropshot queen will steal wins on clay because of that alone. A threat to win, her red flag is that she is unseeded, from which a winner has only come once- Aravane Rezai in 2010.
3.Raducanu- Yes, she just dropped her coach, which means a QF run or a first round flameout. Bucking tradition picking anyone from GBR here, as they have never had a QF. Robson's 3rd rd in 2013 is the high water mark.
4.Qualifiers- I did this draw, and had a Q reaching the QF. That might be a thing, as the last 5 events have had at least 1 Q/WC/LL reach QF, with 2 Q- Maria-Bogota, Potapova-Istanbul, winning from Q.
5.Pavlyuchenkova- She's back, with a lot of pressure to keep her ranking up. A bad week here drops her to 20. That isn't a huge problem yet, as she was 31 at RG last year. Struggle there, and she might be near 100. What kind of form will she be in?

Tue Apr 26, 11:33:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Down Side.

1.Muguruza- Muguruza is home! That means nothing, as her rather pedestrian record here(6-8) means that she isn't a favorite. Also has had a myriad of health issues, so no clear take on her form.
2.Mertens- Late withdrawal means she might be unseeded at RG. Down to 28 in singles, if she pulls out of doubles, she would lose the chance to get back to #1.
3.Sabalenka- Playing well, and her service issues have largely disappeared. So why is she on this list? 2021 winner starts off with Anisimova, someone she is 0-3 against. If she wins, she gets Samsonova, which going by her play vs Swiatek, would seem to be a bad matchup.
4.Badosa- Only because of her draw. Gets Kudermetova to start, followed by 4 time finalist Halep. Not sure if Halep can last the whole week, but this 4th qtr, also with Bencic, Gauff, and Jabeur, will eat each other alive.
5.Liu- 2017 Jr Wimbledon winner Liu probably drops out of the Top 100 this week, leaving her on the bubble for Wimbledon MD. 9-8 on the season, her results are like Bouzkova's 3-4 years ago, where she plays better against higher ranked players. That has led to some quality losses, and some head scratching ones to lower ranked players. RG is her one chance, if she is healthy enough to play.

Tue Apr 26, 11:45:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

C-

These young Czechs are just going to be a plug-and-play group, eventually with at least one representing the "new version" of the 2010s stars, aren't they? The depth is astonishing.

There's always an (almost) comp *somewhere* in tennis history to just about everything, isn't there? I guess that's one side "benefit" of events that go back 100+ years.

Quiz: I felt like this was going to be an unexpected (Petrova) pick or something that showed consistency from an inconsistent player (Dementieva or Kuznetsova), but I went with the more "obvious" choice in Sharapova, thinking there'd be a birthday connection. And -- for once -- such overthinking the answers actually worked! :) .

I've always loved those Lil' Sweet commercials... but I DID NOT realize that that was Justin Guarini. In some way that makes them even funnier. :P


D- ;) It just felt right...


C-

Not sure what Raducanu is looking for... but I *guess* she'll know it when she sees it?

I agree with a potential Q (there's a good list of possibilities) going deep in this draw, and the picks I made have quite a few blank spots waiting to see where the Q's are placed.

Either way, I decided that I wasn't going to pick Iga. She has to lose *sometime*.

I pretty much have a Sakkari/Badosa final, and was leaning toward Badosa, though that ridiculous potential draw -- possibly Kudermetova-Halep-Gauff-Bencic/Jabeur-Sabalenka, in order, just to reach the final -- makes me nervous.

So now I guess I'm leaning more toward Sakkari to *finally* get one of these things. The "Due Theory?" :/

Tue Apr 26, 08:58:00 PM EDT  

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