Saturday, May 28, 2022

RG.7- The Next Great Wall of China


Is Zheng Qinwen ready for her close-up? We shall soon see.




Over the past two seasons, the 19-year Zheng has been the far less well-known of China's three young tour climbers looking to follow in the Hall of Fame footsteps of Li Na, as Wang Xinyu, 20, and Wang Xiyu, 21, both first garnered attention four years ago when they won junior slam titles in three different majors, with Xiyu taking the U.S. Open girls' singles, Xinyu the AO girls doubles and the pair joining forces to become the first all-CHN junior doubles major winners at Wimbledon.

That same 2018 season, Zheng won three Grade 1 junior events, including the Eddie Herr title, then reached the Orange Bowl final (losing to Coco Gauff) to close out the year. At the U.S. Open girls event that was won by Xiyu, Zheng lost in the 3rd Round to Emma Raducanu, who'd win the *women's* title at Flushing Meadows three years later. In 2019, it was Zheng who was reaching the girls' semis in Paris and New York.

Zheng made her tour debut last year in Palermo, notching a big win over Liudmila Samsonova, while also racking up impressive numbers in ITF finals (undefeated in 2020-21) in clay and hard court events all over Europe as she climbed into the Top 125 before the start of this season. Tall and powerful, with an ace-producing serve, Zheng hit the '22 season running, reaching her maiden tour-level SF in Melbourne in Week 1 (losing to Simona Halep, 3 & 2) in just her fourth WTA MD appearance, then qualifying for and winning her maiden slam match at the Australian Open (def. oft-times giant killer Aliaksandra Sasnovich) before losing to Maria Sakkari in her only Top 10 match-up to date.

Fresh off the AO, after which she'd become the first player to crack the Top 100 for the first time this season (and the first Chinese teen to do it since 2006), Zheng won a $60K challenger title, her second in two seasons, to improve her ITF final mark to 8-0 as she started the 2022 season on a 14-2 gallup. Following the win over her in Melbourne, Halep had praised Zheng's game and future, saying of her, "(She's) very powerful. Some balls I didn't even see them," particularly noting Zheng's strong serve, she added that the teenager is "so young. I feel like she has a bright future."

Zheng's spring hard court and RG clay lead-up results (a combined 3-6) weren't especially great as far as wins and losses, but she *still* produced some moments to think about, including pushing Leylah Fernandez to a 3rd set TB in the 2nd Round in Monterrey before the Canadian successfully defended her title there. In Charleston, she upset Sloane Stephens (handing her a love 3rd set) to notch her first Top 50 win, then fired a tour-best 19 aces in the 2nd Round vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova before retiring down 5-2 in the 3rd. In her only pre-RG EuroClay match, Zheng took Karolina Muchova to three sets in Madrid before falling to the Czech. Then came Roland Garros.

In the 2nd Round, the now #74-ranked Zheng faced Halep once again. Again, she trailed the Romanian, this time by a set and 2-1, when Halep experienced what she later termed a "panic attack" that took her off her game and opened the door for Zheng to record her first Top 20 victory and reach her maiden slam 3rd Round. Even with Halep's condition, Zheng was impressive. Today, the teenager once more proved to be the beneficiary of a veteran player not being ready for the fight.

After having injured herself sliding into a shot in the backcourt in her 2nd Round match against Alona Ostapenko on Thursday night, Alize Cornet was simply not able to go today, but she tried (not that some of the so-called French tennis "fans" would bother to care, as the reaction of some to her plight proved). Playing with both legs strapped, and with Zheng firing away, the Pastry never won a game. In the 1st set alone, Zheng won all eight of her first serve points, and 12 of 15 overall on serve. The Chinese teen was 3-of-3 on BP chances, and won 17 of 27 return points, putting up 13-to-3 W/UE numbers in a set easily taken at love.



Cornet finally retired down 6-0/3-0, but will hopefully be ready for Wimbledon, where she would tie Ai Sugiyama's all-time women's mark with a 62nd straight slam MD appearance.



Meanwhile, Zheng is one of three teenagers in the Round of 16 at this RG, with her having a history with both (Gauff and Fernandez) the other two. They're in the other half of the draw, through. The 19-year old will get a "more senior" player in her next opponent, as in world #1 Iga Swiatek. The Pole is all of 20 years of age.

Swiatek will be the overwhelming favorite (when isn't she right now?), as she should be, but this *could* get interesting, especially after what we saw in Iga's match today. With a big serve and power the likes of which, if she's firing, Swiatek hasn't likely seen much of lately, Zheng will be looking for her maiden Top 10 win and will have absolutely nothing to lose. She'll likely get her first Top 10 win before the end of '22, maybe sometime this summer... but here's to seeing if she can pull it off before the end of the week.

The debut of, oh, I don't know, "Chinese Thunder," sure would change the narrative of this slam in one fell swoop, wouldn't it?








=DAY 7 NOTES=
...well, the *expected* happened on Saturday. It just didn't exactly occur in the manner we'd anticipated.



#1 Iga Swiatek won her 31st straight match, extended her sets won streak to 18 (if she sweeps to the title she'd match the 28-set winning streak that she had earlier in this run, made herself 4-for-4 in Paris when it comes to second week results, extended her 4r+ streak in majors to seven (starting with her '20 RG title) and reached this stage in a slam for the ninth time in her thirteen major tournament appearances.

But, for about ten minutes, the 20-year old Pole showed a hint of vulnerability that, at the very least, keeps this RG interesting.

Swiatek led Danka Kovinic 6-3/4-1 in their 3rd Round match, but the Montenegrin didn't simply wilt away. She continued to fire, and after Swiatek saw her serve broken in game #6 with three consecutive UE coming off her racket the world #1 suddenly seemed shaky. Two games later, she fell behind love/40 and lost her serve again with a Kovinic drop shot that got the 2nd set back on serve. Kovinic then held at love for a 5-4 lead, having won eleven straight points.

But it was only a blip on the Swiatek radar, as any thought of "crisis" was soon averted. She centered herself mentally, then physically, taking a 40/love lead on serve and taking care of her own business. She came back from 30/love to break Kovinic a game later, then raced to a 40/love lead as she served for the match. Holding at 15, Swiatek won 6-3/7-5 in 1:30, a good workout and one that proved to have as much of a mental (and maybe spiritual) component as a flat-out "tennis" one.



Her 31-match run now officially stands fourth this century behind only the similarly one-name-is-adequate feats of Venus (35), Serena (34) and Justine (32), with her run now long enough to put far behind her those non-official, fictional "winning streaks" that some always like to include in these discussions while they blindly ignore the fact that those runs of wins were actually ended by what amounted to forfeits before a *new* streak began in the following match.

But that's now the past, with Iga's immediate future being whether her experience today will actually prove to be a beneficial one. At this point it might be good for her to struggle, if only for a short while in a match, in order to be better prepared when a future opponent -- maybe later this week, maybe in her next match, actually -- doesn't back down and fires back with the sort of power and confidence that she hasn't seen often from the other side of the net (save maybe for Samsonova in Stuttgart, where she barely survived) the last few months (100+ days and counting, in fact).

Kovinic might have provided Swiatek with quite a useful assist today.

...in a match that really should have never happened, at least not between the two players who played it, Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, who should have been DQ'd in what demands to be a new environment when it comes to player conduct (thanks to the oft-egregious antics of so many on the *other* tour and the slaps on the wrists they'e received as "punishment") after she bounced her racket on the clay during her last match and it shot into the stands and hit a child, advanced into her third career slam 4th Round (second at RG) with a 1 & 4 victory over French wild card Leolia Jeanjean.

At 31, Begu is the oldest women's player in the Round of 16 at this slam.



Next up for Begu will be #11-seeded Bannerette Jessie Pegula, who dispatched '21 semifinalist (#24) Tamara Zidansek in straight sets today. After needing 18 MP to put away her 1st (10) and 2nd (8) round matches, Pegula found herself tied deep in the 2nd set against the Slovenian, holding for 5-4 to move within one game of the victory. Uh-oh. Things went to a tie-break, where Pegula grabbed an early mini-break and led 3-1. Up 6-2, she found herself at quadruple match point, with some cushion should, well, you know. But this time Pegula put away her first MP opportunity.



With consecutive slam second week runs and three (AO QF 2021-22) since the start of 2021, Pegula is now up to #9 in the "live" rankings, and on the heels of #8 Danielle Collins for U.S. #1 after this slam. Nothing seems to be assured, but another major QF will surely help her efforts to hold onto the spot for the first post-Paris rankings. (And, yes, one of the reasons I'm looking for it to happen is so that I can check off another thing -- or two -- from my preseason Blowout Predictions.)

...another Round of 16 match-up will feature players from the only two nations other than the U.S. to put multiple woman into this Roland Garros Final 16, Italy and Russia.

#28-seeded Italian Camila Giorgi dropped her opening set against #7 Aryna Sabalenka, who (after having gone into '21 with just one career Round of 16 at a major despite her high ranking) has done enough with recent slam opportunities (including two SF last season) to today be playing to complete a "Career Round of 16 Slam" with what would be her first second week run in Paris. But after securing the match lead, Sabalenka saw Giorgi completely take over. After winning four games in the 1st set, the Italian dropped just one in the 2nd and 3rd. Combined. Her 4-6/6-1/6-0 win gives Giorgi a 4th Round result at three different majors (w/ two Wimbledons, including a QF in '18, and the '13 U.S. Open, while coming up just one win short four times in AO 3rd Rd. matches, three coming in the last four years).

Sabalenka's exit means that #1 Swiatek is the only Top 10 women's seed to reach the second week (while only #11 Pegula survives with her from the original Top 16 seeds).



#20 Dasha Kasatkina's straights sets, 3 & 2 win over Shelby Rogers gives her her best slam result since her back-to-back RG/WI QF in 2018, adding another chapter to the Hordette's extended comeback over the last two seasons, a run which *should* have garnered her Comeback Player of the Year honors from the tour in '21 (but... the WTA Awards) when she reached her first four tour finals since '18 (winning twice) and pulled out of the ranking slide (year-end standings of #69 and #71 in 2019 and '20) she endured after finishing at #10 in 2018. Kasatkina recently returned to the Top 20.

Against Rogers, Kasatkina committed just seven UE in the match, and her five games lost means she's surrendered only *ten* through the first three rounds, fewer than any woman in the Round of 16 (yes, even you-know-who, who's dropped 12).



This "build back" result is just one of many for Kasatkina since the start of last year. After going on a nine-slam spinout in which she lost in the 1st or 2nd Round following her QF runs in '18, the Russian has now reached the 3rd/4th Round in four of the last six majors. Her four Top 10 wins in 2021-22 (w/ two Top 3 wins this season) are now closer to being back to the level of 2017-18, when she had ten (8 vs. Top 3) before recording zero in 2019-20.

Kasatkina's win assured that a Hordette will be present in the second week of a major for the 76th time in the last 86 slams.

...as it turned out, if Kasatkina hadn't moved forward her countrywoman Veronika Kudermetova would have kept the Hordette run of impressive results alive on her own. The #29 seed fell behind 2-0 in the 1st set against #3 Paula Badosa, then proceeded to reel off five straight games and take the 1st set 6-3. The Spaniard soon was treated for a leg injury, and ultimately retired after playing three games in the 2nd set, becoming the second woman (w/ Cornet) to abandon a match today due to injury.



Kudermetova's maiden slam Round of 16 makes it three (w/ Zheng and Jil Teichmann) from the women's draw reaching the second week of a major for the first time.

Badosa's loss ends what was a somewhat disappointing spring clay season which saw her go 8-5, but just 6-4 on European red clay (reaching one SF, in Stuttgart) after last season having gone 17-3, reaching the Charleston and Madrid SF (the first ESP to do so) and RG QF, and winning her maiden tour title (Belgrade) as a lead-in to a summer/fall grass/hard court season in which she posted five Top 10 wins, reached the Wimbledon 4th Round and Olympic QF, then won the fall version of Indian Wells before reaching the WTAF semis and cracking the Top 10 in November.

Kudermetova's next opponent will be none other than #22 Madison Keys, who rallied from a set down to defeat #16 Elena Rybakina in a 10-3 tie-break (she'd taken a 6-0 lead in the breaker) after neither woman dropped serve over the course of the 3rd set.



This is Keys' 17th career slam Round of 16, the most of all the women remaining in the RG draw, and her fourth in Paris. It's her first back-to-back second week runs in majors in three years. Yeah, did you remember that she'd reached the semis at the AO this year? I know I would have had a hard time recalling that, but I suspect that's all tied into the fact that this '22 season has already been so jam-packed with developments (both on and off court) that it feels like about two *years* ago now that Ash Barty was being crowned champion in Melbourne instead of just *four months.*

...at the J1 Charleroi-Marcinelle junior tournament in Belgium, 14-year old Alina Korneeva (#77) went home with her biggest career win, handling the game of 16-year old Rose Marie Nijkamp (#137 from NED) in a 6-2/6-0 final.

Meanwhile, the girls' draw at RG is out, and the sixteen seeds are a quarter of the way filled with Czechs (just one Fruhvirtova, though, in #4 Brenda), of which there are nine in the field. All four of the AO junior semifinalists -- #1 Petra Marcinko, #2 Sofia Costoulas, #6 Liv Hovde and Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz -- are present (plus quarterfinalists #5 Diana Shnaider and Michaela Laki). Shnaider was a semifinalist in last year's competition in Paris, the only of 2021's final four to return (Linda Noskova and Oksana Selekhmeteva were in the women's competition), while Final 4 member Erika Andreeva's younger sister Mirra *is* in the '22 event. 2020 AO junior champ Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva is the #3 seed.

Also amongst the field: French wild card Tiantsoa Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonah. That's 32 letters, in case you were wondering.

...at the Annecy Open in France, Yui Kamiji completed her sweep of the titles in the final pre-RG tune-up, defeating countrywoman Momoko Ohatani 6-0/6-1 in the final. She now comes into the year's second slam on a nine-match winning streak since dropping her opening match at the Australian Open.

...the NCAA singles and doubles champions were crowned in Champaign, Illinois. After winning the team title along with her Texas teammates, Peyton Stearns picked up the singles crown, as well, with a 6-3/6-2 win in the final over Stanford's Connie Ma. Stearns is the first woman representing the Longhorns to win the NCAA singles championship.



North Carolina State's top-seeded duo of Jaeda Daniel/Nell Miller defeated Miami's Daevenia Achong/Eden Richardson 6-2/7-5 in the WD final, becoming the school's first NCAA tennis champs.






*WOMEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Iga Swiatek/POL vs. Zheng Qinwen/CHN
#11 Jessie Pegula/USA vs. Irina-Camelia Begu/ROU
#29 Veronika Kudermetova/RUS vs. #22 Madison Keys/USA
#20 Dasha Kasatkina/RUS vs. #28 Camila Giorgi/ITA
Martina Trevisan/ITA vs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich/BLR
#17 Leylah Fernandez/CAN vs. #27 Amanda Anisimova/USA
#31 Elise Mertens/BEL vs. #18 Coco Gauff/USA
#23 Jil Teichmann/SUI vs. Sloane Stephens/USA

=WOMEN'S DOUBLES ROUND OF 16=
Bondar/Minnen (HUN/BEL) vs. Rosolska/Routliffe (POL/AUS)
#10 Hradecka/Mirza (CZE/IND) vs. #8 Gauff/Pegula (USA/USA)
#4 McNally/S.Zhang (USA/CHN) vs. Kostyuk/Ruse (UKR/ROU)
#9 Muhammad/Shibahara (USA/JPN) vs. (PR) Keys/Townsend (USA/USA)
Zanevska/Zimmermann (BEL/BEL) vs. L.Chan/Stosur (TPE/AUS)
#14 L.Kichenok/Ostapenko (UKR/LAT) vs. #3 Dabrowski/Olmos (CAN/MEX)
Doi/Tomljanovic (JPN/AUS) vs. (WC) Garcia/Mladenovic (FRA/FRA)
#13 Xu Yifan/Yang Zhaoxuan (CHN/CHN) vs. #2 V.Kudermetova/Mertens (RUS/BEL)

=MIXED DOUBLES ROUND OF 16=
Haddad Maia/Soares (BRA/BRA) vs. Mirza/Dodig (IND/CRO)
Melichar-Martinez/Krawietz (USA/GER) def. H.Chan/McLachlan (TPE/JPN)
#4 Krawczyk/N.Skupski (USA/GBR) vs. Sanders/Gille (AUS/BEL)
(WC) Burel/Gaston (FRA/FRA) vs. Eikeri/Vliegen (NOR/BEL)
x/x vs. Hradecka/Escobar (CZE/ECU)
#3 Dabrowski/Peers (CAN/AUS) def. Rosolska/Kubot (POL/POL)
Stosur/Ebden (AUS/AUS) def. L.Kichenok/Matos (UKR/BRA)
#2 Shibahara/Koolhof (JPN/NED) def. Schuurs/Middelkoop (NED/NED)

=GIRLS SINGLES SEEDS=
1. Petra Marcinko, CRO
2. Sofia Costoulas, BEL
3. Victoria Jimenez Kastinseva, AND
4. Brenda Fruhvirtova, CZE
5. Diana Shnaider, RUS
6. Liv Hovde, USA
7. Celine Naef, SUI
8. Ksenia Zaytseva, RUS
9. Lucie Havlickova, CZE
10. Sara Bejlek, CZE
11. Victoria Mboko, CAN
12. Nikola Daubnerova, SVK
13. Nikola Bartunkova, CZE
14. Mirra Andreeva, RUS
15. Qavia Lopez, USA
16. Yaroslava Bartashevich, FRA







...SO NOW AFTER YEARS OF ATTEMPTS AT OBLITERATING ANY CHANCES OF GROWING INTEREST IN TENNIS WITH EMBARGOED MATCHES AND THE LIKE... ON DAY 7:

NBC Sports is now forcing people to go to Peacock streaming to watch key matches (or, in today's instance, a Keys match). Since it looks like Tennis Channel's coverage will be forced off the air early again on Sunday, and NBC is airing the Indianapolis 500, there will be *no* over the air *or* afternoon cable coverage of a grand slam event on the Sunday of a holiday weekend on U.S. television.


...HERE THEY COME ON DAY 7:




...NEWSFLASH ON DAY 7:

The French "fans" are a-holes.





...FROM STEFFI TO STEFANIE ON DAY 7:



















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*MOST CONSECUTIVE WINS, since 2000*
35 - Venus Williams (2000)
34 - Serena Williams (2013)
32 - Justine Henin (2007-08)
31 - IGA SWIATEK (2022) - active

*"CAREER SLAM" FEATS IN 2020s*
=ROUND OF 16=
2020 US - Alize Cornet, FRA (57th)
2021 AO - Donna Vekic, CRO (29th)
2021 US - Iga Swiatek, POL (11th)
2022 AO - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (8th)
2022 AO - Kaia Kanepi, EST (53rd)
=QF=
2021 WI - Karolina Pliskova, CZE (36th)
2022 AO - Kaia Kanepi, EST (53rd)
=SF=
2021 WI - Karolina Pliskova, CZE (36th)
=F/W=
-

*2022 - FIRST CAREER SLAM...*
=ROUND OF 16=
RG = Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (13th slam MD)
RG = Jil Teichmann, SUI (11th)
RG = Zheng Qinwen, CHN (2nd)
=QF=
AO = Alize Cornet, FRA (63rd)
=SF=
none
=FINAL=
AO = Danielle Collins, USA (17th)

*BEST 2022 SLAM RESULTS*
[wild cards]
AO 3rd Rd. - Maddison Inglis, AUS
AO 3rd Rd. - Leolia Jeanjean, FRA
RG 3rd Rd. - Dasha Saville, AUS
AO 2nd Rd. - Samantha Stosur, AUS
AO 2nd Rd. - Wang Xinyu, CHN
RG 2nd Rd. - Elsa Jacquemot, FRA
RG 2nd Rd. - Katie Volynets, USA

*RECENT RG "LAST WILD CARD STANDING"*
2015 Virginie Razzano/FRA & Amandine Hesse/FRA (2nd Rd.)
2016 M.Georges/FRA, V.Razzano/FRA & T.Townsend/USA (2nd)
2017 Chloe Paquet/FRA (2nd Rd.)
2018 Pauline Parmentier/FRA (3rd Rd.)
2019 Lauren Davis/USA, Priscilla Hon/AUS & Diane Parry/FRA (2nd)
2020 Genie Bouchard/CAN, Clara Burel/FRA & Tsvetana Pironkova/BUL (3rd)
2021 Astra Sharma/AUS & Harmony Tan/FRA (2nd)
2022 Leolita Jeanjean/FRA & Dasha Saville/AUS (3rd)

*RECENT RG "LAST PASTRY STANDING"*
2013 M.Bartoli, A.Cornet & V.Razzano (3rd)
2014 Pauline Parmentier (4th)
2015 Alize Cornet (4th)
2016 A.Cornet, K.Mladenovic & P.Parmentier (3rd)
2017 Caroline Garcia & Kristina Mladenovic (QF)
2018 Caroline Garcia (4th)
2019 C.Garcia, K.Mladenovic & D.Parry (2nd)
2020 Fiona Ferro & Caroline Garcia (4th)
2021 F.Ferro, C.Garcia, K.Mladenovic, H.Tan (2nd)
2022 A.Cornet, L.Jeanjean & D.Parry (3rd)

*NCAA WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS*
[recent singles winners]
2009 Mallory Cecil, Duke (USA)
2010 Chelsey Gullickson, Georgia (USA)
2011 Jana Juricova, California (SVK)
2012 Nicole Gibbs, Stanford (USA)
2013 Nicole Gibbs, Stanford (USA)
2014 Danielle Collins, Virginia (USA)
2015 Jamie Loeb, North Carolina (USA)
2016 Danielle Collins, Virginia (USA)
2017 Brienne Minor, Michigan (USA)
2018 Arianne Hartono, Mississippi (NED)
2019 Estela Perez-Somarriba, Miami (ESP)
2020 DNP
2021 Emma Navarro, Virginia (USA)
2022 Peyton Stearns, Texas (USA)
[recent doubles winners]
2010 Hilary Barte / Lindsay Burdette (Stanford)
2011 Hilary Barte / Mallory Burdette (Stanford)
2012 Mallory Burdette / Nicole Gibbs (Stanford)
2013 Kaitlyn Christian / Sabrina Santamaria (USC)
2014 Maya Jansen / Erin Routcliffe (Alabama)
2015 Maya Jansen / Erin Routcliffe (Alabama)
2016 Brooke Austin / Kourtney Keegan (Florida)
2017 Francesca Di Lorenzo / Miho Kowase (Ohio State)
2018 Jessica Golovin / Eden Richardson (LSU)
2019 Gabby Andrews / Ayan Broomfield (UCLA)
2020 DNP
2021 Makenna Jones / Elizabeth Scotty (North Carolina)
2022 Jaeda Daniel / Nell Miller (N.C. State)
[overall singles champions by school]
14 - Stanford
4 - Florida
3 - Georgia, Virginia
2 - California, Duke, Miami
1 - Baylor, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Mississippi
1 - San Diego, Texas UCLA, USC, Wake Forest
[most singles titles]
2 - Sandra Birch, Stanford
2 - Danielle Collins, Virginia
2 - Patty Fendick, Stanford
2 - Nicole Gibbs, Stanford
2 - Laura Granville, Stanford
2 - Amber Liu, Stanford
2 - Lisa Raymond, Florida

*2022 RG WOMEN'S FINAL 16*

[by ranking]
#1 - Iga Swiatek
#11 - Jessie Pegula
#18 - Leylah Fernandez
#22 - Madison Keys
#23 - Coco Gauff
#24 - Jil Teichmann
#25 - Dasha Kasatkina
#28 - Amanda Anisimova
#29 - Veronika Kudermetova
#30 - Camila Giorgi
#32 - Elise Mertens
#47 - Aliaksandra Sasnovich
#59 - Martina Trevisan
#63 - Irina-Camelia Begu
#64 - Sloane Stephens
#74 - Zheng Qinwen
[by age]
18 = Gauff
19 = Fernandez, Q.Zheng
20 = Anisimova, Swiatek
24 = Teichmann
25 - Kasatkina, V.Kudermetova
26 = Mertens
27 = Keys
28 = Pegula, Sasnovich, Trevisan
29 = Stephens
30 = Giorgi
31 = Begu
[by nation]
5...USA (Anisimova,Gauff,Keys,Pegula,Stephens)
2...ITA (Giorgi,Trevisan)
2...RUS (Kasatkina,V.Kudetmetova)
1...BEL (Mertens)
1...BLR (Sasnovich)
1...CAN (Fernandez)
1...CHN (Q.Zheng)
1...POL (Swiatek)
1...ROU (Begu)
1...SUI (Teichmann)
[by career slam Round-of-16's]
17 - Keys
15 - Stephens
11 - Mertens
9 - Swiatek
5 - Gauff
4 - Anisimova,Giorgi,Kasatkina
3 - Begu,Pegula
2 - Fernandez,Sasnovich,Trevisan
1 - V.Kudermetova,Teichmann,Q.Zheng
[w/ consecutive slam Round of 16's]
7 - Swiatek
3 - Mertens
2 - Anisimova,Keys,Pegula
[w/ multiple career RG Round of 16's]
8 - Stephens
4 - Keys,Swiatek
2 - Anisimova,Begu,Gauff,Kasatkina,Mertens,Trevisan
[w/ consecutive RG Round of 16's]
4 - Swiatek
2 - Gauff,Stephens
[WTA career slam Round of 16's - active]
64...Serena Williams
50...Venus Williams
32...Svetlana Kuznetsova
26...Victoria Azarenka
23...Angelique Kerber
21...Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova
17...Madison Keys
16...Garbine Muguruza, Vera Zvonareva
15...Sloane Stephens
13...Elina Svitolina
12...Karolina Pliskova
12...Samantha Stosur
11...Elise Mertens
10...Kaia Kanepi
9...Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Iga Swiatek
[WTA slam Round of 16's since 2020 (of 9) - active]
8 - Swiatek
6 - Mertens
5 - Halep, Krejcikova, Sakkari
4 - Badosa, Gauff, Jabeur, Kenin, Kerber, Sabalenka
3 - Azarenka, Keys, Kvitova
3 - Muchova, Muguruza, Pavlyuchenkova
3 - Pegula, Rogers, Svitolina, S.Williams
2 - Anisimova, Brady, Cirstea, Collins
2 - Cornet, Fernandez, Kontaveit, Osaka
2 - Ka.Pliskova, Raducanu
2 - Rybakina, Stephens, Trevisan, Vondrousova
1 - 27 active players
[2022 slam Rd. of 16's - youngest]
18 - Coco Gauff (RG)
19 - Zheng Qinwen (RG)
19 - Leylah Fernandez (RG)
20 - Amanda Anisimova (AO)
20 - Amanda Anisimova (RG)
20 - Iga Swiatek (AO)
20 - Iga Swiatek (RG)
[2022 slam Rd. of 16's - oldest]
36 - Kaia Kanepi (AO)
32 - Victoria Azarenka (AO)
32 - Alize Cornet (AO)
31 - Irina-Camelia Begu (RG)
31 - Sorana Cirstrea (AO)
30 - Camila Giorgi (RG)
30 - Simona Halep (AO)
[2022 slam Rd. of 16's - unseeded]
AO - (5) Anisimova, Cirstea, Cornet, Kanepi, Keys
RG - (5) Begu, Sasnovich, Stephens, Trevisan, Q.Zheng
[2022 slam Rd. of 16's - 1st-time GS 4th Rd.]
AO - (0) none
RG - (3) V.Kudermetova, Teichmann, Q.Zheng
[2022 slam Rd. of 16's - completed "Career Round of 16 Slam"]
AO - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (8th slam MD)
AO - Kaia Kanepi, EST (53rd slam MD)
RG - none
[2022 slam Rd. of 16's - lowest-ranked]
#115 - Kaia Kanepi (AO)
#74 - Zheng Qinwen (RG)
#64 - Sloane Stephens (RG)
#63 - Irina-Camelia Begu (RG)
#61 - Alize Cornet (AO)
#60 - Amanda Anisimova (AO)
[2022 slam Rd. of 16's]
2 - Anisimova (AO/RG)
2 - Keys (AO/RG)
2 - Mertens (AO/RG)
2 - Pegula (AO/RG)
2 - Swiatek (AO/RG)
[2022 slam Rd. of 16's - by nation]
9 = 4/5 = USA
3 = 2/1 = BLR
3 = 2/1 = ROU
2 = 1/1 = BEL
2 = 0/2 = ITA
2 = 1/1 = POL
2 = 0/2 = RUS
1 - AO: AUS,CZE,ESP,EST,FRA,GRE
1 - RG: CAN,CHN,SUI
[2022 slam Rd. of 16's - by region]
10 (5 AO/5 RG) - W.Europe/Scandinavia (BEL-CZE-ESP-FRA-ITA-POL-SUI)
10 (4 AO/6 RG) - North America/Atlantic (USA-CAN)
9 (5 AO/4 RG) - Eastern Europe/Russia (BLR-EST-ROU-RUS)
2 (1 AO/1 RG) - Asia/Oceania (AUS-CHN)
1 (1 AO/0 RG) - Africa/Middle East/Mediterranean (GRE)
0 (0 AO/0 RG) - South America (-)






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TOP QUALIFIER: #2q Jule Niemeier/GER (slam MD debut; 7 games lost in 3 Q-matches)
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #1 Iga Swiatek/POL
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: #10q Viktoriya Tomova/BUL def. Marina Melnikova/RUS 2-6/7-5/6-0 (trailed 6-2/5-1; reached MD as LL)
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - #21 Angelique Kerber/GER def. Magdalena Frech/POL (2-6/6-3/7-5; Kerber saves 2 MP, fans chant name)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.-WC): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #26 Sorana Cirstea/ROU (def. Maria/GER)
FIRST SEED OUT: #6 Ons Jabeur/TUN (1st Rd. to Magda Linette/POL)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Fernanda Contreras/MEX, Elsa Jacquemot/FRA, Leolia Jeanjean/FRA, Katie Volynets/USA
UPSET QUEENS: France
REVELATION LADIES: Czech Republic
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Hungary (0-4 1st Rd., Galfi 2 MP in loss)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Fernanda Contreras/MEX, Olga Danilovic/SRB, Aleksandra Krunic/SRB, Donna Vekic/CRO (all 2nd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Leolita Jeanjean/FRA, Dasha Saville/AUS (3rd Rd.)
PROTECTED RANKING BEST: Bianca Andreescu/CAN (2nd Rd.)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: Alize Cornet, Leolia Jeanjean, Diane Parry (all 3rd Rd.)
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT "TBD": Nominees: Q.Zheng, Teichmann, Gauff, Fernandez
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominee: Stephens
CRASH & BURN: #6 Ons Jabeur/TUN (1st Rd. to Linette; Madrid W/Rome RU - previous three who reached both finals also reached RG final); #2 Barbora Krejcikova/CZE (DC; 1st Rd. to Parry, led 6-1/2-0)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Top Nominees: Stephens (1st Rd.: set and 4-4 down vs. Niemeier, sitter for love/30 down on serve in 2nd; 2nd Rd.: down 6-2/2-0 vs. Cirstea, won 12 con. games); Danilovic (3 Q-round comeback; 1st Rd saved 2 MP vs. Galfi); Teichmann (3rd Rd.- Azarenka set and 3-1 lead, served for match in 3rd)
DOUBLES STAR: xx
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): x
Mademoiselle/Madame OF THE EVENING: Nominee: Cornet vs. Ostapenko
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
Légion de Lenglen HONOREE: Alize Cornet/FRA
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: Diane Parry, FRA (one-handed backhand) Additional nominee: Swiatek






All for Day 7. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 8:58 PM 

2 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

77 Minutes. WTF!!!

Kovinic is 2-2 vs Top 20 this season. Beat Raducanu/Pliskova, lost to Halep/Swiatek.

Muguruza is 0-1-Ostapenko.

Girls lineup is loaded. Because some girls don't travel much, there will always be an unseeded player that is better than her ranking.

2 matches away from Gauff vs McNally in doubles.

Cornet always leaves it out there. She's the last person that should be booed off court.

Stat of the Day- 11- Number of the final 16 with a clay title.

Clay Titles:

4- Swiatek
2- Mertens
2- Teichmann
1- Begu
1- Kudermetova
1- Keys
1- Kasatkina
1- Trevisan
1- Anisimova
1- Gauff
1- Stephens

Last Clay Title:

Stephens- 2016 Charleston
Kasatkina- 2017 Charleston
Begu- 2017 Bucharest
Keys- 2019 Charleston
Anisimova- 2019 Colombia
Teichmann- 2019 Palermo
Kudermetova- 2021 Charleston
Gauff- 2021 Parma
Mertens- 2021 Istanbul
Swiatek- 2022 Rome
Trevisan- 2022 Rabat

Sasnovich- 2018 Moscow SF/2014 ITF Brescia- W
Giorgi- 2020 Palermo SF/2012 ITF Dothan- W
Pegula- 2022 Madrid RU/2018 ITF Tampa RU
Zheng- 2022 RG 4th rd/2021 ITF Stare Splavy- W
Fernandez- 2022 RG 4th rd/2019 Jr French Open

Mertens has 15 titles. In doubles. Swiatek leads the singles group with 8, making it the first time I can remember that the 4th rd doesn't have any singles players with double digit titles.

Had to use RG results for Zheng and Fernandez as neither has reached QF on clay.

Swiatek lost her first final. Has won last 8 in straight sets.

Sasnovich not reaching a final on clay stands out when you realize that including 2020, she has played a clay event after June every year back to 2015.

Begu has reached 7 of 8 career finals at 250 level.

Keys has only reached 1 of 11 finals at 250 level. It was the last one-2022 Adelaide.

Giorgi has reached 8 of 9 finals on hard, the other is on grass.

Including this year, Swiatek has reached a final each of the last 4 seasons.

Mertens had done so the last 5, but not in 2022.

One former RG winner left in Swiatek, another finalist in Stephens.

Trevisan/Sasnovich showing the hole in Osaka's resume. Even with Trevisan having 17 of 18 ITF finals on clay, and ironically, the last one was a loss on hard to Zheng, the fact that either Trevisan will have 2 QF here, or Sasnovich 1, means she needs to put in more work.





Sat May 28, 11:37:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Wow that really shows how "off" Muguruza has been this season, to have that light an opponent list but still be struggling putting wins together (though she has had some tough 1st Round/2nd-with-bye draw even w/ her ranking).

Sun May 29, 06:46:00 AM EDT  

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