Sunday, May 08, 2022

Wk.18- Ons Afire

On the WTA tour, history never sleeps.






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*WEEK 18 CHAMPIONS*
MADRID, SPAIN (WTA 1000/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Ons Jabeur/TUN def. Jessie Pegula/USA 7-5/0-6/6-2
D: Gaby Dabrowski/Giuliana Olmos (CAN/MEX) def. Desirae Krawczyk/Demi Schuurs (USA/NED) 7-6(1)/5-7 [10-7]
SAINT-MALO, FRANCE (WTA 125 Challenger/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA def. Anna Blinkova/RUS 7-6(3)/6-3
D: Eri Hozumi/Makota Ninomiya (JPN/JPN) def. Estelle Cascino/Jessika Ponchet (FRA/FRA) 7-6(1)/6-1
WC WORLD TEAM CUP (Vilamoura, POR/Hard Court Outdoor)
F: JPN def. NED 2-0




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Ons Jabeur/TUN
...on a tour with so many proverbial flavors, Jabeur is one of the most unique. And, right on cue, in Madrid she added still more layers to her career story by becoming the first Arab, African and Tunisian woman to claim a 1000-level title, using her blend of passion and shotmaking to snatch yet another "biggest career moment" on what are becoming increasingly larger stages for the 27-year old.

Despite her much improved fitness, it was Jabeur's body that caused her to get off to a slow start this season, missing the Australian Open with a back injury. Since then, she's gradually found her footing, reaching Dubai and Doha QF before playing in her first final of the season in Charleston. There, as she had in four of her five tour singles finals coming into Madrid, Jabeur came up short (vs. Belinda Bencic in 3).

After another three-set loss (to Paula Badosa) in the Stuttgart QF, Jabeur roared through the Madrid draw, hitting her full stride after avenging her loss to Bencic by taking her out in another three-setter in the 3rd Round, ending the Swiss' eight-match winning streak. A pair of straight sets victories followed over Simona Halep and Ekaterina Alexandrova, with the former a particularly shining moment as the Romanian veteran had looked like a potential (yet again) Madrid champ before she ran into the brick wall that was Jabeur, who used her power to push Halep back, and finesse (complete with jumping drop shots) to control the match, winning 3 & 2.

In the final against Jessie Pegula, Jabeur rebounded from a poor 2nd set (lost a love) to regain her dominant form in the 3rd, defeating the Bannerette 7-5/0-6/6-2 to pick up her biggest career title and rise to a new career high of #7.


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RISERS: Jessie Pegula/USA, Sara Sorribes Tormo/ESP and Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA
...while Pegula didn't leave Madrid with a major upgrade as far as her biggest career title (her lone tour crown came in the Washington 250 in '19), the Bannerette continues to post increasingly intriguing and impressive results.

After having already this season recorded her second straight Austrailian Open QF, Pegula's Madrid final run gives her back-to-back SF+ results in 1000 events (w/ Miami), her biggest career final (her three previous were all of the Int'l/250 variety), her first ever on red clay, and continues her string of eye-opening results in the tour's biggest non-slam events (QF or better in 9 of her last 11 1000-level events, and SF+ in 3 of 6).

In Madrid, Pegula rallied from 4-1 down in the 3rd and saved a MP against in the 1st Round vs. Camila Giorgi, then took out Kaia Kanepi, Bianca Andreescu, Sara Sorribes Tormo and Jil Teichmann in four consecutive straight sets wins before falling to Ons Jabeur in three sets in the final. Pegula is just the third U.S. woman to reach the Madrid singles final, joining Serena (2012-13) and Venus Williams (2010) as finalists in the 13-year history of the women's competition.



A win in the final would have pushed Pegula into the Top 10 for the first time, but she'll still rise to a new career high of #11, just behind (still, even w/ her 6-6 start in '22) #10 Garbine Muguruza, as well as #9 Danielle Collins for the position of U.S. #1.

Meanwhile, coming into this year's Madrid event, the only Spanish women to reach the QF stage in the tournament's history were Anabel Medina Garrigues (2013), Carla Suarez Navarro (2015/18) and Paula Badosa ('21 SF). Sorribes Tormo saw fit to add her name to the list.

After falling in the 1st or 2nd Round in all nine of her previous MD appearances in Madrid, Sorribes posted victories over a returning Anastasia Pavlychenkova, Naomi Osaka (her second win over the former #1, who played with what she later said was an ailing Achilles) and Dasha Kasatkina before being unable to get past Pegula.



Sorribes Tormo's week will jump her ten spots in the rankings to #37, one spot ahead of Osaka. The Spaniard is scheduled to get another shot at Osaka this week in Rome, where they've been drawn to meet in the 1st Round.

At the WTA 125 in Saint-Malo, France, Haddad claimed the biggest title of her career, improving her record in singles finals to 10-1 (9-1 ITF) since her return from a 2019 suspension after having ingested a contaminated supplement (her ranking fell to #1342 during her time away). When Haddad did return in late '20, she ultimately was forced to have season-ending hand surgery after having almost immediately won four ITF titles in five final appearances in September/October.

In Saint-Malo, Haddad posted wins over Maddison Inglis, fellow Brazilian Laura Pigossi, Claire Liu and Maryna Zanevska (the Belgain retired after five games) to reach the final, where she defeated Anna Blinkova 7-6/6-3 to take the crown. She'll rise to a new career high of #52 this week, passing Colombian Camila Osorio to become the new South American singles #1.


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SURPRISE: Anhelina Kalinina/UKR
...Kalinina's steady '22 rise has now crossed surfaces. The Ukrainian cracked the Top 50 in January, and ended the early hard court season with a Round of 16 Miami run that allowed her to break into the Top 40.

In Madrid, she followed up first week wins over Sloane Stephens and Garbine Muguruza (her first Top 10 victory) by taking out a third straight former slam champ, Emma Raducanu, in the 3rd Round to reach her maiden 1000 level QF.

The 5th-ranked Ukrainian on tour exactly a year ago at #141 before finishing at #52 (UKR #3), the 25-year old Kalinina will find herself at #36 this week as the second-highest ranked woman from her nation, less than 300 points behind top-ranked Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (#27).


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COMEBACKS: Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS and Anna Blinkova/RUS
...Alexandrova was the #1-ranked Hordette in '19, and climbed as high as #25 in the tour rankings in '20. But since then the 27-year old hasn't quite climbed the tour ladder in the fashion that seemed to be her immediate future a few years ago. She's won just one tour title and has yet to crack the Top 20. Stuck in the #30's in late '20 and throughout the '21 season, Alexandrova slipped outside the Top 50 earlier this year and once again failed to reach her first career slam Round of 16 in Melbourne (a 1st Rd. exit, her earliest in a major since '19). She arrived in Madrid ranked #45, but leaves having injected herself back into the Race for Hordette #1 in '22.

Forced into the Q-rounds, Alexandrova knocked off Tamara Korpatsch and Clara Burel to reach the MD. From there, she ran off wins over Alona Ostapenko (from a break down in the 3rd), Nuria Parrizas Diaz and Marie Bouzkova in a three-hour tussle that saw her blow leads in both the 1st and 3rd sets before advancing into her first career 1000 QF. She followed up with another win over Amanda Anisimova before falling to eventual champ Ons Jabeur in the semis.



Alexandrova will nearly climb back into the Top 30 this week, closing the gap on the four countrywomen -- #20 Pavlyuchenkova, #23 Kasatkina, #25 Samsonova and #28 V.Kudermetova -- currently ranked ahead of her.

Like so many of her fellow Russians now facing the LTA/Wimbledon ban this summer, Alexandrova has a complicated history with her home country. She's lived and trained in Prague since 1996 (at age 2), and the Russian Tennis Federation had little contact with her until 2016. While she apparently once considered Czech citizenship, that nation's tennis operation didn't particulary seek her out, either. In 2020-21, after climbing the tour ladder, Alexandrova played the BJK Cup and Olympics while representing Russia.

Further down the rankings, another Hordette is making her way back up, as well.

Nearly a Top 50 player in 2020, with a slam 3rd Round result and 125 title under her belt, Blinkova has since tumbled down the rankings. The 23-year old former junior Wimbledon finalist (2015) entered the week at #135, even after having shown signs of early season progress by reaching a trio of challenger finals (2 $60K, 1 $25K), her first singles title matches of any kind since 2019.

At the WTA 125 in Saint-Malo, Blinkova battled her way into her biggest final in three years, defeating Harmony Tan, Rebecca Marino, Bernarda Pera (rallying from 5-2 down in the 3rd, saving two MP) and Magdalena Frech (in a 3rd set TB, after staging another comeback from 3-1 and BP down in the set).

Blinkova fell in straight sets in the final to Beatriz Haddad Maia, but will jump 15 spots to #120 in the new rankings.


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FRESH FACE: Jil Teichmann/SUI
...the 24-year old Swiss, less than a year after reaching her first 1000 level final (Cincinnati), hit her way into her first 1000 SF on clay in Madrid.



Though Teichmann'a two tour titles came on clay (both in 2019), prior to her Madrid run she hadn't had success on the surface since. Since her two-week Lausanne QF/Palmero W turn in '19, she had just one multi-win event on clay (Strasbourg/Sept.'20) in the next ten tournaments she played on the surface, including a 2nd Round exit two weeks ago in Istanbul.

That changed in Madrid, as after first week wins over Petra Kvitova and Leylah Fernandez, Teichmann followed up with second week victories over Elena Rybakina and Anhelina Kalinina. She finally lost in the semis to Jessie Pegula, but her first SF result since her Cincy final last summer will allow her to crack the Top 30 for the first time at #29 this week.
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ITF PLAYERS: Danka Kovinic/MNE and Gabriela Talaba Lee/ROU
...a tour finalist for the first time in five years last year in Charleston, Kovinic matched her career biggest title with this week's title run in the $100K challenger in Wiesbaden, Germany.

The Montenegrin, who reached her first career slam 3rd Round in Melbourne earlier this year, left the likes of Donna Vekic, Mandy Minella, Eva Lys and Justine Mikulskyte in her wake en route to the final, then defeated 18-year old German Nastasja Schunk in a 6-3/7-6(0) final to claim her fourth career $100K title.

The '21 Wimbledon girls runner-up, Schunk had reached her biggest pro final (her previous three appearances were in $25K events) after defeating two other members -- Julia Middendorf and Jule Niemeier -- of the promising young German contingent now waiting in the wings, hoping to follow-up on the longstanding success of their veteran countrywomen (Kerber, Petkovic, Siegemund, Maria, etc.).

In Bonita Springs, Florida, the week's second $100K champion was crowned in the form of 26-year old Romanian Talaba Lee, the former Texas Tech product who far surpassed her previous biggest career title (4 $25K) with the win. She'll now crack the Top 150 for the first time.

Lee had to go through qualifying to reach the MD, but once she did she went on a seed-defeating tear that saw the likes of #5-seed CoCo Vandeweghe (2nd set ret.), Whitney Osuigue, #1 Irina Bara and #3 Katie Volynets (3rd set ret.) fall, then #7 Katarzyna Kawa taken down 1 & 3 in the final.


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JUNIOR STAR: Julie Struplova/CZE
...with her fellow Czech Sara Bejlak trapped in a weather delay in the semifinals of the $25K challenger in Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy, let's go with 17-year old Struplova, the latest from the nation to have a winning week on the junior level.

The girls' #69, Struplova matched her biggest career junior win at the J2 Oradea Junior Trophy event in Romania, taking the title without dropping a set.
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DOUBLES: Gaby Dabrowski/Giuliana Olmos, CAN/MEX
...with Desirae Krawczyk & Demi Schuurs looking to follow up their Stuttguart title with another in Madrid, Dabrowski & Olmos stopped their roll in their first final as a duo with a 10-7 MTB victory to claim the championship.

The MTB was the third of the week for the pair after having advanced in similar fashion in the 2nd Round (vs. Han/Panova) and SF (L.Kichenok/Ostapenko). The title is the tenth in Dabrowski's tour career (fourth 1000 w/ a four different partners) and improves upon her disappointing (1-7) recent mark in WD finals, while Olmos' fourth career title is her second on the 1000 level (after Rome last year w/ another Canadian, Sharon Fichman).


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WHEELCHAIR: Yui Kamiji/JPN and JPN WC World Cup team
...in an event more than a little marred by the absence of world #1 Diede de Groot in the final round (she was medically ruled out after having led NED to yet another championship tie), the Kamiji-led Japanese squad swept the Diede the Great-less Dutch team to win a maiden Wheelchair World Cup crown, becoming the fifth nation to claim the title. The Netherlands had won 32 of the previous 35 women's championships in the event.



Through the round robin action and semifinals in Vilamoura (POR), de Groot had maintained her perfect season record, going 3-0 in singles (the streak is now at 48 straight, and 90 of 92 sets) and 1-0 in doubles (20 wins in a row) as the Dutch team went undefeated against South Africa and Great Britain before sweeping Colombia in the semis. But de Groot was held out of the final due to some sort of injury (it wasn't a Covid or illness situation, as she was with the team on the sidelines), leaving the tie to veterans Aniek Van Koot and Jiske Griffioen.

It didn't go well (well, except for the Japanese). First, Momoko Ohtani opened with a 3 & 4 win over Griffioen, then Kamiji (who returned this week for her first competition since the AO) clinched the title with a 6-3/3-6/7-5 win in 2:42 over Van Koot. For the week, Kamiji, the last player to defeat de Groot (all the way back in February of '21, after which she's gone 0-9 vs. the world #1), went 4-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles.

Said Kamiji, "I’m very happy and excited about my performance today, but of course Diede didn’t play,", adding, "Of course, Aniek and Jiske are very good players and they have passion and never give up, so it was really difficult for us to get the win. First of all, I’m really happy to win this title with this team for the first time. But our job is to continue working hard to get the title again."

Photo: Mathilde Dusol


The U.S. team of Dana Mathewson and Shelby Baron finished third with a consolation win over fellow semifinalist Colombia.
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[Madrid 3r+]



1. Madrid 3rd Rd. - Ekaterina Alexandrova def. Marie Bouzkova
...6-7(4)/6-0/7-5. Alexandrova loses a 4-2 1st set to drop the opener, then nearly squanders a 5-3 edge in the 3rd, missing on four MP before Bouzkova knots the score at 5-5 with a break. Still, in a 3:04 battle filled with long, deuce-filled games, the tiring Hordette finds a way to pull through into her first career 1000+ QF (and SF).


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2. Madrid 3rd Rd. - Amanda Anisimova def. Victoria Azarenka
...6-1/6-4. For two players who've experienced a series of highs and very public lows this season, did we really expect an "open-and-shut" case of a match?

Anisimova served up 6-1/5-1, 40/love, only to see her lead nearly slip entirely away. A missed easy volley at 40/15 started an avalanche that saw Azarenka close to 5-4. Finally, Anisimova put the win away with an ace on her sixth MP. She was run in straight sets a round later by Ekaterina Alexandrova.


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3. Madrid Final - Ons Jabeur def. Jessie Pegula
...7-5/0-6/6-2. Jabeur becomes the first Arab/African/Tunisian woman to win a 1000 title, rising to #7 as Madrid becomes the ninth event (of 19) this season to crown a Top 10 champ (including at 9 of the 11 500+ level events completed so far).


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4. Madrid 3rd Rd. - Jessie Pegula def. Bianca Andreescu
...7-5/6-1. Andreescu led 5-4 in the 1st, but Pegula's run to the final essentially began at that point when she won 11 of the final 12 games to become the third Bannerette to reach the Madrid championship match.
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5. 125 Saint-Malo QF - Magdalena Frech def. Magda Linette
...7-5/6-7(2)/6-2. An all-Polish match-up that didn't include Iga. Or Aga. Hmmm...



You know, Hingis once returned in Legends play, only to then soon after return full-time to the tour. Just sayin'.
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6. 125 Saint-Malo QF - Anna Blinkova def. Bernarda Pera
...6-2/3-6/7-5. En route to another non-tour level '22 final (her fourth), Blinkova rallies from 5-2 down in the 3rd, saving two MP as she edges closer to a Top 100 return.


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7. Madrid QF - Ons Jabeur def. Simona Halep
...6-3/6-2. After being the teacher for most of two weeks in Madrid, Halep was made the student by eventual champ Jabeur.


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8. 125 Saint-Malo 1st Rd. - Fiona Ferro def. Monica Puig
...2-1 ret. In her second event back after a long absence following elbow and shoulder surgeries, Puig falls and retires in her opener in Saint-Malo.


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9. $100K Bonita Spring USA 1st Rd. - Sabine Lisicki def. Ena Shibahara
...6-3/6-4. The perpetually-on-a-comeback 32-year old German, a former world #12 and Wimbledon finalist, picks up her first singles win in 18 months (Linz - November '20).


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10. Madrid 3rd Rd. - Anhelina Kalinina def. Emma Raducanu
...6-2/2-6/6-4. Kalinina's run ended in the QF, but not before she completed a mid-event, Leylah Fernandez-like run with three consecutive wins over slam winners.


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11. $25K Daytona Beach USA Final - Katrina Scott def. Reese Brantmeier
...6-2/6-4. In an all-Bannerette match-up of 17-year old first-time pro finalists, Scott prevails less than two years after making her slam debut as a WC at the '20 U.S. Open and notching a 1st Round win (then pushing Amanda Anisimova to three sets in the 2nd Rd.).
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12. $60K Prague CZE Final - Maja Chwalinska def. Ekaterine Gorgodze
...7-5/6-3. The 20-year old Pole picks up career win #5, her biggest to date, after previously having stepped away from the sport for depression-related causes.


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13. $25K Nottingham GBR Final - Sonay Kartal def. Danielle Lao
...6-1/6-0. 20-year old Kartal, a three-time title winner this season, is now hoping to become the latest young Brit, following in the recent footsteps of Raducanu and Dart, to ride challenger level success to wild cards and potential eyebrow-raising results on far bigger stages.


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14. $25K Split CRO Final - Anastasia Kulikova def. Yuki Naito
...7-6(4)/6-1. Russian-born Finn Kulikova, 22, has been operating well under the radar for a while, including during an impressive recent FC/BJK Cup stint that saw her go 8-0 in singles. She picked up her eighth pro title this weekend.


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15. Madrid 16u Final - Ruth Roura Llaveries def. Elena Morales Dorantes
...6-3/6-1. The Madrid singles competition wasn't just about Ons Jabeur and Carlos Alcaraz.


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HM- Rome Q2 - Kaja Juvan def. Nuria Parrizas Diaz
...1-6/7-6(2)/6-4. Parrizas Diaz led 6-1/5-3 and was two points from victory on serve at deuce in game #9, but Juvan battled back to return to the Rome MD for the first time since her successful qualifying run in 2020.
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1. $100K Bonita Springs USA Final - Timea Babos/Nao Hibino def. Olga Govortsova/Katarzyna Kawa
...6-4/3-6 [10-7]. A former doubles #1 (but current WD #212), Babos has won four WD slams (all w/ Kristina Mladenovic) and three WTAF titles (2017-19, 2 w/ Mladenovic, 1 w/ Hlavackova), but her last doubles title run before this weekend came at the 2020 Roland Garros.

The Hungarian, who skipped the AO because of her disagreement with Australia's Covid policies, hasn't appeared in a tour-level MD since Budapest last July.
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2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees...







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*2022 SLAM-WTAF/1000 CHAMPIONS*
Australian Open - Ash Barty, AUS
Doha - Iga Swiatek, POL
Indian Wells - Iga Swiatek, POL
Miami - Iga Swiatek, POL
Madrid - Ons Jabeur, TUN
Rome - x
Roland Garros - x
Wimbledon - x
Canada - x
Cincinnati - x
US Open -x
WTAF - x
[doubles]
Australian Open - Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova, CZE/CZE
Doha - Coco Gauff/Jessie Pegula, USA/USA
Indian Wells - Xu Yifan/Yang Zhaoxuan, CHN/CHN
Miami - Laura Siegemund/Vera Zvonareva, GER/RUS
Madrid - Gaby Dabrowski/Giuliana Olmos, CAN/MEX
Rome - x
Roland Garros - x
Wimbledon - x
Canada - x
Cincinnati - x
US Open -x
WTAF - x

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2022*
4 - Iga Swiatek (4-0)
3 - Veronika Kudermetova (0-3)
2 - Ash Barty (2-0)
2 - ONS JABEUR (1-1)
2 - Anett Kontaveit (1-1)
2 - Maria Sakkari (0-2)
[2020-22]
10 - 1/7/2 - Anett Kontaveit (5-4-1)
9 - 1/6/2 - Ash Barty (8-1)
7 - 1/2/4 - Iga Swiatek (7-0)
7 - 3/3/1 - Aryna Sabalenka (5-2)
6 - 1/5/0 - Garbine Muguruza (3-3)
6 - 5/0/1 - Elena Rybakina (1-5)
5 - 3/1/1 - Simona Halep (4-1)
5 - 0/4/1 - Barbora Krejcikova (3-2)
5 - 0/3/2 - ONS JABEUR (2-3)
5 - 0/2/3 - Veronika Kudermetova (1-4)
5 - 2/3/0 - Karolina Pliskova (1-4)

*WORST ACTIVE WTA FINAL W/L - ZERO TITLES*
0-7 - Lucie Hradecka, CZE
0-4 - Ajla Tomljanovic, AUS
0-4 - Olga Govortsova, BLR
0-3 - Marie Bouzkova, CZE
0-3 - Aliaksandra Sasnovich, BLR
[w/ 1 title]
1-7 - Genie Bouchard, CAN
1-7 - Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
1-4 - Veronika Kudermetova, RUS
1-3 - Jessie Pegula, USA
1-3 - Maria Sakkari, GRE

*ESP - ROUND OF 16+ IN MADRID*
2010 3rd Rd. - Anabel Medina Garrigues
2010 3rd Rd. - Arantxa Parra Santonja
2011 3rd Rd. - Arantxa Parra Santonja
2012 3rd Rd. - Anabel Medina Garrigues
2013 QF - Anabel Medina Garrigues
2014 3rd Rd. - Carla Suarez Navarro
2015 QF - Carla Suarez Navarro
2016 3rd Rd. - Carla Suarez Navarro
2017 3rd Rd. - Carla Suarez Navarro
2017 3rd Rd. - Lara Arruabarrena
2018 3rd Rd. - Garbine Muguruza
2018 QF - Carla Suarez Navarro
2021 SF - Paula Badosa
2022 QF - Sara Sorribes Tormo

*WHEELCHAIR WORLD TEAM CUP WINNERS, w/ host nation*
2022 [POR] - Japan
2021 [ITA] - Netherlands
2020 DNP
2019 [ISR] - Netherlands
2018 [NED] - Netherlands
2017 [ITA] - China
2016 [JPN] - Netherlands
2015 [TUR] - Netherlands
2014 [NED] - Netherlands
2013 [TUR] - Netherlands
2012 [KOR] - Netherlands
2011 [RSA] - Netherlands
2010 [TUR] - Netherlands
2009 [GBR] - Netherlands
2008 [ITA] - Netherlands
2007 [SWE] - Netherlands
2006 [BRA] - Netherlands
2005 [NED] - Netherlands
2004 [NZL] - Netherlands
2003 [POL] - Netherlands
2002 [ITA] - Netherlands
2001 [SUI] - Netherlands
2000 [FRA] - Netherlands
1999 [USA] - Australia
1998 [ESP] - Netherlands
1997 [GBR] - Netherlands
1996 [AUS] - Netherlands
1995 [NED] - Netherlands
1994 [GBR] - United States
1993 [AUT] - Netherlands
1992 [BEL] - Netherlands
1991 [USA] - Netherlands
1990 [USA] - Netherlands
1989 [USA] - Netherlands
1988 [USA] - Netherlands
1987 [USA] - Netherlands
1986 [USA] - Netherlands

*2022 $100K CHAMPIONS*
Palm Harbor USA (green clay) - Katie Volynets, USA
Charleston USA (green clay) - Taylor Townsend, USA
Wiesbaden, GER (red clay) - Danka Kovinic, MNE
Bonita Springs, USA (green clay) - Gabriela Talaba Lee, ROU






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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 8:10 PM 

4 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Jabeur's droppers won her the event. That shot is so effective on clay because a good defender will grind behind the baseline and be out of position.

Pegula ran out of gas, but had a great week.

Anisimova has the talent to go deep at Roland Garros. Does she have the will. We talk about grinding out points on clay, and she has seemingly given up at times this year, the Alexandrova match becoming another instance of questionable spirit.

RG seeding is upon us. Swiatek will be #1, most likely Krejcikova, Badosa and Sakkari will head a quarter. Kontaveit and Jabeur still technically alive to do so.

At the other end, last 4 seeds today are Kudermetova, Anisimova, Alexandrova, Svitolina. First 4 out? Mertens, Kvitova, Vondrousova, Kalinina.

Also means that with Osaka's last pullout, she will be a floater.

Davis at 97 has the last mathematical chance, which means that if Andreescu won Rome, she would be seeded.

Stat of the Week- 3- Number of times South Africa had a player reach the Wimbledon QF between 1970-1980.

That's random! What would inspire me to look at a country that only has 3 players(Zoe & Isabelle Kruger, Chanel Simmonds) in the Top 1000? One that hasn't even had a player in Wimbledon's MD(Chanelle Scheepers) since 2014?

Netflix.

Netflix referred to me a movie by the name of 40-Love. Even though it is a romcom, the main character goes on a quest to help the #1 Russian beat the woman she can't beat. If you draw Sharapova/Williams parallels, I would not be the only one. In fact, one review pointed out the Tracy Austin lookalike announcing the match.

Come to find out that one of the advisors/trainers for this movie is Liesel Huber, as she was head pro at Cary Leeds, where part of this was filmed.

Well, 70's tennis. A massively different time, South Africa had 8 women in Wimbledon, plus 1 from Rhodesia in 1970. With the exception of the slam nations- US 20, UK 19, Australia 16, that was the biggest contingent in a 96 player field.

One of that group was Brenda Kirk, who is better known for leading South Africa to the 1972 Fed Cup title. In a somewhat similar format to today, South Africa hosted 31 nations, winning 5 ties in 6 days to walk away with the title.

Kirk was the leader, winning 5 singles and 3 doubles matches.

The ones that had slam success?

1974- Linky Boshoff
1978- Marise Kruger
1980- Greer Stevens

How long will it take until the next South African reaches the QF?

Quiz Time!

Who is the highest ranked singles player in South Africa's history- computer rankings only?

A.Greer Stevens
B.Amanda Coetzer
C.Ilana Kloss
D.Liesel Huber
E.Sandra Reynolds

Interlude- With RG coming up, why not a look at Frenchwoman, athlete, pianist, etc, Micheline Ostermeyer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlAO-59w8GE


Answer!

Like Austria, Argentina and others, it has been too long.

(C)Kloss is wrong. She did get as high as 19 in singles, but the fact that the computer rankings started 9 years after singles means that her doubles #1 in 1976 is through polls only.

(D)Huber made it to #1 in doubles, but did so after she started representing USA. Did I include that just so I could draw a line if a Russian born player(Rybakina, for instance) wins Wimbledon?

(E)Reynolds played before the Open Era. History will remember her as the South African to reach a slam final, Wimbledon 1960. Officially #3 in Lance Tingay's ranking for that year, she was the #1 seed at Wimbledon in 1961.

Surprisingly, it is not (A)Stevens, though it should have been. Being that the money was not as good, she became #7 in 1980 after that Wimbledon run, but retired at the end of the season.

She was 23.

Stevens did have an encore as Fed Cup captain for a time.

(B)Coetzer is correct, reaching #3 after SF runs at both the Australian and French Open in 1997.


Mon May 09, 01:06:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Up Side.

1.Gauff- It seems like she is due. Won a title on clay last year, and hasn't had a bad loss on the surface since Trevisan at RG 2 years ago. Plus would not meet Swiatek until the final.
2.Keys- Match vs Kalinina as a 51/49 match. Better on clay than you think. Her last 4 losses on clay have been to players ranked higher than her, so expect a good effort when she loses. Former finalist in 2016.
3.Teichmann- I harp on her bad slam record, but last week's run did enough to get her seeded at RG for the first time in her 11 slam history. Missed 2021 version due to injury, so looking for first RG MD win.
4.Rabat- Along with Strasbourg, they play next week while RG Q is going on. Rabat is the one to watch for a first time winner, as 75% of the preliminary field does not have a title.
5.Doubles- With Siniakova and Mertens out this week, we might have as many as 11 women eligible for the top slot when RG kicks off. Doubles has never been more unpredictable.

Mon May 09, 01:15:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Down Side.

1.Pliskova- Death, taxes, and Pliskova reaching the final in Rome? She has done it 3 years in a row, but 4 would be a shock. 13-2 in Rome the last 3 years, she has been only 10-9 on other clay in that stretch.
2.Davis- The good news is that she made it through Q. The bad? Since the start of 2018, she only has 6 MD wins on clay. 5 are in Charleston. The other? 2019 RG vs Pliskova. Kristyna.
3.Osaka- She was on this list before withdrawing, mainly because the way to beat Sorribes Tormo is to grind for 3 hours. Osaka isn't built for that on clay.
4.Andreescu- The MTO battle vs Raducanu commences. Is that mean? Seriously, Raducanu needs to fix her blister problems stat! 2019 and 2021 US Open winners face off in a battle with striking similarity. As much as we talk about Raducanu's lack of clay matches, Andreescu doesn't have much more. Andreescu has 6 MD wins, Raducanu 5.
5.Zidansek- Already out. Needs to defend RG points, as without them, she drops to 70. Her last year hasn't been all bad, walking away with the Lausanne title, but she has literally been a .500 player, going 17-17. More troubling is the fact that she beat 5 players ranked higher than her at last year's RG, and has not done so since, losing 7 times.

Mon May 09, 01:27:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

*IF* she plays, considering her lead-up (or lack thereof), would another title run (or just a final appearance) from Krejcikova be as stunning a result as her win last year?

The "40-Love" movie's logline makes it sound like a tennis version of "Moneyball" (w/ the romcom angle).

Quiz: seemed it'd clearly be Coetzer (one of the most forgotten really successful players, at this point), unless we're talking doubles w/ Huber (didn't think of the U.S. ranking angle). Looking at her career charts, Coetzer was remarkably consistent in Tier I events (27 QF+, 1 title, 3 RU, 5 SF from 1992-2003).

And you become the latest in a long line of individuals (I'm also raising my hand...) to at some point think that Keys might put up a good result... only to see her, well, you know. :/

Meanwhile, Putintseva *won* a match in which her *opponent* had a MP. If that's any indication, maybe some shocking surprises are in store for the Rome draw, after all.

Mon May 09, 06:23:00 PM EDT  

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