Sunday, July 17, 2022

Wk.28- Marvelous Martic






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*WEEK 28 CHAMPIONS*
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND (WTA 250/Clay Outdoor)
S: Petra Martic/CRO def. Olga Danilovic/SRB 6-4/6-2
D: Olga Danilovic/Kristina Mladenovic (SRB/FRA) walkover Ulrikke/Eikeri/Tamara Zidansek (NOR/SLO)
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (WTA 250/Clay Outdoor)
S: Bernarda Pera/USA def. Aleksandra Krunic/SRB 6-3/6-3
D: Ekaterine Gorgodze/Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO/GEO) def. Katarzyna Piter/Kimberley Zimmermann (POL/GER) 1-6/6-4 [10-6]




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Petra Martic/CRO
...after operating a bit under the radar this season, Martic stepped into the spotlight in Lausanne.



Though she came into the week ranked at #85, the 31-year old Croat has been fairly quietly going about getting her game back together over the past year. Ranked #25 last year in Rome, when Francesca Schiavone stepped in as her "clay court coach," she produced the best 1000 result of her career with a SF run, then followed up with a QF in Parma. Her spring uptick didn't stick, though, as she went just 5-10 the rest of the season and finished ranked #54 after back-to-back Top 20 campaigns. What she *did* do during that stretch was add Michael Geserer as coach after Jennnifer Brady had ended the relationship that had seen her reach the AO final last year. It seems to be working out.

Martic started '22 at 2-4, but sparked at Indian Wells with an encouraging QF result, but with her ranking barely holding inside the Top 50 she was forced into the qualifying rounds in her return to Rome (she reached the 3r after wins over Muchova and Kontaveit, but saw her ranking tumble to #70 after she'd clawed her way back into the Top 50 after falling to #86 in February). She reached the Round of 16 at Wimbledon, defeating Shelby Rogers and Jessie Pegula, the latter win her second Top 10 victory of the season after having gone without since 2019, but (of course) she wasn't rewarded with any rankings points for her efforts.

In Lausanne, Martic posted wins over Nuria Parrizas Diaz, young Russian Erika Andreeva (just off her maiden tour match win), Belinda Bencic (improving to 4-0 vs. the Top 20 in '22) and Caroline Garcia to reach her first final in almost three years (and fifth of her career). Her 4 & 2 win over Olga Danilovic gives her a second tour title, and will see Martic rise back to almost the Top 50 in the new rankings.


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RISERS: Bernarda Pera/USA and Anna Bondar/HUN
...a few years ago, Pera looked to be a player on the rise. In 2018, she cracked the Top 100 (getting her maiden Top 10 win over Jo Konta at the AO), and reached a career-high of #59 in March of 2020. Well, you know what happened after that, and the progress that Pera had made drifted away like so many things. She ended 2021 at #93 and coming into this week's Budapest event found herself ranked at #130, her lowest standing since October '17, and having lost five straight matches (and six of seven) since reaching the Karlsruhe 125 final (the biggest of her career) in May.

Pera made it through qualifying in Budapest, then ultimately extended her winning streak to seven matches (and 14 sets) as she reached and won her first tour final with wins over Marina Bassols Ribera, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Anna Bondar. In the final, against an opponent in Aleksandra Krunic who'd dropped just six games in her last three matches, Pera prevailed 3 & 3 to become the fourth first-time singles champ on tour this season (but the second of two Croatian-born champs this week w/ Petra Martic, as the Bannerette started playing for the U.S. in '13).

It's Pera second first-time tour champ turn of '22, as she also won her maiden WTA doubles title in Week 1 in Melbourne (w/ Siniakova).



The 250 title run will jump Pera nearly 50 spots in the new rankings (and Elena Rybakina cringes) to around #81.

The past year has seen quite a lot of change for Bondar, as the 25-year old only recorded her maiden tour-level MD wins last July (reaching the QF in Gdynia). By the end of '21, she'd won a WTA 125 and made her Top 100 debut (after having started the year at #273).

This season, Bondar made her slam MD debut in Melbourne (and has played in the MD of all three majors), reached her first WTA semifinal (Rabat, where she handed Claire Liu a walkover) and just last week reached a 125 semi in Contrexeville. The Hungarian reached her second tour SF this week in Budapest, outdistancing RG semifinalist Martina Trevisan in the QF for the honors. She lost to eventual champion Bernarda Pera, but will now crack the Top 50 for the first time.


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SURPRISE: Simona Waltert/SUI
...over the years, Lausanne has been good to the tour's "other Simona." It was again this week.

21-year old Swiss Waltert made her tour debut in the event in '19, and won her maiden tour doubles title there last year. This year, again as a wild card, she notched her first career Top 10 win over Danielle Collins in the 1st Round (saving 3 MP), reached her maiden WTA singles QF with an additional victory over Cristina Bucsa and, despite falling at that stage to Olga Danilovic, will make her Top 150 debut in the new rankings (at around #136, up from #154).

Already having garnered her biggest career title this month, winning ITF crown #6 at a $60K in Amstelveen (NED), Waltert had come into the week at a career-best #154. She's still looking to make her slam MD debut, having lost in all three slam qualifiying tournaments in '22.
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VETERAN: Aleksandra Krunic/SRB
...the Bracelet didn't ultimately wear the crown in Budapest, but the 29-year old Serb officially redeclared her presence after battling back from a wrist injury that only caused her to be able to play pain free as recently as this year's Roland Garros.

Krunic started the year at just 2-8, but began to turn things around in the spring when she put the Serbian BJK Cup team on her back (going 4-1 in singles and winning a pair of deciding doubles contests) and nearly single-handedly carried the group out of zone play and into the '23 playoffs, falling just one match short (a loss to Petra Martic) in the promotional playoff. Since then, with this week's action, the Serb has gone 12-8, qualifying at Roland Garros (reaching the 2r) and Eastbourne and, as a lucky loser in Birmingham, getting some revenge on Martic with a 1st Round upset.

For the majority of this week, Krunic was unstoppable in this event. She allowed just 13 games through four matches -- 7 to Laura Siegemund, 1 each to Zhang Shuai and Wang Xiyu, and 4 to defending champ Yulia Putintseva -- and was threatening to break Iga Swiatek's season-low of 21 in Rome (albeit with an extra round of play from the Pole) as she burst into her third career WTA singles final (on a third different surface) and first since winning her maiden title at Rosmalen in 2018.

Bernarda Pera took control in the final, though, winning 6-3/6-3.

After the match, Krunic spoke of the faith her team has had in her both before and during her tough stretch, and how much better she feels now that she's not waking up wondering if her wrist injury would allow her to hold a racket that day.

Krunic will climb back into the Top 100 for the first time in three years on Monday, going from #105 all the way up to #75. She was at a career-best #39 in 2018.
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COMEBACKS: Caroline Garcia/FRA and Elisabetta Cocciaretto/ITA
...unlike her countrywoman and (sometimes) doubles partner, Garcia has now started to string together a series of good singles results as she's climbed back into the Top 50 after ending 2021 at #74 after having posted back-to-back Top 20 seasons (with a high of #4) in 2017-18.

The Pasty's SF in Lyon in March was her first on tour since Lausanne last year. After winning her second RG doubles title with Kiki Mladenovic, Garcia has picked up a grass title at Bad Homburg and reached the 4th Round at Wimbledon. In Lausanne, she extended her good run (11-1) with victories over Jasmine Paolini, Leolia Jeanjean and Sara Sorribes Tormo, reaching the semis for a second straight year in the Swiss event. She couldn't get past eventual champ Petra Martic, but the #48-ranked Pastry is surely looking as if she might put some legitimate summer heat on Alize Cornet (#37) in the race for French #1.

2022 has turned into a full-season comeback campaign for Cocciaretto, a former junior achiever who won three ITF titles in '19, twice qualified for the AO (2020-21), reached a WTA 125 final (Prague '20) and reached a tour-level QF in Palermo ('20) and SF in Guadalajara ('21) while nearly cracking the Top 100 in June of last year. The Italian had knee surgery late last year, missing the back half of the season, and was hitting balls from a chair in November in preparation for 2022.

Ranked at #242 in March, the 21-year old reached her first final in two seasons (at a $25K) that same month, then qualified and took her biggest career title at an $80K challenger in Oeiras (POR). Since then, Cocciaretto has won another ITF event ($60K), reached a WTA 125 final in Makarska (falling to Niemeier), and recorded her maiden slam MD victory at Wimbledon.

In Budapest, Cocciaretto reached her first tour QF since March of last year with wins over Reka-Luca Jani and Katerina Siniakova, prevailing over the Czech (who served at 5-3 in the 3rd) in 2:47. The Italian fell a round later to eventual champ Bernarda Pera, but will climb to #111 in the new rankings, just three back of the career-high she set before the injury.


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FRESH FACES: Olga Danilovic/SRB and Anastasia Potapova/RUS
...rather than a "false flag" situation, perhaps Danilovic's title run as a 17-year old lucky loser four years ago in the since defunct Moscow River Cup (the Serb was the *only* singles champ ever crowned) was actually simply a very early preview of things to come.

Since that surprise title run, Danilovic has never risen higher than #96 (not cracking the Top 100 in any week since '18), hasn't gotten a second Top 10 win since upsetting then Top 10er Julia Goerges in Moscow, is 0-2 in 1000-level MD and didn't play her first slam 1st Round match until the '21 Australian Open.

That said, all three of Danilovic's slam MD appearances have come by way successful qualifying runs over the past year and a half ('21 AO and US, and '22 RG), and on all three occasions the Serb recorded 1st Round wins in her tournament debut. At this year's RG Q-event, she rallied in all three rounds to advance, from 3-1 down in the 3rd in the Q1 (vs. #23 seed Masarova), and a break down in the 3rd in the Q2 (vs. Waltert) and Q3 (vs. #10 Tomova).

Ranked #124 this week in Lausanne, a year after she reached the Budapest QF as a qualifier (the first of back-to-back clay QF last summer, with Palermo), Danilovic again had to make her way through qualifying. Once in the MD, the Serb posted a win over Misaki Doi, then rallied from 5-3 down in the 3rd against Anna Kalinskaya (saving a MP) in the 2nd Round, and staged another comeback over Simona Waltert in the QF vs. the Swiss, who served for the match. In the semis, Danilovic again downed the player -- Anastasia Potapova -- she'd beaten in the Moscow final four years ago, to reach her second tour final. Things didn't go as well this time, as Petra Martic was simply too good, but the Croat's praise for the lefty Serb and her future in the post-match rings as true now as it sort of felt four years ago when she became the first player born in the 2000s to win a tour singles title.

Danilovic didn't have to worry about playing a doubles final at the end of her long week, as she picked up career WD win #2 along with Kristina Mladenovic when they were given a championship match walkover from Eikeri/Zidansek after Tamara Zidansek tested positive for Covid.



Now it's just a case of how long it will take before Danilovic takes the *next* step *this* time. She'll rise to #106 this week, just a few wins away from her belated return to the Top 100.

Like Danilovic, Potapova has traversed an uneven road since their Moscow final meeting as 17-year olds.

The junior Wimbledon champ in '16, that '18 season saw Potapova reach a pair of tour finals and a season later win MD matches at three majors 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 her qualifier-to-champ turn at Istanbul earlier this year that launched her back into the Top 100 (after def. more experienced foes in Martic, Sorribes Tormo, Putintseva and Kudermetova, winning 13 of her final 14 sets in a seven-win week).

In Lausanne, wouldn't you know it, after wins over Lucia Bronzetti, Irina-Camelia Begu and Jule Niemeier, the Hordette's path crossed once again with that of Danilovic. Again, the Serb prevailed, winning a straight sets semi after having taken three sets to get the job done four years ago.

Still, the result will push Potapova up 16 spots to a new career high of #63.


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DOWN: Kristina Mladenovic, FRA (sort of)
...for a player who seems to avoid playing doubles these days, titles still seem to fall into Mladenovic's lap. In the case of Lausanne, almost literally, as the Pastry teamed with Olga Danilovic to take home the WD crown in Lausanne despite only playing two of a schedule four matches on the week, getting QF and Final walkovers after winning an 11-9 MTB in the 1st Round over Heisen/Murray Sharan (and then a 1 & 2 match over Han/Panova in the semis). It's Mladenovic's 26th career tour crown.

Before her week ended on a good note, though, Mladenovic dropped her fifth straight singles match (to Cristina Bucsa) since winning a $60K title in the immediate aftermath of her doubles title at Roland Garros. The loss drops her to 7-16 on the year, but just 2-16 without that lone challenger result in Caserta, Italy. Plagued by DF in recent matches, Mladenovic "only" had 9 in 11 service games this time.

Though she's played singles in 17 events in '22, Mladenovic has only played doubles in six of them, as well as mixed at the Australian Open. In those seven outings, she's taken home *four* titles, winning a pair of majors (AO MX/RG WD), a WTA 125 (Paris) and this week's tour-level event. She's 19-3 overall in WD/MX in '22.


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ITF PLAYER: Emma Navarro/USA
...a week after reaching the $60K final in Amstelveen (NED), falling to Simona Waltert, 21-year old Navarro won her biggest career title at another $60K in Liepaja, Latvia with a 6-4/6-4 win over Yuan Yue.

It's the second pro title for the 2021 NCAA women's singles champion (Virginia).


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JUNIOR STARS: Ella Seidel/GER and Anastasiia Gureva/RUS
...17-year old Seidel put on a good run in the Wimbledon junior event, saving 10 MP in her opening match and going on to reach the QF before falling to #1 seed and soon-to-be champ Liv Hovde. The German followed up this past week with her first pro QF at the $25K challenger in Aschaffenburg, Germany, and *then* made her WTA event debut in Hamburg qualifying, falling in the opening round to Alexandra Cadantu-Ignatik.



Seidel is 16-5 on the junior circuit in '22, winning a pair of J2 crowns.

Gureva, 17, continued to shine on the ITF pro level this week in Casablanca, where the Hordette reached her fourth final (1 singles, 3 doubles) in her fourth pro tournament, winning her third straight WD title (she's 11-0) at the Moroccan $15K alongside Finland's Laura Hietaranta. Gureva is a combined 18-4 (7-4 singles) in pro events in '22.


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DOUBLES: Ekaterine Gorgodze/Oksana Kalashnikova, GEO/GEO
...the all-Georgian pair didn't drop a set en route to the Budapest final, knocking off top seeds Siegemund/Sh.Zhang in the semis, then took a 10-6 MTB in the final over Katarzyna Piter & Kimberley Zimmermann to secure the crown.

It's Gorgodze's second tour title, and Kalashnikova's fifth, through her first since winning a previous title in Budapest in February 2017.


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WHEELCHAIR: Aniek Van Koot/NED
...finally, everything went Van Koot's way in her 15th appearance in the British Open WC tennis event, picking up her first singles title in Nottingham after losses in five previous finals and five more semis (w/ three of those late defeats coming at the hands of Esther Vergeer) since her debut in the event in 2006. She *had* won ten doubles titles over the years, though, so at least she hadn't gone completely empty-handed.

This year, the world #3 rebounded well from an extremely disappointing Wimbledon and, for that matter, '22 season that had seen her stopped cold with two losses in finals to Diede de Groot, three in semis vs. Yui Kamiji (as well as in the World Team Cup final when de Groot had been injured) and then in her opening match at SW19 against Jiske Griffioen. In the Wimbledon doubles final, both Van Koot *and* de Groot played rather poorly, leading to what was de Groot's first loss of any kind this season.

In Nottingham, Van Koot got a walkover from Dana Mathewson in her opening match (meaning that all three Wimbledon title-winners were "DNP" in this season event, as de Groot and Kamiji weren't entered), then knocked off Zhu Zhenzhen before downing Lucy Shuker 6-2/6-3 in the final, giving Van Koot just her second singles title since March of last year.
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1. Lausanne 1st Rd. - Simona Waltert def. Danielle Collins
...6-7(5)/6-3/7-6(6). The Swiss wild card, after failing to serve out the match before the TB, records her first career Top 10 win after saving three MP from 6-3 down in the breaker (2 via a Collins DF), winning 8-6 in a match in which the two combined for 27 DF (Collins 15, Waltert 12) and faced 36 BP (11 were converted). Waltert ultimately reached her first tour QF.

By the way, good call on this one...



Not sure why Collins felt the need to play a clay court event ahead of the North American summer hard court stretch on her best surface, but her loss assures that she'll be passed (again) by Jessie Pegula for U.S. #1 on Monday.
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2. Lausanne 2nd Rd. - Olga Danilovic def. Anna Kalinskaya 6-3/3-6/7-5
Lausanne QF - Olga Danilovic def. Simona Waltert 6-4/4-6/7-6(5)
...the Serb's comebacks come in bunches, as Kalinskaya served at 5-3 in the 3rd, DF'ing on a MP, before losing the last four games (and 6 of 7); while Waltert overcame a 6-4/2-0 deficit to force a 3rd, only to then *also* fail to serve out the match at 5-3 in the deciding set. Danilovic reached the final.
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3. Budapest 2nd Rd. - Lesia Tsurenko def. Kamilla Rakhimova
...6-7(1)/6-4/7-5. Tsurenko failed to serve out the 1st set, but found a way to win nonetheless.



The 3:54 affair was the longest on tour in 2022, with the Ukrainian prevailing despite the Russian grabbing the early advantage by winning four straight games and leading 7-6/4-3, and then serving at 5-3 in the 3rd, holding a MP. But after surviving and prevailing in this marathon battle, Tsurenko was forced to retire after losing the first eight games of her QF match against Yulia Putintseva.

Hmmm... nah, I'm not going to try to stretch out any real-world analogies here.
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4. Lausanne Final - Petra Martic def. Olga Danilovic
...6-4/6-2. Petra has tested positive for "the Ons"...


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5. Budapest Final - Bernarda Pera def. Aleksandra Krunic
...6-3/6-3. Pera's maiden title run makes her the fourth different Bannerette to win a WTA singles crown in '22 (a tour best), and the 17th active U.S. woman (counting I.Falconi) with a tour singles title under her belt in her career.


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6. Budapest 2nd Rd. - Elisabetta Cocciaretto def. Katerina Siniakova
...7-5/4-6/7-5. The Italian rallies from 5-3 down to win the 1st, then loses a 3-1 lead in the 2nd. In the 3rd, the Czech served at 5-4, but Cocciaretto swept the final three games to win in 2:47.

Siniakova rebounded with a 1st Round upset of Dasha Kasatkina on Sunday in Hamburg.
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7. Lausanne SF - Olga Danilovic def. Anastasia Potapova
...6-3/6-2. Four years ago, Danilovic (then a LL) won a battle of 17-year olds against (then a WC) Potapova in Moscow.



A qualifier this time around, Danilovic improved upon her result against Potapova in Lausanne...



...but only went home with a doubles title.
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8. Budapest SF - Aleksandra Krunic def. Yulia Putintseva
...6-2/6-2. The Bracelet's final win in Budapest was her biggest, over the defending champion.
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9. Budapest 1st Rd. - Wang Xiyu def. Barbora Krejcikova
...6-1/7-6(1). Fresh off her Wimbledon WD title with Siniakova, Krejickova joined her partner on the singles sidelines after just one match.


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10. Lausanne Final - Olga Danilovic/Kristina Mladenovic walkover Ulrikke Eikeri/Tamara Zidansek
...this is the third doubles final walkover in the last month. Needless to say, this isn't the way to stress the necessity of having doubles on the schedule.
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11. $25K Roehampton Final - Danielle Lao def. Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove
...7-5/6-4. Lao (ex-USC) won the title, but since her Wimbledon Q3 loss, Kerkhove has gone 10-2, gotten a slam MD win (as a LL), reached two ITF finals (winning one), and taken a set off Iga Swiatek.
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12. Hamburg Q2 - Sabine Lisicki def. Kateryna Baindl
...3-6/6-4/7-6(5). Lisicki plays on, and not on grass, as she rallies from 6-3/3-1 to reach the Hamburg MD.


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13. $60K Rome Final - Tara Wurth def. Chloe Paquet
...6-3/6-4. Croatian Martic won in Lausanne, and Croatia-born Pera in Budapest. Croat Wurth, 19, made it a trifecta -- kind of -- by claiming the week's other $60K title. It's her second straight challenger win, running her winning streak to 12 matches (and she's 16-1 in her last three events).
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14. $15K Lakewood USA Final - Makenna Jones/Brienne Minor def. Taylor Cataldi/Isabella Chhiv
...6-4/6-0. A virtual NCAA delight, as former NCAA doubles champion Jones (UNC) & former NCAA singles champion Minor (Michigan) teamed to defeat Wisconsin's Cataldi, 19, and 17-year old Chhiv in their maiden pro finals. It's Minor's first pro title of any kind.
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15. $15K Casablanca MAR Final - Yasmine Kabbaj def. Chantal Sauvant
...6-4/6-3. The 18-year old Florida International player wins her maiden pro title in her home nation event in Morocco.


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1. Lausanne 1st Rd. - Erika Andreeva def. Anna Blinkova
...6-1/6-2. The 18-year old Hordette notches her maiden tour MD victory.


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2. Lausanne 1st Rd. - Chan Hao-ching/Latisha Chan def. Alena Fomina-Klotz/Ekaterina Yashina
...7-5/6-1. The Chan sisters team up for the first time since August, after Latisha returned in May following a nine-month absence. The fell in an 11-9 MTB in the next round.
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3. $25K Guimaraes POR Final - Francisca Jorge/Matilde Jorge def. Sarah Beth Grey/Jamie Loeb
...6-3/6-1. The Jorge sisters win their third ITF title this season.
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And, thus, the biennial spinning of the Big Sascha Roulette wheel begins...




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TODAY'S LESSON: Identifying a load of B.S....




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Okay, then. Refresh my memory, who is this again? (Kidding.)




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Nice effort. Yeah, not really.




And this... hahahaha!




I'm sure that wasn't meant as a sarcastic comeback from WTA twitter, but it should have been.










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Vika got yet another new Thought-a-Day calendar (must be one of those 18-month ones that start in July).











When you see a long entry from a player on social media (especially one with a B&W photo!) we've come to anticipate a farewell, break or bad news. After immediately scaring her fans at the sight of her post this week, it took a few seconds for the "whew!" to set in. Paula, Paula, Paula.




















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*2022 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
Anastasia Potapova, RUS - Istanbul (21/#122)
Martina Trevisan, ITA - Rabat (28/#85)
Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA - Nottingham (26/#48)
BERNARDA PERA, USA - BUDAPEST (27/#130)
[first-time finalist]
Laura Pigossi, BRA (#212/27 = Bogota
Martina Trevisan, ITA (#85/28) = Rabat (W)
Claire Liu, USA (#92/21) = Rabat
Kaja Juvan, SLO (#81/21) = Strasbourg
BERNARDA PERA, USA (#130/27) = Budapest (W)

*2022 LOW-RANKED WTA FINALISTS*
#237 Tatjana Maria/GER (Bogota)-W
#212 Laura Pigossi/BRA (Bogota)
#140 Dayana Yastremska/UKR (Lyon)
#130 BERNARDA PERA/USA (BUDAPEST)-W
#124 OLGA DANILOVIC/SRB (LAUSANNE)
#122 Anastasia Potapova/RUS (Istanbul)-W
#107 Aliaksandra Sasnovich/BLR (Melbourne 2)
#105 ALEKSANDRA KRUNIC/SRB (BUDAPEST)

*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)
Lausanne - OLGA DANILOVIC, SRB (L)
Budapest - BERNARDA PERA, USA (W)

*2022 OLDEST WTA FINALISTS*
34 - Tatjana Maria, GER (Bogota - W)
34 - Angelique Kerber, GER (Strasbourg - W)
33 - Zhang Shuai, CHN (Birmingham -L)
33 - Zhang Shuai, CHN (Lyon - W)
32 - Petra Kvitova, CZE (Eastbourne - W)
31 - Alison Riske, USA (Nottingham - L)
31 - Alison Riske, USA (Adelaide 2 - L)
31 - PETRA MARTIC, CRO (Lausanne - W)
30 - Simona Halep, ROU (Melbourne 1 - W)

*2022 WTA SINGLES/DOUBLES FINAL IN EVENT*
Adelaide 1: Ash Barty, AUS (W/W)
Dubai: Alona Ostapenko, LAT (W/L)
Dubai: Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (L/W)
Roland Garros: Coco Gauff, USA (L/L)
Nottingham: Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA (W/W)
Birmingham: Zhang Shuai, CHN (L/L walkover)
Eastbourne: Alona Ostapenko, LAT (L/L walkover)
Lausanne: OLGA DANILOVIC, SRB (L/W walkover)

*2022 - PLAYERS W/ WTA SINGLES & DOUBLES TITLES*
Ash Barty, AUS [2/1]
Caroline Garcia, FRA [1/1]
Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA [2/2]
Alona Ostapenko, LAT [1/1]
Bernarda Pera, USA [1/1]
[WD+MX]
Desirae Krawczyk, USA [1/1]
Kristina Mladenovic, FRA [2/1]

*2022 WTA SINGLES FINALISTS BY NATION (w/ wins)*
10..(4) - USA(Pera)
6...(6) - POL
5...(2) - RUS,TUN
3...(2) - BRA
3...(1) - CZE
3...(0) - BLR
2...(2) - AUS,GER
2...(1) - CAN,CHN,EST,KAZ,LAT,SUI
2...(0) - GRE,SRB(Danilovic/Krunic)
1...(1) - CRO(Martic),ESP,FRA,ROU
1...(0) - COL,ITA,JPN,SLO,UKR
[most different champions]
4...USA - Anisimova,Keys,Pera,Stephens
2...GER - Kerber,Maria
2...RUS - Alexandrova,Potapova
1...16 nations

*2020-22 TOP 10 SINGLES DEBUTS*
[2020]
Sofia Kenin, USA
[2021]
Iga Swiatek, POL
Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
Maria Sakkari, GRE
Ons Jabeur, TUN
Anett Kontaveit, EST
Paula Badosa, ESP
[2022]
Danielle Collins, USA
Jessie Pegula, USA
Emma Raducanu, GBR
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=WTA TOP 10 - GBR=
1975 Virginia Wade
1976 Sue Barker
1983 Jo Durie
2016 Johanna Konta
2022 Emma Raducanu

*2022 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
4 - Katerina Siniakova, CZE
3 - Eri Hozumi, JPN
3 - Makoto Ninimoya, JPN
2 - Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
2 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
2 - Veronika Kudermetova, RUS
2 - Magda Linette, POL
2 - KRISTINA MLADENOVIC, FRA
2 - Jessie Pegula, USA
2 - Storm Sanders, AUS
2 - Laura Siegemund, GER
2 - Vera Zvonareva, RUS
[2020-22]
11 - Katerina Siniakova (1/6/4)
8 - Barbora Krejcikova (1/5/2)
6 - Shuko Aoyama (1/5/0)
6 - Hsieh Su-wei (4/2/0)
6 - Elise Mertens (1/4/1)
6 - Ena Shibahara (1/5/0)
5 - Desirae Krawczyk (2/2/1)
5 - Nicole Melichar-Martinez (2/2/1)
5 - Demi Schuurs (2/2/1)
4 - Alexa Guarachi (1/3/0)
4 - KRISTINA MLADENOVIC (2/0/2)
4 - Barbora Strycova (4/0 ret.)

*U.S. WOMAN WINS MAIDEN WTA TITLE - since 1998*
1998: Venus Williams (Memphis)
1998: Tara Snyder (Quebec City)
1999: Serena Williams (Paris Indoors)
1999: Corina Morariu (Bol)
2000: Meghann Shaughnessy (Shanghai)
2001: Meilen Tu (Auckland)
2002: Jill Craybas (Tokyo JO)
2006: Vania King (Bangkok)
2012: Melanie Oudin (Birmingham)
2014: Madison Keys (Eastbourne)
2014: CoCo Vandeweghe (Rosmalen)
2014: Alison Riske (Tianjin)
2015: Sloane Stephens (Washington)
2016: Irina Falconi (Bogota)
2016: Christina McHale (Tokyo JWO)
2017: Lauren Davis (Auckland)
2019: Sonya Kenin (Hobart)
2019: Amanda Anisimova (Bogota)
2019: Jessica Pegula (Washington)
2019: Coco Gauff (Linz)
2020: Jennifer Brady (Lexington)
2021: Danielle Collins (Palermo)
2021: Ann Li (Tenerife)
2022: Bernarda Pera (Budapest)






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The theory doesn't *quite* hold up, but it's really interesting and would make re-watching the movie with that idea in mind a revelatory experience, I'd suspect.


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Guess which one is Rybakina...




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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 9:50 PM 

3 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

*Repost*

No Vondrousova wedding pics?

Pera-Bondar was a fun match.

So Croatia beat Serbia in BJK Cup 2-0 this weekend? Just go with it, Pera is Croatian born.

Sort of like reverse singles, as the 2 countries played this year with Croatia winning 2-0. The deciding match was Martic over Krunic.

That was revenge for 2019, when Serbia won 2-1, with the deciding doubles won by Danilovic/Krunic.

Both Hamburg and Palermo have 2 LL in for now, as Krunic/Pera still in Hamburg draw. Potapova might be favorite there, while Parry, why not a first time winner, in Palermo.

Pera, Krunic and Niemeier probably played themselves into USO, Danilovic is on the bubble. List should be out later this week along with Cincinnati.

Stat of the Week- 41- The number of WTA winners with a computer ranking lower than 50 in their career.

This is from the time the computer rankings started in 1975, so if you only won before then, like Bueno, even though she reached 29, that isn't reflected.

Even your successful doubles specialist reach 40 in singles if they win a title.

The irony is that Danilovic inspired it, while Pera at 59, joins the list.

Lowest CH-WTA Title Winners:

102- Federica Haumuller- ARG
96- Olga Danilovic- SRB
84- Astra Sharma- AUS
80- Chris O'Neil- AUS
79- Marzia Grossi- ITA
77- Sun Tiantian- CHN
77- Susan Leo- AUS
76- Zsofia Gubacsi- HUN
75- Kumiko Okamoto- JPN
66- Mariana Duque Marino- COL
65- Particia Wartusch- AUT
64- Jill Hetherington- CAN
63- Irina Falconi- USA
63- Anastasia Potapova- RTF
63- Cecilia Dahlman- SWE
63- Michele Gurdal- BEL
62- Catrin Jexell- SWE

The only winner never to crack the Top 100, Haumuller won Guaruja in her 2nd main draw back in 1989, then lost 12 WTA level matches in a row, playing her last one less than a year later.

Jexell did it the hard way. She came through Q, winning 8 matches in Hong Kong. She defeated Alycia Moulton, whom she would lose to in her other career final.

Quiz Time!

Which woman from Croatia has won the most BJK Cup matches?

A.Darija Jurak
B.Iva Majoli
C.Ana Konjuh
D.Maja Muric

Interlude- In honor of NHL free agency, though I don't know why switching goalies is more important than replacing Backstrom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAOKAkEN7SI

Answer!

Croatian born women had a good week.

(D)Muric is the only obvious wrong answer, but deserves notice as being on the first post Yugoslavia team in 1992. Her 13 doubles wins leaves her second on that list, having 14 total.

(B)Majoli is the leading singles winner with 15, also has played the most years at 11, but her 21 does not lead the list.

(A)Jurak leads in doubles with 18, but the fact that she is a doubles specialist means that she only has 19 overall.

That means the often injured (C)Konjuh sneaks in as the leader with 22.

Tue Jul 19, 08:06:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Ah, I'd missed that. The tennis court was a nice touch.

And, of course, Chris O'Neil is the biggest anomaly as the one *slam* winner on that list.

Quiz: I believed it was Majoli, but I believed wrong. ;)

Hmmm, one suspects that replacing *Soto* will eventually (maybe sooner than later) be the biggest switcheroo of them all in DC sports. And likely the most impossible. :/

I see your goal on the goalie's back with a goal while sliding on one's back (one of Ovechkin's very first big moments). Extra points for doing it with Gretzky on the bench :)

Tue Jul 19, 09:05:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

In The Rivals, Johnette Howard tells a story about O'Neil, Evert and several other WTA players were sitting around talking about how they hadn't played much at the AO, and Evert remarked that she's never won it. "Oh, there's nothing to it!" O'Neil assured her.

Thu Jul 21, 11:08:00 AM EDT  

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