Sunday, July 31, 2022

Wk.30- She Came, She Saw, She Warsawed

Caroline Garcia successfully stages a coup d'etat in Iga Swiatek's backyard.






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*WEEK 30 CHAMPIONS*
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (WTA 250/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Marie Bouzkova/CZE def. Anastasia Potapova/RUS 6-0/6-3
D: Anastasia Potapova/Yana Sizikova (RUS/RUS) def. Angelina Gabueva/Anastasia Zakharova (RUS/RUS) 6-3/6-4
WARSAW, POLAND (WTA 250/Clay Outdoor)
S: Caroline Garcia/FRA def. Ana Bogdan/ROU 6-4/6-1
D: Anna Danilina/Anna-Lena Friedsam (KAZ/GER) def. Katarzyna Kawa/Alicja Rosolska (POL/POL) 6-4/5-7 [10-5]
BJK CUP ZONE PLAY (Americas II/Santo Domingo, DOM)
PP: Bolivia d. Dominican Republic 2-0
PP: Peru d. Uruguay 2-1 [dd]




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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Caroline Garcia/FRA and Marie Bouzkova/CZE
...Bouzkova had the uniquely glorious experience of finally winning her maiden tour title, and doing so in her home country, but Garcia's second climb into the winner's circle this summer saw her do so on the back of the world #1 in *her* home country.



Proving herself (as she does at her best) to be an all-court, all-surface player who can thrive in big matches, Garcia picked up her ninth tour-level singles crown on the clay in Warsaw, winning her first title on the dirt since 2014. The Pastry's run, highlighted by a QF upset of #1 Iga Swiatek (in Poland) that ended the RG champ's 18-match clay court winning streak, saw Garcia improve to 8-1 in finals since '16 and (w/ her win in Bad Homburg) make '22 her first multi-title campaign since her magnificent late '17 run (which included back-to-back 1000 titles and a WTAF SF) that lifted her into the Top 10.

That '17 stretch included a 17-4 record from the U.S. Open until the end of the year. Garcia's wins in Warsaw over Misaki Doi, Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Iga, Jasmine Paolini and Ana Bogdan in her 12th career final improve her current run to 18-3. Her new #32 ranking on Monday will be her best standing since being as high as #19 in 2019.



In a normal week, Bouzkova's exploits in Prague (in the first summer hard court event this year) would be enough to garner solo PoW honors, but this time around the Czech will have to settle for sharing. I'm sure she's fine with it.

Bouzkova has been on the "best player without a singles title" list for a while now, and her fourth try on the tour-level finally proved to be the charm. Already this season having reached her first slam QF (Wimbledon, where she defeated Garcia to get there) and recorded Top 10 wins on clay (Pliskova) and grass (Collins) while also reaching her third career WTA final on hard court (Guadalajara), the 24-year old took advantage of a draw that saw her face off with a series of inexperienced foes to finally claim her maiden title. After losing in three three-set finals since 2020 against players who have all reached (at least) a slam SF (Svitolina, Kasatkina and Stephens) she was due a break, right?

Wins over lucky loser Sinja Kraus (20; in her second WTA MD), qualifier Dominika Salkova (18; 1st MD), qualifier Oksana Selekhmeteva (19; 4th MD), and wild card Linda Noskova (17; 2nd MD) without dropping a set sent Bouzkova into her fourth tour final. She then dominated Anastasia Potapova love & 3 to take the title.



Bouzkova, who won the WD title in Prague last year, will climb 20 spots this week and match her previous career high of #46.
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RISERS: Ana Bogdan/ROU and Jasmine Paolini/ITA
...a week after countrywoman Irina-Camelia Begu won in Palermo, Bogdan became the third Romanian to reach a tour-level singles final in '22, making her maiden appearance in a WTA championship match with straight sets wins in Warsaw over Nuria Parrizas Diaz, Katerina Siniakova, Laura Pigossi and Kateryna Baindl.

The 29-year old fell in straights to Caroline Garcia, but will climb 33 spots to #78 in the next rankings. Bogdan hadn't won multiple MD matches in a tour event since Istanbul in April 2021.



Also in Warsaw, Paolini posted her second straight semifinal result, backing up her final four in Palermo by getting wins over Danka Kovinic, Clara Burel and Viktorija Golubic before falling to Garcia.

There is only one more clay event on the WTA schedule in '22, but that might not be as disappointing news for the Italian as one might think. For while Paolini's two recent semis have come on clay, she's actually won just as many matches this season on hard courts (sporting 8-8 records on both surfaces), on which she upset Aryna Sabalenka, Katie Boulter (both in I.W.) and Alize Cornet (BJK Cup) earlier this year.

Meanwhile, a bit about Paolini's largely under-the-radar multicultural background...


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SURPRISES: Kateryna Baindl/UKR, Laura Pigossi/BRA and Nao Hibino/JPN
...Week 30 proved to be a boon for the lucky losers, as one reached the semis and two more the quarterfinals. Previously, the best LL results through the first 29 weeks of the '22 season had been four QF finishes (one each on outdoor and indoor hardcourts, clay and grass).



Baindl's semifinal in Warsaw was the high water mark of the week, as well as her best tour result since her final four in her last tour-level event in Poland, in Gdynia last July. The 28-year old Ukrainian fell in qualifying to Jesika Maleckova, but rebounded with wins over Maryna Zanevska, Sara Errani (ret.) and Lausanne champ Petra Martic. She lost in the semis to Ana Bogdan, but will rise from #190 to #134 this week.

Maleckova fell in the 1st Round to Katerina Siniakova.

Also in Warsaw, despite falling to Arianne Hartono in qualifying, Pigossi entered the main draw after Palermo champ (and #2 seed) Irina-Camelia Begu pulled out. The Brazilian notched victories over Varvara Gracheva and Nadia Podoroska to reach her first QF since her qualifier-to-finalist run in Bogota in April. But after reaching the MD due to one Romanian's withdrawal, Pigossi left it at the hands of another Romanian in Bogdan.

Hartono had lost in the 1st Round.



Pigossi will rise from #113 to a new career high of #106.

Meanwhile, though she didn't play the deepest into the draw amongst the lucky losers this week, Hibino had the biggest win.



After going out to Oksana Selekhmeteva in qualifying, Hibino took advantage of her second chance with a MD win over Mihaela Buzarnescu, setting up a match-up with defending champ Barbora Krejcikova. Despite the Czech serving for the match in the 2nd set, Hibino rallied to win in three to reach her first tour-level QF since the Charleston 250 last year.

Selekhmeteva lost in the QF, a round short of a possible rematch.

Hibino retired from her own QF match with Linda Noskova, but will jump from outside the Top 250 to inside the Top 200 with this week's result. She's reached seven WTA semis in her career, but just one since the start of the pandemic.
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VETERAN: Wang Qiang/CHN
...slowly but surely, 30-year old Wang is returning herself to the WTA map.

Few players saw the on-court impact of non-tennis stories stop their flow between the lines more than Wang. In the season and a half before the pandemic, she'd gone on a four-final run (all in China-hosted events) at the end of '18, reached the U.S. Open QF a season later and played her way into a Top 20 ranking. She opened '20 with a Round of 16 at the Australian Open.

Since the shutdown, as well as the tour's end of its dealings with China in the wake of the Peng Shuai story, Wang has reached just one final. In 2020, she played just three events after the AO and fell from the Top 100, then in' 21 she played only one event (the Olympics) after Roland Garros.

Wang has started to stir again this season, going 3-3 in majors, starting the year well with a three-event run that included an AO 3rd Rd., Guadalajara SF and Monterrey QF. Still, she came into Prague ranked at #141 and had to make her way through qualifying. After doing so, Wang won a 3rd set TB over Rebecca Peterson, then followed up with additional victories over Dalila Jakupovic and Magda Linette (from a break down in the 3rd vs. the Pole). She lost in the semis to Anastasia Potapova, but will climb nearly 30 spots to around #113 on Monday.
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COMEBACK: Anastasia Potapova/RUS
...Potapova's comeback from her late '20 ankle surgery is very nearly complete, as the 21-year old reached both the singles and doubles finals in Prague.

The Hordette opened with a straight sets win over Wang Xinyu, then reached her fourth singles final with wins over Zhu Lin, #2 Anett Kontaveit (her biggest career victory) and Wang Qiang without dropping a set. She didn't pick up her second title of the year (w/ Istanbul), falling in quick order to Marie Bouzkova, but rebounded well on Sunday by actually *playing* (recent dual s/d finalists often haven't of late) and winning the doubles crown alongside Yana Sizikova with a 3 & 4 win over Gabueva/Zakharova. It's Potapova's third career tour title, and second with Sizikova (w/ '19 Lausanne).



Potapova will climb to a new career high of #48, making her Top 50 debut.
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FRESH FACES: Linda Noskova/CZE and Oksana Selekhmeteva/RUS
...while the young Crush of Czechs making moves in Prague were dominated by current juniors on their first forays in tour-level events, one of the Crushers who had her biggest junior success *last* year (when she was the '21 RG girls' champ), nearly upset Emma Raducanu at Roland Garros in May, and last time out picked up her biggest pro title ($100K Versmold in early July), had the biggest week of the teenagers.



17-year old Noskova used her wild card entry to not only reach her first QF and SF in WTA play in just her second tour-level MD (w/ RG), but after opening with a retirement win over Natalia Vikhlyantseva she did it by posting her first Top 100 victory over Alize Cornet and then saw another retirement (over Nao Hibino) assure her own Top 100 debut. As just the second player born after 2004 to reach a WTA semifinal (after Gauff), Noskova lost there in an all-Czech match-up with Marie Bouzkova.

The only under-18 player ranked in the Top 100, Noskova will stand at #94 on Monday.

Meanwhile, 19-year old Selekhmeteva's run in Prague was largely overlooked due to the prominant presence of the Czechs. The Hordette qualified and posted her first tour-level MD win over Sorana Cirstea, then followed up with another victory over Chloe Paquet to reach the QF, where she finally fell to (of course) Czech Bouzkova.

Selekhmeteva cracks the Top 150 this coming week, jumping 30 spots to #140.


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DOWN: Elise Mertens/BEL and Iga Swiatek/POL
...Mertens continued her oft-contrary season in Prague, falling in the 1st Round to Magda Linette.

While the Belgian is just one of two women in '22 (w/ Anisimova) to reach the second week at all three majors (and has done so at four straight, while reaching the 3rd Round in 18 in a row), she was also one of just three players in the Top 30 going into Week 30 (w/ Raducanu and Azarenka) to have not reached a tour-level singles semifinal this season. Her last came almost exactly one year ago in San Jose. In all, she's 17-15 on the year.

Mertens' doubles numbers this season are also a bit head-scratching. She's ranked #1, and her six WD finals lead the tour. But she's won just one title in a season in which the number of players with multiple WD titles is already in double digits (11). She's 30-8 in WD on the year, with four of her losses coming in finals (not counting a walkover defeat in a fifth).

One player who won't be getting any sort of "Iga-like" nods for their accomplishments this week is Iga herself, as the world #1 remained in Warsaw to contest the last tour-level clay court tournament of the summer (only one remains in '22, in Parma in late September) before opening her summer hard court campaign four months after completing the "Sunshine Double" in Miami.

After dropping just eight games against Magdelana Frech and Gabriela Talaba Lee, Swiatek saw her 18-match clay winning streak come to a screeching halt at the hands of Caroline Garcia, whose three-set QF victory made her the second Pastry (w/ Alize Cornet at SW19) to knock off Swiatek in the Pole's last four matches.
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ITF PLAYERS: Panna Udvardy/HUN and Katrina Scott/USA
...Udvardy's season has already seen her make her slam debut at three majors (winning her first match at Wimbledon), reach a career-high rankings (#81), play in her first two WTA doubles finals, and win her biggest WD title (WTA 125).

This week, the 23-year matched her biggest WS title run by taking her second $60K crown with a 6-2/6-0 win in Cordenons, Italy over Elina Avanesyan, the same 19-year old Hordette she beat last November in Brazil to win her first $60K challenger trophy.



Meanwhile, in Dallas, 18-year old Scott improved to 3-0 in career ITF singles finals (all in '22) with a 6-1/6-0 win in the $25K final over fellow 18-year old Bannerette Elvina Kalieva (now 0-3 in finals).

Scott made her U.S. Open MD debut (she got a win, and pushed Anisimova to three sets in the 2r) two years ago, and is surely in the running for a return visit (via a WC) to this year's tournament at Flushing Meadows.


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JUNIOR STARS: The Czech Crushers
...what better place than Prague for Czech tennis to show off a little? Two young home-grown stars made it through qualifying, five reached the second round, two faced off in a semifinal, and Marie Bouzkova won the title.

While Bouzkova and Linda Noskova (SF) lasted longer, it was the junior set of Crushers who headlined early in the week. Barbora Palicova (def. Viktoria Kuzmova and Yanina Wickmayer) and Dominika Salkova (def. Astra Sharma and Natalia Vikhlyantseva) took advantage of their qualifying wild cards to play their way into their maiden tour MD, while reigning RG girls' champ Lucie Havlickova made her debut there as another WC.

Havlickova defeated Palicova in the 1st Round (before falling to #1-seed Kontaveit), while Salkova got her own maiden WTA win with a victory over Ylena In-Albon before going out to countrywoman Bouzkova.

Already with four girls in the junior Top 16 (including #2 Havlickova), five of the top eight under-18 players in the WTA rankings are also Czech.



And, really, that article's list *could* have included a few more: juniors Tereza Valentova, Julie Struplova and Kristyna Tomajkova just to name three.
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DOUBLES: Anna Danilina/Anna-Lena Friedsam, KAZ/GER
...the conditions weren't great for the Warsaw final, but Danilina & Friedsam prevailed.



The pair won their first tour title as a duo after winning a 10-6 MTB to open their run (over Hartono/Tjandramulia) and a 10-5 one in the final to end it (vs. the all-Pole team of Kawa/Rosolska). It's the third career title for both Danilina and Friedsam, and the second this year for the Kazakh, after winning in Sydney with Beatriz Haddad Maia (and then reaching the AO w/ the Brazilian).


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WHEELCHAIR: Zhu Zhenzhen/CHN
...Zhu continues to shine in the absence of Diede de Groot and Yui Kamiji from the WC tour, winning the Series 1 Belgian Open in Jambes. The 32-year old swept the singles and doubles crowns, picking up her second straight singles title with a 6-4/7-5 victory in the final over 18-year old junior #1 Lizzy de Greef, the latest in the long line of Dutch women's stars in the sport. De Greef upset three seeds -- including Macarena Cabrillana -- en route to her first big pro final (she's won several Futures events).

Zhu's doubles win with Manami Tanaka (def. Kruger/Shuker in the final) gives her 13 consecutive WD wins and six straight titles on three different surfaces.
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BJK ZONE PLAY MVPs: Anastasia Iamachkine/PER and Noelia Zeballos Melgar/BOL
...while the tour was playing in Warsaw and Prague, the BJK Cup was filling in some of the leftover blanks remaining in the pre-Finals '22 competition in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic as Americas II crowned a pair of champions to advance to Americas I zone play in '23.

The MVP of the week was Peru's Anastasia Iamachkine. The 21-year Pepperdine player went a combined 6-0, recording four singles wins and two more in doubles, including a promotion-clinching deciding doubles victory alongside Camila Soares in a 2-1 Promotional Playoff win over Uruguay.

In the other PP, Bolivia knocked off the hosting Dominincans 2-0. Noelia Zeballos Melgar carried the weight of the team during the week, going undefeated (4-0 s, 1-0 d) and allowing just six total games in five singles matches. The 28-year old's overall week included five combined love/love wins and seven bagel sets. NZM's four singles victories increased her career total to 19, tying her with Maria-Fernanda Alvarez-Teran for the most in Bolivia's Cup history. Alvarez-Teran was on hand to see the feat, too, as she was the playing captain for the week. Her pair of dead rubber WD wins upped her team-leading career total wins mark to 34.

Also contributing to the Bolvians' undefeated week (11-0 overall) was Notre Dame's Maria Olivia Castedo. The 19-year old made her Cup debut, going 4-0 in singles and winning a pair of three-setters along the way.
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1. Warsaw QF - Caroline Garcia def. Iga Swiatek
...6-1/1-6/6-4. After falling to Alize Cornet at Wimbledon, Swiatek is cut down to size by another French women. But this time it happened on clay, where the world #1 had won 18 straight, *and* in front of a Polish crowd.

In completing her first career #1 win, her first Top 10 win in nearly two years, Garcia becomes the first Pastry to defeat a top-ranked woman on clay in 17 years.


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2. Prague 2nd Rd. - Linda Noskova def. Alize Cornet
...7-5/1-6/7-6(7). Cornet has had the opportunity to see mulitple Czech Crush members up close in their early forms, having faced and lost (via ret. at 4-4 in the 3rd) to Linda Fruhvirtova last year in Charleston. This time the Pastry came up on the short end again, as Noskova rallied from 3-1 down in the 3rd to win a 9-7 TB en route to her maiden tour SF.


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3. Prague 2nd Rd. - Nao Hibino def. Barbora Krejcikova
...3-6/7-6(5)/6-3. Defending champ Krejcikova served for the match at 6-3/5-3, though even with her break of serve it felt in the moment like a minor bump on the road to a victory on home soil over LL Hibino. I guess that's why they play the games, huh?


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4. Prague Final - Marie Bouzkova def. Anastasia Potapova
...6-0/6-3. Not surprisingly, Czechs have dominated the history of the Prague Open. Of the 13 singles champions crowned, eight have now been home grown, with 5 coming since the tournament was promoted from an ITF to a tour-level event eight years ago.

Champions have included Lucie Hradecka (2010), Lucie Safarova (2012-13,16), Karolina Pliskova (2015), Petra Kvitova (2018), Barbora Krejcikova (2021) and now Bouzkova.

Additionally, Czechs have finished as the RU six times, with Klara Zakopalova, Karolina Muchova and Tereza Martincova adding their name to the finalist lists.


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5. Warsaw Final - Caroline Garcia def. Ana Bogdan
...6-4/6-1. It's been a while since Garcia won a clay title, but she's one of just 15 active women on tour with career WTA singles titles on clay, hard and grass.

After upsetting #1 Swiatek and then going on to win the title, Garcia becomes the first to accomplish both in the same week since Aryna Sabalenka defeated then-#1 Ash Barty in the Madrid final in May of last year.


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6. Warsaw 1st Rd. - Kristina Mladenovic def. Anna Bondar
...1-6/7-5/7-6(8). Would Sascha Bajin, now a free agent coach once more, ever dare to attempt what might be the biggest reclamation project in the sport? Well, at least it would be that unless Garbine Muguruza doesn't pull out of her near freefall by the end of the season, that is.

Bajin's coaching stint with Mladenovic lasted just six months back in 2019, and there is surely much unfinished business should the two wish to try it one more time.

This win against Bondar highlighted so much of what ails Mladenovic, but also what likely still keeps her trying again and again (and again) to reclaim her former singles form. The Pastry trailed Bondar 6-1/3-3 when play was suspended, but a day later found a way to fight and win despite 21 DF (the most by a WTA match winner all season) and having trailed 5-2 in the 3rd set, saving six MP while rallying to win the 2:55 contest.

Even with the win, Mladenovic was outpointed 110-100 by Bondar, who also won more games (17-15) and dominated in such a way in return points won (60-36) that it seems impossible to think that the Hungarian found a way to lose the match.



Even with all her singles issues in '22, this isn't the first crazy match Mladenovic has found a way to win this year. In Rabat, she defeated Tessah Andrianjafitrimo after trailing 4-2 in the 3rd, then squandering two MP in a deciding TB before saving a MP and finally winning on her own third MP.

Clearly, the *fight* is still inside the Pastry, it's just the inconsistency -- and the serve, oh the serve -- that has conspired to wreck what was once a Top 10 singles game.

In her 2nd Round match in Warsaw, Mladenovic fired off 14 more DF, but ultimately lost 6-7(4)/6-2/6-1 to Viktorija Golubic as the Swiss converted 8 of 19 BP chances.

Mladenovic had come into Warsaw having lost six straight since her $60K title run in Caserta just after RG (which only briefly interrupted what had been a 2-11 start to '22), including a Week 29 defeat in another $60K to 21-year old (then) world #315 Sada Nahimana (BDI).
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7. Prague 1st Rd. - Lucie Havlickova def. Barbora Palicova 6-2/7-6(5)
Prague 1st Rd. - Dominika Salkova def. Ylena In-Albon 6-1/6-4
...the Crush of Czechs were never more collectively in the spotlight than they were this week in Prague, as Havlickova, Palicova and Salkova all made their WTA MD debuts, with two recording victories in front of a home crowd.


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8. Prague 1st Rd. - Oksana Selekhmeteva def. Sorana Cirstea
...7-5/6-4. While the Czechs' were being celebrated for their maiden WTA MD wins in Prague, Hordette Selekhmeteva went over the same career hurdle and ultimately outdistanced both by reaching the QF.


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9. Prague 1st Rd. - Andrea Sestina Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka def. Anastasia Detiuc/Miriam Kolodziejova 5-7/6-2 [10-3]
Prague QF - Miyu Kato/Samantha Murray Sharan def. Andrea Sestina Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka 6-3/6-1
...having retired in 2019 and not played since the 2018 WTAF, Hlavackova returned for one final engagement with her old doubles partner Hradecka, with whom she won 13 titles, two slams and an Olympic Silver medal. It turned out to be more than a one-and-done affair, as the Czechs notched a 1st Round MTB win before playing their final match together a round later.

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10. Warsaw 1st Rd. - Nadia Podoroska def. Alexandra Cadantu-Ignatik
...6-1/6-1. Podoroska gets her first WTA MD win of the year. She lost a round later to Laura Pigossi, and hasn't won back-to-back tour-level MD matches since the Tokyo Olympics.



Thus far, the '20 RG semifinalist is 8-5 in '22.
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11. Prague Final - Anastasia Potapova/Yana Sizikova def. Angelina Gabueva/Anastasia Zakharova
...6-3/6-4. An all-Hordette doubles final is far less of an eyebrow-raiser than the fact that Potapova actually managed to *play* this final after losing the singles final earlier on Sunday. The last three times a player reached both finals in an event this season the WD champions were decided via a walkover.

Gabueva & Zakharova came up a set short of a true Cinderella run, as they'd only entered the MD as Alternates when top-seeded Flipkens/Van Uytvanck withdrew after Van Uytvanck's injury in her 1st Round singles match.
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11. Warsaw 1st Rd. - Iga Swiatek def. Magdalena Frech
...6-1/6-2. Frech *did not* receive a fellow Pole discount in this one.


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12. Warsaw 1st Rd. - Gabriela Talaba Lee def. Raluca Serban
...3-6/6-2/7-5. The fourth LL to record a 1st Round win this week, Lee rallied from being down 3-2 in the 3rd when the match was suspended a day earlier. Serban won the opening game of Day #2 to lead 4-2, but then Lee claimed five of the last six games to get the victory over her former Romanian countrywoman, a Cypriot since 2018.
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13. Warsaw 1st Rd. - Ana Bogdan/Kristina Mladenovic def. Anna Bondar/Kimberley Zimmermann 6-7(2)/6-3 [11-9]
Warsaw QF - Maja Chwalinska/Jesika Maleckova def. Ana Bogdan/Kristina Mladenovic 6-3/4-6 [10-6]
...Mladenovic's singles experience in Warsaw was dramatic (even without counting the 35 DF), and so was her time in doubles. She and Bogdan opened by knocking off top-seeded Palermo champs Bondar (who lost to Kiki in singles, too) & Zimmermann in a MTB, but saw their own fates ultimately decided in another MTB a round later.
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14. $25K Nottingham GBR Final - Priscilla Hon def. Maia Lumsden 6-3/3-6/6-3
$15K Caloundra AUS Final - Talia Gibson def. Destanee Aiava 6-4/3-2 ret.
...while one former Aussie player was making more news off the court, current ones were again busy winning on the ITF circuit. Hon, who returned from injury in January to defeat Petra Kvitova in Adelaide, picked up her second '22 ITF win in Nottingham, while 18-year old Gibson defeated countrywoman Aiava in a second straight final.


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15. $15K Vajle DEN Final - Johanna Svendsen def. Hannah Viller Møller
...6-1/6-0. In a battle of Danes on Danish soil, 18-year old Roehampton junior finalist Svendsen wins her second pro crown with a near clean sweep of 20-year old Møller, who was player in her first pro singles final. Møller won the doubles with Aussie Valentina Ivanov.
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16. $15K Monastir TUN Final - Priska Madelyn Nugroho def. Anastasiia Gureva
...6-2/6-1. The Indonesia sweeps the s/d crowns in Monastir for a second straigh week (and has reached three singles final in three weeks there).
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HM- San Jose Q2 - Elli Mandlik def. Jil Teichmann
...3-6/6-3/6-0. Top Q-seed Teichmann led 6-3/3-1, then the Bannerette reeled off the final eleven games to reach the MD.
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1. $25K El Espinar ESP Final - Mirra Andreeva def. Eva Guerrero
...6-4/6-2. The 15-year old Hordette wins her third pro title this season.


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Hmmm, so I guess Tursunov was pretty quick when it came to finding a seat in Emma's continual game of Coaching Musical Chairs... but the music starts up yet again in just one week.




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via GIPHY




Ah, so maybe the 2022-23 Deep-Thought-a-Day desk calendar was a birthday gift?











I'm not sure if reading through some of the responses to a tweet like this (or any, really) from Osaka is an encouraging sampling of the human consciousness or an exasperating (and occasionally frightening) one.


Of course, that's nothing compared to peeking at any social media comments from Djokovic fans, so there's that.







We'll just ignore what looked like a balk there. ;)








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*2022 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
6 - Iga Swiatek, POL (6-0 finals)
2 - Ash Barty, AUS (2-0)
2 - CAROLINE GARCIA, FRA (2-0)
2 - Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA (2-0)
2 - Ons Jabeur, TUN (2-3)
2 - Bernarda Pera, USA (2-0)
[title w/o losing a set]
Australian Open - Ash Barty, AUS
Miami - Iga Swiatek, POL
Rome - Iga Swiatek, POL
Budapest - Bernarda Pera, USA
Hamburg - Bernarda Pera, USA
Prague - MARIE BOUZKOVA, CZE

*2022 FIRST-TIME WTA WS CHAMPIONS*
Istanbul - Anastasia Potapova, RUS (21/#122)
Rabat - Martina Trevisan, ITA (28/#85)
Nottingham - Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA (26/#48)
Budapest - Bernarda Pera, USA (27/#130)
Prague - MARIE BOUZKOVA, CZE (24/#66)
[first-time finalists]
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)
Lucia Bronzetti, ITA (#78/23) = Palermo
ANA BOGDAN, ROU (#108/29) = Warsaw

*2022 WTA FINAL IN HOME NATION*
Adelaide 1 - Ash Barty, AUS (W)
Australian Open - Ash Barty, AUS (W)
Palermo - Lucia Bronzetti, ITA
Prague - MARIE BOUZKOVA, CZE (W)
[doubles/mixed]
Adelaide 1, AUS - Barty/Sanders (W)
AO Mixed, AUS - Jaimee Fourlis
Saint Petersburg, RUS - Anna Kalinskaya (W)
Indian Wells, USA - Asia Muhammad
Roland Garros, FRA - Garcia/Mladenovic (W)
Warsaw, POL - KAWA/ROSOLSKA

*2022 WTA FIRST-TIME SF*
Melbourne 1 - Zheng Qinwen, CHN (19/#126)
Monterrey - Nuria Parrizas Diaz, ESP (30/#51)
Bogota - Laura Pigossi, BRA (27/#212)
Bogota - Kamilla Rakhimova, RUS (20/#111)
Rabat - Claire Liu, USA (21/#92)
Rabat - Lucia Bronzetti, ITA (23/#83)
Rabat - Anna Bondar, HUN (24/#67)
Rabat - Martina Trevisan, ITA (28/#85) = W
Prague - LINDA NOSKOVA, CZE (17/#112)

*2022 WTA TITLES, MOST SURFACES*
2 - Iga Swiatek = Hard, Red Clay
2 - Ons Jabeur = Red Clay, Grass
2 - CAROLINE GARCIA = Grass, Red Clay
[FINALS, MOST SURFACES - chronologically]
3 - Ons Jabeur = Hard, Red Clay, Grass
2 - Iga Swiatek = Hard, Red Clay
2 - Veronika Kudermetova = Hard, Red Clay
2 - Aryna Sabalenka = Hard, Grass
2 - Alison Riske = Hard, Grass
2 - Zhang Shuai = Hard, Grass
2 - Belinda Bencic = Green Clay, Grass
2 - Alona Ostapenko = Hard, Grass
2 - Elena Rybakina = Hard, Grass
2 - Anett Kontaveit = Hard, Clay
2 - ANASTASIA POTAPOVA = Red Clay, Hard
2 - CAROLINE GARCIA = Grass, Red Clay

*WTA TITLES oN HARD/CLAY/GRASS IN CAREER - active*
[w/ color of clay wins - red/green/blue]
Belinda Bencic, SUI (gc)
Caroline Garcia, FRA (rc)
Simona Halep, ROU (rc)
Angelique Kerber, GER (rc/gc)
Madison Keys, USA (gc)
Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS (gc)
Petra Kvitova, CZE (rc)
Sabine Lisicki, GER (gc)
Garbine Muguruza, ESP (rc)
Alona Ostapenko, LAT (rc)
Karolina Pliskova, CZE (rc)
Elena Rybakina, KAZ (rc)
Serena Williams, USA (rc/gc/bc)
Venus Williams, USA (rc/gc)
Vera Zvonareva, RUS (rc)
--
ALSO: Barty

*WORST WTA FINAL RECORDS - active*
[title-less]
0-7 - Lucie Hradecka, CZE
0-4 - Olga Govortsova, BLR
0-4 - Ajla Tomljanovic, AUS
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 - MARIE BOUZKOVA, CZE
1-3 - Maria Sakkari, GRE

*WTA SINGLES TITLES - CZE (active)*
29 - Petra Kvitova (2009-22)
16 - Karolina Pliskova (2013-20)
3 - Barbora Krejcikova (2021)
2 - Katerina Siniakova (2017)
1 - MARIE BOUZKOVA (2022)
1 - Karolina Muchova (2019)
1 - Kristyna Pliskova (2016)
1 - Marketa Vondrousova (2017)

*CONSECUTIVE CLAY WINS - since 2000*
28 - Serena Williams, 2013
27 - Justine Henin, 2005-06
21 - Maria Sharapova, 2012-13
19 - Venus Williams, 2004
18 - IGA SWIATEK, 2022

*2021-22 WINS OVER #1*
[2021]
Aust.Open QF - #27 Karolina Muchova/CZE d. Barty
Adelaide 2nd Rd. - #37 Danielle Collins/USA d. Barty
Charleston QF - #71 Paula Badosa/ESP d. Barty
Madrid Final - #7 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR d. Barty
Rome QF - #35 Coco Gauff/USA d. Barty (ret.)
Roland Garros 2r - #45 Magda Linette/POL d. Barty (ret.)
Olympics 1r - #48 Sara Sorribes Tormo/ESP d. Barty
U.S. Open 3r - #43 Shelby Rogers/USA d. Barty
[2022]
Wimbledon 3rd Rd. - #37 Alize Cornet/FRA d. Swiatek
Warsaw QF - #45 Caroline Garcia/FRA d. Swiatek

*2022 WTA S/D 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]
Prague - ANASTASIA POTAPOVA, RUS [L-W]

*2022 WTA BEST LL RESULTS*
SF: KATERYNA BAINDL, UKR (Warsaw)
QF: Jil Teichmann, SUI (Dubai)
QF: CoCo Vandeweghe, USA (Charleston)
QF: Viktoriya Tomova, BUL (Eastbourne)
QF: LAURA PIGOSSI, BRA (Warsaw)
QF: NAO HIBINO, JPN (Prague)
4r: Lucia Bronzetti, ITA (Miami)
[since 2018]
W: 2018 Moscow RC - Olga Danilovic, SRB
W: 2019 Linz - Coco Gauff, USA
RU: 2018 Elite Trophy - Wang Qiang, CHN (rr)
RU: 2021 Linz - Jaqueline Cristian, ROU
SF: 2018 Budapest - Viktoria Kuzmova, SVK
SF: 2019 Palermo - Liudmila Samsonova, RUS
SF: 2021 Belgrade - Viktoriya Tomova, BUL
SF: 2022 Warsaw - KATERYNA BAINDL, UKR

*2022 WEEKLY BACKSPIN PLAYERS OF THE WEEK*
Week 1: Ash Barty, AUS
AO Q: Hailey Baptiste, USA
Week 2: Paula Badosa, ESP
AO: Ash Barty, AUS (2)
Week 5: (ITF) Tatjana Maria, GER
Week 6: Anett Kontaveit, EST
Week 7: Alona Ostapenko, LAT
Week 8: Iga Swiatek, POL
Week 9: Leylah Fernandez, CAN
Indian Wells: Iga Swiatek, POL
Miami: Iga Swiatek, POL
----
Week 14: Belinda Bencic, SUI
BJK Q-ROUND: (PoW) Iga Swiatek, POL
BJK Q-ROUND: (MVP) Marketa Vondrouova, CZE(
BJK Zones: (MVP) Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
Week 16: Iga Swiatek, POL
Madrid: Ons Jabeur, TUN
Week 19: Iga Swiatek, POL (6) Week 20: Angelique Kerber, GER
RG Q: Jule Niemeier, GER
RG: Iga Swiatek, POL (7)
----
Week 23: Ekaterina Alexandrova, RUS
BJK Zones: (MVP) Dea Herdzelas, BIH
Week 24: Ons Jabeur/TUN & Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA
Week 25: Petra Kvitova/CZE & Caroline Garcia/FRA
WI Q: Maja Chwalinska, POL
WI: Elena Rybakina, KAZ
----
Week 28: Petra Martic, CRO
Week 29: Bernarda Pera, USA
Week 30: Caroline Garcia/FRA & Marie Bouzkova/CZE
BJK Zones: (MVP) Anastasia Iamachkine, PER

*RECENT EARLY-CAREER NON-SLAM BREAKOUTS*
2020: Leonie Kung to Hua Hin F (2nd WTA MD, age 19)
2021: Clara Tauson wins Lyon (3rd WTA MD, age 18)
2021: Linda Fruhvirtova to Charleston 250 QF (2nd WTA MD, age 15)
2021: Nuria Parrizas Diaz to Bogota QF (1st WTA MD, age 29)
2021: Jule Niemeier to Strasbourg SF (2nd WTA MD, age 21)
2022: Zheng Qinwen to Melbourne 1 SF (4th WTA MD, age 19)
2022: Mirjam Bjorklund to Bogota QF (2nd WTA MD, age 23)
2022: Elina Avanesyan to Bogota QF (1st WTA MD, age 19)
2022: Linda Noskova to Prague SF (2nd WTA MD, age 17)
2022: Oksana Selekhmeteva to Prague QF (4th WTA MD, age 19)
[slams]
2020: Sofia Kenin wins Australian Open (12th career GS MD, age 21)
2020: Nadia Podoroska to Roland Garros SF (2nd career GS MD, age 23)
2020: Iga Swiatek wins Roland Garros (7th career GS MD, age 19)
2021: Karolina Muchova to Australian Open semis (9th career GS MD, age 24)
2021: Tamara Zidansek to Roland Garros SF (9th career GS MD, age 23)
2021: Barbora Krejcikova wins Roland Garros (5th career GS MD, age 25)
2021: Leylah Fernandez to U.S. Open Final (7th career GS MD; age 19)
2021: Emma Raducanu wins U.S. Open (2nd career GS MD/4th WTA MD; age 18)
2022: Martina Trevisan to Roland Garros SF (8th career GS MD; age 28)






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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 6:27 PM 

5 Comments:

Blogger Diane said...

It almost feels like Vika and Tsitsipas are competing to see who can post the most inane drivel. I mean, even Sloane gave that up years ago.

Mon Aug 01, 01:05:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

The little girl playing the mandolin(I Think) is impressive.

The good thing about Swiatek's loss is that Warsaw has another reason to hold the event next year.

Bogdan/Baindl took 8 games to have the first hold.

Regarding your note on Bogdan being the oldest first time finalist this year, The only older Top 100 players without a final are Parrizas Diaz and Rus.

Czech Republic might be the pick for the next 10 Jr BJK Cups. They have been in the last 2, losing in 2019 with Palicova, Noskova, Vidmanova, winning in 2021 with B.Fruhvirtova, Bejlek, Bartunkova.

Didn't even have Havlickova or Salkova, both of whom impressed last week.

Noskova is kind of between Rybakina and Pliskova on stoic scale. Charm of her game is that she does everything well, but doesn't have a signature shot.

Stat of the Week- 15- Number of times a woman has won 2 clay events between Wimbledon and the US Open in the Open Era.

6 of those are before 1978, the year in which they took a month off for World Team Tennis. That seems to be the dividing line, as they went from 5-6 weeks of clay events, to 2-3.

2 Clay Events Won:

1971- Francoise Durr- Gstaad- Chicago
1971- Billie Jean King- Kitzbuhel- Indianapolis
1973- Evonne Goolagong*- Cincinnati- Toronto
1974- Chris Evert- Indianapolis- Toronto
1975- Sue Barker- Bastad- Kitzbuhel
1975- Chris Evert- Indianapolis- Westchester
1982- Virginia Ruzici- Monte Carlo- Kitzbuhel- Indianapolis
1983- Andrea Temesvari- Hamburg- Indianapolis
1989- Isabel Cueto- Estoril- Sofia
1998- Patty Schnyder- Maria Lankowitz- Palermo
2001- Iroda Tulyaganova- Vienna- Knokke-Heist
2003- Anna Pistolesi- Sopot- Espoo
2005- Anna Smashnova- Modena Budapest
2010- Agnes Szavay- Budapest Prague
2022- Bernarda Pera- Budapest- Hamburg

Pistolesi and Smashnova are the same person.

Ruzici is the only one to win 3.

Goolagong won Cinci and Toronto, in that order in 1973. She also reached the Kitzbuhel final, which was cancelled due to rain.

Honorable mention goes to Sandra Cecchini, who reached 9 of her 18 career finals in July or August, 8 of them on clay. Bastad 3 times, Bregenz, Nice, Estoril, Palermo, Maria Lankowitz, and the one on hard, Rio de Janeiro.

Quiz Time!

Virginia Ruzici reached 19 of 27 finals on clay. Which non clay title did she not win?

A.Detroit
B.Adelaide
C.Brighton
D.Utah

Interlude- Thirsty?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF404FKWSuI

Just like Osaka playing better in slams on hard, 7 of Ruzici's 11 QF or better in slams were on clay, including the US Open in 1976.

So Ruzici winning on other surfaces normally meant the beginning or end of a tournament.

She won in (D)Utah, which sounds like a fake event. She won the first edition on hard in 1980, only for them to take 2 years off, playing 3 more times from 1983-85.

She also won in (C)Brighton, which was on carpet. This was in 1978, the first year of an event that would play 18 times.

(A)Detroit was another event she won on carpet, winning the 12th and last edition in 1983.

That leaves (B)Adelaide as the correct answer, as she lost the only grass final she ever reached, retiring in the second set.

Mon Aug 01, 01:24:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Up Side- NFT Edition.

Figuring out why any NFT has value is like figuring out which WTA star is going to have a great August.

1.Halep- Washington pick has had a really good year, including her Melbourne 1 title. The only event in which she did not win a match was Doha, with a loss to Garcia which looks better every day.
2.Sabalenka- San Jose pick has already reached a final on clay and grass, so why not hard?
3.Bouzkova- Haddad Maia and Pera went back to back, so why not Bouzkova?
4.Anisimova- Last 6 events- SF-QF-QF-R16-QF-QF. None of those were on hard, but Melbourne 2 was, which she won.
5.Osaka- I could just cut and paste this about Andreescu and Williams, but the gist is that 3 former US Open winners are trying to find their form before the Open, so that reaching the 2nd week could be realistic. Osaka is the one that could play herself into a seed in the next month.

Mon Aug 01, 01:36:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Down Side.

1.Teichmann- Would have not been on this list before yesterday. Even knowing Mandlik's relations, this is a bad loss. Having ended a 4 match(0 for grass) losing streak in Q vs Arango, she is going to have to step it up to defend her Cincinnati final points.
2.Azarenka- Russia and Belarus had 25 women in the French Open or qualifying. Only 3 have not played since:Komardina, who was using a PR and had not played since Jan 2021, Govortsova, the doubles specialist that has lost her last 11 singles matches, and Azarenka. With the exception of her 2020 US Open-Cinci run, she's not known for hitting the ground running after a break. What level will she bring?
3.Sakkari- 2018 San Jose finalist is seemingly playing for the first time since the French Open. That isn't true, as she has gone 7-4, with 5 of those wins vs sub 100 players. For comparison, Garcia is 20-5 since then. Sakkari, 3 1/2 years out from her last title, is in the same spot Kontaveit was last year. She had gone 4, then ripped off a number of wins to close the year. Can Sakkari do the same?
4.Pliskova- Name the only player who has QF or better points to defend from Toronto, Cinci and the USO? Raducanu and Fernandez will lose more from one event, but a bad stretch might leave Pliskova at 30 heading into September.
5.Gracheva- 6 match losing streak, which is made worse by the fact that each opponent has been ranked below her.

Mon Aug 01, 01:50:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

D-
At least Vika is back playing now (1r win over Yastremska!), and she usually doesn't tweet when she's in a tournament. (Crossing fingers.)


C-
Also, I almost had the NYC subway buskers as the Jukebox pick. ;)

Speaking of WTT... so I guess they aren't having it this year?

I'm going to have to swipe that 2-CC-Titles list for future use. ;)

Quiz: went w/ Adelaide! Didn't really have a good reason for it, though. :/

Wow, that was a random Pammy sighting. It's more a Robert Guillaume ad with a few cameos from others. I wonder if she was a friend.

Again, Teichmann hasn't been able to follow up a big big-event result. Since her RG 4r appearance, she's gone 1-4 (w/ her only win a Q1 match this past weekend).

Hardly a shocker that Venus lost to Marino, considering her singles record in recent years. I saw a tweet afterward where someone said that there was no reason why VW couldn't win a WTA 250 this season. Thing is, 250 or not, she'd still have to win 5 straight matches to do that... and she's 4-21 in her last 25 back to the '19 U.S. Open.

On another (local sports) note: 2019 now officially feels like 1991.

Tue Aug 02, 11:29:00 PM EDT  

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