Monday, October 10, 2022

Wk.40- Barbora!!! (aka Czech Checks Pole, Wins Backyard Tussle)







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*WEEK 40 CHAMPIONS*
OSTRAVA!!!, CZECH REPUBLIC (WTA 500/Hard Court Indoor)
S: Barbora Krejcikova/CZE def. Iga Swiatek/POL 5-7/7-6(4)/6-3
D: Caty McNally/Alycia Parks (USA/USA) def. Erin Routliffe/Alicja Rosolska (NZL/POL) 6-3/6-2
MONASTIR, TUNISIA (WTA 250/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Elise Mertens/BEL def. Alize Cornet/FRA 6-2/6-0
D: Kristina Mladenovic/Katerina Siniakova (FRA/CZE) def. Angela Kulikov/Miyu Kato (USA/JPN) 6-2/6-0




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
...after a season filled with success, but with an underlying sense of disappointment and "lost time," Krejcikova is finishing on a spectacular note.

In Ostrava!!!, the Czech backed up last week's win in Tallinn (over home favorite Anett Kontaveit) with a second straight indoor hard court title in her *own* backyard, taking down world #1 Iga Swiatek (and her legion of Polish supporters from just across the border) in a classic final to pave her path back into the Top 20.

Before felling Swiatek, Krejcikova had knocked off Shelby Rogers, Alycia Parks and Elena Rybakina to reach her eighth career final, where she notched her fifth Top 30 win in the last two weeks (after having none since January) with the first in her career over a reigning #1 in a back-and-forth championship thriller that will surely rank amongst the very best matches of 2022 (as it would have even if Iga had won in straights, which she *almost* did).



After a season that has seen her miss time with an arm injury as well as Covid, and lose in the 1st Round of her RG title defense, Krejcikova's fall surge has greatly altered her '22 logline. While the completion of her Career Doubles (and Super) Slam with Katerina Siniakova will still lead the thumbnail description, her two-title (or maybe more?) finish will leave a much better taste in the mouth when it comes to the Czech's singles campaign.

Krejcikova will return to the Top 20 at #14 on Monday, with the possibility of still a few more highlight-worthy moments left on her docket, including the defense of her and Siniakova's WTAF title, and maybe (?) a hand in the Czech Republic's attempt to win another Cup crown (it'd be the first since 2018) in Glasgow next month.
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RISERS: Elena Rybakina/KAZ and Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS
...Rybakina has yet to post a huge post-Wimbledon result, but the Kazakh recorded her second SF-or-better result in three events, reaching the Ostrava!!! final four after rallying from 5-3 down in the 3rd vs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who got within two points of the win, and then outlasting Petra Kvitova in three sets. In her fourth SF of the season, Rybakina pushed eventual champ Barbora Krejcikova to three sets before the Czech prevailed.

Rybakina's ranking, at #26, remains lower than she'd like without any Wimbledon points in her column, meaning that even with her maiden slam win this season she'll likely fall short of her finishes the her last two tour campaigns (#19 in '20, #14 in '21, when she won just one International/250 crown each season).



Considering the SW19 situation, one might have thought that the tour could have initially announced an amendment to the WTAF rules to allow the eventual Wimbledon champ into the eight-player field if she didn't ultimately qualify (Rybakina is #21 in the Race) but, you know, tennis. As it is, right now half the Fort Worth field would consist of players who didn't win titles in '22 (Pegula, Gauff, Sabalenka and Kudermetova), with the top alternate (Sakkari) also on that list.

Meanwhile, Alexandrova's SF run (her fifth of '22) in the same Ostrava!!! event will be enough to push the Hordette into the Top 20 for the first time. Finally.

Alexandrova's impressive follow-up to her title run in Seoul included wins over Victoria Azarenka, Dasha Kasatkina (w/ 45 winners) and Tereza Martincova. She battled Iga Swiatek to three sets, but couldn't accomplish what Krejcikova did a round later in the final.


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SURPRISES: Caty McNally/USA and Moyuka Uchijima/JPN
...a few years ago, McNally was noted for a social media handle of "Caty McFederer." Then she gained some fame as the "other" half of the "McCoco" doubles duo with Coco Gauff. In 2022, the 20-year old Bannerette has started to garner attention in her own right on the singles court.

This summer, she reached the QF at Rosmalen, then posted a MD win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich in her hometown event in Cincinnati before nearly upsetting Ons Jabeur, as well. This week in Ostrava!!!, McNally qualified with wins over Wang Xiyu and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, then followed up with MD wins over Anna Blinkova and Karolina Muchova (both with their own "tweener moment"). She played well against #1 Iga Swiatek, as she was one of two U.S. qualifiers to reach the QF, falling 6-4/6-4.



Of course, doubles remains a large part of the McNally story, and she added to it in Ostrava!!!, teaming with Alycia Parks to defeat three of the top four seeds (#1 Krawczyk/Schuurs, #4 Flipkens/Siegemund and #3 Routliffe/Rosolska in the final) en route to the title. It's McNally sixth at tour level, and second this season.



Meanwhile, Uchijima may be the best Japanese player most people have never heard of.



The 21-year old has come up short in making her slam MD debut in '22, falling in the Q3 in both Paris and New York, but she's cleaned up on the ITF circuit all season, winning four titles (two $60K) to improve her career challenger final mark to 7-2.

In Monastir, #124-ranked Uchijima qualified, then backed her run up with additional wins over Kamilla Rakhimova and Petra Martic in straight sets to reach her first tour-level QF. She pushed Elise Mertens before losing in three, but will climb to a new career high of #112 on Monday. She's now just a handful of points away from surpassing Misaki Doi to become the new JPN #2 behind Naomi Osaka. Uchijima began the year as 16th in the national standings at #443.
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VETERANS: Petra Kvitova/CZE and Alize Cornet/FRA
...Kvitova's summer/fall surge has been one of the more welcome recent developments on the WTA tour, as the Czech has rebounded after suffering through a 1-6 stretch during the spring, climbing back into the Top 20 after winning her first title (Eastbourne) in over a year, playing in her biggest final (Cincinnati) since the 2019 AO, and reaching the U.S. Open Round of 16 (her best slam result since '20).

Back in the Czech Republic in Ostrava!!!, Kvitova rallied from 0-2 down in the 3rd to defeat Bernarda Pera, then battled against exhaustion as she recorded her 60th career Top 10 win with a three-set triumph over #4 Paula Badosa. Kvitova's fourth Top 10 win this season is her most in a single year since 2018. In her 99th career QF, the Czech fell to Elena Rybakina.



Even with her encouraging stretch -- 17-5 since the start of her Eastbourne title run -- Kvitova will slip just outside of the Top 20 again on Monday.



What was supposed to be Cornet's farewell season has turned out to be one of her most encouraging.

In Monastir, the French veteran -- already in '22 having reached her first career slam QF, notched her most slam match wins in a single season (11), and posted her first #1 win in eight years -- played into her fifteenth career singles final, her first since Chicago in August of last year. The 32-year's third SF-or-better result of '22 included wins over Laura Pigossi, Harriet Dart, Tamara Zidansek and Veronika Kudermetova, all in straight sets, before she finally hit the wall in the final against Elise Mertens.

Cornet will climb five spots to #32 this week, and appears set to have her best year-end ranking since her second Top 20 (w/ 2008) season in 2014 (her other Top 40 since then was a #38 finish in '17).


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COMEBACKS: Elise Mertens/BEL and Tamara Zidansek/SLO
...Mertens, whose only Top 20 singles ranking week this season came all the way back in January, has remained in the conversation in '22, from her recently ended slam 3rd Round streak to her consistent doubles success, but the Belgian hadn't put up a singles result of real note all season. Until this week.

In Monastir, Mertens hurdled multiple first-this-season benchmarks to reach her first SF since San Jose *last* year and first final since April of '21, winning her first title in more than a year and a half (Gippsland - Feb. '21). The Waffle surrounded a pair of three-set victories over qualifiers (vs. Despina Papamichael and Moyuka Uchijima) with controlling wins over Jaqueline Cristian (2 games lost) and SF/F sweeps over Claire Liu (4 & love) and Alize Cornet (2 & love).



The win gives Mertens seven career titles in eleven tour finals.

A Roland Garros semifinalist last year, Zidansek played in the Adelaide semis in Week 2, reached the Top 25 in February, and posted back-to-back slam 3rd Round results in Melbourne and Paris. But the Slovenian entered Monastir ranked at #101, having gone just 12-18 in '22 and 3-9 in tour-level matches since RG.

But Zidansek's September Budapest 125 QF (which featured a win over Jule Niemeier) proved to foreshadow the last few weeks. Zidansek reached the Parma doubles final a week ago, her third tour-level WD final (1-2) since the start of summer. This week's Monastir QF result came after three-set wins over Marina Bassols Ribera and Anastasia Potapova.

Zidansek lost in the final eight to Alize Cornet, but she'll jump back up to #88 on Monday, just a couple of points from reclaiming her SLO #1 spot from #87 Kaja Juvan.
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FRESH FACES: Alycia Parks/USA and Claire Liu/USA
...after starring in a series of "flash" moments over the course of the last two seasons (including setting the U.S. Open serve speed record -- 129 mph -- in her MD debut), the big-hitting 21-year old Parks finally strung together a few of those sort of results in Ostrava!!! to reach her first career tour QF and post her maiden career Top 20 and Top 10 victories in consecutive matches.

After qualifying with wins over Oksana Selekmeteva and Anna-Lena Friedsam, the Bannerette took out Karolina Pliskova in straights for her first Top 20 win, then followed up with a 59-winner match over Maria Sakkari (7-5 3rd) to grab her first Top 10 victory. She fell in her WTA QF debut to Barbora Krejcikova, but will climb from #144 to a new career high of #123 this week.



Parks wasn't finished, though, as she and Caty McNally won the doubles, with Parks reaching her first tour WD final and picking up her maiden title.



In Monastir, Liu recorded her first career Top 10 win, and got it over Ons Jabeur in the Tunisian's home event. Liu, who came in already ranked at a career high #73 following her Tokyo QF two weeks ago, was a Rabat finalist earlier this year, and had beaten Ana Konjuh and Katerina Siniakova to set up her QF meeting with Jabeur. The 22-year old, the Wimbledon junior champ five years ago (and RG finalist), lost 4 & love to Elise Mertens in the semis, but will jump to a new career-high of #64 on Monday.


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DOWN: Paula Badosa/ESP
...as the season winds down, the "Down" section seems to have become more of a noting of downward trends rather than individual results. At least that's the case this week again, this time with Badosa.

The Spaniard's tough two-set loss to Petra Kvitova in Ostrava!!! wasn't a "bad" result, but it marks the fourth time in five events in which she's failed to secure a match win (with just a single victory in Flushing Meadows to break up what would be a multi-month losing streak). Badosa now stands at 30-19 on the season, but that's after what was a 20-7 start. 10-12 since mid-February, Badosa is still ranked #4 with around 3900 points being counted on the computer. 1000 of those points -- for her Indian Wells win last fall -- will finally drop off after next week, and at the moment account for the difference between her and #10 Caroline Garcia.

Badosa stands at #12 in the WTA Race, #11 w/ Halep's season over, so whether she'll get to make the trip to Fort Worth for another WTA (even as an alternate) remains (at best) up in the air. If not, then shave off another 625 points, which would further drop her to around #14-15.
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ITF PLAYERS: Marcela Zacarias/MEX and Katie Swan/GBR
...Zacarias, 28, claimed the week's largest ITF challenger crown, taking the $80K Rancho Santa Fe (CAL) title for biggest career win. Zacarias posted wins over Whitney Osuigwe, Alex Eala, Elvina Kalieva and Katrina Scott in the final, dropping just one set all week before her 1 & 2 win over Scott. It's her 17th career ITF win, first since 2019 and first outside of Mexico since '16.

After taking the singles title, Zacarias and countrywoman Giuliana Olmos played the doubles final, losing to Kalieva and Katarzyna Kawa in a 10-2 MTB.

Zacarias will climb to a new career high of #179, topping her #181 standing in 2015.

In Tmava, Slovakia, Swan picked up her 12th career ITF title in 12 finals, taking the $60K crown with a 6-1/3-6/6-4 win over Wang Xinyu.

The win matches the 23-year old Brit's biggest previous career title, won in August in Lexington, Kentucky with a win over Jodie Burrage. Swan will come in at a new career high of #118 in the new rankings.


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JUNIOR STARS: Celine Naef/SUI and Ena Koike/JPN
...in Reims, France, #6-ranked junior Naef swept the titles at the $15K challenger, defeating Pastry Manon Leonard 6-2/6-7(3)/6-3 in the singles final and teaming with Irina Balus to take the doubles. The 17-year old Swiss has now claimed two pro singles crowns in '22 (w/ another $15K in March) to go along with her pair of JA/J1 wins, 34-8 junior circuit mark and U.S. Open girls' QF run last month.

In Malaysia, Koike claimed by far her biggest career title in the J1 event in Sarawak. The 15-year old's biggest previous win had been in a J5 tournament last year, but this week the #8-seed knocked off the #2 and #3 seeds en route to the final, then defeated #12 Monika Stankiewicz (POL) in a 7-5/6-2 contest to take the honors.


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DOUBLES: Kristina Mladenovic/Katerina Siniakova, FRA/CZE
...when two of the most talented doubles players in the world team together for the first time, you expect them to succeed. And that's what Mladenovic & Siniakova did in Monastir.



The pair lost no sets on their path to the title, and dropped just two games in the final against Angela Kulikov & Miyu Kato. It's win #28 for Mladenovic, and improves her record to 4-0 in '22 finals with four different partners. Her four wins tie Mladenovic with Jessie Pegula for the second most WD titles on tour in '22, and she's now 10-1 in tour WD finals since losing in the 2019 Australian Open championship match.

Meanwhile, #1-ranked doubles player Siniakova, with three slam crowns in her back pocket this season, also leads the tour with six overall WD titles (w/ four different partners -- the 3 majors w/ Krejcikova, and the other 3 w/ "stand-ins"). It's the Czech's 20th career win, and improves her WD final winning streak to eleven (she's 18-4 since starting her career by going 2-9 in WTA doubles finals, a stat that turned dramatically starting with Siniakova's 2018 RG win alongside Krejcikova).
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1. Ostrava!!! Final - Barbora Krejcikova def. Iga Swiatek
...5-7/7-6(4)/6-3. Well, that was something, wasn't it? And, in this case, that was a very good thing.

Swiatek set such a high standard with her spring domimance that for months, whenever she didn't win with such swift decisiveness it was often seen as a sign of "weakness" (or at least proved that, yes, she is a mere mortal), giving others hope. But her U.S. Open run may have changed all that, allowing everyone to appreciate the Pole's willfull presence, confidence and know-how after nearly a year's worth of seasoning as the "hunted" as well as "hunter."

Now, when Swiatek displays such skill, and wins, her "evolution" is noteworthy. When she does so and yet *still* loses, it turns into something special. Thanks to Krejcikova, that's what the Ostrava!!! final became, as both woman's winner total climbed over 40 in the 3:16, back-and-forth affair held in a Cup-like atmosphere with the Czech's home crowd sharing the arena with the world #1's border-hopping Polish imports.

After taking a 5-1 lead in the 1st, Swiatek failed to convert a SP at 5-2. Krejcikova's surge saw her knot the set and hold three BP in game 11. Swiatek saved all three and held, then broke the Czech to claim the 1st on her third SP.



Krejcikova was the one who jumped ahead in the 2nd. 2-0, and then 4-2. But the Pole rallied, taking a 5-4 lead and coming within two points of a straight sets win at 6-5, 30/30. Krejcikova forced the TB, and raced out to a 4-0 lead. Down 6-1, Swiatek saved three SP and threatened to overturn the breaker, but Krejcikova held on for the 7-4 win.



In the decider, Swiatek held at 2-3 from love/30, but Krejcikova's combination of defense and key passing shots saw her make the stronger final push. Up 5-3, 40/15, Krejcikova again had to hold the Pole off as Iga denied three MP and even reached BP. Finally, on her sixth MP, Krejcikova's ace ended things, simultaneously winning her ninth straight match and second consecutive title, while also also ending Swiatek's own 10-match run and ten-final string of victories dating back to her win in Paris two years ago.



A week after closing down Anett Kontaveit on indoor hard court in Estonia, Krejcikova notched her maiden #1 win against Iga in a "semi-home" court on the final stage on which she's been dominant -- she'd allowed an average of four games a match over eight finals before Ons Jabeur won eight alone in the U.S. Open championship final -- to produce her best solo moment since claiming the Roland Garros crown last year.


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2. Ostrava!!! 1st Rd. - Alycia Parks def. Maria Sakkari
...5-7/7-5/7-5. In the closing weeks of the '22 season, Parks gets the "signature" win that will make her one of *the* new faces to watch in 2023. Her first career Top 10 victory over Sakkari, which sent the Bannerette into her first WTA QF, included 59 winners (vs. 9 from the Greek) and 15 aces. Her UE total? A very managable 26 in a three-set match.


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3. Ostrava!!! 2nd Rd. - Petra Kvitova def. Paula Badosa
...7-6(4)/6-4. Kvitova's 60th career Top 10 win, 18 of which have come on indoor hard courts (though this was the first since 2018).

Her very first? Over Venus Williams in Memphis in 2008.


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4. Monastir QF - Claire Liu def. Ons Jabeur
...6-3/4-6/6-4. Liu's maiden Top 10 win ended the notion of a dream week for Jabeur in her native Tunisia's inaugural WTA event.


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5. Ostrava!!! SF - Barbora Krejcikova def. Elena Rybakina
...3-6/7-6(4)/6-4. The two combined for 21 consecutive holds until Krejcikova broke Rybakina for a 5-4 lead in the 3rd, then held to push her way into the final.
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6. Ostrava!!! SF - Iga Swiatek def. Ekaterina Alexandrova
...7-6(5)/2-6/6-4. Swiatek's penchant for swings of momentum in Ostrava!!! showed up here before the final, as she fell behind 5-0 in the 2nd but avoided eating the sort of bagel she's dished out so often this season. In the end, she rallied to get her 60th win (10th in a row) of the season, ending Alexandrova's own 8-match winning streak.


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7. Ostrava!!! 1st Rd. - Petra Kvitova def. Bernarda Pera
...6-3/2-6/6-4. Pera led 2-0 in the 3rd, having won six straight games and seven of eight. But Kvitova rebounded in front of her home crowd, playing the part of "avenging angel" for her younger countrywoman, Barbora Palicova and Nikola Bartunkova, whom Pera had defeated in qualifying.
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8. Monastir Final - Elise Mertens def. Alize Cornet
...6-2/6-0. Mertens becomes the ninth woman this season on tour to win both a singles and doubles title.


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9. Ostrava!!! Final - Caty McNally/Alycia Parks def. Erin Routliffe/Alicja Rosolska
...6-3/6-2. Parks is the eighth different Bannerette this season to pick up her maiden tour-level WD title.


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10. Ostrava!!! 1st Rd. - Caty McNally/Alycia Parks def. Lucie Hradecka/Linda Noskova
...6-4/6-3. After Hradecka & Noskova put the Williams sisters out in Serena's final U.S. Open doubles competition, Hradecka herself saw her official farewell match come this week in Ostrava!!!


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11. San Diego Q1 - Robin Montgomery def. Zhang Shuai 6-2/6-3
San Diego Q2 - Robin Montgomery def. Bernarda Pera 1-6/6-1/6-4
...after a week that saw significant results from Caty McNally, Alycia Parks and Claire Liu, here comes another Bannerette.


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12. Ostrava!!! 2nd Rd. - Barbora Krejcikova walkover Belinda Bencic
...not exactly the follow-up to their Tallinn match that anyone had been hoping for.



Krejickova made up for it in the final.
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13. Ostrava!!! 2nd Rd. - Tereza Martincova def. Anett Kontaveit
...7-6(3)/1-0 ret. The difference a year makes. In 2021, Kontaveit couldn't lose on indoor hard courts. In 2022, she followed up her Tallinn final defeat with a retirement in her Ostrava!!! opener.
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14. $15K Monastir Final - Wei Sijia def. Kyoko Kubo
...6-2/6-0. The 18-year old from China has been virtually unbeatable since the start of August, winning five challenger titles in seven events while compiling a 32-2 record.
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15. San Diego Q2 - Camila Osorio def. Zheng Qinwen
...4-6/6-4/7-6(3). An impressive win from the Colombian, who hadn't recorded consecutive match wins since Bogota in April, having gone 4-10 since losing in the SF of her home nation title defense.
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1. Ostrava!!! 1st Rd. - Alycia Parks def. Karolina Pliskova
...6-0/7-6(3). Parks' initial salvo in a career week, as the #144 picked up her first career Top 20 win on Czech soil over a veteran Maiden.


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2. Monastir 1st Rd. - Veronika Kudermetova def. Varvara Gracheva
...6-1/6-0. Gracheva managed two wins in Chennai, but has picked right back up with a three-match losing streak since, making her 2-13 since mid-June.
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3. Monastir SF - Alize Cornet def. Veronika Kudermetova
...6-4/6-3. For the Hordette, it was a continuation of her best of times/worst of times '22 campaign.

After allowing just one game to Gracheva, Kudermetova had 25 winners vs. Magdalena Frech, and 21 against Diane Parry to reach her seventh SF of the season (more than doubling her previous season best ), and second in two weeks. Only Swiatek (with 10), has more on tour this year.

But a straight sets loss to Cornet gives her a 1-4 mark in those semis. She reached two of her three '22 WS finals via walkovers, where she's gone 0-3.



Maybe Kudermetova needs to play Sakkari in a SF/F, and vice versa.
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HM- Monastir 1st Rd. - Anastasia Potapova def. Mirra Andreeva
...6-3/6-7(4)/6-3. 15-year old Andreeva (#429), sister of Erika, makes her tour-level MD debut. Even with the loss to her countrywoman, the Hordette is 30-7 in pro events in '22.


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Polish Poll Power!!!




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*WTA TITLES - 2020-22*
10 - 1/2/7 - Iga Swiatek, POL
7 - 1/5/1 - Ash Barty, AUS
5 - 3/0/2 - Simona Halep, ROU
5 - 0/3/2 - BARBORA KREJCIKOVA, CZE
5 - 0/4/1 - Anett Kontaveit, EST
5 - 3/2/0 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
4 - 0/1/3 - Liudmila Samsonova, RUS
4 - 0/2/2 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS
[finals]
12 - 1/7/4 - Anett Kontaveit (5-6-1)
11- 1/2/8 - IGA SWIATEK (10-1)
9 - 1/6/2 - Ash Barty (8-1)
9 - 0/3/6 - Ons Jabeur (3-6)
8 - 3/3/2 - Aryna Sabalenka (5-3)
8 - 5/0/3 - Elena Rybakina (2-6)
7 - 0/4/3 - BARBORA KREJCIKOVA (5-2)

*OLDEST SINGLES FINALISTS IN 2022*
37 - Kaia Kanepi, EST (Washington - L)
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 - ALIZE CORNET, FRA (MONASTIR - L)
32 - Petra Kvitova, CZE (Cincinnati - L)
32 - Petra Kvitova, CZE (Eastbourne - W)

*2022 WTA FINALS - CZE*
2 - BARBORA KREJCIKOVA (2-1)
2 - Marie Bouzkova (1-1)
2 - Petra Kvitova (1-1)
1 - Linda Fruhvirtova (1-0)
1 - Katerina Siniakova (1-0)

*2020-22 WTA INDOOR TITLES*
4 - Anett Kontaveit (0/3/1)
2 - BARBORA KREJCIKOVA (0/0/2)
2 - Aryna Sabalenka (2/0/0)
2 - Clara Tauson (0/2/0)

*MOST WTA SF in 2022*
10 - IGA SWIATEK, POL (8-2)
7 - Simona Halep, ROU (2-4 +L)
7 - VERONIKA KUDERMETOVA, RUS (1-4 +WW)
6 - Ons Jabeur, TUN (6-0)
6 - Caroline Garcia, FRA (3-3)
6 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (2-4)
5 - Anett Kontaveit, EST (4-1)
5 - Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA (3-2)
5 - Alona Ostapenko, LAT (3-2)
5 - Maria Sakkari, GRE (3-2)
5 - EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA, RUS (2-3)
5 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (2-3)

*2020's WTA WD TITLES*
13 - KATERINA SINIAKOVA, CZE (1/6/6)
9 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (1/5/3)
6 - Shuko Aoyama, JPN (1/5/0)
6 - Hsieh Su-wei, TPE (4/2/0)
6 - Nicole Melichar-Martinez, USA (2/2/2)
6 - Elise Mertens, BEL (1/4/1)
6 - KRISTINA MLADENOVIC, FRA (2/0/4)
6 - Ena Shibahara, JPN (1/5/0)

*2022 FIRST-TIME WTA WD CHAMPIONS*
Bernarda Pera, USA (Melbourne 2)
Jessie Pegula, USA (Melbourne 1)
Kaitlyn Christian, USA (Guadalajara)
Catherine Harrison, USA (Monterrey)
Sabrina Santamaria, USA (Monterrey)
Aldila Sutjiadi, INA (Bogota)
Magda Linette, POL (Charleston)
Sophie Chang, USA (Hamburg)
Angela Kulikov, USA (Hamburg)
Anna Bondar, HUN (Palermo)
Alicia Barnett, GBR (Granby)
Olivia Nicholls, GBR (Granby)
Marta Kostyuk, UKR (Portoroz)
Tereza Martincova, CZE (Portoroz)
Anastasia Detiuc, CZE (Parma)
Miriam Kolodziejova, CZE (Parma)
ALYCIA PARKS, USA (OSTRAVA!!!)

*2022 YOUNGEST DOUBLES CHAMPIONS*
17 - Coco Gauff (Doha, w/ Pegula)
18 - Coco Gauff (Toronto, w/ Pegula)
20 - CATY McNALLY (OSTRAVA!!!, w/ Parks)
20 - Caty McNally (Saint Petersburg, w/ Kalinskaya)
20 - Marta Kostyuk (Portoroz, w/ Martincova)

*2022 - SINGLES AND DOUBLES TITLES*
Ash Barty, AUS
Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
Alona Ostapenko, LAT
Caroline Garcia, FRA
Bernarda Pera, USA
Marie Bouzkova, CZE
Anastasia Potapova, RUS
Katerina Siniakova
Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
ELISE MERTENS, BEL

*CAREER WTA WD TITLES - active*
43 - Sania Mirza, IND
33 - Latisha Chan, TPE
30 - Hsieh Su-wei, TPE
28 - KRISTINA MLADENOVIC, FRA
28 - Samantha Stosur, AUS
27 - Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
27 - Sara Errani, ITA
24 - Timea Babos, HUN
22 - Venus Williams, USA
21 - Abigail Spears, USA
20 - KATERINA SINIAKOVA, CZE

*WINS OVER #1 - 2020-22*
2020 Brisbane 2nd Rd. - #53 Brady/USA d. Barty
2020 Aust.Open SF - #15 Kenin/USA d. Barty (W)
2020 Doha SF - #11 Kvitova/CZE d. Barty
2021 Aust.Open QF - #27 Muchova/CZE d. Barty
2021 Adelaide 2r - #37 Collins/USA d. Barty
2021 Charleston QF - #71 Badosa/ESP d. Barty
2021 Madrid F - #7 Sabalenka/BLR d. Barty (W)
2021 Rome QF - #35 Gauff/USA d. Barty (ret.)
2021 Roland Garros 2r - #45 Linette/POL d. Barty (ret.)
2021 Olympics 1r - #48 Sorribes Tormo/ESP d. Barty
2021 US Open 3r - #43 Rogers/USA d. Barty
2022 Wimbledon 3r - #37 Cornet/FRA d. Swiatek
2022 Warsaw QF - #45 Garcia/FRA d. Swiatek (W)
2022 Toronto 3r - #24 Haddad Maia/BRA d. Swiatek
2022 Cincinnati 3r - #24 Keys/USA d. Swiatek
2022 Ostrava!!! F - #23 Krejcikova/CZE d. Swiatek (W)
--
(W) - won title

*RECENT MAJOR JUNIOR TITLE WINNERS*
NOTTINGHAM GBR J1: Taylah Preston/AUS
ROEHAMPTON GBR J1: Liv Hovde/USA
WIMBLEDON: Liv Hovde/USA
KLOSTERS SUI JB1 (EUROPEAN 18u): Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva/AND
PREROV CZE JB1 (EUROPEAN 16u): Mia Ristic/SRB
MOST CZE JB1 (EUROPEAN 14u): Alena Kovackova/CZE
ITF JUNIOR TEAM 14u (PROSTEJOV CZE): CZE
DURBAN RSA J1: Ella McDonald/GBR
USTA NATIONAL CHSP 18u (SAN DIEGO USA): Eleana Yu/USA
USTA NATIONAL CHSP 16u (SAN DIEGO USA): Alyssa Ahn/USA
PRETORIA RSA JA: Sofia Costoulas/BEL
BYTOM POL J1: Yelyzaveta Kotliar/UKR
PRAGUE CZE J1: Tereza Valentova/CZE
COLLEGE PARK USA J1: Sara Saito/JPN
PANCEVO SRB J1: Mia Ristic/SRB
REPENTIGNY CAN J1: Ella Seidel/GER
US OPEN: Alex Eala/PHI
CAIRO EGY J1: Cara Maria Mester/ROU
SARAWAK MAS J1: Ena Koike/JPN





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A Thursday night on CNN, or Current Anderson Cooper interviewing Future Anderson Cooper from his bunker in the dystopian reality of 2037?




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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 1:29 AM 

6 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

I'm disappointed. I was expecting the headline to be...

Barbora!!!

The difference a week makes. Kontaveit goes from hitting 37 winners vs Martincova in Tallinn to retiring in Ostrava!!!.

Andorra is investing in a 125K. Will be next month.

Monastir has a 3 year lease. Same with Swiatek in Warsaw, Jabeur losing will make it that much sweeter when she comes back and wins.

Flipkens doing card tricks is funny and cringe at the same time.

M.Andreeva is behind where Gauff was at 15, but not by much. Taking a set off Potapova is impressive.

Stat of the Week- 6- Events won by Chris Evert during the 1977-78 season.

With a 1000 event being played in Guadalajara right before the finals, this season will be different that most recent seasons, as more players will have a chance to qualify.

Mathematically, Trevisan, at 29 in the race, is the lowest ranked person with a chance to do so.

1978 was a similar year. With the WTAF played in March, Philadelphia was one of the highest paying non slam events. This was played the week before, so there could have been some movement.

Let's back up to January 1978. Your Top 12 players by rank were Evert, King, Navratilova, Wade, Barker, Casals, Stove, Fromholz, Turnbull, Reid, Jausovec, Austin.

By the time Philly was played, the top seeds for the event were Evert, Goolagong, Stove, Austin, Wade, King, Turnbull, Reid.

Navratilova skipped the event, while Casals and Fromholz were unseeded.

When the finals were played the next week, Navratilova replaced Evert, while Casals replaced Austin.

Let's backtrack a little. Barker got injured in March and missed 4 months, while Fromholz was injured in Philly and did not return until Eastbourne. But what about Evert and Austin?

Due to World Team Tennis commitments, Evert had only played 8 events in the last 12 months, winning 6. Still ranked #1, she skipped the event.

Austin's story is even more bizarre. The wunderkind, who had reached the QF in 6 of her last 7 events, and reached the final in the other, passed on the 50K winners check.

She wasn't eligible.

With only 13 WTA events played in her career, she had yet to turn pro, not wanting to do so until she won a junior slam. She won junior Wimbledon that year, not turning pro until October.

Quiz Time!

Against which player did Tracy Austin have the most wins?

A.Barbara Potter
B.Martina Navratilova
C.Wendy Turnbull
D.Chris Evert

Interlude- San Diego's finest. No, not Juan Soto. Too soon?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TqCogtnt1E


Answer!

Austin's peak meant that she continually faced the same players late in events.

Austin had a winning record against (C)Turnbull, going 7-5. Oddly enough, they never met in a slam, but Austin beat Turnbull at the 1979 Avon Championships on the way to the final. Virginia Slims had pulled out one month after the 1978 final.

(A)Potter is wrong. Austin won the first 8, then lost the last 2. In hindsight, Potter marked the end of her peak. Her first loss to Potter was 3 months after her last career title, San Diego 1982. Though she didn't get injured until she reached Eastbourne in 83', it was an omen. Not returning until Feb. 1984, she met Potter in her second match. After that loss, she played one more event, then took 5 years off.

(D)Evert is wrong, though the biggest win might have been against her. Tracy went 9-7 vs Evert, ending the 125 clay win streak. At one point, Tracy won 5 in a row.

(B)Navratilova is correct, which is ironic, as this is the only one of this group that Tracy had a losing record against. Going 10-17 vs Martina, they only met before the QF in one event. That was Wimbledon in 1978, when Martina won a R16 match on the way to her first slam.




Mon Oct 10, 10:34:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Up Side.

1.Gauff- Can't pick Swiatek every week. Of course, this looked better before Haddad Maia pulled out, potentially leaving Montgomery-Samsonova for her first 2 rounds.
2.Bogdan- Cluj pick only has 1 Top 30 win all year. But with Krejcikova's withdrawal, there aren't any Top 40 players, so her good run should continue.
3.Dart- Both career QF are on grass. Is this the week she gets one on hard? One of the oddest splits in recent history, as she has 24 MD on hard, 15 on grass. Only 3 on clay, without a MD win.
4.Osorio- Coming into this week, she had not had back to back wins since Bogota. Has lost her first match in 8 of 15 events. But she, or anyone else in the bottom half if Garcia is off, has a chance to have a good week.
5.Vandeweghe- Has a winnable match vs Kenin. A local, she is the only singles player that was in the field when Carlsbad was played in 2013. Rosolska and H.C.Chan were/are in doubles.

Mon Oct 10, 10:46:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Down Side.

1.Kerber- Just a shoutout to one of the more underrated players over the last decade. Remember when she put herself on the map at the 2011 US Open? She was ranked 107, and with her IW points coming off, she will drop out of the Top 100 for the first time since then.
2.Tomljanovic- Not because of her current play, but bad luck. Or, being good enough to have the opportunities. What do I mean? Along with Sakkari, she is the only person to have played all Top 4 players this season, going 2-6. Contrast that to Muguruza, who has played 28 matches this year without playing a Top 10 player.
3.Parry- Picking up those frequent flier miles. After taking a month off after Palermo, she has now played 7 of the last 8 weeks. 1 SF and 2 QF have been impressive, but time to dial it back. No 125K in November.
4.Keys- The person most happy to be on American soil? A bizarre year even for her, she had 11 wins in Australia. She has had 15 since, 11 in the US. Hasn't had a win outside of it since Eastbourne.
5.Azarenka- Probably drops down to 40 next week. Admittedly having enough success with podcasts and TV that becoming a part time seems to be in the cards.

Mon Oct 10, 10:58:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

Still can't get over that Ostrava!!! final. It was so much more than a tennis match--it was a spectacle of skill and athleticism, a showcase of mental toughness, a work of art. I expected it to be very good, but that was simply stunning. Wow.

Thanks, as always, for the shout-out.

Thank you, also, for the wonderful k.d. lang music. Her work with The Reclines was remarkable. This is the first time I've ever heard her cover "Saved." I have the original LaVern Baker version.

Mon Oct 10, 05:23:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

C-

You know, watching the final, I did have "Barbora!!!" pop into my head (I never wrote it down, though, so I guess it just "evaporated." It would have been a better way to go.)

BREAKING NEWS!! EXCECUTIVE DECISION FORTHCOMING!!!
In fact, I just cheated and amended it. (Starts to whistle and tries to walk "nonchalantly" off down the sidewalk.)

I admit to underusing the !!! this year for Ostrava!!!. Either I was jaded in Year 2, or too many other people had already picked up on the practice (i.e. the tour's social media) that it wasn't as fun anymore.

I'd forgotten that Kontaveit and Martincova played in back-to-back weeks in each other's countries! I mean, !!!

Haha, on Flipkens... yeah, right? It was clear that she didn't really *want* to do it, but knew she'd look worse turning him down. ;)

Oh, by the way, I *just* realized that there's a week *between* Guadalajara and Fort Worth. There's a 125 in Mexico that week, but I'm surprised they didn't try to squeeze another full tour event for the non-WTAF field in there.

"World Team Tennis commitments"... such a different tennis world.

Quiz: was tempted to go with Turnbull, but tried to win the lottery and picked Evert. Right idea, wrong number. :/

Baseball, what's that???

For that matter, what's football? (Thankfully, I still have rooting interest in college games, in FBS and lower levels, too.)

I doubt if any contestant would get a "Jeopardy!" (not !!!) question right about Connolly now. (For what it's worth.) :(

Niemeier finally back on track, at Bogdan's expense.

And even with that stat, Mugu is still 12-16 heading into the week. :|

Quick stat: Only three Top 10 players have recorded #1 wins since the start of the 2019 season. Any guesses? (You can probably guess two, but not likely the third.)


D-

I wonder if she's ever considered going back to her country roots for a new album? (Still my favorite version of her style, just because it so flipped/challenged the expectations of the genre.)



STAT ANSWER: '19 Beijing (#4 Osaka d. Barty), '19 WTAF rr (#10 Bertens d. Barty) and '21 Madrid (#7 Sabalenka d. Barty)

Mon Oct 10, 11:23:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

If she ever did go back, I would hope that she could get The Reclines to re-assemble; that was one hell of a band. “Hanky Panky” remains one of my favorite k.d. lang songs (I’m also a fan of the other “Hanky Panky”—Madonna). And her cover of “Lock, Stock and Teardrops” is another favorite of mine (it made it onto my “angry-woman/I’m divorcing-you” playlist, which was one of my major coping tools back then).

Mon Oct 10, 11:57:00 PM EDT  

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