Monday, October 17, 2022

Wk.41- The United States of Iga

What do you get a world #1 who has already won almost everything?






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*WEEK 41 CHAMPIONS*
SAN DIEGO (CAL), USA (WTA 500/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Iga Swiatek/POL def. Donna Vekic/CRO 6-3/3-6/6-0
D: Coco Gauff/Jessie Pegula (USA/USA) def. Gaby Dabrowski/Giuliana Olmos (CAN/MEX) 1-6/7-5 [10-4]
CLUJ-NAPOCA (TRANSYLVANIA), ROMANIA (WTA 250/Hard Court Indoor)
S: Anna Blinkova/RUS def. Jasmine Paolini/ITA 6-2/3-6/6-2
D: Kirsten Flipkens/Laura Siegemund (BEL/GER) def. Kamilla Rakhihomva/Yana Sizikova (RUS/RUS) 6-3/7-5




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Iga Swiatek/POL
...another week, another Iga triumph.

Days after coming up a set short (a 2nd set TB, really) in Ostrava!!!, Swiatek was back at in on another continent, in San Diego, just a few hours away from the site of the start of the month-long, two-event sweep that the Pole completed back in March as she was both assuming *and* solidifying her rise to the top of the rankings in the wake of Ash Barty's sudden retirement.

The first half of that two-fer, in Indian Wells, was a study in patience and will as Swiatek won three straight, mid-draw three-setters en route to the crown in an ironic prelude to the she-can't-lose-a-set dominance that marked a spring run that included a 37-match winning streak and another Roland Garros crown.

Back in California, Swiatek again caught a case of the "threes," as in a penchant for three-setters. After seeing her final two matches in the Czech Republic go the distance, Swiatek opened with another in her first match in the U.S. since winning at Flushing Meadows. Against Zheng Qinwen, Iga put away the young Chinese upstart in a 6-1 3rd, then handled Coco Gauff in straights (dropping just three games, and counting up bagel set #20 of '22) before going three yet again, dropping the 1st but winning a 6-2 3rd, against Jessie Pegula to reach her ninth final of the season, her third in her last three events.



The trend maintained itself there, as well, as Donna Vekic pushed the world #1 to a 3rd, where Swiatek once again slipped on her dominating shoes and streaked to bagel set #21 (second only in the 2000s to Serena's 25 in '13) to close the match and claim her eighth title of the season, improving her career tour final mark to 11-2, including 11-1 in her last twelve (all of them in 500 level or higher events).



While Swiatek has ruled the virtual roost in the U.S. this season, pulling off the "Sunshine Double" in Indian Wells and Miami, winning the U.S. Open and now taking a fourth title in San Diego to run her "United States of Iga" mark to 24-1 this year, she hasn't yet lived out a full "Cali experience," one would assume.

Well, after this weekend's trophy ceremony, while she's not likely to risk life and/or limb anytime soon, she's at least one step closer to "hanging ten" at some point down the line...


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RISERS: Jessie Pegula/USA and Danielle Collins/USA
...it was a big -- though not of the "plant-the-flag" variety -- week for Pegula in San Diego, as she officially qualified for *both* the singles and doubles at the WTA Finals, but she once again failed to clear the singles hurdle that has prevented her "very good" season from being something so much more.



Once again, Pegula was a double threat, posting singles wins over fellow Bannerettes CoCo Vandeweghe and Madison Keys to reach her fourth SF of the season, her first at something other than a 1000 level event. Unfortunately, she lost for the third time in those semifinals, taking the 1st set but losing in three to Iga Swiatek to fall to 0-4 vs. the Pole this season. Pegula had held three BP (two in a row at 15/40) at 2-2 in the 3rd, only to see Swiatek hold and then quickly bring the match to a close in what was left of the set.

Pegula's one final in '22 came this spring in Madrid, her only singles title match since Week 1 of 2020 (Auckland), and she remains title-less since winning her maiden tour crown in Washington three seasons ago.

Of course, Pegula wasn't finished. She also teamed with Coco Gauff to win the doubles, her fifth '22 title (she had zero at the start of the year) and their third this season as a pair, tied for the most on tour.

Meanwhile, Collins is ending the season strong after her quick start (AO final) was slowed by injuries and illness issues (neck, adbdominal & a viral illness) that she's dealt with pretty much ever since.

Her U.S. Open Round of 16 came in her first event since mid-July, and her SF run this week in San Diego, her best post-Melbourne result, came in her first outing since Flushing Meadows. Collins was often impressive, handling Caroline Garcia, Martina Trevisan and Paula Badosa (at #4, the Spaniard is Collins' best win since defeating then-#1 Ash Barty in Adelaide at the start of last year), only to see her rain-interrupted and eventually suspended semi vs. Donna Vekic carry over into Sunday afternoon. Collins led 4-2 in the 3rd as play resumed, but dropped serve in the first game and then ultimately fell in a deciding TB to the Croat, who swept the final five points of a 7-2 breaker.

Had Collins won to reach her fourth WTA final (all since July '21), she'd have taken back the U.S. #3 ranking that she'd lost at the start of the week to Madison Keys. Instead, she'll merely climb back up to #16 (from #19) in the new rankings.


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SURPRISE: Jasmine Paolini/ITA
...Paolini remains the fourth-ranked Italian on tour, but a good case can be made that she should be *#1* if consistency of results -- and, for that matter, *results* -- plays into the equation.

In Cluj-Napoca, the 26-year old, coming off a recent QF in Parma, reached her second career tour final (she won in Portoroz last fall) after getting past the likes of Marta Kostyuk, Dayana Yastremska, Jule Niemeier and Wang Xiyu. She fell in three sets to Anna Blikova, but her week's work amounted to her third SF-or-better (w/ Palermo & Warsaw) result of '22, the most of any of the tour's Italians (higher ranked Trevisan and Bronzetti have two each, while Giorgi has just one), and Paolini was ultimately just one set short of being the first woman from her nation to win titles in consecutive seasons since Sara Errani in 2015-16.

Martina Trevisan's title run in Rabat and Roland Garros semi likely earn her the "Italian Player of the Year" honors, but it's Paolini who has been the more reliable presence on tour this season amongst a somewhat resurgent squad of her countrywomen finally -- slowly but surely -- emerging from the long shadow cast by the decade-plus tour results of the nation's greatest women's tennis generation, headed up by Errani, Flavia Pennetta, Francesca Schiavone and Roberta Vinci.



Meanwhile, Yuan's rise continued in Las Vegas, as she collected wins over Yanina Wickmayer and Rebecca Peterson to reach her fourth $60K final of the season, where she defeated Diana Shnaider in three sets to match the biggest career title she won in January.

Yuan, who reached the 3rd Round as a qualifier at the U.S. Open (where she took Jessie Pegula to three sets), will crack the Top 100 in the new rankings, climbing nineteen spots to #83.



For her part, 18-year old Shnaider's run to her fifth pro final (she'd been 4-0) will lead to her cracking the Top 200.
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VETERANS: Kirsten Flipkens/Laura Siegemund, BEL/GER and Madison Keys/USA
...a year ago, the Cluj singles title was won by German veteran Andrea Petkovic. This time around, Petko's fellow 34-year old countrywoman Siegemund got in on the act, teaming with Kirsten Flipkens (36) to take home the doubles crown.

The second-oldest WD champion combination of the season (behind Siegemund & Vera Zvonareva's two '22 title runs), Flipkens/Siegemund didn't drop a set all week, ending the weekend with a 6-3/7-5 win in the final over Hordettes Kamilla Rakhimova & Yana Sizikova. It's Flipken's sixth WTA title, as she was playing in her first tour-level WD final since 2019 (she reached the U.S. Open MX final this summer, her first career slam title match as a pro); while Siegemund now has nine tour titles, picking up her third this season.



Keys always seems to be either weirdly disappointing or vaguely surprising. Coming into the week -- in a season where she has (no matter how difficult it may be to recall at times) reached both a slam (AO) and 1000 (Cincy) SF, won a title (Adelaide) and posted her first career #1 win (Iga) -- Keys had just passed Danielle Collins in the singles rankings to climb into the U.S. Top 3 for the first time since March of last year.



With an unexpected (or would it be?) berth in the WTAF not *out of the question*, Keys recorded wins over Ellen Perez and Dasha Kasatkina (career win #250) before falling in the QF to U.S. #1 Jessie Pegula. The loss likely ends any "good" chance to reach the eight-player Fort Worth field -- she's at #12, with her needing to reach #10 to be the first alternate unless someone else (other than Halep) pulls out -- but, you know, it's Keys.

Just when you forget that she's lurking there, she emerges to do something to remind everyone what she's capable of.


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COMEBACKS: Donna Vekic/CRO and Anna Blinkova/RUS
...Vekic's 2021 knee surgery sent her ranking out of the Top 100, though she surprisingly sprung back late, with a final "regular season" week run in Courmayeur for her first title since '19. But the Croat has continued to struggle with getting the knee healthy over the course of this season, missing time and having difficulty building one result upon another.

After just one QF result all season (in Birmingham), Vekic's second QF in Tallinn two weeks ago finally provided her with a stepping stone to an ever-important (even better) follow up result this week in San Diego. After qualifying with wins over Elli Mandlik and Lauren Davis, Vekic went on a MD tear that included wins over four Top 25 players -- she notched two Top 10 wins in an event for the first time since 2018 -- as she knocked off #7 Maria Sakkari, Karolina Pliskova, #5 Aryna Sabalenka and Danielle Collins (in a two-day semi in which she rallied from 4-2 down in the 3rd when play resumed on Sunday) in succession to reach her second career WTA 500 level final and assure a return to the Top 50.



Though she pushed #1 Iga Swiatek to a 3rd set in the final, the Pole's dominance once again crested in the final as she closed out the Croat with yet another of her bagel set wins in '22.



A former girls' slam finalist ('15 Wimbledon), Blinkova didn't immediately hit the tour at nearly top speed like many junior stars (hello, Ms.Fruhvirtova, and others) have of late. But, pre-pandemic, she'd nearly worked her way into the Top 50 (#54 in Feb.'20) after having picked up her biggest career title (WTA 125) the previous fall, and opened the '20 season by notching her first Top 10 win (over Bencic in her first match of Week 1 in Shenzhen, right before the first wave of shutdowns hit mainland China). Once the tour resumed, Blinkova had a difficult time maintaining her momentum. She fell out of the Top 100 last year, and began '22 at #155.

After having played in 16 of the last 19 slam MD, the Hordette didn't play in any this season, falling in qualifying three times and being banned from Wimbledon. As 2022 has progressed, though, Blinkova's singles results have improved. She reached three ITF finals in the season's opening months, her first singles finals since '19, and then in a 125 in the spring. She lost all four matches, though.



In Cluj-Napoca, Blinkova finally put it all together, making her way through qualifying and then running off wins over Wang Xinyu and Anhelina Kalinina (w/ 43 winners), both in three sets, to reach her third career tour SF (the other two came three seasons ago, the last in October of '19). She outlasted fellow Hordette Anastasia Potapova in another three-setter to reach her maiden final, where she *again* won a three-set battle to become the fifth qualifier to win a WTA singles title this season.

Ranked #138 at the start of the week, Blinkova will surge back into the Top 100 all the way up to #80.


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FRESH FACES: Anastasia Potapova/RUS and Wang Xiyu/CHN
...after 2020 ankle surgery, 2022 has provided Potapova the opportunity to climb back into the conversation, as she's cracked the Top 50 for the first time, won her maiden title in Istanbul and reached another final in Prague (she hadn't played for a WTA title since '18).

In Cluj-Napoca, the Hordette produced her fifth SF-or-better result of the season, running off wins over Ann Li, Viktorija Golubic and Anna Bondar before finally falling in three sets to her countrywoman Anna Blinkova.

Potapova will inch up to new career high, surpassing her previous apex by one by reaching #44.



In the same event, Wang played into her second '22 WTA semi (w/ D.C.) and will crack the Top 50 on Monday, joining veteran Zhang Shuai and fellow Li Na Generation member Zheng Qinwen there.



After overcoming the cape-clad Jaqueline Cristian, Wang outlasted Gabriela Ruse in 3:25 before then taking out Nuria Parrizas Diaz. Her loss to Jasmine Paolini prevented Wang from reaching her maiden tour final. Thus far in '22, she's reached four finals at all levels, going 0-4 (0-1 in a WTA 125, and 0-3 on the ITF circuit, including two $100K challengers).


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DOWN: Garbine Muguruza/ESP
...well, it's almost over, and for Muguruza that's a very good thing. After having arguably, though it was slam final/title-free campaign, her "best" career season in 2021 -- with a #3 finish, WTAF and 1000 wins, three titles, 7 finals and 7 Top 10 victories -- Muguruza surely can't wait for her "23 & Me" story to begin as soon as the calendar flips over from 2022.

The Spaniard's retirement after just five games in her opening round match in San Diego against Zheng Qinwen drops Muguruza's season mark to 12-17, after she won *thirty* more matches a season ago (42-17). With her name absent from the Guadalajara draw (where she won the WTAF last fall), Muguruza will complete her season without a semifinal, with just three QF in her 17 events, a winless (0-7) mark vs. the Top 10, and will fall outside the Top 50 in the season-ending rankings for the first time since 2013, when she was still on her way *up* the rankings ladder (she cracked the Top 20 a season later).

The question is whether Muguruza might enact any offseason changes to her team. After all, the Spaniard is something of the "anti-Emma" when it comes to coaches. Remember, she stuck with Sam Sumyk for far too long in her last pairing. Current coach Conchita Martinez was the tour's "Coach of the Year" in '21, and could have very well won it a season earlier, but whatever magic the Hall of Famer possessed as a "Mugu whisperer" seems to have evaporated this year (or been drowned in shallow water by her charge's own psyche), and one wonders if that's something that is "reclaimable" in the Land of Garbi.

Most likely, little if anything will change on Team Mugu, and that might be an even more risky move than cleaning (at least a few rooms of the) house.
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ITF PLAYERS: Eva Lys/GER and Kristina Mladenovic/FRA
...Lys, 20, essentially threw her hat into the '23 Player to Watch ring in Tmava, Slovakia, reaching and winning her biggest pro title (she's 3-0 in ITF finals) with a $60K challenger run that included a SF win over Caty McNally and a three-set victory in the final over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

It's just in time, too, as the veteran German generation of stars is either already gone (Goerges, Petkovic), with their future undetermined (Kerber, Lisicki) or now more of a doubles force than singles factor (Siegemund). Tatjana Maria, off a late-game career year, is the one exception when it come to her best surely being in the past. With Jule Niemeier already established as a NewGen German player with lofty expectations, Lys could be the next to earn her stripes in the coming year. Well, unless the likes Nastasja Schunk, Julia Middendorf or even Noma Noha Akugue beat her to it.



Fresh off her doubles title run in Monastir, Mladenovic carried over her momentum (hmmm...) with a singles crown on the ITF level in the same city. In the $60K challenger, Mladenovic lost just one set en route to the title, albeit with matches vs. a WC and two qualifiers, posted a double-bagel victory (over Oana Gavrila in the QF), knocked off the player (Despina Papamichail) who defeated her last week in the 2nd Round of the city's tour-level event, then claimed a 7-5 3rd set, rallying from 3-1 down, to defeat Tamara Zidansek and prevail in the final.

The win marks Mladenovic's second $60K singles win this year, her first WS titles of any kind since 2017, to go along with her four WTA doubles wins (including RG) and a WTA 125 WD win.

And, for the record, over the five wins Mladenovic's you-know-what numbers were, 8, 6, 5, 9 and 11.

She'll rise from #136 to #123 this week.


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JUNIOR STARS: Sara Saito/JPN and Celine Naef/SUI
...after starring in the pre-U.S. Open junior events -- winning the J1 College Park title and reaching the Repentigny final -- 16-year old Saito did the same this past week in her native Japan, sweeping the s/d competitions at the JA Osaka Mayor's Cup Super Junior Championship. Top-seeded Saito claimed the singles crown with a 6-2/6-4 win in the final over fellow #2-seeded Japanese product Sayaka Ishii (the Barranquilla J1 champ earlier in '22), as well as (w/ Li Yu-yun) defeating Ishii and Hayu Kinoshita to take the doubles.

In Cherbourg-en-contentin, France, 17-year old Naef picked up her second consecutive ITF crown, taking the $25K challenger with a 3-6/7-5/6-2 win in the final over Spain's Irene Burillo Escorihuela for her third and biggest career title.

Naef defeated Elsa Jacquemot in a 3rd set TB in the semis after having trailed 4-1 in the 3rd, then came back after trailing 6-3/5-1 to IBE, saving 2 MP.

Earlier this year, Naef won junior titles in Milan (JA) and Santa Croce (J1), reached the U.S. Open girls' QF, European 18u Junior Championships final (losing to VKJ) and the Traralgon (J1) semis.


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DOUBLES: Coco Gauff/Jessie Pegula, USA/USA
...the double doubles double-threat combo of Gauff/Pegula came out on top in San Diego, picking up their tour-leading (tied w/ Krejcikova/Siniakova and Hozumi/Ninomiya) third '22 crown as a team.

The #1 seeds, the Bannerette pair defeated the #4 (Krawczyk/Schuurs) and #2 (Dabrowski/Olmos) seeds in SF and final matches played on Sunday, staging a comeback from a set back and winning a 10-7 MTB in the championship match. The win gives Pegula five '22 titles, one off Katerina Siniakova's tour-best six, while Gauff has three (and six in her career).


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WHEELCHAIR: Yui Kamiji/JPN
...I'm not totally sure what the particulars have been with the wheelchair results over the past two weeks, but I know that Kamiji picked up another title in a de Groot-free event.

The Series 2 Busan Open in South Korea actually began *last* week, but the final rounds (perhaps due to weather) didn't come in until the first few days of *this* week. As it was, Kamiji allowed just four games in three matches, extending her singles winning streak against players not named Diede to 32, defeating Zhu Zhenzhen love & 1 in the final to claim her sixth title this season.

Overall in 2022, Kamiji is 37-1 against everyone but de Groot, while being 0-6 vs. the #1-ranked Dutch star. Kamiji's only non-de Groot loss came against Aniek Van Koot in the Australian Open QF, ending her string of 15 consecutive slam finals outside of SW19 (though she later finally reached her first career Wimbledon final in the summer, where she lost to de Groot).

Meanwhile, Zhu went on to win the WD crown with Manami Tanaka, her 10th doubles title this season.

There had been scheduled an additional Series 1 event in South Korea in Week 41, but results never showed up on the ITF website.
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1. San Diego Final - Iga Swiatek def. Donna Vekic
...6-3/3-6/6-0. Next up for Swiatek... some WTAF redemption? Remember, in her debut in the event a year ago, Swiatek went an uncharacteristic 1-2, finishing fourth in her group and breaking down in tears after a loss to Maria Sakkari.

Not long after that week, Swiatek made the coaching change from Piotr Sierzputowski to Tomasz Wiktorowski, setting up the team that presided over her spectacular '22 season.


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2. San Diego 1st Rd. - Louisa Chirico def. Alison Riske
...1-6/7-5/7-6(5). Riske led 6-1/4-0, and served at 5-4, only to see Chirico pull out a win in the 2nd. Riske served for the victory again at 6-5 in the 3rd, only to drop a deciding TB as Chirico won her first WTA MD match since 2017.


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3. San Diego SF - Donna Vekic def. Danielle Collins
...6-4/4-6/7-6(2). After a stop and start (and ultimately stop, even after the rain had stopped) Saturday night, Vekic and Collins returned on Sunday with the latter up 4-2 in the 3rd. Vekic got the break in the opening game back and pushed things into a TB, where she took a 2-2 tie and turned it into a 7-2 win in the breaker to play in the final a few hours later.
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4. Cluj-Napoca 2nd Rd. - Wang Xiyu def. Gabriela Ruse
...6-1/6-7(8)/7-6(6). Wang led 6-1, with a break lead at 4-3 in the 2nd before the Romanian leveled things and won a 10-8 TB. The Romanian then erased a 5-3 deficit in the 3rd to force another breaker, this one claimed by Wang.


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5. Cluj-Napoca Final - Anna Blinkova def. Jasmine Paolini
...6-2/3-6/6-2. Clearly, from the looks of things, the whole Dracula thing is much more fun when you *win* the final.


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6. Cluj-Napoca SF - Anna Blinkova def. Anastasia Potapova
...5-7/6-4/6-4. Blinkova wins a rollercoaster affair. She lost the 1st set despite having led 5-1, but then saw her 4-1 lead in the 2nd turn into a 5-4 edge before breaking Potapova to win the set. Up 2-0 in the decider, she went on to lose her break lead, get it back at 5-3, only to lose it again, before finally breaking Potapova once more to close things out.


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7. Cluj-Napoca Q2 - Kamilla Rakhimova def. Oceane Dodin 5-2 ret.
Cluj-Napoca 1st Rd. - Harriet Dart def. Oceane Dodin (LL) 6-2/6-0
...



I second... err, third that notion (I thought they'd stopped that practice of retiring qualifying losers getting LL berths... but maybe that's just in majors).
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8. Cluj-Napoca 1st Rd. - Wang Xiyu def. Jaqueline Cristian
...6-3/6-3. After reaching the QF a year ago, "Countess" Cristian exited in the 1st in this year's sequel. But, come on... who cares, right?



Although, I still say she needed to "up her game" and bring same plastic fangs to the party this year. It might have made all the difference.
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9. San Diego 1st Rd. - Bianca Andreescu def. Liudmila Samsonova
...7-6(1)/4-6/6-2. Andreescu wins in her first match since the U.S. Open, but is still seeking her pre-pandemic magic. She'd looked as if she might be "this close" to getting it back in her contest with eventual champ Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon, but lost that match and has gone back to a hit-and-miss pattern since.


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10. San Diego 2nd Rd. - Coco Gauff def. Bianca Andreescu
...6-4/4-6/6-3. Gauff once more failed to solve the puzzle of Iga (0-4), but found a way past Andreescu after trailing 0-2, 15/40 in the 3rd set. The loss drops the Canadian to 2-7 vs. Top 10 players since her defeat of Serena Williams in the 2019 U.S. Open final. With her win over Williams, Andreescu had improved to 8-0 vs. her first eight Top 10 opponents.


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11. San Diego Q1 - Caroline Dolehide def. Jil Teichmann 6-4/6-2
San Diego 1st Rd. - Sloane Stephens def. Jil Teichmann (LL) 6-1/7-6(2)
...this wasn't the first time this year that Teichmann has lost *twice* in the same event, as she reached the Dubai MD as a lucky loser, as well. Her second loss there came in the QF, though.

Even with a 5-12 mark since she reached the Roland Garros Round of 16, Teichmann is still in the Top 40 with a 23-23 mark on the year. She plays Bianca Andreescu in the 1st Round in Guadalajara.
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12. $25K Florence (SC) USA Final - Peyton Stearns def. Alexandra Vecic
...6-7(4)/6-2/7-5. While her fellow former Texas Longhorns (the Zamarripa twins) took the doubles, this past season's NCAA women's champ Stearns won the singles, securing her third career title and second since turning pro.


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HM- Guadalajara Q1 - Lauren Davis def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands
...6-2/6-4. Mattek-Sands plays her first match since Indian Wells last October, and her first in singles since Chicago 13 months ago.
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1. San Diego 2nd Rd - Donna Vekic def. Karolina Pliskova
...6-3/6-2. Three straight losses for Pliskova, and a 1-4 record since reaching the U.S. Open quarterfinals.


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2. $60K Las Vegas 2nd Rd. - Diana Shnaider def. Panna Udvardy
...6-4/6-4. The Hordette's (N.C. State) first Top 100 win. She'll make her Top 200 debut this week.
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3. San Diego QF - Gaby Dabrowski/Giuliana Olmos def. Chan Hao-ching/Lucie Hradecka
...7-5/4-6 [10-7]. So Hradecka wasn't quite *totally* finished just yet.
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4. $25K Florence (SC) USA - Allura Zamarripa/Maribella Zamarripa def. Samantha Crawford/Clervie Ngounoue
...6-3/6-4. The U.S. identical twins, members of Texas' NCAA championship team earlier this year, win their sixth challenger title as a pair, improving to 2-2 in ITF finals this season.
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5. $60K Las Vegas Final - Carmen Corley/Ivana Corley def. Katarina Kozarov/Veronica Miroshnichenko
...6-2/6-0. The sisters (Oklahoma University) pick up their second pro title.


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HM- $25K Quinta do Lago POR Final - Francisca Jorge/Matilde Jorge def. Ku Yeon-woo/Adrienn Nagy
...6-4/6-4. The Portuguese sisters' sixth '22 crown.
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Coming at this point in this horrific mess, Gasanova may have just done the stupidest, most mind-blowing, "is this a joke?" thing imaginable...




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Notable week for Raducanu, with every development (wait for it) happening *off* court.




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*MOST WTA FINALS in 2020's - 1920-22*
12 - 1/2/9 = IGA SWIATEK (11-1)
12 - 1/7/4 = Anett Kontaveit (5-6-1)
9 - 1/6/2 = Ash Barty (8-1)
9 - 0/3/6 = Ons Jabeur (3-6)
8 - 3/3/2 = Anya Sabalenka (5-3)
8 - 5/0/3 = Elena Rybakina (2-6)
7 - 0/4/3 = Barbora Krejcikova (5-2)

*BEST WINNING PCT. IN 2022 WTA FINALS (2+)*
1.000 = Caroline Garcia (3-0)
1.000 = Liudmila Samsonova (3-0)
1.000 = Ekaterina Alexandrova (2-0)
1.000 = Ash Barty (2-0)
1.000 = Simona Halep (2-0)
1.000 = Dasha Kasatkina (2-0)
1.000 = Bernarda Pera (2-0)
0.889 = IGA SWIATEK (8-1)
0.667 = Beatriz Haddad Maia (2-1)
0.667 = Barbora Krejcikova (2-1)

*2022 BEST WTA QUALIFIER RESULTS*
[W]
Tatjana Maria, GER - Bogota (34, #237)
Anastasia Potapova, RUS - Istanbul (21, #122)
Bernarda Pera, USA - Budapest (27, #130)
Caroline Garcia, FRA - Cincinnati (28, #35)
ANNA BLINKOVA, RUS - CLUJ-NAPOCA (24, #138)
[RU]
Aliaksandra Sasnovich, BLR - Melbourne 2 (27, #107)
Laura Pigossi, BRA - Bogota (27, #212)
Olga Danilovic, SRB - Lausanne (21, #124)
DONNA VEKIC, CRO - SAN DIEGO (26, #77)

*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)
Marie Bouzkova, CZE - Prague (24/#66)
Linda Fruhvirtova, CZE - Chennai (17/#130)
Mayar Sherif, EGY - Parma (26/#74)
ANNA BLINKOVA, RUS - CLUJ-NAPOCA (24/#138)

*LOW-RANKED WTA FINALISTS IN 2022*
#237 - Tatjana Maria, GER (Bogota, d. Pigossi)
#212 - Laura Pigossi, BRA (Bogota, lost to Maria)
#140 - Dayana Yastremska, UKR (Lyon, lost to Zhang)
#138 - ANNA BLINKOVA, RUS (CLUJ-NAPOCA, d. Paolini)
#130 - Bernarda Pera, USA (Budapest, d. Krunic)
#130 - Linda Fruhvirtova, CZE (Chennai, d. Linette)
#124 - Olga Danilovic, SRB (Lausanne, lost to Martic)
#122 - Anastasia Potapova, RUS (Istanbul, d. V.Kudermetova)

*2022 REGIONAL LEADERS*
=RUS - FINALS=
3 - Liudmila Samsonova (3-0)
3 - Veronika Kudermetova (0-3)
2 - Ekaterina Alexandrova (2-0)
2 - Dasha Kasatkina (2-0)
2 - Anastasia Potapova (1-1)
1 - ANNA BLINKOVA (1-0)
NORTH AMERICA - SEMIFINALS=
4 - JESSIE PEGULA (1-3)
3 - Bernarda Pera (2-1)
3 - Coco Gauff (1-2)
3 - Madison Keys (1-2)
2 - Amanda Anisimova (1-1)
2 - DANIELLE COLLINS (1-1)
2 - Alison Riske (1-1)
2 - Shelby Rogers (1-1)
1 - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (1-0)
1 - Sloane Stephens (1-0)
1 - Bianca Andreescu, CAN (0-0+W)
1 - Claire Liu (0-0+W)
1 - Ann Li (0-1)
=CHN - SEMIFINALS=
3 - Zhang Shuai (2-1)
2 - Zheng Qinwen (1-1)
2 - Wang Qiang (0-2)
2 - Wang Xiyu (0-2)

*2022 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
6 - Katerina Siniakova, CZE
5 - JESSIE PEGULA, USA
4 - Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
3 - Gaby Dabrowski, CAN
3 - COCO GAUFF, USA
3 - Eri Hozumi, JPN
3 - Lyudmyla Kichenok, UKR
3 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
3 - Makoto Ninimoya, JPN
3 - LAURA SIEGEMUND, GER
[duos]
3...GAUFF/PEGULA, USA/USA
3...Hozumi/Ninomiya, JPN/JPN
3...Krejcikova/Siniakova, CZE/CZE
2...Dabrowski/Olmos, CAN/MEX
2...L.Kichenok/Ostapenko, UKR/LAT
2...Siegemund/Zvonareva, GER/RUS
2...Xu Yifan/Yang Zhaoxuan, CHN/CHN

*2022 WTA WD/MX - OLDEST CHAMPIONS*
37 - Vera Zvonareva, RUS (Miami)
37 - Vera Zvonareva, RUS (Lyon)
36 - KIRSTEN FLIPKENS, BEL (CLUJ-NAPOCA)
36 - Andreja Klepac, SLO (Charleston)
34 - LAURA SIEGEMUND, GER (CLUJ-NAPOCA)
34 - Laura Siegemund, GER (Miami)
34 - Laura Siegemund, GER (Lyon)
[duos]
71 - Siegemund/Zvonareva, GER/RUS (34/37) = Miami
71 - Siegemund/Zvonareva, GER/RUS (34/37) = Lyon
70 - FLIPKENS/SIEGEMUND, BEL/GER (36/34) = CLUJ-NAPOCA

*YEARLY SINGLES TITLE LEADERS (since 2010)*
2010 (6) - Caroline Wozniacki
2011 (6) - Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki
2012 (7) - Serena Williams
2013 (11) - Serena Williams
2014 (7) - Serena Williams
2015 (5) - Serena Williams
2016 (4) - Dominika Cibulkova
2017 (5) - Elina Svitolina
2018 (5) - Petra Kvitova
2019 (4) - Ash Barty, Karolina Pliskova
2020 (3) - Simona Halep, Aryna Sabalenka
2021 (5) - Ash Barty
2022 (8) - Iga Swiatek
[doubles, since 2015]*
2015 (10) - Martina Hingis, Sania Mirza
2016 (8) - Sania Mirza
2017 (11) - Latisha Chan
2018 (7) - Demi Schuurs
2019 (4) - HC.Chan, L.Chan, Hsieh, Strycova
2020 (4) - Hsieh Su-wei, Barbora Strycova
2021 (6) - Katerina Siniakova
2022 (6) - Katerina Siniakova

*RECENT OSAKA MAYOR'S CUP (JA) CHAMPIONS*
2016 Anastasia Potapova, RUS
2017 Xang Xinyu, CHN
2018 Clara Tauson, DEN
2019 Diane Parry, FRA
2020 DNP 2021 (J4) Hayu Kinoshita, JPN
2022 Sara Saito, JPN





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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 3:15 AM 

4 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Really happy for Blinkova. Didn't see it coming, as she was 4-17 in WTA MD last year.

Samsonova's clip is cute.

Townsend may be the BJK Cup surprise. Is it the Swiatek effect? Not a bad pick, but a curious one, as both Krawczyk and Melichar-Martinez will be at WTAF.

Stat of the Week- 14- The number of times that the year end #1 did not lead the money list.

Ahh, money, the forbidden subject. They have been keeping records since 1971, though the rankings did not start until 1975. First the stats, then the notes.

#1 Year End Ranked:On Money List

1978- 2- Navratilova
1980- 3- Evert
1981- 2- Evert
1994- 3- Graf
1998- 2- Davenport
2001- 4- Davenport
2003- 2- Henin
2004- 3- Davenport
2005- 3- Davenport
2008- 3- Jankovic
2010- 2- Wozniacki
2011- 2- Wozniacki
2017- 3- Halep
2020- X- Barty

King made 117K in 1971, the only player over 70K.

Evert was the first over 500K(503) in 1977. She also earned 160K from World Team Tennis, which would have put her 7th on the WTA list in front of Kerry Melville Reid at 139K.

Navratilova was the first over 1M, reaching 1.7 in 1982, and first over 2M in 84. The first other than her to cross 1M was Graf in 1987.

Hingis hit 3.4 in 1997, then Clijsters 4.4 in 2003, the first year that all Top 10 made at least 1M.

The highest was Serena in 2013 with 12.3M. That was also the first year that all Top 10 hit 2M, which happened from 13-19, and again in 21. The oddity of that happening in 2021 is that Barty only made 3.9M in 2021, after 11M in 2019. This was the lowest top figure since Sharapova had 2.5 in 2004.

Yes, this means that the 2020 figure was higher, with Kenin bringing home 4.2M.

The X on Barty is because with the frozen rankings, she wasn't one of the Top 10 money earners.

Quiz Time!

How many seasons has Venus Williams been Top 5 on the money list?

A.6
B.12
C.10
D.20

Interlude- Writer Anna Goldfarb.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI-HsBcjHTs

Answer!

Before you answer, know that Serena is on the Top 10 list 18 times.

Where should I start? (A)6 is wrong, but that is the number of times Betty Stove was in the Top 10 list, although no higher than 6 in any year.

(D)20 seems unrealistic, but is the number of Top 10 years on the list consecutively(75-94) for Martina Navratilova. That's insane.

(B)12 is close, but the number of Top 10 years for Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who did hers in order from 1989-2000. She topped the list once, in 1994.

(C)10 is correct. Sometimes overshadowed by Serena, in 6 of those 10 years, Serena earned more. However, Venus took the top spot in both 2001 & 2017. Add that to her other peaks 1998-00, 02, 2007-10, and you have a woman that peaked in 3 different parts of her career.

Mon Oct 17, 01:28:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Up Side- Penultimate Edition.

1.Fernandez- Has an extremely tough draw, but has won Monterrey twice, plus another Mexican Open final. The red flag is that Monterrey is 1800 ft above sea level, while Guadalajara is 5100. Will that make a difference?
2.Bouzkova- Another known for playing well in Mexico, she has reached 2 finals there. Can she do it in an event bigger than a 250?
3.Potapova- Top 20 next year? Ranking points are to had for a woman who was banned from one slam and lost in the qualifying rounds of another. She has had to go through qualifying 6 times this year, 4 times in which she reached the main draw.
4.Sasnovich- Has cooled off some, but has already set a career high in wins with 27.
5.Anisimova- Surprised? The only Top 30 player other than Halep not to have played since the US Open, it is due to a broken toe suffered in Cincinnati. However, she might set a year end high rank. At 25, one off her high of 24 back in 2019, she loses no points while Muguruza and Pliskova will lose finals points in 2 weeks.

Mon Oct 17, 01:39:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Down Side.

1.Vondrousova- Deservedly named to the BJK Cup team, is this her All-Star moment, where she gets the recognition, but doesn't actually play, or is she back? Famously known for using a long held PR for her Olympic run, being out for 6 months as of this week gets her another one. PR will be needed, as she will drop to approx 120 with all(Kremlin Cup, Linz, Cluj, Courmayeur, Tenerife) dropping off to end season. Cristian drops to 145, but was out 6 months and 1 week before her USO return.
2.Gasanova- Remember when we wondered why she could not get a visa to enter the US last year? Any goodwill she might have had is gone, though a video which clearly lets us know where she stands.
3.Watson- 2 time winner in Mexico is ranked so low that she is playing an ITF this week in Glasgow. As someone that would not have complained about the conditions, she will be missed.
4.Putintseva- Currently on a 1-5 stretch, the 2 time RG QF really did much better on clay this season. 14 wins compared to 9 on hard.
5.Teichmann- On a 2-7 run, you can see RG as the dividing line in her season. She has won 6 3 set matches, but none since Azarenka at RG. How long ago was that?

Mon Oct 17, 01:54:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Quiz: was debating between 6 and 10, but with so many slam RU to Serena rather than wins, I held to the low 6. Grrr. :/

Gasanova: I thought Yastremska's comments were good, though I wonder if Kostyuk (haven't seen anything... yet) might be far more pointed. And deservedly so this time.

Meanwhile, the HoF nominee list is out:

Cara Black
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Ana Ivanovic
Carlos Moya
Daniel Nestor
Flavia Pennetta
Lisa Raymond

WC nominees:

Esther Vergeer
Rick Draney

...clearly, Vergeer had *better* get it. Otherwise, my top five would be Nestor, Pennetta (though it irritates me that they say she won four BJK Cup titles... umm, no, not really), Black, Raymond, Ivanovic

Mon Oct 17, 06:36:00 PM EDT  

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