Sunday, February 05, 2023

Wk.5- Alycia. Alycia Parks.

In Lyon, Alycia Parks came into Caroline Garcia's backyard and, quite simply, made herself at home.







futuristic-fonts




*WEEK 5 CHAMPIONS*
LYON, FRANCE (WTA 250/Hard Court Indoor)
S: Alycia Parks/USA def. Caroline Garcia/FRA 7-6(7)/7-5
D: Cristina Bucsa/Bibiane Schoofs (ESP/NED) def. Olga Danilovic/Alexandra Panova (SRB/RUS) 7-6(5)/6-3
HUA HIN, THAILAND (WTA 250/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Zhu Lin/CHN def. Lesia Tsurenko/UKR 6-4/6-4
D: Chan Hao-ching/Wu Fang-hsien (TPE/TPE) def. Wang Xinyu/Zhu Lin (CHN/CHN) 6-1/7-6(6)
CALI, COLOMBIA (WTA 125 Challenger/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Nadia Podoroska/ARG def. Paula Ormaechea/ARG 6-4/6-2
D: Weronika Falkowska/Katarzyna Kawa (POL/POL) def. Kyoka Okamura/You Xiaodi (JPN/CHN) 6-1/5-7 [10-6]




kosova-font

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Alycia Parks/USA
...the sound of Parks' footsteps in the tour background have been audible for a while now, starting with her record big serve (129 mph) at the U.S. Open in '21 and up to the fall surge last year that included her maiden Top 10 win (Sakkari) and season-closing, highlight-heavy sprint that included an Ostrava!!! QF, $80K final and back-to-back 125 crowns.

Ranked at #79, the 22-year old's run in Lyon quickly turned from intriguing to serious as the week went on, as her lethal serve proved to be backed up by speed, ground power, surprising touch and an important calm under pressure (along with a Serena-eque penchant for pulling out aces on BP). Three-set wins over Julia Grabher and Petra Martic were quickly followed by straight sets advances past Danka Kovinic and Maryna Zanevska in Parks' maiden tour-level semi, setting up a final vs. home favorite Caroline Garcia in a match that *felt* a whole lot bigger than the decider of a 250 event a week after a major.

It was Parks' first real turn in the spotlight, and how she reacted to it was going to set immediate limits/heights when it came to what she might be capable of achieving in the near future. Well...

In an intense match-up with almost a slam final aura and Cup-like reactions from the French fans, nearly every game had a "pin drop" quality because it was clear that a single blink from either player was probably going to decide each set, Parks held her own. More so, really. She outserved and outdueled Garcia, who wasn't off her game in the slightest. She fired 15 aces in two sets, winning a 7-6/7-5 contest that included just one break of serve (and it came via a DF by Garcia on Parks' first MP).



Parks has said that she was inspired by Serena Williams, and it's easy to see the influence in many of her mannerisms (a post-point pause and clenched fist, a simple bounce of the ball off her racket) and game style (big serve, follow-up winner). If she ever starts to do the "hand thing" before serving as a technique to keep herself calm...

via GIPHY



Maybe most impressive was Parks' ability to overcome a few cracks in her second serve in the 2nd set, where she held off several challenges from Garcia's return game (w/ an assist from a couple of ill-timed forehand errors at the net from the Pastry) and, when the French crowd began to cheer her first serve faults, responding with an ace to wipe away a BP, followed by a "come on!" roar and "rise up" gesture to the stands... and then the clarity of mind to cool her emotions and settle into the next game. The match was over about two minutes later.



Now on a 16-1 run since late last season, with her maiden tour title and *nearly* a Top 50 ranking (she'll be at a new high of about #51 on Monday), the Bannerette could be about to become *the* breakout hit of the season.

And, to think, Parks still hasn't recorded her maiden slam MD victory. It feels like there is *so* much more to come from her in 2023.


===============================================



RISERS: Camila Osorio/COL and Maryna Zanevska/BEL
...though her lone tour title has come on clay (Bogota '21), Osorio's other two finals have been at hard court events. On the indoor hard court in Lyon, the 21-year old posted a string of impressive victories over Alize Cornet, Jule Niemeier and Linda Noskova en route to her first WTA semi since her return to her home event in Bogota last year.

Osorio fell to top-seeded Caroline Garcia a step away from her fourth tour final, but her week's work will give her a nice ranking boost from #73 to around #60.



29-year old Zanevska also reached the SF in Lyon, her best tour result since Hamburg last July (though she had 125 SF/W finishes in the fall). The Belgian opened with a win over Dalma Galfi, then allowed defending champ Zhang Shuai just two games before rallying from a set down to take out Anastasia Potapova in the QF. Against Alycia Parks, Zanevska made the Bannerette work late, getting the break (and saving 2 MP) at 5-4 before taking a 6-5 lead and forcing Parks hold to force and then win a 2nd set TB to reach the final.

Zanevska, who belatedly recorded her first two slam MD wins in '22 (AO/US) after having been 0-6 in MD outings (and 23 losses in qualifying) since 2013. She'll get a bit of upward momentum in the new rankings, going from #93 to back inside the Top 80. She was ranked at a career-high #62 last May.
===============================================



SURPRISE: Zhu Lin/CHN
...Zhu maybe hasn't been adding the sort of eye-popping, Parks-esque flourishes to her recent results, but she's surely been one of the most consistently in-form players in the season's early weeks. In Hua Hin, she dropped the 1st set of her opening round match in singles and then never lost another, claiming a maiden tour title that will lift the 29-year old into the Top 50 for the first time.

Having already recorded '23 wins over Venus Williams en route to the Auckland QF, and Jil Teichmann and Maria Sakkari on her way to the AO Round of 16 (where she took Vika Azarenka to three sets), Zhu improved to 10-3 on the season with wins over *both* of her up and coming Wang countrywoman (Xiyu in the 1st Round w/ a love 3rd set, and doubles partner Xinyu in the SF), while also taking out Jang Su-jeong and Tamara Zidansek to reach her first tour singles final. She defeated Lesia Tsurenko 4 & 4 to earn the crown.



Zhu doubled-up on finals on Sunday, reaching the championship match with Wang Xinyu, but didn't sweep the titles. The Chinese pair fell to Chan Hao-ching & Wu Fang-hsien in straight sets a short while after Zhu had won the singles.
===============================================



VETERAN: Lesia Tsurenko/UKR
...Tsurenko has contested much of the last three seasons while outside the Top 100, playing just one slam MD match in 2020-21 (missing two, and falling in qualifying four times) and then last year battling through injury and training displacement (due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine) as she finished '22 at #130.

In Hua Hin, the 33-year old got wins over Ysaline Bonaventure, Anna Kalinskaya (in 3 sets after failing to convert 2 MP in the 2nd), Tatjana Maria and Bianca Andreescu (who retired after losing eight straight games) to reach her first final since 2019 in Brisbane. She fell 4 & 4 to Zhu Lin, but will climb back up inside the Top 100 in the new rankings.


===============================================
COMEBACKS: Bianca Andreescu/CAN and Nadia Podoroska/ARG
...after a hit-and-miss turn Down Under, Andreescu seemed in position for something big in Hua Hin. But, again, the Canadian's upward sweep ended in a retirement and as many questions as positives.

Andreescu posted straight set wins over Harriet Dart, Anastasia Zakharova and Marta Kostyuk, but the latter came only after nearly being forced to three sets by the Ukrainian after having led 6-0/5-1 and failing to put away any of three MP (finally winning in two via a TB).

In the semis vs. Lesia Tsurenko, Andreescu was up a break three times in the 1st set, but lost it while complaining of tired legs (the conditions *were* humid) and a sore shoulder. After losing eight straight games, she retired, injecting once more into her season narrative the question of whether she'll be able to stay on the court long enough to be something more than a flickering memory.

The Canadian still hasn't collected a singles title since her U.S. Open run now three and a half years ago. That '19 season, Andreescu (even w/ a mid-season injury break) won 4 of the 11 125/WTA events she played, but has gone 0-for-28 since. Still, this week's SF result was her *third* best since her slam win, behind only finals in Miami (2021) and Bad Homburg (2022), and her three match victories will be enough to move her *just* past Leylah Fernandez and back to CAN #1 (at around #37).



In an all-Argentinian final, Podoroska outplayed countrywoman Paula Ormaechea in a 6-4/6-2 title match to claim the biggest crown of her career at the WTA 125 challenger in Cali, Colombia.

A Roland Garros semifinalist in 2020, Podoroska sat out ten months (for overall physical recovery) before her June '22 return. She entered the week at #156, and knocked off top-seeded Reka-Luca Jani, Carole Monnet, Fernanda Contreras and Emiliano Arango on her way to her biggest career final. She'll climb to #114.

For former Top 60 player Ormaechea (#206), it was her biggest final since losing to Jelena Jankovic in the tour-level Bogota championship match in 2013.
===============================================
FRESH FACE: Linda Noskova/CZE
...Noskova's Week 1 qualifier-to-finalist Adelaide run (she took eventual AO champ Aryna Sabalenka to a 2nd set TB) made the Czech the season's first breakout star, but her late arrival in Melbourne likely led to her qualifying round loss ahead of the season's first slam.

The 18-year old was back at it in Lyon, again seeded #1 in qualifying despite being more highly ranked (#56) than two MD seeds (#64 Blinkova and #67 Kovinic). She qualified for her second '23 MD with a win over Viktoria Kuzmova, then knocked off Garbine Muguruza and Mayar Sherif to reach her third QF in her first six career tour-level MD.

Noskova fell there to Camila Osorio, but will make her first appearance in the Top 50 on Monday.


===============================================
DOWN: Kaja Juvan/SLO and Jule Niemeier/GER
...well, one can't list Garbi *every* week, right?

This week the nods goes to two young players spinning their wheels in the opening month of the new season.

For Juvan, it's not an uncommon occurrance, as the Slovenian continues to be unable to follow up her (many) sterling singles one-off results with much of anything to get her momentum rolling. Hence, her #98 ranking heading into Week 5. In Lyon, she was forced into qualifying in a 250 event the week after a major, and never made it out, defeating Anna-Lena Friedsam but losing to Rebeka Masarova in the second of two three-setters.

She's 3-3 in '23, but since her great run to her maiden final last spring in Strasbourg (and even greater performance) vs. Angelique Kerber, Juvan has gone just 7-11. Still, more than half (4) of those wins have come in majors, with a RG 2r, WI 3r (where she def. two-time grass title winner Haddad Maia) and AO 2r result.

Also in Lyon, '22 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Niemeier fell in a 2nd Round match vs. Camila Osorio. Considering the Colombian's week, it wasn't a *bad* result, and continues a string of poor draws for the German in '23, which has seen has post losses vs. Keys, Bouzkova (both in United Cup play), Pliskova (Adelaide) and Iga (AO).

Still, in a season where the #71-ranked 23-year old has reason to believe she can make a significant move up the rankings, a 1-5 start surely wasn't on her "To-Do" list.
===============================================
ITF PLAYER: Storm Hunter/AUS
...still back home Down Under, Hunter won a straight sets all-Aussie final over Olivia Gadecki in the $60K Burnie challenger in Tasmania, not dropping a set all week as her U.S. Open MX/Guadalajara 1000 WD title runs and late-season BJK Cup heroics from '22 are now joined by a win that matches her biggest ever singles crown from 2019. It's Hunter's third ITF singles win.


===============================================
JUNIOR STAR: Iva Jovic/USA
...the 15-year old Torrance, California native took home her second straight J300 (former J1) title this season in Salinas, Ecuador. The girls' #22, third-seeded Jovic knocked off the top two players in the draw, taking out #1 Lucciana Perez Alarcon (PER) in the SF and #2 Kaitlin Quevedo (USA) in a 7-5/6-2 final match-up. The win improves her season record to 10-0, and her junior mark since the start of last year's U.S. Open to 20-4.

It was at Flushing Meadows late last summer that Jovic staged a massive comeback vs. #5-seed Solana Sierra in the 2nd Round, rallying from 5-0, 40/15 down in the 3rd set to win via an 11-9 TB victory. After that, she helped Team USA to the Junior BJK Cup crown and followed up her '21 Orange Bowl 14s singles title with the event's 18s doubles championship.


===============================================
DOUBLES: Cristina Bucsa/Bibiane Schoofs (ESP/NED)
...though Bucsa failed to get out of singles qualifying in Lyon, the Spaniard carried over her AO momentum (def. Andreescu, to 3rd Rd.) in doubles, teaming with Schoofs to pick up her maiden tour WD title

The pair won three straight MTB en route to the finals, including over the #1 (Parks/Sh.Zhang) and #4 (Golubic/Niculescu) seeds, then defeated Olga Danilovic & Alexandra Panova 7-6/6-3 in the final.



The title is the second for Schoofs, 34, but her first since 2018.
===============================================









kosova-font



1. Lyon Final - Alycia Parks def. Caroline Garcia
...7-6(7)/7-5. This one immediately goes into the "Best Two-Set Matches" of the year file for 2023, as its slam final level of intensity, Cup-like atmosphere with the French crown backing Garcia in her home event, and inherent eyebrow raising at perhaps, perhaps, the official birth of something bigger in Parks than a maiden title winner at a 250 event.

The two combined for one break of serve in the match, via a DF by Garcia on Parks' MP to end the match, as Parks channeled her inspiration (Serena) with big (15 aces) and timely serving that consistently put the pressure on Garcia to hold *her* serve (which she impressively did until the bitter end) and pulled her out of a few holes as she refused to allow the Pastry to gain an edge in the match.

Parks' 8-ace 1st set ended with a 9-7 TB win after she'd missed on a passing shot on SP (at 6-5) and then denied a Garcia SP at 7-6.

The 2nd saw Parks' serve blink slightly, but *still* provide a liferaft when times were getting tough. After falling on the first point of the set (an MTO attended to what seemed like a scraped/bloodied right pink finger/hand), Parks held from love/30 back. She then overcame two DF in Game 5, recovering from love/30 again.

In Game 7, Garcia missed two easy forehands at the net that would have put her up love/30, and then given her a BP chance. Parks fired a Game 9 ace at 30/30 and held serve. In Game 11, she served another ace on BP, added a service winner on another, and after her first serve fault was cheered by the French crowd, answered with another ace on BP. Parks yelled ("Come on!"), in clear response to the boos, and gave a "rise up" gesture with her arms.

Clearly emotional in the moment, Parks calmed herself in time for Garcia's crucial serve game while down 6-5. At 30/30, a Garcia error suddenly gave Parks at MP, and Garcia's DF ended things to give the Bannerette her maiden tour title. The loss is just the second for Garcia in her last 12 singles finals since 2016.

Parks had a 28-13 edge in winners on the day, and surely looked like a player no one is going to want to face down the line if this level of play and focus becomes her "norm" on gameday.


===============================================



2. Lyon SF - Alycia Parks def. Maryna Zanevska
...6-3/7-6(4). Parks' big shots controlled the match, until they didn't.

Serving at 5-4, 40/15 in the 2nd, the Bannerette failed to put away a pair of MP and soon found herself down 6-5 to Zanevska. But Parks avoided the 2nd set collapse and the stress that would have carried over into a potential 3rd set, holding for and then winning a TB to reach her maiden tour-level singles final.


===============================================
3. Hua Hin QF - Bianca Andreescu def. Marta Kostyuk
...6-0/7-6(3). Perhaps the warning signs were there when Andreescu saw her 6-0/5-1 lead -- with 3 MP at 5-3 -- slip away as she twice failed to serve out her QF match vs. Kostyuk, and came within two points (at 5-6, 30/30) of being forced to a 3rd before finally ousting the Ukrainian in a 2nd set TB (after having fallen behind 2-0).

Hua Hin SF - Lesia Tsurenko def. Bianca Andreescu
...7-5/4-0 ret.. Andreescu had a break lead on three occasions in the 1st vs. Tsurenko, but saw it slip away as an MTO, "tired" legs and an apparent shoulder injury entered the equation. After dropping eight straight games, the Canadian retired. Here we go again?



Sportsmanship Sportswomanship. There, fixed it for ya.
===============================================
4. Hua Hin 1st Rd. - Heather Watson def. Yulia Putintseva
...5-7/6-4/7-6(5). Watson records her first Top 50 win since Miami last March, but had to avoid squandering a 5-1 (and 5-3, 30/15 lead) in the 3rd set. Putintseva forced a TB, but saw the Brit prevail 7-5 to end the three-hour contest.


===============================================
5. Hua Hin Final - Zhu Lin def. Lesia Tsurenko
...6-4/6-4. Zhu's win makes her the 11th different woman representing China to claim a tour-level singles final. She's the first maiden title winner since Zheng Saisai in 2019.


===============================================
6. Hua Hin 2nd Rd. - Lesia Tsurenko def. Anna Kalinskaya
...6-0/6-7(3)/6-4. Every Ukrainian-Russian tennis match-up carries with it a complicated, unsaid subtext. Such was the case here as Tsurenko held two MP at 5-3, 40/15 in the 2nd but was forced to a 3rd before finally prevailing.
===============================================
7. Hua Hin 1st Rd. - Zhu Lin def. Wang Xiyu 4-6/6-3/6-0
Hua Hin SF - Zhu Lin def. Wang Xinyu 6-2/6-4
...Zhu looks around, seeing if Zheng Qinwen is waiting to take *her* shot.
===============================================
8. Hua Hin QF - Wang Xinyu def. Heather Watson
...6-3/6-7(6)/6-4. Zheng got the '22 and pre-'23 attention, while Zhu has been coming into her own the last few weeks. Under the radar, though, Wang played her way into her first tour-level singles SF since Prague in July '21.

She's yet to reach a tour final.


===============================================
9. Lyon 2nd Rd. - Alycia Parks def. Petra Martic
...2-6/7-6(3)/6-2. Titles or no titles, Parks has been putting together quite the impressive highlight reel in the opening weeks of '23 (and the last few of '22).


===============================================
10. $15K Monastir TUN Final - Fiona Ferro def. Christiana Ferrando
...6-4/6-3. In a(nother) case of a player (maybe) finally coming out on the other side of a very tough stretch, in Ferro's case an injury-plagued '22 campaign and the filing of rape and sexual assault charges against her former coach (Pierre Bouteyre, for a period between her being age 15-18).

The now 25-year old Pastry competed in her first event since the U.S. Open and posted her first match wins since last summer's Wimbledon qualifying. Ferro ended the week lifting her first singles trophy since claiming her second WTA title in Palermo in 2020.

A Top 40 player two seasons ago, Ferro came into the week at #471. Even with the title, her ranking will actually fall to #476 on Monday.


===============================================
11. Lyon 1st Rd. - Linda Noskova def. Garbine Muguruza
...6-1/6-4. Make it 0-4 in 2023, with six straight losses overall. She didn't get *one* here, but Muguruza has won *multiple* matches at just one (Doha, nearly a full year ago) of her last 17 events.


===============================================
12. $60K Rome USA Final - Peyton Stearns def. Gabriela Knutson
...3-6/6-0/6-2. In a batter of former NCAA players, Stearns (Texas) defeated Czech Knutson (Syracuse) to pick up her fourth ITF title and her third since winning the NCAA women's singles crown and turning pro last summer.


===============================================
13. $40K Porto POR Final - Celine Naef def. Lucrezia Stefanini
...6-2/6-4. The 17-year old Swiss improves to 27-3 in pro events since the U.S. Open junior tournament, winning her fourth title (fifth overall, and biggest of her career) since then. She opened with wins over Anastasia Gasanova and Daria Snigur.

Not only that, Naef took home the doubles with Yanina Wickmayer to stay undefeated (5-0s/2-0d) in challenger title matches.


===============================================



14. Shelby Rogers def. Vera Zvonareva 6-2/6-3
Rebecca Marino def. Margarita Betova (nee Gasparyan) 7-5/6-3
...well, they're back, nonetheless.


===============================================
15. Linz Q1 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Viktoria Kuzmova
...6-3/6-4. Meanwhile...


===============================================






kosova-font

1. Hua Hin 2nd Rd. - Tamara Zidansek def. Linda Fruhvirtova
...6-3/4-6/6-4. Fruhvirtova battled into a 3rd set from 6-3/4-1 down, but then failed to maintain her early break lead in the decider.

Zidansek, an RG semifinalist in '21, fell in the QF to Zhu Lin to miss out on her first tour SF since last January.
===============================================
2. Hua Hin Final - Chan Hao-ching/Wu Fang-hsien def. Wang Xinyu/Zhu Lin
...6-1/7-6(6). Zhu didn't double-up on titles in Thailand, but Chan teamed with first-time tour winner Wu to claim her 19th career WTA WD crown in her 33rd final.

The pair defeated top-seeded Perez/Zidansek in the QF, and Hao-ching's sister Latisha (w/ Alexa Guarachi) in the SF in a 10-7 MTB.


===============================================
3. Lyon 1st Rd. - Erika Andreeva def. Anna Blinkova
...6-7(3)/6-4/4-0 ret. As her younger sister Mirra was losing to fellow Hordette Alina Korneeva in the AO girls' final, Erika was qualifying in Lyon (w/ a win over Diane Parry on home soil). She followed up by outlasting another countrywoman in the MD, as Blinkova retired with a wrist/forearm injury.


===============================================
HM- Hua Hin 1st Rd. - Anastasia Zakharova def. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
...3-6/7-5/6-3. The 21-year old Hordette (#186) notches her first career MD win, rallying from 6-3/5-3 down vs. AKS.


===============================================







kosova-font




















futuristic-fonts


kosova-font


























kosova-font

*2023 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
ZHU LIN, CHN - Hua Hin (29/#54)
ALYCIA PARKS, USA - Lyon (22/#79)
[doubles]
CRISTINA BUCSA, ESP - Lyon
WU FANG-HSIEN, TPE - Hua Hin
[mixed]
Luisa Stefani, BRA (Australian Open)

*2023 FIRST-TIME WTA FINALISTS*
Linda Noskova, CZE (#102/18 = Adelaide 1)
Rebeka Masarova, ESP (#130/23 = Auckland)
Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA (#67/21 = Hobart)
ALYCIA PARKS, USA (#79/22 = Lyon)-W
ZHU LIN, CHN (#54/29 - Hua Hin)-W
[doubles]
Leylah Fernandez, CAN (Auckland)
WU FANG-HSIEN, TPE (Hua Hin)-W
[mixed]
Luisa Stefani, BRA (Australian)-W

*2022-23 WTA SINGLES/DOUBLES FINAL IN EVENT*
[2022]
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)
Warsaw: Anastasia Potapova, RUS (L/W)
[2023]
Hua Hin: ZHU LIN, CHN (W/L)

*ACTIVE U.S. WOMEN - MAIDEN WTA TITLE*
1998: Venus Williams (Memphis)
2014: Madison Keys (Eastbourne)
2014: CoCo Vandeweghe (Rosmalen)
2014: Alison Riske (Tianjin)
2015: Sloane Stephens (Washington)
2016: Irina Falconi (Bogota)
2017: Lauren Davis (Auckland)
2019: Sofia Kenin (Hobart)
2019: Amanda Anisimova (Bogota)
2019: Jessica Pegula (Washington)
2019: Coco Gauff (Linz)
2020: Jennifer Brady (Lexington)
2021: Danielle Collins (Palermo)
2021: Ann Li (Tenerife)
2022: Bernarda Pera (Budapest)
2023: Alycia Parks (Lyon)

*ALL-TIME WTA TITLES - CHINA*
9 - Li Na (2004,'08,2010-14)
4 - Zheng Jie (2005-06,'12)
3 - Zhang Shuai (2013,'17,'22)
2 - Wang Qiang (2018)
2 - Peng Shuai (2016-17)
1 - Duan Yingying (2016)
1 - Sun Tiantian (2006)
1 - Wang Yafan (2019)
1 - Yan Zi (2005)
1 - Zheng Saisai (2019)
1 - ZHU LIN (2023)

*2023 WTA CHAMPIONS BY RANKING*
#5 - Aryna Sabalenka (Adelaide 1)
#5 - Aryna Sabalenka (Australian Open)
#7 - Coco Gauff (Auckland)
#13 - Belinda Bencic (Adelaide 2)
#54 - ZHU LIN (HUA HIN)
#79 - ALYCIA PARKS (LYON)
#84 - Lauren Davis (Hobart)

*2023 WTA CHAMPIONS BY AGE*
29 - Lauren Davis (Hobart)
29 - ZHU LIN (HUA HIN)
25 - Belinda Bencic (Adelaide 2)
24 - Aryna Sabalenka (Australian Open)
24 - Aryna Sabalenka (Adelaide 1)
22 - ALYCIA PARKS (LYON)
18 - Coco Gauff (Auckland)

*2023 Notable First-Timers...*
=1Q=
Week 1
WTA WS F - Linda Noskova, CZE (Adelaide 1)
WTA WS F - Rebeka Masarova, ESP (Auckland)
WTA WS SF - Ysaline Bonaventure, BEL (Auckland)
WTA WD F - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (Auckland)
Week 2
WTA WS F - Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA (Hobart)
AO
GS WS W - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
GS MX W - Luisa Stefani, BRA
GS WS F - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
GS WS SF - Magda Linette, POL
GS MX F - Luisa Stefani, BRA
GS WD F - Shuka Aoyama, JPN
GS WD F - Ena Shibahara, JPN
Week 5
WTA WS W - Zhu Lin, CHN (Hua Hin)
WTA WS W - Alycia Parks, USA (Lyon)
WTA WS F - Alycia Parks, USA (Lyon)
WTA WS F - Zhu Lin, CHN (Hua Hin)
WTA WS SF - Alycia Parks, USA (Lyon)
WTA WD W - Cristina Bucsa, ESP (Lyon)
WTA WD W - Wu Fang-Hsien, TPE (Hua Hin)
WTA WD F - Wu Fang-Hsien, TPE (Hua Hin)





futuristic-fonts


kosova-font


kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font




kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font








All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 7:58 PM 

4 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Amused by Parks and Noskova reaching finals before getting that big slam result.

Zhu went the other way.

Ovi jr tapping his stick for the pass is cute.

Lepchenko's ban got cut to 21 months.

#2 Sabalenka has 6100 pts. Swiatek will be defending 6325 pts through RG.

This is one of those odd weeks in which neither event is new, but neither one played last year.

Stat of the Week- 26- Career high rank of Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela.

What could inspire this? Venezuela has a player in the final round of qualifying in Linz.

Vento-Kabchi is the highest ranked woman in Venezuela's history. Also 15 in doubles, her career peak was from Stanford 2003 to Stanford 2004, in which she reached 4 of her 7 career SF.

SF in Stanford both of those years, but her only final was Gold Coast 1998, in which she lost to Ai Sugiyama.

Ironically, even though Vento-Kabchi went 2-28 vs Top 10 players, she picked up her last Top 10 win vs Sugiyama. Of course it was in 2004 in Miami.

They played later that year in Linz. Sugiyama won 0 and 0.

Quiz Time!

Who has played the most BJK Cup ties for Venezuela?

A.Maria Vento-Kabchi
B.Milagros Sequera
C.Andrea Gamiz
D.Ninfa Marra

Interlude- Not a spinning wheel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqhM6uCaINE

Answer!

Venezuela has only been playing BJK Cup since 1984.

(B)Sequera is wrong. 2007 Morocco winner is close with 26 ties, but does have the most singles wins with 23.

(D)Marra is not close with only 22 ties. Never really broke through on tour as her career high rank is 333.

(A)Vento-Kabchi has the most doubles wins with 14. Not a surprise as she is a 4 time slam QF in doubles. But even with 33 ties, she is wrong.

That leaves (C)Gamiz as correct. 35 ties is the most in Venezuelan history. She is also the player in Linz, though she lost to Errani in the final round of Q.

More of a doubles player, had she made the main draw, it would have been her first MD since Strasbourg 2018, in which she lost to Rybakina in Elena's 3rd MD. Her last MD win? 2013 Bastad over Pironkova.

When I say that she is a doubles player, since 2010, she has won 38 ITF doubles titles.

Mon Feb 06, 10:27:00 AM EST  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Up Side- What's Old is New Again Edition.

1.Ostapenko- Abu Dhabi pick plays well in the region. 2022 Dubai winner and 2016 Doha RU might just slash and bash her way through the field.
2.Alexandrova- Linz pick was runner up in 2018. Known for playing well indoors, and since Parks kept it up, why not Alexandrova?
3.Van Uytvanck- Hasn't really been consistent lately due to injury, but neither was Tsurenko until last week. 4 of 5 career finals have been indoors, so why not somebody who has beaten Linette this season?
4.Andreescu- How does that Paula Abdul song go? "I take two steps forward, I take two steps back." Played well enough to see her as a contender this week......if she can finish it.
5.Parks- On a heater. Ranking now high enough to get into IW and Miami. Would not be MD debut at IW(Oct 2021), but would be at Miami. Odd stat: She has only played 2 MD matches on grass, plus 5 on clay, yet has lost to Jabeur on both.

Mon Feb 06, 10:35:00 AM EST  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Down Side.

1.Parry- Left her talent in 2022. Seriously, since reaching Monastir QF in 2022, she has gone 4-10. Does not have a Top 100 win since Porotoz in Sept. What happened?
2.Brengle- Ice cold. 6 MD losses in a row means a dip back into her familiar ITF pond quicker than she would like. With the likes of Parks, Stearns, etc, she isn't getting a WC anytime soon.
3.Kontaveit- St. Petersburg points come off, so a bad week might leave her outside the Top 30. If it doesn't happen, wait 2 weeks when her Doha points fall off.
4.Zheng Q.- Not a bad year, but not at last year's level. Counting Q, She left Australia 9-3. This year she is 5-3. The one good thing is that she already has a Top 20 win this year in Kontaveit. Last year she had 7, but did not pick up her first until IW.
5.Trevisan- Even with her win over Sakkari, she is on a 2-7 run. Admittedly, 3 of those losses are Swiatek, Gauff, Pegula. So expectations were low. Trying to tread water until clay, she has almost nothing(48 pts) to defend until April. Part of that is she lost in Q in Miami, and did not play IW.

Mon Feb 06, 10:45:00 AM EST  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

As usual, these proceedings always drag out longer than they should. I think I predicted Halep on the court for the summer hard court season. We'll see.

I noticed Gamiz in the Linz Q's. It was a little odd seeing a VEN player there, truthfully. Now if it'd been clay court season... that'd be different.

Quiz: went with Sequera :(

Vid: Ameri-... err, France Has Talent. The speed, though.

Hmmm, I could have included Parry with Juvan and Niemeier (who def. Kenin today).

Mon Feb 06, 10:59:00 PM EST  

Post a Comment

<< Home