Sunday, April 02, 2023

Wk.13- Peak POJD!

So a Czech walks into a Hard Rock Cafe in Miami...






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*WEEK 13 CHAMPIONS*
MIAMI (FLA), USA (WTA 1000 M/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Petra Kvitova/CZE def. Elena Rybakina/KAZ 7-6(14)/6-2
D: Coco Gauff/Jessie Pegula (USA/USA) def. Leylah Fernandez/Taylor Townsend (CAN/USA) 7-6(6)/6-2
SAN LUIS POTOSI, MEXICO (WTA 125/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Elisabetta Cocciaretto/ITA def. Sara Errani/ITA 5-7/6-4/7-5
D: Aliona Bolsova/Andrea Gamiz (ESP/VEN) def. Oksana Kalashnikova/Katarzyna Piter (GEO/POL) 7-6(5)/6-4




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[Miami 4th Rd.+]



PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Petra Kvitova/CZE
...little did we know that the best was still yet to come from Kvitova on the Sunshine swing. "POJD!" indeed.

After posting her best Indian Wells result (QF) since 2016, the Czech worked her way through the Miami draw with varying degress of "ease." Linda Noskova recorded just three games, while Donna Vekic (via a 2nd set TB) and Varvara Gracheva (Petra rallied from 5-2 in the 2nd to win 7-5/7-6) went out in four close sets as Kvitova matched her best Miami runs (QF in 2014, '19 and '22), assuring herself of the best combined Sunshine swing of her career. But she wasn't anywhere near finished.

Kvitova dropped her first set of the week, but eliminated Ekaterina Alexandrova in three to reach her 20th 1000 SF, then took out Sorana Cirstea (who'd led 5-2 in the 1st) in straights to reach her maiden Miami (or S.S.) final in her 13th appearance in the event. Against Elena Rybakina, the Czech staved off 5 SP in the 1st, took the opener on her own 5th SP and then seized control of the 2nd to win 7-6/6-3, ending Rybkina's 13-match win streak and denying her potential "Sunshine Double," and claiming a 30th career title, the biggest since winning in Madrid in 2018. The only bigger title she's won on hard court (albeit indoors) came at the WTA Finals all the back in 2011.



At 33 and just less than a month, the Czech is the second oldest Miami champ behind only Serena Williams in 2015.

Kvitova will return to the Top 10 on Monday, her first appearance since September 2021 as she seeks her ninth career Top 10 season, which would be her first since 2020.


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RISERS: Jessie Pegula/USA and Elena Rybakina/KAZ
...a big event, and Pegula plays impressively into the middle of the second week. Stop me if you've heard this before.

Miami saw the world #3 open with straight sets wins over qualifier Katherine Sebov, Danielle Collins and Magda Linette (rallying from 5-2 down in the 2nd vs. the Pole). In her 17th QF in her last 29 1000+ events, Pegula survived Anastasia Potapova (at around 1:30 a.m.) in the QF despite the Russian twice serving for the match and holding a pair of MP to reach her 7th 1000 SF in 14 tries. Once there, though, she fell in straight sets to Elena Rybakina, yet again coming up just short of a potentially career-defining highlight.

That, too, has been the overwhelming pattern of Pegula's climb up the ranking ladder since the summer of 2020 (when as the world #83 she played herself from qualifying into her first big QF, at the Cincinnati-at-NYC event in Flushing Meadows), as for all her consistency she's been unable to to push down that last obstacle and truly close out her big event runs in style, save for a title run last fall in Guadalajara, where she picked up her first tour singles crown in more than three years. Other than her Mexican sojourn, she's reached just one other 1000+ final (Madrid '22) despite so many deep runs.

[Insert own semi-snarky Buffalo Bills joke here, with or without "wide right" reference.]



Meanwhile, Rybakina carried over her Indian Wells flow to the swifter Miami courts and, after struggling with the transition (and cross-country sojourn) in the early rounds, very nearly completed an historic Sunshine Double combo nine months after winning her maiden slam crown at Wimbledon.

Ultimately, she settles for being the sixth woman to reach the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami finals in the same season (first since 2012, Maria Sharapova), and the tenth different to reach the finals of both ends of the Sunshine swing (it's happened 13 times, with only Steffi Graf and Sharapova doing it more than once).

Rybakina took three sets to defeat Anna Kalinskaya in her opening match, then rallied from 6-2/4-2 back (saving a MP) to take out Paula Badosa. She finally hit her stride with straight sets wins over Elise Mertens, Martina Trevisan and Jessie Pegula, the latter extending her Top 5 winning streak to five (and overall run to 13).

Rybakina had five SP opportunities come and go vs. Petra Kvitova in the opening set of the final, but after the Czech converted her own 5th SP to win the 1st the match quickly slipped away in the 2nd. Still, the Kazakh put in 12 aces to extend her strong serving numbers in the tournament (14-12-10-10-10-12) as she's the first woman to record 10+ aces in six matches in an event since Serena Williams (naturally) at Wimbledon in 2015.
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SURPRISE: Sorana Cirstea/ROU
...and here it seemed as if Cirstea's Indian Wells QF, her best 1000+ result since 2017, was going to be the Romanian's eye-popping result of early spring. Then she turns around and reaches the Miami semis, her best 1000 run since reaching the Toronto final a decade ago (you might remember that one, as it was the one in which Cirstea was dominated by Serena Williams, who then comforted a teary Sorana during the trophy ceremony).

Cirstea's week began with her backing up of an Indian Wells victory over Caroline Garcia with another upset of the Pastry in Miami, and things only got better from there. Down went back-to-back Czechs, Karolina Muchova and Marketa Vondrousova, and then #2 Aryna Sabalenka followed suit, falling in straights as the Romanian recorded her biggest career win and third Top 5 victory this March. Her three Top 10 wins equal her most in any single season since 2013.

Having yet to lose a set in the tournament, Cirstea led Petra Kvitova 5-2 in the 1st in the semis, only to see the Czech's equally refreshing two-pronged Sunshine run continue as she swept five straight games to win the opening set, then finished off the Romanian in two.

While it was a disappointing closing result for Cirstea, but March has proven to be a stellar month for her, perhaps the best (even w/o a title, but since she had a 13-year tour title drought one surely can't require an actual trophy to be a prerequisite!) multi-event run of her career, considering the largeness of the stages on which it took place. Her teaming with coach Thomas Johansson continues to reap impressive dividends.

At the start of the Sunshine swing, Cirstea was ranked at #83. A month later she's cut that number in half. Cirstea will jump 33 spots (after already climbing a modest 9 places after I.W.) to #41 on Monday.


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VETERAN: Sara Errani/ITA
...having only recently returned to the Top 100 for the first time in years, Errani stepped up her '23 success from the ITF challenger to the WTA 125 level in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The 35-year old reached the final without dropping a set, knocking off #2-seeded Tatjana Maria in the QF and Kaja Juvan in the semis.

In the final, the Italian led countrywoman Elisabetta Cocciaretto by a set, then twice held break leads in the 2nd, and then twice more in the 3rd. But her younger opponent won out in the end, rallying in both sets and ending the match with a break of serve to take decider 7-5.

Errani will jump 21 more spots to #78, climbing back (and over Lucia Bronzetti) into the the ITA Top 5. It'll be Errani's highest ranking since October 2018, and puts her in the think of the hunt for her first Top 100 season since 2016.
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FRESH FACES: Anastasia Potapova/RUS and Elisabetta Cocciaretto/ITA
...good for Potapova. If what it took for her to really key in at a big event was to maybe be a bit upset about a barely-informed accusation -- not from a relative pipsqueak like Marta Kostyuk but by way of being turned into the WTA authorities by the world #1, displaying her "three-tool" skills as a "leader" as well as all-knowling mind-reader and informant -- and public reprimand from the tour, then something of import did come out of the ridiculousness in the desert.

The 22-year old has won two tour titles (including Linz this year), and come back from injury to emerge over the past year as the sort of young would-be star she appeared to be as a junior, but the focus she showed in Miami after "JerseyGate" speaks to far more. Opening with the aforementioned Kostyuk, Potapova kept her focus and allowed just four total games. After squandering a big 1st set lead vs. Coco Gauff, and seeing the Bannerette serve for the match in the 2nd, Potapova notched her third career Top 10 win with a three-set victory. Zheng Qinwen then went down in impressive straight sets fashion as the Hordette reached her maiden 1000 QF.

She stumbled at the finish, twice serving for the match and holding two MP for an even bigger upset of #3 Jessie Pegula before the Bannerette rallied for an electric come-from-behind, eleventh-hour QF win at nearly 1:30 in the morning.

Though much more was within her grasp, what Potapova "settles" for is her best big event run (though she *did* reach another 1000 QF in Dubai in '21, w/ wins over Keys and Bencic) and a new career high of #22, close enough to the Top 20 that one big week on clay might see her crack another barrier by the end of April.



In San Luis Potosi, Cocciaretto picked up her second career WTA 125 crown.

The 22-year old Italian, who reached her maiden tour-level final in Hobart in January, strung together consecutive wins over Marcela Zacarias, back-to-back '21 RG semifinalists Nadia Podoroska and Tamara Zidansek, and Elina Avanesyan to reach her fourth career 125 final. There, she dropped the 1st set to countrywoman Sara Errani, then four different times (twice in both the 2nd and 3rd) erased break deficits to stay in the match. She broke the veteran in the final game to close out a 5-7/6-4/7-5 victory.

Cocciaretto will climb to a new career high of #44, just once spot behind ITA #2 Camila Giorgi. Italy's top-ranked woman is Martina Trevisan, who'll make her Top 20 debut on Monday after a QF run in Miami.
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DOWN: Bianca Andreescu/CAN
...oh, Bianca.

One thing that has become clear over the past few years is that one should never speak (or think) too soon when it comes to Andreescu. After so much injury and other troubles since her '19 U.S. Open run, in recent weeks the Canadian had truly started to look like her old, never-give-up, problem-solving, oft-spectacular shotmaking self. During Miami's first week, the '21 finalist posted wins over two former slam winners (Raducanu, Kenin) and a Top 10er (Sakkari). But in the 4th Round against Ekaterina Alexandrova it happened yet again.

Taking a step toward a ball at the baseline, Andreescu immediately went to the court, clutching her ankle and screaming in pain, both physical and (surely) emotional as she suddenly saw her past and future once again merged into a fight to return to tennis and a question of whether she was *ever* going to be healthy long enough to reclaim what she's lost over the past 3+ years. As she was taken off the court in a wheelchair, the look of resignation and confusion over her fate was evident, and so very sad, on Andreescu's face.

The injury appeared potentially catastrophic to her '23 season, and a major setback into the next year. By the next morning, though, the dark clouds appeared to be not *quite* as menacing.



Then, finally, the verdict-ish. (About as good as one could have hoped for, I suppose.)




It *appears* we will see Andreescu again in '23, but it'll be a while (grass season, maybe, at the earliest, as clay courts and torn ankle ligaments don't seem a good combination?).

Still, the unfortunate comparison made in this space a while back between Andreescu and Juan Martin del Potro, another young U.S. Open champ who battled injuries throughout a career that was ultimately defined by them until he finally retired last year, continues to ring true.

The one optimistic note there, though, is that even with all his injury breaks, del Potro managed to have numerous post-Open title moments to savor, including a second U.S. Open final (nearly a decade later), three additional slam semis, two Olympic medals, an Indian Wells crown (one of 15 post-slam win titles), and a Davis Cup title. In recent weeks, the Argentine has even hinted that he *might* give it one more go at this year's U.S. Open.

So, as long as she wants to fight for it, 22-year old Andreescu still has a lot of potential career to work with to achieve still more goals. But considing that even her career year in '19 included a two-month mid-year injury break, and a season-ending knee injury in the WTAF that was her last match for 15 months, it's likely always going to be an ongoing struggle to stay one step (and win, and tournament) ahead of the tennis reaper.

If Andreescu can accept that, and work with the reality of it, some fascinating years and moments likely still await. Crossing fingers.
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ITF PLAYER: Jodie Burrage/GBR
...in Croissy-Beaubourg, France, 23-year old Brit Burrage took home her biggest career title at the $60K challenger with a three-set win over top-seeded Lucia Bronzetti in the final, coming back from a set and a break down vs. the Italian to sweep the last nine games of the match.

The win over Bronzetti was Burrage's seventh over a Top 100 opponent, with all coming since the start of 2022. Before this week's title run, she'd already reached finals in three $60K and one $100K event since June before picking up her first singles crown since March '21.

Burrage will climb from #126 to a new career high of #109, less than 70 points from a Top 100 breakthrough.



Burrage also reached the doubles final with Berfu Cengiz, falling to Belgians Greet Minnen & Yanina Wickmayer.
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JUNIOR STARS: Valerie Glozman/USA and Lucciana Perez Alarcon/PER
...in a week of closed regional championships, familiar faces bobbed their way to the top of the heap.

In Indian Wells, 2022 16s champ Glozman became the first girl in nearly a decade (CiCi Bellis 2013-14) to follow up that crown with an 18s championship at the Easter Bowl (J300). The #1 seed, the 16-year old Washington state native outpaced Californian Aspen Schuman, 7-6/6-3 in the final, repeating the straight sets result of their Indian Wells J300 1st Round (6-1/7-6) meeting in the tournament held along with the second week of the WTA/ATP pro event in the desert.



In the regional competition held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Perez Alarcon backed up her position as the highest-ranked (#8) South American girl in an all-Luc(c)iana battle with Argentina's Luciana Moyano (girls' #23).

The 17-year old Peruvian didn't lose a set en route to the title, finishing off with a 6-3/6-4 win over Moyano to win her third J300 title of the season and improve to 25-4 in '23 junior play.



LPA and Moyano teamed to win the girls' doubles title.
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DOUBLES: Coco Gauff/Jessie Pegula, USA/USA
...while neither Gauff (3r) nor Pegula (SF) ended their weeks in Miami with a singles victory, once again there was the doubles to put an exclamation point on their two weeks in Florida.

The trip to the final wasn't an open-and-shut case, as they had to win a pair of MTB (vs. the Fruhvirtovas and Mertens/Sanders) as well as a two-TB affair (vs. Melichar-Martinez/Perez), but the Sunday final didn't require any such do-or-die overtime as they defeated Leylah Fernandez & Taylor Townsend 7-6/6-2 for their fifth overall title as a duo (and third 1000 win). They're the first all-Bannerette Miami championship team since Mary Joe Fernandez & Zina Garrison in 1991.

Gauff has picked up eight overall WD titles at tour level, while Pegula now has seven.


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WHEELCHAIR: Momoko Ohtani/JPN
...while most of the *biggest* wheelchair names were on the sidelines, 27-year old Ohtani claimed her first WC singles title since 2019 in the Series 2 event in Busan, South Korea.

After a win over countrywoman Manami Tanaka in the semis, world #6 Ohtani defeated another in Shiori Funamizu in a 6-1/6-2 final. Ohtani, of course, is the only Japanese woman other than Yui Kamiji to reach a slam WC singles final, facing off with (and losing to) Kamiji in the historic 2020 Roland Garros final.

The highest-ranked played in the event was #5 Zhu Zhenzhen, who surprisingly lost to 51-year old Thai player Sakhorn Khanthasit (WC #27) in her opening match. Zhu rebounded to get some revenge, taking the doubles title alongside Tanaka over Khanthasit & Saki Takamuro, 6-3/6-0.
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[Miami 4th Rd.+]



1. Miami Final - Petra Kvitova def. Elena Rybakina
...7-6(14)/6-2. As just the sixth woman to reach the AO, IW and Miami finals in a single season, Rybakina seemed on her way in the early stages of the final to following up Iga Swiatek's 2022 coast-to-coast U.S. title combo with one of her own. And she *might* have done it, had she won the opening set and established a mountain for Kvitova to have to climb the rest of the way.

Rybakina was chugging along until Kvitova got a break and served for the set at 5-4. She couldn't do it, and the set went to a TB, where both women held five SP each.

Rybakina led 4-2, but it was Kvitova who reached SP first at 6-5. Rybakina fired off an ace. After Rybakina held her first SP at 7-6, Kvitova edged ahead 8-7 and seemed set to take it before a 15-shot rally was ended when a Rybakina shot off the back of the baseline caused a Kvitova frame job and resulted in a put-away winner from the Kazakh.

The 22-minute breaker would see Rybakina hold the last of her five SP at 13-12, followed by Kvitova's 4th and 5th chances, the last of which was finally converted when Rybakina netted a forehand to win 16-14 to complete the fascinating group of long tie-breaks we've seen over the course of this year's month-long Sunshine swing.



Kvitova got the early break in the 2nd, then pulled away, ending Rybakina's 13-match run (and denying her the Sunshine Double) and finishing the match by dropping serve just once in the final while picking up title #30.


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2. Miami QF - Jessie Pegula def. Anastasia Potapova
...4-6/6-3/7-6(2). Potapova's great week nearly became stupendous, but she stumbled down the nervy final stretch. Twice the Hordette served for the match, at 5-4 (holding 2 MP on serve) and again at 6-5 after breaking Pegula in the "in-between" game.

Pegula forced a TB, and converted MP in the early morning hours (1:27 a.m.).
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3. Miami 4th Rd. - Ekaterina Alexandrova def. Bianca Andreescu
...7-6(0)/0-2 ret. The injury devils pull Andreescu down once again, as her screams of pain/disbelief/agony/frustration filled the air in Miami maybe like none at a big event since Bethanie Mattek-Sands' following her Wimbledon knee injury a few seasons ago.

The "good" news is that the injury -- two torn ankle ligaments -- doesn't appear to be nearly as horrific as it seemed it might be. The Canadian will still be out a while, but some sort of major reconstruction, the healing of a broken bone, or Achilles surgery (and the long absence that would come w/ any of those) will be avoided.



For Alexandrova's part, she'd posted a win over Belinda Bencic in the 3rd Round, her first Top 10 win since last summer in Rosmalen (Sabalenka). Her Miami QF was her best career result in a hard court 1000+ event.
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4. Miami QF - Sorana Cirstea def. Aryna Sabalenka
...6-4/6-4. Cirstea didn't get a high number of her first serves in, but won nearly all that she did as she notched her first career Top 3 win en route to her second (ten years apart) 1000 semifinal.

Sabalenka had allowed just 15 total games in her first three Miami matches.


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5. Miami 4th Rd. - Martina Trevisan def. Alona Ostapenko
...6-3/6-3. Already in her first career 1000 4th Round, Trevisan does one better and reaches the QF before reality set in a round later and she got just three games off Elena Rybakina.

Trevisan will still make her Top 20 debut on Monday.


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6. $40K Murska Sobota SLO QF - Maria Timofeeva def. Harriet Dart
...6-7(4)/6-3/6-3. In 2:56, the #257-ranked Hordette takes down Dart, who has had a difficult time getting out of the gate in '23.

Last year, Dart cracked the Top 100, reached her first tour QF, posted her maiden Top 20 and Top 10 wins and reached the Indian Wells Round of 16. But she entered this past week at just 1-6 on the season and ranked #148. Before her loss to Timofeeva, through, Dart *had* posted back-to-back match wins for the first time in a non-BJK event since last June in Eastbourne.



Dart rebounded by winning the doubles with Andreea Mitu.

19-year old Timofeeva reached the final, falling in two to Waffle Magali Kempen.
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7. $40K Murska Sobota SLO 1st Rd. - Andreea Mitu def. Clara Tauson
...1-6/6-3/3-0 ret. Tauson has had a pretty successful comeback in the relative shadows thus far in '23, with a tour-level Linz QF, $60K title and $40K final. Hopefully this doesn't turn into a lingering setback.
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8. $25K Kofu JPN Final - Jang Su-jeong def. Han Na-lae
...2-6/6-3/6-2. Jang wins her second consecutive ITF crown, defeating Wang Yafan in the semis and Han in the final.

The South Korean won a $60K in early March with victories over Polina Kudermetova, Moyuka Uchijima, Tena Lukas and Vitalia Diatchenko.
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9. $25K Sopo COL Final - Séléna Janicijevic def. Suzan Lamens
...6-4/5-7/6-4. The 20-year old Pastry adds her first '23 challenger title after winning five in 2022. It's Janicijevic's eighth ITF win in 19 months.

Janicijevic, currently ranked just outside the Top 200, made her AO MD debut in January after making her way through qualifiying. I've been saying she'll be a RG wild card (her only MD apperarance in Paris was in '19) for much of the past year, so the countdown for the FFT's actual decision begins this week. Come on, don't make her go through qualifying.
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10. J300 Vrsar CRO (Jr.) Final - Teodora Kostovic def. Iva Ivanova
...6-3/6-4. The 15-year old Serb (girls' #91) takes home her biggest career junior title with a straight sets effort over the 16-year old Bulgarian.
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[Miami 4th Rd.+]

1. $60K Croissy-Beaubourg FRA 1st Rd. - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Polina Kudermetova
...6-2/6-4. World #730 Pavlyuchenkova's first match at the challenger level in 15 years, as the Russian's no-ego comeback takes its first dip in the ITF pool with a win over her fellow Hordette.



Pavlyuchenkova fell in the QF to top seed Lucia Bronzetti.


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TRANSLATED: "Varvara Gracheva (22 years old, 54th in the world) has finalized her application for French naturalization. The Russian has been training since 2016 at the Elite Tennis Center in Cannes."



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Got a "message" from "The Numbers Guy," and he said something along the lines of, "Didn't I say/predict this sort of argument about six or seven years ago?" I said, yes, I believe he did. ;)



Eventually, numbers beat "hearts and minds." Always. Because "hearts and minds" eventually drift away, while numbers are forever. Especially in the current "fantasy football"-esque era of tennis judgment.


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Unbelieveable point. Unbelievable camera work.



















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Before the fall...




Before the (next) return...












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*OLDEST WTA SINGLES CHAMPION - 2020s*
38 - Serena Williams (2020 Auckland)
34 - Tatjana Maria (2022 Bogota)
34 - Angelique Kerber (2022 Strasbourg)
33 - PETRA KVITOVA (2023 Miami)
33 - Zhang Shuai (2022 Lyon)

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2020s*
14 - 1/2/9/2 - Iga Swiatek (12-2)
12 - 3/3/3/3 - Aryna Sabalenka (7-5)
12 - 1/7/4/0 - Anett Kontaveit (5-6-1)
11 - 5/0/3/3 - ELENA RYBAKINA (3-8)

*MOST WTA SF in 2023*
3 - ELENA RYBAKINA (3-0)
3 - Aryna Sabalenka (3-0)
3 - Iga Swiatek (2-1)
3 - JESSIE PEGULA (1-2)
3 - Maria Sakkari (0-3)
2 - Caroline Garcia (2-0)
2 - Belinda Bencic (1-0+W)
2 - Coco Gauff (1-1)
2 - Zhu Lin (1-1)
2 - Veronika Kudermetova (0-1+L)

*CAREER WTA TITLES - active*
49 - Venus Williams
30 - PETRA KVITOVA
24 - Simona Halep
21 - Victoria Azarenka
[hard court - active]
31 - Venus Williams
20 - Victoria Azarenka
20 - PETRA KVITOVA
14 - Svetlana Kuznetsova
13 - Simona Halep
11 - Aryna Sabalenka
11 - Elina Svitolina
10 - Karolina Pliskova
[CZE - all-time]
30 - PETRA KVITOVA (2009-23)
27 - Hana Mandlikova (1978-87)
24 - Jana Novotna (1988-99)
16 - Karolina Pliskova (2013-20)

*LONG WTA (MD only) WINNING STREAKS - 2020s*
37 - Iga Swiatek (2022)
17 - Simona Halep (2020)
13 - Liudmila Samsonova (2022)
13 - Bernarda Pera (2022)
13 - Aryna Sabalenka (2023)
13 - ELENA RYBAKINA (2023)

*REACHED AO-IW-MIA FINALS IN SEASON*
1991 Monica Seles (W-L-W)
1994 Steffi Graf (W-W-W)
2000 Lindsay Davenport (W-W-L)
2000 Martina Hingis (L-L-W)
2012 Maria Sharapova (L-L-L)
2023 Elena Rybakina (L-W-L)
[reached IW/MIA finals in season]
1991 Monica Seles (L-W)
1994 Steffi Graf (W-W) #
1996 Steffi Graf (W-W) #
1999 Serena Williams (W-L)
2000 Lindsay Davenport (W-L)
2000 Martina Hingis (L-W)
2005 Kim Clijsters (W-W) #
2006 Maria Sharapova (W-L)
2012 Maria Sharapova (L-L)
2013 Maria Sharapova (W-L)
2016 Victoria Azarenka (W-W) #
2022 Iga Swiatek (W-W) #
2023 Elena Rybakina (W-L)
-
# - "Sunshine Double"

*MIAMI FACTS 1985-present*
=SINGLES=
[Youngest Singles Champion]
16y,111d - Monica Seles (1990)
[Oldest Singles Champion]
33y,190d - Serena Williams (2015)
33y,25d - Petra Kvitova (2023)
[Oldest Singles Finalist]
34 - Chris Evert (1989)
33 - Chris Evert (1988)
33 - Serena Williams (2015) - W
33 - Petra Kvitova (2023) - W

*2023 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
2 - COCO GAUFF
2 - Barbora Krejcikova
2 - JESSIE PEGULA
2 - Katerina Siniakova
2 - Luisa Stefani
2 - Aldila Sutjiadi
2 - Taylor Townsend
[duos]
2...GAUFF/PEGULA
2...Krejcikova/Siniakova
[2020-23 - individuals]
15 - Katerina Siniakova (1/6/6/2)
11 - Barbora Krejcikova (1/5/3/2)
7 - Elise Mertens (1/4/2/0)
7 - JESSIE PEGULA (0/0/5/2)
6 - Shuko Aoyama (1/5/0/0)
6 - COCO GAUFF (0/1/3/2)
6 - Hsieh Su-wei (4/2/0/0)
6 - Nicole Melichar-Martinez (2/2/2/0)
6 - Kristina Mladenovic (2/0/4/0)
6 - Ena Shibahara (1/5/0/0)
6 - Luisa Stefani (1/1/2/2)
[2020-23 - duos]
11..Krejcikova/Siniakova (1/5/3/2)
6...Aoyama/Shibahara (1/5/0/0)
5...GAUFF/PEGULA (0/0/3/2)
4...Hsieh/Strycova (4/0 ret.)
3...Guarachi/Krawczyk (1/2/0/0)
3...Hozumi/Ninomiya (0/0/3/0)
3...V.Kudermetova/Mertens (0/1/2/0)
3...Melichar/Schuurs (1/2/0/0)
3...Siegemund/Zvonareva (1/0/2/0)

*2023 YOUNGEST WTA WD FINALISTS*
18 - Coco Gauff (Doha - W)
18 - COCO GAUFF (Miami - W)
20 - Leylah Fernandez (Auckland - L)
20 - LEYLAH FERNANDEZ (Miami - L)
20 - Diane Parry (Merida - W)

*2023 SLAM-WTAF/1000 CHAMPIONS*
Australian Open - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
Dubai - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
Indian Wells - Elena Rybakina, KAZ
Miami - Petra Kvitova, CZE
[doubles]
Australian Open - Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova, CZE/CZE
Dubai - Veronika Kudermetova/Liudmila Samsonova, RUS/RUS
Indian Wells - Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova, CZE/CZE
Miami - Coco Gauff/Jessie Pegula, USA/USA

*2023 WTA CHAMPIONS BY RANKING*
#1 - Iga Swiatek (Doha)
#5 - Aryna Sabalenka (Adelaide 1)
#5 - Aryna Sabalenka (Australian Open)
#7 - Coco Gauff (Auckland)
#8 - Belinda Bencic (Abu Dhabi)
#10 - Elena Rybakina (Indian Wells)
#12 - Petra Kvitova (Miami)
#13 - Belinda Bencic (Adelaide 2)
#30 - Barbora Krejcikova (Dubai)
#31 - Donna Vekic (Monterrey)
#44 - Anastasia Potapova (Linz)
#52 - Marta Kostyuk (Austin)
#54 - Zhu Lin (Hua Hin)
#68 - Camila Giorgi (Merida)
#79 - Alycia Parks (Lyon)
#84 - Lauren Davis (Hobart)

*2023 WTA CHAMPIONS BY AGE*
33 - Petra Kvitova (Miami)
31 - Camila Giorgi (Merida)
29 - Lauren Davis (Hobart)
29 - Zhu Lin (Hua Hin)
27 - Barbora Krejcikova (Dubai)
26 - Donna Vekic (Monterrey)
25 - Belinda Bencic (Abu Dhabi)
25 - Belinda Bencic (Adelaide 2)
24 - Aryna Sabalenka (Australian Open)
24 - Aryna Sabalenka (Adelaide 1)
23 - Elena Rybakina (Indian Wells)
22 - Alycia Parks (Lyon)
21 - Anastasia Potapova (Linz)
21 - Iga Swiatek (Doha)
20 - Marta Kostyuk (Austin)
18 - Coco Gauff (Auckland)

*2023 WEEKLY BACKSPIN PLAYERS OF THE WEEK*
Week 1: Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
AO Q: Katherine Sebov, CAN
Week 2: Belinda Bencic, SUI
AO: Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
Week 5: Alycia Parks, USA
Week 6: Belinda Bencic, SUI
Week 7: Iga Swiatek, POL
Week 8: Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
Week 9: Donna Vekic, CRO
IW: Elena Rybakina, KAZ
Miami: Petra Kvitova, CZE

*EASTER BOWL 18s WINNERS - since 2012*
2012 Taylor Townsend
2013 Mayo Hibi (JPN)
2014 CiCi Bellis
2015 Claire Liu
2016 Alexandra Sanford
2017 Claire Liu
2018 Katie Volynets
2019 Emma Navarro
2020 DNP
2021 Liv Hovde
2022 Alexis Blokhina
2023 Valerie Glozman

*2023 TOP JUNIOR GIRLS' TITLES*
[Grand Slam]
Alina Korneeva, RUS
[J500]
Mayu Crossley, JPN
Federica Urgesi, ITA
[J300]
3 - Lucciana Perez Alarcon, PER
2 - Iva Jovic, USA
2 - Clervie Ngounoue, USA
2 - Sara Saito, JPN
1 - Melisa Ercan, TUN
1 - Mara Gae, ROU
1 - Valerie Glozman, USA
1 - Teodora Kostovic, SRB
1 - Vlada Mincheva, RUS
1 - Rebecca Munk Mortenson, DEN
1 - Federica Urgesi, ITA





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NOTE: Scalise himself was shot in a mass shooting in 2017. And yet...


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FREE LINK




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Agreed. This reminds me of why I prefer the roll-down window handles on cars over the motorized ones that can break and/or freeze in cold weather. Everything doesn't *have* to be push-button.

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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 11:02 PM 

4 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

That tiebreak was stressful in a good way!

Rybakina's consolation prize is that the last 3 times Indian Wells was played before the US Open, that winner(Osaka-18, Andreescu-19, Swiatek-22) went on to win the Open.

Regarding Pegula's struggles: The frustrating thing is that she got up a break on Rybakina, just like she does with Swiatek, and can't hold it.

The interesting thing about the Trevisan-Ostapenko match is that Trevisan doesn't like to use the sideline. So she has to pull Ostapenko out wide, the use that limited lefty reach to open up the court, still leaving 3-4 feet of margin.

Stat of the Week- 10- Women in the Top 100 with clay titles only.

One of these is not like the others.

#9 Sakkari
#13 Kudermetova
#20 Trevisan
#31 Teichmann
#34 Martic
#38 Pera
#47 Putintseva
#62 Sherif
#76 Zanevska
100 Osorio

Sakkari being on this list is frustrating. Especially when you realize that everybody on this list has won a title more recently.

Martic has reached more finals on hard.

We also have 17 Top 100 players(none in Top 50) that have not reached a final on any surface. Of that group, Tomova and Rakhimova seem closest to moving off the list.

Quiz Time!

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni reached 11 SF in her career. On which level did she have the most success?

A.250
B.500
C.1000
D.2000(GS)

Interlude- Sarah Michelle Gellar got sued for this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ss7_5PSnyA

Answer!

Why would I have Lucic-Baroni as a quiz? Easy! She comes to mind because of Cirstea. Sorana had a good week at a 1000, which stands out for someone who went 12 1/2 years without a title.

Lucic-Baroni went 16 1/2.

(B)500 is wrong because she only reached 1 500 in her career, which is topical as it was Charleston in 2017, which was also the last SF of her career.

(C)1000 is also wrong, as that number is also 1, Rome 1998.

This means that while (D)2000 is wrong, she actually had more GS SF(2) than 500 and 1000! Both were memorable, her 20th century run at Wimbledon, and her 21st century one in Australia 18 years later.

The obvious answer is (A)250, which not only has her 7 SF runs, but her 3 titles: Bol twice and Quebec City.

A creature of habit, her 7 SF are Bol 2, Quebec City 2, Strasbourg 2, Acapulco.

Mon Apr 03, 02:57:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Up Size- Pla-Doh Edition.

1.Pigossi- Much better on clay, Bogota pick tries to improve on last years runner up finish, and become the first Brazilian since Teliana Pereira in 2015 to walk away with the title.
2.Badosa- Not playing as awll as I would like, but trying to revive Spanish tradition. Conchita Martinez(1994-95) and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario(96) threepeated. Can Badosa do the same? If she doesn't, whoever knocks her out might win, as it has happened the last 2 years.
3.Rakhimova- Part of the schedule where we get first time winners.For her to do so, she might have to face #29 Mertens. That is a step up, as #34 Alexandrova and #36 Sorribes Tormo are her only Top 40 wins.
4.Kasatkina- 2017 winner tries to recapture the magic in what has been an up and down year. As someone who transitions to clay better than others, maybe this is the week.
5. Serban- She already lost in her 2nd WTA MD(2022 Warsaw), but always good to see someone from Cyprus in the draw. Also gives me a reason to namecheck Karolina Sprem, who officially goes by Karolina Sprem Baghdatis now.

Mon Apr 03, 03:07:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

5 On the Down Side.

1.Andreescu- Bleep. Injury looked like LaMelo Ball's non contact broken ankle, so this was actually good news. The bad is the projections are 6-8 weeks, and with ankles, add 2. That gets us to mid June, and with very little match play on grass, I can't see her coming back for one event. August is probably the best case scenario.
2.Osorio- Speaking of injuries, we haven't seen Osorio since she retired in Monterrey. It seems like she is always out, and remember Swiatek's 37 match winning streak? Osorio only played 33 WTA matches last year, plus 6 125K. Ranking will drop out of the Top 100 this week.
3.Arango- I tried. I really did. I wanted to put her on the Up Side because of her 2018 QF in Bogota. But due to a massive amount of injuries, Bogota is the only WTA MD she has played. Now entered for the 6th time, she tries to win for the first time since 2018.
4.Janicijevic- FFT has a problem. BJK Cup team has the old guard:Garcia, Cornet, Mladenovic. They do have Burel. 5th spot is blank. Janicijevic's RG spot is probably dependent on being a late add on, with the other 21 and unders(Monnet, Jacquemot, Parry) in the same boat.
5.Wang Xiyu and Xinyu. This may be slightly unfair, but that list of 17 women that have not reached a final are topped by these 2. They haven't gone from prospect to suspect just yet, but it is time for both to put up consistent results.

Mon Apr 03, 03:20:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Oh, good I.W./U.S. Open footnote!

Pegula/Bills link: so, sort of like with that lead vs. the Vikings last year when all Josh Allen had to do to win was take a snap at his own 1-yard line without fumbling it away. The Bills' missed-it-by-that-much stories now span multiple generations. :)

If only there had been some sort of inside joke at McDonalds' expense on Buffy at some point.

Obviously, by the time of the "cola wars" ads such a you-can't-say-our-names notion was out the window.

Quiz: I went with 500... but that's a really good quiz question where the 500/1000 vs. slam SF comparison in concerned. Hard not to be tripped up by that one!

Andreescu: well, remember what she did in '19 when she returned during the summer HC schedule from a multi-month absence. Yeah, that's on the *super-duper-looper* optimistic side. ;)

Tue Apr 04, 09:47:00 PM EDT  

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