Wednesday, August 30, 2023

US.3- Coco Crisp


The Building a Perfect Coco Project continues...



Earlier this season, Coco Gauff and Mirra Andreeva faced off in the Roland Garros 3rd Round. The young Hordette claimed a 1st set tie-break, but the Bannerette soon asserted her experience as the 16-year old fell away, winning just two total games in the final two sets.

Since then, Andreeva has advanced to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon (as in Paris, as a qualifier). Ranked at #63, her MD spot at the U.S. Open was secured weeks ago. The youngest player in the MD of a third straight slam, Andreeva once again debuted at a third straight major with a 1st Round victory two days ago.

But the #6-seeded Gauff that Andreeva played on Day 3 has changed quite a bit since their last meeting. For one, the 19-year old -- who was the youngest MD player in 9 of 13 slams up until last year's Wimbledon -- added Pere Riba and Brad Gilbert to her coaching team earlier this summer. Keying on the teenager's serve and return games, and pushing a more aggressive in-match mindset, the success has come shockingly quickly. Gauff came into the day on a six-match winning streak, on a 12-1 summer hard court run, with titles in Washington and Cincinnati (the biggest of her career), her maiden win over #1 Iga Swiatek, and additional victories over two other '23 slam finalists (Muchova and Vondrousova) under the belt. And it's all happened in four and a half weeks.

A year after reaching her first QF in New York, and two months after a 1st Round exit at Wimbledon, Gauff is amongst the legitimate title favorites for this slam.

Gauff did nothing to alter her status on Day 3. After losing serve to start the match, Gauff mostly ran roughshod over the Russian, winning four straight games and losing just one point on serve the rest of the set before serving for the 1st at 5-3. On the opening point, she DF'd, continuing a pattern this summer where inopportune double-faults have proven to be the only crack in Gauff's exterior during her current run. She's managed to overcome the hiccups since she set foot back on hard courts after the grass season, and she did so again here. She held to win the 1st 6-3.

With Gilbert yelling from the stands to make the contest a "physical" one, Gauff continued her roll through the 2nd. She grabbed an early break lead, and saved break points to hold for 3-1. Andreeva kept close a game later, winning a three-deuce game on her fourth GP. But Gauff surged again, and the (younger) teenager couldn't keep up. Gauff swept the final nine points of the match, including her second love break of the 3rd set in game #7, winning 6-3/6-2 in 1:16.



Gauff out-pointed Andreeva in dominant fashion, winning 65-38, while effectively carrying out the Gilbert/Riba aggressive gameplan, winning 15 of 18 net approaches, firing 22 winners in 17 games and converting 4 of 5 BP.

While Andreeva remains 31-7 in pro action in '23, her lack of pre-Open match play likely didn't help today. She'd only two played two hard court matches (both last week in Cleveland) since Wimbledon.

Meanwhile, Gauff is checking things off a list of slam experiences for this Open. A Night 1 match filled with tension? Check. On a special night when the 50th anniversary of equal pay at the Open was celebrated (after she'd been a star speaker at a get-together before the tournament)? Check. A win over, even while still a teenager herself, a *younger* up-and-coming star? Check.

Continuing to weather the storm as one of the favorites remain an ongoing process. But, so far, Coco's efforts have been pretty crisp.




=DAY 3 NOTES=
...two days after Kaja Juvan's fifth career 1st Round slam win over a seeded player, the 22-year old qualifier from Slovenia looked to back it up with another victory. She got it, but it took something out of her. Literally, as she became the latest player to have issues with the heat, throwing up during a changeover early in the 3rd set.



Things didn't start so well for Juvan, either. In a no-break opening set, she and Lauren Davis went to a tie-break that was won by the veteran Bannerette. Juvan took the lead in the 2nd, but couldn't serve out the set at 5-2. After doing so two games later, the contest went to a decider.

After breaking Davis to go up 2-1, Juvan didn't seem as if she was about to spill her guts. But moments later she was surrounded by a trainer and others, heaving into a bag while her neck and thighs were draped with ice bags and a blood pressure gauge was being readied. She took an MTO, while Davis consulted with her coach on the opposite side of the court.

After the MTO was over, Juvan literally skipped back out onto the court. She didn't stumble her way to the finish line, either. Juvan dropped her opening serve game at love, but immediately rebounded and got the break edge back at 15. A love hold consolidated her lead.

Davis held on, saving two breaks points in game 7. But Juvan got the match-closing break in game 9, ending the 6-7(3)/6-4/6-3 contest to reach the 3rd Round, matching her best career slam result. She's the first Slovenian woman to reach the 3rd Round in New York since Katarina Srebotnik in 2008.



After losing her father in December, and briefly taking a break from tennis in the spring, Juvan has roared back this summer. Her current five-match winning streak is her longest in tournament play since winning eight straight vs. challenger competition in 2019 (amongst that competition were players named Samsonova, Teichmann, Navarro and McNally) -- Juvan won five straight in BJK zone play + Madrid qualifying last year, as well -- but she's fashioned a 15-3 mark since late June.

Her next opponent is *another* seed. Yeah, so it's #1 Iga Swiatek, who defeated Dasha Saville in straights today. Still. (The "impossible" *has* been her specialty in slams, after all.)

Well, at least Juvan is familiar with Iga. They go back to the juniors, where they teamed to win doubles Gold in the Youth Olympic Games in 2018.



Yes, Swiatek also defeated Juvan in the opening round match of her 2021 Roland Garros title defense, bum-rushing her in the 1st before being pushed in the 2nd in a 6-0/7-5 victory. Iga also defeated Juvan in a three-setter in the mid-pandemic Gippsland event in February of that season.

...while slam seed upsets come like the seasons to Juvan, so does saving match points at the U.S. Open for Elise Mertens. Apparently.

Two years ago, the Belgian earned this space's "Zombie Queen" honor after falling behind Rebecca Peterson 6-3/5-3 in the 1st Round. The Swede twice served for the match, holding five MP in the set, then a sixth in the 3rd, before Mertens rallied to win in 3:40.

Two days ago, #32 Mertens saved three more MP against another Swede in the 1st Round, serving down 4-5, love/40 in the 3rd set before winning five consecutive points to hold, then taking a 10-3 TB to advance.

On Day 3 she was at it again, battling Danielle Collins to within an inch (and two MP) of her Open life, trailing the Bannerette by a set and a break twice in the 2nd, then staring down two MP at 6-5 and 7-6 in the ensuing TB. Mertens won it 9-7, then took off in the 3rd, claiming the match 3-6/7-6(7)/6-1.



Hope there's room for another ZQ trophy on her mantle.

...there are quite a few mothers still alive in the women's draw (more if you include doubles), and one of them is Taylor Townsend.



Townsend avoided having to go through qualifying when Simona Halep's name was pulled from the MD entry list, becoming the last woman to join the Open via the automatic entry route. Four years ago, Townsend upset Halep in the 2nd Round in New York and played her way into her (so far) only slam Round of 16, where she lost to eventual champ Bianca Andreescu in three sets.

Today, almost two and a half years after giving birth to son Adyn (and after quite a few outings as a better, far less problematic, part-time Tennis Channel commentator than one of her fellow part-time TCers from Canada) returned to the 3rd Round (her best slam result since '19) with an upset of #19 Beatriz Haddad Maia, winning 7-6(1)/7-5.

The Brazilian was the third seed taken out by a Bannerette through the first three days of this Open.



...an upset of #8 Maria Sakkari was all that Rebeka Masarova had in her for this Open, as the Spaniard fell 7-6(0)/6-2 to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova today. The result gives AKS her first U.S. Open 3rd Round result since 2015. Earlier this year, the Slovak reached her first career slam Round of 16 at Roland Garros (in her 32nd MD, after 19 1st Round losses and 10 in the 2nd). Can she make it two when she next faces Wang Xinyu?

Speaking of Wang, she knocked off Sara Sorribes Tormo 5-7/6-3/6-4 today. SST, off her Cleveland title as a lucky loser, had upset #28 Anhelina Kalinina in the 1st Round.



After going 5-0 in the 1st Round, the Chinese women are still rolling. Wang's win was joined today by Zhu Lin's 6-3/6-3 upset of #18 Victoria Azarenka, as she got some revenge for Vika's three-set Australian Open 4th Round victory in Zhu's breakout slam earlier this year.

With the chance to keep the undefeated streak going, Wang Xiyu won the 1st set vs. Bernarda Pera today and went into a 2nd set TB. But Pera won 7-5, then took the 3rd to win 3-6/7-6(5)/6-2.

#23 Zheng Qinwen and qualifier Wang Yafan take their 2nd Round swings on Day 4.

...in doubles, Barbora Strycova's final slam began in doubles with a win alongside Marketa Vondrousova. The Czechs will next face their top seeded countrywomen Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova, the defending champions. The #1 seeds managed to avoid continuing their recent slump, but had to go three sets to do it vs. Ninomiya/Santamaria.

Maybe the slam environment will help them right the ship. They've won 25 of their last 26 slam matches (w/ only a 1st Rd. loss at this year's RG), and are 37-4 in slam play since 2021.

...in the night session, the Ashe schedule will see #11 Petra Kvitova take on Caroline Wozniacki, as the Dane plays her second of two matches under the night sky this week. Kvitova could provide the #623-ranked former #1 Wozniacki with by far her biggest win in her comeback. In her previous four matches, her two wins have come vs. #115 Kimberly Birrell and #227 Tatiana Prozorova. She's lost to #45 Varvara Gracheva and #10 Marketa Vondrousova in straights.

Armstrong was set to host #3-seeded Elena Rybakina vs. Ajla Tomljanovic. Last year, the Aussie ended Serena Williams' singles career with a win under the lights in the 3rd Round. Out all of '23 with a knee injury, she finally notched her first win in her season debut two day ago against Panna Udvardy, but Tomljanovic withdrew today.

It serves as something of a stroke of karmic "luck" for Rybakina, who was run into the ground with the scheduling in Montreal a few weeks ago. Without having to take a swing, the Kazakh gets a round closer to bookending her '23 slam season with final runs at both hard court majors.





...PERSPECTIVES on DAY 3:




...GARCIA UPDATE... ON DAY 3:




...MAMA SERENA UPDATE ON DAY 3:




















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**RECENT U.S. OPEN "ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEW YORK" WINNERS**
2015 Dasha Kasatkina, RUS
2016 Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2017 Madison Keys, USA and Sloane Stephens, USA
2018 Katerina Siniakova, CZE
2019 Donna Vekic, CRO
2020 Varvara Gracheva, RUS
2021 Elise Mertens, BEL and Rebeka Masarova, ESP
2022 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
2023 Elise Mertens, BEL
[2023]
AO: Kolodziejova/Vondrousova (9 MP vs. Haddad/Zhang, down 5-0, 40/love in 3rd)
RG: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (5-2 down 3rd 2r; set & 3-1 4r)
WI: Lesia Tsurenko (5 MP 3r vs. Bogdan; 20-18 TB)
US: Elise Mertens (5 MP 1r/2r)

**RECENT U.S. OPEN "UPSET QUEENS" WINNERS**
2013 United States
2014 United States
2015 United States
2016 China
2017 Japan
2018 Sweden
2019 Russia
2020 United States
2021 Russia
2022 China
2023 United States

**BACKSPIN 2023 MOST IMPROVED PLAYER-OF-THE-MONTH WINNERS**
JAN (pre-AO): Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA
AO: Zhu Lin, CHN and Cristina Bucsa, ESP
FEB: Marta Kostyuk, UKR
MAR: Varvara Gracheva, RUS (now FRA)
1Q...ZHU
APR: Peyton Stearns, USA
MAY: Anhelina Kalinina, UKR
RG: Anna Blinkova, RUS
2Q Clay Court...BLINKOVA
JUN: Lucia Bronzetti, ITA
WI: Ana Bogdan, ROU
2Q Grass Court...KATIE BOULTER, GBR
JUL: Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA
AUG (pre-U.S.): Viktoriya Tomova, BUL

**BACKSPIN 2023 SURPRISE-OF-THE-MONTH WINNERS**
JAN (pre-AO): Rebeka Masarova, ESP
AO: Magda Linette, POL
FEB: Viktoriya Tomova, BUL
MAR: Sorana Cirstea, ROU
1Q...CIRSTEA
APR: Mayar Sherif, EGY
MAY: Anhelina Kalinina, UKR
RG: Elina Avanesyan, RUS
2Q Clay Court...AVANESYAN
JUN: Jodie Burrage, GBR
WI: Natalija Stevanovic, SRB
2Q Grass Court...STEVANOVIC
JUL: Maria Timofeeva, RUS
AUG (pre-U.S.): Nao Hibino, JPN
[2023 Weekly ITF Award Wins]
4 - Zhu Lin, CHN
3 - Viktoriya Tomova, BUL
2 - Kimberly Birrell, AUS
2 - Ysaline Bonaventure, BEL
2 - Sorana Cirstea, ROU
2 - Julia Grabher, AUT
2 - Anhelina Kalinina, UKR
2 - Tamara Korpatsch, GER
2 - Jasmine Paolini, ITA
2 - Mayar Sherif, EGY






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TOP QUALIFIER: #15 Wang Yafan/CHN
us: vick RL: chn Q: vick,minn TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2 - Elsa Jacquemot/FRA def. #2 Diana Shnaider/RUS 6-7(5)/7-5/6-3 - down 7-6/5-3, saved 7 MP in 2nd set (trailed 5-4, 40/love)
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #10 Karolina Muchova/CZE (def. WC Hunter)
FIRST SEED OUT: #8 Maria Sakkari/GRE (1r- lost to Masarova/ESP)
FIRST CAREER SLAM MD WINS: Eva Lys/GER, Lily Miyazaki/GBR
PROTECTED RANKING MD WINS: In 2r: Brady/USA, Saville/AUS(L), Tig/ROU
LUCKY LOSER MD WINS: In 2r: Wickmayer/BEL
UPSET QUEENS: United States
REVELATION LADIES: China (5-0 1r)
NATION OF POOR SOULS: France (1-6 in 1st; 9 of FRA Top 10 out Q/1r)
CRASH & BURN: Nominee: #8 Sakkari (1r)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEW YORK: #32 Elise Mertens/BEL (5 MP saved 1r/2r; 4-5, love/40 in 3rd vs. Bjorklund/SWE 1r; 2 MP 2nd set TB vs. Collins/USA 2r)
IT ("??"): x
Ms.OPPORTUNITY: x
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: In 2r: Juvan/SLO(W), Lys/GER, Minnen/BEL, Miyazaki/GBR(L), Vickery/USA, Wang Yafan/CHN
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN (in 2r)
LAST BANNERETTE STANDING: In 2r: Brady, Collins(L), Davis(L), Gauff(W), Kenin, Keys, Pegula, Pera(W), Stearns, Townsend(W), Vickery
COMEBACK: Nominee: Wozniacki
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): x
DOUBLES STAR: x
BIG APPLE BANNERETTE BREAKTHROUGH: x
BROADWAY-BOUND: x
LADY OF THE EVENING: x
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: x







All for Day 3. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 8:39 PM 

4 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Wonziacki did it! That section of the draw has some stories, with Wozniacki/Brady and Mertens/Gauff on the docket.

Stat of the Day- 4- Slam QF or better for Coco Vandeweghe.

That was out of 38 slams. 3 of those 4 were in her career year of 2017, when she may have been overlooked when at her peak.

A little bit unlucky never to build on her dream year because of injuries, she managed to take a backseat in even her biggest moments.

Her first career SF was in Australia, overshadowed by the last Serena/Venus slam final. After another QF at Wimbledon, she took a bite out of the Big Apple, only to have Stephens/Keys play the last all American slam final.

With the other 4 names mentioned, plus Mattek-Sands, her biggest triumph should not have happened.

But hindsight tells us that Stephens missed the first two slams due to injury, while Serena missed the last 3 due to pregnancy. So there was a spot on the Fed Cup team for Vandeweghe, who went 8-0 under the old format, leading the US to their first title since 2000.

Other career highlights were 2 Den Bosch titles and a US Open doubles title with Ashleigh Barty in 2018.

Thu Aug 31, 03:03:00 AM EDT  
Blogger khan35 said...

I didn't expect Wozniacki to beat Kvitova and that in straight sets. Is there a fairy-tale run incoming? It would be awesome (same thing goes for Brady too). Unfortunately they landed in the tougher half of the draw.

Thu Aug 31, 04:02:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

Oh Petra.......

That conversation between Swiatek and Juvan over who was weirder has re-emerged. It's still funny, and my first thought--again--was that it could probably never happen between U.S. players. "That's probably the only WTA interview where someone has mentioned Descartes." :)

Many years ago, I wrote a sestina called "Walking the Brooklyn Bridge."

Thu Aug 31, 10:13:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

C-

Vandeweghe was really Rinaldi's go-to player in the early years of her time as FC captain. In that 2017 title season, Vandeweghe (FC MVP) swept all three points *twice* in live ties en route to the title (the only player to have done it since 1995).


K-

I figured Wozniacki would picks things up pretty quickly, but her results pre-Open didn't have me thinking she was quite ready yet. It was interesting that she noted that she needed to go for her shots vs. Kvitova (i.e. be more aggressive). When she announced her comeback I said something about wondering whether she'd quickly get back being more aggressive, which is what finally won her a slam in Caro 1.0 after so many oh-so-close seasons.

So it took her five matches to figure it out. Not a bad learning curve.

(I must say, though, I do miss her doing commentary... as there aren't many on ESPN/TC that don't aggravate me most of the time).


D-

Hopefully, Petra will finish the year in the Top 10. She surely deserves it more than a few who are ranked there now.

Thu Aug 31, 12:57:00 PM EDT  

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