Sunday, August 20, 2023

Wk.33- Cinco de Coco in O-hio






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*WEEK 33 CHAMPIONS*
CINCINNATI OHIO, USA (WTA 1000/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Coco Gauff/USA def. Karolina Muchova/CZE 6-3/6-4
D: Alycia Parks/Taylor Townsend (USA/USA) def. Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Ellen Perez (USA/AUS) 6-7(1)/6-4 [10-6]
STANFORD CAL, USA (WTA 125/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Wang Yafan/CHN def. Kamilla Rakhimova/RUS 6-2/6-0
D: Jodie Burrage/Olivia Gadecki (GBR/AUS) def. Hailey Baptiste/Claire Liu (USA/USA) 7-6(4)/6-7(6) [10-8]
BARRANQUILLA, COLOMBIA (WTA 125/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Tatjana Maria/GER def. Fiona Ferro/FRA 6-1/6-2
D: Valenti Grammatikopoulou/Despina Papamichail (GRE/GRE) def. Yuliana Lizarazo/Maria Paulina Perez Garcia (COL/COL) 6-3/5-7 [10-5]




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Coco Gauff/USA
...maybe the time has come. The time to truly consider Coco Gauff. Check back in three weeks.

Sometimes one change (or a brief moment in time, see Sloane in the summer of 2017) can make all the difference, and Gauff's recent coaching switch to the duo of Pere Ribe and Brad Gilbert has produced such immediately spectacular dividends that she'll now be in the small group of "favorites" heading into the U.S. Open -- right alongside the names Iga, Aryna, Elena and Ons.. assuming the latter two are physically sound -- after putting together an 11-1 summer hard court run that this week added to her Washington title the biggest tournament grab of the 19-year old's career at the 1000 level Cincinnati event, a week that included (finally) her first win over #1 Iga Swiatek in her eighth try against the Pole.

Thing is, even while Gauff expertly maneuvered past the likes of Mayar Sherif, Linda Noskova, Jasmine Paolini, Swiatek and, in the final, Karolina Muchova while dropping just one set along the way, there is clearly still more that can be done to take her game to another level. Gilbert has freely admitted that the team has yet to touch her sometimes-problematic forehand, and have instead focused on fine-tuning her serve, return and overall mindset, injecting Gauff's game with a confidence, gall and aggression that has lately given her an edge in clutch situations that sometimes got away from her in the past.



Against Swiatek in the SF, and then Muchova in the final, Gauff's serve pushed her into the lead, then some ill-timed DF gave it back on multiple occasions. Still, she surged back in both matches down the stretch, producing key holds (she served out both sets in the final at love) that got her career title #5 (as the youngest Cincy women's winner ever) and will move her up to #6 in the rankings on Monday.



If this North American hard court summer is but the "baby steps" in this Coco "upgrade," just where is her game going to be a *year* from now?
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RISER: Karolina Muchova/CZE
...umm, shall we try this again?

After playing her way into the RG final, but coming up short vs. Iga Swiatek, Muchova is at it again heading into the final slam of the season. Healthy and in form -- crossing fingers -- and now a Top 10 player after reaching the Cincinnati final, she'll head to NYC looking to become the first Czech to win there since, hmmm, well... yeah, it *is* exactly who you might be thinking. Hana Mandlikova in 1985.

Only Helena Sukova (1986, '93) and Karolina Pliskova (2016) have reached the Open final in the last 37 years.

Cincinnati saw Muchova run off wins over Beatriz Haddad Maia, Petra Martic, Maria Sakkari, Marie Bouzkova (ret. after 3 games) and Aryna Sabalenka in the SF, once again thwarting the world #2's attempt to gain ground on #1 Iga Swiatek. Muchova is 6-2 vs. the Top 3 in her career (w/ both losses coming vs. Iga this year).

In her fourth tour final, Muchova became Coco Gauff's 11th victim in her last 12 matches this summer, but she'll jump to #10 to become the 11th different Czech (five are active) to reach the WTA Top 10, as well as the second of four straight Czechs ranked #9-12 (Vondrousova-Muchova-Kvitova-Krejcikova) heading into next week. Muchova's 2019 title in Seoul remains her lone tour title.

Still, as 2023 has gone along, we've once again gotten a taste of what Muchova is capable of if she can have some measure of good health. This year alone she's reached a slam final, a 1000 final (+2 more 1000 QF), recorded five Top 10 wins and is now a Top 10 player herself after ending the '22 season ranked #149. Even while often physically limited or out altogether, she's gone 10-6 vs. the Top 10 since 2021.


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SURPRISES: Jasmine Paolini/ITA and Wang Yafan/CHN
...the post-Quartet Italian generation continues to impress, as ITA #2 Paolini added to her career season with her first 1000 QF in Cincinnati, rising from qualifying (def. Rebeka Masarova in a 7-5 3rd) to post MD wins over Camila Osorio, Marta Kostyuk, Cristina Bucsa and Elena Rybakina (who retired after a looong week and a half of tennis, giving Paolini her second career Top 5 win).

Paolini fell to Coco Gauff in the QF, but her run bested the result from last week in Montreal (3rd Rd.) which had matched her top career run in a 1000 event (2021-22 I.W. 3r). She's 10-4 since Wimbledon, and she'll now crack the Top 40 (new CH #35) the same week that ITA #1 Elisabetta Cocciaretto cracks the Top 30.



In the fall of 2019, Wang climbed into the Top 50 for the first time. But as was the case with most of the Chinese players during the pandemic, she barely saw the court in 2020-21, playing just 9 matches (3-6, all before the lockdowns) in '20 and hardly ever finding the "W" column in her 22 matches (5-17) the following year, when she ended her season after Wimbledon. Ranked #300 at the close of '21, Wang once again only played half a season (nothing after May) in '22, and came into this season ranked at #418.

2023 has been different, though.

Since starting her season in February, 29-year old Wang has been a virtual machine. She won 24 straight matches in the spring, and has reached seven ITF finals (winning a circuit-leading 5) over the course of '23. This week in Stanford, she picked up her first career 125 crown to claim her biggest win since her lone tour-level title in Acapulco in 2019, qualifying and then getting victories over Daria Snigur, top-seeded Tamara Korpatsch, Mai Hontama, Moyuka Uchijima (saving a MP) and then Kamilla Rakhimova in a 6-2/6-0 final.

After posting a total of 29 match wins over three seasons from 2020-22, Wang is 53-10 this season (29-4 on hard courts alone). Since May, she's gone 35-3. With the title, she'll climb another 43 spots on Monday, settling in at #115 in what is turning out to be maybe the most virtually unnoticed comeback season of them all this year.


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VETERANS: Venus Williams/USA and Tatjana Maria/GER
...whatever Williams has in store for her 24th U.S. Open, she seems set to at least cause a stir. 26 years after her Open debut -- four years *before* the current #1 was born -- and four years since her most recent MD win at Flushing Meadows, the 43-year old is showing signs of being a legit first week force no matter who she draws as a wild card in the MD.

In Cincinnati, after having already this summer knocked off Camila Giorgi and pushed Alona Ostapenko and Madison Keys, topped Veronika Kudermetova (erasing 4-1 and 5-1 leads in the 1st and 2nd sets vs. the Hordette) to post her first Top 20 win since 2019, then claimed the 1st set before ultimately losing in three sets to Zheng Qinwen (who'd play three sets vs. Iga Swiatek a round later).

If Williams were to record two wins at the Open she'd become the oldest to reach the 3rd Round of a slam in 44 years (45-year old Renee Richards, 1979 U.S.). Kimiko Date-Krumm, at 42, reached the 3rd Round at Wimbledon in 2013.

So, keep a look out for the Open draw next week.

Meanwhile, though it feels like Maria has had a "step back" year after reaching the Wimbledon semis in '22 (and losing in the 1st Rd. at SW19 in her return), the German is actually having a career year as she's now on the cusp of reaching a career high ranking at age 36 and after returning from two breaks from the sport to have children.

In the Barranquilla 125, Maria ran off wins over ITF achiever Martina Capurro Taborda, Valentini Grammatikopoulou, Dasha Saville and Varvara Lepchenko to reach the final, where she handled Fiona Ferro 6-1/6-2. The win adds another successful chapter to a season that has seen the German defend her Bogota title, reach another 125 final (on the grass in Gaiba) and a tour-level SF in Warsaw (w/ an additional $40K crown back in January for good measure).



Maria will climb from #58 to #47 on Monday, her first Top 50 ranking since June 2018 and just one off her career high of #46 in 2017.
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COMEBACKS: Varvara Lepchenko/USA and Fiona Ferro/FRA
...at 37, Lepchenko has returned in 2023 from her recent suspension. She came into the week 16-8 on the season, and proceded to reach the SF in the Barranquilla 125 in Colombia, qualifying and then posting wins over Timea Babos, Caroline Dolehide and Carole Monnet before falling to Tatjana Maria. She'll climb over 160 spots in the next rankings, from #603 to around #434.

Lepchenko was ranked in the Top 20 in 2012, and has had Round of 16 slam results in Paris (2012) and New York (2015).

As if often the case with the Alphabets, Lepchenko's past suspensions -- of which there have been two -- are littered with reputation-smudging announcements that were later followed by (as close as you're going to see) "mea culpas" from that notorious collection of agencies. She was provisionally suspended as part of the "meldonium trap" 2016, and was later declared to "bear no fault or negligence" in the incident.

A second (backdated) four-year suspension was levied last year, with her appeal later cutting the suspension to 21 months after CAS ultimately declared that the substance for which she'd tested positive had come from a bottle of capsules in her travel bag that hadn't included the ingredient on the bottle's label. Lepchenko was out from August '21 until May of this year.

Of course, that didn't prevent the likes of Rennae Stubbs at the time of the initial suspension announcement last year from gloating and calling Lepchenko a "cheater."



And I'm *sure* -- wink, wink -- Stubbs' '22 comments didn't come from any lingering resentment from the Aussie after Lepchenko had called *her* out on social media after Stubbs had dubbed her "classless" for "celebrating" -- which Lepchenko denied, noting that she should speak to *her* before lobbing public accusations -- after winning a match via retirement over Garbine Muguruza back in 2016. Lepchenko's first suspension came later that year, and likely only emboldened Stubbs, who six years later proved she hadn't learned anything from the final ruling in the meldonium case.

When dealing with the Alphabets, if you're not withholding judgments and are instead doling out accusations/opinions based on rulings and pronouncements that will likely be judged differently later, well, then you're not paying very close attention. Which we know many people, including former and current players, often don't. At all.



Meanwhile, Ferro seems to finally be catching a nice groove after some pretty tough times.

A two-time tour champ in 2019-20, with a Top 40 ranking in '21, Ferro had a difficult 2022 both off court (filing sexual assault charges vs. an ex-coach) and on it (she collected just 8 total match wins). Starting the year at #411, Ferro dropped as low a #493 in April.

The Pasty reached a pair of ITF challenger finals ($15K/$60K) earlier this year, winning one, but the past week proved to be her best of the season thus far. First off, she received the FFT's reciprocal wild card into the U.S. Open MD, where the 26-year old will seek her first slam win in two years. Then Ferro went into Barranquilla and reached the 125 final there, her biggest since she won her most recent WTA crown in Palermo in August '20.

After posting wins over Aliona Bolsova, Elsa Jacquemot, Irina Fetecau and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Ferro fell in the final to top seed Tatjana Maria, but the French woman will climb more than 60 spots on Monday, moving back into the Top 200 to around #190. After getting just eight match wins a year ago, she already has 42 in '23.
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FRESH FACE: Linda Noskova/CZE
...arriving in Cincinnati off her final run in Prague (her second WTA final of '23) in Week 31, 18-year old Noskova didn't skip a beat, qualifying with wins over Magdalena Frech and Diane Parry and then posting back-to-back Top 20 victories over Liudmila Samsonova and fellow Czech Petra Kvitova in three sets (from a set down on both occasions). Her win over countrywoman Kvitova accounted for her third Top 10 win of the season (after Kasatkina and Jabeur in Adelaide).

Noskova fell 4 & love to Coco Gauff in the 3rd Round, but is 10-3 since Wimbledon and will climb to a new career high of #42 this week.
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DOWN: Barbora Krejcikova/CZE and Katerina Siniakova/CZE
...after opening the year on an 11-match winning streak, taking the AO and Indian Wells titles, Krejcikova & Siniakova haven't posted a doubles victory with each other since March. In their first outing since a 1st Round loss at Roland Garros, the Czechs (after a bye and walkover) lost in straight sets in the Cincinnati QF to Chan Hao-ching & Giuliana Olmos.

Their doubles fortunes as a team in '23 have somewhat followed along with the overall downturn of their singles results as the season has progressed.

Since March, after her title run in Dubai and I.W./Miami 4th Rounds, Krejcikova has gone 10-8 (w/ 4 of the wins coming in one event in Birmingham), including a 1st Round loss this week to Victoria Azarenka; while the 1st Round loss in Cincy to Marketa Vondrousova is Siniakova's fourth straight. Since winning a title in Bad Homburg, she's recorded just one match win in singles (and the title run had broken her out of a 1-6 slide).

After seeming in the early spring to once again be the top WD duo on the season, they're now holding on and down to #5 in the Points Race.
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ITF PLAYERS: Jana Kolodynska/BLR and Lanlana Tararudee/THA
...20-year old Belarusian Kolodynska picked up her second $40K title of the season (in her 4th final) in Arequipa (PER) with a three-set win in the final over Italian Miriana Tona. She's 11-2 in August.

Kolodynska will crack the Top 250 on Monday, jumping 36 spots to #224.

In Nanchang, 19-year old Thai Tararudee improved to 4-0 in '23 finals, defeating top seeded You Xiaodi 6-2/6-3 in the final.

33-12 on the year, Tararudee (THA #1) will crack the Top 300 and rise to #258 heading into next week.


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JUNIOR STAR: Tereza Valentova/CZE
...a week after the Crushers won the ITF 14u team championship, two *other* Czechs met in the final of the J300 tournament in Prague.

Top-seeded 16-year old Valentova (jr. #12) picked up her third caeeer high-level junior crown (she won two J1 titles in '22), defending her Prague crown from a year ago (she defeated Alena Kovackova, another Czech, in that final) with a 6-0/5-7/6-4 win this time around over second-seeded 15-year old Laura Samsonova (jr. #17).

Samsonova teamed with Kovackova to claim the doubles title.


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DOUBLES: Alycia Parks/Taylor Townsend, USA/USA
...Townsend has made some hay in singles since returning to tennis last season after having a baby, winning her first slam MD match in three years, reaching a 125 final and winning $100K and $80K titles. But doubles has really been her thing.

Over the past year, Townsend has reached a pair of slam finals ('22 US w/ McNally, '23 RG w/ Fernandez), another in a 1000 ('23 Miami w/ Fernandez), and won two 500 titles Down Under in January with two *more* partners (Muhammad and Stefani in both ends of the Adelaide swing). This week in Cincinnati, Parks joined Townsend's long list of accomplices as they won the biggest title yet for both at the 1000 event, knocking off the likes of L.Chan/Yang, L.Kichenok/Ostapenko, #4-seeded Krawczyk/Schuurs, #2 Hunter/Mertens and #3 Melcihar-Martinez/Perez in the final, the latter victory via a 10-6 MTB.

It's Townsend's fourth career WTA title (third in '23), and improves her season final record to 3-2 as she'll return to the career-high rank of #5 that she held earlier this year.

As for Parks, while she's gone just 11-19 since her Lyon title run (still one of the most impressive on tour in '23) in February, to her credit she hasn't wallowed in her inability to add a series of follow-up singles results. She's continued to work in doubles, reaching finals with different partners in a 125 event (N.Kichenok), tour-level Birmingham (Hunter) and now Cincinnati with Townsend.

The win is Parks' second WTA WD title, the first since her maiden win (w/ McNally) in Ostrava!!! last October. She'll crack the Top 30 in the doubles rankings on Monday.


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1. Cincinnati SF - Coco Gauff def. Iga Swiatek
...7-6(2)/3-6/6-4. A true hallmark moment for Gauff, who notches her first win in her eighth try (she'd been 0-14 in sets) vs. Swiatek and her first over a world #1 via a MP (her previous win over then top-ranked Barty came w/ a retirement).

Showcasing the confident and aggressive mindset already instilled by her new coaching combo of Pere Riba/Brad Gilbert, Gauff overcame some tough moments on serve by not backing down. Swiatek served for the 1st at 5-3, but Gauff took her first career set from the Pole with a 7-2 TB win.

After seeing Swiatek knot the match, Gauff held firm in two late service games in the 3rd, either of which could have turned the tide to the world #1. Having broken to lead 4-3, Gauff lost a love/40 lead and stared down a BP, but clutch and heady serving (a great slicing 2nd serve) got the hold. Serving at 5-4, with two MP at 40/15, Gauff again found herself down BP. After missing out on MP #3 (which she'd reached w/ an ace), Gauff finally put away MP #4 on a Swiatek error.

Will we remember this as the moment that changed everything?



After going 15-2 vs. the Top 10 in 2022, this loss drops Swiatek to 6-6 this season.
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2. Cincinnati SF - Karolina Muchova def. Aryna Sabalenka
...6-7(4)/6-3/6-2. Muchova has been Swiatek's best (and last) line of defense a far as the Pole keeping the #1 ranking for herself.

In Paris, Muchova staged a comeback from 5-2 in the 3rd (saving a MP) in the SF vs. Sabalenka when a win would have given the Belarusian the #1 ranking. Here, with Swiatek having lost in the earlier semi, the Czech again downed Sabalenka as she looked dead in the eyes a final chance to pick up some significant ground on the Pole heading into NYC.

Sabalenka lost a 4-1 edge in the 1st, but prevented Muchova from serving out the set at 5-4. After failing to convert triple SP at 6-5, love/40 on the Czech's serve, Sabalenka took the TB at 7-4 on SP #4. But Muchova pushed things to a 3rd, and then broke out ahead in the 3rd.

Sabalenka had no answer (as Muchova improved to 6-2 vs. the Top 3), and rather than gain on Swiatek will lose 225 points (she still leads the '23 Points Race, but by just 245) as she matches her '22 SF while Iga improves upon her Cincy 3rd Round from a year ago.

Bring on the U.S. Open, where Swiatek knocked off Sabalenka in the semis a year ago and took the title.

Meanwhile, in "Ms.Backspin" news, we head into the Open with, I believe, Swiatek having slightly nosed ahead of Sabalenka in the WTA PoY race. Sabalenka has squandered more opportunities than she's seized in recent months, while Swiatek ('22 Ms.B) is clearly not as dominant as a year ago.

If neither wins a big title (US/WTAF) by the end of the season, the door is now open for a certain Dutch roller -- should she not hit a speedbump -- to glide into a second Ms.B crown in three seasons.
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Not sure what the reason is -- camera angle/distance, angle of the sun, court color too light? -- but it was unbelievably difficult to see the ball at this event. Assuming this event stays at this site, maybe they should consider a different color ball (or court surface) in the future?

I thought maybe it was just me, but the comments thread on that tweet/post backs up what I was yelling at the screen all week.

3. Cincinnati Final - Coco Gauff def. Karolina Muchova
...6-3/6-4. Gauff's serve effectiveness was once again up and down, but she continued to bounce back after being unable to hold onto early advantages. After losing break leads at 2-0 and 4-2 in the 1st, she again took a break lead at 5-3 and then served out the set at love.

In the 2nd, with Muchova struggling a bit in the heat, Gauff took a double-break lead. She was unable to serve out the match on her first try, on which she held a 3 MP at 5-2, but did so on her second opportunity, again holding at love to pick up the biggest title of her career so far.



Gauff is 36-2 this season when winning the opening set.


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4. Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Ons Jabeur def. Anhelina Kalinina
...6-3/6-7(2)/7-6(2). While Jabeur went out in the QF (after incurring a foot injury, another sign of this Cincy event having the feel of a slam's eve tournament where caution was evident and retirements/"retirements" abundant), her first match since her loss in the Wimbledon final saw her experience both ends of the comeback spectrum.

Jabeur served at 6-3/5-4, only to be broken on BP #4 of game 10 by Kalinina; only to then rally from 5-1 and 15/30 down in the 3rd with the Ukrainian serving for the match at 5-2 and 5-4. She got the win, but ultimately may have been better off if she hadn't).


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5. Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Linda Noskova def. Petra Kvitova
...3-6/6-2/6-4. Noskova's third Top 10 win of '23 is also a rare win by a fellow Czech over Kvitova. Petra is 34-6 vs. her countrywomen since 2012, but just 2-3 the last two seasons.


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6. Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Elena Rybakina def. Alona Ostapenko 6-7(6)/6-2/6-4
Cincinnati 3rd Rd. - Jasmine Paolini def. Elena Rybakina 4-6/5-2 ret.
...after her experiences last week in Montreal, there was a question of whether Rybakina would even give it a go in Cincinnati. Perhaps still with a proverbial burr under her saddle, the Kazakh maintained her get-out-of-my-way mindset and dispatched Ostapenko in three after dropping the 1st (while telling her coach to speak when spoken to, as well).

After winning the 1st set vs. Jasmine Paolini, the overworked Rybakina (already playing with her shoulder taped) finally found her limit when down 5-2 in the 3rd.

Assuming she can recover in time to give her all at Flushing Meadows, hopefully Rybakina can keep this more headstrong momentum going. It might be just what she'll need to succeed in New York City, where she's yet to reach the second week in four tries (3-4 overall, vs. 33-10 at the other three slams).


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7. Cincinnati Final - Alycia Parks/Taylor Townsend def. Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Ellen Perez
...6-7(1)/6-4 [10-6]. Melichar-Martinez is the Maria Sakkari of doubles. While she has six 500 level titles in her career, this loss drops her to 0-6 in 1000+ finals. She's lost six straight doubles finals, is 2-10 in her last 12, and is now 1-6 with Perez by her side.

That said, Melichar-Martinez/Perez are the first duo in the Open era to reach back-to-back Cincinnati finals, even if they did lose both of them.


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8. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Varvara Gracheva def. Caroline Wozniacki
...6-4/6-4. No one said this comeback wouldn't have hiccups.

After Elina Svitolina (foot) withdrew, lucky loser Gracheva filled in and handed Wozniacki a straight sets loss ahead of her U.S. Open return.


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9. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Mayar Sherif def. Wang Xiyu
...7-6(3)/4-6/7-6(5). Sherif posts her first career MD win in Cincinnati after Wang had served for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd.


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10. Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Sloane Stephens def. Caroline Garcia
...4-6/6-4/6-4. Yes, Stephens lost a 3-0, double-break lead in the 3rd, but she surged last after defending champ Garcia had gotten the set back on serve at 4-4.

Garcia's first of three big points defenses/losses comes and goes without a match win, as she loses 860 points.

Quick: name the three oldest players ranked in the Top 20.



Answers: (1) Victoria Azarenka, (2) Petra Kvitova and, yes, (3) Garcia.
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11. Stanford 125 SF - Wang Yafan def. Momoko Uchijima 6-3/5-7/7-5
Stanford 125 Final - Wang Yafan def. Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2/6-0
...Wang lost a 6-3/3-1 lead, ultimately saving MP down 5-4 in the 3rd. But she held serve, broke to take a 6-5 lead on Uchijima, and then served out the win at love.

The rest, as they say, was (almost) history, as Wang took the title to move China (w/ 11 combined 125 titles) to within one of the record (USA-12) for most title runs by any nation since the creation of the series in 2012.

For Rakhimova, it was her biggest career final. She'd come into the event on a six-match losing streak, without a win since the 2nd Round of Roland Garros.


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12. Barranquilla 125 Final - Tatjana Maria def. Fiona Ferro
...6-1/6-2. Maria's second '23 title run in Colombia lifts her back into the Top 50, and knocks Bianca Andreescu out.


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13. Stanford 125 1st Rd. - Marina Bassols Ribera def. Elli Mandlik
...6-7(5)/6-4/7-6(4). Mandlik led 3-1 in the 3rd, held a MP at 5-4 *and* led 3-1 in the deciding TB.
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14. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Ann Li def. Magda Linette
...0-6/7-6(5)/6-2. Linette started 8-2 in '23, reaching the AO semfinals. With this loss, she fell to 12-17 since.
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15. Stanford 125 Final - Jodie Burrage/Olvia Gadecki def. Hailey Baptiste/Claire Liu
...7-6(4)/6-7(6) [10-8]. Both win their biggest career doubles titles.

After her anti-vax stance kept her confined to Australia for most of '22, Gadecki has been busy this season, reaching five ITF singles finals (winning one in Portugal) and six in doubles (winning twice, going 1-1 in $100K title matches). She's cracked the Top 150 in singles and now stands on the cusp of the Top 100 in doubles.

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16. Barranquilla 125 2nd Rd. - Dasha Saville def. Sabine Lisicki
...walkover. The injury-plagued vets have played three times over the years (2015, '16 and '22). Naturally, their first meeting (RG 2r) was ended by a retirement.

This one didn't even take place.
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17. $25K Vrnjacka Banja SRB Final - Polona Hercog def. Isabella Shinikova
...6-2/6-4. For the longest time, Hercog was the only player to defeat Iga Swiatek in a pro final ('19 Lugano), as the Pole sports a 7-0 ITF final mark and won ten straight finals at tour level after losing to Hercog until Barbora Krejcikova finally clipped her wings in Ostrava!!! last October.

After only playing eight total matches last year, Hercog didn't start her '23 season until May. She came into the week at 5-7, but ran off seven straight wins in Serbia, qualifying and then posting victories over NCAA champ Tian Fangran (QF) and young Serb Mia Ristic (SF) before defeating Shinikova to improve to 18-1 (w/ a walkover win) in career ITF finals.

Hercog is 3-3 in WTA finals, and 0-1 in 125 title matches.
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18. $25K Erwitte GER Final - Nikola Bartunkova def. Daniela Vismane
...6-4/6-1. The 17-year old Crusher, the Wimbledon girls' RU earlier this summer, wins her second pro singles title.
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19. $25K Aldershot ENG Final - Destanee Aiava def. Alex Eala
...4-6/6-4/6-1. Tthe Aussie sweeps the s/d titles in England, winning just her second singles title outside of Australia, while Eala ('22 U.S. Open jr. champ) comes up short in her attempt to win back-to-back events.
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20. $40K Wroclaw POL Final - Darya Astakhova def. Gergana Topalova
...6-1/7-5. The 21-year old Hordette wins her sixth and biggest title, her first since 2021. She'll return to the Top 200 for the first time since May.
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HM- $25K Erwitte GER Final - Nika Radisic/Anita Wagner def. Ekaterina Ovcharenko/Amarissa Kiara Toth
...7-5/7-6(4). Not banned, Toth reached her 20th career ITF doubles final in Erwitte, but failed to pick up title #13.

The 20-year old Hungarian lost in the 1st Round in singles here, but has gone 5-2 since her trip to Budapest, qualifying in a $25K and reaching a QF, her best singles result of the season.
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1. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Venus Williams def. Veronika Kudermetova
...6-4/7-5. A great statement of relevance from Venus, who recorded her first Top 20 win since 2019, or another sign of Kudermetova's "still-not-ready-for-primetime" status? The Hordette led 4-1 in the 1st and 5-1 in the 2nd, likely knowing full well that her chances of victory would increase by quite a few percentage points should she push Williams to a 3rd set.


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2. Barranquilla 125 Final - Valentini Grammatikopoulou/Despina Papamichail def. Yuliana Lizarazo/Maria Paulina Perez Garcia
...7-6(2)/7-5. Yes, Greeks *can* win in finals. Well, at least if they're the GRE #2 and #3.

The biggest career title for both Grammatikopoulou (who has 28 ITF titles) and Papamichail (36), combined pro title #65 is their first *together*.


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A nice statement, but where was this steadfast stance against social media harrassment when members of her own tour were banding together to bully a fellow player that they didn't know based on misleading information about a match they didn't see a few weeks ago?

Clearly, this was a case of bettors attacking Swiatek after losing the 1st set because they'd bet on her to win in straights. Of course, the hypocritical root of all this is the sport's deepening relationship with online gambling, seen so often in Tennis Channel's intertwining of betting odds and tips/updates on such things often getting as much coverage as, well, the actual tennis.

Iga is right... but if the sport is all right with its partners pushing the players as potential financial "commodities," well, then you reap what you sow. It'll likely only get worse. Unless I missed it, Swiatek didn't say anything about that corruptive and ultimately corrosion connection. (At least Rybakina called out the tour's mismanagement of the Montreal scheduling, and hinted at a lack of leadership on many other issues, as well.)

Of course, such an omission maintains Swiatek's pattern as an "outspoken" world #1, as she has about a 60-65% hit rate on many issues. She'll stand up against some things (as she did the 3 a.m. Montreal finish and scheduling of last week), but remains mum on others (the Toth trolling). She'll stand up for *some* players' rights, but was also fine with players being banned from the tour because of their country of birth, and "informed the authorities" on another player -- seemingly without reaching out to said player about their intentions -- for wearing a hometown soccer jersey on court and then publicly talking about her actions (effectively accusing and shaming the player in question).

To her credit, Swiatek *tries* to be a "voice for the tour," but she clearly has some pretty large blinds spots. Sure, she *also* has to, you know, find the time to be the world #1. But once a player takes on the role of "voice of reason" on a number of issues (and not just one in particular), across-the-board consistency is essential to have any real credibility. Or at least it *should* be.


















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*2023 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
4 - Iga Swiatek (Doha/Stuttgart/Roland Garros/Warsaw)
3 - COCO GAUFF (Auckland/Washington/Cincinnati)
3 - Aryna Sabalenka (Adelaide 1/Aust.Open/Madrid)
2 - Belinda Bencic (Adelaide 2/Abu Dhabi)
2 - Petra Kvitova (Miami/Berlin)
2 - Elena Rybakina (Indian Wells/Rome)
[2023 finals]
6 - Iga Swiatek, POL (4-2)
5 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (3-2)
4 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ (2-2)
3 - COCO GAUFF, USA (3-0)
3 - Belinda Bencic, SUI (2-1)
2 - Petra Kvitova, CZE (2-0)
2 - Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA (1-1)
2 - Ons Jabeur, TUN (1-1)
2 - Lucia Bronzetti, ITA (1-1)
2 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (1-1)
2 - Jessie Pegula, USA (1-1)
2 - Liudmila Samsonova, RUS (1-1)
2 - Donna Vekic, CRO (1-1)
2 - Caroline Garcia, FRA (0-2)
2 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (0-2)
2 - KAROLINA MUCHOVA, CZE (0-2)
2 - Linda Noskova, CZE (0-2)

*WTA #1 WINS BY NATION - 2020-23*
9 - USA
4 - CZE
3 - BLR,KAZ
2 - ESP,FRA
1 - BRA,POL,UKR
--
LOSSES: 11-Barty, 15-Swiatek

*#1 WINS BY U.S. WOMEN - since 2014*
2014 #26 V.Williams def. #1 S.Williams (Montreal SF)
2017 #35 Vandeweghe def. #1 Kerber (AO 3rd)
2017 #12 V.Williams def. #1 Kerber (Miami QF)
2017 #22 Vandeweghe def. #1 Ka.Pliskova (US Open QF)
2018 #16 Vandeweghe def. #1 Halep (Stuttgart QF)
2019 #16 S.Williams def. #1 Halep (AO 4th)
2019 #55 Riske def. #1 Barty (Wimbledon 4th)
2019 #29 Kenin def. #1 Barty (Toronto 1st)
2019 #22 Kenin def. #1 Osaka (Cincinnati QF)
2020 #53 Brady def. #1 Barty (Brisbane 2nd)
2020 #15 Kenin def. #1 Barty (AO SF)
2021 #37 Collins def. #1 Barty (Adelaide 2nd)
2021 #35 Gauff def. #1 Barty (Rome QF)
2021 #43 Rogers def. #1 Barty (US Open 3r)
2022 #24 Keys def. #1 Swiatek (Cincinnati 3r)
2023 #3 Pegula def. #1 Swiatek (United Cup SF)
2023 #3 Pegula def. #1 Swiatek (Montreal SF)
2023 #7 Gauff def. #1 Swiatek (Cincinnati SF)

*2023 WINS OVER SWIATEK*
United Cup SF - #3 Jessie Pegula/USA (W-USA)
Australian Open 4r - #25 Elena Rybakina/KAZ
Dubai F - #30 Barbora Krejcikova/CZE (W)
Indian Wells SF - #10 Elena Rybakina/KAZ (W)
Madrid F - #2 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR (W)
Rome QF - #6 Elena Rybakina/KAZ (W)
[Bad Homburg SF - #65 Lucia Bronzetti w/o]
Wimbledon QF - #76 Elina Svitolina/UKR
Montreal SF #3 Jessie Pegula/USA (W)
Cincinnati SF - #7 Coco Gauff/USA (W)
=
(W) - won title

*2023 YOUNGEST WTA FINALISTS*
18 - Linda Noskova, CZE (Adelaide 1 - L)
18 - Coco Gauff, USA (Auckland - W)
18 - Linda Noskova, CZE (Prague - L)
19 - Maria Timofeeva, RUS (Budapest - W)
19 - Noma Noha Akugue, GER (Hamburg - L)
19 - Coco Gauff, USA (Washington - W)
19 - COCO GAUFF USA (Cincinnati -W)

*RECENT WTA TOP 10 SINGLES DEBUTS*
[2019 - 3]
Sabalenka/BLR, Barty/AUS, Andreescu/CAN
[2020 - 1]
Kenin/USA
[2021 - 6]
Swiatek/POL, Krejcikova/CZE, Sakkari/GRE, Jabeur/TUN, Kontaveit/EST, Badosa/ESP
[2022 - 5]
Collins/USA, Gauff/USA, Pegula/USA, Raducanu/GBR, V.Kudermetova/RUS
[2023 - 4]
Rybakina/KAZ, Haddad Maia/BRA, Vondrousova/CZE, Muchova/CZE

*WTA TOP 10ers - TCH/CZE (by debut)*
1975 Martina Navratilova
1980 Hana Mandlikova
1984 Helena Sukova
1989 Jana Novotna
2006 Nicole Vaidisova
2011 Petra Kvitova
2015 Lucie Safarova
2015 Karolina Pliskova
2021 Barbora Krejcikova
2023 Marketa Vondrousova
2023 Karolina Muchova

*2023 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
3 - Desirae Krawczyk, USA
3 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
3 - Luisa Stefani, BRA
3 - TAYLOR TOWNSEND, USA
[2023 finals - ind.]
5 (3-2) = Desirae Krawczyk, USA
5 (3-2) = TAYLOR TOWNSEND, USA
4 (2-2) = Shuka Aoyama, JPN
4 (2-2) = Coco Gauff, USA
4 (2-2) = Jessie Pegula, USA
4 (2-2) = Ena Shibahara, JPN
4 (2-2) = Katerina Siniakova, CZE
4 (1-3) = Storm Hunter, AUS
4 (0-4) = NICOLE MELICHAR-MARTINEZ, USA
[2023 finals - duos]
4...Gauff/Pegula, USA/USA (2-2)
3...Aoyama/Shibahara, JPN/JPN (2-1)
3...Krawczyk/Schuurs, USA/NED (2-1)
3...MELICHAR-MARTINEZ/PEREZ, USA/AUS (0-3)

*U.S. OPEN WILD CARDS*
Kayla Day, USA (23) - the '16 Open girls champ, Day last played in the U.S. MD in 2017

Fiona Ferro, FRA (26) - reached 3r in U.S. debut in '19; Ferro hasn't posted a MD slam win since the '21 Open

Storm Hunter, AUS (29) - in '23 Hunter has been a WC at the AO/US, and a qualifier at RG/WI, making this the first season in which she's been in the MD at all four slams

Ashlyn Krueger, USA (19) - appears in the U.S. MD for a third straight year (WC-Q-WC), after losing in AO-RG-WI qualifying earlier this season

Robin Montgomery, USA (18) - '21 girls' champ plays in her first slam MD since the '20 U.S.

Clervie Ngounoue, USA (17) - the Wimbledon girls' champ gets a WC into her first slam MD after winning the USTA's 18s championship

Venus Williams, USA (43) - Williams plays in her 24th U.S. Open, 26 years after reaching the final in her debut as a 17-year old in 1997

Caroline Wozniacki, DEN (33) - the two-time U.S. finalist (2009/14) plays in her first slam since the '20 AO

[US MD - protected ranking]
Jennifer Brady, USA (28)
Barbora Strycova, CZE (37)
Dasha Saville, AUS (29)
Patricia Maria Tig, ROU (29)
Margarita Betova, RUS (28)

*2023 WTA 125 CHAMPIONS*
Cali, COL (rc) - Nadia Podoroska/ARG
San Luis Potosi, MEX (rc) - Elisabetta Cocciaretto/ITA
Saint-Melo, FRA (rc) - Sloane Stephens/USA
Reus, ESP (rc) - Sorana Cirstea/ROU
Paris, FRA (rc) - Diane Parry/FRA
Florence, ITA (rc) - Jasmine Paolini/ITA
Makarska, CRO (rc) - Mayar Sherif/EGY
La Bisbal d'Empordà, ESP (rc) - Arantxa Rus/NED
Valencia, ESP (rc) - Mayar Sherif/EGY (2)
Gaiba ITA (gr) - Ashlyn Krueger/USA
Contrexeville, FRA (rc) - Arantxa Rus/NED (2)
Bastad, SWE (rc) - Olga Danilovic/SRB
Iasi, ROU (rc) - Ana Bogdan/ROU
Grodzisk Mazowiecki, POL (hc) - Dayana Yastremska/UKR
Stanford, USA (hc) - Wang Yafan/CHN
Barranquilla, COL (hc) - Tatjana Maria/GER





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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 9:57 PM 

5 Comments:

Blogger khan35 said...

Anyone can beat anyone on WTA tour and long may it continue.

Since Roland Garros, winners of big titles (majors & WTA 1000s): "big 3" = 0
the field = 3

Law of averages suggest that someone other than Gauff will win the US Open.

Muchova and Sakkari, each of them, have only one WTA 250 title and both are in the top 10 in the singles rankings.

Kudermetova shouldn't have lost to 43 years old Version of Venus.

Mon Aug 21, 04:44:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

Like Pegula the week before, Gauff gets a win she desperately needed vs Swiatek.

Gauff/Muchova was the Swiatek Bowl. 2022 RG RU vs 2023 RG RU.

USO Q draw will be out today.

As much as Venus is a good story, Kudermetova needs to win those type of matches.

Navarro and Fernandez are Cleveland favorites in a draw that already has 4 LL.

Swiatek's narrative will change, but it probably shouldn't. 6 of her 10 losses this year have been to Top 10 players. The other 4? #25 Rybakina, #30 Krejcikova, #65 Bronzetti(w/o), #76 Svitolina.

Stat of the Week- 36- The number of consecutive slam draws for Madison Brengle.

That wasn't a given, as Brengle did not make the draw until Caty McNally pulled out a couple of days ago.

I still think this is amazing. A player who had lost in Q for 24 straight slams and has never won a title, has not only stayed ranked high enough to make 36 straight slams, but with her 24 losses has been on site for every slam starting with the 2008 US Open.

19 ITF titles have something to do with it, having reached a final in Landisville earlier this month.

Quiz Time!

Madison Brengle has played 36(counting USO) slams in a row. Which non title winner has the longest streak? Multiple answers accepted.

A.Anna Kournikova
B.Shelby Rogers
C.Lucie Hradecka
D.Alja Tomljanovic

Interlude- She needs to do more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKYArdI1tHE

Answer!

One of these seems like an obvious no, as (A)Kournikova only played 21 slams. The longest streak she had was 7, which opened her career. Her 1997 Wimbledon SF was during that time.

(C)Hradecka is correct. Her 2009-14 stretch of 20 is best of this bunch, though she doubled it in doubles. Had a streak of 47 from the start of her career, missed the 2018 AO, then played 18 more to finish out her career.

Barring a surprise WC, Hradecka will end a streak of 17 straight US Open doubles this year.

(B)Rogers is wrong, because missing this Open ends her longest streak at 14.

(D)Tomljanovic is also correct. Her 2017-22 streak reached 20 before she missed her home slam earlier this year.


Mon Aug 21, 07:05:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

Kudermetova has turned into somewhat of an enigma (like we needed another one). Not only should she be beating Venus, she should be beating a lot of opponents. Her fluid game, enhanced by her doubles skills, *should* have her in a higher rung than she now occupies.

Mon Aug 21, 09:44:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

K-

Sakkari (now with 100 con. weeks in the Top 10) is almost doing it with mirrors. At least Muchova has a slam final to bolster her points total.


C-

Well, Navarro *should* have done better in Cleveland. I mean, if you lead 5-0 in the 3rd you *should* win, right?

Always good to see ol' "BrengleFly" (who's *way* outlived the movie reference) still with relevant stats after all these years.

Quiz: that's a really good one. Tough, but went w/ Tomljanovic (but secretly wanted it to be Kournikova, against all odds). ;)

Iga video: someone should take advantage of people not knowing her face -- esp. in the U.S. -- and do something funny that plays off that in an ad. Sort of like that video where CoCo V. bad-talked herself to people, then told them who she was.


D-

Alexandrova: 4 career titles, including three (3-0 in F) in a little more than a year, and 3r-3r-4r slam results in '23. Rank: #22.

Kudermetova: one title in her career (in 2021), just one final in '23 and 0-4 in finals since the start of '22. 2r-1r-2r slam results in '23. Rank: #16.

Tennis is weird.

Tue Aug 22, 09:45:00 PM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

You may need to put those Alexandrova/Kudermetova numbers in your next post. Slightly reworked for this week, of course.

Fri Aug 25, 11:59:00 PM EDT  

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