US.12- The Day Before the Day

SATURDAY IS SET. pic.twitter.com/I2cZBvJ1Ma

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 8, 2023

=DAY 12 NOTES= ...while Jessie Pegula reached the MX final yesterday, today it became official that she and Coco Gauff will ascend to the co-#1 doubles ranking on Monday, replacing Katerina Siniakova. The Czech had held the spot for 52 consecutive weeks, and stands 6th on the all-time list of career weeks in the top WD spot with 114.

Neither have won or even reached a slam final over the past year, with SF results at AO/RG their best runs. They *did* win a 1000 title in Miami, and reached finals in Madrid and Rome.

It's Pegula first appearance atop the rankings; while Gauff spent four weeks in the top spot last summer before the U.S. Open.

The first all-USA team since 2012 to reach the top ??????????@CocoGauff & @JPegula will become the new co-ranked WTA World No.1 doubles players when the rankings are released on Monday, September 11! pic.twitter.com/43TMtP2toM

— wta (@WTA) September 8, 2023

...in the doubles semis today, 2020 Open champs Laura Siegemund & Vera Zvonareva returned to the final with a win over Jennifer Brady & Luisa Stefani. Both already have multiple U.S. Open titles, as in additional the '20 WD win Siegemund won the 2016 MX, while Zvonareva was the 2004 MX champion. Overall, Zvonareva has three career slam WD wins and two MX, and was also a two-time singles finalist (both in 2010, w/ one in New York).

Into the championship match once again ??

2020 champions @laurasiegemund & Vera Zvonareva take out Brady/Stefani 6-4, 6-1 to set up a final with Dabrowski/Routliffe!#USOpen pic.twitter.com/jUKi0F480x

— wta (@WTA) September 8, 2023

They'll face Gaby Dabrowski & Erin Routliffe, with both looking for their maiden slam WD crown (Routliffe in her first major final, while this is Dabrowski's second). The pair defeated RG champs Hsieh Su-wei (who also won Wimbledon this summer) & Wang Xinyu today.

Dabrowski has two MX titles.

First into the #USOpen doubles FINAL ????@GabyDabrowski & @erinroutliffe defeat Hsieh/Wang 6-1, 7-6(4) and will face the winners of Stefani/Brady vs. Siegemund/Zvonareva for the title! pic.twitter.com/35bwjhs6Iv

— wta (@WTA) September 8, 2023

...the threat of lightning impacted the bulk of the day schedule, so unless there was a roof not much got finished.

One thing that did was the wheelchair SF between #2 Yui Kamiji and #3 Jiske Griffioen, but only because the Dutch veteran retired after dropping a love 1st set. It'll be Kamiji's 26th career slam singles final (she's 8-17).

#1 Diede de Groot won the opening set over #4 Momoko Ohtani, but play was suspended at that point.

...top-seeded Bannerette Maylee Phelps' name reached the wheelchair girls' singles final, but her next opponent is yet to be determined. Phelps won the junior doubles last year in the maiden Open girls' WC competition at Flushing Meadows, teaming with Jade Moreira Lanai, who also won the singles.

A quick search for Phelps reveals that last year she designed her own Nike shoe as part of a partnership between the Oregon-based NIKE, Inc. and Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.

Official images of the NikeCourt Zoom Vapor Cage 4 'Doernbecher Freestyle' By Maylee Phelps have surfaced.

More Details: https://t.co/QP4yFcrXwg pic.twitter.com/Bd40Xwx0hi

— Sneaker News (@SneakerNews) April 19, 2022

Nike Zoom Vapor Cage 4 “Doernbecher” by Maylee Phelps pic.twitter.com/adhRip8WJf

— Nice Kicks (@nicekicks) February 26, 2022

*WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#6 Coco Gauff/USA vs. #2 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#16 Dabrowski/Routliffe (CAN/NZL) vs. #12 Siegemund/Zvonareva (GER/RUS)

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Pegula/Krajicek (USA/USA) vs. Danilina/Heliovaara (KAZ/FIN)

*WHEELCHAIR WOMEN'S SF*
#1 Diede de Groot/NED vs. #4 Momoko Ohtani/JPN
#2 Yui Kamiji/JPN def. #3 Jiske Griffioen/NED

*WHEELCHAIR WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 de Groot/Griffioen (NED/NED) vs. #2 Kamiji/Montjane (JPN/RSA)

*WHEELCHAIR JUNIOR SINGLES SF*
#1 Maylee Phelps/USA def. Luna Gryp/BEL
Rio Okano/JPN vs. #2 Ksenia Chasteau/FRA

*WHEELCHAIR JUNIOR DOUBLES SF*
#1 Chasteau/Phelps (FRA/USA) vs. Miranda/Schogt (BRA/NED)
Czauz/Takamuro (USA/JPN) vs. #2 Gryp/Okana (BEL/JPN)

*GIRLS SINGLES SF*
#1 Renata Jamrichova/SVK vs. #9 Tereza Valentova/CZE
#10 Laura Samsonva/CZE vs. (WC) Katherine Hui/USA

*GIRLS DOUBLES SF*
#1 Jamrichova/Quevedo (SVK/USA) vs. N.Saito/S.Saito (JPN/JPN)
Kinoshita/Sonobe (JPN/JPN) vs. #8 Gae/Gureva (ROU/RUS)

...AT FIRST, I SERIOUSLY THOUGHT THIS WAS AN ONION HEADLINE... ON DAY 12:

BREAKING:

Genie Bouchard joins the professional pickleball tour starting in 2024.

We’ve lost another one. pic.twitter.com/N6jPIlwy1w

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 7, 2023

Second, hahahahaha.

Third, there isn't a women's tennis version of The Onion. But, my-oh-my, there really *could* be. It'd be specactular.


...KEYS... ON DAY 12:

...is still the most unreliable player on tour in big matches who doesn't get much blowback for being so unreliable in big matches, but she may have had the best outfit of the entire U.S. Open. So there's that, I guess.

From reversible skirts to vibrant tennis dresses ??

Taking a look through the standout styles gracing the courts of the final Grand Slam of the season ??

— wta (@WTA) September 8, 2023

...POSTSCRIPT... ON DAY 12:

Someone on the ground told me that NYPD might have used some acetone to unglue his feet, but not sure about that. pic.twitter.com/UARXGxF9Zt

— TENNISMEDIA (@luciahoff) September 8, 2023

If you don't want to feel the unglueing pain, just don't glue them, it's simple.

— Piero Rubini (@pierorubini100) September 8, 2023

But I thought everyone was supposed to be talking about fossil fuels today.

Consider... GlueGate and Ostapenko.

i love tennis twitter hahhaha. she would have handled the situation :D https://t.co/PVWpWcxOpf

— Daria Saville (@Daria_gav) September 8, 2023

Serving up some wisdom??@BillieJeanKing spent time mentoring a few of the WTA’s up-and-comers, Noma Noha Akugue, @SBejlek, @vjimenezk pic.twitter.com/ELFEKomeJ2

— wta (@WTA) September 8, 2023

*REACHED #1 IN WTA DOUBLES (47)*
1984 Martina Navratilova, USA
1985 Pam Shriver, USA
1990 Helena Sukova, TCH
1990 Jana Novotna, TCH/CZE
1991 Gigi Fernandez, USA
1991 Natalia Zvereva, USSR/BLR
1992 Larisa Neiland, LAT
1995 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, ESP
1997 Lindsay Davenport, USA
1998 Martina Hingis, SUI
1999 Anna Kournikova, RUS
2000 Corina Morariu, USA
2000 Lisa Raymond, USA
2000 Rennae Stubbs, AUS
2000 Julie Halard-Decugis, FRA
2000 Ai Sugiyama, JPN
2002 Paola Suarez, ARG
2003 Kim Clijsters, BEL
2003 Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP
2005 Cara Black, ZIM
2006 Samantha Stosur, AUS
2007 Liezel Huber, RSA/USA
2010 Serena Williams, USA
2010 Venus Williams, USA
2010 Gisela Dulko, ARG
2011 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2011 Kveta Peschke, CZE
2011 Katarina Srebotnik, SLO
2012 Sara Errani, ITA
2012 Roberta Vinci, ITA
2014 Peng Shuai, CHN
2014 Hsieh Su-Wei, TPE
2015 Sania Mirza, IND
2017 Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
2017 Lucie Safarova, CZE
2017 Chan Yung-Jan, TPE
2018 Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
2018 Elena Vesnina, RUS
2018 Timea Babos, HUN
2018 Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
2018 Katerina Siniakova, CZE
2019 Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
2019 Barbora Strycova, CZE
2021 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
2021 Elise Mertens, BEL
2022 Coco Gauff, USA
2023 Jessie Pegula, USA

3 sea turtles and 1 bird all stuck together! pic.twitter.com/PZxzRer9VX

— The Dodo (@dodo) September 7, 2023

When this bird is finally unstuck from flypaper, her husband is SO excited to see her ?? pic.twitter.com/X1aqSrROqd

— The Dodo (@dodo) September 7, 2023

TOP QUALIFIER: #15 Wang Yafan/CHN
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #6 Coco Gauff/USA
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #2 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR
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): 1st Rd. - #32 Elise Mertens/BEL def. Mirjam Bjorklund/SWE 3-6/6-3/7-6(10-3) - down 3 MP at 4-5, love/40 in 3rd, won 4 con. pts to hold; wins TB 10-3
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd. - #20 Alona Ostapenko/LAT def. #1 Iga Swiatek/POL 3-6/6-3/6-1 (improves to 4-0 in head-to-head; Sabalenka replaces Swiatek as singles #1)
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: Jennifer Brady/USA (3rd Rd.); Dasha Saville/AUS (2nd Rd.), Patricia Maria Tig/ROU (2nd Rd.)
LUCKY LOSER MD WINS: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL (2nd Rd.)
UPSET QUEENS: United States
REVELATION LADIES: China
NATION OF POOR SOULS: France (1-6 in 1st; 9 of FRA Top 10 out Q/1r)
CRASH & BURN: #8 Maria Sakkari/GRE (3 consecutive slam 1st Rd. losses)
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 ("??"): Nominee: Zheng Q., Czech juniors, (wc)
Ms.OPPORTUNITY: Nominees: Gauff, Sabalenka, (wc)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Kaja Juvan/SLO, Greet Minnen/BEL (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN (4r)
LAST BANNERETTE STANDING: Coco Gauff/USA (in final)
COMEBACK: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Sorana Cirstea/ROU
DOUBLES STAR: x
BIG APPLE BANNERETTE BREAKTHROUGH: Peyton Stearns/USA
BROADWAY-BOUND: "Jabeurwocky"
LADY OF THE EVENING: Alona Ostapenko/LAT
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: x

All for Day 12. More tomorrow.