...19-year old Coco Gauff was involved in or adjacent to nearly every big plot development over the balance of the summer after her fateful decision to redesign her coaching team following a 1st Round exit at Wimbledon. The "Summer of Coco" saw her go 18-1 on North American hard courts, 5-1 vs. the Top 10, and win three titles in Washington, Cincinnati (w/ her first win over #1 Iga Swiatek in eight tries) and New York, where she road a wave of confidence all the way to her maiden slam title, defeating about-to-become #1 Aryna Sabalenka in a three-set U.S. Open final.
She became the third teen from the U.S. to win the Open crown (after Tracy Austin and Serena Williams), and the youngest home champ since a 17-year old Williams grabbed her maiden slam title 24 years ago.
...wheelchair living legend Diede de Groot completed another slam season -- her third Grand Slam year in a row -- unscathed in singles competition, winning her 12th consecutive slam crown by taking her sixth straight U.S. Open title with a win in the final over Yui Kamiji.
De Groot will take her 40-match slam winning streak (and 127-match run overall, as she hasn't lost a match in nearly three years) into the 2024 season.
Of course, de Groot won't get the chance to make it a four straight Grand Slam season next year, nor will she be able to repeat her Golden Slam campaign of '21, due to the *brilliant* decision to hold the Paralympic tennis competition in Paris while the U.S. Open is being played in New York.
Such a situation had been the longtime practice over the decades during Paralympic years, with the final slam not holding its tennis competition due to the scheduling conflict. But in 2021, with the Games delayed a year due to the pandemic, the altered schedule allowed for players to play *both* events, leading to a nice publicity boon when both de Groot and Dylan Alcott (in the men's Quad WC competition) completed Golden Slam seasons. It was such a great attention-getter that there was a thought that Paralympic organizers surely recognized the benefit to para-sports -- what with the tennis slams being the only major sports competitions in which able-bodied and para-athletes competed simultaneously in the same event -- and would try to avoid such a conflict in the future... but, no.
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???? @BKrejcikova becomes the fifth female to win against the World No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 players in a tournament in the last 40 years!
The other four: Sabalenka - 2022 WTA Finals Venus - 2008 WTA Finals Serena - 2002 Miami Graf - 1999 Roland Garros pic.twitter.com/tVWmzFuxVF
...while much of the tour has often cowered at the sight of Iga Swiatek on the other side of the net, Barbora Krejcikova most definitely has not. The February result in Dubai of such fearlessness was the best single-event run of any player on tour this season, as the 27-year old Czech not only saved 4 MP in the early rounds, but also became just the fifth woman to defeat the world's top three players in the same event, closing out her four Top 10-win run by becoming the first player to defeat Swiatek twice since the Pole rose to the top ranking in '22, doing so for the second time in a final.
While Krejcikova entered Dubai as the world #30, she been ranked #2 a year earlier, before an elbow injury cost her three months and then she contracted Covid upon her return. The Czech didn't really rediscover her form until the fall of '22, when she won back-to-back titles, posting five Top 20 wins over two weeks and handing Swiatek her first loss in a final in two years with a home soil title run in Ostrava!!! before a crowd providing her with much vocal support.
In some ways, Dubai was a super-charged version of Ostrava!!!, as a strong Czech presence in the stands once again buoyed Krejcikova, who rode it to her first 1000 crown and biggest title since winning Roland Garros in 2021.
After a week-opening win over Irina-Camelia Begu, Krejcikova saved 4 MP vs. #8 Dasha Kasatkina to record her first Top 10 win of 2023, then allowed just five games to countrywoman Petra Kvitova in the next round. After dropping the 1st at love to #2 Aryna Sabalenka, Krejcikova rallied from 6-0/3-1 down to win in three sets, handing the AO champ her first loss of the season. Picking up steam, the Czech defeated #3 Jessie Pegula, presenting the Bannerette a 3rd set bagel as a parting birthday present (though Pegula ultimately chose nacho-flavored Doritos in preparation for her flight home) to reach her ninth career final, and then defeated #1 Swiatek 6-4/6-2 to claim her sixth tour singles crown.
...in 2022, Sabalenka couldn't have looked less ready to play for a slam crown, despite having been a Top 10 fixture since early 2019 and a two-time major semifinalist in 2021. The ("flagless," for the purposes of tour play) Belarusian's serve was routinely producing 15+ DF a match, exposing technical flaws in a game already sometimes hamstrung by Sabalenka's inability to handle her emotions in big matches and unwillingness to play with slightly less risk by pulling back a bit on her big shots when prudence was a more advantageous tactic than shear blunt force. Finally admitting that something had to be done, Sabalenka and her coaching team (led by Anton Dubrov) utilized a biomechanical specialist to fix the kinks in her swing, making it more reliable and less of a dragging anchor that triggered her frustrations.
It paid immediate dividends, as Sabelenka reached the U.S. Open semis, leading eventual champ Swiatek 4-2 in the 3rd set, and advanced to the WTA Finals, where she became the fourth woman in tour history to post wins over the world #1 (Iga, in a redemptive semi), #2 and #3 in a single event, reaching the final and losing to Caroline Garcia but gaining more confidence during the week about her direction than any disappointment that came with the loss.
The surge carried over into '23 after a good training period in the offseason got Sabalenka into the best physical condition of her career. The goal of the mental aspect of her game similarly improving would make the biggest difference, though, as it was tasked with riding and trying to survive the wave associated with the likely rise and fall of the beta testing of her game's additional upgrades. Sabalenka stopped working with a sports psychologist during the offseason, and in Melbourne took to calling herself her "own psychologist" after having determined that it was up to *her* to fix her own problems. It was a retro, eyebrow-raising move on a tour that has recently (largely due to Swiatek's actions) come to embrace such assistance after decades of the practice being viewed by some players as making them appear "mentally weak."
The "new" Aryna surely was in full bloom Down Under, as Sabalenka opened the season with a dominant title run in Adelaide and then carried over her roll to Melbourne, dropping just one set (in the final vs. Elena Rybakina) en route to her maiden slam crown as, throughout the AO, when faced with a bad string of shots, pressure from her opponent's success, or an occasional DF on a big point, the "2.0" version of the Belarusian made it a practice to push the "amnesia button," smile and put on a positive face, moving on and immediately rebounding with an uptick in her play while not allowing it to cause her to lose focus and then control of a match.
It was a pattern that helped her greatly vs. Magda Linette in the semis, as the Pole had extended points and produced errors that the old Sabalenka may have allowed to eat away at her confidence and state of mind, then in the final after dropping the opening set, remaining calm and winning the final's most important points down the stretch.
Wooow guys...what just happened? I have a fear that this was all a dream and l'm about to wake up. It's all still sinking in, but I could not be happier in this moment. Thank you so much for all the support during this few weeks,I really appreciate it..?????? pic.twitter.com/vwyxezbLw8
With one grand result, Sabalenka was *officially* a player on every level of possibility. Eight months later, she caught Swiatek and was ranked #1 for the first time in her career.
...having lost her #1 ranking (to Aryna Sabalenka) when she failed to successfully defend her U.S. Open crown, Iga Swiatek suddenly found herself playing "catch up" down the final stretch of the season. In many respects, she was something of an "underdog" when it came to reclaiming the top spot by the end of the year.
Well, you *know* what she did... just go 12-1, ending the year on an 11-match winning streak (winning 22 of 23 sets) while winning two titles (including her first WTA Finals crown) and securing the year-end #1 ranking for a second straight season. You were expecting soemthing else?
In Beijing, the tournament played out a bit like Swiatek's triumph last year at Flushing Meadows. She arrived in not exactly her *best* form, started well (quick wins over Sara Sorribes Tormo, Varvara Gracheva and Magda Linette), had to fight to find a way through (vs. Caroline Garcia in the QF) a patchy stretch, then hit her stride heading into the final weekend (def. Coco Gauff in the SF, 6-2/6-3) and ultimately made her triumph feel almost "inevitable" because she had become almost untouchable between the lines (barely blinking an eye while taking out Liudmila Samsonova in a 2 & 2 final).
After sweeping through round robin play in the WTAF in Cancun (oh, don't get me started on *that* situation), a Sunday semifinal saw her handily win her first hard court face-off with #1 Sabalenka since last year's WTAF, keeping her season-ending #1 hopes alives, and on Monday she claimed her maiden tour championships title with a dominant 6-1/6-0 win over Jessie Pegula to climb back atop the WTA pyramid.
Over the course of the WTAF, Swiatek dropped just 20 games, setting a new record by a wide margin, as she collected her sixth singles title of the season and the 17th of her WTA career.
...when it's grass season, there's a pretty, pretty, pretty good chance we're gonna hear from Petra Kvitova. And there are few (if any) things better in tennis than the Czech lifting her game on the surface she loves the most.
This year, like clockwork, June arrived, Kvitova posted a loving tweet about how much she enjoys this time of year and -- boom! -- by the end of the month she was lifting another trophy. The 31st of her career. This time it came in Berlin for the first time, her sixth grass court title in a fourth different city over the past thirteen years. The six grass wins ties her with Venus Williams for the most amongst active women on tour.
With wins over Karolina Pliskova (a former Wimbledon finalist), Nadia Podoroska, Caroline Garcia, two-time reigning Rosmalen champ Ekaterina Alexandrova and four-time grass event finalist Donna Vekic in the championship match, Kvitova completed her first no-sets-lost title run in seven years.
...while all around her were losing their heads in Indian Wells, Elena Rybakina was (as usual) the preternatural calm amid the proverbial storm.
The reigning Wimbledon champ only further gilded her growing reputation in the California desert, reeling off consecutive wins over a former slam champ (Sofia Kenin), former I.W. winner (Paula Badosa), Varvara Gracheva and Karolina Muchova to reach the SF. From there she proceeded to defeat both the world #1 (Iga, the Kazakh's third top-ranked win since the start of last year) and #2 (Aryna Sabalenka in an AO final "do-over") without dropping a set, becoming the first woman to pull off the feat in the event's history while also winning her *fourth* straight match vs. players ranked in the Top 2.
After a cross-country trip, Rybakina carried over her Indian Wells flow to the swifter Miami courts and, after struggling with the transition in the early rounds, very nearly completed an historic Sunshine Double.
Ultimately, she settled 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 final 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 final, and after the Czech converted her own 5th SP in 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.
— Jimmie48 Photography (@JJlovesTennis) April 2, 2023
8. TO LIVE AND POJD IN F-L-A
...while most wish for Petra Kvitova to have one remaining slam surprise to pull from her tennis bag before she's through, it's not so bad if everyone has to "settle" for the Czech *resembling* the multi-slam winner, #1 contender and awe-inducing competitor of old. She surely did that in Miami.
After posting her best Indian Wells result (QF) since 2016, Kvitova 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 denied the Kazakh 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, denying her the "Sunshine Double," and taking her 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.
— Jimmie48 Photography (@JJlovesTennis) April 1, 2023
A month from turning 33, the Czech was the second oldest Miami champ behind only Serena Williams in 2015, and after the event returned to the Top 10 for the first time since September 2021.
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The moment when Canada won the Billie Jean King Cup ??
Le moment où le Canada a remporté la Coupe Billie Jean King ??
...Leylah Fernandez's amazing, remarkable and utterly magnificent BJK Cup season ended in Seville exactly the way it *should* have, with her being on the court and firing off a clean backhand passing shot from the baseline on MP to clinch the game, set, match and title -- the first ever -- for Canada. In Spain, just as she was with the colors on her back all Cup season long, Fernandez proved to be historically untouchable.
At times during her career, Fernandez has seemed almost laboratory-built for Cup play, as few players can fire up a crowd with more flair, or be inspired to still greater heights from the corresponding roars that she's helped to create (see her '21 U.S. Open run). This season it all came to bear for Team Canada as, at every important moment along the path to the title, Fernandez was there. She never slipped up once.
Back in the spring, Fernandez was the only player on Qualifer weekend to have a hand in all three of her team's *live* points en route to victory, winning two singles matches and then joining with Gaby Dabrowski in the deciding doubles to defeat Belgium 3-2. Nothing changed in Seville. In round robin play, Fernandez's match #2 wins (over Sara Sorribes Tormo and Magda Linette) clinched both 2-0 sweeps of Spain and Poland in Group C. In the semis, her three-set win over Marketa Vondrousva ended the Czech's 13-match, 26-set Cup winning streak and sent things to the deciding doubles, where she again teamed with Dabrowski to defeat no less than Barbora Krejickova & Katerina Siniakova and send Canada into its first Cup final.
After Martina Stakusic set the table in the final with a match #1 victory, Fernandez knocked off Jasmine Paolini to clinch another '23 tie win (making her five-for-five this Cup season) and join in the celebration of her nation's first Fed/BJK Cup title run.
A case could be made that Seville saw Fernandez finish off the best one-season Cup run ever. At the very least, it's the best under the current event format (in play since 2020-21) and the best in *any* format since 2017, when CoCo Vandeweghe went a record 8-0 in live rubbers (6-0 ws, 2-0 wd) while leading the U.S. to the title early in Kathy Rinaldi's captaincy.
This season, Fernandez matched Vandeweghe's 8-0 mark, going 6-0 in singles (2-0 in the Qualifiers, 2-0 in Finals RR, then 2-0 in the SF/F) and 2-0 in doubles (Q's and SF).
— Jimmie48 Photography (@JJlovesTennis) May 6, 2023
10. DOWN GOES IGA, and here comes Aryna
...Aryna Sabalenka's season-long pursuit of Iga Swiatek needed an early "signature" moment to make things real. In Madrid, she got it, as her quest for #1 officially picked up steam with her first defeat of the Pole on her favored clay.
Sabalenka lost just one set en route to her fifth final of the season, defeating Sorana Cirstea, Camila Osorio, Mirra Andreeva, Mayar Sherif (in three) and Maria Sakkari, setting up her third final against Swiatek in a little over a year.
In a match of shifting momentum (after being tied at 3-3 in the 1st, the match concluded with the final two and a half sets featuring seven consecutive alternating blocks of three-game winning streaks), Sabalenka prevailed 6-3/3-6/6-3 with clutch match play down the stretch, overcoming a shaky mid-3rd set stretch (at 3-1, she was broken at love with a string of UE and a game-ending DF), then holding from love/15 in game #7 and breaking for a 5-3 lead a game later. She again rallied from 15/30 to serve out the championship, saving a BP and finally converting on her fourth MP to win her third '23 title, the 13th of her career and second on the fast clay in Madrid in three years.
...Marketa Vondrousova claimed her maiden slam crown as she became the lowest-ranked (#42) and first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon in the Open era (first overall since 1963), defeating five seeds (#12 V.Kudermetova, #20 Vekic, #32 Bouzkova, #4 Pegula and #6 Jabeur in the final) and a previous SW19 semifinalist (Svitolina) en route, notably rallying from 4-1 down (w/ a BP for 5-1) in the 3rd vs. Pegula in the QF.
She's the third woman representing the Czech Republic to lift the Venus Rosewater dish (after Novotna and Kvitova), not counting Czech-born 9-time champ Martina Navratilova.
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12. MEET THE NEW BOSS, SAME AS THE OLD BOSS
...right on cue two weeks upon the start of play in Paris, the symbiotic relationship between Iga Swiatek and the terre battue picked right up where it had left off. Swiatek came into the Roland Garros final not having dropped a set, having produced one love & love win, strung together 23 straight games at one point, and extended her tournament winning streak to 13 matches.
As all the players who'd given her trouble over the previous nine months fell by the wayside, Swiatek's path to a third RG crown seemed ever more true.
Even without a true top-tier, big-hitting challenge en route to the crown, Iga proved battle-worthy while passing the late test of Beatriz Haddad Maia in the semis (though the Brazilian couldn't force a 3rd set, with Swiatek winning a tight 2nd set TB), then was taken to three sets in the final by Karolina Muchova, a first in Swiatek's four career slam finals (she was 12-1 in career two-set finals, but just 1-3 in finals that went the distance).
After dropping the first two games of the set at love, Swiatek proved the more consistent and battle-tested down the stretch, winning 6-2/5-7/6-4.
The Pole's win gives her three RG title runs in four years, the best stretch since Justine Henin's four-in-five year dominance that began 20 years ago in 2003, and Iga's successful defense is the first in Paris since the Belgian claimed three straight from 2005-07.
28-2 in her Roland Garros career, Swiatek is the third woman (Seles, Osaka) in the Open era to begin her slam final career at 4-0.
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Vera Zvonareva and Laura Siegemund are the #WTAFinals doubles champions! ??
...the veteran doubles duo of Laura Siegemund & Vera Zvonareva were the last team to qualify for the WTA Finals (w/ an eleventh hour title in the final regular season event), and the last team to reach the semifinals (w/ a win in the postponed, delayed and interrupted concluding RR match on Sunday in Cancun), but the pair also ended up being the final duo to lift their arms in victory this 2023 WTA season.
Placed in thr WTAF group that included the world #1's (Gauff/Pegula), a Career Slam Duo (Krejcikova/Siniakova) and the reigning U.S. Open champs (Dabrowski/Routliffe, who'd defeated them in the final two months earlier), the veterans went 2-1 in RR play and then took out new #1 Storm Hunter and WTAF defending champ Elise Mertens in the semis.
On Monday, in a final that pitted the two pairs who reached the most tour finals (5) this season, it was Siegemund/Zvonareva who completed their season-ending rush with the title, taking a 6-4/6-4 match over Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Ellen Perez to claim their second straight tour title, fourth this season and seventh as a pair since first teaming up in 2020.
1. Wimbledon 3rd Rd. - Lesia Tsurenko def. Ana Bogdan
...4-6/6-4/7-6(20-18). The Agony of Victory, and the Agony of Defeat.
Between Lesia Tsurenko and Ana Bogdan, only one was assured of a "happy" ending on Day 5 at Wimbledon. In the end, they both paid the same agonizing price, while just one had to come back and play *another* match.
Bogdan seemed on her way to a victory in the 3rd set, serving for the match at 5-3. But she was broken at love. She didn't know what would now be in store for her. With Tsurenko serving for the match at 6-5, Bogdan saved a MP and sent the match to a deciding TB. And what a breaker it'd be.
It would last 37 minutes, the longest in Wimbledon women's history, and extended the match length to 3:40, the second-longest slam match this year (behind 3:51 Haddad Maia/Sorribes Tormo at RG). The 38-point tie-break would be the longest in women's slam history, with both players hunching over or on their knees between points as the two women battled through a series of metronomic baseline rallies, trading off and sharing 11 MP. When it was over, the winner was flat on her back, while the unfortunate "loser" was draped over the net but still on her feet. Sort of. Barely.
Like a 15-round boxing match (with SIX trips to change sides of the net over the course of the fight), the breaker was largely a battle of attrition, with neither woman willing (nor able, really) to break free from her position at the baseline to push the action, but also steadfastly refusing to concede. One long, brutal rally followed another, with both getting multiple chances to end their pain, but failing to do so and then visably seeming to collapse internally in the immediate aftermath as they realized that they now had to DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN.
Tsurenko had the first opportunities, first with a conventional super-tiebreak MP (#2 overall) at 9-8. Bogdan fired a winner down the line, only to net a short crosscourt forehand a point later and give the Ukrainian a third MP (10-9). She saved it by utilizing a drop shot that helped her claim the point. At 11-10, Bogdan saved a fourth MP with a put-away backhand, then fired another backhand into the corner behind Tsurenko to get her own MP at 12-11. The Romanian netted a volley.
Tsurenko's fifth MP at 13-12 went away with another Bogdan backhand down the line, while on #6 (14-13) the Ukrainian's deep slice shot elicited an error. The Romanian's wide service winner gave her a second MP at 15-14, but a bad backhand error pushed the play deeper into the afternoon. A forehand error (at 16-15) squandered Bogdan's third MP.
The baseline battle was entrenched by now, and the thought that one player would win was both welcome (since the pain would end), but also just as devastating for the one who'd come up just short after having had so many chances. Nearly every point saw both woman hunched over in preparation for the next, leaning on their knees but then straightening their bodies and finding the energy to make their way back into position once more.
It was just what they were *supposed* to do. So they did it.
After Bogdan's fourth MP (17-16) came and went, the point ended with Tsurenko on her knees and Bogdan stretching her calves in the hopes of avoiding cramps that would make the experience even worse. The Ukrainian's sprayed forehard gave Bogdan a fifth MP (18-17). As she prepared to serve, using as much time as allowed, the Romanian received a code warning for a time violation by a chair umpire who was not giving an inch. Bogdan failed to convert once again, netting a forehand.
Another error off the Romanian's racket handed Tsurenko her seventh MP (sixth in the TB alone), and the end was finally nigh. Bogdan's missed drop shot ended the 38-point affair with the Ukrainian on top 20-18.
After Tsurenko struggled from her back to reach her feet, she found her way to meet Bogdan at the net. The two embraced, forever tennis sisters through shared experience.
Tsurenko's win came with the two combining for 55 winners and 125 UE (Tsurenko 28/60, Bogdan 27/65), 251 points (Tsurenko 129-122) and 12 combined MP (Tsurenko 7, Bogdan 5). With the win, the 34-year old reached her first Wimbledon 4th Round, and second in a row in slam competition this year (RG 4r).
Tsurenko lost that match, but she and Bogdan will always have Court 14.
2. Birmingham 1st Rd. - Venus Williams def. Camila Giorgi
...7-6(5)/4-6/7-6(6). Proving that ranking (#697) and age (43) don't necessarily mean anything in tennis, Williams posts her first win since January (just her second since Wimbledon '21) and her first over a Top 50 player since 2019 in Beijing (Strycova).
Williams was able to outpace Giorgi even after injuring her knee in the 1st set, and failing to serve out the match at 5-3 in the 3rd. Up 5-3 in the deciding TB, Giorgi's defensive (personal survival) block of a huge body serve nearly overturned the match. Rather than Venus holding multiple MP at 6-3, the rebound ball that just barely made it over the net and was just out of reach of a late-reacting Williams made it 5-4. Finally, Venus ended the 3:15 battle on her second MP, winning the breaker 8-6.
Venus Williams writes another page of history for her career, getting a WTA win at 43 years old. And a very good one: 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(6) over Camila Giorgi after 3h15!!
3. Madrid Final - Aryna Sabalenka def. Iga Swiatek
...6-3/3-6/6-3. When the top players in the world meet up, superb matches often result. Go figure.
Not only was this final between the two women their second in two events, it was their seventh meeting since the start of last season. And with them being the reigning champs at three majors, Sabalenka's first win over Iga on the Pole's favorite surface (in their fourth clay clash) will serve to only further deepen the meaning of future match-ups between the two.
Sabalenka had grabbed the opening set, sweeping the final three games. Swiatek took a 3-0 lead in the 2nd and then after Sabalenka had knotted the score swept the final three games to knot the match. The same pattern held up in the 3rd. Sabalenka led 3-0. Swiatek tied things at 3-3, then Sabalenka swept the final three games (the seventh consecutive alternating three-game sweep in the match). In between all that shifting momentum was some fine, sometimes epic, tennis.
In the 2nd set, Swiatek (according to the Tennis Channel commentators, she'd entered with the worst percentage this season in the Top 50 when it came to BP saves) saved 2 BP in a key hold in game 7. In the 3rd, up 3-1, Sabalenka was broken at love with a string of UE and a DF off the net cord on BP.
At 3-3, though, Sabalenka completed a solid hold from love/15, then broke Swiatek in the following game. At 5-3, serving for the match and a truly significant title in the grand scheme of 2023 Tennis Things, Sabalenka fell behind 15/30. She produced her own lifeline with an ace. After an overturned line call gave Iga a BP rather than Aryna a MP, Sabalenka saved the point, then fired another ace to reach MP for the first time. Sabalenka was unable to get back Swiatek's squat shot off the baseline, though, keeping the match alive.
Sabalenka netted a forehand on MP #2, and Swiatek batted back a backhand return winner on #3. Finally, Sabalenka fired a forehand into the corner out of Iga's reach on her fourth MP attempt.
After Sabalenka replaced Swiatek as #1 after the U.S Open, the two would meet once more before the end of the year, at the WTA Finals with the year-end top ranking in the mix. Swiatek got her revenge and, ultimately, her #1 ranking back.
Once again, it was the actual *tennis* that saved the WTA from itself in 2023.
4. Roland Garros 4th Rd. - Beatriz Haddad Maia def. Sara Sorribes Tormo
...6-7(3)/6-3/7-5. This Round of 16 match promised to be another long, drawn-out affair, as both women have resumes filled with 3-hour plus matches. And it was, too.
Haddad Maia jumped ahead in the 1st set, but after leading 5-2 couldn't serve things out on three tries, then saw Sorribes Tormo claim a 7-3 TB.
The Spaniard raced to a double-break lead at 3-0 in the 2nd, and had three GP for 4-0. But Haddad Maia got the break and knotted the score. Another break gave her the chance to serve out the set, which she did by winning her sixth straight game.
The game streak went to seven, and the Brazilian built a 4-2 lead on the scoreboard. She held for 5-3, then had three MP on Sorribes Tormo's serve before she held the 11-minute game. Serving for the match, Haddad Maia fell behind 15/40 with three UE and was broken for 5-5.
As the momentum swung back and forth, Sorribes Tormo trailed love/30 on serve in game 11, reached GP, but still saw Haddad Maia get another late break and serve for the match for a second time.
She fell down love/30, but battled back and fired an inside-out lefty forehand that Sorribes Tormo couldn't get back, reaching her fourth MP. Another forehand, down the right sideline, propelled Haddad Maia into her first slam QF (and later SF, as she became the first Brazilian woman to reach the semis of a slam event since seven-time slam singles champ Bueno at the U.S. Open in 1968).
???? Brazil’s Best ????
Haddad Maia is off to a first Slam final eight after her 3 hour and 51 minute encounter with Sorribes Tormo 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5.
The 3:51 contest would prove to be the longest MD match in women's tennis in 2023, topping what had been 3:41 match Haddad Maia had vs. Anhelina Kalinina in Rome, and it's the longest since a 3:54 marathon last summer in Cleveland that featured Camila Osorio and, of course, Sorribes Tormo. It's the third longest in the RG MD in the Open era.
5. Nanchang Final - Katerina Siniakova def. Marie Bouzkova
...1-6/7-6(5)/7-6(4). Two Czechs. One classic final.
Bouzkova could have been the story here, but it ended up being Siniakova. Bouzkova took the 1st at 6-1, and led 5-3 in the 2nd (w/ a MP). She served at 5-4 but Siniakova got the break, then won a 7-5 TB to send things to a 3rd. Again Bouzkova led 5-3, serving for the match once more and holding *two* additional MP. Siniakova denied both, then won another TB to take the title.
She ended things with a net cord ball that died in the mid-court. Ouch.
Marie Bouzkova & Katerina Siniakova played a 47 SHOT RALLY in the final in Nanchang.
You can hear the exhaustion & effort in every shot.
6. Montreal QF - Elena Rybakina def. Dasha Kasatkina
...5-7/7-5/7-6(8). Imagine if Kasatkina had a serve.
Rybakina's serve was off here, opening the door for the Russian to stretch this one out for nearly three and a half hours. Kasatkina twice served for the match, once each in the 2nd (where she held a break lead on four different occasions) and the 3rd, but it was almost as predictable as the sunrise that she wouldn't be able to put it away. She didn't. Kasatkina immediately gave away a 4-3 break lead in the decider, then again failed to serve out the match at 6-5.
In the deciding TB, Rybakina held triple MP at 6-3, but two return game UE left an opening for Kasatkina, who ran around to hit an all-or-nothing forehand off a Rybakina second serve on MP #3 a game later. Her shot caught the corner and it was 6-6.
Match point down after more than 3 hours of play past 2am...
The Hordette's great defense then got her a MP chance at 8-7, but Rybakina saved it with a big serve, then finally converted on MP #5 at nearly 3 a.m. Montreal time. (Within 24 hours, as one of the most blatently bad decisions by the tour in '23 rushed her back into action during the next day's afternoon session, Rybakina's last nerve was finally tweaked and she became a consistent critic of the tour and its poor, sometimes seemingly nonexistent, management over what remained of the season.)
UNRÉAL ??
Just short of 3am in Montréal after 3h27m of play, No.3 seed Elena Rybakina comes from a set down to defeat Kasatkina 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(8) and reach the semifinals!#NBO23pic.twitter.com/kuykyjYxHi
...7-6(2)/3-6/6-4. A true hallmark moment for Gauff, who notched her first win in eight tries (0-14 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 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.
The immediate question was wether this would prove to be the moment that changed everything for Gauff.
8. US Open 3rd Rd. - Ons Jabeur def. Marie Bouzkova
...5-7/7-6(5)/6-3. Another night, another operatic Ons Jabeur struggle en route to a triumphant conclusion featuring the Tunisian staggering off the stage to thunderous hails of admiration. Until next time.
This time at Flushing Meadows it was Bouzkova who engaged in the ongoing battle with the #5 seed. The dance lasted three sets and just under three hours. Jabeur arrived at less than 100%, still carrying a cough and congestion after seemingly often being on her last legs at moments during her first two Open matches; while the Czech was slowed by a leg injury that nonetheless didn't prevent her from finding her way to Jabeur's shots and pushing the Tunisian to the edge once again.
Up 5-2 in the 1st, Bouzkova held a SP at 5-3, then couldn't serve out the set a game later. With Jabeur serving to force a TB, she flew the second of back-to-back overheads to fall down SP. She saved it, but then DF'd two points later and Bouzkova took the lead in the match.
Jabeur held the early lead in the 2nd, going up 4-2, and serving for the set at 5-4. She couldn't put the set away, nor convert two BP at 5-5 to get another chance. In the ensuing TB, Bouzkova led 4-2, and got within two points of victory at 5-5. Jabeur won 7-5 to knot the match.
Jabeur took at 2-0 lead in the 3rd, gave the break back in game 3, then rallied from 40/love down to win five consecutive points and re-take a break lead at 4-2. She served for the Round of 16 at 5-3, taking a 40/15 lead. Bouzkova got the game back to deuce, but Jabeur finally closed it out on MP #3, winning to reach her third straight slam 4th Round.
Jabeur's 56 winners were often cancelled out by 63 UE, but once again she dragged her ailing self over the finish line and lived to fight another day.
Ons Jabeur & Marie Bouzkova share a hug at the net after their match at the US Open.
Each of them knows how hard it was for the other to be out here tonight.
At the end of the day, these two respect each other to the moon & back.
...7-6(7)/7-5. This one immediately soared to the top of the "Best Two-Set Match" list for 2023, and so it stayed as it's slam final level of intensity, Cup-like atmosphere with the French crown backing Garcia in her home event, and inherent eyebrow raising at perhaps, perhaps, the official birth of something bigger in Parks than a maiden title winner at a 250 event.
The two combined for one break of serve in the match, via a DF by Garcia on Parks' MP to end the match, as Parks channeled her inspiration (Serena) with big (15 aces) and timely serving that consistently put the pressure on Garcia to hold *her* serve (which she impressively did until the bitter end) and pulled her out of a few holes as she refused to allow the Pastry to gain an edge in the match.
Parks' 8-ace 1st set ended with a 9-7 TB win after she'd missed on a passing shot on SP (at 6-5) and then denied a Garcia SP at 7-6. The 2nd saw Parks' serve blink slightly, but *still* provide a liferaft when times were getting tough. After falling on the first point of the set (an MTO attended to what seemed like a scraped/bloodied right pink finger/hand), Parks held from love/30 back. She then overcame two DF in Game 5, recovering from love/30 again.
In Game 7, Garcia missed two easy forehands at the net that would have put her up love/30 and given her a BP chance. Parks fired a Game 9 ace at 30/30 and held serve. In Game 11, she served another ace on BP, added a service winner on another, and after her first serve fault was cheered by the French crowd, answered with another ace on BP. Parks yelled ("Come on!"), in clear response to the boos, and gave a "rise up" gesture with her arms.
Clearly emotional in the moment, Parks calmed herself in time for Garcia's crucial serve game while down 6-5. At 30/30, a Garcia error suddenly gave Parks at MP, and Garcia's DF ended things to give the Bannerette her maiden tour title. The loss was just the second for Garcia in her last 12 singles finals since 2016.
Parks had a 28-13 edge in winners on the day, and though she often struggled for result the remainder of the year she surely looked like a player no one is going to want to face down the line if this level of play and focus could ever become her "norm" on gameday.
10. Australian Open 2nd Rd. - Maria Sakkari def. Diana Shnaider
...3-6/7-5/6-3. 18-year old qualifier Shnaider placed her image into the memory banks of fans and, even in defeat, provided them with a moment to be looked back on fondly years from now, once the NextGen Hordette -- after her prospective "college experience" -- has found and solidified her place on tour and become something more than a new face or "the girl with the polka dot bandana."
Shnaider didn't ultimately get the big win she was looking for against #6-seed Sakkari but her head-turning performance during the three-set battle continued to prove that her '22 late-season surge (when she won a 125 title and won 23 of her last 30 matches) was a sign of things to come. The N.C. State recruit had qualified and won two days earlier in her slam MD debut, just one year after she won the girls' doubles title in Melbourne.
Sakkari grabbed the early 3-0 advantage in the 2nd, but Shnaider fought to get the set back on serve. Sakkari broke for a 5-3 lead, only to see the Hordette break back and soon after level the set against the increasingly aggravated Greek. Sakkari, known to scream in exultation after big points, amazingly took that moment to shake her finger and complain to the umpire about Shnaider screaming "in my face" and threatened to call the referee if it happened again.
Sakkari led 5-2 and reached double MP on Shnaider's serve, but the Russian wasn't about to go quietly. She saved both MP, the second with an ace, and held to force Sakkari to serve things out (which was never a given, considering she'd failed on a chance to serve out the 2nd earlier). The Greek immediately fell behind love/30, losing the opening point on an 18-shot rally and then committing a crosscourt forehand error on the second.
But Sakkari smartly pulled the game back, putting in a sneaky, curling wide ace to get her third MP chance at 40/30. She put away a forehand winner down the line to finish Shnaider off, winning 3-6/7-5/6-3.
==MATCH OF THE YEAR==
2005 AO SF: Serena Williams d. Maria Sharapova
2006 AO SF: Justine Henin-H. d. Maria Sharapova
2007 L.A. SF: Ana Ivanovic d. Jelena Jankovic
2008 US F: Serena Williams d. Venus Williams
2009 WI SF: Serena Williams d. Elena Dementieva
2010 BRIS F: Kim Clijsters d. Justine Henin
2011 AO 4r: Francesca Schiavone d. Svetlana Kuznetsova
2012 MIA 4r: Victoria Azarenka d. Dominika Cibulkova
2013 CIN F: Victoria Azarenka d. Serena Williams
2014 IW QF: Aga Radwanska d. Jelena Jankovic
2015 RG 2r: Francesca Schiavone d. Svetlana Kuznetsova
2016 WI 4r: Dominika Cibulkova d. Aga Radwanska
2017 MAD 2r: Genie Bouchard d. Maria Sharapova
2018 AO SF: Simona Halep d. Angelique Kerber
2019 IW F: Bianca Andreescu d. Angelique Kerber
2020 RG 1r: Clara Tauson d. Jennifer Brady
2021 RG 2r: Barbora Krejcikova d. Maria Sakkari
2022 OST!!! F: Barbora Krejcikova d. Iga Swiatek
2023 WI 3r: Lesia Tsurenko d. Ana Bogdan
1. Australian Open 2nd Rd. - Miriam Kolodziejová/Marketa Vondrousova def. Beatriz Haddad Maia/Zhang Shuai
...3-6/7-6(9)/7-6(12). The Czechs save 9 MP, coming back from the brink from a final set, triple MP deficit at 5-0.
Kolodziejova/Vondrousova saved three MP in the 2nd set, two in a TB that they finally won 11-9. In the 3rd, Haddad/Zhang led 5-0, 40/love, but the Czechs saved four more MP in game 6, then two more in a MTB (at 9-8 and 11-10 - making it 9 in all) before finally winning 14-12.
Whew!
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Heartbreaker for Jessica Pegula who was a point away from taking a 5-1 lead in the third set.
...6-4/2-6/6-4. Trying to outrun a winless (0-5) record in slam QF, Pegula put herself into position to achieve the grass court goal she'd set out for herself when she'd said that she felt that the grass might finally be good to her this year after progressively (1r-2r-3r) improving her SW19 results in recent trips to the All-England Club.
What happened though was a case of Pegula walking herself to the edge of achieving that goal, but being unable to step over the threshold.
In the 3rd, Pegula came out strong. She saved two BP in the opening game, and got the hold as Vondrousova's forehand breakdowns squandered her chances. The Bannerette broke for a 3-1 lead, only to see play stopped and the roof closed in the latest episode of match/weather mismanagement by the AELTC. But when the players returned, Pegula didn't lose her momentum. She held for 4-1, and even had a BP (30/40) on Vondrousova's serve a game later for a commanding 5-1 lead. But she missed on a routine backhand, sending it long.
Suddenly, everything was soon in play once again. Serving at 4-2, Pegula fell down 15/40, dropping the game as the set went back on serve. At 4-4, after holding multiple GP, she overshot a forehand on a Vondrousova BP and was suddenly down 5-4.
Serving for her first slam semi since her '19 final run in Paris, Vondrousova quickly went up 40/love. On her second MP, a put-away at the net collected her fifth straight game, sending yet another Czech lefty into the SW19 final (and, ultimately, her maiden slam title) while Pegula fell to 0-6 in career QF.
— Jimmie48 Photography (@JJlovesTennis) June 8, 2023
3. Roland Garros SF - Karolina Muchova def. Aryna Sabalenka/span>
...7-6/6-7/7-5. In game 8 of the 3rd set, up 5-2 and leading love/30 on Muchova's serve, the shadow of Sabalenka's second straight slam final was creeping toward the finish line as everything seemed against the Czech.
But then everything changed. Slowly, at first, as Muchova simply moved forward and didn't concede defeat. She reached 30/30, but fell down MP after a point that began with a big Sabalenka return and was ultimately ended with another backhand error from the Czech. But Muchova held firm, held serve, and handed the goblet of victory over to Sabalenka to see if she could take a full drink.
But it didn't happen. In fact, her quest came up empty. Totally empty. And when the red dust had settled it was Muchova who was walking away with a confident gait, having followed the map to glory.
The Czech fired a return winner to open the game. Soon, three consecutive Sabalenka errors put the 3rd set back on serve at 5-4. As Muchova was stretching her legs (cramping), she was determined to shorten the points. She rushed toward the net, or tried a drop shot. Anything that could win a point quickly and move on to the next. She held a love, by now having won 11 of 12 points.
Down love/15, Sabalenka received a just-arrived, newly-strung racket from her coach. It seemed to make a difference, as she raced to a 40/15 lead and appeared to have averted disaster. But one wrong turn -- or two, as in consecutive DF -- turned the boulder back in her direction. A backhand miss and she was down BP. A moment later, Muchova up set to serve for the win at 6-5, having converted all five of the BP she'd seen on the day.
Having fully assumed the lead role in this drama, it was Muchova's turn to drink.
The Czech went up 30/love. Sabalenka received another racket. It didn't help. A Muchova drop shot winner made it 40/love. It was over in seconds, as Muchova completed her rally from 5-2, love/30 down in the 3rd. Having saved a MP four games earlier, the Czech reached her maiden slam final with a win in 3:13, sweeping the final five games and 20 of the last 24 points.
??? Coming from 2-5 down in the deciding set ??? Saving match point ??? Reaching her first Slam final after 3h13m ??? Becoming the first player to defeat Sabalenka at a major this year
4. Cleveland 1st Rd. - Aliaksandra Sasnovich def. Emma Navarro
...3-6/6-4/7-5. From the moment this one happened, there was no chance it wouldn't be high on this list.
Sasnovich rallied from 5-0 down in the 3rd -- with Navarro serving for the match three times, including when leading 5-2, 30/love -- to win the final seven games. Navarro held a BP in game 12 to force a TB, but couldn't grab the last life preserver.
Things didn't turn out well for Navarro, but at least she had those great, very unique, court backdrops by which to remember Tennis in the Land, right?
It’s Day two at the wonderful @TennisInTheLand and I’m starting on Stadium Court shortly with Navarro v Sasnovich and then Tauson v Krejcikova. We even have some ?? with us!!! pic.twitter.com/gAsGhNkoop
...5-7/6-2/7-5. Potapova led 5-0 in the 3rd, twice served for the match, and held a MP on Volynets' serve at 5-1.
But Volynets swept the final seven games en route to her maiden WTA semifinal.
SEVEN STRAIGHT GAMES ??
Katie Volynets pulls off a fantastic comeback from 0-5 down in the third set to win it 7-5 over Potapova!#ATXOpenpic.twitter.com/LXPtKGdRWJ
As the week's Tennis Channel guest broadcaster Andrea Petkovic later said of this match, "Tennis is a wonderland."
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6. US Open Q2 - Elsa Jacquemot def. Diana Shnaider
...6-7(5)/7-5/6-3. Jacquemot advances after saving *seven* MP in the 2nd set. Shnaider led 7-6/5-3, holding two MP on the Pastry's serve, then found herself at triple MP at 5-4, 40/love. Jacquemot ultimately saved five MP in the game, as Shnaider went on to lose seven straight games (to 0-3 in the 3rd) before falling 6-3 in the decider.
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7. US Open 1st Rd. - Elise Mertens def. Mirjam Bjorklund 3-6/6-3/7-6(3)
US Open 2nd Rd. - Elise Mertens def. Danielle Collins 3-6/7-6(7)/6-1
...two years ago, Mertens earned this space's "Zombie Queen" honor for the Open 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.
This year, the #32-seeded Belgian saved three more MP against *another* Swede in the 1st Round, serving down 4-5, love/40 in the 3rd set vs. Bjorklund before winning five consecutive points to hold, then taking a 10-3 TB to advance.
Two days later, she was at it again, battling 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.
8. 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), 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.
...6-4/4-6/7-5. Tennis results often balance on the head of a pin, and Krejcikova's huge week in Dubai (wins over #1, #2 and #3, and the title) very nearly went the other way just a few days in.
After leading 5-0 in the 1st, Krejcikova held off a charge from Kasatkina, but then dropped the 2nd and saw the Hordette hold four MP at 5-4 in the 3rd. Kasatkina gave away two of her opportunities via DF before Krejcikova got the break on her 4th BP of the game. She then had to save a BP in the following game. In the lead on the scoreboard in the deciding set for the first time at 6-5, the Czech broke Kasatkina to claim the match.
The rest would soon become history.
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10. Wimbledon 4th Rd. - Iga Swiatek def. Belinda Bencic
...6-7(4)/7-6(2)/6-3. Make no mistake, Bencic pushed Swiatek's back against the wall here, resulting in the Pole getting that familiar (almost) panicked look on her face as she loses control of a match narrative and seemingly tries *too* hard to turn things around in an instant, resulting in uncharacteristic errors that either put her in deeper trouble (if the opponent can take advantage) or are the leading edge of Swiatek fighting back to "even" the match and then letting her (usual) edge in big-stage experience take over down the stretch.
In Bencic's case, it was a little bit of both.
The two engaged in a tight 1st set, with Swiatek leading 5-4 and taking a 15/40 edge on Bencic's serve in game 10. Bencic saved both SP, wiping away the second chance with a drop shot and backhand down the line. The Swiss held for 5-5, then did the same from 30/30 two games later to force a tie-break.
There, Bencic's challenge seemed to fluster Swiatek. She took a 4-0 lead, then 6-1. At 6-3, with her first SP on serve, Bencic finally put away a 7-4 win when Iga's return shot went long. Swiatek hadn't faced a BP the entire set, while going 0-for-6 on Bencic's serve as the Swiss extended her consecutive holds streak to 23.
Between sets, Swiatek took the opportunity for an off-court bathroom break, taking along her trusty notebook of match notes to glance at while she was away.
Whatever knowledge the notebook imparted, it seemed to inspire her. Iga ended Bencic's holds streak in game 1, putting away a BP with a return winner. But Bencic didn't relent, she got the set back on serve at 3-3 then, at 6-5, a forehand winner into the corner was followed by a loose Swiatek error and the Swiss found herself at double MP at 15/40.
Swiatek saved the first MP with a deep shot that handcuffed Bencic, then put away a crosscourt backhand on MP #2. She got the hold and the match went to another TB. There, the server lost the first five points before Swiatek was the first to hold. She took that tiny bit of momentum and held it, racing to a 6-2 lead. Bencic's double fault knotted the match.
At this point, with Bencic having squandered not one but two chances to put out the world #1, the advantage shifted to a tremendous degree toward Swiatek.
Bencic would get *one* more shot, holding a BP on Iga's serve in game 3 of the 3rd, but she couldn't convert it, either. Swiatek held for 2-1, and the Swiss had fully lost the line of the conversation. The Questioning Iga had been replaced, if not in full body form by Frontrunner Iga, then surely Race Leader Iga had stepped in. Bencic DF'd on another BP in game 5, falling behind 4-1.
Serving for her maiden Wimbledon QF at 5-3, Swiatek fell behind love/30. At 15/30, a Bencic forehand was called long. She wished to challenge the call, but had exhausted all of her replay challenges for the set. Naturally, the ball had caught a line. But it didn't matter, and it was now 30/30. Swiatek's forehand down the line gave her her first MP, then a cross court forehand ended things.
1. Seoul 1st Rd. - Back Da-yeon def. Alona Ostapenko
...3-6/6-1/7-6(4). A BJK Cup Heart Award nominee in zone play in the spring, #569 Back rides her MD wild card into a career-highlight win over the world #13 (a Seoul finalist last year) in her first career match vs. a Top 200 opponent.
Ostapenko led 5-2 in the 3rd, served at 5-3 (reaching deuce), and held a MP on Back's serve at 6-5 before the Korean held in the three-deuce game on GP #4. She went on to win the deciding TB.
What an upset in Seoul!!!
World No. 569 ???? Dayeon Back defeats World No. 13 Ostapenko 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(4)!
2. Rosmalen 1st Rd. - Celine Naef def. Venus Williams
...3-6/7-6(3)/6-2. The difference in experience could hardly have been more stark, as Williams has played in far more seasons on tour (30) than years Naef has been alive. Almost *twice* as many. In her tour debut, the Swiss put down a truly memorable result.
In a match-up of players separated by 25 years (Venus 42, Naef 17) and 494 rankings spots (#202 Naef was actually the higher-ranked, not #696 Venus), Williams swept the final 12 points of the set to take the 1st, but pushing Williams -- in her first action since Auckland in January -- to three was the Swiss teen's best path to victory. Williams held an early break lead in the 2nd, but Naef got things into a 3rd and ended up being the fourth #200+ ranked player to ever defeat the future Hall of Famer.
...7-5/3-6/7-5. In a match-up of the world #18 vs. #174, things were going as one would expect, with Muchova pulling away after dropping the 1st set, winning 11 of 14 games and leading 5-1, 40/15 in the 3rd. The Czech held four MP in the game, only to be broken and then be shut out the rest of the way. She served for the match again at 5-3, but dropped serve at 15.
The chances weren't over for the RG finalist, either. Muchova held a GP at 5-5, but was broken for a third straight time, then a BP at 5-6 before Sramkova held to secure the win.
The Slovak's only other career Top 50 wins had come vs. then-#12 Petra Kvitova in Prague two years ago, and #49 Sara Errani in 2017 Fed Cup action.
4. Washington 1st Rd. - Hailey Baptiste def. Karolina Pliskova
...6-1/0-6/6-3. Local favorite Baptiste (#204), who'd qualified with wins over Alycia Parks and Peyton Stearns, records the second biggest win of her career over #23 Pliskova, behind only her upset of then-#17 Madison Keys in the same Washington event four years ago.
...7-6(5)/5-7/7-6(4). Pliskova has a new nemesis, as Baptiste posts her *second* win over the Czech this year in just their second meeting.
Pliskova served for the 1st set at 5-4, but ultimately dropped a TB. The Czech then rallied from 5-3 down (Baptiste served at 5-4) to force a deciding 3rd. There, Pliskova ran off five straight games to lead 5-2, served at 5-3 and held a MP but couldn't close it out. She got to deuce twice on Baptiste's serve when leading 6-5, but the Bannerette got the hold and won a another TB to get the victory.
All fight ??
Hailey Baptiste is into the third round of a WTA 1000 event for the first time! She defeats Pliskova in a three set epic 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(4).#GDLOpenAKRONpic.twitter.com/Ev4Lqyi0Gu
...6-4/6-3. Lucky loser Snigur (#157) once again shows a penchant for the big upset. Last summer, it was vs. Simona Halep in the 1st Round of the U.S. Open (things only got worse for the Romanian after that), and this time it was Nottingham DC Haddad Maia, hot off her Roland Garros semifinal run.
6. BJK Cup RR Match #1 - Marina Stakusic def. Rebeka Masarova
...6-3/6-1. The beginning of a beautiful friendship, as 18-year old Stakusic makes her Cup debut a memorable one with her first career Top 100 (#65 Masarova) victory.
She followed up with two more over #63 Magdalena Frech (from a set and break down) and #43 Martina Trevisan (to open the Finals tie).
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7. Montreal 1st Rd. - Jennifer Brady def. Alona Ostapenko
...7-6(7)/0-6/7-6(8). A thunderous upset and a sign that Brady's comeback could get *real* very quickly, or just your typical Ostapenko match?
Ostapenko led #561 Brady, in just her fifth match back since injuring her foot in '21 (vs. Ostapenko in Cincinnati, no less), 4-2 in the 1st, and had a pair of SP in the TB. Brady won it 9-7. After the usual Ostapenko rebound -- a love 2nd set -- the Latvian ran her game streak to 9 and led 4-1 in the 3rd. She held three BP for 5-1 lead. But Brady twice held to stay in the match, then overcame a 3-1 deciding TB deficit, saving two MP at 7-6 and 8-7, and winning 10-8.
2021 Cincinnati - Jennifer Brady retires with injury against Ostapenko
2023 Montreal - Returning from injury and facing Ostapenko in her first WTA 1000 match in two years, Jennifer Brady saves two match points to get the win ??@jennifurbrady95 | #NBO23pic.twitter.com/sDudXalIcZ
...6-2/6-4. Yikes! Barbora Krejcikova remains winless in Paris since she won the title in 2021.
A year after coming back from injury and falling in the 1st Round in Paris to Diane Parry in three sets, the former RG champ falls in two vs. Tsurenko. The Czech went 15-3 on clay in her slam winning year, but has gone just 7-8 since.
...3-6/6-2/6-2. Krejcikova's troubles didn't end in singles. A year after she and Siniakova had to withdaw from the RG doubles after she contracted Covid, a "blank" result that prevented the Czechs from a Grand Slam season in '22 (they won the AO, WI and US titles), Siniakova's early spring injury made their RG '23 debut the duo's first match together since winning Indian Wells (w/ the AO, they were 11-0 on the season). They went out in the 1st Round, ending their 24-match slam winning streak. They'd been seeking a fourth consectutive slam title, and a fifth in a row in their last five slam MD appearances.
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The dream run continues!
15-year old Mirra Andreeva reaches the third round in Madrid, backing up her R1 win over Leylah Fernandez with a win over Haddad Maia. pic.twitter.com/oMgqWOfX4I
9. Madrid 1st Rd. - Mirra Andreeva def. Leylah Fernandez
...6-3/6-4. The 15-year old came into the week on a 13-match winning streak at the ITF level, and didn't bat an eyelash at the rise in competition. Her first career tour-level match win came at the expense of a U.S. Open finalist...
MIRRA! ??
15-year-old wildcard Mirra Andreeva makes her dream WTA1000 debut at the Mutua Madrid Open with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Leylah Fernandez.
A perfect 14-0 record in pro tournaments this year after two consecutive ITFW60 titles in the past fortnight. What a run! pic.twitter.com/j33qGiDlXJ
7 - Mirra Andreeva has now become the seventh player under 16 years of age to defeat an opponent ranked in the WTA's top 20 in the 21st century, and the last since Cori Gauff defeated Naomi Osaka (Australian Open R32 2020). Statement.#MMOPEN | @MutuaMadridOpen@WTA@WTA_insiderpic.twitter.com/xoBhf1NbdI
Madrid 3rd Rd. - Mirra Andreeva def. Magda Linette 6-3/6-3
...win #3 gave her a another Top 20 victory, and was a nice Sweet Sixteen birthday gift.
MIRRA'S SWEET SIXTEEN ??
On her 16th birthday, Mirra Andreeva defeats Linette to claim a 16th consecutive victory and reach the Madrid last 16!#MMOPENpic.twitter.com/qYy9RYzsfJ
10. Australian Open 2nd Rd. - Katie Volynets def. Veronika Kudermetova
...6-4/2-6/6-2. The 21-year old Bannerette picks up her first career Top 10 win over #9 seeded Kudermetova, becoming the first U.S. qualifier to reach the 3rd Round in Melbourne since Lindsay Davenport in 1993. The win helped Volynets make her Top 100 debut after the AO.
Volynets' victory continued her rise since opening the season in Auckland by becoming the first player to lose to Venus Williams in singles since the '21 Wimbledon. The California native, who posted her maiden slam MD win last year in Paris after winning a USTA WC into Roland Garros, took 3-1 and 4-2 leads over Kudermetova in the decider. Trying to stay in the match, the Hordette rallied from 15/40 down in game #7 and held two GP in a 10-minute game, but Volynets got the decisive break and then served her way into her first slam 3rd Round.
"I've never played in a stadium this packed and that many people keeping the energy up for me."
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