Wednesday, April 03, 2024

2024 1Q Backspin Awards


The 2024 women's tennis 1st Quarter is in the books. Who wore the best hats?






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1. Diede de Groot, NED (WC) ...without a loss in singles or doubles in '24, de Groot won her 13th consecutive slam singles title and extended her overall winning streak to 142 matches (w/ 37 straight singles titles)
2. Hsieh/TPE & Mertens/BEL ...the winners of the doubles titles at the two biggest events on the 1Q schedule, the Australian Open and Indian Wells. Hsieh Su-wei also won the AO mixed crown.
3. Iga Swiatek, POL ...though her three 1Q losses recreated her '23 lack of success vs. big-hitting opponents, and her AO 3r exit was the earliest by a #1 seed in Melbourne since 1979, Swiatek still won a pair of 1000 titles (Doha/I.W.) and improved to 34-4 since last year's U.S. Open
4. Aryna Sabalenka, BLR ...Sabalenka opened the season at 11-1 with a final in Brisbane and successful defense of her Australian Open crown. Since then, she's gone 3-3 and ended the 1Q on a tragic note with the death of her former BF in Miami.
5. Elena Rybakina, KAZ ...has again lost time due to illness, missing I.W. and having occasional uncharacteristic bouts with UE. But even with a 2r AO exit via a 42-point MTB, Rybakina nonetheless starred by reaching a tour-best four finals (winning two, and reaching a second straight in Miami).
6. Alona Ostapenko, LAT ...Ostapenko burst out of the '24 gate with a 13-3 run (13-0 vs. everyone not named Vika), becoming the first player to claim two titles (Adelaide/Linz). Of course, still being Alona, she ended the 1Q with a 3-4 downturn.
7. Danielle Collins, USA ...in her final season on tour, Collins looked good through January/February, then hit the gas pedal and crushed the field (winning 14 straight sets) en route to her biggest career title in Miami
8. Coco Gauff, USA ...Gauff defended her Auckland title and reached her second straight slam semifinal at the AO. She also played in her first I.W. semi.
9. Karolina Pliskova, CZE ...resurrected her tour standing with a banner February that saw her win nine straight matches (8 on 8 consecutive days), grabbing the Cluj crown and reaching the Doha SF before finally saying no mas and withdrawing with a sore back.
10. Zheng Qinwen, CHN ...In Melbourne, Zheng joined Li Na (on the 10th anniversary of her AO win) as just the second Chinese woman to play in a slam singles final *and* the first since Li to reach the Top 10. Her Dubai QF is so far her only other multi-win MD event in '24, though.
HM- Jasmine Paolini, ITA ...the Italian had the week of her career in Dubai, winning her first 1000 title and climbing into the Top 15. Then again, Paolini was 7-7 in her other seven events.



Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS, Victoria Azarenka/BLR, Katie Boulter/GBR, de Groot/Griffioen (NED/NED)(WC), Guo/Jiang (CHN/CHN), Hunter/Siniakova (AUS/CZE), Anna Kalinskaya/RUS, Yui Kamiji/JPN (WC), Kenin/Mattek-Sands (USA/USA), L.Kichenok/Ostapenko (UKR/LAT), Marta Kostyuk/UKR, Desirae Krawczyk/USA, Melichar-Martinez/Perez (USA/AUS), Emma Navarro/USA, Dayana Yastremska/UKR




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#1 - THE SABALENKA SEQUEL Aryna Sabalenka claims a second straight Australian Open title, doing so without losing a set. Along with her 14-match winning streak in Melbourne, she's won 28 of 29 sets over two years.
#2 - DIEDE THE GREAT... THE STORY CONTINUES Diede de Groot wins the wheelchair singles and doubles at the Australian Open, her 14th career slam title sweep and her fourth in a row in Melbourne. The Dutch great has won 13 slam singles titles in a row (career crown #21 ties Esther Vergeer for the most in women's WC history), and 44 straight singles matches at that level.
#3 - DANIMAL DOMINATION Two months after announcing that 2024 would be her final season, Danielle Collins win her biggest career title at the Miami 1000 event in her native Florida. After dropping the opening set in the 1st Round, she won 14 straight sets, ending with a two-set win over Elena Rybakina in the final to become the tournament's lowest-ranked women's champ (#53).
#4 - UNDOING THE TOP BUTTON Elena Rybakina takes Brisbane without dropping a set, losing just 15 games through nine complete sets over the five-match run. She dominated a soon-to-be-crowned(again) AO champ Sabalenka 6-0/6-3 in the final.
#5 - INDOOR THUNDER Alona Ostapenko is the first to win *two* singles titles on tour in '24, taking Linz despite barely escaping Clara Tauson in her opening match (she saved 2 MP). Ostapenko lost just 13 games in the final three rounds, channeling her old 2017 RG self as she racked up 123 winners in all (85 alone in the last three contests that included no more than 15 games each).
#6 - 3-GA Iga Swiatek completes her third straight title run in Doha, becoming the first woman to lift the falcon trophy so many times. She didn't drop a set all week, ending her three-match losing streak vs. Elena Rybakina with a straight sets victory in the final.
#7 - TWO TICKETS TO TENNIS PARADISE Iga Swiatek wins her second title in Indian Wells in the last three years, dropping just 21 games en route (the lowest for a champion in the desert since 1999).
#8 - THE HARDEST WORKING WOMAN IN FEBRUARY Karolina Pliskova returns to the winner's circle for the first time since early 2020, taking the Cluj-Napoca crown and running off nine straight wins there and the following week in Doha (she w/d in the SF). The Czech's streak included eight wins in an eight-day stretch thanks to the usual -- even *more* so than usual -- brutal WTA tournament scheduling practices.
#9 - ONE SU-WEI IS NEVER ENOUGH At the Australian Open, Hsieh Su-wei sweeps the WD and MX titles, making them her third and fourth slam crowns won since her return last spring after sitting out the entire 2022 season. In March, Hsieh and Elise Mertens added the Indian Wells title to their win at the AO in January.
#10 - THE PAO-ER OF POSITIVE THINKING Jasmine Paolini claims her first WTA 1000 title in Dubai, cracking the Top 20 after rallying in a classic final vs. Anna Kalinskaya (down 6-4/3-1, then again 5-3 in the 3rd)
#11 - ANNA'S ASCENT Anna Kalinskaya reaches her maiden WTA singles final in the Dubai 1000, winning eight matches in nine days as she goes from qualifying to posting three Top 10 wins (def. Ostapenko, Gauff & Swiatak). She's the second qualifier to defeat two Top 3 players in an event over the last 40 years (w/ Mauresmo '98).
#12 - A QUEEN-IN-WAITING On the 10th anniversary of countrywoman Li Na's AO title run in 2014, Zheng Qinwen re-christens Melbourne by becoming the second Chinese woman to reach a slam singles final
#13 - CALIFORNIA KATIE'S DAYS IN THE SUN Katie Boulter, who'd never won multiple matches vs. Top 50 foes in an event in her career, reels off five straight over Top 40 opponents in San Diego to take her biggest (500) tour title. The Brit came into the week without multiple MD tour wins in an event since the U.S. Open.
#14 - UKRAINIAN DELIGHT DOWN UNDER Dayana Yastremska reaches her first slam singles semifinal at the Australian Open, becoming the fifth qualifier to do so in women's slam history
#15 - ANOTHER AFRICAN TRAILBLAZER Make room, Ons Jabeur, 20-year old Angella Okutoyi is the latest African breaker of barriers. Already with a handful of "First ever..." feats as a junior, the Kenyan took African Games Gold in singles (and doubles Silver), claiming the first tennis Gold for her nation in 46 years in the event. Her run was highlighted by a 4:27 win over defending champ Mayar Sherif in the semis, which was also Okutoyi's first career Top 100 victory.



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*BEST TROPHY RE-DESIGN (Linz singles)*

The recent version of the Linz trophy was pretty bad...



So this was a welcome improvement...



Umm... hello, GERMAN OPEN. (Cough-cough, tapping foot.)

After last year's embarrassing trophy effort... surely *your* trophy change is coming next, right? Right?

Last year's, hmmm, "effort"...



Alona Ostapenko would surely take either. But this one made a better photo companion (whether or not mom was behind the camera)...




*LIGHTEST TROPHY (Hua Hin... especially considering how heavy it *looks*)*


Whilte the Linz singles trophy got a major (and much needed) upgrade this year, it's not the same for this event. But what the Hua Hin piece is missing in glitz it makes up for in character. But, really, as easily as Diana Shnaider lifts that big thing, I mean, it *has* to be made out of styrofoam, right?




*HEAVIEST TROPHY (Dubai... also, smallest champion to biggest trophy ratio)*

Meanwhile, Jasmine Paolini may have found a stoic doubles partner, if she so chooses.




*WORST TROPHY non-REDESIGN (Linz doubles, and singles runner-up)*




Alona had to close her eyes, or else burst out laughing.


*CLASSIC TROPHY (Doha)*




And in 2024...





*STILL THE COOLEST TROPHY ACCOMPANIMENT (San Diego's surfboard)*





*AN (OVERDUE) SIGHT FOR SORE EYES*







*2022 HEADLINE -- FINALLY! -- in 2024*





*BEST PRE-MATCH INTERACTION, PT. 1 & 2*

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earned the early season honor for the best pre-match moment of '24, as she sweetly didn't allow a young fan to be embarrassed in what could have been an awkward moment and simply went along with the Ask a Question/Get an Answer pact with an even better response than anyone could have anticipated.



And you would be...?





*BEST (POSTER-WORTHY) ACTION SHOT*







*BEST PHOTO FRAMING*





*MOST PHOTOGENIC SERVICE FOLLOW-THROUGH*





*BEST/ONLY (ACTUAL) AGA-RELATED "JEOPARDY!" CLUE*





*TOUR ARTISTE*





*ANNUAL TOUR ARTISTIC EMBARRASSMENT: Indian Wells champion mural reveal (aka "Who she?")*




Some have said that it more resembles Camila Osorio. Maybe, but I also see Danka Kovinic.


*FAVORITE OUTFIT (shockingly... Alona Ostapenko's pastel faux tuxedo look)*





*OSTAPENKO & FRIEND*





*ASH WITH CHILD*





*BEST/WORST TENNIS GODS' PRACTICAL JOKES (sorry, Elena)*





*THE TENNIS EQUIVALENT OF "SELF-CHECKOUT?"*


Along with all her other heavy workload in February, Karolina Pliskova also had to teach how a sun-blocking umbrella needs to, ummm, actually be positioned to create shade from the sun.




*IT'S A FRENCH THING*








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1. Australian Open 2nd Rd. - Anna Blinkova def. Elena Rybakina
...6-4/4-6/7-6(22-20). A 42-point tie-break? Lesia Tsurenko and Ana Bogdan weep, for there but for the grace of the Tennis Gods even they did not go.

But it looked good on Anna Blinkova, though.



The 25-year old Hordette has been positioned at the center of things before during a slam. Last year in Paris, she knocked off a #5-seeded Caroline Garcia in the 2nd Round. It took her 9 match points to do it. Then, a round later in a spirited contest with Elina Svitolina (who'd defeated her in straight sets in the Strasbourg final the prior week), she went three with the Ukrainian, forcing her to serve for the match twice, staving off a pair of MP (one on a 17-shot rally) before finally going out on a third.

So I guess it's just the Blinkova way.

What had been a good match, with Blinkova and #3-seeded Elena Rybakina exchanging 6-4 sets, turned epic in its third Act as Rybakina, who'd opened 2024 like a house afire in Brisbane, was stressed with trying to stay alive in the 2nd Round a year after reaching her maiden AO final. The Kazakh valiantly fought back as Blinkova twice served for the match in the 3rd, saving two MP in game #12 to send things to a deciding match tie-break.



Little did we know that what would commence would be a tie-break of historic proportions, lasting more than half an hour and with both players combining to save 13 MP, often with deliriously brilliant shotmaking and eye-popping defense. Rybakina was the first to find herself in a heap of trouble, only to hit her way out. Then Blinkova took a few turns of her own. Nothing was given, and everything earned.



Rybakina saved 7 MP in the TB alone (giving her 9 for the match), while Blinkova swatted away 6 MP chances on the other side of the net. The battle extended for 42 points, making it the longest women's tie-break in slam history. No matter how hard she tried, though, Rybakina couldn't make Blinkova go away. The Hordette -- whose name makes this way too easy, to the point of almost painful cliche -- would not blink (hey, you're obliged to say it *once*, right?). Finally, on MP #10, things went her way and Blinkova was on the right side of history in a 6-4/4-6/7-6(22-20) victory that sent her into her first AO 3rd Round, and third at the last four slams.



While it's sad to see Rybakina go, it was a welcome moment for Blinkova to finally receive the accolades she deserves this time, and not have to deal with various dirty backwash that have come with her other highlight moments from the past year.

When Blinkova, universally recognized as one of the nicest players on tour, made the Strasbourg final she wasn't even acknowledged by her opponent in the aftermath. When she upset Garcia at RG she had to contend with the bitter French fans as she tossed out one of their home favorites. A round later, when she lost to Svitolina again in a much tougher affair she had at least "earned" a nod and a modicum of consideration for a well-fought battle, but still had to deal with unwarrented boos and ill-informed accusations that she was somehow at fault.

This time, though, Blinkova got her just rewards. A big win vs. a major opponent on a big stage, and the adulation that should come with such perseverance and success.

Occasionally, the planets do align in this sport. And what reasonable person can't find solace and maybe even a touch of delight in that?


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2. Indian Wells 2nd Rd. - Aryna Sabalenka def. Peyton Stearns
...6-7(2)/6-2/7-6(6). The world #2 prevails in one of best, most intense battles of the year so far, winning on MP #4 after having previously saved four.

Stearns took the 1st set in a TB, but it was the 3rd where this one lived its truth.

Sabalenka seemed to have missed a huge opportunity at 3-2, when she led 15/40 but saw the fiery Stearns get the hold, then even more miraculously hold again two games later with a series of remarkable winners that turned multiple Sabalenka-controlled rallies in her favor.



Stearns then quickly went up love/30 on Sabalenka in the next game. A Sabalenka DF handed Stearns a BP and she converted with a Sabalenka error. Serving for the match at 5-4, the former NCAA champ took a 40/love lead, but failed to put away four MP in the game as Sabalenka broke to get back on serve. Stearns again grabbed the lead at 15/40 in game 11, but a game Sabalenka didn't give up easily in a game in which she slid and nearly turned her ankle, and reached GP twice (on the first going big on both 1st and 2nd serves, but missing both) before Stearns broke on her fifth BP to lead 6-5. But again Stearns couldn't put the match away.

In the deciding TB, Sabalenka (now playing w/ a bloody knee wound) finally edged ahead with a crosscourt second serve return winner to lead 4-2. She went up 6-3, but Stearns again surged back, saving two MP on her own serve and another on Sabalenka's. Finally, on MP #4, Sabalenka put away the nearly three-hour thriller to get her first win since claiming her second AO crown.


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3. Miami 2nd Rd. - Victoria Azarenka def. Peyton Stearns
...7-5/3-6/6-4. And with this, after her similar clash with Sabalenka in the desert two weeks earlier, Stearns completed a matching 2nd Round thriller vs. a Belarusian on *both* ends of the Sunshine swing. Just like the first time, though, she didn't come out on top.

It wasn't *quite* at the level of the Match of the Year Nominee in Indian Wells (though it was maybe one more late break from being just that), but it was surely dripping with familiar drama (as well as the odd sight of Vika's long-ago ex Redfoo in Stearns' players box).



As vs. Sabalenka, it all came to a head in the 3rd. Stearns led 2-0. Azarenka battled back to level the score, then built a love/40 lead on Stearns' serve in game 5. Stearns ultimately held three GP, but dropped serve on Azarenka's fourth BP. Holding a 4-2 edge, a commanding lead remained just out of reach of Vika, as she couldn't put away the game despite going up love/40. After the hold, Stearns broke Azarenka to knot the set at 4-4.

As Stearns tried to play through a shoulder injury (shaking it out between points, dealing with pain on her forehand swings and often grabbing her arm at the conclusion of a rally), she conducted a 7-deuce service game that highlighted her grit and determination. She staved off five BP and held a pair GP, but Azarenka finally got the break on her sixth BP (she had a low conversion rate with just 3-of-16 numbers in the 3rd, but it was enough to claw her way to the edge of victory).

Serving for the win at 5-4, Azarenka fell behind love/30, pushed back to reach MP, but then still had to knock off a Stearns BP before finally putting away MP #2 after the Bannerette fired a forehand long to end the two and three-quarter hour affair.

Even with all her fight quite apparent, Stearns fell to 1-7 in three-set matches on the year.
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4. Dubai Final - Jasmine Paolini def. Anna Kalinskaya
...4-6/7-5/7-5. The second of Paolini's pair of bookend comebacks in her career week in the desert.

The Italian trailed 6-4/4-2, then reeled off the last ten games in the 1st Round vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia. In the final, Kalinskaya led 6-4/3-1 before losing her lead and then failing to serve out game 12 to force a TB.



In the 3rd, the Hordette led 5-3, and served for the title at 5-4. Again, Paolini battled back to take the lead and, again, Kalinskaya failed to serve out game 12 to force a TB.

She finally succumbed to the pressure in the final game, falling behind love/40 after a UE/DF combo, then UE-ing again on MP.


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5. African Games SF - Angella Okutoyi/KEN def. Mayar Sherif/EGY
...5-7/7-5/7-6. Okutoyi's path to the Gold medal in Accra was paved by a miraculous 4:27 marathon victory over defending AG Gold medalist Mayar Sherif, which accounted for the 20-year old Kenyan's first career Top 100 win.


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HM- Abu Dhabi SF - Dasha Kasatkina def. Beatriz Haddad Maia
...6-3/4-6/7-6(2). En route to her other '24 final in Adelaide, Kasatkina coasted to the final match on the back of consecutive walkovers in the QF/SF. She made up for it here, winning an exhausting three-hour battle with the Brazilian.



The match took so much out of both that the two combined to lose their next seven matches, and went a combined 5-11 the rest of the 1Q. Kasatkina lost her next three (3-5 the rest of the 1Q) and Haddad Maia her next four (2-6).
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*BACK TO THE FUTURE*



Indian Wells 2nd Rd. - Angelique Kerber def. Alona Ostapenko 5-7/6-3/6-3
Indian Wells 2nd Rd. - Caroline Wozniacki def. Donna Vekic 7-6(5)/6-3
...suddenly, it was 2018 again as Kerber, Wozniacki and Naomi Osaka were winning matches in a 1000 event, while Simona Halep was set to return less than two weeks later in Miami.



Kerber's comeback from 7-5/2-0 down vs. Ostapenko was just the third victory in her '24 return after becoming a mom, but it's also her first Top 10 victory since November 2021.

The win over Vekic was Wozniacki's third Top 50 win since her un-retirement last summer.



The last time both Kerber and Wozniacki were in the 3rd Round in Indian Wells was six years ago in 2018.

Wozniacki eventually defeated Kerber in the Round of 16 this time around, then lost to Iga Swiatek in the QF.


*WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HER FRIEND*



Miami 2nd Rd. - Aryna Sabalenka def. Paula Badosa
...6-4/6-3. A nice display of focus by Sabalenka in her first match since her former boyfriend's tragic death in Miami at the start of the week. The match had already been pushed back a day to Friday, then they had to wait out a long rain delay, as well, finally hitting the court about six hours later than what had been the scheduled start time.

Sabalenka now leads the head-to-head 3-2, with three straight wins the last three seasons.








1. Melbourne Wheelchair Open Final - Diede de Groot def. Yui Kamiji
...6-1/3-6/7-6(0). Occasionally, de Groot is a bit slow out of the box in January. Her last loss came then, in the 2021 Melbourne Open final vs. Kamiji. Last year, she dropped a set in the final of the same event against Kamiji before then going on to complete her second straight undefeated season. In the final of this year's version of the event, it happened again. But it was more than that.

Last year in the French Riviera Open, de Groot dropped the opening set against Kgothatso Montjane, then had to take a 7-5 2nd set TB before winning in three. Up till now, that had been the closest the Dutch #1 has come to losing in her three-year winning run. Until this match, that is.

Kamiji led de Groot 5-1 in the 3rd set, up a double-break. She twice served for the match. De Groot broke Kamiji's serve at love to pull within 5-2, but the Japanese world #2 held a MP at 5-3 (de Groot saved it with a clean forehand winner and got the hold). De Groot continued to surge, winning five straight games to lead 6-5, but was unable to serve out the win in game 12 after taking a 30/love lead.

With everything on the line, though, de Groot -- playing through an injury and a cold, it was later revealed -- dominated a 7-0 TB to win her 131st straight match, and 25th in a row over Kamiji, with a 6-1/3-6/7-6(0) victory.
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2. Doha 1st Rd. - Karolina Pliskova def. Anna Kalinskaya 2-6/7-6(3)/6-4
Doha 2nd Rd. - Karolina Pliskova def. Anastasia Potapova 6-1/5-7/6-4
Doha 3rd Rd. - Karolina Pliskova def. Linda Noskova 3-6/7-5/6-1
...Pliskova's wild-and-woolly week in the desert, which began less than 24 hours after picking up a title in Cluj, included three early escapes.

She trailed Kalinskaya 6-2, and love/40 on serve in the opening game of the 2nd. The Czech rallied to hold, saved 13/16 BP on the day and served up 19 aces.

Pliskova led Potapova 6-1/4-1, and had a GP for 5-1. She served for the match at 6-5. But then Potapova forced a 3rd set, where she led 4-2 and held 3 GP for a 5-2 edge. Pliskova swept the final four games.



Against countrywoman Noskova, Pliskova trailed 6-3/4-2 in her seventh match in seven days. Noskova served at 5-4, but again Pliskova swept the closing games and then ran away with the 3rd.

Doha QF - Karolina Pliskova def. Naomi Osaka
...7-6(6)/7-6(5). In her eighth match in eight days, Pliskova overcame an early break deficit in both the 1st and 2nd sets (2-0 in each) to get her second win over Osaka this season, and her ninth straight overall.



Doha SF - Iga Swiatek walkover Karolina Pliskova
...Pliskova finally calls "uncle!" to avoid playing for a *ninth* straight day, going out with a lower back injury (though it was probably a "take your pick" situation).

It's the second walkover she's handed Swiatek since losing that 6-0/6-0 final in Rome to the Pole back in 2021. Pliskova has yet to beat her in three actual matches, though she did force a 3rd set last year in Stuttgart (on indoor clay) and they played a 1st set TB set last summer in Montreal.
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3. Australian Open 3rd Rd. - Mirra Andreeva def. Diane Parry
...1-6/6-1/7-6(10-5). 16-year old Mirra Andreeva continued to show signs of being "Her," rallying from a 5-1 deficit in the 3rd set vs. Pastry Diane Parry, saving a MP at 5-2, in what turned out to be a furious comeback.

With the tide turning, Parry could sense that she was losing control of a match that she seemed to have in her back pocket. Still up 5-3, after dropping the opening point of game 9 she slammed and cracked her racket. Parry was soon broken and things were back on serve. Her first DF of the match put her down 15/40 two games later, and Andreeva's break gave the teenager a chance to serve for the match. She failed to do so, but won a 10-5 MTB to advance to her second slam Round of 16.


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4. Linz 2nd Rd. - Alona Ostapenko def. Clara Tauson
...3-6/6-4/7-6(7). Just your typical Ostapenko match. She lost the 1st set. But won the 2nd. She trailed 4-1 and 5-3 in the 3rd. But turned the tide and won a deciding TB. Alona *did* save a MP this time around, though.



Come the weekend, she was lifting the glitzy new Linz championship trophy.
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5. Dubai QF - Sorana Cirstea def. Marketa Vondrousova
...2-6/7-6(1)/6-2. Vondrousova led 6-2/5-1 here, and held 6 MP over a three-game stretch (3 on Cirstea's serve at 5-1, 1 at 5-2, then two more on Cirstea's serve at 5-3). The Czech served for the win three times, at 5-2, 5-4 and again at 6-5.

Cirstea reached her third 1000 SF (second in less than a year, w/ Miami '23).


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*IT. IS. NEVER. OVER.*

$100K Irapuato MEX 1st Rd. - Marina Melnikova def. Anna Gabric 6-7(8)/7-6(5)/6-2
...6-3/6-2. Gabric led 7-6/5-0. She never had a MP, and didn't win.








1. Australian Open 3rd Rd. - Linda Noskova def. Iga Swiatek
...3-6/6-3/6-4. See Linda. See Linda crush. See Iga go home early.



Coming into their AO match-up, 19-year old Czech Linda Noskova (world #50, and a former junior slam champ) had just four career slam MD wins, compared to an opponent in #1 Swiatek who had four slam *titles* under her belt. After losing her top ranking at the U.S. Open last year, the Pole had lost just once, going an impressive 19-1 while winning the WTA Finals and reclaiming her #1 ranking. She came into the day on an 18-match winning streak, the second-longest on tour this decade behind only her own 37-match run in 2022.

But since arriving in Melbourne off a 5-0 mark in the United Cup team event, Swiatek had been almost immediately been put against it. Sofia Kenin served for the opening set in the 1st Round before Swiatek won in straights, then Danielle Collins held a 4-1, two-break 3rd set lead in the 2nd Round before the Pole escaped with her AO life intact. Against Noskova, Iga stepped back into the fire.

Swiatek led 6-3/3-3, but the young Czech began to step things up in the 2nd set, grabbing it with a late break to force a 3rd against an increasingly perplexed world #1 whose response to a harder-hitting foe who had refused to genuflect and then didn't begin to sloppily give away her edge (ala Collins two days earlier) -- once again -- was to oddly try to outhit her opponent and attempt to be more aggressive without any real plan of action.

It was a non-plan that has rarely worked well for her in the past. And it didn't this time, either.



After exchanging breaks early in the final set, Noskova nosed ahead at 4-3 and didn't look back. Serving at 5-4, the teenager fell behind love/30 but hit her way to MP and then finished off Swiatek with a 3-6/6-3/6-4 win, a first career #1 victory that sent her to her maiden slam Round of 16.



The loss is only the second before the Round of 16 in a slam for Swiatek since the start of 2021, and her exit is the earliest for a #1 seed at the AO since 1979 when Virginia Ruzici fell in 1st Round, the only other such instance in the event in the Open era.

The consistency of #1 seeds in Melbourne is quite good compared to the other slams, as this is just the third time since the first seeded draw 100 years ago (in 1924) that the top woman lost so early in the tournament. In 1939, #1 Nancy Wynne lost in the 2nd Round (which *was* the Round of 16), but no other pre-Open era #1 lost before the QF. Besides Ruzici and Swiatek, only six other Open era #1's have lost before the QF (Iga was one of those, too, with a 4th Rd. loss last year).

Swiatek met Noskova twice more in the 1Q, winning love & 4 in Indian Wells, then escaping another close one in Miami in which she again was flabbergasted about what do do vs. Noskova's hard, flat shots but bailed herself out with a final flourish, winning the last five points to dig herself out of a love/40 hole when serving for the match in a 6-7(7)/6-4/6-4 victory.
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2. Australian Open 2nd Rd. - Clara Burel def. Jessie Pegula
...6-4/6-2. The Pastry, a girls' finalist in Melbourne in 2018, notches her first career Top 10 victory after having previously been 0-4.

Soon after, Pegula parted ways with coach David Witt.


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3. Australian Open 2nd Rd. - Maria Timofeeva def. Caroline Wozniacki
...1-6/6-4/6-1. A season ago, Timofeeva won her maiden WTA title as a LL in her tour-level MD debut. In Melbourne, the qualifier knocked off former AO champ Wozniacki and ultimately reached the Round of 16 in her slam debut.


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HM- Mumbai 125 1st Rd. - Sahaja Yamalapalli def. Kayla Day 6-4/1-6/6-4
Mumbai 125 1st Rd. - Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty def. Nao Hibino 2-6/6-1/7-6(5)
...good morning, Mumbai.

Mumbai's 125 event began with big upsets by Indian wild card Yamalapalli (#336 over #1-seeded Day) and qualifier Bhamidipaty (#520 over #2 seed Hibino).



Mumbai 125 2nd Rd. - Polina Kudermetova def. Sahaja Yamalapalli 1-6/6-3/7-5
Mumbai 125 2nd Rd. - Alina Korneeva def. Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty 5-7/6-4/6-4
...the two didn't just go away quietly in their follow-up matches, either. Both pushed their Russian opponents to tight 3rd sets before finally going out.

Another Indian WC, Rutuja Bhosale, also posted a 1st Round win. She pushed #8 Katie Volynets to three sets in the 2nd Round after dropping a 10-8 1st set TB.
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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 2:55 AM 

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