Wednesday, June 12, 2024

2024 Clay Court Awards: A Box of Clay Matches


Victory or drama... the eternal tennis question.










Clay Court Top Performances list: HERE







1. Madrid Final - Iga Swiatek def. Aryna Sabalenka
...7-5/4-6/7-6(7). With Sabalenka looking to defend and win her third Madrid title, while Swiatek was trying to win her first at the last big clay event she had yet to claim, the rematch of the 2023 final turned into a three-hour drama in which both players saved MP, Swiatek stayed alive by upping the MPH on her shots in the deciding set and, ultimately, Sabalenka went from holding MP to being dethroned in a three-point stretch in which she produced a trio of UE to end the match.

The Belarusian had been the better player in the opening set, but Swiatek still managed to take it. Sabalenka's inability to convert any of three BP when up 3-2 was key, though she also denied the Pole multiple BP after trailing 15/40 but holding to maintain an on-serve 4-3 edge. Sabalenka didn't allow a point on her first serve until the score was 5-5, but once Swiatek broke through she got the break and then held to take the set at 7-5. Coming into the match, Swiatek was 75-0 in 1000 event matches after winning the opening set.

Sabalenka twice went up a break in the 2nd, only to see Swiatek immediately break back. It only delayed the inevitable, as Sabalenka began to outhit the world #1, finally getting the break to take the set 6-4.

Swiatek had two BP chances at 1-1, but Sabalenka's power staved off both. The two exchanged breaks in games 4 & 5. Swiatek upped the power on her groundstrokes, but Sabalenka still maintained her slight edge, holding from love/30 for 5-4, then two games later for 6-5. In game 12 on Swiatek's serve, Sabalenka held a pair of MP, pushing a forehand down the line wide on the first, then seeing Swiatek's forehand winner wipe away the second. Iga got the hold to force the deciding TB as the match clock ticked to 3:00.

The first mini-break of the TB went to Sabalenka, who led 4-3. But a deep return from Swiatek produced an error that got it back. Sabalenka's long forehand gave Swiatek her first MP at 6-5, but the Belarusian erased it with an ace. A long Swiatek forehand gave Sabalenka her third MP at 7-6, but a long backhand down the line kept the title out of reach.

As it turned out, Sabalenka wouldn't win another point, as two additional back-to-back UE sealed her fate: a long return that gave Swiatek a second MP at 8-7, then a long backhand into the corner that ended it after 3:11.


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2. Roland Garros 2nd Rd. - Iga Swiatek def. Naomi Osaka
...7-6(1)/1-6/7-5. Though this one's aftermath helped to change Roland Garros history, it's still difficult to grasp just *how* it actually happened.



If the island prison of Alcatraz off the coast of San Francisco was supposed to be nearly "impossible" to escape, well, then I'll wager a bet that officials there never saw anything like what Swiatek did against Osaka in this one.

Oh, sure. Players have recovered from even deeper holes in matches before, and did so at this Roland Garros. But the world #1 had virtually no right -- and seemingly no legitimate path -- to victory at one point in her 2nd Round match-up with fellow four-time slam champ and former #1 Osaka. And yet she did. Osaka bears a large amount of the responsibility for that result, but one would be right to wonder if the Tennis Gods simply had a sudden change of plans and decided that Swiatek's quest for a Paris three-peat wasn't "boring" -- it just needed a little injection of much-needed drama.

The opening set could have gone either way, and if Osaka had managed to sneak off with it the odds are that the final result would have been different, too. Osaka came into the match with a plan, one helped along by the closed Chatrier roof changing the literal landscape of the playing field, and for the most part she did just what she had to do. It was simple, really: hit big, hit hard, and hit deep. Osaka is one of a few women on tour (see Sabalenka, Rybakina, Keys and Ostapenko) whose power can take the racket out of an oppontent's unwilling hand if they can only complete their own solo mission by not wavering from said plan.

After falling behind early, Osaka did just that and never really let up. And yet.

The world #1 won a hitting battle with the comeback-minded former #1 (but #134 at the time) in the 1st. Swiatek grabbed an early break edge, stringing together 12 straight points in a stretch, and yet still saw Osaka come back for more. With Swiatek serving up 40/love, Osaka reeled off five straight points behind her big groundstrokes to put the set back on serve at 4-all.

Saving a BP, Osaka held for 5-4, then had a SP on Swiatek's serve a game later. Iga saved it, and soon after held to force a TB, running a point streak to eight as she went up 4-0 en route to a 7-1 win to take the lead in the match.

Ah, but it was then that Osaka turned up the heat, and nearly cooked Swiatak on a spit for all the tennis world to see. Again.

It seemed as if yet another result was about to happen that was anything but an anecdotal occasion (this sort of match wasn't happening in a vaccuum, as we've seen this match or versions of it countless times by now), and was instead another example in a long-running string of matches lost by an albeit amazingly accomplished #1 when faced with a player who hits the ball hard and deep, cutting down her time to react and refusing to back down, and Swiatek having no real answer for it.

And yet.



Through the majority of the 2nd and 3rd sets, Osaka commanded the court and seemed intent on cancelling the Iga-bration scheduled for the RG final weekend. She broke to open the 2nd set, then went up a double break. 4-0. 6-1, to knot the match.

In the 3rd, Swiatek popped up with chances, but Osaka immediately swatted them down, saving 3 BP in game 1, then rallying from 40/15 down to break the Pole a game later. Down love/40 in game 3, Osaka saved 5 BP and held to lead 3-0. At 4-1, she held a point for a 5-1 lead before Swiatek held on her fourth GP to -- seemingly -- save at least bit of face and avoid a delivery of any more "baked goods" on *her* doorstep.

Osaka held for 5-2, and Iga's RG three-peat epitaph was being written in nearly as many languages as Kristina Mladenovic can boast of speaking. Among the things set to be talked about in the aftermath, aside from the very psychology of the casting of "big favorites" in sporting events, was Swiatek becoming just the fifth #1 seed to exit before the 3rd Round at RG in the Open era (and just the sixth since the event opened itself to non-French competitors in 1925), and doing so on the heels of her Australian Open 3rd Round loss in January being the earliest there by a #1 since 1979. Also, Osaka was about to record her third career #1 win -- vs. a third different #1, after Halep and Barty -- and first-ever Top 10 victory on clay.

But, you know, Osaka still had to finish the match.

She served for the win up 5-3, and led 30/15, but the netting of a short ball seemed to break her spell on the proceedings. Another unforced error down the line gave Swiatek a BP. Osaka wiped away the advantage with two winners to reach MP, but any celebration was thwarted by another error. A backhand error gave Swiatek still another BP chance, her 10th of the set (she was 0-for-9). Osaka pushed a short ball long and things were suddenly back on serve.



With the match win miraculously -- somehow -- back in play, Swiatek served up 40/15, holding for 5-5 after Osaka had fired off consecutive winners to get to deuce. An Osaka forehand error put her BP down in game 11, but she hit her way out of trouble with a crosscourt forehand winner and ace, only to ultimately turn the game over to Iga with a double-fault on Swiatek's third BP of the game. Swiatek then stepped up to serve FOR THE WIN at 6-5.

Whaaaaaat??? How??? I thought she was just...

By now, Swiatek was back in her Iga clothes again (looking more "G.O.A.T." than goat). She served out the win at 15, with the concluding rally coming to an end with -- naturally -- a final Osaka error (wide backhand) as Swiatek won -- survived, escapted, breathed a sigh of relief (w/ a few tears) after -- in a remarkable 2:57, winning her second match on clay this spring (Madrid final vs. Sabalenka) after having been MP down.



Her head removed from the figurative guillotine early in the opening week, Swiatek played without conscious (and w/ few, if any, miscues) the rest of the way, winning her fifth major title, fourth Roland Garros and third in a row in Paris.

But the "What If...?" will forever remain.
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3. Charleston QF - Jessie Pegula def. Victoria Azarenka
...6-4/3-6/7-6(7). For Vika, this one had to hurt.

Azarenka had managed to pull this match out of the fire, rallying from 6-4/3-1 back (w/ Pegula having 3 BP for 4-1), and then from love/40 down while serving to stay in the match in the 3rd set. She saved four BP in that game, holding for 5-5.

In the TB, Azarenka held three MP of her own, two on serve at 6-3. Pegula saved all three, then a fourth (again on Vika's serve). Pegula reached MP for a fifth time at 8-7, and Azarenka's long return forehand sealed the deal. As expected would happen (and should have... even if it'd been Rybakina on the losing end in this one), Vika slammed her racket into the clay as the ball sailed long.

Had Azarenka reached the SF it'd been her first on clay since 2013 in Rome.


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4. Rome 4th Rd. - Alona Ostapenko def. Rebecca Sramkova
...4-6/6-4/7-6(3). A Tilt-a-Penko trip rarely gets bogged down in intricate details, and is usually about big swings (both literally and figuratively). That was the case in this unexpected thriller, too.

That Ostapenko and Sramkova's careers would intersect with, of all things, a 1000 QF berth on the line is about as unlikely an occurrance on tour as it would seem. Though 26 and 27-year old contemporaries, respectively, their careers have developed along totally different paths. That they've "shared" a spot on the pro tour for a decade but have *never* before met in a tour-level match says a lot, as does the fact that the two times they *had* previously met came in a $50K in 2015 (on carpet) and in a 2019 Fed Cup tie (on indoor hard court). They split those matches.

Once play began, the two were evenly matched. In fact, in the end, #10 Ostapenko edged #120-ranked qualifier Sramkova by just two total points (113-111) and -- shocking! -- the Slovak out-winnered the Latvian 43-36 on the day.



Sramkkova rallied from 3-1 back to win the 1st, and after Ostapenko knotted the match the two battled throughout the 3rd. Sramkova led 3-1, and served for the win at 5-4 (she was broken at love). Meanwhile, over five consecutive games (games 7-11), every service game began with either 40/love or love/40 scores. The two traded breaks for 5-4 and 5-5, with Ostapenko getting the key hold from love/40 down in game 11 to prevent Sramkova from getting a second chance to serve out the match.

After Ostapenko held for a 6-5 lead, Sramkova denied her a MP in the following game and forced a TB, where the Latvian finally pulled away to win 7-3.


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5. Stuttgart QF - Marta Kostyuk def. Coco Gauff
...3-6/6-4/7-6(6). Kostyuk follows up her five MP-saving Top 10 win over Zheng Qinwen with her biggest win yet vs. Gauff, staging multiple comebacks over the course of the proceedings without ever facing a MP.

Gauff won the 1st set, and was twice up a break in the opening four games of the 2nd. She led 3-1 in the 3rd, as well. At 4-4, Gauff had three BP opportunities to get the chance to serve for the match. Kostyuk held, then had three MP chances on Gauff's serve in the following game. Gauff saved all three.

With another chance, Gauff got the break for 6-5 and *did* have a chance to serve out the win. But, again, Kostyuk battled back to force a deciding TB. The Ukrainian jumped out to a 6-2 lead, only to see Gauff save four more MP before Kostyuk took the breaker on MP #8 to win 8-6.

Stuttgart is the first multi-Top 10 win event of Kostyuk's career. She made it *three* straight Top 10 victories with a win over Marketa Vondrousova in the semis.


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6. Madrid 2nd Rd. - Danielle Collins def. Olga Danilovic
...4-6/6-4/7-6(8). Collins takes her (late night) show to Europe, winning her 14th consecutive match in a contest that carried half past midnight.

Danilovic broke and served for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd, but Collins was having none of it. She got the match-extending break, then took things to a deciding TB, where she raced to a 6-3 lead and finally put away the Serb -- through the rain -- on her sixth MP.



Roland Garros 2nd Rd. - Olga Danilovic def. Danielle Collins
...6-7(3)/7-5/6-4. A few weeks later, Collins had seemingly secured another win vs. the Serbian qualifier. After winning a no-break 1st set via a TB, Collins came back from 3-1 down in the 2nd to lead 5-3. She served for the win at 5-4, but dropped the game. Collins had two BP chances at 5-5, but Danilovic held her off, and then broke the Bannerette to knot the match on her third SP in the game. After consecutive breaks in games 2 & 3 in the 3rd, Danilovic closed the match with a break of serve to end things.



Danilovic's win over Collins was her second career Top 10 victory (first since 2018 when she def. Julia Goerges en route to her maiden title in her very first tour-level MD in Moscow -- as a lucky loser). For the third year in a row, Danilovic was a Last Qualifier Standing in Paris, only this time it's was solo honor in what was her first career slam Round of 16 run.
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7. Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Peyton Stearns def. Lucija Ciric Bagaric
...6-3/6-7(8)/7-6(10-6). Only days earlier, Stearns' road to her maiden tour title in Rabat included consecutive comebacks, from 5-0 down and saving 3 MP in the 3rd in a QF, then from 4-1 down in the 3rd in a SF. Here the Bannerette staged a third big comeback in four matches, but this one was not the same as the others.

This time it was Stearns who couldn't put the match away (first). The former NCAA champ served up 6-3/5-3, taking a 40/15 lead and holding two MP. Qualifier Lucija Ciric Bagaric forced a TB, where Stearns rallied from 0-4 down to hold three more MP at 6-5, 7-6 and 8-7. The Croat won 10-8 to force a decider.

As much of the final set was played in the rain that threatened to make the terre battue a mud track (it helped with Ciric's many drop shots, though), the two traded breaks. Ciric went up a break at 3-2, then gave it back. She consolidated her next break and led 5-3, and served for her maiden slam MD win. She still couldn't do it.

The contest went to a deciding match TB, where Stearns took a 7-4 lead and started toward the net, thinking she'd won the match before realizing she needed *10* points (now *that* was a touch of Cornet-like drama). At least she didn't let loose with a mighty yell, as that would have been far *more* awkward. Later, reaching MP for the sixth time at 9-6, Stearns fired a wide serve that Ciric couldn't get back, taking the victory by a 6-3/6-7(8)/7-6(10-6) score.


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8. Parma 125 SF - Anna Karolina Schmiedlova def. Jule Niemeier
...6-4/6-7(11)/7-5. A crazy affair in Parma. In a match that went 3:38, both players saved half a dozen MP with a spot in the final on the line before, in the end, the player who'd squandered the initial big lead still managed to celebrate last.

Schmiedlova led 6-4/5-3, holding two MP on Niemeier's serve, then a third on her own a game later. The German rallied to take the set to a TB, but saw AKS hold three more MP at 6-5, 9-8 and 10-9 to run her total to six. Niemeier won the breaker 13-11 to stay alive.

The 3rd set opened with six consecutive breaks of serve, but Niemeier eventually served for the win at 5-4, taking a 40/15 lead and holding six total MP of her own in the game before the Slovak got the break. Schmiedlova then held and broke Niemeier again to advance to the final, her biggest in three years.
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9. Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Anna Blinkova def. Sorana Cirstea
...6-3/3-6/7-6(10-5). At times this season, Blinkova has looked like a star. She notched a pair of Top 10 wins and reached a slam 3rd Round, defeating Elena Rybakina in a record 42-point TB in Melbourne. Still, she came to Paris at just 8-13 on the season.

Immediately after her AO upset of Rybakina, Blinkova lost 3 of 4 matches. Since that win, she came into Day 3 having gone 6-11, including a 1-7 slump (1-5 on clay) since knocking off Karolina Pliskova and Jessie Pegula in back-to-back matches in Indian Wells.

Facing #28 Sorana Cirstea, Blinkova took a 4-1 lead in the 3rd, only to see the veteran Romanian knot the set at 4-all. Blinkova broke to get a chance to serve for the win at 5-4, but gave the break back. Onto a tie-break they went. So, right in the Hordette's wheelhouse.

Cirstea took a 5-4 lead but -- sorry, Sorana -- this is Blinkova in a MTB at a major, so, well, you know. Blinkova swept the final six points to win 6-3/3-6/7-6(10-5).


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10. BJK Cup Qualifiers, Match #3 - Ana Bogdan/ROU def. Elina Svitolina/UKR
...6-4/4-6/6-3. The win that sent Romania on its way to a 3-2, historic come-from-behind win over Ukraine after having fallen behind 0-2 on Day 1.



Bogdan's Match #1 loss to Tsurenko (they have a history -- remember that 3:40 match w/ a 38-point MTB at last year's Wimbledon?) had been her fifth straight after reaching the Cluj final in Romania. She dropped the last two sets 2 & love, so that she came back roaring on Saturday to take a three-setter over Svitolina with the tie on the Ukrainian's racket (she led 2-0) in the 3rd set might have been the most psychologically strong moment of the entire BJK Cup weekend. With the team thrown a lifeline, Bogdan returned later to win the deciding doubles alongside Jaqueline Cristian to send Romania to its first BJK Cup finals.
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11. BJK Cup Qualifiers, Match #2 - Emma Raducanu/GBR def. Caroline Garcia/FRA
...3-6/6-3/6-2. The win over #23 Garcia was Raducanu's best ranked victory since defeating a 21st-ranked Magda Linette and #13 Beatriz Haddad Maia in Indian Wells last year. She followed up with a win over Diane Parry to lead the Brits to the BJK finals this fall. That Raducanu did it on clay, on which she hadn't won since '22 (and was just 6-6 *ever* as a pro before BJK week), was a bonus.


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12. Charleston SF - Dasha Kasatkina def. Jessie Pegula
...6-4/4-6/7-6(5). In a week full of three-setters for both, Kasatkina takes the victory over the #1 seed to reach her third '24 final.

Pegula led 4-2 in the 1st, only to see Kasatkina win four straight games to take the match lead. Up 4-2 again in the 2nd, a set with six breaks of serve, Pegula ultimately needed 6 SP to knot the match.

In the 3rd set TB, Pegula once again took the lead, up 3-1. But the Russian rallied to lead 5-3, reached MP at 6-4 and put away her second MP to win 7-5.


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kosova-font


*ADIEU, ADIEU*



Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Zheng Qinwen def. Alize Cornet
...6-2/6-1. A lot happened on the first Tuesday of this year's Roland Garros, not the least of which was that it was the final day of Alize Cornet's singles career. The curtain officially came down on Court Chatrier.

It came as little surprise that the 34-year old French woman's farewell at RG lasted just one round, as she drew #7 Zheng, the '24 AO finalist and '22 RG 4th Rounder (the event in which she took a set off Iga, the only one who did that year).



Cornet's career ended with six career WTA titles (the last coming in 2018), one 1000 final appearance (2008 Rome), a career-high ranking of #11 (2009), six second week slam results (w/ one QF at the AO in '22, setting a record for the latest final eight run in career slam MD #63) and a "Career Round of 16 Slam" with 4th Round results at all four majors (completed in #57 at the 2020 U.S. Open), 25 career Top 10 wins (four over #1, including in 2014 being the rare player to defeat Serena Williams three times in a season, and the other ending Iga Swiatek's 37-match winning streak in '22), one Hopman Cup title (2014) and a Fed Cup final (2016).



But Cornet's lasting legacy -- well, aside from the sort of in-match dramatics that ultimately brought as many knowing smiles as sighs and/or forehead slaps -- will be her resiliency, as her playing career's final line includes an appearance in a women's record 69th consecutive major MD.

Now Alize can be "life" outside the lines, some 19 years after her debut on the big stage as a 15-year old wild card in Paris in 2005 (two years *before* she was crowned the RG girls' champion). Of course, since she's already a published author (thrice, in fact -- one autobiography, and now two novels), the Pastry has already started to move on to her next chapter (and beyond).

Adieu, Alize.














1. Rabat QF - Peyton Stearns def. Lucia Bronzetti
...6-4/4-6/7-5. This is why, when it comes to any single match, you never say *absolutely* never.

Stearns, for whom three-set affairs were the bane of her existence for most of '24, seemed set to go down and out at the hands of Rabat defending champ Bronzetti in yet another deciding set. The Italian led 5-0 in the 3rd, and held a MP in game 6 to finish off things with a love set. She didn't get the job done, but flashforward a few games after a bit of potential down-the-drain drama and she had another MP at 5-4. Bronzetti didn't convert it, either.

At 5-5, Stearns fell behind love/40 on serve, but saved four BP to pull within sight of victory, then broke the Italian a game later to finish off the monster comeback.



After previously losing six straight deciding set matches, and nine of ten to start the year (12 of 13 dating back to '23), this was Stearns' third straight three-set victory. But she wasn't finished.



Rabat SF - Peyton Stearns def. Viktoriya Tomova
...6-7(6)/7-5/7-6(4). After surviving Bronzetti, Stearns turned to Tomova in a SF match that swung back-and-forth almost on a game-by-game basis. The two combined for 15 breaks of serve on the day, including seven over a seven-game stretch in the opening set.

In the 2nd, twice the two women exchanged breaks as Stearns battled back to knot the match. But, again, a comeback was necessary as Tomova ran out to a 4-1 lead only to see the former NCAA champion gradually reel her back in. Stearns forced a TB, then won it 7-4 on the first MP either had seen all day, ending the 3:15 affair. The Bannerette then went out and won her maiden tour title.


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2. Madrid QF - Elena Rybakina def. Yulia Putintseva
...4-6/7-6(4)/7-5. The all-KAZ affair goes the distance, with Rybakina once again showing her mental fortitude (while Putintseva reminds everyone that no one annually loses more matches after holding MP than she does).

Putintseva had and squandered many opportunities in this match, including not converting a BP at 4-4 in the 2nd set that could have given her a chance to serve to end things in straights. Naturally, she whacked her left thigh so hard afterward that she left a noticeable bruise behind. Meanwhile, Rybakina's long reply on a short ball on SP at 6-5 led to a TB to stay alive, which she did with a 7-4 win.

In the 3rd, Putintseva couldn't put away a BP for 3-1, but did so two games later to lead 4-2. She held at love for 5-2, then saw Rybakina's three consecutive UE give her double MP at 15/40 in the next game. Putintseva produced a great drop shot on the first MP that should have won it, but Rybakina's response was even better as she got to the ball and scooped it crosscourt just over the net and out of reach.



Rybakina then fired an ace on MP #2, and soon secured the hold to stay alive. In her next two service games, Putintseva fell behind love/40. She was broken as she served for the match at 5-3, then broken at love at 5-5 as Rybakina earned her shot to serve out the win. She took a 40/love lead, but missed on all three MP (including with a DF and forehand UE), converted on her fourth try. As expected, Putintseva then killed her guilty racket with three crushing blows to the court surface.


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3. Madrid SF - Aryna Sabalenka def. Elena Rybakina
...1-6/7-5/7-6(5). Rybakina escaped the Pit of Putintseva, but the Aryna Ambush proved to be her end in Madrid.

Rybakina seemingly had yet another final within her grasp, leading 6-1/4-2. Sabalenka got the 2nd set back on serve at 4-4, but immediately fell behind love/40 a game later and Rybakina soon had a chance to serve for the match. From love/30 down, Rybakina reached 30-all and was a swing volley forehand away from holding a MP, only to pull the shot wide. Opportunity missed, she then delivered a backhand error to end the following point and cede the momentum to Sabalenka.

Sabalenka held at love for a 6-5 lead, then on her third SP knotted the match when Rybakina dumped a volley into the net.

Rybakina pulled things back together in the 3rd, but at 5-5 failed to convert on a pair of BP chances (including on a long forehand down the line as Sabalenka attempted to race back across the baseline from the far side of the court). Sabalenka got the hold, then ran off to a 5-1 lead in the deciding TB. She reached triple MP at 6-3.

Rybakina's penchant for saving MP continued, for a bit, as she collected back-to-back points, only to see Sabalenka end things with a service winner on her third MP.


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4. Madrid 1st Rd. - Wang Xinyu def. Viktoria Tomova
...5-7/7-5/6-4. Comeback of the season (at least when it comes to MP)? It'll take something remarkable to top it.

Tomova rallied from 5-3 down to win the 1st, and led 7-5/5-2, holding three MP on Wang's serve. She held seven *more* MP at 5-3.

After failing to take the match, Tomova immediately fell behind 0-4 in the 3rd. She recovered to make the scoreline respectable, but it wasn't enough to avoid a squandered victory.


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5. Stuttgart 2nd Rd. - Marta Kostyuk def. Zheng Qinwen
...6-2/4-6/7-5. A huge one for Zheng to let slip, and a tremendous "get" for Kostyuk.

After sweeping the final three games to take the set (and extend the run to five games at 2-0 in the 3rd), Zheng had five MP at 5-4 in a six-deuce game before eventually DF'ing on Kostyuk's second BP.



Two games later, Zheng had a GP to force a deciding TB, but couldn't convert and, on Kostyuk's second MP, DF'd again.


Kostyuk ultimately reached the final, tying San Diego (in March) for the biggest of her career.
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6. Rome 4th Rd. - Aryna Sabalenka def. Elina Svitolina
...4-6/6-1/7-6(7). After being treated for a back injury after winning the 2nd set, Sabalenka engaged in a back-and-forth battle with Svitolina throughout the 3rd, ultimately saving three MP vs. the two-time Rome champ (2017-18) and winning on her own second MP.

Svitolina held an early break lead in the decider, but Sabalenka surged into the lead, serving for the win at 5-4. She couldn't do it, and two games later was forced to save a pair of MP. In the concluding TB, Sabalenka led 5-3, but squandered a chance to hold multiple MP opportunities of her own. Svitolina tied things up at 5-5. They traded MP chances in the closing moments, with Sabalenka getting her first at 6-5, Svitolina #3 at 7-6 and, finally, Sabalenka closing the match by converting on her second to win 9-7.


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7. Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Marta Kostyuk def. Laura Pigossi
...7-5/6-7(4)/6-4. Rain played havoc with the first week schedule in Paris, with the many stoppages of play leading to the reversal of the likely outcomes of quite a few matches. The most striking of these involved #18 Kostyuk and qualifier Pigossi. Though, to be fair, the turn began even *before* the short suspension of play. Early on, the 29-year old Brazilian was seemingly in charge and ready to get her first career slam MD win in her third try.

After winning a 2nd set TB to send the match to a 3rd, Pigossi took a 4-0 lead, and had two GP chances to hold for 5-0. But the rain was looming, and so was Kostyuk. The Ukrainian had closed to 4-2 (and taken a medical timeout, which helped push things along to the delay) before the match was finally stopped. Once everyone returned, Pigossi's dreams crumbled into the terre battue.



The Brazilian never won another game, as Kostyuk finished off her run of six straight games with a 4-0 sprint out of the break to avoid a fourth 1st Round exit in Paris in five career MD appearances. Pigossi is now 0-3 in her slam career.


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8. BJK Cup Qualifiers, Match #3 - Nao Hibino/JPN def. Yulia Putintseva/KAZ
...6-4/3-6/7-6(7). The first of Putintseva's *two* losses after holding MP this spring.

Going on the road for the BJK Qualifiers (especially opening vs. Osaka) was a tough ask for Putintseva without some backing from another top singles player on the roster (no Elena). But she still had a shot to keep the tie alive in match #3 vs. Hibino. As has often been the case in her Cup past, Putintseva grabbed a lead and then watched it slip away along with Kazakhstan's (faint, admittedly) hopes of a comeback.

The Kazakh twice held break leads in the 3rd vs. Hibino, only to immediately give them back a game later (games 4 and 6), then in the deciding TB took a 5-1 lead and... wait for it... had *quadruple* MP at 6-2 before dropping 7 of the final 8 points.


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9. Rouen 1st Rd. - Natalija Stevanovic def. Anna Blinkova
...7-6(2)/3-6/7-6(2). Blinkova continues to have perhaps the most odd season on tour, complete with at least one outrageous high (the 22-20 TB vs. Rybakina at the AO) as well as otherwise impressive wins over the likes of Pegula, Pliskova, Yastremska and Wozniacki. She reached a QF in San Diego. But the spectacular finish she had against Rybakina has been difficult to replicate.

Blinkova broke for a 6-5 lead in the 1st vs. Stevanovic, but couldn't serve out the set and lost a TB. She came back from a break down to win the 2nd, then turned around a 4-1 deficit in the 3rd. Down 4-5, Blinkova took a 40/love lead in game 10. She needed five GP to get the hold to knot the score, then broke Stevanovic at love to lead 6-5. Serving for the match, Blinkova held triple MP at 40/love, but lost five straight points to head to a TB, where she dropped the opening two points and trailed 5-1. Stevanovic won the breaker 7-2, with the world #204 picking up her second career Top 50 win in 3:17.


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10. Charleston 1st Rd. - Katie Volynets def. Arantxa Rus
...6-2/6-7(6)/7-6(6). In the longest match of the year so far, Volynets both squanders a big lead *and* stages a miraculous comeback in the span of 3:43.

The Bannerette led 6-2/3-1, and served for the match at 5-4. Volynets led the 2nd set TB 5-4, only to see Rus claim it 8-6.

At 4-4 in the 3rd, Volynets held from love/40 down, but broke Rus as the Dutch vet served for the match at 6-5. In the TB, Rus again got close, taking a 5-2 lead and holding double MP at 6-4. Volynets swept the final four points to get the win.


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11. Bogota 2nd Rd. - Irina Bara def. Laura Pigossi
...3-6/7-6(3)/6-4. RG wasn't the only time this clay season where the rain may have cost Pigossi a win.

Bara trailed 6-3/5-3 in Bogota, and saw a rain delay postpone Pigossi's opportunity to serve for the match a game prior to the Brazilian attempting to do so at 5-4. Pigossi held a MP, couldn't convert, and dropped serve. She broke back and got another chance at 6-5, but couldn't do it then, either.

The Romanian took things to a TB, which she won and then claimed the 3rd to oust the '22 Bogota finalist in 3:22.


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12. Rome 2nd Rd. - Dayana Yastremska def. Laura Siegemund
...4-6/7-5/6-2. Siegemund came in with a head of steam, making it through qualifying and posting back-to-back wins over young Argentines Julia Riera and Maria Lourdes Carle. She led AO semifinalist Yastremska 6-4/5-2, serving and holding a pair of MP at 5-3. Yastremska claimed the final four games to force a 3rd set, then after falling behind an early break at 2-1 went on another streak (5 straight games) to end the match.

Siegemund had one shot to get back on serve, but failed to put away her only BP in the final stretch when trailing 3-2.
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HM- Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Jana Fett def. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
...6-2/3-6/7-5. Another match seemingly turned by a Paris rain-related suspension.

Bouzas Maneiro was in the driver's seat to score her first career slam win against Fett, a lucky loser who knows all about how a career can turn on a missed opportunity in a major.

Bouzas Maneiro led 4-1 in the 3rd when play was suspended, and when the match picked up again (both women were playing with wraps on their left: Fett on just, and the Spaniard with "both*) she had the chance to serve out the win at 5-3. She couldn't finish off her work, and Fett rallied to win a 7-5 deciding set.



While Bouzas Maneiro didn't get her maiden slam win at RG, Fett *did* get her first since she made her major debut at the 2018 Australian Open. That AO proved to be an even more monumental one for the then 21-year old Croat in the following round, when she led Caroline Wozniacki 5-1 in the 3rd set and had a pair of MP that went unconverted. The Dane, of course, won the match and then went on to win her only slam crown, topping off what will likely be a Hall of Fame career (no matter what ultimately happens in Caro 2.0, if anything really does).

For Fett, though, it was a lost opportunity never (so far, at least) to be matched. Since the '18 AO, Fett had played in just two slam MD matches since, both at Wimbledon (in 2018 and '22), losing both. Until this win.
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1. World Team Cup (WC) Final, Match #2 - Li Xiaohui/CHN def. Diede de Groot/NED
...6-3/6-2. 24-year old Li stuns de Groot, ending the world #1's 145-match winning streak and preventing the Dutch team from lifting a 34th World Team Cup title. Instead, China wins its second (w/ 2017, when it also def. NED in the final).

As is often the case when de Groot struggles, her wayward serve played a big role. With 10 DF on the day, de Groot won just 26% of first serve points and just 32% of her second. She won only 40 of the 101 points in the match, and failed to combat neither Li's first serve (winning just 36% of first serve points) nor the Chinese's woman's big backhand.

In Paris, de Groot defeated Li in straight sets in the 1st Round en route to the title.
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2. Roland Garros QF - Jasmine Paolini def. Elena Rybakina 6-2/4-6/6-4
Roland Garros QF - Mirra Andreeva def. Aryna Sabalenka 6-7(5)/6-4/6-4
...the QF upsets that, in a matter of hours, pretty much erased any remaining doubts about whether Iga Swiatek's RG three-peat would become a reality.

Earlier in the season, Paolini had won in Dubai largely (it felt) because Rybakina had pulled out of the event before their QF match-up, then she lost to the Kazakh in Stuttgart. This time around, Rybakina was listless throughout the 1st set, and then finished off with a string of errors in the closing games of the 3rd. In between, Paolini was her energetic, positive self. And that was enough to secure her maiden slam SF (and ultimately final) -- she's the fourth Italian woman to do so in Paris -- and a Top 10 ranking.



17-year old Andreeva then became the youngest slam semifinalist in 27 years when Sabalenka, after leading 3-1 in the 1st, battled illness the rest of the way. She still managed to nearly pull out the victory, but instead fell a round short of her seventh straight slam semifinal appearance.


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3. BJK Cup Europe/Africa I Promotional RR - Clara Tauson/DEN def. Maria Sakkari/GRE
...6-4/6-4. Hey, how about Clara?

With Caroline Wozniacki shelved early in the week without winning a game, Tauson stepped up. BIG TIME. Suddenly thrust into the lead role for the Danish team, she went 5-0 on the week, running her Cup winning streak to nine. Since falling to Iga Swiatek in February 2019, she's gone 12-1 in singles for DEN (losing only to Ons Jabeur in February '21).

They weren't just face-saving Pool wins, either. After the early loss to AUT when Wozniacki was injured, DEN won a pair of ties vs. BUL/HUN (w/ singles sweeps that left nothing to chance) to secure 2nd place in Pool A and earn a second chance in the RR for the fourth promotional spot.

With GRE a win a away from locking up the final spot, Tauson handed #6 Maria Sakkari a straight sets defeat, her second over a Top 10 opponent (w/ Kontaveit at the '22 AO) in Denmark's win. Still a win away from promotion vs. LAT, Tauson clinched the spot when Darja Semenistaja retired after one set to hand DEN a 2-0 victory, ending a week that had started with a disheartening retirement with another that set the stage for an unexpected celebration.

Tauson is now 14-4 in her Cup career.
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4. BJK Cup Europe/Africa I Pool Play - Suzan Lamens/NED def. Alona Ostapenko/LAT
...7-6(7)/6-4. An Alona Special, as she falls to #164 Lamens in straights despite holding edges in both sets. It's Ostapenko's first WS loss in Cup play since a tight 7-6/7-6 defeat vs. Serena Williams in early '21. Ostapenko had had to go to a 3rd set TB to defeat #190 Francisca Jorge (POR) in her opening RR match of the week.


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5. Roland Garros Wheelchair QF - Momoko Ohtani def. Yui Kamiji
...6-7(1)/7-5/6-4. Ohtani's upset win over her Japanese countrywoman came after Kamiji had led 7-6/4-0. With Ohtani serving for the win in the 3rd at 5-3, Kamiji saved a MP and got a break on her sixth BP of the game to get things back on serve, only to then drop serve a game later to end the nearly three-hour match.

The loss ended Kamiji's non-de Groot winning streak at 46 matches (she has a previous non-Diede run of 74 wins that was ended at last year's Wimbledon).

Kamiji had played in the last seven RG singles finals, winning three times (2017-18, and '20).
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6. Madrid 1st Rd. - Alex Eala def. Lesia Tsurenko
...2-6/6-4/6-4. The lone ranked player from the Philippines in professional tennis, 18-year old Eala (#170) notches her first 1000 MD win, and just the second overall of her WTA career (the last came in Cluj in 2020). #41 Tsurenko represents Eala's first career Top 50 win.



Shockingly, Tsurenko didn't retire. But she *did* in two of her next three matches.
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7. BJK Cup Europe/Africa I Pool Play - Sinja Kraus/AUT def. Caroline Wozniacki/DEN 6-0/1-0 ret.
...not exactly the "welcome back" the Dane was anticipating, as her return to Cup play after a nine-year absence (since 2015) saw her win zero games and be unable to finish her opening match.

This was Wozniacki's first singles loss in Cup action since falling to Patty Schnyder in 2008.



Wozniacki played just one more match the rest of the clay spring, a three-set loss in the 1st Round of Madrid vs. Sara Errani.
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8. Rabat 1st Rd. - Camilla Rosatello def. Yuan Yue
...7-6(7)/1-6/6-4. World #294 Rosatello is mostly known for her doubles success, but she *does* play quite a bit in a solo capacity. She posted 46 singles wins two seasons ago, and has reached a dozen ITF finals (though she's only won one), but she's never cracked the singles Top 200.

The Italian had one of her proudest moments in the 1st Round in Rabat, getting just her second WTA MD win (w/ Palermo in '23) via an upset of top-seeded Yuan Yue. Rosatello saved 12 SP en route to winning the 1st in a 9-7 TB, then bounced back to take the 3rd after the #36-ranked Yuan leveled the match.


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9. Madrid 1st Rd. - Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva def. Zhu Lin
...6-4/6-3. The 18-year old, the 2020 AO junior champ, picks up her first career 1000 MD win.

It was fun while it lasted. The Andorran posted just one game vs. Jasmine Paolini in the 2nd Round.


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10. Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Varvara Gracheva def. Maria Sakkari
...3-6/6-4/6-3. Gracheva's three-set win gave the Hordette-turned-Pastry her fourth career Top 10 victory, but her first in her maiden RG while playing under France's Tricolour.

The loss came as a jolt to Sakkari's tennis soul, as she finally bit the proverbial bullet and made a long overdue coaching change earlier this season, exchanging Tom Hill for David Witt. Things had been going well, too. She came into Paris at 17-7 in the new set-up, reaching the Indian Wells final, Charleston SF and Miami QF. Interestingly, this loss came just days after Hill's newest charge, Peyton Stearns, won her maiden tour title in Rabat (already moving her one crown away from matching the Sakkari/Hill output over six-plus seasons).

If Maria was named Emma, Witt might have been out by the end of the week. But Sakkari's most winning personal trait, as well as maybe her own person Achilles heel when it comes to *winning*, is her stubborn loyalty.

What this result does highlight is that you can change the coach but (at least in a major) you're still left with the same Greek, now the lone common denominator in a slide that has seen Sakkari exit in the 1st Round at four of the last five majors (going 1-5 overall). Since 2021 (when she reached the RG/US semis, and was the last person to defeat Swiatek in Paris) she is now a combined 10-10 in 2022-24 slam competition as a Top 8 seed, never once holding her seed with a QF result. In fact, the only two *QF* in her slam career came during those two SF runs about three months apart three seasons ago.

Gracheva's great first impression continued, as she would go on be the Last Pastry Standing in Paris, reaching the Round of 16. Sakkari has now gone nine majors without a similar result.


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kosova-font


When the "requirements" for women's tennis were a bit different...




All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 7:52 PM 

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