Tuesday, December 03, 2024

2024 WTA Year in Review: Performance and Match Lists


Who did what the best, and how and where she did it...











1. A SABALENKA SWEEP
...Aryna Sabalenka sweeps the season's hard court majors, claiming a second straight Australian Open title without losing a set (along with her 14-match winning streak in Melbourne, she's won 28 of 29 sets over two years). Then, in her fourth straight deep run at the U.S. Open, she wins her first U.S. Open title to become just the second woman (Kerber '16) to win both of any season's HC slams since 1997. Sabalenka has won three of the last four hard court majors, reaching the final at all four, a feat not accomplished since her countrywoman Victoria Azarenka did the same (winning two AO, but going 0-2 in NY vs. Serena) in 2012-13.
2. IGA'S "3" ERA
...Iga Swiatek becomes the second woman (Serena '13) to complete the Madrid-Rome-Roland Garros triple title sweep, running her clay court win streak to a career-best 19 matches (she'd ultimately reach 23) and becoming the third (Seles '92/Henin '07) in the Open era to three-peat in Paris as the women's champion, winning her fourth title there in five years. Along the way, she saved MP en route to *two* of the crowns, saving three in the Madrid final vs. Sabalenka and one in the RG 2nd Round against Naomi Osaka.
3. THE DANIELLE DOUBLE
...two months after announcing that 2024 would be her final season (she'd ultimately reverse course), Danielle Collins wins her biggest career title at the Miami 1000 event in her native Florida (winning her last 14 sets) to become the tournament's lowest-ranked women's champ (#53). A week later, Collins takes Charleston on the green clay. It's just the fifth time *this century* that a woman has won hard and clay court titles in consecutive weeks in tour-level events. She ultimately extended her winning streak to a career-best 15 matches.
4. THE GOLDEN QUEEN OF PARIS
..in one of the more memorable Gold medal runs since tennis' return to the Olympics in 1988, Zheng Qinwen becomes the first Chinese singles champion in the event, hanging a shiny little bauble around her neck after a week that saw her complete a take-no-prisoners, I-don't-care-about-your-problems, I-don't-read-fairy-tales (because *I* am one, too) run. Zheng seemed to deliver one stunner after another on the grounds of Roland Garros, opening with a love & love win over Sara Errani, saving MP vs. Emma Navarro, ending Angelique Kerber's fairytale career-closing journey through the draw (staging a comeback from 4-1 back in the 3rd), taking out four-time RG champ Iga Swiatek in Paris (ending the Pole's 25-match run on the terre battue), then finishing off Donna Vekic 6-2/6-3 in the second most lopsided Olympic women's final in the sport's current 36-year run in the games.
5. DIEDE ROLLS TO A 15th STRAIGHT
...Diede de Groot wins her 15th consecutive slam singles title (52-0 match streak in majors), her fourth straight (and sixth career) win at Wimbledon, tying Esther Vergeer for the most combined s/d slam titles (42) by a woman in wheelchair tennis history. She was denied the doubles crown, though, as well as a six-for-six sweep of all the 2024 slam trophies (the Paralympics replaced the U.S. Open WC even later in the summer) with a loss in the doubles final.
6. A JANA ON HER SHOULDER
...Barbora Krejcikova wins major #2 at Wimbledon, where her late coach/mentor Jana Novotna had become the star of one of the sport's most heartwarming (and, in 1998, finally successful) slam quests. Fittingly, Krejcikova's title came in a season in which the Czech suffered through a back injury and illness. The second lowest-ranked (#32) Wimbledon winner ever (after Vondrousova last year), 28-year old Krejcikova is the oldest major singles champion of the 2020s so far. Her RG win three years ago at age 25 still makes her the fourth-oldest (of 19 winners so far), as well.
7. THE BLOSSOMING OF JASMINE
...Jasmine Paolini is the revelation (and breath of fresh air) of the 2024 season, as her overwhelming improvement in slam play (from 4-16 in her career to 18-4 this year) included finals at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon (she's the first to reach both in a season since 2016, with the only others to do it in the past 25 years being one-name Hall-of-Famers-or-soon-to-be Steffi, Venus, Justine and Serena) and second week runs at all four majors. Paolini was the first Italian woman to reach the Wimbledon final, the first to reach the final at two different majors, the first to reach two in the same season and the first to do it in consecutive events. Paolini, who also won Olympic Gold in doubles and led Italy to the BJK Cup title, is the third Italian to reach the singles Top 5.
8. THE TOURNAMENT OF HER LIFE
...at the Paralympics, Yui Kamiji ends the dominance of the Dutch women in the tennis event (the Netherlands had previously claimed all 16 women's Gold medals), first winning the doubles alongside Manami Tanaka with a defeat of Diede de Groot & Aniek Van Koot in the final, then in the coup de grâce to de Groot's shockingly disappointing trip to Paris (three years after she swept the s/d Golds in Tokyo in '21), defeated de Groot in the Gold singles final to win both competitions. Kamiji's win completed the fifth sweep of the women's Golds, as well as ending de Groot's stunning run of nineteen straight major singles titles in Paralympic, slam and year-end Masters events. After having recently lost 28 straight singles matches to de Groot, it was Kamiji's second win in a row over the (still) world #1.
9. THE POLISH FALCON
...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.
10. RETURN OF THE STRAIGHT-"A" STUDENT
...a year after riding a coaching change to the summer of her career and maiden slam title at the U.S. Open, Coco Gauff makes another move (w/ Matt Daly replacing Brad Gilbert) and shines again under the eye of a new "instructor," winning a 4Q 1000 title in Beijing and then claiming her first WTA Finals crown. In Riyadh, Gauff posted wins over both the #1 (Sabalenka, in the SF) and #2 (Swiatek, in rr play for a rare take down of the Pole in the Iga-dominated series) players in the world, then rallied in the final vs. Zheng Qinwen from a set down, a break down in the 2nd, and a break down (twice) in the 3rd to pull away in dominating fashion in a TB to decide the title. After going 24-4 (18-1 during the hard court summer) following her '23 switch, Gauff went 13-2 in the 4Q this time following her latest move.
11. PEGULA SUMMER
...after missing time due to injury early in the season, when she was also breaking in a new coaching team, Jessie Pegula hit her stride on summer hard courts, becoming the first woman since 1973 (Goolagong) to reach the finals of Toronto, Cincinnati and the U.S. Open in the same season. Pegula defended her '23 Canada title in Toronto, reached the final in Cincinnati (a loss to Aryna Sabalenka), then overcame her career 0-6 mark in slam QF with a win over #1 Iga Swiatek at the U.S. Open before overcoming a 6-1/2-0 (w/ a BP for a double-break) deficit vs. Karolina Muchova in the SF to reach her maiden slam final. She put up a good fight in another match vs. Sabalenka, but the Belarusian proved to be too good (again) in the end.
12. 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).



==RECENT "TOP PERFORMANCE" WINNERS==
2014 Petra Kvitova (Wimbledon)
2015 Belinda Bencic (Toronto)
2016 Monica Puig (Olympics)
2017 Alona Ostapenko (Roland Garros)
2018 Naomi Osaka (U.S. Open)
2019 Simona Halep (Wimbledon)
2020 Iga Swiatek (Roland Garros)
2021 Emma Raducanu (U.S. Open)
2022 Iga Swiatek (U.S. Open)
2023 Coco Gauff (summer hardcourts)
2024 Aryna Sabalenka (AO/US HC slam sweep)


















1. Olympics SF - Zheng Qinwen (CHN) def. Iga Swiatek (POL)
...6-2/7-5. Everyone just *assumed* that Swiatek would win Gold in Paris. Everyone, I guess, except for Zheng.

It's worth noting that Zheng had pushed Swiatek at RG during the Pole's '22 title run, a two-week stretch during which *no one* else had, so she had reason to not be pessimistic about the encounter. And with Swiatek, even on clay in Paris, that can be more than half the battle. Still, Zheng came in with six losses in their six-match series.

The loss ended Swiatek's 23-match clay winning streak, and 25-match run at RG (though her 21 in a row in slam play remains active for '25). Iga's was the third longest clay streak on tour in the last quarter century, with only Serena Williams (28 in '13) and Maria Sharpova (27 from 2005-06) with longer runs. Swiatek's previous best had been 18 in a row in 2022.



Zheng went on to win Gold, while Swiatek rebounded to (at least) take home a Bronze.

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What was maybe *more* stunning than Swiatek losing in Paris? Well, Diede de Groot losing. Period.



2. 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 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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In London, a New Zealander was suddenly defeating nearly everyone under the sun.

3. Wimbledon 1st Rd. - Lulu Sun def. Zheng Qinwen
...4-6/6-2/6-4. *Officially* (though not technically), #8 Zheng was the First Seed Out at Wimbledon, suffering a loss to Kiwi qualifier Sun, who picked up her first career Top 10 win (and her maiden MD win at any major) in what turned out to be a QF run for the world #123.



Much like Coco Gauff's 1st Round exit at Wimbledon in 2023 spurred her to a magnficent summer run, Zheng's disappointment at SW19 led to her reversing course and deciding to defend her Palermo title (she won again), which led to her rolling into Paris and winning Olympic Gold immediately after. She then has a great 4Q Asian swing, then wrapped up her year with a WTA Finals championship match appearance.

Wimbledon 4th Rd. - Lulu Sun def. Emma Raducanu
...6-2/5-7/6-2. Stealing the spotlight from a Brit on Centre Court, in just her second career slam MD, qualifier Sun's used 52 winners to knock off Raducanu and become the first New Zealander to reach a slam singles QF since 1989.



Despite her inexperience, Sun broke out of the gate the quickest, taking a two-break lead at 3-0 and storming to a 6-2 1st set win. Holding easily, while pushing Raducanu on the Brit's service games, Sun was mostly in control while freely hitting big and racking up winners, forcing Raducanu to adjust her game plan to go for more and look for an opening should the Kiwi stumble. Raducanu saved break points and held for 4-3, but continued to dance on the proverbial ledge through the end of the set, ultimately knotting the match.

In the opening game of the 3rd, Raducanu's left foot skidded across the grass behind the baseline, slipping out from under her and hyperextending her knee. She sat up on the ground for a while, then was treated by a trainer before going on. She lost her opening serve game, though.

Sun played with the lead throughout the set, and never blinked as the pressue (should have) mounted, holding from 15/30 down at 3-2, breaking the Brit a game later, then saved a pair of BP as she served for the win, finally putting away her second MP to reach the QF.



Sun finally lost to Donna Vekic a round later, but had another career-first moment in August when she reached her first tour-level final in Monterrey and cracked the Top 40 soon afterward.

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4. 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 many of the 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.



Paolini's dream season would see her follow up her RG final with another at slam leval at Wimbledon, an additional win over Rybakina at the WTA Finals, a #4 finish, an Olympic Gold in doubles and the lead role in a BJK Cup title run for Italy.

In the second RG QF upset, 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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5. 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 three-set win, a first career #1 victory that sent her to her maiden slam Round of 16.



The loss was only the second before the Round of 16 in a slam for Swiatek since the start of 2021 (she'd have another a Wimbledon), and her exit was 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.

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.

The two again in the season-closing BJK Cup Finals event's QF round, with Swiatek winning another tight, dramatic affair, 7-6(4)/4-6/7-5, in Poland's 2-1 victory.

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HM- BJK Finals 1st Rd. - SVK def. USA 2-1.
Match #1 - Taylor Townsend/USA def. Renata Jamrichova/SVK 7-5/6-4
Match #2 - Rebecca Sramkova/SVK def. Danielle Collins/USA 6-2/7-5
Match #3 - Viktoria Hruncakova/Tereza Mihalikova (SVK) def. Ashlyn Krueger/Taylor Townsend (USA) 6-3/3-6 [10-8]
...Lindsay Davenport's first year as the U.S. captain ends with a swift exit from the BJK Cup Finals following (overall) one of the most successful tour seasons in ages by the deep and talented Bannerette contingent; while Slovakia's stunning run to a first Cup final since 2002 begins with a stunning upset.

But was it really?

Yes, the Slovaks were suddenly unsteady as they flirted with a late collapse, leading 9-2 in the breaker before finally winning on MP #7. But Sramkova was surely the most in-form player in the mix here, Collins hadn't won a match since the Olympics (this was her fifth straight loss, starting with her retirement vs. Swiatek in Paris), and Hruncakova has had a history of clutch Cup results (this wasn't her only deciding doubles win with Mihalkova in Malaga). Even Slovakia seems to have Team USA's number, as one of Kathy Rinaldi's final Cup squads (in BJKF round robin play) also lost a three-match tie vs. SVK in 2021.


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1. Olympics 3rd Rd. - Zheng Qinwen (CHN) def. Emma Navarro (USA)
...6-7(7)/7-6(4)/6-1. What was actually a rather significant match -- made more so by Zheng's Gold run -- was turned into a punchline when Navarro oddly chose the moment of the choked-away match to nonsensically disparage her opponent at the net (then recount her unseamly words to the media after the match, and then many weeks later fail to recognize that she *might* have chosen a better time to air her grievances).

Navarro had taken the 1st set after Zheng led 5-3, served for the set and had four SP in the TB. After winning the breaker 9-7, Navarro led 5-3, had a MP on Zheng's serve, and then served for the match in the 2nd. Zheng won a 7-4 TB, then ran away with a 6-1 3rd to end the 3:12 contest.



*Then* the winner was lectured by Navarro at the net, who said she didn't know how Zheng had as many as she did because *Navarro* didn't respect her as a competitor, due to her perceiving her as being too "cutthroat" off the court and not fostering "camaraderie" in the lockerroom and practice courts. Or something like that. (Hmmm, sounds a little like the old "Sharapova Competitor Syndrome" of years past.)

The bigger question: what sort of "camaraderie" was Navarro pursuing with her actions, both at the net and then in her public comments about it *afterward*? At the U.S. Open, Navarro admitted she hadn't even attempted to talk to Zheng in the month since the Olympics (why do that when a drive-by insult will do?), said that she'd probably have delivered her message to Zheng even if she'd won the match (so, not a "sore loser," but something maybe worse), and displayed not an inkling of remorse or regret.

Even with the complicated "rules of etiquette" that exists on the WTA tour in 2024, it's hard to find an avenue where this isn't a clear "no-no"... yet many months later there's been no blowback for Navarro from fellow players (many of whom last year were quick to call for a "ban" of an unknown player for smudging out a ball mark two points after a point had been played and well past ruled on).

Of course, one has often needed a tournament grounds-sized net to find more than a handful of players in recent years willing to stand up and/or account from players such as Peng Shuai or any number of fellow tour members hounded by the Alphabet testing agencies or soulless social media trolls, either. Anyway...
Zheng wasn't finished being "cuttthroat." In the QF, she rallied from 4-1 down in the 3rd to end Angie Kerber's career-closing run, stopped Iga Swiatek in the semis, then defeated Donna Vekic to take the Gold medal.

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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.



But there was just something about Madrid...

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 a round later.

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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3. 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 before 2024 had come in the '21 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 three-set victory.

De Groot would win her next three matches vs. Kamiji, including in the AO final, before Kamiji got her revenge with back-to-back defeats of the Dutch superstar at Roehampton and in the Paralympic final.

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4. U.S. Open SF - Jessie Pegula def. Karolina Muchova
...1-6/6-4/6-2. Early on, Muchova looked unbeatable. After saving three BP and holding for 2-1 in the 1st, the Czech broke at love a game later and went on to win eight straight points. In such immaculate form that she made, as Pegula stated after the match, her opponent "look like a beginner," Muchova took the set 6-1 and more than doubled up the Bannerette in points (30-14), winning 19 of the final 23 to end the set.

Her game perfectly tuned and all her multi-faceted weapons firing, Muchova broke Pegula to open the 2nd, held for 2-0 and was a BP away from a 3-0 double-break lead when Pegula's desperate forehand from off the court toward a waiting Muchova at the net *seemed* like just the shot before the Czech put away the volley that might seal the U.S. woman's fate in the match. But then Muchova pushed that volley just beyond the baseline, losing a point at the net for the first time in the match.

The moment, as innocuous as it appeared to be in that instant, turned the match.

Had Muchova gotten the additional break of serve, Pegula's hole on the scoreboard may have been too deep from which to escape. But Pegula *did* -- barely -- get the hold of serve. From there, Pegula's game finally found its footing, while Muchova -- though still brilliant at times -- appeared far more mortal. The serve-and-volleying Czech failed to get back a Pegula return that dipped over the net and at her feet, as Muchova was broken and the score tied at 2-2. Two games later, Pegula broke her again on the fourth BP of the game to take a 4-2 lead, winning a fourth straight game (Muchova had held a GP in three of them).

Muchova managed to break to get back on serve at 4-3, then held for 4-all, sliding a short ball crosscourt past (and spinning away from) Pegula. But, down 5-4, Muchova fell behind 15/40, then DF'd on Pegula's second BP/SP to close out the 6-4 set and knot the match. After having nearly taken a commanding lead, Muchova's UE totals for the 2nd set had climbed to 19 by its conclusion.

Winning 16 of 20 points, Pegula took a 2-0 lead in the 3rd, but managed to avoid the slip that the Czech had had a set earlier. Muchova *did* provide herself with chances, but Pegula slipped through the trouble each time and held her off. Pegula saved a BP and held for 3-0, then after losing a 40/15 lead two games later as Muchova once again began to make shots from everywhere on the court, she saw another BP come and go (w/ a Muchova forehand error) as her lead climbed to 4-1.

The same 40/15 to BP scenario played out again in game 7, but another Muchova error squandered the opportunity (the Czech threw her racket exceeding high in frustration... and then smoothly caught it with one hand in a move nearly as impressive as some of the points she won). Pegula held for 5-2.

Pegula didn't have to stave off BP again two games later, as she broke Muchova to end the match in the following game, winning to reach her maiden slam final, in her home country, in her home state.


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5. U.S. Open 3rd Rd. - Paula Badosa def. Gabriela Ruse
...4-6/6-1/7-6(8). Just when it looked as if Paula Badosa's U.S. Open run in the city of her birth was over, the Spaniard decided that she wasn't yet ready to say goodbye to her new home away from home.



Ruse, playing with aggression and going for her shots, broke into the lead in the match, taking the 1st set 6-4 on the back of 14 winners; but Badosa responded by taking control in the 2nd. With 12 winners vs. just 5 UE, Badosa won the set 6-1 and charged into the 3rd. She twice held break leads, at 3-2 and 6-5, but the Romanian didn't let up in the face of the moment. In the final third of the set, while Badosa was often content with keeping the ball in the court, Ruse was firing shots from the baseline. She immediately broke back after Badosa first took the lead, and denied the Spaniard the win when she served for the match in game 12.

In between Badosa's brief turns atop the scoreboard, Ruse's aggressive tactics had pushed her into the lead and she held a MP (after a big return winner) on Badosa's serve at 5-4 (Badosa saved it with a serve up the middle). But what worked for the Romanian also worked against her. Badosa's tactic of feeding her opponent balls during rallies helped to cause Ruse's UE total for the set to climb to 20. After Badosa couldn't serve out the win, things went to a deciding match tie-break.

In the 10-point breaker, Badosa went out to a 4-0 lead as she took advantage of Ruse's second serve. But Ruse wouldn't go away. After a Badosa DF, the Romanian's backhand down the line put the TB back on serve. But consecutive errors from Ruse gave the advantage right back, at 6-3. A Ruse miss to end a long rally made it 7-4, and a Badosa ace put her up 8-6.

Ruse held close, taking Badosa's second service point (8-7). With a shot to tie the score, Ruse pushed a forehand wide that instead gave Badosa her first MP at 9-7. On MP #2, her first on her own serve, Badosa's serve was returned long by Ruse as the Spaniard won to reach her first Round of 16 (and eventually QF) at the U.S. Open.


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6. 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 much 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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7. 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 '24 win over Osaka, running her season winning streak to nine.



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 (plus two on-court losses) she's handed Swiatek since losing that 6-0/6-0 final in Rome to the Pole back in 2021.

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8. Guadalajara 2nd Rd. - Camila Osorio def. Veronika Kudermetova
...7-6(5)/6-7(2)/7-5. Osorio has likely never rallied from such a deep deficit, while the same can be said when it comes to "shoulda won" moments for Kudermetova.

In a back-and-forth 1st set, Osorio held a SP at 5-4, but Kudermetova forced a TB. The Colombian led 5-1, eventually edged the Russian 7-5.

Come the 3rd set, Kudermetova was running away with things, leading 5-0. And not just a "normal" 5-0, it was a triple-break sort of 5-0 lead. She served for the win *three* times as a result, and failed to secure a hold. This time, a TB wasn't even necessary as Osorio won seven straight games to get the win in 3:21.


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9. Berlin Final - Jessie Pegula def. Anna Kalinskaya
...6-7(0)/6-4/7-6(3). In Steffi Graf Stadium, Pegula squandered a 5-3 1st set lead, with Kalinskaya sweeping all seven points in the eventual TB. Come the 3rd, though, Pegula got her revenge.

Kalinskaya led 4-1, and the Russian saved four BP from love/40 down to hold for 5-4. She then took a 40/15 lead on Pegula's serve a game later, but couldn't convert any of four MP. She got a fifth shot (also on Pegula's serve) at 6-5, but again came up empty.

It was Pegula who stormed through the deciding TB, finally getting on the board with a title in '24, the first of her career on grass. The five MP saved tied (w/ Fernandez at Monterrey '22) for the most saved on tour en route to a singles title this decade.


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10. Wimbledon Q2 - Lulu Sun def. Gabriela Knutson
...4-6/6-4/7-6(10-6). Sun squanders a 5-1 3rd set lead, saving a Knutson MP at 5-6 to force and win a 10-6 MTB.

Wimbledon Q3 - Lulu Sun def. Alex Eala 7-6(3)/7-5
...Sun then overcame a 4-2 1st set deficit vs. Eala to win in straights, once again delaying the former U.S. Open girls' champs' MD slam debut (Eala also lost in the Roland Garros and U.S. Open Q3 this year).

Sun went on to put on an historic run to the Wimbledon QF.

For her part, Knutson managed to ride her good play to a challenger title run during the second week of play at Wimbledon.

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11. Wimbledon 2nd Rd. - Marta Kostyuk def. Dasha Saville
...4-6/7-6(2)/6-4. Against Saville, Kostyuk saw her Aussie opponent seemingly have her right where she wanted her. Saville led 5-2 in the 2nd set, and served for the match victory. Saville couldn't close Kostyuk out. She got another chance at 5-4, and another at 6-5.

In her third attempt, Saville finally reached MP only to see Kostyuk get another break of serve by converting her eighth BP opportunity of the game to force a do-or-die TB. Kostyuk quickly grabbed a 5-1 lead, and won it 7-2. She went up an early break in the 3rd set, and put away a the victory on her fifth MP (after having had one at 5-3, then after leading 40/love in the final game).



Thing is, this sort of scenario is becoming a common one for the Ukrainian, as she's quickly earning the reputation as the biggest "Houdini" in women's tennis.

At this year's Australian Open, she saved two MP vs. Elise Mertens in the 2nd Round en route to that QF. At Roland Garros, Kostyuk trailed Laura Pigossi 4-0 in the 3rd set (w/ 2 GP for 5-0), then got a reprieve with a suspension due to rain with the Brazilian up 4-2. When play resumed, Kostyuk raced to a 6-4 final set win.

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12. 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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HM- Madrid 1st Rd. - Wang Xinyu def. Viktoria Tomova
...5-7/7-5/6-4. 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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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 in 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. Wimbledon SF - Jasmine Paolini def. Donna Vekic
...2-6/6-4/7-6(10-8) If you're gonna live, live like Jasmine Paolini.



As 2024 went along, it became legitimate to wonder whether Paolini was for real, or if she's just a dream. We do know that the Italian was *living* her dream, even if she likely couldn't have even conceived of the possibility of having the sort of season she put together.

A career-best slam Round of 16 (AO)? Great. A 1000 title? Stupendous. A slam final (RG)? Really? Well, okay then -- fabulous! A Top 10 ranking? Flavia, Francesca & Co. are surely proud. *Another* slam final? On the grass at Wimbledon? It's like a fairly tale has jumped from page and screen and onto every court of every color all over the WTA world.

But, really, all you have to do is watch Paolini play for a little while... then you understand.

Just one of her characteristics as a player -- an air of positivity, the never-say-stop on-court engine, the ability to learn and adapt from surface to surface and situation to situation, and a competitive spirit that's imprinted "fight" into her DNA (well, all of the best Italian players have *that*, right?) -- would be enough to make her a threat, but for her to possess *all* of them simultaneously and assemble them in congruously working order for the first time in the season in which she turned 28 (no "spring chicken" by tennis standards when it comes to big career leaps forward)? THAT is the stuff of instant legend.

In the Wimbledon semifinals, Vekic became a big part of that story. The Croat took 43 slam MD attempts to reach her first slam SF, following a bevy of injuries, on-court disappointments, emotional rollercoasters, doubts and stunning reversals of fortune that normally would have made *her* the glorified storymaker of this match-up. If not for Paolini, that is.

But Vekic joined with Paolini in lifting the entire women's competition at this Wimbledon in this batttle, as they engaged in by far the best match of the tournament, a back-and-forth affair that wasn't decided until deep into a 3rd set that had already seen its own share of momentum-changing moments.

Vekic stated her case to be the lead actor in this drama during the opening set, overpowering Paolini off the ground while the Italian's low first serve percentage set her up for failure. Vekic dominated the action on Paolini's second serve. Paolini had managed to hold in her opening service game despite facing a BP, but by game 5 she could no longer keep the Croatian at bay. Vekic's half-volley winner knotted the score at 30/30, then back-to-back UE from Paolini gave the Croat a break lead at 3-2. After breaking to lead 5-2, Vekic served out the 1st, having lost just three points on serve in the set.



But it's not in Paolini's nature -- or her career blueprint to date -- to just give up because success was slow to develop. Through the 2nd set, she utilized different tactics to try to reverse the course of the match. Her first serve numbers improved, and while it was often a struggle she managed to hold serve. She got a 15/30 look on Vekic's serve in game 2, but the Croatian got the hold (after stumbling at the baseline, but not going down, in the next to last point of the game).

Paolini benefited from an early missed call on a Vekic lob, and latter saved a BP before holding for 2-1. A game later, Paolini continued to chip away, reaching BP for the first time in the match. Vekic saved it with a 115-mph serve and held. Staring down the barrel of Vekic's shots yet again, Paolini saved two more BP in the next game. At 30/30 in game 8, Vekic slammed shut whatever opening was there with an ace and big serve to tie the 2nd set again at 4-4.

Later in the set, with Paolini still sticking like glue on the scoreboard, the Italian fired off a big return to win the opening point of game 10, then saw Vekic DF to go down love/30. A blink later, Vekic's forehand error off a deep Paolini return put her double SP down at 15/40. After a deep shot off the baseline, Paolini moved in and put away the point at the net to take the set at 6-4 and extend the match into a 3rd. It would be Vekic's fifth three-setter in six matches during the fortnight.



Vekic opened the 3rd with the break of serve that had eluded her in the previous set, but Paolini was back at it two games later, saving a BP and holding for 1-2 to avoid falling into an early hole too deep to climb out of. Still, Vekic held for 3-1. Soon after, though, the Italian's resilience paid off, as a Vekic forehand error handed Paolini a pair of BP. On the second, a deep return of a second serve elicited another Vekic error and the set was back on serve at 3-3.

Vekic immediately got the break back a game later, but complained of forearm pain during the changeover (and was unsatisfied with the lack of ice and a bag to put on it, so she instead had to try to make due with the icy towels used to cool off players during hot conditions). In the next game, Paolini quickly reeled Vekic back in, breaking to knot the set again.

With Vekic seemingly physically faltering, Paolini put in four straight first serves and held at love for the first time, taking a 5-4 lead. After going up 30/15, Vekic, with parts virtually falling off the car as it neared the finish line, committed a forehand error that gave Paolini a MP. But Vekic wasn't finished fighting, either. She saved the MP, then retrieved a short ball and saw a net cord dribbler secure the match-extending hold.

Paolini trailed love/30 in game 11. She saved a BP, and held three GP before Vekic responded by throwing herself into a shot that became a return winner into the corner. Paolini saved a second BP, then got the hold with a successful challenge of a Vekic ball that had been called in.

Between games, an emotional Vekic cried in her chair while she desperately tried to ice down her sore arm, then came out in the 6-5 game and saved another MP, reaching a short ball and sending back a winner down the line. She held behind a series of masterfully constructed points, forcing a MTB that would decide the Wimbledon finalist.

Vekic took an early 3-1 lead, but Paolini wouldn't go away. A wide Vekic forehand made it 3-3. Things remained tight, as they soon switched sides of the court at 6-6. A big Vekic forehand down the line gave her an 8-7 lead, but a wide shot handed Paolini a third MP chance at 9-8. Vekic pulled a forehand and it was over, with Paolini winning a 2:51 epic, the longest Wimbledon women's semi ever (no SW19 final has gone that long, either).


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3. 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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4. 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, 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 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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5. 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 clash 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.

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6. Olympics QF - Donna Vekic (CRO) def. Marta Kostyuk (UKR)
...6-4/2-6/7-6(8). At Wimbledon, Vekic lost a barnburner of a match in the SF vs. Jasmine Paolini (in a 10-8 MTB). Here the Croatian wasn't -- though she *almost* was -- left at the altar once again.

Vekic served at 5-4 in the 3rd, and held a MP. She dropped serve, but broke Kostyuk and served for it again. She reached MP once more, but was broken for a second straight time as Kostyuk tried to add a huge Olympic comeback to her string of Houdini-like escapes in slam play in '24. She'd won after being MP down at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and was down 4-0 (2 GP from 5-0) in a match in which she prevailed at Roland Garros. She came to the Olympics already with three victories on the season after facing MP.

Kostyuk led Vekic 4-0 in the MTB. Her 5-2 lead evaporated and it was 5-5, but the Ukrainian reached MP at 6-5. Vekic saved it, and needed three *more* MP chances (at 7-6, 8-7 and 9-8) before she finally secured a berth in the medal round with a 10-8 win, assuring herself of being Croatia's first female tennis medalist. She ultmately hung Silver around her neck.

Kostyuk's loss ended Ukraine's hopes of a second straight medal-winning run in singles, as Elina Svitolina finished third in Tokyo in '21.


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7. 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 "overwhelming 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 (w/ 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.

===============================================

8. WTAF Final - Coco Gauff def. Zheng Qinwen
...3-6/6-4/7-6(2). For the first time ever, the WTA Finals champion was declared at the conclusion of a deciding tie-break in the final to close out the 2024 tour season in style..

With a combined age of 42, the youngest WTAF final since 2004 (Sharapova/S.Williams), Gauff and Zheng battled for three hours, with Gauff consistently playing from behind.

Zheng served for the 1st at 5-3. After leading 30/love, she was forced to save a BP, but held to take the lead in the match. She led 3-1 in the 2nd, as well, only to see Gauff reel off four straight games. Gauff served at 5-3, was broken, but then broke Zheng in the following game to send things to a 3rd.

In the decider, Gauff fell behind love/40 in game 1. She DF'd on Zheng's fourth BP, but managed to erase that break disadvantage, as well as another in the set after Zheng had served for the title at 5-4. Gauff held to lead 6-5, and had a pair of MP on Zheng's serve in game 12.

Zheng saved both MP to force a TB, but Gauff raced to a 6-0 lead in the first-to-seven format (Coco had to ask the chair umpire, just to be sure). Zheng delayed Gauff's celebration, but on her third MP of the breaker (5th overall) Coco prevailed 7-2 to become the first U.S. winner of the title in a decade (Serena '14).


===============================================



==RECENT "MATCH OF THE YEAR" WINNERS==
2014 Ind.Wells QF: A.Radwanska d. Jankovic
2015 R.Garros 2r: Schiavone d. Kuznetsova
2016 Wimb. 4r: Cibulkova d. A.Radwanska
2017 Madrid 2r: Bouchard d. Sharapova
2018 Aust.Open SF: Halep d. Kerber
2019 Ind.Wells F: Andreescu d. Kerber
2020 R.Garros 1r: Tauson d. Brady
2021 R.Garros 2r: Krejcikova d. Sakkari
2022 Ostrava!!! F: Krejcikova d. Swiatek
2023 Wimb. 3r: Tsurenko d. Bogdan
2024 Aust.Open 2r: Blinkova d. Rybakina





posted by Todd.Spiker @ 5:35 PM 

1 Comments:

Blogger Diane said...

Nobody covers the season like you do--this is a great read!

Wed Dec 04, 12:03:00 PM EST  

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