Sunday, May 25, 2025

RG.1- The Best Laid Plans for Paris

One would like to think that having success in the events in Madrid and Rome would set up a young player for something good on the even bigger stage in Paris soon afterward.

That might often prove to be the case... but things didn't work out that way this year for either Peyton Stearns or Marta Kostyuk.

Stearns went 8-2 in the pair of 1000 level clay court tournaments that preceded Roland Garros, reaching a 4th Round and semifinal while playing her way into a Top 30 ranking and her first career slam seed (#28) at the major where she'd reached the 3rd Round the last two years; while Kostyuk posted QF and 4th Round results, respectively, in the same events and pushed Aryna Sabalenka in a pair of dramatic two-set matches that the Ukrainian lost, but only after playing three tie-breaks over four sets and making the world #1 bring her best in order to prevail. Kostyuk came in as the #26 seed in Paris, with a possible face off with three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek (struggling, at times, of late... and maybe as soft a target at RG as she'll *ever* be again) awaiting in the 3rd Round.

After one day of play at RG, though, both Stearns and Kostyuk are already planning their post-Paris schedule. They *combined* to win a total of seven games on Sunday.



Stearns was the first to fall, becoming the First Seed Out at this major. Facing young German Eva Lys, who staged a Round of 16 run in Melbourne as a lucky loser back in January, Stearns couldn't handle the wet and heavy conditions early in the day, and was quickly bageled in the 1st set. She trailed Lys 5-3 in the 2nd before finally showing a bit of late life, saving a pair of MP and holding a BP before Lys found a way to give her '25 slam success story another winning chapter in a second city, taking the match 6-0/6-3 on her fourth MP opportunity.

Later in the day, Kostyuk would suffer a similar fate, doing out 6-3/6-1 to qualifier Sara Bejlek, as the Czech finally notched her maiden slam MD win in her sixth career appearance in a major.



Kostyuk reached the Round of 16 in Paris back in 2021, but this one-and-done drops her record to 1-4 in the years since.

Trips to Paris are surely always much anticipated, whether one comes wielding a bag full of rackets or the eye of a tourist seeking a romantic adventure.

But if Day 1 proves nothing else, it is that it's always a good idea to have a back-up plan. Just ask Peyton and Marta, who'll now be in charge of making good use of their time in the City of Light a tad bit earlier than they'd likely anticipated just twenty-four hours ago.







=DAY 1 NOTES=
...Kostyuk's countrywoman, #13 Elina Svitolina, didn't experience any of the difficulties that she'd later go through on Day 1, as the Rouen champion and four-time RG quarterfinalist was the first player to post a 1st Round victory at this major, defeating Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez 6-1/6-1 to improve to 30-11 in her career at RG, at which she's now won more matches than at any other slam (topping her 29 wins at AO).



Svitolina is now 15-2 on clay this spring.

...18-year old Victoria Mboko has made a habit of knocking off career-first and best results this season. So, of course, she did it again on Day 1 in Paris.

Already this year, the Canadian has been the winner of five ITF titles, won 22 straight matches at the ITF level (w/o dropping a set throughout), cracked the Top 200, picked up her first tour-level MD match win (in Miami, then got another 1000 MD victory on another surface in Madrid), made her BJK Cup debut, reached her biggest final (at a 125), and qualified to reach her first slam MD. Today she took the next logical step, defeating Lulu Sun 6-1/7-6(4) to reach the 2nd Round of a major for the first time.



Mboko is now a stunning 41-5 on the season, and continues to show that every new step up she takes is *not* too much, nor too soon for her.

Meanwhile, Sun, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist last summer, drops to 10-15 on the season (w/ four of those wins coming in BJK Cup zone play).

...only two woman recorded their first career slam MD wins in Melbourne this year, but *four* did so in Paris on Day 1. Of course, it helped that two 1st Round match-ups today featured opponents without a major MD win to share between them.

Along with Bejlek and Mboko, Emiliana Arango and qualifier Leyre Romero Gormaz added their names to the first-timer list on Sunday by winning first-to-MP-gets-her-maiden-win contests.

Columbia's Arango defeated Alex Eala in three sets, 6-0/2-6/6-3. Neither required a wild card nor a successful qualifying run to make their slam MD debuts today, as both were ranked high enough for automatic entry into the draw.



Spain's Romero Gormaz, a 23-year old qualifier, defeated French wild card Tiantsoa (Sarah) Rakotomanga Rajaonah, 7-6(3)/6-2, in what was both woman's first career slam MD match.

...elsewhere, Olga Danilovic displayed her knack for putting down wins (often upsets) at majors once again. The Serb had posted at least one win in six of her seven previous career slam MD appearances, but faced off with #27 seed Leylah Fernandez today. It didn't matter, she won another one.

Danilovic's 6-3/6-1 victory adds to her list of seeded victims at majors that already included Petra Martic ('21 AO), Danielle Collins (during her Round of 16 run in Paris last year, where she also upset an unseeded Donna Vekic), as well as Liudmila Samsonova and Jessie Pegula (en route to the 4th Round at this year's AO).

Danilovic reached the Rouen final earlier this spring.



...later in the day, #18 Vekic escaped a potentially sketchy match vs. Anna Blinkova. The Croatian won the 1st set after being 3-1 down, but couldn't put the match away in the 2nd set despite being up a break three times before dropping a TB (where she had a mini-break edge at 3-0). No matter, it just took a little longer. She won 7-5/6-7(4)/6-1.

...the only wild card to advance on Day 1 was Iva Jovic, who finally outlasted Renata Zarazua 6-3/5-7/6-4 after the Bannerette had failed to put away three MP chances at 5-4 in the 2nd. The 17-year old, the youngest player in the singles MD, had to win on MP #5 in the 3rd, a set which saw seven breaks of serve over 10 games. In fact, 19 of the match's 31 games featured service breaks.



...and, of course, we had to get a Zombie Queen of Paris nominee on the first day on play. That'd be Anastasia Potapova.

The Hordette already leads the tour in 2025 with three MD victories after being MP down. She didn't face a MP today vs. #29 Linda Noskova, but she did trail 5-2 in the 3rd set vs. the Czech, who served for the win at 5-3. Potapova got the break there, and shut out Noskova the rest of the way, breaking again to take a 6-5 lead and then serving out the victory.



...to wrap up the rest of the Week 21 results...

In ITF action, 22-year old Hordette Alina Charaeva picked up her eighth and biggest career title at the $75K event at Kuršumlijska Banja, Serbia with a 6-4/7-6(5) win in the final over 17-year old Serb Teodora Kostovic (17). Kostovic, a two-time junior slam quarterfinalist last year in London and New York, made her tour-level MD debut earlier this month when she made it through the Madrid qualifying rounds.

Charaeva will jump nearly 50 spots in the rankings to achieve a new career high inside the Top 195.



...in Milan, Serbia's Luna Vujovic claimed the biggest junior crown of her career at the Italian J500 event. The 15-year old posted wins over a string of opponents who've stood in the winner's circle at big tournaments in 2025, including Kali Supova (one J300 win), Thea Frodin (a J500), Rositsa Dencheva (none in '25, but a J300 & J500 in '24), Laima Vladson (two J300 wins) and, in the final, Julieta Pareja (w/ two J300 wins, and a SF in Bogota in her tour-level WTA debut).



...and in Barcelona, Diede de Groot's official non-team wheelchair event return to action following hip surgery played out just like so many did *before* her injury and mind-freshening break, with a singles title.

In the Series 1 event, de Groot (current world #3) followed up wins over Lizzy de Greef (1 & love) with tighter victories vs. Zhu Zhenzhen (7-6/7-6) and Li Xiaohui (1-6/6-4/6-3 in the final) to improve to 7-0 this season after her initial comeback earlier this month during the Netherlands' latest title run at the World Team Cup. She hadn't hit the court in a singles competition since last summer's Paralympics, where she dropped the Gold Final to Yui Kamiji.

During de Groot's early season absence, and Yui Kamiji's post-AO title stretch, Li had pushed herself into position to potentially contend to be the new "second option" behind a healthy de Groot, having gotten wins over current #1 Kamiji and #2 Aniek Van Koot while rising to #5 in the wheelchair rankings. Early last season, Li had also ended de Groot's 145-match winning streak.

With her first singles title since last year's Wimbledon, de Groot has now gone 28-0 vs. everyone but Kamiji (1-2, including losses in their last two meetings as she played through pain while waiting for her already-scheduled hip surgery) since the loss to Li last year. Overall, de Groot has gone 174-3 from 2021-25, winning 343 of 362 sets.

Of course, the Dutch legend has thrived the most in the biggest events, winning the singles at 19 of the last 20 titles handed out at the four slam events, the season-ending Masters, and Paralympics since '21. She had 19 straight big stage title runs before the Paralympic loss to Kamiji in Paris.

When de Groot returns to Paris, though she missed this year's AO, she'll still have an intact 52-match slam winning streak, having won the singles at the last 15 majors she's played. She's won four straight titles at Roland Garros, and five of the last six.







...DO YOU MBOKO?... ON DAY 1:




...APPROPRIATELY UNIQUE (I guess)... ON DAY 1:


I mean, they already gave him a statue years ago, so aside from re-naming a court what else was left to offer?




...OH MY, #WTARallyTheWorld HAS RISEN FROM ITS ALREADY MOSS-COVERED GRAVE... ON DAY 1:



Of course, right on brand, they did a post about Diana Shnaider being "unique"... but never mentioned her bandanna.


...NEXT UP? A #WTARallyTheWorld post on Arango without mentioning the backwards cap, of course... ON DAY 1:




...ALL RIGHT, IGA. YOUR MOVE.... ON DAY 1:




...THE NCAA CHAMPIONS HAVE BEEN CROWNED (and, shocker, a Czech Crusher led the way)... ON DAY 1:


Georgia Bulldog Dasha Vidmanova, 22, won the NCAA Doubles Championship last year, and this year she added the Singles and Team titles, achieving the rare NCAA Triple Crown for her career.

Vidmanova Leads Georgia to NCAA Title, Dethroning Texas A&M 4-0; Wake Forest Denies TCU Repeat, Claims Second NCAA Title 4-2; Akli, Andrade, Crossley and Xu Win USTA Pro Circuit Titles: tenniskalamazoo.blogspot.com/2025/05/vidm...

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— Colette Lewis (@zootennis.bsky.social) May 19, 2025 at 1:36 AM














This Roland Garros marks the 100th anniversary of the first "official" titles in the event claimed by none other than La Divine herself, Suzanne Lenglen, in 1925.

It was in the spring of that year that Lenglen -- who was born 126 years ago on Saturday, in 1899 -- swept the singles, doubles and mixed competitions at the French Championships in Saint-Cloud, outside Paris (the event didn't move to the then-new Roland Garros site until 1928), in what was the first edition of the tournament open to amateur competitors other than those hailing from France. Thus, 1925 marks the official start of the event's "grand slam era."

A then-15 year old Lenglen had reached the women's final of the French-only event in 1914, then after a five-year break due to World War I, she won four more consecutive titles from 1920-23. Suffering from jaundice, Lenglen missed the 1924 tournament, but returned in time to christen the French Championships' new status a year later.

On June 5, 1925, a 26-year old Lenglen defeated Britain's Kitty McKane 6-1/6-2 to claim the women's title at Stade Francoise, completing a run that saw her lose just seven total games over six matches (she produced seven love sets in the twelve sets she played).

Lenglen successfully defended all three French crowns a year later but would never play the event again, nor win another major amateur title. After a controversial appearance at Wimbledon later that summer when a misunderstanding led to the belief that Lenglen had "snubbed" Queen Mary, Lenglen lost a rescheduled doubles match and then withdrew from singles and mixed. It would be her last amateur tournament, as she signed a professional contract later that year and led a traveling tour of pros through the end of 1927.


















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*RECENT RG "FIRST VICTORY" HONORS*
2016 A.Pavlyuchenkova/RUS (d. Sorribes Tormo/ESP)
2017 Petra Kvitova/CZE (d. Boserup/USA)
2018 Ekaterina Makarova/RUS (d. Sai.Zheng/CHN)
2019 Petra Martic/CRO (d. Jabeur/TUN)
2020 Kamilla Rakhimova/RUS (d. Rogers/USA)
2021 Ana Bogdan/ROU (d. Cocciaretto/ITA)
2022 Sorana Cirstea/ROU (d. Maria/GER)
2023 Magdalena Frech/POL (d. Zhang/CHN)
2024 Donna Vekic/CRO (d. Tsurenko/UKR)
2025 Elina Svitolina/UKR (d. Sonmez/TUR)

*RECENT RG "FIRST SEED OUT"*
2015 #31 Caroline Garcia/FRA (Vekic/CRO)
2016 #32 Alona Ostapenko/LAT (Osaka/JPN)
2017 #31 Roberta Vinci/ITA (Puig/PUR)
2018 #9 Venus Williams/USA (Q.Wang/CHN)
2019 #5 Angelique Kerber/GER (Potapova/RUS)
2020 #17 Anett Kontaveit/EST (Garcia/FRA)
2021 #26 Angelique Kerber/GER (Kalinina/UKR)
2022 #6 Ons Jabeur/TUN (Linette/POL)
2023 #29 Zhang Shuai/CHN (Frech/POL)
2024 #29 Veronika Kudermetova/RUS (Bouzkova/CZE)
2025 #28 Peyton Stearns/USA (Lys/GER)

*RG "Légion de Lenglen" HONOREES & INCIDENTS*
[2016]
Alize Lim, FRA
[2017]
Caroline Garcia, FRA
[2018]
Serena Williams, USA
[2019]
Court Simonne-Mathieu debut
[2020 U.S. Open Special]
Madison Brengle & her wine
[2020]
Court Chatrier roof (and night tennis) debuts
[2021]
Naomi Osaka press conference controversy
[2022]
Alize Cornet, FRA
[2022 U.S. Open Special]
Jessie Pegula & a Heineken
[2023]
Ukraine/RUS-BLR controversy
[2024]
Firsts (Court Lenglen roof debuts, and Varvara Gracheva's first RG as FRA) and a Last (Alize Cornet's farewell tournament)
[2025]
100th anniversary of Lenglen's first "grand slam" titles in Paris in 1925

*RECENT MILAN (J500) JR. CHAMPIONS*
2008 Simona Halep, ROU
2009 Sloane Stephens, USA
2010 Beatrice Capra, USA
2011 Irina Khromacheva, RUS
2012 Katerina Siniakova, CZE
2013 Belinda Bencic, SUI
2014 CiCi Bellis, USA
2015 Marketa Vondrousova, CZE
2016 Oleysa Pervushina, RUS
2017 Elena Rybakina, RUS (now KAZ)
2018 Eleonora Molinaro, LUX
2019 Alexa Noel, USA
2020-21 DNP
2022 Celine Naef, SUI
2023 Kaitlin Quevedo, USA (now ESP)
2024 Emerson Jones, AUS
2025 Luna Vujovic, SRB

*NCAA WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS*
[recent singles winners]
2014 Danielle Collins, Virginia (USA)
2015 Jamie Loeb, North Carolina (USA)
2016 Danielle Collins, Virginia (USA)
2017 Brienne Minor, Michigan (USA)
2018 Arianne Hartono, Mississippi (NED)
2019 Estela Perez-Somarriba, Miami (ESP)
2021 Emma Navarro, Virginia (USA)
2022 Peyton Stearns, Texas (USA)
2023 Tian Fangran, UCLA (CHN)
2024 Alexa Noel, Miami (USA)
2025 Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia (CZE)
[recent doubles winners]
2013 Kaitlyn Christian / Sabrina Santamaria (USC)
2014 Maya Jansen / Erin Routcliffe (Alabama)
2015 Maya Jansen / Erin Routcliffe (Alabama)
2016 Brooke Austin / Kourtney Keegan (Florida)
2017 Francesca Di Lorenzo / Miho Kowase (Ohio State)
2018 Jessica Golovin / Eden Richardson (LSU)
2019 Gabby Andrews / Ayan Broomfield (UCLA)
2021 Makenna Jones / Elizabeth Scotty (UNC)
2022 Jaeda Daniel / Nell Miller (NC State)
2023 Fiona Crawley / Carson Tanguilig (UNC)
2024 Dasha Vidmanova / Aysegul Mert (Georgia)
2025 Melodie Collard / Elaine Chervinsky (Virginia)
[overall singles champions by school]
14 - Stanford
4 - Florida, Georgia
3 - Miami, Virginia
2 - California, Duke, UCLA
1 - Baylor, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Mississippi
1 - San Diego, Texas, USC, Wake Forest
[most singles titles]
2 - Sandra Birch, Stanford
2 - Danielle Collins, Virginia
2 - Patty Fendick, Stanford
2 - Nicole Gibbs, Stanford
2 - Laura Granville, Stanford
2 - Amber Liu, Stanford
2 - Lisa Raymond, Florida
[recent team champions]
2010 Stanford
2011 Florida
2012 Florida
2013 Stanford
2014 UCLA
2015 Vanderbilt
2016 Stanford
2017 Florida
2018 Stanford
2019 Stanford
2021 Texas
2022 Texas
2023 North Carolina
2024 Texas A&M
2025 Georgia
[most team titles]
20...Stanford
7...Florida
4...Texas
3...Georgia
2...UCLA
2...USC



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@anntelnaes.bsky.social

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— paulpro (@mariopro.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 11:48 AM


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What baloney. Trump's having a parade to celebrate himself.

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— Ann Telnaes (@anntelnaes.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 3:57 PM


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Love this

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— Woodrow Peel 🆗🆒 (@woodyluvscoffee.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 9:34 PM









TOP QUALIFIER: Nao Hibino/JPN
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2 - Nao Nibino/JPN def. #17 Bianca Andreescu/CAN 2-6/7-6(5)/6-4 - Andreescu led 6-2/5-3, holding a MP in game #8 of the 2nd and then serving for the win a game later, and led 5-2 in the 2nd set TB; Hibino also saved 2 MP vs. Ella Seidel/GER in Q3.
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.-WC): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #13 Elina Svitolina/UKR (def. Sonmez/TUR)
FIRST SEED OUT: #28 Peyton Stearns/USA (1r: Lys/GER)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Day 1: Arango/COL, Bejlek/CZE, Mboko/CAN, Romero Gormaz/ESP
UPSET QUEENS: x
REVELATION LADIES: x
NATION OF POOR SOULS: x
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: 1r wins: Bejlek/CZE, Mboko/CAN, Romero Gormaz/ESP
LUCKY LOSER WINS: 1r wins: x
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: 1r wins: Jovic/USA
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: 1r wins: x
LAST PASTRY STANDING: 1r wins: x
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: x
IT "TBD": x
COMEBACK PLAYER: x
CRASH & BURN: x
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Nominees: Potapova/RUS (1r- trailed #29 Noskova 5-2 in th3rd)
DOUBLES STAR: x
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): x
Mademoiselle/Madame OF THE EVENING: x
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: x
Légion de Lenglen: 100th anniversary of Suzanne Lenglen's first grand slam French Championship titles (WS/WD/MX sweep) in 1925 (first time event open to non-FRA competitors)
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: x








All for Day 1. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 8:09 PM 

6 Comments:

Blogger khan35 said...

Soon, Lulu Sun will be out of top 100 in the rankings. She's not gonna save her Wimbledon QF points from last year.. It was a fluky run at Wimbledon last year.

Raducanu get all the bashing for winning the '21 US Open. But, Fernandes also did absolutely nothing since '21 US Open final appearance except a QF run at '22 Roland Garros. Their runs at '21 US Open were total fluke.

Sun May 25, 11:25:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

“Walk Like an Egyptian” is one of my favorite pop songs of all time, and it has a great backstory. When I taught at Tulane years ago, I included it as an answer to a multiple choice question. :) I really liked The Bangles.

I’m still reeling from Kostyuk’s loss, For someone who is usually tough-minded on the court, she can have some meltdowns.

Sun May 25, 11:34:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

https://x.com/ThatEricAlper/status/1927081051773354217

Mon May 26, 03:42:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

K-

Yeah, Leylah has probably benefited from Raducanu's career path and lightning rod existence. But while she's not been great in majors, Fernandez has at least continued to make finals, has three titles and has been super in Cup play.


D-

You know, when I watched that video I couldn't help but wonder if they'd get flack for the "Egyptian dance" now, or if the song would even exist in the first place. :/

Haha - I've never seen that Nimoy photo with the Bangles! ;)

Mon May 26, 06:19:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

Liam Sternberg, who wrote the song, saw people getting off of a very shaky boat, and they were all "walking like Egyptians" to keep their balance. He had a moment of crazy inspiration and wrote the song. Apparently, no one was offended by the "appropriation" of hieroglyphics.

Tue May 27, 09:28:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Yeah, imagine such a time. ;)

Wed May 28, 09:22:00 PM EDT  

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