Tuesday, July 08, 2025

W.9- Deep Breaths and Grass Stains


Whew!




The "impossible" (well, let's just say "unexpected") almost happened. Again. Then it didn't. But this grass court season's version of "German performance art" nearly stole the show once more.

At Queen's Club, 37-year old Tatjana Maria used her slice-filled game to win the title in the return of the women's tournament, defeating two former slam winners (Elena Rybakina and Madison Keys) along the way. 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist Maria's run didn't carry over into Wimbledon (she lost in the 1st Round), but the variety-and-spice style of her 37-year old German countrywoman Laura Siegemund's attack surely took the baton and ran with it on the AELTC lawns.

Already with wins over a U.S. Open finalist (#29 Leylah Fernandez) and reigning AO champ (#6 Madison Keys) during this fortnight, the latter being her second Top 10 win at a major this season (she'd had *none* in slam play before '25), Siegemund, having already broken Maria's record from '22 (when she was 34) as the oldest maiden Wimbledon quarterfinalist, had the chance to get her first #1 victory *and* break Maria's record as the oldest first-time semifinalist at *any* major.

Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka entered today's QF round having not lost a set at this Wimbledon, but also noting having come close to "breezing" through the draw. Through four matches, though she'd only dropped serve six total times, she'd had to win three tie-breaks, a 7-5 set and three close 6-4 stanzas. She didn't have a summer stroll in the proverbial park today, either... and it nearly turned into a long walk to nowhere.

Siegemund's "tennis performance art" of deliberate movement around the court, sudden bursts of unexpected creativity, speed-altering strokes, serve clock limit-pushing pauses before striking a ball to begin a point and, in general, the sort of vexing game style that forces her opponents to actually have to tax their brains by *thinking* all match long (when so many prefer, with oft-brilliant results, to maintain a point-by-point rhythym of hitting hit the ball hard after it has, if they have their druthers, come back at them almost as hard from the *other* side of the net) was in fine form from the start on Day 9. There was often no deflecting Siegemund from her chosen path, and such a notion can't help but produce headaches and the sort of frustrations that challenge a foe to avoid seeing their will crushed one point at a time by the drip-drip-drip nature of such an attack.

Siegemund fired off a backhand return winner on BP to break Sabalenka in the opening game of the match, then held after denying the Belarusian on a BP of her own. With Sabalenka still not yet in a groove or having figured out (if she ever really would) what might work best vs. the German, she went up a double-break at 3-0. Sabalenka finally got on the board with a break of her own in game 4, then held in a tight service game moments later.

Siegemund's great shot anticipation, on return and at the net, carved out another BP chance in game 7. A Sabalenka error caused her to drop serve again, putting her behind 5-2. The German's worst game of the set (2 DF, down love/40) followed, as the #1 seed held onto faint hope, breaking then holding for 5-4. But Siegemund didn't falter, serving things out at 6-4 as Sabalenka lost her first set of the tournament.



Sabalenka took an early break lead at 2-0 in the 2nd, but Siegemund handled a big serve and elicited a responding error from Sabalenka to get back on serve a game later (breaking her for the fourth time on the day). Sabalenka got the break back at 4-2, despite Siegemund taking a 40/love lead, then had to save a BP en route to a hold for 5-2.

It was clear that if Sabalenka found a way through this one, she might need a "mental health day" to recover. She got the break to take the 2nd set (again it wasn't easy), taking a breath and heading to the 3rd.

Sabalenka held at love to open the decider, only to then see Siegemund go up 40/love in her first service game. Sabalenka closed to 40/30, but the German held with a net cord shot (of course she did), then broke at love a game later, utilizing a drop shot one one point, then winning a net battle on the next.

Down on the scoreboard, Sabalenka led love/30 in game 4, then pushed a short ball wide that would have given her a BP chance. Siegemund held for 3-1. On the opening point for game 5, Sabalenka raced to another drop shot only to hit it outside the sideline. Sabalenka whacked the top of the net with a hard swing of her racket, but managed to hold serve (w/ the help of a missed overhead from Siegemund at 15/15).

Sabalenka got things back on serve a game later (w/ the help of a DF from Siegemund that had given her a BP), only to then see her own unforced error total take a sudden jump in the next game. Down love/30, Sabalenka netted a down the line backhand on a mid-court ball, DF'd on GP, then netted a backhand near the service "T" off a Siegemund slice shot. Siegemund broke to take the lead again, at 4-3. The sixth break of Sabalenka's serve on the day equaled her total through the first four rounds of play.

In game 8, Siegemund had a GP for a 5-3 lead. The game saw Sabalenka win a "battle of slices" on one point, and Siegemund hit the baseline with an overhead that produced a Sabalenka error on BP. On another BP chance, Siegemund fired a shot long off a Sabalenka return and things were knotted up again at 4-4.

It was then that Sabalenka finally found *it*, whatever *it* is. Dare one say it, was was very "Serena-like," as she blasted her *first* ace of the match to go up 40/love in game 9, then #2 on her second GP to take a 5-4 lead. Suddenly serving to stay in the match, Siegemund opened her serve game with an error and fell behind love/30. Down 15/40, she saved a Sabalenka MP with a drop shot, but on MP #2 Sabalenka took control of the rally and finally got a sitter at the net. She put it away to win 4-6/6-2/6-4, and surely paused to take stock and try to make sense of how she'd survived seeing her Wimbledon life flash -- in bright lights -- before her eyes just moments earlier.



The win improves Sabalenka's career slam QF record to 12-1, as she reaches the semis for the third time in her last three Wimbledon appearances (every odd-numbered edition this decade) and the eleventh time in her last fourteen major MD. She's advanced into the final at the last three slams.

Afterward, during her on-court interview, Sabalenka had to play defense in a mad scramble not the *offend* anyone with an ounce of truth following her victory, having to explain that her earlier description of Siegemund's game as "annoying" (which is pretty much how almost *everyone* describes it, BTW, and its usually as a compliment) wasn't meant to call it *annoying* LIKE THAT (YKWIM) but only "annoying" in a way that meant she's "annoying" to play because her style of unanticipated shots from different angles, speed and spins serves to *frustrate* an opponent when the German plays really well. And such a thing tends to "annoy" one of her opponents, you know? Like she was annoyed at times today when Siegemund's ball died in the grass near the net (she won something like 14/17 drop shot points), or she pulled off some shot that no one saw coming.

I *think* Sabalenka averted disaster. Hopefully her explanation was enough to avoid a continuing conversation about the word "annoying" until the U.S. Open, a public apology and then continual "falling on her sword" in interviews, and another TikTok video that would only serve to replace the current list-topper as the Biggest Non-Story Story of the Year. Hopefully.

As for Siegemund, she leaves Wimbledon without an age-related SF or #1 victory record (only Serena and Venus have beaten a top-ranked player when aged 36+), but with far more name recognition from casual (and slam-only) fans of the sport, and a ranking around 50 spots higher than two weeks ago (she's nearly back in the Top 50, after being as high as #27 nearly nine years -- and quite a few season-ending injuries -- ago).



As for Sabalenka... well, she's still alive. And that's all one has to say about that.








=DAY 9 NOTES=
...the second women's QF of the day, which was about a set into play when the Sabalenka/Siegemund drama finally concluded, didn't look like it'd include anything similar. The contest between #13 Amanda Anisimova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova saw Anisimova win the 1st set 6-1, then lead the 2nd at 5-2. Done, and done... right? Nope. Then the *rest* of the set happened.



Anisimova served for the match at 5-3, then held two MP at 5-4, 15/40 up on Pavlyuchenkova's serve. Pavlyuchenkova got the hold, then forced a TB, taking a 6-3 lead. Ultimately, the veteran Hordette had five SP in the breaker, but Anisimova surged back and reached MP #3 at 9-8. She sprayed a forehand return, but got a second chance (well, fourth) and finally prevailed 11-9 to reach her maiden Wimbledon SF, her first at a major since the 2019 Roland Garros, which by now feels like a lifetime ago. And considering all the Anisimova has lived through since then, it kinda is.



Of note, maybe the only person more glad that Sabalenka defeated Siegemund today than Sabalenka herself was Anisimova. Anisimova holds a 5-3 head-to-head edge vs. Aryna, and though she's never faced Siegemund she *is* 0-2 vs. Tatjana Maria, including having lost to *that* 37-year old German in the Queen's Club final last month. She surely didn't want to join Madison Keys in pulling the 37-year old German "two-fer" in losing to *both* of them this grass season.

...wheelchair action got underway on Tuesday, and the expected players, save for one, advanced to the QF.

#1 Yui Kamiji defeated Angelica Bernal in a match-up of the pre-Wimbledon grass title champions, and will next play young Dutch player Lizzy de Greef; while #3 Li Xiaohui survived Zhu Zhenzhen in a 3rd set TB. She'll next face the unseeded Diede de Groot, the four-time defending and six-time SW19 singles champ, who knocked off Lucy Shuker. Li ended de Groot 145-match win streak last year, and her 52-match slam run this past spring in Paris. #4 Wang Ziying defeated former Wimbledon champ Jiske Griffioen.

The one big upset was what could be the first significant generational strike by the "new guard" against the established majors players in the field maybe since the rise of de Groot (aside from Li's recent victories, though she's a bit older at age 25, just three years younger than de Groot). In that result, 19-year Pastry Ksenia Chasteau took out #2 Aniek Van Koot. Van Koot was the player who claimed the Wimbledon title (in 2019) the one time that de Groot hasn't been crowned the champion in the last seven editions of the event. She's reached the last three wheelchair slam singles finals ('24 WI, '25 AO/RG, where she was 0-3 vs. de Groot and Kamiji).

The Russian-born Pastry Chasteau lost her left leg (as did her father) in a 2021 motorcycle accident. A tennis player earlier, she not long afterward took up the wheelchair version of the sport. She became the junior #1 in 2023, winning the U.S. Open girls' crown that year, as well as the RG juniors in '24. This is just her second women's major MD, after this year's RG, where she also posted a 1st Round win.

...meanwhile, the first final of this major was set in the MX, the last event of its kind with any integrity to be held this season.

The title match will include women familiar with slam finals, as Katerina Siniakova (w/ Sem Verbeek) will seek her 11th overall major doubles title (but first in mixed, though she did win Olympic Gold in the event last year) against Luisa Stefani (w/ Joe Salisbury), who'll be seeking her second MX crown (w/ '23 AO).








*WOMEN'S SINGLES QF*
#1 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR def. Laura Siegemund/GER
#13 Amanda Anisimova/USA def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS
#7 Mirra Andreeva/RUS vs. Belinda Bencic/SUI
#8 Iga Swiatek/POL vs. #19 Liudmila Samsononva/RUS

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 Siniakova/Townsend (CZE/USA) vs. #10 Bondar/Stefani (HUN/BRA)
#4 Hsieh/Ostapenko (TPE/LAT) vs. Cirstea/Kalinskaya (ROU/RUS)
Gadecki/Krawczyk (AUS/USA) def. #16 Dolehide/Kenin (USA/USA)
#8 V.Kudermetova/Mertens (RUS/BEL) def. #2 Dabrowski/Routliffe (CAN/NZL)

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
Siniakova/Verbeek (CZE/NED) vs. Stefani/Salisbury (BRA/GBR)

*WHEELCHAIR WOMEN'S SINGLES QF*
#1 Yui Kamiji/JPN vs. Lizzy de Greef/NED
#3 Li Xiaohui/CHN vs. Diede de Groot/NED
Saki Takamuro/JPN vs. #4 Wang Ziying/CHN
Kgothatso Montjane/RSA vs. Ksenia Chasteau/FRA

*GIRLS' SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Emerson Jones/AUS vs. (Q) Eugenia Zozaya Menéndez/ESP
Nauhany Vitória Leme da Silva/BRA vs. Mia Pohankova/SVK
Laima Vladson/LTU vs. Vendula Valdmannova/CZE
(Q) Kanon Sawashiro/JPN vs. #5 Teodora Kostovic/SRB
Tahlia Kokkinis/AUS vs. Mimi Xu/GBR
(WC) Ruby Cooling/GBR vs. #3 Lilli Tagger/AUT
#6 Julieta Pareja/USA vs. Elizara Yaneva/BUL
#13 Charo Esquiva Bañuls/ESP vs. #2 Hannah Klugman/GBR








...BACK FOR THE LEGENDS EVENT... ON DAY 9:




...KID JUST GOT OFF A PLANE, NOW HE'S ALL OVER THE WORLD... ON DAY 9:




...WHO'S SCHEDULING DAY 10, THE FFT?... ON DAY 9:

So, the *only* two women's quarterfinals tomorrow are scheduled first-up on Centre and Court 1, starting 30 minutes apart, and will play out simultaneously. How is that smart event programming?

If it's because the women's winners both have to play a semifinal the next day and they want them to have finished at about the same time... okay, but both courts have roofs (so no rain delay), and even one long men's match in a first-up match would only make a few hours difference.

Then, with no competitive advantage at play, both the Sinner and Djokovic matches will take place at the same time, as well. How is this good for the exposure of *either* tour?

This *is* still a televised event that gets much (most?) of its money from the broadcast rights associated with that, right? Speaking from the POV of watching NFL playoff games in the winter, during which there are usually two games on a weekend day, something seems "off." Assuming that whomever watches one game live is likely going to want to see the other, as well -- and the same goes for the women's QF, and the men's -- it'd be crazy to pit them against each other at the same time.

But, you know, tennis.


...DID YOU KNOW?... ON DAY 9:




...NEXT CHAPTER OF SWOLSTICE DROPS TOMORROW... ON DAY 9:

(aka "Why Not Me?" era, aka "Whatta I Have to Lose?" era, aka "Redemptek" era...)




Don't mind me... just trying to set up the summer hard court storyline ahead of time (I mean, if not the weekend).









-1993-



-2025-











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*RECENT WTA TOP 10 SINGLES DEBUTS*
[2019]
Aryna Sabalenka/BLR
Ash Barty/AUS
Bianca Andreescu/CAN
[2020]
Sofia Kenin/USA
[2021]
Iga Swiatek/POL
Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
Maria Sakkari/GRE
Ons Jabeur/TUN
Anett Kontaveit/EST
Paula Badosa/ESP
[2022]
Danielle Collins/USA
Coco Gauff/USA
Jessie Pegula/USA
Emma Raducanu/GBR
Veronika V.Kudermetova/RUS
[2023]
Elena Rybakina/KAZ
Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA
Marketa Vondrousova/CZE
Karolina Muchova/CZE
[2024]
Zheng Qinwen/CHN
Jasmine Paolini/ITA
Emma Navarro/USA
[2025]
Mirra Andreeva/RUS
Amanda Anisimova/USA

*RECENT WIMBLEDON "COMEBACK" WINNERS*
2017 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2018 Serena Williams, USA
2019 Alona Ostapenko, LAT (MX)
2021 Angelique Kerber, GER
2022 Simona Halep, ROU
2023 Elina Svitolina, UKR
2024 Paula Badosa, ESP
2025 Amanda Anisimova, USA





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TOP QUALIFIER: Carson Branstine/CAN
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #13 Amanda Anisimova/USA (7 games lost 1r/2r, double-bagel win in 1st)
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): x
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3 - #30 Priscilla Hon/AUS def. Victoria Mboko/CAN 4-6/7-6(4)/6-1 - Mboko led love/40 at 6-5 in the 2nd on Hon's serve, holding five MP
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - #6 Madison Keys/USA def. Gabriela Ruse/ROU 6-7(4)/7-5/7-5 - Ruse fights off Keys' comeback to claim 1st, then Keys fights off Ruse's comeback in 3rd, serves out on second try
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.-WC): x
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #14 Elina Svitolina/UKR (def. Bondar/HUN)
FIRST SEED OUT: #20 Alona Ostapenko/LAT (1st Rd. to Kartal/GBR)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Veronika Erjavec/SLO, Solana Sierra/ARG, Zeynep Sonmez/TUR
UPSET QUEENS: Great Britain
REVELATION LADIES: Italy
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Australia (1-6 1st Rd.; only new Aussie Kasatkina w/ win)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Diane Parry/FRA (3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: no wins (0-8)
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: Caty McNally/USA (2nd Rd.)
LUCKY LOSERS: Solana Sierra/ARG (4th Rd.); 2r: Victoria Mboko/CAN
LAST BRIT STANDING: Sonay Kartal (in 4th Rd.)
Ms./Mrs. OPPORTUNITY: Nominees: Swiatek, Bencic, Andreeva, Samsonova, (WC)
IT "Turk": Zeynep Sonmez/TUR (first TUR player into slam 3r)
COMEBACK PLAYER: Amanda Anisimova/USA
CRASH & BURN: #2 Coco Gauff/USA & #3 Jessie Pegula/USA - first slam w/ two Top 3 out in 1st Rd. (Gauff won RG, Pegula won grass title pre-Wimb.)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF LONDON: Solana Sierra/ARG (LL, first into WI 4th Rd.)
DOUBLES STAR: Nominees: Siniakova, Stefani
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Laura Siegemund/GER (oldest first WI QF at 37)
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: x
SPIRIT OF JANA (NOVOTNA) HONOREE: Petra Kvitova/CZE - plays final Wimbledon match







All for Day 9. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 7:09 PM 

1 Comments:

Blogger khan35 said...

I am too scared to say anything about Belinda. I fear I would jinx her.

I think Swiatek will get past Samsonova.

Tue Jul 08, 10:57:00 PM EDT  

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