Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Wk.33- Livin' on the First-Week Air in Cincinnati







futuristic-fonts




*WEEK 33*


kosova-font

[Cincinnati Q/1st-3rd Rd. Tuesday]

RISERS: Jessica Bouzas Maneiro/ESP and Lucia Bronzetti/ITA
...with Paula Badosa's back injury causing her to dip in and out of competition, and *maybe* her career itself to flicker in the proverbial breeze, Spain could use a young up-and-coming player on the women's tour to focus on. Enter Bouzas Maneiro.

With her three wins (so far) in Cincinnati, the Spaniard's spring/summer stretch has included a 7-1 record on summer hard courts, and 10-2 run since the start of Wimbledon. A Roland Garros 3rd Round was followed by a 4th Round at SW19, and her Montreal QF has been backed up by a trip into the 4th Round this week after wins over Venus Williams, Leylah Fernandez and Taylor Townsend.

Bouzas Maneiro, the ESP #2, is into the Top 40 for the first time in the "live" rankings.



Bronzetti has had quite an opening week in Cincinnati, though it was almost sidetracked before it even started.

The Italian needed 3:27, saving a MP along the way, to get past Zhu Lin in the 1st Round. That hurdle overcome, she's since posted back-to-back Top 30 wins over Dasha Kasatkina and Alona Ostapenko. Impressive wins on paper, of course, but it should be noted that the two are just a combined 34-35 on the season in spite of their current rankings (Kasatkina is 17-19, and Ostapenko 17-16).

Bronzetti's Round of 16 (at least) result is her first in a 1000 event since she reached the 4th Round in her 1000 MD debut in Miami in 2022, and also already stands as her second best tour-level result of the season behind her appearance in the Cluj final early in the year.


===============================================
SURPRISE: Ella Seidel/GER
...20-year old Seidel has been showing signs of late of a significant upcoming push in the rankings, with a Cluj QF early in the season (w/ wins over Cristian and Blinkova) preceding ensuing victores over the likes of fellow youngster Tereza Valentova (Feb.) and Anna Kalinskaya (Berlin), a Wimbledon qualifying run (for her slam MD debut, though she had to retire from the 1st Rd.) and now, in Cincinnati, another Q-run and still-alive prospects in the Round of 16.

Ranked #125, Seidel has posted MD wins over Polina Kudermetova, then back-to-back comebacks vs. Emma Navarro (from a set down, then 4-1 back in the 3rd for her first Top 20 victory) and McCartney Kessler (saving 2 MP in a 3rd set TB). She's won four straight three-setters in Cincinnati, and triumphed in her last *nine* matches that have gone into a 3rd set (w/ one win coming via a ret.).

The German is now edging close to her Top 100 debut, with a "live" standing around #104 following her 3rd Round win.


===============================================
VETERANS: Taylor Townsend/USA and Sorana Cirstea/ROU
...so far this hard court summer, Townsend has won a doubles title in Washington, reached the final in Montreal and become the 50th woman to rise to the WD #1 ranking. She also reached the singles QF as a qualifier in D.C. (after wins over Maria and Kenin).

Townsend & Zhang Shuai went out in their opening match in Cincy, but Townsend used her singles wild card to good effect with a 3rd Round run that included consecutive Top 50 upsets over Danielle Collins and Liudmila Samsonova, the latter her first Top 20 victory since defeating Dasha Kasatkina during a 3rd Round run in Cincinnati a year ago. She fell this time around in straight sets to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in another 3rd Rounder.

Having fallen 51 spots in the rankings to #125 following Montreal after not matching her Toronto QF from last summer, Townsend is set to fall outside the Top 140 following Cincinnati despite her matching her result from 2024.



In the Cincinnati MD using her protected ranking, Cirstea (#136) has turned back the clock during the opening round, winning consecutive matches in the event for the first time since her MD debut back in 2009. Since then, the Romanian had lost in the 1r/2r six times, and in qualifying five others.





Wins over Donna Vekic and Magdalena Frech were followed up by a comeback from a set down against Yuan Yue, giving Cirstea her second Round of 16 run at a 1000 event this season along with her Dubai QF in February. With her three wins (so far), Cirstea ticks just over .500 (14-13) for her season.
===============================================



COMEBACK: Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
...after previously showing flashes of good form during the grass season, even while her training hadn't *quite* caught up after missing most of the season, Krejcikova is now looking a bit like the worrisome opponent she can be when she's not dealing with injuries or on the comeback from one.

In Cincinnati, coming in with just ten matches (5-5) under her belt in '25, she's played her way into the Round of 16, stringing together three straight wins in an event for the first time since last year's Roland Garros. After dispatching of Alycia Parks via a love 3rd set, Krejcikova went the distance in her next two outings, as well, taking out Elina Svitolina and Iva Jovic in three, rallying from a set down on both occasions.

After seeing her ranking slip from #16 to into the #80s in less than a month after her '24 Wimbledon title points went away, Krejcikova is back inside the Top 65 (and climbing) in the "live" standings.


===============================================
FRESH FACES: Clervie Ngounoue/USA and Iva Jovic/USA
...Ngounue didn't post the sort of earth-shaking result that her north-of-the-border counterpart Victoria Mboko did in Montreal, but the 19-year old (#211) did qualify to reach the Cincinnati MD with wins over Olivia Gadecki and Yuan Yue. Then, in the 1st Round, the Washington native won an all-D.C. 1st Round clash with Hailey Baptiste, posting a 6-1/4-6/6-1 win to record her first career tour-level MD victory.



Ngounoue lost in the 2nd Round to Elise Mertens, but claimed the opening set vs. the Belgian vet, then rallied from 4-1 down in the 2nd to force a TB. Mertens won it to take things to a 3rd, where she struggled to put away the teenager. Ngounoue got the break when Mertens served for the win at 5-4, but wasn't able to follow up with a hold in the following game. Instead, Mertens regained her break lead and then served out a 7-5 deciding set for the win.

Ngounoue was a junior star, winning the Wimbledon girls' singles in 2023, and a pair of slam junior doubles ('22 AO/'23 RG). She's 2-2 in ITF challenger finals this season, picking up a pair of $50K crowns. She'll climb back inside the Top 200 after Cincinnati, setting a new career high somewhere in the #180 range.



Meanwhile, 17-year old Jovic lost in Cincy qualifying (to Varvara Gracheva, who's alive in the Round of 16), but got a reprieve when Montreal finalist Naomi Osaka withdrew (as did winner Victoria Mboko, as I can't imagine why the organizers thought -- even with what would have been a "competitive bye" in the 1st Round -- either incoming finalist would subject themselves to this event after the screwed-up scheduling of the last).

As a lucky loser, Jovic knocked off fellow LL Solana Sierra and them dominated Linda Noskova (3 & love) to reach the 3rd Round, her first ever at a 1000 event. Against Barbora Krejcikova, the Bannerette took the opening set but went on to lose in three.

She'll crack the Top 80 for the first time whenever the next rankings will be.
===============================================
ITF PLAYER: Petra Marcinko/CRO
...for the second week in a row, Indonesia's Janice Tjen (ex-Pepperdine) tried to add to her circuit-leading '25 title haul (6), but for the second straight weekend she fell in a three-set final on the USTA challenger circuit. After dropping a $75K final in Lexington (KY) to Wang Xiyu, Tjen fell this past weekend in a 7-6/3-6/6-4 final vs. 19-year old Croatian Marcinko in Landisville (PA).

Marcinko, the '22 AO girls' champ, picked up her first career 125 title earlier this summer, and now adds a $100K crown that improves her career ITF final mark to 8-0. She'll climb to a new career high ranking after Cincinnati, likely inside the Top 120.

As for Tjen, even with this loss, she's gone 91-10 since turning pro last summer, reaching 16 ITF finals (she's now 13-3) in fourteen months.
===============================================
JUNIOR STARS: USA 14u
...after falling in the final a year ago vs. the Czechs (who won a third straight title), the U.S. girls grabbed the ITF World Junior 14u team crown in Prostejov (CZE) last weekend with a 2-1 win over Canada. It's a record-tying eighth title for the Bannerettes (matching CZE and RUS for the most in the event), but the nation's first since 2017.

The U.S. had to stage a comeback in the best-of-three final tie, as Tessa Puente put Team Canada up 1-0 with a win over Olivia De Los Reyes. Emery Combs leveled things up with a singles win over Isabella Ruyu Yan, then she and De Los Reyes defeated Ruyu Yan and Milagros Helena Pastuszka in the deciding doubles to take the title.


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











kosova-font

[Cincinnati Q/1st-3rd Rd. Tuesday]

1. Cincinnati 3rd Rd. - Aryna Sabalenka def. Emma Raducanu
...7-6(3)/4-6/7-6(5). After facing off for two tight sets at Wimbledon, Sabalenka and Raducanu go the distance this time around.

In 3:13, tying for the longest match of Sabalenka's career, the world #1 and defending Cincy champ maneuvers the treacherous final games to get the win. But only after coming back strong after Raducanu held in a 23-minute, 13-deuce game to knot the score at 4-4 in the 3rd, saving four BP before converting on her eleventh GP.



Sabalenka held from 15/30 in the next game, then in the deciding TB -- after Raducanu had gotten things back on serve at 4-4 -- the Belarusian once more powered her way to another breaker victory, firing an ace on MP #2 to improve to 18-1 in her last 19 tie-break sets.


============================================
2. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Lucia Bronzetti def. Zhu Lin
...6-7(6)/6-2/7-6(6). Zhu nearly squandered a 4-1 lead in the 1st, seeing Bronzetti serve for the set at 5-4 before Zhu finally took an 8-6 TB on her third SP.

In the final set, Zhu served for the win at 5-4, but the Italian forced a deciding TB, where Bronzetti rallied from 3-1 down, saving a MP at 6-5 before sweeping the final three points of the match to win in 3:27.


============================================
3. Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Madison Keys def. Eva Lys
...1-6/6-3/7-6(1). Keys pulls another win out of the fire, rallying from 0-3 down in the 3rd, with Lys holding two MP on Keys' serve at 6-5. It's the fourth time this season that the AO champ has won a match in which she was down MP, putting her in sole possession of the tour season lead.


============================================
4. Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Ella Seidel def. Emma Navarro 6-1/1-6/6-4
Cincinnati 3rd Rd. - Ella Seidel def. McCartney Kessler 6-4/2-6/7-6(6)
...Seidel's consecutive saves, as she records her biggest win in the first, coming back from 4-1 down in the 3rd vs. Navarro, who dropped her last three service games.

Then, after neither player could carve out a break in the 3rd set, Seidel saved two MP from 6-4 down in the deciding TB vs. Kessler, sweeping the final four points to reach her first career 1000 Round of 16 in what is her debut 1000 MD appearance.
============================================
5. Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Jessica Bouzas Maneiro def. Leylah Fernandez
...6-3/6-3. It's a little known rule of tennis: no *two* Canadian women can thrive simultaneously in singles on the WTA tour. Over the past decade, Genie Bouchard was replaced as the Face of Canada by Bianca Andreescu, who has since been replaced by Leylah Fernandez.

Fernandez just won in Washington a few weeks ago, but has Victoria Mboko's Montreal pulled off the exchange of power even quicker than normal? Since winning the D.C. final, Fernandez has gone 0-2.


============================================
6. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Caroline Garcia def. Sonay Kartal
...5-7/6-4/6-3. As Garcia heads toward the final lap of her career, she re-appears on tour for the first time since her recent nuptials, and for the first time since playing her last match at Roland Garros.

She led the 1st and 2nd sets 3-1 and 4-1, respectively, but split the pair with Kartal. Finally on her fourth MP over the final two games of the 3rd, the Pastry records her first match win since the 1st Round of Indian Wells.


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



7. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Taylor Townsend def. Danielle Collins
...6-4/7-6(2). Collins had "one of those days."



Of course, that meant means no holds were barred in the post-match. In this case, Collins had a comeback to (and explanation... between all the scolding) the immediate criticism she received for her perceived-to-be-immature behavior.



Collins is right (and some would say duty-bound) to rip individuals for over-the-top (sometimes demented) reactions to things she does on the court, especially since in this case there was some context to it.

The only thing that one might bring up is that Collins' actions on court really weren't *all* that different from how she sometimes acts when she loses and *isn't* also playing with a painful injury. I'm just sayin'.

That said, why is she playing right now with that injury, with the U.S. Open a couple of weeks away?

Also, this is the second time in less than a week (after Svitolina, and countless others before that) that a player has highlighted their atrocious treatment on social media. If we were talking about any sports entity other than the WTA one might think that it might spark a sanctioned online campaign against such behavior featuring several players (w/ them or others "reading" edited versions of similar comments to shed a dark light on the situation, and at least try to get behind forcing some change). But it's the WTA... so, well, you know.
============================================



8. Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Aoi Ito def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
...6-1/4-6/6-4. After qualifying (and knocking off Gabriela Ruse in the 1st Rd.), Ito picks up her third Top 40 win of the season (second in two events), and once again induces a reflexive bow from her opponent.



Ito's run was was ultimately stopped, as it was in Montreal vs. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, in a three-set affair (this time vs. Madison Keys).
============================================
9. Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Elena Rybakina def. Renata Zarazua 4-6/6-0/7-5
Cincinnati 3rd Rd. - Elena Rybakina def. Elise Mertens 4-6/6-3/7-5
...after struggling to put away matches late all season, things have worked out so far for Rybakina in Cincinnati, where Stefano Vukov is back in the coaching box following his suspension.

Rather than go to yet another deciding TB -- which didn't work out well for her in her last two defeats -- Rybakina finished things off before getting to that point in her two early-round Cincy matches, breaking Zarazua to win and holding vs. Mertens to close things out.


============================================
10. $15K Monastir TUN - Jeline Vandromme def. Beatrise Zeltina
...6-3/6-1. The 17-year old Belgian wins her second straight pro title, adding a $15K to the $35K win in Roehampton. Vandromme didn't drop a set en route to the crown, running her winning streak to twelve matches.
============================================
HM- Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Yuan Yue def. Diana Shnaider
...4-6/6-1/6-3. Shnaider begins again, going one-and-out in Cincy in her first official outing with new coach Sascha Bajin.

She's now 19-19 on the season, so whatever "progress" (or the opposite) looks like, her upcoming numbers for the rest of the season will at least give a "surface indication" about how her final quarter of the season is going.
============================================










kosova-font





kosova-font





kosova-font





kosova-font



Umm, yes... because the child never should have been brought into the stadium on a stuffy, 90-degree day (and expected to remain comfortable and quiet) in the first place. Inconsiderate (i.e. bad) parenting is everyone else's problem in tennis, apparently, and the player is the problem if she points it out?



kosova-font





kosova-font





kosova-font





kosova-font





kosova-font





kosova-font



Meet the new WTA mascot?



























futuristic-fonts





kosova-font





















kosova-font

*RECENT ITF WORLD JUNIOR FINALS [14u]*
2016 UKR d. USA
2017 USA d. UKR
2018 RUS d. CZE
2019 CZE d. USA
2020 DNP
2021 RUS d. BUL
2022 CZE d. GER
2023 CZE d. GER
2024 CZE d. USA
2025 USA d. CAN






futuristic-fonts


kosova-font


kosova-font



Cued up to Diane's poem...




kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font






All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 12:36 AM 

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home