Sunday, June 14, 2026

Wk.23- Winning for Losing



"Baby, even the losers
Get lucky sometimes
Even the losers
Keep a little bit of pride
They get lucky sometimes"

- Tom Petty, from "Even the Losers"









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*WEEK 23 CHAMPIONS*
LONDON, ENGLAND [Queen's Club] (WTA 500; Grass Outdoor)
S: Donna Vekic/CRO def. Emma Raducanu/GBR 6-0/7-6(6)
WD: Tereza Mihalikova/Olivia Nicholls (SVK/GBR) def. Leylah Fernandez/Laura Siegemund (CAN/GER) 6-3/6-7(4) [10-5]
ROSMALEN, NETHERLANDS (WTA 250; Grass Outdoor)
S: Robin Montgomery/USA walkover Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
WD: Shuko Aoyama/Liang En-shuo (JPN/TPE) def. Ingrid Neel/Giuliana Olmos (EST/MEX) 6-2/2-6 [10-7]
Ilkley, England (WTA 125; Grass Outdoor)
S: Ashlyn Krueger/USA def. Celine Naef/SUI 7-5/6-2
D: Freya Christie/Eden Silva (GBR/GBR) def. Madeleine Brooks/Amelia Rajecki (GBR/GBR) 1-6/6-4 [10-7]
Modena, Italy (WTA 125; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Katarzyna Kawa/POL def. Lucia Bronzetti/ITA 6-1/4-6/7-6(6)
D: Yvonne Cavalle Reimers/Lara Salden (ESP/BEL) def. Ekaterine Gorgodze/Naima Karamoko (GEO/SUI) 6-3/6-4




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Donna Vekic/CRO
...Vekic's emotions ran the gamut over a week-plus in London, as the former Wimbledon semifinalist was at first exhilarated to open up her '26 grass campaign, then disappointed by a loss in the final round of qualifying, only to be relieved to still have a spot in the MD as a lucky loser. Then she went to work.

After falling to Anna Blinkova before the start of MD action, the 29-year old Croatian quickly got back on her feet. From that moment, on her way to the title, she dropped just one more set. An opening win over British teenage wild card Mika Stojsavljevic (not not-given-a-WC defending champ Tatjana Maria... whew!), Vekic followed up with victories over Marie Bouzkova, Karolina Pliskova (who won the 2nd set) to reach her second '26 SF (w/ Linz), then buzzed through the likes of two more Brits, Katie Boulter in the semis and Emma Raducanu (though only after being taken to a TB after faling to convert three MP, finally getting it done on #5 for an 8-6 win) in the final.



This final appearance was Vekic's first since the '24 Olympics, and career title #5 is her first since taking Monterrey in early 2023.

Of course, whenever this moment or one like it was to happen next for Vekic, it was likely that it *would* occur on the grass. After all, this was her sixth tour-level final appearance on the lawns, and it comes at a *fifth* different event after Birmingham (2013), Nottingham (2017 W, 2019 RU), Berlin (2023) and Bad Homburg (2024)

Vekic has reached the Wimbledon semis in 2024, as well, and collected four Top 10 victories on the surface. She'll leap *44* spots with the victory,climbing from #76 to #32 on Monday.
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RISER: Emma Raducanu/GBR
...to anyone who has actually paid attention -- i.e. not the social media trolls and bettors who have been dumping on the '21 U.S. Open winner for years -- the level of an in-form (and healthy) Raducanu's game has never really been an issue where the Brit is concerned. When conditions have been optimal, she's shown why and how she had such a fine summer five years ago. Injuries have slowed her progress greatly, with her inability/refusal to settle on a coaching path not exactly helping the process, either.

For every highlight, though, there has usually been a step back soon afterward.

The first-half of 2026 has certainly raised a few eyebrows where Raducanu is concerned, both of the good and "oh, Emma" variety. After parting ways with another coach after the AO (Francisco Roig, who soon found another job), she quickly went to Cluj and reached her first WTA final since winning at Flushing Meadows. Raducanu announced an informal coaching setup with Mark Petchey prior to the Sunshine Double, but then lost early in Indian Wells and withdrew from Miami due to illness. During the clay season, former coach Andrew Richardson was no longer "former" and was back aboard. Still, she lost in the 1st Round in Paris.

The arrival of another grass season, though, provides another opportunity to thrive. Remember, it was at the 2021 Wimbledon where Raducanu made her *first* slam noise with a Round of 16 run in her debut (ended when she retired due to breathing difficulties and illness), the same tournament at which she's since advanced to her only other major 4th Round (in '24) since winning the U.S. Open. Two of Raducanu's three career Top 10 wins have also come on the surface.

At Queen's Club, Raducanu rode another wave, defeating Anna Blinkova (who'd defeated Donna Vekic in the final round of qualifying), Sorana Cirstea (who'd defeated her in the Cluj final), Kamilla Rakhimova and Iva Jovic (playing *both* matches on Saturday) to reach her third WTA final, and *second* this season (aka "Sunday fun day").



The double-duty likely made Sunday a little less fun, as Raducanu was blanked in the 1st set by none other than the aforementioned Vekic, but Raducanu rebounded to lead 5-2 in the 2nd. After denying the Croatian on three MP and forcing a TB, the Brit finally lost 8-6 on MP #5. It was a good, though "late-starting" effort that again gives some hope that maybe *this* is finally the moment when Raducanu's old promise rises up again.

But, you know, we've been here before. Unfortunately, we probably will be again, too.


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SURPRISE: Robin Montgomery/USA
...a Top 100 player last spring, 21-year old Montgomery missed eight months with a wrist injury that required surgery. She saw her '25 season end after Wimbledon, and didn't return until this past March.

The Bannerette, ranked all the way down at #484, qualified at Rosmalen, and then strung together nice wins over Dasha Kasatkina (a former Wimbledon quarterfinalist), Greet Minnen (a Birmingham 125 champ on the grass last year) Daria Snigur (the '19 Wimbledon girls' champion) and Ajla Tomljanovic (a two-time SW19 quarterfinalist) to reach her maiden tour final.

Montgomery, who played in her second career tour-level SF at this event did so some seventeen months after she'd reached her first in Auckland at the start of the '25 season, before the wrist injury forced her off tour.



Montgomery didn't have to do any other heavy lifting, other than with the trophy, to claim her maiden tour singles title, as finalist Barbora Krejcikova (a former Wimbledon champ) withdraw hours before the match's scheduled start due to a viral illness.



Montgomery swept the junior titles at the '21 U.S. Open. That summer she won the doubles in New York while partnering Ashlyn Krueger, who incidentally has also found some hard-won success this grass season (as seen below).
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VETERAN: Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
...when Krejcikova is on the comeback trail, there's usually an expiration date on her participation is any event. This spring, it's been right before a final.

The Czech, with just nine '26 matches under her belt after Rome, reached the Parma 125 final but was clearly not in the condition to truly contest another match as she was a shadow of that week's self vs. Dayana Yastremska after having won three straight three-setters. In Paris, after she couldn't put away Hailey Baptiste in a 2nd set TB (at this point, Baptiste would have been better off if she had), Krejcikova was rolled over in a 3rd set.

This week, Krejcikova ran off four consecutive straight sets wins at Rosmalen (following up a QF win over Gabriela Ruse with a 2nd set TB victory over Magda Linette in the SF), but withdrew from her final vs. Robin Montgomery due to a viral illness, handing a maiden title to the young Bannerette.

With her week, Krejickova is now 12-6 on the year, including 8-2 in her last ten matches.



But, you know, maybe former Wimbledon champ Krejcikova, who has shown some knowledge of tennis history in the past, is on to something.

It's worth noting that coming into this year's grass court season, *zero* of the last 85 WTA pre-Wimbledon grass singles champions have gone on to win at SW19, and just one of the last 102 have lifted the Venus Rosewater dish going back to the late 1990s.

Of course, you know who the *one* was, right? Yeah, that'd be none other than Krejcikova's former mentor and current "Jana on Her Shoulder," the late Hall of Famer Jana Novotna in 1998.

We'll see in a few weeks in there's something to talk about there or not.
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COMEBACKS: Ajla Tomljanovic/AUS and Ashlyn Krueger/USA
...Tomljanovic has been struggling through the '26 season. The Aussie came into Rosmalen at 9-14 on the year, with five straight defeats and a 1-9 mark in her last ten outings (since a 3rd Rd. at Indian Wells).

The 33-year old posted her best result in more than a year, reaching her first SF since doing so in Rabat in May of '25.

An opening win over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro was followed by a 7-5 3rd set victory over Dayana Yastremska is a much-suspended, two-day contest, then a QF upset of Caty McNally. Qualifier Robin Montgomery ended Tomljanovic's week a match short of the final, but she'll climb back into the Top 100 on Monday.



In the Ilkley 125, Krueger continued her grass court surge by picking up her first singles title on any level since 2023 (when she won her maiden tour level title in Tokyo in September, three months after her only previous 125 victory on the grass in Gaiba, Italy).

Prior to the turn to the lawns, Krueger had been having a tough season. After being ranked in the Top 30 as recently as the start of last year's U.S. Open, the Bannerette dropped as low as #120 before Roland Garros. She reached the Austin SF and Indian Wells 3rd Round early in the year, but saw the clay season end with her just 11-13 in 2026 (w/ a 2-6 stretch up to her RG 1st Round loss after making it through qualifying) after she'd ended '25 on a 3-8 skid from summer hard court season forward.

Last week, Krueger's loss in Paris allowed her to get an early start on the grass, reaching the SF of the Birmingham 125. And with her title this week, completed with a 7-5/6-2 victory in the final over Celine Naef, the 22-year old stands at 10-1 this grass season and will climb back into the Top 100 on Monday.


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FRESH FACE: Iva Jovic/USA
...the tour's *third* teenager in the Top 20 (the youngest currently in the Top 80) was at it again at Queen's Club, reaching her fourth SF of the year (on a third different surface).



18-year old Jovic followed up a win over Antonia Ruzic with impressive defeats of last week's Birmingham 125 champ Alex Eala and Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova, the latter win her second over a Top 10 player (w/ Paolini) this year.

Jovic lost in the semis to Emma Raducanu.

A year ago this week, Jovic won what was then her biggest career title with a run on the grass at the Ilkley 125.


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DOWN: Elena Rybakina/KAZ
...after kicking off her year with an Australian Open title, 2026 seemed as if it might be the Year of Rybakina. It hasn't turned out that way.

With a chance to seize the season by the neck on the Sunshine Swing, Rybakina was bested *twice* by Aryna Sabalenka late in the proceedings (IW F, Mia. SF). She kept her clay campaign afloat with an early title in Stuttgart, but almost erased any gain with a 2nd Round loss at Roland Garros.

With Sabalenka having not taken full advantage of *her* chance in Paris to pull away from Rybakina in the rankings, former Wimbledon champ Rybakina did the same in the opening WTA week of the grass season. At Queen's Club, she barely escaped a second straight loss, pulling away from Tatjana Maria (who defeated her in the QF of the event a year ago) after trailing the defending champ 7-6/5-3 (and love/30 at 5-4 down), as the 38-year old being forced to play two additional qualifying matches (plus a 1st Rounder, as Rybakina had a bye) likely did the Kazakh a favor as Rybakina rolled to a love 3rd set win.

But Rybakina went out at the hands of Katie Boulter a round later, remaining 900+ points behind Sabalenka at #1 in the rankings.

The Kazakh is still positioned "well enough" to have a very good season, but it sure *feels* like she's left a lot "coulda" on the table over the five months since Melbourne.
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ITF PLAYERS: Alena & Jana Kovackova, CZE/CZE
...a week after winning her third straight girls' doubles major, Jana Kovackova rejoined big sister Alena and kepy up the family's winning ways on the ITF level, taking a $75K crown in Ceska Lipa (CZE) with a 6-4/6-1 win over Banerettes Hibah Skaikh & Allura Zamarripa.

It's the seventh career ITF title together for the Czechs, including a 4-0 mark in '26 finals. This ties their biggest pro title to date, another $75K on home soil in Prague earlier this season.

The sisters are 22-1 together in '26, 17-1 in ITF play and 5-0 in their final junior event as a team at the Australian Open. They ended '25 on an 11-match ITF streak, and won their final 18 matches as a team in junior play.
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JUNIOR STAR: Maaya Rajechwaran Revathi/IND
...the latest entry in the "next Indian women's tennis star" sweepstakes, 17-year old Rajechwaran Revathi continues to add to her list of credits with a birthday week title run.

In Bamberg (GER), the junior #30 claimed her second '26 J300 crown, becoming the first Indian junior with *three* in a career, with a 6-4/6-2 victory in the final over Ukraine's Polina Skliar.

Sklair had defeated Mariella Thamm in the semis, and managed to pick up the doubles titles alongside the same young German.

Last year, a 15-year old Rajechwaran Revathi rode a qualifying wild card all the way to a WTA 125 semifinal in Mumbai.


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DOUBLES: Tereza Mihalikova/Olivia Nicholls, SVK/GBR
...one of the more under-the-radar combos on tour (w/ grass courts as their specialty), Mihalikova & Nicholls reached their fifth tour-level final (third on grass) as a pair at Queen's Club, winning their third via a 10-5 MTB victory over Leylah Fernandez/Laura Siegemund in the final.

The pair had earlier upset top seeds Danilina/Krunic (the AO, RG and I.W. finalists) and Guo/Mladenovic in a another MTB in the SF.

Mihalikova, a junior star more than a decade ago (when she won AO junior s/d titles, as well as reaching the girls' doubles finals at WI/US, from 2014-16), picks up her third tour-level win, while Nicholls gets her fourth as she becomes the very first Brit to win the Queen's Club women's doubles title (even in the original version of the tournament, they only played WD from 1971-73, when Rosie Casals & Billie Jean King won three straight titles).


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1. Queen's Club 2nd Rd. - Elena Rybakina def. Tatjana Maria
...6-7(4)/7-5/6-0. Hmmm, maybe if the 38-year old Maria hadn't had to play two additional matches just to get into the MD, this one might have had a different conclusion. The German, a year after upsetting Rybakina in this same event en route to the title, claimed the 1st in a TB after having not been able to close it out at 5-3 earlier in the set.



She led 5-4 in the 2nd, as well, up love/30 on the Kazakh's serve in game 10, but then never won another game down the long stretch. She was a point from forcing another TB at 5-6, but no. Losing her ranking points from her '25 title run, Maria will fall all the way out of the Top 100 on Monday. Though, even with that, she'll still rank ahead of half of the Brits who were placed into the MD via wild cards doled out by the LTA.



Maria was fortunate to even get *this* far, considering that a year after winning the first women's tournament held at Queen's Club since 1973, the reigning champion found herself ranked at #52 (not #300+ or something) and just one spot out of automatically earning a MD slot. Still, being the DC, and just a sliver away from it not being an issue, wasn't enough for the German to be handed a wild card by the LTA, which gave all four to British players (some as a form of "reward" for playing BJK Cup for GBR). Maria had to go through qualifying to have the chance to be the first woman to defend this title in 55 years, and won her 1st Round match to have the chance at a rematch with Rybakina (who was playing her first match of the week, not her fourth).



What made it worse was the shamelessness of those making the decision, and words from the likes of Anne Keothavong (the BJK captain) about no players being "entitled" to a wild card. Well, I guess unless they're British and played a bit of Cup recently... *then* they're entitled.

But, if not the player who won your tournament twelve months ago, then whom?



It's a bit hard to fathom that a WTA tour-level tournament (not a British Tennis Invitational) that didn't exist for half a century would so callously turn its back on the player who *won* the event in its return, but that's just what happened. Throw it on the pile of wrongheaded acts perpetrated by tournaments at this time of the year in recent seasons (see the 2022 bans, as well as Halep never getting her Day 2 Centre Court honor afforded to a Wimbledon champion).

Truthfully, the WTA should make it a rule that any defending champion, should they desire to return, gets an automatic exemption for a MD berth in the event. But, you know, *the WTA*.

But considering the circumstances, as Maria wasn't coming into the event from the distant outskirts of the rankings, such a thing shouldn't have been necessary, anyway.
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2. Rosmalen 1st Rd. - Hanne Vandewinkel def. Nikola Bartunkova
...4-6/7-6(5)/7-5. Qualifier Vandewinkel wins a battle with the Czech, who'd rallied from 4-1 back to seize the 1st set and, in a no-break set, led 4-1 in the 2nd set TB. The Belgian never faced a MP, and leveled the match with a 7-5 win.

After falling behind 2-0 in the 3rd, Vandewinkel took at 5-3 lead and had two MP at 5-4 before Bartunkova got the break. But Vandewinkel immediately broke back, then served out the win at love.

Vandewinkel's run ended with a 2nd Round loss to Barbora Krejickova.
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3. Queen's Club Final - Donna Vekic def. Emma Raducanu
...6-0/7-6(6). Vekic's winning Sunday effort was a tale of two matches (or maybe three?).

In the first, Vekic dominated to claim a love opening set. But Raducanu ran off to a 5-2 lead in the 2nd, only to see the Croatian storm back to lead 6-5 and hold three MP. Not so fast, Donna. Raducanu held to force a TB, then rallied from 4-1 down to tie things up a 5-5.

Finally, on the fifth MP, Vekic secured an 8-6 win in the breaker to claim her fifth career tour title, her second on grass (w/ Nottingham '17) after having lost in her last three finals on the surface.


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4. Queen's Club 1st Rd. - Harriet Dart def. Liudmila Samsonova
...5-7/6-4/6-3. #160-ranked Dart got one of the MD wild cards that *didn't* go to #52 Tatjana Maria, who was only the defending champion of the event when it returned to the schedule after a 50+ year absence in 2025.

Dart's win over Samsonova was noted by some as "justifying" her spot in the draw over Maria (not really), but considering that Dart came in with a 20-12 mark in '26 while #35 Samsonova was still in the throes of her latest bad season start (now 7-14), a case could be made that the Brit was the *favorite.*


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5. Queen's Club QF - Katie Boulter def. Elena Rybakina
...7-5/2-6/6-4. Boulter, a two-time Nottingham champ, was the one British wild card who had an equal case to make vs. Maria, and she showed it against world #2 Rybakina, recording the biggest win of her career.

After barely getting by Leylah Fernandez in the 1st Round (winning a 7-5 3rd), Boulter followed a victory over Jaqueline Cristian with her first Top 10 win of the season over Rybakina. It's the fifth of her career, four of which have come on grass (her lone hard court win came in a team event, at the '24 United Cup).



Boulter's run ended in the semis with a loss to Donna Vekic, but she'll climb from #73 back into the Top 60.
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6. Rosmalen Final - Shuko Aoyama/Liang En-shou def. Ingrid Neel/Giuliana Olmos
...6-2/2-6 [10-7]. Aoyama/Liang take the doubles title in Rosmalen, for the third time in the event for the 38-year old Aoyama (21st career) and the maiden tour crown for Liang (playing in her fourth final, with three in '26 w/ three different partners).


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7. Rosmalen 1st Rd. - Mia Pohankova def. Clara Tauson
...6-4/6-4. 17-year old '25 Wimbledon junior champ Pohankova makes her tour-level grass court debut (she reached the QF in Chennai in her *tour* debut last October), and adds another log to the growing bonfire that has become Tauson's season.

The Dane -- even with a SF (Abu Dhabi), 1000 QF (Dubai) and 3rd Rounds in AO/IW -- is just 8-12 on the season as she's once again battled injury. This is her *sixth* straight defeat, with her last win coming on March 6 in Indian Wells.

Pohankova lost in the 2nd Round to Magda Linette.


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8. $100K Zagreb CRO Final - Elina Avanesyan def. Kajsa Rinaldo Persson
...6-1/6-3. In a good week for lucky losers, traditionally one of the best LLs around was back to her winning ways.

Avanesyan won a $60K title back in 2021 as a lucky loser, then in 2023 became the first LL to reach the Roland Garros 4th Round in 35 years. Last season, the former Hordette posted her first tour-level MD win under the Armenian flag in Cincinnati as an LL, and last week in the Makarska 125 she lost in qualifying but still managed to play her way into the semifinals, her best result in more than a year, a span during which she has had much difficulty with a bout with mononucleosis.

A Top 40 player just before the start of her health issues, Avanesyan came into the week at #281. She wasn't a lucky loser in Zagreb, but her title run is her first at any level since she claimed a $100K crown in May 2023.


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HM- Modena 125 Final - Katarzyna Kawa def. Lucia Bronzetti
...6-1/4-6/7-6(6). Move over, Sorana Cirstea. Kawa is having her own career year at age 33.

She opened the season with a team title along with her fellow Poles at the United Cup, and the times have remained good.

In May, she won her biggest career title at a 125 in Huzhou (she's 0-2 in WTA finals, including a loss in Bogota last year), and this week in Modena she matched that title run, taking out Noma Noha Akugue, Dominika Salkova and top-seeded Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva to reach the final, where she outlasted Bronzetti.

Kawa had led 6-1/3-0, but after the Italian took an MTO at that point saw the match tilt away from her. Bronzetti stormed back to claim the 2nd, and taking the match into a deciding TB in the 3rd, where she held a MP at 6-5. But Kawa swept the final three points to finally secure the win.

She'll climb to #120 on Monday, not far off her career-high of #112 achieved at the end of the 2020 season.


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1. Queen's Club 1st Rd. - Victoria Mboko/Serena Williams def. Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Erin Routliffe
...7-6(6)/6-2. For the first time since the 2022 U.S. Open, the 44-year old Williams was back, teaming with Mboko to get a win over the tournament's #3-seeded pair.



As it turned out, it was Williams' *only* match at Queen's Club on the week. Next stop: Berlin.
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2. Queen's Club 2nd Rd. - Karolina Pliskova def. Victoria Mboko
...6-2/3-4 ret. For the third time in '26, Mboko has an injury issue just before a slam.



This time it came when the Canadian wrenched her knee after a split-fall in the backcourt vs. Pliskova, not only forcing her retirement from this match but ending her doubles teaming with Serena Williams after just one match, *and* knocking her out of Wimbledon.



On a side note, considering how injuries have impacted the career of most of Canada's top-ranked players from the past decade -- from Bouchard to Raonic to Andreescu to even Branstine, and now maybe (hopefully not) Mboko -- a tip of the hat to Leylah Fernandez, who while maybe not flying *super* high after her U.S. Open final run in '21 has managed to avoid all that, maintain a ranking in the Top 20/25 and usually win a title and/or make a couple of finals every season.

This week, Fernandez reached the Queen's Club doubles final alongside Laura Siegemund, losing in a MTB in a bid to win her first tour-level doubles crown (she's now 0-5 in WD finals).
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3. Rosmalen 1st Rd. - Panna Udvardy def. Ekaterina Alexandrova
...6-4/7-6(5). Like fellow Hordette Samsonova, Alexandrova is maintaining a high ranking (#17 coming in) despite a very poor season so far. This loss dropped her to 6-14 in '26 (1-7 in her last eight). She'd been to the SF four straight years at Rosmalen, winning the title in 2022-23.

Half of Alexandrova's wins came in a single event (a final in Abu Dhabi).


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HM- Ilkley 125 1st Rd. - Dasha Vidmanova def. Linda Fruhvirtova
...6-7(6)/7-6(10)/6-2. Vidmanova, in just her second career grass match (she got two games off Caty McNally last year in Newport), wins the 3:42 battle of Czechs.

Fruhvirtova twice failed to serve out the 1st set, but rallied from 5-3 down in the TB to claim the match lead on her third SP.

The 2nd set saw Vidmanova saved three MP in game 12, holding to force a TB. She had a pair of SP at 6-4, but ultimately had to save two more MP in the breaker before finally securing the set (w/ a 12-10 win) on her fifth SP. She then took the 3rd.

The Czech ultimately reached the SF, falling vs. Ashlyn Krueger.
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Okay, but let's call this what it is, a popularity contest vote after every "swing" on the schedule. I mean, they actually did a "Star of the Swing" vote after *Sabalenka won the Sunshine Double* earlier this year, as if there was any other answer. She *did* win, with 41% (less than Chwalinska got on this vote), meaning that *59%* said *someone else* was the star of the Indian Wells/Miami stretch.

This time, the winner finishes ahead of the Roland Garros champion -- who defeated her, as well as winning another title and having more wins than any other player during the clay season -- despite Maja playing in *one* tour-level event all spring, and claiming no actual WTA titles.

The WTA is really, really bad at these things. All they have to do with this is have it called "Breakthrough Star of the Swing" (or something like that) and it doesn't look ridiculous.


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*2026 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
Abu Dhabi - Sara Bejlek, CZE (20/#101)
Merida - Cristina Bucsa, ESP (28/#63)
Rabat - Petra Marcinko, CRO (20/#76)
Rosmalen - ROBIN MONTGOMERY, USA (21/#484)
[doubles]
Rouen - Jesika Maleckova, CZE (31)
Rabat - Eudice Chong, HKG (30)
Rosmalen - LIANG EN-SHOU, TPE (25)

*2026 FIRST-TIME WTA FINALISTS*
Sara Bejlek, CZE (#101/20 = Abu Dhabi)=W
Taylor Townsend, USA (#119/29 = Austin)
Yuliia Starodubtseva, UKR (#89/26 = Charleston)
Panna Udvardy, HUN (#92/27 = Bogota)
Veronika Podrez, UKR (#209/19 = Rouen)
Petra Marcinko, CRO (#76/20 = Rabat)=W
Maja Chwalinska, POL (#114/24 = Roland Garros)
ROBIN MONTGOMERY, USA (#484/21 = Rosmalen)=W

*LUCKY LOSERS-TO-WTA CHAMPIONS*
1980 Las Vegas - Andrea Jaeger, USA
2018 Moscow River Cup - Olga Danilovic, SRB
2019 Linz - Coco Gauff, USA
2023 Budapest - Maria Timofeeva, RUS
2023 Prague - Nao Hibino, JPN
2023 Cleveland - Sara Sorribes Tormo, ESP
2026 Queen's Club - Donna Vekic, CRO
--
NOTE #1: Kay McDaniel won Avon Futures event at LL in 1980
NOTE #2: sources differ over whether Andrea Jaeger was LL when she won LV title

*2026 WTA BEST LL RESULTS*
W: Donna Vekic, CRO (Queen's Club 500)
SF: Anastasia Potapova, AUT (Madrid 1000)
QF: Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA (Doha 1000)
QF: Antonia Ruzic, CRO (Dubai 1000)
QF: Yuan Yue, CHN (Merida 500)

*2026 QUALIFIERS IN WTA FINALS*
Hobart - Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA -W
Abu Dhabi - Sara Bejlek, CZE -W
Rouen - Veronika Podrez, UKR
Roland Garros - Maja Chwalinska, POL
Rosmalen - ROBIN MONTGOMERY, USA -W

*2026 LOW-RANKED WTA FINALISTS*
#484 - ROBIN MONTGOMERY (Rosmalen, W w/o Krejickova)
#209 - Veronika Podrez (Rouen, lost to Kostyuk)
#124 - Tamara Korpatsch (Ostava, lost to Boulter)
#119 - Taylor Townsend (Austin, lost to Stearns)
#114 - Maja Chwalinska (R.Garros, lost to Andreeva)
#101 - Sara Bejlek (Abu Dhabi, def. Alexandrova)

*LOW-RANKED WTA CHAMPIONS (2020-26)*
#508 - Elina Svitolina (2023 Strasbourg def. Blinkova)
#484 - ROBIN MONTGOMERY (2026 Rosmalen w/o Krejcikova)
#246 - Maria Timofeeva (2023 Budapest def. Baindl)
#237 - Tatjana Maria (2022 Bogota def. Pigossi)
#214 - Sarah Rakotomanga (2025 Sao Paulo def. Tjen)
#180 - Camila Osorio (2021 Bogota def. Zidansek)

*U.S. WOMAN WINS MAIDEN WTA TITLE - since 2015*
2015: Sloane Stephens (Washington)
2016: Irina Falconi (Bogota)
2016: Christina McHale (Tokyo JWO)
2017: Lauren Davis (Auckland)
2019: Sofia Kenin (Hobart)
2019: Amanda Anisimova (Bogota)
2019: Jessica Pegula (Washington)
2019: Coco Gauff (Linz)
2020: Jennifer Brady (Lexington)
2021: Danielle Collins (Palermo)
2021: Ann Li (Tenerife)
2022: Bernarda Pera (Budapest)
2023: Alycia Parks (Lyon)
2023: Ashlyn Krueger (Osaka)
2024: Emma Navarro (Hobart)
2024: Peyton Stearns (Rabat)
2024: McCartney Kessler (Cleveland)
2025: Iva Jovic (Guadalajara)
2026: Robin Montgomery (Rosmalen)

*2026 MULT.DIFFERENT WTA FINALISTS BY COUNTRY*
6 - USA
...Gauff,Navarro,MONTGOMERY,Pegula,Stearns,Townsend
5 - UKR
...Kalinina,Kostyuk,Podrez,Starodubtseva,Svitolina
4 - CZE
...Bejlek,Bouzkova,KREJCIKOVA,Muchova
2 - CRO
...Marcinkox,VEKIC
2 - GBR
...Boulter,Raducanu
2 - POL
...Chwalinska,Frech
2 - RUS
...Alexandrova,M.Andreeva
--
1 - AUT,BLR,CAN,CHN,ESP,GER,HUN,ITA,KAZ,ROU

*2026 OLDEST WTA WD/MX FINALISTS*
41 - Vera Zvonareva (Rabat)
41 - Vera Zvonareva (Dubai)
40 - Hsieh Su-wei (Doha)
40 - Hsieh Su-wei (Brisbane)-W
39 - Sara Errani (Roland Garros MX)-W
38 - Sara Errani (Miami)
38 - SHUKO AOYAMA (Rosmalen)-W
38 - LAURA SIEGEMUND (Queen's Club)
37 - Laura Siegemund (Dubai)
37 - Zhang Shuai (Stuttgart)
37 - Zhang Shuai (Linz)-W






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A little preview of Independence Day.

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— Hillary Rodham Clinton (@hillaryclinton.bsky.social) June 13, 2026 at 10:28 AM

We have exclusive photos of Donald Trump as he watches his name taken off the #KennedyCenter

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— ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Proud Canadian ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ (@beppil007.bsky.social) June 12, 2026 at 11:43 PM

Estimates are in that more Americans watched the removal of Trumpโ€™s name from the Kennedy Center than watched the USA v. Paraguay World Cup match. #KennedyCenter #WorldCup #USAPAR

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— Dick Mac (alive!) (@dickmac999.bsky.social) June 13, 2026 at 7:09 AM

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is fresh and minty again.

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— USA_Patriot_76 (@usa-patriot-76.bsky.social) June 14, 2026 at 12:13 AM


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— Mbsolheim (@mbsolheim.bsky.social) June 8, 2026 at 12:26 AM


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The fight America wants to see anntelnaes.substack.com/p/the-fight-...

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— Ann Telnaes (@anntelnaes.bsky.social) June 11, 2026 at 2:16 PM


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A friend posted this and I had to share it!

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— T-Lu (@tamilu40.bsky.social) June 8, 2026 at 7:34 PM


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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 10:40 PM 

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