Monday, August 31, 2026

US.1- New York Ungrooved


And just like that...










=DAY 1 NOTES=
...on the final Sunday of August, the U.S. Open officially got underway at Flushing Meadows, with 18 scheduled women's MD matches in a 1st Round that'll be played out over the first three days.

The First Victory race to become the first women to reach the 2nd Round was a particularly complicated one this time around, as four different matches all at one point or another seemed fated to become the first to be completed.

The Donna Vekic/Talia Gibson match was the first to step into the spotlight as the Croatian veteran took a 6-2/4-1 lead over the Aussie and made it appear as if the First Victory honoree would be an open-and-shut case. But, oh, it wasn't.

As Vekic/Gibson went back on serve in the 2nd set, #19 Jasmine Paolini jumped out to a set and 4-1 lead of her own vs. Veronika Erjavec. Gibson edged ahead of Vekic 5-4 on Court 5, while Paolini saw her lead shrink to 4-3 on Armstrong. Gibson then claimed the 2nd set at 6-4, setting Vekic's FV campaign on the shelf by winning a fifth straight game.

Meanwhile, on Court 6, Renata Zarazua entered the discussion by taking a 6-4/3-1 lead on qualifier Polina Iatcenko, and Kamilla Rakhimova's upset bid on Court 17 vs. #27 Barbora Krejcikova suddenly grew real teeth with a hold for a 7-6/4-2 edge. Earlier in that one, Krejickova had rallied from 4-2 back in the 1st to force a breaker, only to see the Uzbeki take the opener anyway.

Paolini broke Erjavec for 5-3, and immediately served for the win. She held a MP at 40/30, but soon found herself BP down. Oh boy.

Rakhimova's break of Krejcikova's serve to lead 5-2 put *her* on the cusp of victory, as well, just as Paolini was broken and Erjavec got things back on serve at 5-4. Now it was Rakhimova's chance to serve for the win (and First Victory).

Rakhimova raced to a 40/15, double MP lead on Krejcikova, but the Czech wouldn't go out easily, getting the game back to deuce. Meanwhile, Paolini went up love/40 on Erjavec's serve, reaching triple MP just as Rakhimkova simultaneously held her own MP.

Finally, some clarity won out. Paolini got the break to win 6-3/3-6/6-4, posting the First Victory on the women's side. It's the Italian's 12th straight 1st Round victory in a major, after she'd had just four in her first 16 MD slam appearances from 2019-23.



With Paolini safely through, Krejcikova continued to hold off Rakhimova. But not for much longer. Rakhimova, on her seventh MP, made the Czech the First Seed Out at this U.S. Open with a 7-6(4)/6-2 victory. Through the five-deuce, six MP-saved final game, Krejcikova *never* was able to carve out a BP chance to truly put the pressure on her opponent.



The loss from Krejcikova, a quarterfinalist in New York in 2021 and '25, gives her three 1st Round exits in majors this season to go along with her Round of 16 run at Wimbledon. Her exit clears a little of the path for top seed and two-time defending champ Aryna Sabalenka, as they'd been set up for a possible 3rd Round meeting.

Ultimately, Vekic rebounded to take out Gibson, 6-2/4-6/6-3. The win still only improves Vekic's '26 mark in majors to 2-3, after 1st Round losses in Melbourne and London. Since her SF-4r-4r slam stretch between the '24 Wimbledon and '25 Australian, Vekic has failed to advance past the 2nd Round in six straight majors. She'll try to break that string when she next faces either Ann Li or Antonia Ruzic.

For her part, Iatcenko made her slam MD debut a winning one, staging a remarkable, multi-part comeback vs. Zarazua. The Mexican veteran, playing in her 12th consecutive major MD (just one off the 13 straight appearances from Angelica Gavaldon from 1993-96, the longest recent streak by a Mexican woman in slam competition), not only had led the match 6-4/3-1, but after Iatcenko forced a 3rd set it was Zarazua who took a 4-2 lead in the decider. She served for the win at 5-4, but ultimately fell in a 10-7 MTB as the Hordette picked up her first career win at a major.



...while Krejcikova fell early, fellow Old School Crusher Karolina Pliskova did not. Barely.

The 34-year old *seemed* on her way out, though, trailing Hanne Vandewinkel 6-2/5-2, and facing down a MP at 5-4 in the Belgian's second attempt to serve out the match. The Czech broke Vandewinkel for a third straight time to seize the 2nd set, then ran out to a 4-0 lead in the decider. Pliskova held two MP on Vandewinkel's serve at 5-2, and finally served out the win on MP #4 for a 2-6/7-5/6-3 victory to become the first Czech (of the 12 in the MD, second in numbers to only to the U.S.) to advance.



Pliskova remains an underreported success story in '26. She's nearly officially back in the Top 50 after finishing last year at #1044, playing just three lower-level matches in '25 after missing most of nearly a year and a half after retiring with a foot injury just three points into her 2nd Round match vs. Paolini at the '24 U.S. Open.

This year, Pliskova has reached a SF (Nottingham) and three QF, notched two Top 10 wins, and now posted MD wins in three majors (all but RG, where she lost in qualifying).

Pliskova has a great history at the U.S. Open, though it's now a bit in the rear view. From 2016-22, she went 26-7, reaching a final (2016) and four other QF, one as the #1 seed in '17 (she lost to CoCo Vandeweghe as Bannerettes filled all four SF slots -- one was Venus Williams, while Sloane Stephens would ultimately defeat Madison Keys in the final).

...rain suspended a pair of outer court women's matches on Sunday night, but the Ashe evening session's *stupendous* closing match between Venus Williams and Sofia Kenin was still on like Donkey Kong (but only after another way-too-long, best-of-five men's match in another example of the USTA's brilliant tournament scheduling and strategizing).



As midnight peeked around the corner, it hadn't been a very good day for the "home team" in New York (and the Jets' opener is still two Sundays away). In all, of the five completed matches that included U.S. woman before the night session the only winner was the aforementioned Pegula, the lone "1" in a 1-4 start. Emma Navarro led Lois Boisson by a set and 4-2 when play was suspended in their match-up, so the Williams/Kenin winner was assured of just being the *second* Bannerette to reach the 2nd Round on Day 1.

In a match-up of former slam winners with a combined 2026 record of 6-31 (i.e. "the perfect grand slam showcase for women's tennis," according to the USTA), it was Kenin and her 6-20 record (w/ 11 1r losses this season, falling from #28 to #110 over the course of the season) vs. Williams and her 0-11 mark. So, yes, that's *22* 1st Round exits between the two of them, with #23 on deck.

46-year old Williams came in on a 14-match losing streak, sporting a 1-18 mark back to '23 and playing in her 29th consecutive event by way of a wild card berth into the MD. It's been more than five years since Venus won a singles match in a major, going back to *before* Serena's now-reversed retirement in 2022.

Even with all those numbers *not* in her favor, Williams was given a good shot to actually *win* this one due to Kenin's shaky form, which included a 2-11 record on hard court this year (still better than Venus' 0-9).

And then everyone waited...



Finally, the match began at 12:13 a.m., the latest-starting scheduled night match in Ashe Stadium history.

Kenin broke to start things off, and led 3-0. Though Williams started to pick things up as the 1st set progressed, Kenin had a fairly error-free night as she built up a 6-2/4-2 lead and held a BP for 5-2. Then things got more than a little choppy (translation:. here come the UEs).

After a truly bad service game that essentially broke herself and knotted the set at 4-4, two games later Kenin fell behind love/40 as the UEs kept coming. Somehow she pulled that game out of the fire to hold, saving three SP, and took a 15/40 lead on Williams' serve a game later. But Williams managed to save four BP in all, and held for 6-5 when a Kenin return went wide. Kenin pulled things together for a quick hold, sending things to a TB.

There, Williams pushed out to a 6-2 lead, meaning what no *sane* person wanted -- a 3rd set -- seemed destined to become a reality. It would have been an interesting thing to witness, considering Kenin's 2-9 record this year in three-set matches is actually quite good compared to Williams' 0-4 mark in '26, with eight straight losses (her last three-set win came in June 2023) and a 1-11 mark since 2022.

Somehow, though, the 3rd set didn't happen, as Williams saw four more SP (7 in all) come and go as Kenin swept the final six points to win 8-6, taking the 6-2/7-6(6) contest that ended at 2:02 a.m., the third-latest ending women's match in U.S. Open history and the overall latest-ending 1st Rounder.



Williams' singles losing streak now stands at 15 matches. She's two losses away from tying for the third-longest women's singles losing streak in tour history. Well, unless the WTA finds another *longer* losing streak or two that they'd lost track of over the years, like what happened the last time someone climbed to the top of that list.

Oh, by the way, the women's match is scheduled to start second during Monday's night session, too.

...elsewhere, on the ITF World Tennis circuit, it was the case of another week, another Crusher champion by way of defeating yet another Crusher in the final.

In the $75K in Bytom, Poland, 22-year old Barbora Palicova defeated 18-year old Denisa Zoldakova, rallying from a set down to win in three. Zoldakova had served for the match at 5-4 in the 2nd before Palicova ran off the next three games to level the match. In the 3rd, Palicova came back on return from 40/15 down to break her fellow Czech to end the match, winning 3-6/7-5/6-4.

It's Palicova's fifth career circuit title, and second this year (both career-best $75K wins).



Meanwhile, here's the court that the two played on. Talk about some aggravating shadows...







...WHEN IT COMES TO RUINING A GOOD THING DUE TO OVEREXPOSURE, TENNIS ATTITRE REMAINS UNDEFEATED... ON DAY 1:





...THE LONE EXCEPTION TO THE ABOVE RULE... ON DAY 1:





...THANKFULLY, VEKIC WON TODAY (just as a reward for this moment from last week)... ON DAY 1:





...ESPN, BACK IN FINE FORM... ON DAY 1:





...WITH SO MANY EMBARRASSMENTS AND SCREW-UPS (already) AT THIS U.S. OPEN, LET'S NOT FORGET SO QUICKLY ABOUT THIS ONE... ON DAY 1:





...REPOST... ON DAY 1:

I thought I'd re-post the "Prop Picks" thing for the Open, just so that I can replace the "Iga/Eala" mention with the correct "Coco/Eala" one for a potential 4th Rounder.

I think I just liked the sound of "Iga/Eala" and couldn't get it out of my head.



US26 "PROP PICK" PREDICTIONS

1. The winner will *not* come from the trio of women who've won major titles in 2026
...of course, they'd be Elena Rybakina, Mirra Andreeva and Linda Noskova
2. The winner *will* be a former slam singles finalist
...the list from the last three seaons (11): Anisimova, Chwalinska, Gauff, Keys, Krejickova, Muchova, Paolini, Pegula, Sabalenka, Swiatek, Zheng

The list from before the 2024 season (+7, though only one might likely come into play): Fernandez, Kenin, Osaka, Ostapenko, Pliskova, Stephens, V.Williams
3. The runner-up will be a first-time major finalist
...there have been three so far in '26 (Andreeva & Chwalinska at RG, Noskova at WI), but just one at the U.S. Open since the (x2) Raducanu/Fernandez final in 2021 (Pegula in '24). The three first-timers in New York are the smallest number at any of the four majors in the 2020s (AO: 5, RG: 8, WI: 4).
4. Iga Swiatek will at least match her best '26 result at a major
...after a QF at the Australian Open, Swiatek posted 4r and 3r results in the next two slam events this year
5. The Williams sisters, without a doubles match win as a team since the 2018 Roland Garros (going 0-3), will post at least one in New York
...Serena not risking injury by playing singles, as happened at Wimbledon, doesn't hurt their chances here, either. Of course, there *is* still Venus who has to get through a match.
HM- Dark Horses (4r+): if not "dark horses," then at least intriguing names to watch...

Diana Shnaider: she's the #15 seed, so reaching the Round of 16 would just hold up her seed. But Shnaider took advantage of Sabalenka's collapse in Paris, and this time finds herself on the opposite end of the #1's section. The Hordette is 7-3 this hard court summer, and reached the 4th Round in New York in her '24 debut. Potentially worrisome: a 1st Rd. match-up with an upset-minded Daria Snigur.

Diane Parry: off a Wimbledon Round of 16, Cincy 4th Round and Monterrey title (she's on an 8-1 run after winning her maiden WTA crown), the Pastry has posted 3r-3r-4r-2r results in her last four major MD appearances. She has a possible match-up with #16 Cirstea in the 2nd Round, and has the rusty #19 seed Paolini in her 3rd Round way, but a path is there for Parry to reach a second slam 4th Round in '26 (after having none in 20 MD from 2019-25).

Liudmila Samsonova: yep, I'm going to play the "Samsonova Flip" card again. If she gets past Maya Joint in the opener, Samsonova (8-4 since her 8-16 start) would have a shot at a big name in #9 Svitolina in the 2nd Round. Samsonova reached the Round of 16 in 2022 and '24.

Naomi Osaka: the #13 seed is a two-time champ and reached the SF last year, but it bears watching that if #2 Rybakina isn't up to snuff after her Cincinnati retirement then the bottom section of the draw could big-time fall Osaka's way. They could meet in what would probably be the biggest Round of 16 match-up (well, along with Coco/Eala).










It still irks me that ESPN continues to use a newly-recorded remix version of "New York Groove" in current promotions for U.S. Open coverage, which makes the song that was a signature of U.S. coverage of the event for well more than a decade (if not two) almost unrecognizable and loses any trace of what made the song special in the first place.

That last year they replaced the Ace Frehley version (a cover, but far more well known than the British group Hello's original recording) that had worked so well, then he died about a month later (last October), and now they're back with another year of the needlessly devolved recording makes it even more insulting. But I guess that *does* align it with *most* of ESPN's coverage of the sport.

So, in protest and in defense of the late, great Ace (a native New Yorker, it should be pointed out), this space's annual spotlight...













New York City - HDR Questing











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Hmmm, credit to Svitolina for *not* wearing the "official" Adidas burgundy-colored uniform for her 1st Round match...













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*RECENT U.S. OPEN "FIRST VICTORY"*
2018 Jil Teichmann, SUI (def. Jakupovic)
2019 Ana Bogdan, ROU (def. Dart)
2020 Marketa Vondrousova, CZE (def. Minnen)
2021 Kristina Kucova, SVK (def. Li)
2022 Anna Kalinskaya, RUS (def. Peterson)
2023 Karolina Muchova, CZE (def. Hunter)
2024 Wang Yafan, CHN (def. Sakkari)
2025 Polina Kudermetova, RUS (def. Parrizas Diaz)
2026 Jasmine Paolini, ITA (def. Erjavec)

*RECENT U.S. OPEN "FIRST SEED OUT"*
2018 #31 Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK (Wang Q.)
2019 #27 Caroline Garcia, FRA (Jabeur)
2020 #32 Rebecca Peterson, SWE (Flipkens)
2021 #31 Yulia Putintseva, KAZ (Kanepi)
2022 #7 Simona Halep, ROU (Snigur)
2023 #8 Maria Sakkari, GRE (Masarova)
2024 #9 Maria Sakkari, GRE (Wang Yafan)
2025 #24 Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (Tjen)
2026 #27 Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (Rakhimova)
[2026]
AO: #26 Dayana Yastremska, UKR (Ruse)
RG: #21 Clara Tauson, DEN (Snigur)
WI: #20 Maja Chwalinska, POL (Sawangkaew)
US: #27 Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (Rakhimova)

*Latest-Starting Scheduled U.S. Open Night Session Match (Ashe)*
12:13am - 2026, Venus Williams vs. Sofia Kenin
12:07am - 2024, Aryna Sabalenka vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova
12:00am - 1987, Gabriela Sabatini vs. Beverly Bowes
11:53pm - 2013, Sloane Stephens vs. Urszula Radwanska
11:51pm - 2010, Caroline Wozniacki vs. Chelsey Gullickson

*Latest Scheduled U.S. Open Night Session Match End (Ashe)*
[women's]
2:16am - 2024 4th Rd. - Zheng Qinwen def. Donna Vekic
2:13am - 2021 4th Rd. - Maria Sakkari d. Bianca Andreescu
2:02am - 2026 1st Rd. - Sofia Kenin d. Venus Williams
1:48am - 2016 1st Rd. - Madison Keys d. Alison Riske
1:48am - 2024 3rd Rd. - Aryna Sabalenka d. Ekaterina Alexandrova






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Google Maps app, 10 pm ET. I stand corrected. Google is a disgrace.

[image or embed]

— Barb McQuade (@barbmcquade.bsky.social) August 30, 2026 at 10:09 PM


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I feel like I’m living In a dystopian novel written in 1993 that was rejected by dozens of publishers because it was incredibly stupid.

— Mark Jacob (@markjacob.bsky.social) August 29, 2026 at 3:36 PM


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Where did this floating island come from? A mystery on a B.C. lake www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

[image or embed]

— Andrew Kurjata (@akurjata.ca) August 29, 2026 at 10:41 AM













TOP QUALIFIER: Lucie Havlickova, CZE
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): x
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): x
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: #31 Andrea Lazaro Garcia/ESP def. Mai Hontama/JPN 5-7/7-6(6)/6-1 - saved 7 MP, four at 5-4 in 2nd set and three more at triple MP at 6-3 in TB
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): x
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F): x
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Jasmine Paolini/ITA (def. Veronika Erjavec/SLO)
FIRST SEED OUT: #27 Barbora Krejcikova/CZE (1r- lost to Kamila Rakhimova/UZB)
FIRST CAREER SLAM MD WINS: Day 1 wins: Polina Iatcenko/RUS (1st MD)
PROTECTED RANKING MD WINS: Day 1 wins: -
LUCKY LOSER MD WINS: no LL in MD
UPSET QUEENS: x
REVELATION LADIES: x
NATION OF POOR SOULS: x
CRASH & BURN: x
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEW YORK: Nominees: Pliskova/CZE (1r- trailed Vandewinkel 6-2/5-2; saved MP 5-4); Iatcenko/RUS (1r- trailed Zarazua 6-4/3-1, 4-2 in 3rd and Zarazua served for win)
IT ("?"): x
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Day 1 wins: Iatcenko/RUS
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Day 1 wins: Kenin/USA, T.Preston/AUS
LAST BANNERETTE STANDING: Day 1 wins: Kenin, Pegula
COMEBACK: x
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): x
DOUBLES STAR: x
BIG APPLE BANNERETTE BREAKTHROUGH: x
BROADWAY-BOUND: x
LADY OF THE EVENING: x
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: x
BIG CITY ROLLER: x







All for Day 1. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 2:50 AM 

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