Tuesday, September 01, 2026

US.3- Rainy Days and Tuesdays












=DAY 3 NOTES=
...for most of the day on Tuesday, the players played a waiting game. Until the outside courts were finally dry enough to support action, the only women's match to occur was #22 Madison Keys' Ashe-opening 7-5/6-4 win over Hordette teen Alina Korneeva.



Looking for a "really?" stat regarding this year's majors?

While there are nine women who've reached the 3rd Round in each of the first three slams of 2026, only *two* have advanced to the 4th Round in Melbourne, Paris *and* London this year. One is Aryna Sabalenka, which isn't *too* much of a stretch of belief, and the other is Madison Keys.

Keys has only done it at all *four* majors in a season once in her career, back in 2016. That year, her run in all four events ended at that Round of 16 juncture, just as her first three second week runs have so far this season.

Coming off her career-best season-ending ranking of #7 in '25 following an AO title run, Keys is currently ranked #24. If she doesn't finish as high as at least #21 (which would match her '24 ranking) then 2026 would produce her second lowest season-ending standing since 2014, behind only her #56 finish in 2021 (she missed the first two months, and went just 11-15).

Keys has had nine Top 20 seasons in the last eleven (2015-25).

...meanwhile, Maria Sakkari came to New York to play. Though her stay *almost* didn't last very long.



Sakkari's 2026 comeback season finally "went public" with her, well, comeback victory today over qualifier Robin Montgomery. The Rosmalen champ led the Greek vet 6-2/4-0, and was up 30/love at 4-1, before everything fell apart. Sakkari won five straight games, then broke the Bannerette on her fourth BP of game 12 to take the set. She went on to win 2-6/7-5/6-2.

Sakkari earned her celebration today after operating without much fanfare for most of the season. After a few years of a steady decline following a long stint in the Top 10, then Top 20, and followed by multiple coaching changes, she reunited with former longtime coach Tom Hill in the middle of last year. Operating with a renewed clean slate after finishing outside the Top 50 in '25, she's improved enough to reclaim a spot amongst the seeds (at #32) at this U.S. Open.

It's a nice reward after a campaign in which she's reached her first 1000 SF (Doha) since '24, her first final in over two years (on home court in Athens, 40 years after her mother Angeliki Kanellopoulou did the same in the city), and posted her best win (def. #2 Swiatek in Doha) in four years.

During her slow descent, former two-time slam semifinalist (both in '21) Sakkari suffered seven 1st Round exits in nine major MD between RG 2023 and RG 2025. With today's victory, she's now won at least one MD match in the last six slam events (reaching the 3r in three of four).

...#12 Belinda Bencic became the highest seed to fall in the 1st Round, exiting today at the hands of Yulia Putintseva after having held a set and early break lead. Putintseva rallied to win 4-6/7-5/6-3, with Bencic faltering badly down the stretch as she continues her seemingly-good-season-without-much-to-show-for-it campaign in 2026.



Even with the loss, Bencic stands at 27-12 on the year. She led Switzerland to the (made-up) United Cup crown to start the year (def. Swiatek in the WS in the final), and has posted oddly good results in multiple MX events, winning the Indian Wells exhibition and reaching the U.S. final last week (both w/ Flavio Cobolli). But she's yet to reach a singles SF, going 0-3 in QF, and has now suffered two early exits in majors (w/ AO 2r).

After consecutive major 4th Rounds in Paris and London, Bencic seemed set to find her stride this summer. She was on a 9-3 run when she reached the Toronto QF, but handed Coco Gauff a walkover due to an ongoing hip injury. She then retired from her opening match in Cincinnati before heading to NYC to participate in the MX.

For her part, Puntintseva has been chasing her good start Down Under all year long. The Kazakh opened the season on an 8-4 upswing, reaching the AO 4th Round, but her best tour-level result since has been a lone QF in Iasi in July.

...while the rain returned in the early evening and suspended many matches again, one of the four women -- the last of the four to hit the court in the 1st Round, in fact -- vying for the #1 ranking, #4 Coco Gauff, got her match in on Ashe, defeating Zeynep Sonmez 3 & 4 while the tournament officials eyed the weather radar and hoped to finish the women's opening round by the end of the night.



A break in the wet weather allowed two additional women's matches on outside courts to finish under the lights, as wild card Leolia Jeanjean and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (who found a lead she couldn't blow) advanced. But then the rains came again, at a very inopportune time for one Paula Badosa.

Against Dasha Kasatkina, the Spaniard served in the rain while up 6-1/5-4, but wasn't able to put away any of three MP before play was stopped again. This time for good, leaving the women's 1st Round with five suspended matches to be resumed on Wednesday.



Meanwhile, #17 Alex Eala got the primetime treatment on Armstrong, finishing up the women's schedule for Day 3 with a 6-1/6-2 win over Mary Stoiana (a Connecticut native 75 miles from her hometown) in front of several thousand of the Filipina's closest friends.

Stoiana's loss means that the ten women who made their slam MD debuts at this major went a combined 1-9, with only Polina Iatcenko (who saw Renata Zarazua serve for their match on Day 1) advancing.







...JUST A REMINDER THAT, IN SOME RESPECTS, RYBAKINA'S STAY (however long it lasts) IN THIS TOURNAMENT IS ALL ABOUT THE HARDWARE, since she could *not play at all* and still claim the #1 ranking as long as either Sabalenka, Pegula or Gauff don't win the title... ON DAY 3:





...HOPEFULLY, HER CAREER WILL ALLOW THEA FRODIN TO GROW OUT OF THIS PERSISTENT REFERENCE... ON DAY 3:





...THE THRILL OF VICTORY AND THE FURY OF DEFEAT... FROM DAY 2 ON DAY 3:





...OH, "THE SUBSET" ARE GOING TO BE MAAAAD... ON DAY 3:




And they *are* mad, too (go look for yourself)... and their conspiracy theory reasoning regarding Eala just keeps getting more and more amusing (and by "amusing," of course, I mean "kinda pathetic").



...MEANWHILE, ESPN IS *STILL* IN FINE FORM... ON DAY 3:




This is sort of like how, for *years*, the network used a graphic chronicling Serena's climb up the all-time slam title list, and listed 1920s/'30s legend Helen Wills Moody (who has often been referred to as "The American Girl," mind you) with a British flag until -- eventually, at the 2020 U.S. Open -- someone got their head out of their butt. Probably because they were holed up in their apartment because of Covid and got around to brushing up on their tennis history and... whoops.




...DUN DUN DUUUN!... ON DAY 3:






















Staten Island Ferry











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*2026 FIRST CAREER SLAM MD WINS (w/ career slam MD)*
-AUSTRALIAN OPEN (5)-
Nikola Bartunkova, CZE (1st)
Linda Klimovicova, POL (1st)
Petra Marcinko, CRO (1st)
Taylah Preston, AUS (3rd)
Oksana Selekhmeteva, RUS (5th)
-ROLAND GARROS (6)-
Susan Bandecchi, SUI (1st)
Marina Bassols Ribera, ESP (2nd)
Francesca Jones, GBR (7th)
Oleksandra Oliynynkova, UKR (2nd)
Kaitlin Quevedo, ESP (1st)
Antonia Ruzic, CRO (3rd)
-WIMBLEDON (4)-
Anastasia Gasanova, RUS (2nd)
Tyra Grant, ITA (1st)
Mananchaya Sawangkaew, THA (2nd)
Lanlana Tararudee, THA (2nd)
-U.S. OPEN (3)-
Polina Iatcenko, RUS (1st)
Himeno Sakatsume, JPN (2nd)
Lilli Tagger, AUT (2nd)

**BACKSPIN 2026 RISER-OF-THE-MONTH WINNERS**
JAN (pre-AO): Mirra Andreeva, RUS
AO: Jessie Pegula, USA
FEB: Karolina Muchova, CZE
MAR: Karolina Muchova, CZE
1Q...PEGULA
APR: Elena Rybakina, KAZ
MAY: Marta Kostyuk, UKR
RG: Marta Kostyuk, UKR
2Q 1...RYBAKINA
JUN: Madison Keys, USA
WI: Karolina Muchova, CZE
2Q 2 (grass)...MUCHOVA
JUL: Lilli Tagger, AUT
AUG: Iga Swiatek, POL
[Multiple 2025 Weekly RISER Award Wins]
5 - Marta Kostyuk, UKR
5 - Karolina Muchova, CZE
4 - Coco Gauff, USA
4 - Victoria Mboko, CAN
4 - Anastasia Potapova, AUT
4 - Diana Shnaider, RUS
3 - Marie Bouzkova, CZE
3 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ
3 - Maria Timofeeva, UZB
2 - Mirra Andreeva, RUS
2 - Amanda Anisimova, USA
2 - Hailey Baptiste, USA
2 - Anna Kalinskaya, RUS
2 - Ann Li, USA
2 - Claire Liu, USA
2 - Linda Noskova, CZE
2 - Oleksandra Oliynykova, UKR
2 - Camila Osorio, COL
2 - Gabriela Ruse, ROU
2 - Daria Snigur, UKR
2 - Katie Volynets, USA
2 - Wang Xinyu, CHN

**BACKSPIN 2026 SURPRISE-OF-THE-MONTH WINNERS**
JAN (pre-AO): Taylah Preston, AUS
AO: Maddison Inglis, AUS
FEB: Antonia Ruzic, CRO
MAR: Talia Gibson, AUS
1Q...OLEKSANDRA OLIYNYKOVA, UKR
APR: Veronika Podrez, UKR
MAY: Anastasia Potapova, AUT
RG: Maja Chwalinska, POL
2Q 1...CHWALINSKA
JUN: Naomi Osaka, JPN
WI: Mananchaya Sawangkaew, THA
2Q 2 (grass)...OSAKA
JUL: Daria Snigur, UKR
AUG: Carol Young Suh Lee, USA
[Multiple 2025 Weekly SURPRISE Award Wins]
3 - Diane Parry, FRA
3 - Antonia Ruzic, CRO
2 - Kimberly Birrell, AUS
2 - Francesca Jones, GBR
2 - Mananchaya Sawangkaew, THA
2 - Daria Snigur, UKR
2 - Lanlana Tararudee, THA
2 - Wang Xiyu, CHN





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I may need to get this!

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— SoapJenn (@soapjenn.bsky.social) August 31, 2026 at 7:20 PM


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anntelnaes.substack.com/p/trumps-nam...

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— Ann Telnaes (@anntelnaes.bsky.social) September 1, 2026 at 2:17 PM








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: 1r wins: Polina Iatcenko/RUS (1st MD), Himeno Sakatsume/JPN (2nd), Lilli Tagger/AUT (2nd)
PROTECTED RANKING MD WINS: 1r wins: Nadia Podoroska/ARG, Mananchaya Sawangkaew/THA
LUCKY LOSER MD WINS: D.Semenistaja/LAT (1r-L)
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); Birrell/AUS (1r- saved MP vs. Marcinko on Day 1 before play suspended, won in three sets on Day 2); Sakkari/GRE (1r- down 6-2/4-0 vs. Montgomery)
IT ("?"): x
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: 1r wins: Dart/GBR, Iatcenko/RUS, Sakatsume/JPN, Zheng/CHN
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: 1r wins: Jeanjean/FRA, Kenin/USA, T.Preston/AUS, Stephens/USA
LAST BANNERETTE STANDING: 1r wins: Anisimova, Gauff, Kenin, Keys, Li, McNally, Navarro, Pegula, Stephens, Townsend
COMEBACK: x
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): x
DOUBLES STAR: x
BIG APPLE BANNERETTE BREAKTHROUGH: x
BROADWAY-BOUND: x
LADY OF THE EVENING: Nominee: Kenin d. V.Williams in 2:02 a.m. finish (1r)
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: x
BIG CITY ROLLER: x







All for Day 3. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 11:58 PM 

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