Sunday, November 08, 2026

Wk.44- In Lieu of Flowers, Send Claire

Claire Liu prevails in Hong Kong...











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*WEEK 44 CHAMPIONS*
HONG KONG, CHINA (WTA 250; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Claire Liu/USA def. Alex Eala/PHI 6-3/6-0
WD: Chan Hao-ching/Miyu Kato (TPE/JPN) def. Talia Gibson/Maddison Inglis (AUS/AUS) 6-4/6-4
CHENNAI, INDIA (WTA 250; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Janice Tjen/INA vs. Magda Linette/POL (to be played)
WD: Naimi Karamoko/Simona Waltert (SUI/SUI) def. Vaishnavi Adkar/Rutuja Bhosale (IND/IND) 6-2/6-0
Cali, Colombia (WTA 125; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Leyre Romero Gormaz/ESP def. Bianca Andreescu/CAN 7-6(4)/6-3
D: Anna Rogers/Allura Zamarripa (USA/USA) def. Maria Carle/Laura Pigossi (ARG/BRA) 7-6(5)/7-5
Luanda, Angola (WTA 125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Sofya Lansere/RUS def. Anna Blinkova/FRA 5-7/6-1/6-4
D: Sada Nahimana/Angella Okutoyi (BDA/KEN) def. Martyna Kubka/Justina Mikulskyte (POL/LTU) 6-4/6-4




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Claire Liu/USA
...nearly a decade after she starred on the junior tour, winning the 2017 Wimbledon girls' crown and topping the junior rankings, Liu's tennis journey has now seen her find her way into the winner's circle in Hong Kong with her maiden WTA crown.

Liu reached her first tour final four seasons ago in Rabat, the same season in which she notched her (so far) only Top 10 win, upsetting Ons Jabeur at home in Tunisia in a QF match-up. Liu ranked as high as #51 in early 2023, but in the middle of the '24 season she took what turned out to be a seven-month mental health hiatus, returning at the start of the '25 season. Late last year in Guangzhou, she reached her first tour-level SF in nearly two and a half years.

Liu has gradually reclimbed the rankings over the course of this year, winning MD matches at RG and Wimbledon (her first since '23, with her 3rd Rd. at SW19 a career-best slam result), and won a 125 crown in September (her first since '22). She returned to the Top 100 that same month.

After reaching the QF in Guangzhou in her most recent outing, this past week Liu didn't drop a set en route to the title in Hong Kong, posting straight sets wins over Tatiana Prozorova, Katie Boulter, Zeynep Sonmez and Alexandra Shubladze to reach the final, her first in four seasons. Tied up 3-3 with Alex Eala in the 1st set in the title match, Liu swept the final nine games vs. the ailing Filipina (who played with a heavy leg wrap) in a 6-3/6-0 win.

After starting the season at #221, Liu will climb back into the Top 70 in the next-to-last official rankings week of the 2026 season.
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RISER: Janice Tjen/INA
...a year ago, Tjen lifted her maiden tour title in Chennai, and so far in her return the Indonesian as lived up to her advance billing.

Both the #1 seed and defending champion in the tournament this time around, Tjen ran off wins over the likes of Joanna Garland, Polina Kudermetova and Robin Montgomery to return to the title match, the third of her WTA career.

Unfortunately, her Sunday match-up with Magda Linette was pushed back a day due to rain and fog making the court unplayable.

If Tjen can pull off the repeat, she'd slip in the back door of the Top 50 (at #50) a week before the season-ending rankings become final. She ended 2025 at #53, but rose as high as #35 just before the U.S. Open.
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SURPRISE: Alexandra Shubladze/RUS
...after shining on the levels below the WTA tour throughout 2026, winning a 125 title in September while taking five crowns on the ITF/World Tennis circuit (behind only Alicia Dudeney's six for the most this season), 21-year old Shubladze finally made her tour-level MD debut in Hong Kong after winning her way through qualifying (she'd lost before the MD on four previous occasions this year, at two majors as well as a pair of Asian swing events).

After rallying from a set down to upset countrywoman Liudmila Samsonova in her WTA debut, Shubladze followed up with additional victories over Elena Pridankina and Sorana Cirstea, seemingly ending the top seed's career with her first Top 20 victory.

Shubladze finally fell in the SF to Claire Liu, but will climb to a new career-high of #127. The Hordette ended 2025 at #391.
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VETERANS: Maria Sakkari/GRE and Magda Linette/POL
...winding down what has been a resurgent season that saw her produce consistent results while she gradually climbed from outside the Top 50 to back inside the Top 30, Sakkari posted Hong Kong victories over Carol Young Suh Lee, Maya Joint and Aliaksandra Sasnovich to reach her third '26 semifinal.

She fell short of her second final appearance (after Athens) of the year, falling in three sets to Alex Eala, though she did rally from 4-1 down in the 3rd to knot the set at 4-4 before the Filipina rebounded to hold and then break the Greek to end the match.

Sakkari will climb to #29 on Monday, likely securing her best season-ending finish since her drawn-out fall from her long stretch in the Top 10 (and then Top 20) in 2024. She finished the last two seasons at #32 and #52.



Looking to become the third different Pole to win a tour singles title in 2026, Linette will have to wait a little longer to make the attempt, as rain and foggy conditions pushed her Chennai final match-up with Janice Tjen back to Monday.

Linette's path to her ninth WTA final (six of which have come in Asia), the 34-year old's first in more than two years, was highlighted by a pair of comeback wins over Mei Hontama and Anastasia Zakharova, as the veteran rallied from a set and 5-3 down, with Hontama serving at 5-4, in the QF, then had a more "pedestrian" rally from a set down vs. the Russian in the SF.

Linette has won three titles in her WTA career, and she'll look to make Chennai her first on hard court since Hua Hin in early 2020.


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FRESH FACES: Alex Eala/PHI and Robin Montgomery/USA
...in Hong Kong, Eala added one more result to her landscape-altering season, reaching her second final of the year (third of her career) and lifting her ranking to yet another career high at #15.

After an opening win over Emerson Jones, Eala finally posted her first career "W" over Tereza Valentova in three tries (and first over *any* Czech at tour-level), then followed up with additional victories over Antonia Ruzic and Maria Sakkari.

Battling a leg injury, Eala didn't bring anywhere near her best in the final against Claire Liu, notching just three games (and dropping the final nine) in a 6-3/6-0 loss.

Still, Eala's '26 campaign comes to a close with that career high standing, a maiden tour title (Washington) in her bag, seven Top 10 wins, her first Round of 16 result at a major (Wimbledon), and a designation as one of the young players (if not *the* one) that the tour is committed to promoting (though often to her detriment), even if not nearly as well as will surely be the case when it comes to her many personal sponsorship deals.

It's surely a good foundation on which to build for 2027.

Sound On Robin Montgomery deserves more noise. In her third event back from surgery, she won a WTA title. The autumn went quiet But, Chennai turns the volume back up... The lefty eases past Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, 6-3, 6-3, to reach the semifinals.

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— Tick Tock Tennis (@ticktocktennis.bsky.social) November 6, 2026 at 8:52 AM


Meanwhile, after not starting her season until the last day of March, following a nine-month absence due to a wrist injury that required surgery, Montgomery has put together her best season even while only playing about three-quarters of the schedule.

Already having won her maiden tour title this summer at Rosmalen, Montgomery's run in Chennai produced her second SF+ result of the season. The Bannerette put up wins over Panna Udvardy, Jeline Vandromme (coming back from 5-3 in the 3rd, with the young Waffle serving at 5-4 before Montgomery swept the final four games) and Indian teenager Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi.

Montgomery fell a win short of the final with her semifinal loss to top seed and defending champion Janice Tjen.

She'll climb nearly 20 spots on Monday, but will still only come in at #133, well short of her career-high of #95 (June '25) and best season-ending finish of #107 (2024). The culprit? Other than her late start to the season, that'd be Montgomery's lack of even one MD win in any of her eight tour-level events outside of 's-Hertgoenbosch and Chennai.

In those other eight tournaments, she lost in the 1st Round six times and fell in qualifying in the other two.
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ITF WORLD TENNIS: Katie Swan/GBR and Veronika Podrez/UKR
...Harriet Dart, Sonay Kartal, Katie Boulter, Mika Stojsavljevic. All those Brits have produced recent moments to savor in tour-level events, while the likes of Hannah Klugman and Swan have been doing nice work at the challenger level.

A week after winning a $75K in Sydney, Swan was at it again in Incheon, South Korea, taking her second straight title with a 6-1/0-6/6-3 win over Ku Yeon-woo in the final to win a $100K event, the biggest of her career to date. Swan has picked up four circuit crowns in '26, and is 20-3 in pro finals in her career.

Swan will surge from #205 back inside the Top 150.

In Petange (LUX), 19-year old Podrez won her second straight $75K title (third win of '26) with a 6-2/7-5 win in the final over Czech Anna Siskova.

Podrez had her breakout moment back in the spring, reaching the final in Rouen in April in what was her tour-level WTA debut event.

She'll move up to a new career high of #121.
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JUNIOR STARS: Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi/IND and Czech Junior BJK Cup Team
...India's next great hope, 17-year old Revathi had continued along her hoped-for path in 2026, first succeeding on the junior level with a pair of J300 titles (and a J500 semi), then advancing to the pro circuit. In October, she claimed her first titles there with a s/d sweep in a $35K challenger.

This week, a year after making her tour-level debut in the event, home soil wild card Revathi went to Chennai and pulled off her maiden WTA MD win, staging a massive comeback (from 5-2 down in the 3rd) vs. veteran Pole Katarzyna Kawa, currently in the process of trying to become the oldest player to ever debut in the Top 100. The Indian won a deciding 3rd set TB.

Revathi followed up with a straight sets win over another Polish player, Weronika Falkowska, to reach the QF, where she finally lost Robin Montgomery.

Revathi, who came into the week at #669, will crack the Top 500 on Monday.



Meanwhile, the Czech beat goes on. After the nation picked up another BJK Cup title in September, the NextGen Crushers went to Cairo this week and won the BJK Junior Cup title, claiming their first crown since 2021 and ending the U.S.'s four-year run as champions (the Bannerettes had won all but one of the titles handed out since 2017).

After going undefeated (3-0 in ties, sweeping all nine matches) in round robin play, the Czechs posted wins over Romania (QF) and Great Britain (SF) to reach the final vs. Japan. There, Katerina Zajickova opened with a win over Yui Komada to put go up 1-0, only to see Jana Kovackova upset by Sakino Hiyazawa to force to deciding doubles.

As is a Czech tradition, they had their opponents right where they wanted them.

Kovackova & Zajickova, junior slam winners this year in Paris and London (Kovackova also won the AO w/ her sister), defeated Miyazawa and Ran Wakana in an 11-9 MTB to take the crown.

It's the Czechs' overall sixth Junior Fed/BJK Cup win, and the fifth since 2000. Only the U.S. (10, all since '00) has won more.


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DOUBLES: Chan Hao-ching/Miyu Kato, TPE/JPN
...in a weekend filled with first-time doubles finalists, experience paid off for Chan & Kato.

In Hong Kong, the duo teamed up for their second '26 crown (w/ Athens), defeating maiden Aussie finalists Talia Gibson & Maddison Inglis in a 4 & 4 final.

It's Kato's fourth career win, while Chan gets #24. Chan has picked up three wins in '26 (she won Seoul w/ Wu Fang-hsien), while reaching a total of five finals w/ four different partners this season.


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1. Chennai 1st Rd. - Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi def Katarzyna Kawa
...6-4/2-6/7-6(5). The 17-year old has been touted as India's next great tennis hope, and soon after winning her first pro titles (sweeping the s/d in an October $35K in Lagos) Revathi returns home and notches her maiden tour-level MD singles win. To do it, she had to rally form 5-2 down in the 3rd, with #115 Kawa serving for the win at 5-3.


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2. Chennai 1st Rd. - Vaishnavi Adkar def. Jodie Burrage
...3-6/6-3/7-5. 21-year old Indian wild card Adkar, a year after making her tour-level MD debut as a LL in Chennai, returns to record her first WTA victory, overcoming a 5-3 deficit in the 3rd vs. Burrage.

As it was, Adkar was actually the *higher* ranked of two, as #344 to Burrage's #474. The Brit returned to action in May after an eight-month absence, apparently due to a shoulder injury (one of the various ailments that have kept her out in recent seasons, including wrist and knee injuries that required surgery).



Of course, afterward...

Jodie Burrage offered support by WTA after death threats and online abuse

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— The Guardian (@theguardian.com) November 4, 2026 at 9:33 AM

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3. Hong Kong 1st Rd. - Sorana Cirstea def. Maria Timofeeva
...7-6(6)/1-6/7-5. The top seed (after rising to match her career-high ranking of #15 on Monday) in the final event of her career, Cirstea had to fight to extend her farewell season.

The Romanian led 5-2 in the 1st, holding two SP, but was taken to a TB and saved a Timofeeva SP before finally taking the match lead with an 8-6 win. In the deciding 3rd, Cirstea dropped serve to open the set, but held firm the rest of the way, winning 7-5 to stay "active" a little longer.


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4. Hong Kong QF - Alexandra Shubladze def. Sorana Cirstea
...6-2/6-3. A fairy tale run in what will apparently be her final career event didn't materialize for Cirstea, who went out surprisingly quickly to Hordette Shubladze, who picks up her maiden Top 20 victory.

Cirstea ends the Asian swing with a 3-4 mark, wrapping up a 42-18 "career year" (w/ her best-ever season win pct.) that saw her reach her career high ranking, have her best slam campaign (10-4), match her best result in a major (RG QF), record her first #1 win (Sabalenka/Rome) and claim her first tour-level title (of 4 overall) in her native Romania (Cluj).
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5. Chennai Final - Janice Tjen vs. Magda Linette
...TBD. With Elena Rybakina's absence at the WTA Finals, Tjen has the last opportunity to successfully defend a tour-level singles title in 2026.

If successful in the delayed Monday final in India, she'd be the sixth player to repeat as a tournament champion this season, along with Sabalenka (twice), Pegula, Jovic and Rybakina.
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6. Hong Kong 2nd Rd. - Aliaksandra Sasnovich def. Talia Gibson
...6-1/5-7/7-6(7). Gibson served for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd, but Sasnovich worked to stay alive, finally getting the break on her sixth BP of the game. She then saved three BP in the follow-up game.

In the deciding TB, Gibson again was on the cusp of victory, holding two MP at 6-4 before Sasnovich surged back once again, ultimately winning 9-7 on her own third MP.

Meanwhile, Sasnovich's pre-serve movements will forever be, well, something to behold...


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7. Hong Kong 1st Rd. - Mika Stojsavljevic def. Sofia Kenin
...6-3/4-6/6-4. With recent good results from countrywomen Sonay Kartal, Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart, 17-year old Stojsavljevic gets in on the act.

The Brit, added to the draw as a LL after Leylah Fernandez withdrew, gets her maiden tour-level victory, sending Kenin to a Venus-like (well, not really...if only) 8-28 on the season. Since defeating Williams in the 1st Round of the U.S. Open, Kenin has gone 1-8.


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8. Hong Kong 1st Rd. - Elena Pridankina def. Paula Badosa
...7-5 ret. Badosa's attempt to stay relevant after battling through a back injury and other issues produced a hit-and-miss 2026 campaign that likely ended (at least at tour-level), with her mother and sister in her player's box, on a sour note in Hong Kong as the Spaniard retired (after an MTO and checks of her blood pressure, etc.) from her second match of the season.



2026 has seen Badosa open the year at #25, only to fall to as low as #141 in June. But over the course of the year she won a 125 title, her first on any level since summer '24, reached a tour-level final in Iasi, as well as another WTA SF (Sao Paulo) and three other QF. She's gone an overall 29-23 on the year, with one Top 10 win (Coco in Berlin).
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9. Cali 125 Final - Leyre Romero Gormaz def. Bianca Andreescu
...7-6(4)/6-3. Andreescu's fall run continued all the way through to the final in Cali before Romero Gormaz halted the Canadian's 14-match winning streak before she could claim a third consecutive 125 title. She'll still climb back into the To 100.

For the Spaniard, it's her second 125 win this season. She's right behind Andreescu in the rankings, coming in at a new career high of #110 on Monday.


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10. Chennai 2nd Rd. - Robin Montgomery def. Jeline Vandromme
...6-4/3-6/7-5. Montgomery rallies against the Belgian teen, staging a comeback from 5-3 in the 3rd, with Vandromme serving at 5-4. Montgomery swept the last four games.
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11. Hong Kong 1st Rd. - Alexandra Shubladze def. Liudmila Samsonova
...5-7/6-1/6-2. Though this is Samsonova's final chance to play a tour-level event this, season, should she so choose, she *could* still play in any number of 125 events over the next month or so.

But, really, she'd probably be smart to cut her losses and think about 2027. With another three-set loss, she falls to 21-27 on the year with a fourth straight defeat. Samsonova has put in a lot of work with little to show for it this season, as 17 of her 27 losses have come in three-set affairs, and in 11 of those defeats she won the 1st set.
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12. Hong Kong 2nd Rd. - Alex Eala def. Tereza Valentova
...6-4/7-6(7). Eala not only earns her first win in three meetings with Valentova, but also gets the first tour-level win of her career vs. *any* Czech. She'd been 0-10.


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13. Hong Kong Final - Claire Liu def. Alex Eala
...6-3/6-0. Liu becomes the eighth different U.S. woman to win a tour-level singles title in 2026, making it three consecutive seasons in which so many unique Bannerettes were crowned.

In all from 2024-26, thirteen different U.S. women have won WTA singles titles.

Over the past twenty WTA seasons, on only one occasion has a nation produced more than eight different winners: Russia, with nine in 2010 during the peak stretch of the Hordette Revolution.


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14. Luanda ANG 125 Final - Sada Nahimana/Angella Okutoyi def. Martyna Kubka/Justina Mikulskyte
...6-4/6-4. Ffittingly, in the first WTA-associated event held in Africa (in Angola), the doubles title was shared by an all-African duo in Burundi's Nahimana and Kenya's Okutoyi. Not surprisingly, it's the biggest career title for both.



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15. Hong Kong 1st Rd. - Talia Gibson def. Oleksandra Oliynykova
...7-6(5)/6-1. This week it was the Aussie stepping to the fore to do "the good work," dropping Oliynykova to 1-6 in her last seven outings. Respect.
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16. Chennai QF - Anastasia Zakharova def. Lucrezia Stefanini
...6-2/5-2 ret. Stefanini took her initial MTO down 4-1 in the 3rd, then again when down MP at 5-2. She never took the court again.

You can imagine how well that went over in some corners.
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17. Luanda ANG 125 Final - Sofya Lansere def. Anna Blinkova
...5-7/6-1/6-4. 26-year old Hordette Lansere takes cares of former countrywoman Blinkova, claiming her biggest career title in her first 125 final appearance.

She'd already reached her previously biggest final earlier this season, a loss in a $100K challenger in March.


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18. Chennai Final - Naimi Karamoko/Simona Waltert def. Rutuja Bhosale/Vaishnavi Adkar
...6-3/6-2. In a common Asian swing occurrence, three of the four finalists were playing in their maiden tour-level WD final (only Waltert had been there before).

As it was, the Swiss duo made off with the honors over the all-Indian squad, denying the crowd a home-grown champion after local wild cards (including Addar) had previously shined in the early rounds in singles.


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HM- $35K Orlando USA Final - Evialina Laskevich def. Janae Preston
...6-2/3-6/6-3. 21-year old Belarusian Laskevich wins her third challenger title of the season, while 16-year old Preston reaches her third circuit final of 2026.

Junior #6 Preston has shined on the junior level this season, winning four J300 titles (including Roehampton), reaching the Wimbledon SF and U.S. Open QF, and finishing 5th in the just-completed Junior Masters (where she notched a win over AO26 winner and former girls' #1 Ksenia Efremova).
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1. Hong Kong 1st Rd. - Mary Stoiana def. Venus Williams
...6-2/6-2. Another week, another wild card, another 1st Round defeat.

That makes seventeen straight for Williams, a winless season in '26 (0-14), a 1-21 record back to '23 and 8-47 mark in the 2020s. She's gone 5-31 in her last 31 events, where she's joined the MD via a wild card on 31 consecutive occasions. At what point does the 50 minutes of court time (unless Venus plays doubles, where she may stick around longer) no longer prove to be worth the free pass for tournament organizers?



The only player in WTA history who has lost more consecutive MD matches is Zhang Shuai, whose 24-match streak ended a few seasons ago. At the time, the WTA pulled another eleventh-hour, *longer* streak from the past out of their collective hat (perhaps to lessen the embarrassment for Zhang?), but that one actually entirely took place *before* the birth of the WTA in 1973, so it really doesn't count.
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2. $35K Orlando USA Final - Annika Penickova/Kristina Penickova d. Julia Adams/Briana Szabo
...6-4/6-1. The Bannerette sisters pick up their fifth pro title together, and third in '26.

They're two-time girls' major champs, at AO25 and this year's U.S. Open.


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A little late on this, but it's still fun to watch and play along (hint: they're all from this year's BJK Cup finals teams, though a few of them weren't on the final gameday rosters)...





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WTA deals with TikTok and Hello Kitty were announced within 24 hours of each other this week. Clearly there are some new people in the building.




Seems like a good direction as far as marketing goes but, of course, we are talking about the process of an aircraft carrier trying to make a u-turn in a hurricane. Meanwhile...

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As the World's Most Interesting Tour more than lived up to its "name" this week, I found it hilarious that some people got so bent out of shape over this, of all things...




Some corners of social media wanted Pegula punished in some way for this caught-on-microphone moment. Please. One, remember, that was a *private* conversation on a practice court between a player and coach (unlike, say, Navarro's public condemnation of Zheng a few years ago which was met with far less calls for reprisal and a general whitewashing of the whole thing, even as Navarro seemed to revel in her in-person and post-game commentary about it all), and surely one likely that's taken place in similar fashion between others on tour, only they weren't a "victim" of the stupid idea to install live microphones on the livestream of players' practice sessions, where even if something potentially embarrassing *wasn't* uttered -- something like this, or maybe something personal -- surely strategic gameplans vs. certain opponents or unknown ailments could have been revealed, as well.

Later in the week, the microphones also caught a testy exchange between Elena Rybakina and her coach, too, before the audio was belatedly muted on the livestream.



Some of the less headline-worthy (i.e. sensational) comments from the incident provide more context to Pegula's thoughts in the moment.

* - "I lost respect for her. She's a good girl, but she needs to mature. I don't know if it's because she doesn't know how to handle it."

* - "If I were her coach and my player had just played four great games, she's up 4-0, she gets mad at me and chases me down... I'd tell her not to talk to me like that."

* - "She's bad... I feel like she needs to be provoked to get fired up and react."

And, let's be honest, while the hot mic issue is yet another major unforced error on the part of the WTA (what else is new?), Pegula's comments are a virtual tempest in a teapot. Nothing Pegula said was blatantly *untrue*, as Andreeva's much-commented-on on-court outbursts have been the topic of discussion for quite a while. And are we *really* going to argue whether or not Mirra is a "diva"? I mean, come on, Andreeva should just *lean into* the characterization and use it as a personal marketing opportunity. The moniker is often attached as something of compliment, anyway (and she *knows* her behavior is wanting at times). She can have another special jacket made with "Diva" emblazoned on the front, just like "I want to thank myself."

NOTE: as this is a chronological recounting of the news of the week, I point out that there *was* a late addition to this part of the story (see later), and Mirra didn't disappoint.

Also, I know *I've* wondered in this space how long the Andreeva/Martinez relationship would last because of the some of the teenager's actions... yet Conchita *does* seem to shrug it off, apparently putting the chance to work with someone of Andreeva's talent above the lingering existence of her charge's still oft-wavering level of maturity. One could think less of Martinez for enduring it (as Pegula seems to, sort of like watching a parent fail to discipline an unruly child, since *she* surely wouldn't put up with Mirra's occasional behavior), or even somehow maybe commend the Hall of Famer for "taking one for the team" in order to stay on mission. Either is a valid appraisal.



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Meanwhile, as kinda noted last week, the precedents set by some of the tour's decisions often serve to lower the future standards. Apparently, now *one* player's personal hang-ups determine the actions for an entire group and event.



Disgraceful. If Svitolina didn't want to be in a photo, fine. She could have not shown up while the regular proceedings and everyone else went about their day as planned. Oh, but you say that that'd be a case of singling her out? Hmmm, you mean like the actions that replicate *just that* on tour almost every day?

Of course, it's been said that the new format was decided "long before" any drama (i.e. Pegula/Andreeva, I guess, as the eventual photos didn't even show *them* together in what was clearing an *editing* decision)... but I suspect that "long before" really means "when it became apparent that at least one Ukrainian was going to be in the field that would include a RUS/BLR player(s)."

There's no reason the "new" individual photos and the iconic group photo (instead we got "clusters" of the eight players together, but not Svitolina with you-know-how, or the other-you-know-who) couldn't *both* take place unless there was a *reason* for it not happening. No matter if the tour tries to treat fans like four year olds by telling them that, essentially, Fido "went on a vacation to the farm" rather than the actual truth, whatever "cover stories" they come up with now will *never* convince any independent-thinking being that they just decided on their own that "we don't need to do the group photo... it's not like anyone ever pays attention to that."

In fact, the group photo is often the *only* memory of the annual season-ending championships that survives the final weekend of the season. The tournament result no longer foreshadows slam success for those who've *just missed* in the past, ala Sabatini and Novotna decades ago, and instead has recently produced a series of past slam champions lifting titles, along with multiple random winners -- Radwanska, Svitolina, Cibulkova, Garcia -- who didn't then go on to use the confidence boost to have major title runs soon afterward.

The tour has treated the WTAF like a ragdoll for years, holding the event at sites whose selection either, 1) bypassed the WTA's previously-stated values for "business decisions" (hello, Shenzhen and Riyadh), 2) made no sense whatsoever (welcome to Fort Worth) but happened because no one else wanted to play host, or 3) were outright embarrassments of epic proportions (we *still* see you, Cancun). Up next after Indian Wells? Charlotte. Umm, okay. (It's part of a larger deal the cash-strapped tour made, so...)

WTAF champions are barely remembered at all. Everyone remembers the group photos, though. For good, as well as for bad. But they remember. And the lack of one, and the spineless WTA's inability to put its collective foot down, is what'll be most remembered about this year's version, too. Well, unless you count all the mostly-deserved potshots taken at the outfits the majority of the players wore.

Ultimately, this is what we got. A few of the outfits are "what-were-they-thinking?" worthy, and one is totally out of sync with the rest, while the player (Elena Rybakina) who went with the least-tortured, dressed down look for the occasion enjoys a "win" simply because she actually appears as a normal person who isn't trying *way too hard*.

If one didn't now any better, they'd think that a former member of the WTA marketing team acted in the role of "stylist" for the photo shoot. As it turns out, it was someone named Danyul Brown.



At least Noskova looks pretty cool, though, and Muchova looks like she *feels* cool (as long as you ignore the bottom half). So there's that.

So, overall, it was another one step forward, two steps back, week for the WTA. Two seemingly good business deals, then a pair of unforced errors that exponentially overshadowed everything else and only held to the "any publiciy if good publicity" notion of trying to market what should be the most easily marketable women's sports product on the planet.

But it's the WTA, so... (throws up hands)

That said, the concept worked better for the doubles players. Largely because the old group photo was always just *way* too crowded...



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Later, in a case of an individual player once again proving to be a better public promoter and controversy-settler than the tour itsef, Andreeva *did* lean into the "diva" designation *and* posted a photoshoot image of herself and Pegula that the WTA failed to initially include in the official promotion.



The players really deserve better than the (supposed) professional organization that so often fails to support them, and more often than not -- as we saw all week -- creates situations that lead to bad headlines, as well as fails to do the simplest things that might curtail the public abuse faced by so many players before such things ever start in the first start.

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Then, before the weekend could even end...




Diana Shnaider is now the second first alternate.


























I'm very pleased to have a poem published in Spillwords. I invite you to read "Dear Todd Rundgren." spillwords.com/dear-todd-ru... #TaylorSwift #ToddRundgren

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— Diane Elayne Dees (@womenwhoserve.bsky.social) November 3, 2026 at 9:30 AM

Dear Todd Rundgren written by: Diane Elayne Dees   Dear Todd Rundgren Hello, It’s Me—a member of your generation, a listener of the great songwriters since I was a little girl with a record player and a stack of 78s I borrowed #Spillwords #WritingCommunity #Fiction #Literature #Poetry

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— SPILLWORDS.COM (@spillwordspress.bsky.social) November 3, 2026 at 2:31 AM









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*ALL-TIME WTA MD LOSING STREAKS*
24 - Zhang Shuai (2023-24)
17 - VENUS WILLIAMS (2025-26)
17 - Arantxa Rus (2012-13)
17 - Sandy Collins (1984-87)
--
NOTE: 29-Madeleine Pegel (1968-72, pre-WTA)

*JUNIOR FED CUP/BJK CUP CHAMPIONS [16s] - since 2000*
2000 Czech Republic
2001 Czech Republic
2002 Belarus
2003 Netherlands
2004 Argentina
2005 Poland
2006 Belarus
2007 Australia
2008 United States
2009 Russia
2010 Russia
2011 Australia
2012 United States
2013 Russia
2014 United States
2015 Czech Republic
2016 Poland
2017 United States
2018 United States
2019 United States
2020 DNP
2021 Czech Republic
2022 United States
2023 United States
2024 United States
2025 United States
2026 Czech Republic
[most titles - overall]
10 - USA
6 - CZE/TCH
5 - AUS
4 - RUS
2 - ARG,BEL,BLR,GER/FRG,NED,POL
1 - FRA,ITA,RSA,SLO
[since 2000]
10 - USA
5 - CZE
3 - RUS
2 - ARG,BLR,POL
1 - ARG,NED

*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)
Prague - Lilli Tagger, AUT (18/#74)
Memphis - Kristina Liutova, RUS (16/#229)
Washington - Alex Eala, PHI (21/#28)
Monterrey - Diane Parry, FRA (23/#50)
Sao Paulo - Kaitlin Quevedo, ESP (20/#105)
Seoul - Kimberly Birrell, AUS (28/#60)
Wuhan - Maja Chwalinska, POL (25/#22)
Guangzhou - Harriet Dart, GBR (30/#115)
Hong Kong - CLAIRE LIU, USA (26/#102)
[doubles]
Rouen - Jesika Maleckova, CZE (31)
Rabat - Eudice Chong, HKG (30)
Rosmalan - Liang En-shuo, TPE (25)
Nottingham - Harriet Dart, GBR (29)
Nottingham - Maia Lumsden, GBR (28)
Berlin - Linda Noskova, CZE (21)
Hamburg - Nika Radisic, SLO (26)
Memphis - Maria Kozyreva, RUS (27)
Guangzhou - Maria Timofeeva, UZB (22)
Guangzhou - Polina Kudermetova, UZB (23)
Chennai - NAIMA KARAMOKO, SUI (29)

*RECENT WTA MD DEBUT RUNS*
2023: Julia Riera / Rabat SF (age 20)
2023: Maria Timofeeva / Budapest W (age 19)
2023: Noma Noha Akugue / Hamburg F (age 19)
2024: Laura Samson / Prague SF (age 16)
2024: Aoi Ito / Osaka SF (age 20)
2025: Julieta Pareja / Bogota SF (age 16)
2025: Lilli Tagger / Jiujiang F (age 17)
2026: Veronika Podrez / Rouen F (age 19)
2026: Kristina Liutova / Memphis W (age 16)
2026: Alexandra Shubladze / Hong Kong SF (age 21)

*2026 OLDEST WTA FINALISTS*
38 - Tatjana Maria, GER (Eastbourne)
35 - Sorana Cirstea, ROU (Cluj-Napoca)-W
34 - MAGDA LINETTE, POL (Chennai) - to play final
32 - Jessie Pegula, USA (Cincinnati)
32 - Jessie Pegula, USA (Washington)
32 - Jessie Pegula, USA (Berlin)
32 - Jessie Pegula, USA (Charleston)-W

*2026 MULT.DIFFERENT WTA CHAMPIONS BY COUNTRY*
8 - USA: Gauff,Jovic,Keys,LIU,Montgomery,Navarro,Pegula,Stearns
6 - CZE: Bejlek,Bouzkova,Krejcikova,Muchova,Noskova,Siniakova
3 - RUS: M.Andreeva,Liutova,Shnaider
2 - CRO: Marcinko,Vekic
2 - ESP: Bucsa,Quevedo
2 - GBR: Boulter,Dart
2 - POL: Chwalinska,Swiatek
2 - UKR: Kostyuk,Svitolina
-
[1-AUS,AUT,BLR,CAN,CHN,EGY,FRA,GER,ITA,KAZ,PHI,ROU]
-
NOTE: Linette/POL vs. Tjen/INA in Chennai final

*MOST DIFFERENT U.S. CHAMPIONS in SEASON (since 1998)*
=1999 (8)=
S.Williams,V.Williams,Capriati,Davenport,Frazier,Morariu,Rubin,Seles
=2000 (8)=
S.Williams,V.Williams,Capriati,Davenport,Raymond,Rubin,Seles,Shaughnessy
=2024 (8)=
Gauff,Kessler,Navarro,Collins,Stephens,Keys,Stearns,Pegula
=2025 (8)=
Anisimova,Gauff,Jovic,Kessler,Keys,Li,Navarro,Pegula
=2026 (8)=
Gauff,Jovic,Keys,Liu,Montgomery,Navarro,Pegula,Stearns
=2001 (7)=
S.Williams,V.Williams,Capriati,Davenport,Seles,Shaughnessy,Tu
=2002 (7)=
S.Williams,V.Williams,Capriati,Craybas,Raymond,Rubin,Seles
=2016 (7)=
S.Williams,V.Williams,Falconi,Keys,McHale,Stephens,Vandeweghe

*MOST DIFFERENT CHAMPIONS in SEASON (since 2007)*
=2010 (9) - RUS=
Chakvetadze,Dementieva,Kleybanova,Kudryavtseva,Kuznetsova,Makarova,Pavlyuchenkova,Sharapova,Zvonareva
=2007 (8) - RUS=
Chakvetadze,Dementieva,Kirilenko,Kuznetsova,Petrova,Safina,Sharapova,Shvedova
=2024 (8) - USA=
Collins,Gauff,Kessler,Keys,Navarro,Pegula,Stearns,Stephens
=2025 (8) - USA=
Anisimova,Gauff,Jovic,Kessler,Keys,Li,Navarro,Pegula
=2026 (8) - USA=
Gauff,Jovic,Keys,Liu,Montgomery,Navarro,Pegula,Stearns

*2026 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
7 - Katerina Siniakova
6 - Taylor Townsend
6 - Gaby Dabrowski
6 - Luisa Stefani
4 - Zhang Shuai
3 - CHAN HAO-CHING
3 - Maia Lumsden
3 - Aldila Sutjiadi

*2026 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
9 (7-2) = Katerina Siniakova
8 (6-2) = Gaby Dabrowski
8 (6-2) = Luisa Stefani
6 (6-0) = Taylor Townsend
6 (3-3) = Maia Lumsden
6 (4-2) = Zhang Shuai
6 (2-4) = Nicole Melichar-Martinez
5 (3-2) = CHAN HAO-CHING
5 (2-3) = Cristina Bucsa

*CAREER WTA DOUBLES TITLES - active*
39 - Katerina Siniakova
37 - Sara Errani
36 - Hsieh Su-Wei
31 - Kristina Mladenovic
26 - Gaby Dabrowski
24 - CHAN HAO-CHING
24 - Elise Mertens
23 - Serena Williams
22 - Venus Williams
--
ALSO: Mattek-Sands (30)

*WEEK 44 - WTA CAREER FIRSTS*
WTA WS W - Claire Liu (Hong Kong)
WTA WD W - Naima Karamoko (Chennai)
WTA WS SF - Alexandra Shubladze (Hong Kong)
WTA WD F - Talia Gibson (Hong Kong)
WTA WD F - Maddison Inglis (Hong Kong)
WTA WD F - Vaishnavi Adkar (Chennai)
WTA WD F - Rutuja Bhosale (Chennai)
WTA WD F - Naima Karamoko (Chennai)






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— Laura_Opiela- 🇺🇸 in solidarity with 🇨🇦 (@lauraopiela.bsky.social) November 4, 2026 at 8:27 AM

Goodnight!

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— Cozy Eb (@ebonielon.bsky.social) November 6, 2026 at 12:13 AM


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Generally, where my mind went, too, on Wednesday morning...


Speculations will now run wild, but a possible outcome is Trump's resignation, so that JD Vance can pardon him as it has been done with Nixon. This is the "carrot" from the GOP for Trump to go quietly.

— (((Tendar))) (@tendar.bsky.social) November 4, 2026 at 4:43 AM


But then, by week's end, he'd doubled-down on the bad (because, of course)...


WE HAVE A NEW CHIEF OF STAFF @anntelnaes.bsky.social

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— paulpro (@mariopro.bsky.social) November 6, 2026 at 5:22 PM


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anntelnaes.substack.com/p/republican...

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— Ann Telnaes (@anntelnaes.bsky.social) November 5, 2026 at 4:29 PM


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Prequels Anakin Skywalker really is a good mascot for the psycho right -- Hot girl falls for him despite his total lack of social skills, refused a promotion he unrealistically thought he earned by a Black man, seduced by a weird old man who wants power, blames others for his failures, kills kids.

— Matthew Gertz (@mattgertz.bsky.social) November 3, 2026 at 4:18 PM

Who could have foreseen that a bunch of sad bastards who let themselves fall under the spell of a malignant, corrupt authoritarian and are in denial about it would adopt this character as their avatar

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— Matt Zoller Seitz (@mattzollerseitz.bsky.social) November 3, 2026 at 5:07 PM


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The Pope met with Bob Dylan today. Amazing photo.

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— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yasharali.bsky.social) November 4, 2026 at 12:03 PM

This looks like a cutscene from an Assassin's Creed game lol

— Brian Morans (@whpshw.bsky.social) November 4, 2026 at 12:08 PM





All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 7:00 PM 

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