Sunday, February 09, 2025

Wk.6- Better Call Bencic (a Champion)










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*WEEK 6 CHAMPIONS*
ABU DHABI, UAE (WTA 500; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Belinda Bencic/SUI def. Ashlyn Krueger/USA 4-6/6-1/6-1
D: Alona Ostapenko/Ellen Perez (LAT/AUS) def. Zhang Shuai/Kristina Mladenovic (CHN/FRA) 6-2/6-1
CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA (WTA 250; Hard Court Indoor)
S: Anastasia Potapova/RUS def. Lucia Bronzetti/ITA 4-6/6-1/6-2
D: Magali Kempen/Anna Siskova (BEL/CZE) def. Jaqueline Cristian/Angelica Moratelli (ROU/ITA) 6-3/6-1
Mumbai, India (WTA 125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Jil Teichmann/SUI def. Mananchaya Sawangkaew/THA 6-3/6-4
D: Amina Anshba/Elena Pridankina (RUS/RUS) def. Arianne Hartono/Prarthana Thombare (NED/IND) 7-6(4)/2-6 [10-7]




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Belinda Bencic/SUI
...perhaps Bencic's title run in Abu Dhabi will end the romanticization of the post-motherhood comebacks of the likes of Naomi Osaka (and soon, Petra Kvitova) so that the conversation focuses on the results between the lines once the initial "welcome back" stage has passed. On that front, Bencic has burst into a considerable lead.

The Swiss woman only returned from maternity leave in October (Osaka, for example, started her comeback in January of last year), and showed an immediate commitment to doing what she could to be competitive once again, i.e. dropping down to play events below tour level in order to get her game, fitness and match toughness in condition so that she might not need an endless string of wild-card-and-a-prayer entries in order to find her way back up the rankings. Bencic played two $75K events and a 125 (reaching the final) late last year, and it prepared her enough last month to reach the Australian Open Round of 16 in her first major back and, barely four months into her comeback, this week saw her play into and win a 500 title. There might be something for a LOT of players to learn there, if they choose to do so.

Osaka's return has so far included one final (from which she had to retire), and a 5-5 mark in slam play (with a high of holding MP vs. Swiatek at RG, only for her to throw the potential huge win away in the closing chapter). At this year's AO, Osaka retired in a 3rd Round match vs. Bencic.



Bencic's Abu Dhabi run was laced with grit, and was sometimes brilliant. After a win over Rebecca Sramkova in three, she double-bageled Veronika Kudermetova and handled Marketa Vondrousova in straights. Comebacks from a set down vs. defending champ Elena Rybakina in the SF, then Ashlyn Krueger in the final, provided a nice finishing touch to a week where nothing was given to, but much was gained by Bencic.

This was her first WTA final appearance since Charleston two years ago, with her first win since her last trip to Abu Dhabi, also in 2023.

With the title run, the ninth of Bencic's WTA career, the 27-year old has now gone 5-2 in tour-level finals starting with her Gold medal run in Tokyo (where, of course, Osaka lost in the 3rd Round despite having "home court advantage") in 2021. She'd been 4-8 in finals before what remains her biggest career win.

Bencic is off to a 12-3 start in '25 (but didn't get a WC into Doha for Week 7, where the likes of Emma Raducanu did).

Ranked #294 during Melbourne, Bencic was at #157 before Abu Dhabi. She'll be at #65 on Monday, well ahead of the pace of, say, Paula Badosa in her comeback from a back injury last spring, a persistent climb that saw her nearly finish in the Top 10 by season's end.


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RISERS: Anastasia Potapova/RUS and Lucia Bronzetti/ITA
...in Cluj-Napoca, Potapova reached her sixth career WTA final and walked away with her third title, the second on hard court (both indoors) some two years after her last winning trophy ceremony.

The Hordette posted wins on the week over Julia Grabher, Viktorija Golubic, Ella Seidel, Aliaksandra Sasnovich and, in the final, Bronzetti after dropping the 1st set (Potapova had led 4-2) before roaring back to lose just three games in the 2nd/3rd combined.

Following the final, after defeating the player who'd ended Simona Halep's career earlier in the week, Potapova said some of the words on everyone's mind in Cluj, as well as out here regarding whatever comes next for Romania's favorite daughter...



The loss ended a whirlwind week for Bronzetti which had started with her assuming the unenviable task of ushering Romanian icon Halep off the WTA stage with a 1 & 1 1st Round defeat in the intimate Transylvania Open setting with a large group of adoring fans watching from the stands. Afterward, Halep announced her retirement to the crowd, nearly a year (but just six matches) into her injury-marred comeback after fighting (for a year and a half) and winning to reverse a four-year ban following a positive test at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Bronzetti's start boosted what became a run to the final, the fourth of the Italian's WTA career, after getting wins over Peyton Stearns (Bronzetti had blown a 5-0 lead and squandered MPs vs. her last year in Rabat), Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Katerina Siniakova (via ret.).

She lost in three sets to Potapova in the final, Bronzetti's first at tour-level on hard court, but she'll climb sixteen spots to move close to a Top 50 return (at #56), as well as assume the ITA #2 spot ahead of now ITA #3 Cocciaretto.

Bronzetti is 1-3 in WTA finals.


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SURPRISES: Ashlyn Krueger/USA and Mananchaya Sawangkaew/THA
...we're just six weeks (and nine singles events) into the 2025 season, and there have already been six finalist slots filled by Bannerettes. In Abu Dhabi, Krueger became the fifth different U.S. woman to reach a WTA final this season. After climbing into the Top 50 for the first time following the AO, Krueger will crack the Top 40 on Monday.

Already a first-time tour finalist (and champion) following a title run in Osaka last fall, the 20-year old reached her biggest final at this week's 500 event, stringing together impressive wins over McCartney Kessler (already a title winner in '25), Dasha Kasatkina (who was in the Top 10 in January), Leylah Fernandez and Linda Noskova.

Krueger took the opening set from Belinda Bencic in the final, but couldn't hold back the Swiss as she came back strong to drop just two games in the final two sets to win the tournament in consecutive appearances two years apart.



Sawangkaew just completed a tour-level QF finish in Singapore last week, a '25 continuation of her great '24 4Q close which included an 11-3 record, her WTA MD debut in Hua Hin, QF results in Guangzhou/Jiujiang, a successful Beijing Q-run and maiden 1000 MD win, as well as a $100K semifinal.

In the Mumbai 125, the Thai player got past Dalila Jakupovic, Linda Fruhvirtova, Lanlana Tararudee and Rebecca Marino to reach her biggest career final. She fell in straight sets to Jil Teichmann, but has followed up her late-season results with a 10-5 start this year that has her set to reach another new career high at #115.
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VETERANS: Ons Jabeur/TUN and Aliaksandra Sasnovich/BLR
...though she's exited in her last two events (vs. Navarro at the AO, Rybakina in Abu Dhabi) via three-set losses (she's 1-2 in such matches in '25), Jabeur surely seems to be on the right track back toward contention after an injury-plagued (shoulder) '24 season, her worst slam year since 2019, as well as her first without a final since 2020.

The Tunisian took out Alona Ostapenko and new SuperJunior Wakana Sonobe this past week, and pushed top seed and DC Elena Rybakina in the QF, saving two MP and forcing a deciding TB where she took a 4-2 lead before the Kazakh blasted her way through to the semis.



Being a lucky loser is suddenly in fashion, and Sasnovich took her turn in the role in Cluj-Napoca.

Ranked #128, the Belarusian lost to Sara Sorribes Tormo in qualifying, but took her MD pass and put together a SF run that saw her maneuver around still more potholes. She saved five MP in the 2nd set (and trailed 2-0 in the 3rd) vs. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the 1st Round, then after knocking off young Canadian Marina Stakusic, Sasnovich saw Anhelina Kalinina twice serve for the match in the final set before heading to a deciding TB. The Ukrainian led 3-1 there, as well, before Sasnovich swept the final six points.

Her run ended vs. Anastasia Potapova in the SF, Sasnovich's first at tour-level since Budapest last July (and just her third since the start of '23). The final four run is the best on tour by a LL since Sorribes Tormo won the Cleveland crown in 2023.


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COMEBACKS: Marketa Vondrousova/CZE and Jil Teichmann/SUI
...Vondrousova has already returned in '25 after a six-month absence due to a hand injury, only to retire from her second match in Adelaide and then miss the AO. The Czech was finally back this week in Abu Dhabi, where she posted wins over Emma Raducanu and Yulia Putintseva en route to the QF, her first such result since Roland Garros (after which, she had only three more matches before ending her season early last summer).

Vondrousova fell, as everyone else did in Abu Dhabi, to eventual champ Belinda Bencic, then got in some additional work by reaching the doubles SF along with Laura Samson. The pair, too, lost to the would-be champions, Ostapenko/Perez.



As it turned out, Bencic wasn't the only Swiss woman to have a great week on the tennis courts. Teichmann won in Mumbai, as well, to pick her second 125 crown since September. Last week in Singapore, Teichmann reached her second QF at tour-level in three months, after her similiar result in Merida last fall had been her first in a WTA event since the spring of '22.

In Mumbai, after seeing Emina Bektas retire from their 1st Round match, the Swiss advanced past Arianne Hartono (the only player to take a set off the Swiss all week) and the surprising Indian combo of Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and 15-year old Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi to reach the final. Manachaya Sawangkaew fell 3 & 4 to earn Teichmann the crown. Her last WTA final was in the Cincinnati 1000 in 2021.

After falling outside the Top 100 in June 2023, and dipping in and out of the Top *200* last spring summer, former #21 (2021) Teichmann is finally back. She'll come in at #100 on the nose on Monday.


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FRESH FACES: Ella Seidel/GER and Linda Noskova/CZE
...19-year old Seidel is the third arm -- along with Eva Lys and Jule Niemeier -- of the young German contingent ranking inside the Top 300 along with a bevy of their thirtysomething compatriots. This past week in Cluj, Seidel posted qualifying wins over Lola Radivojevic and Maja Chwalinska, then had even better performances as she climbed over Jaqueline Cristian and Anna Blinkova in the MD on her way to her third career WTA QF.

The German fell to Anastasia Potapova a round short of her maiden tour-level semi.



In Abu Dhabi, 20-year old Noskova erased the memory of her poor AO showing (a 1st Rd. loss to Clara Tauson, a year after upsetting Iga Swiatek in Melbourne and reaching the QF), getting wins over Magdalena Frech, Paula Badosa (already her seventh career Top 10 win) and Magda Linette to reach her fourth career 500-level SF (along with a past title in Monterrey, Adelaide RU and Brisbane SF since the start of '23).

Noskova lost to Ashlyn Krueger, but will climb seven spots to #32, not far off her career high of #25 from last August.

Afterward, the Czech shared some of the messages she received over social media following her loss.


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DOWN: Linda Fruhvirtova/CZE
...the current plights of the large contingent of Czechs on tour have already run the gamut this season, from players waiting to start their season (Pliskova), planning their comeback (Kvitova), having missed time with injury (Krejcikova), having made their return (Vondrousova) and even having gone from disappointment (Noskova suffered an AO 1st Rd. loss) to a successful rebound (she reached a 500 SF this week).

Meanwhile, Fruhvirtova, the first of the young Crush of Czechs to win a WTA title ('22 Chennai), has seen her ranking slide further in the other direction.

Having reached her career high of #48 seventeen months ago, Fruhvirtova has played under-.500 tennis the last two seasons, going 21-28 (2023) and 21-31 (2024). After reaching the AO Round of 16 in 2023, she's gone 0-4 in slam MD action since. Her AO Q1 loss in January was her third straight in slam qualifing play, in which she's gone 2-4 in her unsuccessful attempts to reach the MD of the last four majors.

Fruhvirtova rebounded while the AO was taking place, reaching a $100K SF in India. Still, she came into the Mumbai 125 this week ranked at #195, where she lost in the 2nd Round to Mananchaya Sawangkaew, dropping the 2nd/3rd sets 6-2/6-0 despite having won the 1st vs. her Thai opponent. The loss came in the Czech's sixth straight three-set match (she's lost three of the last four).

Fruhvirtova is still only 19 (until May), and she seemed in good spirits about her direction prior to the start of play in Mumbai. She's currently at 5-4 on the year, so hopefully better times lie ahead.


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ITF PLAYER: Kimberly Birrell/AUS
...Birrell's great run continued in Brisbane, as the Aussie improved to 13-3 on the season with a title at a $75K. The #1 seed, Birrell finished the week with wins over #3 Taylah Preston (SF) and #2 Maddison Inglis (a 6–2/4–6/7–6 final).

Birrell came into the week having already posted tour-level QF in Brisbane and Singapore, as well as a successful AO qualifying run and berth in the AO Mixed Final (get 'em while they last... see below). The 26-year old reached her maiden tour-level singles final in Osaka last fall, and will now climb to yet another new career high of #75.


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JUNIOR STARS: Wakana Sonobe/JPN and Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi/IND
...the 17-year old 2025 AO girls' champ and junior #2 added another layer to her growing presence as a name to watch. After earning her first WTA MD spot with back-to-back qualifying wins in Abu Dhabi over Top 100 players (Baptiste and Bucsa), Sonobe added a third in her tour debut with a straight sets victory over Yuan Yue.

The Japanese teen fell in straights to veteran Ons Jabeur in the 2nd Round, but her power game was hardly outclassed. She'll rise over 370 spots in the next ranking, landing inside the women's Top 465.



Sonobe wasn't the only junior shining in a pro event in Week 6.



Two years younger, and 59 spots lower in the junior rankings (and unranked as a pro), India's Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi turned a qualifying wild card in the Mumbai 125 into a grand introduction to the world of "what could be." In just her fifth pro event, the 15-year old qualified (w/ two three-sets wins) and then -- with wins over Iryna Shymanovich, Zarina Diyas and fellow qualifier Mei Yamaguchi -- played all the way into the semifinals.

Her run ended at the hands of Jil Teichmann, but her aggressive game will now make its ranking debut at #645, leapfrogging more than 800 players who had the requisite three tournaments to have a spot in last week's rankings.

Only one Indian woman has ever ranked the singles Top 100 (Sania Mirza, of course, while current IND #1 Ankita Raina is in the #290s at the moment, with a CH of #160), but there *may* now be a candidate to keep an eye on. Rajeshwaran Revathi will soon move to Mallorca under a year-long contract to train at the Nadal Academy, an invitation she earned after previously spending a week there.


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DOUBLES: Alona Ostapenko/Ellen Perez, LAT/AUS
...Ostapenko, off her AO final run with Hsieh Su-wei (her third major final in 13 months), teamed with Perez in Abu Dhabi to win their first title as a pair, taking home career win #10 while the Aussie picked up her eighth. Perez's last fourteen tour-level finals had come while partnering Nicole Melichar-Martinez

The #1 seeds in the event, Ostapenko/Perez didn't drop a set all week, and finished off their title run with a 6-2/6-1 win in the final over Zhang Shuai & Kristina Mladenovic, the same duo against which Ostapenko (w/ L.Kichenok) won the U.S. Open last year.


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WHEELCHAIR: Lizzy de Greef/NED
...Diede de Groot won the first two editions of the Amro Open women's competition (good on the event for also holding WC events while the ATP's men's tournament played out there this week), but the Dutch star's injury-related absence in the opening months of 2025 has opened doors for others. In the past, it's been Yui Kamiji who has taken advantage. In Rotterdam, it was de Groot's 20-year old countrywoman de Greef, who picked up her third career Series 1 win.

Victories over Macarena Cabrillana and Angelica Bernal preceded a 6-4/6-1 win over Dutch veteran Jiske Griffioen in the final. Griffioen, 39, was seeking her first S1 win since 2023, and the third since her '19 return after she'd retired following the '17 Wimbledon.

De Greef entered the week as the WC #10, and at 20 is the youngest player ranked in the Top 15.



Griffioen and Aniek Van Koot won the doubles.
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1. Abu Dhabi QF - Elena Rybakina def. Ons Jabeur
...6-2/4-6/7-6(4). If Jabeur ends up having a resurgent season that sees her squarely in the mix for that elusive major title (she went 0-3 in slam finals in 2022-23), we'll look back at this match and say that this was when we knew it was possible.

The Tunisian battled the defending champ throughout. Rybakina took a 4-2 lead in the 3rd, but Jabeur's fight level was high. She saved a pair of MP at 6-5, and then took a 4-2 lead in the deciding TB before the Kazakh buckled down and put her ship back on course by sweeping the final five points. The match ended with a successful replay challenge that showed that a Jabeur shot had landed just beyond the baseline at Rybakina's feet.


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2. Cluj-Napoca 1st Rd. - Aliaksandra Sasnovich def. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
...6-7(0)/7-5/6-4. For all her obvious promise, Bouzas Maneiro has also shown a penchant for being unable to hold leads (see her 5-2 edge in the 2nd set vs. Aryna Sabalenka at the AO amongst her *least* egregious blown leads).

Against lucky loser Sasnovich (who got a MD slot w/ Laura Siegemund's late exit), the Spaniard failed to serve out the 1st set, but survived (with flair) with a 7-0 TB win. But then the rest happened.

Bouzas Maneiro had five MP opportunities at 5-4 in the 2nd, only to then lose seven of the final eight points in the set. Still, she got another chance when she took an early 2-0 lead in the decider, *and* saw Sasnovich take a MTO down 1-2. Still, though, Bouzas Maneiro couldn't come out on top.


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3. Cluj-Napoca QF - Aliaksandra Sasnovich def. Anhelina Kalinina
...2-6/6-4/7-6(3). Already a lucky loser, Sasnovich continued to pile up underdog-like circumstances the deeper into the draw she played. Kalinina led 5-3 in the 3rd, and twice served for the match. After forcing a deciding TB, Sasnovich swept the final six points after Kalinina built up a 3-1 lead.
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4. Abu Dhabi SF - Belinda Bencic def. Elena Rybakina
...3-6/6-3/6-4. In a match-up of the 2023 champ (Bencic) vs. Abu Dhabi's 2024 winner (Rybakina), Bencic continued to find her form as Rybakina's luck finally dried up after surviving back-to-back three-setters vs. Katie Volynets and Ons Jabeur.

8-3 on the season, Rybakina has so far held off her previous health issues (her coaching ones have been a bit more complicated). Here's hoping that *both* remain stable as we soon head into the spring portion of the schedule.


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5. Abu Dhabi Final - Belinda Bencic def. Ashlyn Krueger
...4-6/6-1/6-1. Bencic's second Abu Dhabi title in three years, with the arrival of her baby having come in the intervening year.

Afterward, Bencic called Abu Dhabi her "favorite" tournament since she's now won it twice, and talked about always coming back in future years. We'll see, most of the time players (Elise Mertens excluded) generally *don't* choose to keep coming back to events after winning them. In fact, most don't even return the next year to *defend* non-major/1000 titles. To be continued.


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6. Cluj-Napoca 1st Rd. - Viktorija Golubic def. Arantxa Rus
...7-5/4-6/7-6(10). We've had a few three-set matches already in '25 where breaks of serve were scarce. Meanwhile, this one had sixteen in the longest match of the year so far.

In 3:30, Golubic saved a Rus MP down 6-5 in the 3rd, then another at 7-6 in the TB, before finally winning on her fifth MP in a 12-10 escape.


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7. Abu Dhabi 1st Rd. - Wakana Sonobe def. Yuan Yue
...6-4/6-3. Will we one day say, "I remember when...?"

Maybe, if early returns are any indication, as 17-year old AO junior champ Sonobe follows up her impressive Q-run (w/ two Top 100 wins) with another straight sets upset victory in her tour MD debut, this time over Yuan Yue.


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8. Cluj-Napoca Final - Anastasia Potapova def. Lucia Bronzetti
...4-6/6-1/6-2. Potapova becomes the second Hordetta champ in the three indoor tournament finals held this month (w/ Alexandrova in Linz).

Potapova's most recent title had also come in Linz, two seasons ago.


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9. Abu Dhabi 1st Rd. - Lulu Sun def. Caroline Garcia
...6-1/6-3. Nearly five and a half months since her last match win (August 23rd), Sun finally rises to the occasion to notch her first win of 2025, ending a seven-match losing streak that extends back to last season.


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10. Cluj-Napoca 2nd Rd. - Lucia Bronzetti def. Peyton Stearns
...6-2/7-6(1). Bronzetti had reason to sweat vs. Stearns. After all, the last time they met in Rabat, she'd led the Bannerette 5-0 in the 3rd in the QF, yet couldn't put away the victory (even w/ 2 MP). Stearns went on to win the title.

Here, the Italian broke Stearns to lead 5-4 and served for the match. Bronzetti lost eight straight points, yet managed a hold in game 12 to force a deciding TB. Again, she took a 5-0 lead, but this time she put things away with a 7-1 win.
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11. J300 Inka Bowl (Lima, PER) Final - Giulia Safina Popa def. Julieta Pareja
...6-3/6-2. In the week that Romania's greatest champion exited, a new generation began to rise.

In Lima, 15-year old Safina Popa, a RU in last week's J300 event in Ecuador, picked up her biggest career title. The Romanian defeated Bannerette Pareja, a J300 champ in Barranquilla last month, to close out the week without having dropped a set.
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12. Cluj-Napoca 1st Rd. - Ella Seidel def. Jaqueline Cristian
...6-4/6-2. No cape. No win.

Cluj-Napoca Final - Magali Kempen/Anna Siskova def. Jaqueline Cristian/Angelica Mortatelli
...6-3/6-1. If Moratelli kept a secret cape in her bag (just in case), maybe she forgot it on Sunday?

It's the first tour WD title for both Kempen and Siskova, who teamed up for the first time in Cluj.


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13. Cluj-Napoca SF - Lucia Bronzetti def. Katerina Siniakova
...4-0 ret.. Siniakova came in with three straight 1st Round singles exits, so a SF run was a good result, even if she did join the list of the Czech wounded by the time it was finished.

She defeated Francesca Jones in three after losing a 6-4/5-2 lead, then took out Caroline Dolehide in three and Viktorija Tomova in straights to reach the final four.


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14. Doha 1st Rd. - Elise Mertens def. Clara Tauson
...6-0/0-0 ret. The only wish for the Dane in '25 was for her to be able to stay on the court, and the rest would take care of itself.

This might be seen as not a good sign... but (in a weird way) maybe it's "good" that she was throwing up during the match. It's better than rehab, right?


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15. $35K Herrenschwanden SUI Final - Ekaterina Ovcharenko/Emily Webley-Smith def. Mariam Bolkvadze/Sinja Kraus
...7-6(1)/2-6 [11-9]. Webley-Smith played her first pro match on the ITF circuit in 1999.

The Brit had her lone (in two MD appearances) singles win in a major at Wimbledon in 2004, defeating Severine Beltrame. The Pasty retired twelve years ago.
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Cluj-Napoca 1st Rd. - Lucia Bronzetti def. Simona Halep
...6-1/6-1. The day began as the one in which Halep would play her first singles match since October, after going just 1-4 (and suffering through multiple injuries) in her '24 return after a year and a half out spent fighting the Alphabets to clear her name after a positive drug test at the 2022 U.S. Open.

It turned out to be the day that Halep played her final match, as she effectively announced her retirement to the crowd afterward (she'd previously talked of considering such a move, with a bad knee injury that required surgery that she didn't want to have, as well as a lingering shoulder issue).



We'll one day see Simo in Newport (and Winterfest, of course!), but hopefully she won't be a stranger between now and then.



ALSO:
Backspin Flashback: Halep Wins Roland Garros (2018)
Backspin Flashback: Halep's Wimbledon Dream (2019)
Simona Forever (and ever), Amen


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1. Abu Dhabi 1st Rd. - Veronika Kudermetova def. Liudmila Samsonova
...5-7/7-1/7-6(5). The "LL" label ended up looking good on Kudermetova, as the Hordette came out on top of a back-and-forth affair with her compatriot.

Kudermetova had led 3-1 in the 3rd, only to see her lead slip away and Samsonova hold a MP at 5-4. Kudermetova wrestled the lead back, but couldn't serve things out at 6-5. She took a 5-1 lead in the deciding breaker, only see Samsonova knot the score at 5-5 before Kudermetova's journey came full circle and she (finally) closed out the win that nearly got away.
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2. Abu Dhabi 2nd Rd. - Belinda Bencic def. Veronika Kudermetova
...6-0/6-0. Umm, we won' talk about this one. Though to just say "straight sets" seems a little lacking in description, WTA social media.

I mean, the regular panning back-and-forth and obscuring the names/scores in highlights is bad enough, but now we're trying to hide (at downplay, at least) actual *final* scores, as well?

Bencic deserves credit as much as Kudermetova deserves to be shielded from recognition of a bad day.
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3. Doha Q2 - Veronika Kudermetova def. Erika Andreeva 6-1/6-7(8)/6-3
Doha Q2 - Alycia Parks def. Polina Kudermetova 6-3/6-2
...Kudermetova wins the battle of the Hordette sisters, rallying from 5-2 down in the 2nd to force a TB before Andreeva finally knotted the match on her fourth SP. Veronika claimed the 3rd.

Her younger sister Polina wasn't so lucky, losing for the third time in four matches since her great Brisbane final/AO qualifying combo to start the season.


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More of this, please. I don't think I've ever seen regular posts that simultaneously focus on both players on a single point...




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*WTA HARD COURT TITLES IN 2020s*
11 - Aryna Sabalenka (3/1/0/2/4/1)
11 - Iga Swiatek (0/1/5/3/2/0)
7 - Coco Gauff (0/0/0/4/3/0)
6 - Ash Barty (1/3/2 ret.)
5 - Dasha Kasatkina (0/2/2/0/1/0)
5 - Annet Kontaveit (0/4/1/0 ret)
5 - Barbora Krejcikova (0/1/2/2/0/0)
4 - BELINDA BENCIC (0/1/0/2/0/1)
4 - Elise Mertens (0/1/1/1/0/1)
4 - Jessie Pegula (0/0/1/2/1/0)
4 - Elena Rybakina (1/0/0/1/2/0)

*2020-25 WTA INDOOR TITLES*
4 - Anett Kontaveit (0/3/1/0 ret.)
2 - Barbora Krejcikova (0/0/2/0/0/0)
2 - ANASTASIA POTAPOVA (0/0/0/1/0/1)
2 - Aryna Sabalenka (2/0/0/0/0/0)
2 - Iga Swiatek (0/0/1/1/0/0)
2 - Clara Tauson (0/2/0/0/0/0)

*CAREER WTA FINALS - ACTIVE ('25 F)*
55 - Caroline Wozniacki
42 - Petra Kvitova
41 - Victoria Azarenka
34 - Karolina Pliskova
33 - Aryna Sabalenka (2)
30 - Vera Zvonareva
26 - Iga Swiatek
21 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
21 - Elina Svitolina
19 - BELINDA BENCIC (1)
19 - Dasha Kasatkina
19 - Elena Rybakina
19 - Sara Errani
--
NOTE: V.Williams (83)

*2020-25 LOW-RANKED WTA CHAMPIONS*
#508 - Elina Svitolina = 2023 Strasbourg
#246 - Maria Timofeeva = 2023 Budapest
#237 - Tatjana Maria = 2022 Bogota
#180 - Camila Osorio = 2021 Bogota
#168 - Viktorija Golubic = 2024 Jiujiang
#165 - Astra Sharma = 2021 Charleston 2
#165 - Maryna Zanevska = 2021 Gdynia
#157 - BELINDA BENCIC = 2025 ABU DHABI
#154 - Gabriela Ruse = 2021 Hamburg
#151 - Sonay Kartal = 2024 Monastir
#150 - Emma Raducanu = 2021 U.S. Open

*2025 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
Polina Kudermetova, RUS (#107/21 = Brisbane)
[doubles]
Brisbane - Mirra Andreeva, RUS (17)
Brisbane - Diana Shnaider, RUS (20)
Cluj-Napoca - MAGALI KEMPEN, BEL (27)
Cluj-Napoca - ANNA SISKOVA, CZE (23)
[mixed]
AO - Olivia Gadecki, AUS (22)

*2020-25 WTA BEST LL RESULTS*
W: 2023 Budapest - Maria Timofeeva
W: 2023 Prague - Nao Hibino
W: 2023 Cleveland - Sara Sorribes Tormo
RU: 2021 Linz - Jaqueline Cristian
SF: 2021 Belgrade - Viktoriya Tomova
SF: 2022 Warsaw - Kateryna Baindl
SF: 2022 Washington - Wang Xiyu
SF: 2025 Cluj-Napoca - ALIAKSANDRA SASNOVICH

*2025 WTA FINALISTS BY NATION (F/W)*
6 (3) - USA (Krueger)
3 (2) - RUS (Potapova)
2 (1) - BEL,BLR
1 (1) - DEN,SUI (Bencic)
1 (0) - ITA (Bronzetti), JPN,UKR
=USA=
2 - Madison Keys (2-0)
1 - McCartney Kessler (1-0)
1 - ASHLYN KRUEGER (0-1)
1 - Ann Li (0-1)
1 - Jessie Pegula (0-1)







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All for now.

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posted by Todd.Spiker @ 4:25 PM  2 comments

Friday, February 07, 2025

Simona Forever (and ever), Amen

Come one, come all, as we gather together one final time in the Church of Simona, to remember what was and forever shall be.



The journeys and the triumphs, be they over opponents, self-imposed Cliffs of danger, or even one last collective foe that tried to tear down this very ediface while positioned in the shadows.




We congregate within these walls to marvel and commisserate, to commend and recall, the very "Heart of Backspin."


*** *** *** ***





During her competitive tennis lifetime, Simona Halep was the WTA's "warrior goddess."

Despite a relatively pint-sized body, the Romanian channeled (in good and bad ways) the likes of both Justine Henin (the Romanian's tennis idol, and smallish-in-size-but-big-in-heart kin) and Jana Novotna (her "psychic twin" from another era who similarly battled past her own mental roadblocks before finally achieving her greatest career moment) over the course of a career that stretched across three decades, from her first pro event in 2006 to her last some nineteen seasons later. Halep's straightforward resilience came to define the intangible hurdles that must be overcome before even one of the world's best athletes can sometimes permit herself to "breathe it all in."

Halep's tennis immortality was hard-earned (and challenged into its eleventh hour), but will stand the test of time because, in any era, the internalized nature of a life within the boundaries of the sport means that it will inevitably play host to talented individuals who nonetheless doubt themselves and seek to hold their efforts up to an almost unattainable standard. If they're lucky, circumstances ultimately force such athletes to endure an almost Herculean series of potentially psychologically crushing labors before finally, hearteningly, being rewarded with the major success they long craved.



Maneuvering though a stretch of history in which power players often rose to the top, Halep's continual fight allowed her to experience her moment atop the heap. Quite a few of them, in fact.

For her, that meant two major titles, 24 WTA singles titles (in 42 finals, w/ nine Premier/1000 crowns), 45 Top 10 wins, 64 weeks at #1 (12th all-time), and back-to-back season-ending #1 rankings in 2017-18.



Perhaps most impressive, though, was the Romanian's ability during the heart of her career to avoid the usual up-and-down, ranking-sinking lapses that generally bedevil even the very best players during the ebb-and-flow of a long time on the big stage.

Halep experienced her breakthrough season in 2013 (at age 20-21, she won the first six tour-level titles of her career and posted her maiden second week result at a major at the U.S. Open). After finishing at #11 that year, she ran off a 3-2-4-1-1-4-2 string of seven straight Top 5 (Top 4, actually) season-ending rankings that ran through the 2020 season, tying Serena Williams for the most Top 5 seasons (6) in the 2010s but also being the *only* woman that decade to put together her total in *consecutive* campaigns. When Halep posted her sixth straight Top 5 singles season in 2020 it had been nearly two decades (Martina Hingis from 1996-2001) since another player had done the same.

As Halep exits the sport, the longest active Top 5 streaks belong to the WTA's top two players, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, both with current four-year runs.

In all, Halep had streaks of 373 weeks in the Top 10 (2014-21, the eighth longest WTA streak ever, and the longest in the past quarter-century, since the close of Arantxa Sanchez Vicario's 429-week stay in 1999), and 405 weeks in the Top 20 (2013-21), while finishing eight seasons (over a nine-year stretch) in the Top 10, and ten straight inside the Top 20 (2013-22).



A junior champion at Roland Garros in '08, Halep somewhat controversially decided to undergo breast reduction surgery at age 17 largely because she believed it would improve her "ability to react quickly" on the court. Within three years, she rose from around #50 in the world to finish the year at #11. A season later, she became the first Romanian since 1996 (Irina Spirlea) to reach the Top 10, and then the first from her nation to reach a slam final (at Roland Garros) since 1980 (Virginia Ruzici). She lost in Paris in three tough sets vs. Maria Sharapova (the Russian declared it the toughest of her slam final victories). It wouldn't be the last time Halep would come close to great success, only to fall just short.

Even as she maintained a high level of tennis, a slam title remained an elusive prize.



Largely, the problem resided within Halep herself. She admitted that when she was a little girl she "didn't have the courage to dream," and as she reached her mid-twenties, having been on tour for nearly a decade, her worst enemy continued to be a stubborn lack of belief in herself. Though she had the often always rabid support of her nation and found a coach in Darren Cahill who empathized with her psychic trials, her streak of perfectionism remained a nagging issue. She'd get close to the ultimate moment in the sport, but continued to miss out on the glory. Sometimes she was carried out on her proverbial shield, but at others her lack of inner confidence at the most important moments -- and a hair-trigger temper that often led her to berate herself for the tiniest of errors even while winning a match, sometimes leading to her losing her focus and squandering big opportunities -- proved to be a self-fulfilling prophecy of her own undoing. Oh, the perilous "Cliffs of Simona" were perpetually treacherous, and often left her wanting. But she never gave up.



After a short break with Cahill after he'd walked away in the spring of '17, issuing Halep an ultimatum after he believed she'd given up in a match vs. Johanna Konta in Miami, Simona was finally "scared straight" and vowed to right the internal wrongs that only *she* could fix. The moment, and her reaction to it, changed everything. She reached her second RG final a few months later (losing to Alona Ostapenko after holding a 6-4/3-0, with 3 BP for 4-0, lead). The loss left her a win short of reaching #1, but she completed the climb that fall in Beijing (def. RG conquerors Sharapova and Ostapenko before falling in the final vs. Caroline Garcia), becoming the first Romanian woman to do so, and finished the season in the top spot.

At the Australian Open the following January, Halep nearly upstaged the *actual* champion of the event (Caroline Wozniacki) with her incredible string of marathon performances -- she battled out of huge scoreboard holes, injury and exhaustion in the intense Melbourne heat -- en route to a third slam final. It was likely the greatest non-championship performance of the 2010s, and arguably ranks with the greatest ever. She ended up being hospitalized after the event, but her course was set for something great.



At Roland Garros that spring, finally, she wasn't to be denied. In Halep's third final in five years in Paris, the long distance triumph of the resilient Romanian finally became a reality with a maiden slam crown that somehow made all the heartbreak, anger, injury, blood, sweat, tears and disappointment worth it. Her deserved moment in the sun brought down a crescendo of relief, satisfaction and admiration both from and for Halep, her legions of fans and fellow players alike, cementing her legacy not only as a national sporting treasure in her home country but as one of the most beloved tennis champions worldwide.



Halep backed up her #1 season in '17 with another in '18, coming within a MP (vs. Kiki Bertens in the final) of the first ever Canada/Cincinnati title sweep in back-to-back weeks (it's still never happened).

With her success having helped her learn to be more "chill," and even with Cahill stepping away from coaching (for family reasons) for the year, a (finally) relaxed Halep had an unexpected victory lap at Wimbledon a season later in which she played perhaps the best match of her career in a comprehensive handling of Serena Williams in the SW19 final for slam title #2.



Coming after her many lessons learned had instilled a still-growing confidence in her own abilities brought Simona an extra special "bonus" victory that remarkably may have even topped her win in Paris. *That* title run was about proving to herself what she was capable of, while her second major title was about what she had *become* because of that hard-earned knowledge. Halep had taught herself to *always* be strong, and her second major win was her first public moment as a player (and individual) in which she was free to revel in that accomplishment.

Halep could have slowly -- or even quickly -- eased out the door after her win at the AELTC and no one would have batted an eyelash (Novotna had returned the year after her lone slam win, was honored at Wimbledon as the reigning champion, then retired at the end of the season, having just turned 31).

There were only a handful of accomplishments that remained unattained, namely Olympic (she ultimately didn't play in either 2021 or '24, with her lone appearance in the games coming as a 20-year old in 2012) and/or Fed Cup (later BJK Cup) glory (Halep led Romania to the '19 semis months after winning at SW19, only to fall in a deciding doubles match vs. France) while representing her beloved Romania. But neither were *essential* to how her career would be viewed in the long run.

With Halep's 29th birthday coming late in the pandemic-rearranged 2020 season, it did not go unnoticed that the likes of Henin had already retired *twice* by the time the Belgian turned 29. But Simona forged on, seeking... well, it was never quite clear. Her fans -- including this one -- were glad she stuck around to be admired on the tennis landscape a bit longer, but it would be a decision that would have its own unique and unexpected repercussions.

She still had more to give, and win.



The fragmented 2020 season saw Halep be unable to defend her Wimbledon title, as the event was cancelled for the first time since World War II, nor was she able to collect a second RG title in the September/October version of the event (she was the #1 seed, and lost to eventual champion Iga Swiatek along the Pole's maiden championship run in Paris). It all prevented her from a third #1 season in four years, as she finished #2 behind Ash Barty. Still, Halep's three titles tied for the tour lead, while she led the tour in win percentage (23-3 - 88.5%), and posted her eighth career SF+ result (AO) at a major. Her 17-match win streak was a career best, and the longest on tour in seven years.

Injuries plagued Halep's 2021 season, as she was unable to play Wimbledon, after which she fell out of the Top 10 for the first time since 2014. She finished the year ranked #20, ending her seven-year Top 5 season streak as she went without a singles title for the first time since 2012.

But, at 30, Halep wasn't one to choose to end on a hollow note. So, after beginning 2022 with a Week 1 title, followed by serious consideration of retirement in February, she once more charged into the breach. It was all she knew, really.

It was also understandable, for most great champions, of which Halep had become, often have a (sometimes multi-season) final push that challenges the notion that her "prime" really was just that. A grand late-career period in many cases turns out to be the most rewarding, and even enjoyable, part of a career filled with previous success because, maybe for the first time, the player is able to fully embrace (and share) the experience of the journey with both their inner circle and the throngs who have watched it play out from afar, doing so until the final curtain comes down, often with a wave of fanfare and a warm embrace.

Halep never experienced such a gradually building crescendo of emotion.

In May of 2022, Halep added Patrick Mouratoglou as her full-time coach (turning over the stewardship of her career to him, as well as his team). It was a move that, while it signaled a reinvigoration of Halep's love for the game and a seriousness about making one great final drive for *more* to close out her career (she gave herself a one year deadline to return to the Top 10), was also no small decision, considering the controversy that has often followed the Frenchman around to his various coaching stops across both tennis tours. It would turn out to be a regrettable move that nearly marred her career with an irreversible black mark, and ultimately helped to end it.

As it played out on the court, Halep spent that spring/summer looking for a "signature" win with her new partnership that would moor her season to a tangible port of call. She finally was healthy enough to return to Wimbledon for the first time since her 2019 win, and reached what would be her ninth and final major SF, but only after the AELTC's arguably obscene decision to not honor Halep with the Day 2 Centre Court opening match traditionally reserved for reigning women's champions. She'd missed her opportunity when the tournament wasn't held in 2020, then was injured the following year. In a stroke of luck, the '22 champion (Barty) had since retired and wasn't available to fill the annual spot, meaning Halep could have belatedly taken her turn. Instead, the schedule placed #1 seed Swiatek, who'd rarely shown much regard for the tournament nor grass court tennis in general despite once being a junior champ at SW19, in the traditional slot while Halep (on the same day) was relegated to Court 1. Shameful.

Halep finally found her season's "big get" in late summer in Toronto, where she claimed her biggest title in two years, tying S.Williams for the most Premier/1000 final appearances (18) since 2009 (when the tournament structure debuted), and a week later in Cincinnati left as the all-time Premier/1000 match win (186) leader. Her title run in Canada returned Halep to the Top 10, beating her dealine by nine months.



Finally, Halep seemed set to burnish her legacy, but in fact her career was nearly over. Toronto would be her final title, and she'd only play seven more matches after Cincinnati.

First, she disappointingly exited the U.S. Open in the 1st Round with a loss to Daria Snigur (oddly enough, three years earlier, the Ukrainian had been crowned the Wimbledon junior champ on the same day that Halep won the women's title). Soon after, Halep announced that her nearly year-long marriage to Macedonian businessman Toni Iuruc was ending in divorce, then that her season was over after undergoing nose surgery to correct a breathing issue. Then, in October, it was announced that Halep had tested positive for the banned substance Roxadustat at Flushing Meadows following her loss to Snigur.

Robbed of a final victory lap, Halep's final chapter as a player was mostly about trying to become one again. Another fight, another dance along a Cliff's edge, another time where she needed to gather her will to survive. Not surpsrisingly, she fought and eventually prevailed. But it proved to be the biggest fight of a career filled with battles, only this one wasn't an internalized tête-à-tête.

Instead what occurred was a virtual public trial played out largely on social media, a version of "tennis McCarthyism" in which Halep was the easy victim of character assassination as she was declared/assumed guilty the moment the positive test was announced before having the opportunity to prove her innocence (or some smeasure of fault), i.e. the standard operating procedure of the sport's Alphabets-laden drug testing apparatus, long a highly questionable endeavor (at best, "corrupt" at worst) that often focuses on retribution and justification of its own existence rather than whatever self-serving moralistic code each branch happens to espouse.

Halep's case proved to be handled in one of the most disgraceful manners on record, with the Romanian remaining (maybe to her detriment, as the Alphabets don't look kindly on disapproval, see the previous case of Maria Sharapova) a consistent and adament public voice in her own defense and against the dubious collective testing apparatus in charge of "policing" the sport.



Halep's original positive test came in August 2022, and was reported two months later. The hearing before her accusers didn't finally occur until the following June, ten months after the test. It took until September 2023, eleven months after her provisional suspension began, for her appeal to be (as expected) denied and a "final" four-year ban issued (the ITIA actually doubled-down and added a totally separate second charge... but only after Halep had publicly spoken out about the multiple postponements and long delay before she was even able to present her case). It took five more months -- until February 2024 -- for her long-awaited hearing before an independent court of arbitration (CAS) to occur.

That result was rendered fairly quickly (for once), as the positive test was blamed on a contaminated supplement for which Halep was declared to be guilty of some level of negligence for having consumed (though her new 'team" had approved it, no members suffered any official consequences). The four-year suspension was reduced to *nine months*, a period shorter than it took for her initial hearing to take place and her original ban finalized. History thus said that her suspension had ended in *July 2023*, some seven months before *the* final ruling was issued.

What a (corrupt) mess, and a true indictment of the whole system. But the end result was that Halep was cleared to immediately return to action. If only it were that simple.



Halep returned in March in Miami. It was a glorious moment, and proved to be the high point of her brief, 11-month return, even though it was a 1st Round loss to Paula Badosa in three sets. She almost immediately encountered issues with injury (knee/shoulder) after more than a year and a half away from intense training. Halep retired from her 1st Round match in Paris (at a 125, not Roland Garros) in May, and didn't play again until October. She notched a lone win over Arina Rodionova in Hong Kong, but finished the season with a 1-4 record.

Of course, by the end of 2024, Halep's long ordeal had been followed by the stark difference in the drug testing/reporting process that was displayed by the Alphabets when #1-ranked players Swiatek and Jannik Sinner both tested positive for banned substances. Unlike with situations both including and before Halep's, their positive tests were kept secret, as was their serving of initial provisional suspensions, and when the annoucements did come a relatively short time later (Sinner five months after the test in question, Swiatek even fewer) they were accompanied by immediate public rulings of "no fault" by the players (Swiatek served an additional month-long suspension during the offseason).

Halep was rightly angered by double standards present in the process.

It could be that the ludicrous nature of how Halep's case played out *did* manage to change the way that such cases will be handled in the future. If a get-it-over-and-done-with form of punishment was the norm some players might just accept the suspension to get on with things (but still appeal the charges to "clear the record") rather than get into a "life-or-death" battle that sullies everyone involved. Only time will tell.

Of course, that did nothing for Halep. For her case managed to light the match that ultimately helped set ablaze whatever remained of her career.

While the fact remains that, if not for the foot-dragging, vindictive attempts at retribution and her own fight to return to the court, Halep (at 33) may have been already been retired by time the 2025 season began. Her remaining time had seemed potentially short when she won Wimbledon, and that had been *six* seasons earlier.

As Halep was unable to post for the '25 Australian Open, the writing began to appear on the wall. Her return would ultimately include just six singles matches, one win, and knee and shoulder injuries that, finally led her to the realization and acceptance that she'd done enough, was satisfied with her accomplishments, and no longer desired to put forth the supreme effort that a grueling rehab from knee surgery would require with no overwhelming belief that at this point she could ever recapture the past.

So she decided to let that past rest.



Halep retired in Romania, as she would surely have always wished, in front of a throng of adoring home fans (and fellow players) in Cluj-Napoca after a 1st Round singles match (a loss to Lucia Bronzetti) that proved to be finale in the Transylvania Open event as well as her WTA career.

The Cliffs of Simona are now closed to all visitors, treacherous to their namesake no more.



Halep's long final fight threatened to erase much of the memory of the unique, resilent greatness of her tennis career. Hopefully, though, the memories of the frustrating struggle with unseen forces and the resulting disappointing return will fade, and the Simona of Paris, London and other places of glory and/or fields of battle will remain, growing stronger by the day. Just as Halep did over the course of her tennis journey.



As Halep exits, I hope this reminiscence will help (at least a tiny little bit) when it comes the recalling and reinstallation of the institutional memory of what her career was actually about. I know it was a good exericise for *me* to re-live some of the trials, tribulations and triumphs that helped make Halep what I've dubbed in the past as "The Heart of Backspin." No player has hit as many notes -- both high and low -- while building a momentum toward something great as Simona did during the existence of this space.

She's more than earned her place on my personal women's tennis "Mount Rushmore" alongside the likes of Novotna, Henin and Jelena Dokic.




*** *** *** ***


And we bow our heads.

I beseech thee, as I do now, to close your eyes and search your soul. To call up an image that represents our dear Simona, that represents -- to you -- her journey to her promised land. For each individual, the image may be different, be it in victory or at the close of a battle undertaken albeit temporarily lost. But none are anything less than the result of a will that proved to be undeniable.

And thus it is in this house of worship that we all RISE UP and recite and declare, for one final time within these holy walls, what the scripture demands.

Can you hear it in your mind's ear? It's ever so faint, but getting stronger. And stronger still. Ah, there it is...

"Si-mo-na... Si-mo-na."

Louder. Say it, in unison!

"Si-mon-na! Si-mo-na! Si-mo-na!"

Yes, there it it! Si-mo-na! Si-mo-na! Si-mo-na! For the doors of the Church of Simona will never truly close! Never.

Amen.




All for now.






ALSO: Backspin Flashback: Halep Wins Roland Garros (2018)
Backspin Flashback: Halep's Wimbledon Dream (2019)




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posted by Todd.Spiker @ 12:04 PM  3 comments