Sunday, October 18, 2026

Wk.41- A Final Dash of Maja Magic

Near the close of her breakthrough season, Maja Chwalinska exits Wuhan having added an additional feelgood chapter to her 2026 story.







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*WEEK 41 CHAMPIONS*
WUHAN, CHINA (WTA 1000; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Maja Chwalinska/POL def. Sonay Kartal/GBR 2-6/6-4/6-2/span>
WD: Gaby Dabrowski/Luisa Stefani (CAN/BRA) def. Storm Hunter/Katerina Siniakova (AUS/CZE) 7-5/6-4
Mallorca, Spain (WTA 125; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Ariana Geerlings/ESP def. Laura Samson/CZE 6-2/6-2
D: Angelica Moratelli/Lucija Ciric Bagaric (ITA/CRO) def. Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers/Laura Pigossi (ESP/BRA) 2-6/6-3 [12-10]
Lisbon, Portugal (WTA 125; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Clara Burel/FRA def. Leyre Romero Gormaz/ESP 6-4/6-3
D: Dalila Jakupovic/Nika Radisic (SLO/SLO) def. Gina Feistel/Raluca Serban (POL/CYP) 6-3/6-1
Rovereto, Italy (WTA 125; Hard Court Intdoor)
S: Bianca Andreescu/CAN def. Dominika Salkova/CZE 7-6(2)/6-2
D: Martyna Kubka/Isabelle Haverlag (POL/NED) def. Dominika Salkova/Anna Siskova (CZE/CZE) 6-1/6-2




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Maja Chwalinska/POL
...2026 just wouldn't have "felt right" if Chwalinska didn't end up lifting a title. After a breakout season that reached its zenith with an unexpected run to the Roland Garros final, the diminutive Pole's "feelgood" moment was abbreviated in unruly fashion when she injured her ankle on MP, leading 6-2/5-2 in the Wimbledon 1st Round, ultimately leading to her early exit and what turned out to be a more than two month gap between match wins for the 25-year old.

Come the Asian swing, Chwalinska posted her first good post-RG result with a SF in Singapore, but she then lost her opening match in Beijing. With expectations relatively low in Wuhan, she put together the sort of week that Paris had hinted was possible, stringing together wins over Mayar Sherif, Marie Bouzkova, Iva Jovic (for her first QF+ 1000 result), Maria Sakkari (cracking the Top 20), and then countrywoman Iga Swiatek (her first Top 10 win) to reach the final. Against Sonay Kartal, Chwalinska dropped the 1st set and then rallied to claim her first tour-level title.

She'll jump all the way up to #11 in the new rankings.

Who knows what the trajectory of Chwalinska's season might have been had she not gone down at SW19, but this late season rush at least puts her close to what would have likely been an optimistic estimate of where she might have ended up by now had the bulk of her summer not been suddenly taken from her before it'd barely even started.

Now, unless Swiatek has some sort of remarkable finish over the next few weeks, Chwalinska could even have an outside chance to challenge for POL #1 in the early months of 2027. She doesn't have many points to defend between now and then, while current #9 Swiatek will go into next season having to back up Poland's United Cup win (she got 150 ranking points for that made-up event, remember), as well as AO and 1000 QFs at both Doha and Indian Wells.


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RISERS: Ann Li/USA and Sonay Kartal/GBR
...after reaching three tour-level finals last season, Li has yet to reach a singles final in '26. Still, the Bannerette has continued to knock down a series of career-best accomplishments this season. In Wuhan, she had what was her best week of the year.

Li didn't play into her third '26 SF (w/ Strasbourg and Monterrey), but after opening with a win over Camila Osorio, she notched the biggest win of her career when she outlasted #2 Aryna Sabalenka, finally completing the upset by converting on her tenth MP chance. Li's third career Top 10 win is her second this season, after a victory over Iga Swiatek in Madrid.



An additional win over Janice Tjen followed this week to send Li into her maiden 1000 QF, where (this time) she was handled in straight sets by Swiatek.

Li will tick up a few more spots in the next rankings, climbing to a career-high #25 to top her previous best standing (#28) from August. Yes, Li is ranked *that* high. She's sort of been the season's sneakiest ranking riser of '26... come January, as with Emma Navarro a couple of seasons ago, people who aren't paying attention now are going to be saying, "Wait, when did her ranking get *that* high?"



Meanwhile, Kartal put together the week of her career just a month past her return after missing six months with a back injury, reaching her biggest-ever final in Wuhan and surging from #170 to back into the Top 50 to become the new GBR #1 (overtaking Katie Boulter).

Picking up on her momentum from a three-set loss during the BJK Cup Finals in her first match back, then a 3rd Round run in Beijing, the 24-year old Brit ran off a string of impressive wins in Wuhan over Anhelina Kalinina, Belinda Bencic and Jasmine Paolini, all in straights, then outlasted Elina Svitolina in three and rallied to knock out Alona Ostapenko in the SF by a 7-6/7-6 score, overcoming 4-1 deficits in both sets and a combined seven SP held by the Latvian.

Just the second British woman to reach a 1000 final (w/ Johanna Konta), her second at tour level along with her winning effort in Monastir in 2024, Kartal won the 1st set in the title match vs. Maja Chwalinska before the Pole won 4 & 2 in the final two sets to take the crown.

At #170, Kartal is the lowest *ranked* player to reach a Tier I/1000 final since 1990. Only an unranked 13-year old Jennifer Capriati, at Hilton Head 36 years ago to reach her first career WTA final, came from further outside to get so far.

9-2 in her last eleven matches, Kartal is 19-9 in her abbreviated '26 campaign. She's just six spots behind the career high of #44 she reached in July '25.


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SURPRISES: Guo Hanyu/CHN and Shi Han/CHN
...2026 has been good to Guo, but most of her success (though not all) had come in doubles before her trip to Wuhan.

The 28-year old has won a pair of tour-level WD titles this season, including her first major title at Wimbledon alongside Kristina Mladenovic, and reached the doubles Top 10. But Guo has also seen some uncommon success in singles, qualifying to reach her maiden slam MD at Roland Garros, and reaching a pair of lower level finals (the biggest of her career in a 125 in Midland back in February, as well as at a $50K).

She came into the week having mostly appeared in tour-level MD in late-season tournaments in China, aside from a pair of Q-runs this year in Paris and Montreal a season ago. Her only WTA MD wins in 12 matches had both come last year, in Montreal and Jiujiang, with her sporting a career 2-10 record.

A wild card entrant in Wuhan, Guo doubled her career tour-level win total with upsets of Sorana Cirstea (saving three MP) and Katie Volynets (in a 3rd set TB) before falling to Elina Svitolina in the 3rd Round.

Having reaching a career high of #156 earlier this year, Guo will climb back into the Top 200 on Monday, rising more than 50 spots from #240 to #189.

in Beijing, Shi took eventual champion Zheng Qinwen to three sets in their 1st Round encounter, then proved to be more of a finisher in her *next* chance at a big upset in Wuhan.

Qualifying at her third straight Asian swing event (after Beijing and the Suzhou 125), 21-year old Shi posted wins over top Q-seed Peyton Stearns and Kamilla Rakhimova to reach the MD at a second straight 1000 in Wuhan. In her opener, the world #217 outlasted #19 Alex Eala for her first 1000 MD (and Top 20) win.

In the 2nd Round vs. Leylah Fernandez, Shi held a 4-1 2nd set lead as she tried to force another 3rd set, only to see the Canadian rip off five straight games to instead close out the match in two.

Shi will climb to a new career highof #177 on Monday.


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VETERANS: Maria Sakkari/GRE and Alona Ostapenko/LAT
...as the season winds down to its conclusion, Sakkari put some additional (soon-to-be) finishing touches on what has been an unexpectedly resurgent year.

In Wuhan, the 31-year old Greek reached her second 1000 QF (w/ Doha) in '26, posting wins over Donna Vekic, Marta Kostyuk (her third Top 10 win of the season, her most since '23) and Mia Pohankova. She lost in the last eight in a 7-5 3rd set vs. Maja Chwalinska, but will climb to her highest standing of the year when she rises four spots to #31 on Monday, setting herself up for perhaps her highest season-ending finish in three years.

At any rate, Sakkari has stopped the annual slide that saw her ranking slowly dip and drop off between 2021 and 2025, when she posted consecutive 6-6-9-32-52 season-ending rankings.



For most of the week in Wuhan, Ostapenko was once again *that player*, saving three MP in a win over Jessie Pegula, then outlasting Leylah Fernandez in three sets. A win over Diana Shnaider put her into her second 1000 SF this season (w/ Doha), having not reached *any* finals since April 2025 and appearing in only one in a 1000 event (Doha '25) since her slam title run at Roland Garros in 2017.

Against Sonay Kartal, Ostapenko found herself in position to walk off with a straight sets win, leading 4-1 and holding multiple SP (seven in total) in *both* the 1st and 2nd sets. But the hail of misses that are the flip side of her many streaks of winners jumped up to help Ostapenko chase off her winning opportunities (a potential meeting vs. Iga Swiatek in their first final battle was possible, though the other side of that didn't play out, either) as she went 0-for-7 in those SP chances, falling to the Brit in a pair of TB sets.

Ostapenko's week will bump her up ten spots and back into the Top 25 (#34 to #24). Even with her sometimes-wild inconsistency of results, Ostapenko has finished in the Top 25 the last four seasons, and the Top 30 in seven of the last nine years since her career-best year-end ranking of #7 in 2017 (her lone Top 10 campaign).
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COMEBACKS: Bianca Andreescu/CAN and Clara Burel/FRA
...Andreescu has been successful at the lower levels of tennis in 2026, but still seeks a winning return to "the big leagues" in her future. Still, for a player who has had such a difficult time staying on the court in recent seasons, putting together what has been a full, mostly-healthy season of *any* kind is nothing to simply shrug off.

This week in a 125 event in Rovereto (ITA), the Canadian -- even with numerous MTOs over multiple matches -- flashed the sort of resilience (and, yes, drama) that made her such a sudden star seven (!!) years ago during her career season of 2019.

Andreescu dropped just one set all week en route to the title, her biggest since her '19 U.S. Open win, but that *one* three-set encounter was a doozy to overcome, coming early in the week in a 2nd Rounder vs. Antonia Ruzic that saw the Canadian win in 3:23, overcome a fall, a shoulder/arm ailment, 3rd set cramping and an angry opponent (Ruzic didn't shake either Andreescu or the chair umpire's hand afterward, a seeming protest about the bending of rules and Andreescu's delaying tactics to play her way through physical pain down the stretch).

Most amazingly, Andreescu came back the *next day* and didn't physically implode. Instead, she picked up steam, reeling off wins over Lucrezia Stefanini (QF) and a pair of young Crushers in the SF (Lucie Havlickova) and final (Dominika Salkova) to pick up her third singles title of the season. Andreescu won a pair of ITF challengers early in the season for what had been her first singles wins on any level since her title in New York.

35-18 on the season, Andreescu this year has posted her most match wins and played her most matches since that remarkable 2019 season (48-17, as she also won Indian Wells and Toronto that year and climbed to #4). She came into '26 having gone a combined 36-38 the last three years.

Still, aside from the positive aspect of avoiding major injury breaks, Andreescu would surely like to see her comeback extend to the WTA tour. There she hasn't advanced beyond the 2nd Round (Charleston/Rome) in eight MD tour-level events (+4 qualifying attempts) in '26, and she lasted recorded a MD win in a major at the '24 Wimbledon.

Andreescu will climb from #168 to #132.



Meanwhile, Burel's comeback from an ACL knee injury during BJK Cup play in the spring of 2025 has started to pick up its pace in recent weeks. In Lisbon, the Pastry claimed her second straight 125 crown with a 6-4/6-3 win in the final over Leyre Romero Gormaz, running her winning streak to nine matches. She's 15-2 since her U.S. Open qualifying loss.

The former junior #1 (2018), women's #42 (2024) and two-time tour-level finalist (2021 & '23) was ranked in the #1400s in May after having missed a full year of action, but will be back at #156 on Monday.
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FRESH FACES: Mia Pohankova/SVK and Ariana Geerlings/ESP
...the 17-year old Slovak, last year's Wimbledon girls' champ, has quickly shown an ability to compete at tour level. Last year, she reached the QF in her WTA MD debut week in Chennai, and earlier this season she posted a 1st Round win at Rosmalen.

In her third career tour MD appearance, as a wild card in Wuhan, Pohankova played all the way into the 3rd Round in her 1000 debut, knocking off Anna Bondar (a tour finallist in Hamburg this summer, and recently a semifinalist in Seoul) and Asian Games Gold medalist Wang Xiyu (in three sets, after failing to put away a straight sets win after leading 5-3 in a 2nd set TB) before finally falling vs. Maria Sakkari.

5-3 in her WTA MD career so far, Pohankova will climb from #202 all the way up to #145. She's the second-youngest player in the Top 200, behind only Kristina Liutova.



In Mallorca, 21-year old Geerlings claimed the biggest title of her career in her maiden 125 final appearance.

The #505-ranked wild card missed eleven months after recovering from her second torn ACL, returning in July. She picked up a pair of $15K and a $35K title in July/August, but this week improved her season mark to 29-5 with a career run that ended on Sunday with a 6-2/6-2 win in the final over Crusher Laura Samson.

Geerlings will jump more than 200 spots in the rankings, nearly rejoining the Top 300 (her career high is #290) at #301.


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DOWN: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR
...with #1 Elena Rybakina off the table in Wuhan, #2 Sabalenka failed to seize the moment to put some ranking pressure on the Kazakh down the stretch.

In Wuhan, Sabalenka's slip over the season's back-half continued as she suffered her first one-and-out result of the year, giving her consecutive losses for the first time since last year's defeat in the AO final and opening loss in Dubai. She's had one such early exit in each of the last four seasons, since she had seven in 2022 when she struggled with her serve before finally finding her way out of the darkness and initially rising to #1 the following season.

Sabalenka's 3-6/6-4/7-6(5) 2nd Round loss to Ann Li included what has become the typical wild swings of emotion that often accompany losses by the Belarusian. She led 6-3/4-2, and 30/love at 4-3, before being forced to a 3rd. There she rallied from 5-2 down, saving nine total MP before finally seeing Li convert on attempt #10 in a deciding TB.

The TB loss drops Sabalenka to 12-6 in breakers on the season, after going 22-2 in '25. She's lost four straight TB in non-slam competition, around the two she claimed from Linda Noskova in their U.S. Open encounter.

Sabalenka has now gone ten events without a title, her longest title-free stretch since a similar 10-event drought in 2024 (between her AO and back-to-back Cincinnati/U.S. wins). The downturn began after Sabalenka completed her Sunshine Double in Miami. She's reached just one final (U.S.) since March.

Through the early stages of the Asian swing before the WTAF finale in Indian Wells, the world #1 and #2 have combined to go 1-3 in Beijing and Wuhan. But even with this early exit, thanks to Rybakina's points loss from a year ago, Sabalenka will still cut Rybakina's 2000-point ranking points lead by a little over 500 in the new rankings.
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ITF WORLD TENNIS: Alicia Dudeney/GBR and Sloane Stephens/USA
...Brit Dudeney (Florida Gators 2021-25) moved into sole possession of the circuit season title lead with her sixth win of the year, taking the $35K in Birmingham (ENG) with a 6-4/6-3 triumph in the final over Pastry Manon Leonard. She didn't drop a set all week, improving to 6-0 in '26 finals (9-1 in her pro career, starting in May 2025).

Dudeney, 23, made her tour-level MD debuts in a trio of British-based events this season in Nottingham, Eastbourne and Wimbledon, but is still looking for her maiden WTA victory.



Meanwhile, Stephens' isn't finished yet.

In Edmond, Oklahoma, the 33-year old joined Bianca Andreescu as a former U.S. Open champion lifting a singles title far, far from the playing surface of Arthur Ashe Stadium.

After going winless in 2025 (0-6), it was hard to tell what was expected from Stephens this year after her recovery from a foot injury. She's managed to play in 17 MD and two qualifying events over the course of '26, gradually putting up her best results of the year as the season has gone on. Her 3rd Round in Cincinnati had been her best run, until a QF in Guadalajara in September.

This week in a $100K challenger in Edmond, her first event since that tour-level QF, Stephens closed out her week with big wins over NextGen opponents in Julieta Pareja (SF, in a 3rd set TB) and Kristina Liutova (6-3/6-2 in the final over the 16-year old, the youngest player in the Top 400) to pick up her first singles title anywhere since winning WTA Rouen in 2024. It's just her second since taking a 125 in May 2023, and it's her first win at the ITF/World Tennis level since 2011 (and her very *first* career $100K victory).

Stephens will climb to #118, with the AO27 (edging near a decade since her U.S. win) already in her sights.


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JUNIOR STARS: Alisa Oktiabreva/CZE and Felitsta Dorofeeva-Rybus/RUS
...RG girls' champ Oktiabreva continued her dominance on the challenger circuit, taking the $35K Heraklion (GER) title over Tilwith di Girolami in three sets to claim her fourth straight ITF/World Tennis title since mid-September, extending her winning streak to 20 matches as the 18-year old (new) Crusher climbs to #311 on Monday.

She's 5-0 in challenger finals in '26, and 9-1 in her career.



In Chisinao, Moldova, 16-year old Hordette Dorofeeva-Rybus grabbed her fourth pro challenger title of the year, defeating 16-year old Romanian Guilia Safina Popa (who was seeking her fifth '26 win) in a three-set final.

FDR is 23-3 in pro events on the year, as well as winning a J300 title on the junior circuit (and reaching a 500 final and SF). She also won the doubles.

From one of her spring title runs...


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DOUBLES: Gaby Dabrowski/Luisa Stefani, CAN/BRA
...while Katerina Siniakova is the doubles *player* of the year, Dabrowski/Stefani are putting on a late-season run to legitimately be under consideration for the *team* of the year. The duo won their third straight title this weekend, completing the Beijing/Wuhan 1000 sweep with a second win in a final in two weeks over doubles #1 Siniakova and one of her revolving partners, in this case Storm Hunter (with whom the Czech won Wuhan a year ago) after last week it was Zhang Shuai, while Taylor Townsend continues to miss time after her recent health scare.

It's Dabrowski/Stefani's 14th straight win, improving their '26 mark to 39-9, as they pick up their sixth title of the season (the most of any duo, passing Siniakova/Townsend's five), though both remain one title behind Siniakova (7). The title run also pushes the Canadian-Brazilian pair into 1st Place in the WTA Doubles Points Race, likely giving them the top seed next month in the WTAF at Indian Wells.


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WHEELCHAIR: Lizzy de Greef/NED
...in Fleury-les-Aubrais, France, world #5 de Greef claimed her fourth 500 event title of the season, defeating Guo Luoyao in a 6-2/6-1 final.

2026 has been a breakthrough year for the former Dutch junior star, with her reaching a new career ranking high, playing in her first major final (RG doubles) and notching her first career wins over both Yui Kamiji and Diede de Groot.

Still, she's just 2-6 vs. the top two players in the world over the course of the season (2-17 career) and still has yet to advance past the singles QF in slam competition, this season posting QF-1r-QF-1r finishes in the four majors.
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1. Wuhan 2nd Rd. - Alona Ostapenko def. Jessie Pegula
...2-6/7-6(7)/6-3. Ostapenko came into Wuhan off a summer that saw her lose four straight matches, and go 2-6 since reaching the Wimbledon 3rd Round. It'd been three and a half months since she posted multiple victories in an event, and she was facing off with #4 Jessie Pegula after having not beaten a player ranked higher than #7 since *last* year in Stuttgart.

So, a nice draw for Pegula, right? Ummm.



Yep, Ostapenko is still Ostapenko, when the sun is shining just right.

After winning the 1st set, Pegula saw Ostapenko twice turn around break deficits, save a pair of BP at 4-4, and force a TB. Pegula led 6-4 and held three MP in the breaker, only to drop her last three serve points and lose 9-7. Ostapenko then hit her way over the finish line in the 3rd, firing 46 winners (vs. 37 UE) in all vs. Pegula's 15/12 numbers.


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2. Wuhan 1st Rd. - Guo Hanyu def. Sorana Cirstea
...1-6/7-6(6)/7-5. Cirstea's final swing starts off with one of her most disappointing results of the season, as the Romanian vet led 6-1/4-1, serving for the match at 6-5, 30/15 and holding triple MP in the 2nd set TB. After Guo forced a 3rd, Cirstea served again for the match at 5-3 before the Chinese wild card completed the upset.


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3. Wuhan 2nd Rd. - Ann Li def. Aryna Sabalenka
...3-6/6-4/7-6(5). Li's biggest win comes at the expense of Sabalenka, who teetered on the edge of another blown match, a great comeback victory and then another disappointing loss, ultimately landing on the wrong side of the narrative.

Sabalenka led 6-3/4-2, and was up 30/love at 4-3 before dropping a fourth straight game as things went to a 3rd. She fell behind 4-1, having lost eight of nine games, and then rallied from 5-2 down, saving five Li MP in game 8 alone, then two more at 5-4. She held serve on both occasions.

But Li took the deciding TB, as Sabalenka -- "Queen of the Tie-Break" for most of the last two seasons -- lost her fourth straight non-major (she was 2-0 during the U.S. Open) TB and fifth-of-six outside of NYC since the start of the summer hard court season.


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4. Wuhan SF - Maja Chwalinska def. Iga Swiatek
...7-5/6-1. Swiatek's season may have very well have come to an end just as she seemed poised to take advantage of a situation that had put her in great position to surge into the lead for the final berth at the WTA Finals.

First, with Swiatek seeking a "miracle" eleventh-hour WTAF qualification, Wuhan was absent the likes of #1 Rybakina, #3 Andreeva, #5 Gauff and #8 Noskova, then #2 Sabalenka and #4 Pegula were one-and-done competitors. The player immediately ahead of Swiatek in the Points Race, #10 Kostyuk, lost her opening match, as well, and the current holder of the final available spot in the Indian Wells field -- #7 Muchova -- lost in her second outing, swinging the door open for Swiatek to move ahead of her with a title run.

After dispatching back-to-back lucky losers (all three players in her original section of the draw were LL, actually), Swiatek handled Ann Li to reach the SF, setting up a first-ever match-up vs. "little sister" Maja Chwalinska. Career nemesis Alona Ostapenko then lost in the first SF on Saturday, removing that obstacle from the equation, too. All looked good to go.

But then Swiatek failed to secure the 1st set vs. her countrywoman after holding a pair of SP at 5-3, losing the mental edge in a match in which she was also playing through a leg injury. Chwalinska won 10 of the final 11 games after that, dropping Iga to 1-3 in SF this season.



The result leaves Swiatek 500+ points behind Muchova with just a pair of 500 events over the next two weeks at which to make her move. But, carrying an injury, will she even be fully able to make the attempt? As of now, she's in the Ningbo draw, while Muchova is not. Kostyuk, still not out of the discussion, will be there, too.


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5. Wuhan 3rd Rd. - Diana Shnaider def. Karolina Muchova
...7-5/6-3. Shnaider notches her third Top 10 win of the season, often out-Muchovaing the original...



If not for Swiatek coming up short a few days later, this early exit might very well have -- and, technically at this point, still could -- ultimately played a key role in the Czech failing to grab a spot in the WTA Finals despite a career season in which she's been one of the most consistent players on tour, climbed into the Top 10, reached a slam final, won two singles titles (after winning none since 2019), including her maiden 1000 crown, and posted six Top 10 wins across all three surfaces, Muchova's first WTAF berth remains in jeopardy.

Muchova's inability to add a deep Asian swing run to her season ledger is what left open a path for her to be passed by in the Race, a situation that largely exists because even in what has been one of her *healthiest* campaigns Muchova's seven-week absence between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open prevented her from building up her season points total -- missing 1000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati -- high enough to make any sort of successful late push from Swiatek for the final spot in the field a moot point.

While Muchova was out and collected zero points during that summer stretch, Swiatek won in Toronto and reached the Cincy SF, accounting for a third (1390 of 4190) of the Pole's total Race points this season.
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6. Wuhan 1st Rd. - Shi Han def. Alex Eala
...4-6/6-3/6-3. A Subset holiday, as Eala follows up event losses to the world #180 (Prozorova) and #85 (Wang Xiyu, though the Asian Games aren't an *official* event) to one against #217. Even without the AG results in the mix, this is Eala's third straight defeat at tour level (starting w/ the U.S. Open 3r exit vs. Jovic).


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7. Rovereto 125 2nd Rd. - Bianca Andreescu def. Antonia Ruzic
...7-5/3-6/7-5. In Rovereto, it was The Return of DQ (IYKYK... pssst, see Angie Kerber).

In what became a tense 3:23 encounter, Andreescu survived a match which saw her take an MTO late in the 2nd for a shoulder/arm injury before Ruzic was slated to serve for the set, then stretch the time limits between points as she seemingly battled cramps late in the 3rd, ultimately being denied an MTO at 5-5, after she'd failed to put away a pair of MP at 5-3.

Still, Andreescu managed to save a BP in game 11, holding in a six-deuce game, then denying Ruzic a GP and breaking the Croatian to end the match and avoid a deciding TB. Ruzic, unhappy throughout with the chair umpire and Andreescu's delaying tactics, shook the hand on neither at the conclusion of the match.

Then, in perhaps the most surprising development, Andreescu returned *the next day* and still had enough left to add another win onto her week's total, defeating Luisa Stefanini en route to what would turn out to be a title-winning week.
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8. Wuhan 2nd Rd. - Guo Hanyu def. Katie Volynets
...6-4/4-6/7-6(3). Guo's career-best 1000 run saw her pull back what could have been a squandered opportunity for victory against Volynets. Guo held on, but only after giving back a 3rd set break lead on three occasions through the first ten games of the decider before she took control for good in the closing TB.

The two combined for 40 BP chances in the match, 24 of them saved by the server. Both completed eight breaks of serve, with Volynets 8-of-24 on BP and Guo 8-of-16.
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9. Wuhan SF - Sonay Kartal def. Alona Ostapenko
...7-6(9)/7-6(5). After a week of Thunderous heroics, Ostapenko came up short on more than half a dozen opportunities to seize some measure of control against the Brit.

The Latvian fell in straights despite leading 4-1 in both sets, holding seven combined SP across both stanzas. In the 1st, on serve, Ostapenko held a SP at 5-4 and two more at 6-5, then three more in the ensuing TB before Kartal converted on her own third SP, winning 11-9. In the 2nd, Ostapenko's SP chances came on return. That didn't work out for her, either, as Kartal denied one at 5-4, then two at 6-5 before going on to win a 7-5 TB to reach her biggest career final.


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10. Wuhan Final - Maja Chwalinska def. Sonay Kartal
...2-6/6-4/6-2. Chwalinska becomes the 11th first-time tour singles champion in 2026, once again becoming the "Pole of the Moment" in a event that at one point *appeared* as if it would be a place where the *other* top-ranked Polish player was positioned to solidify a season-making moment.

Surely no one thought that the Polish woman in the RG final would be Maja rather than Iga, and the same goes for Wuhan. And yet.


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11. Wuhan 1st Rd. - Wang Xiyu def. Wang Xinyu
...6-2/6-0. The fourth edition of the Chinese branch of the "announcer's nightmare" match-up, as Asian Games champ Wang Xiyu handles Wang Xinyu, improving to 3-1 in their career head-to-head with her third straight win in the series. Xinyu last won in 2018.


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12. Wuhan 2nd Rd. - Elina Svitolina def. Liudmila Samsonova
...6-2/5-7/6-2. Svitolina ultimately fell in the QF -- her sixth QF+ run in the season's ten 1000 events -- to Sonay Kartal, but her earlier three-set win over Samsonova officially secured the Ukrainian's first WTAF berth since 2019, when she reached her second of back-to-back finals in the event (she won the title in 2018).

Her additional win in Wuhan over Guo Hanyu was Svitolina's 50th match victory on the season, tying Jessie Pegula and Mirra Andreeva for the tour lead.


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1. $35K Redding USA Final - Connie Ma def. Annika Penickova 7-5/6-2
$50K Stara Zagora BUL Final - Ipak Oz def. Alena Kovackova 6-2/7-5
...neither of the one half of two tennis-playing sisters won in their attempts to claim challenger singles titles on the weekend.

17-year old Bannerette Penickova drops to 1-3 in career pro finals (twin Kristina is 0-2), while 18-year old Crusher Kovackova falls to 0-5 (16-year old Jana is 3-3).


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“Second hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack.” ― Virginia Woolf writingforwellbeing.co.uk #writing #WritingCommunity #WritersCommunity #BookSky #books #reading

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— Writing for Wellbeing (@writeforwellbeing.bsky.social) October 10, 2026 at 8:27 PM



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I am pleased to have another poem published in Second Coming. I invite you to read "Reply to: DJT." secondcoming.substack.com/p/second-com...

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— Diane Elayne Dees (@womenwhoserve.bsky.social) October 15, 2026 at 10:21 AM








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*2026 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
Abu Dhabi - Sara Bejlek, CZE (20/#101)
Merida - Cristina Bucsa, ESP (28/#63)
Rabat - Petra Marcinko, CRO (20/#76)
Rosmalen - Robin Montgomery, USA (21/#484)
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)

*2026 LOW-RANKED WTA FINALISTS*
#484 - Robin Montgomery (Rosmalen, w/o W Krejcikova)
#317 - Nadia Podoroska (Sao Paulo L Quevedo)
#229 - Kristina Liutova (Memphis W Vidmanova)
#209 - Veronika Podrez (Rouen L Kostyuk)
#170 - SONAY KARTAL (Wuhan L Chwalinska)
#124 - Tamara Korpatsch (Ostava L Boulter)
#119 - Taylor Townsend (Austin L Stearns)
#115 - Paula Badosa (Iasi L Sherif)
#114 - Maja Chwalinska (R.Garros L Andreeva)
#114 - Dasha Vidmanova (Memphis L Liutova)

*2026 PROTECTED RANKING ENTRANTS IN WTA FINALS*
Rabat - Anhelina Kalinina, UKR (L)
Sao Paulo - Nadia Podoroska, ARG (L)
Wuhan - SONAY KARTAL, GBR (L)

*2026 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
7 - Katerina Siniakova
6 - GABY DABROWSKI
6 - LUISA STEFANI
6 - Taylor Townsend
4 - Zhang Shuai
[duos]
6...DABROWSKI/STEFANI
5...Siniakova/Townsend
2...Dart/Lumsden
2...Guo/Mladneovic
2...Routliffe/Sutjiadi
2...Siniakova/Zhang
[2020-26 - individuals]
32 - Katerina Siniakova (1/6/6/3/5/4/7)
18 - LUISA STEFANI (1/1/2/3/1/4/6)
17 - GABY DABROWSKI (0/1/3/2/2/3/6)
17 - Taylor Townsend (1/0/0/3/3/4/6)
15 - Barbora Krejcikova (1/5/3/4/1/1/0)
15 - Elise Mertens (1/4/2/2/3/2/1)
[2020-26 - duos]
14..Krejcikova/Siniakova (1/5/3/3/1/1/0)
9...Errani/Paolini (0/0/0/1/4/4/0)
8...Aoyama/Shibahara (1/5/0/2/0/0/0)
8...DABROWSKI/STEFANI (0/1/1/0/0/0/6)
8...Siniakova/Townsend (0/0/0/0/2/1/5)
7...Dabrowski/Routliffe (0/0/0/2/2/3/0)
7...Siegemund/Zvonareva (1/0/2/4/0/0/0)

*2026 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
9 (7-2) = KATERINA SINIAKOVA
7 (6-1) = GABY DABROWSKI
7 (6-1) = LUISA STEFANI
6 (6-0) = Taylor Townsend
6 (4-2) = Zhang Shuai
6 (3-3) = Maia Lumsden
[2026 finals - duos]
7...DABROWSKI/STEFANI (6-1)
5...Siniakova/Townsend (5-0)
4...Danilina/Krunic (1-3)
3...Siniakova/Zhang (2-1)
3...Maleckova/Skoch (1-2)

*SINIAKOVA WON/LOST w/ PARTNERS in '26*
35-4 - Taylor Townsend (5 titles)
13-1 - Zheng Shuai (2 titles)
5-2 - STORM HUNTER
1-1 - Barbora Krejcikova

*2026 WTA 125 TTILES*
3 - Maria Timofeeva, UZB
2 - CLARA BUREL, FRA
2 - Fiona Ferro, FRA
2 - Francesca Jones, GBR
2 - Anhelina Kalinina, UKR
2 - Katarzyna Kawa, POL
2 - Lisa Pigato, ITA
2 - Mayar Sherif, EGY
2 - Lanlana Tararudee, THA
2 - Moyuka Uchijima, JPN






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Look he's a fucking idiot and everything. I know. But it'd be nice if the President didn't try to crush a democratic country engaged in a war of self-defense because he's flailing around trying to find someone to blame for energy prices caused by the blunder of an unrelated war he himself started.

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— James (@gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social) October 18, 2026 at 4:54 PM


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"It is a sin to be silent when it is your duty to protest." ~ Abraham Lincoln @anntelnaes.bsky.social

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— The Wolfpack (@wolfpack11720.bsky.social) October 17, 2026 at 12:35 PM


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All for now.

Read more...

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 8:00 PM  0 comments

Sunday, October 11, 2026

Wk.40- Qinwen's Gambit

Before Alex Eala, there was Zheng Qinwen... and she's back.








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*WEEK 40 CHAMPIONS*
BEIJING, CHINA (WTA 1000; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Zheng Qinwen/CHN def. Mirra Andreeva/RUS 7-5/6-4
WD: Gaby Dabrowski/Luisa Stefani (CAN/BRA) def. Katerina Siniakova/Zhang Shuai (CZE/CHN) 6-1/6-2
Suzhou, China (WTA 125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Rebecca Sramkova/SVK def. Kyoka Okamura/JPN 6-3/6-1
D: Li Yu-yun/Zhang Ying (TPE/CHN) def. Tatiana Prozorova/Aliaksandra Sasnovich (RUS/BLR) 6-3/6-0
Samsun, Turkey (WTA 125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Ayla Aksu/TUR def. Lucrezia Stefanini/ITA 7-5/2-6/6-2
D: Elena Pridankina/Anastasia Tikhonova (RUS/RUS) def. Rutuja Bhosale/Elena Micic (IND/AUS) 7-6(5)/6-7(7) [10-3]




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[Beijing 3rd Rd. Monday-to-Final]




PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Zheng Qinwen/CHN
...two seasons ago, Zheng was ascendent. In 2024, she didn't just win Olympic Gold, she also reached the AO, WTAF and Wuhan 1000 finals, as well as winning two other titles as she finished the season at #5 before climbing as high as #4 early in '25. Last season, she reached consecutive Sunshine Double QF, the semis in Rome and RG QF before lingering elbow issues finally required surgery following Wimbledon.

Everything since then has been in question, until the past two weeks in Beijing.

A year ago, after missing two months, Zheng returned to the courts to play in Beijing, only to abort her early comeback after retiring in just her second match. She didn't play again until February, and spent most of rest of the season searching for her form. She arrived in New York for U.S. Open qualifying at just 11-13 and ranked #125.

That's when things finally began to click again. She qualified recorded her first slam MD wins in fifteen months, then put on a QF run that included wins over Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek, with comebacks from 5-0 down in back-to-back sets over the two matches, before falling in three sets to eventual champion Elena Rybakina (Zheng had had a BP chance up 4-3 in the 3rd).

In Beijing, Zheng was a gradually-building steamroller, as the wild card entrant went three sets in her first four matches, defeating Shi Han, Anna Kalinskaya (ret.), Marie Bouzkova (7-5 3rd in 2:54) and Alina Charaeva. On her 24th birthday, Zheng took out Elina Svitolina, then Elise Mertens, in straight sets to reach her first final since the '24 WTAF, becoming the first Chinese player to reach the Chinese Open final (CHN women had been 0-7 in SF), as well as bein gthe first wild card and the lowest-ranked (#54) player to do it.

Rising to the occasion late in both the 1st and 2nd sets against Mirra Andreeva in the final, running off eleven straight points in the 1st and getting a late break/hold combo to close things out in the 2nd, Zheng won her sixth career tour title with a 7-5/6-4 victory, her first singles win since '24 in Tokyo.

14-2 since the start of U.S. Open qualifying, Zheng will jump all the way back up to #23 on Monday.

And, of course, with Zheng's return to the winner's circle, we also get another rendition of Qinwen Karaoke...


============================================



RISER: Mirra Andreeva/RUS
...Andreeva won her maiden slam title at Roland Garros in the spring, but the rest of her season hasn't exactly been headline-making.

The 19-year old has just one Top 10 win on the year (Iga in Stuttgart), and hasn't picked up a 1000 title since taking Indian Wells *last* season. Andreeva won a pair of 500 events (Adelaide/Linz) in the opening months of the season, and was runner-up in the Madrid 1000 some six months ago, but she started off Beijing having gone just 5-5 in non-major events since RG (though she did rise perform well in New York with a QF run at the U.S. Open), and was still missing a second signature moment for her season.

The Hordette threatened to get it in Beijing while running off wins vs. a draw that was, honestly, a notch or so below what one might expect in an event that included eight total Top 10 players (counting Andreeva herself), but ultimately came up just short in her second 1000 final of the season.

Wins over Yuan Yue (w/ love 2nd *and* 3rd sets), Polina Kudermetova, Daria Snigur, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Nikola Bartunkova launched her into her ninth career WTA final with a ten-set winning streak, but it was home favorite Zheng Qinwen who played the "chapionship points" better to close out both ends of a straight sets, 7-5/6-4 win in the title match.

Still, Andreeva's 50 wins and three singles titles are tied for the tour lead, and this week she locked up her maiden WTA Finals berth. She also did enough to climb to a new career high of #3 on Monday, making her the youngest to debut in the Top 3 since Maria Sharapova in 2005.


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SURPRISES: Sinja Kraus/AUT and Ayla Aksu/TUR
...while other Austrians -- namely Anastasia Potapova and Lilli Tagger -- have made more headlines in 2026, this has been a career year for Kraus, as well.

The 24-year old has made her slam MD debuts at the last three majors, reached a pair of 125 finals (winning the second title of her career) and cracked the Top 100, climbing as high as #80 this summer. Beijing provided another door to knock down, as Kraus had her first multi-MD victory tournament at tour level, doing so in a 1000 event after having been 0-4 this season in 1000 1st Round matches (and 0-3 in her slam openers, as well).

Kraus outlasted Maya Joint in a 7-5 3rd in the 1st Round, then advanced after Potapova retired after five games in their all-AUT match-up. She then upset Dayana Yastremska to reach the Round of 16.

Kraus took Nikola Bartunkova to three sets in her attempt for even more, but the young Czech ultimately claimed the "W." Still, the Austrian will jump 20 spots to another new career high at #78.



In Samsun, Turkey, 30-year old Aksu became the second Turk in recent weeks (w/ Berfu Cengiz last month in Ankara) to win a 125 crown, grabbing her biggest career title in what was her second 125 final this season (she lost to Dasha Vidmanova in June).

Eight months after winning what was then her biggest crown (a $75K), Aksu posted wins in Samsun over Emiliana Arango, Alicia Dudeney, Fiona Crawley, Himeno Sakatsume and Lucrezia Stefanini in a three-set final.

Previously a longtime success on the ITF level, where she's won 14 career events in 27 final appearances, Aksu will jump from #210 all the way up the #152, far outdistancing her previous career high of #198.

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VETERANS: Elise Mertens/BEL and Elina Svitolina/UKR
...in Beijing, Mertens continued her thirtysomething resurgence, notching a pair of Top 10 wins and producing her best 1000 result in five years.

The veteran Waffle battled through the early rounds, winning a 7-5 3rd set vs. Katie Volynets and taking down Alona Ostapenko in three. Her 4th Round win over a mentally weary Coco Gauff made Mertens the fifth woman this season with Top 10 wins on all three surfaces (a career first, and her first such win on hard court in three years), and her follow-up upset of Iga Swiatek was her career-best fourth Top 10 win of the season.



Playing in her first 1000 SF since Dubai 2021 (she hadn't reached a QF since Madrid '21), after a 48-event drought at that level, Mertens fell a round short of what would have been her maiden 1000 final in a straight sets loss to Zheng Qinwen.

Already this season, Mertens has reached her first slam QF (Wimbledon) since 2020, as well as posting her best career win over then-#2 Elena Rybakina (also WI), and reached a tour singles final for the tenth straight season. She remains title-less, though, with her last title coming on the grass at Rosmalen in summer '25. Her last title above the 250 level came in Australia in January '21.

The Belgian will rise to #14 in the new rankings, with a shot at reaching her career high of #12 (from 2018) before the end of the season.

Always a double threat, Mertens also reached the WD semis alongside Diana Shnaider in their first pairing since reaching the U.S. Open SF.

Svitolina arrived in Beijing off Ukraine's maiden trip to the BJK Cup Final, then added to her consistent '26 campaign with her 12th QF (in 18 events) of the season (fifth in a 1000) following wins over Katerina Siniakova, Maria Sakkari and Ann Li.



Svitolina lost in the last eight to Zheng Qinwen, but she's likely to be the next to book her spot in the WTA Finals in Indian Wells. She's currently in the #6 spot in the Race, with an 1100 and 1200 point lead on the top two players currently outside the field (Kostyuk and Swiatek) in the Race standings after Beijing. Svitolina hasn't been in the tour championships field since reaching her second straight final in 2019 (she was the champion in '18).
============================================
COMEBACKS: Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS and Rebecca Sramkova/SVK
...Alexandrova came into Beijing still under .500 at just 17-22 on the season, and close to falling out of the Top 30 after having finished up her first career Top 10 campaign last year.

The veteran Hordette's results started to improve during summer hard courts, a stretch which saw her post wins over Aryna Sabalenka and Marta Kostyuk, and she added a second 1000 QF run (along w/ Toronto) of the season after wins over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Diana Shnaider and Linda Noskova, her third Top 10 victory of '26 (#22 in her career).



Alexandrova fell in a pair of TB sets vs. countrywoman Mirra Andreeva in the QF. Alexandrova served for both sets, at 5-3 in the 1st (after trailing 3-1) and 6-5 in the 2nd (after trailing 5-3).

9-5 since her retirement loss in the Memphis QF to 16-year old Kristina Liutova, Alexandrova will jump back up to #24 in the new rankings.

In Suzhou, Sramkova posted her best result of an otherwise forgettable season, winning the 125 crown with a 6-3/6-1 win in the final over late-blooming 31-year old Japanese player Kyoka Okamura, who was playing in her biggest career final. The Slovak had notched previous wins on the week over Claire Liu and Renata Zarazua.

It's Sramkova's biggest title since winning her maiden tour-level crown in Hua Hin two years ago (she reached three WTA finals in '24). Before this week she'd only advanced past the 2nd Round in one (a 125 QF in Oeiras in April) of her first 23 events this season.


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FRESH FACE: Nikola Bartunkova/CZE
...Bartunkova's first week success in Beijing carried over well into the second, as the 20-year old Czech followed up her early win over Aryna Sabalenka with wins over Sinja Kraua and Karolina Muchova, advancing in dominant fashion over her countrywoman to pick up her third Top 10 win of the season as she reached both her maiden 1000 QF *and* SF.

Bartunkova fell a round short of the final with a loss to Mirra Andreeva, but will jump four more spots to a new career high of #30.


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ITF WORLD TENNIS: Ane Mintegi del Olmo/ESP and Alisa Oktiabreva/CZE
...both former junior slam winners, both are putting on a show in recent weeks at the challenger level.

Mintegi del Olmo, the Wimbledon girls' champ in 2021, continues to emerge from her injury-riddled last few seasons, this week winning her fourth '26 challenger crown (and second $50K) in Burgas, Bulgaria, outlasting Anastasia Sobolieva and closing out the week with a love 3rd set win to pick up her second straight title.

The 22-year old has now won her last eight challenger singles finals back to November 2023.

In Heraklion (GRE), 18-year old Oktiabreva won her *third* straight challenger title, running her winning streak to 15 matches with a 7-5/6-1 win in the final over Ipek Oz.

The new Czech is now 8-1 in ITF World Tennis finals, going 4-0 in '26.

Oktiabreva won the RG girls' title earlier this year in her junior swan song event, defeating first-week Beijing star Sun Xinran in the final in Paris.


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JUNIOR STAR: Maaya Rajeshwaran/IND
...17-year old Rajeshwaran, the girls' #16 and the winner of two J300 titles this season (and a recent J500 semifinalist in Osaka), claimed her maiden pro titles with a sweep of the singles and doubles in the $35K in Lagos, Portugal.

First-time finalist Rajeshwaran, who had to win a qualifying match to reach the MD, defeated Spain's Celia Cervino Ruiz 6-4/6-2 to take the singles, and teamed with 19-year old Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Kotliar to win the doubles.


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DOUBLES: Gaby Dabrowski/Luisa Stefani, CAN/BRA
...while the doubles duo of the year remains Siniakova/Townsend, with their title run in Beijing the team of Dabrowski/Stefani solidified their position as the season #2 by defeating the only other combo in the conversation -- also featuring Katerina Siniakova, only with Zhang Shuai, who came into the match w/ two titles and a 13-0 season record -- in a 6-1/6-2 final to claim their fifth '26 title (matching the total of Siniakova/Townsend).

The two lost just one set en route to the win (in the SF), knocking off Errani/Paolini, Mertens/Shnaider and the top seeds along the way, ending Siniakova's personal streak of nine consecutive wins in doubles finals.

It's Dabrowski/Stefani's sixth overall title as a duo, with the Canadian claiming the 25th of her career, and Stefani #17.


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[Beijing 3rd Rd. Monday-to-Final]


1. Beijing 4th Rd. - Karolina Muchova def. Naomi Osaka
...7-5/1-6/7-6(7). Even with her brief late summer absence, Muchova has arguably been the most consistent player on tour in 2026, as her latest win over Osaka only further highlighted as she improved her season record in matches in which she wins the 1st set to 34-0.

It took some doing, and much trial and error, for the Czech to keep her record spotless, though.

First, Muchova had to actually *win* the opening set, which she did after having trailed 4-1. After Osaka sent things to the 3rd, Muchova fell behind again at 3-1, only to surge back and reach MP at 5-4. She had five MP chances on Osaka's serve, including three in a row at love/40, but couldn't get the break to close things out.

After two more holds during which the servers lost a total of one point, everything came down to a TB. Muchova went out to a 6-4 lead, and while Osaka never held a MP of her own (getting as close as 6-6 and 7-7) she forced the Czech to use and lose three more MP attempts before finally converting on #9 to win 9-7 and improve to 3-0 vs. Osaka on the season.



Unfortunately, this one seemingly took everything out of Muchova, as she was dominated in the QF by Bartunkova, dropping the first five games of the match, winning three in a row and then losing the last seven in a 6-3/6-0 defeat.
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2. Beijing 3rd Rd. - Iga Swiatek def. Donna Vekic
...4-6/7-6(0)/6-2. Swiatek nearly went the way of Rybakina and Sabalenka in Beijing, but started off the tournament's second week by avoiding an upset, pulling out of a deep hole vs. the veteran Croatian.

Vekic led 6-4/5-2, up a double-break and twice serving for the match (she fell behind love/40 in both games, eventually being broke twice at 15). Once Swiatek survived that, the Pole won her first career 7-0 TB before taking control and putting away the 3rd at 6-2.

Meanwhile (and exactly)...



The WTA is and remains the GOAT of unforced errors. Would this have been so hard?


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3. Beijing QF - Elise Mertens def. Iga Swiatek
...7-6(0)/6-3. Of course, in a result emblematic of Swiatek's '26 season, with a shot to pick up real ground in the race for the final spot in the WTAF field, she followed up her 7-0 TB win over Vekic with a 7-0 TB *loss* vs. Mertens two rounds later, as the Belgian picked up her second win in the event (w/ Gauff) over a former Beijing champion.



Swiatek remains around 600 points behind Muchova for the last spot. Race #8 Linda Noskova and #9 Marta Kostyuk are positioned between the two in the standings, but Noskova has assured her spot in the field on the strength of her Wimbledon title whether she holds onto her current final Top 8 spot in the standings or not.


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4. Beijing Final - Zheng Qinwen def. Mirra Andreeva
...7-5/6-4. Zheng surges late to claim both sets in the final, sweeping the final 11 points of the 1st and then breaking Andreeva for a 5-4 lead (on BP #4) in the 2nd before serving out her biggest tour-level title.

Zheng's win prevented Andreeva from moving into first place for the season in titles (she remains tied with Sabalenka and Rybakina w/ three) and match wins (she remains at 50, tied w/ Pegula).


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5. Beijing 3rd Rd. - Coco Gauff def. Sun Xinran
...7-5/6-1. The 16-year old's run ended in the 3rd Round, but she still held the crowd in the palm of her hand with some great moments.



Of course, all that'll be remembered from this match is that with Gauff serving in the 1st set, and Sun leading 5-4, Coco stopped mid-point and asked for a re-playing of the point when a wall of electronic ads flickered in her line of vision as she moved to make a volley. The chair umpire *did* grant the perfectly justified request for a re-play.

Predictably, the moment set off a whole manufactured controversy in which Gauff was hounded as a "cheater," and some declared that Sun had been "robbed of the set." Sun reacted emotionally (i.e. like a normal 16-year old might) to losing the point, and Gauff dominated the match the rest of the way. Naturally, this brought out all the racist social media trolls, as well.

It got so bad that Gauff felt she had to publicly address the landslide of racism sent her way...





Of course, the best answer to it all would have been to go on and win the tournament, but that didn't happen. In her next match, Gauff suffered her worst loss -- 6-3/6-3 to Elise Mertens, against whom she'd been 5-0 -- since February in Doha, as her last eight complete-match losses had all come in three-set affairs. She then announced her withdrawal from Wuhan, where she was the reigning champion.



Credit to Gauff for going public with the abuse. But, still, I honestly don't know why players don't just use social media as a place to post and vent, and simply don't look at the comments and messages from people who are just trying to inflict judgement and pain (which surely *seems* to have gotten to Coco in this case), giving them the sort of power they haven't earned and surely don't deserve.

I know the WTA has done work to try to stop such abuse, but nothing will block it *all* out except for choosing to not give it all the headspace its perpetrators seek. That doesn't mean not calling it all out when it happens, of course. Some cooperation between the tour and the media companies supposedly monitoring such activity would be nice, too. In a perfect world.

Of course, the WTA being the WTA, didn't even come out and make any sort of statement in the middle of this needless mess, once again leaving one of its own to fend for herself without public institutional support at a moment when it would have been appreciated and most needed, not to mention *expected*.

But it's the WTA, so...
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1. $50K Burgas BUL Final - Alena Kovackova/Jana Kovackova def. Maia Ilinca Burcescu/Sonja Zhenikova
...6-4/7-5. Another week, another Crusher all-twins title, as the 18-year old Kovackovas improve to 9-0 in career pro finals.

They won the '25 U.S. Open and '26 AO together, and Jana went on this year to claim three girls' doubles majors, becoming the first to complete a Career Girls' Doubles Slam.
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And from the WTA... (crickets)




Also, I wouldn't recommend reading any of the comments on the threads concerning Gauff, either, as you quickly lose brain cells the longer you subject yourself to such trash.


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Jordis Unga (2005)...




2025...





#booksky

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— Bookshelfie ⭐️ (@bookshelfie.bsky.social) October 9, 2026 at 8:21 PM







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*2020-26 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
26 - 1/2/8/6/5/3/1 = Iga Swiatek
19 - 3/2/0/3/4/4/3 = Aryna Sabalenka
12 - 1/0/1/2/3/3/2 = Elena Rybakina
11 - 0/1/0/4/3/2/1 = Coco Gauff
10 - 0/0/1/2/2/3/2 = Jessie Pegula
9 - 0/3/2/2/1/0/1 = Barbora Krejcikova
8 - 1/5/2 = Ash Barty (ret.)
7 - 2/1/0/1/0/1/2 = Elina Svitolina
6 - 0/0/0/0/1/2/3 = Mirra Andreeva
6 - 0/1/1/2/0/2/0 = Belinda Bencic
6 - 0/1/1/1/0/2/1 = Leylah Fernandez
6 - 0/2/2/0/2/0/0 = Dasha Kasatkina
6 - 0/0/1/1/1/2/1 = Madison Keys
6 - 0/1/1/1/2/1/0 = Alona Ostapenko
6 - 0/0/0/2/3/0/1 = ZHENG QINWEN

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2026*
5 - MIRRA ANDREEVA (3-2)
5 - Elena Rybakina (3-2)
5 - Aryna Sabalenka (3-2)
5 - Jessie Pegula (2-3)
4 - Karolina Muchova (2-2)
3 - Marta Kostyuk (2-1)
3 - Elina Svitolina (2-1)
3 - Coco Gauff (1-2)
3 - Victoria Mboko (0-3)

*MOST WTA SF in 2026*
8 - Jessie Pegula (5-3)
7 - Coco Gauff (3-4)
7 - Elina Svitolina (3-4)
6 - MIRRA ANDREEVA (5-1)
6 - Elena Rybakina (5-1)
6 - Aryna Sabalenka (5-1)
6 - Karolina Muchova (4-2)
5 - Marta Kostyuk (3-2)
5 - Iva Jovic (2-3)

*2026 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
7 - Katerina Siniakova
6 - Taylor Townsend
5 - GABY DABROWSKI
5 - LUISA STEFANI
4 - Zhang Shuai
3 - Maia Lumsden
3 - Aldila Sutjiadi
[duos]
5...Siniakova/Townsend
5...DABROWSKI/STEFANI
2...Dart/Lumsden
2...Guo/Mladneovic
2...Routliffe/Sutjiadi
2...Siniakova/Zhang
[2020-26 - individuals]
32 - Katerina Siniakova (1/6/6/3/5/4/7)
17 - Taylor Townsend (1/0/0/3/3/4/6)
17 - LUISA STEFANI (1/1/2/3/1/4/5)
16 - GABY DABROWSKI (0/1/3/2/2/3/5)
15 - Barbora Krejcikova (1/5/3/4/1/1/0)
15 - Elise Mertens (1/4/2/2/3/2/1)
14 - Nicole Melichar-Martinez (2/2/2/0/3/3/2)
14 - Erin Routliffe (0/1/1/3/3/4/2)
[2020-26 - duos]
14..Krejcikova/Siniakova (1/5/3/3/1/1/0)
9...Errani/Paolini (0/0/0/1/4/4/0)
8...Aoyama/Shibahara (1/5/0/2/0/0/0)
8...Siniakova/Townsend (0/0/0/0/2/1/5)
7...Dabrowski/Routliffe (0/0/0/2/2/3/0)
7...DABROWSKI/STEFANI (0/1/1/0/0/0/5)
7...Siegemund/Zvonareva (1/0/2/4/0/0/0)

*2026 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
8 (7-1) = KATERINA SINIAKOVA
6 (6-0) = Taylor Townsend
6 (5-1) = GABY DABROWSKI
6 (5-1) = LUISA STEFANI
6 (3-3) = Maia Lumsden
6 (4-2) = ZHANG SHUAI
5 (2-3) = Nicole Melichar-Martinez
[2026 finals - duos]
6...DABROWSKI/STEFANI (5-1)
5...Siniakova/Townsend (5-0)
4...Danilina/Krunic (1-3)
3...SINIAKOVA/ZHANG (2-1)
3...Maleckova/Skoch (1-2)





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At this point, there is no ambiguity about what just happened: Trump has stabbed the Ukrainian nation in the back in exchange for a shipment of diesel that would be a roughly 17 hour supply for the US market. It shows how easily Trump is manipulated by Putin, Xi and other dangerous dictators.

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— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) October 10, 2026 at 5:31 PM


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@jackohman.bsky.social in solidarity with @anntelnaes.bsky.social a series of protest cartoons by artists who supported Ann when she resigned from WaPo

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— paulpro (@mariopro.bsky.social) October 8, 2026 at 8:30 AM


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republicans used to complain about the violence in gangster rap and now they want to livestream an execution

— derek guy (@dieworkwear.bsky.social) October 9, 2026 at 8:56 PM


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I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you’re not obligated to justify your choice of music, books, television, or films to anyone.

— The Whimsical Muse (@whimsicalmuse.bsky.social) October 8, 2026 at 1:36 PM





All for now.

Read more...

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 7:30 PM  1 comments