Monday, March 31, 2025

Wk.13- Sabalenka (Finally) Shines in South Beach








futuristic-fonts




*WEEK 13 CHAMPIONS*
MIAMI (FLA), USA (WTA 1000; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR def. Jessie Pegula/USA 7-5/6-2
D: Mirra Andreeva/Diana Shnaider (RUS/RUS) def. Cristina Bucsa/Miyu Kato (ESP/JPN) 6-3/6-7(5) [10-2]
Antalya, Turkey (WTA 125; Clay Court Outdoor)
S: Olga Danilovic/SRB def. Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva/AND 6-2/6-3
D: Simona Waltert/Maria Lourdes Carle (SUI/ARG) def. Maja Chwalinska/Anastasia Detiuc (POL/CZE) 3-6/7-5 [10-3]
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (WTA 125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Jaqueline Cristian/ROU def. Linda Fruhvirtova/CZE 7-5/6-4
D: Hanna Chang/Christina McHale (USA/USA) def. Maya Joint/Ena Shibahara (AUS/JPN) 2-6/6-2 [10-7]




kosova-font


[Miami Middle Sunday through Final]




PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR
...in Miami, Sabalenka was the rock *and* the hard place, and the rest of the field was caught in between.

For all her hard court domination the last few seasons, until this weekend Sabalenka had somehow managed to win neither Indian Wells *nor* Miami, the two biggest non-major hard court events on the schedule. Not only that, but this year the world #1 had reached but lost *both* the Australian Open and Indian Wells finals, too. Could she *really* go another season without winning at least one end of the Sunshine Swing, *and* become just the second woman to ever lose all three of the early season's big hard court finals in a matter of a few months?

Well, as it turned out, no. In fact, Sabalenka managed to reassert her prowess on the surface, sending a message for when the schedule comes back around for the next North American hard court stretch this summer, as she won six matches in South Beach -- her "home away from home" -- without losing a set. Wins over Viktoriya Tomova and Gabriela Ruse (ret. in the first game of the 2nd set) preceded victories over defending champ Danielle Collins and '24 AO final opponent Zheng Qinwen (improving to 6-0 in their head-to-head) to reach her first Miami Open semi.

From there, Jasmine Paolini and Jessica Pegula (in Sabalenka's tour-leading fourth '25 final) became the Belarusian's second and third Top 10 victims in the event as she hoisted her 19th career tour title trophy (the 17th on hard court), and officially passed Iga Swiatek as the tour HC title (12-to-11) and overall singles final (26-to-25) leader in the 2020s. She's 12-2 in her last fourteen matches vs. the Top 10, and has gone 25-6 overall since she reclaimed the #1 ranking last October (she was just 5-3 in her brief stint atop the rankings late in the '24 season).



Sabalenka's AO-IW-MIA trio of final appearances marks the seventh time a woman has reached all three title matches in the same season, and her win makes her the second of that group to lose the first two before winning the third. The only player to go into the Miami final having been 0-2 and *not* make the third attempt a charm remains Maria Sharapova in 2012, as Sabalenka joins Martina Hingis (L-L-W in 2000) with a "last chance" victory.


===============================================
RISERS: Jasmine Paolini/ITA and Jaqueline Cristian/ROU
...finally, the Italian posted a singles result in 2025 that reminded everyone of what she accomplished in '24. Paolini arrived in Florida at just 8-5 on the season, with no more than two wins in any event. But one of those was a foreshadowing (it turned out) Round of 16 result in Indian Wells, a run she improved upon in Miami with a SF finish that included wins over Rebecca Sramkova, Ons Jabeur (ret.), Naomi Osaka and Magda Linette. Paolini ultimately was knocked out by eventual champ Aryna Sabalenka.



Since the start of 2024, Paolini has now reached two slam finals, as well as having two other Round of 16 results in majors. In 1000s, she's won one title and reached a QF and SF. Clearly a big event player, the Italian has gone a combined 38-16 at the slam/1000 level during the stretch, compared to 16-11 everywhere else.



After a 3rd Round result in Indian Wells that included wins over Veronika Kudermetova and Leylah Fernandez (before a three-set loss to Paolini), a run that matched her career best in a 1000 event, Cristian's next stop was the 125 in Puerta Vallerta after the Romanian withdrew from Miami qualifying.

The #1 seed in the event, Cristian posted wins over Harriet Dart, Ena Shibahara, Tatjana Maria and Rebeka Masarova (erasing a 4-1 3rd set deficit vs. the Swiss Again) to reach the second-biggest final of her career (behind '21 Linz) and her first on any level since a $100K in November '23.

The Romanian defeated Linda Fruhvirtova 7-5/6-4 on Sunday night to take the crown, her biggest career title to date, and will climb from #72 to #58, just one off the career high position she held last summer.
===============================================



VETERANS: Jessie Pegula/USA and Magda Linette/POL
...over the past eight months, home has been where the heart is for Pegula. Well, home *and* hard court success.

The Bannerette has shined on North American hard courts since last summer, successfully defending her title in Canada (she also won her first 1000 crown in '22 in Guadalajara, Mexico) and reaching finals in Cincinnati and at her first major at the U.S. Open. In fact, the only player on tour who has been better during that HC stretch has been Aryna Sabalenka. Unfortunately for Pegula, the Belarusian keeps popping up on the other side of the net.

In Miami, Pegula prevailed over Bernarda Pera, Anna Kalinskaya (from a set down, and in a 3rd set TB), Marta Kostyuk and Emma Raducanu (in 3), and proved to be the only player who could end Alex Eala's fairy tale run (also in three sets) as she reached her fourth 1000 final (all have come in North America). It's Pegula's third final of '25, behind only Sabalenka's tour-leading four.

It was Sabalenka who prevented Pegula from taking the title in the Cincinnati and U.S. Open finals, though, and she did so again in South Beach, winning as she did in the other two match-ups in straight sets.



If Pegula had managed to win this time, she'd have passed Coco Gauff to become the new U.S. #1 (behind Sabalenka and Swiatek in the rankings), but instead remains at #4.



While it's forgivable for it to have nearly slipped one's mind by now, Iga Swiatek is not the only Polish woman to have reached the AO semifinals in the last three years. While the world #2 did it earlier this season, Linette reached her lone major final four two years ago in Melbourne as she knocked off four seeded players en route.

With fellow former AO semifinalist (2014 & '16) Aga Radwanska now lending a hand to Mark Gellard with coaching duties, the veteran Pole continues to post her best career results in her thirties. Linette's AO semi came in her 30th year, she reached her career high (#19) at 31, and ended a four and a half year tour title drought (Prague '24) and reached her first 1000 QF (Wuhan '24) at 32.

Miami saw a now 33-year old Linette run off eight consecutive sets in four straight sets wins over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Linda Fruhvirtova and Coco Gauff, matching her career best 1000 result with a QF run. The win over #3 Gauff -- her best since knocking off a #1-ranked Ash Barty in '21 -- is the sixth Top 10 victory of Linette's career, with four having now come since her 30th birthday.

After defeating Gauff, Linette finally got the chance to sign a camera lens after a big match. She wrote, "30 is looking good," before realizing she needed to correct herself. She turned the "30" into "33." Time flies.

Linette fell to Jasmine Paolini a round short of the semis, but will climb to #31 on Monday, making her the most senior player ranked in the Top 45.
===============================================



COMEBACKS: Emma Raducanu/GBR and Linda Fruhvirtova/CZE
...Raducanu has often been at her best in the big events, and she was so again in Miami as the Brit strung together four MD wins in a tour-level event for the first time since she won the U.S. Open in 2021.

After an opening win over Sayaka Ishii, Raducanu followed up with her third career Top 10 win via a victory over Emma Navarro (who served for the match), saw McCartney Kessler retire after losing 9 of the first 10 games in a 3rd Rounder, then took advantage of poor scheduling for Amanda Ansimova (who had to play an afternoon match after a night match, with a finger blister thrown in for extra spice) and locked away a quick straight sets win to reach the QF of a 1000 event for the first time.

After dropping the 1st set vs. Jessie Pegula, Raducanu won a 2nd set TB to force a decider before falling in three to the eventual finalist. Raducanu now returns to the Top 50 for the first time since September 2022 when her '21 U.S. title points fell off.

Of course, Raducanu has posted nice one-off results (or short spurts of success) like this before, including a '23 Indian Wells 4th Round and a good grass court campaign a year ago (Eastbourne QF, Nottingham SF, Wimbledon 4r). The question is whether she can make a more reliable habit of it *and* -- maybe most importantly -- stay healthy enough for such a thing to even be possible.

As it is, even with her 4-1 Miami run, Raducanu is still just 7-7 on the season.



Meanwhile, over the past two weeks, Fruhvirtova has put on a master class in turning around a slide that had been threatening to get out of control.

The 19-year old Czech, a tour title winner in 2022 (the first for the Crushers) and with a Top 50 ranking in '23, came into Miami having dropped to #215. She was the *13th*-highest ranked Czech.

But, three years after Fruhvirtova reached the Miami 3rd Round as a 16-year old, she qualified and put on another 3rd Round run, with a victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia giving her her first Top 50 win since last February and her first Top 20 victory since her '22 Miami debut.

After a loss to Magda Linette in Miami, Fruhvirtova took a wild card into the 125 MD in Puerto Vallarta, where she continued her roll, posting wins over Dasha Saville, Maya Joint and Heather Watson to reach her first singles final on any level since her lone WTA title result in Chennai three years ago.

Fruhvirtova lost in that final on Sunday to Jaqueline Cristian, but her two-week, two-event surge means that on Monday she'll find herself 61 spots higher in the rankings (#154) and the new CZE #8. With her combined 7-2 record, Fruhvirtova is now 14-7 on the season after being under .500 in both of the last two years (21-28 in '23, 21-31 in '24).
===============================================



FRESH FACES: Alex Eala/PHI and Olga Danilovic/SRB
...Eala's career breakout in Miami didn't end on the middle weekend. In fact,the 19-year old Filipina nearly played her way into the final while knocking down historical accomplishments at pretty much every turn along the way.

The #140-ranked player in the world, the 2022 U.S. Open junior champ, came into Miami having recorded just two career WTA MD wins in her career, though she has seemingly been on the cusp of taking a significant step up over the past year only to come up short (such as losing in the final round of qualifying at three straight majors last year while trying to reach her first career slam MD), though she *did* make a statement with a $100K title last summer and reached a 125 SF in Canberra in January. Eala was very smartly given a MD wild card for Miami, and then proceded to make that decision look positively genius.

First week wins over Katie Volynets and Alona Ostapenko (the first Top 30 victory by a PHI player, a huge feat which eventually was overshadowed many times over) were followed by a *Top 10* upset of AO champ Madison Keys. But the lefty wasn't finished. After a walkover from Paula Badosa (the back again) to become the first from her nation to reach a WTA QF, Eala brought down the house with a *straight sets* win over #2 Iga Swiatek, the same Iga who was brought in to speak and inspire the Class of 2023 graduates at the Nadal Academy, of which Eala was one...



With wins over three slam winners, two of them current Top 5 players, Eala was playing with the proverbial "house money" in the SF vs. another Top 5 player in Jessie Pegula. And she very nearly added *another* layer of icing to her cake. Eala led Pegula 5-2 in the 1st, and had a SP at 5-3 in what turned out to be the one time she "acted her age" during her two-week run. Two DF helped lose that game, though Eala held on to force a TB (Pegula won it), then took the 2nd set to get to a 3rd. Finally, Pegula put away the match, but hardly anyone will remember that when this Miami Open is recalled down the road.

For while Aryna Sabalenka won the title, Eala in many ways won the tournament in every other way imaginable.

She'll crack the Top 100 on Monday, coming in at #75, and assuming she's able to show up for the "date" won't have to try to make her way through qualifying (she 0-for-6 in attempts to date) to finally make her slam MD debut come Roland Garros time.



Meanwhile, 2025 has (so far) seen Danilovic continue the ascent that she resumed after a multi-season delay following her maiden WTA title and Top 100 breakthrough in 2018.

Last year, the Serb reached her first slam Round of 16 (at RG) and finally claimed her *second* tour-level title. The 24-year old reached the 4th Round at the Austalian Open this January, climbing into the Top 50 immediately afterward.

In Antalya, Danilovic ran roughshod over the field as the #1 seed, dropping just 15 total games (the second-fewest ever in a 125, just one less than the current record) as she picked up her second career 125 crown by closing out the week with a 6-2/6-3 win in the final over 19-year old Andorran Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva (the '20 AO junior champ, it was VJK's biggest career final).

Danilovic rises to a new career high of #35 on Monday, as she eyes her first ever slam seed in Paris.


===============================================
DOWN: Iga Swiatek/POL
...so, is Wim carrying a "go bag" with him at all times yet? You know, just in case.

Once again, this time in Miami, things started out well enough for Swiatek -- after a pre-event "apology" for what has been viewed as "bad behavior" on the court, the Pole hit the ground running with three straight sets wins over Garcia, Mertens and Svitolina (though each match had a set in which she needed 7 games to win) -- until the house suddenly came down on the former #1 again. This time it was at the hands of an unintimidated (or maybe pressure-free, by that point?) Alex Eala, the world #140 who'd *never* before set foot on such a stage as the QF of a 1000 event, and whose Nadal Academy graduation just two years ago featured the then #1-ranked Pole as its inspirational speaker.

But, still, Eala toppled Swiatek in straights, staging a comeback from 4-2 down in the 2nd to sweep the final four games.



Even though her QF result was Swiatek's first in the Miami Open since she won the title in '22, doesn't the world #2 pretty much *have* to win that match if Iga truly is still *Iga*? Yet she didn't.

Finally, the clay court season beckons. And, maybe for the first time, Swiatek really needs it.

Iga is still title-free since she won Roland Garros last spring, and hasn't reached a final since that same weekend. Of course, that drought somewhat coincides with her positive drug test in mid-August of last summer, but also with her loss *on the terre battue* at Roland Garros during the Olympics earlier that same month (her only loss in Paris since the 2021 RG quarterfinals, and just her second since her breakout '20 title run).

Last October, Swiatek split with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski after having seen her inability to consistently handle big hitters take away a bit of the shine of her recent accomplishments. Wim Fissette, with a long history of teaming with successful players (even if virtually all of them were already super successful long before he got anywhere near them), stepped into the role and... well, so far, not much has changed for the good, and maybe a step *back* has occurred. The title/final drought has now "grown legs."

If it continues for much longer into the part of the season that *should* be Swiatek's "lifeline," it'll be hard to believe that Fissette will be able to say the same when it comes to being part of Iga's "team." On the bright side, though, if the seemingly inevitable *does* happen at least Wim might not have to be talked and/or walked past when things don't go well, or have balls swatted in his direction during matches. So there'd be that.
===============================================
ITF PLAYER: Tereza Valentova/CZE
...another week, another Crusher champion. This time it's 18-year old Valentova, the '24 RG s/d champion, who picked up her fourth career $75K crown (second in '25) with a title run in Murska Sobota (SLO).

Valentova defeated Georgian Mariam Bolkvadze 1-6/6-3/6-3 in the final.

Valentova jumps back into the Top 200 on Monday, coming in at a career-high #170. She's now in the CZE women's Top 10 (#9).

@tery.valentova

===============================================
JUNIOR STARS: Lilli Tagger/AUT and Jana Kovackova/CZE
...some big ITF challenger results for a pair of juniors.

In Terrassa (ESP), 17-year old Austrian Tagger won her first pro title, taking the $35K crown after originally being a qualifier, completing her run with a 7-6(4)/6-3 win in the final over France's Lois Boisson. Tagger lost in the AO girls' QF to top ranked Emerson Jones in January.

Perhaps Tagger's defining game feature is that she's the rare teenager who sports a one-handed backhand. Of course, being such a unicorn tracks when you consider that no less than Francesca Schiavone is the Austrian's coach.



Meanwhile, another week, (yet) another Crusher champ. In this case, it was 14-year old Kovackova in just her fourth career pro event.



Kovackova went from qualifier to champion in the Antalya $35K challenger without losing a set, winning all fourteen sets she played en route to her maiden title via a 6-0/6-1 win over 21-year old Bulgarian Denislava Glushkova in the final.

The current girls' #11, Kovackova was the 14-and-under Wimbledon champion last year, a season which saw her win eight junior singles titles ranging from J30 to J300. In January, Jana and her 16-year old sister Alena reached the AO girls' doubles semis, where they lost to the Penickova twins in a sisters-vs.-sister clash that you can really only ever hope to see within the confines of the various tennis tours.
@__kovackovq.j__

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



DOUBLES: Mirra Andreeva/Diana Shnaider, RUS/RUS
...Andreeva just can't help herself. She didn't win *the* Sunshine Double, but did manage to add a Miami doubles crown to the singles title she won in Indian Wells two week ago.

Over the past year, the two-headed Hordette duo -- who seemingly started as almost a "casual" doubles pairing between friends -- have come together to win an Olympic Silver medal in '24 and now two WTA crowns this season, the latest a 1000 level "get."

Along the way in South Beach, over the course of five matches, the pair didn't record a win over a seeded team, but *did* prevail in three MTB and defeated (in the SF) one of the other two duos (Jiang/Wu) who've won a pair ot WTA titles this season.

In the final, Andreeva/Shnaider defeated Cristina Bucsa & Miyu Kato 6-3/6-7(5) [10-2] in a match that had a *long* rain delay following the first three games of the opening set.

Unlike the Russian pair, Bucsa/Kato had been knocking off seeds like a bad habit, including #3 Errani/Paolini, #7 Mertens/Zheng and #1 Siniakova/Townsend in back-to-back-to-back matches.



With the title, both Andreeva *and* Shnaider climb into the doubles Top 20, joining Jasmine Paolini as the only three players ranked in the Top 20 in both singles and doubles.
===============================================
WHEELCHAIR: Li Xiaohui/CHN
...at the Busan Open in South Korea, the wheelchair tour's top two Chinese women faced off for the title, with #5 Li defeating #4 Wang Ziying in a 7-6/6-4 final in the Series 2 event.

Both were playing in their first event since the Australian Open after strong '25 starts. Li had opened with a SF (Victorian Open), title (Melbourne Open, def. Yui Kamiji) and AO SF (loss vs. Kamiji) while picking up wins over almost every WC player of note on the ledger (minus a certain rehabbing Dutch, of course... though Li *did* end Diede de Groot's 145-match win streak *last* year), including Van Koot, Griffioen, Wang, Tanaka, Montjane and Bernal in addition to Kamiji.

Wang had reached the Victorian Open Final, as well as having SF finishes in the Melbourne Open and AO.

Li & Wang joined forces in Busan to win the doubles, defeating Jinte Bos & Saki Takamuro love & 1 in the final.
===============================================









kosova-font


[Miami Middle Sunday through Final]




1. Miami 3rd Rd. - Alex Eala def. Madison Keys
...6-4/6-2. Eala kicked off the second week of play in Miami last Sunday with an historic upset, notching the first Top 10 win of her career (and that of all of Philippines tennis history) and maybe setting the course for a breakout season after struggling to get over the proverbial "hump," despite flashes of big potential, last year.



Eala didn't get to celebrate her trip to the QF, as it happened via a walkover from Paula Badosa (whose back injury ended her second tournament run in a row).

No matter...



Miami QF - Alex Eala def. Iga Swiatek
...6-2/7-5. And here we thought that wins over Ostapenko, then Keys, were what career weeks were made of. Nope.

With Swiatek committing too many errors (off the ground, and via DF), Eala took advantage of the growing widening cracks in the world #2's game to lay down a slew of impressive accomplishment notes with this single win: her (and for any PHI player) biggest win ever, her first tour-level SF (and at a 1000, no less... joining Mary Joe Fernandez and Danielle Collins as the only three to get #1 in Miami), the first WC to go so far in South Beach, becoming the only teenager other than Bianca Andreescu to win her first two match-ups with Top 5 players and, last but not least, cracking the Top 100 for the first time.



More specifically, Eala coverted 8/10 BP chances on Swiatek's serve, breaking her in 8 of 10 service games (the first five, then the last three) while presenting a note of intimidation -- or the lack thereof when it came to Iga's serve -- by moving inside the baseline to return, and staging rallies in both sets to win in straights. Swiatek held an early break edge in the 1st, and led 4-2 in the 2nd after having reeled off four straight games.

One would think that the former Miami champ would take advantage of at least *one* of those opportunities and push things to three, but the list of things Swiatek *isn't* doing lately continues to grow.


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



2. Miami Final - Aryna Sabalenka def. Jessie Pegula
...7-5/6-2. In a South Beach version of the 2024 U.S. Open final, Sabalenka improved to 3-0 vs. Pegula in tour finals, with a trio of straight sets wins over the Bannerette in Cincinnati, Flushing Meadows and Miami since the start of last summer.

After Sabalenka battled through a tight 1st set, the world's best hard court player finally pulled away in the 2nd to claim her first title in the event, avoiding joining Maria Sharapova's missed-it-by-that-much 2012 feat of going 0-3 in the AO, Indian Wells and Miami finals in the same season.

Some interesting notes about this final: neither Sabalenka nor Pegula had previously won a singles title in Miami, but *both* had won the doubles. Sabalenka teamed with Elise Mertens in 2019, while Pegula & Coco Gauff took the honors in 2023. Also, this was the first '25 final that featured a clash of Top 10 foes.


===============================================
3. Miami 3rd Rd. - Jessie Pegula def. Anna Kalinskaya
...6-7(3)/2-6/7-6(2). This result was a disappointment for Kalinskaya, but it was also likely her best singles match of the year, as the Hordette had come into Miami on a four-match losing streak, and was 3-6 on the season (w/ two retirements).



Kalinskaya reached the Round of 16 in Miami last year, but had to withdraw before the match. She's dropped from #14 to outside the Top 30 since the start of '25.
===============================================
4. Miami SF - Jessie Pegula def. Alex Eala
...7-6(3)/5-7/6-3. Finally, the odds caught up to her. But Eala didn't slink away, defeated with her historic bubble burst.

Though she lost a 5-2 1st set lead, and played likely her worst game of the entire tournament (complete w/ 2 DF) after having a 5-3, 40/30 edge over Pegula, Eala still managed to push things into a TB. And after losing that by a 7-3 score, she rebounded to win the 2nd set and force a decider. Pegula finally put away the teenager there.

But while her run ended here, make no mistake, this Miami Open will be remembered for Eala...


===============================================
5. Miami 3rd Rd. - Marta Kostyuk def. Anna Blinkova
...6-1/6-1. So many footnotes here, including (of course) the Russia/Ukraine war and all the angles that present themselves when players from the nations meet, as well as Kostyuk's longtime public antagonism about the Russians' presence on tour.

Then, in this blowout match, Kostyuk decided to throw in an underhand serve on MP (an eyebrow-raising move even under normal circumstances), knowing there won't be any potentially uncomfortable meeting at the net afterward (and then there's that Blinkova is considered one of the nicest players on tour, and was defended from all corners in the past when an obtuse Paris crowd booed *her* when she and her Ukrainian opponent didn't meet at the net following a Roland Garros match).



Oddly, in an interesting development after the match considering Kostyuk's many stances, she noted that her dog is in a "dating" (??) relationship with none other than Anna Kalinskaya's pup.




Truthfully, I don't think Kostyuk was even going to mention that Bella was Kalinskaya's dog until Prakash Amritraj did it after her story, which actually adds another angle to the moment.
===============================================
6. Antalya 2 125 2nd Rd. - Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva def. Sinja Kraus
...6-0/0-6/7-6(4). Ah, a WTA Special Order: an appetizer of two love sets, an entree that included a 3rd set comeback from 5-2, the exchange of unconverted MP on both sides of the net, and then a deciding TB for dessert.

But, don't worry, it isn't a Turkish delicacy. It could happen almost anywhere.
===============================================
7. $50K Santo Domingo DOM Final - Carson Branstine def. Ana Sofia Sanchez
...6-1/6-3. The 24-year old Canadian claims her seventh career ITF crown, and will make her Top 200 debut on Monday.

In February, Branstine reached her first career 125 final in Cancun.


===============================================
8. Puerto Vallarta 125 Final - Hanna Chang/Christina McHale def. Maya Joint/Ena Shibahara
...2-6/6-2 [10-7]. Thus, McHale's comeback from her '22 retirement (which ended last November) now includes an ITF doubles title in Montreal *and* a 125 in Puerto Vallarta *just this month.*


===============================================
9. $75K Vacaria BRA Final - Francesca Jones def. Leolia Jeanjean
... 1–6/6–4/6–1. The Brit matches her biggest career title


===============================================
10. $15K Sharm El Sheikh EGY Final - Carolyn Ansari def. Patricija Paukstyte
...6–2/3–6/6–4. The Auburn Tiger takes homes her maiden pro singles title in her fourth attempt in an ITF final. Ansari had already won three doubles crowns on the circuit in '25.
===============================================






kosova-font


[Miami Middle Sunday through Final]




1. Miami 3rd Rd. - Amanda Anisimova def. Mirra Andreeva
...7-6(5)/2-6/6-3. Andreeva never quite reached her preferred level of play in this match, yet she still managed to get the 1st set to a TB and nearly won it, then saw too many UE off Anisimova's racket open the door and help things along in a far quicker 2nd.

Things got a little dicey in the 3rd, as Anisimova led 3-1 with Andreeva serving, then took an MTO for a finger blister at deuce, sparking a not-unexpected (nor unwarrented) response from Andreeva.

Really, no matter how bad a blister (and it was bad), a player should not be able to pause an opponent's service game without (at least) giving up a point, and should really just play out the game. After all, a blister isn't something that just *suddenly* occurrs, unlike a knee or some other such injury for which there would be no question of whether it was "acute" enough to make a stoppage necessary.



Thankfully, Andreeva held serve (after having to save a BP when play resumed), but Anisimova held her lead and finally ended the teenager's 13-match winning streak.

Unfortunately for her, the schedule did her no favors, as this night match was followed up by an afternoon 4th Rounder the next day vs. Emma Raducanu. Anisimova got just four games.
===============================================
2. $35K Antalya TUR Final - Makenna Jones/Lia Karatantcheva def. Ilinca Amariei/Cristina Dinu
...6-2/6-2. 21-year old Lia, one of four tennis playing Karatantcheva sisters (the most well known of whom was Sesil, a RG quarterfinalist in 2005) teams with former NCAA doubles champ Jones (2021) to win her fourth career ITF WD crown.

Karatantcheva is 0-2 in ITF singles finals in her career, both played in 2024.
===============================================







Hmmm, so The Dashas (1 *and* 2) can now be an all-Aussie doubles pair, if they so choose.

And, yes, the "Cheer the Kasatkina" logo has been updated.


kosova-font





kosova-font

























futuristic-fonts


kosova-font
































kosova-font

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2025*
4 - ARYNA SABALENKA (2-2)
3 - JESSIE PEGULA (1-2)
2 - Madison Keys (2-0)
2 - Mirra Andreeva (2-0)
2 - McCartney Kessler (1-1)
2 - Elise Mertens (1-1)
2 - Clara Tauson (1-1)

*REACHED AO-IW-MIA FINALS IN SEASON*
1991 Monica Seles (W-L-W)
1994 Steffi Graf (W-W-W)
2000 Lindsay Davenport (W-W-L)
2000 Martina Hingis (L-L-W)
2012 Maria Sharapova (L-L-L)
2023 Elena Rybakina (L-W-L)
2025 ARYNA SABALENKA (L-L-W)
[reached IW/MIA finals in season]
1991 Monica Seles (L-W)
1994 Steffi Graf (W-W) #
1996 Steffi Graf (W-W) #
1999 Serena Williams (W-L)
2000 Lindsay Davenport (W-L)
2000 Martina Hingis (L-W)
2005 Kim Clijsters (W-W) #
2006 Maria Sharapova (W-L)
2012 Maria Sharapova (L-L)
2013 Maria Sharapova (W-L)
2016 Victoria Azarenka (W-W) #
2022 Iga Swiatek (W-W) #
2023 Elena Rybakina (W-L)
2025 ARYNA SABALENKA (L-W)
-
# - "Sunshine Double"

*MOST 2020-2025 FINAL MATCHUPS*
5...Sabalenka/Swiatek - 2022,'23,'24 = Swiatek 4-1
3...PEGULA/SABALENKA - 2024,'25 = Sabalenka 3-0
3...Rybakina/Sabalenka - 2023,'24 = Rybakina 2-1

*2025 - MOST TOP 10 WINS*
5 - Mirra Andreeva
5 - Madison Keys
4 - ARYNA SABALENKA (3 in Miami)
4 - Iga Swiatek
3 - Liudmila Samsonova

*MOST ALL-TOP 10 FINALS in 2020s (31)*
15 (6-9) - SABALENKA
13 (12-1) - Swiatek
6 (1-5) - PEGULA
5 (0-5) - Sakkari
3 (3-0) - Gauff
3 (2-1) - Barty, Rybakina
3 (1-2) - Kontaveit
2 (0-2) - Jabeur, Zheng Q.
1 (1-0) - Badosa, Garcia, Halep, Muguruza
1 (0-1) - Andreescu, Krejcikova, Pliskova

*2020-25 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
22 - 1/2/8/6/5/0 = Iga Swiatek
14 - 3/2/0/3/4/2 = ARYNA SABALENKA
8 - 1/5/2 = Ash Barty (ret.)
8 - 0/1/0/4/3/0 = Coco Gauff
8 - 0/3/2/2/1/0 = Barbora Krejcikova
7 - 1/0/1/2/3/0 = Elena Rybakina
6 - 0/2/2/0/2/0 = Dasha Kasatkina
6 - 0/0/1/2/2/1 = Jessie Pegula
[2020-25 HARD COURT TITLES]
12 - SABALENKA (3/1/0/2/4/2)
11 - Swiatek (0/1/5/3/2/0)
7 - Gauff (0/0/0/4/3/0)
6 - Barty (1/3/2 ret)
5 - Kasatkina (0/2/2/0/1/0)
5 - Kontaveit (0/4/1/0 ret)
5 - Krejcikova (0/1/2/2/0/0)
5 - Pegula (0/0/1/2/1/1)
[2020-25 FINALS]
26 - 3/3/3/6/7/4 = SABALENKA (14-12)
25 - 1/2/9/8/5/0 = Swiatek (22-3)
17 - 5/0/3/4/5/0 = Rybakina (7-10)
15 - 1/0/2/5/4/2 = PEGULA (6-9)
14 - 0/4/2/2/6/0 = Kasatkina (6-8)
12 - 0/4/3/4/1/0 = Krejcikova (8-4)
12 - 1/7/4/0 ret...Kontaveit (5-6-1)
12 - 0/3/6/3/0/0 = Jabeur (5-7)


*2025 FIRST-TIME WTA SEMIFINALISTS*
Auckland: Robin Montgomery, USA (20/#117)
Hobart: Maya Joint, AUS (18/#118)
Merida: Emiliana Arango, COL (24/#133)-RU
Miami: ALEX EALA, PHI (19/#140)

*2025 YOUNG WTA SEMIFINALISTS*
17 - Mirra Andreeva, RUS (Brisbane)
17 - Mirra Andreeva, RUS (Dubai) - W
17 - Mirra Andreeva, RUS (Indian Wells) - W
18 - Maya Joint, AUS (Hobart)
19 - ALEX EALA, PHI (Miami)
[125]
18 - Maya Joint, AUS (Cancun)
19 - VICTORIA JIMENEZ KASINTSEVA, AND (Antalya 2)
19 - Alex Eala, PHI (Canberra)

*2025 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
2 - MIRRA ANDREEVA, RUS
2 - Jiang Xinyu, CHN
2 - DIANA SHNAIDER, RUS
2 - Katerina Siniakova, CZE
2 - Taylor Townsend, USA
2 - Wu Fang-hsien, TPE
[duos]
2...M.ANDREEVA/Shnaider
2...Jiang/Wu
2...Siniakova/Townsend

*2025 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
3 (2-1) = Jiang Xinyu
3 (2-1) = Wu Fang-hsien
2 (2-0) = MIRRA ANDREEVA
2 (2-0) = DIANA SHNAIDER
2 (2-0) = Katerina Siniakova
2 (2-0) = Taylor Townsend
2 (0-2) = Hsieh Su-wei
2 (0-2) = Alona Ostapenko
2 (0-2) = Zhang Shuai
[2025 finals - duos]
3...Jiang/Wu (2-1)
2...M.ANDREEVA/SHNAIDER (2-0)
2...Siniakova/Townsend (2-0)
2...Hsieh/Ostapenko (0-2)

*2025 WEEKLY BACKSPIN PLAYERS OF THE WEEK*
Week 1: Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
AO Q: Maja Chwalinska, POL
Week 2: Madison Keys, USA
AO: Madison Keys, USA
Week 5: Ekaterina Alexandrova, RUS
Week 6: Belinda Bencic, SUI
Week 7: Amanda Anisimova, USA
Week 8: Mirra Andreeva, RUS
Week 9: Jessie Pegula, USA
IW: Mirra Andreeva, RUS
MIA: Aryna Sabalenka, BLR

*MIAMI FACTS 1985-present*
=SINGLES=
[recent finals]
2018 Sloane Stephens def. Alona Ostapenko
2019 Ash Barty def. Karolina Pliskova
2020 DNP
2021 Ash Barty def. Bianca Andreescu
2022 Iga Swiatek def. Naomi Osaka
2023 Petra Kvitova def. Elena Rybakina
2024 Danielle Collins d. Elena Rybakina
2025 Aryna Sabalenka d. Jessie Pegula
[Multiple Finals]
10 - Serena Williams (8-2)
7 - Steffi Graf (5-2)
5 - Chris Evert (1-4)
5 - Maria Sharapova (0-5)
4 - Venus Williams (3-1)
3 - Victoria Azarenka (3-0)
3 - Monica Seles (2-1)
3 - Gabriela Sabatini (1-2)
3 - Jennifer Capriati (0-3)
2 - Ash Barty (2-0)
2 - Kim Clijsters (2-0)
2 - Martina Hingis (2-0)
2 - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (2-0)
2 - Svetlana Kuznetsova (1-1)
2 - ARYNA SABALENKA (1-1)
2 - Elena Rybakina (0-2)
=DOUBLES=
[recent champions]
2018 Ash Barty/CoCo Vandeweghe
2019 Elise Mertens/Aryna Sabalenka
2020 DNP
2021 Shuko Aoyma/Ena Shibahara
2022 Laura Siegemund/Vera Zvonareva
2023 Coco Gauff/Jessie Pegula
2024 Sofia Kenin/Bethanie Mattek-Sands
2025 Mirra Andreeva/Diana Shnaider

*CAREER TITLES AT I.W., MIAMI and HC SLAM*
Victoria Azarenka (AO)
Kim Clijsters (AO/US)
Steffi Graf (AO/US)
Martina Hingis (AO/US)
Martina Navratiova (AO/US)
Monica Seles (AO/US)
Iga Swiatek (US)
Serena Williams (AO/US)
[recently active players w/ 2 of 3]
Andreescu: IW + US
Osaka: IW + AO/US
Sabalenka: MIA + AO/US
Stephens: MIA + US
V.Williams: MIA + US







futuristic-fonts


kosova-font


kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font






All for now. 1Q Awards and Ms.Backspin standings this week!

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 12:01 AM 

1 Comments:

Blogger khan35 said...

As a fellow South East Asian, I am proud of Alexandra Eala. It's great to see Rafa Nadal Academy graduate Eala finally realizing her potential.

Given Swiatek's current form, the upcoming clay swing is going to be very interesting. In the open era, no woman hasn't won RG title four-time successively

Mon Mar 31, 11:28:00 PM EDT  

Post a Comment

<< Home