Sunday, July 20, 2025

Wk.29- The Return of Francaise Forehand








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*WEEK 29 CHAMPIONS*
HAMBURG, GERMANY (WTA 250; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Lois Boisson/FRA def. Anna Bondar/HUN
D: Nadiia Kichenok/Makoto Nimomiya (UKR/JPN) def. Anna Bondar/Arantxa Rus (HUN/NED) 6-4/3-6 [11-9]
IASI, ROMANIA (WTA 250; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Irina-Camelia Begu/ROU def. Jil Teichmann/SUI 6-0/7-5
D: Veronika Erjavec/Panna Udvardy (SLO/HUN) def. Maria Carle/Simona Waltert (ARG/SUI) 7-5/6-3
Porto, Portugal (WTA 125; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Tereza Valentova/CZE def. Lanlana Tararudee/THA 6-4/6-2
D: Carmen Corley/Ivana Corley (USA/USA) def. Liang En-shuo/Peangtarn Plipuech (TPE/THA) 6-3/6-1
Rome, Italy (WTA 125; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Petra Marcinko/CRO def. Oksana Selekhmeteva/RUS 6-3/4-6/6-3
D: Cho I-hsuan/Cho Yi-tsen (TPE/TPE) def. Ekaterine Gorgodze/Darja Semenistaja (GEO/LAT) 4-6/6-4 [10-6]
Hopman Cup (Bari, Italy; Hard Court Outdoor)
F: Canada def. Italy 2-1




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Lois Boisson/FRA
...Francaise Forehand strikes again.

Say what you will, but Boisson knows her way around a headline and a stunning accomplishment or two (or three). Thus far, the 22-year old Pastry has appeared in three tour-level MD in her career, all by way of a wild card. In her first, in Rouen this spring, Harriet Dart complained to the umpire about Boisson smelling badly, but the French woman went on to post her maiden WTA win in her debut match. In her second MD, all Boisson did was reach the Roland Garros semifinals. In her third this week (as a *seeded* wild card this time around) in Hamburg? Well, she just went out and claimed her first tour singles titles.

#4... look out.

The athletic Boisson continued to flash her clay court prowess after missing nearly a year with a knee injury, posting wins over Julia Grabher, Tamara Korpatsch (from 3-1 down in the 3rd), Viktorija Tomova and Dayana Yastremska to reach her maiden WTA final, where she handled Anna Bondar 7-5/6-3 to lift the biggest trophy of her career. She'll also crack the Top 50 on Monday, rising 19 spots to #44.



Boisson may not have had the credentials to earn the Wimbledon MD wild card that she requested following her big run in Paris (she was told, "wildcards are usually offered on the basis of past performance at Wimbledon or to increase British interest"... of note, Dart received one from the AELTC, losing in the 1st Rd.), but considering her penchant for "moments" one wonders just what we missed in her would-be SW19 debut three weeks ago. Ultimately, Boisson lost in qualifying in a three setter (in her first career grass match) vs. Carson Branstine, who'd turned out to be one the surprise revelations of the grass season.

At this rate, it looks like Boisson won't need that wild card next summer. In fact, who knows, she might even make her SW19 debut as a *seeded* entrant.


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RISERS: Anna Bondar/HUN and Dayana Yastremska/UKR
...Bondar is quickly becoming one of the quintessential "late bloomers" on the women's tour, putting up her best results as her 30th birthday is just around the corner.



The Hungarian has progressively posted career firsts and bests every season in recent years. In 2022, she made her slam MD debut at age 24, cracked the Top 50 at 25 later that year, then in 2023 recorded her first major MD win. Later that year, she reached her maiden 1000 3rd Round (Rome). In 2024 she matched her biggest career title (125 Hamburg) at 27, and shined on the ITF circuit with three $75K crowns.

Earlier this year, Bondar added a $100K win, and this week she returned to Hamburg as the defending champ (with the tournament having been upgraded to a tour-level 250) and played her way into her maiden tour-level singles final (and doubled up by reaching the WD final, as well) at age 28.

Bondar found her way through a pair of 3rd set TB wins over the course of the week, winning out over Noma Noha Akugue and Ekaterina Alexandrova (around a win over Sinja Kraus), then came back from a set down vs. Kaja Juvan in the semis to reach her first final. She lost there to Lois Boisson, but is now breathing down the neck of another career accomplishment with a #59 ranking (moving up nearly 20 spots despite not defending her *smaller* '24 title) on Monday. She's just off her career high of #50.

Bondar went home title-less despite her two final appearances, as she and Arantxa Rus couldn't capitalize on a pair of MP in the deciding MTB against N.Kichenok/Ninomiya, ultimately falling 11-9. Bondar was also the defending WD champ, having won the title last year with Kimberley Zimmermann.



Meanwhile, fresh (well, sorta) from her Wimbledon 1st Round win over Coco Gauff and third straight slam 3rd Round result (sixth in the last seven majors, w/ a SF at AO24), Yastremska posted her third SF of the season in Hamburg, adding to what is becoming her most consistent (and likely) best career campaign. In addition to the Ukrainian's '25 results in majors, she's reached a pair of 1000 3rd Rounds and two finals (including her biggest yet at the Linz 500). A tour-level title before the end of the season, which would be her first since 2019, would surely lock away the "career year" designation.

A string of wins over Jule Niemeier, Diane Parry and Dalma Galfi was ended a round short of another final berth by RG semifinalist Lois Boisson, but Yastremska will climb from #39 to #33, just outside of slam seed range with more than a month to spare.
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SURPRISES: Anna Siskova/CZE and Panna Udvardy/HUN
...for most of her career, Siskova's best results have come in doubles, including her first tour-level crown earlier this season in Cluj, as well as three 125 wins and 25 ITF titles since 2018. But maybe that's starting to change.

Coming into Iasi, the 24-year old Czech had already won three small singles titles at the ITF level this season, after having combined for four over the previous five seasons. This week, she went from qualifier to her maiden WTA quarterfinal, notching wins over Arina Rodionova (in a 7-5 3rd in the opening round of qualifying), Katarzyna Kawa (a 125 finalist in Wk.28) after trailing 5-4, 30/30 in the final set before taking a deciding TB vs. the Polish vet in the 1st Round, and Ann Li. She finally lost to Irina-Camelia Begu (7-5 in the 3rd in another hotly contested match) in the QF.

The Czech, the daughter of a former player (her mom Katerina ranked as high as #58 in '93) will jump from #406 to inside the Top 330 on Monday. She's 37-8 on the season.



Meanwhile, Udvardy added a tour-level QF in Iasi, her first since 2021 in Budapest, to what has become a nice stretch. After a 2-6 slump in the spring, she's gone 9-3 in her last twelve matches, picking up a $75K title last month, as well as two Wimbledon qualifying wins.

In just her second tour-level MD of the season (w/ Madrird 1r), the Hungarian posted wins over Margaux Rouvroy and Francesca Jones (a 125 champ last week), her first MD victories in a WTA event since September '23 (Osaka), before being sent out by Jaqueline Cristian.

Later, Udvardy capped off her week by picking up her maiden tour doubles title, as well, finally getting her first in her fourth WTA final appearance. Alongside fellow first-time champion Veronika Erjavec, the pair defeated the team of Maria Carle & Simona Waltert in a 7-5/6-3 final.


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VETERANS: Irina-Camelia Begu/ROU and Sorana Cirstea/ROU
...back in 2011, Begu was named the WTA's Newcomer of the Year on the strength of two appearances in finals. Some fourteen years later, the 34-year old Romanian picked up her sixth career tour singles title (first since July '22) in Iasi, the second WTA win in her career (w/ Bucharest '17) on home clay.

Begu posted wins over Nao Hibino, Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, Anna Siskova (stalling the Czech's comeback from 0-3 down in the 3rd with two breaks in the final three games of the match), Jaqueline Cristian and Jil Teichmann in a 6-3/7-5 final.

With the title run, Begu climbs back into the Top 100. She's finished the season there in 13 of the last 14 years, starting with the '11 breakout campaign.



Last month, Cirstea's ranking fell to #169, her lowest standing since early 2016. At 1-5 in her last six mathes, the 35-year old Romanian arrived in Iasi at #166 and suddenly became revived on home clay. She strung together a trio of wins -- over Mihaela Buzarnescu, Varvara Gracheva and Maria Carle -- to reach her first WTA SF since Dubai early last year, where she lost to Jil Teichmann. Cirstea had been 0-2 in her two previous QF runs, in Dubai and Austin, this season.



With her ranking moving inside the Top 140 coming out of Iasi, Cirstea remains under .500 on the year at 11-12.
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COMEBACKS: Kaja Juvan/SLO and Jil Teichmann/SUI
...having taken two mental health breaks from the sport since the start of 2023, Juvan showed up again on the scene earlier this season after a full year away, with a whole lot of ground to make up. She was ranked outside the Top 1100 in February.

So far, so good, though. The Slovenian won a $75K and reached a 125 final in May, and this week in Hamburg she played her way into her first tour-level semi in more than three years with victories over Maria Timofeeva, Louisa Chirico (from 6-4/3-1 down) and Leyre Romero Gormaz. Juvan finally felll to Anna Bondar in three, a set away from her first WTA final since 2022 (that three-TB Strasbourg thriller vs. Kerber).

Just under six months into her comeback, Juvan is 35-13 and will be back inside the Top 170 on Monday.

In Iasi, Teichmann managed to hold onto some consistency long enough to reach her first tour-level singles final since playing in the biggest of her career in Cincinnati in 2021 (a loss to Ash Barty).

After staging a 1st Round comeback against Miriam Bulgaru, who'd twice served for the match, Teichmann ran off wins over Maja Chwalinska, Simona Waltert and Sorana Cirstea to reach her fifth career WTA singles final. She didn't take her first tour-level title since 2019 (she *has* won a pair of 125 events in the past year, though), falling in her third match of the week vs. a Romanian (Irina-Camelia Begu) who was playing on home clay, but the Swiss will re-enter the Top 100 on Monday.

Teichmann nearly cracked the Top 20 in 2022, but has only rarely been able to corral her highest-level game for long the last few seasons.


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FRESH FACES: Tereza Valentova/CZE and Petra Marcinko/CRO
...everyone take pause, a Crusher is coming through.

In recent weeks, 2025 has proven to be the season in which 18-year old Czech Valentova is starting to make her mark. The 2024 Roland Garros girls' s/d champion (and '23 U.S. Jr. finalist), Valentova won her maiden 125 crown in June, placing it alongside a pair of earlier $75K wins this season. She commemorated her slam MD debut as a qualifier with a 1st Round victory in Paris, then fell just short of another slam debut w/ a loss in the final Q-round of Wimbledon qualifying.

This week in Porto, Valentova dominated from the start, defeating Francisca Jorge (6-1/6-3), Viktoria Hruncakova (6-3/6-0), Gao Hanyu (6-0/6-3) and Himeno Sakutsume (7-6/6-1) to reach another 125 final, where she handled Lanlada Tararudee 6-4/6-2 to claim the title without the loss of a set.

Valentova shoots up 23 more spots to a new career-high of #106, close to becoming the fifth teenager (w/ Andreeva, Joint, Mboko and Jovic) in the Top 100.



Joining Valentova in the 125 winner's circle this week is another former junior slam champ in 19-year old Marcinko, winner of the AO22 girls' crown.

While the Croatian has yet to make her slam women's MD debut (she's 0-for-7 in qualifying attempts at majors), she improved to 8-1 in pro finals (7-0 ITF, 1-1 125) with her win in the Rome 125 this week.

Marcinko notched wins over Dominika Salkova, Lina Gjorcheska, top seed Varvara Lepchenko and Tamara Zidansek to reach the final without dropping a set. Once there, the teenager defeated Hordette Oksana Selekhmeteva in three, 6-3/4-6/6-3, to take the crown.

Marcinko climbs 38 spots to a new career high of #131 on Monday.


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ITF PLAYERS: Talia Gibson/AUS and Linda Klimovicova/POL
...a pair of $75K hard court winners to start off the 3rd quarter.

In Granby (QUE), Canada, 21-year old Aussie Gibson followed up her Wimbledon MD debut with her tenth career ITF title run, taking her fifth crown (and third $75K) since last September with a 6-3/6-4 win in the final over former NCAA #1 Fiona Crawley (UNC).

In Vitoria-Gasteiz (ESP), ex-Crusher (now Pole) Klimovicova won her seventh and tied for her biggest career circuit title (second $75K in '25) with a comeback win in the final over Lithuania's Justina Mikulskyte. After dropping a love 1st set, Klimovicova broke free from a 5-5 tie in the 2nd set TB to ultimately win going away, 0-6/7-6(5)/6-0.
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DOUBLES: Nadiia Kichenok/Makoto Ninomiya, UKR/JPN
...in their first final as a pair, top-seeded Kichenok & Ninomiya combined to take the title in Hamburg, the tenth WTA win in Kichenok's career and #8 for Ninomiya.

The team won a pair of MTB to close out the week, overcoming #3-seeded Moyuka Uchijima/Zheng Saisai in the semis (10-8), and then Anna Bondar/Arantxa Rus in the final, saving double MP in the breaker at 9-7 down before ultimately winning 11-9.


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WHEELCHAIR: Ksenia Chasteau/FRA
...the 19-year old Pastry didn't take long to continue her roll directly out of Wimbledon.

At SW19, Chasteau upset #2-seeded Aniek Van Koot in the 1st Round, then (w/ Angelica Bernal) knocked off the #1-seeded doubles duo (Tanaka/Zhu) en route to her first appearance in a final at a women's major.

This week in Geneva, she claimed her first career Series 1 crown (just her second pro singles title above the Futures level, along w/ a Series 3 in May of last year) with a 6-2/6-7(3)/7-5 victory in the final over fellow NextGen Dutch opponent Jinte Bos, 22.

For their part, Tanaka/Zhu rebounded from their early Wimbledon loss, too, taking the doubles title.
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1. Hamburg 1st Rd. - Diane Parry def. Tamara Wuerth
...7-6(9)/3-6/7-5. Parry rallied from 5-3 down in the 1st, saving four SP over a three-game stretch, to force a TB, where the Pastry saved three more SP before finally taking the breaker at 11-9.

Parry had to stage another comeback from 5-3 down to Wuerth in the 3rd, this time saving two MP on the Croatian's serve from 40/15 down. After securing the break of serve in game 9, Parry won 12 of the last 15 points in the final three games.
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2. Iasi 1st Rd. - Jil Teichmann def. Miriam Bulgaru
...1-6/7-6(2)/6-1. Teichmann's trek to the final was nearly sidetracked right out of the gate, as Bulgaru twice served for the win in the 2nd set, at 5-4 and 6-5. The Romanian quickly fell behind love/40 in both attempts, lost serve, and then saw Teichmann win a TB to force a 3rd. The Swiss won it going away.
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3. Hamburg 1st Rd. - Anna Bondar def. Noma Noha Akugue
...6-4/3-6/7-6(3). Bondar's maiden tour final run kicked off with a three-hour struggle vs. the young German in Hamburg. Bondar led 5-1 in the 3rd, but failed to convert two MP on serve at 5-1, couldn't serve it out two games later, then didn't away two *more* MP at 6-5.

Forced to a deciding TB, the Hungarian raced to a 5-0 lead and finally put the win on ice.
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4. Hamburg QF - Anna Bondar def. Ekaterina Alexandrova
...6-7(1)/6-3/7-6(4). Another bump in the road for Bondar, who rallied from 4-1 down to force a 1st set TB, only to see the Russian take it 7-1.

Bondar trailed 3-1 in the 3rd. She surged into the lead but couldn't serve things out at 5-4. Forced to her second deciding TB of the week, after leading 5-0 in the 1st Round vs. NNA, she jumped out to a 5-1 lead vs. Alexandrova. Bondar won it 7-4 on her third MP.


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5. Hamburg 2nd Rd. - Lois Boisson def. Tamara Korpatsch
...6-4/6-7(3)/6-4. Boisson's post-RG "career week" saw her find her way through this one, winning the 1st set from 4-2 down, then being unable to serve out the win at 5-4 in the 2nd, before finally rallying to win from 3-1 back in the 3rd.
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6. Hamburg Final - Lois Boisson def. Anna Bondar
...7-5/6-3. In a match-up of two players seeking their maiden tour title (the second such final in '25, along w/ Rabat's Joint/Cristian face-off), Boisson becomes just the second first-time WTA singles champion (w/ Joint) of the season.

Boisson and Bondar represented the sixth and seventh first-time singles finalists on the year.
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7. Iasi Final - Irina-Camelia Begu def. Jil Teichmann
...6-0/7-5. Clara Tauson's title run in Auckland in January came three years and three months since her last WTA crown, and to date that stands as the longest time between the last and most recent title of the 33 women's singles champions crowned so far in 2025.

Had Teichmann won, her six-year stretch (since Palermo '19) would have shot to the top of the list. As it is, Begu's first win in three years (also since Palermo, but in '22) settles into the third longest "time between" slot behind Tauson and Amanda Anisimova (3y,5w w/o a title until her Doha win).
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8. Iasi Q2 - Daria Lodikova def. Selena Janicijevic 7-6(4)/7-6(8)
Iasi Q2 - Giulia Safina Popa def. Silvia Ambrosio 7-6(5)/1-6/6-3
Hamburg Q2 - Caroline Werner def. Tessa Johanna Brockmann 7-5/7-5
...the week after a major often sees a series of MD debuts in the slightly degraded draws. In Week 29, a few occurred on both ends of the age spectrum.

In Iasi, 15-year old Romanian qualifying wild card Popa (#1225) won a three setter to reach her maiden WTA MD on home clay; while 29-year old Hordette Lodikova (also in Iasi) and Germany's Werner (also 29), in Hamburg, waited nearly a full Popa lifetime longer (14 years) to play their way into *their* first WTA 1st Round matches.

Only Werner, who faced off with another German (18-year old qualifying wild card Valentina Steiner, also making *her* debut), managed to also record her first WTA MD victory.
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9. Hopman Cup Final - Canada def. Italy
...2-1. Yep, they're still trying to turn this (essentially) murdered tournament into tennis' version of the walking dead, this time in what was just the second edition of the Hopman Cup since 2019. This one comes after a two-year absence, surface change (back to hard court) and third host nation in the last three editions (from Perth, AUS to Nice, FRA to Bari, ITA).

HINT: in recent decades, the team event only "mattered" in the first place because it was a fun, no-pressure, nice little "welcome to the new season" thing Down Under, only to be effectively cut off at the kneews due to the made-up, multi-city money grab that is the United Cup elbowing it off the schedule. Now it's more like... they're playing that again? Or maybe, "Why are they doing this in the middle of the season?"

Since its unceremonious AUS exit, no AUS team has participated in the event after what had been a 30-year run (1989-19) in Australia, nor has one from the. U.S., the second-longest active participant (1990-19) in its original stint.

Anyway, at least Bianca won *something* with this (hopefully that's a good sign).



In the final, Andreescu defeated Lucia Bronzetti to give Team Canada the lead, then Felix Auger-Aliassime saved two SP to take the 1st set from Flavio Cobolli, but couldn't clinch the title after leading 4-2 in the 2nd. The Italian won, forcing a deciding MX match, which the Canadians won 6-3/6-3 to give Canada its first Hopman Cup win.



As it is, the current version of this event is an island. And a mostly deserted one, at that.

Personally, the only way I could ever this thing ever regaining even a tiny bit of it past unique fun and (semi-) relevance, save for a return to its old schedule slot in Australia, would be to make it some sort of Legends/active player hybrid team event that would serve as a crowd-pleasing, multi-generational celebration... held, say, during U.S. Open qualifying week in the spot where the so-called MX "major" will take place at Flushing Meadows later this summer.
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10. Iasi 1st Rd. - Anna Siskova def. Katarzyna Kawa
...6-4/4-6/7-6(2). Siskova's maiden QF run saw her overcome Kawa serving for the match at 5-4 (30/30) in the final set. After getting the break, Siskova staved off five BP in the following game, then went on to win a deciding TB.
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11. $60K Nottingham ENG Final - Zhang Shuai def. Harmony Tan
...6-4/6-2. Zhang's second ITF (w/ a $100K in April) win of the season. The 36-year old defeated Wimbledon junior semifinalist (and GD champ) Vendula Valdmannova, 17, in the semis.
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12. $35K Turin ITA Final - Ane Mintegi del Olmo def. Valentini Grammatikopoulou
...6-3/6-1. 21-year old Mintegi del Olmo, the bespectacled Spaniard who won the '21 Wimbledon girls' title, continued her comeback from injury by picking up her second '25 challenger crown.


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13. $35K Sao Paulo BRA Final - Lucciana Perez Alarcon def. Maria Florencia Urrutia
...7-6(7)/6-3. A junior finalist at RG in '23, Peru's 20-year old LPA wins her fourth ITF singles title (second in '25), and sweeps through by taking home the doubles title, as well.
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14. Hamburg 1st Rd. - Louisa Chirico def. Mayar Sherif
...4-6/7-5/3-0 ret. Chirico escapes with the win after Sherif served at 6-4/5-4. The Egyptian was broken a love, but soon had a BP chance at 5-5 that could have given her another opportunity to serve things out. She didn't get it, then saw Chirico sweep what remained of the 2nd set, breaking to force a deciding 3rd on her third BP of Game 12.

Having seen the win slip through her fingers, Sherif then retired three games into the final set.
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1. Porto 125 Final - Carmen Corley/Ivana Corley def. Liang En-shuo/Peangtarn Plipuech
...6-3/6-1. For the second time in two weeks, and on a second surface (after a win on the Newport grass), the Corley sisters are lifting a 125 title, the third since October for the Oklahoma University products.


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2. Rome 125 Final - Cho I-hsuan/Cho Yi-tsen def. Ekaterine Gorgodze/Darja Semenistaja
...4-6/6-4 [10-6]. A second 125 event this week, and a second pair of title-winning sisters.

This time it's Taiwan's Cho siblings, who added their biggest title yet (in their maiden 125 final) to the 16 they've won to date (in 32 finals) on the ITF circuit.


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The death of stubborness = new life...


Every champion,even the most decorated ones, sometimes needs to be given a strong talk. Swiatek needed a hard reset. Her team obliged. Read me @the2ndserve.bsky.social on how she might have won Wimbledon thanks to a team meeting after Rome, in her team’s own words: www.thesecondserve.com/hard-reset/

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— Carole Bouchard (@carolebouchard.bsky.social) July 17, 2025 at 10:12 AM


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I've said for quite a while that while Serena sort of showed that winning another major in singles (which is the only reason she played as long as she did) was *probably* a too-difficult task (just because of the staying healthy part), the sisters would still be an intriguing duo in doubles while only having to cover half the court.

Remember, Navratilova won her last MX slam at age 49, and played in her last WD major final at 46.








#RIP singer/actress Connie Francis, 87, who showed us that #Florida is where the boys are, sparking a spring break boom, and then wound up living near there in recent years. youtu.be/sccTzpFfPaE?...

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— Craig Pittman (@craigtimes.bsky.social) July 17, 2025 at 9:27 AM

Farewell Rock'n Roll Doll, Connie Francis r.i.p www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EQX... Hey hey set me free, Stupid Cupid, stop it, you know me! ??????

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— Gülkan Noîr (@noirthequeeng.bsky.social) July 17, 2025 at 8:03 AM






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*2025 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
Rabat - Maya Joint, AUS (19/#78)
Hamburg - LOIS BOISSON, FRA (22/#63)
[doubles]
Brisbane - Mirra Andreeva, RUS (17)
Brisbane - Diana Shnaider, RUS (20)
Cluj-Napoca - Magali Kempen, BEL (27)
Cluj-Napoca - Anna Siskova, CZE (23)
Rabat - Maya Joint, AUS (19)
Iasi - VERONIKA ERJAVEC, SLO (25)
Iasi - PANNA UDVARDY, HUN (26)

*2025 FIRST-TIME WTA FINALISTS*
Polina Kudermetova, RUS (#107/21 = Brisbane)
Emiliana Arango, COL (#133/24 = Merida)
Maya Joint, AUS (#78/19 = Rabat)-W
Wang Xinyu, CHN (#49/23 = Berlin)
Alex Eala, PHI (#74/20 = Eastbourne)
LOIS BOISSON, FRA (#63/22 = Hamburg)-W
ANNA BONDAR, HUN (#77/28 = Hamburg)

*RECENT EARLY-CAREER NON-SLAM BREAKOUTS*
2023: Peyton Stearns to Bogota F (3rd WTA MD, age 21)
2023: Julia Riera to Rabat SF (1st WTA MD, age 20)
2023: Maria Timofeeva wins Budapest (1st WTA MD, age 19)
2023: Noma Noha Akugue to Hamburg F (1st WTA MD, age 19)
2024: Laura Samson to Prague SF (1st WTA MD, age 16)
2024: Aoi Ito to Osaka SF (1st WTA MD, age 20)
2025: Maya Joint to Hobart SF (4th WTA MD, age 18)
2025: Julieta Pareja to Bogota SF (1st WTA MD, age 16)
2025: Lois Boisson wins Hamburg (3rd WTA MD, age 22)

*LOWEST-RANKED 2025 WTA SINGLES CHAMPIONS*
#164 - Marketa Vondrousova (Berlin)
#157 - Belinda Bencic (Abu Dhabi)
#110 - IRINA-CAMELIA BEGU (Iasi)
#86 - Tatjana Maria (London)
#78 - Maya Joint (Rabat)
#63 - LOIS BOISSON (Hamburg)
#67 - McCartney Kessler (Hobart)

*2025 OLDEST WTA FINALISTS*
37 - Tatjana Maria (London)-W
34 - IRINA-CAMELIA BEGU (Iasi)-W
32 - Katarzyna Kawa (Bogota)
31 - Jessie Pegula (Bad Homburg)-W
31 - Jessie Pegula (Charleston)-W
31 - Jessie Pegula (Miami)
31 - Jessie Pegula (Austin)-W

*2025 WTA SINGLES/DOUBLES FINAL IN EVENT*
Austin: McCartney Kessler (L/L)
Rome: Jasmine Paolini (W/W)
Rabat: Maya Joint (W/W)
Eastbourne: Maya Joint (W/L)
Hamburg: ANNA BONDAR (L/L)

*2025 YOUNGEST WTA 125 CHAMPIONS*
17 - Iva Jovic, USA (Ilkley)
18 - Tereza Valentova, CZE (Grado)
18 - TEREZA VALENTOVA, CZE (Porto)
19 - Sara Bejlek, CZE (Makarska)
19 - PETRA MARCINKO, CRO (Rome)

*HOPMAN CUP CHAMPIONS*
==1989-19 AUS; 2023 FRA; 2025 ITA==
1989 CZE (Helena Sukova/Miloslav Mecir)
1990 ESP (Arantxa Sanchez Vicario/Emilio Sanchez)
1991 YUG (Monica Seles/Goran Prpic)
1992 SUI (Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere/Jakob Hlasek)
1993 GER (Steffi Graf/Michael Stich)
1994 CZE (Jana Novotna/Petr Korda)
1995 GER (Anke Huber/Boris Becker)
1996 CRO (Iva Majoli/Goran Ivanisevic)
1997 USA (Chanda Rubin/Justin Gimelstob)
1998 SVK (Karina Habsudova/Karol Kucera)
1999 AUS (Jelena Dokic/Mark Philippoussis)
2000 RSA (Amanda Coetzer/Wayne Ferreira)
2001 SUI (Martina Hingis/Roger Federer)
2002 ESP (Arantxa Sanchez Vicario/Tommy Robredo)
2003 USA (Serena Williams/James Blake)
2004 USA (Lindsay Davenport/James Blake)
2005 SVK (Daniela Hantuchova/Dominik Hrbaty)
2006 USA (Lisa Raymond/Taylor Dent)
2007 RUS (Nadia Petrova/Dmitry Tursunov)
2008 USA (Serena Williams/Mardy Fish/M.Shaughnessy)
2009 SVK (Dominika Cibulkova/Dominik Hrbaty)
2010 ESP (Marie Jose Martinez-Sanchez/Tommy Robredo)
2011 USA (Bethanie Mattek-Sands/John Isner)
2012 CZE (Petra Kvitova/Tomas Berdych)
2013 ESP (Anabel Medina-Garrigues/Fernando Verdasco)
2014 FRA (Alize Cornet/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga)
2015 POL (Aga Radwanska/Jerzy Janowicz)
2016 AUS/green (Dasha Gavrilova/Nick Kyrgios)
2017 FRA (Kristina Mladenovic/Richard Gasquet)
2018 SUI (Belinda Bencic/Roger Federer)
2019 SUI (Belinda Bencic/Roger Federer)
2023 CRO (Donna Vekic/Borna Coric)
2025 CAN (Bianca Andreescu/Felix Auger-Aliassime)






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Killing Satire CBS cancels The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, claiming it was "purely a financial decision" anntelnaes.substack.com/p/killing-sa...

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— Ann Telnaes (@anntelnaes.bsky.social) July 18, 2025 at 9:55 PM


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My New chapbook, I Can't Recall Exactly When I Died (Kelsay Books) is now on Mom Egg Review's bookshelf: merliterary.com/2025/07/13/m... (scroll down) If you'd like to review it (and I hope you would), here are the guidelines: merliterary.com/book-reviews/ #poetry #poetrycommunity #Divorce

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— Diane Elayne Dees (@womenwhoserve.bsky.social) July 13, 2025 at 1:49 PM


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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 8:00 PM 

1 Comments:

Blogger Diane said...

Thank you, as always. :)

I recall that when the movie version of "Grease" came out, I was with a friend when we first heard the great Olivia Newton-John sing "Hopelessly Devoted." We looked at each other and said, "she's doing homage to Connie Francis."

Sun Jul 20, 11:37:00 PM EDT  

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