Sunday, August 24, 2025

Wk.35- The Bandanna is Back








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*WEEK 35 CHAMPIONS*
MONTERREY, MEXICO (WTA 500; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Diana Shnaider/RUS def. Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS 6-3/4-6/6-4
D: Cristina Bucsa/Nicole Melichar-Martinez (ESP/USA) def. Guo Hanyu/Alexandra Panova (CHN/RUS) 6-2/6-0
CLEVELAND, OHIO USA (WTA 250; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Sorana Cirstea/ROU def. Ann Li/USA 7-6(3)/6-4
D: Anna Danilina/Aleksandra Krunic (KAZ/SRB) def. Chan Hao-ching/Jiang Xinyu (TPE/CHN) 7-6(3)/6-4
U.S. OPEN MIXED DOUBLES
F: Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori (ITA/ITA) def. Iga Swiatek/Casper Ruud (POL/NOR) 6-3/5-7 [10-6]




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Diana Shnaider/RUS
...all right, who saw this coming?



I mean, after what has been a disappointing season in singles (19-19 heading into this week) for the Hordette following her breakout '24 campaign in her first full year on tour (w/ four titles on three surfaces), Shnaider bringing aboard Sascha Bajin as her new coach earlier this month surely seemed like a good idea. But who would've thought that her fortunes would turn around so quickly?

2-6 in her last eight matches when she arrived in Monterrey, Shnaider notched an opening win over Kamilla Rakhimova, then found a way past Elise Mertens despite falling behind 5-1 in the 3rd set and saving five total MP (three straight at 40/love down at 5-2 on Mertens' serve). From that point, it was game-on for The Bandanna.

In her maiden SF of the season, the first since ending '24 with a title in Hong Kong, Shnaider took out Alycia Parks in straights on Friday, then Ekaterina Alexandrova in three sets in Saturday night's U.S. Open Eve final. It's the Hordette's fifth consecutive win in a tour-level singles final, all since her first WTA title match appearance in Ningo in September '23 (L-Ons Jabeur).

With the win, Shnaider skips back into the Top 20 at #17. She'll face Laura Siegmend in the 1st Round of the U.S. Open, and could see Alexandrova again in the 3rd. That is, if these needlessly late final rounds and quick turnaround don't doom her to an early exit in New York.


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RISER: Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS
...already arriving with a career-high ranking of #14, Alexandrova didn't rest during her trip to Monterrey. Instead, she knocked off Ajla Tomljanovic, Linda Noskova and, to reach her tenth career tour final (second in '25), Marie Bouzkova when the Czech retired following the 1st set of their SF match-up.

Alexandrova was the beneficiary of the poor scheduling and bad luck of a Friday night semifinal, suspended at 2-2 in the 1st and picked up again on Saturday, as Bouzkova couldn't handle the afternoon Mexican heat and pulled up after dropping the opening set as the two attempted to finish the first of what would be two matches to be completed on the day for the winner, with the U.S. Open set to begin its 1st Round less than a day later on Sunday... because there can never be a 24-hour period without two or three (or four) events -- and this weekend that included some significant Hall of Fame inductions in Newport -- taking place simultaneously during this never-a-moment-to-take-a-breath summer hard court season.

NOTE: this is why I'm likely to combine Days 1 & 2 for the opening Daily Backspin post for year's Open.

Alexandrova fell in three sets to countrywoman Diana Shnaider in the title match, but will climb to a new career-high of #12 as she hurries off to New York.


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SURPRISES: Antonia Ruzic/CRO and Alycia Parks/USA
...Ruzic has been one of the under-the-radar ranking movers over the course of the season.

The 22-year old Croatian ended the '24 season, during which she reached her maiden tour-level QF in her WTA debut as a qualifier in Monastir, at #145. Early this season she won a pair of career-best $75K challenger titles, giving her four $50K+ wins since November, and cracked the Top 100 earlier this summer.

In Monterrey, Ruzic qualified once again and reached another QF, upsetting four-time tournament champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elisabetta Cocciaretto before falling to Marie Bouzkova. She'll climb to a new career high inside the Top 70 before making her slam MD debut in New York (via automatic entry), after having lost in qualifying at the last six majors.

Meanwhile, one never knows when *that* Parks might show up, a notion highlighted by the pesky fact that while the Bannerette carries wild potential with her into every match she still showed up in Monterrey with an under .500 mark (14-20) for the season.

A bit of the worrisome (for opponents) version of the 24-year old made an appearance this week, as she posted wins over Cristina Bucsa, Emma Navarro and Rebecca Sramkova to reach her first SF since Auckland back in Week 1. She fell in straights to Diana Shnaider (losing a 10-8 2nd set TB), but will see a ranking bump from #71 to #56 before the start of the Open.


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How it started...




How it went...




VETERANS: Sara Errani/ITA and Sorana Cirstea/ROU
...completed in just two days, with all sets until the final only being played to four games, and with Katerina Siniakova handed the final setting-the-field indignity by being left out of the draw when only-just-attained partner Jannik Sinner (after the Czech had previously been an entrant with Marcelo Arevalo in what was a then-WD #1/MD #1 duo, qualifications which still weren't good enough to assure them a wild card) withdrew after being unable to get through his Monday singles final in Cincinnati a day before the start of 1st Round play, the U.S. Open Mixed Doubles (Invitiational) was actually more of an insult to the idea of an actual slam event than we'd already previously imagined it to be.

Saying they were playing for all the other doubles players who hadn't been allowed to participate (and were denied an opportunity to compete for a rare huge payday, unlike all the singles players in the mix), '24 U.S. Open champs Errani & Andrea Vavassori managed to maintain the weight of the worth of the collective doubles community on their backs and successfully defended their title via a MTB win in the final (after having been unable to serve things out at 6-3/5-4) vs. Iga Swiatek/Casper Ruud. It's their third MX major title in less than a calendar year (they also won this year in Indian Wells in an event that *was* called an invitational).

So, the only actual doubles team playing in a doubles tournament that catered to singles players won it (with the play between the lines, as is so often the case in tennis, saving the notion from the total embarrassment that the suits had yet again managed to create). Thank goodness, as it was the only moderately face-saving result that could have happened here (yet the Italians *almost" squandered it).

It allows the final result to have a little smaller asterisk next to it, at least.

Of course, we know that had Errani/Vavassori not been the defending champs *they* wouldn't have been invited at all (even the USTA didn't have the guts to shut out the DC). Remember, the Italians' images were intentionally left off the promotional releases that announced the original field a few months back, though the duo *had* already been given a WC into the draw, and winning again is the *only* reason they will be allowed to compete in '26, as well, if the USTA puts on something similar, which it seems fairly certain will be the case since the event met the expectations of the tournament as far as attendence, profitability (it would seem), fan involvement and (ultimately) good competition.

Generally, those taking a bow from afar are pointing out the "success" of the "re-imagined" MX event by noting that Errani/Vavassori won the same title with far more money attached while having to do way less on the court, and highlighting the spotlight "mixed doubles" apparently received, along with the big crowds at Ashe.

Okay, but it didn't really do anything for *doubles*, so the supposed "humanitarian" and promotional nature of the event is nil, as most of the big-name singles players who participated won't suddenly start playing doubles now, though they were happy to try to pick up some nice pocket change (for them) that would have been significant -- and season-making -- for the players who play this discipline (and WD/MD) all year long (the overwhelming majority of which clocked out the $0 in prize money) if only, you know, they'd been given the chance to do so.



None of the "positives" suddenly change the fact that this was a fancied-up doubles exhibition that decided that actual doubles players were simply too worthless to invite to attend. And just because people watched it, and it was entertaining, doesn't also mean it wasn't still a desecration of the mixed doubles event (some social media yelpers, including some overly-supportive members of the media -- almost to the point of making you wonder if they're writing a book with the blessing of the USTA or something -- have and will continue to lose sight of that fact). It can be both, as exhibitions are designed to be fun to watch. But they don't also count as "grand slam titles," and this sort of cheapened/bastardized version of the real thing (unless some big changes are made in the future) shouldn't have, either.



One of consistent problems with the sport of tennis is that its decision makers really only care about the top 1% of the (singles) players in the sport and couldn't care less about the rest. This monetized exhibition was just the latest example, and won't be the last. Seems to me, the main thing this all accomplished was to create more needless acrimony between groups in the sport.

In the past, the "social media wars" have been of the men's vs. women's tours variety, or haves vs. have-nots, or player fan base vs. player fan base. But now we can add singles players vs. doubles players arguments to create a whole *new* level of both online and lockerroom division, as it's not only been trolling fans sounding off about the "worthless" nature of doubles specialists, but even some current and former players (mostly, if not all of them male, not missing an opportunity to "punch down" on someone they view as "easy targets" in order to prop up their own less-successful efforts), some dubbing them not "real tennis players" and/or saying that doubles should be eliminated altogether (and that was from an active player *who played in the MX event*!).

If they're going to continue to have this event, as I've seen suggested elsewhere, maybe have one side of the draw consisting of "doubles specialists" and the other side "singles stars" to set up a Cup-style showdown in the final, or maybe team-up singles players w/ doubles specialists as duos and put every team on an even footing (and, thus, allow half the field to be players who deserve to be there).

Also, play sets to 6, not 4, *before* the final (that little detail reeked of the "exhibition" tag thrown on this thing from the start... not that the USTA cared much about that, clearly).



In Cleveland, Cirstea put on a masterful show en route to winning her third career tour title, more than four years since she won her second. Of course, that wait was nothing compared to the stretch between title #1 and #2, as that one was *twelve and a half years*, the third-longest span between titles (2008-21) in WTA history.

This week, Cirstea didn't lose a set over seven matches, making her way through qualifying and then notching MD wins over Moyuka Uchijima, Jil Teichmann, Liudmila Samsonova (for her second '25 SF) and first-time WTA semifinalist Anastasia Zakharova to reach her seventh tour final. A 6-2/6-4 win over Ann Li collected the crown, which will lift the 35-year old from #112 to all the way back inside the Top 75.


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COMEBACK: Ann Li/USA
...the comeback that began last season, hitting a high point with a J500 final in Merida last October, continues through 2025 for Li.

In 2021, she reached two tour finals (1-1) and ranked as high as #44. After finishing that season at #47, her season-ending ranking has slipped to #140, #174 and #99 the last three years.

In Cleveland, Li strung together wins over Yuliia Starodubtseva, Iva Jovic (in a match that, thanks to rain suspensions, finally ended two days after it'd started), Elsa Jacquemot and Wang Xinyu to reach her second final of the season (w/ Singapore).

Li fell 2 & 4 to Sorana Cirstea, but adds a second RU result this season to her MD wins at RG/WI, Rabat/Prague QF and Madrid 3rd Round, helping her to rise from #69 to back inside the Top 60.


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FRESH FACE: Wang Xinyu/CHN
...Wang couldn't play her way into what would have been her second final of the summer (on a second surface), falling in the semis to Ann Li, but the 23-year old posted Cleveland victories over Suzan Lamens, Talia Gibson and Viktorija Golubic to reach her fourth tour-level SF of the season, tied for the seventh-most on tour in '25.

She inches back up to #34 ahead of the U.S. Open, after reaching a career-high #32 earlier this season.


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DOWN: Leylah Fernandez/CAN and Emma Navarro/USA
...the high point of Fernandez's season came just a few weeks ago when she won in Washington, but things have taken a big downturn ever since.

The Canadian managed a single win over Jaqueline Cristian in Monterrey, an event that Fernandez has won twice (in 2021-22), but fell in three in the 2nd Round to Rebecca Sramkova. The loss drops her to 1-3 since her D.C. title run. She heads to New York where she'll be the #31 seed at the U.S. Open, but she's gone just 1-3 at Flushing Meadows since she was runner-up to Emma Raducanu in 2021.

Meanwhile, Navarro was back to the tried-but-not-necessarily-true practice of attempting to squeeze in some extra ranking points as the highest-ranked player in action during the week before a major, one in which she'll soon be tasked with defending a '24 semifinal result.

It didn't work, as the world #11 was one-and-out for a seventh time this season in a three-set loss to Alycia Parks. It's Navarro's third straight loss, and she's gone 1-5 since reaching the Wimbledon Round of 16.

54-24 last season (33-14 on hard court), Navarro is now 25-21 (12-11 hc) in 2025.
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JUNIOR STARS: Kristina Liutova/RUS and Rada Zolotareva/RUS
...the Hordettes claimed the pair of J300 events contested over the past week.

In College Park (Maryland), 15-year old Liutova won eight matches as she made her way through qualifying and then upset both the #2 (Zhang Ruien in the 1st Rd.) and #3 (Laima Vladson in the final) seeds en route to her biggest career win.

Last year in the same event, Liutova qualified and reached the 3rd Round, and this past March she played her way into the semifinals at J300 Indian Wells.



In Pancevo (SRB), 16-year old Zolotareva swept the singles and doubles titles, collecting her biggest career crown with a win in the final over Austria's Anna Pircher.

Zolotareva was a finalist at J500 Cairo in February.
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DOUBLES: Cristina Bucsa/Nicole Melichar-Martinez, ESP/USA and Anna Danilina/Aleksandra Krunic, KAZ/SRB
...Bucsa & Melichar-Martinez won their first title as a pair in Monterrey, completing a 6-2/6-0 win in the final over Guo Hanyu & Alexandrova Panova (also RU last week in Cincinnati).

The win gives Bucsa her seventh career tour title (2-1 in '25 finals, with six of her wins coming since April '24) and Melichar-Martinez her 16th in what was her first final appearance of the season.



Runners-up earlier this year at Roland Garros (when Krunic delivered the best "nightclub monologue" performance of the season during the trophy ceremony), Danilina and Krunic won their first title as a pair in their second appearance in the Cleveland final in four years ('22 RU), defeating Chan Hao-ching/Jiang Xinyu 7-6/6-4 in the final.

Danilina claims career tour title #11 in her tour-best sixth '25 final (2-4), while Krunic grabs her eighth (second this season).


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*TOP U.S. OPEN Q-ROUND PLAYER*

Janice Tjen, INA (23, #147)

...already an ITF star in 2025, Tjen stepped things up significantly with a no-sets-lost qualifiying run at Flushing Meadows that will make her the first Indonesian to play in a major MD since Angelique Widjaja at the U.S. Open in 2004. Tjen, a former college star at Pepperdine, won consecutive straight sets matches over #22-seed Varvara Lepchenko, Maja Chwalinska and #3 Aoi Ito.



Even since turning pro last summer, Tjen has rarely tasted defeat. Beginning in June 2024, she went 13-1 in ITF singles finals before dropping $75K and $100K title matches in recent weeks, but the three wins this week that will next allow her to make not only her slam MD debut but her maiden appearance in *any* tour-level event also improve her season mark to 58-10. Having risen into the Top 150, she's 99-13 since turning pro last June.




*RECENT U.S. OPEN "Q-PLAYER OF THE WEEK" WINNERS*
2014 Aleksandra Krunic, SRB
2015 Jessica Pegula, USA
2016 Taylor Townsend, USA
2017 Kaia Kanepi, EST
2018 Genie Bouchard, CAN
2019 Peng Shuai, CHN
2020 DNP Q
2021 Rebecca Marino, CAN
2022 Sara Bejlek, CZE
2023 Wang Yafan, CHN
2024 Yuliia Starodubtseva, UKR
2025 Janice Tjen, INA
[2025 slams]
AO: Maja Chwalinska, POL
RG: Nao Hibino, JPN
WI: Carson Branstine, CAN
US: Janice Tjen, INA










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1. Monterrey QF - Diana Shnaider def. Elise Mertens
...4-6/7-6(6)/7-6(4). Shnaider's resurgent "Big Sascha Era" chapter in Monterrey included this three-hour comeback in which she saved a first MP at 5-4 in the 2nd set, then climbed out of a 5-1 hole in the 3rd, saving four more MP (three straight from 40/love on Mertens' serve) at 5-2.


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2. U.S. Open MX Final - Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori def. Iga Swiatek/Casper Ruud
...6-3/5-7 [10-6]. The Italians led 6-3/5-3 and all seemed right with the doubles tennis world, then they nearly blew it. Vavassori couldn't serve out the win at 5-4, and they had to go to a deciding MTB to determine the "champions," inadvertantly providing more fodder for the "doubles players are actually unqualified to be called tennis players" crowd who will forever point out that two singles players (who are, you know, kinda good at tennis) were just one game from beating the doubles specialists.

It's their third MX major title (Errani's overall 9th slam crown, and *third* in' 25), and they're the first to win back-to-back U.S. Open titles (w/ an * attached, but still) since Mattek-Sands/J.Murray in 2018-19, but just the second to do it since 1982 (Anne Smith/Kevin Curren).
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3. Monterrey 1st Rd. - Ajla Tomljanovic def. Renata Zarazua
...4-6/6-3/7-6(1). Zarazua turned around a 4-1 defict in the 3rd to hold three MP at 5-4 on serve, then had two more MP at 6-5. But Tomljanovic got things to a deciding TB, which she won 7-1 to claim her second win this season after being MP down.


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4. U.S. Open Q1 - Harriet Dart def. Anca Todoni
...7-5/6-7(3)/7-6(10-6). Todoni led 7-5/4-1 before being forced to a 3rd by Dart, then rallied from 5-3 down (saving 2 MP) to force another breaker, only to lose it.
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5. U.S. Open Q2 - Dominika Salkova def. Kristina Dmitruk
...6-3/5-7/7-6(10-8). The Crusher saved four MP on serve at 6-5 in the 3rd, holding in an eight-deuce game. Salkova then staged another comeback from 4-1 back in the MTB, finally pulling out the 10-8 win on MP #2.
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6. U.S. Open Q3 - Destanee Aiava def. Ella Seidel
...5-7/6-1/7-6(10-6). After not playing in a major MD since AO21, Aiava finds her way into her fourth slam MD in the last five, this time as a qualifier after outlasting Cincinnati 4th Rounder Seidel in a MTB.

Aiava has qualified at the last two U.S. Opens, as well as this year's AO, and got a WC into this season's RG (her first ever MD appearance in Paris).


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7. U.S. Open Q3 - Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva def. Emerson Jones 7-5/7-6(7)
U.S. Open Q3 - Tereza Valentova def. Arantxa Rus 6-2/6-2
...meanwhile, 20-year old VJK finally makes her slam MD debut, and will be the first Andorran to play in a major.



While 18-year old Valentova, aka up-and-coming Crusher #1, qualifies for her second major (w/ RG) of 2025. The Czech narrowly missed a similar run at Wimbledon, losing a 3rd set vs. Anastasia Zakharova in which Valentova had led 5-1 in the final round of qualifying.


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1. U.S. Open Q1 - Mai Hontama def. Kristina Penickova
...6-0/4-6/7-6(10-4). 15-year old Penickova makes her slam qualifying debut as an #856-ranked wild card. The Bannerette led 4-2 in the 3rd, and held three MP at 5-4 before Hontama surged back and took the deciding MTB.








The timing is potentially fraught (or, you know, great... we'll see), but this seems like a good decision in the moment.




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It's funny (or not) how the U.S. Open MX doubles has managed to bring out the MAGA qualities of several former/current U.S. men's players, mostly those who didn't have spectacular singles careers but who took the opportunity to punch down on whomever was available.

First, it was Reilly Opelka saying that doubles should be eliminated, and that doubles specialists aren't "real tennis players" and are instead just failed singles players... and then playing in the MX invitational, anyway. Then when someone suggested Rajeev Ram being allowed to play the MX with Katerina Siniakova, Mardy Fish called Rajeev Ram not an "actual tennis player," though the reigning Cincy MD champ not only has had a far more successful career in the sport than Fish did, but was also 1-0 vs. Fish in their career *singles* head-to-head.



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U.S. OPEN "PROP PICK" PREDICTIONS
1. The winner will be a former U.S. Open singles champion. Those who meet the qualifications in the MD: Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff, Raducanu, Osaka and V.Williams.
2. Both singles finalists will be previous U.S. Open winners, and at least three Top 7 seeds will reach the semifinals. That's happened just once (2022) in the last twelve years.
3. At least five Top 10 seeds will reach the QF. Five in the last eight in NYC would be the most since 2016 (2017-24: 2-2-2-3-4-4-4-4), while six last reached the QF in 2010 (2010-16: 6-4-5-4-2-3-5). There were last seven Top 10 seeds in the QF in 2005 (2005-09: 7-5-5-5-3).
4. #9 Elena Rybakina and #10 Emma Navarro will go out before the QF. Rybkina has never reached the U.S. Round of 16 (and it would mark her longest slam run w/o a QF -- 5 -- since AO21), while Navarro was a semifinalist last year (and could drop out of the Top 20 without a similar result).
5. Dark Horse (4r/QF+)??: Hmmm... I'm not feelin' anyone in particular enough to make a pick here this slam. There were a lot of "almost" selections (i.e. suggestions, but not official DH picks): #22 Victoria Mboko (Montreal champ) seemed too easy/obvious, while I really like #17 Liudmila Samsonova's draw (up to a possible 4th Rd. vs. #30 Dayana Yastremska, who could be a "dark horse," too). Meanwhile, Caty McNally is interesting, but she's in the same section as Mboko; while the suddenly-hot Diana Shnaider is in the same section as Iga Swiatek (though she could reach the 4r before they would meet).





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*2025 TITLES FROM MATCH POINT DOWN*
Auckland - Clara Tauson (1 MP vs. Kenin, 2r)
Australian Open - Madison Keys (1 MP vs Swiatek, SF)
Bogota - Camila Osorio (1 MP vs. Bektas, 2r)
Rosmalen - Elise Mertens (11 MP vs. Alexandrova, SF)
Eastbourne - Maya Joint (4 MP vs. Eala, F)
Montreal - Victoria Mboko (1 MP vs. Rybakina, SF)
Monterrey - Diana Shnaider (5 MP vs. Mertens, QF)
[most MP saved to win title - 2020s]
11 - Elise Mertens (2025 Rosmalen)
5 - Leylah Fernandez (2022 Monterrey)
5 - Jessie Pegula (2024 Berlin)
5 - Diana Shnaider (2025 Monterrey)
4 - Barbora Krejcikova (2023 Dubai)
4 - Maya Joint (2025 Eastbourne)

*2025 MIXED DOUBLES CHAMPIONS*
Australian Open - Olivia Gadecki/John Peers, AUS/AUS
Indian Wells (Inv.) - Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori, ITA/ITA
Roland Garros - Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori, ITA/ITA
Wimbledon - Katerina Siniakova/Sem Verbeek, CZE/NED
US Open - Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori, ITA/ITA

*RECENT U.S. OPEN MIXED DOUBLES CHAMPIONS*
2015 Martina Hingis/Leander Paes, SUI/IND
2016 Laura Siegemund/Mate Pavic, GER/CRO
2017 Martina Hingis/Jamie Murray, SUI/GBR
2018 Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Jamie Murray, USA/GBR
2019 Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Jamie Murray, USA/GBR
2020 DNP
2021 Desirae Krawczyk/Joe Salisbury, USA/GBR
2022 Storm Sanders/John Peers, AUS/AUS
2023 Anna Danilina/Harri Heliovaara, KAZ/FIN
2024 Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori, ITA/ITA
2025 Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori, ITA/ITA

*SLAM MX TITLES - active*
4...Desirae Krawczyk, USA
4...Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
3...Latisha Chan, TPE
3...SARA ERRANI, ITA
3...Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
3...Kristina Mladenovic, FRA

*ALL-RUSSIAN WTA FINALS in 2020s*
2021 Saint Petersburg - Kasatkina d. Gasparyan
2022 Istanbul - Potapova d. V.Kudermetova
2023 Rosmalen - Alexandrova d. V.Kudermetova
2024 Iasi - M.Andreeva d. Avanesyan
2024 Ningbo - Kasatkina d. M.Andreeva
2025 Monterrey - Shnaider d. Alexandrova
--
NOTE: there were 22 all-RUS finals in 2000s, and 7 in 2010s

*2025 QUALIFIERS IN WTA FINALS*
Brisbane - Polina Kudermetova, RUS
Merida - Emiliana Arango, COL
Bogota - Katarzyna Kawa, POL
London - Tatjana Maria, GER (W)
Rosmalen - Gabriela Ruse, ROU
Berlin - Wang Xinyu, CHN
Eastbourne - Alex Eala, PHI
Cleveland - SORANA CIRSTEA, ROU (W)

*2025 OLDEST WTA SINGLES FINALISTS*
37 - Tatjana Maria (London)-W
35 - SORANA CIRSTEA (Cleveland)-W
34 - Irina-Camelia Begu (Iasi)-W
32 - Katarzyna Kawa (Bogota)

*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)
Bogota: Julieta Pareja, USA (16/#550)
Roland Garros: Lois Boisson, FRA (22/#361)
Prague: Tereza Valentova, CZE (18/#106)
Montreal: Victoria Mboko, CAN (#85/18)-W
Cleveland: ANASTASIA ZAKHAROVA, RUS (#100/23)

*2025 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
6 (2-4) = ANNA DANILINA
5 (2-3) = GUO HANYU
5 (2-3) = Alona Ostapenko
5 (1-4) = Zhang Shuai
4 (3-1) = Sara Errani
4 (3-1) = Jasmine Paolini
4 (3-1) = Taylor Townsend
4 (2-2) = JIANG XINYU
4 (2-2) = ALEXANDRA PANOVA
4 (0-4) = Hsieh Su-wei
[2025 finals - duos]
4...Errani/Paolini (3-1)
4...GUO/PANOVA (2-2)
3...Jiang/Wu (2-1)
3...V.Kudermetova/Mertens (1-2)
3...Hsieh/Ostapenko (0-3)

*MULTI-SLAM QUALIFIERS IN 2025*
2 - Destanee Aiava, AUS (AO/US)
2 - Sara Beljek, CZE (AO/RG)
2 - Veronika Erjavec, SLO (AO/WI)
2 - Nao Hibino, JPN (AO/RG)
2 - Priscilla Hon, AUS (WI/US)
2 - Julia Riera, ARG (AO/RG)
2 - Oksana Selekhmeteva, RUS (RG/US)
2 - Nina Stojanovic, SRB (RG/WI)
2 - Tereza Valentova, CZE (RG/US)
2 - Zhang Shuai, CHN (WI/US)

*LOW-RANKED 2025 SLAM QUALIFIERS*
#374 - CLAIRE LIU, USA (US)
#242 - Kaja Juvan, SLO (WI)
#230 - Anastasiia Sobolieva, UKR (RG)
#227 - Carole Monnet, FRA (RG)
#218 - HINA INOUE, USA (US)
#204 - Julia Riera, ARG (RG)
#200 - Nao Hibino, JPN (RG)

*MAKING SLAM MD DEBUTS in 2025 (*-won in 1r)*
=AUTOMATIC ENTRY MD=
AO - Suzan Lamens, NED*
RG - Emiliana Arango, COL*
RG - Alex Eala, PHI
WI - Aoi Ito, JPN
US - Antonia Ruzic, CRO

=WC=
AO - Emerson Jones, AUS
RG - Lois Boisson, FRA*
RG - Tiantsoa (Sarah) Rakotomanga Rajaonah, FRA
WI - Hannah Klugman, GBR
WI - Mika Stojsavljevic, GBR
WI - Mimi Xu, GBR
US - Alyssa Ahn, USA
US - Valerie Glozman, USA
US - Julieta Pareja, USA

=Q=
AO - Veronika Erjavec, SLO
AO - Wei Sijia, CHN
RG - Joanna Garland, TPE*
RG - Victoria Mboko, CAN*
RG - Leyre Romero Gormaz, ESP*
RG - Anastasiia Sobolieva, UKR
RG - Tereza Valentova, CZE*
WI - Carson Branstine, CAN
US - Hina Inoue, USA
US - Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, AND
US - Darja Semenistaja, LAT
US - Janice Tjen, INA

*2025 U.S. OPEN MD...*
=most by nation (of 38)=
25 - USA
13 - RUS
8 - CZE
7 - AUS
6 - CHN
5 - FRA
=teenagers (9; *-first slam MD)=
16 - Julieta Pareja, USA (WC)*
17 - Iva Jovic, USA
18 - Alyssa Ahn, USA (WC)*
18 - Mirra Andreeva, RUS
18 - Valerie Glozman, USA (WC)*
18 - Victoria Mboko, CAN
18 - Tereza Valentova, CZE (Q)
19 - Maya Joint, AUS
19 - Clervie Ngounoue, USA (WC)
=35+ (of 25 age 30+)=
45 - Venus Williams, USA (WC)
38 - Tatjana Maria, GER
37 - Laura Siegemund, GER
36 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR
36 - Zhang Shuai, CHN (Q)
35 - Sorana Cirstea, ROU (PR)
35 - Petra Kvitova, CZE (PR)
35 - Anastasija Sevastova, LAT (PR)
=youngest - 2025 slams=
16 - WI: Hannah Klugman, GBR (WC) - DOB: February 18, 2009
16 - US: Julieta Pareja, USA (WC) - DOB: February 18, 2009
16 - WI: Mike Stojsavljevic, GBR (WC) - DOB: December 15, 2008
16 - AO: Emerson Jones, AUS (WC) - DOB: July 7, 2008
16 - AO: Iva Jovic, USA (WC) - DOB: December 6, 2007
=oldest - 2025 slams=
45 - US: Venus Williams, USA (WC) - DOB: June 17, 1980
38 - US: Tatjana Maria, GER - DOB: August 8, 1987
37 - WI: Tatjana Maria, GER - DOB: August 8, 1987
37 - RG: Tatjana Maria, GER - DOB: August 8, 1987
37 - AO: Tatjana Maria, GER - DOB: August 8, 1987
37 - US: Laura Siegemund, GER - DOB: March 4, 1988
37 - WI: Laura Siegemund, GER - DOB: March 4, 1988
37 - RG: Laura Siegemund, GER - DOB: March 4, 1988






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Trump unpromptedly shows reporters a photo of Putin and himself, who he says may be a guest at next year's World Cup in the US: "I'm going to sign this for him... I thought it was a nice picture of him." Putin bombed an American non-military factory in Ukraine yesterday.

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— Adam Schwarz (@adamjschwarz.bsky.social) August 22, 2025 at 1:38 PM


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????

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— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) August 23, 2025 at 8:30 AM


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Like you I've seen all the pics people post here abt the steady increase of tacky gold crap he keeps adding to the oval office. But somehow it wasn't until I saw this picture that it just hit me. What the actual fuck. Like a Vegas whorehouse.

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— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) August 19, 2025 at 12:47 AM


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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 12:23 AM 

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