Saturday, May 30, 2026

RG.7- Anastasia in the Sky with Diamonds

Once again, it's Anastasia Potapova in the dirt.




Potapova, 25, has been the biggest breakout star of this clay season. More than Marta Kostyuk, who has nibbled on the edges of stardrom for a while now. More than Hailey Baptiste, who shined brightly in Madrid (def. Sabalenka) but couldn't follow up in Rome before her devastating exit via a knee injury in Paris.

The newly-Austrian-ized Potapova reached the Linz final, the Madrid semis (as a lucky loser) and then the Rome Round of 16 (as a qualifier) before carrying over her new status to the draw at Roland Garros, where she'd already reached the second week once in her career (in 2024). Early round wins over Maya Joint and Katie Boulter were good, but not great, signs that Potapova might be a force to be reckoned with in this event. But the notion surely lingered.

But could the #28-seed *really* rise to the occasion today against the defending champion (Coco Gauff) in the biggest clay court event in the world on the most famous clay court in the sport (Philippe-Chatrier)?

Well, in a word. Yep.

While Potapova stated her case throughout the day in what turned out to be a crucible of a match, probably the first *real* one on the women's side at this major, it was never wise to underestimate Gauff, who has shown she can win with or without her best game on the big stage (see RG25), and with or without her best weapon, her backhand (I mean, other than her legs). As long as Gauff has her resilience -- which she pretty much always does -- she's never to be counted out.

In the 1st, Gauff staged a comeback from 4-2, after finding herself two BP from being down a double-break. Holding in game 7 to keep close, Gauff ran off four straight games to steal the 1st set.

Right on cue, Potapova raced to another big lead in the 2nd, this time getting her double-break edge at 3-0. She had game points for 4-0, but Gauff broke her serve to avoid a runaway. It set off a string of six straight breaks of serve, as Potapova got her double-break lead back, gave it away, and then got it back again to lead 5-2. Serving for the set, Potapova held two SP (briefly converting one that was overturned on a mark check after she thought she'd leveled the match), but was broken for 5-3.

Gauff held to end the streak, then broke Potapova as she served for the set again, tying things up at 5-5. At 6-5, Gauff got within two points of the win, but Potapova held to force a TB and then went on to dominate it. She led 5-0, and won 7-1.

It was Gauff who took the break lead at 2-1 in the 3rd. A game later, Potapova led 15/30, but two consecutive backhand errors opened a path for a Gauff hold for 3-1. But momentum swing the other way again, and things were soon tied at 3-3.

At that point, a Potapova DF put her down 30/40, but she managed the hold for 4-3 as the match hung in the balance on a game-by-game basis, with the Austrian continuing to hit out on her shots and keeping her emotions in check (deep breath) on costly misses. Two games later, Potapova held for 5-4, edging closer to the finish.

Gauff led 30/love in game 9, but a DF (her 8th) tied the score at 30/30. A Potapova down the line winner set up her first MP, and moments later Gauff framed a forehand off a deep shot off the line, handing Potapova a monumental 4-6/7-6(1)/6-4 victory.



Potapova is now 17-4 on the dirt this spring, with a string of results that say she's legitimately "in the mix" at this major. So, while this might have been an "upset," it's also a result that, even with Gauff's standing as the reigning champion, didn't really come totally out of left field. Even before the match, if you looked closely, you could see it from there. Almost, at least.

With Gauff's absence from the draw, we now know that a *semifinalist* at this RG will come from a group of four players that includes Potapova, #22 Anna Kalinskaya, qualifier Maja Chwalinska and French Pastry Diane Parry.

Yep, the Most Interesting Tour in the World lives.







=DAY 7 NOTES=
...the sun was good to Naomi Osaka on this middle Saturday in Paris. For one, it made her glittery entrance all the more sparkly, and then it shined a light on a resilience on clay courts that used to be a trait that the four-time hard court major champion simply did not possess.



The #16 seed faced off with 18-year old #17 seed Iva Jovic for a berth in the Round of 16, with the two engaging in a nearly three-hour battle in which they were knotted up on the scoreboard deep into both the 1st and 2nd sets, and threatened to repeat the process in the 3rd.

Osaka failed to put away either of a pair of BP chances at 6-5 in the opener, but went on to win a 7-5 TB on her fifth SP. The 2nd went to a TB, as well, this time with the teenager getting a 7-3 win to send things to a 3rd set.

With Jovic already with a slam QF under her belt at the AO this season, and Osaka seeking to reach the second week in Paris for the first time in her career, the decider nearly saw a replay of the first two sets, but Osaka got the first and only break of serve in the final stanza at just the right time, breaking Jovic to take the set 6-4.



After having not won more matches on clay than she's lost in any season since 2019, Osaka has now done it in back-to-back springs, following up her 8-3 mark last year with a (so far) 7-2 record in '26. With a Round of 16 run in a non-hard court major for the first time in her career, she'll next get a chance to post her first career Top 10 win on clay (all 14 have come on hard courts), and her first overall since last year's U.S. Open, when she faces off with #1 Aryna Sabalenka in the 4th Round.



Sabalenka quickly jumped on Dasha Kasatkina today, winning a love 1st set before edging out the Aussie in a tight 2nd, putting the hammer down at 5-5 and taking a 6-0/7-5 win to reach her nineteenth career slam 4th Round. She's done so at her last fourteen majors (excluding her DNP at Wimbledon '24), at 17 of 18, and 18 of 20.

Sabalenka had arrived in Paris following a disappointing clay season after last year reaching finals in Stuttgart, Madrid and Roland Garros, going 4-2 and having lost to Hailey Baptiste (after having 6 MP) and Sorana Cirstea (who became the oldest player to defeat a world #1). She did defeat Osaka in the Madrid 4th Round, though, and will find her there in another Round of 16 match in two days as -- at #16 -- the *next*-highest seed remaining after Sabalenka in the top half of the draw.

...with eight combined major titles in the career of the two players at the top of the bracket in the women's top half, the very bottom will feature a pair of first-time slam 4th Rounders in Maja Chwalinska and Diane Parry.



Qualifier Chwalinska continued her unlikely run to the second week in just her third career major MD, following up her wins over '24 Olympic Gold medalist Zheng Qinwen and #23 Elise Mertens with a 1-6/6-3/6-2 victory over former RG semifinalist Maria Sakkari, improving to 16-5 on clay in '26.



The #114-ranked Pole won a 125 title on the dirt last month, giving her three straight seaons with 125 wins on clay. She's now assured of cracking the Top 100 after RG, as she's at a "live" ranking inside the Top 75.

Chwalinska will face French Pastry Parry with a maiden berth in a slam QF going to the winner.

Parry, who was at 0-4 on clay this season just a few weeks ago, today upset #6 Amanda Anisimova -- a two-time slam finalist in '25 -- to make it three straight years with a French woman reaching the RG second week (after the home contingent was shut out in three of four years from 2019-23). The 6-3/4-6/7-6(10-3) win gives Parry her first second week slam run (in MD #21) and a second career Top 10 win, with the other coming over Barbora Krejcikova at RG in 2022.



Parry's 125 win in Paris two weeks ago came with a QF walkover and retirement in the final from Madison Keys, so it was hard to gauge just how ready her game was for RG. But, so far, she's taken down Anhelina Kalinina, Ann Li and now Anisimova.

For Anisimova, though it seems counterintuitive, her 3rd Round run is actually encouraging, not disappointing (as her worst major result since AO25, after which she'd gone 21-4 in slam play before today). Remember, RG was her first event since Miami after missing time with a wrist injury. She started '26 with an AO QF, Dubai SF and Indian Wells and Miami 4th Rounds, so while her Paris run ends early it seems a good sign that once she gets her feet back under her Anisimova might be able to pick up where she left off a few months ago in short order.

...meanwhile, #25 Diana Shnaider did everyone a favor and dispatched Oleksandra Oliynykova from her perch behind a micropho-, err, I mean her spot in the women's draw.

Shnaider won 7-5/6-1, winning 12 of the final 14 games to reach her second career major 4th Round (w/ '24 U.S.). Not surprisingly, looking at the social media of the WTA, Roland Garros, Tennis Channel, TNT, etc. during and after the match, it was as if it didn't exist. But, hey, why should the turning of a blind eye stop now, right?

Afterward, Shnaider was more diplomatic than deserved to be the case. Thus, the restraint remains. I wonder if it will last across the board if the sideshow continues into London and then New York?



Naturally, as she went out the door, Oliynykova tried to cast her actions as that of a "hero" and "role model" fighting for right against wrong and speaking truth to power, like Billie Jean King. No, really. She did. Buy it if you wish...but I do not.



Thing is, no one would have reason to object to her using her platform to talk of the war and its many victims, maybe even imparting the true stories of *individuals* she knows. But Oliynykova made the story about *her* while also engaging in vile personal attacks (which could be viewed as threatening) with running cameras and live microphones sending it out to anyone wanting to listen, accusing "tennis players" (*tennis players*, think about that) of being complicit in deaths on an *actual* battlefield and comparing their actions to supporting Nazis.

And the tour and, now, Roland Garros has let her do it.

(Meanwhile, a few years ago some WTA players were calling for a player to be banned for *wiping out a mark in the clay* after a shot that ended a point that had been decided two points earlier, but everyone is apparently fine with something bordering on character assassination of fellow tour members on a regular basis. Good to know, I guess.)

Being a victim, on a large or small scale, is horrible and understandably stressful, but it doesn't also give an individual carte blanche to assail anyone with only a passing -- maybe, somewhat, even if you don't really know many details but decide to shout your untethered opinions via a megaphone from the highest spot you can find -- connection to something with a passing connection to the heart of the evil you oppose. In fact, it makes little sense, and seems to be counterproductive to one's goals to make those you oppose look like victims themselves. Actually, it *seems* like kind of a stupid thing to do. But that's just me.

A line was clearly crossed, not that certain media members who pumped Oliynykova's words out all week while raking in subscribers ever really seemed to care to touch on the potential dangers, let alone the setting of a precedent, of singling out non-participants in atrocities as carrying blame for things they have nothing to do with. Not even in a world where it only takes one incited deranged/misguided follower to cause the story to take another avoidable tragic turn (I don't know, maybe a said journalist will be writing a book about it with Oliynykova at some point, and we'll hear about it then... we'll see).

Shnaider will next face #19 Madison Keys, after the veteran avoided becoming the second of the last two U.S. women to win a major to fall on Day 7,defeating #9 Victoria Mboko, 6-3/5-7/7-5.

Mboko, at 19 the youngest Canadian to reach the RG 3rd Round in consecutive years since 1988-89 (Helen Kelesi), managed to hold on for quite a while in this one, erasing Keys' 6-3/4-1 lead, saving two MP on serve at 5-4 in the 2nd, and then breaking Keys a game later en route to a 7-5 win.

In the 3rd, Keys, again led 5-3, but dropped serve. Serving at 6-5 to force a deciding MTB, Mboko fell behind love/30, then DF'd to go down triple MP. Finally, Keys' reclamation project reached its conclusion and she saved a match win that very nearly (twice, actually) got away from her.



Keys reached a SF in Charleston to open her clay season, but went out to Nikola Bartunkova in Rome and retired from her 125 final in Paris leading into RG. A second week run didn't exactly seem likely, but her sixth career RG 4th Round run comes a year after she had her best result in the event since 2019 just a year ago, reaching the quarterfinals. Keys' 24 career major Round of 16 leads the remaining field.

...facing Potapova in the 4th Round will be another Russian, the Austrian's former countrywoman, #22 Anna Kalinskaya. Despite dropping a love 2nd set, Kalinskaya rallied in the 3rd to win 6-3/0-6/6-2 to reach her maiden RG Round of 16. It's the third of her career, with one each at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.



...so, in wheelchair tennis, Diede de Groot might just be back. I mean, *really* back. But she's got company.

The future Hall of Famer took the 1000 level event in Barcelona this weekend before heading off to Paris, handing world #1 Yui Kamiji a 6-1/6-0 (!!) thumping in the semifinals, and then avenging her first career loss two weeks ago in Rome to Dutch countrywoman Lizzy de Greef, 20, with a 6-4/6-4 win in the final.

While the news here is led by de Groot, keep an eye on de Greef. The long-thought *heir* to de Groot's WC throne is starting to heat up. In Rome, she matched her biggest career title, but did so with her best-ever career wins over both de Groot and Kamiji, her first wins over the veterans after having previously been 0-13 against the pair. She also got a win in Rome over Aniek Van Koot, improving to 4-7 against yet another veteran, and giving her wins that week over three of the top four players in the world.

This week, de Greef defeated Van Koot again, as well as Li Xiaohui (the only member of the Top 4 that she hadn't gotten the opportunity to defeat in Rome).

De Greef has never reached the SF in a major, but maybe that's about to change?



In doubles, Kamiji & Zhu Zhenzhen took the title, defeating de Groot and Van Koot in a 10-5 MTB.

...in the final big junior event before the start of play in Paris, 16-year old German Mariella Thamm won the J300 title in Charleroi-Marcinelle (BEL), aka the Astrid Bowl, with a 3-6/6-4/6-1 win over 17-year old Bannerette Anita Tu.

It's girls' #20 Thamm's second J300 title on clay this spring.







*WOMEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR vs. #16 Naomi Osaka/JPN
#19 Madison Keys/USA vs. #25 Diana Shnaider/RUS
#28 Anastasia Potapova/AUT vs. #22 Anna Kalinskaya/RUS
(Q) Maja Chwalinska/POL vs. Diane Parry/FRA
#7 Elina Svitolina/UKR vs. #11 Belinda Bencic/SUI
#15 Marta Kostyuk/UKR vs. #3 Iga Swiatek/POL
#8 Mirra Andreeva/RUS vs. (PR) Jil Teichmann/SUI
#18 Sorana Cirstea/ROU vs. (Q) Wang Xiyu/CHN







...WE DON'T SEE IT OFTEN THESE DAYS, BUT IS ANY SHOT MORE LOUVRE-WORTHY THAN A SWEEPING ONE-HANDED BACKHAND?... ON DAY 7:




...THE HARD WORK IS DONE IN THE SHADOWS (or, sometimes, just outside them)... ON DAY 7:




...ALL IT TOOK WAS MULTIPLE PLAYERS NEARLY BREAKING THEIR NECKS... ON DAY 7:




...YOU KNOW, IF KOSTYUK KEEPS UP WITH THE FAKE BAD TOSSES... ON DAY 7:


...they might have to make a rule about *having* to hit the second toss or it's a fault. In fact, I thought they *did* talk about making that a rule a few years ago.





...ONE LAST RG GIFT FROM "ACTION COCO" (and Jimmie48Photography, of course)... ON DAY 7:

























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Old-school (i.e. roof-less) Court Suzanne-Lenglen





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*FIRST-TIME SLAM 4th RD. IN 2020s - at RG**
2020 Paula Badosa, ESP (6th slam MD)
2020 Fiona Ferro, FRA (10th)
2020 Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (3rd)
2020 Nadia Podoroska, ARG (2nd)
2020 Laura Siegemund, GER (16th)
2020 Martina Trevisan, ITA (2nd)
2021 Marta Kostyuk, UKR (5th)
2021 Elena Rybakina, KAZ (7th)
2021 Tamara Zidansek, SLO (9th)
2022 Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (13th)
2022 Jil Teichmann, SUI (11th)
2022 Zheng Qinwen, CHN (2nd)
2023 Elina Avanesyan, RUS (2nd)
2023 Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA (12th)
2023 Bernarda Pera, USA (21st)
2023 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, SVK (33rd)
2023 Sara Sorribes Tormo, ESP (22nd)
2024 Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA (11th)
2024 Olga Danilovic, SRB (5th)
2024 Varvara Gracheva, FRA (15th)
2024 Emma Navarro, USA (6th)
2024 Anastasia Potapova, RUS (18th)
2024 Clara Tauson, DEN (11th)
2025 Lois Boisson, FRA (1st)
2025 Hailey Baptiste, USA (8th)
2026 Maja Chwalinska, POL (3rd)
2026 Diane Parry, FRA (21st)
2026 Wang Xiyu, CHN (16th)

*FRENCH WOMEN IN RG ROUND OF 16*
[since 2000]
2000 Amelie Mauresmo, Mary Pierce (W)
2001 Sandrine Testud
2002 Amelie Mauresmo, Mary Pierce (QF)
2003 Amelie Mauresmo (QF)
2004 Amelie Mauresmo (QF)
2005 Mary Pierce (RU)
2006 Amelie Mauresmo
2007 Marion Bartoli
2008 -
2009 Virginie Razzano, Aravane Rezai
2010 -
2011 Marion Bartoli (SF)
2012 -
2013 -
2014 Pauline Parmentier
2015 Alize Cornet
2016 -
2017 Alize Cornet, Caroline Garcia (QF), Kristina Mladenovic (QF)
2018 Caroline Garcia
2019 -
2020 Fiona Ferro, Caroline Garcia
2021 -
2022 -
2023 -
2024 Varvara Gracheva
2025 Lois Boisson (SF)
2026 Diane Parry (in 4th Rd.)

*QUALIFIERS IN RG ROUND OF 16*
==in 7-round event (since 1981)==
1984 4th - Petra Keppeler/GER
1987 4th - Karen Schimper/RSA
1988 4th - Conchita Martinez/ESP
1989 4th - Janine Thompson Tremelling/AUS
1989 4th - Silvia La Fratta/ITA
1996 4th - Gala Leon Garcia/ESP
1999 QF - Barbara Schwartz/AUT
2000 4th - Rossana de los Rios/PAR
2000 QF - Marta Marrero/ESP
2001 QF - Petra Mandula/HUN
2002 4th - Vera Zvonareva/RUS
2008 QF - Carla Suarez Navarro/ESP
2010 4th - Chanelle Scheepers/RSA
2012 QF - Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ
2014 4th - Kiki Bertens/NED
2017 4th - Petra Martic/CRO
2019 4th - Aliona Bolsova/ESP
2020 SF - Nadia Podoroska/ARG
2024 4th - Olga Danilovic/SRB
2026 - Maja Chwalinska/POL
2026 - Wang Xiyu/CHN


*2026 RG FINAL 16*
[by ranking]
#1 - Aryna Sabalenka
#3 - Iga Swiatek
#7 - Elina Svitolina
#8 - Mirra Andreeva
#11 - Belinda Bencic
#15 - Marta Kostyuk
#16 - Naomi Osaka
#18 - Sorana Cirstea
#19 - Madison Keys
#23 - Diana Shnaider
#24 - Anna Kalinskaya
#30 - Anastasia Potapova
#92 - Diane Parry
#114 - Maja Chwalinska
#148 - Wang Xiyu
#170 - Jil Teichmann

[by age]
36 - Cirstea
31 - Keys, Svitolina
29 - Bencic
28 - Osaka, Sabalenka, Teichmann
27 - Kalinskaya
25 - Potapova, Wang Xiyu
24 - Chwalinska, Swiatek
23 - Kostyuk, Parry
22 - Shnaider
19 - M.Andreeva

[by nation]
3...RUS (Andreeva,Kalinskaya,Shnaider)
2...POL (Chwalinska, Swiatek)
2...UKR (Kostyuk,Svitolina)
2...SUI (Bencic,Teichmann)
1...AUT (Potapova)
1...BLR (Sabalenka)
1...CHN (Wang Xiyu)
1...FRA (Parry)
1...JPN (Osaka)
1...ROU (Cirstea)
1...USA (Keys)

[by career slam Round-of-16s]
24 - Keys
22 - Svitolina, Swiatek
19 - Sabalenka
12 - Bencic
8 - M.Andreeva, Osaka
6 - Cirstea
4 - Kostyuk
3 - Kalinskaya
2 - Shnaider, Potapova, Teichmann
1 - Chwalinska, Parry, Wang Xiyu

[w/ consecutive slam Round of 16s]
14 (7) - Sabalenka (last 14 played, 7 con. = DNP Wimb.'24)
7 - Swiatek
2 - M.Andreeva, Keys, Svitolina

[w/ multiple career RG Round of 16s]
8 - Svitolina, Swiatek
6 - Keys
4 - Sabalenka
3 - M.Andreeva, Cirstea
2 - Kostyuk, Potapova, Teichmann

[w/ consecutive RG Round of 16s]
8 - Swiatek
4 - Sabalenka, Svitolina
3 - M.Andreeva
2 - Keys

[WTA career slam Round of 16s - active]
50...Venus Williams
30...Victoria Azarenka
24...Madison Keys
22...Elina Svitolina
22...Iga Swiatek
19...Aryna Sabalenka
17...Coco Gauff
16...Elise Mertens
16...Sloane Stephens
16...Vera Zvonareva
14...Karolina Pliskova
12...Belinda Bencic
12...Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
11...Jessie Pegula
11...Elena Rybakina

[WTA slam Round of 16s since 2020 (of 25) - active]
21 - Swiatek
19 - Sabalenka
15 - Gauff
12 - Svitolina
11 - Mertens, Pegula, Rybakina
10 - Jabeur, Keys
8 - M.Andreeva, Anisimova, Badosa
8 - Krejcikova, Muchova
7 - Bencic, Azarenka
6 - Pavlyuchenkova, Vondrousova
5 - Kasatkina, Navarro
5 - Paolini, Sakkari, Samsonova
5 - Vekic, Zheng Q.
4 - Alexandrova, Cirstea, Collins
4 - Haddad Maia, Kasatkina, Kenin
4 - Kostyuk, Osaka, Ostapenko, Ka.Pliskova
3 - Kalinskaya, V.Kudermetova, Putintseva
3 - Raducanu, Stephens, Tomljanovic
3 - Wang Xinyu, Zhang Sh.

[2026 slam Rd. of 16s - youngest]
18 - Iva Jovic (AO)
18 - Mirra Andreeva (AO)
19 - Mirra Andreeva (RG)
19 - Victoria Mboko (AO)

[2026 slam Rd. of 16s - oldest]
36 - Sorana Cirstea (RG)
31 - Jessie Pegula (AO)
31 - Yulia Putintseva (AO)
31 - Elina Svitolina (RG)
31 - Elina Svitolina (AO)
31 - Madison Keys (RG)
30 - Madison Keys (AO)
30 - Elise Mertens (AO)

[2026 slam Rd. of 16s - unseeded]
=AO (3)=
Maddison Inglis (Q), Yulia Putintseva, Wang Xinyu
=RG (x)=
Maya Chwalinska (Q), Diane Parry, Jil Teichmann (PR), Wang Xiyu (Q)

[2026 slam Rd. of 16s - 1st-time GS 4th Rd.; w/ MD #]
AO - (3) Inglis (7th), Jovic (6th), Mboko (4th)
RG - (3) Chwalinska (3rd), Parry (21st), Wang Xiyu (16th)

[2026 slam Rd. of 16s - completed "Career Round of 16 Slam"]
AO - Putintseva (48th slam MD)
RG - Bencic (38th slam MD)

[2026 slam Rd. of 16s - lowest-ranked]
#170 - Jil Teichmann (RG)
#168 - Maddison Inglis (AO)
#148 - Wang Xiyu (RG)
#114 - Maya Chwalinska (RG)
#94 - Yulia Putintseva (AO)
#92 - Diane Parry (RG)

[2026 slam Rd. of 16s - by nation]
6 = 5/1--- = USA (Keys)
4 = 1/3--- = RUS (M.Andreeva,Kalinskaya,Shnaider)
3 = 1/2--- = POL (Chwalinska,Swiatek)
3 = 1/2--- = UKR (Kostyuk,Svitolina)
2 = 1/1--- = BLR (Sabalenka)
2 = 1/1--- = CHN (Wang Xiyu)
2 = 2/0--- = KAZ
2 = 0/2--- = SUI (Bencic,Teichmann)
= 1 AO: AUS,BEL,CAN,CZE
1 RG: AUT(Potapova),FRA(Parry),JPN(Osaka),ROU(Cirstea)

[2026 slam Rd. of 16s - by region]
10 = (3/7) - Eastern Europe/Russia (BLR-ROU-RUS-UKR)
9 = (3/6) - W.Europe/Scandinavia (AUT-FRA-POL-SUI)
7 = (6/1) - North America/Atlantic (USA)
6 = (4/2) - Asia/Oceania (CHN-JPN)
0 = (0/0) - South America
0 = (0/0) - Africa/Middle East/Mediterranean





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And thus did the prophecy of @anntelnaes.bsky.social come to pass

[image or embed]

— Marc Channick (@marcchannick.bsky.social) May 30, 2026 at 5:17 PM











TOP QUALIFIER: Claire Liu/USA
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Iga Swiatek/POL
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): x
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Oceane Dodin/FRA (PR) def. Kayla Day/USA 6-4/2-6/7-6(15-13) - saved 2 MP in TB, wins on MP #5
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - #7 Elina Svitolina/UKR def. Anna Bondar/HUN 3-6/6-1/7-6(10-3) - Bondar, who def. in Madrid, led 3-1 in 3rd set; Rome champ Svitolina avoids first 1st Rd. loss in RG career)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.-WC): x
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #27 Marie Bouzkova/CZE (def. Bronzetti/ITA)
FIRST SEED OUT: #21 Clara Tauson/DEN (1r - lost to Snigur/UKR)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Susan Bandecchi/SUI (1st MD), Marina Bassols Ribera/ESP (2nd MD), Francesca Jones/GBR (7th MD), Oleksandra Oliynykova/UKR (2nd MD), Kaitlin Quevedo/ESP (1st MD), Antonia Ruzic/CRO (3rd MD)
UPSET QUEENS: Switzerland
REVELATION LADIES: Poland (4-0 1st Rd. in consecutive '26 majors)
NATION OF POOR SOULS: FRA (none of 14 in Q-draw reach MD; wild cards go 0-6 year after WC Boisson to SF; 2-7 1st Rd.; Boisson out 1r)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: in 4r: Maja Chwalinska/POL, Wang Xiyu/CHN
LUCKY LOSER WINS: --
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: 0-8 in 1st Rd. (including 0-5 FRA)
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: Jil Teichmann/SUI (in 3r)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: Diane Parry (in 4r)
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: x
IT "??": x
COMEBACK: Nominee: Teichmann
CRASH & BURN: #5 Jessie Pegula/USA (1r- lost to #83 Birrell, who'd lost 9 con. slam 1r matches and 3-13 career; Pegula led by 6-1/2-1 w/ break; second 1r loss in major since RG20) and #2 Elena Rybakina/KAZ (AO champ out 2r in 3rd set TB to #55 Starodubtseva)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Nominees: Svitolina (1r- trailed Bondar 3-1 in 3rd; avoided first 1r RG loss in 13 app.); Potapova (3r- Gauff 2 pts from win in 2nd set, and led 3-1 in the 3rd)
DOUBLES STAR: x
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Nominees: Cirstea, Svitolina, Keys
Mademoiselle/Madame OF THE EVENING: --
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: x
Legion de Lenglen: 100th anniversary of Suzanne Lenglen's last "grand slam" titles (RG WS/WD/MX sweep) in 1926 (she'd retire after controversial Wimbledon withdrawal and join professional tour that summer)
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: nominee: Diane Parry (one-handed backhand) to play 4r on June 1 (Henin's birthday)








All for Day 7. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 9:32 PM 

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