Wednesday, November 20, 2024

The Fighting Italians would like to have a word....

"Champions!" 

Today, for the fifth time, Italy became the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Fed Cup) champions, defeating Slovakia in the final, 2-0.  Lucia Bronzetti defeated Viktoria Hruncakova 6-2, 6-4 in the first rubber of the final, and Jasmine Paolina defeated Rebecca Sramkova 6-2, 6-1 in the second. 

Team Italy was in the final last year, too, but they were defeated by Canada when Leylah Fernandez pretty much went crazy on everyone.

Starting in 2006, the fierce squad made up of Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Sara Errani, and Roberta Vinci won the Fed Cup four times, bringing the same grit and excitement that the Czech Republic brought to the competition. I named these players the Fighting Italians because they never, ever gave up, and it was a thrill to watch them battle.

Of the four, only Errani remains on the tour, and she reached what was perhaps her peak this year (of course, she also has a Career Slam in doubles) when she and Jasmine Paolini won an Olympic gold medal. But the spirit of the Fighting Italian is preserved in Paolini, whose cheerful demeanor sometimes conceals her relentless grit. And today, Bronzetti found her inner Pennetta when--playing in the most stressful of circumstances--she won Italy's first point in the final. 

The Italian team, led by Captain Tathiana Garbin, was made up of Paolini, Errani, Bronzetti, and Elisabetta Cocciaretta.

As always, there were a couple of lesser known players who stood out in the competition. Such players sometimes go on to become big stars on the tour (Pennetta, Petra Kvitova); others simply rise to the occasion. During this season, two players earned some special notice--Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia and Katarzyna Kawa of Poland. 

It's no surprise that Sramkova was a star in this competition. She won her first WTA title this year, and she played in two other finals. During BJK Cup play, Sramkova defeated both Danielle Collins and--in the semifinals--a very in-form Katie Boulter. Kawa was Iga Swiatek's doubles partner, and she showed that she really knows her way around a doubles court.

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Saturday, November 9, 2024

Hot Coco, tough cookie

Today, for the first time, the WTA Finals final went to a third set tiebreak. The match, which lasted just over three hours, featured 3rd seed Coco Gauff and 7th seed Zheng Qinwen, and they put on a show totally worthy of the last big final of the season.

Zheng won the first set 6-3, and immediately went up a break in he second set. But just when it looked like the Chinese star might run away with the match, Gauff broke her, picked up momentum, and took the second set 6-4. The third set was exactly what it should have been--a contest of changing momentum, with each player broken twice. The set went to a tiebreak, and Gauff pretty much did run away with that, going up 5-0, and eventually winning it 7-2.

It was an interesting event, which began with poor attendance, but then drew crowds. Under the new rules (about which I have mixed feelings), Barbora Krejciova made the final eight because she had won a major. And regardless of how I feel about the rules, I'm never really unhappy if the Czech is part of the mix. 

Krejcikova hasn't played a lot lately, and--aside from winning Wimbledon--hasn't won much this year. After struggling in 2022 with an arm injury, a knee injury in 2023, this year, she was out for a long time with a back injury. Of course, it's much more fun for fans to say that she's inconsistent and that's that, when---in fact--her body just hasn't allowed her to gain any momentum. (When a woman on X wondered how Krejcikova had won Wimbledon, the champion herself showed up and replied: "I won seven matches in a row." So there.)

The Czech star has sometimes acted as Iga Switek's kryptonite, defeating her in two finals. They played each other in the first opening round of round robin play. Neither had played much tennis lately, yet Krejcikova went up a set and 3-0--then her back went out again. She continued to play, but lost to Swiatek. Krejcikova next played Jessica Pegula, who was dealing with a worsening knee injury (she eventually withdrew from the event); Krejcikova defeated her, then went on to defeat Coco Gauff 7-5, 6-4.

The WTA Finals present most of us with some math challenges; I just wait to hear who made it to the semifinals. World number 1 Aryna Sabalenka did, but world number 2 Swiatek did not, despite winning two of her three round robin matches. In the semifinals, Gauff defeated Sabalenka, and Zheng Qinwen defeated Krejcikova.

Winning the doubles championship were former U.S. Open champions and 2nd seeds Gabriela Dabrowski  and Erin Routliffe, They defeated 8th seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend 7-5, 6-3. Siniakova and Townsend defeated Dabrowski and Routliffe in this year's Wimbledon final.

Former world number 1 and two-time major champion Garbine Muguruza served as tournament director, and of course, the question hanging over the event was/is "Why is this happening in Saudi Arabia?"

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Saturday, November 2, 2024

WTA Finals begin with a win for Sabalenka

After what seemed like a very long Asian swing, the WTA Finals began today. World number 1 Aryna Sabalenka started things off in singles by defeating Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-4. Sabalenka is now 4-0 against the Chinese star. Next, Jasmine Paolini defeaed Elena Rybakina 7-6, 6-4. Not to take anything away from Paolini, who played very well, but it wasn't a surprise that Rybakina--who hasn't played much lately--lost this match. This was, by the way, Paolini's first-ever WTA Finals match. 

For her part, Rybakina--we hope--is in better physical health; she's been chronically ill since the spring. And one reason that she may have had a prolonged illness is that she apparently received significant abuse from her former coach. The 2022 Wimbledon champion is now working with Goran Ivanisevic.

In doubles, Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez defeated Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens 1-6, 6-1, 10-6, and Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend upset top seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Alona Ostapenko.

Returning to the Asian swing: The good news is that Karolia Muchova performed very well; the bad news is that she sustained yet another injury. However, it was her hip (and not her wrist) that she injured, which is a kind of inside-out piece of good news. Muchova lost to Coco Gauff in the Beijing final. This was her third loss in a row to Gauff. On her way to the final, Muchova defeated Sabalenka, and that was the third time in a row that she had beaten the world number 1.

The top  (500 and 1000 events) Asian swing champions were Beatriz Haddad Maia (Seoul), Coco Gauff (Beijing), Aryna Sabalenka (Wuhan), Daria Kasatkina (Ningbo), and Zheng Qiwen (Tokyo). Beijing an Wuhan are WTA 1000 tournaments.

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Sunday, September 8, 2024

My U.S. Open top 10

 Here are my top 10 U.S. Open occurrences, in ascending order:

10: Everything is relative: I always think that it can't get any worse than Tennis Channel, but then I'm forced to watch and listen to ESPN. Just like on Tennis Channel, the commentators on ESPN mispronounce the players' names and sometimes say inane things, but they go beyond that, sometimes never shutting up, despite what's happening on the court. They took away the winners' ability to make acceptance speeches by interviewing them instead, and the results were definitely inferior. They also engaged in a kind of emotional pornography, doing tracking shots of the losing players' long exit from the court. This practice reached its peak when--right after Aryna Sabalenka lifted the trophy--ESPN showed footage of her multiple off-court racket breaks after she lost the final last year. A commentator even rushed to explain that "we're showing you this because...." Because you have no taste at all.

9. Conspicuous by their absence: Who knows what led to the scheduling, but the U.S. Open and the Paralympic Games were held at the same time, so there was no wheelchair tennis (other than juniors) at the Open this year. This was really unfortunate for both the players and for fans. The Paralympic results were shocking: Defending champion Diede de Groot wound up with two silver medals, while her closest rival, Yui Kamiji, left with two gold medals. de Groot's doubles partner, Aniek van Koot, won the bronze medal in singles.

8. The rise of Ruse: Ever major has a breakout player, and at the U.S. Open, it was Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania. Ranked 122 in the world, Ruse made it to the third round, and it was hard not to notice her. In the second round, she upset 8th seed and Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova. Krejcikova had withdrawn from Cincinnati (to my great dismay) because of an injury, and I'm sure she wasn't at her best in New York, but it was still an impressive win for Ruse. The Romanian player then went on to take a set off of 26th seed Paula Badosa before falling to the Spaniard in three sets.

7. Farewell to Flushing Meadows: Danielle Collins, sadly, lost in the first round. It was her last U.S. Open, and I was hoping  that she'd be around in the second week; in fact, I expected her to be. Collins withdrew from Cincinnati because of injury, so perhaps it wasn't as surprising as it seemed that she made an early exit. It would have been nice, though, to have her extend her stay in New York. 

6. "Upset" is just a word: When world number 1 Iga Swiatek won the U.S. Open in 2022, she reached the final by defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals. Last month, she lost to Sabalenka in straight sets in the Cincinnati semifinals. At the U.S. Open, Sabalenka didn't have to concern herself with taking out Swiatek--Jessica Pegula did it for her, in straight sets in the quarterfinals. Players who hit the ball really hard and play really aggressively are problematic for Swiatek (e.a., she has yet to defeat Alona Ostapenko), yet the world number 1 seemingly hasn't learned how to create the time that she needs to counter such players.


5. New York is an art capital: And there was an artist on the court throughout most of the tournament. Karolina Muchova, the chronically injured, extremely gifted and stunningly athletic Czech player, made it to the semifinals last year during one of her rare spans of good health (she also reached the final of the French Open). But then she had wrist surgery and was out for months, returning this summer to play a few matches. The thought that she would defend her semifinal points seemed the stuff of wishful thinking, yet that's exactly what she did. Unfortunately, she did something else, too--Muchova contracted a stomach virus. We can't know for sure, but it's very likely that the illness was what caused her to slow down, sweat profusely, and run out of fuel during her third set against Jessica Pegula in their semifinal match.

4. Breaking the curse: Before coming to New York this year, Jessica Pegula had contested a half dozen major quarterfinals and had lost all of them. But the 6th seed enjoyed an impressive run this summer, winning her second consecutive National Bank Open in Toronto, and playing her way to the final in Cincinnati. Sure enough, the player known as "Ms. Consistency" broke her curse in the flashiest way possible--beating world number 1 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals. She then beat Karolina Muchova in the semifinals, and went on to play a close, high-quality final against Aryna Sabalenka.

3. The scrappiest Fighting Italian of them all?: Sara Errani won an Olympic gold medal in women's doubles this summer. She has won five major doubles titles, she reached the singles final of the French Open in 2012, and she was a member of probably the greatest Fed Cup (now Billie Jean King Cup)  team of all time. And now the 37-year-old Italian has added a new trophy to her collection--she and Andrea Vavassori won the mixed doubles title at the 2024 U.S. Open.

2. Single for doubles: Lyudmyla Kichenok was supposed to get married last week, but the wedding had to be postponed because she and partner Alona Ostapenko just couldn't stop winning. The pair, who were the runners-up in Australia this year, won the doubles championship without dropping a set.

1. Tiger burning bright: Approaching the U.S. Open, Aryna Sabalenka looked unbeatable. On the other hand, Jessica Pegula was unbeatable (she didn't drop a set)--until she reached the final. Sabalenka had beaten Pegula in the Cincinnati final just a week before, which added some drama to an already dramatic match. Pegula was impressive and fought hard, but--after an hour and 53 minutes--the world number 2 defeated the world number 6 7-5, 7-5 and claimed her first U.S. Open singles title. Sabalenka already has two Australian Open titles, one of which she won this year, thus giving her a set of tennis bookends that seal her position as the queen of hard courts.

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And just like that--Sabalenka became a U.S. Open champion

Aryna Sabalenka, seeded 2nd at the U.S. Open, was the favorite to win the championship, especially after her emphatic victory last month in Cincinnati. And she didn't disappoint--last year's runner-up went one better yesterday, defeating 6th seed Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 to secure the championship. It was a very good match, worthy of a major final, and up to the end, Pegula tempted the crowd with the probability of a third set, but it wasn't to be. 

It wasn't that Sabalenka didn't have lapses--she did. But her skill as a closer, made possible by her relatively new-found mental strength, got her through in two competitive sets. 

The victory had to be especially sweet, for the Belarusian star has been very close to winning the U.S. Open for several years. In 2021, she was the semifinal victim of giant-killer Leylah Fernandez, and in 2022, she lost again in the semifinals, this time to eventual champion Iga Swiatek. Last year, Sabalenka made it to the final, but lost to Coco Gauff.

The world number 2, known for her candor and her sense of humor, has had her share of demons over the past few years, but she has now corrected her problematic serve and overcome her out-of-control emotions. The result is that the powerful Sabalenka, who also possesses the skills of an elite doubles player, is the unofficial boss of hard court competition, and is, in fact, a major threat on any surface.

Pegula, in some ways, is the anti-Sabalenka. Quiet and steady, with a keen intelligence and a lower-key sense of humor, the 30-year-old New York native is known as Ms. Consistency. Pegula has progressed over the years to become one of the best players on the tour, but she had her own "demon" with which to contend: She had made the quarterfinals of majors six times, but had never gotten to then next level. At the U.S. Open, she was relieved to be part of the final four, and then she was suddenly one of only two women left standing in Flushing Meadows. 

On Friday, we also saw a doubles team lift a U.S. Open trophy. 7th seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Alona Ostapenko defeated Kiki Mladenovic and Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-3. This is Kichenok and Ostapenko's first major title; they were the runners-up at the Australian Open this year. 

In an odd twist, Kichenok was supposed to have gotten married last Wednesday, but the wedding had to be postponed because she and Ostapenko couldn't stop winning.

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Friday, September 6, 2024

Down to two

Aryna Sabalenka, seeded 2nd at the U.S. Open, came to the tournament having just won the Cincinnati Open, and her exemplary performance there locked down her place as the favorite in Flushing Meadows, and sure enough, she's now in the final. Last night, Sabalenka faced a very in-form Emma Navarro, who had reached the semifinals without dropping a set. And while no one who loses probably wants to hear that she "has plenty to be proud of," Navarro does. 

Sabalenka is a hard court terror, though Navarro has beaten her on a big hard court--in the fourth round in Indian Wells. And in their U.S. Open semifinal, the 13th seed didn't make it easy for the Belarusian star. Navarro can hang with the best in long rallies, and she did what she could to engage Sabalenka in such rallies. She also served well, and in the second set, she created a tiebreak situation, but Sabalenka took care of that, too, allowing Navarro to win only two points. 

Sabalenka's 6-3, 7-6(2) victory places her in the U.S. Open final for the second year in a row; last year, she lost to Coco Gauff in three sets. 

The second semifinal match was a dramatic story of superb shot-making, exhaustion, and determination. Jessica Pegula owned the "determination" part of that story, and it was enough, along with what was eventually a commanding performance, to get her to the U.S. Open final. 

The first set was the Karolina Muchova Show, and what a show it was. If we thought that our heads might spin, just watching it, we can imagine how Pegula must have felt. Muchova, using her outrageous bag of tricks and her superb athleticism, took that set 6-1. It was reasonable to think that Pegula wasn't going to allow herself to get kicked around like that in the second set (she later said that the first set embarrassed her), and sure enough, she was able to win that set 6-4. 

The third set promised to be very exciting. It began with Pegula's taking a 2-0 lead, then saving a break point to go up 3-0. Muchova began to sweat profusely, and soon struggled to keep up with the pace. The Czech player hadn't played many matches when she arrived in New York--she'd spent half the year undergoing wrist surgery and going through recovery and rehab--she wasn't exactly match-tough. But there was another, probably more important, factor--Muchova contracted some type of stomach flu in New York.

Nevertheless, the Czech star showed flashes of brilliance in the third set, but they were flashes only, and when she most needed to hit with accuracy, she couldn't. Pegula, whose nickname is Ms. Consistency, remained in control, and defeated Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Both players' U.S. Open stories are impressive. Muchova, hardly playing at all in 2024, still managed to defend her 2023 semifinal points. And Pegula--after reaching six major quarterfinals--finally broke through to reach a semifinal, and now, a final.

Let's return to Cincinnati for a moment. Sabalenka's opponent in that final was Jessica Pegula, whom she defeated 6-3, 7-5. The drama continues.

Paths to the final:

JESSICA PEGULA (6)
round 1--def. Shelby Rogers
round 2--def. Sofia Kenin
round 3--def. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
round of 16--def. Diana Shnaider (18)
quarterfinals--def. Iga Swiatek (1)
semifinals--def. Karolina Muchova

ARYNA SABALENA (2)
round 1--def. Priscilla Hon
round 2--def. Lucia Bronzetti
round 3--def. Ekaterina Alexandrova (29)
round of 16--def. Elise Mertens (33)
quarterfinals--def. Zheng Qinwen (7)
semifinals--def. Emma Navarro (13)

We have mixed doubles champions--Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, the third seeds, defeated Taylor Townsend and Donald Young 7-6(0), 7-5 in the final. Errani, who won a gold medal (with Jasmine Paolini) in women's doubles at the Olympic Games, is a five-time major champion in women's doubles. 

There is no wheelchair competition at the U.S. Open this year because the Paralympic Games are taking place at the same time. In wheelchair tennis, there was plenty of drama at the Games. Top seeds Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot lost the gold medal doubles match to Yui Kamiji and Manami Tanaka, who defeated them 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-8. This was the first time that a non-Dutch team has won a gold medal. Guo Luoyao and Wang Ziying won the bronze medal.

But that was just the beginning of the drama. From time to time, de Groot's serve abandons her, and it happened in the gold medal singles match. The top seed and defending champion won the first set against 2nd seed Yui Kamiji, but then could not get control of her serve. She repeatedly double-faulted, and--after years of chasing Diede the Great--Kamiji finally caught the prize, defeating de Groot 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. This is also the first time that a non-Dutch player has won a gold medal in singles at the Games. van Koot won the bronze medal, defeating Ziyang in straight sets.

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Thursday, September 5, 2024

"Defending your points" never looked so good

Karolina Muchova, the Czech Republic's extraordinarily talented player whose body has betrayed her throughout her career, was healthy last summer, and during that period, she reached the final of the French Open and the semifinals of the U.S. Open. But then her chronic wrist problem returned, and she underwent surgery. Consequently, Muchova wasn't around much in 2024. She returned to the tour in June, and had to withdraw from her first event because of concerns about her wrist. 

But here she is, in September, once again reaching the semifinals in Flushing Meadows. Muchova smoothly defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-1, 6-4 in yesterday's quarterfinals, and even though fans got only two sets, they were--as always--sets worth watching, for Muchova's dancer-like athleticism is often a thing to behold. Muchova, apparently ill, had to leave the court a couple of times, but--as she assured everyone after the match--she isn't injured. Oh--and she hasn't dropped a set.

Yesterday's other quarterfinal was an upset waiting to happen. Last year, Alona Ostapenko, who has never lost to world number 1 Iga Swiatek, was asked how she continues to win their matches. She replied quickly: "I don't give her any time." Ostapenko is an exceptionally hard and fast hitter, but--in the hard hitting department--Jessica Pegula is no slouch. And yesterday, Swiatek looked as though she didn't know what (metaphorically) hit her, though Pegula wasn't playing any differently than she usually does.

One of the commentators pointed out that--while it's usually her sports psychologist calling out things to Swiatek during big matches--this time, it was her coach, who generally tends to remain silent. I don't know what he was telling her, but the hits (literally) kept coming, and Swiatek, instead of making adjustments, just continued to look lost. Pegula defeated her 6-2-6-4, and--in doing so--broke her "can't get past the quarterfinals in a major" curse.

On Tuesday, when the other two quarterfinals were played, Emma Navarro faced a suddenly shaky Paula Badosa, who has looked so good this summer, winning the title in Washington and reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati. It was the first time that Badosa--whose career has been seriously hampered by chronic back problems--had ever played on Arthur Ashe Stadium, and she just couldn't handle it. And if you're not feeling emotionally stable on the court, it probably doesn't help that someone like the unflappable Navarro is on the other side of the net. Navarro defeated Badosa 6-2, 7-5.

The other Tuesday quarterfinal may have surprised some fans--not the result, but the scoreline. 2nd seed and Cincinnati champion Aryna Sabalenka defeated Olympic gold medal winner Zheng Qinwen 6-1, 6-2. Last year, she defeated Zheng 6-1, 6-4 in the same round. And, of course, earlier this year, Sabalenka defeated Zheng in the Australian Open final, also in straight sets. 

In doubles, the unseeded team of Kiki Mladenovic and Zhang Shuai upset 3rd seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in an exciting semifinal match. Mladenovic and Zhang had already taken out the second seeds--Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens--in the first round. I found this match especially interesting because--back in the day--the team of "Mladenovic and Anybody" could win just about any match, and these days--the team of "Siniakova and Anybody" can do the same. It was fun to watch them compete against each other.

In the other semifinal, 7th seeds Alona Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok defeated 10th seeds Chan Hao-Ching and Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 6-2.

In mixed doubles, the unseeded team of Taylor Townsend and Donald Young will play 3rd seeds Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori for the championship.

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Monday, September 2, 2024

U.S. Open quarterfinals set

Beatriz Haddad Maia likes to say that the clock is her friend. Today, however, she was up against an opponent who has also never cared how long she has to stay on the court. The Brazilian star faced off against Caroline Wozniacki, and the resulting show, which lasted two hours and forty-one minutes, wasn't for the weak of heart. Haddad Maia didn't have too much trouble winning the first set, but in the second, Wozniacki elevated her game. The match went to a third set, and--as one would hope--the intensity grew. 

Some of the shot-making was stunning, and the quality of the match was very high throughout. Haddad Maia emerged the winner, defeating Wozniacki 6-2, 3-6 6-3. This is the first time that she has ever advanced beyond the second round at the U.S. Open, and she is the first Brazilian woman to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals since Maria Bueno did it in 1968.

For viewers, it was the second part of a double treat. Zheng Qinwen and Donna Vekic put on an equally intense show the night (and morning) before. Opponents in the Olympic gold medal match, Zheng and Vekic picked up where they left off, playing for two hours and fifty minutes, and not finishing until around 2:15 a.m. (Bear in mind that another stadium was available, but the organizers kept them scheduled on Arthur Ashe--go figure.) 

Vekic, clearly not at her physical best after the first set and a half, gutted it out and won the second set, but during the third (and readers know that I don't like sports metaphors, especially when one is already talking about a sport), she looked punch-drunk, like a boxer who had been hit too many times and was on her way down. Commentator Andrea Petkovic remarked that Vekic was the greatest competitor that she had ever known, and that it was characteristic of her to continue playing--and fighting like crazy--no matter what.

But that wasn't enough. Zheng defeated Vekic 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-2. 

As dramatic as those round of 16 matches were, they didn't represent the big drama of that round. That designation goes to 13th seed Emma Navarro's upset of defending champion Coco Gauff. Gauff's serve was problematic throughout the match (she double-faulted 19 times), and she made 60 unforced errors. Navarro defeated her 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. 

World number 1 Iga Swiatek is known to struggle with big hitters, but this wasn't the case when she played Liudmila Samsonova this evening. Swiatek defeated Samsonova 6-4, 6-1. 

Probably the most anticipated round of 16 match was the one that featured Karolina Muchova and 5th seed Jasmine Paolini. Both are stylists, though Muchova is more of a stylist than anyone else on the tour. Both are good movers and good at anticipating. And while it may have seemed "right" that this match go to three sets, it didn't: Muchova won it 6-3, 6-3. The Czech player, who has played very few matches this season, reached the U.S. Open semifinals in 2023.

In other round of 16 matches, Jessica Pegula defeated Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-2, Paula Badosa defeated Wang Yafan 6-1, 6-2, and 2nd seed Aryna Sabalenka defeated Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-4.

Here is the singles quarterfinal draw:

Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Jessica Pegula (6)
Beatriz Haddad Maia (22) vs. Karolina Muchova
Paula Badosa (26) vs. Emma Navarro (13)
Zheng Qinwen (7) vs. Aryna Sabalenka (2)

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Sunday, September 1, 2024

USA players dominate the U.S. Open round of 16

There are only sixteen women left standing at the U.S. Open, and three of them are U.S. players. Defending champion and 3rd seed Coco Gauff, 6th seed Jessica Pegula, and 13th seed Emma Navarro have all made their way to the second week of the tournament. Both Gauff and Navarro had to get past some tough opponents--Gauff defeated Elina Svitolina in three sets, and Navarro had to get past the always-bringing-trouble Marta Kostyuk, also in three sets. 

I had expected Danielle Collins to make a deep run in New York, but injury kept her out of Cincinnati, which was a bad sign, and--sure enough--she went out to Caroline Dolehide in the first round, thus ending her career in majors. 

Navarro and Gauff will play each other in the round of 16, and Pegula will face up-and-coming Russian Diana Shnaider.

The overall favorite to win the U.S. Open is 2nd seed Aryna Sabalenka, who arrived in Flushing Meadows straight off of a no-sets-dropped Cincinnati victory. Sabalenka's next opponent is 33ard seed Elise Mertens, who took out 14th seed (and 2017 runner-up) Madison Keys in the third round. 

The absolute popcorn match of the tournament--and maybe of the year--will be the fourth round contest between Karolina Muchova and 5h seed Jasmine Paolini. Muchova is a stunningly gifted player, but her career has been halted again and again by injury and surgery. In a "fair" world, she would have already won her share of majors. Last year, she reached the semifinals (after reaching the final of the French Open), and lost to eventual champion Coco Gauff. 

Paolini reached the final of both the French Open and Wimbledon this year, and is the latest model of the revered Fighting Italian, using every fiber of her small being to flummox opponents. There is no way that this will be anything but a really good match.

And let's not forget that 2022 champion and world number 1 Iga Swiatek would undoubtedly like to win another U.S. Open title. Swiatek has had (for her) a tough summer, losing in the semifinals at the Olympics (at Roalnd Garros, the venue of her greatest success), and--more recently--losing in the Cincinnati semifinals to Sabalenka.

Here is the singles round of 16 draw:

Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Liudmila Samsonova (16)
Diana Shnaider (18) vs. Jessica Pegula (6)
Caroline Wozniacki vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia (22)
Karolina Muchova vs. Jasmine Paolini (5)
Paula Badosa (26) vs. Wang Yafan
Emma Navarro (13) vs. Coco Gauff (3)
Zheng Qinwen (7) vs. Donna Vekic (24)
Elise Mertens (33) vs. Aryna Sabalenka (2)

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Saturday, August 24, 2024

Anything can happen at the U.S.Open

Aryna Sabalena's outstanding, no-sets-dropped performance in Cincinnati makes her one of the favorites to win the U.S. Open. The courts in Cincinnati were extremely fast, and Sabalenka excelled on them, with a victory that included the defeat--in the semifinals--of world number 1 Iga Swiatek. 

Sabalenka defeated Jessica Pegula in the Cincinnati final. Pegula had just won Toronto, which means that she won a string of nine consecutive matches. In Cincinnati, she mentioned that one of her goals was to string together a longer series of matches at a major. Will playing nine matches straight at two 1000 events give Pegula the confidence that she needs, or will fatigue catch up with her?

I do consider Pegula a serious contender to win the U.S. Open title. And along with her and Sabalenka, I also consider Swiatek, the 2022 champion, to be a serious contender. And while Barbora Krejcikova has won the French Open and Wimbledon, I've always thought that hard courts were her best surface, so I like her chances, also. 

As for defending champion Coco Gauff, she was upset in the round of 16 by Diana Shnaider in Toronto, and she was upset in the second round by Yulia Putintseva in Cincinnati. We all know that, in tennis, anything can happen, but the defending champion isn't entering the U.S. Open from a strong position. 

Main draw play begins Monday, and here are some interesting first round mathces to watch:

Biatriz Haddad Maia (22) vs. Elina Avanesyan: Haddad Maia is known more for her performance on clay, but she's relentless on any surface. Avanesyan has been making steady progress, most recently defeating both Bianca Andreescu and Alona Ostapenko in Cincinnati. This has the potential to be an entertaining match.

Alona Ostapenko (10) vs. Naomi Osaka: The two-time U.S. Open champion would probably like to begin her U.S. Open campaign across the net from someone other than Ostapenko. When the Latvian star is dialed in, her extremely hard and accurate hitting can overcome just about anyone. But she's also very inconsistent, and an error-making Ostapenko could go out early against Osaka.

Bianca Andreescu vs. Jasmine Paolini (5): Andreescu won the U.S. Open in 2019, and since then, she's had a series of injury and recovery episodes that have taken her out of the conversation. Lately, we've seen tennis from her that is somewhat reminiscent of the 2019 Andreescu, but she'll have her hands full with Paolini, this year's finalist at both the French Open and Wimbledon. And in a rather odd twist, this will be the third major in a row in which Andreescu and Paolini have played one another. They met in the third round of both the French Open and Wimbledon, and Paolini won both of those matches.

Zheng Qinwen (7) vs. Amanda Anisimova: Anisimova is healthy again, which means that she's dangerous again, and Zheng isn't going to have an easy time of it with her.

Jaqueline Cristian vs. Daria Kasatkina (12): A hard court isn't a clay court, of course, but I can't help thinking about the quarterfinal that these two played in Charleston this years. It was, in my opinion, the best match of the tournament, and one of the most entertaining matches I've seen all year. Each woman brought an amazing variety of shots to each game, and the level of play remained high throughout the two-hour and 42-minute match.

Madison Keys (14) vs. Katerina Siniakova: Keys sustained a leg injury at Wimbledon and had to retire (against Jasmine Paolini, in the third set, round of 16). She's healthy now, but has been out for a while, and will need to play her way into the tournament. Siniakova, a doubles superstar, is capable of making Keys' first round interesting.

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Monday, August 19, 2024

Sabalenka tops an impressive week with an impressive title in Cincinnati

Aryna Sabalenka, seeded 3rd at the Cincinnati Open, won the 2024 title today when she defeated 6th seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5 in the final. Sabalenka didn't drop a set all week, and she made her victory even sweeter by defeating world number 1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals. 

No one worked harder than Pegula during this tournament. She arrived in Cincinnati fresh off of a title victory in Toronto, and--while she didn't face any seeded players--she faced the likes of 2023 runner-up Karolina Muchova, Taylor Townsend, an on-fire Leylah Fernandez, and former world number 2 Paula Badosa, who Pegula said hit the ball harder than anyone she had ever played. Most of her matches went to three sets; the Fernandez quarterfinal lasted over three hours. We kept waiting for Pegula to get tired, but she was energized and ready for each match.

She was ready for Sabalenka, too, but the Belarusian star was just too good today. She hit ten aces, and she had remarkable first and second serve percentages of 91.2 and 66.7. Pegula never saw a break opportunity.

I asked Sabalenka if she had learned anything this week, and she was quick to say:

"Yeah, you got to stay low on this surface. That's a very fast one. And yeah, if you, if you go a little bit up with the body, the ball flies really, really far in the stands. So you got to stay low, and you got to swing the ball, you know, without any fear of missing...the shot."

She talked about how hard she has worked in the last couple of years to improve her serve, and--when asked how she managed to stay so calm, she explained that she felt really emotional in Washington and Toronto, coming back from an injury, and "overreacting."

"...I just stepped back and realized that I played my great tennis when I was calm and kind of like, confident, that no matter what's what's going on the court, I'll be able to keep fighting and keep trying my best no matter what the score, what the situation is. And I just kind of, like realized that I just, I have to be that way. There is...no other way for me if I want to...do well here and New York."

Both Sabalenka and Pegula were candid and thoughtful in their remarks. Pegula acknowledged, when asked, that she's good at adapting and figuring things out in general, and she thinks that those skills have helped her on the tennis court. And Sabalenka acknowledged that experience has been the key for her in learning to deal with setbacks and losses and still maintain her confidence and resilience.

This is Sabalenka's sixth WTA 1000 title, and this is the 15th title overall for the two-time Australian Open champion, who now returns to her former ranking of number 2 in the world.

On Sunday, the team of Asia Muhammad and Erin Routliffe won the championship when they defeated Leylah Fernandez and Yulia Putintseva 3-6, 6-1, 10-4 in the final.

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The Cincinnati finalists' paths to the final

Here is how Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula reached the Cincinnati final:

Aryna Sabalenka (3)

round 1--bye
round 2--Elisabetta Cocciaretto
round of 16--Elina Svitolina
quarterfinals--Liudmila Samsonova (10)
semifinals--Iga Swiatek (1)

Jessica Pegula (6)

round 1--bye
round 2--Karolina Muchova
round of 16--Taylor Townsend
quarterfinals--Leylah Fernandez
semifinals--Paula Badosa

Pegula didn't play any seeded players, but she played a series of very tough players, including last year's runner-up (Muchova). Three of her matches went to three sets, and her match against Fernandez lasted over three hours. Sabalenka has yet to drop a set.

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Sunday, August 18, 2024

We have finalists in Cincinnati!

A relaxed and good-humored Aryna Sabalenka talked with the media this afternoon after her straight-sets victory over top seed Iga Swiatek. (She was also a bit breathless after climbing all those stairs,
something to which we could all relate.) She was asked what she thought was different in Cincinnati from the tournaments in DC and Toronto, and she immediately referred to her shoulder injury:

"... for the first time, I experienced something like fear, having a fear of getting injured again. That was kind of like tricky in those two tournaments. I was kind of like, over-protecting my shoulder. I didn't want to straighten my arm that far. I was...kind of like trying to keep it close. You know, it was, like, tricky. I was kind of like, fighting with...with my head, obviously."

Sabalenka said that she did a lot of rehab and a lot of exercises, and her team told her that she was fine, that she wasn't going to re-injure it, and in Cincinnati, that reality finally "clicked." 

It clicked emphatically in her match against Swiatek, whose service game and forehand were not always up to the task at hand. The world number 1 had first and second serve win stats of 67.5 and 20, as she failed to win a point on 24 of her 30 second serves. Sabalenka, for her part, hit five aces, and broke her opponent five times. In four tries, this is the Belarusian's first time to reach the final in Cincinnati. It's also her first time to defeat Swiatek in straight sets.

But the 6-3, 6-3 scoreline doesn't begin to tell the whole story. There was a brief rain delay, and there was also intense drama in the last half hour of the match. Down 1-5 in the second set, Swiatek saved seven match points on her own serve. Then Sabalenka found herself down 0-40, but worked her way toward having two more match points, which Swiatek also saved. Sabalenka then double-faulted, and things became quite interesting; however, the 3rd seed was able to win on her tenth match point

Swiatek said, "I didn't serve well at the beginning, which kind of, like threw me off my rhythm. And, yeah, for sure, it wasn't a good performance for me." She said that she made some mistakes, and that she made them throughout the match. 

When asked how she planned to mentally re-set, Swiatek said, "Oh, every match is different, but I'm not going to, like, do much drama today." She went on to say that she felt that she had used up her quota of tears after the Olympics, and she was happy with her results in Cincinnati.

The second semifinal had its share of drama, too, brought about by the weather. Jessica Pegula and Paula Badosa had to deal with a mid-match rain delay. Badosa had played a a night match on Saturday, and Pegula had played a windy three-hour match yesterday afternoon. Pegula, who won the Toronto title before coming to Cincinnati, was on an eight-match win streak coming into today's semifinals.

Pegula won the first set, 6-2, and Badosa took the second set, 6-3. Had Badosa won this match, there would have been an extra element of drama in the final, since she and Sabalenka are very close friends. However, Pegula's 6-3 victory in the third set put her into her first Cincinnati final. 

Sabalenka is 4-2 against Pegula overall, but 1-2 against her on hard courts, with one of those victories coming in Cincinnati in 2020. Pegula attributed her ability to compete so well with Sabalenka to the fact that she takes the ball very quickly and can often prevent Sabalenka from setting up her shots. She acknowledged, however, that Sabalenka can also take the ball very quickly, so that makes their hard court match-up quite competitive.

Pegula went on to say that--as hard as Sabalenka hits--in today's semifinal, Badosa had hit the ball harder than anyone she had ever played.

Evonne Goolagong is the only woman who has won Toronto/Montreal and Cincinnati back-to-back, and that happened 51 years ago. Pegula talked about this phenomenon in press yesterday, explaining that the weather conditions in the two areas are very different, and also, it isn't an easy trip, going from Canada to Ohio.

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Saturday, August 17, 2024

Badosa reaches Cincinnati semifinals

In the day's last semifinal, former world number 2 Paula Badosa faced off with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkvova, who--I learned from Tennis Channel--has more top 10 wins than any woman in the history of the tour to never reach the top 10. Pavlyuchenkova was a junior world number 1, and won junior titles at both the Australian Open and the U.S. Open; she was also a junior finalist at the French Open. 

The Russian veteran, who has twelve WTA singles titles and six doubles titles, reached her highest singles ranking--number 11 in the world--in 2021, the year that she reached the final of the French Open. That year, she also won an Olympic gold medal (with Andrey Rublev) at the Tokyo Olympics.

Pavlyuchenkova's career has been a very good one, though not the career that many expected her to have. Tonight in Cincinnati, she didn't have the answers that she needed to conquer Badosa, who defeated her 6-3, 6-2. The Spanish star will now play Jessica Pegula in the semifinals.

Because of the rain delay, Pegula--who won Toronto right before traveling to Cincinnati--played two matches yesterday, defeating last year's runner-up, Karolina Muchova, and Taylor Townsend. Today, it took her three hours and five match points to take out Leylah Fernandez in a match that featured a lot of weather--it was very windy and very hot. Pegula, however, said that she felt good physically when the match was over. She did feel tired, and a bit sleepy, during the match, she said. "...you know, when you're kind of tired, you get cranky. So I felt like I got super cranky and was just getting annoyed."

The 6th seed has had a tough year. She said that she felt burned out at the beginning of the year, then she became ill in Australia, then she had a coaching change, and then she sustained an injury. "But you know," she said, "that's just the way it goes sometimes. It's nothing new to me. At least early on in my career, I had a lot of difficult stuff to get through anyway, so I think I just trusted that I've been through it before. I've always come out better, I've always come out stronger, and I'll figure it out eventually."

She seems to have figured it out, winning in Toronto and now reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati.


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Three semifinalists emerge from Cincinnati daytime matches

Today's competitors at the Cincinnati Open had multiple opponents. There was someone across the net, of course, but there was also the wind and the heat. Top seed Iga Swiatek faced 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva for the first time, lost the first set, then--after winning the second one--had to deal with a ten-minute heat break. Swiatek won the match, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, and said afterwards that the heat break was not helpful to her. 

Quite the contrary, she said: "I think I only had like, one, like, this kind of break in my life, and I think we were both kind of rusty at the beginning of the third set. Like, miss-hitting a lot." Swiatek went on to say that this was something she has to learn how to deal with.

Andreeva was impressive, hitting twelve aces and saving eight of ten break points. She could be as high as number 21 in the world next week. Today's victory was Swiatek's 30th WTA 1000 win of the season.

Aryna Sabalenka, who came into the event with a 1-2 record against Liudmila Samsonova, evened that score by defeating the 10th seed 6-3, 6-2. Sabalenka said "I think the main thing is to stay low and to put all that speed back to her and, yeah, and fight for every point." The Cincinnati courts are playing very fast, and Sabalenka said that the ball moves faster on the Grandstand than it does on Center Court.

The world number 3 (who will again be the world number 2 next week) will face Swiatek in the semifinals. She is 3-8 against Swiatek overall, but only 2-3 against her on hard courts. But that doesn't mean too much, according to Sabalenka: "I wouldn't say that going against world number 1, surface can really help you to get the win."

This is the fourth time that Sabalenka has advanced to the Cincinnati semifinals.

Toronto champion Jessica Pegula is now on a nine-match win streak, after having defeated Leylah Fernandez 7-5, 6-7, 7-6(3) in a semifinal that lasted over three hours. Fernandez saved four match points, and has enjoyed a really good run in Cincinnati, but it's 6th seed Pegula who advances to play either Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Paula Badosa, who will play in the last semifinal tonight.

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Friday, August 16, 2024

Quarterfinals set in Cincinnati

Some notable runs came to an end today in Cincinnati. 2023 finalist Karolina Muchova fell to 6th seed Jessica Pegula, Diana Shnaider lost to Leylah Fernandez, and 5th seed Jasmine Paolini was knocked out by Russian upstart Mirra Andreeva. And in tonight's final match, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova upset 7th seed Zheng Qinwen in straight sets.

3rd seed Aryna Sabalenka (whose number 2 ranking will be restored on Monday) defeated Elina Svitolina, and 10th seed Liudmila Samsonova defeated Coco Gauff-conquerer Yulia Putintseva. 

Perhaps the most notable performance of the day was that of 6th seed Jessica Pegula, who came to Cincinnati from Toronto, where she won the championship for the second year in a row. Because of the rain delay, Pegula has to play two matches today. In the first one, she defeated Muchova, and tonight, she defeated countrywoman Taylor Townsend.

Top seed Iga Swiatek defeated Marta Kostyuk in straight sets and will face Andreeva in the quarterfinals. This will be the first meeting between the world number 1 and the 17-year-old Andreeva. Of note: Liudmila Samsonova has a 2-1 record against 3rd seed Aryna Sabalenka.

Here is the singles quarterfinal draw:

Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Mirra Andreeva
Aryna Sabalenka (3) vs. Liudmila Samsonova (10)
Jessica Pegula (6) vs. Leylah Fernandez
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Paula Badosa

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Swiatek advances her Cincinnati campaign

Scheduled to play at 11 a.m. today, world number 1 Iga Swiatek had to wait for the court to dry. When she and 15th seed Marta Kostyuk--never an easy opponent--did go on, Swiatek found her rhythm pretty quickly, and defeated the Ukrainian player 6-2, 6-2, in an hour and ten minutes.

Swiatek said later that the conditions were a bit tough, but that she "just tried to focus on the little things, and not really analyzing the tactics...." She acknowledged that Kostyuk has a tendency to get balls back that other players would miss, but "...it was about my intensity, I think today I just kept it at a high level all the time...."

The top seed thought that she would be playing a bit later than she played, so she didn't get her normal routine in at the gym. "...These routines are something I like, you kind of do it automatically when you have 80 matches per year. But I don't mind changing it. Sometimes we do it when I feel like it's getting too much monotony, you know."

"She has a pretty clean technique, and running a lot, and fighting for every point, so I think, with that attitude, you can sure go far."

Swiatek's opponent in the quarterfinals will be Mirra Andreeva, who upset 5th seed Jasmine Paolini in the round of 16 today. The Italian star, down 2-4 in the third set, broke Andreeva on her fourth break point, but was immediately broken back. Paolini then saved a match point, but it wasn't enough. Andreeva defeated her 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

This is Andreeva's 4th top 10 win, and her second top 5 win.

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Round of 16 (plus) at the Cincinnati Open

I couldn't post the round of 16 singles draw last night because rain delayed the completion (or start) of a few matches. Here is a revised look at that draw:

Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Marta Kostyuk (15)--Swiatek won this match 6-2, 6-2
Mirra Andreeva vs. Jasmine Paolini (5)
Aryna Sabalenka (3) vs. Elina Svitolina
Liudmilla Samsonova (10) vs. Elina Avanesyan--Samsonova won this match 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 
Jessica Pegula (6) vs. Taylor Townsend
Diana Shnaider vs. Leylah Fernandez
Zheng Qinwen (7) vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Paula Badosa vs. Yulia Putintseva

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Thursday, August 15, 2024

Rybakina and Gauff both out in the second round in Cincinnati

Playing in a double-fault-palooza (a total of 30, between them), Leylah Fernandez saved two match points and upset 4th seed Elena Rybakina 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 in Cincinnati today. The opponents broke each other twelve times, and Rybakina--though she hit twenty aces--double-faulted seventeen times and had trouble keeping the ball in the court. There were some light raindrops falling during the match, but a quick wiping of the lines took care of any potential issues.

Next for the Canadian star is Diana Shnaider, who defeated Ashlyn Krueger 7-5, 6-0 today. Shnaider has won three titles this year, and is already number 20 in the world. She (along with Mirra Andreeva) also won the silver medal in doubles at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Defending champion and 2nd seed Coco Gauff went out today, too, defeated in three sets by Yulia Putintseva, who hit her only ace on match point. Putintseva has upset both the world number 1 and the world number 2 within the last two months. Her next challenge, in the round of 16, will be Paula Badosa.

Elina Avanesyan, who is now playing for Armenia, followed her defeat of Bianca Andreescu with an upset of 8th seed Alona Ostapenko. And 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva followed her defeat of Bianca Andreescu with a defeat of Karolina Pliskova. 

As for Taylor Townsend--she upset 9th seed Daria Kasatkina today. And 3rd seed Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the round of 16 when she defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto (my current favorite WTA name) in straight sets. 

In doubles, top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend advanced to the quarterfinals, and Leylah Fernandez and Yulia Putintseva got a walkover from 6th seeds Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk. And Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls upset 5th seeds Lyudmila Kichenok and Alona Ostapenko.

With Karolina Pliskova (2016) and Coco Gauff (2023) out, and Victoria Azarenka (2013, 2020) having to withdraw because of injury, there are no former singles champions left in the draw.

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Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Swiatek takes the scenic route into the round of 16 in Cincinnati

This evening, I saw world number 1 and top Cincinnati seed Iga Swiatek quickly win her first round against Varvara Gracheva 6-0. The next thing I knew, Swiatek was up 5-2. I had to leave, and when I returned to my hotel and looked at the scoreboard, a third set was about to begin. Gracheva had saved five match points and won a second set tiebreak 10-8. 

Swiatek didn't exactly look steady at the beginning of that third set, but then she was finally able to take control of the match, winning it 6-0, 6-7, 6-2. Her next opponent will be Marta Kostyuk, who loves a good fight--and who is a good fighter--so the world number 1 will have something to think about in that match, too. Kostyuk defeated qualifier Lulu Sun in the second round.

Mirra Andreeva, the young Russian star, upset 11th seed Emma Navarro in straight sets today. Taylor Townsend defeated Caroline Dolehide in a close three-set match, Paula Badosa defeated Peyton Stearns, and Karolina Muchova defeated Dayana Yastremska 7-6, 6-2. 17th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia lost (in three sets, of course) to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Elina Avanesyan defeated Bianca Andreescu.

Tomorrow, there are a few matches that especially interest me: Leylah Fenandez will play 4th seed Elena Rybakina on the Grandstand court, 6th seed Jessica Pegula will play Karolina Muchova, and wild card Taylor Townsend will compete against 9th seed Daria Kasatkina. Also in action tomorrow are 2nd seed Coco Gauff, 3rd seed Aryna Sabalenka, and 7th seed (and Olympic gold medal winner) Zheng Qinwen.

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To observe the Cincinnati Open's 125th anniversary, a look back at Clara Louise Zinke

In the mid-1920s and early 1930s, Clara Louise Zinke dominated what is now the Cincinnati Open. She was a finalist in singles ten times, and she won the championship in five of those finals. But that wasn't all she did--she won six women's doubles titles and one mixed doubles titles.

Zinke also enjoyed lawn bowling and surf fishing, and she was a pianist and songwriter. She worked as a social worker for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and as an admissions counselor at a nursing home. 

In 2004, Zinke was posthumously inducted into the Cincinnati Tennis Hall of Fame.

Zinke wasn't the only woman to win the tournament more than twice.  Three other players won it three times.

In the Open Era, however, only two women have won the Cincinnati Open more than once--Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams. Azarenka won it in 2013 (defeating Williams in the final) and 2020, and Williams won it in 2014 and 2015. Simona Halep appeared in three finals, but lost all of them. Akiko Morigami and Angie Kerber each played in two Cincinnati finals and each lost both of those matches.

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For Paula Badosa, it's optimism and a change of perspective

Washington champion Paula Badosa won her first round match against Peyton Stearns in Cincinnati today, and afterwards, she talked with the media about her return to the tour after sustaining a stress fracture in her back, and her outlook about the rest of the season and beyond. Badosa, formerly number 2 in the world, is working her way back up in the WTA rankings, and--thanks to her Mubadala Citi DC Open championship--is now number 36 in the world. 

Badosa talked about the progress she had to make once she recovered from her injury. "Physically I wasn’t the same as now….I stopped for a year, I came back. Of course, physically, I was very far away from what I was when I left. I made a big change in the clay season—I started to feel I was a little bit faster."

The Spanish star said that now she knows that she can play difficult matches and go to a third set, if necessary, and not have to worry. "When I feel strong in that area, I feel strong mentally. I start to feel competitive again." Badosa was quite competitive against Stearns today, hitting nine aces an coming away with a first serve win percentage of 87. 

Badosa also talked about another change in her mentality: "I think what I improved on in that period was maybe to have a little bit more patience. Especially, I think, one of the things I think I changed a little bit is when I step into a court, I’m happy, you know, I value it. I look at the crowd sometimes, and I’m like, ‘I’m back again, you know, I’m competing again. I’m trying to entertain people.’ So that’s a little bit what changed. Before, I was 'I have to win this match, I just want to on court, leave, and win. Win, win, win…." I still want to win every match, I still put pressure on me, but I’m trying to deal with that as much as I can.”

Badosa said that her back sometimes feels stiff, but she hasn’t had to have any treatments in a while. “I can play freely and normal for the moment." Her doctors, she said, thought that she would be pain-free right away, but she wasn’t.

She's looking forward to the rest of the hardcourt season. “…one of the things that I struggled with the most when I was on the top," she said, "was putting those expectations on me, so let’s see if I learned this time.”

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Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Kasatkina and Kostyuk and get first round wins in Cincinnati

9th seed Daria Kasatkina got off to a good start in Cincinnati today when she defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2. Likewise, 15th seed Marta Kostyuk defeated Elise Mertens 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. 

A couple of qualifiers also won their first round matches. Varvara Gracheva defeated Ajia Tomljanovic, and Ashlyn Krueger upset 16 seed (and Olympic silver medal winner) Donna Vekic. Toward the end of the second set, Vekic had to be treated for heat illness. Krueger went on to win the match, 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-2.

3rd seed Aryna Sabalenka spent some time with the media this afternoon. The 3rd seed talked about memorable matches she had played in Cincinnati. She said that almost every match she had played here here "was a high level match." She recalled going three sets against Shelby Rogers, and also playing a tough match against her close friend, Paula Badosa: "...problaby my first match against her." Sabalenka also recalled playing a well-fought match against Madison Keys. It was her first time to play Keys, and, she said, "I was really impressed with her forehand."

I recall another thrilling match that Sabalenka played in Cincinnati--her first of only two losses against Maria Sakkari, in 2019, when Sakkari defeated her 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4.

"You gotta have this short memory…just keep moving, keep working hard, keep improving…” Sabalenka said about the hard grind of the tour. “I think it’s really good that I have tennis. I have something to keep me distracted and keep me away from all those tough challenges in life.”

The 3rd seed is currently recovering from an injury. She said that, as a young player, “you have to build that base so that you’re gonna be physically strong and your body will be ready for all that stress that you’re gonna face in your career.” Now that she’s been injured, she and her physical coach have done some improvements in her warmups to make sure that her body is always warm and active. 

Someone asked Sabalenka what she would say to people, including children, to get them to watch professional tennis. In typical Aryna fashion, her first words were: "I would say just stay home and chill out!" Then she became serious, and said that she would tell people that professional tennis is now played at such a high level--even the practice sessions--that they should take a look.

Also talking with the media was Toronto champion Jessica Pegula, who just won that tournament as the defending champion. She acknowledged that being the defending champion brought about more pressure "because everyone keeps talking about it," but that it's also very motivating. 

Pegula had to make a quick trip from Paris to Toronto: "I think it almost helped me--I didn't have time to think about how I was feeling."

The Toronto champion didn't play many tournaments in the spring because of injuries, so she's focusing on the Asian swing, after she plays the U.S. Open. "I feel pretty good, actually. I keep saying it looks like a bad year, yet I won a 500 and a 1000."

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Sunday, August 4, 2024

Italy is shaped like a boot for a reason

It will kick you ass.

No one knows this better than Sara Errani, the last woman standing of the original four Fighting Italians. Today, she and her partner, Jasmine Paolini, became the first Italian women to win Olympic medals in tennis, and those medals are gold. Errani and Paolini (our newest Fighting Italian) defeated Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider 2-6, 6-1, 10-7. 

The Russian team rushed to a fairly quick victory in the first set, taking advantage of error-prone opponents. But it shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone that Errani and Paolini pulled whatever mental switch it is that they pull, and arrived in much better shape for the second set. The tiebreak became tense toward the end, which was fitting. The match itself was exciting, and featured some spectacular shot-making from both teams. Sara Errani's speed around the court was especially impressive, as was her net game, as always. 

The 37-year-old Errani has now completed a Career Golden Slam. She has won the French Open, Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, and twice, the Australian Open--all with Roberta Vinci. 

As for Paolini, she was the runner-up in singles at both the French Open and Wimbledon. And while those are major accomplishments, it has to feel especially good to win an Olympic gold medal.

The bronze medal went to Spain's Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo, who defeated the Czech team of Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova 6-2, 6-2 in the bronze medal match.

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Saturday, August 3, 2024

The Queen's golden era

Today, Zheng Qinwen, known by many fans as "Queenwen," did something that no other Chinese player has ever done before--she won an Olympic gold medal in tennis. Zheng defeated Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the final, and--as well as the Chinese star played--she had considerable help from her opponent, whose usually excellent serve failed her again and again. The occasion apparently got to Vekic, who has seen her career take a sudden surge since she decided to delay her retirement from the tour.

Donna Vekic, however, also made history, becoming the first Croatian player to win an Olympic medal in tennis.

Zheng's Olympic run was memorable: She put an end to 2016 silver medal winner Angie Kerber's career in the quarterfinals, when she defeated her 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in a tense and thrilling match in which Kerber--a fighter to the end--saved three match points. Then, in the semifinals, she defeated four-time French Open champion and overwhelming Olympic gold medal favorite Iga Swiatek. Swiatek would go on to win the bronze medal by defeating a very on-fire Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the bronze medal match. Swiatek is the first tennis player from Poland to win an Olympic medal.

Katerina Siniakova, with partner Tomas Machac, won the gold medal in mixed doubles yesterday. Siniakova also won a gold medal--in women's doubles--at the 2020 Olympic Games; her partner at that event was Barbora Krejcikova. 

Winning silver were Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen. Zhang entered the tournament with Zheng Qinwen as his partner, but she withdrew after playing a series of grueling singles matches. It so happened that Wang was still in Paris, so she an Zhang became a team and wound up on the podium. The bronze medal was won by Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

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Friday, August 2, 2024

Iga Swiatek wins Olympic bronze

Bronze is known for its durability and its high resistance to corrosion. That makes it a fitting medal for world number 1 Iga Swiatek, even though it isn't the medal she expected to win, nor is it the medal that most of us expected her to win. Knocked out of gold medal contention by Zheng Qinwen (and her own inconsistent performance), the Polish star defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-1 today to seal her place on the medal stand.

During the match the (atrocious) commentators discussed the understandable fact that bronze medal winners feel more "happiness" than silver medal winners, who are haunted by their "almost gold" result. But who has to feel especially bad is the loser of the bronze medal match, in this case, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. And in the Slovkaian player's case, the loss is particularly poignant because of the run that she had in Paris. Schmiedlova took out Katie Boulter, Biatriz Haddad Maia, Wimbledon and French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini, and Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova. Schmiedlova lost to Donna Vekic in the semifinals, and then lost to Swiatek in today's match. 

Mary Carillo and Jimmy Arias called the bronze medal match while constantly mispronouncing players' (including Swiatek's) names. And Arias--who recently declared that Swiatek was bad for women's tennis because she wears a cap and we can't see her face (not making this up), went so far as to suggest how Iga Swiatek should feel and think. 

In doubles, 3rd seeds Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini became the first Italian team to reach an Olympic tennis final. They defeated Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals. In the other semifinal match, Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider defeated 8th seeds Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-1, 6-2.

And in mixed doubles, the team of Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac will face off against Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen in the gold medal match.

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Thursday, August 1, 2024

Zheng and Vekic advance to Olympic final

World number 1 Iga Swiatek is widely acknowledged as the Queen of Roland Garros. She has won the French Open four times, and having the Olympic Games take place in Paris certainly seemed like the best imaginable situation for her to add a gold medal to her impressive collection of hardware.

But that scenario, which looked almost perfect, wasn't. An error-prone Swiatek faced off today against an on-fire Zheng Qinwen, who defeated the favorite in straight sets. Prior to playing their Olympic semifinal, Zheng was 0-6 against Swiatek. The Chinese star had also played consecutive three-hour matches, the second of which was a wild and thrilling contest against 2016 silver medal winner Angie Kerber.

But having the cards stacked against her didn't stop Zheng, who defeated Swiatek 6-2, 7-5, and made only 13 unforced errors, to Swiatek's 36. Zheng was aggressive, and she was accurate. It clearly wasn't the top seed's day, but that shouldn't take away from her opponent's performance.

In the other semifinal, Donna Vekic brought Anna Karolina Schmiedlova's brilliant run to an end. Schmiedlova had taken out the likes of Katie Boulter, Bia Haddad Maia, and both Wimbledon finalists--Jasmine Paolini and champion Barbora Krejcikova. Ranked number 67 in the world, Schmiedlova didn't exactly "pull a Puig," but she came close. Vekic, who had escaped Marta Kostyuk in a thrilling quarterfinal, had plenty of steam left to defeat Schmiedlova 6-4, 6-0. 

This is truly the summer of Donna Vekic. After dealing with injuries and surgeries, the Croatian player had considered retiring not that long ago, but she hung in, and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, and now here she is, competing for Olympic gold.

Schmiedlova and Swiatek will compete tomorrow for the bronze medal. Zheng and Vekic will compete for the gold medal on Saturday.

Paths to the final:

Zheng Qinwen (6)

round 1--def. Sara Errani
round 2--def. Arantxa Rus
round 3--def. Emma Navarro (11)
quarterfinals--def. Angie Kerber
semifinals--def. Iga Swiatek (1)

Donna Vekic (13)

round 1--def. Lucia Bronzetti
round 2--def. Bianca Andreescu
round 3--def. Coco Gauff (2)
quarterfinals--def. Marta Kostyuk (12)
semifinals--def. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova

Meanwhile, in doubles, defending champions and 2nd seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova were upset in the quarterfinals by Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider.

Here is the doubles semifinal draw:

Karolina Muchova/Linda Noskova vs. Sara Errani/Jasmine Paolini (3)
Cristina Bucsa/Sara Sorribes Tormo 8) vs. Mirra Andreeva/Diana Shnaider

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Angie Kerber can retire, but she can never be forgotten

In 2015, I wrote that Angie Kerber was "the very definition of 'steady progress.'" I also wrote about how she had finally overcome her excessive negative self-talk. I said that "...there is more to Kerber than fight and retrieval. She is very fast, she can be powerful, she can be quite creative, and she can be dead-on precise at a moment's notice. Every season, she gets better, and every season, she becomes more interesting to watch."

And I was on to something. The German star would go on, the next year, to win both the Australian Open and the U.S. Open, and to secure the number 1 ranking, which she held for 34 weeks. In 2018, she would also win Wimbledon, defeating Serena Williams in the final. Kerber was the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2016, when she lost to Williams.

Kerber recently announced that the Olympic Games would be her last tournament, and--despite saving three match points in a thrilling, hard-fought match--she lost in the quarterfinals to Zheng Qinwen. We hadn't really had Angie back for that long when she decided to retire--she had taken a year and a half off after giving birth to her first child. It was fitting, however, that her very last match was one in which she fought like crazy up to the very last moment.

"Fighter" may be the first word that comes to mind for some fans when they hear Kerber's name. Her defensive skills were without parallel. Kerber could find angles that no one else could find, and her perfection of the Radwanska squat shot allowed her to make returns that other players would have missed. But Kerber wasn't content just with being the best defensive player on the tour. She wanted more offensive skills, including a better serve, so she did what smart people do--she asked for help. 

After learning some new skills, the German star developed a deadly transition game, which helped her to achieve her greatest victories. In 2021, she made a Wimbledon run that had some of us thinking that she could win a second title in London. Kerber made it all the way to the semifinals, in which she lost to eventual champion Ash Barty.

Angelique Kerber made her professional debut in 2003. At age 28, she was the oldest player to debut as a world number 1. In 2016, Kerber was named both WTA Singles Player of the Year and the ITF World Champion. She also competed in seventeen ties on Germany's Billie Jean King Cup team. Kerber won fourteen singles titles, including the three majors, with her last title coming in 2022 in Strasbourg.

In 2016, Kerber won a silver medal at the Olympic Games. She was widely expected to win gold, but lost to Monica Puig in the final.

Sport provides us many metaphors for our lives--work hard, develop discipline, strive to reach your personal best, appreciate the work of others, ask for help, find ways to accept or overcome obstacles. Angie Kerber's career has been a virtual guidebook for practicing these ideals (she is, after all, an Angel). She is a beloved figure because she has always given us lessons in how to fight, how to improve, and how to be gracious and good-humored in all situations. 

And thanks to Kadir Nouni, Kerber received the nickname, "KareBear," and the next thing we knew, we were posting Care Bears all over this site when she competed; I'll never see a picture of one of those plush toys again without thinking of a great champion.

The 36-year-old Kerber leaves the sport as a tireless and very talented professional who put her heart into everything she did. Her career could serve as a guide to any athlete. She will be missed.

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Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Donna Vekic just won't go away, and we love it

If you like a three-hour, topsy-turvy, momentum-swinging festival of forehands, then you really enjoyed watching Marta Kostyuk and Donna Vekic play their quarterfinal match today at the Paris Olympics. It was a dramatic and highly entertaining (including some dancing from Kostyuk) contest, and the final set was as good as it gets. The whole thing came down to a third set tiebreak, which Kostyuk led, 5-2, after saving match points and barely escaping the third set intact. But just when it seemed like the tide really had turned, Vekic turned things around yet again, and won this very fine match 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (8). 

Vekic achieved a career high just a few weeks ago when she reached the semifinals at Wimbledon. Now she's in the semifinals of the Olympic Games--quite a summer for the Croatian player. This was the second time today (well, maybe the third) that I had to endure the "I can't stand to see either of them lose" tension. Kostyuk is a beast, and I mean that in the best way possible, but--for all her creativity and endurance (she held a match point)--she couldn't make Vekic go away.

That match was the last match of the day, as if we hadn't already had enough drama on a Wednesday. Earlier, the great Angie Kerber saved three match points, but--though she came very close--she wasn't quite able to stop Zheng Qinwen's Olympic campaign. The Chinese star defeated Kerber 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 (6). This was Kerber's final match on the WTA tour, and she gave it her all, as she always has, for 21 years.

Danielle Collins was able to take a set off of top seed Iga Swiatek, but an abdominal injury forced her to retire in the third set. Swiatek advanced to the semifinals with a 6-1, 2-6, 4-1 victory.

And then there was Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. Again. Not content to take out just the Wimbledon runner-up (Jasmine Paolini), today she showed the exit to Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, defeating her 6-4, 6-2. Schmiedlova has now beaten Katie Boulter, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Paolini, and Krejcikova in a truly stunning run. It will be big backhand to big forehand for her in the semifinals when she faces Vekic.


 

Here is the singles semifinal draw:

Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Zheng Qinwen (6)
Anna Karoina Schmiedlova vs. Donna Vekic (13)

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When Monica Puig stunned the tennis world

In 2016, Monica Puig traveled to Rio de Janeiro and won a gold medal at the Olympic Games. The unseeded Puerto Rican player, whose highest ranking was number 27 in the world (she was ranked number 34 when she played in Rio), not only won gold, but did so by blazing through a very tough draw. She defeated Palona Herzog, 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 3rd seed Garbine Muguruza, Laura Siegemund, 11th seed Petra Kivitova, and 2nd seed Angie Kerber.

But that wasn't all. The Association of Olympic Committees named Puig Outstanding Female Athlete in Rio. 

How could a woman who wasn't in the top 20 and had never gotten past the fourth round of a major win an Olympic gold medal? This question appeared to trouble some people, but the answer is simple: Once she arrived in Rio, Puig got into a zone of zones and never left it. I'm sure that there was also something about the courts that suited her and helped her to play the best version of her game. And yes, she beat a couple of my very favorite players, but I was nevertheless able to delight in Puig's amazing feat.

Monica Puig was never able to replicate that kind of accomplishment, or to even come close to it, and I'm here to say, "So what?" For one week in Rio, she found the skill and mental strength of a champion, and--as she advanced in the draw--her confidence grew. These things happen from time to time; after all, it was only a few years ago that two unseeded players reached the final of the U.S. Open, and the tour didn't break, nor did it implode. It was actually a pretty exciting occurrence.

Puig retired from the tour in 2022, and she retired as an Olympic champion, which is something to celebrate.

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