Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Look who came to play!

Even though she has a superb backhand and a history of playing well on clay, it's doubtful than most fans expected Anna Karolina Schmiedlova to reach the quarterfinals of the 2024 Olympics. Schmiedlova's career has been one of ups and downs. She tends to fade away, then--when we least expect it--she pops up again.

In 2015, Schmiedlova played three clay finals against Italians, and won two of them. She then entered the top 30 for the first time, but then went into a major slump. The Slovakian player then worked her way back through challengers, and then she won Bogata in 2018. Now Schmiedlova has entered the conversation again, in Paris, of all places.

At the Olympic Games, Schmiedlova began her campaign by defeating Katie Boulter, whose career has been on the rise lately. In the next round, she took it a step farther and defated 14th seed Biatriz Haddad Maia. But she wasn't finished: Today, in the third round, Schmiedlova upset 4th seed and French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini. Schmiedlova came back from 2-5 down to win the set, she ct, onverted every break point that she had, and she broke Paolini when the Italian star served for the match at 5-4 in the third set. The final score was 7-5, 3-6, 7-5. 

Oh--and Peacock, for whatever bizarre reason, did not show the match.

That was dramatic enough, but what about the soon-to-be retirees? 2016 silver medal winner Angie Kerber, who took a year and a half off after giving birth to a daughter, returned to the tour last year. She recently announced that she will retire following the 2024 Olympics, and she's drawing the experience out as far as she can. Kerber has defeated Naomi Osaka, Jaqueline Cristian and 16th seed Leylah Fernandez. 

Retiring at the end of this season, Danielle Collins has made it clear that she wants "to go out with a bang." So far, so good. The back-to-back Miami-Charleston champion has reached the quarterfinals of her first and last Olympic Games. Collins has defeated Laura Siegemund (retirement), Caroline Wozniacki and Camila Osorio. 

And then there was Donna Vekic, who is having a very nice season. Vekic, who recently reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, was at it again today, upsetting 2nd seed Coco Gauff 7-6, 6-2.

Of course, this is clay, and this is Paris. Anyone who hopes to win a gold medal will either have to get past Iga Swiatek or hope that someone else does. Swiatek's major nemesis, Alona Ostapenko, is out, but Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, who has also served as the world number 1's kryptonite, is still in the draw. Of course, both of the Czech star's victories against Swiatek in finals were on hard courts. On the other hand, Krejcikova knows how to win the French Open. The two are on opposite sides of the draw, so it could get even more interesting.

Swiatek won her third round match against Wang Xiyu in straight sets, but she had to work hard for the victory. Wang's leg was seriously taped, and she appeared to be cramping right at what looked like it was the final moment of the match. But then she tore the tape off and began to move better, making it hard for Swiatek to close the match. But close it she did, and now she'll face 8th seed Collins in the quarterfinals.

Also advancing today were Zheng Qinwen, who defeated Emma Navarro, and Marta Kostyuk, who defeated 8th seed Maria Sakkari. 

Here is the singles quarterfinal draw:

Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Danielle Collins (8)
Angeique Kerber vs. Zheng Qinwen (6)
Barbora Krejickova (9) vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
Marta Kostyuk (12) vs. Donna Vekic (13)

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