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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