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Saturday, February 15, 2025

Wk.7- Anisimova Ascendant







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*WEEK 7 CHAMPIONS*
DOHA, QATAR (WTA 1000; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Amanda Anisimova/USA def. Alona Ostapenko/LAT 6-4/6-3
D: Sara Errani/Jasmine Paolini (ITA/ITA) def. Jiang Xinyu/Wu Fang-hsien (CHN/TPE) 7-5/7-6(10)
Cancun, Mexico (125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Emiliano Arango/COL def. Carson Branstine/CAN 6-2/6-1
D: Maya Joint/Taylah Preston (AUS/AUS) def. Aliona Bolsova/Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers (ESP/ESP) 6-4/6-3




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Amanda Anisimova/USA
...Alona Ostapenko provided a lot of the headlines all week long in Doha, but in the end the one that mattered the *most* belonged to Anisimova.

Once upon a time, Anisimova was a junior star, the winner of the U.S. Open girls' title in 2017. She notched her first Top 10 win (over Petra Kvitova) in Indian Wells at age 16, and grabbed her first WTA title (Bogota) at 17. In 2019, she climbed another significant rung on the tennis ladder, hitting her way into the Roland Garros semifinals, where she lost a crazy match vs. Ash Barty.

Anisimova had reached that stage in Paris without dropping a set, then after dropping 17 of the first 18 points and falling behind 5-0 she staged a massive comeback, winning 25/35 points, rallying from 4-2 down in the TB to win it 7-4. She led Barty 3-0 in the 2nd set, as well, having won 17 straight points. But Anisimova stumbled down the stretch and Barty prevailed, winning the 2nd/3rd at 3 & 3, then going on to win her maiden major crown.

Anisimova would rise to as high as #21 by the end of the year, but also lost her father (who'd also been her coach) to a sudden and tragic death.

Anisimova continued to play, but the clock was ticking. After suffering through poor seasons in 2020-21, in 2022 she won her second title, posted 4r-4r-QF results in the first three majors, and recorded four Top 10 wins (her most ever in a season). But the grind of a tennis career was burning her out, and combined with the obvious off-court stresses that went back several seasons Anisimova finally reached her tipping point. She announced a break from the sport by mid-2023, citing mental health concerns.

Returning last season, Anisimova posted a series of intriguing results that hinted at her past promise, including reaching the AO 4th Round and the Toronto 1000 final (her first final since January '22) and finishing the season in the Top 40.

Anisimova got off to a slow start in '25, and was just 3-2 (w/ a Week 2 walkover in the Hobart QF) before shining in Doha. After an opening win over Victoria Azarenka, the Bannerette found her first Top 10 victim since 2022 in Paula Badosa, dominated Leylah Fernandez (3 & love) and rallied to defeat Marta Kostyuk from a set down. A straight sets win over Ekaterina Alexandrova put Anisimova into her fifth tour-level final.

Ostapenko had blown opponents off the court all week, but couldn't do the same vs. Anisimova, who won 6-4/6-3 to claim her third and biggest title, her first in three years, completing the full turn from phenom to cautionary tale and back to a champion reborn. And she's still just 23.

And -- boom! -- just like that, on Monday Anisimova will be ranked in the Top 20 (#18) for the first time.


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RISERS: Iga Swiatek/POL and Alona Ostapenko/LAT
...Swiatek was the only Top 10 player to reach the Doha semifinals (the world #1 and #3 failed to win a single match), and she spent most of the week succeeding with a well-earned sense of assurance. Down went Maria Sakkari 3 & 2 (all right, that one was to be expected), but so did Linda Noskova as Swiatek won out in yet another three-setter against the young Czech. Then, for the second time this season, Swiatek sent Elena Rybakina packing in straights.

At this point, Swiatek had every reason to think of Doha as home. Three straight titles, 15 straight wins, a 16-1 career record in the tournament, and back-to-back wins over big-hitting players who have been thorns in her side over the past few seasons.



But then rock met hard place with Iga trapped in between, and the sense of assurance evaporated in an instant (and turned into existential dread) as Swiatek's two steps forward week turned into one that featured a very big step back. Blame it all on Alona Ostapenko.

The Latvian has given the Pole nightmares for years, and she made Swiatek's life a horror show in their semifinal match-up, rolling her by a 6-1/6-3 score, causing Iga to yell (or duck her head) in frustration and even slam her racket after seeing her opponent dig a hole and toss her into it mid-way through the 2nd set.

She's now 0-5 vs. Ostapenko, still looking for her first title of the year (her longest season-opening drought since she won her maiden tour title at RG in 2020), and (though she got by two in consecutive rounds) remains unable to avoid *eventually* finding her fate at the mercy of a big hitter who refuses to implode on the other side of the net.

This is where Wim Fissette *must* each his money over what remains of the season. Otherwise, why did he replace Tomasz Wiktorowski?



Meanwhile, Ostapenko had her day in Doha, but it wasn't on the final day.

The Latvian thundered through the draw on her way to the final, not dropping a set, leading the field in aces (31) and reaching her third career 1000 final, her second in Doha (2016) and first since Miami in 2018, the longest stretch between 1000 finals ever.

Despite early doubles success in '25, Ostapenko had gone just 1-4 in singles before she ran off wins over Aoi Ito, Liudmila Samsonova, Jasmine Paolini (her first Top 10 win since Beijing '23), Ons Jabeur and Swiatek, posting two Top 5 wins in an event for the first time ever (the last time she posted two Top 10 wins was also in Doha, in 2022) as she reached her biggest final since winning Roland Garros in 2017.

But Ostapenko's serve let her down in the final, and it was the big shots coming off the racket of *Amanda Anisimova* that dominated the final day of play. Still, she'll climb back into slam seed range as she'll jump 11 spots from #37 to #26 heading into the second half of the Desert Double in Dubai.
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SURPRISES: Rebecca Sramkova/SVK and Carson Branstine/CAN
...as Sramkova continues to climb the tour ladder, she adds still more impressive notes to a later-blooming-and-growing-more-significant singles run. In the 2024 4Q, the Slovak won a title in Hua Hin and reached two other tour finals, then helped Slovakia to a surprising BJK Cup final appearance.

After previous 3rd Round-or-better results in 1000 events in Rome (4th) and Beijing (3rd) last year, Sramkova arrived in Doha and added another 3rd Round run in her third straight 1000 event MD, posting wins over Anhelina Kalinina and Mirra Andreeva (winning a 7-5 3rd set over the teenager) before a loss to Elena Rybakina.

Sramkova recorded her first career slam MD win in Melbourne last month, and even though she's off to just a 4-6 start will climb to a new career high of #42 on Monday.



In Cancun, 24-year old Californian Canadian Branstine reached her first 125 final after stringing together wins over Ena Shibahara, Lauren Davis, Katarzyna Kawa and Maya Joint, but in the final vs. Emiliana Arango went down 2 & 1 as she apparently was dealing with some sort of injury/stomach pain.

Branstine's tennis career was beset by numerous injuries, and even led her to be in the tennis programs at three NCAA schools -- USC, Virginia and Texas A&M -- but only ever see action on the court at the latter institution, where she played two seasons and helped lead the Aggies to the NCAA National Championship in 2024.

Branstine will jump 65 spots to #207 on Monday, cracking the Top 250 for the first time. She went 3-2 in ITF finals in '24.

In her junior days, Branstine (in the season in which she changed from representing the U.S. to playing for Canada) teamed with Bianca Andreescu to win the girls' doubles titles at the AO (as USA) and RG (as CAN).


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VETERANS: Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS and Ons Jabeur/TUN
...there were quite a few players who played deep into the week in Doha (including both finalists) who are a load to handle when they get on a roll, and Alexandrova took her rightful place beside them.

The 30-year old Hordette carried over her Linz title-winning form into Week 7, knocking off a pair of Top 5 players -- #1 Aryna Sabalenka, from 4-2 down in the 3rd, and #5 Jessie Pegula, from a set down -- as well as Emma Raducanu and Singapore champ Elise Mertens en route to her third career 1000 semifinal.

Alexandrova's eight-match winning streak ended at the hands of Amanda Anisimova, but she'll rise five spots to #21 on Monday. Alexandrova's biggest points defense of the season is just around the corner next month in Miami, where last year she reached the semis after upsetting the likes of Swiatek (4r) and Pegula (QF), the only other time she's knocked off two Top 5 players in the same event.



Overwhelming fan support in Doha -- at her own matches, as well as during those of *others* as celebrations of Ons' wins sometimes were so loud that they interrupted matches on adjoining courts -- weren't enough to carry Jabeur to the final (or semis), but the Tunisian *did* notch her first Top 10 win of the year as well as reach her first 1000/slam QF on hard court court since Cincinnati in 2023.

Jabeur, 30, continued her positive '25 flow with victories over McCartney Kessler and #8 Zheng Qinwen, then another over Sofia Kenin before she fell victim to Alona Ostapenko in the midst of one of *those* (you know the sort) kind of winner-heavy stretches.
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COMEBACK: Sofia Kenin/USA
...while her 2020 results will forever hang over Kenin's head and make whatever she does seem far "lesser" in comparison, the Bannerette continues to occasionally put together the sort of hard-working string of matches that were the hallmark of her career year.

In Doha as a wild card, Kenin fired off wins over Abu Dhabi finalist Ashlyn Krueger, as well as Alycia Parks to reach her first 1000 3rd Round on hard court since her Guadalajara semi in '23. Her run ended there vs. Ons Jabeur.

Kenin reached just one 3rd Round (in 9 MD) at the 1000 level last year (in Rome). After a disappointing 16-26 mark in '24, Kenin is off to a 7-5 start in '25 and will climb from #75 to back inside the Top 60 on Monday.


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FRESH FACES: Linda Noskova/CZE and Emiliana Arango/COL
...after leaving Melbourne having followed up her breakout QF run from a year ago with a 1st Round AO exit, her third loss in her first four '25 matches, Noskova has gotten her season back on course.

The 20-year old reached the Abu Dhabi semis in Week 6, then this past week in Doha the Czech got wins over Donna Vekic and Yulia Putintseva before once again getting a shot at Iga Swiatek. Noskova had upset the Pole at last year's AO, but lost in follow-up matches in the spring and at the BJK Cup Finals event.

For the fourth time in their last five meetings, Noskova took Swiatek to three sets in the Doha 3rd Round, taking the opening set in a TB before dropping close sets in the 2nd/3rd despite racking up 16 aces on the day.

Noskova has gone 5-2 since her early exit in Melbourne.



In Cancun, Arango posted the best result of her career.



The 24-year old Colombian has shown flashes since her 2017 U.S. Open junior SF run, including reaching the 2023 Guadalajara 1000 QF and posting wins last year in both Miami and Madrid (she's 5-3 in career 1000 MD) before reaching her first 125 final last October. But, mostly, she's identifiable because she alway plays while wearing her cap backward.

During her run in Mexico, Arango knocked off Whitney Osuigue, Marina Stakusic, Selena Janicijevic, Francesca Jones and Carson Branstine, losing just one set (vs. Jones in the SF) along the way to pick up her biggest title to date, her first singles win since 2021.



Hey, maybe this result might eventually push Arango up high enough in the rankings -- she'll be #133, up 36 spots, on Monday (her CH is #109) -- that we might finally get another All-Headwear match between her and The Bandanna herself, Diana Shnaider. Their only meeting came in a 125 in 2022. Crossing fingers.

I couldn't find any photos from that match, but here's a hint of what such a unique sight *might* look like:


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DOWN: Emma Raducanu/GBR
...at some point, no matter the excuses and/or reasons, Raducanu is just running in place. Yes, Raducanu deserves patience since her 2021 U.S. Open title run (though it came after a Wimbledon 4th Rd. earlier that summer) was an early and unexpected occurrence. But, remember, the Brit's New York result will soon be coming up on it's four-year anniversary in seven months.

For how long does doing the same thing and expecting different results *really* start to look a bit crazy? If she's seeking to develop match fitness, big events or not, one-and-done weeks won't do it.

Raducanu is still taking wild cards (after previously using her PR) into big tour events, as she did in the Doha 1000, where she lost in the 1st Round to Ekaterina Alexandrova, 6-3/7-5. The loss extends her losing streak to four matches, the longest of her career.

Raducanu seemed to find *some* traction in 2024, reaching the SF in Nottingham (her first since '22, and just the second since the '21 U.S. Open), and recording her first two career Top 10 wins (over Pegula and Sakkari) during the grass season. It helped her get her ranking back up to something respectable. She came into Doha ranked #60.

While Raducanu has put up few results of *real" note in regular events, she's proven to be a big event player. Her results in majors have been her best. She's won at least one AO MD match from 2022-25, reaching the 3rd Round this year after taking out Alexandrova and Amanda Anisimova, and she's had wins in seven of the nine major MD in which she's appeared since her title in New York. She had a *second* Wimbledon Round of 16 result just last year, and is 6-4 at Indian Wells, with a 3r-4r-3r streak the last three years.

Clearly, injuries (and resulting surgeries) have held Raducanu back, but so has her constant coaching/consulant carousel. She had another new sets of eyes overseeing things in Qatar after Nick Cavaday (Raducanu's sixth "full-time" coach in four years) announced a coaching break due to health issues that prevent constant travel.

Was Cavaday, Raducanu's coach as a junior, going to stick, and might still eventually return? Maybe. But history also says probably not.

Raducanu's summer of '21 run remains one of the more remarkable of recent note. She went 21-4 from Wimbledon through the U.S. Open, including a 10-0 jaunt without dropping a set as she went from qualifier to champion at Flushing Meadows. Since that Open final win, with her Doha loss, the Brit has gone 49-44. That includes a 10-9 mark in slam play, where's got a 20-10 career MD record.

In 2025, since her 3rd Round in Melbourne, Raducanu has played in the two biggest events on the WTA schedule, the Adu Dhabi 500 and Doha 1000, going 0-2. She *was* in the 250 Singapore draw, but lost a three-set 1st Round match vs. Cristina Bucsa.

That MD was her first at an "off-schedule" 250 or lower tournament in almost three years outside of the small windows of the season where there are few options, i.e. the short grass season (Eastbourne '24/Nottingham 2022 & '24) and Week 1 (Auckland 2023-24), save for what was a quick dip onto the 125 level right after her 1st Round exit in New York in her '22 title defense (probably to just get the taste out of her mouth) and 250 Guadalajara in February of that same year (a 1r ret. as the #1 seed).

Raducanu's schedule often plays out like she's Iga Swiatek (she's not), filled with slams, 1000s and 500s no matter where she's ranked. How long can this pattern persist? A short-term detour would seem to be something that would do her good in the long (and even short) term. See how Belinda Bencic built herself back in a few smaller events after her return last fall, leading to a second week run at the AO and 500 title in Week 6.

Will Raducanu take such a chance, maybe even playing qualifying a few times rather than automatically jump into a big event MD via a WC (and then immediately lose), or continue the rinse-and-repeat cycle she's been trapped in for what has become years. She *could* go on hoping for wild cards and that one *huge* result (again) that will immediately put her back on the level to which she desires to compeat.

And it *might* work. But for how long is she going to keep trying to find that through-the-eye-of-a-needle result rather than giving the step-by-step approach a legitimate shot, at least once?

Of course, as we head into Week 8 in Dubai...


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ITF PLAYERS: Francisca and Matilde Jorge, POR/POR
...the Jorge sisters -- Francisca, 24, and Matilde, 20 -- were at it again, this time in a $50K challenger in Birmingham, England.

The Portuguese siblings claimed their 18th career (17 ITF, w/ a 125 last April) pro title as a duo, their second this season along with another $50K in Porto last month. It's Francisa's 29th career ITF title, and Matilde's 22nd.

Matilde has been burning up the doubles court of late no matter what partner is alongside her. This is her 15th straight WD victory (6 w/ Francesca), and she's gone 25-3 (15-2) overall since August, with an additional $75K crown and $100K final while playing with her sister.

Matilde has also won recent titles with Justina Mikulskyte ($50K) and Sarah Beth Grey ($35K), and reached a final with Anna Rogers ($50K) in the stretch.


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JUNIOR STARS: Nellie Taraba Wallberg/SWE and Laima Vladson/LTU
...a pair of first-time big title winners, as 17-year old Swede Taraba Wallberg (girls' #68) won the J500 in Cairo with a three-set victory over 16-year old Hordette Rada Zolotareva in the final.


@nellietaraba



In Ascunsion (PAR), 17-year old Lithuanian Vladson got the best of Brit Allegra Korpanec Davies in a pair of tie-breaks to win her maiden J300 crown. The junior #70, Vladson had knocked off the #1 seed (Luna Maria Cinalli/ARG) in the QF.


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DOUBLES: Sara Errani/Jasmine Paolini, ITA/ITA
...yes, that was indeed an underhand serve from Errani on MP.

With a slew of big non-slam events coming soon -- including the Sunshine swing, and Madrid/Rome this spring -- here come the Italians.

Errani & Paolini followed up an 11-9 MTB win in the semis over M.Andreeva/Shnaider with a straight sets victory in the final over Jiang Xinyu & Wu Fang-hsien, 7-5/7-6(10). It's their sixth title together, and third at the 1000 level (w/ Rome/Beijing) to go along with an Olympic Gold medal.

Errani won Doha in 2013 alongside Roberta Vinci, and this is the veteran's eighth 1000 crown and 33rd career tour title, tying her for second (w/ Latisha Chan) on the active player list behind Hsieh Su-wei (w/ 35). It's Paolini's seventh WTA win.

Though they lost here, let's not forget that the final run in this 1000 event in many ways legitimizes Jiang & Wu's two title run in small events in Auckland and Hobart last month. They're now a team to keep an eye on in *all* events.


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1. Doha 3rd Rd. - Iga Swiatek def. Linda Noskova
...6-7(1)/6-4/6-4. These Swiatek/Noskova match-ups are becoming Must-See WTA occasions. The Pole won for a fourth straight time in six meetings, but four of the last five of those matches have gone three sets (w/ the Czech getting the upset at the AO last year), as Noskova is proving to be the most consistently nagging nuisance (so far) for Swiatek of all of the tour's new young contenders.

In this one, the two combined for zero breaks of serve in the 1st, with Noskova dominating a 7-1 TB. In the 2nd, they exchanged breaks over games 5-7 as Iga grabbed the lead. The Czech had a BP at 4-5 that would have tied the set for a fourth time, but Swiatek got the hold to knot the match.

In the 3rd, Swiatek broke to open the set, but Noskova didn't let her run away, getting things back on serve three games later. It seemed as if another TB was looming, but Swiatek's Doha winning streak was extended when she broke to lead 5-4 and served out the hard-fought win.


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2. Doha 2nd Rd. - Ekaterina Alexandrova def. Aryna Sabalenka 3-6/6-3/7-6(5)
Doha 2nd Rd. - Marta Kostyuk def. Coco Gauff 3-6/6-3/7-6(5)
...if Swiatek ends up finishing the year at #1 again, it may be simply because the current world #2's results hardly ever include a one-and-out result in any event. In Doha, both #1 Sabalenka *and* #3 Gauff failed to win a match (going out on the same day), and have gone a combined 0-3 in the event the last two years.

Swiatek has had just one winless event since the start of 2021 ('21 Cincinnati), with none over the last three seasons + 2025's seven weeks of play. Over that same stretch, Sabalenka has 14 one-and-done events, while Gauff has 10.

Sabalenka twice held breaks leads in the 3rd, and led 4-2, 30/love before Alexandrova surged back to win a deciding TB to get her second career #1 win.

Gauff's loss to Kostyuk gives her back-to-back losses after her 9-0 start this year. Hmmm, should Matt Daly already be starting to peek back over his shoulder?


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3. Doha QF - Iga Swiatek def. Elena Rybakina
...6-2/7-5. If Noskova has been a nuisance for Swiatek, Rybakina has been a legitimate nemesis. The Kazakh defeated then world #1 Iga in four of five meetings in 2022-23. Swiatek has now won consecutive straight sets matches vs. Rybakina in '25, and done so in three of their last four match-ups beginning with last year's victory in the Doha final.

Meeting two rounds earlier in Qatar this time around, Swiatek grabbed the 1st set and staged a comeback in the 2nd to avoid a 3rd. Rybakina opened the 2nd with a break, led 4-2 and had two BP at 4-4 to get a chance to serve out the set. Instead, Swiatek got the game 9 hold, then broke Rybakina to end things at 7-5 after the Kazakh had held a GP to reach a TB. Rybakina DF'd on MP.



Rybakina's three tournament losses this season have come vs. Madison Keys (AO, who won the title), Belinda Bencic (Abu Dhabi, who won the title) and Swiatek (who'd won it three years running).
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4. Doha SF - Alona Ostapenko def. Iga Swiatek
...6-3/6-1. Swiatek handled her nuisance (Noskova), then her nemesis (Rybakina). As for her bully. Well...



In a phrase, Ostapenko kicked her a**. Again. And she relished it, too, as the smirk/smile rarely ever left her face, and certainly not after being renewed by Swiatek's growing frustration.



Ostapenko's easy win ended Swiatek's three-year title run and 15-match winning streak in Doha, improving her career mark in the series to an astounding 5-0. Over the years, the Lavtian has posted wins over Iga when the Pole was ranked #65, #4, #9, #1 and now #2.



Perhaps the worst take on the match came on Tennis Channel *before* it began, as all in the assembled studio group who chose a side picked Swiatek to win, saying "she'll figure it out" and "she'll make it (h2h) 4-1," as the odd, collective amnesia regarding how Iga approaches (or doesn't approach) fireballing opponents such as Ostapenko and her general inability to handle adversity in such situations once again persisted.

None in attendance mentioned that it wasn't likely to even be about Iga "figuring it out," but rather about Ostapenko -- who you *knew* would be supremely confident coming into the match, which was not a good thing for Swiatek -- keeping the ball inside the lines. If she did, it wouldn't likely be close. And it wasn't.


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5. Doha QF - Amanda Anisimova def. Marta Kostyuk
...4-6/7-5/6-4. Anisimova prevails in a back-and-forth struggle to reach her second 1000 SF (w/ Toronto RU) since last summer.

Kostyuk rallied to win the 1st after trailing by a double-break at 4-1, only to see Anisimova (after not putting away a SP at 5-3) take the 2nd with a break for 6-5 and follow-up hold. She finally put Kostyuk away on her third MP over the final two games in the 3rd, preventing the Ukrainian from reaching her second 1000 semi ('24 I.W.).


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6. Doha Final - Amanda Anisimova def. Alona Ostapenko
...6-4/6-3. Though she led the week in aces (31), Ostapenko's serve (w/ 10 DF) let her down in the final, played in breezy, cold and wet conditions in the desert. Meanwhile, Anisimova's groundstrokes carried the way to a straights sets victory, her biggest career title and Top 20 debut.

Anisimova is the third different U.S. woman to win a title in the season's first seven weeks (Bannerettes have won 4 singles crowns in 10 events), and the sixth different to reach a singles final. Counting the United Cup in Week 1 (won by Team USA), no week of the 2025 season has gone by without a U.S. women's singles player playing for a title.


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7. Doha 1st Rd. - Alycia Parks def. Diana Shnaider
...6-4/7-6(2). This was one of Parks' biggest wins, her fifth vs. a Top 20 foe but the first since Madrid in 2023 (Azarenka). She saved 2 SP in the 2nd.

Earlier this season, her SF run in Auckland was Parks' first in a WTA event since her title run in Lyon in 2023.


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8. Doha 2nd Rd. - Leylah Fernandez def. Emma Navarro
...6-2/6-2. Not surprisingly, all eight of Fernandez's career Top 10 victories have come on hard court. This was the Canadian's first since Cincinnati last summer.
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1. Doha 1st Rd. - Dasha Kasatkina def. Polina Kudermetova
...6-0/6-0. A week after Veronika was double-bageled by Belinda Bencic in Abu Dhabi, Polina suffers the same fate vs. Kasatkina in Doha.

After getting off to a 10-2 start in '25 while reaching the Brisbane final and qualifying for the AO, the younger Kudermetova has now lost four of her last five (all in straights). Check that, make it five of the last six, as Polina fell in the opening round of Dubai qualifying (Veronika made it through, though).


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2. Doha 2nd Rd. - Rebecca Sramkova def. Mirra Andreeva
...3-6/6-3/7-5. Hmmm, how volatile is the coaching relationship between Mirra and Conchita Martinez anyway?

I mean, Andreeva doesn't seem to be the sort who'll accept too many losses, and her short partnership with the Hall of Fame Spaniard has seen her need three sets to get past Moyuka Uchijima and Magdalena Frech, then a 1 & 2 loss to Aryna Sabalenka, in Melbourne; then this past week in Doha she was taken to three vs. Katie Volynets and lost the decider here to Rebecca Sramkova.

Andreeva surely expects less struggle for wins, closer losses (even to the world #1), and not to be upset by a player ranked 31 spots below her. I'm just sayin'.

Although, Andreeva went through the Doha/Dubai/Indian Wells/Miami stretch with a combined 0-2 record in '24, though, so maybe she won't overeact. I mean, as long as she rebounds quickly.
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So another chance for top singles players to pick up an extra paycheck (and slam title). TPTB really hate doubles specialists trying to make a living on an increasingly small island, don't they?

Meanwhile, the U.S. Open organizers were patting themselves on the back...



Others in the know weren't quite so quick to join in...



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Since his original postive test(s) last March, Sinner was able to play on and win two majors, the Davis Cup, the ATP Finals and two Masters 1000 events. Must be nice. I'm sure a lot of players who've gotten tripped up due to accidental exposure to banned substances would have liked to essentially get no tangible punishment, play on while the positive test remained secret, get a "no fault" ruling in short order, keep on winning big titles, then ultimately pick-and-choose the most convenient time to serve a short suspension, allowing participation in all the majors that season.

I mean... that's a pretty hot deal!



Thing is, WADA's 1-2 year ban attempt is just as ridiculous for this infraction as all the rest of the issues in this case and others (as was the four-year ban for Halep that turned into nine months after she'd already been out a year and a half).

Of course, the Sinner case isn't some revelatory moment, or at least it shouldn't be. The embarrassing state of the "drug testing apparatus," with the Alphabets' vindictive attacks on some and wink-wink pats on the back for others, has been pretty clear for most of the last decade. If anyone didn't realize it starting with the Sharapova case, they really just weren't paying attention or didn't want to admit it.

The Alphabets pick and choose what they consider to be "worthy" of a ban if it's in a player's system, sometimes on an unscientific whim (see Sharapova), and sometimes never (if we're talking about something being "performance-enhancing," then aren't *all* supplements essentially that, as is something like caffeine in large amounts, and almost anything an athlete might ingest to "help them train and/or recover?").

I mean, do we *ever* see anything close to the level of PED situations in tennis that have occurred in, say, the Tour de France, where legit *shananigans* (to use a word) have taken place in the past as far as *actual* doping, not the sort of "oops, something was in an over-the-counter product" issue that occurs in cases involving WTA/ATP athletes. They're not in any way the same, yet the Alphabets try to act as if they are in order to justify their own existence as a policing agent, which some believe might have been threatened had WADA *not* "reached a settlement" (???) with Sinner to avoid the case going to CAS and the organization's argument being completely obliterated.

Meanwhile, this (because it's nice to see someone else employing the "alphabet strategy")...



In the end...



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I thought Green Day was appropriate for this week (and likely for the foreseeable future, for that matter).

And then there's this, a great thread of performances from Live Aid, most of which you rarely ever see. Truthfully, I didn't even realize that U2, Black Sabbath, the Beach Boys, Madonna and a few others were acts that were featured at the concert, which was now forty years ago. And this isn't a complete list of acts, either. Truly an amazing collection of musicians, some of which are already long gone by now, and some of which are winding down careers, but also a lot who are still out there performing today.








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*2025 - MOST TOP 10 WINS*
5 - Madison Keys
3 - IGA SWIATEK
2 - ALONA OSTAPENKO
2 - Liudmila Samsonova

*2025 MOST DIFFERENT WTA FINALISTS BY COUNTRY*
6 - USA (Anisimova,Kessler,Keys,Krueger,Li,Pegula)
3 - RUS (Alexandrova,P.Kudermetova,Potapova)
1 - BEL,BLR,DEN,ITA,JPN,LAT,SUI,UKR

*UNITED STATES - WTA TITLES (active)*
10 - Madison Keys (2014-25)
8 - Coco Gauff (2019-24)
8 - Sloane Stephens (2015-24)
6 - Jessie Pegula (2019-24)
5 - Sofia Kenin (2019-20)
4 - Danielle Collins (2021-24)
3 - AMANDA ANISIMOVA (2019-25)
3 - Alison Riske-Amritraj (2014-21)
2 - Lauren Davis (2017-23)
2 - McCartney Kessler (2024-25)
2 - Bernarda Pera (2022)
--
ALSO: V.Williams (49)

*#1 WINS BY RUSSIANS - since 2012*
2012 #2 Sharapova d. Azarenka (Stuttgart F)
2012 #2 Sharapova d. Azarenka (WTA SF)
2016 #19 Kuznetsova d. S.Williams (Miami 4r)
2017 #26 Kasatkina d. Kerber (Sydney 2r)
2017 #16 Pavlyuchenkova d. Kerber (Monterrey F)
2017 #40 Makarova d. Kerber (Roland Garros 1r)
2018 #23 Kasatkina d. Wozniacki (St.Petersburg SF)
2024 #40 Kalinskaya d. Swiatek (Dubai SF)
2024 #16 Alexandrova d. Swiatek (Miami 4r)
2025 #26 Alexandrova d. Sabalenka (Doha 2r)
[active - #1 wins]
2 - Kasatkina
2 - ALEXANDROVA
1 - Kalinskaya
1 - Pavlyuchenkova

*WTA #1 WINS (42) - 2020-25*
6 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ
4 - Jessie Pegula, USA
4 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
3 - Coco Gauff, USA
2 - EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA, RUS
2 - Madison Keys, USA
2 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
[wins-by-nation, 2020-25]
13 - USA
7 - KAZ
5 - CZE
4 - BLR
3 - RUS
2 - ESP,FRA,POL
1 - BRA,CHN,LAT,UKR
--
LOSSES: 24-Swiatek, 11-Barty, 7-Sabalenka

*CAREER WTA DOUBLES TITLES - active*
35 - Hsieh Su-Wei
33 - Latisha Chan
33 - SARA ERRANI
30 - Bethanie Mattek-Sands
29 - Katerina Siniakova
28 - Kristina Mladenovic
26 - Timea Babos

*2025 OLDEST WTA FINALISTS*
30 - Jessie Pegula (Adelaide)
30 - Ekaterina Alexandrova (Linz - W)
[doubles/MX]
39 - Hsieh Su-wei (Australian Open)
37 - SARA ERRANI (Doha - W)
37 - Monica Niculescu (Hobart)
36 - Laura Siegemund (Adelaide)
36 - Zhang Shuai (Abu Dhabi)
35 - Alexandra Panova (Adelaide - W)

*2025 FIRST-TIME WTA 125 CHAMPS - no WTA titles*
Canberra - Aoi Ito, JPN (20, #126)
Cancun - EMILIANA ARANGO, COL (24, #169)

*2020-25 LOW-RANKED WTA 125 FINALISTS*
#543 Ajla Tomljanovic, AUS (2023 Florianopolis - W)
#433 Nuria Brancaccio, ITA (2022 Bari)
#432 Nina Stojanovic, SRB (2024 Colina - W)
#296 Katarzyna Kawa, POL (2024 Buenos Aires)
#292 Petra Marcinko, CRO (2024 Montreux)
#272 CARSON BRANSTINE, CAN (2025 Cancun)
#270 Francesca Jones, GBR (2024 San Luis Potosi)
#252 Fiona Ferro, FRA (2023 Barranquilla)

*2025 YOUNGEST WTA/125 SEMIFINALISTS*
17 - Mirra Andreeva (Brisbane)
18 - Maya Joint (Hobart)
[125]
19 - Alex Eala (Canberra)
18 - MAYA JOINT (Cancun)

*RECENT WTA WS THREE-PEATS*
2012-14 U.S. Open - Serena Williams
2012-14 WTA Finals - Serena Williams
2012-14 Stuttgart - Maria Sharapova
2013-15 Miami - Serena Williams
2022-24 Doha - Iga Swiatek
2022-24 Roland Garros - Iga Swiatek (active)
2018-19/24 Wuhan - Aryna Sabalenka (active)







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When real world headlines read like The Onion…

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— Dan Rather (@thedanrather.bsky.social) February 15, 2025 at 1:06 PM


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What a petty, little man

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— Ann Telnaes (@anntelnaes.bsky.social) February 10, 2025 at 12:29 PM


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All for now.
Posted by at

Sunday, February 9, 2025

Wk.6- Better Call Bencic (a Champion)










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*WEEK 6 CHAMPIONS*
ABU DHABI, UAE (WTA 500; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Belinda Bencic/SUI def. Ashlyn Krueger/USA 4-6/6-1/6-1
D: Alona Ostapenko/Ellen Perez (LAT/AUS) def. Zhang Shuai/Kristina Mladenovic (CHN/FRA) 6-2/6-1
CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA (WTA 250; Hard Court Indoor)
S: Anastasia Potapova/RUS def. Lucia Bronzetti/ITA 4-6/6-1/6-2
D: Magali Kempen/Anna Siskova (BEL/CZE) def. Jaqueline Cristian/Angelica Moratelli (ROU/ITA) 6-3/6-1
Mumbai, India (WTA 125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Jil Teichmann/SUI def. Mananchaya Sawangkaew/THA 6-3/6-4
D: Amina Anshba/Elena Pridankina (RUS/RUS) def. Arianne Hartono/Prarthana Thombare (NED/IND) 7-6(4)/2-6 [10-7]




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Belinda Bencic/SUI
...perhaps Bencic's title run in Abu Dhabi will end the romanticization of the post-motherhood comebacks of the likes of Naomi Osaka (and soon, Petra Kvitova) so that the conversation focuses on the results between the lines once the initial "welcome back" stage has passed. On that front, Bencic has burst into a considerable lead.

The Swiss woman only returned from maternity leave in October (Osaka, for example, started her comeback in January of last year), and showed an immediate commitment to doing what she could to be competitive once again, i.e. dropping down to play events below tour level in order to get her game, fitness and match toughness in condition so that she might not need an endless string of wild-card-and-a-prayer entries in order to find her way back up the rankings. Bencic played two $75K events and a 125 (reaching the final) late last year, and it prepared her enough last month to reach the Australian Open Round of 16 in her first major back and, barely four months into her comeback, this week saw her play into and win a 500 title. There might be something for a LOT of players to learn there, if they choose to do so.

Osaka's return has so far included one final (from which she had to retire), and a 5-5 mark in slam play (with a high of holding MP vs. Swiatek at RG, only for her to throw the potential huge win away in the closing chapter). At this year's AO, Osaka retired in a 3rd Round match vs. Bencic.



Bencic's Abu Dhabi run was laced with grit, and was sometimes brilliant. After a win over Rebecca Sramkova in three, she double-bageled Veronika Kudermetova and handled Marketa Vondrousova in straights. Comebacks from a set down vs. defending champ Elena Rybakina in the SF, then Ashlyn Krueger in the final, provided a nice finishing touch to a week where nothing was given to, but much was gained by Bencic.

This was her first WTA final appearance since Charleston two years ago, with her first win since her last trip to Abu Dhabi, also in 2023.

With the title run, the ninth of Bencic's WTA career, the 27-year old has now gone 5-2 in tour-level finals starting with her Gold medal run in Tokyo (where, of course, Osaka lost in the 3rd Round despite having "home court advantage") in 2021. She'd been 4-8 in finals before what remains her biggest career win.

Bencic is off to a 12-3 start in '25 (but didn't get a WC into Doha for Week 7, where the likes of Emma Raducanu did).

Ranked #294 during Melbourne, Bencic was at #157 before Abu Dhabi. She'll be at #65 on Monday, well ahead of the pace of, say, Paula Badosa in her comeback from a back injury last spring, a persistent climb that saw her nearly finish in the Top 10 by season's end.


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RISERS: Anastasia Potapova/RUS and Lucia Bronzetti/ITA
...in Cluj-Napoca, Potapova reached her sixth career WTA final and walked away with her third title, the second on hard court (both indoors) some two years after her last winning trophy ceremony.

The Hordette posted wins on the week over Julia Grabher, Viktorija Golubic, Ella Seidel, Aliaksandra Sasnovich and, in the final, Bronzetti after dropping the 1st set (Potapova had led 4-2) before roaring back to lose just three games in the 2nd/3rd combined.

Following the final, after defeating the player who'd ended Simona Halep's career earlier in the week, Potapova said some of the words on everyone's mind in Cluj, as well as out here regarding whatever comes next for Romania's favorite daughter...



The loss ended a whirlwind week for Bronzetti which had started with her assuming the unenviable task of ushering Romanian icon Halep off the WTA stage with a 1 & 1 1st Round defeat in the intimate Transylvania Open setting with a large group of adoring fans watching from the stands. Afterward, Halep announced her retirement to the crowd, nearly a year (but just six matches) into her injury-marred comeback after fighting (for a year and a half) and winning to reverse a four-year ban following a positive test at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Bronzetti's start boosted what became a run to the final, the fourth of the Italian's WTA career, after getting wins over Peyton Stearns (Bronzetti had blown a 5-0 lead and squandered MPs vs. her last year in Rabat), Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Katerina Siniakova (via ret.).

She lost in three sets to Potapova in the final, Bronzetti's first at tour-level on hard court, but she'll climb sixteen spots to move close to a Top 50 return (at #56), as well as assume the ITA #2 spot ahead of now ITA #3 Cocciaretto.

Bronzetti is 1-3 in WTA finals.


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SURPRISES: Ashlyn Krueger/USA and Mananchaya Sawangkaew/THA
...we're just six weeks (and nine singles events) into the 2025 season, and there have already been six finalist slots filled by Bannerettes. In Abu Dhabi, Krueger became the fifth different U.S. woman to reach a WTA final this season. After climbing into the Top 50 for the first time following the AO, Krueger will crack the Top 40 on Monday.

Already a first-time tour finalist (and champion) following a title run in Osaka last fall, the 20-year old reached her biggest final at this week's 500 event, stringing together impressive wins over McCartney Kessler (already a title winner in '25), Dasha Kasatkina (who was in the Top 10 in January), Leylah Fernandez and Linda Noskova.

Krueger took the opening set from Belinda Bencic in the final, but couldn't hold back the Swiss as she came back strong to drop just two games in the final two sets to win the tournament in consecutive appearances two years apart.



Sawangkaew just completed a tour-level QF finish in Singapore last week, a '25 continuation of her great '24 4Q close which included an 11-3 record, her WTA MD debut in Hua Hin, QF results in Guangzhou/Jiujiang, a successful Beijing Q-run and maiden 1000 MD win, as well as a $100K semifinal.

In the Mumbai 125, the Thai player got past Dalila Jakupovic, Linda Fruhvirtova, Lanlana Tararudee and Rebecca Marino to reach her biggest career final. She fell in straight sets to Jil Teichmann, but has followed up her late-season results with a 10-5 start this year that has her set to reach another new career high at #115.
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VETERANS: Ons Jabeur/TUN and Aliaksandra Sasnovich/BLR
...though she's exited in her last two events (vs. Navarro at the AO, Rybakina in Abu Dhabi) via three-set losses (she's 1-2 in such matches in '25), Jabeur surely seems to be on the right track back toward contention after an injury-plagued (shoulder) '24 season, her worst slam year since 2019, as well as her first without a final since 2020.

The Tunisian took out Alona Ostapenko and new SuperJunior Wakana Sonobe this past week, and pushed top seed and DC Elena Rybakina in the QF, saving two MP and forcing a deciding TB where she took a 4-2 lead before the Kazakh blasted her way through to the semis.



Being a lucky loser is suddenly in fashion, and Sasnovich took her turn in the role in Cluj-Napoca.

Ranked #128, the Belarusian lost to Sara Sorribes Tormo in qualifying, but took her MD pass and put together a SF run that saw her maneuver around still more potholes. She saved five MP in the 2nd set (and trailed 2-0 in the 3rd) vs. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the 1st Round, then after knocking off young Canadian Marina Stakusic, Sasnovich saw Anhelina Kalinina twice serve for the match in the final set before heading to a deciding TB. The Ukrainian led 3-1 there, as well, before Sasnovich swept the final six points.

Her run ended vs. Anastasia Potapova in the SF, Sasnovich's first at tour-level since Budapest last July (and just her third since the start of '23). The final four run is the best on tour by a LL since Sorribes Tormo won the Cleveland crown in 2023.


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COMEBACKS: Marketa Vondrousova/CZE and Jil Teichmann/SUI
...Vondrousova has already returned in '25 after a six-month absence due to a hand injury, only to retire from her second match in Adelaide and then miss the AO. The Czech was finally back this week in Abu Dhabi, where she posted wins over Emma Raducanu and Yulia Putintseva en route to the QF, her first such result since Roland Garros (after which, she had only three more matches before ending her season early last summer).

Vondrousova fell, as everyone else did in Abu Dhabi, to eventual champ Belinda Bencic, then got in some additional work by reaching the doubles SF along with Laura Samson. The pair, too, lost to the would-be champions, Ostapenko/Perez.



As it turned out, Bencic wasn't the only Swiss woman to have a great week on the tennis courts. Teichmann won in Mumbai, as well, to pick her second 125 crown since September. Last week in Singapore, Teichmann reached her second QF at tour-level in three months, after her similiar result in Merida last fall had been her first in a WTA event since the spring of '22.

In Mumbai, after seeing Emina Bektas retire from their 1st Round match, the Swiss advanced past Arianne Hartono (the only player to take a set off the Swiss all week) and the surprising Indian combo of Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and 15-year old Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi to reach the final. Manachaya Sawangkaew fell 3 & 4 to earn Teichmann the crown. Her last WTA final was in the Cincinnati 1000 in 2021.

After falling outside the Top 100 in June 2023, and dipping in and out of the Top *200* last spring summer, former #21 (2021) Teichmann is finally back. She'll come in at #100 on the nose on Monday.


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FRESH FACES: Ella Seidel/GER and Linda Noskova/CZE
...19-year old Seidel is the third arm -- along with Eva Lys and Jule Niemeier -- of the young German contingent ranking inside the Top 300 along with a bevy of their thirtysomething compatriots. This past week in Cluj, Seidel posted qualifying wins over Lola Radivojevic and Maja Chwalinska, then had even better performances as she climbed over Jaqueline Cristian and Anna Blinkova in the MD on her way to her third career WTA QF.

The German fell to Anastasia Potapova a round short of her maiden tour-level semi.



In Abu Dhabi, 20-year old Noskova erased the memory of her poor AO showing (a 1st Rd. loss to Clara Tauson, a year after upsetting Iga Swiatek in Melbourne and reaching the QF), getting wins over Magdalena Frech, Paula Badosa (already her seventh career Top 10 win) and Magda Linette to reach her fourth career 500-level SF (along with a past title in Monterrey, Adelaide RU and Brisbane SF since the start of '23).

Noskova lost to Ashlyn Krueger, but will climb seven spots to #32, not far off her career high of #25 from last August.

Afterward, the Czech shared some of the messages she received over social media following her loss.


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DOWN: Linda Fruhvirtova/CZE
...the current plights of the large contingent of Czechs on tour have already run the gamut this season, from players waiting to start their season (Pliskova), planning their comeback (Kvitova), having missed time with injury (Krejcikova), having made their return (Vondrousova) and even having gone from disappointment (Noskova suffered an AO 1st Rd. loss) to a successful rebound (she reached a 500 SF this week).

Meanwhile, Fruhvirtova, the first of the young Crush of Czechs to win a WTA title ('22 Chennai), has seen her ranking slide further in the other direction.

Having reached her career high of #48 seventeen months ago, Fruhvirtova has played under-.500 tennis the last two seasons, going 21-28 (2023) and 21-31 (2024). After reaching the AO Round of 16 in 2023, she's gone 0-4 in slam MD action since. Her AO Q1 loss in January was her third straight in slam qualifing play, in which she's gone 2-4 in her unsuccessful attempts to reach the MD of the last four majors.

Fruhvirtova rebounded while the AO was taking place, reaching a $100K SF in India. Still, she came into the Mumbai 125 this week ranked at #195, where she lost in the 2nd Round to Mananchaya Sawangkaew, dropping the 2nd/3rd sets 6-2/6-0 despite having won the 1st vs. her Thai opponent. The loss came in the Czech's sixth straight three-set match (she's lost three of the last four).

Fruhvirtova is still only 19 (until May), and she seemed in good spirits about her direction prior to the start of play in Mumbai. She's currently at 5-4 on the year, so hopefully better times lie ahead.


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ITF PLAYER: Kimberly Birrell/AUS
...Birrell's great run continued in Brisbane, as the Aussie improved to 13-3 on the season with a title at a $75K. The #1 seed, Birrell finished the week with wins over #3 Taylah Preston (SF) and #2 Maddison Inglis (a 6–2/4–6/7–6 final).

Birrell came into the week having already posted tour-level QF in Brisbane and Singapore, as well as a successful AO qualifying run and berth in the AO Mixed Final (get 'em while they last... see below). The 26-year old reached her maiden tour-level singles final in Osaka last fall, and will now climb to yet another new career high of #75.


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JUNIOR STARS: Wakana Sonobe/JPN and Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi/IND
...the 17-year old 2025 AO girls' champ and junior #2 added another layer to her growing presence as a name to watch. After earning her first WTA MD spot with back-to-back qualifying wins in Abu Dhabi over Top 100 players (Baptiste and Bucsa), Sonobe added a third in her tour debut with a straight sets victory over Yuan Yue.

The Japanese teen fell in straights to veteran Ons Jabeur in the 2nd Round, but her power game was hardly outclassed. She'll rise over 370 spots in the next ranking, landing inside the women's Top 465.



Sonobe wasn't the only junior shining in a pro event in Week 6.



Two years younger, and 59 spots lower in the junior rankings (and unranked as a pro), India's Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi turned a qualifying wild card in the Mumbai 125 into a grand introduction to the world of "what could be." In just her fifth pro event, the 15-year old qualified (w/ two three-sets wins) and then -- with wins over Iryna Shymanovich, Zarina Diyas and fellow qualifier Mei Yamaguchi -- played all the way into the semifinals.

Her run ended at the hands of Jil Teichmann, but her aggressive game will now make its ranking debut at #645, leapfrogging more than 800 players who had the requisite three tournaments to have a spot in last week's rankings.

Only one Indian woman has ever ranked the singles Top 100 (Sania Mirza, of course, while current IND #1 Ankita Raina is in the #290s at the moment, with a CH of #160), but there *may* now be a candidate to keep an eye on. Rajeshwaran Revathi will soon move to Mallorca under a year-long contract to train at the Nadal Academy, an invitation she earned after previously spending a week there.


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DOUBLES: Alona Ostapenko/Ellen Perez, LAT/AUS
...Ostapenko, off her AO final run with Hsieh Su-wei (her third major final in 13 months), teamed with Perez in Abu Dhabi to win their first title as a pair, taking home career win #10 while the Aussie picked up her eighth. Perez's last fourteen tour-level finals had come while partnering Nicole Melichar-Martinez

The #1 seeds in the event, Ostapenko/Perez didn't drop a set all week, and finished off their title run with a 6-2/6-1 win in the final over Zhang Shuai & Kristina Mladenovic, the same duo against which Ostapenko (w/ L.Kichenok) won the U.S. Open last year.


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WHEELCHAIR: Lizzy de Greef/NED
...Diede de Groot won the first two editions of the Amro Open women's competition (good on the event for also holding WC events while the ATP's men's tournament played out there this week), but the Dutch star's injury-related absence in the opening months of 2025 has opened doors for others. In the past, it's been Yui Kamiji who has taken advantage. In Rotterdam, it was de Groot's 20-year old countrywoman de Greef, who picked up her third career Series 1 win.

Victories over Macarena Cabrillana and Angelica Bernal preceded a 6-4/6-1 win over Dutch veteran Jiske Griffioen in the final. Griffioen, 39, was seeking her first S1 win since 2023, and the third since her '19 return after she'd retired following the '17 Wimbledon.

De Greef entered the week as the WC #10, and at 20 is the youngest player ranked in the Top 15.



Griffioen and Aniek Van Koot won the doubles.
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1. Abu Dhabi QF - Elena Rybakina def. Ons Jabeur
...6-2/4-6/7-6(4). If Jabeur ends up having a resurgent season that sees her squarely in the mix for that elusive major title (she went 0-3 in slam finals in 2022-23), we'll look back at this match and say that this was when we knew it was possible.

The Tunisian battled the defending champ throughout. Rybakina took a 4-2 lead in the 3rd, but Jabeur's fight level was high. She saved a pair of MP at 6-5, and then took a 4-2 lead in the deciding TB before the Kazakh buckled down and put her ship back on course by sweeping the final five points. The match ended with a successful replay challenge that showed that a Jabeur shot had landed just beyond the baseline at Rybakina's feet.


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2. Cluj-Napoca 1st Rd. - Aliaksandra Sasnovich def. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
...6-7(0)/7-5/6-4. For all her obvious promise, Bouzas Maneiro has also shown a penchant for being unable to hold leads (see her 5-2 edge in the 2nd set vs. Aryna Sabalenka at the AO amongst her *least* egregious blown leads).

Against lucky loser Sasnovich (who got a MD slot w/ Laura Siegemund's late exit), the Spaniard failed to serve out the 1st set, but survived (with flair) with a 7-0 TB win. But then the rest happened.

Bouzas Maneiro had five MP opportunities at 5-4 in the 2nd, only to then lose seven of the final eight points in the set. Still, she got another chance when she took an early 2-0 lead in the decider, *and* saw Sasnovich take a MTO down 1-2. Still, though, Bouzas Maneiro couldn't come out on top.


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3. Cluj-Napoca QF - Aliaksandra Sasnovich def. Anhelina Kalinina
...2-6/6-4/7-6(3). Already a lucky loser, Sasnovich continued to pile up underdog-like circumstances the deeper into the draw she played. Kalinina led 5-3 in the 3rd, and twice served for the match. After forcing a deciding TB, Sasnovich swept the final six points after Kalinina built up a 3-1 lead.
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4. Abu Dhabi SF - Belinda Bencic def. Elena Rybakina
...3-6/6-3/6-4. In a match-up of the 2023 champ (Bencic) vs. Abu Dhabi's 2024 winner (Rybakina), Bencic continued to find her form as Rybakina's luck finally dried up after surviving back-to-back three-setters vs. Katie Volynets and Ons Jabeur.

8-3 on the season, Rybakina has so far held off her previous health issues (her coaching ones have been a bit more complicated). Here's hoping that *both* remain stable as we soon head into the spring portion of the schedule.


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5. Abu Dhabi Final - Belinda Bencic def. Ashlyn Krueger
...4-6/6-1/6-1. Bencic's second Abu Dhabi title in three years, with the arrival of her baby having come in the intervening year.

Afterward, Bencic called Abu Dhabi her "favorite" tournament since she's now won it twice, and talked about always coming back in future years. We'll see, most of the time players (Elise Mertens excluded) generally *don't* choose to keep coming back to events after winning them. In fact, most don't even return the next year to *defend* non-major/1000 titles. To be continued.


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6. Cluj-Napoca 1st Rd. - Viktorija Golubic def. Arantxa Rus
...7-5/4-6/7-6(10). We've had a few three-set matches already in '25 where breaks of serve were scarce. Meanwhile, this one had sixteen in the longest match of the year so far.

In 3:30, Golubic saved a Rus MP down 6-5 in the 3rd, then another at 7-6 in the TB, before finally winning on her fifth MP in a 12-10 escape.


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7. Abu Dhabi 1st Rd. - Wakana Sonobe def. Yuan Yue
...6-4/6-3. Will we one day say, "I remember when...?"

Maybe, if early returns are any indication, as 17-year old AO junior champ Sonobe follows up her impressive Q-run (w/ two Top 100 wins) with another straight sets upset victory in her tour MD debut, this time over Yuan Yue.


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8. Cluj-Napoca Final - Anastasia Potapova def. Lucia Bronzetti
...4-6/6-1/6-2. Potapova becomes the second Hordetta champ in the three indoor tournament finals held this month (w/ Alexandrova in Linz).

Potapova's most recent title had also come in Linz, two seasons ago.


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9. Abu Dhabi 1st Rd. - Lulu Sun def. Caroline Garcia
...6-1/6-3. Nearly five and a half months since her last match win (August 23rd), Sun finally rises to the occasion to notch her first win of 2025, ending a seven-match losing streak that extends back to last season.


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10. Cluj-Napoca 2nd Rd. - Lucia Bronzetti def. Peyton Stearns
...6-2/7-6(1). Bronzetti had reason to sweat vs. Stearns. After all, the last time they met in Rabat, she'd led the Bannerette 5-0 in the 3rd in the QF, yet couldn't put away the victory (even w/ 2 MP). Stearns went on to win the title.

Here, the Italian broke Stearns to lead 5-4 and served for the match. Bronzetti lost eight straight points, yet managed a hold in game 12 to force a deciding TB. Again, she took a 5-0 lead, but this time she put things away with a 7-1 win.
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11. J300 Inka Bowl (Lima, PER) Final - Giulia Safina Popa def. Julieta Pareja
...6-3/6-2. In the week that Romania's greatest champion exited, a new generation began to rise.

In Lima, 15-year old Safina Popa, a RU in last week's J300 event in Ecuador, picked up her biggest career title. The Romanian defeated Bannerette Pareja, a J300 champ in Barranquilla last month, to close out the week without having dropped a set.
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12. Cluj-Napoca 1st Rd. - Ella Seidel def. Jaqueline Cristian
...6-4/6-2. No cape. No win.

Cluj-Napoca Final - Magali Kempen/Anna Siskova def. Jaqueline Cristian/Angelica Mortatelli
...6-3/6-1. If Moratelli kept a secret cape in her bag (just in case), maybe she forgot it on Sunday?

It's the first tour WD title for both Kempen and Siskova, who teamed up for the first time in Cluj.


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13. Cluj-Napoca SF - Lucia Bronzetti def. Katerina Siniakova
...4-0 ret.. Siniakova came in with three straight 1st Round singles exits, so a SF run was a good result, even if she did join the list of the Czech wounded by the time it was finished.

She defeated Francesca Jones in three after losing a 6-4/5-2 lead, then took out Caroline Dolehide in three and Viktorija Tomova in straights to reach the final four.


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14. Doha 1st Rd. - Elise Mertens def. Clara Tauson
...6-0/0-0 ret. The only wish for the Dane in '25 was for her to be able to stay on the court, and the rest would take care of itself.

This might be seen as not a good sign... but (in a weird way) maybe it's "good" that she was throwing up during the match. It's better than rehab, right?


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15. $35K Herrenschwanden SUI Final - Ekaterina Ovcharenko/Emily Webley-Smith def. Mariam Bolkvadze/Sinja Kraus
...7-6(1)/2-6 [11-9]. Webley-Smith played her first pro match on the ITF circuit in 1999.

The Brit had her lone (in two MD appearances) singles win in a major at Wimbledon in 2004, defeating Severine Beltrame. The Pasty retired twelve years ago.
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Cluj-Napoca 1st Rd. - Lucia Bronzetti def. Simona Halep
...6-1/6-1. The day began as the one in which Halep would play her first singles match since October, after going just 1-4 (and suffering through multiple injuries) in her '24 return after a year and a half out spent fighting the Alphabets to clear her name after a positive drug test at the 2022 U.S. Open.

It turned out to be the day that Halep played her final match, as she effectively announced her retirement to the crowd afterward (she'd previously talked of considering such a move, with a bad knee injury that required surgery that she didn't want to have, as well as a lingering shoulder issue).



We'll one day see Simo in Newport (and Winterfest, of course!), but hopefully she won't be a stranger between now and then.



ALSO:
Backspin Flashback: Halep Wins Roland Garros (2018)
Backspin Flashback: Halep's Wimbledon Dream (2019)
Simona Forever (and ever), Amen


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1. Abu Dhabi 1st Rd. - Veronika Kudermetova def. Liudmila Samsonova
...5-7/7-1/7-6(5). The "LL" label ended up looking good on Kudermetova, as the Hordette came out on top of a back-and-forth affair with her compatriot.

Kudermetova had led 3-1 in the 3rd, only to see her lead slip away and Samsonova hold a MP at 5-4. Kudermetova wrestled the lead back, but couldn't serve things out at 6-5. She took a 5-1 lead in the deciding breaker, only see Samsonova knot the score at 5-5 before Kudermetova's journey came full circle and she (finally) closed out the win that nearly got away.
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2. Abu Dhabi 2nd Rd. - Belinda Bencic def. Veronika Kudermetova
...6-0/6-0. Umm, we won' talk about this one. Though to just say "straight sets" seems a little lacking in description, WTA social media.

I mean, the regular panning back-and-forth and obscuring the names/scores in highlights is bad enough, but now we're trying to hide (at downplay, at least) actual *final* scores, as well?

Bencic deserves credit as much as Kudermetova deserves to be shielded from recognition of a bad day.
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3. Doha Q2 - Veronika Kudermetova def. Erika Andreeva 6-1/6-7(8)/6-3
Doha Q2 - Alycia Parks def. Polina Kudermetova 6-3/6-2
...Kudermetova wins the battle of the Hordette sisters, rallying from 5-2 down in the 2nd to force a TB before Andreeva finally knotted the match on her fourth SP. Veronika claimed the 3rd.

Her younger sister Polina wasn't so lucky, losing for the third time in four matches since her great Brisbane final/AO qualifying combo to start the season.


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More of this, please. I don't think I've ever seen regular posts that simultaneously focus on both players on a single point...




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*WTA HARD COURT TITLES IN 2020s*
11 - Aryna Sabalenka (3/1/0/2/4/1)
11 - Iga Swiatek (0/1/5/3/2/0)
7 - Coco Gauff (0/0/0/4/3/0)
6 - Ash Barty (1/3/2 ret.)
5 - Dasha Kasatkina (0/2/2/0/1/0)
5 - Annet Kontaveit (0/4/1/0 ret)
5 - Barbora Krejcikova (0/1/2/2/0/0)
4 - BELINDA BENCIC (0/1/0/2/0/1)
4 - Elise Mertens (0/1/1/1/0/1)
4 - Jessie Pegula (0/0/1/2/1/0)
4 - Elena Rybakina (1/0/0/1/2/0)

*2020-25 WTA INDOOR TITLES*
4 - Anett Kontaveit (0/3/1/0 ret.)
2 - Barbora Krejcikova (0/0/2/0/0/0)
2 - ANASTASIA POTAPOVA (0/0/0/1/0/1)
2 - Aryna Sabalenka (2/0/0/0/0/0)
2 - Iga Swiatek (0/0/1/1/0/0)
2 - Clara Tauson (0/2/0/0/0/0)

*CAREER WTA FINALS - ACTIVE ('25 F)*
55 - Caroline Wozniacki
42 - Petra Kvitova
41 - Victoria Azarenka
34 - Karolina Pliskova
33 - Aryna Sabalenka (2)
30 - Vera Zvonareva
26 - Iga Swiatek
21 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
21 - Elina Svitolina
19 - BELINDA BENCIC (1)
19 - Dasha Kasatkina
19 - Elena Rybakina
19 - Sara Errani
--
NOTE: V.Williams (83)

*2020-25 LOW-RANKED WTA CHAMPIONS*
#508 - Elina Svitolina = 2023 Strasbourg
#246 - Maria Timofeeva = 2023 Budapest
#237 - Tatjana Maria = 2022 Bogota
#180 - Camila Osorio = 2021 Bogota
#168 - Viktorija Golubic = 2024 Jiujiang
#165 - Astra Sharma = 2021 Charleston 2
#165 - Maryna Zanevska = 2021 Gdynia
#157 - BELINDA BENCIC = 2025 ABU DHABI
#154 - Gabriela Ruse = 2021 Hamburg
#151 - Sonay Kartal = 2024 Monastir
#150 - Emma Raducanu = 2021 U.S. Open

*2025 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
Polina Kudermetova, RUS (#107/21 = Brisbane)
[doubles]
Brisbane - Mirra Andreeva, RUS (17)
Brisbane - Diana Shnaider, RUS (20)
Cluj-Napoca - MAGALI KEMPEN, BEL (27)
Cluj-Napoca - ANNA SISKOVA, CZE (23)
[mixed]
AO - Olivia Gadecki, AUS (22)

*2020-25 WTA BEST LL RESULTS*
W: 2023 Budapest - Maria Timofeeva
W: 2023 Prague - Nao Hibino
W: 2023 Cleveland - Sara Sorribes Tormo
RU: 2021 Linz - Jaqueline Cristian
SF: 2021 Belgrade - Viktoriya Tomova
SF: 2022 Warsaw - Kateryna Baindl
SF: 2022 Washington - Wang Xiyu
SF: 2025 Cluj-Napoca - ALIAKSANDRA SASNOVICH

*2025 WTA FINALISTS BY NATION (F/W)*
6 (3) - USA (Krueger)
3 (2) - RUS (Potapova)
2 (1) - BEL,BLR
1 (1) - DEN,SUI (Bencic)
1 (0) - ITA (Bronzetti), JPN,UKR
=USA=
2 - Madison Keys (2-0)
1 - McCartney Kessler (1-0)
1 - ASHLYN KRUEGER (0-1)
1 - Ann Li (0-1)
1 - Jessie Pegula (0-1)







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All for now.
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