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Sunday, March 17, 2024

Wk.11- She's Got Two Tickets to Paradise

In Indian Wells, first came the wind, then the rain (and the bees). But, in the end, Iga Swiatek was the last woman standing in Tennis Paradise. Again.





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*WEEK 11 CHAMPIONS*
INDIAN WELLS (CAL), USA (WTA 1000/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Iga Swiatek/POL def. Maria Sakkari/GRE 6-4/6-0
D: Hsieh Su-wei/Elise Mertens (TPE/BEL) def. Storm Hunter/Katerina Siniakova (AUS/CZE) 6-3/6-4
CHARLESTON (SC), USA (WTA 125 Challenger/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Elisabetta Cocciaretto/ITA def. Diana Shnaider/RUS 6-3/6-2
D: Olivia Gadecki/Olivia Nicholls (AUS/GBR) def. Sara Errani/Tereza Mihalikova (ITA/SVK) 6-2/6-1




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Iga Swiatek/POL
...when Swiatek is running virtually untouched through big tournament fields, a certain sameness develops in the description. Indian Wells is another of those occasions.

While the rest of the WTA "upper crust" has been hit-and-miss since Australia, Swiatek has been (mostly) unblinkingly on target. In fact, excluding her early exit in Melbourne (3r to Noskova), the Pole has been almost untouchable since she lost the #1 ranking (for eight weeks) following the U.S. Open last summer. With her title run in the desert, her second in three years in Indian Wells, Swiatek improves to 20-2 on the year, and 32-3 since the close of play in Flushing Meadows in September.

Swiatek dropped just 21 games in Indian Wells, the fewest by a champion since 1999 (granted, one set had just 1 game), posting wins over Danielle Collins (3 & 0), Linda Noskova (4 & 0, so no AO redux), Caroline Wozniacki (after falling down 4-2, she didn't drop another game before the Dane retired down 0-1 in the 2nd), Marta Kostyuk (2 & 1) and then Maria Sakkari (4 & 0) in a rematch of the '22 championship match.

Career title #19 (tying the WTA win pct. mark through 24 finals), Indian Wells is Swiatek's ninth event crown claimed without losing a set this decade (no one else has more than two). It improves her mark to 52-7 in North America the last three seasons, and extends her Top 10 winning streak to 10, and Top 20 run to 15 matches.



Now with a second ticket to Tennis Paradise, it's time for Iga to pack her bags and leave tonight... for Miami, and a shot at the second half of a Sunshine Double.
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RISERS: Marta Kostyuk/UKR and Emma Navarro/USA
...Kostyuk continues to chip away with the goal of carving out a masterful, career-altering performance. As long as she holds true to her current path, it increasingly seems possible that such a goal could eventually come to fruition. Well, as long as someone takes care of Iga for her.

2024 had already seen the 21-year old Ukrainian reach her maiden slam QF in Melbourne, reach her biggest final (San Diego 500), post her biggest win (#5 Pegula) and crack the Top 30. In Indian Wells, she played her way into her first 1000 QF and SF, notching a pair of wins over Russian opponents -- Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Anastasia Potopova -- to extend her winning streak in such politically awkward matches to three, making her 5-1 in her last six this season (after losing four straight last year). But after that she had no answer for the force that was an in-form world #1 in the semis, losing 2 & 1 to fall to 0-2 in their career head-to-head (their only other meeting came in 2021).

Still, Kostyuk's desert run means that only she and Coco Gauff can boast QF results at the (so far) season's two biggest events (w/ AO), and she'll now rise to another career-high ranking (#26) as a result.



Meanwhile, Navarro's now steady rise up the rankings includes a second week run in Indian Wells.

After staging a comeback from 6-4/5-3 down in her opening match, the former NCAA champ (Virginia '21) won three-setters over Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka, the latter over the world #2 being the biggest win of her career. She took another Top 10er, Maria Sakkari, to three sets in the final eight before finally taking the "L."

18-6 on the season, Navarro has a results cache in '24 that includes her maiden title (Hobart), two SF and now a 1000 QF. She'll make her Top 20 debut on Monday, yet *still* won't rose to the USA #3 position as *somehow* Madison Keys' (seemingly) magical ranking will rise from #20 to #18 despite her early exit in the desert (her *only* event through the first two and half months of '24).
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SURPRISES: Yuan Yue/CHN and McCartney Kessler/USA
...the U.S. hard court circuit has been good to Yuan. She won her maiden tour title in Austin, then traveled west to Indian Wells and reached her first career 1000 QF (in just her third 1000 MD). She'll crack the Top 40 for the first time on Monday, sporting a 16-6 mark on the season.

In the desert, Yuan ran her winning streak to nine matches with wins over Varvara Gracheva, Zheng Qinwen (her first Top 10 victory), Caroline Dolehide (3rd set TB) and Dasha Kasatkina. Yuan trailed the Russian 6-4/3-1, with Kasatkina holding four BP chances for a 4-1 lead, but Yuan battled back to set up a QF match-up with Coco Gauff.

It wasn't as easy as the 4 & 3 scoreline suggests, as Yuan seized upon Gauff's "C"-game (17 DF!) to climb back into the 1st from 5-2 back, then led 3-1 in the 2nd before Gauff rallied to close things out.

In the Charleston 125, Kessler added four more wins to her '24 total, qualifying with victories over Darja Semenistaja and Mai Hontama, then reaching the QF with two vs. Zhu Lin and Kamilla Rakhimova. The Bannerette's run ended at the hands of Elisabetta Cocciaretto, but her 17-5 mark -- w/ 125 and ITF title runs and an AO 1r victory in her slam MD debut -- means tha she's gone 32-13 since coming up a win short of qualifying for last summer's U.S. Open. Over that stretch, she's risen from #365 to inside the Top 125.


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VETERAN: Yulia Putintseva/KAZ
...though Putintseva has recorded a pair of QF (Hobart/Hua Hin) results in '24, the 29-year old Kazakh came into Indian Wells on a 1-4 mini-slump (w/ her only win coming over Coumba Ben Mamadou Niangadou, a 19-year old from Mali, in Dubai qualifying). She ultimately reached the 4th Round, her best career result in the event (2016/21 3r) with wins over Tamara Korpatsch, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Madison Keys.

Umm, what happened next once she met Iga Swiatek in the Round of 16 is probably best left unsaid.


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COMEBACKS: Maria Sakkari/GRE and Caroline Wozniacki/DEN
...since Sakkari finally had her "Sheryl Crow moment" (as in "A Change Would Do You/Her Good") a few weeks ago, the remaider of her '24 season suddenly became both a clean slate *and* a litmus test.

During the week, Tennis Channel's Jim Courier called the Greek's decision to move on from longtime coach Tom Hill last month "a risk," but it was actually her *only* move, and a long overdue one at that. It was a move likely made *at least* a year too late, in fact, as it had been clear for a while that the partnership had become stale and the hoped-for jump in results (i.e. consistently turning semis into finals, finals into titles, and becoming a true slam threat -- not just a one year flash -- before she eventually puts her Top 10 days behind her) just wasn't going to happen until something changed.

Enter coach David Witt, recently fired by Jessie Pegula, another player seeking to make the same sort of "results jump" after a big career surge devolved into her banging her head on the same ceiling for multiple seasons (but not for quite as many as the Sakkari/Hill team did) in the events that matter the most.

1-1 after her opening event (Dubai) with Witt, Sakkari's first big-stage foray in her quest to maintain her Top 10 standing and build on it produced good results in the desert. Of course, Indian Wells is arguably Sakkari's *best* big event, having reached the final and semis there the last two years.

This time around she rallied from a set down to defeat Diana Shnaider (her opponent in that testy AO affair in '23), then from a break down (2-3) in the 3rd to take out Diane Parry, sweeping the final four games. Wins over Emma Navarro (for her 10th 1000 SF) and Coco Gauff followed, the latter in the Greek's '24 semi debut (she was 2-6 in SF last year), to reach her 4th 1000 final (two each in I.W. and Guadalajara).

Iga Swiatek took a close 1st set in the final, then bageled Sakkari in the 2nd. Still, the Sakkari/Witt teaming is off to 6-2 beginning with a final in the front half of the biggest extended "regular season" month of action on the schedule.

While it didn't end well, Indian Wells is an encouraging opening chapter to Sakkari's "Witt Era," improving her career mark in the event to 17-6, by far her best in any big tournament on the schedule (yes, she's gone RU-W in the two years that Guadalajara has been a 1000 event, but it's a small sample, and last year -- when Sakkari won the title -- it was a 1000 that didn't exactly line up the sort of draw that one expects in such an important tournament).

Miami might well be a more interesting test, as while Sakkari has reached a SF (2021) in South Florida she's gone just 3-5 in her other five MD appearances.

In her first appearance in Indian Wells in five years, '11 champ Wozniacki produced the best result of a (so far) seven-event comeback that officially began last summer (she reached the Round of 16 at the U.S. Open).

First week wins over Zhu Lin and Donna Vekic were followed up with victories over Katie Volynets and fellow returnee Angelique Kerber to reach her first QF in the desert since 2017. The Dane led Iga Swiatek 4-2 in the 1st set, but failed to win another game, dropping five straight before retiring one game into the second with a toe injury. On Tennis Channel, Lindsay Davenport noted that Wozniacki managed to numb the injury enough to work past it during her previous match, but clearly the pain proved to be too much after her quick start vs. the world #1.



Wozniacki's run will lift her ranking from outside the Top 200 to inside the Top 130.
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FRESH FACES: Elisabetta Cocciaretto/ITA and Erika Andreeva/RUS
...Cocciaretto got a much needed boost this week in Charleston.

The 23-year old Italian fell out of the Top 50 earlier this season (she was #29 last August), and came into the week off a 1st Round loss in Indian Wells to Peyton Stearns (the Bannerette's first straight sets win of '24). She was off to a 5-7 start, and through the first two and a half months of the schedule Cocciaretto is still the only player to have lost multiple MD tour-level matches in which she's held MP.

In Charleston, on hard court not the green clay of the upcoming WTA event, Cocciaretto didn't drop a set vs. Arina Rodionova, Maria Bassols Ribera, McCartney Kessler, Greet Minnen and Diana Shnaider in a 6-2/6-1 final. The wins add a third 125 crown (w/ wins in both 2022 and '23) to the tour-level crown she won in Lausanne last year.

She'll nearly climb back into the Top 50, coming in at #51 on Monday.



It's been the older (19) of the Andreeva sisters who has posted far more wins in 2024, so far going 16-8 while securing her Top 100 ranking in the season's opening months. 16-year old Mirra (6-4) still stands above her at #38. They're the only sibling pair ranked in the Top 100.

Andreeva followed up her Indian Wells qualifying run (w/ wins over Emiliana Arango and Kayla Day, followed by a tight two-TB 1r loss to Danielle Collins) with a QF result in the Charleston 125, also as a qualifier. The Hordette got MD wins over Clara Tauson and Nao Hibino, the latter after saving nine MP. She fell to Wang Yafan to wrap up another under-the-radar impressive week.

She'd already recorded previous '24 wins over Dianne Parry and Diana Shnaider, and just missed in three-set losses to Ekaterina Alexandrova and Dayana Yastremska.
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ITF PLAYER: Tereza Valentova/CZE
...another week, another Crusher title run. This week it's Valentova.

The 17-year old Czech, the '23 U.S. Open junior runner-up, took home her third title of '24 and biggest of her young career in Ricany (CZE), taking the $75K crown with a 7-6/6-2 win in the final over Daria Snigur.

So far this season, Valentova is undefeated, going 14-0 and edging close to cracking the Top 400. A year ago, Valtentova reached the semis in the same event, her best pro event finish at the time in what was just her seventh career event.

Had Snigur emerged with the win, of course, it would have provided a fitting bookend to "Halep: The Lost Time." With the Romanian set to return this week in Miami, it's worth remembering that it was Snigur who defeated Simona Halep in her last match at the 2022 U.S. Open.
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JUNIOR STAR: Valerie Glozman/USA
...the 17-year old Bannerette took her first ITF junior crown at the J300 event held at Indian Wells, defeating top-seeded Serbian Teodora Kostovic in a 6-2/6-2 final.

While this is Glozman's first top level junior win, she has won notable USTA titles in Indian Wells in the past, including the Easter Bowl 16s in 2022, then the following year's Easter Bowl 18s in '23.
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DOUBLES: Hsieh Su-wei/Elise Mertens (TPE/BEL) and Olivia Gadecki/Olivia Nicholls (AUS/GBR)
...so far in '24, the top two WD titles have been won by the same pair: Hsieh & Mertens.

The AO champs took Indian Wells without dropping a set, knocking off big-time duos (QF-Schuurs/Stefani, SF-Melichar Martinez/Perez) to reach the final and then handling Storm Hunter/Katerina Siniakova by a 6-3/6-4 score in a match-up that featured four players who have all been, are or will soon be (again) the #1-ranked doubles player in the world.

It's Mertens' 20th career tour title (3rd I.W.) and the 34th for Hsieh (4th I.W.), moving her past Latisha Chan on the active career leaders list. The duo's second I.W. win (w/ '21) puts them in a multi-team tie for the most tournament titles won by a pair, while they prevented Siniakova ('23 champ w/ Krejcikova) from becoming the first player(s) to successfully defend the WD title since 2007 (Raymond/Stosur).

In career WD/MX finals at the 1000 and slam level, Hsieh is now a combined 21-2 (13-1 1000, 7-1 slam WD, 1-0 MX). She'll return to the WD #1 ranking on Monday for the first time since 2021, replacing Mertens in the top spot.



Meanwhile, The Olivias strike again!

Last time out, Gadecki & Nicholls won their first tour-level title together in Austin. The pair followed up with a win on the WTA 125 level in Charleston this week, taking the crown with a 2 & 1 victory in the final over Sara Errani & Tereza Mihalikova.

While Nicholls' past success has (predictably) almost exclusively come while partnering various fellow Brits (a WTA win w/ Alicia Barnett, and a series of ITF W/F with Barnett, Sarah Beth Grey, Jodie Burrage and Laura Sainsbury), so has that of Aussie Gadecki, who won a previous 125 with Burrage and 4 of her 10 ITF crowns with Barnett, Samantha Murray Sharan, Heather Watson and Harriet Dart (w/ another final beside Freya Christie).


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[IW 3rd Round+]



1. I.W. Final - Iga Swiatek def. Maria Sakkari
...6-4/6-0. Sakkari came into the final with a 3-2 head-to-head edge vs. Swiatek, but hadn't played the Pole since losing to her in the Indian Wells final two years ago. All three of the Greek's wins in the series came in 2021, the season before Swiatek first reached #1.

After dropping a tight 1st set here, Sakkari fell by the wayside in the 2nd. To date, only one woman has ever won a *second* "Sunshine Double," but now Swiatek gets the chance to try to become the second.



While Swiatek improves to 19-3 in tour finals in the 2020s, Sakkari falls to 1-7, with by far the fewest titles of the twelve women who have appeared in as many finals this decade (the next least productive finalist is Jessie Pegula w/ 3).
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2. I.W. 3rd Rd. - Jasmine Paolini def. Anna Kalinskaya
...6-3/3-6/6-4. Proving that her Dubai final win over the Russian was no fluke, Paolini wins the rubber match in the Italian's third meeting with Kalinskaya already this season. Kalinskaya won their first meeting in the Australian Open Round of 16, but Paolini in 2-0 in 1000 events.
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3. I.W. 4th Rd. - Yuan Yue def. Dasha Kasatkina
...4-6/6-4/6-3. Yuan continued her career-best run, winning her ninth straight match with her second consecutive I.W. win from a set down (third in the 9-win stretch).

Kasatkina led 6-4/3-1, with four BP for a 4-1 scoreboard bulge, but Yuan rallied to hold and then take the set. Yuan led 4-1 in the 3rd before Kasatkina got the set back on serve a 4-3, only for Yuan to deny a GP and get the break lead back before serving out the win for her first 1000 QF.


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4. I.W. 4th Rd. - Caroline Wozniacki def. Angelique Kerber
...6-4/6-2. The Dane takes the 4th Round battle of former #1 slam-winning comeback moms, tying the head-to-head series at 8-8 in their first meeting since 2018. Kerber's last win came in the 2016 U.S. Open.

Wozniacki struggled to secure the 1st set, leading 5-1 and twice failing to serve things out. At 5-4, she broke to take it, then raced to a 3-0 lead in the 2nd and didn't look back.


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5. I.W. QF - Iga Swiatek def. Caroline Wozniacki
...6-4/1-0 ret. Wozniacki's 4-2 lead devolves into a retirement with a toe injury, ending the Dane's bid for a fifth career #1 win. Her last came in the 2018 AO final vs. Simona Halep.
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6. I.W. SF - Maria Sakkari def. Coco Gauff
...6-4/6-7(5)/6-2. A match with far more drama than necessary, as weather delays at 4-3 in the 1st (a short one) and at the start of the 2nd (2 hours) extended play.

Sakkari grabbed the 1st with a late surge, breaking on her fifth BP of game 9 and then serving out the set. The Greek twice served for the match in the 2nd, at 5-2 and 5-4. She led 40/15 in her second attempt, but failed to convert three MP as Gauff battled her way back into the match. Coco held at love to take a 6-5 lead, and led 6-2 in the TB. Sakkari nearly caught her, but Gauff sent things to a 3rd with a 7-5 win.

But after all that, it was Sakkari who closed the strongest. She took a 4-1 lead and held a BP for 5-1, but didn't led that momentary slip (nor another 5-2 lead) get away the second time around as she burst into her second I.W. final in three years.

The loss concludes a tournament for Gauff that saw the U.S. Open champ return to play on home soil, officially leave her teen years behind (last win as a teen: vs. Bronzetti, first in her twenties: vs. Mertens), and experience the end of a 20-match winning streak in U.S. events that stretched back to the Summer of Coco last year.
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7. I.W. 3rd Rd. - Maria Sakkari def. Caroline Garcia
...6-3/6-4. Sakkari improves her record vs. Garcia to 4-0 in the last 13 months (she'd been 0-3 against the Pastry earlier).

Garcia falls to 6-7 on the year, 1-5 in her last six. Half of her '24 wins came in the meaningless United Cup event in Week 1, three-setters all over Kerber, Paolini and Helgo.

She has a new podcast, though...


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8. I.W. MX Final (ex) - Storm Hunter/Matthew Ebden def. Caroline Garcia/Eduoard Roger-Vasselin
...6-3/6-3. Okay, now make this a *real* thing at all the two-week, two-tour events on the schedule.

Also, why don't the MX slam points count toward the weekly WD/MD rankings totals? If they did there would be more incentive to play at both the slam and 1000 levels. (I mean, if you're going to give *UNITED CUP* match wins ranking points then there's really no leg to stand on when it comes to not giving them there, right?)
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9. Charleston 125 Final - Elisabetta Cocciaretto def. Diana Shnaider
...6-3/6-2. While Cocciaretto has had an oft-frustrating '24 campaign up until this week, Shnaider's has been extremely hit-and-miss.

The 19-year old Hordette won her maiden tour title in Hua Hin, but before this runner-up result had posted 1r-Q1-1r-1r-2r results in her other five events.
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10. $35K Alaminos CYP Final - Lucija Ciric Bagaric def. Lina Gjorcheska 6-2/6-3
$35K Alaminos CYP Final - Tena Lukas/Kristina Mladenovic def. Francesca Curmi/Cristina Dinu 6-4/7-5
...Ciric Bagaric maintains her ITF '24 title lead, taking her fourth crown of the young season. The 20-year old Croat will crack the Top 200 on Monday.

The in same event, Kristina Mladenovic teamed with Tena Lukas for the doubles title. At $35K, it's the Pastry's smallest (s/d) title since 2011. Mladenovic reached the tour-level Adelaide doubles final in January with Caroline Garcia, but hasn't won a WTA WD title since 2022.
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11. $35K Santo Domingo DOM Final - Maya Joint def. Gao Xinyu
...6-4/2-6/6-1. The 17-year old Aussie claims her second career ITF title.

U.S.-born (Grosse Pointe, Michigan), Joint continues to lay some nice pro event groundwork before her expected arrival in Austin next fall as a member of the Texas Longhorn tennis program.
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12. $15K Sharm El Sheikh EGY Final - Malene Helgo def. Marie Weckerle
...6-3/6-2. 24-year old Norwegian Helgo extends her winning streak to 12 matches, picking up her second straight challenger crown. She's 20-6 on the year.

Weckerle, 20, continues to seek her first pro title (and the first in a while for any player from Luxembourg), but she's clearly taken her game up a few levels in the new season. After posting just two QF in 28 events last season, Weckerle (18-9) has already reached two finals (0-2), a SF and QF in 9 events in '24.
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[IW 3rd Round+]



1. I.W. 3rd Rd. - Elise Mertens def. Naomi Osaka 7-5/6-4
I.W. 4th Rd. - Coco Gauff def. Elise Mertens 6-2/6-0
...first Mertens is the ultimate party pooper who erases the chance for a big-time Gauff/Osaka 4th Rounder, then she promptly notches just two games herself in a 6-0/6-2 loss to a newly-20 year old Coco in the following round.

From Belgian Rumble to Belgian Tumble in 48 hours, then back the other way by the weekend's close...
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2. I.W. Final - Hsieh Su-wei/Elise Mertens def. Storm Hunter/Katerina Siniakova
...6-4/6-3. Hsieh's "retirement" from singles is that discipline's loss, but doubles' gain.


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3. Charleston 125 2nd Rd. - Erika Andreeva def. Nao Hibino
...2-6/7-6(3)/6-3. Not Mirra (who lost her third straight match in the I.W. 1st Rd.), but Erika the Magnificent. Watch her pull a rabbit out of her hat! Or, you know, NINE rabbits.

Hibino led 6-2/5-3 and held 9 MP in the 2nd set, three at 5-3, love/40 and then six more at 5-4 after taking a 40/15 lead. Nine MP saves in her back pocket, Andreeva took a 7-3 TB to knot the match and then pulled away in the 3rd.


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Hmmm. Will it be Badosa... or a lucky loser? Remains to be seen.


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Come on, Tennis Channel. I mean, come on.




The women's version included Sakkari, Jabeur, Muchova, Pliskova and Pegula. I'll be kind and not question any of those, but have to wonder how Svitolina didn't make it.

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Not like they had any other choice, I guess.

I go there for the new s/d rankings on Mondays, to check a players historical weekly/yearly rankings, and the ranking of a player's opponent at the time of a particular match... and that's it. Everything else is better left "sourced out" elsewhere.

Well, I take that back. The three-hour matches and wins from MP down lists are great. Real gems.

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I was reading Shoeless Joe, the book that "Field of Dreams" was adapted from, during down time of my final week in high school. I didn't get to the end by my last day, and it still bugs me that I never picked the book back up again to finish it.



Love "The Fugitive," which is a movie with scenes and performances that still offer something even after multiple viewings after all these years.

When NBC used to run it every year on a holiday night -- Christmas, maybe? -- I'd watch it every year. Then they stopped doing that a few years ago. I've only watched it once since, but would probably watch it every year again if they went back to the old schedule, I think.



Elli's ma...










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*INDIAN WELLS FACTS 1989-present*
=SINGLES=
[Most Singles Titles]
2 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2 - Kim Clijsters, BEL
2 - Lindsay Davenport, USA
2 - Mary Joe Fernandez, USA
2 - Steffi Graf, GER
2 - Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
2 - Martina Navratilova, USA
2 - Maria Sharapova, RUS
2 - IGA SWIATEK, POL
2 - Serena Williams, USA
[Most Finals]
6 - Lindsay Davenport (2-4)
3 - Victoria Azarenka (2-1)
3 - Steffi Graf (2-1)
3 - Maria Sharapova (2-1)
3 - Serena Williams (2-1)
3 - Martina Hingis (1-2)
3 - Caroline Wozniacki (1-2)
3 - Svetlana Kuznetseva (0-3)
2 - Kim Clijsters (2-0)
2 - Mary Joe Fernandez (2-0)
2 - Daniela Hantuchova (2-0)
2 - Martina Navratilova (2-0)
2 - IGA SWIATEK (2-0)
2 - Ana Ivanovic (1-1)
2 - Jelena Jankovic (1-1)
2 - Monica Seles (1-1)
2 - Amanda Coetzer (0-2)
2 - MARIA SAKKARI (0-2)
[Only 9 Finalists Have Not Reached a Slam Final]
1989 Manuela Maleeva (best slam: SF)
1989 Jenny Byrne (3rd)
1997 Irina Spirlea (SF)
1993/94 Amanda Coetzer (SF)
2002/07 Daniela Hantuchova (SF)
2018 Dasha Kasatkina (SF)
2021 Paula Badosa (QF)
2022 Maria Sakkari (SF)
2024 Maria Sakkari (SF)
=DOUBLES=
[Most Titles]
7 - Lisa Raymond, USA
6 - Lindsay Davenport, USA
4 - HSIEH SU-WEI, TPE
3 - Martina Hingis, SUI
3 - ELISE MERTENS, BEL
3 - Elena Vesnina, RUS
2 - Sania Mirza, IND
2 - Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP
2 - Samantha Stosur, AUS
2 - Rennae Stubbs, AUS
2 - Paola Suarez, ARG
2 - Helena Sukova, CZE
2 - Natasha Zvereva, BLR
[Most Titles - duos]
2 - Davenport/Raymond, USA/USA
2 - Davenport/Zvereva, USA/BLR
2 - HSIEH/MERTENS, TPE/BEL
2 - Ruano Pascual/Suarez, ESP/ARG
2 - Raymond/Stosur, USA/AUS

*"SUNSHINE DOUBLE" (IW/MIA) WINNERS*
[WS]
1994 Steffi Graf, GER
1996 Steffi Graf, GER
2005 Kim Clijsters , BEL
2016 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2022 Iga Swiatek, POL
[WD]
1997 Natasha Zvereva, BLR
1999 Martina Hingis, SUI
2002 Lisa Raymond/Rennae Stubbs, USA/AUS
2006 Lisa Raymond/Samantha Stosur, USA/AUS
2007 Lisa Raymond/Samantha Stosur, USA/AUS
2015 Martina Hingis/Sania Mirza, SUI/IND
2016 Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
2019 Elise Mertens/Aryna Sabalenka, BEL/BLR
--
NOTE: Jana Novotna/Helena Sukova won both IW/Mia as non-consecutive events in 1990

*2024 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
2 - Alona Ostapenko, LAT = 500(2)
2 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ = 500(2)
2 - IGA SWIATEK, POL = 1000(2)
[2020-24]
19 - 1/2/8/6/1 = IGA SWIATEK
9 - 3/2/0/3/1 = Aryna Sabalenka
8 - 1/5/2 = Ash Barty (ret.)
7 - 0/3/2/2/0 = Barbora Krejcikova
6 - 0/1/0/4/1 = Coco Gauff
6 - 1/0/1/2/2 = Elena Rybakina
5 - 3/0/2/-/- = Simona Halep
5 - 0/1/2/2/0 = Ons Jabeur
5 - 0/4/1/0 = Anett Kontaveit (ret.)
5 - 0/1/1/1/2 = Alona Ostapenko
[2020-24 - hard court]
11 - IGA SWIATEK (0/1/5/3/2)
7 - Aryna Sabalenka (3/1/0/2/1)
6 - Ash Barty (1/3/2 ret.)
5 - Anett Kontaveit (0/4/1/0 ret)
5 - Barbora Krejcikova (0/1/2/2/0)
4 - Coco Gauff (0/0/0/3/1)
4 - Dasha Kasatkina (0/2/2/0/0)
4 - Elena Rybakina (1/0/0/1/2)
[1000 titles - since 2021]
8 - IGA SWIATEK
2 - Ash Barty (ret.)
2 - Aryna Sabalenka
2 - Elena Rybakina

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2024*
3 - Elena Rybakina (2-1)
2 - Alona Ostapenko (2-0)
2 - IGA SWIATEK (2-0)
2 - Aryna Sabalenka (1-1)
2 - Dasha Kasatkina (0-2)

*MOST WTA FINALS - 2020-24*
22 - 1/2/9/8/2 = SWIATEK (19-3)
17 - 3/3/3/6/2 = Sabalenka (9-8)
15 - 5/0/3/4/3 = Rybakina (6-9)
12 - 1/7/4/0 ret...Kontaveit (5-6-1)
12 - 0/3/6/3/0 = Jabeur (5-7)
11 - 0/4/3/4/0 = Krejcikova (7-4)
10 - 0/4/2/2/2 = Kasatkina (4-6)
9 - 1/6/2/ret...Barty (8-1)
8 - 0/2/3/1/2 = Ostapenko (5-3)
8 - 0/3/2/3/0 = Bencic (4-4)
8 - 1/0/2/5/0 = Pegula (3-5)
8 - 0/1/4/2/1 = SAKKARI (1-7)

*TOP 10 FINALS 2024*
Brisbane - #4 Rybakina def. #2 Sabalenka
Doha - #1 Swiatek def. #4 Rybakina
Indian Wells - #1 Swiatek def. #9 Sakkari
[most Top 10 Finals (of 24) in 2020s]
11 (10-1) - SWIATEK
9 (2-7) - Sabalenka
5 (0-5) - SAKKARI
3 (2-1) - Barty, Rybakina
3 (1-2) - Kontaveit, Pegula
2 (2-0) - Gauff
2 (0-2) - Jabeur
1 (1-0) - Badosa, Garcia, Halep, Muguruza
1 (0-1) - Andreescu, Krejcikova, Pliskova

*MOST WTA SF in 2024*
3 - Elena Rybakina (2-1)
3 - IGA SWIATEK (1-1+W)
3 - COCO GAUFF (1-2)
3 - Emma Navarro (1-2)

*2024 OLDEST WTA WD/MX FINALISTS*
38 - Bethanie Mattek-Sands (Abu Dhabi - W)
38 - Bethanie Mattek-Sands (Auckland - L)
38 - HSIEH SU-WEI (Indian Wells - W)
38 - Hsieh Su-wei (Australian Open - W)
38 - Hsieh Su-wei (Australian Open MX - W)
36 - Sara Errani (Linz - W)

*2020-24 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
17 - Katerina Siniakova (1/6/6/3/1)
13 - Barbora Krejcikova (1/5/3/4/0)
11 - ELISE MERTENS (1/4/2/2/2)
10 - HSIEH SU-WEI (4/2/0/2/2)
9 - Laura Siegemund (1/0/3/5/0)
8 - Shuko Aoyama (1/5/0/2/0)
8 - Desirae Krawczyk (2/2/1/3/0)
8 - Demi Schuurs (2/2/1/2/1)
8 - Ena Shibahara (1/5/0/2/0)
8 - Luisa Stefani (1/1/2/3/1)
[2020-24 - duos]
12..Krejcikova/Siniakova (1/5/3/3/-)
8...Aoyama/Shibahara (1/5/0/2/0)
7...Siegemund/Zvonareva (1/0/2/4/0)
5...Gauff/Pegula (0/0/3/2/0)
5...Hsieh/Strycova (4/0/-/1/-)
4...HSIEH/MERTENS (0/2/0/0/2)

*CAREER WTA DOUBLES TITLES - active*
34 - HSIEH SU-WEI
33 - Latisha Chan
29 - Sara Errani
29 - Bethanie Mattek-Sands
28 - Kristina Mladenovic
24 - Timea Babos
24 - Katerina Siniakova
22 - Venus Williams
20 - Chan Hao-ching
20 - ELISE MERTENS
19 - Shuko Aoyama
18 - Barbora Krejcikova

*MOST WEEKS AT WTA WD #1; on March 18*
237 - Martina Navratilova
199 - Liezel Huber
163 - Cara Black
137 - Lisa Raymond
124 - Natasha Zvereva
115 - Katerina Siniakova*
111 - Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
110 - Roberta Vinci
91 - Sania Mirza
89 - Martina Hingis
87 - Paola Suarez
87 - Sara Errani*
80 - Gigi Fernandez
68 - Helena Sukova
67 - Jana Novotna
65 - Virginia Ruano Pascual
61 - Samantha Stosur
48 - HSIEH SU-WEI*
48 - Pam Shriver
45 - Ai Sugiyama
34 - Chan Hao-ching
34 - Elise Mertens*
--
NOTE: I'm not sure what Hingis' official weeks at #1 are, as on the WTA website the 2024 Official Guide says 79 weeks, the (up-to-date) Historical Notes page says 89 weeks, and (for one) Wikipedia records say 90

*2024 WTA 125 FINALS*
Canberra (hc) - Nuria Parrizas Diaz/ESP d. Harriet Dart/GBR
Mumbai (hc) - Darja Semenistaja/LAT d. Storm Hunter/AUS
Puerto Vallarta (hc) - McCartney Kessler/USA d. Taylah Preston/AUS
Charleston (gc) - Elisabetta Cocciaretto/ITA d. Diana Shnaider/RUS






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NOTE TO ALL CONCERTNED (including ostriches): do NOT mess with giraffes. Just because they look a little ungainly doesn't mean that they're jovial spokesanimals for toy store chains.




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All for now.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Wk.10- Are Desert Destinies Made of Sand?







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*WEEK 10*

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[IW Through 2nd Round]




RISER: Anna Blinkova/RUS
...even with her two wins so far in Indian Wells, Blinkova still stands at just 7-6 on the year, but it sure *feels* as if she's done more.

The Hordette had maybe the best single match moment of the season to date with her 22-20 TB win over Elena Rybakina at the Australian Open, and this week she recorded her *second* Top 5 win of 2024 in Indian Wells.

After opening with a three-set victory over the recently-scorching Karolina Pliskova, Blinkova avenged her San Diego QF loss to Jessie Pegula with a three-set win over the world #5 in the desert.

Now in the 3rd Round, Blinkova's previous 1000 bests were 3r at Doha (2018) and Rome (2020). She's reached the 3rd Round at three of the last four majors, but has never gone deeper in the draw in any other 1000-or-better event. She'll face Diane Parry next with a chance to change that.



She has a shot to climb back into the Top 40 at the end of this tournament, and maybe even catch her career high (#34) from last August.
===============================================
SURPRISE: Nadia Podoroska/ARG
...the Argentine has been in the right place at the right time in Indian Wells.

Podoroska arrived on a four match losing streak, with a 1-6 mark in her last seven. She lost in the second qualifying round to Nuria Parrizas Diaz, but entered the draw as a lucky loser due to Paula Badosa's withdrawal. After a win over Ashlyn Krueger, she did not have to face reigning champ Elena Rybakina in the 2nd Round and instead got fellow LL Kayla Day when the Kazakh pulled out with an illness.

Podoroska handled Day in straights to reach her first 1000 3rd Round since 2021 Rome. Her only other 3rd Rd.+ plus result in a 1000-or-better event was her 2020 semifinal at Roland Garros.


===============================================
VETERAN: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN
...on North American big-event hard courts, #204 Wozniacki seems to have found her comfort zone once again.

The Dane's best comeback run since her return last summer was at the U.S. Open, where she posted three of her four '23 victories, defeating Kvitova and Brady and taking eventual champ Gauff to three sets. The 2011 I.W. champ opened '24 at 1-3, with her only win coming via a retirement.

She's found a groove early in her first desert appearance in five years, defeating Zhu Lin and Donna Vekic to reach the 3rd Round.


===============================================



COMEBACKS: Angelique Kerber/GER and Naomi Osaka/JPN
...back this season after becoming a mother, Kerber came into Indian Wells with her only return win coming in the Week 1 United Cup after having saved a pair of MP vs. Ajla Tomljanovic in a 3rd set TB (the Aussie was 1-3 in that event, while Kerber went 1-4).

The 36-year old (#607) posted her first MD tournament win since Wimbledon '22 with her 1st Round victory over Petra Martic, then climbed several tiers on the comeback pyramid with a three-set victory over #10 Alona Ostapenko. Kerber trailed 7-5/2-0 before rallying to drop just four more games in the final two sets and notch her first Top 10 win (career 43rd) since November '21 (Krejcikova/BJK Cup).



Osaka's first big breakout result came when she won Indian Wells in 2018. By the time she returned a year later, she'd won a pair of slam titles and risen to #1. What will happen to Osaka over the next 12 months?

Osaka has shown good form throughout '24, even if the wins have been slow to come, in her return from maternity leave. While her history says what happens this spring/summer on clay and grass won't mean much, the same can't be said for the four-time slam winner's hard court results. Two tight losses to Karolina Pliskova (Brisbane 2r, Doha QF) have tied a rope around her ankle and kept Osaka from soaring thus far, but it wasn't hard to see that she might be a few wins away from such a thing.

So far in Indian Wells she's put up wins over Sara Errani and Liudmila Samsonova, the latter the first Top 20 win in her comeback. She'll enter the second week above .500 on the season (5-4) and a match with Elise Mertens away from a possible 4th Round meeting with Coco Gauff.

In 2018 in the desert, Osaka clocked her first multiple Top 10 win tournament, getting her maiden career #1 win over Simona Halep in the semis en route to the title. She hasn't had a Top 10 win since 2020, but if she gets one by the end of next week... well, who knows what might be possible.

Next weekend in Indian Wells, a few weeks from now in Miami and, in truth, New York come the summertime, too.


===============================================
FRESH FACES: Katie Volynets/USA and Diane Parry/FRA
...Volynets is off to a 14-5 start in '24, reaching a tour-level QF in Hua Hin and a pair of 125 semifinals. In Indian Wells, the Bannerette opened with a win over Mirra Andreeva and then backed it up with her second career Top 10 win with a victory over Ons Jabeur.



Though she has seven slam MD victories to her name (including at this year's AO, her third 3rd Rd. run at a major), Parry came into the week having never appeared in a 1000 singles MD, losing in qualifying nine times over the years.

Ranked high enough (#61) to be an automatic MD entrant in Indian Wells, the Pastry has run off victories over Martina Trevisan and Leylah Fernandez, taking down the Canadian in three sets in nearly three hours (rallying from 0-2 in the 3rd).

Parry has a pair of QF to her credit in '24, in Auckland and Austin, and will now face Anna Blinkova for a berth in the I.W. Round of 16.


===============================================
DOWN: Alona Ostapenko/LAT and Elena Rybakina/KAZ
...Ostapenko is nothing if not a tennis headline waiting to happen, either via a dominant win, momentum-changing comeback or loss after having charged to the match lead in the early-going. In Indian Wells, it was the latter.

Ostapenko led Angelique Kerber 7-5/2-0, only to lose 12 of the final 16 games vs. the veteran German, who picked up her first Top 10 win in nearly two and a half years.

Ostapenko started this season at 16-3 and was the first to collect two titles. Her first three losses came at the hands of. Vika Azarenka. She's now lost back-to-back outings vs. Anna Kalinskaya and Kerber.

Meanwhile, after struggling with her health at times last season, Rybakina has now withdrawn from consecutive events with a gastronomical illness, first in the Dubai QF (would-be opponent Jasmine Paolini went on to win the title) and now in Indian Wells (where she was to be the defending champ).



Hmmm, could it be that maybe the reason that I.W. has never been successfully defended is that the previous year's champion (like Rybakina?) got immediately sick to her stomach after seeing the unveiling of the "rendering" (and I use that term tremendously loosely) of her likeness as the reigning champion in those annually hideous murals? Seriously, how does the tournament allow this travesty to continue *every* *single* *year*? It's embarrassing.



Some have said that it more resembles Camila Osorio. Maybe, but I also see Danka Kovinic.

After seeing *his* mural, Alcaraz might have had to down a whole bottle of Pepto...


===============================================
ITF PLAYER: Suzan Lamens/NED
...the 24-year old Dutch player picked up her sixth and by far biggest career challenger title, taking the Trnava (SVK) $75K event with a 2 & 2 win in the final over 18-year old Swiss Celine Naef.

Lamens (NED #3 behind Rus and Hartono) will climb to a new career high just outside the Top 150 (a few spots ahead, incidentally, of Bianca Andreescu, whose status and potential return date remain a mystery).

Naef had previously been 7-1 in ITF singles finals, and less than a year ago made her WTA MD debut a memorable one with a 1st Round win over Venus Williams at Rosmalen.
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JUNIOR STARS: Kaitlyn Rolls/USA and Lea Nilsson/SWE
...for the second week in a row, the biggest stop on the junior circuit was in Brazil, this time the J500 Banana Bowl in Blumenau.

A year ago, Mayu Crossley won the Banana Bowl title, and last week she won the J300 crown in Porto Alegre, Brazil. She entered the final a combined 19-1 in the four Brazilian events over the past two seasons, but in this weekend's final match it was a 17-year old Bannerette (girls' #44) who rolled.

As in the marvelously-named Kaitlyn Rolls, and she did. Her name is literally a headline.

Rolls took a 7-6/6-2 final, and had posted three straight three-set victories to get there, taking out Jeline Vandromme ('24 Barranquilla J300 winner) and Antonia Vergara Rivera (J300 Inka & Asuncion Bowl crowns) -- along with Crossley, they combined to win half of first eight J300/J500 tourmanents this year -- en route to her biggest career title.



There haven't been a great deal of achieving Swedish juniors of late, but 15-year old Nilsson (jr. #96) has been making a move in '24.

In the AO juniors, she qualified and defeated Czech Alena Kovackova. She lost to Brit Mimi Xu in the 3rd Round, but had a MP.

This week in Nonthaburi (THA), Nilsson picked up her biggest career title, taking the J300 prize with a victory over Aussie Alana Subasic in the final.
===============================================



WHEELCHAIR: Diede de Groot/NED
...another week, another title for de Groot, as well as a nervy final vs. Yui Kamiji.

Already in 2024, Kamiji had had de Groot (who was playing w/ some sort of injury throughout January) on the edge, taking a 5-1 3rd set lead and holding a MP vs. the world #1 in the Melbourne Open final. At the Australian Open, they played two close sets in the championship match. De Groot always seems to find a way, though, and she did it again in Baton Rouge (LA) in their first ever meeting in the Cajun Classic.

After de Groot had posted earlier wins over Kgothatso Montjane and Aniek Van Koot, and Kamiji over Lizzy de Greef, Angelica Bernal and Jiske Griffioen, the two met in a singles final for the 48th time.

De Groot won in straights, 7-5/7-6, but only after needing three tries to serve out the 1st, losing a 5-3 2nd set lead, failing to convert a MP on Kamiji's serve, twice failing to serve out the match and then having to recover from an early 2-0 deficit in the eventual tie-breaker, winning on her third MP.

De Groot's winning streak now stands at 142 in a row (27 straight over Kamiji), with 37 consecutive titles. She's won 278 of her last 288 sets, including 18 straight. De Groot is 40-8 in singles finals vs. Kamiji (45-15 overall).

Kamiji's week ran her record vs. non-de Groot opponents to 13-0 this season (26 straight), and 105-2 since the start of 2022.

De Groot & Griffioen were set to face Kamiji & Montjane in the doubles final, but Griffioen retired in her singles SF vs. Kamiji and then the duo withdrew from the doubles, as well. De Groot has still yet to lose either a singles or doubles match on the court in '24, going 25-0 alongside this week's doubles walkover loss.
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[IW Through 2nd Round]



1. IW 2nd Rd. - Aryna Sabalenka def. Peyton Stearns
...6-7(2)/6-2/7-6(6). The world #2 prevails in one of best, most intense battles of the year so far, winning on MP #4 after having previously saved four.

Stearns took the 1st set in a TB, but it was the 3rd where this one lived its truth.

Sabalenka seemed to have missed a huge opportunity at 3-2, when she led 15/40 but saw the fiery Stearns get the hold, then even more miraculously hold again two games later with a series of remarkable winners that turned multiple Sabalenka-controlled rallies in her favor.



Stearns then quickly went up love/30 on Sabalenka in the next game. A Sabalenka DF handed Stearns a BP and she converted with a Sabalenka error. Serving for the match at 5-4, the former NCAA champ took a 40/love lead, but failed to put away four MP in the game as Sabalenka broke to get back on serve. Stearns again grabbed the lead at 15/40 in game 11, but game Sabalenka didn't give up easily in a game in which she slid and nearly turned her ankle, and reached GP twice (on the first going big on both 1st and 2nd serves, but missing both) before Stearns broke on her fifth BP to lead 6-5. But again Stearns couldn't put the match away.

In the deciding TB, Sabalenka (now playing w/ a bloody knee wound) finally edged ahead with a crosscourt second serve return winner to lead 4-2. She went up 6-3, but Stearns again surged back, saving two MP on her own serve and another on Sabalenka's. Finally, on MP #4, Sabalenka put away the nearly three-hour thriller to get her first win since claiming her second AO crown.

It's Stearns' sixth three-set loss in her nine matches this season (she's 2-7 overall).



Meanwhile, if having Kerber, Wozniacki, Osaka and (soon) Halep back in the spotlight isn't enough of a time warp for you, I give you... Redfoo (not w/ Vika, and not in 2013) in the Stearns courtside box.


===============================================
2. IW 1st Rd. - Bernarda Pera def. Dasha Saville
...7-5/4-6/7-6(5). As Wednesday's afternoon 1st Round action turned into a mini-version of WTA Finals Cancun, Saville saw multiple leads over Pera swept away as if by a gust of wind.

The Aussie led 5-1 in the 1st, but Pera crushed the final five games. Saville led 5-0 in the 2nd, then saw her lead shrink to 5-4 before she finally got a game 10 break of serve to level the match. She again led by a break at 2-0 in the 3rd. Pera was up 6-5 when Saville saved three MP and broke (on BP #5 of game 12) to force a deciding TB. Things were knotted at 5-5, then Pera swept the final two points to win in 3:08.

This was Saville's tour-leading third three-hour WTA MD match of the season. She's won just one.


===============================================
3. Cajun Classic (Baton Rouge) Final - Diede de Groot def. Yui Kamiji
...7-5/7-6(4). De Groot often has trouble putting away Kamiji, and the same held true here.

The world #1 was consistently in front, but was unable to cleanly secure either the 1st or 2nd sets in the final. She led 5-2 in the 1st, but twice failed to serve it out. Finally, the third time was the charm, despite having 10 DF in the set.

De Groot cleaned things up in the 2nd, and held a MP on Kamiji's serve at 5-3 but didn't convert it, then was broken a game later as she served for the match even after holding a 5-4, 30/love lead. She got another chance to serve out the title at 6-5. Nope.

In the 2nd set TB, Kamiji led 2-0 when de Groot finally rediscoverd her groove, taking a 4-2 edge. She reached MP again at 6-3, though it took two more tries before her overall third MP (on a wide return from Kamiji) proved to be the closer.

The streak is at 142 matches, 27 in a row over Kamiji.


===============================================



4. IW 2nd Rd. - Angelique Kerber def. Alona Ostapenko 5-7/6-3/6-3
IW 2nd Rd. - Caroline Wozniacki def. Donna Vekic 7-6(5)/6-3
...suddenly, it's 2018 again as Kerber, Wozniacki and Osaka are winning matches in a 1000 event, while Halep is set to return in less than two weeks.



Kerber's comeback from 7-5/2-0 down vs. Ostapenko was just the third victory in her '24 return after becoming a mom, but it's also her first Top 10 win since November 2021.

The win over Vekic was Wozniacki's third Top 50 win since her un-retirement last summer.



The last time both Kerber and Wozniacki were in the 3rd Round in Indian Wells was six years ago in 2018.
===============================================
5. IW 2nd Rd. - Coco Gauff def. Clara Burel
...2-6/6-3/7-6(4). Gauff avoids falling to 2-4 in her last six since reaching the AO semis (after a 10-0 start to '24).

Of course, she had to rally from 4-0 and 5-2 down in the 3rd vs. Burel, who served for the match at 5-3 (a love break). Gauff won on her third MP in the TB.

Burel was seeking her first 1000 3rd Round (she's had back-to-back slam 3r at the US/AO) and biggest career win (her other Top 10 win came over Pegula in Melbourne).


===============================================
6. IW 1st Rd. - Camila Giorgi def. Katie Boulter
...6-3/6-2. Okay, this wasn't a shocking development just days after San Diego, but let's take this moment to try and quell the odd notion that grew wings last weekend that Boulter had had this "great '24" season before Week 9, when in fact she had a great *week* after what had been a less-than-lackluster start (1r-1r-2r results pre-Week 9) and past eight months. She's now failed to reach the QF in 14 of her last 15 events.

But, "She has seven Top 40 wins this season!" She had five of them in San Diego, and one of the other two came vs. Pegula in a fake team event (which meant nothing) in Week 1. "She's all the way into the Top 30!" Before last week she was barely inside the Top 50 (#49).

I like her, too, but I'm not willing to acknowleged some sort of fantasy world that says she's been this unmistakable "rising force" since she won in Nottingham (highest ranked win there: #131) last summer.
===============================================
7. IW 1st Rd. - Mai Hontama def. Zhang Shuai
...5-7/6-2/6-0. Zhang's 18th consecutive loss. Her last win was on January 31... in 2023.

Amarissa Kiara Toth has gone 16-4 this season on the challenger circuit (35-12 since the incident).
===============================================
8. IW 2nd Rd. - Madison Keys def. Hailey Baptiste
...6-4/4-6/7-6(4). Keys finally makes her '24 debut, and it *almost* didn't last long. Baptiste had two MP chances on Keys' serve at 5-4 (Keys had 3 DF in the game), but the (still) world #20 held and then won a deciding TB.

Baptiste -- already with 20 wins in '24 -- is currently sporting a "live" Top 100 ranking, which if she holds it to the end of this tournament would mark a career breakthrough.
===============================================
9. IW 1st Rd. - Angelique Kerber def. Petra Martic
...6-3/6-4. Kerber came in with just one more win that Simona Halep since the 2022 U.S. Open (okay, Angie missed a year and a half while on maternity leave). With this she doubled that total.

Kerber's only other win in her first seven matches in '24 came via a 3rd set TB in the United Cup over Ajla Tomljanovic after saving two MP.



Kerber upped the stakes considerably a round later with a win over Ostapenko.
===============================================
10. IW 1st Rd. - Caroline Wozniacki def. Zhu Lin
...7-6(6)/6-1. The Dane -- the 2022 I.W. champ -- wins in her first appearance in the desert in five years. (It was in 2019, not 2018 as the tweet says.)


===============================================



11. IW 2nd Rd. - Emma Navarro def. Lesia Tsurenko
...4-6/7-5/7-5. Taking place during all the Sabalenka/Stearns drama, Navarro's comeback was overshadowed, but the Hobart champ is back on the proverbial horse after falling to Katie Boulter in the San Diego semis, rallying from 6-4/5-3 down to take out Tsurenko.

At least Tsurenko made it through the match without retiring. Of course, if she'd won she surely wouldn't have played the 3rd Round, though, right?
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12. IW 2nd Rd. - Katie Volynets def. Ons Jabeur
...6-4/6-4. Jabeur's nightmarish start to 2024 continues as she falls to 2-4 with her third straight loss.
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13. IW 2nd Rd. - Caroline Dolehide def. Victoria Azarenka
...7-5/2-6/6-3. A 9-2 start for Vika in '24, but a retirement and 1-3 mark since. We saw this show in 2023 (10-4 start, 13-15 finish).
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14. IW 2nd Rd. - Yuan Yue def. Zheng Qinwen
...6-4/6-3. This year's AO champ narrowly avoided an early exit, but Sabalenka's Melbourne final opponent wasn't so lucky as Zheng provides countrywoman Yuan with her first career Top 10 win.


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15. Cajun Classic (WC) 2nd Rd. - Yui Kamiji def. Lizzy de Greef
...6-0/3-0 ret. Just days after winning a Series 1 title in Georgia (US) and getting wins over Aniek Van Koot and Dana Mathewson, de Greef retires after nine games in Louisiana vs. Kamiji (she also pulled out of the doubles). The Dutch teen is now 0-2 vs. Kamiji, having lost 21 of 22 games.
===============================================
16. $35K Solarino ITA Final - Linda Klimovicova def. Jessica Pieri 6-3/6-0
$15K Sharm El Sheikh EGY Final - Anna Siskova def. Katarina Kuzmova 6-4/4-6/6-2
...another week, another Crusher title (or two, depending on if 22-year old Siskova counts along with the group of raging Czech teens).

19-year old Klimovicova picked up career title #4, defeating Pieri in the final after having gotten a win over a 36-year old Aravane Rezai in the semis. That result was the French woman's best singles result since 2012, her last full season on tour.

It's also title #4 for Siskova, her first since 2021 after collecting far more notable results in doubles in recent years, including her first tour final and three more in 125 events (winning 1) in '23, and 12 (w/ 9 wins) on the challenger level since the start of last year.
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HM- $15K Antalya TUR Final - Tyra Caterina Grant def. Anja Stakovic
...6-0/6-4. The 15-year old Bannerette reaches and wins in her first pro final appearance. She also claimed the WD crown with Aurora Zantedeschi.

Grant won the '23 RG and '24 AO girls doubles titles.
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[IW Through 2nd Round]



1. IW 1st Rd. - Nao Hibino def. Venus Williams
...2-6/6-3/6-0. The recent tactic of "just get her into a 3rd set" continues to work for Williams' opponents, as Hibino drops Venus to 3-12 since the start of '22 (7-29 since 2020). This was Williams' first apperance in the desert since 2019, and she played her first match there 28 years ago.

Still, Williams' 31st season on tour has now officially begun, and wins -- as nice as they'd be -- don't "matter" quite as much as small in-match victories (like that good 1st set) and the fact that Venus continues to desire to pick up a racket, hit the court and see what happens.
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2. IW 1st Rd. - Katie Volynets def. Mirra Andreeva 7-5/7-5
IW 1st Rd. - Danielle Collins def. Erika Andreeva 7-6(3)/7-6(6)
...both sisters ultimately lost those matches, as well. Though it took an extra day for Erika, who saw her Wednesday match finish pushed to Thursday with Collins up 7-6/6-5.
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In certain corners of the tennis world, every day is Groundhog Day...



So, from four *years* to nine *months*. Talk about an indictment of the system. Is there no "judicial oversight" regarding the Alphabets that would put on official public display the overzealous and often blatantly predjudicial sentences handed down by the collective testing apparatus? There should be.

Halep's original positive test came in August 2022 (at the U.S. Open), and was reported that October. That was *seventeen* months ago.

She didn't even get a hearing before her accusers until the following June 2022, ten months after the test. It took until September 2023, eleven months after her provisional suspension began, for her appeal to be (as expected) denied and a "final" four-year ban issued (they actually doubled-down and added a totally separate second charge... but only after she'd publicly spoken out about the multiple postponements and long delay before she was even able to present her case). It took five more months -- in February 2024 -- for her long-awaited hearing before an independent tribunal to occur.

That result was rendered fairly quickly (for once), and now history will say her suspension ended in *July 2023*.

What a (corrupt) mess.

Meanwhile, in words spoken by someone (Tara Moore) who has had the displeasure of being taken through the ringer by the Alphabets without any acknowledgement of any sort of "gray area" or the realities of player/coach/team/world-at-large relationships:



Also, I love (i.e. roll eyes at) this Alphabet response, which makes a point to say that CAS "partially upheld" Halep's appeal (rather than decimated the original sentence)... and then turned off the replies on the post, too. (Hmmm, it'd be nice if the accused athletes could do the same over the year-and-a-half that they have to wait for a judgement, huh?) Bastards until the end.



And as for those who impulsively, selfishly, haughtily and/or vindictively (see a certain pickleballer) pile atop any player who ever gets caught up in these situations, with no heeding to their incomplete knowledge in the moment nor later acknowledging how the process ultimately resolves itself, those of us who *see* you know the truth.

One highlighted example...



For the record, Serena won seven Wimbledon titles, and that tweet suddenly appeared when Halep's four-year suspension was announced last September... though some tried to act as if it was in reference to something else. Sure, Jan.

To truly "read the footnotes" of that tweet, one has to remember that it's become popular over the years with the Serena cultists to try seize upon any stumble of anyone who ever defeated Williams in a slam final, in some sort of absurd way to "unofficially" award her slam #24 after the fact, never mind that Halep defeated her in the Wimbledon title match more than three years before the '22 test (just as Sharapova had 12 years before her suspension... not that that stopped the same sort of retroactive ridiculousness then or in the years since).

BTW, this was what Halep had posted at the time of Williams' final match (during that same '22 U.S. Open, incidentally)...



The funny thing is that even those individuals would likely note that Halep (who breezed through her years w/ Darren Cahill) never experienced such a moment of doubt/accusation until just a few months into her coaching relationship with Patrick Mouratoglou, whose team many have blamed for the whole incident.

Mouratoglou, incidentally, was the coach of *Williams* at the time of that '19 Wimbledon final and when (after having turned 30) she won 10 of her 23 major titles. In the entire Open era, only 14 other major titles were won by women 30+ (w/ no other individual winning more than three). It was a glorious stretch that gilded Williams' HoF career, taking her from "great" to likely "greatest." But we know what the cultists would say if someone else had done it, don't we?

Of course, Mouratoglou was also the coach who, failing to back up Williams' assertion that he was giving her "a thumbs-up," admitted that he was (then illegally) coaching her from the stands during the 2018 U.S. Open, setting off a running incident with the chair umpire. Don't think that Serena has ever forgotten that, either.

Anyway, back in the real world...



I'm sure Halep is happy and relieved, and just wants to embrace this hard-earned chance at on-court "redemption," put this all behind her and try to make something of whatever remains of her career after legitimately wondering over the past year whether her career was essentially over. She's already received a wild card to play in Miami.

It would be hard to condemn (but not lament) her actions if she does that, as she's surely emotionally exhausted. But I hope she doesn't let this go so easily.

I hope Halep follows through, as she has with the company that produced the supplement (roxadustat) that produced the positive test, and sues some portion of the Alphabet apparatus, if only to put the whole thing under an appropriately revealing microscope. Someone *has* to -- needs to -- go at this monster head-first at some point if any sort of fairness and/or efficiency is going to be part of the system. Why not her? It would benefit every player thereafter, even those whose actions/words would lead one to believe they don't deserve such consideration since they never showed an ounce of it for anyone else. ("You're welcome, you ingrates.")

Simona surely has a few "people" of the lawyerly persuasion after this, and she could do worse than to put them on this case.



Fact is, nothing is going to change in this equation until and unless the Alphabets are publically shamed (i.e. by essentially employing the same sort of tactics against the testing system that the Alphabets attempt to use against the players) and *forced* to (ironically) clean up their own system.


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Yeah, it probably *would* figure that they'd eventually do *those* sort of things which, for me, would just irritate me more.

I will *never* pay for something additional (i.e. subscribe to Netflix solely for that purpose) to watch a "promotional" production, I positively *abhor* exos (and will *never* watch one), and I think team competitions that masquerade as "events" are the most worthless thing that the sport offers (IMHO: BJK/Davis Cup are *actual* events and worthy of attention, while anything else is not... the old Hopman Cup was the rare perfect blend of the two to kick off the season, but then they ruined that, too).

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A new WTA doggo enters the storyline...




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Wow, so the Transylvania Open *does* have a social media team, after all?




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The flag was raised this week at Backspin Academy in a special non-Winterfest ceremony...




And, as expected, the celebrations were hearty and went deep into the night.

















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(Exhale.) Finally... somewhere to be.















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*DE GROOT vs. KAMIJI IN 2024*
Melbourne WC Open Final - DE GROOT 6-1/3-6/7-6(0) - Kamiji led 5-1 in 3rd (1 MP)
Australian Open Final - DE GROOT 7-5/6-4
Cajun Classic Final - DE GROOT 7-5/7-6(4)
--
de Groot: leads 45-15 (+1 walkover W) overall
43-4 in last 47 (+W)
27 consecutive wins (+W)
40-8 (+W) in singles finals
40-3 (+W) in last 43 singles finals
25 consecutive wins (+W) in finals (2 in team finals)

*DIEDE DE GROOT vs. IN STREAK*
[142-0, + 1 w/o W]
27 - Yui Kamiji, JPN (+1 w/o)
17 - Kgothatso Montjane, RSA
15 - Aniek Van Koot, NED
10 - Jiske Griffioen, NED
10 - Momoko Ohtani, JPN
7 - Angelica Bernal, COL
7 - Dana Mathewson, USA
7 - Lucy Shuker, GBR
4 - Macarena Cabrillana, CHI
4 - Katharina Kruger, GER
4 - Jordanne Whiley, GBR
3 - Pauline Deroulede, FRA
3 - Emmanuelle Morch, FRA
3 - Zhu Zhenzhen, CHN
2 - Li Xiaohui, CHN
2 - Viktoriia Lvova, RUS
2 - Cornelia Oosthuizan, GBR
2 - Saki Takamuro, JPN
2 - Manami Tanaka, JPN
2 - Maayan Zikri, ISR
1 - Shelby Baron, USA
1 - Nalani Buob, SUI
1 - Charlotte Fairbank, FRA
1 - Guo Luoyao, CHN
1 - Huang Jinlian, CHN
1 - Busra Un, TUR
1 - Britta Wend, GER
1 - Louie Charlotte Willerslev-Olsen, DEN
1 - Wang Ziying, CHN

*2024 TOP JUNIOR EVENT CHAMPIONS*
TRARALGON AUS J300: Emerson Jones/AUS
AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Renata Jamrichova/SVK
SAN JOSE CRC (COFFEE BOWL) J300: Shannon Lam/USA
BARRANQUILLA COL J300: Jeline Vandromme/BEL
CAIRO, EGY J300: Monika Stankiewicz/POL
LIMA, PER J300 (INKA BOWL): Antonia Vergara Rivera/CHI
CAIRO, EGY J500: Rositsa Dencheva/BUL
ASUNCION PAR J300 (ASUNCION BOWL): Antonia Vergara Rivera/CHI
PORTO ALEGRE BRA J300: Mayu Crossley/JPN
NONTHABURI THA J300: Lea Nilsson/SWE
BLUMENAU BRA J500 (BANANA BOWL): Kaitlyn Rolls/USA

*2024 TOP JUNIOR GIRLS' TITLES*
[Grand Slam]
Renara Jamrichova, SVK - AO
[Junior Finals]
--
[J500]
1 - Rositsa Dencheva, BUL
1 - Kaitlyn Rolls, USA
[J300]
2 - Antonia Vergara Rivera, CHI
1 - Mayu Crossley, JPN
1 - Emerson Jones, AUS
1 - Shannon Lam, USA
1 - Lea Nilsson, SWE
1 - Monika Stankiewicz, POL
1 - Jeline Vandromme, BEL






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Yep. Other candidates (such as "The Wire," made by the same group, BTW) are of the same level, but in the 1990s there was nothing better.

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The women's singles draw at slam time... only with puppies. (Guess which one is Pegula.)




"Can't stop watching" might be a good new WTA fake marketing campaign slogan. Hmmm.


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All for now.