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Sunday, March 10, 2019

To Jell or Smell in Indian Wells

A few first week headlines from Indian Wells...

Vika is (almost) back. One Dasha most definitely is *not*, while the other has been showing signs in the desert that *she* may just be. Venus is still capable of seizing a moment (just as Serena is, too) and, pardon if this is getting repetitive, but a certain Canadian teenager is *still* riding a 2019 season wave.



And we're only *two* rounds in.






COMEBACK: Victoria Azarenka/BLR
...Azarenka didn't get the win over Serena Williams in their 2nd Round match-up in Indian Wells -- their first since the Belarusian defeated Serena in the I.W. final in '16 -- but she once again raised her game and has given rise to still more hope that the current world #48 might yet jump back into the conversation in any number of big-time events by the end of the current season.

Vika is just 4-5 this year, but her last two events have seen her go 3-2 with dominant wins over the likes of AO semifinalist Danielle Collins, Tatjana Maria and, this week, Vera Lapko. She fell in three sets to Sonya Kenin in Acapulco, had a high-quality match against Serena in the desert, and also won a WD title a week ago. Azarenka's other '19 losses have included three-setters vs. Venus Williams and Laura Siegemund, as well as a respectable 6-2/7-6 defeat in Saint Petersburg by Petra Kvitova. After a frustrated and tearful exit in Melbourne, Azarenka's more resembled her old self in recent outings, as all the work she's put in off the court may finally be paying off on it. Who knows? Maybe she'll get a better draw in Miami and be able to make a stab at a second week run at the tournament where she won her most recent singles title in 2016.


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SURPRISE: Ysaline Bonaventure/BEL
...in the wake of Belgium's ugly loss to France in Fed Cup play, both Elise Mertens and Alison Van Uytvanck won tour singles titles. 24-year old Bonaventure (#144), who won a dead rubber WD match in the FRA/BEL tie alongside Kirsten Flipkens, has now won four consecutive matches in Indian Wells after dropping the 1st set. She advanced past Olga Danilovic and Iga Swiatek in qualifying to complete her fifth straight successful Q-run at a tour-level event in '19, and has so far done the same in the MD vs. Townsend (who served for the match in the 2nd, but then rolled her ankle at 5-5 and barely competed the rest of the way) and Vekic (the Waffle's first Top 30 win).



Bonaventure is already up to #121 in the "live" rankings, just five behind the career high she set last July.
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DOWN: Dasha Kasatkina/RUS, Demi Schuurs/NED and Timea Babos/Kristina Mladenovic (HUN/FRA)
...Kasatkina's disasterous '19 campaign continued in Indian Wells. A year ago, she reached the final, losing to Naomi Osaka. This year, the Russian has struggled to get out of the season's gate. She got just three games off Marketa Vondrousova in her opening match this week, falling to 2-6 in '19 (the wins came over #669 Karen Barritza and #178 Magdalena Frech). After finishing in the Top 10 in '18, Kasatkina will fall out of the Top 20 after I.W., with her defense of a pair of slam QF results (as well as QF in Charleston, Madrid and Eastbourne) on tap by mid-summer.

By this time last season, Schuurs had already won a pair of doubles titles on her way to a tour-leading seven wins in '18. Continuing to play with many different partners, the 25-year old Dutch doubles specialist hasn't found the same success thus far in 2019. Playing with Veronika Kudermetova for the first time in Indian Wells, the pair's 4 & 4 1st Round loss to Niculescu/Spears drops Schuurs to 6-7 this season.

Meanwhile, while both Babos and Mladenovic have had their issues in singles, their doubles partnership hasn't exactly provided a safe haven in 2019, either. At least not lately. Yes, the pair reached the Australian Open final, falling to Stosur/Zhang, but they're still seeking their first win together since Melbourne. Their 1st Round loss in Indian Wells -- via a 10-8 3rd set TB defeat by Mertens/Sabalenka -- was one of many by top-seeded doubles duos in the desert, but it was the third straight loss by Babos/Mladenovic, which feels a bit like "piling on" for players who've also seen their singles rankings continue to slip in '19.
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ITF: at the $15K challenger in Carson, California (just 128 miles from Indian Wells), an intriguing final match-up will occur on Sunday.

17-year old Bannerette Elli Mandlik, daughter of Hall of Fame Hana Mandlikova, will be seeking her first pro singles title in the final against California-born Canadian Carson Branstine, who'll also be going for her maiden singles crown. Mandlik (jr. #20, WTA #479) has already defeated #2-seeded Hanna Chang and #5 Rasheea McAdoo as she heads into the match against #6-seeded 18-year old Branstine (#642), whose run one might consider has been inspired by the '19 success of her friend Bianca Andreescu, who has now advanced into the 3rd Round in I.W. after wins over Irina-Camelia Begu and Dominika Cibulkova. Branstine/Andreescu have reached a tour-level WTA doubles final ('17 Quebec City) together, as well as winning a $25K title (2018) and two junior slams ('17 AO & RG). Might a tour-level WD reunion be in their near future?

UPDATE: Mandlik won title #1, defeating Carson B. in Carson C. by a 6-2/2-6/6-4 score

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First Pro Title!! :)

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JUNIOR STARS: Bai Zhuoxuan/CHN and Selena Janicijevic/FRA
...the junior circuit featured a pair of Grade 1 events this week, with two first-time big title winners coming out on top.

In Nonthaburi, Thailand it was 16-year old Bai Zhuoxuan (girls #192), who improved to 27-2 on the season with her fourth '19 title (after three Grade 4 wins) with a three-set victory over Czech Kristyna Lavickova in the final.

In Casablanca, #11-seeded Pastry Selena Janicijevic (jr. #75) picked up her maiden G1 title by defeating the #6, #7 and #3 seeds, finishing up the week with Spaniard Marta Custic in a three-set final. The 16-year old is 16-3 on the season.



UPDATE: Meanwhile, 16-year old Ukrainian Daria Snigur, who reached the AO girls semis, defeated Oona Orpana in the $15K Sharm El Sheikh final, winning her nineteenth straight pro match. Although, that streak comes with a few "yeah, but's," including an unplayed $15K final in Antalya in December (also vs. Orpana), as well as a Q2-round walkover in another Antalya $15K a few days later.
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WHEELCHAIR: Jordanne Whiley may just be inserting herself into the slam singles hunt derby in '19, though her ranking may not be able to rise quickly enough and she may require a wild card (or maybe a protected ranking spot, though I don't know if that's in play when it comes to the wheelchair tour) to get into the field in Paris and/or London. In the Biel-Bienne event in Switzerland, the recent mom and former slam singles champ has reached the third straight final of her comeback. After wins over the #2 and #3 seeds in the event, improving her season record to 12-1, the Brit will next face top-seeded Michaela Spaanstra in the final.

Whiley's already defeated the Dutch WC #12 in her two previous '19 events, winning SF match-ups in Wrexham and Bolton. Spaanstra's most recent singles title came in October, though she'll be seeking her second straight WD title in the Biel-Bielle final alongside Hordette Viktoriia Lvova.

UPDATE: Whiley won 6-2/6-2 to make it 3-0 vs. Spaanstra, and two titles in three events.


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1. IW 2nd Rd. - Stefanie Voegele def. Sloane Stephens
...6-3/6-0. It seems as if Sloane is either winning big titles or in a "transition phase." She admitted to the latter being the case at the moment. She's 5-5 in '19, and 1-3 in her last four.


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2. IW 1st Rd. - Sonya Kenin def. Wang Yafan
...1-6/7-5/6-4. Given a second shot, Kenin (sort of) made up for her squandered Acapulco final against Wang...
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3. IW 2nd Rd. - Elina Svitolina def. Sonya Kenin
...3-6/7-6(5)/6-4. Only a round later to fail to take advantage of a slow starting Svitolina, who struggled to find her game for more than a set after back-to-back events in which she blew leads against Simona Halep and Belinda Bencic. It was a much needed win for the Ukrainian, who despite a good won/lost record in '19 has often been lacking in just the sort of intangible skills that fueled her WTA Finals title run last fall. Before this comeback win, she'd been 1-4 this season after losing the 1st set, and was 2-3 in three-set matches. In Singapore she was 2-0 and 4-0, respectively.
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4. IW 1st Rd. - Magda Linette def. Petra Martic
...6-3/4-6/7-6(5). 2018 Indian Wells quarterfinalist Martic's follow-up didn't go very well, as she ended up on the short end of a match that got a bit crazy down the stretch. Linette served at 6-5, 40/love in the 3rd, only to be broken. She led 3-0 in the TB, only to see Martic knot the score at 3-3 before the Pole pulled away once again.
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5. IW 2nd Rd. - Jen Brady def. Caroline Garcia
...6-3/3-6/6-0. A nice rebound from Brady after blowing a WTA 125 final lead vs. Golubic last weekend, as she's how 3-0 vs. the Pastry in 2019.
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6. IW 1st Rd. - Dasha Gavrilova def. Dayana Yastremska
...6-2/5-7/6-2. Who saw *this* coming? Gavrilova was 0-6 on the year and had lost seven straight, while #37 Yastremska had picked up her second WTA title in Hua Hin and is the highest ranked teenager on tour. It was the Aussie's biggest win since she upset Petra Kvitova in Beijing last September. Dasha then promptly knocked off #31 Mihaela Buzarnescu in the 2nd Round.
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7. IW 2nd Rd. - Mona Barthel def. Madison Keys
...3-6/6-1/7-5. It seems as if Madison is advancing deep into big events or struggling to escape the opening rounds. She led the German 3-1 and served for the match at 5-4, only to lose and fall to 4-3 in '19.
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8. IW 1st Rd. - Ysaline Bonaventure def. Taylor Townsend 6-7(3)/7-5/6-2
IW 2nd Rd. - Ysaline Bonaventure def. Donna Vekic 1-6/7-6(5)/6-4
...and this photo was taken in Indian Wells *before* Bonaventure's pair of comeback MD victories.

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Main draw feels in Indian Wells ???????? #ittakeswta

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9. IW 1st Rd. - Kirsten Flipkens def. Genie Bouchard
...7-5/3-6/7-5. Speaking of Flipper, who was by Van Uytvanck's side as her coach during her Budapest title run, *she* was surely on her game early on under the lights in the desert, as well.


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10. IW 2nd Rd. - Bianca Andreescu def. Dominika Cibulkova
...6-2/6-2. The 18-year old Canadian wild card is 23-3 on the season, and 41-6 since the U.S. Open.
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HM- IW 2nd Rd. - Ekaterina Alexandrova def. Caroline Wozniacki
...7-5/2-6/7-5. The Dane finally plays her first event since the the Australian Open, but her time in the desert was short. After failing to convert a BP for a double-break lead in the 3rd, Alexandrova still served for the match at 5-4, only to be broken. But rather than use the break as a match-turning moment, Wozniacki dropped serve at love a game later. The Russian then held her nerve to serve out the win, falling behind love/15 and 15/30, but from 30/30 firing her seventh ace and then finishing it off with a service winner. The win isn't the biggest for Alexandrova, as Wozniacki is currently #13. The Hordette defeated a then-Top 10 Ostapenko in Seoul last fall.


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1. IW 2nd Rd. - SERENA WILLIAMS def. Victoria Azarenka
...7-5/6-3. In their first meeting since the '16 Indian Wells final, Serena and Vika managed to turn back the clock and quite possibly produce the best match so far in 2019. Granted, it's rare for a "best match" to be of the two-set variety, but while so many great comebacks have been staged this year the season still hasn't really produced a truly *epic* match (by this time in '18 we'd had multiple entries at the AO alone, usually involving Simona Halep)... so Serena/Vika is at least holding the place until further notice. Surely, the nostalgia *and* quality levels were high in this one.




In her first match since losing a serving 5-1 with the first of 4 MP lead vs. Pliskova in Melbourne, Williams served up 5-3, 30/love in the 1st here, only to see a DF start her down to the path to a temporary setback. Azarenka leveled things at 5-5, and forced Serena to hold in an eight-minute game #11 in which she saved four BP. Naturally, Serena ended the game with back-to-back-to-back big serves, the last of which was an ace. She then got the break to take the 1st.



In the 2nd, Williams again served at 5-3, but was BP down after having held two MP. Again, she held to close out the match.



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2. IW 2nd Rd. - VENUS WILLIAMS def. Petra Kvitova
...4-6/7-5/6-4. While Serena/Vika was a tightly-wound short story, Venus/Petra was a sprawling (though often sloppy) and sometimes heroic tale, as '18 semifinalist (her last, as it's turned out) Williams took down the world #3 despite being hampered by a compromised serve (she had no aces and fluctuating service speeds) and seeing the Czech up a set and two breaks, then a break up again in the 3rd. While Williams' fight and stubborn will provided the foundation for the comeback, Kvitova's own errors -- off the ground, in her return game and on serve, where she had 11 DF -- are what ultimately cost her the match. She was able to overcome her miscues for a set and a half, but could never seize control again because of them down the stretch. Even Williams' iffy serve proved to be an issue for Kvitova, as she often found herself overhitting returns off slower-than-anticipated serves and/or surprised when Venus would gear up for the occasion "wow" shot (including one out-of-the-blue 117 mph burst amidst a slew of 80/90-mph tosses).



This gives Williams her first Top 5/10 win since she downed three Top 10ers in the 2017 WTA Finals, and is just her third Top 3 win since the start of the 2015 season.
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3. IW 2nd Rd. - NAOMI OSAKA def. Kristina Mladenovic
...6-3/6-4. All in all, it was an affirming bounce back from the world #1 after losing to Mladenovic in a listless outing in Dubai in her only other post-AO title match. Now with that out of the way, we'll see how she goes about trying to defend her first title.

We'll also see if, should Osaka lose in her next few matches (Collins is up next, with possibly Bencic to follow), whether or not we'll get another round of the mother's lode of excuses (now being #1, facing pressure, getting endorsements, yadda-yadda-yadda) we were presented with on Saturday night just in case she *did* lose *this* match. It seemed as if two minutes couldn't pass during Tennis Channel's coverage of the contest without Tracy Austin tossing out another reason to forgive *any* loss she *might* have *anytime* soon. Well, that is, when she wasn't *also* talking about being "impressed by Osaka's composure" and "toughness" since her big victories... though one could argue that the two thoughts might not necessarily co-mingle at the same moment in time.

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*SERENA vs. VIKA*
2008 Aust.Open 3rd - Williams 6-3/6-4
2009 Aust.Open 4th - Williams 3-6/4-2 ret. (VA heat illness)
2009 Miami F - Azarenka 6-3/6-1
2009 Wimb QF - Williams 6-2/6-3
2010 Aust.Open QF - Williams 4-6/7-6(4)/6-2 (VA 6-4/4-0, served for match twice)
2011 Toronto SF - Williams 6-3/6-3
2011 US Open 3rd - Williams 6-1/7-6(5)
2012 Madrid F - Williams 6-1/6-3
2012 Wimbledon SF - Williams 6-3/7-6(6)
2012 Olympics SF - Williams 6-1/6-2
2012 US Open F - Williams 6-2/2-6/7-5 (VA served at 5-4 3rd)
2012 WTA Chsp rr - Williams 6-4/6-4
2013 Brisbane SF - Williams walkover
2013 Doha F - Azarenka 7-6/2-6/6-3 (SW SP in 1st)
2013 Rome F - Williams 6-1/6-3
2013 Cincinnati F - Azarenka 2-5/6-2/7-6(6) (second to def. SW in 2 F's in yr.)
2013 US Open F - Williams 7-5/6-7(6)/6-1
2014 Brisbane F - Williams 6-4/7-5
2015 Madrid 3rd - Williams 7-6(5)/3-6/7-6(1) (VA trip MP in 3rd; 3 con DF to bk)
2015 Roland Garros 3rd - Williams 3-6/6-4/6-2 (VA up 6-3/4-2)
2015 Wimbledon QF - Williams 3-6/6-3/6-2
2016 Indian Wells F - Azarenka 6-4/6-4 (SW 1/12 BP)
2019 Indian Wells 2nd - Williams 7-5/6-3
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Serena 18-4

*SERENA vs. GARBINE*
2013 Australian Open 2nd - Williams 6-2/6-0
2014 Roland Garros 2nd - Muguruza 6-2/6-2
2015 Australian Open 4th - Williams 2-6/6-3/6-2
2015 Wimbledon Final - Williams 6-4/6-4
2016 Roland Garros Final - Muguruza 7-5/6-4
2019 Indian Wells 3rd - ??













































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Sheeeesh. Round 3 on Sunday. Let’s keep the dream alive ?????????

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All for now.
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