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Sunday, August 22, 2021

Wk.30- Barty All the Time, Date and Place

Ash Barty, a woman for all seasons.








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*WEEK 30 CHAMPIONS*
CINCINNATI (OHIO), USA (WTA 1000/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Ash Barty/AUS def. Jil Teichmann/SUI 6-3/6-1
D: Samantha Stosur/Zhang Shuai (AUS/CHN) def. Gaby Dabrowski/Luisa Stefani (CAN/BRA) 7-5/6-3
CHICAGO (ILLINOIS), USA (WTA 125 Challenger/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Clara Tauson/DEN def. Emma Raducanu/GBR 6-1/2-6/6-4
D: Eri Hozumi/Peangtarn Plipuech (JPN/THA) def. Mona Barthel/Hsieh Yu-chieh (GER/TPE) 7-5/6-2


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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Ash Barty/AUS
...a consummate pro's pro, both on and off the court, the world #1 is always level headed, never shifts blame onto others for her own misfortune or mistakes, doesn't complain to the sky about it being too blue (or not blue enough), rolls with the punches (including being forced into being a season-long road warrior with any trips back to Australia a no-go during the ongoing pandemic), lets any outside noise and criticism roll off her back (and there surely was some earlier this year when she was still ranked #1 after having not played a match in nearly a year) and does her best to enjoy the life that her abilities have bestowed upon her without attempting to rewrite the book of "rules" that everyone else manages to follow but surely *must* be changed simply because she feels a touch of discomfort.

Oh, yeah. And Barty just wins, baby. In all months. In all seasons. On all surfaces. On all continents. And at all levels.

We've got enough drama in the world -- tennis and otherwise -- as it is. There's just something soothing about seeing casual, oft-understated excellence manage to take root and establish a place of honor on the women's tennis tour. Barty is that to the nth degree. I'm not saying everyone should root for her to carry out this run to and through the U.S. Open final in Flushing Meadows, but wouldn't it be kind of nice if she could?

Barty's title jaunt in Cincinnati, the 13th of her tour career, counts as the Aussie's third 1000 level crown in her last (approximately, with most of '20 "x"-ed off her schedule) season and a half (+) of competition, with a pair of slam titles and a WTAF win in that very same mix, as well. Her five titles, six finals and 40 match wins this season lead the tour (as does her 85.1 win percentage); while she's 14-1 vs. the Top 20 in '21, and 7-1 against the Top 10. Barty has posted twenty Top 10 wins since the start of the 2019 season, and that's with an 11-month Covid-related break smack dab in the middle of that stretch.

In Cincinnati, she terrorized (in a good, "Ashy" sorta way) her opponents. None took a set off her, and only one got as many as seven total games after Heather Watson somehow managed to make things close in Barty's opening 6-4/7-6 victory in the 2nd Round. Victoria Azarenka (0/2), Barbora Krejcikova (2/4), Angelique Kerber (2/5) and Jil Teichmann (3/1) all soon fell in short order the rest of the way, as Barty's iron-fisted hold on the #1 ranking (into a 90th ranking week on Monday, ninth-most all time, but really a 26-month hold that began in June '19).

After the final, Barty wanted no part of being called the "favorite" in New York. And, surely, making her way through the potential pitfalls and distractions of the Open likely make the U.S. the most difficult slam remaining on her potential career "to do" list, even with her home slam still unaccounted for on her resume. But, win or lose, the Aussie will take what happens in stride and a worldwide movement won't have to take place to either celebrate her ultimate triumph or explain away any unfortunate defeat. Everyone, including Ash herself, will simply take a deep breath and move on to whatever comes next.

Of that we can be certain, and isn't that nice to know?

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RISERS: Paula Badosa/ESP and Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
...Badosa's season-long introduction to the late stages of upper echelon tour-level events continued in Cincinnati, and hopefully the shoulder injury that ended her QF run this week won't hamper (or preclude) her from continuing her 2021 ladder climb at the U.S. Open.

As has often been the case with the Spaniard this year, from her early Covid diagnosis and long quarantine forward, it wasn't an easily-traveled road paved with Sugarpova gummies. In fact, Badosa had to save five MP in a two and a half hour, rain-interrupted epic vs. Petra Martic to avoid following up her 2nd Round Montreal loss with an even earlier one this week. The pair traded off a handful of MP chances late in the 3rd set before Badosa, after a 20-minute rain delay during the deciding tie-break, returned to save MP #5 and then convert on her own third MP to win 11-9. She followed up with wins over Aryna Sabalenka (another 3rd set TB) and Elena Rybakina before finally being forced to retire in the QF against Karolina Pliskova.

Badosa's run this week, soon after her QF result in Tokyo, makes it three straight schedule surface changes in '21 that have been accompanied by the Spaniard's almost immediate adaptation. After posting clay court semifinals in Charleston and Madrid prior to a title in Belgrade and Roland Garros QF, Badosa reached the Round of 16 on the grass at Wimbledon before continuing to translate her success to summer hard courts.

Up to a career-best #26 on Monday, after starting the year at #70, she's set to be seeded at a third straight slam at the upcoming U.S. Open (after getting a #33 spot at RG after Alison Riske's late withdrawal, then a #30 seed at Wimbledon).



Krejcikova's "chase" of Ash Barty when it comes to the potential WTA Player of the Year race took a significant hit in Cincinnati when then Czech was the next to be bundled out in straights sets by the Aussie in the QF, falling to 0-2 in their head-to-head this season. She and Katerina Siniakova also didn't pick up the necessary PoY slack in doubles, even with a semifinal run that ended with a MTB loss to Dabrowski/Stefani that dropped the Czech duo to 32-7 on the season. But singles wins over Dasha Kasatkina, Dayana Yastremska and Garbine Muguruza still allow Krejcikova to maintain her position as a player to watch when it comes to (at least) a second week run at Flushing Meadows. She'll rise to yet another career high ranking on Monday (#9), looking to soon improve upon her 11-2 '21 slam mark in what will be her U.S. Open MD debut (after losing in qualifying five times between 2014-19, then seeing the Q-rounds eliminated in '20 when her ranking was still too low to automatically earn a MD slot).

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SURPRISE: Ayumi Koshiishi/JPN
...while her higher-ranked countrywoman has been making headlines in recent weeks for lighting cauldrons and appearing in press conferences, 21-year old Koshiishi has been camped out in Monastir, Tunisia since late April, playing exclusively in the series of $15K challengers held there. Over that stretch, Koshiishi has gone 49-9 and reached five finals, including st four of her last five events, of which she's now won three of four after her title run this weekend, going 18-1 in her last 19 matches.

Before this recent string of successes, Koshiishi (#630) had never won a singles title in her pro career.

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VETERANS: Karolina Pliskova/CZE and Angeliqe Kerber/GER
...Pliskova couldn't ultimately carry over her form into a second straight final (after reaching the title match in two of her last three events), but the Czech improved to 15-4 since the start of her Wimbledon final run, pushing all the way into another high-level semifinal in Cincinnati. She's been so good as stringing together successes of late, she's even forgiven for mispelling Cincinnati. (Sorry, it was too easy.)



After opening with a victory over Yulia Putintseva, Pliskova *finally* managed to dispense with 2021 nemesis Jessie Pegula, too. After going 0-4 vs. the Bannerette this season, then managing to avoid having to play her in the Montreal final last week (she still lost to Camila Giorgi, though), Pliskova rallied from 4-1 down in the 1st and 5-0 in the 2nd to take down Pegula in straights. Pliskova's streakiness continued a round later, as she recovered from 0-4 down in the 1st set to win it 7-5 over Paula Badosa, then saw the Spaniard retire two games into the 2nd. Pliskova could never get control of her service game in the semis vs. Jil Teichmann, as she was broken four times in the 6-2/6-4 match and won just 56% of first serve points.



Meanwhile, Kerber's own Cincy semifinal run improved *her* recent run to 14-2. Wins over Maria Sakkari, Elina Svitolina and Alona Ostapenko (after trailing 4-2 in the 3rd) preceded a victory over a retiring Petra Kvitova, giving Kerber her first three Top 20-win event since her Wimbledon title run in 2018. She ultimately fell victim to the Ash Barty steamroller, but the German on Monday will climb back into the Top 20 for the first time since before last season's shutdown.

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COMEBACK: Emma Raducanu/GBR
...can an 18-year old barely a month past her tour breakthrough performance be considered for the "comeback" category? Well, at least for this week, yes.

The #174-ranked Raducanu made her tour debut earlier this summer in Nottingham, then as a wild card advanced all the way to the Wimbledon Round of 16, the youngest Brit to do so in the Open era. Unfortunately, she was forced to retire from her 4th Round match vs. Ajla Tomljanovic after experiencing breathing difficulties. Unlike so many in recent weeks and months, Raducanu didn't attempt to paint herself as a "victim" of "horrible scheduling" or "unfair judgment" after the match by others (no matter how many over-protective sorts both within tennis and without tried to do it for her in the aftermath), and instead freely admitted to the (should have been) apparent, that the "whole experience caught up with me," attributing it to "a combination of everything that has gone on behind the scenes in the last week and the accumulation of the excitement, the buzz," as she also stated her hope to be better prepared for her next foray into such big-time success.

After exchanging coach Nigel Sears for Andrew Richardson, Raducanu finally returned a few weeks ago in San Jose, losing in the 1st Round. Last week she qualified for and retired from her QF match in the $100K Landisville challenger. She was back this week in the WTA 125 Chicago event, though, stronger and better. She opened by upsetting top-seeded Alison Van Uytvanck, and advanced to the SF without dropping a set. She defeated Claire Liu in three sets to reach her biggest career final (the previous high was a $25K two seasons ago), picking up her second Top 100 win of the week to go along with her first two such career victories earlier this summer (over Cirstea and Vondrousova at SW19).

After dropping the 1st set against fellow teen Clara Tauson, Raducunu rallied to force a deciding 3rd, where the Dane ultimately prevailed. Still, the Brit will crack the Top 150 for the first time in the new rankings, and look to improve still more next time out.

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FRESH FACES: Jil Teichmann/SUI and Clara Tauson/DEN
...Teichmann, 24, has shown signs before. Two years ago, she burst onto the (moderately) big stage by taking two clay titles, including knocking off then-#5 Kiki Bertens in the Palermo championship match to record her first career Top 10 victory. She reached the Lexington final out of last year's shutdown and ended the season at #57.

After dropping her first two matches of '21, the Swiss once again began her upward sweep, going 10-3 while posting QF (Philip Island), SF (Adelaide) and SF (Dubai, with wins over Kvitova, Jabeur and Gauff) results. But as she's dealt with injuries from that point, she'd gone just 3-8 since. After having risen as high as #40 in April she needed a wild card to get into the Cincinnati MD with her #76 ranking.

With her body finally cooperating again, Teichmann made the most of her opportunity. After wins over Sorana Cirstea and Bernarda Pera, she took down her biggest foe yet in #2 Naomi Osaka, then didn't stop there. Two more huge wins followed, as Olympic Gold medalist and fellow Swiss Belinda Bencic (#12) and Karolina Pliskova (#4) fell. With a spotless 4-0 mark vs. the Top 10 in '21, Teichmann faced off with #1 Ash Barty with the chance to become not only the second lowest-rated WTA 1000 champ (after #80 Serena Williams in Toronto in '11, just ahead of last week's winner in Montreal, #71 Camila Giorgi) but also the first player in three years to post wins over the world's top two ranked players in the same event.

It wasn't to be, as Barty's brilliance extended one more match on the week. Still, Teichmann will jump all the way back to #45 this week.



In Chicago, 18-year old Dane Tauson pulled off one of the more rare feats in tennis as she claimed a WTA 125 title to complete a set of season singles crowns picked up in three levels of women's tennis competition: WTA (Lyon), WTA challenger, and the ITF circuit (2).

Tauson won three-set matches over Harriet Dart and Hailey Baptiste, then went through Storm Sanders (awarded a U.S. Open WC this week) and Ann Li in straights before winning another three-setter over fellow teen Emma Raducanu in the final. Only two other woman have pulled off the WTA/125/ITF title combo in a season: Zhang Shuai (twice, in 2013 and '17) and Kristyna Pliskova (2016). Viktorija Golubic has come close this season, winning on the ITF and 125 level while going 0-2 in WTA finals.

Tauson will jump from #90 to a new career high of #76 on Monday (or whenever the WTA can manage to get the rankings posted, after such a long delay due to "technical difficulties" last week).

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DOWN: Bianca Andreescu/CAN and Naomi Osaka/JPN
...they've won the last three U.S. Open titles, but with the 2021 version of the tournament just a week away to consider one of them a "favorite" to make it four in a row will take some blind faith. It may pay off, but both will arrive in New York with considerable questions.

Since her Miami final run, which ended in a retirement vs. Ash Barty, the Canadian has gone 4-6 (w/ an additional walkover) starting with her return in Strasbourg, and has lost four of her last five matches. In Cincinnati, she fell in straight sets to Karolina Muchova in her first outing. After missing all of the '20 season, Andreescu has gone 13-9 (five wins coming in Miami) this season, and since her '19 U.S. Open win is just 16-12 and has rarely, if ever, seemed fully healthy (or keeping one step ahead of her battalion of ailments, as she did during large chunks of her '19 campaign -- which itself featured a pre-summer injury break).

In some ways, Andreescu's '19 run while dodging injury bombs throughout made one hope that she wouldn't become the WTA's version of Juan Martin del Porto (also a U.S. Open champ, in a rare full season of play in '09), a special talent who when healthy could climb *any* mountain, but whose career has ultimately proven to be a collection of glorious moments unfortunately dotting a decade or more of injury breaks and comeback attempts. Nearly two years beyond her crowning achievement, one doesn't need to squint to possibly see Andreescu's career playing out the same way.

Osaka returned from her "mental health break" in Tokyo, losing in the 3rd Round to Marketa Vondrousova. In Cincinnati, she made her return to the regular WTA tour, complete with post-match press conference duties. In a momentarily shaky opener in the press room, she eventually answered all questions thrown her way, but seemed "less than prepared" by those around her (and herself) for the sort of queries she'd receive and then saw (or maybe allowed, as we saw in the past with Sascha Bajin's firing that Osaka is willing to cut ties if someone doesn't walk a certain line) her agent's ham-handed power play attempt to cast her as a "victim" (with the unfortunate assistance of some fan-fueled corners of Twitter and sycophantic tennis media) once more put her in the headlines in a way that caused forces to line up either behind or against her rather than simply allow the situation to play out on its own without the daily debate dragging the conversation into the gutter.

With that, and an impressive comeback win over Coco Gauff, behind her Osaka came out in her next match -- ala in the Olympics -- and appeared to go away down the stretch of her three-set loss to Jil Teichmann. Considering the multiple levels that the Swiss raised her status in Cincy, one can't be sure that Osaka *truly* took a step back with the defeat, but would still expect her to emerge with the victory under normal circumstances.

Expect some repeat of one or many of these plotlines -- i.e. a few nice performances, more needless controversy, possibly a "what happened?" stretch in a win or even a "shocking" loss in the first week -- come Flushing Meadows. How the story concludes will be up to Osaka, but all the dust that will be kicked up along the way will surely play a part, as well.
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ITF PLAYERS: Arantxa Rus/NED and Cristina Dinu/ROU
...a week after claiming a $60K crown in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Spain, Rus made it two in a row in the same city with another $60K title run this week. The 30-year old didn't drop a set, defeating #3-seeded Julia Grabher in the semis and then handling top-ranked junior Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva 6-0/6-1 in the 16-year old's first pro final appearance.

Now with 26 career ITF titles, Rus has gone 12-3 in challenger finals since the start of the 2019 season. She's gone 0-2 in a pair of WTA 125 finals in '21.



28-year old Romanian Dinu won the $25K Vrnjacka Banja challenger in Serbia, picking up her fifth title of the season to tie Nuria Párrizas Díaz for the circuit lead in '21. With the 6-1/7-5 win over Anna Siskova in the final, Dinu improved to 51-11 in ITF events this season, including 5-0 in finals. Ranked #377 heading into the week, Dinu was ranked as high as the Top 200 back in 2013.

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JUNIOR STARS: Julia Middendorf/GER and Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva/AND
...Middendorf, currently the junior #30, picked up her first pro title at the $15K challenger in Erwitte, Germany. The 18-year old, a Grade 1 junior title winner in May, defeated Dane Sofia Nami Samavati in 3–6/7–5/6–2 final to get the win.

Middendorf made her tour-level debut in April, qualifying in Stuttgart with wins over Jana Fett and Tamara Korpatsch before a 1st Round loss to Anett Kontaveit.



Meanwhile, girls #1 Jiménez Kasintseva ('20 AO jr. champ), 16, reached her first career pro final in the $60K in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Spain. After making her way through qualifying, the Andorran knocked off a familiar junior foe (Oksana Selekhmeteva) as well as #2-seeded Aleksandra Krunic and #6 Diane Parry to reach the final, where she fell to Dutch veteran Aranxta Rus, who picked up her second title in two weeks.

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DOUBLES: Samantha Stosur/Zhang Shuai, AUS/CHN
...after first making her name as a doubles star (winning multiple WD & MX slams), Stosur prioritized her singles through most of the early 2010s, winning a major at the U.S. Open in '11 and ranking as high as #4. As she's reached her late thirties, though, the Aussie has entertained more doubles success once again. The only doubles finals she's reached since 2013 have come alongside good friend Zhang, including an Australian Open title run (her first WD major in 13 years) two seasons ago.

In Cincinnati, the veteran pair teamed up to reach their fourth final since late 2018, claiming title #3 as a duo after battling to four straight match TB wins (including over #4 seeds Melichar/Schuurs) en route to the final, which the pair won 7-5/6-3 over the streaking new post-Olympic duo of Gaby Dabrowski/Luisa Stefani, playing in their third straight summer hard court final (1-2).

The win gives Stosur 27 WTA doubles titles in her impressive career, and her first 1000-level crown since 2007. For Zhang, it's her ninth tour win.

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1. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Paula Badosa def. Petra Martic
...4-6/6-4/7-6(9). Badosa escapes the 1st Round while saving five MP, overcoming an ill-timed rain delay and winning on her won third MP after 2:34 of match play.

Martic served at 5-4 in the 3rd, holding three MP, only to see Badosa surge into the lead and hold two MP of her own at 6-5 on Martic's serve. In the deciding TB, Martic failed to convert MP #4 before a 20-minute rain delay, and then #5, as well, after the two returned to the court. Finally, at 10-9, Badosa converted MP #3 to get the well-earned win.

Later, in her three-set win over Aryna Sabalenka, the Spaniard continued to corner the market on 2021 "I can't believe it" post-match big-win reactions.

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2. Cincinnati Final - Ash Barty def. Jil Teichmann
...6-3/6-1. History wasn't with Teichmann in her attempt to add a #1 win to her #2 victory (Osaka) in Cincinnati. Or was it?

Such a thing has only happened twice in a single event since 2012, but both times the accomplishment took place in Cincinnati. Kiki Bertens (def. #1 Halep, #2 Wozniack) did it last in 2018, a year after Garbine Muguruza (def. #1 Pliskova, #2 Halep) had done it in '17.

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3. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Shelby Rogers def. Danielle Collins
...6-4/2-1 ret. Having gone 12-1 and won a pair of titles in recent weeks, it all finally (officially) caught up with Collins.
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4. Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Angelique Kerber def. Elina Svitolina
...7-5/2-6/6-4. After touting her 3rd place Olympic finish as the result that would inspire her to even better things, Svitolina has gone 0-2 since. In fact, she's 1-3 in her last four *counting* Tokyo, before which she'd gone 2-4.

Maybe rather than "inspiration," that Olympic Bronze medal match was more of an "oasis."
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5. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Jessie Pegula def. Camila Giorgi
...6-2/6-2. Welp.
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6. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Belinda Bencic def. Marketa Vondrousova
...6-3/7-5. "So, Marketa, how was your summer?"

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7. Cincinnati 3rd Rd. - Angelique Kerber def. Alona Ostapenko
...4-6/6-2/7-5. Ostapenko held break leads twice (at 3-0 and 4-2) in the 3rd, but sees Kerber take five of the final six games to advance en route to the semis.
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8. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Petra Kvitova def. Madison Keys
...7-5/6-4. A good week for Kvitova began with a win over the last tournament champ to win the title in *Cincinnati* (2019), to which the Czech added victories over Veronika Kudermetova and Ons Jabeur before retiring in the QF (vs. Kerber) with a stomach issue.
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9. Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Karolina Muchova def. Bianca Andreescu
...6-4/6-2). Muchova notches her fourth '21 Top 10 win over a fourth different player (after Pliskova, Osaka and Barty), improving to 7-0 vs. the Top 20 this season. That run ended with a loss to Belinda Bencic a round later.
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10. Cincinnati 3rd Rd. - Ash Barty def. Victoria Azarenka
...6-0/6-2. So bad the WTA social media gang can't be on their game like this *all* the time.

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11. Cincinnati 1st Rd. - Caroline Garcia def. Sloane Stephens
...7-6(7)/4-6/6-4. After losing a set and 4-2 lead, Garcia pulls off the lone break of the 3rd set in game #9 and finishes off Stephens at 2:09 a.m.

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12. $25K Ourense ESP Final - Jaimee Fourlis def. Fanny Stollar
...7-6(3)/6-3. The 21-year old Aussie, eleven months past shoulder surgery, improves to 4-0 in career ITF finals, winning her first circuit title since 2018.

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1. Cincinnati 3rd Rd. - Jil Teichmann def. Naomi Osaka
...3-6/6-3/6-3. After Tokyo, with Bencic and Golubic getting medals, nearly all (Patty excluded) of the Swiss tennis players of note had reached the medal stand since the sport returned to the Olympics in 1988. Well, Teichmann might just be adding her name to the "noteworthy" list.

She only has *three* years to wait to maybe get *her* medal opportunity in Paris.
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2. Cincinnati 3rd Rd. - Karolina Pliskova def. Jessie Pegula
...6-4/7-6(5). Well, well. She *can* do it, after all. With a 0-4 record against Pegula this season, Pliskova once more showed how much has changed for her over the last few weeks. It wasn't a simple task, either. The Czech had to rally from 4-1 down in the 1st, then 5-0 in the 2nd, using up five MP chances, to finally win in straights.

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3. Cincinnati 2nd Rd. - Naomi Osaka def. Coco Gauff
...4-6/6-3/6-4. Down a set and an early break in the 2nd, Osaka posts her biggest win in months, giving rise to the flicker of a notion that another U.S. Open title run isn't out of the question.

I'm not 100% sure we'd survive it intact with all our mental synapses correctly firing and peace being maintained throughout the land, but after the last year and a half (or maybe a few years longer, depending on where you *officially* start the Age of Crazy) I *suppose* we could take on the whole overstimulated production that such a thing would surely become. Maybe.
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HM- $15L Warmbad-Villach AUT Final - Anna Turati def. Pia Lovric
...6-3/6-2. The Texas alum wins her fifth career circuit crown, her first since 2019.



Has the SEC officially claimed the honor as its own yet?
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From a sport that often has to battle against match-fixing allegations linked to gambling (rolling eyes)...




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When someone asks a logical question that should have been totally expected (with an answer fully prepared) after you very publicly have avoided having an open press conference for almost three months, then you show you haven't really made much progress at all on the issue over that span, then your agent calls the person simply trying to do their job a "bully" and a (too) large (but smaller than the last time) portion of that reporter's fellow media tries to act as if he's some sort of unprofessional "villain" and the professional athlete is an ongoing "victim." Please. (Rolling eyes.)



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Radka Leitmeritz's ongoing photo series with WTA players has been a great thing, and that the tour has become connected to it is good, as well. But that it's now part of a "Court Supremes" photography project celebrating the... wait for it... "strength + beauty of women's tennis" makes it sound like all the other carbon copy beauty/strength projects the tour has pushed out over the past decade and a half, only with a far more artistic bent. Talk about a "broken record"... someone couldn't have come up with a better "mission statement" than the same one used in similar women's tennis projects/campaigns over and over and over again? (Rolling eyes... and now they're tired.)

Wonderful photos, though. Leitmeritz's work has sort of become tennis' answer to that of Annie Leibovitz and celebrities. Hmmm, who wants to pose in a bathtub filled with milk?



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=CINCINNATI, OHIO (USA)=



=CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (USA)=





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*2021 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
5 - ASH BARTY, AUS [3 HC, 1 RC, 1 GR]
3 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE [2 RC, 1 HC]
2 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS [2 HC]
2 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR [1 HC, 1 RC]
2 - Iga Swiatek, POL [1 HC, 1 RC]
2 - Danielle Collins, USA [2 HC]

*2021 WTA FINALS*
6 - ASH BARTY, AUS (5-1)
4 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (3-1)
4 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (2-2)
3 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (2-1)
3 - Belinda Bencic, SUI (1-2)
3 - Garbine Muguruza, ESP (1-2)
3 - Karolina Pliskova, CZE (0-3)

*2021 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
6 (1-5) = LUISA STEFANI, BRA
5 (4-1) = Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
5 (4-1) = Katerina Siniakova, CZE
5 (3-2) = Darija Jurak, CRO
5 (2-3) = Demi Schuurs, NED
4 (4-0) = Shuko Aoyama, JPN
4 (4-0) = Ena Shibahara, JPN
4 (2-2) = Andreja Klepac, SLO
4 (2-2) = Desirae Krawczyk, USA
4 (2-2) = Nicole Melichar, USA
4 (1-3) = GABY DABROWSKI, CAN

*2021 WTA CHAMPIONS BY AGE*
17 - Coco Gauff (Parma)
18 - Clara Tauson (Lyon)
18 - Leylah Fernandez (Monterrey)
19 - Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (Bogota)
19 - Iga Swiatek (Adelaide)
19 - Iga Swiatek (Rome)
22 - Aryna Sabalenka (Abu Dhabi)
22 - Liudmila Samsonova (Berlin)
23 - Paula Badosa (Belgrade)
23 - Dasha Kasatkina (Phillip Island Melb.)
23 - Dasha Kasatkina (Saint Petersburg)
23 - Veronika Kudermetova (Charleston 500)
23 - Naomi Osaka (Australian Open)
23 - Aryna Sabalenka (Madrid)
23 - Gabriela Ruse (Hamburg)
23 - Tamara Zidansek (Lausanne)
24 - Ash Barty (Yarra Valley Melb.)
24 - Ash Barty (Miami)
24 - Belinda Bencic (Olympics)
24 - Alona Ostapenko (Eastbourne)
24 - Sara Sorribes Tormo (Guadalajara)
25 - Ash Barty (Stuttgart)
25 - Ash Barty (Wimbledon)
25 - Ash Barty (Cininnati)
25 - Barbora Krejcikova (Strasbourg)
25 - Barbora Krejcikova (Roland Garros)
25 - Barbora Krejcikova (Prague)
25 - Elise Mertens (Gippsland Melb.)
25 - Astra Sharma (Charleston 250)
26 - Ons Jabeur (Birmingham)
26 - Yulia Putintseva (Budapest)
27 - Garbine Muguruza (Dubai)
27 - Maryna Zanevska (Gdynia)
27 - Danielle Collins (Palermo)
27 - Danielle Collins (San Jose)
29 - Camila Giorgi (Montreal)
30 - Johanna Konta (Nottingham)
30 - Petra Kvitova (Doha)
31 - Sorana Cirstea (Istanbul)
33 - Andrea Petkovic (Cluj-Napoca)
33 - Angelique Kerber (Bad Homburg)
-
vacant - Kontaveit (25) vs. Li (20) [Grampians Melb. not played]

*2021 WTA 125 FINALS*
Saint-Malo, FRA (rc) - Viktorija Golubic/SUI def. Jasmine Paolini/ITA
Bol, CRO (rc) - Jasmine Paolini/ITA def. Arantxa Rus/NED
Bastad, SWE (rc) - Nuria Parrizas Diaz/ESP def. Olga Govortsova/BLR
Charleston, USA (gc) - Varvara Lepchenko/USA def. Jamie Loeb/USA
Belgrade, SRB (rc) - Anna Karolina Schmiedlova/SVK def. Arantxa Rus/NED
Concord, USA (hc) - Magdalena Frech/POL def. Renata Zarazua/MEX
Chicago, USA (hc) - Clara Tauson/DEN def. Emma Raducanu/GBR




*US OPEN WILD CARDS*
Hailey Baptiste/USA (19) - a US wild card for a second straight Open, she recorded her maiden slam 1r win in Paris in May
Ashlyn Krueger/USA (17) - born a few months later than Coco Gauff, she could be the youngest player in her maiden slam MD
Caty McNally/USA (19) - reached the US 3rd Round last year
Emma Navarro/USA (20) - the NCAA champ makes her slam debut
Storm Sanders/AUS (27) - gets the reciprocal TA wild card; is 0-4 in slam MD
CoCo Vandeweghe/USA (29) - she hasn't won a match at Flushing Meadows since her '17 semifinal run (and is just 2-7 in slam MD)
Katie Volynets/USA (19) - in her third slam MD, after being a WC ('19 US) and qualifier ('21 WI) in her earlier appearances
Venus Williams/USA (41) - the 41-year old appears in her 23rd career US MD, 24 years after reaching the final in her '97 debut at age 17

*YOUNGEST 2021 SLAM WILD CARDS*
RG - Oceane Babel, FRA (17)
US - Ashlyn Krueger, USA (17)
RG - Elsa Jacquemot, FRA (18)
RG - Diane Parry, FRA (18)
WI - Emma Raducanu, GBR (18)
RG - Hailey Baptiste, USA (19)
US - Hailey Baptiste, USA (19)
US - Caty McNally, USA (19)
US - Katie Volynets, USA (19)
AO - Destanee Aiava, AUS (20)
RG - Clara Burel, FRA (20)
WI - Francesca Jones, GBR (20)
US - Emma Navarro, USA (20)

=OLDEST 2021 SLAM WILD CARDS=
US - Venus Williams, USA (41)
AO - Samantha Stosur, AUS (36)
WI - Samantha Murray Sharan, GBR (33)
AO - Arina Rodionova, AUS (31)
US - CoCo Vandeweghe, USA (29)

=2021 SLAM WC MAKING SLAM MD DEBUTS=
AO - none
RG - Oceane Babel, FRA
WI - Jodie Burrage, GBR
WI - Emma Raducanu, GBR
US - Ashlyn Krueger, USA
US - Emma Navarro, USA





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It's funny how we can sometimes attach a particular song or artist to a specific moment from the past. For me, while I saw her sing many times over the years through appearances on the Letterman show and elsewhere, Griffith's will always be the voice in my head as I'd drive back from the one night class I took in college, filling up the darkness (I'd purposely take the quietest road) with the sounds of her "Late Night Grande Hotel" album. I'm sure I listened to other songs during those times, but hers are the only ones that I can remember all these years later. The memory still fills me up with good feelings.

["Late Night Grande Hotel"]

["It's Just Another Morning Here"]

["Hometown Streets"]


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Hey, HuffPost, you forget to include the quotation marks around "religion" or, you know, to just say cult.



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All for now.
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