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Sunday, September 19, 2021

Wk.34- The Dane Raises the Roof

And still another teen shall lead them...








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*WEEK 34 CHAMPIONS*
LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG (WTA 250/Hard Court Indoor)
S: Clara Tauson/DEN def. Alona Ostapenko/LAT 6-3/4-6/6-4
D: Green Minnen/Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL/BEL) def. Erin Routliffe/Kimberley Zimmermann (NZL/BEL) 6-3/6-3
PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA (WTA 250/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Jasmine Paolini/ITA def. Alison Riske/USA 7-6(4)/6-2
D: Anna Kalinskaya/Tereza Mihalikova (RUS/SVK) def. Aleksandra Krunic/Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove (SRB/NED) 4-6/6-2 [12-10]


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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Clara Tauson/DEN
...there have been a slew of teenagers achieving on a very high level in 2021. While Tauson, who broke the tape with her slam debuting upset of Jennifer Brady last fall in Paris, has only posted two MD wins in majors this season she's often been in top form on the regular tour, winning her maiden tour title in March in Lyon in just her third career tour-level MD appearance.

Tauson had gone just 4-8 in WTA MD matches since, but won the Chicago WTA 125 challenger last month to become the only player to claim singles crowns in WTA, WTA 125 and ITF events this season.

The 18-year old's title run this week in Luxembourg gives her two tour-level wins on the year (in her first 12 MD), with both coming in indoor hard court events in which her thudding groundstrokes are even more difficult to handle. After an opening win over Astra Sharma, the Dane outlasted Ekaterina Alexandrova in a 3rd set TB (she defeated the Russian en route to her maiden title in Lyon, as well) to reach her first tour-level QF since Charleston (250) in March. Czechs Marie Bouzkova and Marketa Vondrousova fell next, followed by defending champ Alona Ostapenko in the final in Tauson's third three-setter of the week, an interesting match-up of two players who often couldn't be more different on the court.

I mean, how many players routinely display a more casual brilliance at times than the Dane (well, how many not named Rybakina, at least)?



Of course, sometimes, there's nothing "casual" about it...



This title run improves Tauson's indoor HC mark in '21 to 13-3, and 21-6 since the start of last year, and she'll rise to a new career high (from #70) of #52.

Next up: her major breakthrough in 2022?
===============================================


RISERS: Jasmine Paolini/ITA and Liudmila Samsonova/RUS
...in Portoroz, Paolini became the 16th first-time tour singles champion of the season. The 25-year old (#87), having already reached a pair of WTA 125 finals (1-1, both on clay) this season, reached and won her maiden tour final on hard court while upsetting four seeded players -- #6 Yastremska, #4 Cirstea, #2 Putintseva and #3 Riske in the final -- in her five matches in Slovenia.

Paolini's previous best results had come on the dirt, where she's also gone 7-5 in ITF clay finals. She was just 1-2 in hard court finals before this win. She'll rise to a new career high of #64 on Monday.



Samsonova has been one of the Russians on the move in 2021. The 22-year old notched her maiden slam MD win in Melbourne, rallying from 5-3 in the 3rd to upset Paula Badosa. Her star-turn on the grass in Berlin, where she won her first tour title (def. Belinda Bencic in the final), earned a wild card into Wimbledon, where she reached the Round of 16 and cracked the Top 60.

In Luxembourg, Samsonova rode a trio of wins over Misaki Doi, Oceane Dodin and (again) top-seeded Bencic to reach her second semifinal of the season. She lost to fellow '21 grass title winner Ostapenko, but will climb to another career high of #44, leaving her around 300 points behind #34 Ekaterina Alexandrova (the #4-ranked Hordette on tour) as the season's final months stretch begins.

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SURPRISES: Lucia Bronzetti/ITA and Anna Kalinskaya/Tereza Mihalikova (RUS/SVK)
...22-year old Bronzetti has made quite an impression in recent months, reaching clay court QF in Lausanne and Palermo in her first two WTA MD appearances (while also posting a QF-RU-SF-RU ITF run on the surface in June/July). This week in Portoroz she made it three-for-three QF on the tour level, again (as in Lausanne) as a qualifier, but this time on hard court.

Wins over Rebecca Peterson and Bernarda Pera got the job done before a loss to Yulia Putintseva, improving Bronzetti's season record to an overstuffed 52-19. She'll rise from #167 to a new career high of #148.



In Portoroz, Kalinskaya & Mihalikova, old junior doubles partners (they won the '16 AO girls together), picked up their first title together as pros in five years (after $100K and $10K ITF wins in '16) and their first at tour-level. The duo upset top-seeded Klepac/Zidansek and advanced to the final (Kalinskaya's first w/o Viktoria Kuzmova, and Mihalikova's first, period) without dropping a set. Once there, they won a 12-10 match TB over Aleksandra Krunic & Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove.

On match point, it looks like Krunic tried to be the Bracelet, but missed and likely distracted Kerkhove, whose error ended the match. Oh, well (Krunic had been 14-6 in WTA/WTA 125 WD finals).

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VETERAN: Alison Riske/USA
...the biggest news Riske has made in the past year was making the U.S. Olympic team because of the absences of several higher-ranked Bannerettes as well as her own artificially-supported ranking, lingering well after her '19 Wimbledon QF result due to last year's pandemic-related SW19 cancellation. Meanwhile, on the court, after playing just one match in '21 before late April, Riske came into Portoroz with a 4-11 record on the year, with her only win since early August coming over some young Canadian player named Leylah in the 1st Round in Cincinnati (a pretty open-and-shut 2 & 2 victory... so surely she's not a name to watch, right?).

In Slovenia, though, Riske found her game like she hasn't since the start of 2020, when she reached the AO Round of 16 in what was her last multi-win event before this week when she ran off wins over Viktoria Kuzmova, Kristina Mladenovic and Kaja Juvan to reach her first final (and SF, too) since being runner-up in Wuhan in September '19. Riske fell in straights to first-time champ Jasmine Paolini, giving her a 1-8 record in finals since 2016 (since winning her maiden final in '14).

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COMEBACK: Alona Ostapenko/LAT
...while everyone else was having such a wild time in New York at the U.S. Open, Ostapenko missed out after withdrawing (she'd been the #27 seed) before the start of play.

Playing this past week as the defending champ in the Luxembourg event she won in 2019, Ostapenko nearly was the belated life of the party. Reaching her tenth career final, and third on indoor hard court in her last four, the Latvian posted wins over up-and-coming German Jule Niemeier, former NCAA champ Arianne Hartono, Alize Cornet and Liudmila Samsonova (in a match-up of '21 grass court titlists) to reach her second final of the season.

Ostapenko's run ended with a loss to Clara Tauson in a dramatic three-setter, but she may be onto something again as the season's latter stage begins. The last "normal" 4Q schedule -- not that 2021's remaining weeks will be "normal," just more so than last year -- Ostapenko ended '19 on a 9-1, two-final, one-title tear in a pair of indoor events in Linz and Luxembourg, and in '17 she closed out her slam-winning campaign with an 11-2 burst (Seoul W, Wuhan SF, Beijing SF) prior to the her only appearance in the round robin of the WTA finals.

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FRESH FACE: Kaja Juvan/SLO
...though she remains slightly under many people's radar, the 20-year old Slovenian may not remain as such for much longer. Even in a season in which she's missed time and training with Covid, Juvan has knocked down several career barriers, including a pair of slam 3rd Round runs (w/ wins over #13-seeded Konta in Melbourne and #9 Bencic in London), her first U.S. Open MD win, her Top 100 breakthrough and her first tour doubles title (Cluj-Napoca).

This week on home ground in Portoroz, Juvan reached her first WTA singles semifinal after posting wins over #1-seeded Petra Martic, Aleksandra Krunic and #5-seed Tamara Zidansek. Her run came to an end vs. Alison Riske, but it'll be enough to push her back into the Top 100.

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DOWN: Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS
...Alexandrova entered '21 having been on a steady ranking and standing rise since the mid-2010s. She ended last season at a career-high #25 and was the highest-ranked Russian on tour. Things have stalled.

Flashforward to this week and Alexandrova was ranked #33, having been stuck in the tiny ranking box of #32-36 each and every week of 2021. After an early-season SF in the Gippsland event in Melbourne (after wins over Swiatek and Halep, followed by another over Krejcikova in the AO), the Russian has gone 0-4 in QF matches and barely kept her head above .500 even while getting a series of good post-AO wins over the likes of Muchova, Bencic, Brady, Venus, Svitolina and Mertens.

After an opening round win in Luxembourg over Stefanie Vogele, the Russian lost in the 2nd Round to Clara Tauson via a 3rd set TB (after leading 3-1 in the deciding set), her second loss to the teenage Dane this year (Lyon 1r). She then fell to fellow Hordette Anastasia Potapova in the second round of qualifying in Ostrava this past weekend, retiring in the 2nd set to fall to a combined 22-20 on the season.

Alexandrova will remain in the small ranking window (#34) this week, but now finds herself as the #4-ranked Hordette, with Liudmila Samsonova charging hard (and with purpose) on the outside as we head down the WTA season's stretch.
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ITF PLAYER: Martina Trevisan/ITA
...the 27-year old Italian made a major breakthrough with her QF run at Roland Garros last fall as a qualifier (def. Giorgi, Gauff, Sakkari and Bertens before falling to eventual champ Swiatek). Things have been pretty lean since.

A week ago, during the second week of the U.S. Open, Trevisan reached the final of the WTA 125 challenger in Karlsruhe after having previously gone just 8-21 since her Paris result. This past week she kept her momentum going in the $80K event in Valencia, ESP. With wins over Veronica Cepede Royg, Seone Mendez, Aliona Bolsova, Oksana Selekhmeteva and, in the final, Dalma Galfi, she improved her record to 9-1 over the last two weeks. Her 4-6/6-4/6-0 victory over the Hungarian gives Trevisan her biggest career title, topping a handful of previous $25K wins (the most recent coming in 2019).

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JUNIOR STAR: Ksenia Zaytseva/RUS
...another week, another young Hordette throwing her name into the hat in the Great Russian Tennis Renaissance.

17-year old Zaytseva, the girls' #28, swept the singles and doubles titles in the J1 event in Hannover, Germany. After winning the doubles with fellow Russian Yaroslava Bartashevich, Zaytseva claimed her second straight J1 singles crown (Pancevo, SRB in August) with a 7-5/6-2 win over Serbian Ioana Zvonaru in the final. The Hordette didn't drop a set in singles all week, winning 10/10 and dropping just 13 total games in her five singles win.

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DOUBLES: Greet Minnen/Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL/BEL)
...the engaged duo once more make headlines *on* the court. In Luxembourg, they reached their third tour final together, winning their second crown (they previously claimed the same event three years ago). The pair's closest contest was a QF match against #2 seeds Sania Mirza & Zhang Shuai, won via a 10-8 match TB. They didn't lose any other sets all week (including in a SF vs. #3 Hozumi/Ninomiya), and defeated Erin Routliffe & Kimberley Zimmermann (the latter of which made the final a three-waffle meal) 6-3/6-3 to take the title.

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WHEELCHAIR: "Ms.Backspin-to-Be?"
...hmmm.

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1. Luxembourg 1st Rd. - Greet Minnen def. Nuria Parrizas Diaz
...7-6(4)/6-7(1)/7-6(2). These two played in a $100K challenger in August. The result: a two-tie-break three-setter that ended with Parrizas Diaz winning the deciding breaker 9-7 to end the 3:05 contest. This time around it was Minnen winning the *three* TB three-setter after 3:12 after completing the fifth TB in six sets played between the two.

Minnen had failed to serve out the win in the 2nd and 3rd sets, but won anyway and ended her week with a doubles title with her fiancee. So, win-win. (And "Arf!" Good boy.)

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2. Luxembourg 1st Rd. - Arianne Hartono def. Anna-Lena Friedsam
...7-6(5)/3-6/7-6(4). The Netherlands' Hartono, the 2018 NCAA women's singles champion at Mississippi, comes from 5-2 down in the 3rd to record her maiden MD victory with a win over #68 Friedsam. The world #300, Hartono took Ostapenko to three sets in the 2nd Round.

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3. Luxembourg 2nd Rd. - Clara Tauson def. Ekaterina Alexandrova
...6-4/3-6/7-6(1). It's not Pliskova/Pegula, but these two have developed quite the lopsided history in 2021. In both of the Dane's title runs she defeated the Russian en route, this time coming from 3-1 down in the 3rd to do it. The loss, via a 3rd set TB, drops Alexandrova to 2-11 in WTA tie-breakers this season.
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4. Portoroz Final - Jasmine Paolini def. Alison Riske
...7-6(4)/6-2. After having seen just one Italian champion (Camila Giorgi, Linz/Oct.'18) since Francesca Schiavone won her final singles title more than four years ago (April '17, Bogota), suddenly we've seen *two* (w/ Giorgi in Cincinnati) from Italy lift trophies in a little more than a month.
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5. Luxembourg Final - Clara Tauson def. Alona Ostapenko
...6-3/4-6/6-4. An 18-year old Caroline Wozniacki claimed her second tour title in 2008 in New Haven, just two weeks after having claimed her first in Stockholm. By the end of the next year, she was playing in the U.S. Open final. I note, just in case.

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HM- Luxembourg 1st Rd. - Mandy Minella def. Varvara Gracheva
...6-3/6-4. Entered as a hometown wild card to play in her final tournament before retirement, Minella finally gets her first MD win in her 12th appearance (w/ an ace on MP). Her last singles win of any kind in the event had come in the 2004 qualifying.



Minella lost in the 2nd Round to Alize Cornet is what will likely be her farewell match (though she apparently *may* play a final Australian swing early next season).

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1. Luxembourg 1st Rd. - Zarina Diyas def. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
...6-0/1-6/6-4. AKS drops her third straight match since her 11-1 run that included a WTA 125 title (Belgrade), Cluj-Napoca QF, US Open qualifying run and 1st Rd. win. Six of her last seven matches have gone three sets.
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2. Luxembourg Q2 - Ekaterina Makarova def. Yana Morderger 6-3/6-0
Luxembourg Q2 - Arianne Hartono def. Tayisiya Morderger 7-5/6-2
...you either get both of the Morderger twins, or you get none.
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=LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG=



=PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA=



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LOL... the fact that some people in the comments didn't get the joke here...


















I'm sure Yui didn't mean it.




Meanwhile...











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FADE IN:




”Victory-101”

EXT.UNIVERSITY BUILDING - DAY
A female guide leads a small group of people -- parents and children -- up the steps outside a university building before they all go inside.

INT.UNIVERSITY HALLWAY
The group slowly walks down a long hallway lined with doors leading to classrooms. Everyone looks around at their surroundings with expressions of awe, impressed with what they see.

GUIDE
Our motto at WTA University
is to Always Expect Success.

One of the young potential stars runs up to a classroom door, looking through the glass. She sees Victoria Azarenka at the front of a class of young students.

GUIDE
We have an entire series of
courses designed to teach the
finer points of the art
of celebration.




INT.CLASSROOM
Azarenka demonstrates the proper celebratory clenched-fist technique.

AZARENKA
If you don’t get it at first, that’s
okay. Everyone’s fist is unique.
You do you.

Each of the students do their own version. Vika smiles at their efforts.

INT.UNIVERSITY HALLWAY


GUIDE
We take pride in our ability
to teach our students how
to master the basics...

As the group travels down the hallway, they peek through the door windows of other rooms, eyeing the instructors teaching rows of eager students. We see inside the classrooms as we hear the guide’s voice as she continues to talk to the prospective university attendees and their parents.

GUIDE
...then we gradually introduce
a more complex curriculum.

INT.CLASSROOM
We see Leylah Fernandez make a sweeping gesture toward the students, as if demanding that they stand up and cheer. Once they do, the young professor shakes her fist and lifts it high above her head.

GUIDE (voice)
We expect the very best...

In one classroom, Serena Williams, on bended knee, raises her fist in triumph. A rather studious-looking member of the glass quickly takes notes. We view a CLOSE-UP of her Notebook and see that she’s hand-drawn a rather intricate portrait of Williams’ pose.

GUIDE (voice)
It’s not for the faint of heart...

We see Francesca Schiavone, on her back, roll over and kiss the floor. A student in the front row makes a face, as if she can taste the floor from her seat.

GUIDE (voice)
But when it all comes together,
it’s a true triumph for us all.

Angelique Kerber, in a lab coat and with a pointer in hand, stands at the head of the class in front of a chalkboard with a complex diagram of herself celebrating -- complete with lines leading to handwritten notations -- drawn on it. A student stands next to her with a racket in her hand, apparently part of a demonstration.



Kerber clenches and vigorously pump both fists -- one still holding the pointer toward the ceiling -- while simultaneously lifting a leg. The student tries to emulate her actions, but comes up a bit short as she pumps just one fist while raising her leg, and holds the racket pointed toward the floor. Kerber quickly lends assistance.

KERBER
No, no... you’ re doing a “modified Ivanovic.”
(does the combined moves again)
*Both* fists *and* a knee...

The student finally succeeds.

KERBER
Yes! Now pump! And yell!

The student’s shout fills the room, and the outside hallway.

KERBER
Eureka!

INT.UNIVERSITY HALLWAY
As the group continues to walk down the hallway, one girl trails behind the others. She practices her moves, doing a Venus-like twirl and then waving to the invisible fans lining the walls. She bows, then runs to catch up with the others.



A school bell rings over the logo.

END.


To be continued...



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*2021 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
5 - ASH BARTY, AUS [Yarra V.,Miami,Stuttgart,Wimb.,Cincy]
3 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE [Strasbourg,RG,Prague]
2 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR [Abu Dhabi,Madrid]
2 - Iga Swiatek, POL [Adelaide,Rome]
2 - Danielle Collins, USA [Palermo,San Jose]
2 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS [P.Island,Saint Petersburg]
2 - CLARA TAUSON, DEN [Lyon,Luxembourg]

*2021 FIRST-TIME SINGLES FINALISTS*
Abu Dhabi - Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (#46, 23) - L
Grampians - Ann Li, USA (#99, 20) - DNP
Lyon - Clara Tauson, DEN (#139, 18) - W
Guadalajara - Sara Sorribes Tormo, ESP (#71, 24) - W
Bogota - MC.Osorio Serrano, COL (#180, 19) - W
Belgrade - Paula Badosa, ESP (#44, 23) - W
Berlin - Liudmila Samsonova, RUS (#106, 22) - W
Hamburg - Gabriela Ruse, ROU (#154, 23) - W
Prague - Tereza Martincova, CZE (#78, 26) - L
Lausanne - Clara Burel, FRA (#125, 20) - L
Budapest - Anhelina Kalinina, UKR (#95, 24) - L
Gdynia - Maryna Zanevska, BEL (#165, 27) - W
Gdynia - Kristina Kucova, SVK (#150, 31) - L
Palermo - Danielle Collins, USA (#44, 27) - W
Cluj-Napoca - Mayar Sherif, EGY (#119, 25) - L
U.S. Open - Emma Raducanu, GBR (#150, 18) - W
PORTOROZ - JASMINE PAOLINI, ITA (#87, 25) - W

*2021 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
Lyon - Clara Tauson, DEN (18/#139)
Guadalajara - Sara Sorribes Tormo, ESP (24/#71)
Monterrey - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (18/#88)
Bogota - MC Osorio Serrano, COL (19/#180)
Charleston - Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (23/#38)
Charleston 250 - Astra Sharma, AUS (25/#165)
Belgrade - Paula Badosa, ESP (23/#44)
Strasbourg - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (25/#38)
Birmingham - Ons Jabeur, TUN (26/#24)
Berlin - Liudmila Samsonova, RUS (22/#106)
Hamburg - Gabriela Ruse, ROU (23/#154)
Lausanne - Tamara Zidansek, SLO (23/#50)
Gdynia - Maryna Zanevska, BEL (27/#165)
Palermo - Danielle Collins, USA (27/#44)
U.S. Open - Emma Raducanu, GBR (18/#150)
PORTOROZ - JASMINE PAOLINI, ITA (25/#87)

*2021 OLDEST WTA FINALISTS*
35 - Kaia Kanepi, EST (Gippsland-L)
33 - Angelique Kerber, GER (Bad Homburg-W)
33 - Andrea Petkovic, GER (Cluj Napova-W)
33 - Andrea Petkovic, GER (Hamburg-L)
32 - Zhang Shuai, CHN (Nottingham-L)
31 - Irina-Camelia Begu, ROU (Cleveland-L)
31 - Sorana Cirstea, ROU (Strasbourg-L)
31 - Sorana Cirstea, ROU (Istanbul-W)
31 - Alize Cornet, FRA (Chicago-L)
31 - Kristina Kucova, SVK (GDYNIA-L)
31 - Alison Riske, USA (Portoroz-L)
30 - Petra Kvitova, CZE (Doha-W)
30 - Johanna Konta, GBR (Nottingham-W)

*2021 WTA CHAMPIONS BY AGE*
17 - Coco Gauff (Parma)
18 - Clara Tauson (Lyon)
18 - Clara Tauson (Luxembourg)
18 - Emma Raducanu (US Open)
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 - Anett Kontaveit (Cleveland)
25 - Barbora Krejcikova (Strasbourg)
25 - Barbora Krejcikova (Roland Garros)
25 - Barbora Krejcikova (Prague)
25 - Elise Mertens (Gippsland Melb.)
25 - Astra Sharma (Charleston 250)
25 - Jasmine Paolini (Portoroz)
26 - Ons Jabeur (Birmingham)
26 - Yulia Putintseva (Budapest)
26 - Elina Svitolina (Chicago)
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]





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All for now.
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