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Sunday, October 10, 2021

Wk.37- Mid-day in the Desert

Flashforward... two and a half years later.








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[Wk.37 - I.W. 1r-2r]

RISER: Aliaksandra Sasnovich/BLR
...Aryba Sabakenka's positive Covid test kept her out of the I.W. draw, but countrywoman Sasnovich has made a point to keep Belarus in the headlines anyway, following up a win over Maria Camila Osorio Serrano with another victory U.S. Open champ Emma Raducanu in the Brit's much-anticipated return to the court after her star-making turn in New York.

Of course, Sasnovich has shown an ability to get people's attention over the course of *her* career, too. If it hasn't been with big upsets on the court, it's been with memorable turns at the microphone *after* a match. In her win over Raducanu, she worked *both* sides of that equation.

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SURPRISE: Jasmine Paolini/ITA
...things haven't been easy for the Portoroz champ since her maiden title run a few weeks ago. Last week she lost to young Bannerette Hailey Baptiste in Chicago. Early this past week in Indian Wells, the Italian lost in qualifying to Kateryna Kozlova. But Paolini got a second chance as a lucky loser, and quickly made the most of it, posting a MD win over Chicago quarterfinalist Mai Hontama and then following that with an upset of Elise Mertens (her first Top 20 win) to assure herself of her best career result (at least 3rd Rd.) at any event at the 1000 level or above.

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VETERANS: Viktorija Golubic/SUI and Ajla Tomljanovic/AUS
...2021 has been quite a year for Golubic, but even in October she's still adding new things to her list of season accomplishments.

The 28-year old Swiss has already reached a pair of WTA finals (0-2), won a WTA 125 title and played in two more ITF challenger title matches (1-1), made her Top 50 debut, her maiden slam quarterfinal (Wimbledon) and played in her first Olympic games (winning doubles Silver w/ Belinda Bencic). Through the first week in Indian Wells, Golubic put up back-to-back upset wins over the likes of Marketa Vondrousova and Maria Sakkari, the latter victory over the #9-ranked Greek being her first Top 10 win of the season (and just the second of her career, after def. then #6 Muguruza in 2016). The wins put the Swiss into her first career WTA 1000 3rd Round, topping a pair of 2nd Round results in 2017. After starting the year at #137, Golubic came into the week at #46 and *could* achieve yet another career high ranking at the end of the tournament.



Already a first-time slam quarterfinalist (Wimbledon) in '21, Tomljanovic is still alive in Indian Wells after, following a win over Usue Arconada, producing her fourth career Top 10 victory, her first since 2019, with an upset of #6 Garbine Muguruza. It's the Aussie's biggest win since defeating then #3 Aga Radwanska in 2014.

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FRESH FACES: Magdalena Frech/POL and Anna Kalinskaya/RUS
...what Frech began with her MVP performance for Poland (w/ a hand in all three points in a 3-2 win) vs. Brazil in the BJK Cup playoffs back in April (or maybe it was her Charleston qualifying run and 1st Rd. win a week earlier), the 23-year old has continued as 2021 has gone on. Qualifying wins in Indian Wells over Lizette Cabrera and Rebecca Marino earned Frech her maiden MD spot in the event, and her win over Zhang Shuai gave her her first 1000 level match victory. She fell a round later to top-seeded Karolina Pliskova, but the Pole's career year -- which has seen her go 37-18, including an 18-5 stretch since the start of August -- will next see her crack the Top 100 for the first time once Indian Wells has concluded.



In her Indian Wells MD debut, 22-year old Kalinskaya followed qualifying wins over Viktoriya Tomova and Priscilla Hon with additional victories over Claire Liu and Sara Sorribes Tormo to reach the 3rd Round. The 2015 RG girls runner-up to Paula Badosa, the Russian also reached the 3rd Round in Miami (as a WC) earlier this year in her only other WTA 1000 MD this season. Her only other 1000 level MD came as a qualifier (w/ a 1st Rd. loss) at last year's Western & Southern Open at Flushing Meadows.

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DOWN: Elise Mertens/BEL
...what with her heavy singles/doubles schedule, Mertens can likely be expected to be tiring down the stretch of a long season. Perhaps that explains why Indian Wells became the Waffle's fifth event in her last six in which she failed to win more than a single match. This time around, she didn't even get one, falling in her opening 2nd Round outing to lucky loser Jasmine Paolini. At least the lone event in which Mertens stuck around in the back-half of '21 was a big one, accounting for her Round of 16 result at Flushing Meadows (her seventh 4th Round-or-better result in the last eleven majors).

10-11 since the end of Roland Garros, Mertens is just 7-10 without her U.S. Open result. She's 1-4 in four appearances in the Indian Wells MD.
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ITF PLAYERS: Clara Burel/FRA and Harmony Tan/FRA
...it was a good ITF weekend for the Pastries.

In Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Burel captured her second circuit title of the season (she also reached her maiden tour-level final in Lausanne in July) with a 6-4/6-2 win in the $25K final over countrywoman Emerline Dartron. It's the third career pro singles title for the 20-year old former junior #1, who'll be flirting with (if not achieving) another new career-best ranking (it's currently #79) in the next announced rankings.



In the $25K final in Loule, Portugal, Tan continued to add more accomplishments to a season that had already seen her win a January ITF title, notch her first career slam MD win (RG) and achieve a career high ranking (#119 last week). The top seed in the event, Tan posted wins over Wimbledon junior finalist Nastasja Schunk (2r), Chloe Paquet (SF) and Ellen Perez in a 6-4/6-4 final to claim her eighth career challenger win.

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JUNIOR STAR: Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE
...another week, another Fruhvirtova championship recap.

A week after leading the Czech Republic to the Junior BJK Cup title, 14-year old Brenda (jr. #24) swept the singles and doubles crowns at the J1 girls event in Vrsar, Croatia. #1-seed Fruhvirtova extended her singles winning streak to 15 matches with her 7-6(2)/6-2 victory in the final over 16-year old Swiss Celine Naef (#53). The Czech is 21-1 in her last twenty-two matches (w/ her only loss coming the 1st Round of U.S. Open girls competition), and 26-2 since June.



Fruhvirtova won the doubles alongside fellow Czech Barbora Palicova, a run which included a 10-4 match TB win over Naef and Elena Pridankina in the semis.

Naef, a recent semifinalist in both Hannover and at the Astrid Bowl, had defeated three seeded Czechs en route to the final, posting wins over Lucie Havlickova (3r), Tereza Valentova (QF) and #2-seed Palicova (who'd beaten her in the Astrid semis).

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[Wk.37 - I.W. 1r-2r]

1. I.W. 2nd Rd. - Angelique Kerber def. Katerina Siniakova
...6-1/6-7(4)/7-5. Since the summer, Kerber has taken many opportunities to remind everyone of her "glory days" with a series of triumphant three-set battles, and this was yet another example. After serving for the match in the 2nd, then losing a TB on Siniakova's sixth SP, the German ultimately pulled ahead in the decider to win a 2:29 affair.

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2. I.W. 2nd Rd. - Aliaksandra Sasnovich def. Emma Raducanu
...6-4/6-2. U.S. Open champion? Sasnovich don't care.



Raducanu has had a very busy few weeks, and still exists in the coaching "in-between," so she gets something of a mulligan in just her fifth tour-level MD appearance. At least her philosophical reaction to the loss sounded like what a slam winner *should* say.

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3. I.W. 2nd Rd. - Bianca Andreescu def. Alison Riske
...7-6(2)/5-7/6-2. Andreescu makes her long-awaited return to the desert two and a half years after winning her breakthrough title there in '19. She led Riske by a set and 4-1, and had two MP in the 2nd before (again) being forced to go three sets.

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4. I.W. 2nd Rd. - Ajla Tomljanovic def. Garbine Muguruza
...6-3/1-6/6-3. Tomljanovic's fourth Top 10 win, and Muguruza's first match since winning Chicago last week despite barely having to play through most of the tournament.

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5. I.W. 1st Rd. - Sloane Stephens def. Heather Watson
...6-7(5)/7-5/6-1. A 2:51 match win for Stephens. A few years ago, one might think this could be the sort of result that might launch her to something good. But it's 2021 and Sloane simply lost a round later to Jessie Pegula.
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6. I.W. 2nd Rd. - Victoria Azarenka def. Magda Linette
...7-5/3-0 ret. Irony in the desert?
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7. I.W. 2nd Rd. - Yulia Putintseva def. Elena Rybakina
...6-2/7-6(5). The battle for Kazakhstan in California. Putintseva and Rybakina have combined to reach seven tour finals the last two seasons, going 2-5.
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8. I.W. 2nd Rd. - Amanda Anisimova def. Camila Giorgi
...6-4/6-1. The Italian falls to 0-4 (0-8 sets) since winning in Montreal.
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9. $15K Monastir TUR Final - Sebastianna Scilipoti def. Tess Sugnaux
...6-3/6-1. The 18-year old Swiss dropped just one set in five matches while picking up her second career ITF title. Scilipoti is 12-3 since the start of August.

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10. $60K Las Vegas USA Final - Emina Bektas def. Yuriko Lily Miyazaki
...6-1/6-1. Bektas, a recent tour-level qualifier in both San Jose and Cleveland, wins her first singles title since 2017.
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HM- $15K Hilton Head USA Final - Katerina Stewart def. Raveena Kingsley
...6-4/6-2. Stewart completes the title sweep in Hilton Head, improving to 13-5 in career ITF singles finals.
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[Wk.37 - I.W. 1r-2r]

1. I.W. 1st Rd. - Katerina Siniakova def. Kim Clijsters
...6-1/2-6/6-2. Siniakova is the latest to get an "I'd forgotten she ever played..." footnote to her career that will (eventually) be up for discussion around 2030 or so.

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=INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA USA=






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**2021 TOP JUNIOR EVENT CHAMPIONS**
SVYATOPETRIVSKE VILLAGE UKR J1: Anastasiia Gureva/RUS
SALINAS ECU J1: Natalia Szabanin/HUN
ASUNCION BOWL PAR J1: Petra Marcinko/CRO
PORTO ALEGRE BRA J1: Natalia Szabanin/HUN
BANANA BOWL BRA GA: Oceane Babel/FRA
BARRANQUILLA COL J1: Johanne Christine Svendsen/DEN
SAN DIEGO USA J1: Alexandra Yepifanova/USA
VILLENA ESP J1: Diana Shnaider/RUS
PLOVDIV BUL J1: Michaela Laki/GRE
YELTSIN CUP RUS J1: Alina Shcherbinina/RUS
RICANY CZE J1: Julia Middendorf/GER
BYTOM POL J1: Dominika Salkova/CZE
ROLAND GARROS: Linda Noskova/CZE
ROEHAMPTON GBR J1: Linda Fruhvirtova/CZE
WIMBLEDON: Ane Mintegi del Olmo/ESP
MILAN ITA GA: Alexandra Eala/PHI
EUROPEAN 18U CHSP. (CLOSED B1) SUI: Antonia Ruzic/CRO
PANCEVO SRB J1: Ksenia Zaytseva/RUS
COLLEGE PARK USA J1: Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE
US OPEN: Robin Montgomery/USA
HANNOVER GER J1: Ksenia Zaytseva/RUS
ASTRID BOWL BEL J1: Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE
JUNIOR BJK CUP TUR: Czech Republic
VRSAR, CRO JI: Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE





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This is a very cool idea...




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Armed and dangerous...




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You had me at Romania...




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All for now.
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