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Sunday, November 14, 2021

Wk.42.1 - Riske's Closing Reward

With the clock ticking on her 2021 season, Alison Riske pulls an eleventh hour singles title out of her tennis bag in Linz.







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*WEEK 42.1 CHAMPIONS*
LINZ, AUSTRIA (WTA 250/Hard Court Indoor)
S: Alison Riske/USA def. Jaqueline Cristian/ROU 2-6/6-2/7-5
D: Natela Dzalamidze/Kamilla Rakhimova (RUS/RUS) def. Zheng Saisai/Wang Xinyu (CHN/CHN) 6-4/6-2



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SURPRISE: Jaqueline Cristian/ROU
...for most of her surprising season, Cristian has operated under the radar. Then came Cluj, where the Romanian's entrances to the court while donning a Countess Dracula cape and a sneaky smile turned her into an instant viral tennis meme as she played into the QF on home soil before falling to Simona Halep.

This week in Linz, Cristian was at it again, once more with a twist. The Countess, having just entered the Top 100, fell in the final round of qualifying to Lesia Tsurenko. She made the MD as a lucky loser, though, and her story started all over again. A comeback win (over Kamilla Rakhimova) was followed by a retirement (Rebecca Peterson), a good win (Veronika Kudermetova) and a walkover (Simona Halep) as Cristian found her way into her maiden tour final, the fifth lucky loser (sixth if you count Wang Qiang at the Elite Trophy three years ago) to advance as far in tour history, and the first since Coco Gauff (also in Linz) won a title as a LL two years ago.

The 23-year old took the 1st set from Alison Riske in the final, but ultimately fell to the veteran in a 7-5 3rd. Still, her Linz results (added to her U.S. Open 3rd Round run, Nur-Sultan SF and Transylvania QF) improve her record in this recent stretch to 19-9 and will see her climb into the Top 75 in the new rankings.

Of course, being Cristian, her results on the court weren't the *only* interesting note with her name attached...

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VETERAN: Simona Halep/ROU
...2021 has been anything but an ideal season on the court for Halep, as a calf injury cost her both Roland Garros and Wimbledon and ultimately led to her dropping not only out of the Top 5, but also Top 10 and 20.

In recent weeks, though, even as her campaign ended with yet another injury (a knee tweaked during a practice session, leading to her handing countrywoman Jaqueline Cristian a SF walkover), Halep seemed refreshed after having played well enough to boost her flagging confidence, ending '21 on an optimistic note heading into next season.

In Linz, this process included wins over Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Jasmine Paolini that pushed her into the SF in her first event since reaching the final in Transylvania two weeks ago. After her return from the calf injury in Montreal, Halep went 13-6 down the stretch and seems set to at least climb back into the Top 20 (barely) in the season's closing moments, at least keeping alive *one* of the streaks she began back in 2013.

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COMEBACK: Alison Riske/USA
...with her career seemingly in something of a no woman's lands for much of the two years since her career-best season in 2019 (Top 20, Wimbledon QF, Wuhan final, Rosmalen title and four Top 10 wins, including over #1 Barty), 31-year old Riske has found the reserves in enough places in '21 to show that she's still got some good tennis in her going forward.

Granted, Riske's two big weeks this season, a pair of final runs in Portoroz and this week's title in Linz, account for the overwhelming majority of her '21 high points. Aside from those two weeks (a combined 9-1), the Bannerette has gone just 7-15. But with this week's work, which included victories over Mona Barthel, Alize Cornet, Wang Xinyu, Danielle Collins (ret.) and Jaqueline Cristian in the final, Riske has gone 12-5 since the end of the U.S. Open, giving her the proper momentum heading into '22 that she didn't have on her side when *this* season began.

Linz was her eleventh career tour-level final, with the win giving her three titles.

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FRESH FACE: Wang Xinyu/CHN
...20-year old Wang pulled double duty in Linz, qualifying in singles with wins over Anastasia Gasanova and Leonie Kung, then posting MD victories over Kateryna Kozlova and Emma Raducanu en route to the QF, the latter win ending the U.S. Open champ's '21 campaign and giving herself her maiden Top 20 victory. Wang lost in the QF in straights to eventual champ Alison Riske, but will now crack the Top 100 for the first time.

Wang wasn't finished playing in Linz, though. She also reached the doubles final (third of her career) with Zheng Saisai (the duo were the recent Courmayeur champs), losing to the all-Russian pair of Dzalamidze/Rakhimova. Wang won a pair of junior doubles slams (AO/WI) in 2018.

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DOWN: Barbora Krejcikova/CZE and Iga Swiatek/POL
...you always know that *someone* is going to have an "o-fer" week at the WTA Finals. In Guadalajara, which I'll recap later (Week 42.2), we might see *two* players go 0-3.

Not surprisingly, the tiring (or maybe injured, or both?) Krejcikova was the first to do it in this year tour's season-ending championships. After a straight sets loss to Anett Kontaveit (join the club), the Czech fell in three to both Garbine Muguruza and Karolina Pliskova (truthfully, that's a bit better than might have been expected coming off her performances at the BJK Cup finals in Prague) to officially bring her breakthrough, RG-title winning '21 singles campaign to a close. She ends with a 45-19 mark, though with an ending six-match losing streak.

At least Krejcikova still has doubles to keep her final '21 event warm, as she and Katerina Siniakova ('18 finalists, then w/ a '19 rr exit) have already advanced out of round robin play into the SF (w/ another match still to play).

Swiatek hasn't yet gone 0-3, but she was the first of the eight players in the field to be eliminated when she fell in three sets to Aryna Sabalenka to fall to 0-2. The Pole had had a GP for 6-5 in the deciding set, but dropped serve and saw the Belarusian serve it out. After her opening match loss to Maria Sakkari, Swiatek didn't attend the post-match press conference and was allowed to provide a list of quotes to journalists instead, as the tentacles of the "legend of Osaka" are now officially being felt in real time. Swiatek's actions are noteworthy, considering she'd been on the opposite side of the Osaka issue at Roland Garros, saying that she felt that the post-match pressers didn't cause her mental stress and that she considered them "part of the job."
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ITF PLAYER: Anna Bondar/HUN
...a week after taking home her biggest career title at the WTA 125 in Buenos Aires, Bondar followed up with a $60K ITF win in Santiago, Chile. The Hungarian, who also won an $80K in Wiesbaden in September, took the crown without dropping a set, defeating Veronica Cepede Royg in a 6-2/6-3 final to win her twelfth career circuit singles title. The win lifts Bondar, 24, into the Top 100 for the first time in her career.

VCR had been seeking her first singles title since 2015, but has now lost six straight ITF singles finals (including twice in $100K events).
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JUNIOR STARS: Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva/AND and Diana Shnaider/RUS
...some nice first-time pro success for a pair of junior stars, as both VJK and Shnaider nabbed their maiden pro singles titles on the ITF circuit.

The 16-year old Andorran, the '20 AO girls champ, won the $25K challenger in Aparecida de Goiânia, Brazil while not dropping a set all week. In her second pro clay final of the season, after a SF win over #3-seed Ana Sofia Sanchez, Jimenez Kasintseva defeated top-seeded Panna Udvardy 6-3/7-5 to claim the crown. She led the Hungarian 6-3/4-0 before having to scramble back from 4-5 down, but ultimately got the job done.



In Antalya, Turkey, 17-year old Russian Shnaider ('21 Wimbledon GD champ) claimed her maiden title by knocking off the #3, #5 and #4 (Pia Lovric/SLO in the final, 6-3/6-2) seeds. The current girls' #5 won the J1 Villena junior title earlier this year with wins over VJK and Julia Middendorf, was runner-up at another J1 final at Porto Alegre and reached the semis at Roland Garros (falling to eventual champ Linda Noskova).

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DOUBLES: Natela Dzalamidze/Kamilla Rakhimova, RUS/RUS
...in Linz, the Hordette pair emerged with the 2021 season's final regular season doubles crown, defeating the all-Chinese duo of Wang Xinyu/Zheng Saisai 4 & 2 in the final. It was the second '21 final as a team for the Russians (having lost in Palermo), but the second title for both this season. Dzalamidze won in Cluj-Napoca (#1 in August, not the recent Transylvania Open) with Kaja Juvan, while Rakhimova did so in the Phillip Island event in Melbourne with Ankita Raina back in February.

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1. Linz Final - Alison Riske def. Jaqueline Cristian
...2-6/6-2/7-5. Riske battled back to force a 3rd, where the Romanian came within two points of the win on the Bannerette's serve at 5-4. But Riske held, then broke Cristian before serving out her third career title.

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2. Linz 2nd Rd. - Wang Xinyu def. Emma Raducanu
...6-1/6-7(0)/7-5. Raducanu (who we learned this week has found a coach in Torben Beltz, who has once again parted ways with Angie Kerber) was injured down the stretch, but still managed to save a MP and break back to knot the 3rd set at 5-5. But Wang swept the final two games, collecting her first career Top 20 win.

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3. Linz SF - Jaqueline Cristian walkover Simona Halep
...by deciding to not play while compromised by injury, Halep maintains her 16-match winning streak over her collective Romanian countrywomen with the walkover, while Cristian becomes (officially) the fifth LL to reach a tour final.

Really, though, she's the *sixth* as, if you remember, back at the '18 Elite Trophy Wang Qiang had been eliminated in round robin play, only to see semifinalist Madison Keys pull out of her match with Garbine Muguruza due to injury. Wang, still around the grounds, answered the late call as a "replacement player" in the match. Rather than being given a walkover (as *should* have occurred) into the final, Muguruza was handed a 2 & love defeat by surprise opponent Wang (hmm, I wonder what Miss Bencic might have said about such a late switcheroo?), who then went on to lose to Ash Barty in the final.
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4. $15K Sharm El Sheikh EGY Final - Bai Zhuoxuan def. Elena-Teodora Cadar
...6-1/6-3. 19-year old Bai wins her fourth title in five events in Sharm El Sheikh in recent weeks, completing a 20-1 run.

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5. $25K Daytona Beach USA Final - Irina Fetecau def. Alycia Parks
...6-1/6-2. 20-year old Parks, who made her tour debut in Charleston (250) earlier this season and recorded a tournament record-tying 129-mph serve at the U.S. Open this summer, reached the singles and doubles finals in Daytona Beach. She was runner-up in both, but it's another sign that she'll be a Bannerette to keep an extra eye on in '22.

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=GUADALAJARA, MEXICO=




=LINZ, AUSTRIA=






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*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)
32 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR (Indian Wells-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 250-L)
31 - Kristina Kucova, SVK (Gdynia-L)
31 - ALISON RISKE, USA (LINZ-W)
31 - Alison Riske, USA (Portoroz-L)

*2021 WTA INDOOR TITLES*
3 - Anett Kontaveit, EST
2 - Clara Tauson, DEN
1 - Ash Barty, AUS
1 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS
1 - ALISON RISKE, USA
1 - Alison Van Uytvanck, BEL
1 - Donna Vekic, CRO

*CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLES - N.America/Caribb. Region (active)*
73 - Serena Williams, USA
49 - Venus Williams, USA
6 - Sloane Stephens, USA
5 - Sofia Kenin, USA
5 - Madison Keys, USA
3 - Bianca Andreescu, CAN
3 - ALISON RISKE, USA
2 - Danielle Collins, USA
2 - Coco Gauff, USA
2 - Monica Puig, PUR
2 - CoCo Vandeweghe, USA
1 - Amanda Anisimova, USA
1 - Genie Bouchard, CAN
1 - Jennifer Brady, USA
1 - Lauren Davis, USA
1 - Irina Falconi, USA
1 - Leylah Fernandez, CAN
1 - Ann Li, USA
1 - Christina McHale, USA
1 - Jessica Pegula, USA

*LUCKY LOSERS IN WTA FINALS*
2005 Canberra - Melinda Czink, HUN
2012 Stanford - CoCo Vandeweghe, USA
2018 Moscow River Cup - Olga Danilovic, SRB (W)
2018 Elite Trophy [elim.in RR] - Wang Qiang, CHN
2019 Linz - Coco Gauff, USA (W)
2021 LINZ - JAQUELINE CRISTIAN, ROU

*YEARLY U.S. WTA TITLE WINNERS - since 1998*
1998: V.Williams,Davenport,Seles,Snyder
1999: S.Williams,V.Williams,Capriati,Davenport,Frazier,Morariu,Rubin,Seles
2000: S.Williams,V.Williams,Capriati,Davenport,Raymond,Rubin,Seles,Shaughnessy
2001: S.Williams,V.Williams,Capriati,Davenport,Seles,Shaughnessy,Tu
2002: S.Williams,V.Williams,Capriati,Craybas,Raymond,Rubin,Seles
2003: S.Williams,V.Williams,Davenport,Raymond,Rubin,Shaughnessy
2004: S.Williams,V.Williams,Davenport,Frazier
2005: S.Williams,V.Williams,Davenport,Frazier
2006: King,Shaughnessy
2007: S.Williams,V.Williams,Davenport,Shaughnessy
2008: S.Williams,V.Williams,Davenport
2009: S.Williams,V.Williams
2010: S.Williams,V.Williams
2011: S.Williams
2012: S.Williams,Oudin,V.Williams
2013: S.Williams
2014: S.Williams,V.Williams,Keys,Riske,Vandeweghe
2015: S.Williams,V.Williams,Stephens
2016: S.Williams,V.Williams,Falconi,Keys,McHale,Stephens,Vandeweghe
2017: S.Williams,Davis,Keys,Stephens
2018: Stephens
2019: Anisimova,Gauff,Kenin,Keys,Pegula,Riske
2020: S.Williams,Brady,Kenin
2021: Collins,Gauff,Li,Riske

=MOST WTA CHAMPIONSHIP/WTAF TITLES=
8 - Martina Navratilova
5 - Serena Williams*
5 - Steffi Graf
4 - Chris Evert
3 - Kim Clijsters*
3 - Monica Seles
2 - Gabriela Sabatini
2 - Martina Hingis
2 - Justine Henin
2 - Evonne Goolagong
-
*-active

=MOST WTA CHAMPIONSHIP/WTAF FINALS=
14 - Martina Navratilova (8-6)
8 - Chris Evert (4-4)
7 - Serena Williams (5-2)*
6 - Steffi Graf (5-1)
4 - Lindsay Davenport (1-3)
4 - Monica Seles (3-1)
4 - Martina Hingis (2-2)
4 - Gabriela Sabatini (2-2)
3 - Kim Clijsters (3-0)*
3 - Evonne Goolagong (2-1)
3 - Amelie Mauresmo (1-2)
3 - Maria Sharapova (1-2)
3 - Venus Williams (1-2)*
2 - Justine Henin (2-0)
2 - Tracy Austin (1-1)
2 - Petra Kvitova (1-1)*
2 - Elina Svitolina (1-1)*
2 - Caroline Wozniacki (1-1)
2 - Mary Pierce (0-2)
-
*-active

=REACHED FINAL IN WTA CHAMPIONSHIP/WTAF DEBUT=
1979 Tracy Austin, USA
1981 Andrea Jaeger, USA
1994 Lindsay Davenport, USA
1996 Martina Hingis, SUI
2001 Serena Williams, USA (W)
2004 Maria Sharapova, RUS (W)
2011 Petra Kvitova, CZE (W)
2014 Simona Halep, ROU
2016 Dominika Cibulkova, SVK (W)
2018 Sloane Stephens, USA
2019 Ash Barty, AUS (W)

=MOST WTA CHAMPIONSHIP/WTAF WD TITLES=
11 - Martina Navratilova
10 - Pam Shriver
4 - Lisa Raymond
3 - Timea Babos*
3 - Cara Black
3 - Lindsay Davenport
3 - Martina Hingis
3 - Liebel Huber
3 - Natasha Zvereva
2 - Margaret Court
2 - Gigi Fernandez
2 - Anna Kournikova
2 - Sania Mirza*
2 - Kristina Mladenovic*
2 - Jana Novotna
2 - Nadia Petrova
2 - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
2 - Samantha Stosur*
-
*-active

=WTA CHAMPIONSHIP/WTAF WS FINALS=
1972 Chris Evert d. Kerry Reid
1973 Chris Evert d.Nancy Richey
1974 Evonne Goolagong d. Chris Evert
1975 Chris Evert d. Martina Navratilova
1976 Evonne Goolagong d. Chris Evert
1977 Chris Evert d. Sue Barker
1978 Martina Navratilova d. Evonne Goolagong
1979 Martina Navratilova d. Tracy Austin
1980 Tracy Austin d. Martina Navratilova
1981 Martina Navratilova d. Andrea Jaeger
1982 Sylvia Hanika d. Martina Navratilova
1983 Martina Navratilova d. Chris Evert-Lloyd
1984 Martina Navratilova d. Chris Evert-Lloyd
1985 Martina Navratilova d. Helena Sukova
1986a Martina Navratilova d. Hana Mandlikova
1986b Martina Navratilova d. Steffi Graf
1987 Steffi Graf d. Gabriela Sabatini
1988 Gabriela Sabatini d. Pam Shriver
1989 Steffi Graf d. Martina Navratilova
1990 Monica Seles d. Gabriela Sabatini
1991 Monica Seles d. Martina Navratilova
1992 Monica Seles d. Martina Navratilova
1993 Steffi Graf d. Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
1994 Gabriela Sabatini d. Lindsay Davenport
1995 Steffi Graf d. Anke Huber
1996 Steffi Graf d. Martina Hingis
1997 Jana Novotna d. Mary Pierce
1998 Martina Hingis d. Lindsay Davenport
1999 Lindsay Davenport d. Martina Hingis
2000 Martina Hingis d. Monica Seles
2001 Serena Williams w/o Lindsay Davenport
2002 Kim Clijsters d. Serena Williams
2003 Kim Clijsters d. Amelie Mauresmo
2004 Maria Sharapova d. Serena Williams
2005 Amelie Mauresmo d. Mary Pierce
2006 Justine Henin-Hardenne d. Amelie Mauresmo
2007 Justine Henin d. Maria Sharapova
2008 Venus Williams d. Vera Zvonareva
2009 Serena Williams d. Venus Williams
2010 Kim Clijsters d. Caroline Wozniacki
2011 Petra Kvitova d. Victoria Azarenka
2012 Serena Williams d. Maria Sharapova
2013 Serena Williams d. Li Na
2014 Serena Williams d. Simona Halelp
2015 Aga Radwanska d. Petra Kvitova
2016 Dominika Cibulkova d. Angelique Kerber
2017 Caroline Wozniacki d. Venus Williams
2018 Elina Svitolina d. Sloane Stephens
2019 Ash Barty d. Elina Svitolina
2021

=WTA CHAMPIONSHIP/WTAF WD CHAMPIONS=
1973 Rosie Casals / Margaret Court
1974 Billie Jean King / Rosie Casals
1979 Francoise Durr / Betty Stove
1980 Billie Jean King / Martina Navratilova
1981 Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver
1982 Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver
1983 Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver
1984 Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver
1985 Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver
1986a Hana Mandlikova / Wendy Turnbull
1986b Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver
1987 Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver
1988 Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver
1989 Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver
1990 Kathy Jordan / Liz Smylie
1991 Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver
1992 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario / Helena Sukova
1993 Gigi Fernandez / Natalia Zvereva
1994 Gigi Fernandez / Natalia Zvereva
1995 Jana Novotna / Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
1996 Lindsay Davenport / Mary Joe Fernandez
1997 Lindsay Davenport / Jana Novotna
1998 Lindsay Davenport / Natasha Zvereva
1999 Martina Hingis / Anna Kournikova
2000 Martina Hingis / Anna Kournikova
2001 Lisa Raymond / Rennae Stubbs
2002 Elena Dementieva / Janette Husarova
2003 Virginia Ruano-Pascual / Paola Suarez
2004 Nadia Petrova / Meghann Shaughnessy
2005 Lisa Raymond / Samantha Stosur
2006 Lisa Raymond / Samantha Stosur
2007 Cara Black / Liezel Huber
2008 Cara Black / Liezel Huber
2009 Nuria Llagostera-Vives / Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez
2010 Gisela Dulko / Flavia Pennetta
2011 Liezel Huber / Lisa Raymond
2012 Maria Kirilenko / Nadia Petrova
2013 Hsieh Su-Wei / Peng Shuai
2014 Cara Black / Sania Mirza
2015 Martina Hingis / Sania Mirza
2016 Ekaterina Makarova / Elena Vesnina
2017 Timea Babos / Andrea Hlavackova
2018 Timea Babos / Kristina Mladenovic
2019 Timea Babos / Kristina Mladenovic






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Show me it's the WTA offseason without saying it's the WTA offseason...




(Surely) To be continued...


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2021: when Gene Simmons was the voice of reason. So there ya go.




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From when being on the cover of SI meant something (*is* there even such a thing as an "SI cover" anymore?)




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Huff, along with Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen (and play-by-play man Frank Herzog), was one of the voices of Redskin football for thirty years as part of the team's radio announcing crew, including during the "glory years" of the 1980s and '90s.






All for now.
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