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Monday, January 17, 2022

AO.1 - Wang Puts Coco in the Corner

It took a while on Monday, but the First Seed Out was finally discovered. And in an unexpected turn of events, it turned out to be #18 Coco Gauff.



Around eighteen of the scheduled thirty-two women's 1st Round matches on Day 1 had been completed before the hammer fell, and one would have been hard pressed to pick Gauff as being the first seeded woman sent packing.

That wasn't because veteran Wang Qiang isn't capable. She is (or at least she was not that long ago). But 17-year old Gauff came into this AO having looked pretty good the first two weeks of '22, pushing Ash Barty to three sets in Adelaide in Week 1 and then following up with a semifinal result a week later. She just achieved a new career-high ranking of #16, as well. On the other hand, Wang, now 30, has drifted on and off the radar for most of the last two seasons, topping out with an upset of Serena Williams in Melbourne in '20 en route to the 4th Round and reaching her first final in three years last season in Parma (where she lost to, you guessed it, Gauff), to falling outside the Top 100 after having been on the cusp of the Top 10 (at #12) late in '19 after her lone slam QF at that summer's U.S. Open.

But Gauff played a sloppy match against Wang today, committing 38 UE to just 15 winners, and didn't really push her on serve until it was almost *far* too late. Still, late in the 2nd set, it looked as if something big might be about to happen. Gauff dropped serve to fall *triple* break down at 5-0, with Wang serving for the match. The Chinese woman played a poor, nervous game and was broken. Gauff then saved three MP on her own serve and held, and then had a double BP edge at 15/40 on Wang's serve at 5-2. But Wang pulled the game back to deuce, and Gauff's poorly executed drop shot gave her a fourth MP chance. Gauff couldn't handle Wang's serve up the "T," ending the 6-4/6-2 match.

Before today, Gauff had only suffered one 1st Round slam exit in her first nine major MD appearances ('20 U.S.).

Meanwhile, Wang potentially steps into a role at this major that has been occupied by quite a few of her countrywomen in the past. The likes of Zheng Jie (SF), Li Na (W), and Zhang Shuai (QF) have shined at the AO (once pushed as "the slam of Asia/Pacific") over the years. Wang is even being coached by an Aussie (Pat Cash), so she'll likely get a bit of a bump in crowd support for as long as she sticks around.

We'll see how long she does just that.




=DAY 1 NOTES=
...things are now officially underway on Day 1 in Melbourne, without one headline hog, but with a few hundred others seeking *their* turn in the spotlight.

(Lord, what an unnecessary sideshow... where's Carl when you need him, right?) Anyway...

Sometimes the opening hours of a major feature a real "horse race" to see who'll be the first player to advance to the 2nd Round, with multiple matches finishing within moments of one another. That wasn't the case on Monday, though. #30-seeded Camila Giorgi moved up along the outside of a few players who'd gotten off to quicker starts, then finished faster than anyone, downing Russian Anastasia Potapova 6-4/6-0 to clock the First Victory at this slam with a good bit of space between her and "second place."

...while Elina Svitolina hasn't had the sort of slam success once envisioned for her, at least she hasn't been one to dive-bomb out of majors in her first match. In fact, it's happened just once since 2015 ('18 Wimbledon), and not at the Australian Open since her debut there in 2013 (a loss to Angelique Kerber).

#15 seed Svitolina raced to 4-0 lead over Fiona Ferro today, dropping just one game in the 1st set. The two exchanged breaks late in the 2nd, with the Pastry taking a brief lead at 5-4 before Svitolina got the break back as Ferro failed to serve out the set. The Ukrainian won a 7-4 TB to close things out in straights to improve to 26-1 in her last 27 1st Round matches in majors.

...while Svitolina, previously 0-2 on the season, didn't begin this AO with any sort of momentum, several others who played today did.

Week 1 Melbourne champ Amanda Anisimova, a slam semifinalist in Paris in '19, quickly fell behind Dutch qualifier Arianne Hartono (the former NCAA champ) on Monday. In her slam debut, Hartono led 4-1 and claimed the 1st set. She led 4-2 in the 2nd, as well, before the Bannerette turned things on to claim the final four games to take the set. In the 3rd, Hartono twice took early break leads in the first three games of the set, but again Anisimova finished strong, winning five of the final six games to get the three-set win, 2-6/6-4/6-3.

19-year old Chinese qualifier Zheng Qinwen has been one of the stories of the season's opening weeks, qualifying and reaching the semis in just her fourth career WTA MD event in Melbourne in Week 1. She spent Week 2 qualifying for the AO to reach her maiden slam MD.

Today against Aliaksandra Sasnovich, herself a qualifier-turned-finalist in the second opening week Melbourne tournament, Zheng took a 3-0 lead over the Belarusian and claimed the opening set. Sasnonich dropped serve to open the 2nd, but then ran off six straight games to send the match to the 3rd. There, Sasnovich strung together three straight games to lead 3-1, only to see Zheng rally from 4-2 down to get back on serve, leading 5-4.

Zheng took a love/30 lead on Sasnovich's serve in game #11, holding double MP at 15/40. She framed her return on her first MP, then missed on an open backhand down the line on #2. A Sasnovich forehand error gave her a third MP, but the Belarusian seized control of the rally and got things back to deuce. Finally, on her fourth GP after having staved off the match points, Sasnovich held to force a TB with a missed forehand from Zheng.

Zheng grabbed a double-break lead in the TB at 3-0, and maintained her lead throughout, never trailing. An ace gave her a fourth MP at 9-4, but it took a fifth try -- converted when Sasnovich netted a short backhand at the net -- for Zheng to record her first career slam MD victory, 6-3/1-6/7-6(10-5).



Oh, and yes, just like with Hailey Baptiste in the qualifying rounds, Zheng thought the match was over (at 7-4) just a little bit before it actually was.



Zheng's win contributed to a 3-0 mark by Chinese women on Day 1 as, along with the veteran Wang, a second of the trio of members of the "Li Na Generation" -- wild card Wang Xiyu, 20 -- also posted her maiden slam MD victory over qualifier Viktoria Kuzmova on Monday. The third member of that group, 20-year old Wang Xiyu will seek *her* maiden slam win against Ann Li on Day 2.

...Kaja Juvan began '22 by becoming the first to draw blood from Aryna Sabalenka this season. As a week or so has gone by since then, though, the Slovenian's fate has turned. She reached a QF in Week 1, but then retired in the opening round of qualifying a week later. Today she returned to the AO after reaching the 3rd Round a year ago, only to again fail to build on any lingering momentum from her big win over the world #2. Against 28-year old Ukrainian-born Belgian Maryna Zanevska, Juvan was bounced in a pair of tie-break sets.

It's Zanevska's maiden slam MD win, after having previously been 0-6 in such matches. She was playing in the first round of a major for the first time since 2017. Zanevska had failed to make it through qualifying ten straight times in slams since then, but was an automatic qualifier for this AO after her breakout '21 campaign saw her pick up her maiden tour title (Gdynia) and climb into the Top 80.

Week 2 Adelaide champ Madison Keys, who missed the '21 AO due to Covid, downed #11 Sonia Kenin (the '20 AO champ) 7-6(2)/7-5, serving out the match on her second try to continue her fine early-season run.

...elsewhere, #13-seed (yep) Naomi Osaka, the defending women's champion, roared out of the gate vs. Camila Osorio, taking a 5-0 lead before the Colombian got her footing. Osaka advanced 6-3/6-3 and, after giving a walkover in the semifinals of her Week 1 event, has so far yet to lose a match in '22.

Italian Lucia Bronzetti added her name to another list of first-timers, winning her slam debut match over Varvara Gracheva in three sets. The Russian had reached three 3rd Rounds in her first six slam appearances, but wasn't able to overcome the qualifier today. Bronzetti grabbed a 4-1 lead in the deciding set, and served out the match at love, firing an ace on her first MP to win 3-6/6-2/6-3.

Bronzetti had battled her way into the MD by coming back from a set and a break down vs. Nao Hibino in the final qualifying round. Hibino, as it turned out, was inserted into the draw (and schedule) today as a lucky loser when Zheng Saisai pulled out. (Irina Bara also got a free pass into the 1st Round when #9 Ons Jabeur withdrew.)

...late in the day session, #21 Jessie Pegula avoided a dreaded 0-3 start to her season with a three-set triumph over Anhelina Kalinina. Serving for the match at 6-5 in the final set, the Buffalo native gathered as much of the leftover Bills playoff energy from this weekend as she could (her parents' team won 47-17 on Saturday, a half a globe away and with about an 80-degrees-plus temperature difference from Melbourne) after rallying from a set down and winning a 2nd set TB. Pegula closed things out by firing an ace on MP to win 4-6/7-6(1)/7-5.

#28 Alona Ostapenko doesn't have a great history in Melbourne. It's the only slam at which she has a losing record. Well, it *was*, at least. The Latvian dropped her opening set vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova today, but rallied to win 6-7(7)/6-4/6-1 to improve to 6-6 in the event.

...in Sunday ITF action, 20-year old Pole Maja Chwalinski took the $25K challenger in Monastir over Carole Monnet of France, winning a 6-4/6-4 final to claim her fourth career pro crown.

In Antalya, the U.S.'s Hurricane Tyra Black won her second pro title, defeating Czech junior Barbora Palicova (in her first pro final), 6-0/6-4.

The $25K Vero Beach title was won by Sophie Chang (USA), who defeated Belarusian Vera Lapko ('16 AO jr. champ) in three sets to win her first pro title since 2018. Later, Chang returned to the court to take the doubles alongside Allie Kiick, as well.

...Bannerette Sonya Macavei, 17, won her first career J1 girls crown at the Coffee Bowl in San Jose, Costa Rica, defeating Canada's Naomi Xu in a love 3rd set.



...in the Melbourne WC Open, the second big wheelchair event of '22, top-ranked Diede de Groot opened her post-Golden Slam campaign by allowing just one game in her season debut against Katharina Kruger, extending her singles winning streak to 37 matches (she last loss to Yui Kamiji last January in the final of this very event). De Groot will face KG Montjane in the semis, with the winner meeting either Kamiji or Aniek Van Koot in the final.

...on Night 1, arguably the two top performers of the first two weeks of the season -- Adelaide champ Ash Barty and Sydney winner Paula Badosa --will open their AO runs under the lights. As of this post, Barty leads on Laver vs. Lesia Tsurenko (whoops... well, it's over, with the world #1 winning 6-0/6-1), while Badosa later in the evening gets Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic on MCA (Tomljanovic, remember, had Simona Halep dead to rights at last year's AO in the night session, only to see the Romanian somehow surge to victory with a late sweep of games).





...THIS COULD WIN THE AWARD FOR "MOST EMBARRASSING DEVELOPMENT THAT SHOULD CAUSE A REASSESSMENT OF THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS AS WELL AS A CALL FOR MORE RIGHT-THINKING ACTION BY PEOPLE IN THE KNOW" ON DAY 1:




I mean, you know, it could if *that* particular title hadn't already been claimed -- for the entire tennis season, if not longer -- by the men's #1 (and his lawyers), Craig Tiley, the Victorian goverment et al. taking a virtual flame thrower to the standing and reputation of the Australian Open, Tennis Australia, the Aussie government, the nation's whole visa system and the sport in general due to a total breakdown in communication across multiple levels and the unbelievably arrogant attempt to essentially push a tennis ball through the eye of a needle and thinking that either no one would notice or, worse, no one would care.


...HOW THE TENNIS ESTABLISHMENT CAN COME TOGETHER FOR A COMMON CAUSE ON DAY 1:



The kinds words of support from all over the sport's landscape following Evert's announcement is another example of the strength that a collective voice traveling across the sport can have. It's certainly better than when one individual is allowed to attempt to project *his* voice alone above those of all others, with the assistance of a handful of enablers. Just sayin'.


...WHAT SHE SAID... DAY 1:













Of course, you can't do "Sledgehammer" without the original groundbreaking Peter Gabriel video...












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*RECENT AO "FIRST VICTORY" HONORS*
2015 Julia Goerges, GER (def. Bencic)
2016 Petra Kvitova, CZE (def. Kumkhum)
2017 Monica Puig, PUR (def. Tig)
2018 Duan Yingying, CHN (def. Duque Marino)
2019 Rebecca Peterson, SWE (def. Cirstea)
2020 Paula Badosa, ESP (def. Larsson)
2021 Naomi Osaka, JPN (def. Pavlyuchenkova)
2022 Camila Giorgi, ITA (def. Potapova)

*RECENT AO "FIRST SEED OUT"*
2015 #32 Belinda Bencic, SUI (lost to Goerges)
2016 #17 Sara Errani, ITA (lost to Gasparyan)
2017 #4 Simona Halep, ROU (lost to Rogers)
2018 #13 Sloane Stephens, USA (lost to Sh.Zhang)
2019 #14 Julia Goerges, GER (lost to Collins)
2020 #32 Barbora Strycova, CZE (lost to Cirstea)
2021 #23 Angelique Kerber, GER (lost to Pera)
2022 #18 Coco Cauff, USA (lost to Q.Wang)






TOP QUALIFIER: Hailey Baptiste/USA
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2 - #8 Kamilla Rakhimova/RUS def. Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva/AND 6-7(5)/7-6(8)/6-4 (VJK wins 1st from triple SP down; Rakhimova saves 2 MP in 2nd, winning 10-8 TB; 3:17)
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/WC/Doub.): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #30 Camila Giorgi/ITA (def. Potapova/RUS)
FIRST SEED OUT: #18 Coco Gauff/USA (1r lost to Wang Qiang)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: 1r wins: Lucia Bronzetti/ITA, Nuria Parrizas Diaz/ESP, Gabriela Ruse/ROU, Wang Xiyu/CHN, Maryna Zanevska/BEL, Zheng Qinwen/CHN
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: 1r wins: Bronzetti, Trevisan, Q.Zheng
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: 1r wins: Wang Xiyu
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: 1r wins: Barty
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT (TBD): xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: xx
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF MELBOURNE: xx
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: xx
LADY OF THE EVENING: xx
"G'DAY/GOOD ON YA, MATE" AWARD: xx
DOUBLES STAR: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx





All for Day 1. More tomorrow.
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