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Tuesday, January 25, 2022

AO.9 - Keys Zeroes In

From zero to hero in no time flat.




2021 couldn't have played out any differently for Madison Keys and Barbora Krejcikova. While Keys was suffering through a season that made her question her love for the sport, and competition in general, the #4-seeded Czech was having a career year in which she won slam titles in all three disciplines *and* took home a Gold medal in Tokyo. Keys had her worst season in almost a decade, winning just eleven matches and finishing outside the Top 50.

But Keys is always game for a potential deep slam run. While she's only been able to take things to a single major final ('17 U.S.), she's reached semis in three different slams since 2015.

Since deciding to "start from zero" in 2022, Keys has hit the new season running, claiming a title in Adelaide and coming into today's quarterfinal with a 10-1 mark on the year.

Meanwhile, Krejcikova reached the Sydney final the weekend before the start of AO play, and has gone on to reach the second week at a fourth straight major (compiling an 18-2 slam mark during the stretch).

But today's quarterfinal didn't just have two competitors. It had three. The heat ultimately played as big a role in the decision as the athletes, and it turned yet another potentially intriguing clash between stylistic opposites -- the big-hitting blaster vs. the variety-loving court technician -- into an eventual one-way contest. While Keys would later credit her time in hot Orlando as giving her an edge in such conditions, Krejcikova had no such "secret weapon" in her arsenal.

Keys opened the match with a love hold, showing her groundstrokes and serve to be in the same top form they'd displayed thus far in '22. Over the next few games, both women staved off a handful of BP chances. First Krejcikova two, then Keys one in games #2 and #3. In game #5, Keys saved four more in a five-deuce game. Expertly picking her spots to let loose with big serves, Keys' power bailed her out and she held for 3-2.

Finally, Keys got the break for a 4-2 lead with a Krejcikova forehand miss down the line. But the Czech's chances had already started to drift away before the completion of game #6. Krejcikova had already called for a physio, and was noticably charging the net during the preceding game to shorten points. Down 5-2, she was finally treated by the medical staff for issues with the heat. Krejcikova managed to hold to force Keys to close out the set, but it proved to be an easy task for the Bannerette. Serving things out at 6-3, Keys did so with an emphatic ace (her ninth of the set). Keys had a 73% first serve percentage in the 1st, winning 80%. She was just one-for-seven on BP chances, but had successfully fought off all six held by Krejcikova.

The 2nd set didn't have nearly as much of a competitive bent, though the ailing Krejcikova did all she could to carry on. Keys broke serve to open the set, then pushed things to a double-break at 3-0. With the heat and the pressure of Keys' shots bearing down on her, Krejcikova sought to slow her roll down the other side of the hill of the match, taking care to use up all of the time on the serve clock, utilizing the shade in the backcourt between every point and walking to the line and delivering a first serve as the clock was about the hit :00.

Using such tactics, the Czech managed to stay close for a while, closing to 3-2. But it could only last for so long. After saving two BP in game #7, Krejcikova saw Keys get the break for a 5-2 lead. She then served out the win to make it seven of eight years with an unseeded semifinalist in Melbourne (a trend that Keys has now double-dipped into, having also reached the final four in 2015 while without a seed).



In her fourth career slam semi (first since 2018), Keys' strategy of cleaning her own slate to start the new season has worked quite well. I mean, if you count having *already* matched her win total from a year ago (11) as being a good thing.

At the same time, Krejcikova isn't through with this Australian Open. Not yet.

While the Czech's singles run is over, and she decided not to try to win a *fourth* straight MX crown in the event, she *is* still alive in the doubles quarterfinals alongside Katerina Siniakova. A title run would bring the pair just a U.S. Open win away from becoming the first women's duo in tour history to win a "Career Super Slam" (all four majors, Olympic Gold and the WTAF). Two individual women have done it (Pam Shriver and Gigi Fernandez), but the closest a duo has ever come was Makarova/Vesnina, who ended up an AO title short.

But it's Keys who once again finds herself just one win away from a major final, and with another chance to fulfill what has always seemed a *potential* career destiny of becoming a major champion. When she met and lost to good friend Sloane Stephens in the U.S. Open final five seasons ago, it seemed at the time that Stephens may have taken for good the commanding lead in their career comparison.

But since Stephens has largely since drifted off the radar as a major threat, reaching just one slam SF ('18 RG runner-up) since, Keys still stands a chance of "pulling ahead" in the end if she can be the last woman standing in Melbourne this weekend.

If she sustains her current roll, she just might, too.



It could be that starting from zero might end up being the key to erasing that one rather significant zero from Keys' career resume.




=DAY 9 NOTES=
...once again, #1 Ash Barty will fill the night session slot (for the fourth time in five matches) as she goes up against #21 Jessie Pegula in the day's others quarterfinal. A win would make Barty the first Aussie woman to reach multiple (w/ '20) AO semis since Wendy Turnbull reached three (and one final) between 1980-84; while Pegula can become the fifth different Bannerette to become a maiden slam semifinalist since the start of 2019 (w/ Collins, Anisimova, Kenin and Brady).

...in the wheelchair semis, #1 Diede de Groot advanced to her sixteenth career slams singles final with a 6-0/7-5 win over Lucy Shuker. She's now won 41 straight matches, as well as 76 of her last 78 sets.

She'll face doubles partner Aniek Van Koot in the singles final. The Dutch vet took out South African KG Montjane 6-3/6-4 to reach her fifth career AO final (she won in '13) and the fourteenth overall in her slam career.

...half of the women's doubles semifinal duos were identified on Tuesday, as #2 Shuko Aoyama & Ena Shibahara advanced, as did Week 2 Sydney champs Anna Danilina & Beatriz Haddad Maia.



...in the mixed, Aussie wild cards Jaimee Fourlis & Jason Kubler, one day after upsetting '21 AO finalists Sam Stosur & Matthew Ebden, sent Sania Mirza (w/ Rajeev) out of her final Australian Open with a 6-4/7-6 win to reach the semifinals in their maiden pairing as a team.



...meanwhile, in the juniors, 17-year old Kenyan Angella Okutoyi, who this weekend became the first from her country to win a junior slam MD match, posted her second victory (over Aussie qualifier Zara Larke) to reach the girls Round of 16. Okutoyi's 18th birthday is this weekend.

The Kenyan is one of nine unseeded players to get so far in the draw, though the Top 3 -- #1 Petra Marcinko of Croatia, and Russians #2 Diana Shnaider and #3 Anastasia Zaytseva -- are all still alive, as is last week's Traralgon champ, #8 Sofia Costoulas, who defeated the other first-from-her-country girl in the competition, Iran's Meshkatolzahra Safi, in the 2nd Round.

...in this weekend's ITF finals, 20-year old Elli Mandlik, daughter of Hana Mandlikova, won her fifth career pro crown at the $25K challenger in Florianopolis, Brazil with a 6-0/6-4 win over Chile's Barbara Gatica. It's her biggest career win to date.



Czech teenager Barbora Palicova, in her second $15K final in Antalya two weeks, picked up her maiden title with a 6-3/7-6 victory over Turkey's Ilay Yörük.



And Polina Kudermetova, younger sister of Veronika, won the $15K Kazan, Russian challenger over fellow Hordette Anastasia Kovaleva.





..IT SHOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN AN INTERNATIONAL UPROAR... ON DAY 9:




..ALIZE IS LIFE... or is it God? ON DAY 9:




...NIGHT 8 UPSET ON DAY 9:










=WOMEN'S SINGLES QF=
#1 Ash Barty/AUS vs. #21 Jessie Pegula/USA
Madison Keys/USA def. #4 Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
#27 Danielle Collins/USA vs. Alize Cornet/FRA
#7 Iga Swiatek/POL vs. Kaia Kanepi/EST

=WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF=
#1 Krejcikova/Siniakova (CZE/CZE) vs. #9 Dolehide/Sanders (USA/AUS)
#3 V.Kudermetova/Mertens (RUS/BEL) vs. (PR) Flipkens/Sorribes Tormo (BEL/ESP)
Danilina/Haddad Maia (KAZ/BRA) def. Peterson/Potapova (SWE/RUS)
#2 Aoyama/Shibahara (JPN/JPN) def. Martic/Rogers (CRO/USA)

=MIXED DOUBLES QF=
Hradecka/Escobar (CZE/COL) def. (Alt.) Ninomiya/Qureshi (JPN/PAK)
(WC) Fourlis/Kubler (AUS/AUS) def. Mirza/Ram (IND/USA)
#5 Mladenovic/Dodig (FRA/CRO) vs. Routliffe/Venus (NZL/NZL)
#8 Shibahara/McLachlan (JPN/JPN) vs. #2 Sh.Zhang/Peers (CHN/AUS)

=WHEELCHAIR SINGLES FINAL=
#1 Diede de Groot/NED vs. Aniek Van Koot/NED

=WHEELCHAIR DOUBLES FINAL=
#1 de Groot/Van Koot (NED/NED) vs. #2 Kamiji/Shuker (JPN/GBR)

=GIRLS SINGLES ROUND OF 16=
#1 Petra Marcinko/CRO vs. Denislava Glushkova, BUL
Lola Radivojevic/SRB vs. Angella Okytuyi/KEN
#3 Ksenia Zaytseva/RUS vs. #13 Liv Hovde/USA
Dominika Šalková/CZE vs. #6 Michaela Laki/GRE
Ekaterina Khayrutdinova/RUS vs. Carolina Kuhl/GER
Charlotte Kempanaers-Pocz/AUS vs. Tereza Valentova/CZE
#8 Sofia Costoulas/BEL vs. #9 Celine Naef, SUI
Qavia Lopez/USA vs. #2 Diana Shnaider/RUS

















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**WTA "CAREER QF SLAM" - active**
[with slam at which completed]
Victoria Azarenka - 2012 US (28th)
Kim Clijsters - 2002 AO (11th)
Simona Halep - 2015 US (22nd)
Kaia Kanepi - 2022 AO (53rd)
Angelique Kerber - 2016 AO (33rd)
Madison Keys - 2018 RG (23rd)
Svetlana Kuznetsova - 2006 RG (16th)
Petra Kvitova - 2015 US (30th)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova - 2017 AO (37th)
Karolina Pliskova - 2021 WI (36th)
Sloane Stephens - 2018 RG (25th)
Elina Svitolina - 2019 US (29th)
Sereina Williams - 2001 RG (12th)
Venus Williams - 1998 WI (6th)
Vera Zvonareva - 2010 US (31st)

**AO "KIMIKO CUP FOR VETERAN ACHIEVEMENT" WINNERS**
2015 Venus Williams/USA & Martina Hingis/SUI
2016 Angelique Kerber, GER
2017 Venus Williams/USA & Serena Williams/USA
2018 Hsieh Su-wei, TPE
2019 Samantha Stosur/Zhang Shuai, AUS/CHN
2020 Jordanne Whiley, GBR (WC)
2021 Hsieh Su-wei, TPE
2022 Alize Cornet/FRA & Kaia Kanepi/EST

*LOWEST-SEEDED WOMEN IN AO SF, since 2015*
Unseeded - 2015 Madison Keys, USA
Unseeded - 2016 Johanna Konta, GBR
Unseeded - 2017 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, CRO
Unseeded - 2017 CoCo Vandeweghe, USA
Unseeded - 2018 Elise Mertens, BEL
Unseeded - 2019 Danielle Collins, USA
Unseeded - 2020 Garbine Muguruza, ESP (RU)
UNSEEDED - 2022 MADISON KEYS, USA
#25 - 2021 Karolina Muchova, CZE
#22 - 2021 Jennifer Brady, USA (RU)
#21 - 2018 Angelique Kerber, GER
#14 - 2020 Sofia Kenin, USA (W)
#13 - 2017 Venus Williams, USA
#10 - 2015 Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
#10 - 2021 Serena Williams, USA

**AUSSIES IN AO SF+ - Open era**
1969 Court (W), Melville
1970 Court (W), Melville (RU), Krantzcke
1971 Court (W), Goolagong (RU), Hunt
1972 Goolagong (RU), Gourlay, Harris
1973 Court (W), Goolagong (RU), Melville
1974 Goolagong (W), Melville
1975 Goolagong (W)
1976 Goolagong (W), Gourlay
1977a Reid (W), Fromholtz (RU), Gourlay, Krantzcke
1977b Goolagong (W), Gourlay (RU), Reid
1978 O'Neil (W), Evers, Matison
1979 Sawyer
1980 Turnbull (RU)
1981 Turnbull
1982-83 - none
1984 Turnbull
1985-19 - none
2020 Barty
--
BEST RECENT 3+ YR. RUNS: Turnbull 1980-84 (F-SF-QF-QF-SF), Barty 2019-21 (QF-SF-QF)

*WC SLAM SINGLES FINALS - active*
20 - Yui Kamiji, JPN (8-12)
16 - DIEDE DE GROOT, NED (12-3) *
14 - ANIEK VAN KOOT, NED (3-10) *
6 - Jiske Griffioen, NED (4-2)
1 - KG Montjane, RSA (0-1)
1 - Momoko Ohtani, JPN (0-1)




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Samoas back in the day, (refridgerated) Thin Mints now.






TOP QUALIFIER: Hailey Baptiste/USA
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #1 Ash Barty/AUS
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): 2r - Clara Tauson/DEN def. #6 Anett Kontaveit/EST 6-2/6-4 (breakout performance of early rounds)
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: (9) - Lucia Bronzetti/ITA, Jaqueline Cristian/ROU, Maddison Inglis/AUS, Nuria Parrizas Diaz/ESP, Gabriela Ruse/ROU, Wang Xinyu/CHN, Wang Xiyu/CHN, Maryna Zanevska/BEL, Zheng Qinwen/CHN
UPSET QUEENS: Romania
REVELATION LADIES: China
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Canada (0-2 1r, #23 Fernandez out; Andreescu/Bouchard DNP)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Hailey Baptiste/USA, Lucia Bronzetti/ITA, Martina Trevisan/ITA, Zheng Qinwen/CHN (all 2nd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Maddison Inglis/AUS (3rd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: Ash Barty (in QF)
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT (Teen Stars-in-Waiting): Marta Kostyuk/UKR and Clara Tauson/DEN
COMEBACK PLAYER: Madison Keys/USA
CRASH & BURN: Emma Raducanu, GBR (2nd) and & Leylah Fernandez, CAN (1st) ['21 US F]
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF MELBOURNE: Nominees: Anisimova (3r- saved 2 MP vs. Osaka); Keys (3r- set and break down vs. Q.Wang); Cornet (3r- down set & 4-1 vs. Zidansek)
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: Alize Cornet/FRA and Kaia Kanepi/EST
LADY OF THE EVENING: Ash Barty/AUS
AUSTRALIAN LANGUARGE ARTS AWARD: Tennis Australia tries to push unvaccinated Novak Djokovic through Aussies borders, yet bans on-ground items featuring protests in support of Peng Shuai
DOUBLES STAR: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Nominee: Angella Okutoyi/KEN





All for Day 9. More tomorrow.
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