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Sunday, March 13, 2022

Wk.10- They Serve Dessert in the Desert, Don't They?







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RISER: Jasmine Paolini/ITA
...a season after reaching the 3rd Round as a LL in Indian Wells last fall, the 26-year old Italian created more desert memories for herself this week.

After opening with a win over Katie Boulter, the #46-ranked Paolini notched her first career Top 10 win with an upset of world #3 (and highest seed in the MD) Aryna Sabalenka, returning to the event's Final 32 heading into the second week of play. Last October, the Italian upset Sabalenka's one-time doubles partner, Elise Mertens, in the 2nd Round.


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SURPRISES: Harriet Dart/GBR and Danka Kovinic/MNE
...#122 Dart made Indian Wells a more arid substitute for SW19 (where she reached the 3rd Rd. in '19) in the first week, qualifying (w/ wins over Kerkhove and Gasanova) and then posting MD vitories over Ana Konjuh (ret.) and Elina Svitolina, against the #18-ranked Ukrainian recording her first career Top 30 win. The Brit had previously been 0-8 against players ranked in the Top 20.



Dart qualified in January for the AO, but hadn't posted a MD win at tour level since Chicago last September. Still, earlier this season she *had* already posted nice qualifying defeats over the likes of Liudmila Samsonova (Doha) and Wang Xinyu (Melbourne 1) since reaching her biggest career final ($80K) last October.

Meanwhile, Kovinic got off to a great start in the desert, posting back-to-back wins over Jil Teichmann and #8 Karolina Pliskova, the latter tying the Montenegrin's career-best win (it was her first Top 10 victory on hard court) in the Czech's first match of 2022, coming back from a set and 5-2 down to get the upset. Kovinic's most recent Top 10 win (of 3) had been over then-#10 Belinda Bencic in Rome in '20.


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VETERAN: Shelby Rogers/USA
...Rogers won a wild 1st Round encounter with Nuria Parrizas Diaz -- failing to convert a 2nd set MP, then dropping seven straight games to trail 5-1 in the 3rd, only to then rally to win in a deciding TB -- but it wasn't even her biggest moment of the first week in Indian Wells. No, that came a round later when the Bannerette, now coached by ex-Iga front man Piotr Sierzputowski, exorcised more than a few demons with a victory over Alona Ostapenko.

Last fall, Rogers reached the Indian Wells QF (after knocking off Leylah Fernandez in her first post-U.S. Open event), only to be defeated there by the Latvian in three sets -- on Rogers' 29th birthday, no less -- to drop to 0-3 in their head-to-head series. After losses to Ostapenko in three previous high profile matches (incl. losses in Rome in '17 and Charleston in '19), she defeated her 7-5/7-6 in this one, avoiding a 3rd set (and a potential reawakening of the Thunder) by saving a SP in the 2nd set TB.

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COMEBACK: Dasha Saville/AUS
...the early-season stirrings of a legitimate comeback from the Aussie has been one of the more unexpectedly welcome happenings of '22.

Already having reached her first tour QF since '19 in Guadalajara (w/ a defeat of Raducanu in the longest match of the season), Saville (#409) qualified in Indian Wells with wins over Kamilla Rakhimova and Magdalena Frech. She followed up by upsetting Zhang Shuai just a few days off the Chinese veteran's Lyon title run, then outlasted '21 I.W. semifinalist Ons Jabeur in three sets to reach the 3rd Round in the desert in a fourth straight appearance (2017-19), but her first in three years.

As a former Russian, Saville (nee Gavrilova) has found it easy to be very publicly outspoken about her former country's invasion of Ukraine, and has even decided to wear the Ukrainian blue-and-yellow colors this week.


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FRESH FACE: Anna Kalinskaya/RUS
...last we saw Kalinskaya, she had Sloane Stephens dead to rights in the Guadalajara semis (up 6-3/3-0), only to have a lingering back injury flair up and force her retirement as Stephens advanced and went on to take the title.

This week in Indian Wells, the Hordette fell in I.W. qualifying to Wang Qiang, but her luck showed to have improved as she entered the draw as a lucky loser, defeating Harmony Tan in the 1st Round. Next up was #33-seeded Alize Cornet, who'd been moved in the MD into #1 seed Barbora Krejcikova's spot when the Czech withdrew. The #90-ranked Kalinskaya then proceeded to take out the Pastry and assume the top slot in the draw in the 3rd Round.


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DOWN: Sofia Kenin/USA
...after an encouraging start to '22 (Adelaide QF, a run which saw her save a MP in her second outing of the new season), Kenin's "comeback" hasn't been able to sustain that early momentum.

The former AO champ and world #4 is now ranked at #130 just two years after her career-best moment, a period which has seen her win just one match in a pair of follow-up appearances in the MD in Melbourne, have an emergency appendectomy, fire and hire back her father as coach, and set a dubious record for futility at SW19 with 41 UE in a 45-minute match (averaging one every 1.10 minutes in the contest) last summer.

Since her Final 8 result in Adelaide, her first QF in almost a year, Kenin has dropped five straight 1st Round matches, all but one coming in straight sets fashion. At Indian Wells (in the Bannerette's first appearance there since '19), Beatriz Haddad Maia did the honors before an essentially empty stadium in the final match of the night, dropping Kenin to 2r-2r-1r in her career in the desert in a 6-3/7-5 match in which Kenin had 11 DF, faced 17 BP (she was broken six times) and committed 73 UE in twenty-one games.

After reaching a pair of slam finals in '20, Kenin hasn't reached any final since the fall version of Roland Garros that year, and her last Top 10 victory was over then-and-still #1 Ash Barty in the '20 AO semis, her third of three wins over a world #1 in 2019-20.
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ITF PLAYER: TBD
...the $60K Irapuato challenger is taking place in Mexico, with the Sunday final dragging on and on with the scoreboard not moving for long stretches, possibly due to weather delays.

So, the winner here will eventually be the winner there, with Rebecca Marino looking to win her second $60K title in two weeks, facing off in the final with Zhu Lin, whose WTA 125 title in Seoul last December was the biggest of her career.
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JUNIOR STARS: Taylah Preston/AUS and Petra Marcinko/CRO
...16-year old Aussie Preston (girls' #63) is making her move, grabbing the biggest title of her junior career at the J1 Nonathaburi event in Thailand.

Though confined to junior events in Australia all last year, the Western Australia native has made the most of her opportunities, winning last year's Female Junior of the Year honor back home. Since last May, Preston has compiled a 34-3 mark in junior competititon, claiming five singles titles, progressively improving upon her best result along the way (w/ J5-J4-J3-J3-J1 titles). She reached the Traralgon J1 semis in January, falling in three sets to the touranment's eventual champ (and AO girls finalist), Sofia Costoulas. Jumping over to the pro events Down Under early in '22, Preston made her tour-level event debut with a Q1 victory in Melbourne over Sara Errani in Week 1, then posted an Australian Open Q1 victory over Kurumi Nara a week later.

This week in Thailand, Preston took the title with a love & two win in the final over Japan's Hayu Kinoshita, the same player she'd defeated to win the J3 Canberra final in early February.


In the $15K Antalya final, girls' #1 and reigning AO junior champ Marcinko picked up her maiden pro singles title. The 16-year old advanced to her first pro final with good wins over Elisabetta Cocciaretto (QF) and Ipek Oz (SF), then handled Frenchwoman Carole Monnet in a 6-4/6-1 championship match to go home with the prize.


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DOUBLES: Kaitlyn Christian/Lidziya Marozava, USA/BLR
...the duo won their first tour title as a pair two weeks ago in Guadalajara. After falling in the 1st Round in Monterrey, the pair teamed up again in Mexico this week in the $60K Irapuato challenger, taking the title without dropping a set and finishing things off with a 6-0/6-2 victory in the final over Anastasia Tikhonova & Daniela Vismane.


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WHEELCHAIR: Diede de Groot/NED
...Diede the Great continues to roll through the wheelchair tour and over all opponents.

In her first action since the Australian Open, de Groot swept the titles at the Cajun Classic in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, running her singles winning streak to 45 matches (50-1 the last two seasons) with a win in the final over countrywoman Aniek Van Koot. The two Dutch woman partnered to win the doubles, defeating Dana Mathewson & Lucy Shuker (in their fourth consecutive '22 final together, with Shuker playing in her fifth straight) to finish off the week. De Groot, with several partners during the stretch, has gone 31-2 in doubles the last two seasons and is currently riding a 19-match win streak.


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[IW Through 2nd Round]

1. IW 1st Rd. - Marta Kostyuk def. Maryna Zanevska
...6-7(5)/7-6(6)/7-5. Kostyuk finally makes her post-invasion return to the tour, and immediately shows that the resilience is strong within her, as well.

The Ukrainian teenager, playing against Ukrainian-born Belgian Zanevska, saved two MP at 6-4 in the 2nd set TB, then rallied from 5-3 down in the 3rd to get the win in 3:09 to get her first MD win since the Australian Open. Afterward, it was all about the post-match support at the net.


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2. IW 2nd Rd. - Petra Kvitova def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich
...6-7(4)/6-4/6-4. And we welcome Fightin' Petra to the '22 season.


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3. IW 1st Rd. - Shelby Rogers def. Nuria Parrizas Diaz
...6-1/5-7/7-6(3). After having held a MP in the 2nd, then dropping seven straight games to fall behind 5-1 in the 3rd, Rogers put on a final push to win six of the final seven games and close out the Spaniard in a deciding TB.
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4. IW 2nd Rd. - Dasha Saville def. Ons Jabeur
...7-5/6-7(0)/6-4. 2021 IW semifinalist Jabeur led 2-0 in the 3rd, only to see the Aussie win four straight games, break the Tunisian's serve for 5-4 and serve out the match a game later. Hmmm, was this happening in a primetime TV slot Down Under, just like in the old "Dasha Show" days?


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5. IW 2nd Rd. - Harriet Dart def. Elina Svitolina
...2-6/6-3/6-3. After a spirited on-court start in her support of Ukraine, Svitolina's performances have receded to the mean in recent days. It's understandable under the circumstances, but it's still noteworthy that her defeat here handed Dart her first career Top 30 victory. The Brit had been 0-8 vs. the Top 20 prior to her win over #18 Svitolina.


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6. IW 2nd Rd. - Alison Riske def. Garbine Muguruza
...0-6/6-3/6-1. In the same week that Conchita Martinez picked up her '21 Coach of the Year trophy from the tour, her charge squanders a 6-0/3-0 lead against Riske, who then won 12 of the final 13 games to pick up career Top 10 win #10.
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7. IW 2nd Rd - Jasmine Paolini def. Aryna Sabalenka
...2-6/6-3/6-3. #1 Ash Barty didn't play in the desert, and #2 Barbora Krejcikova pulled out after the draw was made. World #3 Sabalenka lasted just one match, falling to 6-6 on the year with her second loss in three matches against the Italian. And none of it will matter because the WTA is just that entertainingly deep.


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8. IW 1st Rd. - Ekaterina Alexandrova def. Elvina Kalieva
...4-6/6-2/7-6(7). The 18-year old Bannerette wild card (#317) makes her WTA debut a memorable one, even without the win. Alexandrova survived 18 DF.
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9. IW 2nd Rd. - Dasha Kasatkina def. Katie Volynets
...6-4/4-6/7-5. An ugly win for the 2018 IW finalist, as Kasatkina's serve made things difficult. She nearly lost a 5-0, 30/love lead in the 1st set, having to serve three times to put the set away. After dropping the 2nd and falling behind 3-1 in the 3rd, the Hordette rallied but still needed two tries to serve out the match.
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10. IW 1st Rd. - Asia Muhammad/Ena Shibahara def. Katerina Siniakova/Clara Tauson
...6-3/7-6(4). Siniakova loses for just the second time in her last 22 WTA/slam doubles matches, dropping a second straight for the first time since Cincinnati/U.S. Open last summer. Meanwhile, Muhammad returns to North America to play her first '22 match outside of Australia, where she made a living going 13-1 in WD, winning three titles (along w/ three singles crowns) in the first two months of the season.
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[IW Through 2nd Round]



1. IW 2nd Rd. - Leylah Fernandez def. Amanda Anisimova
...2-6/7-6(0) ret. Anisimova dominated the Canadian for most of the match, leading 6-2/5-3 and holding triple MP at 5-4, 40/love. But Fernandez saved four MP, then won a 7-0 TB to knot the match. Rather that settle in for a fight, Anisimova didn't then take an in-between set break, nor did she entertain the chair umpire's offers of a visit from a physio, and instead up and retired from the match. The official reason was "illness,"... or maybe it should be the official "reason?"



The exit ended a bad week for Anisimova, who also saw her potential player-coach pairing with Darren Cahill, which had seemingly spurred her to a Week 1 title in Melbourne, abruptly ended by the Aussie.



Considering how Cahill's most recent previous coaching stint was once interrupted, the excuse at least sounds legit. Of course, if he ends up being announced as having rejoined Simona's team come the clay court season, well...
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2. IW 2nd Rd. - Veronika Kudermetova def. Naomi Osaka
...6-0/6-4. Kudermetova, who in light of the war in Ukraine likely wondered how she'd be received by the crowd in her first match in Indian Wells (even without the Russian flag next to her name), was on Osaka from the start in an impressive performance, though (naturally) the post-match story quickly became about Osaka (shocker) turning a few unkind words ("Naomi you suck!") from *one* spectator in the stands *one game into the match* (after which, it should be noted, the crowd made a point to support her) into yet another opportunity to turn the spotlight on the only thing that matters -- her own self-sustaining role of victim.

Why she felt the need to take to the on-court microphone after *losing* the match is hard to gather (though I guess when you're told that your every waking thought can "change the world," I suppose it's no surprise), but why the tournament organizers entertained the notion is more mindboggling. Her subsequent decision to compare her own trials and tribulations brought on by one unkind person to the ugly issues faced by Venus and Serena Williams two decades ago in the event due to what were deemed to be racist taunts from the stands is just as questionable, though the social media machine (which would normally lead a vicious charge against anyone who dared to put their personal obstacles on par with those of the Sisters) have given her "beautiful soul" a pass on that, too.

Instead, we get a day of headlines and Twitter trends making Osaka's tender psyche (or multiple defenses of the notion that she "doesn't need to change a thing about herself" and anyone who thinks otherwise is either an unfeeling monster, racist or something akin to an authoritarian dictator willing to raze cities and murder civilians) the story while the performance of the actual winner -- the determination of which, last I checked, was the entire reason everyone was gathered together on Saturday night -- is only parenthetically noted.



Fact is, Osaka had no business being at that microphone and, as noted here before, if a tennis career just isn't for her, that's fine. No one says she has to continue to pursue it. If her "safe space" is somewhere other than on a court, then by all means seek it out.



Tennis Etiquette Rule #16: In a world of tennis players facing issues with unruly spectators, rather than being an Osaka... be a Zhang Shuai. (You'll feel better about it in the morning.)


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3. IW 1st Rd. - Naomi Osaka def. Sloane Stephens
...3-6/6-1/6-2. Before grabbing the microphone out of the hands of Taylor Swif-... err, I mean walking all over Kudermetova's moment a couple of days later, Osaka actually played tennis without the accompanying whoa-is-me act in a match-up of former slam champions who entered with a combined ranking of 116 (Osaka #78, Stephens #38).

Osaka trailed 0-2, 15/40 in the 3rd in windy conditions, but swept the final six games in an unusually big-named opening round match-up.
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4. IW 2nd Rd. - Danka Kovinic def. Karolina Pliskova
...2-6/7-5/6-4. Pliskova, who missed the first two months of the season after a bone-breaking fall on her wrist/arm in the gym last December (and then she got Covid in January, too), finally makes her '22 debut.

The Czech, after having only been serving for two weeks in her comeback, led 6-2/5-2 before Kovinic rallied to tie her career-best win, matching an upset over then-#8 Roberta Vinci in Madrid in 2016.


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5. IW Q1 - Marie Bouzkova def. Linda Fruhvirtova
...6-0/7-5. The teenage Czech has hit something of a glass window in recent weeks in tour-level play, but she still gave countrywoman Bouzkova a fight in a close 2nd set.
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HM- IW 1st Rd. - Caroline Garcia def. Dayana Yastremska 6-4/6-7(8)/7-5
...Garcia had two MP in the 2nd beforeYastremska's continual fight pushed things to a 3rd in a match-up of Zhang Shuai's final two opponents in Lyon. Zhang fell in the 1st Round in Indian Wells to Dasha Saville, while Garcia was ousted by Emma Raducanu in the 2nd.

IW 1st Rd. - Irina-Camelia Begu/Monica Niculescu def. Dayana Yastremska/Ivanna Yastremska 6-1/6-1
...the sisters are still together again, and likely will be for the foreseeable future.


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via GIPHY



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It's well-deserved. But, umm, they've only given out the award for four years... and the other winners were the coaches of Osaka, Barty and Swiatek.

(And, arguably, the '21 award maybe *should* have gone to Tursunov.)

But I'm happy for Conchita.


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So, nothing then. It's official, Susan Collins is secretly running the ATP.








It's hard to believe "Maggie May" was originally a "B"-side release...




Geez, it's now been longer since that Unplugged version than it was years between the original "Maggie May" release and the MTV show.




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*CONSECUTIVE INDIAN WELLS TITLES*
1990-91 Martina Navratilova

*CONSECUTIVE I.W. FINALS*
=3=
2003-05 Lindsay Davenport (L-L-L)
=2=
1990-91 Martina Navratilova (W-W)
1991-92 Monica Seles (L-W)
1993-94 Amanda Coetzer (L-L)
1997-98 Lindsay Davenport (W-L)
2007-08 Svetlana Kuznetsova (L-L)
2008-09 Ana Ivanovic (W-L)
2010-11 Caroline Wozniacki (L-W)
2012-13 Maria Sharapova (L-W)

*2022 TOP JUNIOR EVENT CHAMPIONS*
SAN JOSE CRC (COFFEE BOWL) J1: Sonya Macavei/USA
TRARALGON AUS J1: Sofia Costoulas/BEL
SVYATOPETRIVSKE VILLAGE UKR (VICCOURT CUP) J1: Linda Klimovicova/CZE
BARRANQUILLA COL J1: Sayaka Ishii/JPN
AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Petra Marcinko/CRO
SALINAS ECU J1: Luca Udvardy/HUN
LIMA PER (INKA BOWL) J1: Nikola Daubnerova/SVK
LAMBARE PAR (ASUNCION BOWL) J1: Luciana Moyano/ARG
PORTO ALEGRE BRA J1: Victoria Mboko/CAN
CRICIUMA BRA (BANANA BOWL) JA: Lucie Havlickova/CZE
KAZAN RUS (YELTSIN CUP) J1: CANCELLED
NONTHABURI THA JI: Taylah Preston/AUS






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All for now.
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