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Sunday, May 11, 2025

Wk.19- Rome without an "I"

Rome may be eternal, but Iga Swiatek *in* Rome in 2025? Not so much.







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*WEEK 19*


[Rome Q/1st Rd.-3rd Rd.]


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RISERS: Marta Kostyuk/UKR and Diana Shnaider/RUS
...Kostyuk's run in Madrid ended with a two tie-break loss to Aryna Sabalenka in a whiz-bang straight sets match. After a nice first week in Rome, she'll get another shot at the world #1 in the Round of 16.

Kostyuk has been in fine form on the Italian dirt, allowing just one game vs. Alex Eala, and winning 6-4/6-2 in successful matches over both Dasha Kasatkina and Leylah Fernandez.

Having already posted her best Madrid result (QF), she's having her best Rome run, as well. In case it might matter, Kostyuk's best RG result has been a 4th Round in '21.

Meanwhile, while Shnaider's brief-but-intriguing run with Dinara Safina as coach has already ended, the Hordette continues to make her Top 10 push. In Rome, she opened with a 6-0/6-0 win over Caroline Dolehide, then handled Jaqueline Cristian 3 & 3 to reach the 4th Round in the event for the first time.



Shnaider has dropped from #11 to #13 in the "live" rankings, and will need to keep winning to eat into the deficit (-743) she currently encounters behind #10 Paula Badosa.
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SURPRISES: Emma Raducanu/GBR and Hailey Baptiste/USA
...Raducanu isn't generally known as great clay court player, but that's mostly been because it seemingly took *forever* into her pro career before she even *played* her first match on the dirt. That didn't happen until 2022, the season *after* she'd already reached a slam Round off 16 on grass and won a hard court major. With her two wins this past week in Rome, though, the Brit is 14-9 in her pro career on clay, including 4-1 (so far) this season.

Raducanu has played into the second week in her second appearance in Rome (after a 1r loss in '22), defeating Maya Joint (in 3 sets), Jil Teichmann and Veronika Kudermetova, knocking off the Hordette by dropping just *one game* in the 2nd/3rd sets combined after dropping a 7-5 1st.



Meanwhile, Baptiste has proven to be one of the most improved players of '25. In Rome, a year after falling in the Q1, she earned her Italian Open debut with qualifying wins over Storm Hunter and Teichmann. In the MD, she upset Anna Blinkova and Liudmila Samsonova, despite being unable to convert on five MP chances at 5-3 in the 3rd vs. the latter. Baptiste quickly recovered and broke the Hordette to close out the match on MP #7 in the following game.

Baptiste's run ended at the hands of Elina Svitolina in the 3rd Round, but only after she'd rallied from a set down to force a 3rd, then broken the veteran at 5-3 when she was serving for the match (and held five MP).



Baptiste is set to jump significantly from her #90 position, cracking the Top 75 for the first time.
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VETERAN: Maria Sakkari/GRE
...any comeback from the Greek will likely come in small steps. Though she exited in Rome in the 2nd Round, at least she's seemingly pointed in the right in her second Tom Hill era, even if past history does make one question how long this initial post-change surge will last once the "new-ness" of the old/new situation wears off.

Thing is, that may have happened mid-match vs. Magda Linette in Rome.

Sakkari had qualifed for the MD, twice coming back from a set down to defeat Chloe Paquet and Maja Chwalinska. She got past Belinda Bencic in the 1st Round when the Swiss retired, but led Linette 6-1/4-3, 30/love before her house of cards collapsed and she was sent packing.


Sakkari's week was still noteworthy enough to mention, but the optimism remains quite tentative. Her slam seed streak will end at 23 consecutive majors come Roland Garros (at a live #92, she should still be the MD, though), but at least she'll be able to try to (maybe?) kick off a new seed-defeating streak in majors?
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COMEBACKS: Naomi Osaka/JPN and Bianca Andreescu/CAN
...might Osaka and Andreescu *both* have discovered something important -- and familiar -- in 125 events?

After early exits in Madrid, both past slam champions dropped down to play 125 tournaments in Week 18, Osaka in Saint-Malo (FRA) and Andreescu in Vic (ESP). Both won titles, Osaka in singles and Andreescu in doubles. They've taken their momentum and run with it through the first week in Rome.



Over the past week, Osaka kept her winning streak going with a straight sets win over Sara Errani, and back-to-back triumphs from a set down vs. Viktorija Golubic and Marie Bouzkova.

Could she be -- yikes! -- a dark horse for real success in Paris, considering the "favorite" probably really isn't that anymore?

Meanwhile, Andreescu opened with an expected win over young Italian Federica Urgesi, then upped her game and posted consecutive Top 20 upsets of #19 Donna Vekic and #12 Elena Rybakina, defeating the Croatian in three sets and the Kazakh in straights. Andreescu hadn't had a Top 20 win since 2023, and both victories successively became the Canadian's best wins since she topped a then-#10 Maria Sakkari in Miami two seasons ago.


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FRESH FACES: Peyton Stearns/USA and Victoria Mboko/CAN
...it's worth remembering that Stearns has been proficient on clay in her young career, reaching consecutive 3rd Rounds in her two RG appearances, and playing both of her tour-level finals (w/ a win in Rabat in '24) on the dirt. This week, in her Rome MD debut, the Bannerette has posted three wins (so far), over Nuria Brancaccio, Anna Kalinskaya and #6 Madison Keys, the latter her second career Top 10 victory and biggest to date.

Her other Top 10 victory came earlier this year on hard court in Dubai over Zheng Qinwen.



18-year old Mboko continues to shine in 2025. Already this year, she's been the winner of five ITF titles, won 22 straight matches at the ITF level (w/o dropping a set throughout), cracked the Top 200, picked up her first tour-level MD match win in Miami (over Camila Osorio, then she had MP for another over Paula Badosa the next round) and made her BJK Cup debut.

In Rome, she was a rare qualifying wild card in the event who actually reached the MD, doing so with wins over Cristina Bucsa and Kamilla Rakhimova. Mboko then followed up with another 1000 MD win, over Italian Arianna Zucchini.



The Canadian took the 1st set vs. Coco Gauff in the 2nd Round before the world #3 rallied to win in three.

Mboko is 33-4 on the year, and will make her Top 150 debut following the Rome event.
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DOWN: Dasha Kasatkina/AUS
...it's nice that Dasha had some fun on the court early in Rome, because it didn't last once the groundstrokes counted.

Kasatkina fell 6-4/6-2 to Marta Kostyuk in her 2nd Round opening match, and even got to shake hands with her Ukrainian foe for the first time in quite a while. It apparently didn't happen simply because Kasatkina dropped her Russian citizenship for an Australian passport, as past Hordettes who've changed representation (Gracheva, Avanesyan) didn't receive similar post-match treatment from their Ukrainian opponents, but instead was because Kostyuk found Kasatkina sufficiently anti-war enough to meet Kostyuk's standards (even if she still would have been banned from the tour had Kostyuk had her way a while back) and she's respected her resilience in the face of issues back home associated with her sexuality.



Before the match, Kostyuk had signaled a detente, posting on social media:

"When someone not only tells the truth... calling Russia the aggressor -- but also acts on it, that deserves respect," she said. "Daria Kasatkina has clearly spoken out against the war and made the decision to give up her Russian sports citizenship. That takes courage -- and I acknowledge it."

Afterward, she said a bit more (WTA tour site).

Kasatkina has had a lot going on in '25, so hopefully this moment will be another step in settling things down a bit, maybe leading to more success between the lines.

So far, Kasatkina has seen her ranking fall from #9 to a "live" #17 this season, going 11-11 and only advancing to the QF in one event (Week 2 Adelaide, which she followed up the an AO 4r) thus far.
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ITF PLAYER: Francesca Jones/GBR
...the Brit tied her biggest career title at the $75K challenger in Prague, picking up career win #9 with a 6-3/6-4 win over Ena Shibahara in the final.

It's Jones' second $75K crown this season, during which she's gone 22-7. She's currently at a "live" #112 in the rankings, which would be a new career high.
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JUNIOR STARS: Emerson Jones/AUS and Annika Penickova/Kristina Penickova (USA/USA)
...junior #1 Jones, 16, grabbed her second pro title in a $35K in Fukuoka (JPN), defeating Himeno Sakatsume 7-6/6-4 in the final.

The Aussie was a girls' singles finalist at the AO and SW19 in 2024.

Meanwhile, the 15-year old Penickova twins, the '25 AO junior doubles champions, claimed their first pro title as a pair in Monastir (TUN), taking a $15K crown with a straights sets win in the final over Arina Arifullina & Ines Murta.

Kristina also reached the singles final, a career first in a pro event, but lost in three sets to Pastry Laia Petretic. The twins were set to meet in the 2nd Round, but Annika handed Kristina a walkover into the QF.
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WHEELCHAIR: NED World Team Cup
...well, she's back. And so were the Dutch in the World Team Cup.

Finally having completed rehab from scheduled hip surgery, Diede de Groot made her season debut in the wheelchair team event in Antalya, going a combined 4-0 in singles as the Netherlands picked up a 34th women's crown in the annual event.

The only thing that didn't go off in de Groot's return was a singles match with longtime rival (and current #1) Yui Kamiji, as though Japan reached the final the reigning AO champ faced off with Aniek Van Koot in the "#1 singles" (Van Koot is #2, w/ de Groot currently #3) -- with Kamiji winning 1 & 2 -- while de Groot defeated Saki Takamuro to force a deciding doubles match.

It was there that Japan (Kamiji/Takamuro) rallied from 5-3 down in the 2nd to get to a Match Tie-break, which was won by de Groot & Van Koot 10-4 to clinch a 2-1 victory in the final tie. De Groot provided the clincher on MP with a winning backhand.

@teamnlinsta

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[Rome Q/1st Rd.-3rd Rd.]



1. Rome 2nd Rd. - Iga Swiatek def. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
...6-1/6-0. On Pope day, the white smoke wafting above Rome wasn't just from Vatican City. It was also from the Italian Open's Campo Centrale as the real Swiatek was sighted and a leftover hat from the Pope John Paul II Classic Collection was readied to be refit for a certain defending champion.

But, ah, not so fast...



Rome 3rd Rd. - Danielle Collins def. Iga Swiatek
...6-1/7-5. As it turned out, the gathering of Cardinals in Vatican City to elect Pope Leo XIV wasn't the only necessary conclave this past week in Rome. An Iga Conclave at least *should* have been on the agenda, as well, because, you know, it happened again.

Of course, by now a loss from the former #1 and three-time Rome champ (Iga now has nine L's in early May, after having nine in all of '25) isn't really a shock these days. They're coming more and more often, in uglier and uglier fashion. At least this time it was against a big hitter (not a first-time occurrence, and TC commentator CoCo Vandeweghe noted her bafflement as to why Swiatek never offered up a different look on return or elsewhere, i.e. taking a step to one side, or one back at the baseline to give herself more time... a non-course correction which has now lingered through multiple Swiatek coaching regimes).

Of course, though this loss did come vs. Collins, Swiatek had previously been 7-1 against the Bannerette. Their last meeting had come on clay at the Olympics. You probably remember that one as the match in which Collins crossed after to Swiatek's side of the court upon retiring in the 3rd set and having a "private conversation" in which she told her not to be "insincere" (Collins said she "didn't need the fakeness") when commenting about the abdominal injury that forced the early end of the match.

No such theatrics were in play here, largely because Swiatek was never in the match. Again. Just like in her exit match in Madrid vs. Coco Gauff. At times, Swiatek was truly awful here, especially on serve. She had a 36% first serve percentage in the 1st set (and won just 2 of 14 second serves), and though she improved on her first serve in the 2nd she was still a winner on just 31% (4/13) of second serves in what would be the final (though closer) stanza. Meanwhile, Collins converted on 8 of 10 BP chances.



While Swiatek was being throttled early in the 2nd set, Wim Fissette's expert audible coaching advice to Iga was to "play to win." I'm still not sure if that's a little pathetic, or just sad. I guess we'll find out over the course of what remains of this spring and into the summer. Meanwhile, mental coach Daria Abramowicz offered encouragement from the stands, though it didn't help much.

As Swiatek potentially faces difficult personnel decisions down the line, it might be wise for her to consider the recent words of Andrea Petkovic about the lines that must be recognized between "friends" and "employees" before deciding just where her future may be headed.



As a result of her early exit, Swiatek will fall to (at least) #4, and maybe an additional spot should Jasmine Paolini complete a dream run in Rome. And she still has RG title points to defend, so the floor has not yet been established. The lower seed in Paris could mean an earlier-than-expected match (QF?) with a top seed, but the question there would be whether Swiatek will make it that far in the first place.

Her title/final drought is about to reach its one-year anniversary, and in her last four matches (save an easy win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto in Rome) the Pole has lost her first love set on clay in six years (vs. Madison Keys, who'd never even won a set off her in three matches on the surface), lost three sets by 6-1 scores (two vs. Coco Gauff, who'd been 1-11 in matches -- 0-10 in sets on clay -- in the series before winning their last three match-ups) in which twice she'd trailed 5-0, had her worst defeat in six years (vs. Gauff) and has been possitively run over in a pair of straight sets losses.

What next? The trip to Paris could prove to be very redemptive and restorative, or truly worrisome (far, far more than what we've seen so far, and some of that has been cover-your-eyes worthy).
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2. Rome 1st Rd. - Anastasia Potapova def. Dayana Yastremska
...2-6/7-6(6)/6-3. Yastremska led 6-2/3-0, and held a MP at 6-5 in the 2nd set TB before Potapova stormed back to win a tour-best *third* match this season after being down MP.


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3. Rome 3rd Rd. - Clara Tauson def. Emma Navarro
...3-6/6-0/6-4. The Dane is back (just in time for a slam upset or two?), and Navarro bears the brunt of such a reality as Tauson grabs her fourth career Top 10 victory (second this year, following her upset of Sabalenka in Dubai). Tauson ended things with a very respect-worthy forehand winner.


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4. Rome 1st rd. - Antonia Ruzic def. Tyra Caterina Grant
...3-6/6-3/7-5. Grant makes her debut under the Italian flag, in Italy. It went pretty well, then it didn't.



The 17-year old took the 1st, then led 5-3 in the 3rd, holding two MP on Ruzic's serve before getting the chance to serve it out on her own a game later. Instead, she never won another game.


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5. Rome 1st Rd. - Petra Kvitova def. Irina-Camelia Begu
...7-5/6-1. Kvitova may still be quite a ways away from anything resembling top form in her post-maternity leave comeback, but the Czech finally managed to get her first win since her return. It came in match #5 of '25, some nineteen months since she last recorded a win vs. Wang Xiyu in Beijing on October 1, 2023.

The Czech couldn't make her 2nd Round match, handing a walkover to Ons Jabeur.


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6. Rome 1st Rd. - Jessica Bouzas Maneiro def. Ann Li
...6-3/5-7/7-6(3). After squandering a match in the early-going in Madrid, Bouzas Maneiro gets back on the proverbial horse in Rome.

Of course, even a comeback win from the Spaniard had an iffy prior moment that made it possible. After breaking Li's serve when the Bannerette served for the 2nd set at 5-4, Bouzas Maneiro immediately lost her own serve in the next game as things soon went to a 3rd. In the decider, Li twice served for the win at 5-4 and 6-5, only to see Bouzas Maneiro force and win a tie-break to get her first Rome MD victory.
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7. Rome 1st Rd. - Marta Kostyuk def. Alex Eala
...6-0/6-1. In Eala's first outing since leading Iga Swiatek by a set and break in Madrid, she records just one *game* vs. Kostyuk.
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8. $75K Saint-Gaudens FRA Final - Lois Boisson def. Tatiana Prozorova
...7-6(4)/6-0. Ah, the sweet smell of success.

Pastry Boisson improves to 6-2 in career ITF finals, but this is her first title since a knee injury (in the Paris 125, whose '25 version will be held in Week 20) prevented her Roland Garros MD debut as a wild card last year. Before that horrible timing, Boisson had been a rising star in '24, winning three ITF crowns in March and her maiden 125 title.
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9. $50K Lopata GEO Final - Carol Young Suh Lee def. Ekaterine Gorgodze
...6-7(7)/7-6(3)/6-4. The Northern Mariana Islands native, playing under a U.S. flag, wins her second title in three '25 challenger finals. It's Lee's biggest title by far, as her other two finals had come in $15K tournaments.
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10. $35K Platja d'Aro ESP Final - Ane Mintego del Olmo def. Jenny Durst
...3-6/6-1/6-3. After fighting through injuries, the 2021 Wimbledon girls' champ (the first from ESP) wins her first ITF title since 2023.

Now 21, hopefully this means del Olmo will soon be tour-bound, with her "accessories" look taking its rightfully unique place next to that of Diana Shnaider, Emiliana Arango and Bianca Andreescu (she's still sporting the hair tie on her arm, after all).


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1. $50K Indian Harbor Beach USA Final - Lia Karatantcheva def. Arina Rodionova
...6-2/6-7(6)/6-3. Karatantcheva, of the large Bulgarian tennis family, wins her first pro singles title on her third attempt in a final. Naturally, it comes against another tennis sibling.

Lia has already won five WD crowns, including two in '25.
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*WHEELCHAIR WORLD TEAM CUP WINNERS, w/ host nation*
2025 [TUR] - Netherlands
2024 [TUR] - China
2023 [POR] - Netherlands
2022 [POR] - Japan
2021 [ITA] - Netherlands
2020 DNP
2019 [ISR] - Netherlands
2018 [NED] - Netherlands
2017 [ITA] - China
2016 [JPN] - Netherlands
2015 [TUR] - Netherlands
2014 [NED] - Netherlands
2013 [TUR] - Netherlands
2012 [KOR] - Netherlands
2011 [RSA] - Netherlands
2010 [TUR] - Netherlands
2009 [GBR] - Netherlands
2008 [ITA] - Netherlands
2007 [SWE] - Netherlands
2006 [BRA] - Netherlands
2005 [NED] - Netherlands
2004 [NZL] - Netherlands
2003 [POL] - Netherlands
2002 [ITA] - Netherlands
2001 [SUI] - Netherlands
2000 [FRA] - Netherlands
1999 [USA] - Australia
1998 [ESP] - Netherlands
1997 [GBR] - Netherlands
1996 [AUS] - Netherlands
1995 [NED] - Netherlands
1994 [GBR] - United States
1993 [AUT] - Netherlands
1992 [BEL] - Netherlands
1991 [USA] - Netherlands
1990 [USA] - Netherlands
1989 [USA] - Netherlands
1988 [USA] - Netherlands
1987 [USA] - Netherlands
1986 [USA] - Netherlands






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All for now.
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Sunday, May 4, 2025

Wk.18- Aryna's (Third) Reign in Spain







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*WEEK 18 CHAMPIONS*
MADRID, SPAIN (WTA 1000; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR def. Coco Gauff/USA 6-3/7-6(3)
D: Sorana Cirstea/Anna Kalinsakaya (ROU/RUS) def. Veronika Kudermetova/Elise Mertens (RUS/BEL) 6-7(10)/6-2 [12-10]
Saint-Malo, France (WTA 125; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Naomi Osaka/JPN def. Kaja Juvan/SLO 6-1/7-5
D: Maia Lumsden/Makoto Ninomiya (GBR/JPN) def. Oksana Kalashnikova/Angelica Moratelli (GEO/ITA) 7-5/6-2
Vic, Spain (WTA 125; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Dalma Galfi/HUN def. Rebeka Masarova/SUI 6-3/6-0
D: Bianca Andreescu/Aldila Sutjiadi (CAN/INA) def. Leylah Fernandez/Lulu Sun (CAN/NZL) 6-2/6-4




[Madrid 4th Rd.+]

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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR
...Sabalenka had some unfinished business to attend to. A year ago, she didn't repeat as the Madrid champ despite holding three MP in the final vs. Iga Swiatek. This time around, though she had to traverse the usual ups and downs of a nearly two-week event, she lost just one set on her way to her 20th career tour crown and third in five years in Madrid (she's an odd-year dominator with titles in 2021, '23 and now '25).

Losing just a single set in the 3rd Round vs. former doubles partner Elise Mertens, Sabalenka ran the table the rest of the tournament with straight setters against Anna Blinkova, Peyton Stearns, Marta Kostyuk (in two dramatic TBs) and Elina Svitolina to reach the final in Madrid for the fourth time in five years. Twice holding off surges from Coco Gauff in the final -- late in the 1st, and early in the 2nd -- Sabalenka took a 6-3/7-6 final to belatedly avenge her loss to Gauff in their last final match-up, at the '23 U.S. Open.

The win over Gauff further solidifies Sabalenka's grasp of the top position on tour. Her six Top 10 victories lead the WTA, where she's 6-0 vs. Top 10 opponents and 11-2 vs. the Top 20 this season, while reaching six finals (topping the WTA) and winning three titles (ditto). By contrast, #2 Swiatek has yet to reach a final, is 5-2 vs. the Top 10 and 7-5 vs. the Top 20; while #3 Gauff hadn't reached a semifinal in '25 before this event.

Sabalenka's ranking point lead over Swiatek has now swelled to 4345 (Iga defends another title in Rome next, where Sabalenka was the RU in '24) and 4515 over the edging-up #3 Gauff.


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RISERS: Coco Gauff/USA and Marta Kostyuk/UKR
...before Madrid, Gauff's season had been a fairly mediocre one. She hadn't reached a semifinal since ending '24 with a WTA Finals title. Still, Iga Swiatek's eleven-month slippage gave her the chance to claim the #2 ranking with a win in the final on Saturday. She came up short vs. Aryna Sabalenka, but can't help but now be looked upon as a major factor in both Rome and Paris.

Things didn't start out well for Gauff in Madrid, as she dropped her opening set at love to Dayana Yastremska in the 2nd Round, then had to fight off the Ukrainian in the 3rd set as Gauff's 3-0 lead turned into a 5-5 tie after Coco couldn't convert on three MP chances in game 9 on Yastremska's serve, then dropped her own in the next game. But Gauff then swept the final two games and won her next four matches in straight sets, taking out Ann Li, Belinda Bencic, Mirra Andreeva (improving to 3-0 vs. the teen, though this was their first meeting since 2023) and Swiatek, destroying the world #2 6-1/6-1 -- the Pole's worst loss since 2019 -- in a match that somehow probably wasn't even as close as the scoreline might suggest. It's Gauff third straight win over the same former #1 who once (just recently) dominated her between the lines (and maybe between the ears), but does so no more.

In her first 1000 final on clay, Gauff had the chance to become the *fourth* player this season (in less than five months!) to defeat both the world #1 and #2 on the way to a title. But that feat will have to wait for another day, as #1 Sabalenka took a 6-3/7-6(3) final to secure her third Madrid title.

Gauff is now just 170 points behind #2 Swiatek, and (finally) with a gust of wind behind her back can tout her two past SF results in Rome (2021 and '24), as well as a 19-4 record at Roland Garros since 2021 (w/ QF-RU-QF-SF finishes), as reasons why she'll be near (or at?) the top of the list of favorites for the biggest clay titles left on the '25 schedule.

Meanwhile, Kostyuk couldn't produce her second career 1000 SF, but she put up a fight in Madrid before finally falling in her first QF appearance in the event.



Wins over Emma Raducanu, Veronika Kudermetova and Anastasia Potapova gave Kostyuk her third career opportunity against Aryna Sabalenka. It was their first meeting since the '23 RG, and the Ukrainian hadn't won a set in either of their first two encounters, winning three or fewer games in three of the four sets. It was also their first meeting with the Belarusian holding down the #1 ranking.

Kostyuk still hasn't defeated Sabalenka, nor taken a set off her, but their two-TB tussle -- during which Kostyuk had SP in both sets -- proved to be a (still) early-season contender for the best straight sets match on tour in 2025.

Kostyuk's QF run was the best of her career in a clay court 1000 event. She'd been just 3-5 in Madrid before this year, and is still 1-4 in Rome. She *did* reach the Round of 16 at Roland Garros in 2021, but is only 4-5 in her career in Paris, though that doesn't include her the Olympic QF there last summer.
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SURPRISES: Moyuka Uchijima/JPN and Dalma Galfi/HUN
...as it turned out, Uchijima had a little bit more to give in the second week of her dream performance run in Madrid.

After opening week wins from a set down over Robin Montgomery and Ons Jabeur, the 23-year old upset #3 Jessie Pegula (her first Top 10 win) and Ekaterina Alexandrova (who'd won 8 of 10 clay matches in '25) to reach her maiden 1000 QF and crack the Top 50 for the first time.

Her run ended in emphatic fashion at the hands of Elina Svitolina, but Uchijima is set to land at a best-ever #47 in the new rankings.

Suddenly, Galfi is a player whose name people are (maybe) starting to know. (Yep, she was one of the Backspin's original PWKYK picks back in 2017.)

The 26-year old Hungarian claimed her second straight 125 title this weekend in Vic, Spain, following up her win in Oeiras last week in what was her third straight 125 final on clay this spring. Galfi's current 10-match winning streak added a no-sets-lost week in Vic that included defeats of Wang Xiyu, Kimberly Birrell, Guiomar Maristany and, in dominating 6-3/6-0 fashion, Rebeka Masarova in the final.



Galfi, on a 14-1 run in her last three events, returns to the Top 100 on Monday (her career high is #79 in 2022).

With the loss, Masarova drops her third straight 125 final since 2022. The Swiss played in Vic after (as a qualifier) she'd reached the Madrid 3rd Round (her second there in three years, both her best 1000 results) with wins over Ajla Tomljanovic and Yulia Putintseva.
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VETERANS: Elina Svitolina/UKR and Madison Keys/USA
...Svitolina arrived in Madrid off a title run in Rouen, and ultimately extended her winning streak to eleven matches (9 WTA, 2 BJK) as she reached her 12th career 1000 semifinal.

Wins over Sonay Kartal, Elena Rybakina, Maria Sakkari and Moyuka Uchijima set up Svitolina with a match vs. Aryna Sabalenka for a berth in what would have been the Ukrainian's biggest final since the 2019 WTA Finals. That reality -- which would have also meant her eighth career #1 win vs. a fifth different #1 player -- didn't play out for the 30-year old, but she contested a tight two-set defeat (6-3/7-5), forcing Sabalenka to twice serve for the win after getting a break of serve to knot the 2nd set at 5-5.

The Madrid run is the best of Svitolina's career, as she'd been just 3-8 in the event and had never advanced past the 2nd Round. She's got a better history in her *next* two events: 17-8 with two titles in Rome, and a personal career slam best 29 wins at RG with four QF results.

She'll climb to #14 in the new rankings.



Though she's a former RG semifinalist (2018), Paris would seem to be the least likely major site at which Keys would have another breakthrough result in the wake of her maiden slam title run in Melbourne in January. But, hey, "new" Madi can't be ruled out.

She did what was necessary in Madrid to maintain such viability, posting wins over Lucia Bronzetti, Anna Kalinskaya and Donna Vekic en route to the QF (a year after reaching the semis in the event), then put up a love set vs. defending champ Iga Swiatek in the 1st. Keys had lost all six sets she'd previously played vs. the Pole on clay, and it was the first bagel handed the four-time RG champ on the surface since 2019.

Keys ultimately lost to Swiatek in three, after pressing Iga down the stretch in the decider, but is still less than a year removed from picking up her maiden red clay crown last spring in Strasbourg. She's 23-5 on the year.



Can Keys carry over her major success at the AO into RG? At the very least, she might keep in play opportunities to reach the second week at all four majors in a season for just the second time in her career (2016, w/ four 4th Rd. results -- the closest she's come since was a QF-SF-3r-SF slam season in '18) and match or succeed her best combined year in the majors, a 16-win season during that same '18 stretch. So far in '25, of course, she's 7-0.
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COMEBACKS: Naomi Osaka/JPN and Kaja Juvan/SLO
...after her early exit in Madrid, Osaka's decision to drop down and take a wild card to play a 125 on clay was a good sign of her long-wavering commitment to at least try to win on a surface other than hard court. Her performance during the week-long tournament in Saint-Malo proved to be just as winning.

Osaka's title run on the dirt, her first win ever on clay and her first crown on any surface since winning the AO in 2021, included a comeback from a set down vs. Diane Parry (2nd Rd.) and a love 3rd set against Leolia Jeanjean (SF). In the final vs. Kaja Juvan, Osaka rallied from 4-2 down in the 2nd to complete a 6-1/7-5 straight sets victory.

Osaka has never reached the Round of 16 at RG, nor the QF in either of the clay court 1000 events in Madrid and Rome. In fact, this was her first career final on any level on the dirt, her first in a 125 event in a decade and her first singles title anywhere other than in a tour event in her pro career. 7-5 in WTA finals, she'd been a combined 0-5 in 125/ITF finals until her win this weekend.

Thus, the teaming with coach Patrick Mouratoglou produces *something* new and good for Osaka. For her sake, hopefully the "new" remains "good" in their partnership.



Juvan returned to tennis in January after having taken a long break since losing a 2nd Round match at the AO in 2024.

After some enouraging results in the opening months of '25, the 24-year old Slovenian produced her first big run with a final appearance in the 125 in Saint-Malo.

Wins over Greet Minnen, Celine Naef, Katie Volynets and Viktorija Golubic put Juvan into her second biggest career final (behind only tour-level Strasbourg in '22 -- a three-TB set loss to Kerber). She fell in straight sets to Naomi Osaka, but will see her ranking rise significantly from #515 to into the #360 range after improving her season mark to 17-7.


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FRESH FACE: Diana Shnaider/RUS
...though it's been hidden a bit with her doubles success, early season QF/3r runs in Adelaide and Melbourne and a stable ranking position (she's been ranked between #13-16 since September and either #13/14 all but one week this season), Shnaider's game and results have been off in '25 following her first full season on tour a year ago saw her win four titles (on three surfaces, the only WTA player to do it in '24) and reach a major Round of 16 (US) and 1000 SF in Toronto last summer.

Being only 9-10 on the year heading into Madrid, Shnaider's recent addition of former world #1 Dinara Safina coach makes sense.

Right on schedule after the change, the Hordette surged on the Spanish dirt, dropping three combined games vs. Katie Volynets and Anastasija Sevastova (love & love), giving Shnaider multiple match wins in an event for the first time since the AO. Against defending champ Iga Swiatek in the 4th Round, Shnaider recovered from a love 1st set to force a decider and stayed on the Pole's heels as she threatened to get the set back on serve in the late going.

Even with the loss, Shnaider (now 11-11 in '25) will rise to a new career high of #11, behind only her doubles partner Mirra Andreeva amongst the tour's Hordette contingent.
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DOWN: Iga Swiatek/POL
...not that this is *really* a new thought, but something is just not *right* with Swiatek. The question is what the cause of it is, for it surely seems to be some sort of mental hurdle, far more so than anything that has to do with the mechanics of any individual groundstroke or her serve, and maybe even any particular tactical mindset or stubbornness (though there's been a lingering issue there when it's come to accepting the sort of coaching that might make her less susceptible to be being put on her heels by power-oriented players).

The evidence of *something* was all over the world #2's (latest) failed title defense attempt in Madrid, which continued a title/final-less streak that has carried on since last year's Roland Garros. After losing to Alex Eala in Miami, Swiatek quickly fell behind against her in Madrid, as well, dropping the 1st set and falling down a break early in the 2nd before rallying to win. After getting past Linda Noskova in two (Swiatek *has* mostly figured out how to defeat *that* formerly vexing opponent, winning five straight times since the Czech's upset at AO24, though Noskova has taken her to three sets in their last three hard court match-ups), Iga was also taken into a deciding set by Diana Shnaider in the 4th Round despite having taken the 1st set from the Russian at love (her usual front-runner momentum didn't materialize in the 2nd).

Then came the QF, where Madison Keys *bageled* the Pole -- on clay -- in the 1st set before another comeback victory. Keys had previously lost all six sets she'd played against Swiatek on clay. Afterward, the Pole was propped up from the outside more for the rally than being questioned about the *screaming* red flag that that love set represented. It didn't take long for the *other* shoe to drop, either, as a day later Swiatek was run out of Madrid on a rail by none other than Coco Gauff in a 6-1/6-1 destruction. Gauff, previously just 3-11 vs. Iga, had lost all ten sets between the two on clay prior to the win that now gives her three straight W's in the series (after wins at the WTAF and United Cup). At one point in the match, Gauff led 6-1/5-0... and the Tennis Channel commentator lauded Swiatek for holding serve to avoid a *second* bagel set lost in consecutive days.

It was hardly the point.

After the love set lost vs. Keys was Swiatek's worst single set since 2019 (RG vs. Halep), her two total agames vs. Gauff were her fewest in a match since a loss that same year ('19 Birmingham vs. a certain Latvian).



When are we going to stop acting as if Swiatek is the same player she was just a year ago, and begin to look "behind the curtain?" When she's dropped out of the Top 5? The Top 10? Because that's where this story is headed if something doesn't change, starting with two *more* title defenses this spring in Rome and Roland Garros. Rather than tennis' version of "hearts and prayers" every time Swiatek is dumped on her head by an opponent not the least bit intimidated by her resume, why not ask why this is happening to a player who not long ago seemed as dominant a #1 as we'd seen since peak Serena Williams.

While far too many Iga supporters shout from the roof tops after a win, they whistle past the proverbial graveyard after yet another stunning defeat. The common denominator in every such situation, though, is a former #1 who more and more finds herself at the mercy of opponents who don't genuflect at her trophy case. The Keys match notwithstanding (not that Keys hasn't blown big leads and lost momentum in matches before), most of those instances end just like the loss to Gauff.

Swiatek's slip is no longer just about her issues vs. power players, and things can't be pinned on a coaching change (still, after Iga cast off two WTA Coach of the Year winners, Wim Fissette would be wise to keep a "go-bag" ready considering his stint has produced no victories of note since he came aboard in October). Instead an arched eyebrow *should* be directed toward Swiatek's longtime sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz, whose six-year run as part of the team would seem to be rather important at the moment considering Swiatek's issues seem more mental (i.e. related to lost confidence) than anything else.

At this point, Swiatek's problems seem to be getting worse, not better. And now it's happening on clay.

The question is, what precipiated this downward stretch? Her failure to win at the Olympics in Paris? The reverberations of her positive drug test last summer (which was soon followed by coach Tomasz Wiktorowski's exit)? She's won no titles, nor even reached a final, since either of those occasions. Or maybe it's something we have no clue about, and might not for a long time (if we *ever* do).

Whatever the case, the vulnerability once *only* showed against big hitters is now extending to other sorts of foes, frustration is mounting, she's acting out publicly quite often (including getting dinged for an aubible obscenity in the Gauff match), and has been seen in tears on more than one occasion during defeats, including against those with little experience and some (like Gauff) that she formerly dominated.

The thought has been that clay would prove to be Iga's best medicine, but thus far that has not been the case. In fact, more weeks like these past two in Madrid might just excelerate the trend that has seen Swiatek fall from #1 and now begin to feel legitimate heat from players behind her that *aren't* named Aryna.

What's the breaking point in this that might cause a huge reassessent on Swiatek's part and lead to some triggers behind pulled (i.e. a full reorganization of her team, including the possible exit of Fissette and maybe even Abramowicz)? A first week loss in Paris? At this point, could anyone *truly* rule that out (especially if the draw lines up a certain way)?

Stay tuned, and maybe buckle up.
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ITF PLAYER: Anna Bondar/HUN
...a season ago, Bondar put together title runs in a 125 (Hamburg) and three ITF challengers (in five finals). This week in Wiesbaden, the Hungarian claimed her first '25 win in a $100K event.

Bondar's first career $100K crown came after a week of wins over Sinja Kraus, Jodie Burrage, Simona Waltert and Darja Semenistaja, then a 6-2/6-4 victory in the final over Julia Grabher.

The run gives a bright spot to what had been a disapointing season for Bondar. She'd been just 11-14 in '25 before her five-win streak, but now will return to the Top 100 on Monday.


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DOUBLES: Sorana Cirstea/Anna Kalinsakaya, ROU/RUS
...Cirstea & Kalinskaya's sterling week in Madrid, which had already included wins over the #1 (Dabrowski/Routliffe via a 10-7 MTB) and #3 (Hsieh/Ostapenko in the SF) seeds, ended with a dramatic finish in the final vs. Veronika Kudermetova & Elise Mertens.

After Kudermetova/Mertens had rallied from 5-3 down, saving four SP in a TB, to take the opening set on their own SP #3, Cirstea/Kalinskaya won the 2nd to force a deciding MTB. Tied at 8-8, the teams traded off on three MP in the final moments. After having failed to put away the title at 9-8, then saving a MP at 10-9, the Romanian-Russian pair finally won it 12-10.

It's Kalinskaya's fourth and biggest tour doubles title, while Cirstea has now collected six in her long WTA career. The Romanian's first came seventeen years ago (2008), with her prior most recent win coming six years ago (2019 Lugano). It's Cirstea's biggest WD crown ever, by far, as she'd never won above the old International (now 250) level.


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[Madrid 4th Rd.+]



1. Madrid QF - Aryna Sabalenk def. Marta Kostyuk
...7-6(4)/7-6(7). Sometimes less *is* more (and not just w/ men's best-of-5 matches), but that's especially so if the "less" is two dramatic tie-break sets rather than a three-setter with little close competition and/or few big points.

Sabalenka prevailed despite Kostyuk holding SP in both sets, one when serving at 5-4 in the 1st and, after the world #1 had rallied from an early break down and held a MP while serving for the win at 6-5, three in the 2nd set TB before Sabalenka again finished strong to close out the final women's QF in rainy Madrid.

The weather had forced the closing of the roof in the TB... though it should have happened earlier, which would have avoided a mini-drama when Sabalenka wouldn't hit a second serve into heavy rainfall when down 4-5. When play resumed, the chair umpire's decision to give Sabalenka a first serve was, well, questionable at best. Kostyuk still managed to reach SP after the situation, but couldn't force a decider.


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2. Madrid QF - Iga Swiatek def. Madison Keys
...0-6/6-3/6-2. Well-earned kudos went out to Swiatek from many corners -- including, as usual, the she-walks-on-water contingent who bend the knee at the slightest provocation -- for recovering from dropping a love 1st set. But the more pertinent headline here wasn't about the comeback but the fact that she actually dropped a love set on clay, her first since 2019, in the first place.



Fact is, if everyone would be completely honest about it, if Swiatek was altogether "right," which she clearly hasn't been (by her lofty standards, at least) for much of the last eleven months, that 1st set shouldn't happen to her on clay against *anyone* (not even you-know-who) as long as she's upright on two feet.



And that notion of portending doom was backed up just one day later...
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3. Madrid SF - Coco Gauff def. Iga Swiatek
...6-1/6-1. First off, Gauff played great. But just like with the love set won by Keys a round earlier, Swiatek getting run off the court on her favorite surface should never happen in this way and she bears much -- if not the majority -- of the blame for as much. For if the Pole is whom she is *supposed* to be, this type of thing would simply never happen.

For Gauff, though, it could be the light that supercharges what has mostly been a "meh" season, ala her Cincinnati win over Iga (her first ever) led into a U.S. Open title run to close out the summer of 2023.

Gauff had never gotten a set off Swiatek in five meetings on clay prior to this, yet led 6-1/5-0 here. This marks her third straight win over Swiatek, against whom she'd once been 0-7 without a single set claimed (and that was less than two years ago).

Naturally, Swiatek's latest defeat came accompanied by all the "usual" notes: a win in the prior round (vs. Keys) that had set off the expected Iga-colored-glasses chorus of "she is who we said she was" plaudits by the Iga Well Wishers, the sight of Swiatek scurrying off court after dropping the 1st set (and being absent for nearly ten minutes after a "grueling" 34-minute opener, a by-now-tiresome occurrence that even got the match's Tennis Channel commentator to comment negatively), the frustrated kicking of dirt and shouts at her player's box and, this time, even a new one in a code violation call by the chair umpire for an audible obscenity.



Quite possibly *the* best front-runner in the game, Swiatek continues to often be one of the worst competitors when outright challenged by an opponent not left stunned by her mere presence on the other side of the court. And now such a thing is becoming more and more common for oponents *not* named Alona.

For Swiatek, this is most definity not an encouraging development. How long before another shoe drops in this story, and how long before it *needs* to if Swiatek is going to escape this, well, whatever *this* is?
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4. Madrid Final - Aryna Sabalenka def. Coco Gauff
...6-3/7-6(3). The last time Sabalenka faced off with Gauff for a title, she lost her grasp on her first U.S. Open crown despite winning the 1st set; and the last time she played in the Madrid final she failed to defend her '23 crown as she couldn't convert any of three MP en route to a loss to Iga Swiatek.

This time things were different (x2).

Still, there was more back and forth here than the score might suggest. Sabalenka led 4-1 in the 1st, but saw Gauff close to 4-3 before being broken to give the set to the world #1. In the 2nd, Gauff led 5-3 and served at 5-4. She fell behind love/40 but managed to hold a SP in game 10 before Sabalenka finally got the break on BP #5. Later, Gauff saved a MP and forced a TB, where Sabalenka took a 6-3 led and put away the title on MP #2 on a Gauff DF (#8).


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5. Saint-Malo FRA 125 1st Rd. - Tiantsoa Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonah def. Tessah Andrianjafitrimo
...3-6/6-4/6-1. TSRR wins the tennis version of "The Name Game."

Sarah has more letters, so she was the betting favorite.
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HM- $100K Gifu JPN Final - Zhang Shuai def. Mananchaya Sawangkaew
...6-3/6-4. Just last season, Zhang was mired in a 24-match losing streak. This week, though, the Chinese veteran picked up her first singles title since winning tour-level Lyon in March 2022.

The 36-year old posted wins over 17-year old Wakana Sonobe (QF) and 16-year old Emerson Jones (SF) en route to the final, where she handled Sawangkaew, who had recently rebounded from a 1-5 skid in March, in straights.


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[Madrid 4th Rd.+]

1. Vic ESP 125 Final - Bianca Andreescu/Aldila Sutjiadi def. Leylah Fernandez/Lulu Sun
...6-2/6-4. An unexpected highlight for Andreescu's latest return to the court, as the Canadian wins her biggest career doubles title in the 125 in Spain. It's her first doubles crown anywhere since July 2018 in the Gatineau $25K in Canada, which came a season after her only tour-level WD final appearance in Quebec City. On both occasions, Andreescu teamed with fellow Canadian Carson Branstine, with whom she'd won the AO/RG girls' doubles titles in 2017.

Conversely, Sutjiadi has now claimed a fourth 125 crown to go along with the five WTA and sixteen ITF wins in her career.


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2. $100K Bonita Springs (FLA) USA Final - Astra Sharma def. Whitney Osuigwe
...6-2/6-2. Former junior star Osuigwe continues to lift her game eight years after her girls' triumph at Roland Garros in 2017.

After $50K and $35K wins, she reached her fifth '25 ITF final in a $100K, her second such final in her career (six years after a 2019 loss to Taylor Townsend), but fell to Aussie Sharma, who picked up her biggest singles title since taking a 125 in 2023.

Osuigwe is close (new #158) to re-entering the Top 150, where she hasn't been since 2019-20.
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Meanwhile, come 2300, it will be revealed that Professor Mayfair Bartkowski -- for reasons known only to her -- used her first time machine to travel back to 1981 and pick up Toby Kidd at the library of Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina (during 3rd period) and then switch her out with Iga Swiatek sometime during the summer of 2024.

The real Iga lived out the remainder of her days in early 22nd century Barcelona, winning six more Roland Garros titles while using the name "Toby Kidd" and joking about her resemblance to the four-time title winner from the 2020s. Meanwhile, the real Toby, after at first being uncomfortable in her own skin after undertaking the role of "Iga" decid-... well, we wouldn't want to give away any spoilers and ruin the fun to come, now would we?

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Here-here (speaking Backpin's longtime "tennis-is-a-product-that-is-being-sold-right?" language with this talk of outlawing same-outfit match-ups)...




Of course, the WTA, for one, doesn't even to understand that marketing campaigns are meant to sell the sport to potential new customers, gin up excitement for longtime fans, and generate media and/or viral interest.

So what are the chances that the tour -- or tennis -- will ever even recognizes this as a problem to begin with?


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In a follow-up to last week's match note concerning Grant... the smoke was legit.




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Meanwhile, I guess the WTA social media person that did this very same thing in a post (later deleted) when Camila Osorio won a third Bogota title (over five years) just last month has learned absolutely nothing in the interim...



It's shocking, I know, that an arm of the WTA continues to make the same obvious mistakes. Who would've ever guessed?


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During the pandemic Shutdown, I had a lot of space here and little tennis to fill it, so at one point I did a re-posted, re-written and updated version of the original "What If?" from days gone by:

Monica Seles: Almost the Best There Ever Was [WTA Backspin]
Monica Seles: Almost the Best There Ever Was [Backspin Tennis]

























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*2025 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
3 - ARYNA SABALENKA, BLR = 2 1000, 1 500
2 - Mirra Andreeva, RUS = 2 1000
2 - Madison Keys, USA = 1 GS, 1 500
2 - Jessie Pegula, USA = 1 500, 1 250
[2020-25]
22 - 1/2/8/6/5/0 = Iga Swiatek, POL
15 - 3/2/0/3/4/3 = ARYNA SABALENKA, BLR
8 - 1/5/2 = Ash Barty, AUS (ret.)
8 - 0/1/0/4/3/0 = Coco Gauff, USA
8 - 0/3/2/2/1/0 = Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
7 - 0/0/1/2/2/2 = Jessie Pegula, USA
7 - 1/0/1/2/3/0 = Elena Rybakina, KAZ

*CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLES - active*
31 - Petra Kvitova (2023)
22 - Iga Swiatek (2024)
21 - Victoria Azarenka (2020)
20 - ARYNA SABALENKA (2025)
18 - Elina Svitolina (2025)
17 - Karolina Pliskova (2024)
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ALSO: V.Williams (49), Wozniacki (30)

*LONG WTA (MD+BJK WG only) WINNING STREAKS - 2025*
16 - Madison Keys (January-March; ended by Sabalenka)
13 - Mirra Andreeva (February-March; ended by Anisimova)
11 - Aryna Sabalenka (January; ended by Keys)
11 - ELINA SVITOLINA (April-May; ended by Sabalenka)







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All for now.
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