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Monday, November 4, 2024

Wk.44- A Turkish Delight in the Gloaming of a WTA Season







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*WEEK 44 CHAMPIONS*
HONG KONG, CHINA (WTA 250/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Diana Shnaider/RUS def. Katie Boulter/GBR 6-1/6-2
D: Ulrikke Eiker/Makoto Ninomiya (NED/JPN) def. Shuko Aoyama/Eri Hozumi (JPN/JPN) 6-4/4-6 [11-9]
JIUJIANG, CHINA (WTA 250/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Viktorija Golubic/SUI def. Rebecca Sramkova/SVK 6-3/7-5
D: Guo Hanyu/Moyuka Uchijima (CHN/JPN) def. Katarzyna Piter/Fanny Stollar (POL/HUN) 7-6(5)/7-5
MERIDA, MEXICO (WTA 250/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Zeynep Sonmez/TUR def. Ann Li/USA 6-2/6-1
D: Quinn Gleason/Ingrid Martins (USA/BRA) def. Magali Kempen/Lara Salden (BEL/BEL) 6-4/6-4
SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA (WTA 125/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Anca Todoni/ROU def. Emiliana Arango/COL 7-6(5)/6-0
D: Nuria Branccaccio/Leyre Romero Gormaz (ITA/ESP) def. Aliona Bolsova/Valeriya Strakhova (ESP/UKR) 6-4/6-4




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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Diana Shnaider/RUS and Zeynep Sonmez/TUR
...Shnaider's WTA regular-season closing title run in Hong Kong adds still yet another accomplishment to what has grown into a monster early-career campaign for the 20-year old Hordette. She's racked up 55 match wins, four tour titles on three different surfaces (the only WTA player to do so in '24), a 125 win, her first Top 10 victory (over Coco in Toronto) and an Olympic doubles Silver medal. Her final flourish will lift her to another new career high of #12.

Shnaider dropped just a single set on the week, a TB 2nd around love & 2 sets vs. Suzan Lamens in the QF to reach her seventh '24 SF (behind only Swiatek's 9 and 8 from Sabalenka/Gauff). A win over tournament defending champ Leylah Fernandez put the Russian into her fourth final of the season. Another dominate victory -- 6-1/6-2 over Katie Boulter -- kept her tour final record a perfect 4-0 for the season (4-1 career).



Next up on the agenda for the Bandanna? A true challenge at a major? She reached the Round of 16 at the U.S. Open this summer.



Meanwhile, in the final regular season event of the WTA season, Sonmez played out a fairy tale story between the lines in Merida.

The 22-year old Turk has shown gradually improved results all season long. After making her tour MD debut in '23, Sonmez this season posted her first tour-level win (Berlin) and made her 1000 (Doha) and major MD debuts (at RG, becoming the first woman from Turkey to play in Paris since 2017). This 4Q, she's reached her first WTA QF (Monastir) and collected her maiden Top 25 win (Magdalena Frech in Tokyo).

In Merida, in her tenth career WTA MD, Sonmez posted victories over Maria Lourdes Carle, Elsa Jacquemot and top-seeded Renata Zarazua (on home soil in Mexico) to reach her first WTA semi. After rain postponed her Saturday SF vs. Alina Korneeva, Sonmez was forced to play two matches on Sunday while also battling illness. No matter, she won both contests in straights, defeating Ann Li 6-2/6-1 in a Sunday night final to become the first woman from Turkey to win a tour singles title since Cagla Buyukakcay became the first to do so in Istanbul in 2016.

Sonmez will jump 36 spots in the next rankings, cracking the Top 100 and looking to match (or improve upon) the many Turkish tour feats that Buyukakcay was routinely accomplishing a few years ago.


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RISERS: Katie Boulter/GBR and Rebecca Sramkova/SVK
...after reaching a semifinal in Tokyo a week ago, Boulter did one better in Hong Kong and reached her third final of the season.

Wins over Aoi Ito, Wang Xiyu, Anastasia Zakharova and Yuan Yue put the Brit into a final against Diana Shnaider, but the Brit was able to get just three games from the top seed to put the first blemish on her tour record in four career WTA final appearances. She'll climb to a career high #23 in the next-to-last rankings of the '24 tour season.



In Jiujiang, Sramkova's 4Q push once again proved fruitful as the Slovak reached her third final in her last five events (a stretch that included a nine-match win streak and a qualifying run to the Beijing 1000 3rd Round).

After opening with a win over Zhang Shuai, Sramkova won in her second meeting with Wei Sijia in two weeks (Wei had pulled the upset in Guangzhou), then knocked off Laura Siegemund (her final victim in her maiden title run in Hua Hin) to reach the final. She fell in straight sets to Viktorija Golubic, but will crack the Top 50 for the first time in the new rankings.

Since her loss in U.S. Open qualifying, Sramkova has posted a mark of 17-4.


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SURPRISES: Anca Todoni/ROU and Mananchaya Sawangkaew/THA
...honestly, it doesn't seem like anyone saw Todoni coming at the start of 2024. That surely won't be the case in 2025.

This season has seen the 20-year old Romanian make her tour MD debut in Cluj (as a wild card), claim a 125 title in June (cracking the Top 150) and make her slam MD debut (getting a 1r win at SW19 over Olga Danilovic). This past week in Santa Cruz (BOL), Todoni picked up her second 125 title, finishing off her run with a straight sets win in the final over Colombian Emiliana Arango.

Over the stretch of her five matches in Bolivia, Todoni recorded four love sets. In just one of her other five completed did an opponent claim more than three games (a 1st set TB win in the final vs. Arango). In the end, the Romanian might have been just as challenged giving an acceptance speech while trying to keep a celebratory hat on her head.



After finishing the 2022 season at #893, then jumping to a #250 final spot last year, Todoni wil rise to #117 on Monday with one more week to go before the official "end" of the WTA season (of course, there will still be ITF and 125 tournaments through December... and if you wonder just how much a difference that sort of stretch can make, just ask Emma Navarro about it). Todoni will be in another 125 event in Week 45, with seemingly an outside chance to jump from her current ROU #5 spot to maybe challenging #113 Ana Bogdan (ROU #4) and #103 Irina Camelia Begu (ROU #3) in the final '24 rankings behind Sorana Cirstea and Jaqueline Cristian.

Meanwhile, 22-year old Sawangkaew's 4Q breakthrough continued in Jiujiang. In recent weeks, the Thai player made her tour MD debut in Hua Hin, recorded her first WTA win in Beijing and reached her maiden QF (w/ a 2r win over Yuan Yue) in Guangzhou while cracking the Top 150. This week, after making it through qualifying for a third fall tournament, she matched her final eight run from a week ago.

Sawangkaew notched wins over Lucia Bronzetti, fresh off her Guangzhou SF, and outlasted Zheng Saisai in an 8-6 3rd set TB (saving 2 MP) before finally going out to veteran Laura Siegemund.

The Oklahoma State (2021-22) product, who ranked outside the Top 200 in early August, will climb inside the Top 135 this week.


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VETERANS: Viktorija Golubic/SUI and Laura Siegemund/GER
...a week after Olga Danilovic won her first tour title in six years, Golubic laughed at that and won her first in *eight* years, defeating four seeded women over five rounds to do it.

In Jiujiang, the 32-year old Swiss followed up a retirement win from #4 Jessica Bouzas Maniero in the 2nd Round with a 3:24 victory over #6 Arantxa Rus to reach her first WTA semi since 2022 in Nottingham. A straight sets win over top seeded Marie Bouzkova to reach her first final since 2021 (Monterrey) preceded a 6-3/7-5 victory over #2 Rebecca Sramkova.

Golubic's last tour-level singles title was in July 2017 in Lausanne (her only win in four previous finals), and the eight-year, three-month timespan between wins is the ninth-longest gap between WTA crowns in tour history. She'll climb from #168 (the lowest-ranked singles champ of the season) to nearly back inside the Top 100 (#105).



Last year, Siegemund put on a mad late-season scramble on the doubles court alongside Vera Zvonareva to qualify (and then win) the WTA Finals. While the lightning that has struck in the 4Q this year hasn't been a lethal as last, the 36-year old German has surely been posting some impressive results in recent weeks.

In September, Siegemund reached the Hua Hin singles final, her first tour final in 14 months, and then joined with Ena Shibahara to win the doubles in Osaka *and* reach the final in Tokyo. This week in Jiujiang, it was her singles game's turn to shine once more. Siegemund ran off wins over Moyuka Uchijima, Tamara Korpatsch and Mananchaya Sawangkaew to reach the semifinals, where she fell (as she did in the Hua Hin final vs. the Slovak) to Rebecca Sramkova.

Siegemund jumps back into the Top 100 in the next rankings. At #83, she's assured of a season-ending Top 100 finish in next week's final 2024 (post-WTAF) rankings for the seventh time in the past ten years.


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COMEBACKS: Nina Stojanovic/SRB and Ann Li/USA
...it's been half a decade since the tour saw the best of Stojanovic, as the now 28-year old Serb cracked the Top 100 in 2019 and reached a career high of #81 in the 2020 season. She played in her first of two WTA SF in 2019, and in 2021 reached the Olympic MX semis alongside Novak Djokovic.

Currently ranked #560, Stojanovic has missed large chunks of the past three seasons while struggling with injuries, including nine months out in '22 with an arm injury, then after a brief return late that season experienced a hip injury that kept her out of action for more than a year and a half until she hit the court again this past May. She found immediate success, winning eight of her first nine matches and taking a $35K title in June. A $75K QF had since followed when Stojanovic showed up in Merida, where she posted wins over Tatjana Maria (her first WTA MD win in three and a half years) and last week's Tampico 125 champ Marina Stakusic to each the QF, her first in a tour event since a semi in Nottingham in 2021.

She finally went out to Polina Kudermetova in three sets, but will climb into the #430s in the new rankings.



Back in 2021, Li had a breakout season, reaching two finals and winning one (the only one of the two that was actually played). She's had a hard time keeping up the momentum, though. After reaching the '22 Miami 3rd Round, Li didn't advance past the 2nd Round in a tour-level event again until July of this year. She lost in qualifying in all six majors she played in 2023-24 (DNP RG '23) through this year's Wimbledon, and she struggled to get out of the gate in her '24 season, starting at 1-6.

Over the final half of '24, though, she's fostered a resurgence, first posting good results at lower levels, a stretch that included a pair of 125 finals (1-1), a $100K semi and a pair of $75K QF in the spring. The improved form led to a QF run in Palermo, Li's first at tour level since reaching the Grampians final in January '22. She then finally made it through U.S. Open qualifying, playing her first slam MD match in two years. In October, she added a $100K semi and runner-up result.

In Merida, ranked at #111, Li knocked off top seed Nuria Parrizas Diaz, then followed up with wins over Antonia Ruzic and Jil Teichmann to reach her first SF in two seasons. Finishing up a rain-suspended Saturday semi vs. Polina Kudermetova on Sunday, Li reached her first final since 2021.

She notched just three games in the final vs. Zeynep Sonmez as the Turk's dream run had its fairy tale ending but, for her part, Li jumps 18 spots in the next rankings and back into the Top 100. Since a 5-9 start this year, she's gone 30-12 beginning with her $100K title run in June.
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FRESH FACES: Alina Korneeva/RUS and Polina Kudermetova/RUS
...look out, here they come. In 2024, the next wave of Hordettes have made their collective presence felt, from Shnaider and the Andreevas, to Timofeeva and Zakharova.

Now add Korneeva and Kudermetova the Younger to the list. In Merida, both reached their maiden tour semifinals.

#254 Korneeva, 17, won a pair of junior slam titles last year, and this season has posted a MD win at a major (AO), won a $100K title and reached doubles finals at tour-level Monastir and in last week's 125 in Tampico. Wins over Alicia Parks and Anna Blinkova got Korneeva her first tour QF berth, then she topped Sara Sorribes Tormo to become the third different Russian teen this season to play in a WTA singles semi. She lost a Sunday SF match to Zeynep Sonmez, but will climb inside the Top 200 to #184.

On the other side of the Merida draw, #133 Kudermetova broke out of her winless box in tour QF (0-2, w/ both appearances in Seoul the last two seasons), following up her upset of #2 seed Nadia Podoroska in the 1st Round with wins over Varvara Lepchenko and Nina Stojanovic to reach the SF in a tour event for the first time (matching her big sister Veronika's total for '24). She lost to Ann Li in a suspended three-set Saturday night match that finished up on Sunday afternoon.

Kudermetova, a two-time $100K singles semifinalist this season (in April and October) will climb to a career high #114.


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ITF PLAYER: Mona Barthel/GER
...congratulations go out to Barthel, the 34-year old German veteran who this weekend in Hamburg did what no other woman has been able to do in 2024: defeat Sonay Kartal in a singles final.

Coming into the week, the 23-year old Brit was 6-0 in ITF finals this season, as well as having picked up her maiden tour-level win in Monastir. Since losing in her first pro final in a $15K challenger in 2021, Kartal had won 15 straight title matches (14 at the ITF level).

Barthel, who'd rallied from a break down in the 3rd in her semifinal against Crusher Barbora Palicova, handled Kartal 6-4/7-6(6) to win her eighth career ITF crown. The $75K win is her biggest since winnning her last of four (from 2012-17) carer tour-level titles in Prague seven seasons ago.

With a win, Kartal would have put herself alone atop the ITF circuit with her seventh title, but instead remains tied for first along with fellow six-time winners Solana Sierra and Patricia Maria Tig (who got #6 this week)
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JUNIOR STARS: Emerson Jones/AUS and Tyra Caterina Grant/USA
...in Sydney, 16-year old girls' #1 Jones claimed her first professional singles title in a $75K challenger. Previously 0-2 in ITF finals, the recently-minted Junior Finals champ defeated fellow Aussie teenager Taylah Preston (19) in a 6-4/7-6(3) championship match. Preston had previously been 4-1 in ITF finals in her career.

Meanwhile, for the second time this time, 16-year old Grant lifted a pro doubles titles in a season in which she's been one of the top junior girls.

In Nantes (FRA), Grant teamed with Italian Camila Rosatello for her second ITF crown of the year, adding those wins to her three girls' doubles slam titles (AO/RG/WI) as well as a run to the U.S. Open Mixed Doubles final.

In singles, Grant reached the RG junior semis and U.S. Open QF in '24. The Bannerette picked up her maiden ITF singles crown earlier this season (part of a s/d sweep in Antalya in March).


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DOUBLES: Ulrikke Eikeri/Makoto Ninomiya, NED/JPN
...they did it the hard way, but Eikeri & Ninomiya walked off with the Hong Kong crown, winning their first title as a pair.

The duo won a pair of MTB in three matches (including 10-7 in the semis over Tereza Mihalikova & Olivia Nicholls) to set up a final contest vs. last week's Tokyo champs Shuko Aoyama & Eri Hozumi (who'd won *three* straight MTB to get to a second straight title match). Naturally, another MTB was necessary to determine the champions, as Eikeri/Ninomiya saved a pair of MP and won an 11-9 MTB to close out their '24 WTA season with matching trophies.


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1. Jiujiang 2nd Rd. - Mananchaya Sawangkaew def. Zheng Saisai
...4-6/6-1/7-6(6). Down 5-1 in the deciding TB, Sawangkaew saved a pair of MP at 6-4 before finishing off a match-closing five-point run to reach her second straight WTA quarterfinal.
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2. Merida 1st Rd. - Marina Stakusic def. Maya Joint
...2-6/7-6(2)/7-6(2). Already with a 125 title in hand from her trip to Mexico (Wk.43 in Tampico), Stakusic maintained her momentum in her first match of the week.

Joint served for the win at 6-2/6-5. After the Canadian won a TB to force a 3rd, the Aussie saved three MP at 5-2, then two more at 5-4. In a deciding TB, Stakusic put away MP #6 to win 7-2.
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3. Jiujiang Q1 - Yao Xinxin def. Lu Jingjing 3-6/6-2/7-6(4)
Jiujiang Q2 - Liu Fangzhou def. You Xinxin 7-5/6-4
Jiujiang 1st Rd. - Yao Xinxin def. Liu Fangzhou 6-2/6-1
...Yao had quite the adventure in Jiujiang.

In her opening qualifying match, she lost a 3-0 (two-break) lead in the 3rd vs. Lu Jingjing, and had to save four MP (one at 5-4, three at 6-5) before winning a deciding TB to reach the final Q-round.

Once there, Yao lost to Liu Fangzhou, but then was part of the third tour-level case in two weeks where players who met in qualifying faced off in the 1st Round immediately afterward. Lucky loser Yao (thanks to the withdrawal of Guangzhou champ Olga Danilovic), in the WTA MD debut, got her revenge on qualifier Liu with a straight sets win before falling to top seed Marie Bouzkova a round later.

The 21-year old knows all about the highs-and-lows of professional tennis, considering she's reached a dozen ITF singles final in her career but is just 1-11 in those title matches.
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4. Jiujiang QF - Viktorija Golubic def. Arantxa Rus
...7-5/4-6/7-6(5). Golubic posted her best tour-level result in two and a half years by way of a 3:24 marathon win over Rus. The Swiss rallied from 5-2 down to take the 1st, finally converting with a hold on SP #7 of Game 12.

In the 3rd, Golubic led 5-1 before Rus saved two MP (at 5-4) and forced a deciding TB, won by Golubic on her third MP of the day.

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A day in the life...

5. Merida SF - Zeynep Sonmez def. Alina Korneeva
...7-6(5)/6-2. Just when you think things can't get any better...



...Sonmez realizes that that the Tennis Gods grew an eleventh heart and decided that they like her. They really like her.

Merida Final - Zeynep Sonmez def. Ann Li
...6-2/6-1. Completing her second match win on Sunday, Sonmez joins Cagla Buyukakcay as the only women from Turkey to have won WTA singles titles. It's been eight years -- on home soil in Istanbul -- since Buyukakcay won her only tour crown.

With the title, Sonmez becomes the season's 12th and final first-time singles champ. That's the same number of maiden champions that were crowned in 2023.


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6. Hong Kong 1st Rd. - Yuan Yue def. Simona Halep
...6-3/6-3. #883 Halep plays in just her fifth match of the season, third at tour level. She's 1-4 on the year, but it's all part of the early steps of a comeback (from a long absence, then an immediate injury) that never had to be forced to happen.



A year after reaching her first WTA last fall in Seoul, Yuan played into the Hong Kong semis, her third such result in '24 (w/ her maiden tour title coming in Austin).


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7. Merida 1st Rd. - Nina Stojanovic def. Tatjana Maria
...6-4/6-4. The 4Q often provides fertile ground for players making their first forays into the MD of tour-level events, as well as a somewhat less-populated environment for comeback-minded players looking to build a solid, late-season foundation from which they can launch into the new year a few months later. Stojanovic surely fits into the latter category.

After more than a year and a half out, Stojanovic (who returned to the court in May) posted her first WTA MD win in nearly three and a half years en route to the QF.


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8. Hong Kong Final - Diana Shnaider def. Katie Boulter
...6-1/6-2. Shnaider's fourth title of the season is the most from a Hordette in any year since soon-to-officially-be-a-Hall-of-Famer Maria Sharapova won the same amount in 2014.


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9. Jiujiang Final - Viktorija Golubic def. Rebecca Sramkova
...6-3/7-5. Just two weeks past her 32nd birthday, Golubic is the second-oldest WTA singles champion this season, behind only Magda Linette, who was 32 years and 5 months when she won in Prague in July.


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10. Jiujiang 1st Rd. - Anna Bondar def. Arianne Hartono
...6-2/2-6/7-6(3). Bondar saved a pair of MP on serve at 5-4 in the 3rd, then polished off a 3rd set TB win to improve to 4-1 vs. the former NCAA champion (2018).
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11. Jiujiang 1st Rd. - Kamilla Rakhimova def. Petra Martic
...6-1/4-6/7-5. Down 5-1 in the 3rd, Rakhimova rips off an "unnatural bagel" set to get the win over veteran Martic, who falls to 18-23 in a forgettable season for the Croatian. Ranked #124, Martic is assured of finishing outside the Top 100 for the first time since 2016. She's only had one year ranked outside the Top 50 in the last six seasons.


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12. Hong Kong 1st Rd. - Nao Hibino def. Lu Jia 6-7(4)/6-3/7-5
Hong Kong 2nd Rd. - Yuan Yue def. Nao Hibino 4-6/7-5/6-2
...Hibino's week of living dangerously in Hong Kong saw her escape her 1st Round match vs. lucky loser Lu Jia, overcoming a 4-1 3rd set deficit, only to then squander a 6-4/5-3 lead (she served up 5-4) of her own a round later vs. Hibino.
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13. Hong Kong 1st Rd. - Shi Han def. Margarita Betova
...6-4/6-2. Playing in just her third match of the year (she recently returned after more than a year out of action), 30-year old Betova (nee Gasparyan) hasn't posted a singles win since reaching the tour-level Saint Petersburg final in March 2021.

This was her *19th* straight defeat across all levels after missing large chunks of the past three seasons with injuries.
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14. Jiujiang 1st Rd. - Elena Pridankina def. Ella Seidel
...6-3/7-6(6). After making her tour debut in Guangzhou as a lucky loser, 19-year old Hordette Pridankina posts her maiden WTA MD victory in Jiujiang. She nearly got a another vs. countrywoman Rakhimova a round later.


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15. Hong Kong 2nd Rd. - Anastasia Zakharova def. Varvara Gracheva
...6-3/6-1. Zakharova came into Hong Kong on a ten match winning streak with consecutive $50K and $100K title runs. She backed up her surge at tour level with her maiden QF before falling to Katie Boulter. She'll set up at new career high just outside the Top 100.


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16. Jiujiang Final - Guo Hanyu/Moyuka Uchijima def. Katarzyna Piter/Fanny Stollar
...7-6(5)/7-5. Uchijima's career year has centered mostly around her singles, as she reached her career high (#55), won a pair of MD slam matches and claimed *three* $100K titles while rising to the JPN #1. But she ends her best WTA by becoming a first-time *doubles* champion on tour.


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17. Merida 1st Rd. - Anna Blinkova def. Lesia Tsurenko
...2-6/6-4/4-0 ret. In the NFL, they say that any team can beat another "on any given Sunday." That, too is the case with Tsurenko -- if you add "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday" to the mix -- when it comes to her being uable to finish matches.


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18. Merida 2nd Rd. - Sara Sorribes Tormo def. Lucrezia Stefanini
...6-1/1-6/6-4. Sorribes Tormo -- shocking, I know -- played and won a three-hour match this past week! Again, hardly surprisingly, the Spaniard leads the tour in '24 in total MD matches (6) that lasted into a third hour, as well as the most wins (4) in such encounters.

A 3:23, though, this one doesn't even rank in the Top 10 longest of the season, but Sorribes Tormo *does* top that list with a 4:15 marathon in Beijing a few weeks ago.
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19. Jiujiang 2nd Rd. - Rebecca Sramkova def. Wei Sijia
...7-5/6-3. Wei recorded her maiden tour-level MD win of her career in Guangzhou at the expense of recent two-time tour finalist (one-time champ) Sramkova. The Slovak wasn't about to give her another one a week later.

Sramkova then went on to play in her *third* '24 final.
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20. $75K Hamburg GER 1st Rd. - Belinda Bencic def. Julia Avdeeva
...6-3/6-1. Another new mother is back in the swing of things on the court, as Bencic's comeback has officially begun.


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21. Merida Final - Quinn Gleason/Ingrid Martins def. Magali Kempen/Lara Salden
...6-4/6-4. More tour success from former NCAA players, as Gleason (ex-Notre Dame) picks up her maiden tour title, while Martins (ex-South Carolina) wins her second in the final vs. a pair of first-time WTA finalist Waffles.

Gleason/Martin reached a $100K final in October.


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22. $75K Toronto CAN Final - Louisa Chirico def. Kayla Cross
...7-6(5)/6-3. At 28, Chirico, who reached her career high ranking of #58 eight years ago, matches her biggest career title from earlier this year with a second $75K win.


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An acceptable answer, but a disappointingly rare and minor blip of an acknowledgement of the questionable decision to play this event in this place at this time after the scheduling went off earlier this year with nary a blip of dissension from the collective tour membership.

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And I should hope so (the tactical part, I mean)...




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The most casual tweener lob winner of the year...


















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*2024 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
5 - Iga Swiatek, POL = Slam, 1000(4)
4 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR = Slam(2), 1000(2)
4 - DIANA SHNAIDER, RUS = 500,250(3)
3 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ = 500(3)
3 - Zheng Qinwen, CHN = Oly,500,250

*2024 LOW-RANKED WTA CHAMPIONS*
#168 - VIKTORIYA GOLUBIC (JIUJIANG)
#151 - Sonay Kartal (Monastir)
#127 - ZEYNEP SONMEZ (MERIDA)
#125 - Suzan Lamens (Osaka)
#108 - Diana Shnaider (Hua Hin 1)
#102 - Rebecca Sramkova (Hua Hin 2)

*MOST TIME BETWEEN WTA TITLES*
16y,4m = M.Lucic-Baroni (1998 Bol/2014 Quebec City)
13y,1m = Kimiko Date-Krumm (1996 San Diego/1989 Seoul)
12y,6m,3w = S.Cirstea (2008 Tashkent/2021 Istanbul)
9y,9m,1w = P.Parmentier (2008 Bad Gastein/2018 Istanbul)
9y,3m,w2 = K.Bondarenko (2008 Birmingham/2017 Tashkent)
8y,8m,3w = J.Dokic (2002 Birmingham/2011 Kuala Lumpur)
8y,8m,3w = B.Rittner (1992 Schenectady/2001 Antwerp)
8y,5m,1w = K.Zakopalova (2005 Portoroz/2014 Florianopolis)
8y,3m,2w = V.GOLUBIC (2017 Lausanne/2024 Jiujiang)

*2024 OLDEST WTA WS CHAMPIONS*
32 - Magda Linette (Prague)
32 - VIKTORIJA GOLUBIC (JIUJIANG)
31 - Karolina Pliskova (Cluj-Napoca)
31 - Sloane Stephens (Rouen)
30 - Danielle Collins (Charleston)
30 - Danielle Collins (Miami)
30 - Jessie Pegula (Toronto)
30 - Jessie Pegula (Berlin)

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2024*
7 - Aryna Sabalenka (4-3)
6 - Dasha Kasatkina (2-4)
5 - Iga Swiatek (5-0)
5 - Elena Rybakina (3-2)
4 - DIANA SHNAIDER (4-0)
4 - Jessie Pegula (2-2)
4 - Zheng Qinwen (3-1)
3 - KATIE BOULTER (2-1)
3 - Danielle Collins (2-1)
3 - Jasmine Paolini (1-2)
3 - REBECCA SRAMKOVA (1-2)

*2024 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
Hobart - Emma Navarro, USA (22/#31)
Hua Hin 1 - Diana Shnaider, RUS (19/#108)
Austin - Yuan Yue, CHN (25/#68)
Rabat - Peyton Stearns, USA (22/#81)
Iasi - Mirra Andreeva, RUS (17/#32)
Cleveland - McCartney Kessler, USA (25/#98)
Monterrey - Linda Noskova, CZE (19/#35)
Monastir - Sonay Kartal, GBR (22/#151)
Guadalajara - Magdelena Frech, POL (26/#43)
Hua Hin 2 - Rebecca Sramkova, SVK (27/#102)
Osaka - Suzan Lamens, NED (24/#125)
Merida - ZEYNEP SONMEZ, TUR (22/#127)

*2024 YOUNG WTA SF*
16 - Laura Samson, CZE (Prague)
17 - Mirra Andreeva, RUS (Roland Garros)
17 - Mirra Andreeva, RUS (Iasi - W)
17 - Mirra Andreeva, RUS (Ningbo - RU)
17 - ALINA KORNEEVA, RUS (MERIDA)
19 - Linda Noskova, CZE (Brisbane)
19 - Diana Shnaider, RUS (Hua Hin 1 - W)
19 - Diana Shnaider, RUS (Tokyo)
19 - Coco Gauff, USA (Auckland - W)
19 - Linda Noskova, CZE (Prague)
19 - Linda Noskova, CZE (Monterrey - W)
[oldest]
36 - Sara Errani, ITA (Bogota)
36 - LAURA SIEGEMUND, GER (JIUJIANG)
36 - Laura Siegemund, GER (Hua Hin 2 - RU)
34 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR (Berlin)
34 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR (Miami)
34 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR (Brisbane)
33 - Irina-Camelia Begu, ROU (Palermo)
33 - Sorana Cirstea, ROU (Dubai)

*2024 LOW-RANKED SEMIFINALISTS*
#634 Laura Samson (Prague)
#261 Tamara Zidansek (Hua Hin 2)
#254 ALINA KORNEEVA (MERIDA)
#228 Bianca Andreescu (Rosmalen - RU)
#209 Emma Raducanu (Nottingham)

*2024 ALL-UNSEEDED SEMIFINALS*
Rabat = Stearns/Sherif, Rakhimova/Tomova
Hua Hin 2 = Sramkova/Siegemund, (Q)Hartono/Zidansek
Merida = Sonmez/Li, Korneeva/P.Kudermetova






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It's quite the "flex" for the AP Stylebook to bemoan "redundancies" when it's guide espouses the practice of using an apostrophe+"s" to signify possessive tense for nouns that end in "s" (i.e. the Los Angeles Dodgers's World Series win) when a simple apostrophe (i.e. the Los Angeles Dodgers' World Series win) would do.

As far as tennis cliches go, though, I'd like to unilaterally ban the uses of "on the trot" and "popcorn match," please.

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All for now.
Posted by at

Monday, October 28, 2024

Wk.43- Queen for Yet Another Day







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*WEEK 43 CHAMPIONS*
TOKYO, JAPAN (WTA 500/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Zheng Qinwen/CHN def. Sofia Kenin/USA 7-6(5)/6-3
D: Shuko Aoyama/Eri Hozumi (JPN/JPN) def. Ena Shibahara/Laura Siegemund (JPN/GER) 6-4/7-6(3)
GUANGZHOU, CHINA (WTA 250/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Olga Danilovic/SRB def. Caroline Dolehide/USA 6-3/6-1
D: Katerina Siniakova/Zhang Shuai (CZE/CHN) def. Katarzyna Piter/Fanny Stollar (POL/HUN) 6-4/6-1
TAMPICO, MEXICO (WTA 125/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Marina Stakusic/CAN def. Anna Blinkova/RUS 6-4/2-6/6-4
D: Carmen Corley/Rebecca Marino (USA/CAN) def. Alina Korneeva/Polina Kudermetova (RUS/RUS) 6-3/6-3




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Zheng Qinwen/CHN
...Zheng is roaring as she heads into her first WTA Finals event in Riyadh, improving her record during the tour's Asian swing to 12-2 (she's on a 28-4 run starting with her pre-Olympics title run in Palermo) by claiming her third title of the season in Tokyo while dropping just one set all week.

The tournament's top seed, #7-ranked Zheng opened with a win over Moyuka Uchijima, then took down Leylah Fernandez in three sets (after an occasionally testy encounter with the Canadian in Wuhan). From there, Diana Shnaider and Sofia Kenin (Zheng put in 16 aces vs. the Bannerette) went out in straights to allow Zheng to claim her fifth career tour-level title.


===============================================



RISERS: Olga Danilovic/SRB and Caroline Dolehide/USA
...for the first time in well, ever, Danilovic is starting to take advantage of her great potential and string good results together. As a whole, 2024 has been a collective success for the 23-year old, with the back half of the season turning out to be a proving ground for what's possible for the Serb. In Guangzhou, it produced her first tour title since her orignal breakout result six years ago.

In the spring, Danilovic reached the Round of 16 at Roland Garros with wins over the likes of Trevisan, Collins and Vekic to pull off her first career second week run at a major and the first by any Serbian woman in nine years (when both Jankovic and Ivanovic did it). Since then, Danilovic's results have only improved.

Arriving off a $100K title run in her last outing earlier this month, Danilovic outpaced Erika Andreeva, Diane Parry, Mananchaya Sawangkaew, top-seeded Katerina Siniakova and Caroline Dolehide (in a 6-3/6-1 final) to claim the crown, her second tour title (in her third final) and first on hard court. She's won ten straight matches, 13 of 15, and has succeeded at a 19-5 clip since the last week of July. Guangzhou is the Serb's first WTA win since she claimed the short-lived Moscow River Cup event in 2018 as a lucky loser in her WTA MD debut appearance.

Already ranked at a career-best #86, Danilovic's title run will lift her all the way up to #52 in the new rankings.

Dolehide, Danilovic's opponent in the Guangzhou final, had quite the journey to her second WTA final (her first since a surprise run to the Guadalajara 1000 title match last fall).

After making it through qualifying, the #101-ranked Bannerette had to rally from 4-1 down in the 3rd (winning on MP #4) to advance past Marie Bouzkova in the 2nd Round, won a three-setter over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the QF, and saved four MP (three at triple MP down in the deciding 3rd set TB) vs. Lucia Bronzetti in the SF.

By the time the final arrived, Dolehide only had enough left to score four total games vs. Danilovic, but she still jumps 19 spots to #82 this week.


===============================================
SURPRISE: Mananchaya Sawangkaew/THA
...the 4Q Asian swing has turned out to be a bit of an introduction for Sawangkaew to the WTA. The 22-year old Thai made her tour-level MD dubut in Hua Hin as a qualifier, then repeated the pattern a week later in Bejing and posted her first tour win over Zarina Diyas.

This past week in Guangzhou. Sawangkaew was at it again, qualifying for another MD, then pulling off back-to-back victories over Ella Seidel, both in the final Q-round *and* then again in the 1st. She followed up with another over Yuan Yue to reach her maiden WTA QF, where she fell to eventual champion Olga Danilovic

Sawangkaew will crack the Top 150 in the rankings. This weekend, she made it through qualifying yet again to reach the Week 44 MD in Jiujiang.


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VETERANS: Katerina Siniakova/Zhang Shuai, CZE/CHN
...when does the Doubles Player of the Year not even enter into the discussion when it comes to the Doubles *Team* of the Year? When it's 2024 and Katerina Siniakova is gathering up co-pilots while she stays aloft well above the rest of the doubles field, that's when.

In Guangzhou, world WD #1 Siniakova teamed with Zhang to pick up her fifth title of the year with a fifth different partner (sixth if you count her MX Gold medal run), taking the 250 crown (the Czech's smallest since winning in Monastir two years ago) without dropping a set. The top seeds, with Siniakova playing after having retired from her singles SF match, completed their title march with a 6-4/6-1 win in the final over Katarzyna Piter & Fanny Stollar.

So far in 2024, Siniakova has won a pair of major titles (w/ Coco Gauff and Taylor Townsend), as well as three other tournaments with Storm Hunter, Golden Career Slam partner Barbora Krejcikova and now Zhang. It's the future Hall of Famer's 28th career title.

Even while spreading the wealth all season long, Siniakova is set to play the WTAF alongside *one* of her '24 partners: Wimbledon co-champion Townsend.

Meanwhile, while Zhang's singles results have improved of late, this is the 35-year old's 14th career WD title, but her first of '24 in her fourth final appearance of the season.


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COMEBACK: Sofia Kenin/USA
...Kenin must be feeling something of a sense of deja vu. A year ago, the former slam champ finished off a lackluster season with a strong final leg that included back-to-back finals at 500 San Diego and 1000 Guadalajara. But the momentum didn't carry over into 2024.

Kenin came into the Tokyo 500 stuck on ten match wins for the season (10-24 overall, with a 9-match losing streak between January-April, though her disappointing campaign has included 3r results at Rome and RG), and off a shocking 1st Round exit in Osaka (a loss to a debuting Aoi Ito). A wild card entrant, Kenin ran off early wins over Wuhan semifinalist Wang Xinyu and Clara Tauson (via a 3rd set TB), then posted her second Top 10 win of the season (w/ Jabeur in Rome) against Ningo champ Dasha Kasatkina, her first on hard court since knocking out then-#1 Ash Barty at the AO in 2020 en route to the title.

In her maiden SF of '24, Kenin handled Katie Boulter in straights to get the chance to play in her first final since Guadalajara last September. She put up a fight vs. a (still) in-form Zheng Qinwen, but lost a tight, well-contested title match 7-6(5)/6-3.

Ranked #155 heading into Tokyo, Kenin leaves with her ranking back inside the Top 100 with a big leap all the way up to #88.


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FRESH FACES: Marina Stakusic/CAN and Sayaka Ishii/JPN
...Canadian teenager Stakusic, a BJK Cup Finals breakout star less than a year ago, has gone on this season to crack the Top 150, make her slam debut (Wimbledon), record her first tour-level match win (Toronto) and notch her maiden Top 20 win (Ostapenko) en route to her first WTA QF (Guadalajara). But she had her best run yet in Week 43 in Tampico, Mexico.

At a WTA 125 event, the 19-year old qualified with a victory from a set down vs. Iryna Shymanovich, then rans off MD wins over Robin Montgomery, Lucrezia Stefanini, Sara Sorribes Tormo and, in her biggest career final, Anna Blinkova in another three-set affair.

The win improves Stakusic's mark in pro singles finals to 4-0 when combined with her 3-0 record in ITF finals in 2023. She'll rise to #134 in the new rankings, just six spots off her previous career high.

In Week 42, it was Japanese newcomers Sara Saito and Aoi Ito making nice runs in their tour debuts. This past week it was 19-year old countrywoman Ishii following suit in *her* maiden tour MD event.

The world #279 played her way into the MD with a 1-6/7-5/7-5 win in the final round of qualiflying over Clara Tauson (Ishii had trailed 6-1/3-1), then posted her first tour-level victory vs. Saito. Ishii followed up with another over Zeynep Sonmez to (like both Saito and Ito before her, though the latter reached the Osaka *SF*) get to the QF stage in her WTA debut event. Unfortunately, Ishii handed Diana Shnaider a walkover in the round and didn't get a chance to play for more.

Ishii cracks the Top 200 in the new rankings.


===============================================
ITF PLAYERS: Anastasia Zakharova/RUS and Renata Zarazua/MEX
...in Week 43 on the ITF circuit, the mark of "Z" was felt in both Spain and Texas.

In Les Franqueses del Valles (ESP), 22-year old Zakharova won an all-Hordette battle in the final against Alina Charaeva, taking the title by a 6-3/6-1 score to improve to 15-3 in career ITF finals, winning her second straight challenger title this month and second $100K (w/ one in July) this season.

Zakharova had gotten past Dalma Galfi (QF) and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SF) to reach the final.



Meanwhile, in Tyler, Texas, 24-year old Zarazua added another nice result to what has been a career year. The top ranked Mexican has already played in the MD of all four majors for the first time and become the first woman from Mexico to crack the Top 100 since Angelica Gavaldon in 1996.

After reaching a $100K challenger in August (a loss), Zarazua reversed that result this week, defeating teen Bannerette Iva Jovic 6-4/6-2 to claim her second-biggest career title, behind only her WTA 125 crown won last December, and lift her ranking from one career high (#71) to a another career high (#62).


===============================================
JUNIOR STAR: Jana Kovackova/CZE
...to catch up a bit, there was another big junior tournament in Week *42* in addition to the Junior Finals event won by Emerson Jones in Chengdu. In Sanxenxo, Spain, the Crusher Kovackova sisters -- 14-year old Jana and 16-year old Alena -- faced off for the same J300 crown that Alena had claimed a year ago.

This time, it was the younger sibling who prevailed, winning 6-4/6-2 to win her *fifth* consecutive junior singles title dating back to August (a stretch which also included the Czech Republic's win in the ITF 14s team event). It's her second J300 crown in October alone. Jana has gone 40-1 in junior competition since the spring, and is 56-4 in '24 with eight singles titles.

The sisters teamed up to win the doubles title, Jana's seventh on the year.
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DOUBLES: Shuko Aoyama/Eri Hozumi, JPN/JPN
...Tokyo's Pan Pacific Open welcomed just the second all-JPN doubles champions (w/ Kato/Ninomiya in 2018) in the event's 40-year history, as Aoyama & Hozumi came out on top in a trio of MTB (including over #1 seeds Dabrowski/Routliffe and #4 Bucsa/Niculescu) to reach the final, then defeated Ena Shibahara & Laura Siegemund (making back-to-back finals in Japan, after winning in Week 42 in Osaka) 6-4/7-6(3) to claim their first title as a pair.

For Aoyama, 36, it's her 20th career title, and first since winning in Montreal last year with Shibahara (the longtime WD partners won 10 tour titles together), while it's win #6 for 30-year old Hozumi. The Japanese duo reached the Cleveland final earlier this year.


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1. Guangzhou SF - Caroline Dolehide def. Lucia Bronzetti
...6-3/3-6/7-6(9). A potential spot in the final was passed around like a hot potato in the final set by Dolehide and Bronzetti.

Dolehide led 3-0 and 5-2, and served for the win at 5-3; while Bronzetti got her chance at 6-5. As things went to a deciding TB, Bronzetti took a triple MP lead at 6-3, and even held a fourth. But it turned out to be Dolehide, on her third MP of the breaker, who prevailed with an 11-9 win.



The win is Dolehide's second this season after facing down MP, while it's the second Bronzetti has lost after having held MP.
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2. Tokyo 1st Rd. - Moyuka Uchijima def. Mika Stojsavljevic
...6-4/6-7(7)/7-6(6). 15-year old Stojsavljevic, the U.S. Open girls' champ who just days earlier had reached the Junior Finals semis in Chengdu, makes her WTA MD debut a memorable one.

Uchijima rallied from 3-1 down to win the 1st, then saw Stojsavljevic save two MP at 6-5 in the 2nd, and a third in a TB. In the 3rd set, the Brit led 5-2 and served for her maiden win at 5-3, but Uchijima forced a deciding breaker and *finally* put away the victory on a third MP in the TB (sixth overall on the day).

If this is the British teen's *first* tour-level match, what fun does the future hold?


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3. Guangzhou 2nd Rd. - Caroline Dolehide def. Marie Bouzkova
...6-7(3)/6-4/7-6(6). Dolehide's route to the final was lined in the early rounds by this 3:21 drama after which Bouzkova fell to 0-3 in '24 matches that have lasted over three hours.

The Czech had taken the 1st. She'd led 5-3, saved a Dolehide SP at 6-5, then finally put away a 7-3 TB on SP #4 after racing out to a 6-0 advantage.

In the 3rd, Bouzkova led 4-1, only to see Dolehide surge back and twice serve for the win, holding a MP at 5-4, then two more at 6-5. Bouzkova broke to force a deciding TB, where the Bannerette finally put away her sixth MP to win 8-6.
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4. Tokyo 2nd Rd. - Sofia Kenin def. Clara Tauson
...6-7(8)/6-4/7-6(6). Kenin's final run included a narrow escape vs. the lucky loser Dane, who'd already lost a tight battle in qualifying (to Sayaka Ishii) in which she'd led 6-1/3-1.

Kenin held a SP in the 1st, but Tauson rallied to take the lead on her own third SP and win a 10-8 TB. In the 3rd, Kenin held a MP at 6-5 before Tauson forced another (deciding) breaker. On her third MP, Kenin finally won 8-6.
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5. Tokyo Final - Zheng Qinwen def. Sofia Kenin
...7-6(5)/6-3. With the help of an increasingly more effective first serve (she had 16 aces on the day, in a season in which she's already had a pair of 20+ matches), Zheng broke away from a tight 1st set TB (5-5) to ultimately put away Kenin in straight sets and win the Tokyo title two years after reaching her first tour-level final at age 19 in the same event (a loss to Liudmila Samsonova).

Zheng joins Swiatek, Sabalenka, Rybakina and Shnaider with at least three tour singles titles this season, improving to 3-1 in '24 finals. Her fifth career title breaks a tie with Zheng Jie for the second most WTA titles by a Chinese woman, behind only Hall of Famer Li Na's nine.


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6. Guangzhou Final - Olga Danilovic def. Caroline Dolehide
...6-3/6-1. Danilovic's second career title comes more than six years after her first in Moscow in July 2018. The six year, three month gap between WTA titles matches the longest by any player on tour (Vondrousova, Biel/April '17 to Wimbledon/July '23) since Sorana Cirstea finally ended her monster, 12-and-a-half-year title drought in Istanbul in April 2021.


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7. Tampico 125 Final - Marina Stakusic def. Anna Blinkova
...6-4/2-6/6-4. Though she came up short in the final (despite holding a break lead twice in the 3rd set), Blinkova's eleventh hour "season flip/early start to '25" continues.

A few weeks ago, the Russian was enduring a ten-match losing streak. Since then, she's gone 12-2 and strung together a trio of results -- a 125 SF, $100K W (after saving MPs) and 125 RU -- that should at least launch her (w/ a bit of optimism) into the same early season stretch in '25 where she shined so brightly at the start of *this* year.
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8. Tokyo 1st Rd. - Sayaka Ishii def. Sara Saito
...6-1/6-1. A week after both Saito did the same in Osaka, qualifier Ishii, 19, makes her tour MD debut match (vs. LL Saito) a successful venture.

In the week of the start of the World Series in the U.S., it's noteworthy that Ishii's father is a professional baseball player in Japan.


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9. Tokyo Q2 - Hailey Baptiste def. Kyoka Okamura 6-3/7-5
Tokyo 1st Rd.- Kyoka Okamura def. Hailey Baptiste 7-6(4)/6-3
...ten years after making her tour-level qualifying debut (in Osaka), 29-year old Okamura -- as a lucky loser -- finally gets her maiden WTA MD singles win in Tokyo, defeating Baptiste immediately after having lost to the Bannerette in the final round of qualifying.




Guangzhou Q2 - Mananchaya Sawangkaew def. Ella Seidel 6-1/6-3
Guangzhou 1st Rd.- Mananchaya Sawangkaew def. Ella Seidel 6-1/2-6/6-2
...the Q/1st Round rematch trick is a fairly rare occurrence over the course of the season, but both of Week 43's WTA events featured such "second chances."

While Kyoka Okamura made the most of her "do-over" against Hailey Baptiste in Tokyo, Sawangkaew doubled up vs. Ella Seidel in Guangzhou.
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10. Guangzhou 1st Rd. - Shi Han def. Jessika Ponchet
...6-1/6-7(4)/6-3. Yep, it's that time of the year, when a series of local wild cards either make their WTA MD debuts or notch their first victories. 19-year old Han did the latter in Guangzhou, just a few weeks after having played in her maiden tour-level MD match in Beijing.
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11. Tokyo Q2 - Sayaka Ishii def. Clara Tauson
...1-6/7-5/7-5. In order to make her tour MD debut, 19-year old Ishii staged a comeback from 6-1/3-1 down to nip the Dane with a pair of back-to-back 7-5 set victories.
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12. Guangzhou 1st Rd. - Zhang Shuai def. Kamilla Rakhimova
...6-2/6-1. Yaaaaawn. I guess we're now officially to the point when Zhang *winning* matches elicits little more than a shrug.

She lost in the 2nd Round to Bernarda Pera, but improved to 5-4 in her last nine (even w/ a post-24 straight, additional three-match losing streak), and is up to #219.
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13. Tokyo 1st Rd. - Zeynep Sonmez def. Magdalena Frech
...1-6/6-4/6-3. The Turk adds a Top 25 victory to her first season of note on the WTA tour, where the 22-year old has made her tour-level, major (at RG, becoming the first woman from Turkey to play in Paris since 2017) and 1000 debuts and reached her maiden QF (Monastir).


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14. Guangzhou 2nd Rd. - Wang Xiyu def. Wei Sijia
...3-6/6-0/7-5. Wei, 20, led 5-3 in the 3rd and served for the win at 5-4. But Wang rallied, as she had after dropping the 1st set, against her countrywoman and broke Wei on MP #4 to secure the win.

Wei had recorded her first tour-level MD win a few weeks ago in Hua Hin, and got her first Top 100 victory in the 1st Round over Rebecca Sramkova in Guangzhou.
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15. $75K Saguenay QUE Final - Petra Marcinko def. Anouk Koevermans
...6-3/4-6/7-6(3). 18-year old Marcinko, the '22 AO girls' champ, came up short in a WTA 125 final in September, but improves to 7-0 in finals on the ITF circut with a 3rd set TB win over 20-year Dutch player Koevermans.


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HM- $15K Villena ESP Final - Joy de Zeeuw def. Adrienn Nagy
...7-6(7)/6-3. The 18-year old Dutch teen picks up her maiden pro singles title in her second $15K final appearance in Spain this month.


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1. Tampico 125 Final - Carmen Corley/Rebecca Marino def. Alina Korneeva/Polina Kudermetova
...6-3/6-3. Quietly, Marino has been having quite a successful year. Already with a pair of $100K singles titles under her belt in '24, the 33-year old Canadian reached the semis in a 125 in Mexico this past week (w/ wins over Maria Carle and Maya Joint before a three-set loss to Anna Blinkova), pushing her season match win total over 50 for the first time in her career.

She ended her week with a doubles title alongside the younger half of the Corley sisters (w/ Ivana, the Oklahoma University products made their slam debut at this year's U.S. Open and won a 1st Round match).


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*2024 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
5 - Iga Swiatek, POL = Slam, 1000(4)
4 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR = Slam(2), 1000(2)
3 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ = 500(3)
3 - Diana Shnaider, RUS = 500,250(2)
3 - ZHENG QINWEN, CHN = Oly,500,250

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2024*
7 - Aryna Sabalenka (4-3)
6 - Dasha Kasatkina (2-4)
5 - Iga Swiatek (5-0)
5 - Elena Rybakina (3-2)
4 - ZHENG QINWEN (3-1)
4 - Jessie Pegula (2-2)

*2024 LOW-RANKED WTA CHAMPIONS*
#151 - Sonay Kartal (Monastir)
#125 - Suzan Lamens (Osaka)
#108 - Diana Shnaider (Hua Hin 1)
#102 - Rebecca Sramkova (Hua Hin 2)
#98 - McCartney Kessler (Cleveland)
#86 - OLGA DANILOVIC (Guangzhou)
#85 - Camila Osorio (Bogota)
#81 - Peyton Stearns (Rabat)

*2024 QUALIFIERS IN FINALS*
Dubai - Anna Kalinskaya, RUS
Monastir - Sonay Kartal, GBR (W)
Osaka - Kimberly Birrell, AUS
Osaka - Suzan Lamens, NED (W)
Guangzhou - CAROLINE DOLEHIDE, USA

*MOST CAREER WTA TITLES - CHN*
9 - Li Na (2004,'08,2010-14)
5 - ZHENG QINWEN (2023-24)
4 - Zheng Jie (2005-06,'12)
3 - Zhang Shuai (2013,'17,'22)
2 - Peng Shuai (2016-17)
2 - Wang Qiang (2018)

*2024 LOW-RANKED WTA FINALISTS*
#228 - Bianca Andreescu (Rosmalen, lost to Samsonova)
#190 - Ajla Tomljanovic (Birmingham, lost to Putintseva)
#155 - SOFIA KENIN (Tokyo, lost to Zheng Q.)
#152 - Olivia Gadecki (Guadalajara, lost to Frech)
#151 - Sonay Kartal (Monastir, def. Sramkova)
#150 - Kimberly Birrell (Osaka, lost to Lamens)

*2024 FINALISTS BY COUNTRY (F/W)*
17 (11) - USA (Dolehide,Kenin)
16 (8) - RUS
9 (7) - POL
8 (4) - BLR,CHN (Zheng)
8 (2) - CZE
6 (4) - KAZ
3 (3) - GBR
3 (1) - ITA
3 (0) - AUS,UKR
2 (2) - LAT
2 (1) - BRA,SVK
2 (0) - CAN,CRO
1 (1) - COL,ESP,NED,SRB (Danilovic)
1 (0) - BEL,EGY,GER,GRE,NZL,ROU

*2024 CHAMPIONS - LONGEST SINCE LAST WTA TITLE*
6y,3m = OLGA DANILOVIC [7/18 Moscow >> 10/24 Guangzhou]
4y,1m = Karolina Pliskova [1/20 Brisbane >> 2/24 Cluj-Napoca]
3y = Camila Osorio [4/21 Bogota >> 4/24 Bogota]
2y,7m = Danielle Collins [8/21 San Jose >> 3/24 Miami]

*2024 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
6 - Irina Khromacheva
5 - Anna Danilina
5 - KATERINA SINIAKOVA
4 - Cristina Bucsa
4 - Sara Errani
4 - Jasmine Paolini

*CAREER WTA DOUBLES TITLES - active*
35 - Hsieh Su-Wei (2024: 3)
33 - Latisha Chan
32 - Sara Errani
30 - Bethanie Mattek-Sands
28 - Kristina Mladenovic
28 - KATERINA SINIAKOVA (5)
25 - Timea Babos
22 - Venus Williams
21 - Chan Hao-ching (1)
21 - Elise Mertens (3)
20 - SHUKO AOYAMA (1)

*2024 YOUNGEST WTA 125 FINALISTS*
18 - Maya Joint (Warsaw)
18 - Taylah Preston (Canberra)
18 - Petra Marcinko (Montreux)
19 - Diana Shnaider (Charleston)
19 - Anca Todoni (Bari)-W
19 - MARINA STAKUSIC (TAMPICO)-W

*DIFF. WS #1s IN A SEASON (CAPS: 1st-time #1)*
2013: 2 = Azarenka-S.Williams
2014: 1 = S.Williams
2015: 1 = S.Williams
2016: 2 = S.Williams-KERBER
2017: 5 = Kerber-S.Williams-KA.PLISKOVA-MUGURUZA-HALEP
2018: 1 = Halep-Wozniacki
2019: 3 = Halep-OSAKA-BARTY
2020: 1 = Barty
2021: 1 = Barty
2022: 2 = Barty-SWIATEK
2023: 2 = Swiatek-SABALENKA
2024: 2 = Swiatek-Sabalenka






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All for now.
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