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Sunday, February 15, 2026

Wk.6- The Czech Whose Fate of Which We Dare Not Speak

Not to tempt fate, but is 2026 finally the year that we see just what Karolina Muchova could do if she could ... well, you know?







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*WEEK 6 CHAMPIONS*
DOHA, QATAR, (WTA 1000; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Karolina Muchova/CZE def. Victoria Mboko/CAN 6-4/7-5
D: Anna Danilina/Aleksandra Krunic (KAZ/SRB) def. Hsieh Su-wei/Alona Ostapenko (TPE/LAT) 0-6/7-6(3) [10-8]
Oeiras, Portugal (WTA 125; Hard Court Indoor)
S: Alina Korneeva/RUS def. Dasha Vidmanova/CZE 7-5/6-1
D: Carmen Corley/Ivana Corley (USA/USA) def. Emily Appleton/Makoto Ninomiya (GBR/JPN) 2-6/6-0 [10-4]




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Karolina Muchova/CZE
...shhhh. Don't say anything out loud, but Muchova is "Muchoving" in every good sense of the notion, with no, ummm, let's call them "issues" lingering in the corners of the story.

The Czech has always shown an ability to perform on the big stage -- as her slam final appearance (RG23), three major semis (seven QF+ results in all, spread across all four of the schedule's biggest events), and 17 Top 10 wins on all surfaces (w/ a 5-2 mark vs. the Top 5 in slam play) all attest -- but for various reasons she's not been able to translate all that success, nor all the impressive creativity inherent in her game, into actual *titles*.

Muchova came into Doha after an impressive open to her '26 season (Brisbane SF, AO 4r and a pair of Top 10 wins), but she hadn't reached a tour final since 2024, and her only win in six previous WTA finals was on the low end of the tournament scale at Seoul (Int'l/250) all the way back in 2019. In fact, she'd won just two -- two! -- singles titles *at all levels* since her maiden pro crown in a small challenger event in 2014 (a similarly small $10K win came in early 2016).

Thankfully, finally, that hardware-deficient stretch came to an end this weekend in Doha, as Muchova claimed a title -- a big one -- at the 1000 event in Qatar, dropping just one set in a string of victories over Jaqueline Cristian, Tereza Valentova, Karolina Pliskova (who ret. in the 1st), Anna Kalinskaya, a resurgent Maria Sakkari (who took the 1st) and, in something of a slight surprise (at least in that she managed to do it in two sets) over the streaking giant-killer-in-the-process-of-becoming-a-giant-herself Victoria Mboko in a 6-4/7-5 final. In the title match, Muchova had turned the tables on the Canadian teen,after Mboko had done the same to multiple opponents during the week, by rallying from 4-2 down in the 2nd (and love/30 on serve, down 5-4) to prevent Mboko from tying the match and getting a running start going into a potential decider.

Instead, Muchova was soon lifting the golden eagle trophy.



You'll notice that Muchova even ended her week of success without having at least one part of her body heavily wrapped in athletic tape... and we'll just cut off the discussion of that right there, hoping to successfully whistle on past the graveyard and onto another week of action as quickly and quietly as possible.

Of course, while Muchova got to leave with a rare title, you know she also pulled off some impressive single points and/or shots during the week. She can't help herself, after all. Here's one of them from the final...



Muchova rises to #11 on Monday, just one spot behind new #10 Mboko.
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RISER: Victoria Mboko/CAN
...the only thing Mboko failed to so in Doha was finish what she started.



Sometimes when one watches the 19-year old Canadian in full flight, the notion of "Top 10" seems quaint, and the thought of her and her speed, power and seemingly-unbothered-by-pressure game being *#1* by the end of 2026 doesn't seem all that far-fetched. Ah, but good things come to those to wait. Or so "they" say. As it is, Mboko took still more signifacant steps up the WTA ladder this past week in Doha, but also left enough on the table to be excited about the *next* time she hits the court and what new stones she might turn over in short order.

Already with a 1000 title in Montreal and another late season title run in Hong Kong under her belt from '25, Mboko reached the Adelaide final and AO Round of 16 in January. In Doha, she ran off wins over Marie Bouzkova and Vera Zvonareva (22 years her senior, but who's counting?), then back-to-back Top 10 victories vs. Mirra Andreeva (saving a MP, and avenging her loss in Adelaide) and Elena Rybakina (ending her 9-match winning streak) before taking down the suddenly-on (until Mboko showed up) Alona Ostapenko to reach her fourth tour final since last summer (third in her last four tour-level events).

The first teenager to reach the Doha final since 2016 (Ostapenko, more than a year before her RG title, proving that the Lativian didn't really come "out of nowhere" back in '17), Mboko seemed on the verge of another clutch late-set run (as she'd pulled off vs. both Andreeva and Rybakina) in the title match vs. Karolina Muchova, but the Czech turned back the Canadian's 4-2 2nd set edge (and two points from the set, love/30 lead at 5-4) and snuck away with the title in straights. If the match had gone to a 3rd, it's a legitimate wonder if the final result might have been different.

Still, Mboko now joins Andreeva as the second teenager in the Top 10 on Monday, with much anticipation about just what her *next* step -- and she seems more than capable of *big* ones, say in Indian Wells and/or Miami -- could entail.
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SURPRISE: Elisabetta Cocciaretto/ITA
...already a tour title winner in '26 (Hobart), Cocciaretto didn't allow a slow start in Doha to deter her efforts, as the Italian channeled the Milan-Cortina Olympic spirit back home to put together her first career 1000 QF run and picked up her third Top 10 win, doing so as a lucky loser.

After losing to Varvara Gracheva in the final round of qualifying, Cocciaretto entered the MD and immediately posted straight sets wins over Elsa Jacquemot and Coco Gauff, the latter her first Top 10 win outside of slam play after previous major upsets of Petra Kvitova ('23 RG) and Jessie Pegula ('25 WI). After outlasting Ann Li in 2:55, Cocciaretto played well in the QF, but lost 7-5/6-4 to Alona Ostapenko.

3-1 in MD play this weeek in Doha, the Italian had been just 8-24 in her previous 1000-level career.

Cocciaretto will jump 17 spots to #40 on Monday. She's a combined 14-4 in qualifying/MD action through the first six weeks of 2026.


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VETERAN: Alona Ostapenko/LAT
...Ostapenko was in need of a good result after starting '26 at 2-4, having gone 3-10 in her last 13 and with her most recent multi-win event coming at last year's Roland Garros. She got it in Doha, where her shining history -- RU in 2016 and '25, and a SF in '22 -- provided a port in the storm.

After an opening three-set win over qualifier Anastasia Zakharova, the Lavtian finally won consecutive matches with a victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova (her first Top 10 win since her grand run to the Stuttgart title a year ago, and the sixth of her career in Doha), then followed up by taking down Camila Osorio and Elisabetta Cocciaretto in straights for her first SF since last April. Her run ended there, though, as Victoria Mboko allowed just five total games in the first meeting between the two.

Ostapenko is now a combined 21-7 in Doha's years as a 1000 event, her best totals at any 1000 tournament.



Despite her SF loss, Ostapenko had the chance to end the week on a winning note, as she and Hseih Su-wei reached the doubles final...



But they came up a point short of the title, losing a 6-0/5-2 lead, with a MP at 5-3, against Danilina/Krunic, twice coming up short in a TB/MTB combo to end the contest.
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COMEBACKS: Maria Sakkari/GRE and Dasha Kasatkina/AUS
...after a few mostly-lean years, some "covered up" by a few good results and one (2025) where injury, nagging inconsistency and big match underachievement finally caught up to her, Sakkari's growing change of fortune this season had been a mostly under-the-radar development until Doha.

Last year, the Greek's ranking sunk to as low as #92, with no SF appearances (a first since 2016) and an under-.500 record (25-29) in a season that saw her short stint with coach David Witt end and the return of former longtime collaborator Tom Hill. Hill came back aboard with Sakkari slumping at 7-13 on the season, and she rebounded enough to go 18-16 the rest of the way, climbing back to #52. The upward trend carried over into '26, as she posted early-season United Cup wins over Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu.

In Doha, things began to further come back together, as Sakkari -- with a good history in the event, with consecutive SF in 2022-23 -- played her way into another semi, her first in a tour event since Charleston nearly two full years ago, and notched a pair of Top 10 wins over Jasmine Paolini and Iga Swiatek (w/ additional victories over Zeynep Sonmez and Varvara Gracheva). The win over Paolini was just her second over a Top 10 opponent since Indian Wells '24 (the other came in Madrid last year, also vs. Paolini), and her takedown of Swiatek made Doha her first multi-Top 10 victory event since the 2022 WTA Finals.

The win over Iga was Sakkari's first in the series since she posted her third in 2021 alone at that season's WTAF. She'd lost four consecutive straight sets affairs since then.

Sakkari led eventual champion Karolina Muchova by a set in the semis, but her three-set defeat still leaves her at 7-4 on the season (a far cry from her 7-13 opening stretch a year ago). She jumps 19 spots to #33 on Monday.

Aside from her improved results, Sakkari has also now started to collect some spectacular shots in the opening weeks of '26, as her AO around-the-poster was joined in Doha by another point that even she was surprised went her way...



Kasatkina found herself at #61 coming into Doha, a week after her #62 standing had been her worst in five years. At 1-4 on the season, with just a Week 2 win in Adelaide (over Sakkari, BTW) to her credit, the Aussie hadn't been able to string back-to-back wins together since the U.S. Open, and hadn't done so in a non-major since *last* year's Doha tournament (she'd had additional multi-win outings at RG/WI over the stretch).

After an opening win over Moyuka Uchijima last weekend, Kasatkina perhaps got a break when she faced Elise Mertens, as the Waffle played with injury during the match and fell in quick order 4 & love.



Kasatkina's 3rd Round match-up with Iga Swiatek didn't ultimately go her way, but she took the 1st set at 7-5, making it the first set she's taken off the Pole since 2021 (she'd lost 12 straight over six losses since defeating Swiatek in their first career meeting on the grass at Eastbourne five seasons ago).

Kasatkina's 3rd Round exit matched her finish in Doha a year ago, so she'll only maintain her ranking and won't begin any sort of *immediate* climb back.


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FRESH FACES: Alina Korneeva/RUS and Dasha Vidmanova/CZE
...these two met in an intriguing match-up for the Oeiras 125 title in Portugal, with 18-year old AO/RG junior champ (2023) Korneeva prevailing over NCAA champion Vidmanova in a 7-5/6-1 final.

Korneeva, playing in her maiden 125 final after going 7-1 in title matches on the ITF level (winning two $100K), posted wins over Anna-Lena Friedsam (love & love in the 2nd/3rd sets), Greet Minnen (in 3 sets), Leyre Romero Gormaz (in two TB) and Matilde Jorge en route to the final, and will climb 26 spots to #131 (just off her CH of #128).



Vidmanova, in her biggest career final after going 1-1 in $100K challengers with the title on the line in '25, had gotten a win over the other Jorge sister (Francisca), Dalma Galfi and Maja Chwalinska.

The Czech, 23, will crack the Top 125 for the first time in the new rankings.


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ITF PLAYER: Emerson Jones/AUS
...a week after Talia Gibson grabbed the title at a $75K in Brisbane, Jones made it a second straight Aussie champ in the follow-up event in the city.

The 17-year old former AO/WI girls' singles finalist (both in '24) claimed her fourth career ITF singles title with a win over Gibson in the semis, then a 6-4/7-5 victory vs. Zhu Lin in the final.



Jones will climb to #144, still on the heels of the only other under-18 player currently ranked in the WTA Top 200 (#114 Lilli Tagger). Though she's still behind the Austrian, it's Jones who is the youngest player in the Top 275.
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JUNIOR STARS: Janae Preston/USA and Adelina Lacinova/LAT
...15-year old Preston continued her '26 hot streak, taking the Inka Bowl J300 title in Lima (PER) to improve her three-J300 crown winning season mark to 15-0, finishing things off with a 6-1/6-2 victory in the final against fellow Bannerette Lani Chang. The two teamed up to reach the doubles final.

In Casablanca, Latvia's Lacinova, 18, grabbed her first career J300 crown, defeating Dane Caroline Hermanns in the singles final, as well as taking the doubles title alongside another Lavtian, Marija Lauva.
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DOUBLES: Anna Danilina/Aleksandra Krunic, KAZ/SRB
...after years of high-level results alongside Irina Khromacheva, Danilina seems to have found another consistent partner in Krunic, as the pair reached their sixth final together since last June (including two majors at RG25/AO26), with Doha their second (w/ Wuhan) at a 1000 event.

They'd only claimed one title together in their five previous finals (w/ the first coming in '22), but proved at their best in the clutch all week in Qatar, winning MTBs to advance in the 2nd Round (vs. Fernandez/Mladenovic) and QF (Hunter/Joint), and then coming back from a love 1st set loss vs. Hsieh/Ostapenko in the final, falling behind 6-0/5-2 and saving a MP at 5-3 before rallying to win a 2nd set TB and then a 10-8 MTB to claim the title.

It's Danilina's 12th tour-level win, and the ninth for Krunic (aka The Bracelet, IYKYK). Both move up to new career high ranks on Monday, with Danilina at #7 and Krunic #11, as well as securing their hold on the top spot in the early-season Doubles Race standings.



Like Danilina/Krunic, Hsieh/Ostapenko have proven adept at reaching finals as a team, but the titles have been elusive. They knocked #1 seeds Errani/Paolini in the Doha SF, but with the loss in the title match are now 1-4 in finals (including AO/WI in '25) since the start of last year.
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WHEELCHAIR: Diede de Groot/NED
...back on the proverbial wheeled "horse" after falling short at the AO, de Groot picked up her first singles title of the new season at the Amro Open 500 event in Rotterdam (NED).

She posted wins over Lucy Shuker, Lizzy de Greef (in three sets) and Aniek Van Koot in a 6-3/6-4 final, then combined with countrywoman Van Koot to win the doubles title on home soil, as well, with a victory over Angelica Bernal/Ksenia Chasteau.

The week makes de Groot 11-3 in singles on the year, and 37-8 since her return last spring from hip surgery. She's 209-12 since 2021.



De Groot has won the singles/doubles titles on all three occasions that she's played the event in her career.

With this week's Rotterdam tournament being conducted simultaneously with the ATP's tour stop, it led to a nice cross-promotion/memory-sharing conversation being shared between de Groot and Stan Wawrinka.


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1. Doha QF - Maria Sakkari def. Iga Swiaek
...2-6/6-4/7-5. A bigger win for Sakkari, who had her best confidence-building result in ages, or a bigger loss for Swiatek, who now adds the Greek to the list of players she's recently dominated who have now managed to flip the script and get the better of *her*? If recent history is to be repeated (see vs. Gauff, Rybakina and others), with the pressure shifted onto the shoulders of the Pole, the *next* meeting between Swiatek and Sakkari (who hadn't won a set off Iga in their last four meetings) could very well see a similar result occur.

In this instance, Sakkari rallied from 6-2/4-1 down, then turned back Swiatek again when she was close to closing out both the 2nd and 3rd sets. At 4-4 in the 2nd, she had two BP for the opportunity to serve out the match, but instead Sakkari held and then quickly took a love/40 lead on Swiatek's serve, getting the break to force a deciding 3rd set.

There, Swiatek fell behind 5-2. Sakkari failed to serve out the match at 5-3, and couldn't convert a MP on return at 5-4. At 5-5, Swiatek seemed set to turn the momentum all the way back to her side, but Sakkari buckled down to hold at love and then take a 15/40 lead on return. She got her biggest win since the 2022 WTAF by converting on her third MP, taking out the three-time Doha champ two rounds short of the final (she'd won 19 of her last 20 in the event, and hadn't fallen before the SF since 2020). Swiatek had been 109-0 in 1000 level matches after winning the 1st set.

Meanwhile, it's Sakkari's first win over Swiatek since 2021.

Included in the mix in this one was another instance where the Iga-ites who attempt to prop up her "tennis purity of integrity" were forced to eat a large dose of crow, as she again failed to acknowledge a clear double bounce at a crucial moment late in the 3rd.



In truth, this one was clear enough that the chair umpire *should* have been able to call it correctly live, and Swiatek isn't *required* to acknowledge the double bounce (though anyone who has ever played tennis *knows* that she knew the ball bounced twice, either because she was eyeing it closely as she raced toward the ball, or because the feel of a short bounce off the end of the racket is unmistakably different from how it feels to catch the ball out of the air at the last moment). But it was an instance, without the correct call having been aided by replay, that could have proved key to turning the match in Swiatek's favor because of a clearly erroneous call.

It's moments like this give a hint to the source of some of the eye-rolling/impatience from a few players (see Danielle Collins, Yulia Putintseva, and even Madison Keys "that one time") regarding the Swiatek aura.

All things considered, with Swiatek still working on the additions to her game (on serve, and her willingness to move forward in the court) desired by Wim Fissette, while also once again finding losses vs. foes (and in places) she formerly dominated -- after similar things last season snowballed into the spring clay court campaign -- her decision to skip Dubai in the aftermath of Doha (we'll see her next in March at Indian Wells) feels like the correct move. We'll soon see if it really was.

We already know that it didn't quell any potential "rumors," and likely only stoked them, as on Sunday Swiatek had to deny reports that she and Fissette were parting ways.

Of course, such a thing would *never* happen. I mean, at least not until sometime this summer, right?
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2. Doha 3rd Rd. - Elena Rybakina def. Zheng Qinwen
...4-6/6-2/7-5. Rybakina managed to extend her winning streak to nine matches with a tight victory over Zheng, but it was anything but easy.

The AO champ led 5-2 in the decider, and held a MP on Zheng's serve at 5-3. After failing to put away the match, Rybakina was broken in the next game. With Zheng serving down 6-5 to reach a deciding TB, though, Rybakina erased her 40/love lead with five straight points to get the win.

A quick look at the stats of the match, such as her 39-23 edge in winners (9-6 aces), reveal just how close Zheng was to ending the Kazakh's run.


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3. Doha QF - Victoria Mboko def. Elena Rybakina
...7-5/4-6/6-4. In her next time out, Rybakina's fortune didn't hold firm against Mboko.

Again, in a pattern that -- combined with the Zheng match -- sure bears a striking resemblance to the many lost leads she had last season before her big 4Q run, Rybakina struggled to finish. In the 1st, she led Mboko 5-3, couldn't serve out the set at 5-4, then saw the teenager save a pair of BP in a 6-5 hold. Mboko then broke Rybakina to secure the set and match lead.

In the 3rd, Rybakina again led, at 4-2, only to drop the match's final four games. Up love/40 on Rybakina's serve at 5-4, Mboko finally recorded her fourth career Top 10 win by converting on her fourth MP attempt.


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4. Doha 1st Rd. - Magdalena Frech def. Liudmila Samsonova
...6-3/4-6/7-6(7). Samsonova is off to what has become her traditional slow start, dropping to 4-5 with a 1st Round exit in Doha that was also her second loss in '26 after holding a MP, making her the first to do so twice in MD matches this season.

The Russian held a MP at 5-4 in the 3rd vs. Frech, who soon after couldn't serve out the match at 6-5. In the deciding TB, Samsonova led 6-5 and held two more MP before Frech rallied to win 9-7.

It's Frech second *win* from MP down this season, tying her with Victoria Mboko and Wang Xinyu for the tour lead.



In Dubai on Sunday, Samsonova lost again, falling in three sets to Leylah Fernandez.
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5. Doha 2nd Rd. - Elisabetta Cocciaretto def. Coco Gauff
...6-4/6-2. This exit marks Gauff's first one-and-done event of 2026, but her fourteenth winless tournament from the 2021 season forward.

Over that same stretch, and including her season-ending Roland Garros title run in 2020, Iga Swiatek has just one such result in 80 knock-out events (and has won her opener in 67 straight such tournaments, 72 if you count the non-K.O. United Cup and WTAF).

Aryna Sabalenka, too, has 14 such winless tournaments over that period.


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6. Doha Final - Karolina Muchova def. Victoria Mboko
...6-4/7-5. As she did vs. both Andreeva and Rybakina, Mboko surged late in an attempt to steal a set (and, with that in hand, maybe more). Unlike those who came before her, though, Muchova managed to hold back the tide.

Mboko led 4-2 in the 2nd, and a 3rd set seemed almost inevitable. Leading 5-4, and with a love/30 lead on Muchova's serve, the odds seemed even more in her favor. But the Czech reeled the game back and got the hold, then broke and served out the title at love for her first win since 2019.

The tour leaders in MD match wins so far in '26 (Mboko 13 w/ her one United Cup win, and Muchova 12), they'll be back-to-back in the new rankings, with Mboko making her Top 10 debut at #10 and Muchova on her heels for her own return to the fold at #11.


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7. Doha 1st Rd. - Zheng Qinwen def. Sofia Kenin
...4-6/6-1/6-2. Zheng fired 20 aces in her '26 season debut. Not that seeing an opponent put up 20+ aces is anything new for Kenin, who has seen it happen no less than fives times on the other side of the net since 2019, with Viktoria Kuzmova (20 in Auckland '19), Alison Van Uytvanck (22 in Lyon '20) and Clara Tauson (22 in Tokyo '24, and 26 in Auckland '25) all having similar booming success against her.


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8. Doha 1st Rd. - Camila Osorio def. Emma Raducanu
...2-6/6-3/2-0 ret. One step forward, one step back. Rinse and repeat. After a big final run (albeit one where she couldn't give her all), Raducanu retires due to illness in the opening match of her next match.


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9. Doha 1st Rd. - Tereza Valentova def. Alex Eala
...7-6(6)/6-1. Valentova improves to 2-0 in her NextGen Future Rivalry career series vs. Eala, adding it to her 1 & 2 win over the Filipina in Osaka last fall.


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10. Doha 2nd Rd. - Victoria Mboko def. Vera Zvonareva
...6-4/6-4. Zvonareva played her first pro matches back in 2002, four years before Mboko was born. An Original Hordette, the now 41-year old made her Qatar Open debut in 2008, reaching the final and losing to Maria Sharapova after having posted earlier wins over Francesca Schiavone, Dinara Safina and Li Na.


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HM- Doha 2nd Rd. - Tereza Mihalikova/Olivia Nicholls def. Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova
...6-4/2-6 [10-5]. In their first tournament together since winning Prague last July, Krejcikova & Siniakova go out in the 2nd Round in a MTB.

Unfortunately, the Career Golden Doubles Slam-winning Czech duo aren't scheduled to team up again at the other end of the Middle East swing in Dubai.
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1. Doha 3rd Rd. - Victoria Mboko def. Mirra Andreeva
...6-3/3-6/7-6(5). Might this be the beginning of a beautiful rivalry?

Just a few weeks ago, Andreeva triumphed over Mboko in the all-teen final in Adelaide. The Hordette nearly clipped the Canadian again, but Mboko saved a MP on Andreeva's serve at 5-4, got the break of serve and ultimately forced a deciding TB, which she finally won on her third MP.


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2. Doha 2nd Rd - Karolina Pliskova def. Amanda Anisimova
...5-7/7-6(3)/4-1 ret. Pliskova gets her first Top 10 win since defeating Ons Jabeur in Nottingham two years ago, and her best win since then-#4 Maria Sakkari in Toronto in 2022.

Anisimova could have stolen away with a straight sets win, as she led 4-1 in the 1st, saw the Czech knot things at 5-5 (saving two Anisimova SP) before the Bannerette finally secured the set on SP #4 two games later, then grabbed a 3-0 edge in the 2nd before slowly fading away, losing a TB and then retiring due to illness five games into the 3rd.

Anisimova, who was the defending champ in Doha, drops from her #4 spot (US #1) to #6 (US #3) in the new rankings; while Pliskova ultimately retired from her 3rd Round match vs. Karolina Muchova.


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3. Oeiras 125 Final - Carmen Corley/Ivana Corley def. Emily Appleton/Makoto Ninomiya
...2-6/6-0 [10-4]. The Corley sisters (both Oklahoma Univ. tennis products) claim their fourth 125 crown as a pair to go along with their six ITF challenger wins, defeating #3-seeded Chong/Liang in the 1st Round, getting a walkover from the Jorge sisters in the semis, and then upsetting top seeded Appleton/Ninomiya for the crown.
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4. $75K Prague CZE Final - Alena Kovackova/Jana Kovackova def. Madeleine Brooks/Amelia Rajecki
...6-4/6-3. The Crusher Kovackova sisters, the reigning AO/US girls' doubles champs (and '25 RG jr. finalists), claim their fourth and biggest pro title.

While 17-year old Alena lost in the 1st Round of singles in Prague, 15-year old Jana played into the semifinals.
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5. Oeiras 125 SF - Alina Korneeva def. Matilde Jorge
...6-0/6-3. It was a week of *almosts* for Portugal's Jorge, who rode her wild card all the way to the semis after posting a QF win over Lucrezia Stefanini in an 8-6 3rd set TB. Playing to reach her biggest career final, she couldn't get past Korneeva, but continued her career-long history of good results on Portuguese soil.

Both of Matilde's two ITF singles title runs ($50K/$35K) came in events in Portugal, while 22 of her 28 career ITF doubles crowns came in her home country, as did both of her 125 doubles wins (on clay in Oeiras in 2024-25, with sister Francisca)

Matilde and Francisca had a shot at another Oeiras win (this time on indoor hard court), reaching the doubles semis, but handed the Kovackova sisters a walkover (presumably to better prepare Matilde for her singles outing... oops).
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*2026 BIGGEST AGE DIFF. IN WTA FINAL*
12 years - Cluj-Napoca: Cirstea (35) def. Raducanu (23)
10 years - Abu Dhabi: Bejlek (20) def. Alexandrova (30)
10 years - Doha: Muchova (29) def. Mboko (19)

*LONGEST SPANS BETWEEN WTA TITLES - 2020s*
12y,6m,3w = Sorana Cirstea, ROU [10/08 Tashkent >> 4/21 Istanbul]
8y,3m = Viktorija Golubic [7/16 Lausanne >> 11/24 Jiujiang]
6y,4m,3w = KAROLINA MUCHOVA [9/19 Seoul >> 2/26 Doha]
6y,3m = Olga Danilovic [7/18 Moscow >> 10/24 Guangzhou]
6y = Lauren Davis, USA [1/17 Auckland >> 1/23 Hobart]
6y = Marketa Vondrousova, CZE [4/17 Bienne >> 7/23 Wimbledon]

*MOST 2026 TOP 10 WINS*
3 - Marta Kostyuk
3 - VICTORIA MBOKO
3 - Elena Rybakina
2 - Belinda Bencic
2 - Karolina Muchova
2 - Jessie Pegula
2 - MARIA SAKKARI
2 - Elina Svitolina
[most in event]
3 - Marta Kostyuk (Brisbane)
3 - Elena Rybakina (Australian Open)
2 - Belinda Bencic (United Cup)
2 - VICTORIA MBOKO (Doha)
2 - Karolina Muchova (Brisbane)
2 - Jessie Pegula (Australian Open)
2 - MARIA SAKKARI (Doha)
2 - Elina Svitolina (Australian Open)

*2026 YOUNGEST WTA FINALISTS*
18 - Mirra Andreeva, RUS (Adelaide - W)
18 - Iva Jovic, USA (Hobart)
19 - Victoria Mboko, CAN (Adelaide)
19 - VICTORIA MBOKO, CAN (Doha)
[WTA 125]
17 - Lilli Tagger, AUT (Mumbai)
18 - ALINA KORNEEVA, RUS (Oeiras - W)

*2026 WTA CHAMPIONS BY RANKING*
#1 - Aryna Sabalenka (Brisbane)
#5 - Elena Rybakina (Australian Open)
#8 - Mirra Andreeva (Adelaide)
#13 - Elina Svitolina (Auckland)
#19 - Karolina Muchova (Doha)
#36 - Sorana Cirstea (Cluj-Napoca)
#80 - Elisabetta Cocciaretto (Hobart)
#101 - Sara Bejlek (Abu Dhabi)
#120 - Katie Boulter (Ostrava)

*2026 WTA CHAMPIONS BY AGE*
35 - Sorana Cirstea (Cluj-Napoca)
31 - Elina Svitolina (Auckland)
29 - Katie Boulter (Ostava)
29 - Karolina Muchova (Doha)
27 - Aryna Sabalenka (Brisbane)
26 - Elena Rybakina (Australian Open)
24 - Elisabetta Cocciaretto (Hobart)
20 - Sara Bejlek (Abu Dhabi)
18 - Mirra Andreeva (Adelaide)

*RECENT WTA TOP 10 SINGLES DEBUTS*
2023 [4] Rybakina/KAZ, Haddad Maia/BRA, Vondrousova/CZE, Muchova/CZE
2024 [3] Zheng Q./CHN, Paolini/ITA, Navarro/USA
2025 [3] M.Andreeva/RUS, Anisimova/USA, Alexandrova/RUS
2026 [1] Mboko/CAN

*CANADIANS IN WTA SINGLES TOP 10*
Carling Bassett-Seguso (high #8, 1985)
Helen Kelesi (high #13, 1989)
Genie Bouchard (high #5, 2014)
Bianca Andreescu (high #4, 2019)*
Leylah Fernandez (high #13, 2022)*
Victoria Mboko (high #10, 2026; ranking on Monday)*
--
*-active

*2026 MULT.DIFFERENT WTA FINALISTS BY COUNTRY*
2 - CZE...Bejlek, Muchova
2 - GBR...Boulter, Raducanu
2 - RUS...Alexandrova, M.Andreeva
2 - UKR...Kostyuk, Svitolina
--
1 - BLR,CAN,CHN,GER,ITA,KAZ,ROU,USA

*WTA TITLE LEADERS - CZE, active*
17 - Karolina Pliskova (2013-20)
8 - Barbora Krejcikova (2021-24)
5 - Katerina Siniakova (2017-22)
3 - Marketa Vondrousova (2017-25)
2 - Marie Bouzkova (2022-25)
2 - KAROLINA MUCHOVA (2019-26)
1 - Sara Bejlek (2026)
1 - Linda Fruhvirtova (2022)
1 - Linda Noskova (2024)

*2026 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
2 (2-0) = Zhang Shuai
2 (1-1) = ANNA DANILINA
2 (1-1) = HSIEH SU-WEI
2 (1-1) = ALEKSANDRA KRUNIC
2 (1-1) = ALONA OSTAPENKO
[2026 WD+MX finals]
2 (1-1) = Kristina Mladenovic (1-0 / 0-1)
[2026 finals - duos]
2...DANILINA/KRUNIC (1-1)
2...HSIEH/OSTAPENKO (1-1)

*2020-26 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
26 - Katerina Siniakova (1/6/6/3/5/4/1)
15 - Barbora Krejcikova (1/5/3/4/1/1/0)
15 - Elise Mertens (1/4/2/2/3/2/1)
12 - ANNA DANILINA (0/1/2/1/5/2/1)
12 - Hsieh Su-wei (4/2/0/2/3/0/1)
12 - Nicole Melichar-Martinez (2/2/2/0/3/3/0)
12 - Erin Routliffe (0/1/1/3/3/4/0)
12 - Luisa Stefani (1/1/2/3/1/4/0)






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— Marilyn Mazzotta (@marilynmazzotta.bsky.social) February 12, 2026 at 7:27 PM


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THIS ⤵

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— Ann Telnaes (@anntelnaes.bsky.social) February 11, 2026 at 11:14 AM


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๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡

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— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) February 13, 2026 at 3:50 PM


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A dresser inside a museum in New York City has been discovered as a secret stop on the Underground Railroad — the first of its kind discovered in Manhattan in over 100 years

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— Phil Lewis (@phillewis.bsky.social) February 10, 2026 at 10:43 PM


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All for now.
Posted by at

Sunday, February 8, 2026

Wk.5- C-Z-E in the U-A-E

Yep, Sara crushed it.






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*WEEK 5 CHAMPIONS*
ABU DHABI, U.A.E. (WTA 500; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Sara Bejlek/CZE def. Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS 7-6(5)/6-1
D: Ekaterina Alexandrova/Maya Joint (RUS/AUS) def. Tereza Mihalikova/Olivia Nicholls (SVK/GBR) 3-6/7-6(5) [10-8]
OSTRAVA, CZECH REPUBLIC (WTA 250; Hard Court Indoor)
S: Katie Boulter/GBR def. Tamara Korpatsch/GER 5-7/6-2/6-1
D: Anastasia Detiuc/Sabrina Santamaria (CZE/USA) def. Lucie Havlickova/Dominika Salkova (CZE/CZE) 6-4/7-6(4)
CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA (WTA 250; Hard Court Indoor)
S: Sorana Cirstea/ROU def. Emma Raducanu/GBR 6-0/6-2
D: Kamilla Rakhimova/Sara Sorribes Tormo (UZB/ESP) def. Wang Xinyu/Zheng Saisai (CHN/CHN) 7-6(7)/6-3
Mumbai, India (WTA 125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Mananchaya Sawangkaew/THA def. Lilli Tagger/AUT 6-4/6-3
D: Polina Iatcenko/Elena Pridankina (RUS/RUS) def. Nicole Fossa Huego/Mananchaya Sawangkaew (ARG/THA) 7-6(3)/1-6 [10-5]




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sara Bejlek/CZE
...another week, another member of the Crush of Czechs makes a move. This time by becoming a first-time tour singles champion.

After the likes of fellow young Czechs Tereza Valentova, Nikola Bartunkova and others have been significant strides at tour level in recent weeks and months, Bejlek finally followed suit. After shining on the challenger level as a teenager, and sparking with a 4th Round run in Madrid in her 1000 debut (and, so far, only 1000 MD) two years ago, the 20-year old had struggled to get over the hump at tour-level, going 1-7 in slam MD play and with just a lone tour-level QF result (coming in Prague last year) on her resume.

What turned out to be the best week of her career saw Bejlek (#101) have to make her way through Abu Dhabi qualifying just to reach the MD, then rise to the occasion with wins over Ashlyn Krueger, Alona Ostapenko, Sonay Kartal and Clara Tauson (the Dane claimed the only set Bejlek lost in seven matches) and Ekaterina Alexandrova in back-to-back Top 20 wins in the SF/F.



Bejlek's 1-0 mark in WTA finals now stands quite well alongside her records in lower level finals, 4-0 in 125 events and 7-3 on the ITF circuit. She'll jump a whopping 63 spots to a new career high of #38, obliterating her former high of #75 and moving from CZE #8 to #5 by jumping up-and-comer Valentova, a multiple slam winner (Krejcikova) and a former-and-likely-future (again) WD #1 (Siniakova) in one giant leap.
===============================================
RISERS: Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS and Hailey Baptiste/USA
...a year after winning her biggest career title in Linz (which has moved to April on the '26 schedule), Alexandrova reached yet another 500 final. The Hordette also *lost* another 500 final, dropping her to 0-4 in her last four tour-level singles finals (all 500s) and 1-6 (all but one a 500 event) in her last seven.



Alexandrova's path in Abu Dhabi to her 13th career WTA singles final included wins over Dayana Yastremska, Alex Eala and Hailey Baptiste (saving a MP), but she fell in straight sets to Sara Bejlek with the title on the line. She'll still return to the Top 10 on Monday, moving past dropping '25 Ahu Dhabi champ Belinda Bencic, who withdrew from this year's event due to injury after being drawn as the #1 seed.

Alexandrova rebounded later on Saturday to claim the doubles crown alongside Maya Joint.

Meanwhile, though she came up a point short of something bigger against Alexandrova, Abu Dhabi was still the site of yet another career leap for Baptiste, who rode previous wins over Teodora Kostovic, Emma Navarro and Liudmila Samsonova to her maiden tour-level SF. Her second set MP, and chance to serve out the win soon afterward, went by the wayside in her semi match-up with Alexandrova in what was the Bannerette's fifth consecutive three-set contest this season (and seventh in her last eight matches).

Thus far, Baptiste is a good 5-3 in the those outings, but if she'd been able to wring one more win out of the stretch she might have been making an even bigger leap on Monday than her new career high standing of #39.


===============================================
SURPRISES: Daria Snigur/UKR and Katie Volynets/USA
...Snigur's most memorable career match had a Romanian connection, as she was the player who upset Simona Halep in the 1st Round of the U.S. Open in 2022 before the fateful drug test that wreaked havoc with the next three years of Halep's career, ultimately ending it in Cluj-Napoca with her surprise retirement announcement one year ago after what was just her sixth match -- following a contentious, years-long fight to clear her name and return to the court -- since the Snigur defeat.

Well, Halep was back in Cluj this past week, as a guest working along with the tournament, and there was Snigur putting on a career-best run to her maiden tour-level SF. Wins over Sarah Rakotomanga, #2 seeded Romanian Jaqueline Cristian and Yuan Yue (who served for match vs. the Ukrainian) preceded a loss from qualifier Snigur to still another Romanian, eventual champion Sorana Cirstea.

Snigur will jump from #144 to #123 on Monday, getting closer to the career-high of #105 she set in November '22.



A former world #56 (in '24), Volynets will climb just a few more spaces inside the Top 100, up a few ticks from her #96 ranking, after a week that started out pretty well, and ended even better.



In Ostrava, the 24-year old reached her second career WTA semi, her first since Austin in 2023.

Volynets showed signs in the '25 4Q Asian swing of upward progression, with a 125 final (Suzhou) and tour-level QF run (Guangzhou) in October, and this week's wins over Linda Klimovicova, top-seeded Tatjana Maria and Alycia Parks (before a loss to eventual champ Katie Boulter) continued the trend.
===============================================



VETERANS: Sorana Cirstea/ROU and Tamara Korpatsch/GER
...Cirstea has said that this is her final season on tour, and that she intends to make it count. After her biggest January headlines involved a minor row with Naomi Osaka in Melbourne, the 35-year old Romanian let her results do the talking in Cluj-Napoca as she claimed her first title on home soil, and her second overall since last summer to became the ninth-oldest WTA singles champion ever.

Cirstea, at about 35 years and ten months, is the oldest of the WTA's group of 35-year old singles champions, with only wins from Billie Jean King (39), Kimiko Date-Krumm (38), Serena Williams (38), Tatjana Maria (37), Martina Navratilova (2 at 37, one at 36) and Francesca Schiavone (36) coming later in a career in tour history.

In Cluj, she didn't drop a set as she posted wins over Kamilla Rakhimova, Tamara Zidansek, Anastasia Potapova, Daria Snigur and Emma Raducanu. Cirstea lost three or fewer *total* games in three of her five maches on the week, and just five games combined in the SF/F.

All three of the titles that Cirstea has won in the 2020s, the first of which came in 2021 after a dozen and a half year tour title drought, have seen her take the crown without dropping a set in the tournament, with Cluj being added to a list that includes Istanbul (2021) and Cleveland (2025).

The Romanian is 10-2 on the season.



After reaching as high as #21 in both 2013 and '14, Cirstea is once again theoretically in the hunt for her belated Top 20 breakthrough. She'll climb five spots to #31 on Monday, about 500 points out of the Top 20. Should she finally crack the barrier this season, she'd become the oldest woman to ever make her Top 20 debut. She'll turn 36 in April, with the current record holder being Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who reached the Top 20 for the first time about two months after turning 35 in 2017.

In Ostrava, Korpatsch reached her second tour final (after her Cluj title run in '23), recording victories over Anna Siskova, #2-seed Emiliana Arango, Caty McNally and Diane Parry.



Ranked #124, the German will nearly return to the Top 100 (#102), where she hasn't been since July 2024.
===============================================



COMEBACKS: Katie Boulter/GBR and Emma Raducanu/GBR
...for the first time, two British women reached different WTA tour-level singles finals on the same weekend in this Week 5 (i.e. they didn't play each other in the same event, which *did* happen in Nottingham in 2023). But only one walked off with the title.

That honor would go to Boulter, who picked up career title #4 some fifteen months after claiming her last, following a struggle of a '25 season (aside from a few clay court moments with her maiden RG win and first clay title, at the 125 level) that saw her go 22-22 and fall from #24 at the start of last season to #120 heading into this past week.

Things finally game together again in Ostrava, as Boulter got victories over Lucie Havlickova, Viktorija Golubic, Linda Fruhvirtova, Katie Volynets and Tamara Kopatsch in a final in which the Brit rallied from a set down, allowing the German just three games in the final two sets.

It's Boulter's first WTA crown since her successful title defense in Nottingham in 2024.



Meanwhile, just when she seemed to be zigging once again (jettisoning yet another coach after AO26), Raducanu zagged, reaching her first tour-level singles final since winning the U.S. Open in 2021, resetting the clock once again when it comes to judging the ongoing progression -- or sometimes the lack thereof -- of her career.



Following her Romanian roots, Raducanu rode a wave with wins over Greet Minnen, Kaja Juvan (winning 7-5/6-1 after losing the first five games of the match), Maja Chwalinska and Oleksandra Oliynykova before notching just two games in the final against Sorana Cirstea.



Her week will lift Raducanu's ranking five spots to #25, her best standing since dropping her U.S. Open title points in 2022.
===============================================



FRESH FACES: Oleksandra Oliynykova/UKR and Mananchaya Sawangkaew/THA
...after picking up steam in the lower levels in 2025, going 7-0 in 125/ITF finals and cracking the Top 100, Oliynykova has gone about the opening weeks of '26 becoming one of the newest personalities on the most interesting tour in the world.



Armed with a frustrating gameplan (for opponents), a unique on-court look (which for the Transylvania Open included temporary adjustments to her facial tattoos so that they resembled bats flying beneath her eyes), and a bold personal style (before her slam debut vs. DC Madison Keys, she expressed support during the AO for the long-put-away notion of banning RUS/BLR players, then the Ukrainian refused to shake the hand of her *Hungarian* opponent in Cluj... because she'd played in a post-invasion team exhibition event in Russia back in 2022), Oliynykova brought attention to herself with her between-the-lines action in Cluj by reaching the semifinals in just her second tour-level MD event.



Oliynykova opened with a late night win from a set down over Mayar Sherif, then followed up with defeats of Anna Bondar (minus a pre-match photo or a post-match handshake) and Wang Xinyu (when she saved 20 of 22 BP) before finally falling to Emma Raducanu in three sets, a win away from the final.

Somehow, this feels more like a beginning than a brief encounter.



Oliynykova now jumps 20 spots to a career high #71.

In Mumbai, Sawangkaew grabbed her biggest career title at the same 125 event at which she's reached her biggest career final a year ago (a loss to Jil Teichmann).

This time around, the 23-year old backed up her all-Thai SF win over Lanlana Tararudee with a straight sets victory in the final over streaking Austrian teen Lilli Tagger, ending the 17-year old's nine-match winning streak.

Sawangkaew, who opened the year with a $75K title run, will rise 24 spots to #212 with her 11-2 start to '26. She reached the Top 100 last summer, but then saw her ranking sink when she was forced off tour due to a back injury from June until late November.



Sawangkaew also reached the doubles final with Nicole Fossa Huego.
===============================================



DOWN: Alona Ostapenko/LAT
...while she's found early season success in doubles -- with a title in Brisbane, and AO QF -- Ostapenko is having a hard time getting started on the singles side in '26.

After a 2025 campaign in which she briefly shined white-hot (reaching the s/d finals in Doha, with a win over Iga Swiatek, then a title run in Stuttgart during which she knocked off #2 Swiatek again, as well as #1 Sabalenka) yet finished the season having lost more times than she won (going 18-20), Ostapenko's slumping finish has carried over into the new year.

She ended '25 on a 3-9 slide, with two retirements and without a multi-win event since Roland Garros. With her close win over Oksana Selekhmeteva and then 2nd Round loss to Sara Bejlek in Abu Dhabi, the Lavtian stands at 2-4 in '26 (w/ another ret.).


===============================================
ITF PLAYER: Talia Gibson/AUS
...the 21-year old Aussie continued her good run Down Under, adding to her AO 1st Round singles win over Anna Blinkova (and pushing of Diana Shnaider to three sets in the 2r) and doubles upset of #1-seeded Errani/Paolini in Melbourne with her 11th career challenger crown (fourth $75K) with a win in Brisbane. She downed veteran Nao Hibino in a 6-3/7-6 final.

Hibino, 31, had been looking to keep up her recent resurgence with what would have been her first singles title on any level in nearly three years. Last year, she recorded her first slam MD win in four years with a 1st Round victory in Paris.
===============================================
JUNIOR STAR: Janae Preston/USA
...the 15-year old Bannerette has now claimed *two* early-season J300 crowns, this weekend taking the title in Salinas (ECU) with a win in the final over fellow U.S. teen Sarah Ye.

Last month, the #71-ranked girl took home the honors in San Jose, Costa Rica.


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



DOUBLES: Ekaterina Alexandrova/Maya Joint, RUS/AUS
...while Alexandrova came up short in the Abu Dhabi singles final, she took the doubles with Joint via a 10-8 MTB win over Tereza Mihalikova/Olivia Nicholls in the WD final a few hours later.

It's the Russian vet's second WTA doubles win, but first since 2019, while 19-year old Aussie Joint's second crown comes in her fourth doubles final since last May (she's also picked up a pair of WTA singles titles during the stretch).


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1. Abu Dhabi 2nd Rd. - Alex Eala def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich
...2-6/6-4/7-6(5). Eala again brought the fans, and for a while brought the results, too.

The Filipina trailed Sasnovich 4-0 and 5-2 in the 3rd, facing a MP on her opponent's serve before breaking the Belarusian on her third BP chance. Sasnovich still served for the match again two games later, but still couldn't put away the win, then held a mini-break lead at 5-4 in the TB (w/ two serves incoming). She lost both, as Eala swept the final three points to advance.


============================================
2. Abu Dhabi SF - Ekaterina Alexandrova def. Hailey Baptiste
...3-6/7-6(5)/6-3. Baptiste came "this close" to a superior week. After taking the 1st set, she saved four BP and held for 4-3 in the 2nd, carving out a MP chance two game later at 5-4 before Alexandrova saved it and soon forced a deciding breaker.

The Hordette veteran broke out of a 5-5 deadlock in the TB to win 7-5 and reach her 13th tour final.


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



3. Cluj-Napoca 1st Rd. - Oleksandra Oliynykova def. Mayar Sherif 6-7(6)/6-4/6-4
Cluj-Napoca 2nd Rd. - Oleksandra Oliynykova def. Anna Bondar 6-4/6-4
...personality-plus Oliynykova had quite the headline-generating week in Cluj, winning a toe-to-toe battle with Sherif into the night, taking the 1st set after both players held set points, then overcoming a 3-1 3rd set deficit to notch her first tour-level MD victory on her fourth BP/MP in the final game.

In her next outing, she dragged out into the light Bondar's participation in a frowned-upon Saint Petersburg team exihibition -- the North Palmyra Trophies -- held in December 2022, and sponsored by a Putin-linked/war-fueling energy company, in defiance of the sport's ban on Russian events. The Ukrainian wanted an apology from Bondar, didn't get it, and then followed through with her decision to not have a pre-match photo taken together or shake the Hungarian's hand following the match.

A little history on that event: it's continued to be held at the end of recent years, and has mostly been populated by Russian players (Medvedev, Shnaider, V.Kudermetova, Bublik, Khachanov, etc.), Original Hordettes (Kuznetsova, Myskina and Vesnina in the first event) or current pros with Russian links (Potapova, Putintseva). Bondar has been one of the few non-RUS players to attend, along with the likes of Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova and Dutch player Tallon Griekspoor (Potapova's boyfriend, he attended the Dec. '25 event after being practically begged not to do so -- here's a good article on that situation, and the entire issue).

Expect Oliynykova to continue to be a headline-maker, for reasons both obvious, thought-provoking and, as far as her game in concerned, also quite entertaining.
============================================
4. Cluj-Napoca 2nd Rd. - Emma Raducanu def. Kaja Juvan 7-5/6-1
Cluj-Napoca Final - Sorana Cirstea def. Emma Raducanu 6-0/6-2
...Raducanu had a "so-very-Raducanu-esque" week in Cluj.

With her Romanian roots, she had immediate rapport with the fans, but after arriving following *another* coaching move (naturally) she found herself down 5-0 in the 1st set of her 2nd Round match vs. Kaja Juvan, which served to cue all the "Raducanu can't play" real-time attacks on the Brit on social media. Then, mostly to crickets from the same corners, she rallied to get the win and played herself into her first final since winning the U.S. Open, reminding everyone that her appeal *did* have a legitimate game-based foundation in its origin story.

Then came the final.



Raducanu wasn't able to rise to the occasion vs. Cirstea, and needed some in-match medical attention (naturally), waking up all the social media detractors who'd crawled back into the shadows for a few days until it was safe to bring the hate once more. So the current State of Raducanu's Game report, I suppose, will depend on through which pair of glasses someone views the proceedings.

It can't get much more "signature week" than that for Emma, I guess.


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



5. Ostrava Final - Katie Boulter def. Tamara Korpatsch
...5-7/6-2/6-1. The winning side of the two British finalist combo from Week 5, as Boulter gets a *much* needed good result, as well as an unsolicited compliment on her character from her fallen opponent.


============================================
6. Abu Dhabi Final - Sara Bejlek def. Ekaterina Alexandrova
...7-6(5)/6-1. Bejlek joins the three other qualifier champions since the start of last year: Tatjana Maria at Queen's Club, Sorana Cirstea in Cleveland, and Elisabetta Cocciaretto in Hobart just last month.

A season ago, the Abu Dhabi champion was a wild card (Belinda Bencic), who withdrew before this year's tournaments and opened the door for runner-up Alexandrova to earn back her Top 10 ranking next week.


============================================
7. Abu Dhabi SF - Sara Bejlek def. Clara Tauson
...7-5/3-6/7-5. Tauson started 15-4 last season, but has had a rougher go of things in '26. She's 4-4 so far this season, but showed signs of life again in Abu Dhabi, only to come up short in a tight match (as she did vs. Mboko in Melbourne) once more.

Bejlek rallied to take the 1st set from 4-2 down, then broke the Dane in game 11 of the 3rd, converting on her fifth BP chance (after Tauson had a pair of GP) to lead 6-5. The Czech then served out the win at 15 to reach her maiden tour final.
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8. Cluj-Napoca 1st Rd. - Anastasia Potapova def. Lucia Bronzetti
...5-7/6-4/7-5. Potapova hasn't been cut-and-pasting Dasha Kasatkina's 2026 results, at least, and she can be thankful for that.

In her first match since losing that double-TB affair vs. Sabalenka at AO26, the new Austrian rallied from 7-5/4-2 back to clip Bronzetti at the wire. After being forced to a 3rd set, the Italian also led by an early break in the decider, and served for the win at 5-4.
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9. Cluj-Napoca 2nd Rd. - Daria Snigur def. Jaqueline Cristian
...6-1/6-0. Cluj used to be a fun stop for Cristian, especially when she ushered in the occasion by wearing a Dracula cape during pre-match inroductions in the early years (2021-23) of the event. She stopped bringing the smirk after that, just like the tournament, which formerly leaned fully into its Transylvanian folklore roots with a vampire-heavy marketing strategy that made it the most entertaining event on the WTA calendar.

Things have cooled the last few years, and officially seemed to die when the tournament was moved off of its original Halloween week date, though "Dracula" did make a brief appearance at the trophy ceremony this year, while Oleksandra Oliynykova's bat tattoos helped keep up appearances. The return of Simona Halep (though not as a player) ramped up the heart(warming) rate of the entire affair, too. More of this, please.

But what of Cristian, who helped start it all? Well, ever since her initial QF run in the debut event, she's been a feast-or-famine prospect, with a SF in '24 and doubles final last year, but two 1r and two 2r exits in the other seasons.
============================================
10. Cluj-Napoca Final - Kamilla Rakhimova/Sara Sorribes Tormo def. Wang Xinyu/Zheng Saisai
...7-6(7)/6-3. Rakhimova adds another good result to her new "UZB" record, picking up a tour-level WD title after winning a 125 singles crown in December under her new flag (over Week 5 Ostrava finalist Tamara Korpatsch).

Sorribes Tormo improves to 14-3 in pro doubles finals, winning her seventh WTA crown in eight finals (w/ 2-0 125, 5-2 ITF marks).


============================================
11. Doha Q1 - Vera Zvonareva def. Zhang Shuai 6-3/6-3
Doha Q2 - Vera Zvonareva def. Magdalena Frech 6-3/7-6(1)
Doha 1st Rd. - Vera Zvonareva def. Peyton Stearns 2-6/6-2/6-3
...the 41-year old Original Hordette, who reached $100K singles/doubles finals in Dubai in December in her first event after a 19-month absence from the sport, has already reached a 125 doubles final in '26 (Canberra).

The Middle East continues to bring her success, as Zvonareva has picked up a trio of Top 100 wins in Doha, qualifying this weekend with wins over Zhang and Magdalena Frech, then notching her first tour-level MD win since 2023 with an upset (??) of Peyton Stearns in the 1st Round on Sunday.



Meanwhile, perhaps Peyton has a little *too much* respect for her elders...


============================================
12. Ostrava QF - Diane Parry def. Nikola Bartunkova
...6-1/6-3. Parry was a Top 50 player two seasons ago, but has slipped well outside the Top 100 after reaching no tour-level QF last season in a sub-.500 (20-23) campaign. The Pastry reached a trio of SF in '24.

In Ostrava, she finally reached her first semi since Osaka more than fifteen months ago. She'll push back to #107 in the new rankings.
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13. Abu Dhabi 1st Rd. - Simona Waltert def. Dasha Kasatkina 7-6(5)/3-6/6-4
Doha 1st Rd. - Dasha Kasatkina def. Moyuka Uchijima 4-6/6-3/6-0
...Kasatkina's follow-up to her poor non-slam campaign last year continued to be stuck in reverse in Abu Dhabi, as she fell to 1-4 with another one-and-done in Abu Dhabi. It's her 14th winless event since the start of last year.

She rebounded Sunday with a come from behind win over Uchijima, but can she follow it up? She'll next see Elise Mertens. It'd be her first Top 25 win since defeating Paula Badosa at last year's RG.
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14. Mumbai 125 Final - Mananchaya Sawangkaew def. Lilli Tagger
...6-4/6-3. Sawangkaew gets the win, but Austrian Tagger continues to shine.

Coming off a $100K title run, the 17-year old (who turns 18 in a week and a half) '25 RG girls' champ and tour-level finalist in Jiujiang last fall in her tour-level debut, had extended her winning streak to nine en route to the final.

Up to #115 on Monday, one of just two under-18 players in the Top 200 (w/ Emerson Jones), Tagger is 12-3 so far in '26.
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The currently-airing Cinnamon Toast Crunch commercials are essentially mini-movies about a serial killer, aka the piece of Cinnamon Toast Crunch who likes to eat other Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Yes, these are actual commercials, though they could easily be fake ads running on "Saturday Night Live" or "Robot Chicken." The first ad features the "cannibal" holed up alone in his apartment, surrounded by cookbooks (one is called "Having Friends for Dinner") and with cut-up pieces of other Cinnamon Toast Crunch (w/ eyes) stored in his refrigerator, eating a bowl of cereal (filled w/ his own kind) while he talks about how "horrific" what he's doing is. Basically, he's a cereal version of Jeffrey Dahmer.




In the second ad, he stalks his next victim in the alley, murdering him and then eating him off the ground. I don't know if these things are in incredibly bad taste, or bordering on genius. Probably a version of both.









U2's in 2002 was one of the best Super Bowl halftime shows ever and, frankly, has become one of the most forgotten/overlooked, as well, thanks to the stunning one Prince pulled off a few years later that has ever since stood as the go-to for the top spot in any rankings.

Aside from the musical performance, the U2 set included a tribute to the victims of 9/11, which had occurred just five months earlier.












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*2026 OLDEST WTA FINALISTS*
35 - SORANA CIRSTEA (Cluj-Napoca)-W
31 - Elina Svitolina (Auckland)-W
31 - EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA (Abu Dhabi)
30 - TAMARA KORPATSCH (Ostrava)

*RECENT WTA CHAMPIONS AS A QUALIFIER*
2024 Monastir - Sonay Kartal, GBR
2024 Osaka - Suzan Lamens, NED
2025 London - Tatjana Maria, GER
2025 Cleveland - Sorana Cirstea, ROU
2026 Hobart - Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA
2026 Abu Dhabi - SARA BEJLEK, CZE

*2026 FIRST-TIME WTA SEMIFINALISTS*
Hobart: Taylah Preston, AUS (20/#204)
Hobart: Antonia Ruzic, CRO (22/#71)
Abu Dhabi: SARA BELJEK, CZE (20/#101) - won title
Abu Dhabi: HAILEY BAPTISTE, USA (24/#56)
Cluj-Napoca: OLEKSANDRA OLIYNYKOVA (25/#91)
Cluj-Napoca: DARIA SNIGUR, UKR (23/#144)

*MOST TITLES WON w/o DROPPING A SET - 2020s*
11 - Iga Swiatek, POL
5 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (1 in '26)
3 - SORANA CIRSTEA, ROU (1)
3 - Coco Gauff, USA
2 - Ash Barty, AUS
2 - Madison Keys, USA
2 - Anett Kontaveit, EST
2 - Bernarda Pera, USA
2 - Liudmila Samsonova, RUS

*ALL-UNSEEDED WTA SF - 2020s*
[W/RU, SF/SF]
2020 Lexington = Brady/Gauff, Teichmann/WC Rogers
2020 Istanbul = Tig/Q Martincova, Q Bouchard/Badosa
2021 Eastbourne = WC Ostapenko/Rybakina, Kontaveit/Q Giorgi
2021 Gydnia = SE Zanevska/Kozlova, Kucova/Korpatsch *
2022 Dubai = Ostapenko/Halep, V.Kudermetova/Q Vondrousova *
2024 Rabat = Stearns/Sherif, Rakhimova/Tomova
2024 Hua Hin 2 = Sramkova/Siegemund, Q Hartono/Zidansek #
2024 Merida = Sonmez/Li, Korneeva/P.Kudermetova
2025 Guadalajara = Jovic/Arango, Jacquemot/WC Bartunkova
2026 OSTRAVA = Boulter/Korpatsch, Volynets/Parry *
--
* - 7/8 unseeded QF
# - 8/8 unseeded QF

*RECENT EARLY-CAREER WTA BREAKOUTS*
[less than 5 WTA MD]
2025: Maya Joint to Hobart SF (4th WTA MD, age 18)
2025: Julieta Pareja to Bogota SF (1st WTA MD, age 16)
2025: Lois Boisson to Roland Garros SF (1st career GS MD/2nd WTA MD; age 22)
2025: Lois Boisson wins Hamburg (3rd WTA MD, age 22)
2025: Janice Tjen to Sao Paulo F (2nd WTA MD, age 23)
2025: Tiantsoa Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonah wins Sao Paulo (3rd WTA MD, age 19)
2025: Lilli Tagger to Jiujiang F (1st WTA MD, age 17)
2026: Oleksandra Oliynykova to Cluj-Napoca SF (2nd WTA MD, age 25)

*OLDEST WTA SINGLES CHAMPIONS*
Billie Jean King: 39y, 203d (1983 Birmingham)
Kimiko Date-Krumm: 38y, 364d (2009 Seoul)
Serena Williams: 38y, 108d (2020 Auckland)
Tatjana Maria: 37y, 311d (2025 London)
Martina Navratilova: 37y, 125d (1994 Paris Indoors)
Martina Navratilova: 37y, 20d (1993 Oakland)
[36]
Martina Navratilova: 36y, 301d (1993 Los Angeles)
Francesca Schiavone: 36y, 9m, 3w (2017 Bogota)
[35]
SORANA CIRSTEA: 35y 10m (2026 Cluj-Napoca)
Tatjana Maria: 35y, 8m (2023 Bogota)
Francesca Schiavone: 35y, 7m, 29d (2016 Rio)
Venus Williams: 35y, 7m, 28d (2016 Kaohsiung)
Helga Niessen Masthoff: 35y, 5m, 1d (1977 Monte Carlo)
Venus Williams: 35y, 4m, 22d (2015 Elite Trophy)
Sorana Cirstea: 35y, 4m, 2w (2025 Cleveland)
Serena Williams: 35y, 4m (2017 Australian)
Venus Williams: 35y, 3m, 16d (2015 Wuhan)
Marie Pinterova: 35y, 2m, 3d (1981 Japan Open)






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Facing racism in the sport head on, Surya Bonaly landed the banned backflip on one foot and made history anyway ⛸️ ๐Ÿ’ฅ

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— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) February 8, 2026 at 1:42 AM


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All for now.
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