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Sunday, March 1, 2026

Wk.8- Rise of an Unassuming Spaniard

Well, hello Cristina. Cristina Bucsa.









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*WEEK 8 CHAMPIONS*
MERIDA, MEXICO (WTA 500; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Cristina Bucsa/ESP def. Magdalena Frech/POL 6-1/4-6/6-4
D: Cristina Bucsa/Jiang Xinyu (ESP/CHN) def. Isabelle Haverlag/Maia Lumsden (NED/GBR) 6-4/6-1
AUSTIN (TX), UNITED STATES (WTA 250; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Peyton Stearns/USA def. Taylor Townsend/USA 7-6(8)/7-5
D: Storm Hunter/Taylor Townsend (AUS/AUS) def. Eudice Chong/Liang En-shou (HKG/TPE) 6-3/6-4
Antalya, Turkey (WTA 125; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Moyuka Uchijima/JPN def. Anhelina Kalinina/UKR 7-5/7-5
D: Maria Kozyreva/Iryna Shymanovich (RUS/BLR) def. Momoko Kobori/Peangtarn Plipuech (JPN/THA) 7-5/6-1




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Cristina Bucsa/ESP
...neither the ever-unassuming Spaniard nor her game has ever really *jumped out* over the years. Coached by her self-taught father, a former biathlete who was a two-time flag bearer (1998 and 2002) for the Moldovan Winter Olympic team, Bucsa was unsponsored until finally signing a clothing deal in the middle of last season (four years after her slam debut) after previously having bought her own gear and rackets off the shelf.

Bucsa has always done things "her own way," stating that she "doesn't have time" and "wants to take care of (her)self." She still doesn't have a public social media profile (aside from a Facebook account to set up doubles partnerships) in an age where "going viral" is often as much of a path toward recognition on tour than actual results.

Thing is, Bucsa actually *has* those.

The one-time New Year's baby (she was born in Moldova, for which she played early in her career, on January 1 in 1998) has been one the most consistently upward-trending players on tour the last few seasons. After mostly operating in the shadows early on, I can specifically remember her largely-unfamiliar name popping up numerous times during the pandemic in 2020 when she emerged as the winner at several of the localized series of events held in Spain (as occurred all over the world during the sport's shutdown), and she's only seen her results slowly get bigger ever since, especially since 2024.

She was an Olympic Doubles Bronze winner that year, won a 1000 doubles title in Madrid and cracked the Top 20, while also reaching her first singles 1000 Round of 16 in Beijing. Last year, she reached her maiden 4th Round at a major (U.S.) and her first tour-level singles final late in the year in Hong Kong (she was RU to Vicky Mboko in a three-setter), where she also won the doubles. It led to her first Top 50 ranking this January.

Still, she came into Merida on a five-match losing streak, having lost 10 of 11 sets. The perfect unassuming lead-in to the best week of her career, I guess.

Bucsa didn't lose a set en route to the singles final, taking out Donna Vekic, young Canadian Marina Stakusic, Turkish star Zeynep Sonmez and Jasmine Paolini, clipping the Italian 7-5/6-4 to notch her first career Top 10 win (she'd been 0-10) and doing so on her father's birthday.



Simply by reaching the final, Bucsa passed Jessica Bouzas Maneiro as the new ESP #1 and assured herself of a new career-high ranking. But she wasn't finished.

After taking a 6-1 1st set in the final against Magdalena Frech, Bucsa raced to a 5-2 lead in the 3rd after the Pole had sent things to a decider. She wobbled slightly, failing to serve out the win, but then immediately broke Frech to end the 6-1/4-6/6-4 match and claim her maiden tour title at the 500 event. She'll be the new #31-ranked player in the world on Monday.



But Bucsa still wasn't finished.

Just like in Hong Kong, Bucsa also reached the doubles final in Merida, played *after* the singles final on Sunday night.

This time she walked off with *two* titles, taking the crown alongside Jiang Xinyu with a 6-4/6-1 win in the final over Maia Lumsden and first-time tour finalist Isabelle Haverlag. It's Bucs'a eighth career title, while Jiang picks up #7.

The pair won a MTB in the 1st Round over Kasintseva/Strakhova, but then didn't lose a set the rest of the way.
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RISERS: Magdalena Frech/POL and Kimberly Birrell/AUS
...Frech came up short in the Merida final, the third of her career at tour-level, but produced her best WTA result since 2024 (when she reached her other two title matches).

Wins over Maria Timofeeva, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and Marie Bouzkova got the Pole into her first tour SF since she won the title at another event in Mexico, in Guadalajara in September '24. Against Zhang Shuai, Frech couldn't close out the veteran in straights, as Zhang saved four MP in the 2nd set before winning an 8-6 TB. But Frech took control in the 3rd to reach the final, another three-set affair vs. Cristina Bucsa.

After dropping a 6-1 1st set, Frech forced a decider and denied the Spaniard when she served for the match at 5-3, but couldn't keep things on serve and saw the match and her week end with her losing her serve at the very worst time.

She'll jump from #57 all the way up the #36, nearly within slam seed range as the spring schedule beckons.



In Austin, Birrell reached her fourth WTA semi (second in '26, after doing do at 500 Adelaide), stringing together wins over Petra Marcinko, Caroline Dolehide and fellow Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic.

She lost in three sets to Peyton Stearns in the final four, falling short of her third tour final appearance in three seasons, but will climb back into the Top 70 in the new rankings. Her career-high of #60 came just ten months ago.


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VETERANS: Taylor Townsend/USA and Zhang Shuai/CHN
...Townsend's professional career has mostly centered around her doubles success, including two major crowns in 2024-25 and a stint as the WD #1, but she'll occasionally spark in singles, as well. The 29-year old pulled double duty in Austin.

A wild card in the singles draw, Townsend barely escaped the 1st Round, saving a MP in a win over Linda Fruhvirtova, then followed that with victories over Nikola Bartunkova, Rebeka Masarova (from a set down) and Ashlyn Krueger (in straights after trailing 4-0 in the 1st, saving a SP in the TB) to reach her maiden tour-level singles final.

In the title match against Peyton Stearns, Townsend held three SP of her own in the opener, but couldn't pull the set into her column and went on to fall in two, 7-6(8)/7-5. She'll climb 30+ spots on Monday into the Top 90.

Townsend slipped six spots all the way down to #9 in the doubles rankings coming into the week, but reclaimed her momentum alongside Storm Hunter, taking the doubles honors.



Zhang has pushed well beyond the 24-match losing streak that she suffered through in 2023-24. In Merida, the 37-year old made her way through qualifying and ultimately reached the SF, her second WTA semi since late last year (Guangzhou).

An opening win over Varvara Lepchenko was followed up by an upset of defending Merida champ Emma Navarro, then a straight sets win over Victoria Jimenez Kastinseva. Trying to reach her first tour-level singles final since 2022, Zhang pushed Magdalena Frech deep into the 2nd set after dropping the 1st. Zhang saved a pair of MP at 5-4, then two more in the TB, which the Chinese veteran won 8-6. All it did was delay the inevitable, though, as Frech put away a 6-3 deciding set to advance.



Zhang will jump 25 spots to #61 on Monday, her highest standing since August 2023, when she was 16 losses into the losing streak that took place over a 20-month stretch (February 2023-September 2024).
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COMEBACKS: Peyton Stearns/USA and Ashlyn Krueger/USA
...ranked #28 last spring, #62-ranked Stearns returned this past week to the city of her old college exploits in Austin, where she reigned as the women's NCAA singles champion in 2022 while playing for the University of Texas. Turns out, the old muscle memory held up.

Stearns' run saw her go three sets in her first four matches en route to her third tour-level singles final (first on hard court), going the distance in wins over Francesca Jones, Oksana Selekhmeteva and Kimberly Birrell (while getting a straight sets win over Kaja Juvan). Stearns hadn't reached the QF/SF level in a WTA event since her Rome semifinal last spring, when she upset the likes of Kalinskaya, Keys, Osaka and Svitolina in succession (then went to Madrid and got a win over Anisimova, too). It was her only QF+ result at tour-level all last season.

Against Taylor Townsend in the final, Stearns saved three SP in the 1st set, won a 10-8 tie-break (on her fifth SP) and took the match in straights to earn her second WTA singles title and book a return to the Top 50 in the new rankings.

Of note, Stearns' title run comes amidst official complaints against her recently-added new coach, Rafael Font de Mora, regarding alleged misconduct and inappropriate relationships with players during his previous coaching stints on tour.



Meanwhile, Krueger is surely hoping her semifinal run in Austin will turn around what has been an exceedingly sluggish start to her '26 campaign.

Having reached the Top 30 last July and appearing in a pair of tour-level finals (a title in '23, RU in '25) in recent years, the 21-year old Bannerette came into the week at #103 after a 1-5 start to the new season, and was on a 1-7 slide going back to late last year. Since her 1st Round win over Sofia Kenin at the U.S. Open last summer, she'd won just two of thirteen matches.

Wins in Austin over Caty McNally, Anastasia Zakharova and Yuan Yue gave her her best result in more than a year ('25 Abu Dhabi RU after a trio of Top 40 wins over Kasatkina, Fernandez and Noskova). Against Taylor Townsend in the semis this weekend, Krueger took at 4-0 1st set lead, and even after letting her lead shrink had a chance to serve out the set at 5-4. After Townsend forced a TB, Krueger rallied from 5-1 down to hold her first SP at 6-5. But she dropped the last three points of the breaker, then saw Townsend close out the match in two.

Krueger will still climb more than 20 spots in the new rankings, nearly back into the Top 80.


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FRESH FACES: Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva/AND and Zeynep Sonmez/TUR
...20-year old Andorran Jimenez Kasintseva rode her successful Merida qualifying run to her third career tour-level QF (her second at the 500 level, along w/ another Mexico-based event in Guadalajara last September), ensuring her Top 100 debut on Monday.

VJK opened with a win over veteran Yulia Putintseva, then followed up with a victory in a 3:20 battle with Magda Linette. Facing her third straight thirtysomething foe, experience finally won out with Zhang Shuai's straight sets QF win.

The Andorran, the 2020 AO junior champ, made her slam MD debut last year at the U.S. Open, as well as appearing in a pair of 125 finals last season and recording her maiden 1000 MD win in Madrid.



Meanwhile, Sonmez and Merida once again proved a great match, as the Turk reached her third tour-level QF, with all of them coming at the tournament: a title run in '24 and QF last year when it was a 250 event, and this year's follow-up QF at the newly-christened 500.

Having already posted an upset of Ekaterina Alexandrova while putting together a fan-friendly 3rd Round run (as a qualifier) in the season's first major (a first in Melbourne for a woman from Turkey), Sonmez finally found her footing once again by recording her first match wins (after four straight losses) since AO26 with victories vs. Cadence Brace and Ann Li. Against Li, Sonmez staged a comeback from a set and 4-2 down to reach the QF.

Her run ended there, as she she fell to Cristina Bucsa a round short of the semis.
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DOWN: Emma Navarro/USA
...while the fortunes of so many Bannerettes have either continued to rise, or are on an upward trajectory, Navarro is starting to head in the other direction.

Already off to a slow start in 2026, with three one-and-done results in the season's opening weeks, Navarro was the defending champion in Merida, where her 2nd Round defeat at the hands of Zhang Shuai gives her four winless events out of seven so far this season (5 of 8 back to to '25), incluing at the AO, where she completed a calendar year stretch of 1r-4r-3r-1r (5-4) results in majors after posting a 4r-QF-SF-QF (16-4) run in the year that preceded it. Since her upset of Iga Swiatek last fall in the 3rd Round in Beijing, Navarro has gone 4-9.

On Monday, she'll drop out of the Top 20 for the first time May 2024 (after 91 weeks, including a 30-week stretch in the Top 10).
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ITF PLAYER: Laura Samson/CZE
...another week, another Crusher champion. This time 17-year old Samson in the Trnava (SVK) $75K challenger.

A recent junior slam star -- with a RG girls' final in '24, and '23 U.S. Open SF -- Samson improved to 7-1 in career pro finals with a 6-4/6-2 win over fellow Czech Lucie Havlickova, 20. The pair had teamed up last July to reach a tour-level doubles final on home soil in Prague.

Samson will crack the Top 200 on Monday, rocketing up 40+ spots to about #172.


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JUNIOR STAR: Nauhany Vitoria Leme Da Silva/BRA
...15-year old Brazilian Leme Da Silva, a year after falling in the tournament final, claimed the J300 crown at the South American Regional Championships in Santa Cruz (BOL), defeating Argentina's Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi in a 5-7/7-6(3)/6-0 final. The two combined for the doubles title.

Last year, she reached the 3rd Round in the Wimbledon juniors, defeating Jana Kovackova before a three-set loss to eventual champ Mia Pohankova.

Though still two weeks short of her 16th birthday, Leme Da Silva (girls' #36) has already produced some top level headlines. Aside from winning a $15K (and reaching another final) last fall, she notched a victory in her tour-level debut in Sao Paulo last September, as well as one in BJK Cup Playoff action vs. Portugal in October (a month later, she went 6-0 in Junior BJK Cup play)...


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DOUBLES: Storm Hunter/Taylor Townsend, AUS/USA
...though she fell in the singles final on Sunday afternoon, Townsend still had work to do. One of three women this season (two this week, w/ Cristina Bucsa in Merida) to reach both the singles and doubles finals at the same tour-level event in '26, Townsend joined the other two in winning the doubles crown (only Bucsa also took the singles).

Teamed with Storm Hunter, the veterans won their first title together (after splitting the two previous finals in which they'd been opponents) without dropping a set all week, from their 1st Round defeat of Peyton Stearns/Venus Williams to their win in the final over Eudice Chong/Liang En-shou, who'd teamed since last summer to win three 125 titles and two at the ITF level (+ one in '24), along with another WTA final appearance last fall in Guangzhou.

The win is Townsend's 12th WTA title, and Hunter's 10th. Hunter's win is her second since she made her tour return at last year's Austin event after missing nearly a year after rupturing her Achilles' tendon during a BJK Cup practice sesion in April '24.


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1. Austin 1st Rd. - Yuan Yue def. Rebecca Sramkova
...4-6/7-5/6-1. Last week, Sramkova saved six MP in the opening round of Dubai qualifying vs. Antonia Ruzic, eventually reaching the MD (falling in the 1st Rd.), while Ruzic became a lucky loser who played into the QF.

This time around, it was the Slovak who couldn't put away any of three MP vs. lucky loser Yuan, having led 40/love on serve at 6-4/5-4.

Yuan ultimately won nine of the last ten games in the match.
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2. Merida 2nd Rd. - Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva def. Magda Linette
...5-7/7-6(5)/7-5. The Andorran wins in 3:20 in a match-up that saw shifts in momentum through all three sets.

Linette rallied from 4-2 back to take the 1st, then erased VJK's 3-1 2nd set edge and forced a TB. Kasintseva led 5-2, and held on for a 7-5 win to force a 3rd set.

In the decider, VJK couldn't serve things out at 5-3, as the Pole got things back on serve, only to be broken to end the match on Kasintseva's third BP/MP of game 12.


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3. Austin Final - Peyton Stearns def. Taylor Townsend
...7-6(8)/7-5. Facing off in the ninth all-Bannerette WTA final of the decade (but the first with neither Pegula or Keys involved), Stearns returns to her college town glory to get her first title in nearly two years (Rabat in May '24).

She had to fight her way out of a hole to take the lead in the match, as Townsend led 4-2 and had two SP on return at 5-3. After Stearns got things to a TB and held four SP of her own, Townsend had a third SP at 8-7, but couldn't capitalize on her second chance as Stearns took the breaker 10-8.

After four consecutive mid-set breaks in the 2nd, Stearns took the last advantage with a break for 6-5, then served out her second tour title.


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4. Austin 1st Rd. - Dalma Galfi def. Bianca Andreescu
...6-3/5-7/6-4. Having gone 13-1 in lower level competition in the season's opening weeks, Andreescu makes her '26 tour-level debut with her first WTA tournament appearance since October.

The Canadian managed to force a 3rd set after trailing Galfi by a 6-3/4-2 score, but immediately fell behind 4-0 in the decider. Andreescu saved a pair of MP at 5-2, and closed to 5-4, holding two BP in game 10 to get back on serve. But the Hungarian saved them both and served out the win.

Andreescu's last MD win at tour-level was last summer in Montreal.
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5. Merida 2nd Rd. - Zeynep Sonmez def. Ann Li
...3-6/7-6(7)/6-4. Sonmez reaches her third straight QF in Merida after rallying from 6-3/4-2 down vs. Li.

In the 2nd set TB, the Turk raced to a 6-3 advantage, then had to sweat out her attempt to push things to a 3rd. Li knotted the score at 7-7 before Sonmez finally secured a 9-7 breaker win on SP #5.

In the 3rd, Sonmez took a double-break lead at 3-0, and led 5-3, but couldn't convert any of four BP/MP on Li's serve in game 9. She held her nerve and served out the win in the following game.


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6. Merida Final - Cristina Bucsa def. Magdalena Frech
...6-1/4-6/6-4. Bucsa becomes the second first-time singles champion on tour in 2026, taking the 1st vs. Frech and then not allowing the pressure to crash her dream week in the closing moments.

Up 5-2 in the 3rd, the Spaniard couldn't serve out the title at 5-3, but immediately played to her greater strength and got the break a game later to claim the crown, the first leg of what was a sweep of the tournament's titles.
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7. Merida QF - Jasmine Paolini def. Katie Boulter
...0-6/6-3/6-3. Paolini's run in Merida ended in the SF (vs. Bucsa), but after coming into the week as the Top 10 player with the fewest wins (3) in the first seven weeks of the '26 season (and the fewest of the 13 women who've ranked in the Top 10 so far this year), the Italian's SF result was a much-needed one.

She had to rally from a love 1st set loss vs. Boulter to get that far, though, her first singles semi since Ningbo last October.

At 5-5 on the season, Paolini remains the only Top 10 player heading into the Sunshine Swing without an above-.500 mark on the season, but her two wins *did* inch her above Ekaterina Alexandrova (4 wins) amongst the baker's dozen of players who've spent time in the Top 10 in '26. At 4-6, Alexandrova is only one of those players currently under-.500 this season.



Paolini has some big points defenses just around the corner that will determine how long (and whether) she can maintain her Top 10 position, including an Indian Wells 4th Round, Miami SF, Stuttgart SF, Rome title and RG Round of 16 over the next three months.
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8. Antalya 125 Final - Moyuka Uchijima def. Anhelina Kalinina
...7-5/7-5. Uchijima wins her biggest career title and climbs back into the Top 100 (a Top 50 player last year, she'd dropped to #104).

Meanwhile, ex-#25/current #202 Kalinina reaches her second 125 final since her return to action last December after a six-month absence. The Ukrainian, a 2023 Rome finalist with four Top 10 wins under the belt (from 2022-24), made her way through qualifying at AO26 in January.
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HM- $35K Arcadia (CAL) USA Final - Akasha Urhobo def. Thea Frodin
...6-2/2-6/6-2. The battle of teenage Bannerettes goes to 19-year old Urhobo over 17-year old Frodin.

Urhobo's third career title is her second this season, along with another $35K in January (when she def. Bianca Andreescu in the SF, then Madison Brengle in the final); while this was girls' #13 Frodin's maiden pro singles final. A junior semifinalist at AO26 this season, Frodin had ended Kristina Liutova's eight-match winning streak in the semis.

Frodin (for now) is best known for portraying a young Serena Williams in on-court scenes in the movie King Richard.
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1. Austin 1st Rd. - Taylor Townsend def. Linda Fruhvirtova
...4-6/7-6(3)/7-5. Townsend rallies from 6-4/3-0 back, saving a MP on serve down 5-4 before forcing and winning a TB, then claiming another extended set in the 3rd.

It wasn't just Townsend's first MD WTA win of the season, but her first since exiting last year's U.S. Open after failing to convert eight MP in a Round of 16 match vs. Barbora Krejcikova.
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2. Austin 1st Rd. - Ajla Tomljanovic def. Venus Williams
...6-4/6-1. Another wild card, another happy group of fans (and tournament organizer), and another loss for Venus. That's 0-4 in 2026, with a career-long seven-match losing streak.

The future Hall of Famer (further proof that eligibility for induction should come, say, 20/25 years after a player's WTA MD debut, even if the player is still "active"... so the inevitable isn't delayed indefinitely as a veteran player dabbles) has won eight singles matches this decade, going a combined 8-37 since 2020.

Of note, it was Tomljanovic who ended Serena Williams' career with a U.S. Open defeat back in 2022. Well, at least she ended it until further notice.


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*SINGLES/DOUBLES TITLE SWEEP IN 2020s*
2020 Ostrava!!!: Aryna Sabalenka
2021 Stuttgart: Ash Barty
2021 Parma: Coco Gauff
2021 Roland Garros: Barbora Krejcikova
2022 Adelaide 1: Ash Barty
2022 Nottingham: Beatriz Haddad Maia
2023 Prague: Nao Hibino
2023 San Diego: Barbora Krejcikova
2023 Elite Trophy: Beatriz Haddad Maia
2024 -
2025 Rome: Jasmine Paolini
2025 Rabat: Maya Joint
2025 Chennai: Janice Tjen
2026 Merida: CRISTINA BUCSA
[2026 WTA s/d final in event]
Abu Dhabi: Ekaterina Alexandrova, RUS (L/W)
Austin: TAYLOR TOWNSEND, USA (L/W)
Merida: CRISTINA BUCSA, ESP (W/W)

*2026 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
Abu Dhabi - Sara Bejlek, CZE (20/#101)
Merida - CRISTINA BUCSA, ESP (28/#63)

*RECENT ALL-USA WTA FINALS*
2020 Auckland - S.Williams d. Pegula
2022 Adelaide 2 - Keys d. Riske
2024 Strasbourg - Keys d. Collins
2024 Toronto - Pegula d. Anisimova
2025 Adelaide - Keys d. Pegula
2025 Austin - Pegula d. Kessler
2025 Charleston - Pegula d. Kenin
2025 Wuhan - Gauff d. Pegula
2026 Austin - Stearns d. Townsend

*2026 FIRST-TIME WTA FINALISTS*
Sara Bejlek, CZE (#101/20 = Abu Dhabi)-W
TAYLOR TOWNSEND, USA (#119/29 = Austin)
[doubles]
Dominika Salkova, CZE (Ostrava)
ISABELLE HAVERLAG, NED (Merida)

*2026 MULT.DIFFERENT WTA FINALISTS BY COUNTRY*
3 - USA = Pegula,STEARNS,TOWNSEND
2 - CZE = Bejlek,Muchova
2 - GBR = Boulter,Raducanu
2 - RUS = Alexandrova,M.Andreeva
2 - UKR = Kostyuk,Svitolina
--
1 - BLR,CAN,CHN,ESP(Bucsa),GER,ITA,KAZ,POL(Frech),ROU

*RECENT 3/4 USA WTA SF*
2023 San Diego = Kenin (RU); Collins (SF), Navarro (SF)
2024 Toronto = Pegula (W), Anisimova (RU); Navarro (SF)
2025 Charleston = Pegula (W), Kenin (RU); Anisimova (SF)
2025 Beijing = Anisimova (W); Gauff (SF), Pegula (SF)
2026 Dubai = Pegula (W); Anisimova (SF), Gauff (SF)
2026 Austin = Stearns (W), Townsend (RU); Krueger (SF)

*2026 FIRST-TIME WTA SEMIFINALISTS*
Hobart: Taylah Preston, AUS (20/#204)
Hobart: Antonia Ruzic, CRO (22/#71)
Abu Dhabi: Sara Bejlek, CZE (20/#101)=W
Abu Dhabi: Hailey Baptiste, USA (24/#56)
Cluj-Napoca: Oleksandra Oliynykova, UKR (25/#91)
Cluj-Napoca: Daria Snigur, UKR (23/#144)
Austin: TAYLOR TOWNSEND, USA (29/#119)

*2025-26 OLDEST WTA SF*
37 - Tatjana Maria, GER (2025 Queen's Club)-W
37 - ZHANG SHUAI, CHN (2026 Austin)
36 - Zhang Shuai, CHN (2025 Guangzhou)
35 - Sorana Cirstea (2026 Cluj-Napoca)-W
35 - Sorana Cirstea, ROU (2025 Osaka)
35 - Sorana Cirstea, ROU (2025 Cleveland)-W
35 - Sorana Cirstea, ROU (2025 Iasi)

*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)
13 - Luisa Stefani (1/1/2/3/1/4/1)
12 - Gaby Dabrowski (0/1/3/2/2/3/1)
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 - TAYLOR TOWNSEND (1/0/0/3/3/4/1)






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And this week the Wheel of Misdirection lands on Green-, no, Ven-, hmm, Cana-, no, Minne-, uh, in a late-week surprise maybe Cub-... nope, ah, it's an old-tried-and-true, Iran.




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He wouldn’t care.

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— Pavlina ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿณ️‍๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ️‍⚧️๐Ÿ๐Ÿž✊๐Ÿพ (@peacegirl63.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 12:27 PM


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It's astonishing how quickly we've descended into autocracy. Trump controls X, Truth Social, TikTok, Facebook, CBS News, Fox, all those janky right-wing stations like Newsmax. He's about to get his clutches on CNN. And now he's trying to seize control of the midterms. All in one year!

— Max Weiss (@maxthegirl.bsky.social) February 27, 2026 at 11:45 AM


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Monday, Monday…

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— Route60Plus (@route60plus.bsky.social) February 23, 2026 at 12:27 PM





All for now.
Posted by at

Sunday, February 22, 2026

Wk.7- Working Hard, Not Hardly Working








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*WEEK 7 CHAMPIONS*
DUBAI, U.A.E. (WTA 1000; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Jessie Pegula/USA def. Elina Svitolina/UKR 6-2/6-4
D: Gaby Dabrowski/Luisa Stefani (CAN/BRA) def. Laura Siegemund/Vera Zvonareva (GER/RUS) 6-1/6-3
Oeiras, Portugal (WTA 125; Hard Court Indoor)
S: Daria Snigur/UKR def. Viktorija Golubic/SUI 6-3/6-3
D: Viktoria Hruncakova/Gabriela Knutson (SVK/CZE) def. Carmen Corley/Ivana Corley (USA/USA) 7-6(7)/6-3
Les Sables-d'Olonne, France (WTA 125; Hard Court Indoor)
S: Dominika Salkova/CZE def. Andrea Lazaro Garcia/ESP 6-4/6-0
D: Carol Young Suh Lee/Anna Siskova (USA/CZE) def. Aliona Balosva/Irene Burillo (ESP/ESP) 6-2/6-3
Midland (MI), United States (WTA 125; Hard Court Indoor)
S: Alina Charaeva/RUS def. Guo Hanyu/CHN 6-4/7-6(4)
D: Sabrina Santamaria/Tang Qianhui (USA/CHN) walkover Alana Smith/Mary Stoiana (USA/USA)




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jessie Pegula/USA
...yes, yes, we *know* that the Pegula family is very wealthy, is knee-deep in sports in Buffalo (owning two pro franchises), and that Jess stands to come into a massive inheritance at some point down the line. Yeah, and...?

That's for the *next* phase of her life. Right now, she's busy making her name in her own right on the tennis tour, having worked hard to rise through the ranks and, in the her early thirties, now seemingly hitting the prime years of her career, with its *peak* maybe not yet reached if her continued upward trajectory means anything.



Having already reached at least the SF in her last six tour events, but with just one final (Wuhan, a loss to Gauff) and zero titles to show for such a consistent run in tour-level competition dating back to her final four finish at the U.S. Open (a year after she'd reached her maiden slam final in New York), Pegula finally broke that string in a positive fashion in Dubai.



Wins over Varvara Gracheva, Iva Jovic and Clara Tauson put her into her seventh straight semi, where she overcame a set and a break deficit vs. Amanda Anisimova to reach her 21st WTA final. She then handled Elina Svitolina 2 & 4 to win career crown #10, tying the career title totals of countrywomen (and slam champs) Coco Gauff and Madison Keys, and giving her four 1000 titles since 2022 (ending a three-match losing streak in 1000 title matches).

13-2 on the year, Pegula is 28-7 in tour events since the start of last year's U.S. Open. Next up? Trying to break through in the Sunshine swing. At Indian Wells, her lone QF in seven MD appearances came in 2021; while she's come up *just* short of something great in Miami, with SF-SF-QF-RU results the last four years.



Pegula's wins over Anisimova and Svitolina give her four Top 10 victories on the season, a tour-best, and she's (so far) the only player to have two multi-Top 10 win events (she got two at AO26, as well) this year.
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RISERS: Coco Gauff/USA and Amanda Anisimova/USA
...after a disappointing trip to Doha (one-and-done vs. Cocciaretto), Gauff rebounded in Dubai with her first semifinal of the season. She had to *fight* her way there, but even that wasn't quite enough in the end.

After a win over Anna Kalinskaya, Gauff saved three MP in a win over Elise Mertens. After allowing Alex Eala just two games, she engaged Elina Svitolina in a classic, pushing things to a 3rd set while saving four MP and winning a 28-point 2nd set TB. She had multiple BP chances late in the 3rd to get the chance to serve out a win, but Svitolina surged last, denying her the break and carrying herself into her biggest final since her return to tennis.



Meanwhile, a week after retiring from her opening match as the Doha defending champ, Anisimova tried to recoup her lost tournament on the other end of the desert swing in Dubai. After receiving a walkover from Barbora Krejcikova (sigh), Anisimova got past Janice Tjen and then defending champ Mirra Andreeva, the latter in a three-set battle in which the teenager held a set and a break lead, a 3-1 edge in the 3rd, and failed to serve out the win at 6-5.



No one was able to top Jessie Pegula in Dubai, but Anisimova had the best chance. She led her countrywoman 6-1/3-1, only to see her edge dissolve as she fell to 0-5 in their head-to-head series.
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SURPRISES: Antonia Ruzic/CRO and Daria Snigur/UKR
...well, did Ruzic have a week in Dubai or what?

A first-time tour semifinalist in Hobart in January, the Croatian lost in the opening round of Dubai qualifying last weekend after having held *six* MP vs. Rebecca Sramkova. But the flood of withdrawals from the tournament's field of entrants led to so many lucky losers (7) entering the draw that Ruzic, even without reaching the final Q-round, managed to slip in the back door.

She made the most of it.

Ruzic opened with an upset of Emma Raducanu, then escaped fellow LL Anastasia Zakharova in a three set affair to set up a match vs. top seed Elena Rybakina. Winning the 2nd set against the Kazakh, Ruzic advanced to her first career 1000 QF when Rybakina retired due to illness just one game into the 3rd.



She almost played even deeper into the draw, winning the opening set vs. Elina Svitolina before the Ukrainian battled back to win in three.

Ranked #67, Ruzic will jump 16 spots on Monday, well past her previous career-high of #65 to #51 thanks to this unexpected second chance run.

Ah, tennis.



Snigur was dominant in the second of back-to-back 125 events in Oeiras, never dropping more than three games in any of her ten sets over the course of the week (she lost just five in her three outings before the semis).

The title run -- with wins over Viktoria Hruncackova, Sinja Kraus, Suzan Lamens and Viktorija Golubic in the final -- continued what has been a breakout opening two months of '26 for the 23-year old Ukrainian. She'd previously reached a 125 SF in Canberra and her maiden SF at tour-level in Cluj, and her 125 crown is the biggest of her career to date.

15-3 on the season, Snigur ended last year up the upswing, as well, going 16-7 after her U.S. Open qualifying round loss. She jumps 18 spots to #115 on Monday, just off her career high of #105.


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VETERAN: Elina Svitolina/UKR
...Svitolina continues to be one of the stories of the opening months of '26. Having already picked up a title (Auckland), reached her fourth career major SF (first at the AO) and returned to the Top 10, her run in Dubai saw the Ukrainian reach her first 1000 final in eight seasons.

After a mid-match retirement from Paula Badosa, Svitolina battled past Belinda Bencic, lucky loser Antonia Ruzic (from a set down) and Coco Gauff, getting her second win this season against the Bannerette, despite dropping a 28-point 2nd set TB after she'd been unable to convert any of four MP. The win put Svitolina into her first 1000 final since Rome in 2018, and her biggest since her second of back-to-back WTAF finals in 2019 (she'd won the event in '18).



19-4 in finals in her career, including 4-0 in 1000 title matches, Svitolina wasn't able to notch her 20th career win, instead losing to Jessie Pegula in straight sets with the big trophy on the line.
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COMEBACK: Vera Zvonareva/RUS
...after sitting out eighteen months following shoulder surgery, returning this past December, it hasn't taken long for the 41-year old Original Hordette to get back into the swing of things. In her first event back, a $100K challenger in Dubai, she reached the finals in both singles and doubles.

When the calendar flipped over the 2026, Zvonareva opened her season with a 125 doubles final in Canberra, then knocked off a pair of seeds at the AO on her way to the WD semis. In Doha, she qualified and notched a 1st Round singles win, her first in a 1000 event since 2022 and at tour-level since 2023.

In Dubai, Zvonareva lost in singles qualifying, but joined with Laura Siegemund in doubles to reach her first WTA final since the 2023 WTAF (also w/ Siegemund), following a week that included wins over top seeded Errani/Paolini, Hunter/Siniakova and Cristian/Ruse on a no-sets-lost path to the title match, the duo's ninth together at tour level. The veteran pair, seeking (at 78) to become the oldest combined-age doubles champions since 2021 (80 - Peschke/Petkovic), fell in straights to Dabrowski/Stefani.

Still, Zvonareva will return to the doubles Top 50 on Monday.


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FRESH FACES: Alex Eala/PHI and Dominika Salkova/CZE
...with a Week 1 SF in Auckland under her belt in '26, as well as headlining a 125 stop in Manila and being a main attraction nearly every time she hits the court, Eala began adding to her on-court resume as the one year anniversary of her breakout SF run in Miami draws ever closer.

In Dubai, after an opening round retirement (one of many in the field) from Hailey Baptiste, the Fiipina strung together wins over Jasmine Paolini (her first Top 10 victory since Miami) and Cluj champ Sorana Cirstea to reach her second career 1000 QF (again, w/ Miami).

But Eala couldn't add to her accomplishments against Coco Gauff, recording just two games against the world #4. But she'll jump to a new career high ranking of #32 at the start of the upcoming week.


With the likes of Sara Bejlek and Karolina Muchova shining at tour-level in recent weeks, 21-year old Salkova was the Czech Crusher with the most to offer in Week 7.

In Les Sables d'Olonne (FRA), Salkova won her biggest career title in the 125 challenger, running off victories over Anna Siskova, Mona Barthel and Alina Korneeva (ending the Hordette's 8-match run) before a 6-4/6-0 win in the final over Andrea Lazaro Garcia.

A maiden WTA semifinalist late last season in Jiujiang, Salkova is now 8-0 in career pro finals (7-0 ITF).


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DOWN: Jasmine Paolini/ITA
...unless the player's name is Iga -- in whose case each loss is magnified x 10, largely because of the monster of her own making centered around the past dominance of her former #1 self -- all slow starts tend to fall under the radar at this time of the year, residing in the category unofficially labeled as "it's only January February."

Well, add Paolini's name to the "watch list" (it might be something, but it might not, too) ledger thus far for '26.

A week after being one-and-done in Doha with a loss to Maria Sakkari, the Italian was one-and-done in Dubai, as well, falling to Alex Eala. The loss drops Paolini to 3-4 on the year, after the Italian ended '25 on a four-match losing streak (including 0-3 at the WTAF).

Normally, Paolini would have her doubles to fall back on, but not lately. She and Sara Errani closed out '25 by losing in a head-on battle for a SF berth at the WTAF in the final match of round robin play, falling to V.Kudermetova/Mertens (who'd go on to the win the title) as the #1 seeds finished with a 1-2 mark in Riyadh.

The duo won Roland Garros and three 1000 titles last season and, truthfully, *should* have won the tour's Doubles Team of the Year honors over honorees Siniakova/Townsend (the Czech was rightfully the solo Doubles Player of the Year, but her success wasn't exclusively w/ Townsend).

Things haven't picked back up for Errani/Paolini yet in '26, with their 2nd Round loss to Siegemund/Zvonareva in Dubai giving the pair a 3-4 mark thus in the new year (they're 4-6 in their last 10).

At least Jasmine got to carry the Olympic torch a while back.


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ITF PLAYER: Celine Naef/SUI
...it was less than three years ago that this happened in the Swiss' WTA debut match...



So far in 2026, the now 20-year old Naef is proving to be super successful on the ITF circuit. This weekend in Macon (FRA), she became the first woman with three challenger titles (all $50K) on the season, winning her second in a row with a 6-4/6-1 victory in the final over Julie Belgraver.

Naef is 15-2 so far this year.
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JUNIOR STARS: Kristina Liutova/RUS and Chukwumelije Clarke/USA
...the 16-year olds reached the title match of the $35K challenger in Las Vegas, the maiden pro final in the career of both.

Hordette Liutova -- a back-to-back finalist in December's Florida junior two-fer at the IMG Academy Championships (J300, which she won) in Bradenton and Orange Bowl (J500) in Fort Lauderdale -- knocked off Julieta Pareja in the semis (her second '26 win over the tour-level Bogota semifinalist from last year); while Bannerette Clarke got to the same stage without dropping a set all week as a wild card entrant in just her ninth career pro event appearance. Last October, Clarke won the J300 Pan American Championships, getting wins over Annika Penickova and Janae Preston during the week.

In the final, Liutova claimed the singles honors, defeating Clarke 6-2/6-4.


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DOUBLES: Gaby Dabrowski/Luisa Stefani, CAN/BRA
...back in 2021, Dabrowski & Stefani teamed up to reach a pair of 1000 finals during the summer hard court stretch (going 1-1 in Montreal/Cincinnati), two of the five finals they reached between 2020-22. But Dabrowski decided to go a different direction for a regular partner not long after that.

The two have reconnected for 2026, reaching the semis at the AO and Doha, losing on both occasions to Danilina/Krunic. This week in Dubai, the pair avenged those loses with a SF win over Danilina/Krunic (the Doha champs) to reach their sixth final, where they won title #3 with a 6-1/6-3 defeat of Laura Siegemund & Vera Zvonareva.

Stefani, fresh off a successful '25 run with Timea Babos (4 titles and a WTAF final appearance), picks up WTA title #14; while it's #21 for Dabrowski, herself finding still more success after a great, multi-season stint alongside Erin Routlifffe (7 titles since '23, including two U.S. Opens and the Cincinnati 1000 last year). It's the Canadian's sixth 1000 crown, and she rises to a career-best #2 (past Siniakova).


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WHEELCHAIR: Angelica Bernal/COL
...in the 175 Bolton (GBR) indoor event, Bernal erased her four-match losing streak, picking up her first title since her career week on the grass in Eastbourne last summer (when she took the title with her only win in 18 meetings vs. Diede de Groot).

In Bolton, Bernal won a 6-0/6-1 final over Pastry Charlotte Fairbank, who'd been trying to claim the first title of her career above the Futures event level.

It's Bernal's second title in the tournament in the last three years.


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1. Dubai SF - Elina Svitolina def. Coco Gauff
...6-4/6-7(13)/6-4. While other tournaments would beg for semifinal matches like those that occurred in Dubai, this event's two-fer on Friday came just days after the tournament director had called for players to be docked ranking points for *not* playing the event.

In the best match of the tournament, Gauff's level of fight was high, but it was the veteran Ukrainian who pulled herself over the finish line first in the end.

After three consecutive mid-set breaks in the 2nd, Svitolina saved a pair of BP/SP at 6-5 to force a TB, where she had four MP to put away the match in straights (w/ the first at 6-5, and the last 14 points later at 13-12). Finally, on her fifth SP of the TB (seventh of the set), Gauff claimed the 28-point breaker by a 15-13 score.

The 3rd was tight, as well, and ultimately pivoted on a long game 9 (tied up at 4-4) in which Gauff held two BP chances to be able to serve for the win, only to see Svitolina deny them both and hold on her own sixth GP, then follow up by breaking Gauff a game later to get the victory, converting her sixth MP on a Gauff shot into the net to reach her first 1000 final in eight years.


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2. Dubai SF - Jessie Pegula def. Amanda Anisimova
...1-6/6-4/6-3. While it was overshadowed by the drama of the *second* semi, Pegula/Anisimova provided its own "moment" in time.

Having never beaten her countrywoman in four tries, Anisimova put herself in great position for her first win, taking a 6-1/3-1 lead, and serving up 4-3. But her edge wasn't big enough, as Pegula rallied back to prevail, claiming 11 of the last 15 games to reach just her second final in her seven-event run of consecutive SF+ results.


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3. Dubai 3rd Rd. - Coco Gauff def. Elise Mertens
...2-6/7-6(9)/6-3. While so many around her were dropping like flies (often without playing and/or finishing a match), Gauff battled to *stay* in the draw early on (as well as late), rallying from a set down and three MP in the 2nd set TB (at 6-5, 7-6 and 9-8) vs. Mertens to force a 3rd and win to reach her fourth QF in five appearances in Dubai.


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4. Dubai 1st Rd. - Clara Tauson def. Sofia Kenin
...7-6(4)/6-2. Talk about a sense of deja vu.

Just days after falling in Doha as Zheng Qinwen put up 20 aces against her, Kenin fell in her very next match against Tauson, who put up 20 of her own (in just *two* sets). Since 2019, Kenin has seen opponents have 20+ aces no less than six times.

It's the third straight time the Dane has fired off 20+ aces vs. Kenin over the last three seasons, having also done so in their last two meetings, in Tokyo in '24 (22) and Auckland last year (26).



Tauson, the runner-up in last year's event, fell a round short of returning to the semis, falling in three sets to Jessie Pegula in the QF.
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5. Dubai Final - Jessie Pegula def. Elina Svitolina
...6-2/6-4. While players are playing longer and succeeding later in their careers, this was still just the fourth tour final this decade featuring two players in their thirties (both Pegula and Svitolina are 31).

This win marks Pegula's first title of the year, a season after she was the only WTA player to claim crowns on all three surfaces in '25.



Svitolina's loss in her bid to become the first two-title champion of the new season extends 2026's season-opening run to ten tournaments without a two-time singles winner, the eighth double-digit stretch to open a new year this century. It's the longest to start a season since 2021 (ended at 12 events), but well behind the astonishing 19-winners-in-19-events open to 2019 (a run finally ended by Petra Kvitova in Stuttgart in late April).
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6. Dubai Q1 - Rebecca Sramkova def. Antonia Ruzic 5-7/7-5/6-1
Dubai 1st Rd.- Antonia Ruzic def. Emma Raducanu 6-1/5-7/6-2
Dubai 2nd Rd.- Antonia Ruzic def. Anastasia Zakharova 6-1/6-7(2)/6-1
...Ruzic failed to get out of the opening round of Dubai qualifying, despite leading Sramkova 7-5/4-1, then 5-3, and holding *six* MP on the Slovak's serve at 5-4.

But with all the withdrawals from the MD, and seven LL entering the field, Ruzic was one of two players (w/ Marcinko) who didn't even reach the final Q-round who still got a second chance. The Croatian made the most of it, too, posting three-set wins over Emma Raducanu and Anastasia Zakharova (also a LL) en route to her maiden career 1000 Round of 16.


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7. Dubai 3rd Rd. - Antonia Ruzic def. Elena Rybakina
...5-7/6-4/1-0 ret. Ruzic's remarkable run continued as Rybakina pulled up in the 3rd set due to illness, sending the LL Croatian into the first 1000 QF of her career.

Hopefully this isn't a health relapse for Rybakina, who was so hampered greatly not that long ago by illness issues until seemingly finally getting a handle on the situation last year.


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8. Dubai 2nd Rd. - Alex Eala def. Jasmine Paolini
...6-1/7-6(5). Eala picks up her third career Top 10 win, her first since notching two (over Keys and Swiatek) during her breakout Miami SF run last year. She'd been 0-2 vs. Top 10ers since, falling in the Miami semis to Jessie Pegula and Iga Swiatek last spring in Madrid.


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9. Dubai 1st Rd. - Anna Kalinskaya def. Alona Osatepnko
...2-6/6-1/6-4. Ostapenko meets up with, well, *her* personal "Ostapenko," with Alona in the role of Iga.

Kalinskaya rallied from a set down to improve to 4-0 vs. the Latvian. This was the first time Ostapenko had even gotten a set off the Hordette.


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10. Austin Q1 - Elli Mandlik def. Jennifer Brady
...6-3/4-6/6-4. Brady (two events into her comeback, she's 3-2) didn't get the win here, but this was her first appearance in a tour-level Q/MD event since retiring in the 2nd Round of Beijing in October 2023.
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11. Midland USA 125 Final - Alina Charaeva def. Guo Hanyu
...6-4/7-6(4). 23-year old Hordette Charaeva came into Michigan on an eight-match losing streak, but by the end of the weekend had turned things completely around with a title run to her biggest career win. She'd lost in her first 125 final in Huzhou last September.

Guo came up short here, but shined in multiple comebacks earlier in the week. She'd seen Elina Kalieva serve for a QF win in the 3rd set at 5-3, and hold a MP in a deciding TB, before Guo won 10-8 on her fifth MP. In the SF, Mary Stoiana had led 5-2 in the 3rd vs. Guo.
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12. $100K Bengalaru IND Final - Hanne Vandewinkel def. Vaishnavi Adkar
...6-0/6-1. The 21-year old Waffle takes her second straight ITF title, this time a $100K to back up her $75K victory in Pune last week.

Vandewinkel is up to a career-high #113 (BEL #2 behind Mertens) on Monday.


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HM- $75K Altenkirchen GER Final - Noma Noha Akugue def. Julia Avdeeva
...6-2/6-1. Promising young Germans are popping up quite often these days, and Noha Akugue was one of the very first of the new generation of her nation's potential stars to do so a few years ago.

The German took her fourth career ITF title on home soil in Altenkirchen, tying her biggest win ever and improving to 13-5 on the season (w/ two finals). NNA will jump 46 spots to #210, within sight of the Top 200 for the first time since September 2024. She ranked as high as #142 in '23.

Recall that three springs ago we saw NNA miraculously play her way into the final as a wild card in her tour-level debut in Hamburg.


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1. Dubai QF - Amanda Anisimova def. Mirra Andreeva
...2-6/7-5/7-6(4). For all the withdrawals and retirements, Dubai still had some great match-ups in the later rounds (including an all-Top 10 semifinals).

Andreeva came *this close* to a great Desert Double, but instead went out with a second consecutive opportunity left on the table. A week after failing to convert MP in Doha vs. Victoria Mboko, the Dubai defending camp lost a 6-2/2-0 lead vs. Anisimova, then a 3-1 edge in the 3rd, and failed to serve out the win at 6-5.

Anisimova used multi-match winning streaks to "steal" the 2nd and 3rd sets from the teenager. She claimed five straight to take a 5-2 lead in the 2nd, then soon after broke Andreeva at love to avoid a TB and knot the match. Four consecutive games won gave Anisimova a 5-3 edge in the 3rd, though she couldn't serve out the win nor convert a MP as Andreeva got the break to stay alive.

With Andreeva serving for the win at 6-5, Anisimova broke to force a deciding TB, where she raced to a 5-1 lead before finally putting away her third MP for a 7-4 win.


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2. Oeiras 2 125 2nd Rd. - Francisca Jorge def. Matilde Jorge
...6-0/0-0 ret. A week after Matilde's run to the singles semis in the first of back-to-back 125s in Oeiras, the two Portuguese sisters met to reach the QF in the second event.

A thigh injury ended the competitive aspect of the Jorges' 10th career meeting, as Matilde retired without winning a game to fall for the seventh time in the series.

A day later, Francisca was bothered by an abdominal injury that precipitated a MTO at 9-9 in a 2nd set TB vs. Teodora Kostovic in the QF. The Serb won the day's second 15-13 tie-break -- with the other occurring 3821 miles (6149 km) away in Dubai between Svitolina and Gauff -- as Jorge exited in two.

The sisters reached the Oeiras doubles SF last week, but handed a walkover to their opponents to avoid any conflict with Matilde's singles match. This time around they reached the SF again, but their injuries led to another walkover exit from the draw.
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3. Oeiras 2 125 Final - Viktoria Hruncakova/Gabriela Knutson def. Carmen Corley/Ivana Corley
...7-6(7)/6-3. The Corley sisters were going for back-to-back 125 wins in Oeiras, but couldn't complete their "sequel trilogy" in Portugal.

Previously, just as happened *last* week, they'd defeated Appleton/Ninomiya (in the 2nd Round, after getting the win over the pair in the final last time out) *and* received a SF walkover from the Jorge sisters to reach the final.
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Jessie Pegula truly *was* the Last Woman Standing in Dubai, as (seemingly) a quarter-season's worth of non-match withdrawals and exits took place leading up to and during the course of the event.

There were so many withdrawals before the start of play (16 from the original entry list, including Sabalenka and Swiatek, as well as Doha finalists Muchova and Mboko), that *seven* lucky losers made it into the draw, more players than there were final Q-round losers, meaning a pair of players -- Petra Marcinko and Antonia Ruzic, the latter of which made *great* use of her *second* second chance -- who fell in the opening round of qualifying reached the MD.

After that, another player retired in the 1st Round, three withdrew before their 2nd Round matches, while two more retired mid-match. Another retirement (from #1 seed Rybakina) came in the 3rd, meaning that the mounting list of players waving goodbye had to continually be updated.



We'll see how the new "Tour Architecture Council" works out. One suspects it'll, at best, be a case of nudging along a boulder, as recent tour history has shown that the players' welfare/wants *always* will be valued far less than "business," which is the only reason the 1000s, overly long and otherwise, are all over the tour schedule in the first place.

The Dubai tournament director wishing to dock players points for missing a needless second of back-to-back early-season 1000 events -- right after a major, and right before the much more important Sunshine swing -- pretty much established the mindset of those who'll push back on any changes that might benefit the players' schedules and physical upkeep.

Remember, there was a time not long ago that Doha/Dubai traded off on being a 1000 event, with no one except for maybe the two tournaments themselves (and the WTA decision-makers), for monetary reasons, wishing for any change in that longtime status quo.



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Paula would like a word...




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The song stylings of Meat Loaf and Cher, a duet you didn't know you needed, but after experiencing it have to wonder how you could ever live without...














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*2020-26 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
25 - 1/2/8/6/5/3/0 = Iga Swiatek
17 - 3/2/0/3/4/4/1 = Aryna Sabalenka
11 - 1/0/1/2/3/3/1 = Elena Rybakina
10 - 0/1/0/4/3/2/0 = Coco Gauff
9 - 0/0/1/2/2/3/1 = JESSIE PEGULA
8 - 1/5/2 = Ash Barty (ret.)
8 - 0/3/2/2/1/0/0 = Barbora Krejcikova

*MOST WTA FINALS - 2020-26*
33 - 3/3/3/6/7/9/2 = Sabalenka (17-16)
29 - 1/2/9/8/5/4/0 = Swiatek (25-4)
21 - 5/0/3/4/5/3/1 = Rybakina (11-10)
19 - 1/0/2/5/4/6/1 = PEGULA (9-10)
14 - 0/4/2/2/6/0/0 = Kasatkina (6-8)
13 - 0/1/1/4/3/4/0 = Gauff (10-3)
[2026 finals]
2 - Aryna Sabalenka (1-1)
2 - ELINA SVITOLINA (1-1)
2 - Victoria Mboko (0-2)

*2026 OLDEST WTA FINALISTS*
35 - Sorana Cirstea (Cluj-Napoca)-W
31 - JESSIE PEGULA (DUBAI)-W
31 - ELINA SVITOLINA (DUBAI)
31 - Elina Svitolina (Auckland)-W
31 - Ekaterina Alexandrova (Abu Dhabi)
30 - Tamara Korpatsch (Ostrava)
[doubles/MX; 35+]
41 - VERA ZVONAREVA (DUBAI)
40 - Hsieh Su-wei (Doha)
40 - Hsieh Su-wei (Brisbane)-W
37 - LAURA SIEGEMUND (DUBAI)
36 - Zhang Shuai (AO)-W)
36 - Zhang Shuai (Adelaide)-W)

*30 vs. 30 WTA FINALS IN 2020s*
2021 Nottingham - Konta (30) def. Zhang S. (32)
2024 Cluj-Napoca - Pliskova (31) def. Bogdan (31)
2024 Rouen - Stephens (31) def. Linette (32)
2026 Dubai - Pegula (31) def. Svitolina(31)

*CAREER WTA FINALS - active*
83 - Venus Williams
55 - Caroline Wozniacki
42 - Aryna Sabalenka (2026: 2)
41 - Victoria Azarenka
34 - Karolina Pliskova
30 - Iga Swiatek
30 - Vera Zvonareva
24 - ELINA SVITOLINA (2)
23 - Elena Rybakina (1)
21 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
21 - JESSIE PEGULA (1)
20 - Belinda Bencic

*MOST WTA SF in 2026*
3 - ELINA SVITOLINA (2-1)
3 - JESSIE PEGULA (1-2)
2 - Victoria Mboko (2-0)
2 - Aryna Sabalenka (2-0
2 - Iva Jovic (1-1)
2 - Karolina Muchova (1-1)

*2026 TOP 10 WINS*
4 - Pegula
3 - Kostyuk, Mboko, Pegula, Rybakina, Svitolina
2 - Bencic, Muchova, Sakkari
=MOST WINS 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 - Jessie Pegula (Dubai)
2 - Maria Sakkari (Doha)
2 - Elina Svitolina (Australian Open)
=MOST EVENTS w/ MULT. TOP 10 WINS=
2 - Jessie Pegula (AO/Dubai)

*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)
13 - LUISA STEFANI (1/1/2/3/1/4/1)
12 - GABY DABROWSKI (0/1/3/2/2/3/1)
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)

*UNITED STATES - WTA TITLES (active)*
49 - Venus Williams (1998-16)
10 - Coco Gauff (2019-25)
10 - Madison Keys (2014-25)
10 - JESSIE PEGULA (2019-26)
8 - Sloane Stephens (2015-24)
5 - Sofia Kenin (2019-20)
4 - Amanda Anisimova (2019-25)
4 - Danielle Collins (2021-24)

*CAREER WTA DOUBLES TITLES - active*
36 - Sara Errani, ITA
36 - Hsieh Su-Wei, TPE
33 - Katerina Siniakova, CZE
30 - Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
30 - Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
29 - Timea Babos, HUN
24 - Elise Mertens, BEL
22 - Venus Williams, USA
21 - Chan Hao-ching, TPE
21 - GABY DABROWSKI, CAN
21 - Demi Schuurs, NED





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Wow.

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— Nash Is Here For It (@nashishereforit.bsky.social) February 16, 2026 at 10:59 PM

The legacy media keeps getting this wrong. Trump didn't say "nationalize the election." He said We should take over the VOTING in at least many—15 places.' The Republicans ought to nationalize the VOTING." There is a big difference.

— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) February 16, 2026 at 9:06 AM

Take over the voting in at least many -15 places @anntelnaes.bsky.social

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— paulpro (@mariopro.bsky.social) February 16, 2026 at 9:13 AM


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We are the laughing stock of the world.

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— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) February 17, 2026 at 12:20 AM

85 years ago, Americans were making a mockery of Nazis. How times change.

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— brahmavihara.bsky.social (@brahmavihara.bsky.social) February 17, 2026 at 1:14 AM


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I wish everyone would stop comparing them to Nazis @anntelnaes.bsky.social

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— paulpro (@mariopro.bsky.social) February 19, 2026 at 3:17 PM


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This is who we've become, America. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

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— Ann Telnaes (@anntelnaes.bsky.social) February 21, 2026 at 11:37 AM


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So glad that Shiffrin was finally able to put this particular part of her career story to bed and quiet the gremlins. (A little nod from Jana Novotna from the great beyond.)



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Alysa Liu's Gold medal-winning free skate in Milan was a master class in an athlete actually displaying the (stress-free) freedom of performance on a big stage that so many *talk* about discovering but very rarely, if ever, actually experience.

There wasn't even an ounce of stress to be felt for her *while watching*... which is a remarkable thing considering the circumstances, and something I don't know if I've *ever* seen before in any sport (possible exception: Usain Bolt running the 100m in the Summer Olympics).





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Libraries are among the few public institutions that represent the kind of world we want to live in. They must be fought for.

— Puff the Magic Hater (@mskellymhayes.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 10:22 AM


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All for now.
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