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Wednesday, August 30, 2017

US.3 - The 500 Hats of Svetlana Kuznetsova

Sveta will be Sveta, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

"You are you. Now, isn’t that pleasant?"
"Dr. Seuss"
Theodor Geisel (1904-91)
...children's book author, political cartoonist, poet, animator, book publisher, and artist



On a tiring day featuring a severely overstuffed schedule, why not start off with Svetlana Kuznetsova? After all, in many ways, she *is* something of the Rosetta Stone for what is the crazy women's tennis tour, isn't she?

On the Grandstand court on Wednesday, the veteran Hordette, the #9 seed at this Open some thirteen years after she won it as a 19-year old in 2004, faced off with rising 18-year old Czech Marketa Vondrousova, the world #67 who was a title winner in Biel at age 17 earlier this year (and a singles participant in the Czech Republic's Fed Cup semifinal tie vs. the U.S. -- something to take note of later in this post in the Like/Dislike section... prepare to roll your eyes).

After the two exchanged breaks in the middle of the 1st set, it was the U.S. Open debuting Vondrousova who served at 5-3 vs. the former champ, only to fall behind love/40 and drop serve. But, remember, we're talking Sveta here... so, of course, the Russian then proceeded to drop serve a game later as the teenager took the set at 6-4, forcing Kuznetsova to have to go to three is she was going to avoid her third 1st Round exit at Flushing Meadows in four years.

So, naturally, that's just what she did.

After taking the 2nd at 6-4, Kuznetsova took an early break lead in the 3rd. But, serving at 4-3, she was broken and soon found herself staring at a 4-5 deficit. Serving to stay in the tournament, the Hordette fell behind 15/40. But she saved three match points, holding for 5-5. Coming back from 15/30 down, Vondrousova held, then Kuznetsova did the same to take things to a deciding tie-break. With Vondrousova cramping up, Sveta held the momentum throughout the breaker, winning it 7-2 to end the 2:31 match, winning 4-6/6-4/7-6(2)



Kuznetsova won despite hitting seven DF, and committing 56 unforced errors (to just 28 winners) in the match (vs. Vondrousova's ten DF and 22/50 W/UE stats). The Russian held a 113-112 edge in totals points when it was all over.

It doesn't much more oh-so-Sveta than that, does it? (Well, not unless Vondrousova had led 113-112, I guess.)

So, of course, having survived today, Sveta will now surely go on to great things at this U.S. Open. Or not. She could win slam title #3, or win just three games in the 2nd Round.

Your guess is as good as mine.



=DAY 3 NOTES=
...on one of the most heavily-scheduled days in recent slam memory, the USTA attempted on Wednesday to make up for a Day 2 slate that was almost totally lost due to rain, with a mixture of partial and complete 1st and 2nd Round matches (41 women's, 46 men's) on the docket, with the schedule set go five matches deep on most courts (and six on a couple) at the start of the day.

First up was the completion of a handful of the 11 a.m. matches that were interrupted by the weather, with potentially the biggest match-up there being what turned out to be a back-and-forth match-up between players who've won a combined seven tour-level singles titles (7-0 in finals) this season, #4-seeded Elina Svitolina (5) and Katerina Siniakova (2).

Svitolina had opened with a love set win on Tuesday, and the two were set to begin a 2nd set TB today. The Czech won that 7-5, and was up an early break in the deciding 3rd. But the Toronto champ from Ukraine got it back and soon found herself up a break at 4-2. She closed out a 6-0/6-7(5)/6-3 win (her twelfth straight in a slam 1st Rd.), leaving Siniakova with a she-knows-what-she-needs-to-improve-upon-in-2018 record of 0-4 in majors this season.



One of the more interesting match-ups of the day was between an oft-injured qualifier (Kaia Kanepi) who recently contemplated retirement and a former slam champ (Francesa Schiavone) who announced her end-of-season retirement earlier this season before appearing to hedge after finding some success (two clay finals, w/ one title) in the spring. The 37-year old Italian won the 1st set at love yesterday, but began today down 4-2. It took Kanepi two attempts to serve out the set, but once she did she took control of the match in a 0-6/6-4/6-2 win. It's Kanepi's first slam win in two years, but this very well could be Schiavone's final slam match. In a career that has included sixty-eight MD appearances at majors, she made her slam debut seventeen years ago in New York, ultimately reaching the 3rd Round before losing to Jelena Dokic.



Meanwhile, Bannerette (and ex-UCLA Bruin) Jennifer Brady, who put up a surprise qualifying-to-Round of 16 result at this year's Australian Open (def. Watson and Vesnina), kicked off the second hard court major with another victory. Up a set and 3-4 over Andrea Petkovic to start the day, she saw the German take the 2nd set to knot the match. But the 22-year old went up a break early in the 3rd and coasted to a 6-4/3-6/6-1 win in her U.S. Open MD debut (after falling in qualifying the last three years). Brady has made her MD debut at all four majors in 2017, getting at least one win in three, failing to do so only at Roland Garros.

Of course, on such a busy day, leave it to the USTA to somehow see fit to place Ge-... err, TPFKAGB in the first match up on Ashe Stadium court. Yeah, that TPFKAGB. Ranked #76 in the world, vs. Evgeniya Rodina, ranked #89. You could rack your brain for hours trying to determine a legitimate reason for this match to be given such a prime court placement, but none of the answers you might come up with would make you feel good, or the USTA or the tennis establishment look anything other than bad in the process. (Well, I mean, unless somehow the clock was turned back via some time machine manipulation to 2014. Let me check... no, it's still common to be embarrassed by the things that emanate from Pennsylvania Avenue, so it's most definitely 2017.)




I guess the only good thing about this development was that it allowed more people to see TPFKAGB tossed out of the tournament in oft-ugly fashion. And we're all a little bit better for that, I'd say.


Rodina won a tight 1st set, taking a 7-2 TB, then ran away with the 2nd for a 7-6(2)/6-1 win as TPFKAGB committed 46 unforced errors in the match's twenty games.




Meanwhile, on Court 11, #14-seed Kristina Mladenovic and Monica Niculescu arrived to finish out a match interrupted by rain yesterday, with the Romanian leading 6-3/1-1. One would think that maybe a night to think about things might lead to the Pastry getting an early advantage and turning things in her favor right off the bat. But, no. Instead, Niculescu won five of six games to win 6-3/6-2, handing Mladenovic her fifth straight loss (all in straights sets) this summer.




Niculescu came to this slam sporting an 8-16 record on the year, having suffered through a seven-match losing streak in the spring. Not surprisingly, this is her first Top 25 win of the year. Mladenovic, though, whether her slide began because of a lingering injury or otherwise, is fully in something of a second half free fall now. After a great start to her season (w/ four finals and a title), she managed that QF result in Paris, but she's gone 7-11 since, and now has posted 1st, 2nd and 1st Round losses at the other three slams.

"Step with care and great tact, and remember that life’s a great balancing act."
"Dr. Seuss"

Hmmm. So Caroline Garcia is trending upward while Kiki heads in the other direction. Pauline Parmentier was ousted by Oceane Dodin in the 1st Round. Then, today, a-little-too-unjudiously-mouthy-(to be kind)-for-their-own-good Mladenovic and TPFKAGB were taken out. Hmmm, if a certain Russian was also able to advance then Day 3 might be seen as evidence that, maybe...


Well...




Though it took her a while, Maria Sharapova followed up her 1st Round upset of #2 Simona Halep with another dramatic three-set victory in the late afternoon on Ashe, staging a comeback to take out big-hitting Timea Babos in the first meeting between the two. While the Hungarian only recently ended a nine-match losing streak, Sharapova hadn't played two matches in a tournament since Rome in mid-March, and hadn't won two since her debut comeback event in Stuttgart in April.

With evidence of her summer injury issues in plain sight, as she at various times sported sleeves over both arms and Kinesio tape on her forearm, Sharapova had to fight way through a match in which she often didn't display the same high-level form she did on Night 1. She dropped serve to open the match, but got things back on serve mid-set. Babos took a break lead again at 3-2, and served for the set at 5-3 and 6-5, only to fail to do so on both attempts. In Sharapova's first TB since her return, she just missed a line on the first point and never fully recovered from the immediate deficit. Babos led 3-1, then 4-1 after a DF from the Russian. Sharapova held two serves to close to 5-4, but then netted a forehand shot down the line to give Babos a set point. She then flew a forehand to end the TB with a 7-4 score.

It was Sharapova who opened with a break in game #1 of set two, but double-faulted in game #4 to give it back. Two games later, the Russian saved a BP and held in a 16-point game to even the set at 3-3. She broke Babos a game later. A love hold at 5-4 claimed the set and sent things to a 3rd, where Sharapova again opened by breaking the Babos serve. Down the stretch, Sharapova's game continued to improve, with her groundstrokes and serve (she ultimately hit twelve aces, and had 39 winners to 36 UE's) becoming more and more effective weapons. Up 3-1, she pulled away, reaching MP on Babos' serve two games later. The Hungarian's wide backhand attempt up the line ended the 6-7(4)/6-4/6-1 match.

And so we continue...



...CiCi Bellis has had few truly disappointing results in her young career, but today's surely qualifies. Three years after getting a 1st Round win at Flushing Meadows as a 15-year old, and a year after reaching the Open 3rd Round, world #36 Bellis' nice summer run (Mallorca and Stanford SF and straights sets wins over Kuznetsova and Kvitova on hard courts) ended today in a match that she seemingly had wrapped up.

Bellis lost the 1st set to Japan's Nao Hibino, but rebounded to take the 2nd and hold a bread lead at 3-1 in the 3rd. She served for the match at 5-4, but couldn't put it away. With her forehand suddenly abandoning her, Bellis didn't win another game. Serving to stay in the match at 5-6, she fell behind love/40. Hibino, who'd been 0-7 in her slam MD career, won the match via a Bellis error on her second MP, winning 6-3/4-6/7-5.

...elsewhere, Czech Denisa Allertova nearly blew a 6-2/4-0 lead over Sweden's Rebecca Peterson, finding herself down 5-6 before managing to get the set to a TB, which she won 7-5. #20 CoCo Vandeweghe had her hands full with fellow Bannerette Alison Riske, dropping the 1st set 6-2 and, after taking the 2nd, finding herself down 3-1 (with a point for 4-1) in the 3rd before collecting herself and taking things to the finish line, breaking Riske twice in the closing stages and then serving out the match to win 2-6/6-3/6-4. And Lucie Safarova knocked off #26 Anett Kontaveit in three sets.

Wild card Sonya Kenin, 18, advanced to her first career slam 3rd Round, defeating Bannerette qualifier Sachia Vickey in three sets, taking a 7-0 TB in the 3rd to close things out. Kenin will now play fellow WC Sharapova for a spot in the Round of 16.

Yulia Putintseva carved out a few extra minutes to study those flat earth videos to see what they're all about after her win over qualifier Sofya Zhuk today. The Kazakh served for the 1st at 5-3, but was broken. Uh, oh. But, have no fear, she won a 7-3 TB. Whew! After serving at 5-2 in the 2nd, but being broken again -- uh, oh -- Putintseva once more avoided any further headaches -- whew! -- by breaking the teenager to win the match 7-6(3)/6-3.

#19-seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won the 1st set over Christina McHale, but then proceeded to do what she does. McHale won 3-6/6-3/6-2. The Russian has won two singles titles this season and climbed back into the Top 20 after several seasons mired in the low #20's with the usual up-and-down swings of her results. But since completing a Career QF Slam in Australia, winning four matches in Melbourne, she's gone on to win one match at the final three slams of 2017. Classic Pavlyuchenkova.



In The Land of the Dashas, #25 Gavrilova, fresh off her New Haven title run, finally picked up her first U.S. Open MD victory seven years after she was crowned the junior champion at the event. Nearly a decade (and a nation change, as she represented Russia at the time) later, the Aussie ended qualifier Allie Kiick's heartwarming Flushing Meadows storyline with a 6-2/6-1 victory.

So, the Eternal Sunshine of the Gavrilovian Mind will persist for (at least) a few more days in New York.

"In my world, everyone’s a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!"
"Dr. Seuss"

Later, the Kasatkina side of the Nation of Dasha had to work a bit more against Wang Qiang. The Hordette battled back from an early 3-1 deficit in the 1st set to get to a TB, then lost it 9-7. But she assumed control the rest of the way, winning 6-7(7)/6-2/6-3 to make it two Dashas in the Final 64.

And as the day schedule stretched into the evening, and the night continued to be FILLED will too many matches to count, #9 Venus Williams appeared on the Ashe Court under the lights against Pasty Oceane Dodin. After Venus failed to put away the 1st set as quickly as she might have, and Dodin didn't show any nerves on such a big occasion, Williams was made to work a bit. After leading 5-3, she was forced to go to 7-5 to win the 1st set. Trying to serve out the match at 5-3, Williams was denied a quick finish once again, as Dodin went up love/40 and Venus double-faulted to put things back on serve. But Dodin couldn't hold serve to stay in the match, as Venus got the break to win 7-5/6-4. It's her 30th night match win on Ashe, behind only her sister Serena and some guy named Roger.

Even later in the night, The Bracelet won, too! She returned to the 3rd Round in New York for the first time since her '14 Round of 16 run, defeating Ajla Tomljanovic in straight sets, 6-3/6-2. She'll face #30 Julia Goerges in the next round.



Then, even LATER in the evening, Sloane Stephens *finally* took out #11 Dominika Cibulkova in three sets, 6-2/5-7/6-3 after failing to do so in two despite leading 6-2/4-2. The oddity of this match? Well, how about game #2 of the 1st set, which lasted EIGHTEEN minutes and ended with Stephens breaking the Slovak on her twelfth BP of the game? Yeah, that'll do.

You don't like that? Well, how about Stephens winning that 9-game final set, which featured seven breaks of serve? Yeah, I guess that wouldn't count as an "oddity" on the WTA tour, would it? Oh, well. Still.

...there are STILL some other matches to be played as Day 3 heads into the late evening hours, including outings from Caro (vs. Makarova, so...) and Mugu. But this recap has to end somewhere. If necessary, I suspect it'll get a mention tomorrow, if the Tennis Gods see fit to show a little mercy on Day 4.


LIKE ON DAY 3: Si-mo-na



HAIR ON DAY 3:



LIKE ON DAY 3: When your career photo album looks like a high school yearbook...



DISLIKE ON DAY 3: How they never learn.

Heard when ESPN switched over to the end of Kuznetsova/Vondrousova...

CHRIS EVERT: (on the Czech) "I'd never heard of her before."

Sigh. We already think very little of the ESPN Crew of Deplorables, but then they let the truth slip out and make themselves look even worse.

"I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them Sam I Am."

LIKE ON DAY 3: Latvian Thunder walks on the median because she feels like it...



LIKE ON DAY 3: When Mugu's got her eye on you...

A post shared by US Open (@usopen) on



LIKE ON DAY 3: Vania update...




...and, finally... I suspect I could probably hand out the Nation of Poor Souls award right now, as well as maybe a few others, but this post has gone on way too long, and there are STILL matches being played. And some haven't even started yet! Muguruza was scheduled "not before 6pm" and it's after 10pm and is only starting as I post this, while Wozniacki/Makarova was "not before 4pm" and hasn't yet played half a set. Sheesh.

Anyway, needless to say, the rest can keep until tomorrow.
















**U.S. OPEN MIXED DOUBLES CHAMPIONS**
1998 Serena Williams/Max Mirnyi, USA/BLR
1999 Ai Sugiyama/Mahesh Bhupathi, JPN/IND
2000 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario/Jared Palmer, ESP/USA
2001 Rennae Stubbs/Todd Woodbridge, AUS/AUS
2002 Lisa Raymond/Mike Bryan, USA/USA
2003 Katarina Srebotnik/Bob Bryan, SLO/USA
2004 Vera Zvonareva/Bob Bryan, RUS/USA
2005 Daniela Hantuchova/Mahesh Bhupathi, SVK/IND
2006 Martina Navratilova/Bob Bryan, USA/USA
2007 Victoria Azarenka/Max Mirnyi, BLR/BLR
2008 Cara Black/Leander Paes, ZIM/IND
2009 Carly Gullickson/Travis Parrott, USA/USA
2010 Liezel Huber/Bob Bryan, USA/USA
2011 Melanie Oudin/Jack Sock, USA/USA
2012 Ekaterina Makarova/Bruno Soares, RUS/BRA
2013 Andrea Hlavackova/Max Mirnyi, CZE/BLR
2014 Sania Mirza/Bruno Soares, IND/BRA
2015 Martina Hingis/Leander Paes, SUI/IND
2016 Laura Siegemund/Mate Pavic, GER/CRO
2017 TBD
[2017]
AO: Abigail Spears & Juan Sebastian Cabal, USA/COL
RG: Gaby Dabrowski & Rohan Bopanna, CAN/IND
WI: Martina Hingis & Jamie Murray, SUI/GBR
US: TBD

*BACKSPIN 2017 "SURPRISE" WINNERS*
JAN: Jennifer Brady, USA
AO: Jennifer Brady, USA
FEB/MAR: BLR Fed Cup Team
I.W./MIAMI: Pauline Parmentier, FRA
1Q: BLR Fed Cup Team
APR/MAY: Dalila Jakupovic, SLO
MAY: Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
RG: Veronica Cepede Royg, PAR
2Q Clay Court: Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
JUN: Kristie Ahn, USA
WI: Arina Rodionova, AUS
2Q Grass Court: Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
JUL/AUG: Arina Rodionova, AUS
AUG: Arina Rodionova, AUS
[2017 Weekly SURPRISE Award Wins]
3...Veronica Cepede Royg, PAR
3...Arina Rodionova, AUS
2...Jennifer Brady, USA
2...Madison Brengle, USA
2...Magda Linette, POL
2...Risa Ozaki, JPN
2...Dejana Radanovic, SRB
2...Wang Qiang, CHN



TOP QUALIFIER: Kaia Kanepi/EST
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: Jamie Loeb/USA def. (PR) Vera Zvonareva/RUS 7-6(4)/5-7/6-4 (3:16; delay after fan faints as Loeb to serve out at 5-4 in 3rd)
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP ASHE NIGHT SESSION MATCH: Nominee: 1st Rd. - (WC) Sharapova def. #2 Halep (Night 1)
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Kristyna Pliskova/CZE (1st Rd. - def. Eguchi/JPN)
FIRST SEED OUT: #32 Lauren Davis/USA (1st Rd. - lost to Kenin/USA
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
CRASH & BURN: #6 Angelique Kerber/GER (lost to Osaka/JPN; second U.S. DC to lose 1st Rd.loss, w/ '05 Kuznetsova; out of Top 10)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Nominee: Kuznetsova (saved 3 MP vs. Vondrousova in 1st Rd.)
IT ("?"): xx
Ms.OPPORTUNITY: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: In 2nd Rd.: Gibbs/USA, Kanepi/EST, Kozlova/UKR, Vickery/USA(L); In 3rd Rd.: xx
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: In 3rd Rd.: Kenin/USA, Sharapova/RUS
LAST BANNERETTE STANDING: Alive in 2nd Rd.: Brady, Gibbs, McHale, Rogers, Vandeweghe; In 3rd Rd.: Kenin, Stephens, V.Williams
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominee: Sharapova/RUS, Kanepi/EST
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): xx
DOUBLES STAR: xx
BROADWAY-BOUND: Nominees: Sharapova/RUS & Halep/ROU
LADY OF THE EVENING: Nominee: Sharapova/RUS
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx


*SEUSS-THEMED TITLES*
Preview: "Halep Hears a Who" (Horton Hears a Who!, 1954)
1: "Mugu on the Loose" (Dr.Seuss on the Loose, 1973 [CBS TV])
1.5: "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back" (The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, 1958)
2: "Thing One and Thing Two" (The Cat in the Hat, 1957)
3: "The 500 Hats of Svetlana Kuznetsova" (The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, 1938)




All for Day 3. More tomorrow.
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