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Friday, June 8, 2018

RG.13- The Day Before the Day




To be continued...




=DAY 13 NOTES=
...we've seen in 2018's Fed Cup competition the depth of Japan's tennis roster, and Day 13 gave us another hint of it.



Eri Hozumi & Makoto Ninomiya's semifinal win over Angel Chan & Yang Zhaoxuan gives them the chance to become the first all-Japanese duo to win a women's doubles slam. They're already the first to reach a final, and would join Kazuko Sawamatsu (1975 Wimbledon) and Ai Sugiyama (2000 U.S/2003 Wimbledon) as Japan's latest WD champions at a major. The win, though, prevents Angel from joining sister Latisha, the RG MX champion, to leave Paris with a title.

Hozumi/Ninomiya will next face Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova, who won the battle of two all-Czech duos today over Andrea Sestini-Hlavackova & Barbora Strycova. The younger Maidens have triumphed in Paris before, winning the girls doubles crown back in 2013.



Siniakova has reached the WD final at two of the last three slams, joining with Hlavackova to reach the championship match at last year's U.S. Open, where the pair lost to Latisha Chan & Martina Hingis.

...the Japanese depth also shined in the junior doubles, as #3-seeded Yuki Naito & Naho Sato reached the girls final with a 10-8 3rd set TB win over #1-seeded Eleonora Molinaro & Clara Tauson. The Japanese girls will be trying to become the first from their nation to claim a junior girls doubles crown. They'll face Caty McNally & Iga Swiatek in the final.

Doubles partners McNally and Swiatek faced off in the singles semis today, as well. McNally, a 16-year old from Cincinnati, has been battling her way through the girls draw, taking out #1 seed/AO champ Liang En-shuo in three sets in the 3rd Round, winning a 7-5 deciding set, and #14 Lulu Sun in the 2nd, coming back from a set down to win a 3rd set TB. Today McNally saved MP against Swiatek en route to a 3-6/7-6(6)/6-4 victory.




Joining the unseeded McNally in the final will be the #16-seeded Coco Gauff, yet another Bannerette. Gauff, 14, reached the U.S. Open girls final as a 13-year old wild card last summer, losing to Amanda Anisimova. She handled Canada's #15-seeded Leylah Annie Fernandez 6-4/6-3 today. The wins from Gauff and McNally make a reality a second straight all-Bannerette RG girls final, something that has now amazingly occurred in four of the last five majors after there were NO such finals from the 1993 Australian Open until the 2016 AO. Six different U.S. girls have filled the eight final slots over the past year, with Gauff and Claire Liu both reaching two.



...#1 Yui Kamiji (JPN) and #2 Diede de Groot will face off in a third straight slam singles final in Paris this weekend. Defending RG champ Kamiji defeated Aniek van Koot on Friday, while de Groot took out Sabine Ellerbrock. They'll also meet in the doubles final, as Kamiji & Marjolein Buis will try to defend their '17 crown against de Groot and van Koot.

A singles win from Kamiji, 24, would give her six career slam titles, further distancing her from everyone not named Esther Vergeer in WC history. Third on the all-time list behind Vergeer's twenty-five wins Kamiji's five is the now retired Jiske Griffioen with four. But 21-year old de Groot is looking to plant her flag in the "greatest since Vergeer" discussion. A win here would give her three of the four slam singles crowns in her young career. de Groot's two finals mean she's appeared in eight straight singles/doubles slam WC finals starting with last year's Wimbledon, winning three of the previous six (WI/AO singles, US doubles) finals.

If Kamiji can win the Wimbledon singles title next month she'd become the first to win all *eight* slam titles. [Of course, one should note that the Wimbledon singles competition didn't start until 2016, so Vergeer never had the chance to do it.]

[Kamiji slam singles finals]
2014 AO - #1 Sabine Ellerbrock/GER def. #2 Yui Kamiji/JPN
2014 RG - #1 Yui Kamiji/JPN def. Aniek Van Koot/NED
2014 US - #1 Yui Kamiji/JPN def. #2 Aniek Van Koot/NED
2015 AO - Jiske Griffioen/NED def. #1 Yui Kamiji/JPN
2015 US - Jordanne Whiley/GBR def. Yui Kamiji/JPN
2017 AO - #2 Yui Kamiji/JPN def. #1 Jiske Griffioen/NED
2017 RG - #2 Yui Kamiji/JPN def. Sabine Ellerbrock/GER
2017 US - #1 Yui Kamiji/JPN def. #2 Diede de Groot/NED
2018 AO - #2 Diede de Groot/NED def. #1 Yui Kamiji/JPN
2018 RG - #1 Yui Kamiji vs. #2 Diede de Groot
[de Groot slam singles finals]
2017 WI - Diede de Groot/NED def. Sabine Ellerbrock/GER
2017 US - #1 Yui Kamiji/JPN def. #2 Diede de Groot/NED
2018 AO - #2 Diede de Groot/NED def. #1 Yui Kamiji/JPN
2018 RG - #1 Yui Kamiji vs. #2 Diede de Groot

...in the WTA 125 Series event in Bol, Poland's Magda Linette reached the singles final via a semifinal walkover from Sara Errani. She'll face the winner of the other SF between Croat Tena Lukas and Slovenia's Tamara Zidansek.


...LIKE ON DAY 13: Petra is ready for Wimbledon



...NOTE ON DAY 13: Today was no "Barbie Day" in these parts, but still...



...UPDATE ON DAY 13:



...LIKE ON DAY 13: Making it official...




...and, finally... if the Caps can do it in spite of their long history of frustration, so can Simona.




*WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Simona Halep/ROU vs. #10 Sloane Stephens/USA

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
Hozumi/Ninomiya (JPN/JPN) vs. #6 Krejcikova/Siniakova (CZE/CZE)

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
#2 L.Chan/Dodig (TPE/CRO) def. #1 Dabrowski/Pavic (CAN/CRO) 6-1/6-7(5) [10-8]

*GIRLS SINGLES FINAL*
Caty McNally/USA vs. #16 Coco Gauff/USA

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
#3 Natio/Sato (JPN/JPN) vs. McNally/Swiatek (USA/POL)

*WC SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Yui Kamiji/JPN vs. #2 Diede de Groot/NED

*WC DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Kamiji/Buis (JPN/NED) vs. #2 de Groot/van Koot (NED/NED





#walktall @dc10s ????

A post shared by Simona Halep (@simonahalep) on










Look back to Paris...?? @robsteckley #videomaster #teamsafi

A post shared by Lucie Safarova (@lucie.safarova) on





Fun way to see London! ??

A post shared by Daria Gavrilova (@daria_gav) on
















*RG "KIMIKO CUP FOR VETERAN ACHIEVEMENT" WINNERS*
2015 Lucie Safarova, CZE
2016 Martina Hingis/SUI and Samantha Stosur/AUS
2017 Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Lucie Safarova, USA/CZE
2018 Latisha Chan, TPE

*RG WOMEN'S FINALS - since 2008*
2008 Ana Ivanovic/SRB d. Dinara Safina/RUS 6-4,6-3
2009 Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS d. Dinara Safina/RUS 6-4,6-2
2010 Francesca Schiavone/ITA d. Samantha Stosur/AUS 6-4,7-6
2011 Li Na/CHN d. Francesca Schiavone/ITA 6-4,7-6
2012 Maria Sharapova/RUS d. Sara Errani/ITA 6-3,6-2
2013 Serena Williams/USA d. Maria Sharapova/RUS 6-4,6-4
2014 Maria Sharapova/RUS d. Simona Halep/ROU 6-4,6-7,6-4
2015 Serena Williams/USA d. Lucie Safarova/CZE 6-3,6-7,6-2
2016 Garbine Muguruza/ESP d. Serena Williams/USA 7-5,6-4
2017 Alona Ostapenko/LAT d. Simona Halep/ROU 4-6,6-4,6-3
2018 Simona Halep/ROU vs. Slaone Stephens/USA

*ROLAND GARROS GIRLS FINALS - since 2008*
2008 Simona Halep/ROU d. Elena Bogdan/ROU
2009 Kristina Mladenovic/FRA d. Dasha Gavrilova/RUS
2010 Elina Svitolina/UKR d. Ons Jabeur/TUN
2011 Ons Jabeur/TUN d. Monica Puig/PUR
2012 Annika Beck/GER d. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova/SVK
2013 Belinda Bencic/SUI d. Antonia Lottner/GER
2014 Dasha Kasatkina/RUS d. Ivana Jorovic/SRB
2015 Paula Badosa/ESP d. Anna Kalinskaya/RUS
2016 Rebeka Masarova/SUI d. Amanda Anisimova/USA
2017 Whitney Osuigwe/USA d. Claire Liu/USA
2018 Coco Gauff/USA vs. Caty McNally/USA

*ALL-U.S. JUNIOR GIRLS SLAM FINALS*
[Australian Open]
1989 Kim Kessaris def. Andrea Farley
[Roland Garros]
1980 Kathy Horvath def. Kelly Henry
2017 Whitney Osuigwe def. Claire Liu
2018 Coco Gauff vs. Caty McNally
[Wimbledon]
1977 Lea Antonpolis def. Mareen "Peanut" Louie
1979 Mary-Lou Piatek def. Alycia Moultron
2017 Claire Liu def. Ann Li
[U.S. Open]
1979 Alycia Moulton def. Mary-Lou Piatek
1980 Susan Mascarin def. Kathrin Keil
1981 Zina Garrison def. Kate Gompert
1982 Beth Herr def. Gretchen Rush
1986 Elly Hakami def. Shaun Stafford
1992 Lindsay Davenport def. Julie Steven
2017 Amanda Anisimova def. Coco Gauff




TOP QUALIFIER: Francesca Schiavone/ITA
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #4 Elina Svitolina/UKR (def. Tomljanovic/Kuzmova in straights)
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #3 Garbine Muguruza/ESP
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: Alexandra Dulgheru/ROU def. Tamara Korpatsch/GER 6-1/5-7/7-6(7) (from MP down and 5-2 in the 3rd for final qualifying berth)
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd.: Irina-Camelia Begu/ROU def. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova/SVK 6-4/5-7/9-7 (Begu served for match at 5-3 3rd; AKS saved triple MP at 8-7; Begu converts MP #4 for 3:19 win, denying AKS first slam MD victory since 2015)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 3rd Round: #10 Sloane Stephens/USA def. Camila Giorgi 4-6/6-1/8-6 (Giorgi served for the match twice at 5-4 and 6-5 in 3rd)
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Ekaterina Makarova/RUS (def. Zheng Saisai/CHN)
FIRST SEED OUT: #9 Venus Williams/USA (1st Rd/lost to Wang Qiang/CHN)
UPSET QUEENS: Ukraine
REVELATION LADIES: Romania
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Latvia (0-2; first slam both DC/#5 Ostapenko and #20 Sevastova out 1st Round after ten consecutive; only second time happened since both first in same slam draw at '16 AO; also combined 0-3 in WD/MX, as well)
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Dolehide/USA, Dulgheru/ROU, Duque-Marino/COL, Frech/POL, Garcia-Perez/ESP, Peterson/SWE (all 2nd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Pauline Parmentier/FRA (3rd Rd.)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: Caroline Garcia (4th Rd.)
MADEMOISELLE/MADAM OPPORTUNITY: Nominees: Halep, Stephens, de Groot (WC), Gauff (jr.)
IT "NextGen Hordette": Dasha Kasatkina/RUS (first career slam QF)
COMEBACK PLAYER: Maria Sharapova/RUS
CRASH & BURN: #5 Alona Ostapenko/LAT (defending champ; lost 1st Rd. to #66 Kozlova; first RG DC out 1st Rd. since '05)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Yulia Putintseva/KAZ (3rd Rd.: down 6-1/4-1 & 2 MP, 3-0 in 3rd, vs. Wang Qiang; reaches second career slam QF)
DOUBLES STARS: Nominees: Krejcikova/Siniakova (won RG Jr. GD '13), Hozumi/Ninomiya (to be first all-JPN WD slam champs), Naito/Sato (to be first JPN slam GD champs)
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Latisha Chan, TPE
JUNIOR BREAKOUTS: Caty McNally/USA and Leylah Annie Fernandez/CAN
Légion de Lenglen HONOREE: Serena Williams/USA (The Catsuit/Bodysuit II)
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: Mihaela Buzarnescu/ROU [on LPT Day/June 1, #31 seed upset #4-seed, and one-time Henin pupil, Svitolina to record her first career Top 5 win and reach maiden slam Rd. of 16 -- she had zero slam MD win before this RG]





All for Day 13. More tomorrow.
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