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Sunday, May 5, 2019

Wk.18- First-Time Beats, Historic Feats and an Indy de Vroome Moment or Two

Let's see...

Two more maiden singles champions? Check.

A qualifier who wins eight matches in eight days en route to the title? Yep, check.

The first Greek women's singles champion in eleven years (and on an historic weekend in which a Greek man also won an ATP title)? Check, and check.

Twenty-one different champions in the season's first twenty-two events? Oh, you know...

=2019=




*WEEK 18 CHAMPIONS*
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (Int'l/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Jil Teichmann/SUI def. Karolina Muchova/CZE 7-6(5)/3-6/6-4
D: Anna Kalinskaya/Viktoria Kuzmova (RUS/SVK) d. Nicole Melichar/Kveta Peschke (USA/CZE) 4-6/7-5 [10-7]
RABAT, MOROCCO (Int'l/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Maria Sakkari/GRE def. Johanna Konta/GBR 2-6/6-4/6-1
D: Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez/Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP/ESP) d. Georgina Garcia-Perez/Oksana Kalashnikova (ESP/GEO) 7-5/6-1




PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Maria Sakkari/GRE
...it was only last summer that Sakkari reached her first tour final in San Jose, winning just a single game against Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu. Several coaching changes later -- from Thomas Johansson to Mark Petchey and Tom Hill -- the 23-year old Greek got her second chance in Rabat. Wins over Olga Danilovic and Isabella Shinikova set up a clash with #1-seed and defending champ Elise Mertens. Sakkari took the win 6-4/7-6, recording her second win this season (Bertens in Charleston) over a tournament's defending champ, tying Belinda Bencic for the tour lead. She then followed up with a win over Alison Van Uytvank to reach the final. After trailing Johanna Konta by a set and a break, Sakkari drew even and broke the Brit to take the 2nd set, then ran away with a 6-1 3rd set to claim her maiden tour-level title, and her first singles crown on any level since winning a $25K challenger in 2015. Sakkari has won ten of thirteen pro finals on clay since May 2014. Sakkari will climb from #51 to #39 in the new rankings, still ten spots back of her career high (Sept.'18) as she prepares to head to Paris later this month a year after her career-best 3rd Round result at Roland Garros.



The last Greek woman to win a tour-level singles crown was Eleni Daniilidou in 2008. If you were counting, yes, this is the *second* time this season that Daniilidou (who was actually still playing pro matches as recently as last December) has been noted in the WTA news. When Julia Goerges won her second of back-to-back Auckland titles in January, the Greek was the answer to the trivia question asking who was the *last* player to pull off the feat.

Now Sakkari will be included in the festivities for, oh, probably a decade or two (hmmm, or maybe a few millennia ?)...


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RISERS: Anna Kalinskaya/Viktoria Kuzmova (RUS/SVK) and Bernarda Pera/USA
...while the list of tour doubles champions this season have been littered with veteran pairs and/or first-time duos, Kalinskaya & Kuzmova are decidedly "anti-trend." Both are 20, they won a pair of $60K titles last year in Shenzhen, China and Croissy-Beaubourg, France, and their tour-level Saint Petersburg runner-up result in February had already made them the youngest finalist duo of 2019. The unseeded pair won three consecutive match tie-breaks to reach the final in Prague, where they faced off with the top-seeded and reigning champion duo of Nicole Melichar & Kveta Peschke (Peschke had won the title the last *two* years). They'd also won a trio of match tie-breaks to get the chance to defend their crown so, naturally, another match tie-break decided the title. Kalinskaya & Kuzmova took it 10-7 to claim the maiden tour-level doubles crown for both. There was a speck of revenge in Kuzmova's title run, as she'd lost in last year's QF (w/ Elena-Gabriela Ruse) to Melichar/Peschke along their way to the title.



Pera will jump back into the Top 100 with her performance in Prague. The Bannerette's second career tour-level semi (Guangzhou '18) was hardly an easy "get." While she recorded straight sets wins over qualifiers Barbara Haas and Antonia Lottner, Pera's QF win over Wang Qiang was anything but a straightforward victory. She led the world #16 6-0/5-2 and had a MP before Wang forced things to a 3rd set, where Pera won the decider 6-3 to notch her second career Top 20 win. She lost in the semis to Karolina Muchova, but she'll climb twenty-one spots in the new rankings, from #105 to #84.
===============================================
SURPRISE: Tamara Korpatsch/GER
...Korpatsch, who came into the week riding a six-match losing streak and without a WTA MD win since last July, lost in the third round of Prague qualifying to Iga Swiatek. But the German rebounded quickly as a lucky loser, becoming the tenth LL to win a MD match in 2019 with her victory over Aleksandra Krunic, then adding another over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova to join Sara Errani (Bogota) as the only LL to reach a QF this season. She lost there to eventual champ Jil Teichmann, but her final eight finish was the second of her tour career, with the other coming over a year ago in Lugano.
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VETERAN: Barbora Strycova/CZE
...Strycova opened the week as an unseeded entrant back home in the Czech Rebublic, but when top-seeded countrywoman Karolina Pliskova withdrew she was moved into her place in the draw as the new #9 seed in Prague. She took advantage, posting wins over Mona Barthel, Jessica Pegula and Katerina Siniakova to reach her first singles semifinal since last summer in Birmingham. She lost there to eventual champion Jil Teichmann as she was unable to repeat the final run she put together to reach her maiden tour-level WS final in Prague in 2010. As it is, Strycova has still never won a WTA title in her home nation, going 0-2 in Prague doubles finals (2005 & '09) in addition to her singles defeat nine years ago. At least she was there for the Czechs' Fed Cup final victory celebrations in Prague in 2015 and '18.


===============================================
COMEBACKS: Johanna Konta/GBR and Indy de Vroome/NED
...apparently, Konta figured out that the way back up the ladde might be to treat *every* match like it's Fed Cup. Yeah, not really. But the Brit *has* been at her best of late in FC matches, most of which see her go warrior mode and battle to a series of three-sets victories. Two weekends ago she led GBR into World Group II play next year for the first time since 1993, coming back from a set down to defeat both Zarina Diyas and Yulia Putintseva (3 MP saved). This week in Rabat, she strung together three more three-setters to post her best career result in a clay court event. After saving three MP to defeat Wang Yafan in the 1st Round, she outlasted Ana Bogdan and Hsieh Su-wei in deciding sets to reach her first semifinal on the surface. Konta then defeated Ajla Tomljanovic in straights to reach the final, her first non-grass final since she won the Miami title in 2017. She led Maria Sakkari by a set and a break as she seemed set to grab her first title in more than two years, only to see the Greek rally to force a 3rd, where she pulled away to win 6-1. Still, such a result (which will give her some space to avoid what seemed like an inevitable drop outside the Top 50) will lift her from #47 to #41, as her work with her latest coach, Dimitri Zavialoff (I won't say "new" coach, because Konta's recent hiring practice means she pretty much *always* has a new coach), seems to be paying off. Will it make a difference in Paris, where she's yet to win a MD match (0-4) in her career? We'll soon see.

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Grateful. ??

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A few seasons ago, the spectacuarly-named 22-year old de Vroome was an up and coming teenager. A former Top 10 junior, she won three ITF crowns in 2013-14 and a season later posted her first Top 50 victory (Pironkova) while recording her maiden tour-level MD win. But a bout with Lyme disease kept the Dutch woman out of the sport from the summer of '16 until October '18. As the '19 season has progressed, de Vroome has started to gain momentum. In February she reached her first final in three years at a $15K in Sharm El Sheik. Over the weekend she reached another in Antalya, and this time she won it to claim her first title since '14 with a 6-1/6-0 win over India's Jennifer Liukham. The most remarkable note about her run is not that she's made her way back from illness, but that she did it even while committing EIGHTY double-faults for the week, including posting a 30-spot in a 2nd Round match against Vanda Lukacs in which she saved three MP.


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FRESH FACES: Jil Teichmann/SUI and Karolina Muchova/CZE
...Teichmann is actually only four months younger than her more celebrated countrywoman Belinda Bencic, but it says a great deal about Bencic's well-known junior (#1 ranking and '13 RG/WI singles crowns vs. Teichmann's #3 and '15 RG QF) and early-career success (a Top 10 ranking and three WTA titles vs. Teichmann's high of #132 and five ITF crowns) that it feels as if the "months" should really be "years." But the 21-year old joined Dubai champion Bencic as one of two Swiss singles champions on tour in 2019, going "the long way" to her maiden title in Prague by winning eight matches in eight days. The world #146 made it through the qualifying rounds with victories over Viktoriya Tomova, Beatriz Haddad and Denisa Allertova, then followed up with MD wins over Russians (Ekaterina Alexandrova and Svetlana Kuznetsova), a lucky loser (Tamara Korpatsch) and Czechs (Barbora Strycova and Karolina Muchova). Oh my. After having never before reached a tour-level SF, Teichmann became the sixth (Sakkari later became the seventh on Saturday) maiden tour singles champion of 2019, the lowest-ranked WTA winner since Olga Danilovic (as a LL) won the Moscow River Cup last July. Teichmann will burst in the Top 100 on Monday, rising 59 shots to #87.

If her overeagerness to get her hands on the trophy during the post-match ceremony is any indication, she won't likely be satisfied with this *one* big result, either.



As Teichmann's final victim in Prague, Muchova wasn't able to complete what would have been the event's fourth singles title run by a Czech in the last five years ('15 Pliskova, '16 Safarova and '18 Kvitova), but the 22-year old, #106-ranked wild card had the biggest week of her career... and in many respects she has Lucie Safarova to thank for it. Playing in her farewell CZE event, the soon-to-retire veteran (she still expects to play RG) was given a doubles WC and had the chance to take one in singles, as well. But she didn't, because she would have prevented the rising Muchova from getting the MD spot instead. The rest was almost history. Still fresh off her Fed Cup debut, Muchova bedeviled the likes of Iga Swiatek, Jennifer Brady, Natalia Vikhlyantseva and Bernarda Pera as she eclipsed her previous career-best WTA result (QF) to reach her first final. After Safarova performed the ceremonial coin toss before the match, Muchova battled Teichmann for three sets, but came up short. She'll rise to a new career high of #74 on Monday.



===============================================
DOWN: Yulia Putintseva/KAZ and Elise Mertens/BEL
...after staging a big rally against Katie Boulter, then squandering a lead against Johanna Konta, in Fed Cup play vs. GBR two weekends ago, Putintseva was ousted in the 1st Round in Rabat by Tamara Zidansek (while Konta reached her first clay final, by the way). The (still) title-less Kazakh came into the week ranked #41 and will slip to #43 on Monday (naturally -- because the Tennis Gods are devious little imps -- she'll be replaced at #41 by Konta, who'll climb up from #47). A quarterfinalist at Roland Garros in both 2016 and '18, Putintseva has gotten off to a better start in Madrid, opening with a 1st Round win over Irina-Camelia Begu.



Mertens had a (workhorse) career year in 2018, in both singles (3 titles, AO semi, Top 15) and doubles (4 titles, Top 15), but has had difficulty consistently keeping up with such expectations in 2019. Of course, she's not without some big (huge, really) successes. In fact, her season has so far been propped up by two great winning spurts, a career-best singles title run in Doha after a disastrous Fed Cup weekend, as well as a career-highlight "Sunshine Doubles" two-title run while teaming with Aryna Sabalenka in Indian Wells and Miami. She's 2-2 in her other doubles action, and just 8-12 in singles, including a 3rd Round exit in Melbourne. Since her Doha title, she's gone 4-7. After winning a pair of matches in her title defense attempt in Rabat, she fell to eventual champ Maria Sakkari in two, and has already been taken out in Madrid, falling to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 7-5/7-6(5) after squandering a 4-1 lead in the 2nd set. She'll drop to #20 in the new rankings, with her Top 20 standing -- she's been ranked in the Top 20 in 55 of the past 58 weeks -- in jeopardy, as she'll lead #21 Dasha Kasatkina by just 5 points and #22 Caroline Garcia by only 25 in the new rankings.
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ITF PLAYERS: Taylor Townsend/USA and Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
...while unseeded Whitney Osuigwe was looking to follow up her $80K win from a week ago with a career best title run at the $100K Charleston challenger, #2 Townsend had plans of her own. A day after taking home her second straight doubles crown with Asia Muhammad (the duo's ninth ITF title in ten finals together), Townsend added on to previous wins over Kayla Day, Coco Gauff and Emma Navarro that got her into her biggest career final, taking out her 17-year old fellow Bannerette Osuigwe 6-4/6-4 to claim her tenth career challenger title. After failing to serve out the match at 5-2 in the 2nd, then being unable to convert multiple BP/MP chances on Osuigwe's serve a game later, she finally held to close out the event on her eighth MP and defend her '18 crown (when the event was an $80K...and during which she also defeated Osuigwe on the way to that title, winning a 7-5 3rd set in their QF match-up).



Even with the loss, Osuigwe has had quite the half-year of pro results. The girls #1 and RG junior champ in '17, last fall she recorded big wins over the likes of Christina McHale, Caty McNally, Belinda Bencic and Beatriz Haddad. At the Australian Open, she took Bianca Andreescu to three sets in the 1st Round, then in March got her first tour-level MD win over Osaka (Mari, not Naomi, but still) before winning her second career $80K title last weekend in Charleston. This week she added wins over Lauren Davis, Louisa Chirico and Kaja Juvan to her growing resume, and will now climb to a new career high of #124 with the result.

In Wiesbaden, Germany the singles career of Krejcikova continued to be infused with success as the Czech cleared her third straight ITF crown, extending her solo winning streak to fifteen matches by posting victories over Cagla Buyukakcay, Anna Blinkova and Katarina Zavatska to claim the $60K challenger. The world doubles #2, who's set to once again team up with Katerina Siniakova in Madrid, will climb to #126 in singles with this result.
===============================================
JUNIOR STAR: Emma Navarro/USA
...the 17-year old has had quite the spring, sweeping the Easter Bowl titles at Indian Wells in March to claim a WC into her maiden WTA event (coincidentally owned by her dad) in Charleston. She lost but played well vs. Laura Siegemund. This week she returned to the home base LTP Tennis Complex courts in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina that have previously served her so well, having won the girls U.S. Clay Court championship in '18 and a $15K doubles title in '17 at the site. At this week's $100K challenger she took her wild card and made good once again, knocking off Allie Kiick (her biggest career win over the world #142), Ann Li and Anhelina Kalinina (a second Top 150 victory) before ultimately falling in the semifinals to Taylor Townsend. Navarro is a Duke University recruit.


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DOUBLES: Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez/Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP/ESP)
...in Rabat, MJMS & SST became the seventh duo this season to claim a title without dropping a set, defeating their countrywoman Georgina Garcia-Perez and partner Oksana Kalashnikova 5 & 1 in the final to finish off their run. It's the first title as a pair for the Spaniards, who'd only teamed in one other event, which resulted in a 1st Round loss in Stuttgart last week. Their only other pairing had been in a dead rubber Fed Cup match vs. CZE in 2017.



MJMS is the eighteenth active player with 20 tour WD titles, tying Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, who both won #20 last week. Sorribes has now won two tour WD crowns.
===============================================
WHEELCHAIR: Viktoriia Lvova/RUS
...the 20-year old Russian (Or is it 21? It's difficult to know since the ITF ridiculously -- for some unknown reason -- after first having stopped listing actual birth DATES in favor of only AGES is now listing just birth YEARS on its website, meaning one has to seek another source to find out a player's *current* age, which is annoying but ignorable with WTA'ers or juniors since there are many other sources, but a little more difficult with non-top ranked wheelchair players) swept the singles and doubles crowns at the Megafon Dreamcup in Saint Petersburg, defeating Japan's Shiori Funamizu in the final, and teaming with Ludmila Bubnova in the WD. The world #15 has won nine straight singles matches, and claimed seven Series 2 & 3 titles over the past year, including her title run in this same event 51 weeks ago. In fact, she's won this Saint Petersburg WS title five times in the last six years, and reached the final in the one year (2016) she didn't take it all home.


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


New fiancé, new coach...




And making it official...




1. Rabat 1st Rd. - Johanna Konta def. Wang Yafan
...4-6/7-6(0)/6-4. Playing like Anne Keothavong was cheering her on from the sidelines, Konta saves triple MP down 6-5, 40/love in the 2nd sent, then reels off twelve consecutive points en route to another dramatic three-set comeback victory.
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2. Prague Final - Jil Teichmann def. Karolina Muchova 7-6(5)/3-6/6-4
Rabat Final - Maria Sakkari def. Johanna Konta 2-5/6-4/6-1
...the Prague final presented the first tour-level final between *two* first-time finalists since last July's two-headed maiden monster final combo Olga Danilovic & Anastasia Potapova (Moscow) and Wang Qiang & Zheng Saisai (Nanchang).




Teichmann and Sakkari are the sixth and seventh first-time champs on tour in 2019. There were eight all of last season.
===============================================
3. Prague 1st Rd. - Makota Ninomiya/Yana Sizikova def. Lucie Safarova/Barbora Stefova
...6-4/4-6 [13-11]. A former three-time singles champ (2012-13 ITF, 2016 WTA) in Prague, Safarova bid adieu as a player to the home fans this week. After things didn't work out in Melbourne, she's looking to next say goodbye to the rest of us in Paris.


===============================================
4. Madrid Q1 - Marta Kostyuk def. Amanda Anisimova
...6-0/2-6/6-0. Yeah, the scoreline is correct.



Kostyuk made the MD, but lost on Sunday in a tight three-setter to Karolina Pliskova.
===============================================
5. Rabat QF - Maria Sakkari def. Elise Mertens
...6-4/7-6(2). Mertens is the only player not named Petra K. to win multiple clay court titles over the last two seasons.


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6. Madrid 1st Rd. - Ash Barty def. Dasha Gavrilova
...6-1/6-2. For Ash, the clay season is a bridge...


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7. Madrid 1st Rd. - Alona Ostapenko def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
...6-2/6-1. For Alona, she hoping it'll be a lifeline.
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8. Madrid 1st Rd. - Victoria Azarenka def. Dasha Kasatkina
...7-5/6-4. For Dasha, she's looking for anything. Anything at all.
===============================================


9. Madrid 1st Rd. - Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Aryna Sabalenka
...7-5/6-3. For Sveta, it's her first Top 10 win since defeating Radwanska at Wimbledon in 2017. As for Sabalenka, she's gone 6-6 in WTA matches since being viciously upset by Amanda Anisimova in Melbourne.
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10. Madrid 1st Rd. - Kristina Mladenovic def. Barbora Strycova
...6-3/6-1. After qualifying (def. Jorovic & Siegemund), Kiki has posted a MD win to improve her combined record to 9-1 (5-1 WS/4-0 WD) since her karmic teaming with Caroline Garcia in doubles to send France to the FC final.
===============================================
11. Madrid Q2 - Vera Zvonareva def. Anastasia Potapova
...4-6/6-2/7-6(4). The veteran saved a MP and reached her second PM main draw since 2015, where she lost on Sunday to Danielle Collins.
===============================================
12. $25K Khimki RUS Final - Sofya Lansere def. Dea Herdzelas
...6-1/4-6/6-3. The 18-year old Hordette wins her maiden pro singles title.

She's the one on the left...


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13. Madrid 1st Rd. - Pauline Parmentier def. Elina Svitolina 6-4/7-6(6)
Madrid 1st Rd. - Aliaksandra Sasnovich def. Anett Kontaveit 0-6/6-3/6-2
Madrid 1st Rd. - Sorana Cirstea def. Madison Keys 3-6/6-4/6-1
Madrid 1st Rd. - Petra Martic def. Garbine Muguruza 7-5/7-6(2)
Madrid 1st Rd. - Alize Cornet def. Caroline Wozniacki 3-0 ret.
...maybe they have a distaste as strong as mine for these Saturday/Sunday starting tournaments?
===============================================
14. Prague 2nd Rd. - Katerina Siniakova def. Jana Cepelova
...6-1/6-3. The Czech reaches her first QF since last October in Beijing.


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15. Madrid 1st Rd. - Simona Halep def. Margarita Gasparyan
...6-0/6-4. And so it begins...?


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1. Prague 2nd Rd. - Tamara Korpatsch def. ANNA KAROLINA SCHMIEDLOVA 4-6/6-3/6-0
Madrid Q1 - ANNA KAROLINA SCHMIEDLOVA def. Monica Puig 7-6(2)/6-2
Madrid Q2 - ANNA KAROLINA SCHMIEDLOVA def. Jessica Pegula 4-6/7-6(4)/7-5
Madrid 1st Rd. - ANNA KAROLINA SCHMIEDLOVA def. Elise Mertens 7-5/7-6(5)
...oh, Schmiedy. She lost to a lucky loser, getting bageled in the 3rd set. Oh, Schmiedy! She saved two MP and advanced to the Madrid main draw. Oh my, Schmiedy! She takes out Mertens, coming back from 4-1 down in the 2nd (and 4-1 in the TB) to take care of the Waffle in straight sets.

Is there any player on tour (Garbi excluded) who is more of a living embodiment of the word "conundrum" than AKS?
===============================================
2. $15K Cairo EGY Final - MAYAR SHERIF def. Simona Waltert
...6-2/6-1. Two weeks after leading Egypt out of Zone III play, and a week after losing (with her sister) in an ITF doubles final, Sherif dominated the Swiss 18-year old (who at least won the doubles) to claim her first singles title in a pro event since 2013.
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3. Madrid 1st Rd. - KAROLINA PLISKOVA def. Dayana Yastremska
...5-7/7-6(5)/6-3. After pulling out of Prague, Karolina is already back.


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Answering the question, "Whatever happened to Mashona Washington?"...
















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Greetings from Milan ???????? #duomodimilano

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“The start of 2017 was a great time in my life. I won a couple of 25k events, did well at Fed Cup and qualified for Wimbledon just after turning 17. I was then able to reach the quarterfinals at the Citi Open beating a top 15 player. Achieving that made me the first player born in 2000 to do so. My points started to add up which allowed me to play bigger events without needing wildcards. I was getting more attention than usual. People were saying that ‘maybe she isn’t a one hit wonder’. I said to myself, ‘This is it. I proved myself, now I just gotta keep it up’. Then everything started piling up in a negative way. I got too overwhelmed by everything. My tennis started going downhill. I was having difficulty with the relationships in my life including the one with myself. Practices began to feel worthless. I wasn’t enjoying it anymore. I ended up losing in the first round six times, which made me lose many points that I had to defend from the year before. I had a poor pre season which led to the year of me playing the worst tennis of my life. To make matters worse I got injured. I was on and off for maybe 4 months because of a misdiagnosis. All I wanted to do was give up. Who knew that all of this ended up being the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Of course in the beginning it didn’t feel like it because of all the losses and injuries, but I tried to maintain positive outlook and took many things into consideration. I had an ‘awakening’. I looked back at those tough times and tried to figure out ways where I can change and do better, including mindset, nutrition, training, fitness and most importantly the people around me. I wanted to seek the best advice from specialists and did a lot research on my own. Everything slowly started shifting in a more positive direction. I then went on to do well in the fall, followed by a great preseason which then led to my dreams becoming a reality in Auckland, Melbourne and then Indian Wells. The moral of my story is that if it hadn’t been for all those bumpy moments then I wouldn’t be where I am today. They made me stronger and allowed me to break out of my comfort zone to do and be better.”

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*2019 WTA FIRST-TIME CHAMPIONS*
Hobart - Sonya Kenin, USA (20/#56) - def. Schmiedlova
Acapulco - Wang Yafan, CHN (24/#65) - def. Kenin
Indian Wells - Bianca Andreescu, CAN (18/#60) - def. Kerber
Bogota - Amanda Anisimova, USA (17/#76) - def. Sharma
Istanbul - Petra Martic, CRO (28/#40) - def. Vondrousova
PRAGUE - JIL TEICHMANN, SUI (21/#146) - def. Muchova
RABAT - MARIA SAKKARI, GRE (23/#51) - def. Konta
[first-time champions by season]
2010: 9...RUS-4, AUS/COL/EST/GER/LAT-1
2011: 6...CZE/ITA/RSA/RUS/SLO/SVK-1
2012: 11...GER-2, BEL/ESP/GBR/HUN/NED/ROU/SRB/TPE/USA-1
2013: 8...ROU-2, AUS/CHN/CZE/NZL/RUS/UKR-1
2014: 14...ESP/USA-3, BUL/CAN/CRO/FRA/GER/ITA/JPN/PUR-1
2015: 11...JPN-2, BRA/CRO/ITA/RUS/SUI/SVK/SWE/UKR/USA-1
2016: 10...CHN/USA-2, CZE/FRA/GBR/GER/SUI/TUR-1
2017: 13...AUS/BEL/CZE-2, EST/FRA/GER/KAZ/LAT/RUS/USA-1
2018: 8...SRB-2, BLR/CHN/GER/JPN/ROU/UKR-1
2019: 7...USA-2, CAN/CHN/CRO/GRE/SUI-1

*LOW-RANKED WTA FINALISTS IN 2019*
#152 - Bianca Andreescu, CAN (Auckland - lost to Goerges)
#146 - JIL TEICHMANN, SUI (PRAGUE - def. Muchova)
#138 - Astra Sharma, AUS (Bogota - lost to Anisimova)
#115 - Iga Swiatek, POL (Lugano - lost to Hercog)
#106 - KAROLINA MUCHOVA, CZE (PRAGUE - lost to Teichmann)

*2019 ALL-UNSEEDED PLAYERS WTA FINALS*
Hobart - Kenin/USA def. AK.Schmiedlova/SVK
Lugano - Hercog/SLO def. Swiatek/POL
Bogota - Anisimova/USA def. Sharma/AUS
PRAGUE - TEICHMANN/SUI (Q) def. MUCHOVA/CZE (WC)

*2019 WTA FINALS WITH TITLE-LESS PLAYERS*
Auckland - Bianca Andreescu, CAN (0-0) + L
Hobart - Sonya Kenin, USA (0-0) + W
Hua Hin - Ajla Tomljanovic, AUS (0-3) + L
Acapulco - Wang Yafan, CHN (0-0) + W
Indian Wells - Bianca Andreescu, CAN (0-1) + W
Lugano - Iga Swiatek, POL (0-0) + L
Bogota - Amanda Anisimova, USA (0-1) + W
Bogota - Astra Sharma, AUS (0-0) + L
Istanbul - Petra Martic, CRO (0-2) + W
PRAGUE - JIL TEICHMANN, SUI (0-0) + W
PRAGUE - KAROLINA MUCHOVA, CZE (0-0) + L
RABAT - MARIA SAKKARI, GRE (0-1) + W
==
OVERALL RECORD: 7-5

*2019 FIRST-TIME WTA SEMIFINALISTS*
Auckland - Bianca Andreescu, CAN (RU)
Lugano - Iga Swiatek, POL (RU)
Lugano - Fiona Ferro, FRA
Bogota - Astra Sharma, AUS (RU)
PRAGUE - JIL TEICHMANN, SUI (W)
PRAGUE - KAROLINA MUCHOVA, CZE (RU)

*MOST WTA DOUBLES FINALS in 2019*
3...Chan/Chan, TPE/TPE (2-1)
2...Mertens/Sabalenka, BEL/BLR (2-0)
2...Babos/Mladenovic, HUN/FRA (1-1)
2...KALINSKAYA/KUZMOVA, RUS/SVK (1-1)
2...MELICHAR/PESCHKE, USA/CZE (1-1)
2...Stosur/Sh.Zhang, AUS/CHN (1-1)

*2019 OLDEST WTA WD FINALISTS*
43 - KVETA PESCHKE, CZE (PRAGUE-L)
43 - Kveta Peschke, CZE (Brisbane-W)
36 - MARIA JOSE MARTINEZ-SANCHEZ, ESP (RABAT-W)
36 - Monique Adamczak, AUS (Monterrey-L)
35 - Renata Voracova, CZE (Shenzhen-L)
35 - Samantha Stosur, AUS (Miami-L)
34 - Samantha Stosur, AUS (AO-W)
34 - Vera Zvonareva, RUS (Budapest-W)
[duo]
68 - MELICHAR 25/PESCHKE 43 = PRAGUE (L)
68 - Melichar 25/Peschke 43 = Brisbane (W)
66 - Groenefeld 33/Rosolska 33 = Charleston (W)
65 - Hsieh 33/Strycova 32 = Dubai (W)
65 - Stosur 35/ Sh.Zhang 30 = Miami (L)
[young duo]
40 - Kalinskaya 20/Kuzmova 20 = Saint Petersburg (L)
40 - KALINSKAYA 20/KUZMOVA 20 = PRAGUE (W)
43 - Hourigan 21/Townsend 22 = Auckland (L)
43 - Mertens 23/Sabalenka 20 = Indian Wells (W)
43 - Mertens 23/Sabalenka 20 = Miami (W)

*WTA WD TITLE RUNS w/o LOST SET in 2019*
Brisbane - Melichar/Peschke, USA/CZE
Shenzhen - Peng/Yang Zhaoxuan, CHN/CHN
Sydney - Krunic/Siniakova, SRB/CZE
Dubai - Hsieh/Strycova, TPE/CZE
Charleston - Groenefeld/Rosolska, GER/POL
Monterrey - Muhammad/Sanchez, USA/USA
RABAT - MARTINEZ-SANCHEZ/SORRIBES TORMO, ESP/ESP

*2019 SLAM/PREMIER MANDATORY/PREMIER 5 CHAMPIONS*
Australian Open - Naomi Osaka, JPN
Dubai - Belinda Bencic, SUI
Indian Wells - Bianca Andreescu, CAN
Miami - Ash Barty, AUS
Madrid - ??
[doubles]
Australian Open - Stosur/Sh.Zhang, AUS/CHN
Dubai - Hsieh/Strycova, TPE/CZE
Indian Wells - Mertens/Sabalenka, BEL/BLR
Miami - Mertens/Sabalenka, BEL/BLR
Madrid - ??

*2019 WTA CHAMPIONS BY RANKING*
#3 - Petra Kvitova, CZE (Stuttgart)
#4 - Naomi Osaka, JPN (Australian Open)
#8 - Karolina Pliskova, CZE (Brisbane)
#8 - Kiki Bertens, NED (Saint Petersburg)
#9 - Petra Kvitova, CZE (Sydney)
#12 - Ash Barty, AUS (Miami)
#13 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (Shenzhen)
#14 - Julia Goerges, GER (Auckland)
#18 - Madison Keys, USA (Charleston)
#19 - Garbine Muguruza, ESP (Monterrey)
#21 - Elise Mertens, BEL (Doha)
#40 - Petra Martic, CRO (Istanbul)
#45 - Belinda Bencic, SUI (Dubai)
#47 - Dayana Yastremska, UKR (Hua Hin)
#50 - Alison Van Uytvanck, BEL (Budapest)
#51 - MARIA SAKKARI, GRE (RABAT)
#56 - Sonya Kenin, USA (Hobart)
#60 - Bianca Andreescu, CAN (Indian Wells)
#65 - Wang Yafan, CHN (Acapulco)
#76 - Amanda Anisimova, USA (Bogota)
#89 - Polona Hercog, SLO (Lugano)
#146 - JIL TEICHMANN, SUI (PRAGUE)

*2019 WTA CHAMPIONS BY AGE*
30 - Goerges
29 - Kvitova
28 - Kvitova,Hercog,Martic
27 - Bertens
26 - Ka.Pliskova
25 - Muguruza
24 - Keys,Van Uytvanck,Wang Yafan
23 - Mertens,SAKKARI
22 - Barty
21 - Bencic,Osaka,TEICHMANN
20 - Kenin,Sabalenka
19 - Yastremska
18 - Andreescu
17 - Anisimova

*2019 $100K CHAMPIONS - 1Q/2Q*
Midland, USA (hci) - Caty McNally/USA (#411) def. Jessica Pegula/USA (#104)
Charleston USA (gco) - Taylor Townsend/USA (#108) def. Whitney Osuigue/USA (#139)
Bonita Springs, USA (gco) - [May]
Trnava, SVK (rco) - [May]
Surbiton, ENG (g) - [June]
Mancheser, ENG (g) - [June]



Early evidence of Elking?




Hmmm, I'll bet I know someone who'd see this and declare, "Now *that's* the sort of reception I should get the next time I come back from an international trip (except for the kissing the kids part)."





Kelsey Plum of the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces, everyone...











All for now.
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