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Tuesday, June 4, 2019

RG.10- Hurts So Good

Please Jo, don't hurt 'em.



On Tuesday, #26-seeded Johanna Konta produced one of the most dominant serving performances one could ever realistically hope possible, let alone in a slam quarterfinal, against last year's finalist, on a surface on which the Brit used to be a non factor, in a tournament at which she'd been 0-4 in her career before reeling off (now) *five* straight wins to reach the semifinal stage at her *third* different major (all since 2016).

Again, we implore you, Jo. Don't hurt 'em. Please.

But why is Sloane Stephens still on the mind?

#7 Stephens managed to escape Chatrier Court unscathed today. Well, except for maybe her tennis ego. Although, considering how Sloane generally is, that's likely safe, too. Even a battlefield demotion from Commander to buck private will likely go in one ear and out the other without leaving a lasting impression. She'll either head to the grass and hard courts this summer with the possibility of turning straw into gold once again, or she won't, and won't particularly be moved to maintain or reverse *whatever* course her next few months take. In other words, she'll continue to be the Sloane we know, love and are also often aggravated by in all her Past, Current and Future versions all wrapped up in one ball of sky-high, if not consistently met, potential.



After being on top of things two days ago against Garbine Muguruza, Stephens was flat today. If she *had* been more prepared to play it may not have mattered, considering Konta's high level of play. But we *are* talking about Sloane... so it very well could have changed things greatly. But, hey, we get the Sloane we get, not always the Sloane we want.

As it was, Konta -- already with two wins, on hard and clay courts, over Stephens in '19 -- managed to save a BP in the very first game of the match, and then never allowed Stephens barely an inch (and sometimes not even that) to breath as a returner when she served the rest of the day. After breaking Stephens for a 3-1 lead, the Brit climbed from love/30 to hold a game later, getting to 4-1 with an ace. She took the 1st set 5-1, and immediately broke to start the 2nd.

Then came the first of what would be four consecutive love holds from Konta. Serving for the semifinals at 5-4, she lost just one more point (on a DF) to complete a 20-of-21 points won service for the 2nd set (winning all 16 First Serves). In the 6-1/6-4 victory, she claimed 33-of-38 First Serve points, and only faced one BP (all the way back in game #1) in the match.

So, while Stephens go gets some Häagen-Dazs (future sponsor?) or downs a little chocolate milk (a current endorsement), Konta moves one win away from being the first British woman to reach the Roland Garros final since 1976 (Sue Barker), and the first at any slam since 1977 (Virginia Wade/Wimbledon). She's already been advancing through recent rounds in Paris continually being announced as the "first Brit to..." at Roland Garros "since 1983" (Jo Durie). One more win and the names and numbers will change, at least.

What won't change (in impressiveness, at least) is that Konta is now 16-3 on clay this season, 10-1 in her last eleven matches.

For years, RG was viewed as a slam that players who "couldn't" win it never did (Sampras, Becker, Davenport, etc.), or who were "less likely" to do so (Serena, that Feder-ling guy) won it fewer times than they did the other majors. That changed this decade, though, and a Konta title run would fit right snugly into the 2010's "unconventional" champions list that includes one who always had "bad luck" in Paris (Serena Williams) and another who declared herself a "cow on ice" on the surface (Maria Sharapova) who both won multiple titles and reached a third final since the turn of the century.

A slam that saw Francesca Schiavone (albeit a native clay court species) stun the world, Li Na win her first slam (not in Melbourne, but in Paris) and Alona Ostapenko surge to a title one year even while she's never been able to win even another singles match at the event her entire career, a Sydney-born Brit who was winless at RG at a week and a half ago this weekend finding herself lifting high the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen wouldn't really, *truly* stun anyone.

Forget it, Jake (but not you, Jo). It's Paris-town.




=DAY 10 NOTES=
...on this day, Marketa Vondrousova made it know that there is *another* lefty Czech to contend with on the slam stage.

(Sigh... went the rest of the WTA tour.)

With two of the most in-form players on tour in recent months facing off in the day's other quarterfinal, it was clear that *something* had to give. While 19-year old Vondrousova had gone 25-5 since the Australian Open, #31-seeded Petra Martic, 28, had put together a 15-2 record on clay this spring. Both were playing to reach their first career slam semifinal, but while the moment felt like only the *beginning* for the teenager, who should expect to see many more opportunities like this over the years, is was more of a unique, maybe-do-it-now-or-never sort of thing for the Croatian, bedeviled by injury throughout her career and currently riding a wave of success since bringing aboard recent tour player Sanda Zaniewska as her coach.

It helped Martic that she sported a 4-0 mark vs. Vondrousova, and had come back from a set down against her in the Istanbul final this year. But not enough.

Vondrousova took a break lead at 3-2 in the 1st set, but couldn't consolidate it with a hold. Martic took advantage and grabbed a 5-3 lead of her own and served for the set. But the Czech fired a forehand up the line to reach BP, and won a long rally to get back on serve. From love/30, she held for 5-5. The when facing triple BP at love/40 two games later, with Martic a point away from taking the first set anyone has gotten off her at this RG, Vondrousova got it into her mind to take the set. And she took it. Took it good.

The teenager put on one of the more machine-like runs over the stretch of five games that anyone is likely to see. A barrage of clipped lines, an ace, and a drop shot from the baseline reeled back Martic's lead and got the hold to force a tie-break. There, the combination of some poor shot selection from Martic and Vondrousova's won't-miss play turned the breaker into a runaway. The Croat failed to direct a shot into the open court and then left it outside the lines to drop the first point, then missed on a drop shot when the Czech was well off the court on point #2. Vondrousova's slice drop shot off a sliced Martic ball made it 3-1, then her lob pass over Martic's left shoulder gave her a 5-1 edge. She won 7-1, winning twelve of the final thirteen points.

With the Marketa Machine barreling down the Champs-Élysées, confidently clearing a path several lanes wide -- look out, Petra! -- Vondrousova carried her momentum over into the 2nd, firing an ace to lead 3-0, having won 24 of 27 points since Martic held triple SP.

Somehow, Martic turns things around, though. With a little help from a sputtering Vondrousova, who began leaking a touch of oil just as the finish line got within sight.

After Martic saved a MP at 5-2, Vondrousova served for her maiden slam semi a game later. With the game locked at 30/30, Martic sailed a backhand at the net to give the Czech a second MP. She double-faulted. Uh-oh. Now rolling in her serves, Vondrousova was obviously tight, and the Croat took the cue. Stepping into the court, she fired off a backhand winner to reach BP. She didn't convert it, but won a 34-shot rally to get a second chance. After failing to get *it*, Martic finally got the break for 5-4 on her *third* try.

After both players held, Martic served to stay in the match down 6-5. Freed from the nerves of having to serve it out, Vondrousova carved out a BP (MP #2), but the veteran's kick serve wide and forehand down the line line saved it. A netted overhead, though, gave the Czech a fourth MP chance. After reaching a Martic drop shot, Vondrousova saw the Croat's lob attempt fly over her head... and long. It gave the teenager a 7-6(1)/7-5 win that added her name to the list of Czech slam achievers.



Martic should feel good about what she's done this spring, even if she'll likely be restless tonight thinking of the blown 1st set lead and inability to fully seize the momentum when her younger opponent began to feel the moment... especially if she happens to see the Czech still playing come the weekend (and the *might*), causing her to wonder if she'll ever see such a chance again.

For the Marketa Machine, though, we haven't really even seen yet if her final gear will be enough to get her to the end of this race ahead of the rest, most (but not all) more experienced in these situations than she at this time. But we will soon.




...in the doubles QF, #2 Timea Babos/Kristina Mladenovic ('18 AO champs) moved a step closer to playing for their second slam as a pair (Mladenovic won the '16 RG w/ Caroline Garcia, along with slam MX titles at the AO and Wimbledon) with a win over the reigning Melbourne champs, #5 Samantha Stosur/Zhang Shuai. Zheng Saisai/Duan Yingying defeated #4 Gaby Dabrowski/Xu Yifan, whle #15 Kirsten Flipkens/Johanna Larsson knocked off #7 Nicole Melichar/Kveta Peschke.

The remaining QF, featuring "Sunshine Double" winners #6 Mertens/Sabalenka vs. L.Kichenok/Ostapenko, will be played tomorrow.



...in the juniors, a big upset as #2 seeded Pastry Diane Parry, who won a MD match in the women's competition, fell 6-3/6-4 to Aussie Annerly Poulos.



Russian Taisya Pachkaleva upset #6-seed Hurricane Tyra Black, while #9 Kamilla Bartone of Latvia defeated Hordette Oksana Selekmetova and #10 Joanna Garland (TPE) defeated another Russian of note, qualifier Diana Shnaider.

And #1-seeded Canadian Leylah Annie Fernandez advanced to the Round of 16 along with all the rest.




...Au revoir ON DAY 10:



..."YA GOT THE COVER!" ON DAY 10:




...LIKE ON DAY 10:



Though I still question the wording (here and elsewhere, on occasion) that goes "Barty took a break from tennis to play cricket" when it was probably more along the lines of "Barty took a break from tennis, and during that time she played cricket." The former isn't exactly the way I seem to remember it, but that latter seems to line up with how it went. But I could be wrong.

...DISLIKE ON DAY 10: So, Anna, you're trying to come back (and using a protected ranking) after being out almost a year and a half? Well, good for you, you're an inspira-... NOT GOOD ENOUGH! GIVE US BACK THAT MONEY!




...LIKE ON DAY 10:



Although, it says something about the state of things when it's *news* that someone is *allowed* to compete as they were naturally born, eh?

...AT-LEAST-THIS-STATE-VISIT-DIDN'T-HAPPEN-DURING-WIMBLEDON ON DAY 10: Small favors.




...LIKE ON DAY 10: Not sure the video wears as well as the song at this point (the jeans, the rolled up sleeves, a very thin Springsteen dancing), but it's still fun to see a pre-"Friends" Courteney Cox pulled out of the audience at the end. She was 19, but one might have guessed she was even younger than that.





In two days, it'll be the 75th anniversary of D-Day (June 6, 1944).

When the movie first came out, I can recall watching the "Saving Private Ryan" D-Day sequence with my heart in my throat. Still hard to imagine that so many *actually* went through that (and far worse than any movie could recreate) en route to saving the world...





=WOMEN'S SINGLES QF=
#14 Madison Keys/USA vs. #8 Ash Barty/AUS
#3 Simona Halep/ROU vs. Amanda Anisimova/USA
#26 Johanna Konta/GBR def. #7 Sloane Stephens/USA
Marketa Vondrousova/CZE def. #31 Petra Martic/CRO

=WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF=
#15 Flipkens/Larsson (BEL/SWE) def. #7 Melichar/Peschke (USA/CZE)
Duan/Sai.Zheng (CHN/CHN) def. #4 Gaby Dabrowski/Xu Yifan (CAN/CHN)
#6 Mertens/Sabalenka (BEL/BLR) vs. L.Kichenok/Ostapenko (UKR/LAT)
#2 Babos/Mladenovic (HUN/FRA) def. #5 Stosur/Sh.Zhang (AUS/CHN)

=MIXED DOUBLES SF=
#1 Melichar/Soares (USA/BRA) vs. L.Chan/Dodig (TPE/CRO)
(Alt.) N.Kichenok/Qureshi (UKR/PAK) vs. #2 Dabrowski/Pavic (CAN/CRO)

=GIRLS SINGLES ROUND OF 16=
#1 Leylah Annie Fernandez/CAN vs. #15 Park So-hyun/KOR
Elsa Jacquemot/FRA vs. Taisya Pachkaleva/RUS
#3 Maria Camila Osorio Serrano/COL vs. Romana Cisovska/SVK
#11 Anna Charaeva/RUS vs. #7 Natsumi Nawaguchi/JPN
#5 Zheng Qinwen/CHN vs. #10 Joanna Garland/TPE
(LL) Caijsa Wilda Hennemann/SWE vs. Ane Mintegi Del Olmo/ESP
#8 Emma Navarro/USA vs. #9 Kamilla Bartone/LAT
Daria Snigur/UKR vs. Annerly Poulos/AUS









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Paddle surf workout ????

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life’s amazing, it is what it should be

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*FIRST-TIME SLAM SEMIFINALISTS SINCE 2013*
=2013=
AO: Sloane Stephens/USA
RG: -
WI: Kirsten Flipkens/BEL
US: Flavia Pennetta/ITA
=2014=
AO: Genie Bouchard/CAN
RG: Simona Halep/ROU (RU), Andrea Petkovic/GER
WI: Lucie Safarova/CZE
US: Ekatarina Makarova/RUS, Peng Shuai/CHN
=2015=
AO: Madison Keys/USA
RG: Timea Bacsinszky/SUI
WI: Garbine Muguruza/ESP (RU)
US: Roberta Vinci/ITA (RU)
=2016=
AO: Johanna Konta/GBR
RG: Kiki Bertens/NED
WI: Elena Vesnina/RUS
US: Karolina Pliskova/CZE (RU)
=2017=
AO: CoCo Vandeweghe/USA
RG: Alona Ostapenko/LAT (W)
WI: Magdalena Rybarikova/SVK
US: -
=2018=
AO: Elise Mertens/BEL
RG: -
WI: Julia Goerges/GER
US: Naomi Osaka/JPN (W), Anastasija Sevastova/LAT
=2019=
AO: Danielle Collins/USA
RG: Marketa Vondrousova/CZE
--
TO PLAY: Amanda Anisimova and Ash Barty

*RG "IT" WINNERS*
2006 Nicole Vaidisova, CZE
2007 Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2008 Dinara Safina, RUS
2009 Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
2010 Ons Jabeur, TUN (Jr.)
2011 Caroline Garcia, FRA
2012 Sara Errani, ITA
2013 [post-Vergeer WC champ] Sabine Ellerbrock, GER
2014 [Spaniard] Garbine Muguruza, ESP
2015 [Swarmette] Andreea Mitu, ROU
2016 [Turk] Cagla Buyukakcay, TUR
2017 [Teen] Alona Ostapenko, LAT
2018 [NextGen Hordette] Dasha Kasatkina, RUS
2019 [GenPDQ Teens] Amanda Anisimova/USA, Iga Swiatek/POL, Marketa Vondrousova/CZE

**UNSEEDED RG SEMIFINALISTS - since 2000**
unseeded...Clarisa Fernandez, 2002
unseeded...Nadia Petrova, 2003
unseeded...Kiki Bertens, 2016
unseeded...Alona Ostapenko, 2017 (W)
unseeded...MARKETA VONDROUSOVA, 2019
--
TO PLAY: Anisimova

*LOW-SEEDED RG SEMIFINALISTS - since 2010*
Unseeded...Kiki Bertens, 2016
unseeded...Alona Ostapenko, 2017 (W)
unseeded...MARKETA VONDROUSOVA, 2019
#30...Timea Bacsinszky, 2017
#28...Andrea Petkovic, 2014
#26...JOHANNA KONTA, 2019
#23...Timea Bacsinszky, 2015
#21...Sara Errani, 2012 (RU)
#21...Samantha Stosur, 2016
#18...Genie Bouchard, 2014
#17...Francesca Schiavone, 2010 (W)
#13...Madison Keys, 2018
#13...Lucie Safarova, 2015 (RU)
#11...Marion Bartoli, 2011
--
TO PLAY: #14 Keys, (un) Anisimova

*RECENT TEEN SLAM CHAMPIONS*
1997 Australian Open - Martina Hingis (16)*
1997 Roland Garros - Iva Majoli (19)*
1997 Wimbledon - Martina Hingis (16)
1997 U.S. Open - Martina Hingis (16)
1998 Australian Open - Martina Hingis (17)
1999 Australian Open - Martina Hingis (18)
1999 U.S. Open - Serena Williams (17)*
2004 Wimbledon - Maria Sharapova (17)*
2004 U.S. Open - Svetlana Kuznetsova (19)*
2006 U.S. Open - Maria Sharapova (19)
--
* - first-time champion
--
NOTE: Ostapenko was 20y,2d when won '17 RG
--
STILL IN DRAW: Anisimova (17), Vondrousova (19)





TOP QUALIFIER: #22q Elena Rybakina/KAZ
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #2 Karolina Pliskova/CZE
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: #1q Bernarda Pera/USA def. #21q Kaja Juvan/SLO 6-4/1-6/7-6(1) [Juvan up break three times in 3rd, served at 5-4]
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - #1 Naomi Osaka/JPN def. Victoria Azarenka/BLR 4-6/7-5/6-3 (down 6-4/4-2, BP for 5-2)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #31 Petra Martic/CRO (def. Jabeur/TUN)
FIRST SEED OUT: #5 Angelique Kerber/GER (1st Rd./Potapova)
UPSET QUEENS: Russia
REVELATION LADIES: Russia
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Italy (0-2, none in RG 2nd Round for first time since 1982)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Aliona Bolsova/ESP (4th Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Lauren Davis/USA, Priscilla Hon/AUS, Diane Parry/FRA (all 2nd Rd.)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: Carolina Garcia, Krisinta Mladenovic & Diane Parry (all 2nd Rd.)
MADEMOISELLE/MADAM OPPORTUNITY: Nominees: Konta, Barty, Kamiji (for 3rd con. RG WC title), de Groot (for first full Career WC Slam)
IT "??": Generation PDQ Teens (Amanda Anisimova/USA, Iga Swiatek/POL and Marketa Vondrousova/CZE)
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: Konta, Ostapenko (WD)
CRASH & BURN: Alona Ostapenko, LAT (1st Rd.; zero RG wins before/after '17 title)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Anna Blinkova/RUS (Q2: trailed 6-3/3-1 vs. Kalinina; Q3: trailed Glushko 3-0 in 3rd; 1st Rd.: trailed Gaspayarn 4-0 in 3rd; 2nd Rd.: trailed Garcia 3-0 in 3rd)
DOUBLES STAR: Nominees: Ostapenko, Babos/Mladenovic, Mertens/Sabalenka
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Nominees: Konta, Flipkens
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Nominee: Parry (young MD winner since '09)
Légion de Lenglen HONOREE: Court Simonne-Mathieu
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: Simona Halep/ROU (awarded on LPT Day/June 1, Henin's birthday)





All for Day 10. More tomorrow.
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