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Monday, January 20, 2020

AO.1 - Down Under Debut

London, New York... and now Melbourne.





=DAY 1 NOTES=
...it didn't take long for the first match to be completed on Day 1, as Spain's Paula Badosa handled qualifier Johanna Larsson 1 & 0 in under an hour to record her first career slam MD victory. Of the eight first-up-on-court women's matches that opened the day, Badosa/Larsson proceeded at a nearly neck-and-neck pace with Julia Goerges' one-sided tussled with Viktoria Kuzmova. But while the German was also just one claimed game away from wrapping up *her* match while Badosa was moments from winning hers, Kuzmova held for 5-2 in the 2nd set and forced the veteran serve things out a game later for a 1 & 2 victory.



...in one of the big early matches, AO defending champ Naomi Osaka handled Marie Bouzkova in straight sets, but only after the Czech threatened (for a few minutes, anyway) to make a match of things. The #3 seed dropped serve to fall behind 4-2 in the 2nd, but responded well by clamping down on her own serve (after having already broken the net strap with one earlier) and flashing some nice court coverage, as well, as she broke Bouzkova in back-to-back service games and then held to close out a 6-2/6-4 win.



Osaka was followed on Laver by the player she very well could see on the other side of the net in the quarterfinals: #8 Serena Williams, still seeking to tie Australian Margaret Court's all-time slam mark of twenty-four titles. Facing off with a blonde Russian (no, not *that* one), Williams generally had her way (*still* not that one, though), taking the 1st set at love in just nineteen minutes. Anastasia Potapova, the '16 Wimbledon junior champ, took an early break lead in the 2nd and was still in the set in the late stages even after having given back her advantage. Serving down 4-3, though, Potapova was broken by Williams and it was just a matter of time. A few minutes later, Serena served out her 350th career slam match victory, winning 6-0/6-3 to improve to 86-11 in Melbourne and 73-1 in 1st Round matches in the majors.



...the other (usually, at least) Day 1 ritual is to see which seed will be the first sent packing. At this Australian Open, the wait for the answer wasn't a long one.

Sorana Cirstea had doubles #1 and #32 singles seed Barbora Strycova on the ropes on Court 22, serving up 6-2/5-3. But the Czech got the break and managed to work the set into a tie-break. It proved to be a futile comeback attempt, though, as the Romanian won it 7-5 to make Strycova the First Seed Out. Of course, such as early exit at a major isn't a *shock* for Strycova, as it's the fourth time in the last five majors it's happened for her. The one time it didn't? Well, that was when she battled all the way to the Wimbledon semifinals last summer.



...meanwhile, 19-year old qualifier Ann Li posted her first career tour-level MD victory with a 7-6(4)/7-6(10) win over Aussie wild card Lizette Cabrera, who last week upset the likes of Caroline Garcia and Kristyna Pliskova.



At the same time, Caroline Wozniacki posted what could very well be (who knows?) her *last* victory, as the Dane's final slam before retirement began with a 6-1/6-3 win over the star of last year's U.S. Open underdog story, Kristie Ahn.

Another qualifier, two-time slam doubles champ Barbora Krejcikova also recorded *her* maiden slam MD win with a victory over veteran Kaia Kanepi, 7-6(3)/2-6/6-3. Krejcikova's fellow Czech and doubles partner fared much worse. Already expected to lose to '19 finalist and #7 seed Petra Kvitova, Katerina Siniakova failed to meet even any modest standards of competitiveness, losing 6-1/6-0 to her countrywoman under the roof on MCA after rain had forced its closure and led to a suspension of play on the outside courts (and eventual rescheduling of most of the unfinished matches).



...before all that, though, the day's expected marquee match-up between Venus Williams and Coco Gauff took place. Meeting in the 1st Round of a major for the second time, after the headline-grabbing affair at last year's Wimbledon, the 15-year old made her career debut at a third major while 39-year old Williams played in her 20th opening round match in Melbourne.

While the result between the two was ultimately the same as in their first meeting, the shock and awe of the teenager's arrival wasn't *quite* as eye-popping this time around. Not because Gauff didn't once again play multiple levels above what anyone would anticipate from a player so young, but because we now *expect* her to show up for such a match and be unwilling and unable to be sent out the door without much trial and effort being put forth by her opponent. Williams, for one, just wasn't up to such an effort on this day.

Playing in her first match of 2020, Williams was slow to find her groove in the contest as Gauff got an early break and seemed on her way to a quick 1st set win before Williams finally broke back in the latter stages and eventually forced a tie-break. Nevertheless, Gauff won it 7-5 and quickly grabbed a break lead again in the 2nd set. This time, Williams didn't find her way back into contention as Gauff rolled to a 7-6(5)/6-3 victory that improves her career mark in slams to 6-3. Venus is now 269-77 over the course of the last twenty-four seasons.



Not long after Gauff's victory, her doubles partner, qualifier Caty McNally, sent Samantha Stosur (the '19 WD champ) out in the AO 1st Round for a fifth straight time, winning 6-1/6-4 on the back of the Aussie's 39 unforced errors.

...Night 1's first-up women's match on Rod Laver features a familiar face, as #1 seed Ash Barty opens play vs. Lesia Tsurenko in what will likely be her "usual" scheduled court/time for most of the matches she'll play at this Australian Open. The first Aussie #1 women's seed in the event since 1977 (Evonne Goolagong), she's seeking to become the first home winner of the title since Chris O'Neil in 1978 (the last to reach the semis was Wendy Turnbull in 1984) a season after her QF run in Melbourne helped set the stage for her career year in '19.

On MCA, #24 Sloane Stephens faces Zhang Shuai hoping to avoid her second straight 1st Round defeat at a major. If it happens, it would be her fourth one-and-out slam appearance in the nine majors she's played since winning the 2017 U.S. Open. She had four such losses over a 19-slam stretch from 2012-16. Two years ago, Zhang actually *did* upset Stephens in the 1st Round, making her the First Seed Out at the '18 AO.




...MATTEK BEING MATTEK ON DAY 1:




...LIKE ON DAY 1: Martina being Martina, thank goodness.




...UNEXPECTED FREE INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING ON DAY 1: Play-Doh, duh. Of course, since it's been *six years* since the toy's official Twitter account produced any sort of post it'll probably go down as a totally wasted opportunity.



Seriously, you'd think that something like Play-Doh would have *someone* doing their social media who'd at least try to do *something* creative once in a while. Hmmm, maybe that person came up with the WTA's new marketing campaign idea last year as a side gig?


...LIKE ON DAY 1: Oracene, naturally.





A little impromptu addition to the perusal of a string of old songs and videos that began here during last year's U.S. Open, and ultimately birthed Backspin's latest unofficial fake marketing campaign slogan ("They Got the Beat"/"She Got the Beat," which moved into the spot formerly held by "The Most Interesting Tour in the World") that served as a response to the WTA's latest *actual* thuddingly uninspired marketing campaign ("#ItTakes").

And, of course, where else does one search other than an old 1980's video (thank you MTV late on a Saturday night)? I give you, in the spirit of Australia's slam, "New Sensation" from the Aussie band INXS.



It's just a reminder of what a *great* rock frontman Michael Hutchence was. Sort of a combination of Mick Jagger's moves/essence with the voice of Robert Palmer. It's a pity things ended for him the way they did.

And, yeah, that song *would* work as a backdrop for ads featuring a new generation of WTA stars, too.

















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The dawn of the @australianopen ?????? ?? Getty

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kosova-font

*RECENT AO "FIRST VICTORY" HONORS*
2009 Patricia Mayr, AUS (def. Schruff)
2010 Dinara Safina, RUS (def. Rybarikova)
2011 Evgeniya Rodina, RUS (def. Rogowska)
2012 Victoria Azarenka, BLR (def. Watson)
2013 Maria Sharapova, RUS (def. Puchkova)
2014 Kirsten Flipkens, BEL (def. Robson)
2015 Julia Goerges, GER (def. Bencic)
2016 Petra Kvitova, CZE (def. Kumkhum)
2017 Monica Puig, PUR (def. Tig)
2018 Duan Yingying, CHN (def. Duque Marino)
2019 Rebecca Peterson, SWE (def. Cirstea)
2020 Paula Badosa, ESP (def. Larsson)

*RECENT AO "FIRST SEED OUT"*
2005 #16 Ai Sugiyama, JPN (lost to Sucha)
2006 #9 Elena Dementieva, RUS (lost to Schruff)
2007 #25 Anabel Medina-Garrigues, ESP (lost to Vesnina)
2008 #32 Julia Vakulenko, UKR (lost to Vesnina)
2009 #23 Agnes Szavay, HUN (lost to Voskoboeva)
2010 #14 Maria Sharapova, RUS (lost to Kirilenko)
2011 #28 Daniela Hantuchova, SVK (lost to Kulikova)
2012 #19 Flavia Pennetta, ITA (lost to Bratchikova)
2013 #32 Mona Barthel, GER (lost to Pervak)
2014 #7 Sara Errani, ITA (lost to Goerges)
2015 #32 Belinda Bencic, SUI (lost to Goerges)
2016 #17 Sara Errani, ITA (lost to Gasparyan)
2017 #4 Simona Halep, ROU (lost to Rogers)
2018 #13 Sloane Stephens, USA (lost to Sh.Zhang)
2019 #14 Julia Goerges, GER (lost to Collins)
2020 #32 Barbora Strycova, CZE (lost to Cirstea)


kosova-font






TOP QUALIFIER: #31 Ann Li/USA
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3 - #5 Anna Kalinskaya/RUS def. Wang Xiyu/CHN 4-6/7-6(2)/6-2 (down 6-4/5-3, MP at 5-4)
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr./Doub.): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Paula Badosa/ESP (def. Larsson/SWE)
FIRST SEED OUT: #32 Barbora Strycova/CZE (1st Rd. - lost to Cirstea/ROU)
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Day 1 wins: Krejcikova, A.Li, McNally
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Day 1 wins: -
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: Day 1 wins: -
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT (??): xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: xx
ZOMBIE QUEEN: xx
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: xx
LADY OF THE EVENING: xx
DOUBLES STAR: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx





All for Day 1. More tomorrow.
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