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Tuesday, September 29, 2020

RG.3- The New Dane on the Block

So, in Paris on Tuesday, it was almost as if the Tennis Gods collectively clapped their hands and said, "Out with one Dane, in with the next. Wait'll the mortals get a load of *this*!"



So, with her stunning slam debut at this Roland Garros, is Clara Tauson now an official Danish Pastry?

The 17-year old, who rose to junior #1 just last year after claiming the girls singles title at the Australian Open, made her maiden outing in the main draw of a major one to remember on Day 3, perhaps producing the most awesome one-match debut on the big stage... well, ever?

Granted, while there are surely others of note buried in the annals of tennis history, and there's one recent memorable example that comes to mind that would definitely be in the same conversation -- Coco Gauff's win over Venus Williams in the 15-year old's slam debut at last year's Wimbledon -- what Tauson showed today on Court Simonne-Mathieu against reigning U.S. Open semifinalist and #21-seeded Jennifer Brady, in a match as good as its especially beautiful setting, was something special.

Amazingly, with time having seemingly been warped (and tied in a knot) due to the pandemic and tennis/life shutdown in the months that followed, it's only been *eight months* (though it seems like twice as long, at least) since Denmark's lone grand slam singles champion and former #1 Caroline Wozniacki retired from the sport in Melbourne, closing out what will eventually be honored as a Hall of Fame career. Tauson was always seen as the heir apparent to Caro as her nation's standard bearer in the women's game, but it's not likely many expected such a big stage introduction to the sporting masses, especially if they maybe hadn't yet noticed her slowly beginning to emerge from Wozniacki's shadow since the start of the year.

But that's just what happened.



While Brady's rise up the ranks in 2020, most notably since the Restart, has played out under a virtual spotlight, Tauson's has taken place on tennis' "undercard." She came into today having already climbed into the Top 200, the youngest player (behind only Gauff) in the Top 350 women's players in the world, and having gone 7-3 in ITF circuit finals since 2017. Tauson had only played in one tour-level main draw match before setting up her 1st Round RG appointment due to her qualifying run last week (which included a win over one of 2020's most improved players, Elisabetta Cocciaretto), had played just three Top 100 players in her career (#69 Evgeniya Rodina, #78 Zarina Diyas and #99 Nao Hibino over the last year and a half, as well as having caught Elena Rybakina just *before* her surge into the Top 100 in the summer of '19) and her best win was over then-#136 Anna-Lena Friedsam in the 2nd Round of a $25K challenger in February. So today was a big step up, and the kid handled it brilliantly.

Against the big-hitting Bannerette, whose form three weeks ago wouldn't have shocked anyone to have been accompanied with *her* winning the U.S. Open crown rather than the player who (barely) beat her (Naomi Osaka), Tauson was shoulder-to-shoulder throughout, didn't blink in the big moments (well, maybe *once* sorta-kinda), and kept up with Brady's power with equally stinging shots of her own, as well as moving her oppenent around the court with lobs and drop shots. It was part Bianca Andreescu and part, well, Wozniacki herself.

It wasn't a case of an off-form Brady, either. Brady played well, but was still ultimately *out*-played.

Having held an early 3-1 edge in the 1st set, the Dane saw Brady get things back on serve. But a late break of the former UCLA star gave Tauson the set at 6-4. Brady grabbed the early break lead in the 2nd at 3-1, and held it to win 6-3 and knot the match.



Brady seemed to have finally seized control in the 3rd, leading 4-2. But she couldn't escape Tauson, who didn't hold back, never played it "safe" and instead went for her shots with aggressive forehands, moves toward the net and several lob/drop shot combos that kept the scrambling Brady on the end of a tether. Essentially, the teenager played the sort of hybrid game that so many, for oh so long, wished to see from Wozniacki, who *eventually* decided to "go there" long enough to forever change how her career would be perceived by the Numbers Guys of history, grabbing her long awaited slam crown to go, before she left out the back door.

Tauson broke back and got the 3rd set to 4-3, then held as the score was tied at 5-5. To Brady's credit, she carved out opportunites to end the proceedings, holding two MP on the Dane's serve at 6-5 but being unable to put them away due to the teenager's refusal to buckle under the pressure of the moment.



Holding for 6-6, Tauson broke Brady's serve and soon found herself up 40/15 at 7-6. On her third MP chance, she easily raced to a Brady drop shot, but tried to be a little too fine with her response (she seemed to have anticipated the shot quickly enough to have time to whack the ball for a winner) and didn't get the ball over the net.

But rather than dwell on a lost opportunity (something which needlessly occurred with a player in *another* match today), Tauson dug in. She saved one BP, but saw Brady display a series of remarkable defensive gets of her blasted groundstrokes until the Dane finally missed, breaking to tie the score again at 7-7.

Finally, in game #15, Tauson broke on her third BP chance and had another opportunity to serve out the match. After going up 30/love, she saved a BP with a glorious, spinning-to-get-the-maximum-effort-behind-the-shot, rally-ending forehand down the line. On her fifth MP of the day, Tauson put in a big serve that Brady couldn't get back over the net, ending the exciting (but still remarkably tidy due to its high level of play) 6-4/3-6/9-7 match in a bit under 3:00.

Clearly, it's the match of the women's event so far at this Roland Garros, and would seem to stand up against the best we've seen in the Restart (including that Osaka/Brady semi in NYC), and maybe in the whole of the 2020 season to date.



Next up for Tauson is another former U.S. star with a big-time NCAA past, and also a one-time slam semifinalist, in Virginia's Danielle Collins.

With her maiden tour-level win in her slam debut, in her just second career WTA main draw appearance, Tauson instantly now goes from possible heir apparent to The New Dane on the Block, and one perhaps (or perhaps not, as only time will tell) armed with a different, more risk-taking, mentality than her predecessor that could make for a very interesting ride over the course of time.

The new kid is alright... and another Danish tennis tale has officially begun.




=DAY 3 NOTES=
...on a day when the sun (well, a few times, I think) finally shined in Paris, #2-seed Karolina Pliskova found herself in an unexpected battle on Chatrier to keep the sun from prematurely setting on her 2020 Roland Garros experience.



Egyptian qualifier Mayer Sherif (#172), becoming the first representing her nation to *ever* play a slam MD match, very nearly took the ultimate advantage of her big stage opportunity. Ralling from 5-4 down in the 1st, saving three SP, the former Pepperdine star served for the set in her own right at 6-5. She was broken by Pliskova, then fell behind 6-3 in the tie-break, only to rally once again. Sherif saved five more SP in the TB, and finally claimed the 1st set when the Czech missed long with an overhead smash, giving the Egyptian an 11-9 win.



Pliskova grabbed an early break lead in the 2nd and carried in out to a 6-2 win, as the memory of Sherif's first career tour-level MD appearance in Prague early in the Restart suddenly had new legs. There, Sherif had claimed the 1st set against Laura Siegemund, only to see the match suspended for the night at 6-4/0-4. She ultimately lost to the German 4-6/6-0/6-1.

In the 3rd, Pliskova was forced to pull out the "big guns" to pull ahead.



On her fifth BP chance of game #7, the Czech finally took a 4-3 at the end of a nearly 12-minute game, then followed up with a love hold. Two games later, Pliskova served out the 6-7(9)/6-2/6-4 victory.



While the Czech got the win today, her form in the Restart has been spotty, to say the least. Her horrible, didn't-look-ready-to-play performance at the U.S. Open led to her 2nd Round ouster in New York as the #1 seed. Here, after having rebounded by reaching the Rome final (but being unable to finish it due to injury), her draw is potentially dicey, with a former RG champion up next, another RG finalist just around the corner, and at least one significant dark horse lurking in her section. If she's to make the second week, this sort of performance isn't likely going to cut it for very much longer.

...so who's the former Roland Garros champion up next for Pliskova? Well, I'll give you one guess.



All right, I suppose I made that one a little *too* easy, huh? Oh, well.

Anyway, on September 29, 2020, Alona Ostapenko recorded her first win in Paris in the nearly *twenty-eight* months since she shocked Simona Halep in the 2017 Roland Garros women's final. She'd lost the last two years in the 1st Round.

Now being coached by Thomas Hogstedt, last week Ostapenko talked about her "more conservative" approach hopefully allowing her to clean up her game and be less streaky in what are her generally pretty wild matches. Well, I *guess* she did that today, by her standards. By that I mean that while she still had 37 unforced errors (w/ 8 DF) in just fifteen games played today, it *was* a number fewer than her very 2017-like 46 winners over the same brief stretch of action against Madison Brengle. She faced *17* break points in the match, but saved 15 of them in the 6-2/6-1 victory.

Tennis beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.



It might be worth noting that Ostapenko's 2017 rush was somewhat foreshadowed that season by a *near* win (10-8 3rd set) over Pliskova at the Australian Open. The Latvian trails the head-to-head with the Czech 3-2, but she's gone 2-1 against her (with the loss a three-setter on indoor clay in Stuttgart in '18) since that AO defeat.

...meanwhile, the player who defeated Ostapenko in last week's Strasbourg QF (in two TB), Nao Hibino, recorded her first career RG win today, dominating qualifier Marta Kostyuk, 6-4/6-0. #14-seed Elena Rybakina, who defeated Hibino in the Strasbourg semis, did the same against Sorana Cirstea, winning 6-0/6-3 to win *her* first career RG MD match.

...when rain *did* stop play on the outside courts for a while on Day 3, all eyes shifted to Kristina Mladenovic and Laura Siegemund under the roof on Chatrier. And that was just the *start* of the problems.

In her first match since blowing that 6-1/5-1 (and 4 MP) lead against Varvara Gracheva in the 2nd Round of the U.S. Open, then being pulled from the doubles and put into quarantine in NYC (while she kicked and screamed about it on social media) after that poor decision to play cards with a COVID-postive tested Benoit Paire at Flushing Meadows, Mladenovic again found herself in an advantageous position against an opponent. And again she found a way to lose, this time in straight sets despite having led 5-1 in the 1st set and failing to cash in on seven SP chances.

Well, technically, Mladenovic only failed to cash in on *six* SP chances, as she *did* get one. But a double-bounce just wasn't called by chair umpire Eva Asderaki (or Siegemund).



Siegemund ended up battling back against a distracted Mladenovic, breaking to take the set and then pulling away in the 2nd to win 7-5/6-3.

Naturally, the uncalled double-bounce became the story of the match, though to pin the loss on that, or Mladenovic's lingering upset over her U.S. Open experience, wrongly gives her a pass on having blown what was a 5-1 lead here and six *other* SP chances. And as we saw with the Gracheva match, winning the 1st set wouldn't have meant Mladenovic would still be in this event.

Think of it this way, if it was an instance with one of her opponents in the not too distant past, Mladenovic might have chalked up their inability to close to not being intelligent, well-schooled, patriotic or professional enough (take your pick) to keep things in order in their not-as-brilliant-as-that-of-Kiki's mind. Or maybe they came from lesser stock and weren't brought up "the correct way" (i.e. the same way Kiki was, apparently).

Remember...?



Should the call have been made? Of course. An umpire just can't miss that. Should Siegemund have made the call against herself? Maybe, but it's not *required*... and if she had, it would have been *way* out of character for the German to have done so. Laura's not there to be nice, she's there to win, by hook or by crook. Even Kiki seemed to sense that, as she said afterward that she didn't expect Siegemund to make the call, and blamed Asderaki.

Still, she led 5-1 and had six other SP, and wasn't able to win the 2nd set to force a 3rd. Just sayin'. In some dastardly form, "Karmic Kiki" seems to still be walking the earth, looking to inflict additional despair due to poor judgments from the past.

...#4 Sofia Kenin, who's been curiously uneven between the lines in the Restart, rode a similar eyebrowing-raising rollercoaster today Russian Liudmila Samsonova. In her first match since being embarrassingly double-bageled in Rome by Vika Azarenka, the AO champ claimed a 6-4 1st set from the Hordette before play was delayed, then quickly fell behind 3-0 in the 2nd once the two returned to court. After dropping the set 6-3, Kenin fell down a break at 2-0 in the 3rd, as well. But as the Russian's error count increased, Kenin seized control to take the set 6-3.

A year ago, Kenin posted what was really her first *big* career win over Serena Williams in the 3rd Round in Paris. It was actually her *third* career Top 10 victory, but it signaled what turned out to be a career-changing stretch for the then 20-year old. In addition to her maiden slam win and rise to #4 (in March), she's added five additional Top 10 wins since, including three over #1-ranked players.

...qualifier Irina Bara's straight sets upset of #26 Donna Vekic officially closed the books on qualifiers in the 1st Round, making it a total of seven who advanced.

As far as seeded players, twelve failed to make it out of the 1st Round. Just three lost at the U.S. Open in their opening match.

Late in the afternoon on Tuesday, #19 Alison Riske went down and out, as has been her wont for much of 2020, but not until Julia Goerges nearly had a Mladenovic-like collapse.

The German, recently back from injury and playing in just her second Restart match (though since she got just a single game off Danka Kovnic in Rome, does that one really "count?"), led the Bannerette 6-3/4-0. She served at 5-3, and held three MP in the 2nd before Riske ended up forcing a TB (and winning it 7-4).

Given a reprieve, Riske quickly fell down a break again to start the 3rd, but got it back a game later. But that was it. Goerges swept the final five games to win 6-3/6-7(4)/6-1, dropping Riske to 1-5 in the Restart and 1-7 since reaching the Australian Open Round of 16 in January (she lost to Ash Barty). Riske had started 2020 by winning five of her first six matches Down Under (a run which included a win in Melbourne over Goerges).

...Mladenovic didn't join the Pastry group of Caroline Garcia, Alize Cornet and Clara Burel in the 2nd Round today, but Palermo champ Fiona Ferro did with a win over Heather Watson. In the live rankings, Ferro is now one win away from passing Mladenovic as the top-ranked French woman. Mladenovic is currently #44, with Ferro at #45, just 8 points back. Of course, there's also Garcia, who stands at #46, just 2 points behind Ferro.

Wild card Pastry Harmony Tan was defeated in quick 2 & 1 fashion by Dasha Kasatkina, who apparently has recovered from turning her ankle in Rome. The win ends the Russian's four-match slam MD losing streak, and at least pushes her in the right direction after she was 1-6 in majors since the start of the 2019 season, after having reached back-to-back QF at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in '18 en route to a Top 10 season.

Kasatkina came into Paris ranked just #71.



...with the 1st Round complete, it's time for the usual awards.

The Upset Queens/Revolution Ladies races are heated. Some contenders:

AUS: Gavrilova (def. #24 Yastremska), Sharma (LL win over Blinkova)
CAN/MEX: Bouchard/CAN, Fernandez/CAN (def. #31 Linette) and Zarazua/MEX through
FRA: Burel (def. Rus), Cornet, Ferro and Garcia (def. #17 Kontaveit) getting wins
ITA: Paolini & Trevisan (Q) first slam wins, and Errani (Q) through
ROU: 5 non-Simona wins from Bara (def. #26 Vekic), Begu (def. Teichmann), Bogdan and Tig
SLO: Hercog and Juvan (def. #17 Kerber) through; Zidansek nearly upset #11 Muguruza
USA: Gauff (def. #9 Konta), McHale (def. #22 Muchova) and Pera in the group advancing

I'll go with the Romanians for RL, and the Aussies (fresh off a Nation of Poors Souls non-run in New York) for UQ.

The NoPS (dis)honoree is a bit more complicated, though.

GBR: 0-2
GER: 2-4, with #17 Kerber ousted
SUI: 0-2, w/ no Bencic
UKR: 1-4 in the 1st Rd.

It appeared as if Germany might have this one wrapped up, but Siegemund's win offered a lifeline to the poor souls. Then Goerges looked as if she might blow that big lead against Riske, again wrapping up the dishonor. But then she pulled it together to win, giving Germany a 2-4 1st Round record. And that's not bad enough. Not only that, but Goerges and Siegemund play *each other* next, so one's going to the 3rd Round, too.

As the only two nations winless with multiple players in the draw, neither Great Britain nor Switzerland came with *great* overall expectations to begin with. That leaves Ukraine, with the worst *win percentage* as Elina Svitolina was the only player to advance, with #24 Dayana Yastremska the one seed to fall.

It would *seem* that UKR will get this, but I'll hold off to see if something bigger ends up brewing in the 2nd Round. Russia (5-7 so far, and with big-win opportunities, but no "sure-thing" 2nd Round victories) or the U.S. (already w/ three seeds out), for example, might suffer enough in the next round to offer a better choice.

=1st Round Records by Nation=
8-11 - USA
6-3 - CZE
5-2 - ROU
5-7 - RUS
4-7 - FRA
3-0 - BLR
3-1 - ITA
2-0 - CAN
2-1 - KAZ,SLO
2-2 - AUS,BEL,ESP
2-4 - GER
1-0 - ARG,BUL,CHN,DEN,GRE,LAT,MEX,TPE,TUN
1-1 - CRO,EST,JPN,NED,POL,SVK
1-4 - UKR
0-1 - AUT,EGY,HUN,MNE,PUR,SRB,SWE
0-2 - GBR,SUI

...with the Final 64 set, my "unnamed semifinalists" (and quarterfinalists, too, actually) picks remain intact. While three of my Final 4 are double-digit seeds, I suppose it's worth noting that (along w/ one single-seeded player) my QF consist of *six* double-digit seeds and one unseeded competitor.

We'll see how *that* goes.





...DISLIKE ON DAY 3:
Just a note, but Roland Garros' social media at this slam is really crappy. Very few close-to-in-the-moment photos, GIFs or posts during (or even immediately after) matches on Twitter, and hours passing between things going up on Instagram. And let's not forget those continuing horrible "Question of the Day" instances this year... I'm expecting something like "Would You Bring an Umbrella with You on a Rainy Day at Roland Garros?" at any moment now.

During recent majors, Wimbledon has done quite a few intriguing things with video and animation, and the U.S. Open (even *this* year's, so 2020 is no excuse) and Australian Open are quite timely when it comes to updating and promoting the tournament. Which, you know, is sort of the point.

When one is looking for results posts and/or photos/videos from a major for embedding purposes, one shouldn't have to do searches on Twitter to find *anything* usable. I'm just sayin'.

...LIKE ON DAY 3:


...GEN PDQ NOTES ON DAY 3:


...LIKE ON DAY 3:

Don't worry. Based on today, the new Dane will have more moments like this.




...THERE HAS TO BE A TENNIS COMP PERTAINING TO PERSERVERANCE IN HERE SOMEWHERE ON DAY 3:

Maybe when Jana Novotna finally won Wimbledon...


...SHOOT FIRST, ASK QUES-... WELL, JUST SHOOT THROUGH YOUR OWN WINDSHIELD, APPARENTLY ON DAY 3:


...KIKI TRYING TO DO BATTLE WITH THE "KARMIC KIKI" DEMONS ON DAY 3:

TRANSLATION:
My month of September
(Woman shrugging/Confounded face/Exploding head/Face screaming in fear/Face with rolling eyes emojis)
Can't wait for 2020 to end! Thank you for your support.
Hope to see you all again next year @rolandgarros
(Crossed fingers emoji) !
Take care of yourself. What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger
(Folded Hands/Flexed Biceps emojis)




...REMINDER ON DAY 3:


And it's easy. See (actual ballot)...




...(checks)... YEP, SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT ON DAY 3:


...LIKE ON DAY 3:


So, I guess now you-know-who and his enablers and syncophants will attack Sully for being unpatriotic, "fake," etc. That's where we are.


...A QUIBBLE ON DAY 3:



Rolex's most recent tennis-related ad running during this RG is a good one, as it talks about the changes that have taken place in the sport since Rolex began its sponsorships. But when it says "the game's first superstar would be born" while showing images of Bjorn Borg, an issue *can* be made. Yes, the Swede was probably the first "superstar" of the Open era, but he wasn't "the game's" first superstar.

We know who *that* was. But, hey, they were only off by about 50 years.





"A woman's only sin is to be ill-dressed." - Suzanne Lenglen

With Helen Wills


With Mary Browne


News Article During Pro Tour












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kosova-font

*RG "REVELATION LADIES" WINNERS' NATION/REGION*
2006 France
2007 Italy
2008 Czech Republic
2009 Australia
2010 Germany
2011 North America
2012 France
2013 North America/Atlantic
2014 Spain
2015 Australia (The New Aussies)
2016 France
2017 Muslim women
2018 Romania
2019 Russia
2020 Romania

*RG "UPSET QUEENS" NATION/REGION*
2004 Ukraine
2005 France
2006 United States
2007 Romania
2008 Czech Republic
2009 Kazakhstan (ex-Russians)
2010 Australia
2011 Romania
2012 United States
2013 Slovak Republic
2014 France
2015 Croatia
2016 South America
2017 South America
2018 Ukraine
2019 Russia
2020 Australia

*2020 FIRST SLAM MD WINS*
=AO=
Paula Badosa, ESP
Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
Ann Li, USA
Greet Minnen, BEL
Elena Rybakina, KAZ
=US=
Ysaline Bonaventure, BEL
Leylah Fernandez, CAN
Varvara Gracheva, RUS
Katrina Scott, USA
Patricia Maria Tig, ROU
=RG=
Irina Bara, ROU
Clara Burel, FRA
Jasmine Paolini, ITA
Nadia Podoroska, ARG
Kamilla Rakhimova, RUS
Clara Tauson, DEN
Martina Trevisan, ITA
Renara Zarazua, MEX





TOP QUALIFIER: Mayar Sherif/EGY (first EGY woman in slam MD)
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: #17q Barbara Haas/AUT def. Diana Snigur/UKR 6-0/5-7/7-5 [Haas led 6-0/5-0 40/30, then DF; won on 4th MP on 5th attempt to serve out match]
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): Nominee: 1st Rd.- (Q)Tauson d. #21 Brady - 6-4/3-6/9-7 (slam debut; saved 2 MP, wins on #5)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Kamilla Rakhimova/RUS (def.Rogers/USA)
FIRST SEED OUT: #17 Anett Kontaveit/EST (1st Rd./Garcia)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Bara/ROU, Burel/FRA, Paolini/ITA, Podoroska/ARG, Rakhimova/RUS, Tauson/DEN, Trevisan/ITA, Zarazua/MEX
UPSET QUEENS: Australia
REVELATION LADIES: Romania
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: 1r wins: Bara, Errani, Podoroska, Rakhimova, Tauson, Trevisan, Zarazua (+LL Sharma)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: 1r wins: Bouchard, Burel, Pironkova
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: 1r wins: Gavrilova, AK.Schmiedlova
LAST PASTRY STANDING: 1r wins: Burel, Cornet, Ferro, Garcia
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT "??": Nominee: Tauson
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: Nominees: 2019 semifinalists (Barty DNP, Vondrousova and Konta out 1st Rd.)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Nominees: Muguruza (1st Rd.- down 3-0 in 1st/3rd vs. Zidansek, won both sets); Garcia (1st Rd.- down bk. twice in 3rd vs. Kontaveit; wins and #17 FSO); Burel (1st Rd.- Rus for match in 2nd set); Tauson (1st Rd.- saved 2 MP vs. Brady)
DOUBLES STAR: xx
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
Légion de Lenglen HONOREE: Nominee: Chatrier court roof; Parisian "winter fashion scene"; Kristina Mladenovic (it's always *something*)
LADY OF THE EVENING: potential award in first year where night tennis possible
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: Simona Halep/ROU [not able to be awarded on LPT Day/June 1, Justine Henin's birthday -- but Halep wins on Day 1 on *her* own birthday]




All for Day 3. More tomorrow.
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