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Friday, October 2, 2020

RG.6- Caro Flies the Friendly French Skies

Perhaps Caroline Garcia should lobby the FFT to only allow 1000 fans through the gates at *every* Roland Garros. It seems to be working for her so far.



Years ago, remember, Garcia felt so much pressure on the show courts in front of the big crowds that she requested that the French tennis federation *not* schedule her for her home major's largest stage, Court Chatrier. A lot has changed since then, though.

Garcia has picked up seven tour titles since 2014, won the '16 Roland Garros doubles crown (w/ Kristina Mladenovic) and led France to the Fed Cup final. In 2017, she reached her maiden slam QF in Paris in a career year that saw her put on a furious 4Q run that included five Top 10 wins and two high level Premier titles in China (Wuhan and Beijing) that lifted her into the season-ending Top 10. By the next fall, she was ranked in the Top 5.

Garcia has had a hard time maintaining that sort of level of play, and has sometimes found herself dragged into the middle of squabbles with several of her French tour/team mates. She nearly finished 2019 outside the Top 50 (#45), but still helped lead the French squad to the Fed Cup title last November in Australia.

After a slow 4-6 start to 2020, Garcia has seen a significant uptick in her results since the Restart. In New York, she upset former U.S. Open champ Sloane Stephens, then top-seeded Karolina Pliskova at the U.S. Open (her 17th career Top 10 win, but her first in a major). This week at Roland Garros, a rare slam in recent years with *no* French women amongst the seeded singles players, Garcia has nonetheless shined. She eliminated the first seed to fall (#17 Anett Kontaveit) on Day 1.

It was on Day 6, though, that Garcia took her turn in the true spotlight. With rain closing down play on the outside courts while she played on... yes, on *Chatrier*... Garcia had one of her finest, if not *the* finest slam moment of her singles career against #16-seeded Belgian Elise Mertens.

After dropping the 1st set to the Waffle, Garcia pulled off what was the key break of the match when she took a 5-4 lead, then held to even the match. What followed was a case of the 26-year old Pastry -- in front of a small but very invested crowd in the oddly open-but-intimate setting -- seizing the momentum, the moment *and* the match with some superior serving and aggressive tactics.

Garcia carried over her late 2nd set run by taking a 2-0 lead in the deciding set. With Mertens getting off to a slow start, the French woman led 3-1. Mertens rebounded to keep on Garcia's heels, but had a hard time carving into the Pastry's serve. In the 3rd set alone, Garcia fired off four aces and 18 winners, had a 79% first serve percentage and won 8 of 13 points at the net.

Serving at 5-4 for her third Round of 16 appearance in Paris in four years, Garcia blasted a 113-mph ace (her fastest of the day) to take a 30/15 lead. A rally-ending crosscourt forehand winner gave her a MP. But winning isn't always easy. Garcia failed to convert that MP, nor two others in the game. After being broken for 5-5, though, Garcia rose to the moment. Moving Mertens from corner to corner, the Pastry came in to the net and put away a high backhand volley to break and have another chance to serve out the match.

At 30/30, Garcia tried to be a touch too fine on a volley attempt and short-armed her shot, taking just enough pace off the ball to allow Mertens to race across the baseline and get back a high reply. An out of position Garcia stretched for an awkward high volley, but pushed the ball long to fall down BP. She saved it with a series of deep shots that brushed up against the lines to secure a rally one point later.

Now with a touch of momentum back on her side, Garcia soon had her fourth MP. She badly flied a forehand, but was hardly bowed by the miss. Instead, she took a deep breath, stepped up to the baseline, and fired a 114-mph ace to give herself a fifth MP. Which she promptly double-faulted away with just her second DF of the match.

But the French woman *still* refused to let the moment go. After sliding in a wide ace to reach MP for a sixth time, Garcia finally saw a Mertens backhand go long to give the Pastry a 1-6/6-4/7-5 victory.



And with that, after previously having wanted to bypass Chatrier entirely, Garcia suddenly turned its terre battue surface into her personal "Fly with Caro" runway.



It's been a long time coming, but it was surely one of the rides of her life.





=DAY 6 NOTES=
...last year, Simona Halep's notions of defending her 2018 Roland Garros title were shut down in unceremonious fashion by a then 17-year old Amanda Anisimova, as the Bannerette bounced her from the draw in the QF by a 2 & 4 score. Well, in today's rematch on the terre battue, the Romanian called up her "inner Serena" and proved that she, too, has a long memory.

*And* that she's very good at giving birthday presents.



The #1 seed this year, with a shot to once more become the WTA's #1 player with a title run (replacing Ash Barty, who'd defeated Anisimova in the semis and then won the title in '19), Halep took her now 19-year old opponent to the proverbial "woodshed" in the 3rd Round today. While this one won't likely top Halep's win over the aforementioned Serena Williams in last year's Wimbledon final as her one "perfect" match, it should probably be included in the index at the back of the book on her career, as after #25 Anisimova had dropped just two games in her first two matches at this RG, she *won* just one on Friday.

In just fifty-four minutes, Halep simply "played through" the teenager, winning 6-0/6-1 to extend her career-best winning streak to 17 matches. She's surrendered a total of twelve games through the first three rounds this week in Paris, further solidifying her "favorite" status, and maybe even escalating it more than just a bit.



If the love & 1 scoreline sounds familiar when it comes to Halep in Paris, it *should*. That's the same score by which she defeated another teenager, Iga Swiatek, in last year's Round of 16.

Speaking of...

...also on Day 6, wild card Genie Bouchard's comeback run was stopped today by Swiatek, the 19-year old Pole who had her breakthrough slam run in Paris almost a year and a half ago in her RG debut.

Swiatek grabbed an early break lead in both the 1st and 2nd sets against the Canadian. In both instances. Bouchard broke back to get things back on serve, but then found herself unable to hold off the teenager. After breaking for a 3-2 lead in the 1st, Swiatek ended the 6-3 set with another break of serve. After having led 2-0 in 2nd, only to see Bouchard knot the score at 2-2, Swiatak again recalimed a break edge at 4-2, then broke serve to end the match, winning 6-3/6-2 to reach her third career slam Round of 16 in her total of seven MD appearances at a major.



Swiatek gets Halep again in this year's Round of 16.

...#3 Elina Svitolina has had some issues at this Roland Garros, dropping serve eleven times through the first two rounds, but she's found a way to fight through them. Varvara Gracheva played a good 1st Rounder against her, then Renata Zarazua pushed her to three sets (w/ a love 2nd) before the Ukrainian finally seized control. Against #27-seeded Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova today, Svitolina often found herself being out-hit on the ground (Alexandrova had three times as many winners in the match, but also nearly 50 UE), but was consistently able to win the big points.

Alexandrova held a BP on Svitolina's serve in the opening game of the match. She didn't put it away and, as it turned out, she wouldn't get another chance at one the entire set. Through the first nine games, the Hordette hadn't allowed a BP on her own serve, either. In that game #9, Svitolina held through three deuces in the 12-point game to take a 5-4 lead. Then, with the set in the balance, Alexandrova came up small, falling down love/40 in the following game and being broken as Svitolina claimed a 6-4 set.

A little late, Alexandrova finally broke Svitolina to open the 2nd set, but then immediately gave the break back. The bulk of the rest of the set saw both servers (mostly the Russian) stave off opporturtunities by the returner to get an edge. Alexandrova saved a BP to hold for 2-2, then Svitolina (who'd led 40/15) saved a BP a game later. Alexandrova saved another BP in game #6, then two more in game #8. Svitolina was taken to deuce in game #9 after having led 40/15, but held. Two games later, Svitolina again led 40/15 on serve, but eventually had to save a BP en route to holding in a 14-point, 8-minute game.

Then, again, with the set/match on the line, Alexandrova had her worst service game of the set. She was quickly broken at 15, giving Svitolina the final note in a 6-4/7-5 win, as last week's Strasbourg champ reached her first Round of 16 in Paris since that big blown lead against Simona Halep in the '17 QF.



...meanwhile, after big wins over Venus and Vika, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova went out in rather quiet fashion in the 3rd Round today. Oh, Schmiedy. But also... oh, Nadia!



Nadia Podoroska, the 23-year old qualifier who has been piling up wins in under-the-radar fashion since January, handled AKS 6-3/6-2 to advance to her first career slam Round of 16. She's the first woman from Argentina to accomplish the feat in Paris since Gisela Dulko in 2011, and the win will give her her Top 100 breakthrough after this Roland Garros.

Podoroska is now 39-6 on all pro levels in 2020. She's won 11 straight, and 16 of 17 since late August. Amazingly, she's played 24 matches in the Restart, going 20-4.

...later, the (quiet, compared to NYC) run of wild card Tsvetana Pironkova at this slam came to an end today as the Bulgarian was defeated by Czech Barbora Krejcikova, a player whose greatest moments have come in doubles but who has steadfastly *not* given up on her singles tennis dreams.

Krejcikova took the early break advantage in all three sets vs. Pironkova today. Pironkova immediately broke back in the 1st, then broke Krejcikova to claim the set. But the Czech didn't surrender her 3-1 leads in the other two sets. In the 3rd, Krejcikova held for 5-3, then quickly grabbed a love/40 lead on Pironkova's serve in the following game. On her third MP, she ended the 5-7/6-4/6-3 contest.

Afterward, Krejcikova dedicated her win, as she did at Wimbledon when she won the doubles title in 2018, to the late Czech Hall of Famer Jana Novotna. Novotna has spent some time as Krejcikova's coach before she died of cancer in November 2017, and clearly continues to inspire her. Today would have been Novotna's 52nd birthday.



Krejcikova will face Podoroska for a spot in the quarterfinals. Both are now set to make their Top 100 breakthroughs following this RG.



...#5 Kiki Bertens seemed none the worse for wear two days after her crazy crampin-&-cussin' contest against Sara Errani. With the sound of Errani likely arching her eyebrow *somewhere* out there, Bertens' win over Katerina Siniakova was never really in doubt. She won out 6-2/6-2 over the Czech, reaching the Round of 16 in Paris for the third time, but the first since her 2016 semifinal run.



...in the final women's 3rd Rounder of the day, Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan, who we've now come to know triumphed over a long battle with an eating disorder as a teenager after her father was diagnosed with a degenerative disease, saved two MP en route to staging a comeback nighttime win over #20-seeded Maria Sakkari.



After having dropped the 1st set, Trevisan had taken a 3-0 lead in the 2nd, and served at 5-2, holding a SP before being broken. She held another SP on Sakkari's serve a game later (the Greek saved it), then served for the set again at 5-4. The Italian was broken again, but two games later did manage to hold while serving to stay in the match down 5-6, forcing a TB. There, she staved off two Sakkari MP from 6-4, then converted her own third SP to win the breaker 8-6.

The two exchanged breaks early in the 3rd, but it was Trevisan who then surged ahead, jumping out to a 4-1 lead. Serving at 5-3, the 26-year old stared down a BP, but finally put away the win on her third MP chance, winning 1-6/7-6(6)/6-2.



Having started this event ranked #144, Trevisan's new career-high rank will be (so far) somewhere around #106. She'll play Bertens in the Round of 16.

...in doubles, most of "the usuals" advanced, including #5 Dabrowski/Ostapenko, #6 Peschke/Schuurs, #9 Kenin/Mattek-Sands and #10 Carter/Stefani. But the U.S. Open champs, #12 Siegemund/Zvonareva, retired vs. Melichar/Swiatek (like the two vets were in NYC, a unique slam combo w/ so many players, including Melichar's usual partner Xu Yifan, not in Paris) after the 1st set.

...my "unnamed quarterfinalists" are taking hits (#10 Azarenka, #14 Rybakina, #16 Mertens, #20 Sakkari and Cornet have exited), but the three who are still alive in the draw were also among my four semifinalist picks.




=WOMEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16=
#1 Simona Halep/ROU v. Iga Swiatek/POL
(Q) Martina Trevisan/ITA v. #5 Kiki Bertens/NED
#3 Elina Svitolina/UKR v. Caroline Garcia/FRA
(Q) Nadia Podoroska/ARG v. Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
x v. x
x v. x
x v. x
x v. x


=WOMEN'S DOUBLES ROUND OF 16=
x/x vs. #14 Guarachi/Krawczyk (CHI/USA)
#10 Carter/Stefani (USA/BRA) v. #7 Aoyama/Shibahara (JPN/JPN)
x/x v. x/x
Melichar/Swiatek (USA/POL) v. #6 Peschke/Schuurs (USA/NED)
#8 V.Kudermetova/Sh.Zhang (RUS/CHN) v. #9 Kenin/Mattek-Sands (USA/USA)
#13 Kuzmova/Kr.Pliskova (SVK/CZE) v. x/x
#5 Dabrowski/Ostapenko (CAN/LAT) v. Kostyuk/Sasnovich (UKR/BLR)
Mitu/Tig (ROU/ROU) v. x/x






...AND ON OCTOBER 2nd... ON DAY 6:


...*NOW* WE'RE IN THIS "TOGETHER"... ON DAY 6:


But as 7 million *other* U.S. citizens were infected, and with 200,000 dying over 7+ months, it was fun to call it "a hoax," mock mask wearers and cram untested/unmasked people into small areas for personal gratification. Okay.


via GIPHY



...(clears throat) ON DAY 6:


...OKEY-DOKEY ON DAY 6:


...THE TALE OF MOPPS AND BROOMS ON DAY 6:


...SIGH... ON DAY 6:


...NOW *THAT'S* A MASK!! ON DAY 6:









The thrill of victory (Lenglen after winning her first Wimbledon in 1919, w/ Papa on the right)...



...and to the victor go the spoils (Ostapenko with the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen outside Court Lenglen in 2017)













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Till next time Paris ??.....

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*FRENCH WOMEN IN RG ROUND OF 16*
[since last FRA finalist]
1994 Mary Pierce (RU), Julie Halard, Alexia Dechaume-Balleret
1995 Mary Pierce
1996 -
1997 Mary Pierce
1998 Sandrine Testud
1999 Julie Halard-Decugis
2000 Amelie Mauresmo, Mary Pierce
2001 Sandrine Testud
2002 Amelie Mauresmo, Mary Pierce
2003 Amelie Mauresmo
2004 Amelie Mauresmo
2005 Mary Pierce
2006 Amelie Mauresmo
2007 Marion Bartoli
2008 -
2009 Virginie Razzano, Aravane Rezai
2010 -
2011 Marion Bartoli
2012 -
2013 -
2014 Pauline Parmentier
2015 Alize Cornet
2016 -
2017 Alize Cornet, Caroline Garcia, Kristina Mladenovic
2018 Caroline Garcia
2019 -
2020 Caroline Garcia
--
NOTE: Clara Burel and Fiona Ferro to play 3rd Rd.

*ARGENTINES IN RG ROUND OF 16 - Open Era*
1969 Racquel Giscafre
1970 Ana Maria Arias
1974 Racquel Giscafre (SF)
1974 Elvira Weisenberger
1975 Racquel Giscafre (QF)
1978 Viviana Gonzalez
1980 Ivanna Madruga (QF)
1982 Ivanna Madruga
1983 Ivanna Madruga
1985 Gabriela Sabatini (SF)
1986 Mercedes Paz
1986 Gabriela Sabatini
1987 Gabriela Sabatini (SF)
1988 Bettina Fulco (QF)
1988 Gabriela Sabatini (SF)
1989 Gabriela Sabatini
1990 Mercedes Paz
1990 Gabriela Sabatini
1991 Gabriela Sabatini (SF)
1992 Gabriela Sabatini (SF)
1993 Gabriela Sabatini (QF)
1994 Ines Gorrochategui (QF)
1995 Gabriela Sabatini (QF)
2002 Clarisa Fernandez (SF)
2002 Paola Suarez (QF)
2004 Paola Suarez (SF)
2006 Gisela Dulko
2011 Gisela Dulko
2020 NADIA PODOROSKA





TOP QUALIFIER: Mayar Sherif/EGY (first EGY woman in slam MD)
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #25 Amanda Anisimova/USA (lost 4 games)
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): 1st Rd.- (Q) Clara Tauson/DEN def. #21 Jennifer Brady/USA - 6-4/3-6/9-7 (17/slam debut; saved 2 MP, wins on MP #5)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): Nominee; 3r-Garcia d. #16 Mertens
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: United States (4 of 7 seeds failed to reach 3r, Serena w/d 2r, US QF/SF Rogers & Brady 1r, Venus 1r, Gauff 2r w/ 19 DF)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: In 3r: Bara, Podoroska(W), Trevisan(W) (+LL Sharma-2nd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: In 3r: Bouchard(L), Burel, Pironkova(L)
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: Gavrilova/AUS (2r), AK.Schmiedlova/SVK (3r)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: In 3r: Burel, Ferro, Garcia(W)
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT "New Dane on the Block": Clara Tauson/DEN
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominee: Schmiedlova, Ostapenko
CRASH & BURN: 2020 U.S. Open semifinalists (Osaka DNP; Brady out 1st Rd., Serena w/d 2nd Rd., Azarenka upset 2nd Rd. within 24 hrs. on Day 3/4)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Kiki Bertens/NED (2nd Rd.: injured; Errani up a break 5 times in 3rd, served for match 3 times, 1 MP at 6-5; 3:11; collapses and wheeled off court after 9-7 win)
DOUBLES STAR: xx
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): xx
LADY OF THE EVENING: Martina Trevisan/ITA
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
Légion de Lenglen HONOREE: Court Chatrier roof (and night tennis) debuts
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 6. More tomorrow.
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