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Sunday, October 4, 2020

RG.8- Świątek Iga-nites

News reports stated that the Romanian was blindsided, hit with the sort of force that is said to leave one breathless. Some witnesses believe that they caught a glimpse of the license plate of the vehicle in question, with multiple individuals saying that it read "IGA."

Perhaps of some note (or perhaps not), to a person, *all* of them, when they noted the detail, couldn't help themselves... uttering "whatever that means" under their breath while simultaneously shaking their head as they remembered the encounter, as if trying to reconcile their daily existence with what they'd seen play out before their own eyes. The experience seemed to have shaken them to their very core. Still, each witness expressed an intense desire to return to the scene in hopes of seeing such a sight again.


Through the first week of this Roland Garros, 2020's third and final slam played out like either, a) a coronation prior to #1-seeded former champion Simona Halep being crowned a three-time major title winner or, b) a come-one-come-all festival during which all of the 64 players in the bottom half of the draw would have the chance to take all those honors away from the Romanian next Saturday.

But all that changed on Sunday.



For the opening match of the Round of 16, Polish teenager Iga Swiatek arrived on Court Chatrier to begin play on Day 8 having decided that she was going to "step out of line" and make these proceedings all about her. And she did, too. The 19-year old, a year+ after being overwhelmed by the moment and posting just one game vs. Halep in the RG Round of 16, returned to the scene of that particular crime against her GenPDQ reputation and thumped the tournament favorite by delivering the sort of dominant performance that brings to mind how Petra Kvitova arrived at Wimbledon (an event at which Swiatek won the girls title just two years ago) nearly a decade ago and left large numbers of observers with grass stains on their chins.

Only this time it's the red dust of the terre battue that'll have to be cleaned off the skin covering the lower jaws of all the unsuspecting bystanders (this one included) who, while respecting Swiatek's abilities and expecting big things from her in the future, never in a million Sundays thought that she'd take down Halep by the tune of a 6-1/6-2 scoreline today. The lack of such a scenario being on the table wasn't a commentary on the young Pole, but instead a respect and admiration for the veteran ten years her senior.

Halep didn't venture from Europe during the Restart, skipping the U.S. Open in favor of preparing for Roland Garros, and her decision seemed to have been well thought out up until today. And it was. After all, she'd won a pair of clay titles and not lost a match, extending her pre-shutdown winning streak to a career-best 17 matches coming into Sunday. Halep had never seemed more confident and on her game as she has in recent weeks, a rarified bit of air in which to fly for a player whose entire career arc has been formed by her resilience and intensely heartening reactions to past failures which only hardened her resolve and made her ultimate success that much sweeter.

But today Swiatek took all that measure of control out of Halep's hands, and off her racket. The Romanian didn't play badly. She was just outplayed by a wide margin by a relative newcomer who now fully knows what she's capable of. Needless to say, it was one of the very best "do-overs" ever perpetrated on a tennis court without one Ms. Serena Williams being somehow involved.

Halep never really was allowed a doorway through which she could effectively enter today's match. She showed no moments of nervous questioning, nor overwhelming anger at her inability to find success. She committed just two UE in the 1st set. Yet Halep was throttled by Swiatek's power, aggression and shotmaking throughout. And while she valiantly tried to find a crack in the Pole's exterior today, she never did. Not even a tiny dent that she *might* be able to use as a point of entry.

From the outset, Swiatek was a force to be reckoned with. She broke Halep in the second game of the match, then held at love to take a 3-0 lead. After holding back a brief challenge (love/30) from Halep two games later, Swiatek maintained her break lead, then doubled it for a 5-1 bulge when Halep couldn't convert a GP and then dropped serve again. Swiatek served out the 1st at 6-1, finishing the set with a 17-4 edge in winners.

Showing no signs of slowing down, the teenager broke Halep to start the 2nd set, then once again consolidated her advantage with a love hold. The Romanian managed to avoid being swamped early, holding serve to end an 18-point game in which she saved four BP. But two games later, the persistent Swiatek was on her back yet again, breaking Halep (who had a GP) on her sixth BP opportunity to take a 4-1 lead. The break effectively snuffed out the #1 seed's last gasp effort to hang on. Halep clung to some seemingly far off measure of hope a bit longer, holding serve after seeing a 40/love lead go to a deuce point, but the Pole put a quick end to things with a hold of her own, winning 6-1/6-2 in 1:08, firing 30 winners (to 12 for Halep) on the day while carving out 14 BP chances (w/ four conversions) on the Romanian's serve but never facing a single one on her own. Swiatek won 81% of her first serve points.



Halep, who now won't return to #1 after this slam, seemed to understand afterward that she likely had little say in the outcome of today's match. Now nearly 30, and having accomplished *almost* all of her career goals, her perspective has been hard-earned. These sorts of days tend to require a sense of humor -- and some chocolate, I guess -- in order to put them on the shelf.



Swiatek, meanwhile, has yet to lose a set at this Roland Garros, and she's dispatched some players with legit resumes at this event along the way -- '19 runner-up Marketa Vondrousova, resurgent ex-semifinalist Genie Bouchard, and now Halep for her first Top 10 win -- with sometimes brutal efficiency. All of her four matches have been wrapped up in less than an hour and a quarter of time on the court. As everyone else comes to grips with what Swiatek may be about to do in Paris, the question is whether *she* will be able to do the same in time to maybe, you know, actualy *win* this tournament.

"I remember how I played last year so I can just see that I made huge progress. I am proud of myself," the teenager said after her big win today.

Yeah. she *should* be.








=DAY 8 NOTES=
...while Swiatek was spreading her wings on Chatrier, Court Lenglen saw #5-seed Kiki Bertens' wings clipped by the continuation of the remarkable run of Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan.



A week ago, the world #159 had never won a main draw slam match (and had played just one, in Melbourne this year), and was just 1-16 (def. a #68-ranked Parmentier in a '16 challenger event) vs. players ranked in the Top 100. Flashforward to the second Sunday of this Roland Garros, and the previously unheralded 26-year old Trevisan has now recorded *four* straight victories over players ranked in the Top 75, is assured of making her own Top 100 breakthrough and just became the first qualifier in eight years to reach the QF in Paris.

Facing Bertens, a former RG semifinalist who battled through cramping to defeat Trevisan's countrywoman Sara Errani in the 2nd Round this week, the Italian burst out to a 5-1 lead in the 1st set. Bertens pulled herself back into the contest, closing to 5-4, and in game #10 she held a GP to knot the score. But Trevisan swept the final three points of the game to get the break and claim the set, taking the advantange by coming out on top in a 16-shot rally.

In the 2nd set, another Trevisan lead (3-0) was erased by Bertens (3-3), and the Dutch woman held a 15/40 edge on the Italian's serve to finally take her first lead. But Trevisan saved three BP to hold, then immediately broke Bertens at love to go up 5-3. Bertens got the break of serve to stay alive, but then slipped into a love/40 hole in her own service game. On her second MP, Trevisan floated a perfectly-executed lob over Bertens to end the 6-4/6-4 match and complete what was probably, tennis landscape-wise, a much bigger upset than the simple act of the on-the-rise Swiatek taking out Halep.



Trevisan will face Swiatek in the QF, assuring this RG of at least one unseeded semifinalist (though it's not necessarily out of the question that *all four* could be... it is 2020, after all).

...Trevisan's standing as the only qualifier to reach the final 8 in Paris since 2012 didn't last long for, of course at this Roland Garros, she was joined by *another* within a few hours time as Nadia Podoroska became the first woman from Argentina to reach a slam singles QF in sixteen years.



After splitting the first two sets with Czech Barbora Krejcikova, the 23-year old Podoroska seized control of the 3rd with an early break. She led 4-2 and didn't blink down the stretch, winning 2-6/6-2/6-3 with a match-ending drop shot winner.

The last Argentine to set foot on such ground in singles was Paola Suarez in 2004, when she was both the last woman from the nation to do it in a major (at Wimbledon) as well as the last at Roland Garros (she reached the semis).

Podoroska has tasted victory more than any other WTA player in 2020, as this win improves her record to 42-6 on all levels since the start of the year (slightly better than I'd thought last round, as the WTA site only includes one of her three Fed Cup wins from February in her season activity). As a qualifier, Podoroska (like Trevisan) has won seven straight matches in Paris, but she's actually won *12* in a row overall. She's 21-3 in the Restart.

...so, with both #1 Halep and #5 Bertens being upset before she took the court on Chatrier later in the afternoon, the stage has already clearly been set for #3 Elina Svitolina to possibly finally reach her maiden slam final. The top seed left in both the top *and* bottom of the draw, Swiatek's dominating turn today aside, Svitolina is the one player who remains who has actively challenged and looked capable of winning the title in Paris in recent years.

For today, at least, the Ukrainian kept her head up and did what she needed to do to move her so-far-star-crossed quest another round closer to becoming reality.

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Striving for more ?????? @rolandgarros

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Against Caroline Garcia, one of two French woman still alive in the draw at the start of the day, Svitolina never allowed Garcia to find her footing and possibly bring the small crowd in attendance into the conversation. She added to an early break in the 1st set by taking a double-break lead at 4-1 en route to a 6-1 win. Serving at 5-3 in the 2nd, Svitolina held to finish off her most complete match at this slam. Her reward is her first QF in Paris since she squandered a big lead in the Final 8 vs. Halep three years ago.



Considering her career-long consistency in finals -- 15-3 in WTA finals (including 5-1 in high-level Premier and two WTAF championship matches), 1-0 in WTA 125 events and 6-2 on the ITF level -- one would hope that Svitolina's "muscle memory" in such situations would kick in and, at the very least, we'd see her at her best should she get a chance to play for the title. If so, especially at this particular major, she'd likely be the favorite to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen against whomever she'd face off with next Saturday.

Getting that far might be the stumbling block for such a scenario, though, especially if the Swiatek that showed up today (and was rounding into form in the previous three rounds) is here to stay for the remainder of this Roland Garros.

...with the other half of the Round of 16 still to play, we're already assured of *at least* 21 different women filling the 24 slam quarterfinalist slots in 2020. Petra Kvitova, Sofia Kenin and Ons Jabeur all have a chance to become the first/only multi-slam QF players this season with Round of 16 victories. But with each loss (if there are any) from that trio on Monday, that 21 number will increase by one more.

...in doubles, another #1 seed on a long winning streak was shown the door on Day 8.



Hsieh Su-wei & Barbora Strycova have been the dominant WD duo in 2020. They came into today on a 14-match winning streak, and were 23-1 on the season, having reached the finals of all five of their previous events (going 4-1) as well as in last year's season-ending WTA Finals. But their 6-4/7-5 loss today to #14 Alexa Guarachi & Desirae Krawczyk means they'll be shut out when it comes to slam titles in '20. Their previous loss on the year came in the Australian Open final (to Babos/Mladenovc, now likely the favorites to win in Paris), and both decided to skip last month's U.S. Open.

Elsewhere, #16 Gauff/McNally lost to another all-Bannerette duo, Muhammad/Pegula, while #5 Dabrowski/Ostapenko fell to what sounds like a very entertaining pair: Marta Kostyuk & Aliaksandra Sasnovich. #2 Babos/Mladenovic, #7 Aoyama/Shibahara and #9 Kenin/Mattek-Sands all also advanced to the QF.

...junior play began on Sunday, with three girls seeds falling, including Bannerette Alexandra Yepifanova, the junior runner-up at last year's U.S. Open. She fell to Czech Linda Noskova.

Winners included top-seeded AO girls champ Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra, #2 Alexandra Eala (the Filipino won the AO girls doubles this year), Hordette #4 Polina Kudermetova (whose older sister Veronika got a career-ending WS win over Pauline Parmentier this week, as well as reaching the WD Round of 16 w/ Zhang Shuai), and #11-seeded Czech Linda Fruhvirtova (whose unseeded little sister Brenda, two years younger at 13, is also in the junior competition). Wild card Brenda will meet Ukraine's Daria Lopatetska in the 1st Round.

...in ITF action, Georgina Garcia Perez picked up her second Restart title with a 1-6/6-4/6-3 win in Porto over Portugal's Francisca Jorge. GGP defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia in the $25K challenger's semifinals. Haddad had been looking to reach her fifth straight final since her return from suspension. She's now 22-2 in the stretch, with both losses coming against the Spaniard.








=WOMEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16=
Iga Swiatek/POL def. #1 Simona Halep/ROU
(Q) Martina Trevisan/ITA def. #5 Kiki Bertens/NED
#3 Elina Svitolina/UKR def. Caroline Garcia/FRA
(Q) Nadia Podoroska/ARG def. Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
#30 Ons Jabeur/TUN v. Danielle Collins/USA
Fiona Ferro/FRA v. #4 Sofia Kenin/USA
#7 Petra Kvitova/CZE v. Zhang Shuai/CHN
Laura Siegemund/GER v. Paula Badosa/ESP


=WOMEN'S DOUBLES ROUND OF 16=
#14 Guarachi/Krawczyk (CHI/USA) def. #1 Hsieh/Strycova (TPE/CZE)
#7 Aoyama/Shibahara (JPN/JPN) def. #10 Carter/Stefani (USA/BRA)
Muhammad/Pegula (USA/USA) def. #16 Gauff/McNally (USA/USA)
Melichar/Swiatek (USA/POL) v. #6 Peschke/Schuurs (USA/NED)
#9 Kenin/Mattek-Sands (USA/USA) def. #8 V.Kudermetova/Sh.Zhang (RUS/CHN)
#13 Kuzmova/Kr.Pliskova (SVK/CZE) v. #4 Krejcikova/Siniakova (CZE/CZE)
Kostyuk/Sasnovich (UKR/BLR) def. #5 Dabrowski/Ostapenko (CAN/LAT)
#2 Babos/Mladenovic (HUN/FRA) def. Mitu/Tig (ROU/ROU)






...HMMM... ON DAY 8:

Seeds falling everywhere, including two #1's today. Yet Swiatek stands tall. Might The Rad have found a new Polish vessel? Just wonderin'.




...OUR LIFE AND TIMES ON DAY 8:


..."MAY YOU LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES..." ON DAY 8:

Yeah, I think we can "retire" that one for a while.




...BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, BUT AT WHAT COST? ON DAY 8:


...EXACTLY... ON DAY 8:


To paraphrase what was heard on "Saturday Night Live" last night, if it was Biden in you-know-who's sitution, you-know-who would be making fun of it in a rally this weekend (and likely shrugging and raising an eyebrow about how masks don't work so well). You KNOW it's true.

...SPEAKING OF... ON DAY 8:

I was skeptical whether or not Jim Carrey-as-Biden was going to work. It did.



...LIKE ON DAY 8:

Italian smiles in Paris





...AT-LEAST-THEY'RE-CONSISTENT ON DAY 8:


...NOSTRADAMUS LIKED TENNIS? ON DAY 8:

Check out the date.




...THE NEVERENDING CAT BOWL HOLE ON DAY 8:


...REMINDER ON DAY 8:








"Lenglen Trails-a-Winding" outside the Wimbledon Grounds



Courtside view of Lenglen match at St.Cloud



Lenglen Courtside with Papa and Mama













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*BEST 2020 SLAM RESULTS - QUALIFIERS*
RG - Nadia Podoroska, ARG [in QF]
RG - Martina Trevisan, ITA [in QF]
AO 2nd Rd. - Harriet Dart, GBR
AO 2nd Rd. - Nao Hibino, JPN
AO 2nd Rd. - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
AO 2nd Rd. - Ann Li, USA
AO 2nd Rd. - Caty McNally, USA
AO 2nd Rd. - Greet Minnen, BEL
RG 2nd Rd. - Irina Bara, ROU
RG 2nd Rd. - Sara Errani, ITA
RG 2nd Rd. - Kamilla Rakhimova, RUS
RG 2nd Rd. - Clara Tauson, DEN
RG 2nd Rd. - Renata Zarazua, MEX

*2020 FIRST CAREER SLAM QF*
=AO=
Ons Jabeur, TUN
Sofia Kenin, USA
Anett Kontaveit, EST
=US=
Jennifer Brady, USA
=RG=
Nadia Podoroska, ARG
Iga Swiatek, POL
Martina Trevisan, ITA
-
POSSIBLE FIRST-TIME QF BERTHS, TO PLAY 4th RD.: Badosa/Siegemund, Ferro

*WTA "CAREER QF SLAM" - active*
[with slam at which completed]
Azarenka - 2012 US (28th)
Clijsters - 2002 AO (11th)
Halep - 2015 US (22nd)
Kerber- 2016 AO (33rd)
Keys - 2018 RG (23rd)
Konta - 2019 US (24th)
Kuznetsova - 2006 RG (16th)
Kvitova - 2015 US (30th)
Pavlyuchenkova - 2017 AO (37th)
Stephens - 2018 RG (25th)
Svitolina - 2019 US (29th)
S.Williams - 2001 RG (12th)
V.Williams - 1998 WI (6th)
Zvonareva - 2010 US (31st)

*QUALIFIERS IN ROLAND GARROS QF - since 2000*
1972 Katja Ebbinghaus, FRG
1972 Corinne Molesworth, GBR
1978 Helga Masthoff, FRG
1978 Miroslava Bendlova, TCH
1999 Barbara Schwartz, AUT
2000 Marta Marrero, ESP
2001 Petra Mandula, HUN
2008 Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP
2012 Yaroslava Shvedova, KAZ
2020 Nadia Podoroska, ARG
2020 Martina Trevisan, ITA





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 QF: Podoroska, Trevisan [LL Sharma-2nd Rd.]
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Genie Bouchard/CAN, Clara Burel/FRA, Tsvetana Pironkova/BUL (all 3rd Rd.)
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: Gavrilova/AUS (2r), AK.Schmiedlova/SVK (3r)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: In 4r: Ferro, Garcia(L)
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: Nominees: Svitolina, Swiatek
IT "New Dane on the Block": Clara Tauson/DEN
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: Schmiedlova (had 12 con slam MD L), Ostapenko (had no RG wins since '17 title), Siegemund (4r three years after knee injury)
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): Nominees: Sh.Zhang (31), Siegemund (32), Kvitova (30)
LADY OF THE EVENING: Martina Trevisan/ITA
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
Légion de Lenglen HONOREE: Court Chatrier roof (+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 8. More tomorrow.
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