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Monday, February 8, 2021

AO.1 - One for Seven

Hmmm, one wins #7, while at the same time others win the first of what they hope will be seven over the next two weeks.



And when the Super Bowl and Day 1 of the Australian Open overlap for the first time ever, I'd say that's as good a connection as any.




=DAY 1 NOTES=
...Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino has had a hard time of things. From missing years (between 2013-17) on tour while dealing with depression, to then missing time after a serious foot injury after she *did* finally make a comeback, as well as her father passing away in the interim, virtually *anything* the B.C. native accomplishes on the tennis court now is the proverbial "gravy."



Having entered the qualifying (in Dubai a few weeks ago) with a protected ranking, Marino's first event since the '19 Roland Garros, the 30-year old won three matches to reach her first slam MD in eight years ('13 AO). Today, after a bit of work, she recorded her first MD victory in a major in nearly a full decade ('11 WI).

After winning the opening set at love over Aussie wild card Kimberly Birrell, then racing to a lead in the 2nd, it appeared that Marino might end up being the very first player to reach the 2nd Round at this Australian Open. But, come now, it wasn't going to back *that* easy.

Marino led 6-0/5-4 and had a MP to be the first to advance. But when she failed to convert it, #3-seeded Naomi Osaka slipped in through the back door and converted *her own* MP to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1/6-2 (the Russian had reached the QF in three of the last four AO, so this was an oh-so-Pavlyuchenkovian exit) to become the maiden player to advance. About a minute later, Marino had another MP. Nope. Birrell held for 5-5.

Soon, Camila Giorgi ousted Yaroslava Shvedova (in her first slam since '17) to become the second to go through. Shvedova's fellow Kazkah, Zarina Diyas, had triple MP on Tamara Zidansek at 40/love moments later. She became the third to advance while Marino was still having a hard time converting match points (two more in game #12).

Not long after that, 40-year old Venus Williams took down Kirsten Flipkens, making her the fourth woman to advance (and the fifth oldest to ever win a slam match) as she notched a 1st Round victory for the just second time in her last seven appearances in majors. Meanwhile, Marino and Birrell went to a 2nd set TB.



Marino fell behind Birrell 4-2 in the TB, but scrambled back to hold MPs at 7-6, 8-7 and 9-8. Birrell saved them all. With the breaker knotted at 9-9, elsewhere, Caroline Garcia defeated Polona Hercog to become the fifth woman to reach the 2nd Round.

Finally, moments later, Marino held another MP (#8) at 10-9 before finally winning 6-0/7-6(9) to become the sixth to advance after having been a point away from being the very first. But, hey, who's counting?



Of course, with every moment of great triumph usually comes one of great disappointment (I mean, unless you lie about it for months and pretend it didn't happen... but that's a whole *other* story, I guess). Such a thing came for Angelique Kerber in the early going on Monday, as the #23 seed and '16 AO champ was knocked off by Bannerette Bernarda Pera to become the "First Seed Out" of this slam. Pera led 6-0/3-0 before finally putting away the German 6-4 in the 2nd. It's just Kerber's second 1st Round loss in Melbourne since 2013, where she'd reached at least the AO Round of 16 seven of the last eight years.



...meanwhile, #10 Serena Williams -- in a nifty new outfit -- became the first woman to play 100 singles matches at the Australian Open, winning for the 88th time (also a record, and behind only Federer's 102 victories overall) with a 6-1/6-1 domination of Laura Siegemund. On Laver, natrually.



...did you know that at least one women's "lucky loser" has posted a 1st Round victory at a major in every single season going all the way back to 2003? That surely *seems* to be at least a tad surprising, right? Even 2020 couldn't deal a blow to that odd run, either, despite there being no LL's at last year's AO, no Wimbledon at all, no U.S. Open qualifying and just one LL in the RG draw.

That woman, Astra Sharma, got a single MD win in Paris to keep the streak alive.

Anna Karolina Schmiedlova took care to things "right quick" at this AO on Day 1, putting away qualifier Mayo Hibi in straight sets (after the 1st lasted well over an hour) to get her first MD win in Melbourne since 2015. Ah, but it's Schmiedy's *second* straight slam with a MD victory (she reached the RG 3rd Rd. in '20) after suffering through a streak of twelve consecutive MD losses in majors that had stretched back to 2016.

...after making her return to tennis after a three year absence and reaching the U.S. Open QF and RG 3rd Round last season, qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova didn't have such luck today in what has been her worst major (never past the 2nd Rd. in now 13 appearances), losing to one of the few players more consternating to play than herself -- Hsieh Su-wei. She fell to her fellow veteran 7-5/6-2.

...#19 Marketa Vondrousova comes into this AO looking to advance past the 2nd Round in a major for the first time since her RG final run in '19. She got one round closer to making that a reality with a win today over Rebecca Peterson. Of course, she had to battle back from a 6-2/3-1 hole to do it, winning 2-6/7-5/7-5.

Other seeded players weren't so lucky in the first half of action on Monday, though, as #30 Wang Qiang lost to qualifier Sara Errani, and #24 Alison Riske fell to Anastasia Potapova. The Russian is playing in her first major since the '20 AO, having missed all of the Restart last season due to ankle surgery.

#15 Iga Swiatek got her eighth straight slam win with a straight sets victory over Arantxa Rus.



...in the afternoon in Melbourne, after 467 days away, #8 Bianca Andreescu *finally* returned to action after her WTAF knee injury, pandemic sidelining, foot injury and then (one final) delay with her late withdrawal from the pre-AO Melbourne Grampians event last week.

Early on, the Canadian looked like her old self, taking the first set from LL Mihaela Buzarnescu.



As Buzarnescu settled in, Andreescu's rust showed a bit in the 2nd as the Romanian forced a 3rd. The two remained on serve well into the set, then... well, there she was. Reminiscent of the lifting of her game at the most crucial times during her '19 U.S. Open run, Andreescu dug herself out of a love/40 hole to hold for 4-3, then broke Buzarnescu a game later. She then served things out at love for a 6-2/4-6/6-3 victory, Andreescu's first in a major since she defeated Serena in the final at Flushing Meadows some *seventeen* months ago.



Up next is... hmm, Hsieh Su-wei. (!!)

...in the later, non-big stage night matches, still to play on Monday, #7 Aryna Sabalenka and #17 Elena Rybakina will try to kick off what they hope will (finally) be their slam breakthrough events.

...in the scheduled evening match-ups on Night 1, still to finish are #9 Petra Kvitova facing qualifier Greet Minnen on MCA (obviously, that's *never* going away) while #2 Simona Halep vs. Aussie wild card Lizette Cabrera on Laver.




...HOW 'BOUT WE JUST KEEP IT THAT WAY?... ON DAY 1:



I mean, Tom Rinaldi finally jumped the ESPN ship. Maybe it's at long last a time when wishes really do come true.

...LIKE ON DAY 1:



...LIKE ON DAY 1:



No cape (yet?), but has Serena ever dressed more like a superhero on the court?

...FASHION HISTORY ON ON DAY 1:



...THE RETURN OF THE *REAL* MONFILS ON DAY 1:



...JUST TO BE CLEAR (though the attempt at comparison of athletic feats is beyond ridiculous... do we compare a great architect with a master painter just because both undertake artistic endeavors?) ON DAY 1:

NFL: 1 chance to win a major title each year
Tennis: 4 chances to win a major title each year




Tom Brady: 7 Super Bowl titles in 21 seasons (33.3% title percentage, or 36.8% if you take away the two seasons in which he played one game each)
Serena Williams: 23 slam titles in 76 career slam appearances (30.3% title percentage)

But, you know, why let actual comparative numbers get in the way of making an unrealistic comparison of two totally different things?

...LIKE ON DAY 1:



...THIS YEAR IS THE 20th ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11... ON DAY 1:



Who'd have thought that the then-mayor of New York City, not exactly adored (to say the least) at the time but who stood up tall when it mattered most, would now be seen as the crazed zealot willing to commit unspeakable acts for an ungodly cause? At this point, it's not even sad anymore. It's just pathetic.





Ah, another slam, another "And Finally..." adventure.

A year ago, a Day 1 inclusion of an old INXS video after watching one of those 1980's music videos shows on MTV right before the start of the '20 AO turned into a "Six Degrees of Michael Hutchence" series of musical selections that took an extendend detour into the David Bowie corner of YouTube before eventually taking a circuitous route that ultimately landed on an old song about Evonne Goolagong right about the time Sofia Kenin was lifting the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup. So...

This year I'll *start* with Bowie and go from there. It seems as natural a time as any, I guess. After all, it was five years ago this past month that Bowie died in 2016, and we're now officially into the (less-than-a-year) countdown to what would have been Brit's 75th birthday *next* January.

After not yet having come up with a topic for this AO's feature a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon *these* on Instagram and the foundation was thus put down for the next two weeks of this grand slam:



Last year I higlighted Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World," and I'm going to kick things off here by doing it again. It's been one of the most durable cover song selections for any numbers of artists for decades, and pretty much every version -- including the *many* different ones put forward by Bowie himself -- is good-bordering-on-great, or at least interesting. Like this almost-spoken-word performance from Bowie:



After using the well known Nirvana cover performance in '20, here's one from a more obscure source, the French band Øllebirde in 2018:



Here's the official lyric video from the David Bowie Channel on YouTube, which continues to post performances and other items.



To be continued...












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*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)
2021 Naomi Osaka, JPN (def. Pavlyuchenkova)

*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)
2021 #23 Angelique Kerber, GER (lost to Pera)



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TOP QUALIFIER: Francesca Jones/GBR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: Whitney Osuigwe/USA def. #22 Mihaela Buzarnescu/ROU 2-6/7-6(1)/6-2 (trailed 6-2/5-2)
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/WC/Doub.): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Naomi Osaka/JPN (def. Pavlyuchenkova/RUS)
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Angelique Kerber/GER (1st Rd.-Pera/USA)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Day 1: Stojanovic/SRB
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Day 1 wins: Babos, Errani, Marino (LL: Schmiedlova)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Day 1 wins: x
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: Day 1 wins: Tomljanovic
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT (TBD): xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: Marino, Andreescu
CRASH & BURN: xx
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF MELBOURNE: xx
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: xx
LADY OF THE EVENING: xx
"G'DAY/GOOD ON YA, MATE" AWARD: xx
DOUBLES STAR: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: [jr. event to be held later in '21]





All for Day 1. More tomorrow.
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