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Tuesday, February 9, 2021

AO.2 - Home is Where the Heart Is

Did anyone catch the license plate number of that vehicle? It left a poor Montenegrin woman in a heap on the side of the road, smeared in Vegemite.



Fresh off her win in the pre-AO Yarra Valley event, Australia's Ash Barty continued to remind everyone that, yes, no matter how it happened in the twisted-into-a-pretzel vacuum that was the 2020 season, she *is* still the top-ranked women's tennis player in the world. Her double-bagel victory over Montenegro's Danka Kovinic was only her latest bit of small, tangible evidence of that fact. And, yes, the win was just what it appears to have been.

Of the 60 points played in the match, Barty won 50 of them. She faced zero BP, and won 24 of 27 (allowing her opponent just 11% of receiving points) points on serve, claiming 89% of *both* her first *and* second serves. Kovinic won just 24% of her own first serve points (4/17), and just, gulp, 19% (3/16) of her second.

At least Kovinic only had to endure such an experience on Laver for a mere forty-four minutes. One gets the feeling that Barty, who last year was the event's first Aussie women's semifinalist since 1984, will likely be around quite a while longer. She's now won 17 of her last 19 matches dating back to last January, and is 14-1 in her last 15 on Australian soil.

At least for Barty, home really is where the heart is.







=DAY 2 NOTES=
...the start of a WTA season is always an odd bird. And with the remnants of the oft-troubled 2020 campaign carrying over into 2021, *this* year's opening weeks were assured of operating in an even cloudier environment than usual.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, offseason and January training was immediately followed (thwarted?) by quarantines (some "hard," i.e. confined to a hotel room) and a spotty schedule that served to give very little *real* indication heading into this week about which players would be reliable best bets for success at this Australian Open. Even good qualifying runs have little legitimate footing when it comes to early round success, as this year's AO Q-tournament took place a month ago in the United Arab Emirates.

Most top players back away from playing the week before a major, but that was the *only* option heading into this year's first big event, lest most participants choose to open their slam season after having not played a competitive match in a month (in Abu Dhabi), or maybe since last fall or, for some, a full year ago before the shutdown. Then a one-day COVID delay last week threw still another wrench into the works, delaying the three scheduled events in Melbourne and causing one final to be cancelled before the finalists had even been determined. Some players rode things out, while others pulled out of draws as late as the semifinal stage with the AO Day 1 start just around the corner.

So, while there were many versions of it, what was the "best" preparation for this major was a mystery. Who'd be ready, and who would not? While playing up until the start of a major in the past has often seen players not at their best in the early slam rounds, might *this* year be a case where playing up to and into the weekend *before*, and gathering something of a breeze of momentum behind one's back, was a better plan of action than pulling up and preserving oneself for the "more important" matches to come?

In the opening hours of Day 2, we learned *something* about all that. Or at least it seemed that way, at least for a brief moment in time, as many of last week's more successful players continued their roll into their Tuesday AO debuts.

Aside from Yarra Valley champ Barty's easy win, Gippsland winner #18 Elise Mertens, also a former AO semifinalist (2018), handled Canadian Leylah Fernandez 1 & 3 today, while Gippsland finalist Kaia Kanepi breezed past Anastasija Sevastova 3 & 1 for just her second AO 1st Round victory since 2013 (her 9 wins in Melbourne are the least at any major in her career).



Meanwhile, Yarra Valley finalist Garbine Muguruza, the '20 AO runner-up, defeated LL Russian Margarita Gasparyan 4 & love today, while both Grampians finalists, Ann Li and Anett Kontaveit, also advanced on Day 2. #21 Kontaveit defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich in straight sets, and Li upset #31 Zhang Shuai (a '16 AO quartefinalist with 1r wins in her last five trips to Melbourne) via a blistering 6-2/6-0 scoreline.



Muguruza got some (very) small measure of revenge against her AO final foe with a win last week over Sofia Kenin, and wins from both woman today keeps alive the possibility of a rematch in the '21 final (Muguruza, in the bottom half of the draw, played her opening match along with the rest of the top half on Day 2).

#4 seeded Kenin, quietly arriving and playing in Melbourne as if in the dead of night (what else is new?) despite being the defending champ and having also reached the final of the most recent slam (RG), got off to a slow start today against Aussie wild card Maddison Inglis. The two were tied at 5-5 in the 1st set, but the Bannerette broke for 6-5 and took her edge all the way to a 7-5/6-4 victory for her eighth straight AO win. She's 17-2 in slams since the start of 2020.



Up next for Kenin will be Kanepi.

...few of the players have been as handcuffed by the pandemic in Melbourne as Spain's Paula Badosa. Having just emerged from a 21-day hard quarantine (after having tested positive for COVID on Day 7 or her original 14-day hotel room stay), Badosa wasn't happy *at all* about it, either. Still, she opened her AO today by facing qualifier Liudmila Samsonova.

Badosa rallied to win the 1st set after falling behind 5-2, then 4-1 in the TB, but then squandered a 3-1 TB lead of her own in the 2nd as the Russian forced a 3rd set. Again, Badosa grabbed an early lead at 2-0, and led 5-3. She served for the match at 5-4, but Samsonova broke serve and then held for 6-5. Badosa held a GP to force a TB, but ended the contest with three consecutive UE's as the Russian broke serve again to win 6-7(4)/7-6(4)/7-5 in 2:38.



...#12 Victoria Azarenka's appearance in last year's U.S. Open final (her first in a slam in seven years) was likely helped along by her preceding Cincy-at-NYC title run, then her success on European clay came along with the momentum she'd held coming out of New York. The Belarusian didn't arrive on such a roll at this major, having played just one tune-up match, a mid-week scramble to defeat Yulia Putintseva in the Grampians event before she pulled out of the QF.

Azarenka led the U.S.'s Jessica Pegula 5-2 in the opening set today. After Pegula held in a four-deuce game #8 (Vika never reached SP on her opponent's serve), Azarenka held a SP on her own serve at 5-3 a game later. She failed to convert, and everything changed. Pegula took a 40/love lead in game #10 and held for 5-5, then staved off an Azarenka GP to get the break. She served out the 1st, while Vika ended the set with five total DF.



Pegula grabbed the advantage in the 2nd, leading 4-2 as Azarenka seemed to have breathing issues and was seen by a trainer and doctor. The Bannerette ultimately served out the 7-5/6-4 victory, avoiding the same sort of lost opportunity she'd had last week when she led Kenin by a set and 4-1 before ultimately falling in three.

Meanwhile, former two-time AO champ Azarenka still hasn't was a 1st Round match in the event since her 2016 QF. At that point, she'd put together a 4r-QF-4r-W-W-QF-4r-QF stretch in Melbourne from 2009-16, the best run at any major in her career.

This is Pegula's first slam win outside of the U.S. Oen, where she reached the 2nd Round in 2015 and the 3rd in '20.



...meanwhile, proving that we really *never* know what is going to happen, #20 seed Maria Sakkari came into the day having put up three straight SF results (two in '21) and had a 17-6 mark dating back to her pre-U.S. Open QF run in the Cincy/NYC event (where she defeated both Serena and Coco). The Greek's consistency has been a given.

Meanwhile, her opponent, Kristina Mladenovic entered with an injury question (she'd pulled out of three straight WD competitions in '21, including at this AO, where she and Timea Babos were to be defending champs) and had very little success in singles of late. A loser of five consecutive AO matches (four in the 1r), the Pastry's consistency has been the *bad* kind, as in since her '17 RG quarterfinal run she'd suffered 1r/2r losses in twelve of thirteen majors. Sakkari, on the other hand, posted her career best slam result (4r) at last year's AO and had reached at least the 3rd Round in five straight majors (and 6/7).

So, of course...



After having dropped the 1st set, Sakkari seemed to gain control of the match with a love 2nd. But Mladenovic came back strong in the 3rd. Still, her inability to put away two MP chances in game #8 (up 5-2) on Sakkari's serve *did* cause a little Varvara Gracheva to at least *think* about appearing on the Pastry's shoulder. But Kiki swatted her away, serving out the 6-2/0-6/6-3 win.

#23 Sakkari provides Mladenovic's highest-ranked win since her huge victory over #1 Barty in the Fed Cup final (also in AUS, hmmm) in November 2019.

...Sakkari wasn't the last seed to fall today, though. Joining her in the afternoon was #13 Johanna Konta, who was forced to retire with an abdominal injury while leading Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan 6-4/0-2.



Since her SF-QF-QF slam finish in 2019, the Brit has now posted 1r-2r-1r-1r results in majors.

Even later, #16 Petra Martic made it five seeded women to fall on Day 2 (eight overall in the 1st Rd.), as qualifier Olga Danilovic (#183) recorded her first career slam MD victory. She's the second Serb to do so at this AO, along with Nina Stojanovic on Monday.



...unless we hear it when it happens, does Sloane Stephens losing early in a tennis event ever *really* happen?

#26 Yulia Putintseva knocked off the former slam winner 4-6/6-2/6-3 today, coming back from a break down in both the 2nd and 3rd sets. Stephens had led 6-4/2-0.



Obviously, especially where Stephens is concerned, things have changed. She's failed to reach the Round of 16 in her last six majors. Overall, she's on (another) 1-6 slide, is 4-14 since late September '19, and 10-23 dating back to her QF loss at RG earlier that season.

Things have changed for Mayar Sherif, too. But for her that's a good thing.

A year ago, the former NCAA athlete made her slam qualifying debut in Melbourne, then her tour-level MD debut later in the season in Prague. In RG qualifying, Sherif was the first Egyptian woman to post a win of any kind in slam singles competition, then the first to ever reach the MD of a major (she pushed Karolina Pliskova to three sets in the 1st Rd. in Paris). The 24-year old made her way through slam qualifying again to reach her first AO MD a month ago, and today she added another "first to ever..." line to her career bio by becoming the first Egyptian to get a MD slam victory, courtesy of her 7-5/7-5 win on Tuesday over fellow qualifier Chloe Paquet.



Sherif is one of seven qualifiers to advance to the 2nd Round.

...as Day 2 wound down to its close, only three Aussie women had advanced. Ajla Tomljanovic's win was followed on Tuesday by victories from #1 Barty and wild card Samantha Stosur (def. fellow WC Destanee Aiava for her first AO singles win since 2015).

In the night session on MCA, wild card Dasha Gavrilova made her return to play in Melbourne after having missed most of 2020 due to injury. A former two-time Round of 16 participant (2016-17) at this slam, Gavrilova's last AO win was in '18. Turning back the clock to her "Dasha Show" years under the lights, now world #387 Gavrilova made it *four* Aussies in the 2nd Round with a 6-1/7-5 victory over Sara Sorribes Tormo.

While a little drama always comes along with Dasha, it was Sorribes who saw her coach Silvia Soler Espinosa get a coaching warning early in the 2nd set.

Gavrilova served for the match at 5-3, only to drop serve. At 5-5, she saved two BP and held, then broke the Spaniard to put away the win. In celebration, she threw her pandemic towel into the crowd (No, Dasha! Not in 2021!), then used the post-match interview to promote her bracelet ("Dash.let") business (and took a smidge of credit for Stosur's win today, since she'd given Sam a bracelet for good luck). Gavrilova's Aussie accent was noticably stronger than the last time she did on-court interviews like this, but I guess a year spent mostly in Australia and a series of lockdowns will do that.



Dasha will always be Dasha (see her Instagram).

...with the 1st Round complete, the U.S. (11-5 overall) leads with the most remaining women in the draw. Other impressive numbers come from Russia (7-5), the Czech Republic (5-4), France (4-2), Kazakhstan (3-1), Estonia (2-0), Serbia (2-0) and Canada (2-1). Three of the eight seeds ousted were taken down by Bannerettes (#12 Azarenka by Pegula, #23 Kerber by Pera, #31 Zhang by Li).

On the flip side: China (1-4), Germany (1-3), Spain (1-3), Great Britain (1-3) and Belarus (1-2) are in the "Nation of Poor Souls" mix.

Host Australia is 4-6 after a strong Day 2 showing.




...DAY 1 TIP-IN ON DAY 2:



...LOLO JONES: FROM SUMMER OLYMPICS DISAPPOINTMENT TO "CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER" TO BOBSLED WORLD CHAMPION ON DAY 2:



...Hmmm, I DON'T BELIEVE #TastesLikeAustralia IS QUITE THE COMPLEMENT THEY THINK IT TO BE... ON DAY 2:



...LIKE ON DAY 2:



...GUESS WHO'S BACK ON DAY 2:







I included this '79 David Bowie performance from "Saturday Night Live" in last year's And Finally.../"Six Degrees...", but I have an ulterior motive for using it again.



Bowie's, umm, costume (?) there didn't just drop out of thin air. It came from the very creative mind of a New York performer named Klaus Nomi (the one in the black to Bowie's right). Nomi was a German-born performer whose unique Andy Kaufman-by-way-of-an-opera-house on-stage character often sported bizarre costumes (including one similar to that worn by Bowie) while taking the stage in a club and surprising the audience by essentially singing opera.

Here are some videos from the era that give a taste of what Nomi was about...



The New York studio news crew mentioned "the future" of 1984 being just around the corner, but Nomi never got to see it. He died of AIDS in the summer of 1983, reportedly with most friends afraid to visit him due to the stigma of the disease at the time. Nomi was reportely one of the first known members of the NYC art scene to die from AIDS.

This performance came shortly before his death...



"Six Degrees of David Bowie" continues on Day 3 with a not-unexpected stop, and then, well, we'll see where things go...












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*2003-21 "LUCKY LOSER" ADVANCERS IN MAJORS*
2003 WI: Arantxa Parra-Santonja, ESP (2nd)
2004 AO: Lindsay Lee-Waters, USA (2nd)
2005 WI: Severine Beltrame, FRA (2nd)
2005 US: Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo, ESP (2nd)
2006 US: Nicole Pratt, AUS (2nd)
2006 RG: Kirsten Flipkens, BEL (2nd)
2007 WI: Alize Cornet, FRA (2nd)
2008 US: Mariana Duque-Marino, COL (2nd)
2009 RG: Mariana Duque-Marino, COL (2nd)
2009 WI: Kristina Kucova, SVK (2nd)
2010 RG: Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA (2nd)
2011 WI: Stephanie Dubois, CAN (2nd)
2012 RG: Sesil Karatantcheva, KAZ (2nd)
2013 US: Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, AUT (2nd)
2014 AO: Irina Falconi, USA (2nd)
2015 US: Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (3rd)
2016 WI: Duan Yingying, CHN (2nd)
2017 RG: Ons Jabeur, TUN (3rd)
2018 AO: Bernarda Pera, USA (3rd)
2019 WI: Lauren Davis, USA (3rd)
2019 US: Kirsten Flipkens, BEL (2nd)
2020 RG: Astra Sharma, AUS (2nd)
2021 AO: Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, SVK (in 2nd Rd.)
==
NOTE: 19 con. seasons w/ at least one LL victory in a slam (2003-21)

*MOST RECENT SLAM 3rd Rd.+ "LUCKY LOSER" RESULTS*
=AO=
3rd Rd. - Sandra Kleinova, CZE (1997)
3rd Rd. - Bernarda Pera, USA (2018)
=RG=
3rd Rd. - Veronika Martinek, GER (1995)
3rd Rd. - Gloria Pizzichini, ITA (1996)
3rd Rd. - Ons Jabeur, TUN (2017)
=WI=
3rd Rd. - Tine Zwaan, NED (1974)
3rd Rd. - Lauren Davis, USA (2019)
=US=
4th Rd. - Maria Jose Gaidano, ARG (1993)
3rd Rd. - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (2015)

*2021 GRAND SLAM DEBUTS (w/ 1r result)
-AUSTRALIAN OPEN (2)-
=Q=
Olga Danilovic, SRB (W)
Francesca Jones, GBR (L)
=WC=
none
=LL=
none
=Auto=
none

*10+ WTA SINGLES TITLES, no slam QF*
[Anabel Medina-Garrigues' Slam Results]
0 - W
0 - RU
0 - SF
0 - QF
3 - 4th Rd.
12 - 3rd Rd.
10 - 2nd Rd.
22 - 1st Rd.
3 - lost in qualifying
==
AMG SLAM MD W/L TOTAL: 43-47
AMG SLAM Q W/L TOTAL: 1-3
AMG CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLES: 11
[Anna Smashnova's Slam Results]
0 - W
0 - RU
0 - SF
0 - QF
2 - 4th Rd.
7 - 3rd Rd.
10 - 2nd Rd.
30 - 1st Rd.
7 - lost in qualifying
==
SMASHNOVA SLAM MD W/L TOTAL: 30-49
SMASHNOVA SLAM Q W/L TOTAL: 6-7
SMASHNOVA CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLES: 12
==
[Arnya Sabalenka's Slam Results]
0 - W
0 - RU
0 - SF
0 - QF
1 - 4th Rd.
2 - 3rd Rd.
4 - 2nd Rd. [*-2021 so far]
5 - 1st Rd.
4 - lost in qualifying
==
SABALENKA MD W/L TOTAL: 12-12 (through 1st Rd.)
SABALENKA Q W/L TOTAL: 2-4
SABALENKA CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLES: 9



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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: Olga Danilovic/SRB, Mayar Sherif/EGY, Liudmila Samsonova/RUS, Nina Stojanovic/SRB
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: 1r wins: Babos, Danilovic, Errani, Juvan, Marino, Samsonova, Sherif (LL: Schmiedlova)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: 1r wins: Gavrilova, Stosur
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: 1r wins: Barty, Gavrilova, Tomljanovic, Stosur
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT (TBD): xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: Marino, Andreescu
CRASH & BURN: xx
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF MELBOURNE: Nominee: Cornet (1st Rd.-down 4-0 in 3rd vs. Savinykh)
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: xx
LADY OF THE EVENING: xx
"G'DAY/GOOD ON YA, MATE" AWARD: nominee: return of the tennis fans
DOUBLES STAR: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: [jr. event to be held later in '21]





All for Day 2. More tomorrow.
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