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Tuesday, February 16, 2021

AO.9 - Paying the Serena Piper

As great as Simona Halep's win over Serena Williams in the 2019 Wimbledon final was for both the psyche and the legacy of the ultra-consistent Romanian, if it hadn't been the case already, the result placed the two-time slam champ forever on the radar of the only active player with 23. Having lost in such a decisive fashion on such a big stage as that day at SW19, Williams' guard will forever be up when Halep is on the opposite side of the net from her.

Such a thing only makes an already arduous task that much more difficult.

Today in the Australian Open quarterfinals, the #2-seeded Halep, in the first meeting between the two since the day in London, learned a little about what it's like when you sometimes get just what you wanted and, no matter how hard you fight against such a reality, it still results in undesirable consequences.



As the match began, if Halep had been hoping for a slow start from #10 Williams, she didn't get it. With her in-form defense allowing her to get to everything, as it has all tournament long, Serena's groundstrokes were in mid-match stride. She broke the Romanian's serve in game #2. Halep got the break back in quick order, getting the set back on serve a game later with the aid of a long Williams forehand on BP.

Halep's DF in game #6 put her behind love/30, and Williams got a chance to get the break edge back when she reached BP with a forehand down the line that ended a crosscourt rally. Halep saved it, but a missed passing attempt gave Serena another BP, which she converted when the Romanian's shot landed just outside the line (no replay challenge needed -- no matter how much Simona *wanted* to question the call -- since this linesperson-less AO is having all calls made electronically already).

From there on the in 1st, while Halep was playing well, Williams was simply better, with her forehand and movement, both forward and side to to side, leading the way. A big serve up the middle forced Halep to net a backhand return and Williams led 5-2. Halep held at love, keeping up appearances, only to see Serena match her by doing the same a game later to secure a 6-3 1st set.



The winner of the 1st set had won 10 of 11 mettings between the two coming into today, but Halep wasn't about to simply cash out.

In the 2nd set, for a while, Halep got the slow start she didn't get in the first from Williams, as her errors started to outnumber her winners for the first time in the match. After squandering several GP chances in the opening game, Halep finally took the initial edge in the set when her shot dribbled over the net cord onto Williams side of the court to end game #1. As another Williams error put her behind love/30 a game later, Serena looked to her contingent in the stands with a flummoxed expression. A DF put Williams into a love/40 hole, and a sprayed volley attempt handed the break lead to Halep.

But it was then that Halep wasn't able to consolidate her advantage. Rather than build upon her lead and race toward the 2nd set finish line, she gave Williams too many chances on her second serve. A second serve forehand return winner gave Serena a BP, then a Halep error ended one of what would be several hard hitting rallies in the set, getting things back on serve at 2-1. Halep broke back a game later (via a long Serena backhand) for 3-1, but again couldn't back it up, giving the break back in her next service game.

Mid-way through the set, Williams had made the technique correction that finally slowed down her rising error totals. In game #7, she raced to a love/40 lead on Halep's serve. The Romanian saved three BP, then two more. But on her sixth BP of the game, Serena won another long rally (her great defense from this AO continually gave her the edge today in the sort of extended exchanges that generally favor the Romanian) to take a break lead at 4-3.

With the set's momentum having completely reversed from its first half condition, Williams stepped on the accelerator, holding at love to take a 5-3 lead. An unforced error from Halep put yet another of her service games in jeopardy, and soon Williams found herself with a MP. On her second attempt, a forehand winner ended the 1:21 contest, giving Williams a 6-3/6-3 victory to reach her ninth AO semifinal and her 40th such result in her slam career. It's her first in Melbourne since winning the title four years ago while harboring the secret of her pregnancy.



While Halep will surely be disappointed by this result, as she had chances in the 2nd set to at least push things to a 3rd where things may have finally started to tilt her way. But while a watched pot never seems to ever boil, an in-form Serena losing in a match such as this would be a far more rare occurrance.

As this slam has moved along, with Williams' fitness at age 39 being significantly better than it has been in a number of years (she's running the court like she did as a teenage, or in her Serena Slams runs), the prospect of her finally getting her elusive 24th slam crown has become a much more viable result at this slam.

History could very well be on deck. But there's at least one more player in her path with as big (or bigger?) say in that than maybe even Williams herself.

Hint: Her name isn't Margaret, and she isn't Aussie, either.






=DAY 9 NOTES=
...in the first women's quarterfinal on Tuesday, #3 Naomi Osaka had the unenviable task facing off with the game of Hsieh Su-wei. Or was it the other way around? Either way, opposites attract, and sometimes not necessarily by choice.

Sure, in four of the previous five meetings between the two, the match had gone three sets. And Osaka had had to rally from 7-5/4-1 down against the veteran in the AO 3rd Round two years ago. But while having to go against a player who reguarly does everything a player like Osaka hates (i.e. not giving her any pace, nor showing anything resembling a consistent pattern of shot selection), the three-time slam champ also knows that if she just avoids getting frustrated by the whole situation she'll likely come through with room to spare. Eventually, her bigger game will win out, as long as she doesn't get in her own way. Osaka had won all but one of those previous matches between the two, remember.

Oh, and heading into this match Osaka had never lost a match once she'd reached the QF stage of major, either, going a combined 9-0. When Osaka wants a match, ever since she learned "how to win" back in 2018, she's been close to unbeatable. Especially in moments like this, and in places like this. That didn't change today.



Though Osaka had to slowly get her timing in order due to the slower pacing of Hsieh's shots, even in the match's early stages she won the points she *had* to. She saved a BP en route to a hold in game #1, then took a break lead at 3-1. Even while she was fighting her first serve, getting it in at under a 50% rate, she saved two BP and held again for 4-1. By the end of the 1st, *she had this.* After having been extended in previous games, Osaka closed out the set with an easier hold, winning 6-2.

In the 2nd, while Osaka didn't go on some sort of thunderously long point streak, she never faced a BP in the set (after saving 3 of 3 in the 1st). Her improvement from a 40% to a 59% first serve rate surely helped that along, as she closed the door she'd left open for Hsieh to possibly push her in the 1st.

In what was the match's final game, Osaka secured her fourth slam SF berth in her last eight majors by converting on her third MP of the game, finishing off Hsieh, 6-2/6-2, in just six minutes over an hour.



Osaka's win extends her unbeaten streak to nineteen games. She hasn't lost on the court in fifty-three weeks.



...meanwhile, the first champions of this AO were crowned in the wheelchair competitions on Day 9.

In the women's doubles, top-seeded Diede de Groot & Aniek Van Koot defeated #2 KG Montjane & Lucy Shuker 6-4/6-1, picking up their second AO crown as a duo (2019). For Van Koot, it's her fifth win in Melbourne, giving her seventeen doubles slam wins in her career; while de Groot has claimed ten total doubles slams.



...three of the top four women's doubles duos have reached the semis, including #2 Mertens/Sabalenka, #3 Krejcikova/Siniakova and #4 Melichar/Schuurs. They're joined by unseeded Jurak/Stojanovic.

...in the Phillip Island event in Melbourne, 20-year old Aussie Gabriella Da Silva Fick (#566), one day after she'd made her tour-level MD debut as a LL in the 2nd Round (w/ Johanna Konta's withdrawal, she'd filled the Brit's spot, which had included a pass through the 1st Round) and saved two MP while upsetting Aliaksandra Sasnovich in a 3rd set TB, lost today to Marie Bouzkova, 1 & 1.



It's been a productive few weeks for a number of Aussie women.



Olivia Gadecki, who upset Sofia Kenin the other day (but lost to Rebecca Peterson today), jumped from not being listed in the WTA rankings to all the way into the Top 400. You won't often see a player having jumped over 9600 spots in the "live" rankings, so (from live-tennis-eu)...







...RADKA LEITMERITZ STRIKES AGAIN ON DAY 9:



...YES!!!... ON DAY 9:

I get the exact same sort of feeling every single time I see those commercials for that series. Well, either that or, based on pure principle, I tend to just hate shows about food travel series.



Yeah, probably more the latter now that I think about it.

..."JEOPARDY: FACEPALM EDITION" ON DAY 9:



JEOPARDY CONTESTANT ANSWER: "Who is Anna Kournikova?"




The time ran out without the other two players ringing in, though the reigning champion seemed to figure it out right as it was to late to hit the buzzer.

Of course, Monday's show, overall, was one of more poorly played I've seen in ages. So take that for what it's worth.

...LIKE FROM NIGHT 8 ON DAY 9:

Jessica Pegula pushing back on *all* of Brad Gilbert's list of nicknames offered up for her approval, from "Jessie's Girl" to "J-PEG" and "Pegula Hoop." It was a mildly great moment. (I hope she gets a thank-you note from "Li-Na-Na-Li.")



...I LIKE THE PUSH BACK, BUT... ON DAY 9:



Schefter *is* an NFL reporter, so he should probably be excluded from the all-right-we-get-it criticism about *always* referring to Pegula's family holdings. If he wasn't going to mention that her father owns the Buffalo Bills he wouldn't have any reason to mention her accomplishment at all. He was just making the information relevant to his audience.

And in a country where SportsCenter hosts mangle "easy" tennis names while expertly handling far-more-complicated NBA and NHL surnames because they obviously think it's in their job description to learn *those*, or when a professional Washington radio host thinks that the name "Anastasia Potapova" is somehow exotic and incredibly difficult to figure out, the WTA can use all the extra mentions (especially non-Serena ones, which are a given) it can get in "alternative" (i.e. non-tennis, per se) media.

And I won't even get into the one Washington sports host who actually likes to talk about tennis, but whenever he does feels like he has to spend two minutes apologizing for talking about tennis before he actually takes the time to talk about tennis. But only for a few minutes.. so don't change the station because I'm talking about tennis!

...LIKE ON DAY 9:



I've just gotten clued in on this show. I think I love it. It's sort of combination of Mork, Monk, 3rd Rock and Fargo (and maybe even a little X-Files). Really.



...YOU CAN'T PICK YOUR FAMILY... ON DAY 9:



And you can't stop them from making themselves look like fools, either.

...RETIREMENT NEWS ON DAY 9:



...A FINAL NOTE ON SVITOLINA ON DAY 9:

Really, I think this says it all:



You're on the side of the draw with *one* slam winner, while the other half of the draw is a virtual future wing of the Hall of Fame. You're playing against a player without a slam QF (you have two SF), and who is 0-6 against Top 10 players (you've got six wins over #1's alone). And you can't focus, and are distracted?

Fact is, I don't think there was *ever* really an in-match reason to think she was going to defeat Pegula. That should never be the case for a player who *should* be in her prime who has already won big titles (WTAF, Italian Open, Rogers Cup). Svitolina didn't blow a huge lead in *this* slam exit, and didn't *totally* fail to post, but if she had at least one could say that the pressure of all that opportunity there for the taking had overwhelmed her nerves. Not good. But *something*.

But, in reality, her QF performance was almost worse than all her others in key slam situations. It felt routine, and she didn't seem to have a rage, rationale or raison d'etre to describe or attack her lack of hunger, nor the reason for it, let alone hint at any sort of plan to prevent it from happening again. So it likely will.

Actually, it all makes *her* slam breakthrough quest seem almost irrelevant and, I think, gives us "permission" to move on to that of, say, Aryna Sabalenka or others (supposedly) seeking the same set of accomplishments. At least you believe Karolina Pliskova is *trying* to do everything she can to get it done, whether one believes the effort will succeed or not.

For someone who was making coaching changes almost every year as she was climbing the ladder, Svitolina's inaction on that front makes you wonder about the once-fabled "Process" (she's hired a psychologist, yet her mind was even more off the task at hand than usual). But, then again, the last couple of years Svitolina hasn't really seemed as serious as she used to be about topping out on her abilities ("if it happens, it happens, if it doesn't, meh"), so I don't expect anything to really change.

As I said, it's pretty much up to her at this point.



Continued...

In truth, the singer that I think pulled me in the most during my one stretch as a true country music fan was Randy Travis. It's an odd thing, because he wasn't doing anything mold-breaking or particuarly "new." Instead, armed with a glorious baritone, he "updated" what had always been the heart of the genre and was on the leading edge of the "New Traditionalist" movement of the time.

Ultimately, I think it came down to the songs. The lyrics, really. So good that even decades later I can still hear a short bit of music from many of those songs and have the lines immediately come rushing back.



"1982" is always the Travis song I remember the most. I can still specifically remember listening to it as a kid while riding along in my father's truck (the same truck I'd recline in the covered bed of on weekends when heading off somewhere with my parents, reading the latest Spider-Man comics and, I think, sowing the seeds for "Citizen Anna").



Sometimes things don't always go as planned on live TV...



Travis joined Carrie Underwood on "American Idol's" finale night in 2005 before she was crowned champion and would go on to become the show's most successful winner ever.



Travis never quite returned to his great early heights, and his career dipped a bit before a resurgence in the late 2000's that included Grammy wins for his turn to gospel music, as well as a collaboration with Underwood in 2009. Then the trouble began. A contentious divorce in 2010 was followed by a pair of high profile arrests in '12 for alcohol related adventures/offenses ranging from DUI to threats and public nudity. In 2013, Travis entered a hospital for viral cardiomyopathy after an upper respitory infection. Pneumonia resulted, then he suffered a massive stroke that soon required surgery to relieve pressure on his brain. At one point, Travis flatlined. He went septic during a five month stretch during which he was given little chance of survival. He eventually began a long recovery, but things had drastically changed due to the stroke. He slowly recovered his capability to walk, but was left unable to sing or speak.

Travis married longtime acquaintance, new wife Mary Travis, in 2015. He regained some of his ability to speak by 2016, and surprised everyone, though he was still severly limited, by making his way through "Amazing Grace" during his Country Music Hall of Fame induction that year.



His right hand remains disabled, but he still makes occasional appearances, and was set to have a small presence in late '19 on a tour in which other artists sang his songs. Due to technical issues, the tour was cancelled with hopes of it getting started at a later date. Then the pandemic hit.



A few weeks ago, Travis (still just 61, though since he's been around so long it seems he should be older) and Mary appeared with Dan Rather for his "The Big Interview" show, where it was discussed how he'd prepared for his surprise HoF moment.



Over the past year, a few old never before heard Travis songs have been remastered and released, and it was revealed during the Rather interview that enough material exists for an entirely "new" album of country songs to be dropped in the near future.







=WOMEN'S SINGLES QF=
#1 Ash Barty/AUS vs. #25 Karolina Muchova/CZE
#22 Jennifer Brady/USA vs. Jessica Pegula/USA
#3 Naomi Osaka/JPN def. Hsieh Su-wei/TPE
#10 Serena Williams/USA def. #2 Simona Halep/ROU

=WOMEN'S DOUBLES SF=
Jurak/Stojanovic (CRO/SRB) vs. #3 Krejcikova/Siniakova (CZE/CZE)
#4 Melichar/Schuurs (USA/NED) vs. #2 Mertens/Sabalenka (BEL/BLR)

=MIXED DOUBLES QF=
(Alt.) Carter/Gille (USA/BEL) vs. (WC) Stosur/Ebden (AUS/AUS)
Krawczyk/Salisbury (USA/GBR) vs. Klepac/Skupski (SLO/GBR)
#6 Krejcikova/R.Ram (CZE/USA) vs. #3 Dabrowski/Pavic (CAN/CRO)
(WC) Sanders/Polmans (AUS/AUS) vs. (WC) Ar.Rodionova/Purcell (AUS/AUS)

=WHEELCHAIR SINGLES FINAL=
#1 Diede de Groot/NED vs. #2 Yui Kamiji/JPN

=WHEELCHAIR DOUBLES FINAL=
#1 de Groot/Van Koot (NED/NED) def. #2 Montjane/Shuker (RSA/GBR) 6-4/6-1














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*WTA "CAREER SEMIFINAL SLAM" - active*
[with slam at which completed]
Victoria Azarenka - 2013 RG (30th)
Kim Clijsters - 2003 US (18th)
Simona Halep - 2018 AO (31st)
Serena Williams - 2003 AO (18th)
Venus Williams - 2001 AO (15th)
Vera Zvonareva - 2010 US (31st)

*ALL-TIME WTA SLAM SF*
52 - Chris Evert
44 - Martina Navratilova
40 - SERENA WILLIAMS
37 - Steffi Graf
36 - Margaret Court
26 - Billie Jean King
26 - Doris Hart

*AO WC SINGLES CHAMPIONS*
2002 Classic 8's: Esther Vergeer/NED
2003 Classic 8's: Esther Vergeer/NED
2004 Classic 8's: Esther Vergeer/NED
2005 Classic 8's: Mie Yaosa/JPN
2006 Classic 8's: Esther Vergeer/NED
2007 Esther Vergeer/NED
2008 Esther Vergeer/NED
2009 Esther Vergeer/NED
2010 Korie Homan/NED
2011 Esther Vergeer/NED
2012 Esther Vergeer/NED
2013 Aniek Van Koot/NED
2014 Sabine Ellerbrock/GER
2015 Jiske Griffioen/NED
2016 Jiske Griffioen/NED
2017 Yui Kamiji/JPN
2018 Diede de Groot/NED
2019 Diede de Groot/NED
2020 Yui Kamiji/JPN
2021 de Groot vs. Kamiji

*AO WC DOUBLES CHAMPIONS*
2004 Classic 8's: Maaike Smit/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2005 Classic 8's: Florence Gravellier/Maaike Smit (FRA/NED)
2006 Classic 8's: Jiske Griffioen/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2007 Jiske Griffioen/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2008 Jiske Griffioen/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2009 Korie Homan/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2010 Florence Gravellier/Aniek van Koot (FRA/NED)
2011 Esther Vergeer/Sharon Walraven (NED/NED)
2012 Esther Vergeer/Sharon Walraven (NED/NED)
2013 Jiske Griffioen/Aniek van Koot (NED/NED)
2014 Yui Kamiji/Jordanne Whiley (JPN/GBR)
2015 Yui Kamiji/Jordanne Whiley (JPN/GBR)
2016 Marjolein Buis/Yui Kamiji (NED/JPN)
2017 Jiske Griffioen/Aniek van Koot (NED/NED)
2018 Marjolein Buis/Yui Kamiji (NED/JPN)
2019 Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot (NED/NED)
2020 Yui Kamiji/Jordanne Whiley (JPN/GBR)
2021 Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot (NED/NED)

*WHEELCHAIR SLAM DOUBLES TITLES*
[AO-RG-WI-US]
21 - Esther Vergeer, NED [7-5-3-6]
17 - ANIEK VAN KOOT, NED [5-6-3-3]
16 - Yui Kamiji, JPN [5-3-5-3]
14 - Jiske Griffioen, NED [5-3-2-4]
11 - Jordanne Whiley, GBR [3-2-4-2]
10 - DIEDE DE GROOT, NED [2-3-2-3]
7 - Sharon Walraven, NED [2-1-2-2]
5 - Korie Homan, NED [1-1-1-2]
5 - Marjolein Buis, NED [2-2-0-1]



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TOP QUALIFIER: Francesca Jones/GBR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Naomi Osaka/JPN
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): #2 Simona Halep/ROU def. Ajla Tomljanovic/AUS 4-6/6-4/7-5; 2:34; trailed 5-2 in 3rd, Tomlj. for match; won last 5 games
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): Nominee: 4r-#3 Osaka d. #14 Muguruza
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: United States
REVELATION LADIES: Estonia
NATION OF POOR SOULS: China (1-5, 2 seeds out 1r & all 3 Top 50; Wang Xiyu w/d with COVID)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Sara Errani/ITA, Kaja Juvan/SLO (both 3rd Rd.) + (LL: Schmiedlova-2r)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Dasha Gavrilova/AUS, Samantha Stosur/AUS (both 2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: Ash Barty (in QF)
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: Nominees: Pegula, Brady, Muchova
IT (Egyptian): Mayar Sherif/EGY (1st Eqyptian slam MD win)
COMEBACK PLAYER: Rebecca Marino/CAN (first GS win in 10 yrs.; battled depression)
CRASH & BURN: Sofia Kenin/USA (2nd Rd. to Kanepi; earliest AO DC exit since 2003)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF MELBOURNE: Simona Halep/ROU (2nd Rd.- down 5-2 in 3rd vs. Tomljanovic, sweeps final 5 games)
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: Hsieh Su-wei/TPE (first career WS slam QF at age 35) (Nominee: S.Williams)
LADY OF THE EVENING: Simona Halep/ROU
"G'DAY/GOOD ON YA, MATE" AWARD: nominees: Barty's post-shutdown return to slam stage; Osaka & the butterfly; Day 7 bottom half Rd. of 16: combined 51 slam titles (7 players), 460 weeks at #1 (5 players), 70 slam finals (all 8 players), 183 combined WTA s/d titles (all 8)
DOUBLES STAR: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: [jr. event to be held later in '21]





All for Day 9. More tomorrow.
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