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Sunday, June 26, 2022

Wk.25- Petra (Still) ❤️‍ Grass

Grass court tennis and Petra Kvitova... the love story continues.






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*WEEK 25 CHAMPIONS*
EASTBOURNE, ENGLAND UK (WTA 500/Grass Outdoor)
S: Petra Kvitova/CZE def. Alona Ostapenko/LAT 6-3/6-2
D: Aleksandra Krunic/Magda Linette (SRB/POL) w/o Lyudmyla Kichenok/Alona Ostapenko (UKR/LAT)
BAD HOMBURG, GERMANY (WTA 500/Grass Outdoor)
S: Caroline Garcia/FRA def. Bianca Andreescu/CAN 6-7(5)/6-4/6-4
D: Eri Hozumi/Makoto Ninomiya (JPN/JPN) def. Erin Routliffe/Alicja Rosolska (NZL/POL) 6-4/6-7(5) [10-5]




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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Petra Kvitova/CZE and Caroline Garcia/FRA
...Kvitova always looks forward to the grass season, and it almost always comes through for her.

The Czech hasn't reached the heights at Wimbledon that most thought she might after winning two titles in four years in 2011 and '14, not reaching the QF in her last six AELTC appearances. Still, over the years, she's won three additional grass court crowns with this week's Eastbourne title (11 years after she reached the final there ahead of her maiden SW19 slam win) being added to her 2017-18 Birmingham wins. She's had a winning grass court record in every season (save for a 3-3 mark in '16) since 2010, going 64-17 overall starting with her 2010 SF run at SW19.

Rarely has she needed a week like the one she just had at Eastbourne, though. Kvitova came into the week having lost five of her last six (including an opening grass season defeat last week at the hands of Beatriz Haddad Maia), after having had promising QF results in Dubai and Miami earlier this season.



After a win over Donna Vekic, Kvitova prevailed over Brits Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart, having dropped the opening set vs. the former despite leading 5-2 and then edging ahead with the 3rd set's only break in the final game of the match. Kvitova "erased" her loss to Haddad with a semifinal win over the Brazilian to reach her first final since last year in Doha. Once there, she dominated Alona Ostapenko to improve to an impressive 29-10 in WTA finals in her career, picking up her first grass title (#5) since Birmingham four years ago.



Meanwhile, Garcia was flying in Bad Homburg.



Ranked #75 and with just one multi-win event (Lyon SF in March) all season, Garcia wasn't exactly a favorite to come out on top in Germany. But the Pastry has had some sneaky good grass court results in her career. Though just 7-8 at Wimbledon, the only major at which she's under .500 (she hasn't won a match at SW19 since '17), Garcia is one of the relatively few remaining players on tour with more than one tour title on grass, winning in Mallorca (2016) and Nottingham (2019). Mallorca, where the women's event hasn't been played since '19, has been a particular hot spot for the Pastry, as she's gone 12-3 with one title, a SF ('17) and two QF (2018-19).

Like Kvitova, Garcia added a third different grass court tournament title to her career resume with her maiden Bad Homburg crown, posting wins over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Kamilla Rakhimova, Sabine Lisicki and Alize Cornet (in 2:45, saving a MP) en route to her first tour singles final since winning in Nottingham three years ago. In the championship match, Garcia again rallied, staging a comeback from 7-6/4-2 back, and 2-0 in the 3rd, to defeat Bianca Andreescu to claim her eighth career tour singles crown (in 11 finals).

The only active players with more tour-level grass titles than Garcia are named Williams, Williams and Kvitova. That's it. That's the list.



With Garcia's win, within three weeks of their Roland Garros WD title, *both* she and Kristina Mladenovic have picked up singles titles for the first time in three and five years, respectively. Hmmm, it's almost as if their confidence was boosted by such a great result and the surge has immediately been transfused into their singles games.
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RISERS: Alona Ostapenko/LAT and Anhelina Kalinina/UKR
...Ostapenko is a former Roland Garros winner, but she and the grass have always been pretty close. She was the Wimbledon girls' champ back in 2014, recorded her first career Top 10 win (CSN/Wimbledon 1r) on the surface in 2015, followed up her '17 title run in Paris with an affirming QF at Wimbledon (then reached the SF a year later), has recorded more wins at the AELTC (12) than she's had at any other major, and even reached a slam MX final at SW19 in '19.

A year after winning the Eastbourne title, Ostapenko put together another tear as the defending champ, returning to the final with wins over Ajla Tomljanovic, Madison Keys (ret.), Anhelina Kalinina and Camila Giorgi.



Of course, while the Latvian and grass court tennis are *like this*, the surface and Petra Kvitova have been involved in a committed relationship for quite some time. It showed in the final, as the Czech dominated Ostapenko, allowing just five games. It was the only match that Ostapenko played on Saturday, as she withdrew from the doubles final with Lyudmyla Kichenok one week after winning the Birmingham final under similar circumstances. Still, this marks the second event this year (w/ Dubai) at which Ostapenko has reached both the singles and doubles finals.

It's the first time a player has done it twice in a season since Elise Mertens in 2018 (Hobart/Lugano).



While the likes of Svitolina, Yastremska, Kostyuk and even Tsurenko get most of the attention, it should be noted that Kalinina is actually the top-ranked Ukrainian woman on tour.

Now ranked in the Top 35, Kalinina this week further solidified her position as her nations' best, reaching her third '22 WTA QF (w/ Charleston/Madrid) in Eastbourne (fifth in the last year, including the '21 Budapest final) with a trio of wins over players ranked inside the Top 35.

After opening with a victory over one of last week's Birmingham semifinalists in Sorana Cirstea, Kalinina followed up with another win over Berlin semifinalist Maria Sakkari, recording her second Top 10 win of the year (and second of her career). After advancing past Yulia Putintseva, Kalinina fell to defending champ Ostapenko.

Kalinina, at #29, will be seeded for the first time at a major as Wimbledon begins this week.


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SURPRISES: Harriet Dart/GBR and Viktoriya Tomova/BUL
...already with a Nottingham QF (a career first on tour) and Wimbledon MD spot (the first of her career w/o the aid of a WC) in hand, Dart made it back-to-back Final 8 runs with her QF at Eastbourne, notching wins over Madison Brengle, then (on the same day) triumphing over both Jil Teichmann and Marta Kostyuk (plus winning a WD match) on Wednesday to assure a new career high rank (#94) before the start of play at SW19.



Dart fell in straight sets to Petra Kvitova in the QF, but will next get the chance to try and match her career-best 3rd Round slam result she posted at the AELTC back in 2019.



Also in Eastbourne, Tomova had a rather interesting trip to her own QF berth.

The 27-year old Bulgarian lost in qualifying to Kirsten Flipkens, only to get a reprieve (and 1st Round bye) when she replaced #2 seed Ons Jabeur in the MD as a lucky loser. Wins over Shelby Rogers and (yes) Flipkens followed before Tomova lost in the QF to Camila Giorgi. The result is Tomova's best on tour since May '21 (Belgrade), and her best ever in a 500 level event, though she also reached the final eight in her last event, a WTA 125 on clay in Valencia. She'll climb to #112 in the new rankings, still slightly behind the career high (#103) she set in February.

Tomova's QF result matches the best LL penetration into a WTA MD this year, equaling the previous runs of Jil Teichmann (Dubai) and CoCo Vandeweghe (Charleston).


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VETERAN: Alize Cornet/FRA
...days ahead of her WTA record-tying 62nd consecutive slam MD appearance, Cornet was strutting her stuff in Bad Homburg.



After reaching the doubles final in Berlin last week, her first WD final in almost five years, Cornet strung together singles wins over Anna Kalinskaya (after losing to her in 1st Rd. in Berlin), Tatjana Maria and defending champ Angelique Kerber to post her best result since her AO quarterfinal in February and first tour SF since Tenerife last October. There against fellow Pastry Caroline Garcia, Cornet engaged in a 2:45 battle in which she held a MP only see Garcia get the win and (eventually) the title.

Still the French #1, Cornet will rise to #37 heading into Wimbledon, where she'll seek to make on-court headlines for a third straight '22 slam (after knocking off Ostapenko under the lights at RG in the only women's night match there). She'll open vs. #27-seeded Yulia Putintseva, with a possible match-up with #1 Iga Swiatek in the 3rd Round.
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COMEBACKS: Bianca Andreescu/CAN and Sabine Lisicki/GER
...apparently, that Berlin doubles team-up (and SF run) of Andreescu & Lisicki helped to produce some lingering good vibes for both.

Andreescu's return to tennis after sitting out for six months due to various (sometimes off the court) issues has progressed solidly, if not spectacularly. She put together a nice, albeit understated clay court campaign (7-4, Madrid 4r/Rome QF), and has (so far) followed up with something similar in the pre-Wimbledon grass court stretch of the schedule, going 4-2 and this week in Bad Homburg putting together her maiden career winning streak on the surface as well as reaching her first SF/F not only on grass but also her best results since reaching the Miami final last year.

Coming in ranked #64, the Canadian posted wins over Martina Trevisan, Katie Swan and (more impressively) top seeded Dasha Kasatkina without dropping a set. After receiving a walkover from Simona Halep in the semis, Andreescu faced off with Caroline Garcia in the final. She led the Pastry 7-6/4-2, then 2-0 in the 3rd, before Garcia strung together four straight games on both occasions and eventually claimed her third career grass court crown.

A title, any of which have eluded her since her '19 U.S. Open win, would have been nice, but Andreescu's meandering path since that summer and the place in which she now finds herself at the end of it, seem to satisfy her for now. On a performance level, it's difficult not to be extremely encouraged by her 11-6 stretch on the surfaces on which she's had little experience or success as she soon heads into the summer hard court season (hopefully) healthy and (crossing fingers) ready to take even bigger steps in places where's she's shined so brightly in the past.



Andreescu is 0-2 in her Wimbledon MD career and has only played one 1st Round match at SW19 since her career slam debut back in 2017. Of course, she'd never played a U.S. Open match before winning the whole thing either, so every stat is subject to change when it comes to levels of importance, I suppose.



Injuries have been Lisicki's "dark passenger" for much of her career, with her knees especially proving to be the catalyst for a continual stop-and-start-another-comeback pattern for the last decade-plus. Still, the German has managed to win four tour titles (in 9 finals, the last coming in 2014), rank as high as #12 a decade ago and produce a serious string of stunning results at Wimbledon early in her career. From 2009-14, Lisicki went 23-5 at SW19 while reaching 3 QF, a SF and her lone slam singles final in 2013.

Due to far too many injury breaks to count, while Lisicki spent time in the Top 25 in every season from 2009-15, her last six season-ending rankings have looked like this: 92-268-229-335-622. Her most recent knee surgery in '20 caused her to miss eighteen months, including the entire '21 season (after playing just six matches in '20), until she finally returned to action last month.

In recent weeks, Lisicki's return to her beloved grass courts has seen her latest comeback gain traction. She qualified at the Surbition $100K and reached the tour-level Berlin doubles semis alongside Andreescu. This week in Bad Homburg, the 32-year old took a wild card on home soil and recorded her first WTA MD win since 2018 with a victory over Tamara Korpatsch, then followed up with a three-set triumph over Greet Minnen to reach her first tour-level QF in four years (and her first in Germany since '13). She fell to Caroline Garcia, but will climb from #804 to back inside the Top 500 in the next rankings.



It's too bad that Lisicki's recent surge couldn't have happened a few weeks ago, as it might have allowed her to be considered for a Wimbledon WC berth (remember, she wrote that letter and got one years ago), or maybe been given a qualifying WC berth. While she needs the rankings points that won't be available in the season's third slam this year, one suspects that another chance to play in the major that she cherishes the most would have pursuaded Lisicki to grab the opportunity with both hands. She hasn't played in a slam MD match since 2017.
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FRESH FACES: Jodie Burrage/GBR and Katie Boulter/GBR
...a year after Emma Raducanu's second week run at SW19 (and now Top 10 Wimbledon seed), several British women are surging into the fortnight. Once again on the list, along with Dart, are Burrage and Boulter.

The 23-year old rallied from 6-3/5-3 down to knock off Petra Martic in the opening round in Eastbourne, then followed up with her first career Top 10 win over #4 Paula Badosa. She finally lost to Beatriz Haddad Maia in the 3rd Round (the Brazilian's 12th straight victory), but heads into the AELTC with a 10-4 grass court record this season after having previously been just 2-13 on the surface as a pro, with her last victory in 2018.

Burrage will crack the Top 150 for the first time in the last pre-Wimbledon rankings.



Boulter continued to pick up steam in Eastbourne, fresh off her Birmingham QF. She posted back-to-back wins over veteran Czechs Tereza Martincova and Karolina Pliskova, the latter her first career Top 10 victory, but couldn't make a third victory a charm when she fell in the 3rd Round to Petra Kvitova. The Brit had rallied from 5-2 down to seize the 1st set from the two-time Wimbledon champ, but lost out in a 3rd set that saw both women hold serve until Kvitova broke Boulter in game #12 to claim the match.


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DOWN: Kaja Juvan/SLO
...during the Slovenian's recent surge it was noted in this space about her lingering inability to follow up big results (of which there have been quite a few the last few seasons) with similar performances, hence her (so far) not yet having cracked the Top 50.

Prior to Roland Garros, Juvan tangled with Angelique Kerber in a classic Strasbourg final match-up. Going into that match, she'd gone 21-6 since the end of the AO (though w/ 9 wins coming in qualifying, and 4 more in BJK Zone play vs. low-ranked foes). Juvan fell in three tie-break sets to the German, and has virtually disappeared from the winner's circle since.

She exited in the 2nd Round in Paris (to Paula Badosa in three sets), and with her 1st Round retirement this week (down 2-0 in the 3rd) against Lucia Bronzetti in Bad Homberg, the 21-year old has now gone 1-3 since the Strasbourg final, losing four of her last five matches.

Juvan reached the 3rd Round last year at Wimbledon, after having upset Belinda Bencic in the 1st Round. After the result, her best career slam run, she went 2-5 in her next seven matches in the summer/fall. She opens with Beatriz Haddad Maia this year at SW19.
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ITF PLAYER: Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE
...at 14 earlier this year, Fruhvirtova became the the youngest ITF pro singles champ since 2015. Then she won again.

The now 15-year old was back in the winner's circle this weekend in Klosters, SUI (twice, in fact) as she swept the $25K event to improve to 4-0 in pro finals (3-0 s, 1-0 d) with a 7-5/7-5 win over fellow Czech Michaela Bayerlova, and teaming with Romanian Miriam Bugaru to win her maiden crown in doubles.


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JUNIOR STAR: Taylah Preston/AUS
...hmmm, might another Australian be about to take Wimbledon by storm, one year after Ash Barty won the women's title?

Having already won her way through Rosmalen qualifying to make her tour-level debut (a three-set loss to Ariane Hartono) in recent weeks, 16-year old Preston claimed her second career J1 junior crown at Nottingham with a 6-2/6-7/6-3 win in the final over Slovenia's Ela Nala Milic. The #3 seed, Preston had knocked off top seed Luca Udvardy in the semis.

The girls' #29, Preston has finally been allowed to venture outside Australia in recent months after spending 2020-21 back home due to pandemic travel restrictions. She made the most of her time Down Under, going 24-3 (going 19-0 in one stretch) and earning the Newcombe Medal as the top female junior athlete in all of Australia.

Preston upset Sara Errani in Melbourne qualifying in January, and has gone on to post a 27-6 junior record in '22 (17-4 outside AUS).



The last Aussie to win the girls' title at SW19 was Barty herself in 2011. The only other was Debbie Freeman in 1980.
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DOUBLES: Eri Hozumi/Makoto Ninomiya, JPN/JPN
...the #1 seeds at Bad Homburg, Hozumi & Ninomiya's path to the final included four consecutive match TB victories over the likes of Piter/Zimmermann, Potapova/Sizikova, Mihalikova/Sasnovich and Alicja Rosolska & Erin Routliffe in the final.

Now 3-0 in tour finals in 2022, the Japanese pair lead the WTA in singles titles, with all three finals seeing the duo win a MTB to claim the crown. Hozumi now has five career tour titles, and Ninomiya six.

Even with their success this season (they also won a WTA 125 last month), Hozumi and Ninomiya are barely ranked inside the doubles Top 40, and are just 11th in the season Race for the WTA Finals.


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WHEELCHAIR: Diede de Groot/NED
...the beat rolls on.

At the inaugural Rothesay International wheelchair event at Eastbourne, de Groot continued to be untouchable. Only playing singles this week, the Dutch #1 allowed just nine games over three matches, finishing up with wins over KG Montjane and #2 Yui Kamiji in a 3 & 2 final that was the rivals' first meeting on grass. De Groot is now 30-15 overall vs. Kamiji, 28-4 in the last 32 and with 12 wins in a row.

De Groot remains undefeated in 2022, with her 58-match singles winning streak (15 titles in a row, w/ 45 straight sets claimed, and 110 of 112) part of her combined 35-0 (22s, 13d) season mark. She's gone 100-3 in s/d the last two seasons, and now heads to the place where her last loss of any kind occurred. De Groot (w/ Aniek Van Koot) last fell 70 matches ago in the Wimbledon doubles SF to Montjane & Lucy Shuker.

Meanwhile, it was a very good week for Kamiji, who while having won eight slam singles crowns at the other three majors has *never* reached the Wimbledon final in five attempts, and last year fell in her first match. Not only did she reach the singles final in Eastbourne, but she also won the doubles alongside Zhu Zhenzhen, defeating Montjane & Shuker.


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1. Bad Homburg SF - Caroline Garcia def. Alize Cornet
...7-6(9)/3-6/7-5. Rather than LOL, it was more like WOW.

In a match that included just five breaks of serve in 33 games, neither faced a BP in the 1st, won by Garcia on her fourth SP after having saved two SP.



Cornet ran off five straight games to take the 2nd, then claimed four of five after falling behind 3-1 to her fellow Pastry in the 3rd. Up 5-4, Cornet held a MP, but Garcia saved it and then pulled off the break-and-hold combo to end the 2:45 battle.



For the match, Garcia fired 70 winners (39 UE) to Cornet's 59 (18 UE), while Cornet ultimately held a slim edge in total points (112-110).
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2. Bad Homburg Final - Caroline Garcia def. Bianca Andreescu
...6-7(5)/6-4/6-4. The second of Garcia's back-to-back battles to secure the title.

Andreescu led 7-6/4-2, only to see Garcia run off four straight games to force a 3rd set. Up 2-0 in the decider, Andreescu again saw Garcia win four in a row and hold her advantage to take the title.


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3. Bad Homburg 1st Rd. - Amanda Anisimova def. Alison Van Uytvanck
...3-6/6-3/7-6(4). Van Uytvanck led 4-2 in the 3rd, only to see Anisimova force a TB. Down 4-2 in the deciding TB, the Bannerette swept the final five points, including a nifty get on MP.



Again, Van Uytvanck's lower-level grass prowess gets stopped cold in a tour-level match. Next, the Belgian opens Wimbledon against... Emma Raducanu.
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4. Eastbourne 2nd Rd. - Harriet Dart def. Jil Teichmann 7-6(7)/4-6/6-3
Eastbourne 3rd Rd. - Harriet Dart def. Marta Kostyuk 6-4/2-6/6-4
...Harriet's big day.

After her 2nd Round match was pushed back a day, Dart used the opportunity to post *two* of the biggest wins of her career in a matter of a few hours. In the opener, Dart took the 1st after trailing 5-3, followed by Teichmann rallying from 4-2 down in the 2nd to knot the match. Going one better, Dart then climbed back from 3-1 back in the 3rd to get the win.

The final set with Kostyuk proved to be a push-and-full affair, with Dart taking a 2-0 lead, Kostyuk tying the score at 2-2, then the pattern repeating itself to get to 4-4. Dart then started the cycle over again with back-to-back games, but Kostyuk ran out of time to keep the whole thing going.


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5. Eastbourne 1st Rd. - Jodie Burrage def. Petra Martic 3-6/7-5/6-3
Eastbourne 2nd Rd. - Jodie Burrage def. Paula Badosa 6-4/6-3
...the Brits just did things in pairs this week.

Burrage opened with a comeback win over Martic after trailing 6-3/5-3, then the world #169 followed up with a career-best win over #4 Badosa.


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6. Eastbourne Final - Petra Kvitova def. Alona Ostapenko
...6-3/6-2.

Weird Fact of the Week: while Kvitova has three career Top 10 wins on grass, her most recent came in *2011*. Her win in the Wimbledon final over Maria Sharapova. All three of the wins came at Wimbledon in 2010-11.


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7. Eastbourne 2nd Rd. - Anhelina Kalinina def. Maria Sakkari
...3-6/7-5/6-4. Kalinina's second Top 10 win of this season = as many as Elina Svitolina has had since 2020.
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8. Eastbourne SF - Petra Kvitova def. Beatriz Haddad Maia
...7-6(5)/6-4. Kvitova avenges her Birmingham loss to the Brazilian, ending Haddad Maia's 12-match winning streak, the longest on grass by a WTA player since Serena Williams' 2015-18 20-match run.


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9. Eastbourne 2nd Rd. - Magda Linette def. Alison Riske
...6-7(3)/6-3/7-6(4). After her run to the Nottingham final, Riske's grass court skills have produced zero wins in two matches. She twice led Linette by a break in the 3rd.


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10. Eastbourne Q2 - Kirsten Flipkens def. Viktoriya Tomova 4-6/6-2/7-6(4)
Eastbourne 3rd Rd. - Viktoriya Tomova (LL) def. Kirsten Flipkens 3-6/6-3/6-4
...before sending Flipper off into the singles sunset, the Tennis Gods just *had* to throw one of these scenarios at her.


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11. Eastbourne 1st Rd. - Kirsten Flipkens def. Maryna Zanevska 6-2/6-3
Eastbourne 2nd Rd. - Kirsten Flipkens def. Elise Mertens 6-2/2-6/6-1
...of course, in the same tournament, Flipkens also got to be seen off (with her seeing *them* off) by a few of her countrywoman one final time, too. So I guess it was a TG wash.
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12. Bad Homburg 1st Rd. - Sabine Lisicki def. Tamara Korpatsch
...6-4/7-6(5). Lisicki's first WTA MD win since 2018 started her down the path to a QF berth.


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13. Bad Homburg 1st Rd. - Kamilla Rakhimova def. Liudmila Samsonova
...7-6(6)/6-4. The Hordette, the '21 Berlin champ, falls to 1-3 on grass this season, 1-7 in her last eight matches overall and just 10-14 for the '22 season.
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14. Eastbourne 2nd Rd. - Lesia Tsurenko def. Elena Rybakina 1-6/7-5/6-3
Eastbourne 3rd Rd. - Lesia Tsurenko def. Magda Linette 7-5/3-6/7-5
...Tsurenko qualifies with a win over Heather Watson, then follows up with MD victories over Camila Osorio, Rybakina and Linette, winning four straight games from 5-3 down in the 3rd vs. the Pole, only to then hand Haddad a walkover in the QF.
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15. Bad Homburg SF - Bianca Andreescu walkover Simona Halep
...Halep withdraws after waking up with a neck injury, preventing what would have been just the second meeting between the slam-winning Romanian and the slam-winning Canadian with Romanian heritage. Halep had won their only meeting at the 2019 WTAF.

Similarly, Andreescu's only match-up with Emma Raducanu, slam-winning Brit with Romanian roots, ended with Raducanu's retirement in Rome.

As she heads into Wimbledon on the heels of back-to-back grass SF that make her 15-2 on the surface since 2019, Halep continues to have a hard-to-figure season. A Week 1 title-winner, she's since reached four additional '22 semifinals, going 0-3 before not playing this one. She's had quite a good season, compiling a 26-8 record, but has relatively precious little to show for it.

Halep's "signature match" was a pitched battle she *lost* to Cornet at the AO, and she's fallen to white-hot eventual champions in the late stages of events in Dubai (Ostapenko/SF), Indian Wells (Swiatek/SF), Madrid (Jabeur/QF) and Birmingham (Haddad/SF), while also experiencing a "panic attack" at Roland Garros. And she's done all this as she's attempted to "break in" new coach Patrick Mouratoglou while also admitting that as recently as a few months ago she thought her tennis career was just about over.


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HM- $25K Gurugram IND Final - Karman Thandi def. Sofia Costoulas
...6-4/2-6/6-1. Once upon a time, Thandi was the young up-and-comer poised to be the next Indian women's player of note. Four years ago she won her maiden ITF title and reached the Top 200, but Ankita Raina (five years older at 29) has gone on to become the true current heir to Sania Mirza's tennis headlines.

Thandi, now ranked just inside the Top 500, finally picked up title #2 this weekend (2-8 in finals), defeating Costoulas as the Belgian junior star once again failed to pick up her maiden pro crown (she's now 0-4 in pro finals).
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1. Eastbourne 2nd Rd. - Alona Ostapenko def. Alja Tomljanovic
...6-2/6-4. Every other Ostapenko match comes with accompanying footnotes and attached video, and here is this week's offering for what was the first meeting between the Latvian and Aussie Tomljanovic since their near throwdown at the close of their 3rd Round encounter at last year's Wimbledon.

Here's how this week's match (anticlimatically) concluded...



But the additional context comes in the reminder that last year's Wimbledon dust-up included Tomljanovic being angry that Ostapenko had been allowed to take a MTO down 4-0 in the 3rd, with the Aussie set to serve. Tomljanovic in no way bought that she was injured, and let everyone know about it, arguing with the chair umpire and tournament supervisor while Ostapenko had an extended break off court.

Tomljanovic eventually won the match, and while she took her time celebrating, Ostapenko set her racket down and then waited at the net. The two did clasp hands, and Ostapenko suggested the Aussie ask the physio whether she was faking or not. "I hope you feel better," Tomljanovic said with little sincerity, leading Ostapenko to fire back as her opponent walked away, calling Tomljanovic's behavior "terrible" and said that she showed "zero respect."


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2. Eastbourne 2nd Rd. - Katie Boulter def. Karolina Pliskova
...1-6/6-4/6-4. The Brit does anything but back into SW19, recording her first career Top 10 win.


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3. Eastbourne 1st Rd. - Ons Jabeur/Serena Williams def. Sara Sorribes Tormo/Marie Bouzkova
...2-6/6-3 [13-11]. I don't know if you heard, but Serena was apparently back on the court for the first time in a year this week in Eastbourne. Teaming with Berlin champ Jabeur in doubles, quite a lot looked familiar.



On the same day that the duo got this win, Paula Badosa lost in singles to assure Jabeur of moving up to yet another career high (#2) in the next rankings.


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4. Eastbourne QF - Ons Jabeur/Serena Williams def. Shuko Aoyama/Chan Hao-ching
...6-2/6-4. The two got another win, complete with the sort of feel-good competition that makes you *hope* that either Serena or Venus (or both) will continue to find a way to play some doubles on tour even if they will (have?) taken a permanent step back from singles competition. Their mere presence makes every match an *event*, and brings out the best in everyone.

Remember, Original Martina was playing doubles on tour until she was literally days away from her 50th birthday.



This was Jabeur/Williams' final match, as Jabeur withdrew from the semifinals with a lingering knee injury as she seeks to not stumble in the early rounds in London as she did in Paris.
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5. Eastbourne Final - Aleksandra Krunic/Magda Linette walkover Lyudmyla Kichenok/Alona Ostapenko
...just as Kichenok/Ostapenko took the Birmingham crown last week via walkover due to Zhang Shuai's injury, Krunic/Linette do so this week over Kichenok/Ostapenko when they decided not to play the final (Alona was also in the singles final).

Actually, this marked the second consecutive walkover for Krunic/Linette, who reached the final when Ons Jabeur & Serena Williams pulled out of the semis. It's Krunic's sixth tour-level WD win, and Linette's second (she won this year's Charleston title w/ Andreja Klepac).


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HM- $25K Klosters SUI Final - Miriam Bulgaru/Brenda Fruhvirtova def. Tayisiya Morderger/Yana Morderger 6-0/6-1
$25K Wichita USA Final - Allura Zamaripa/Maribella Zamaripa def. Carolyn Ansari/Ariana Arseneault 6-4/6-2
$15 Colorado Springs USA Final - Carmen Corley/Ivana Corley d. Daria Kuczer/Veronica Miroshnichenko 7-6(4)/6-2
...in addition to Fruhvirtova (who def. the Mordergers), Bannerette sisters with NCAA ties were busy picking up titles this weekend as the Zamarripa twins (Texas, but pro as of this month) and Oklahoma's Corleys prevailed.

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So, I guess someone realized that laughably playing "spy games" by having a Greek-speaking chair umpire hide in the shadows of the Players' Box to listen for clandestine coaching (as happened w/ Tsitsipas earlier this year) was a bad look, and allowing something that legally occurs in every other sporting competition on earth (including on the women's tour for years)) was probably something they should investigate. Go figure.




If it wasn't so sad that *Kyrgios* -- of all people -- is angrily defending tradition and decorum it would be hilarious. No, I take that back... it *is* hilarious.


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It's nice when wishes and/or predictions comes true...




On that note...















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*KVITOVA ON GRASS*
2008 (0-2)...L: Perebiynis,Rao
2009 (0-1)...L: Kirilenko
2010 (5-2)...L: Petkovic,S.Williams
2011 (11-1)...L: Bartoli [Wimbledon title]
2012 (7-3)...L: Makarova,S.Williams,Kirilenko
2013 (4-2)...L: Wickmayer,Flipkens
2014 (9-0)...[Wimbledon title]
2015 (2-1)...L: Jankovic
2016 (3-3)...L: Ostapenko,Konta,Makarova
2017 (6-1)...L: Brengle [Birmingham title]
2018 (6-1+L)...L: A.Radwanska w/o, Sasnovich [Birmingham title]
2019 (3-1)...L: Konta
2020 -
2021 (3-2)...L: Kerber,Stephens
2022 (5-1)...L: Haddad Maia [Eastbourne title]
--
33-11...Wimbledon
3-1...Wimbledon [Olympics]
28-9...non-Wimbledon
64-21...CAREER

*CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLES - ACTIVE*
73 - Serena Williams, USA (recent: 2020)
49 - Venus Williams, USA (2016)
29 - PETRA KVITOVA, CZE (2022)
23 - Simona Halep, ROU (2022)
21 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR (2020)
18 - Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS (2018)
16 - Karolina Pliskova, CZE (2020)
[grass - active]
8...Serena Williams
6...Venus Williams
5...PETRA KVITOVA
3...CAROLINE GARCIA
3...Angelique Kerber
3...Karolina Pliskova
--
NOTE: Barty-3

*2022 WTA FINAL, MOST SURFACES*
3 - Ons Jabeur = Hard, Red Clay, Grass
2 - Iga Swiatek = Hard, Red Clay
2 - Veronikova Kudermetova = Hard, Red Clay
2 - Aryna Sabalenka = Hard, Grass
2 - Alison Riske = Hard, Grass
2 - Zhang Shuai = Hard, Grass
2 - Belinda Bencic = Green Clay, Grass
2 - Alona Ostapenko = Hard, Grass

*2022 WTA SINGLES/DOUBLES FINAL IN EVENT*
Adelaide 1: Ash Barty, AUS (W/W)
Dubai: Alona Ostapenko, LAT (W/L)
Dubai: Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (L/W)
Roland Garros: Coco Gauff, USA (L/L)
Nottingham: Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA (W/W)
Birmingham: Zhang Shuai, CHN (L/L walkover)
Eastbourne: ALONA OSTAPENKO, LAT (L/L walkover)

*2022 WTA SF*
8 - Iga Swiatek, POL (6-2)
5 - SIMONA HALEP, ROU (1-3 +L)
4 - Ons Jabeur, TUN (4-0)
4 - ALONA OSTAPENKO, LAT (2-2)
4 - BEATRIZ HADDAD MAIA, BRA (2-2)
4 - Maria Sakkari, GRE (2-2)
4 - Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (1-1 +WW)
4 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (0-4)

*2022 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
3 - ERI HOZUMI, JPN
3 - MAKOTO NINOMIYA, JPN
3 - Katerina Siniakova, CZE
2 - Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
2 - Veronika Kudermetova, RUS
2 - MAGDA LINETTE, POL
2 - Jessie Pegula, USA
2 - Storm Sanders, AUS
2 - Laura Siegemund, GER
2 - Vera Zvonareva, RUS
[duos]
3...HOZUMI/NINOMIYA, JPN/JPN
2...Siegemund/Zvonareva, GER/RUS
[2020-22 - duos]
7...Krejcikova/Siniakova (1/5/1)
6...Aoyama/Shibahara (1/5/0)
4...Hsieh/Strycova (4/0 ret.)
3...Guarachi/Krawczyk (1/2/0)
3...HOZUMI/NINOMIYA (0/0/3)
3...Melichar/Schuurs (1/2/0)
3...Siegemund/Zvonareva (1/0/2)

*2022 - PLAYERS W/ WTA SINGLES & DOUBLES TITLES*
Ash Barty, AUS [2/1]
CAROLINE GARCIA, FRA [1/1]
Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA [2/2]
Alona Ostapenko, LAT [1/1]
[MD+MX]
Kristina Mladenovic, FRA [1/1]





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One thing that we've learned over the last few decades is that the right wing *always* oversteps and overestimates a supposed "mandate," leading to an eventual "course correction" by the voting public that replaces those who attempted to remake the nation to their liking, generally against popular opinion, agreement and consent.

Problem is, the things that have happened the last few years have been perpetuated by people often put into office by a non-majority vote, and who then made official moves to change and corrupt public life in ways that are approved by a minority of the U.S. population. The current Supreme Court is made of five justices chosen by presidents who lost the popular vote to their opponent, with the last Republican president choosing three justices in a single four-year term, two of which were essentially "stolen" seats that should have gone to his predecessor and (at it turned out) his succesor.

While the usual "course correction" has traditionally come via the ballot box, the Trump/McConnell years have featured a systematic scheme to install systems at the state level that either remove many people's ability to vote, or make it exponentially more difficult for them to do so, with the current goal to use those machinations to help elect people to state positions who might just break the laws that the previous office holders refused to violate in '20 in spite of much pressure from the former President to use illegal tactics to overturn legal election results that didn't go in his favor.

If the longtime stopgap has been elections -- with 2016/2020 perhaps having been the last largely unfettered opportunity (but still not without many attempts to change that) to express displeasure with government by replacing it -- what happens if the final result of the ongoing scheme is that future elections no longer provide the ability to check power and replace those that wield it via the means of legally voting them out of office? What happens then?

That said, voting is still the means of change. While it lasts.





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Of course, there's likely little chance of any of that actually happening. Because, you know, Democrats.

If you don't think that Mitch McConnell, who has spoken rather harshly against expanding the Court (and, for legal purposes, it's worth nothing that the U.S. Constitution does not set either the size of the Supreme Court nor any specific positions on it), is actually poised in the shadows -- with the idea now in full public view -- longing for the day when there is a Republican in the White House and GOP control of the House and Senate so that *he* can oversee and control the expansion of the SC so that it secures an even deeper (and longer lasting) conservative bent... well, then I'd say you haven't been paying much attention.

It'd be right "on brand" for the Democrats to have sat back and done nothing because of some sort of "we can't go that far," "moral high ground" reasoning about "what it would do to the country" and then in short order find themselves having to react to the opposition jumping in and pulling the rug right out from under their feet by having no such compunction... and then start to organize protest marches long past the time was present to actually do something that would matter.

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You don't realize how big some hockey players actually are until...




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All for now.
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