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Monday, August 29, 2022

US.1- The Cliffs of Snigur




Who knew they had cliffs in New York City?

Somehow, though, whenever she comes to town, there's a pretty good chance Simona Halep will find them.

In another seemingly wide open slam, even with her oft-checkered history at Flushing Meadows, the #7-seeded Romanian seemed as good a fit for "favorite" -- or one of many in a hefty handful -- to contend for or maybe even win this year's U.S. Open title. After a consistent season lacking only a big crown, the former #1 got just that in this summer's Toronto 1000 event and returned to the Top 10.

After early career success at the U.S. Open, Halep and the season's (usually) final major haven't particularly "clicked." She reached the semifinals in 2015, and the quarterfinals a year later. But, since then, whether she was playing well, highly seeded, or even coming off having won an important title she didn't live up to her seeding in Queens again until last year (when she'd slipped to #12, and went out in the Round of 16).

After being on the unlucky end of some bad draws in recent years in the event (1st Rd. vs. Sharapova in '17 and Kanepi in '18, then a hot Townsend in the '19 2nd Rd.), the veteran Romanian seemed to have gotten "a break" (i.e. not Serena, or Naomi or a few other unseeded threats) in '22, drawing 20-year old Ukrainian qualifer Daria Snigur, making her slam debut (in just her third tour-level MD match, having gone 0-2 this summer in Nottingham and Prague) after failing to qualify in eight previous attempts to reach a major MD since she won the Wimbledon girls' title in 2019, the same year that Halep claimed the women's singles crown at SW19.

It didn't turn out to be as cut-and-dry a match-up as most anticipated, though, as the youngster (ESPN's Mary Joe Fernandez compared Snigur's game to the largely pace-less scheme of none other than slam sniper Tsvetana Pironkova) held her own and Halep, well, she had a very hard time dealing with both what was on the other side of the net, as well as corraling her own game and keeping her shots inside the court.

With Halep's game careening around the hard court, Snigur took the 1st set 6-2, but the two-time slam winner dominated the 2nd, claiming it at love and being expected to carry out her course correction into the 2nd Round. But that didn't happen. Snigur didn't flinch, but Halep did.

In a slip (slightly) reminiscent of her old "Cliffs of Simona" days, Halep's errors began to get in the way of the narrative of her "victory."

Halep dropped serve to open the 3rd, but held a BP to get back on serve in game #2. She couldn't put it away, then saw Snigur take a love/40 lead in game #5 and go up a double break at 4-1. Halep again had a chance to change the momentum a game later. Snigur held a GP for 5-1, but Halep took a point on which she had to control a volley off a net cord shot. Snigur's double-fault gave Halep a BP chance, but again it went unconverted via a Halep unforced error. Halep's long return ended the two-deuce game as Snigur ultimately did take a 5-1 lead.

But Halep has escaped from such predicaments before, and proceded to calm her game. A hold was followed by a quick break of the newcomer's serve to close the gap to 5-3. A game later, Halep saved back-to-back MP (from 15/40) and then held with an ace to make it 5-4. It seemed that if Halep could just get back to even the momentum might fully tilt her way against her inexperienced opponent. And she *did* take a love/30 lead on Snigur's serve in game #10.

But Snigur didn't waver, and didn't suddenly go for too much in a panic move to keep Halep from further breathing down her neck. She got back to 30-all, then passed Halep at the net to get her third MP chance. A long Halep error ended the match, giving the #124-ranked Ukraininan a 6-2/0-6/6-4 win in her slam debut, sending Halep out in the 1st Round in New York for the third time in her last five appearances.



While Halep's new coaching partnership with Patrick Mouratoglou takes another step back in the arena of results, Snigur's three-year wait to make her slam debut has proven to be a case of something good having come to her after having been made to be patient.

The 20-year old participated in the Tennis Plays for Peace exhibition for her nation that took place at Flushing Meadows last week during her qualifying run. Because of that, she got to play on Armstrong before today, so a case could be made that it helped her "nerves" in her first big stage appearance, though she had no problem saying after the match how nervous she actually was. You'd never have guessed it.

So far for Snigur, the "unassuming ingenue" role seems a pretty good fit.






=DAY 1 NOTES=
...with play under way in the Serena Williams Farewell Open, err, I mean the U.S. Open, there was quite an early race for the First Victory on Day 1. But then, after what had seemed might be a "photo finish," the first player through finally did so with a bit of room to spare.

As the first group of six women's 1st Round matches got underway on Monday, the clear favorites to become the first to reach the 2nd Round emerged as Anna Kalinskaya (vs. Rebecca Peterson), #29 Alison Riske-Amritraj (vs. WC Eleana Yu) and #17 Caroline Garcia (vs. LL Kamilla Rakhimova) all went up by a set and a break. Soon, all three simultaneously held 4-2 2nd set leads, closed to 4-3 with holds by their opponents.

Garcia was the first to reach GP for a 5-3 edge, but Kalinskaya was the first to get there, followed by the Pastry and Bannerette moments later. With all three opponents serving in game #9, Kalinskaya took a love/30 lead on the Swede. Peterson tightened the game to 30/30, but the Hordette reached MP as both Garcia and Riske got to within two points of victory.

Kalinskaya got the break to win 6-4/6-3 and post the initial 1st Round victory at this U.S. Open, while Yu and Rakhimova both held serve and forced Riske and Garcia, respectively, to serve out their wins. They did, both winning 6-2/6-4.



The win gives Kalinskaya three career slam MD wins, all in Flushing Meadows over the last four years (w/ opening victories in 2019-20, '22). Riske has fallen in either the 1st or 2nd Rounds in New York the last eight years after reaching the Round of 16 in 2013; while Garica (the Cincinnati champ notched her 9th straight match win this summer) has never played into the second week in NYC (she's done so at the other three majors, with her best slam result a RG QF in '17).

...meanwhile, two days after Dasha Kasatkina improved her '22 record when winning the opening set to 27-0, Camila Osorio added to an impressive early-career mark of her own. After dropping the 1st set to Ann Li, the Colombian rallied to win in three. Osorio, the '19 U.S. Open girls' winner and already a three-time tour singles finalist (and '21 Bogota champ), is now 19-4 in WTA Q/MD three-setters in her young career. Nice.

...as the day got going, the bigger names started to trickle onto the court, often having to take the best proverbial punches from their opponents.

#3 Maria Sakkari, after having lost to Tatjana Maria earlier this summer en route to the German's Wimbledon SF run, was forced into a three-setter today. She emphatically got a measure of revenge this time around, taking the deciding set at love.



French wild card Harmony Tan upset Serena Williams in the 1st Round at Wimbledon, and faced off today with another former slam winner in Bianca Andreescu. The Canadian breezed through a love 1st set, but saw Tan take the 2nd before Andreescu reasserted her position in the 3rd, winning by an Ostapenko-like 6-0/3-6/6-1 scoreline. She's now 11-1 in the MD in her U.S. Open career.



...#15 Beatriz Haddad Maia, a finalist in Toronto, had no such trouble in her 1st Rounder against Ana Konjuh, double-bageling the Croat to get her first career MD win at Flushing Meadows in her first appearance in the 1st Round since 2017.



Meanwhile, 21-year old Bannerette wild card Elli Mandlik, whose mother Hana Mandlikova won this tournament 32 years ago (defeating *both* Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova), made her slam MD debut on Monday. She trailed former slam semifinalist Tamara Zidansek 7-5/5-4 (on serve), but broke the Slovenian to get the chance to serve out the 2nd set. She couldn't, but then won a 7-3 TB and took a 4-1 lead in the 3rd. Mandlik held her lead down the stretch, winning 5-7/7-6(3)/6-4.



...just like Halep, another of the pre-Open hard court title winners (in this case, two-time title winner), #10 Dasha Kasatkina, also won't see a Day 2 at this U.S. Open.

In a quick turnaround from her Granby win in Canada on Saturday, the Russian lost a 1st set TB at 10-8 to Brit Harriet Dart. But she rebounded to take the 2nd and lead by an early break in the 3rd. Dart got things back on serve at 3-3, though, and soon served for the match at 5-3. She saved a BP with a forehand winner down the line, but Kasatkina flubbed a short volley and found herself down MP. Another Dart forehand winner sealed the victory, as her 7-6(8)/1-6/6-3 win is the first of her career over a Top 10 player.



Later, Kasatkina's foe in the Granby final, Dasha Saville, lost her opening round match to Gabriela Ruse.

...elsewhere, Zhang Shuai handed #30 Jil Teichmann her latest early exit (the Swiss is 3-7 since her maiden slam Round of 16 in Paris), and Rebecca Marino defeated Magdalena Frech to record her first MD win at the U.S. Open since she made her slam debut there in 2010.



...tonight, Serena Williams opens her 21st and final stand at the U.S. Open (24 years after her '98 debut) by headlining the night session on Ashe, going up against Montenegrin Danka Kovinic ('21 finalist Leylah Fernandez faces Oceane Dodin on Armstrong under the lights). Williams has reached at least the SF in her last eleven Open appearances, dating back to 2008.

Williams is 43-9 in night sessions on Ashe in her career, the most wins and appearances by any player, and is surely *expected* to win. But if she doesn't will they decide to call off the rest of the tournament? I mean, we *have* been told from individuals in some corners that she's the only thing that matters in this slam, so it just goes to reason, right?





...THE FINAL LAP BEGINS ON DAY 1:




...AH, YES... ON DAY 1:

Most of the slams actually allow the players to wear colors...





...YOU KNOW... ON DAY 1:




...AND ANOTHER ONE... ON DAY 1:




...WHILE SOME LEAVE, OTHERS RETURN ON DAY 1:




...NOW, SHOULD WE PRONOUNCE THIS "YUTES?" ON DAY 1:






...HOW THINGS STARTED... ON DAY 1:



How they're going...




What happened today...




Hopefully, Sascha won't tweet to Madison that she was the better player today.


...2019 WIMBLEDON... ON DAY 1 THE FINAL WEEKEND OF THE FORTNIGHT:



2022 U.S. OPEN... ON DAY 1





...SPORTS QUESTION... ON DAY 1:

Which seems longer ago? Bianca Andreescu winning the U.S. Open, or the Washington Nationals winning the World Series? Both occurred within a month and a half of each other in 2019.


...Umm, ewww (right?) ON DAY 1 FROM QUALIFYING:

Uncomfortable hugs and pats/squeezes...





...CHECKS NOTES... ON DAY 1:

Umm, yep. That sounds about right. Sigh.













Day 1 of a sampling of the hits on the U.S. music charts (at least the Top 25) during the two-week run of any of the U.S. Opens that have taken place in the Open era (since 1968).

First up, what better way to display the passage of time than to showcase a Three Faces of Paul triptych? Paul, as in McCartney. First, as a Beatle with "Hey Jude" in 1968, then as a member of Wings with the James Bond movie theme "Live and Let Die" from 1973 (performed in '76), and finally, with Michael Jackson in the 1984 duet "Say Say Say."














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**RECENT U.S. OPEN "FIRST VICTORY"**
2015 Mariana Duque, COL (def. Kenin)
2016 Cagla Buyukakcay, TUR (def. Falconi)
2017 Kristyna Pliskova, USA (def. Eguchi)
2018 Jil Teichmann, SUI (def. Jakupovic)
2019 Ana Bogdan, ROU (def. Dart)
2020 Marketa Vondrousova, CZE (def. Minnen)
2021 Kristina Kucova, SVK (def. Li)
2022 Anna Kalinskaya, RUS (def. Peterson)
[2022]
AO: Camila Giorgi, ITA (def. Potapova) = to 3rd Rd.
RG: Sorana Cirstea, ROU (def. Maria) = to 2nd Rd.
WI: Alison Riske, USA (def. In-Albon) = to 3rd Rd.
US: Anna Kalinskaya, RUS (def. Peterson)

**RECENT U.S. OPEN "FIRST SEED OUT"**
2014 #25 Garbine Muguruza, ESP (Lucic-Baroni)
2015 #7 Ana Ivanovic, SRB (Cibulkova)
2016 #30 Misaki Doi, JPN (Witthoeft)
2017 #32 Lauren Davis, USA (Kenin)
2018 #31 Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK (Q.Wang)
2019 #27 Caroline Garcia, FRA (Jabeur)
2020 #32 Rebecca Peterson, SWE (Flipkens)
2021 #31 Yulia Putintseva, KAZ (Kanepi)
2022 #7 Simona Halep, ROU (Snigur)
[2022]
AO: #18 Coco Gauff, USA (Q.Wang)
RG: #6 Ons Jabeur, TUN (Linette)
WI: #31 Kaia Kanepi, EST (Parry)
US: #7 Simona Halep, ROU (Snigur)

**BACKSPIN 2022 WTA PLAYER-OF-THE-MONTH WINNERS**
JAN (pre-AO): Ash Barty, AUS
AO: Ash Barty, AUS
JAN: Ash Barty, AUS
FEB: Iga Swiatek, POL
MAR: Iga Swiatek, POL
1Q...SWIATEK
APR: Ons Jabeur, TUN
MAY: Iga Swiatek, POL
RG: Iga Swiatek, POL
2Q Clay Court...SWIATEK
JUN: Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
WI: Elena Rybakina, KAZ
2Q Grass Court...RYBAKINA
JUL: Bernarda Pera, USA
AUG (pre-U.S.): Caroline Garcia, FRA
[Multiple 2022 Weekly POW Award Wins]
6 - Iga Swiatek, POL
3 - Caroline Garcia, FRA
2 - Ash Barty, AUS
2 - Ons Jabeur, TUN
[2022 Weekly POW Award Wins]
Week 1: Ash Barty, AUS
AO Q: Hailey Baptiste, USA
Week 2: Paula Badosa, ESP
AO: Ash Barty, AUS (2)
Week 5: (ITF) Tatjana Maria, GER
Week 6: Anett Kontaveit, EST
Week 7: Alona Ostapenko, LAT
Week 8: Iga Swiatek, POL
Week 9: Leylah Fernandez, CAN
Indian Wells: Iga Swiatek, POL
Miami: Iga Swiatek, POL
----
Week 14: Belinda Bencic, SUI
BJK Q-ROUND: (PoW) Iga Swiatek, POL
BJK Q-ROUND: (MVP) Marketa Vondrouova, CZE(
BJK Zones: (MVP) Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
Week 16: Iga Swiatek, POL
Madrid: Ons Jabeur, TUN
Week 19: Iga Swiatek, POL Week 20: Angelique Kerber, GER
RG Q: Jule Niemeier, GER
RG: Iga Swiatek, POL (6)
----
Week 23: Ekaterina Alexandrova, RUS
BJK Zones: (MVP) Dea Herdzelas, BIH
Week 24: Ons Jabeur/TUN (2) and Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA
Week 25: Petra Kvitova/CZE and Caroline Garcia/FRA
WI Q: Maja Chwalinska, POL
WI: Elena Rybakina, KAZ
----
Week 28: Petra Martic, CRO
Week 29: Bernarda Pera, USA
Week 30: Caroline Garcia/FRA and Marie Bouzkova/CZE
BJK Zones: (MVP) Anastasia Iamachkine, PER
Week 31: Dasha Kasatkina, RUS
Week 32: Simona Halep, ROU
BJK Zones: (MVP) Patcharin Cheapchandej, THA
Week 33: Caroline Garcia, FRA (3)
US Q: Sara Bejlek, CZE
BJK Zones: (MVP) Akgul Amanmuradova, UZB
Week 34: Liudmila Samsonova, RUS

**BACKSPIN 2022 WHEELCHAIR PLAYER-OF-THE-MONTH WINNERS**
JAN (pre-AO): Diede de Groot, NED
AO: Diede de Groot, NED
JAN: Diede de Groot, NED
FEB: Lucy Shuker, GBR
MAR: Diede de Groot, NED
1Q...DE GROOT
APR: Yui Kamiji, JPN
MAY: Yui Kamiji, JPN
RG: Diede de Groot, NED
2Q Clay Court...DE GROOT
JUN: Diede de Groot, NED
WI: Diede de Groot, NED
2Q Grass Court...DE GROOT
JUL: Zhu Zhenzhen, CHN
AUG (pre-U.S.): Yui Kamiji, JPN
[2022 Weekly WC Award Wins]
7 - Diede de Groot, NED
4 - Yui Kamiji, JPN
4 - Zhu Zhenzhen, CHN
2 - Aniek Van Koot, NED
1 - Macarena Cabrillana, CHI
1 - Shiori Funamizu, JPN
1 - Jiske Griffioen, NED
1 - JPN World Team Cup
1 - Viktoriia Lvova, RUS
1 - Lucy Shuker, GBR

**BACKSPIN 2022 ITF PLAYER-OF-THE-MONTH WINNERS**
JAN: Yuan Yue, CHN
FEB: Brenda Fruhvirtova, CZE
MAR: Asia Muhammad, USA
1Q...MUHAMMAD
APR: Diana Shnaider, RUS
MAY: Wang Xinyu, CHN
2Q 1...WANG
JUN: Alison Van Uytvanck, BEL
2Q 2 (grass)...VAN UYTVANCK
JUL: Sara Bejlek, CZE
AUG: Brenda Fruhvirtova, CZE
[Multiple 2022 Weekly ITF Award Wins]
3 - Brenda Fruhvirtova, CZE
2 - Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA
2 - Laura Siegemund, GER
2 - Zhu Lin, CHN




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Checks notes. Umm, yep.











TOP QUALIFIER: Sara Bejlek/CZE (16; youngest in MD)
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3 - #28 Clara Burel/FRA def. #7 Misaki Doi/JPN 2-6/6-4/7-6(10) - Doi led 6-2/3-1, Burel up 4-2 in 3rd; Burel saves 4 MP at 5-6 down in 3rd (rain before MP #1) and 5th in TB before winning 12-10
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Anna Kalinskaya/RUS (def. Peterson/SWE)
FIRST SEED OUT: #7 Simona Halep/ROU (1st Rd./lost to qualifier Snigur/UKR in slam MD debut; 3rd 1r U.S. exit in last five app.)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Day 1: Elli Mandlik/USA, Daria Snigur/UKR
PROTECTED RANKING MD WINS: Day 1: Rodina/RUS
UPSET QUEENS: x
REVELATION LADIES: x
NATION OF POOR SOULS: x
CRASH & BURN: Nominee: #7 Halep (1r)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEW YORK: x
IT ("??"): x
Ms.OPPORTUNITY: x
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Day 1 win: Snigur
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Day 1 win: Mandlik
LAST BANNERETTE STANDING: Day 1 wins: Gauff, Keys, Mandlik, Riske-A.
COMEBACK: x
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): x
DOUBLES STAR: x
BIG APPLE BANNERETTE BREAKTHROUGH: x
BROADWAY-BOUND: x
LADY OF THE EVENING: x
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: x







All for Day 1. More tomorrow.
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