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Sunday, November 6, 2022

Wk.44.1- Diede the (Undefeated) Great






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*WEEK 44.1 CHAMPIONS*
MIDLAND, MICHIGAN USA (WTA 125/Hard Court Indoor)
S: Caty McNally/USA def. Anna-Lena Friedsam/GER 6-3/6-2
D: Asia Muhammad/Alycia Parks (USA/USA) def. Anna-Lena Friedsam/Nadiia Kichenok (GER/UKR) 6-2/6-3
WHEELCHAIR MASTERS; OSS, NED (Hard Court Indoor)
S: Diede de Groot/NED def. Yui Kamiji/JPN 6-2/6-2
D: Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot (NED/NED) def. Jiske Griffioen/Momoko Ohtani (NED/JPN) 6-0/6-4
BJK CUP JUNIORS (16s) - ANTALYA, TURKEY
F: USA def. CZE 2-0 (+GD w/o)




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WHEELCHAIR: Diede de Groot/NED and de Groot/Aniek Van Koot, NED/NED
...if de Groot *hadn't* walked away from the WC tour's season-ending championships with two more titles it'd been big news. As it was, Diede the Great "quietly" added a final bit of flair to her fabulous follow-up campaign to her Golden Slam season of '21.

With the Wheelchair Masters events being held on home soil in Oss, Netherlands, de Groot had every reason to feel comfortable. She won all fourteen sets she played in singles and doubles, sweeping the Masters crowns for the third consecutive time, and fourth time overall.

On Saturday, de Groot teamed with Van Koot to win their third straights Masters championship as a pair. It's the fourth straight for Van Koot, and her seventh win in her career. De Groot has claimed the trophy in five of the last six competitions.



With their 6-0/6-4 win in the final over Jiske Griffioen & Momoko Ohtani, the Dutch duo complete '22 with a 24-1 record while winning three majors (only coming up short in the Wimbledon final).

On Sunday, de Groot went about adding another *first" to her career resume, completing her maiden undefeated (38-0) singles campaign with a 6-2/6-2 win in the final over longtime rival Yui Kamiji. The 38-win streak (an active run of 74 in a row stretched out over the last two seasons) is two better than the 36-match run de Groot had last year. In all, she's won 19 straight singles titles, going a combined 79-1 as a solo act the last two years while winning 142 of 145 sets.

Her doubles loss at SW19 was her only defeat in '22 (well, unless you count the Netherlands loss to Japan in the WC team championship earlier this year, which essentially came about because of de Groot being injured and not being able to play in the final).

She's a combined 127-4 in singles/doubles in 2021-22, having won 14 majors (7s/7d - only missing out on the Wimbledon doubles titles both years), four WC Masters crowns and a pair of Paralympic Gold medals.


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RISER: Caty McNally/USA
...having already claimed the USTA's wild card into the 2023 Australian Open MD, McNally likely won't need it now after winning her biggest career title at the Midland 125 in Michigan.

The 20-year old strung together wins over Alycia Parks, Jang Su-jeong, Sofia Kenin, Peyton Stearns and Anna-Lena Friedsam in a 6-3/6-2 final. The win will lift McNally into the Top 100 for the first time, as she'll end '22 with a season-closing #94 ranking.


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SURPRISE: Katherine Sebov/CAN
...some of Sebov's best career singles results have come in Midland, and she added another chapter to that story this week.

The 23-year old Canadian's QF run as a qualifier matched the world #229's biggest final eight result, equaling her finish last year in the tournament's debut as a 125 level event (and at another 125 in Houston in '18). She reached the SF in Midland in 2017 when the event was still a $100K ITF challenger, as well.

The Canadian #5, Sebov defeated both U.S. Changs (Hanna and Sophie) in qualifying, then posted MD wins over Robin Montgomery and Zhu Lin. She finally went out at the hands of Peyton Stearns.


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VETERAN: Anna-Lena Friedsam/GER
...Friedsam, 28, reached a pair of finals at the Midland 125, though she came away with no titles for her troubles.

The German posted wins over Sophie Chang, Sachia Vickery, Camila Osorio and Ann Li en route to her third career 125 final (she's 0-2 in tour-level finals, the last in 2020). She lost in straight sets to Caty McNally, failing to nab her biggest singles title since 2014. She'll jump 39 spots on Monday, ending her season in the Top 150.

A day earlier, Friedsam had lost the doubles final alongside Nadiia Kichenok.
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COMEBACK: Ann Li/USA
...last year, Li was a tour Newcomer of the Year nominee, reaching two finals and picking up her maiden WTA title. Early in '22, she cracked the Top 50. But after having suffered a setback in the spring, missing pretty much the entire clay season with a pectoral injury, she came into the Midland 125 ranked at #147, carrying an 11-17 season record after having gone 1-6 in her last seven. With her last multi-win event being all the way back in March in Miami, where she recorded her first career Top 10 win (Kontaveit), Li rallied from a set down to defeat both Varvara Gracheva and Magdalena Frech (from 5-1 down in the 3rd), then handled Nao Hibino to reach her first singles semi on any level since Melbourne in Week 1.

Li fell to Anna-Lena Friedsam in straights.


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FRESH FACE: Peyton Stearns/USA
...the reigning NCAA champ (ex-Texas), the 21-year old world #244 climbed her way into her maiden WTA 125 semifinal in Midland, stringing together wins over Asia Muhammad, Ashlyn Krueger and Katerine Sebov before eventually falling to fellow Bannerette (and Cincinnati native) Caty McNally.

Stearns will climb to a new career high in the season-ending rankings, up 35 spots to just outside the Top 200 at #209.


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ITF PLAYER: Marketa Vondrousova/CZE
...a week after winning a doubles challenger ($80K) in her first event back since her April wrist injury, Vondrousova followed up with a pair of $100K crowns in Shrewsbury (GBR).

Vondrousova lost just one set in singles (to Czech Crusher Barbora Palicova) while picking up her first singles title on any level since 2017 (she's gone 0-4 in WTA/Olympic finals since, the last coming at the Tokyo Games), finishing things off with straight sets wins over top-seeded Anhelina Kalinina (SF) and young German Eva Lys (7-5/6-2, saving set points in the 1st) in the final. Vondrousova will climb back into the Top 100 with the win, and is set to be in Glasgow next week with her Czech teammates at the BJK Cup finals.



In doubles, Vondrousova once again teamed with old junior running mate Miriam Kolodziejova, dropping no sets and defeating the pair of Jessika Ponchet/Renata Voracova in the final for a second consecutive week.

20-year old Lys, previously 3-0 in ITF finals, was playing in her biggest career final, having knocked off a string of Brits (Emily Appleton, Jodie Burrage, Lily Miyazaki) and Ana Konjuh en route to the championship match.
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JUNIOR STARS: USA BJK Cup 16s
...the young Bannerettes once again flexed their muscle in junior Cup action, adding to the U.S.'s championship record with a seventh title run in Antalya, Turkey.

Led by Clervie Ngounoue and Valerie Glozman, the U.S. rolled through the competition, losing just one match (a dead rubber GD match in the SF vs. Serbia) in the six ties the nation played, going 3-0 in round robin play, then winning all six singles matches vs. Germany (QF), Serbia (SF) and the defending champion Czech Republic (F).

In the final, Glozman and Ngounoue handled Czechs Lucie Urbanova and Tereza Valentova in straight sets, with 16-year old Washington native Ngounoue ('22 AO GD champ, and U.S. Jr. singles QF) clinching the title with a 2 & 3 victory.

During the week, Iva Jovic added three singles wins to the matches won by Ngounoue (5) and Glozman (4).



Either the U.S. or Czech Republic have won the last five BJK Jr. Cup titles, and seven of the last eight.
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DOUBLES: Asia Muhammad/Alycia Parks, USA/USA
...one constant in 2022 has been the sight of Muhammad lifting trophies. Since January, the U.S. veteran has been building result upon result in what may have turned out to be the 31-year old's very best season yet.

In the season's early weeks, Muhammad picked up six total trophies, three in singles and two in doubles (w/ Arina Rodionova) on the ITF level, as well as partnering Jessie Pegula in her countrywoman's maiden tour WD title in Melbourne. Muhammad then followed up with her biggest pro final (Indian Wells w/ Ena Shibahara), reached her third '22 WTA final this fall in Seoul (w/ Sabara Santamaria, Muhammad's eighth different partner in nine career WTA WD finals) and won a 125 crown in Vancouver (w/ Miyu Kato).

This week in Midland, Muhammad teamed with yet another partner in Parks, picking up her second 125 crown of the year (fourth overall win, w/ her seven finals coming alongside seven different partners). The top seeds, the duo won a pair of match TB (1r/SF), then handled Anna-Lena Friedsam & Nadiia Kichenok in a 6-2/6-3 final. The win is the first 125 in Parks' career. The 21-year old old earlier this season won a pair of ITF challengers (including a $100K w/ Sachia Vickery) and a tour-level title in Ostrava!!! with Caty McNally.

@ben_peskar

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1. WC Masters Final - Diede de Groot def. Yui Kamiji
...6-2/6-2. De Groot's win not only completes an undefeated season in singles, but her fifth straight Masters title gives her back-to-back seasons in which she swept all four majors and the season-ending championships.



Meanwhile, Kamiji's season ends with her sporting a 43-8 singles mark, consisting of a winless mark (0-7) vs. de Groot and a 43-1 record (w/ a season-closing 38 straight) against everyone else.

The win in the final is de Groot's 14th straight over Kamiji, improves her series lead to 32-15 (30-4 in the last 34), and gives her a 28-8 record (w/ a current 28-3 run) in singles finals between the two.
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2. Midland 125 2nd Rd. - Ann Li def. Magdalena Frech
...5-7/6-2/7-6(5). Frech led 5-1 in the 3rd before Li ran off four consecutive games (the Pole was two points away from the win three times at 5-4, but Li held). Frech took a break lead again at 6-5, but Li broke back to force a TB and won it 7-5 on her way to the semis.
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3. Midland 125 QF - Caty McNally def. Sofia Kenin
...6-3/0-6/6-4. Ranked #253 and with a season record of 7-14, Kenin posted multiple wins in a second straight event (after an $80K SF in Tyler, Texas last week) for the first time since February 2021. She upset defending champ Madison Brengle in the 2nd Round, allowing just four games.
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4. Midland 125 1st Rd. - Robin Anderson def. Katrina Scott
...4-6/7-6(3)/7-5. Scott led 5-2 in the 3rd, only to see Anderson sweep the final five games.
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5. $60K Nantes FRA Final - Kamilla Rakhimova def. Wang Xinyu
...6-4/6-4. The 21-year old Hordette claims her seventh career challenger title, matching her previous 2022 $60K run as her biggest yet.


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6. $25K Tmava SVK - Jana Fett def. Natalia Szabanin
...6-3/6-2. Fett defeats the Hungarian teen (who'd been 3-0 in ITF finals in '22) to go home with her first singles title since 2015.
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7. $15K Antalya TUR Final - Anastasia Zolotareva def. Denise Hrdinkova
...6-0/6-1. The 20-year old Hordette improves to 11-1 in career ITF finals, winning her first title anywhere other than in Cairo (where all her previous 11 final appearances had come).
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1. $25K Jerusalem ISR Final - Polina Kudermetova def. Ekaterina Reyngold
...6-1/6-1. While sister Veronika was in Fort Worth, Polina was busy in Israel, winning her second straight challenger crown.

She and Reyngold combined to reach the doubles final, as well.


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Here's a rare sentence to write: I'm in the Djokovic corner on this one.




I mean, would anyone be complaining if Norrie had won Wimbledon (w/o points), didn't qualify otherwise with his season's point total, and got the sport in the ATP Finals based on the event's rule? And does anyone doubt that Djokovic *should* be included -- on merit -- in the field of 8 in the tour finals event?

This seems like a needless discussion. The rule for inclusion applies to a slam *champion* who might not finish in the Top 8 in Race Points (but *was* in the Top 20). Unless Wimbledon had been ruled an "exhibition" beforehand and titles wouldn't be recognized in career "majors/slams" totals, there isn't and never has been an issue here.

Though this *is* an interesting, if coincidental, point...



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Meanwhile, Monica Puig committed the sin of questioning Djokovic's inclusion without knowing the rule, triggering a particular subset of the social media mob. You can guess what happened after that. At least Jamie Hampton explained the phenomenon to her afterward.




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*WHEELCHAIR TENNIS MASTERS CHAMPIONS*
[singles]
1994 Monique Kalkman, NED
1995 Monique Kalkman, NED
1996 Chantal Vandierendonck, NED
1997 Maaike Smit, NED
1998 Esther Vergeer, NED
1999 Esther Vergeer, NED
2000 Esther Vergeer, NED
2001 Esther Vergeer, NED
2002 Esther Vergeer, NED
2003 Esther Vergeer, NED
2004 Esther Vergeer, NED
2005 Esther Vergeer, NED
2006 Esther Vergeer, NED
2007 Esther Vergeer, NED
2008 Esther Vergeer, NED
2009 Esther Vergeer, NED
2010 Esther Vergeer, NED
2011 Esther Vergeer, NED
2012 Jiske Griffioen, NED
2013 Yui Kamiji, JPN
2014 Aniek van Koot, NED
2015 Jiske Griffioen, NED
2016 Jiske Griffioen, NED
2017 Diede de Groot, NED
2018 Diede de Groot, NED
2019 Diede de Groot, NED
2020 DNP
2021 Diede de Groot, NED
2022 Diede de Groot, NED
[doubles]
2000 Daniela di Toro/Maaike Smit (AUS/NED)
2001 Maaike Smit/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2002 Maaike Smit/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2003 Maaike Smit/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2004 Jiske Griffioen/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2005 Jiske Griffioen/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2006 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 Aniek van Koot/Sharon Walraven (NED/NED)
2011 Esther Vergeer/Sharon Walraven (NED/NED)
2012 Jiske Griffioen/Aniek van Koot (NED/NED)
2013 Yui Kamiji/Jordanne Whiley (JPN/GBR)
2014 Yui Kamiji/Jordanne Whiley (JPN/GBR)
2015 Jiske Griffioen/Aniek van Koot (NED/NED)
2016 Diede de Groot/Lucy Shuker (NED/GBR)
2017 Marjolein Buis/Diede de Groot (NED/NED)
2018 Marjolein Buis/Aniek Van Koot (NED/NED)
2019 Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot (NED/NED)
2020 DNP
2021 Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot (NED/NED)
2022 Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot (NED/NED)

*2022 WHEELCHAIR CHAMPIONS*
[singles]
AO: Diede de Groot, NED
RG: Diede de Groot, NED
WI: Diede de Groot, NED
US: Diede de Groot, NED
M: Diede de Groot, NED
[doubles]
AO: Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot, NED/NED
RG: Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot, NED/NED
WI: Yui Kamiji/Dana Mathewson, JPN/USA
US: Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot, NED/NED
M: Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot, NED/NED

*RECENT JUNIOR FED CUP/BJK CUP FINALS [16s]*
2000 CZE d. HUN
2001 CZE d. POL
2002 BLR d. CZE
2003 NED d. CAN
2004 ARG d. CAN
2005 POL d. FRA
2006 BLR d. RUS
2007 AUS d. POL
2008 USA d. GBR
2009 RUS d. GER
2010 RUS d. CHN
2011 AUS d. CAN
2012 USA d. RUS
2013 RUS d. AUS
2014 USA d. SVK
2015 CZE d. USA
2016 POL d. USA
2017 USA d. JPN
2018 USA d. UKR
2019 USA d. CZE
2020 DNP
2021 CZE d. JPN
2022 USA d. CZE






=BJK PLAYOFFS=
France(H) def. Netherlands 3-0
Croatia(H) def. Germany 3-1
Hungary def. Romania(H) 3-2[dd]
Latvia def. Austria(H) 3-1
Japan(H) def. Ukraine 3-1
Brazil def. Argentina(H) 3-2[dd]
China def. Slovenia(H) 3-1
Serbia def. Mexico(H) 3-2[dd]

=BJK FINALS=
(A)CAN-ITA-SUI; (B)AUS-BEL-SVK; (C)ESP-GBR-KAZ; (D)CZE-POL-USA
-SF-
(A)Switzerland def. (C)Kazakhstan
(D)Czech Republic def. (B)Australia
-FINAL-
Czech Republic def. Switzerland






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Before U.S. democracy dies in the light...




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All for now.
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