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Wednesday, January 18, 2023

AO.3 - Possibility in Polka Dots

On a Day 3 dominated by rain delays, the lack of a torrent of simultaneous matches being played around the grounds proved to be an unexpected boon for those who like to catch one of those "I remember when she..." moments from the early stages of the slam career of a potential future WTA star.



On the dry court of MCA, 18-year old qualfier Diana Shnaider placed her image into the memory banks of fans and, even in defeat, provided them with a moment to be looked back on fondly years from now, once the NextGen Hordette -- after her prospective "college experience"... or maybe not? -- has found and solidified her place on tour and become something more than a new face or "the girl with the polka dot bandana."

Shnaider didn't ultimately get the big win she was looking for against #6-seed Maria Sakkari but her head-turning performance during the three-set battle continued to prove that her late-season surge last fall (when she won a 125 title, reached a $60K final and three 125 QF while winning 23 of her last 30 matches) was a sign of things to come. The N.C. State recruit had qualified last week and won two days ago in her slam MD debut, just one year after she won the girls' doubles title last January in Melbourne.



Sakkari grabbed the early 3-0 advantage in the 2nd, but Shnaider fought to get the set back on serve. Sakkari broke for a 5-3 lead, only to see the Hordette break back and soon after level the set against the increasingly aggravated Greek. Sakkari, known to scream in exultation after big points, amazingly took that moment to shake her finger and complain to the umpire about Shnaider screaming "in my face" and threatened to call the referee if it happened again. (Geez, I guess she's never played Danielle Collins on one of *those* days -- you've seem 'em -- before?)



Sakkari finally wrestled away the set at 7-5, then carried her momentum over into the 3rd.



Sakkari led 5-2 and reached double MP on Shnaider's serve, but the Russian wasn't about to go quietly. She saved both MP, the second with an ace, and held to force Sakkari to serve things out (which was never a given, considering she'd failed on a chance to serve out the 2nd earlier). The Greek immediately fell behind love/30, losing the opening point on an 18-shot rally and then committing a crosscourt forehand error on the second.

But Sakkari smartly pulled the game back, putting in a sneaky, curling wide ace to get her third MP chance at 40/30. She put away a forehand winner down the line to finish Shnaider off, winning 3-6/7-5/6-3.



Shnaider out-hit Sakkari with a 39-32 edge in winners, but her greater UE total (53-40) ultimately tipped the scales in favor of the Greek, who spoke afterward in a nice on-court interview in which she noted how she views the AO as her "home slam" because of the large Greek populaton Down Under (though Melbourne *isn't* where her two slam semis have come), noted how the coaching tips from her box during the match helped (being sure to remind everyone that it's legal now!), threw in a great one-liner about competing in the new WTA ("you have to be aggressive or they'll eat you alive") and openly wondered whether Shnaider might want to re-think her college plans and just turn pro now.



Meanwhile, Shnaider, set to crack the Top 100 after the AO after going from a junior champ to pushing a Top 10 player in less than a year, was all smiles as she exited, bathing in the applause from the crowd that her performance had earned. More is sure to come.

With what she's shown on the big stage of late, we'll have to wait and see when Shnaider actually sets foot on campus in Raliegh this year. Of should that be *if* she does?




=DAY 3 NOTES=




...a day after the heat pushed a third of the bottom half's 1st Round matches onto the Day 3 schedule, the majority of the Wednesday slate was put on hold for most of the day due to rain. Of course, that didn't prevent a series of 2nd Rounders (???) from the top half to be completed during the daylight hours on the grounds' many roofed courts.

Along with the surprise showcase that was Sakkari/Shnaider, we also got "the expected," aka yet another open-and-shut win by the world #1 under the roof of Rod Laver Arena...



In the following match on Laver, #3 Jessie Pegula continued her Melbourne roll, but only after being extended *a bit* (as is the Belarusian's wont) by Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Pegula led 6-2/3-1, and served for the match at 5-4, but Sasnovich hit a very good patch and pushed things to a tie-break.

Just like her family's Buffalo Bills, though, Pegula finally put away her opponent, albeit with a little more effort and time than had seemed to be necessary a short time earlier, winning the breaker 7-5 to reach the 3rd Round at a sixth straight major, and for the ninth time in the past eleven (back to the '20 U.S. Open).



The early hours' indoor schedule didn't get by without a big name being sent out on the women's side, though. #15 Petra Kvitova became the first Top 20 seed to fall in Melbourne when she was upset by Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina 7-5/6-4.



...the night session schedule, no matter the weather, will at least produce the first *headliner* women's match (before it starts, at least) of this slam when #7 Coco Gauff meets Emma Raducanu for the first time on Laver.

Also, Karolina Muchova gets #13 Danielle Collins, the '22 runner-up, in a match with real "upset" potential on MCA.

...who knows when, where and how the 1st and 2nd Rounds will be completed over the next 48 hours, not to mention just how many players might not strike their first official ball in MD play until well into Day 4. But some of the early-round awards *are* (somewhat) rounding into form...

NATION OF POOR SOULS: while AUS seemed a good bet early with no Barty, Tomljanovic or Saville and the highest ranked woman (a year after having the champion) being at #160, Olivia Gadecki and Kimberly Birrell posted 1st Round wins. So it looks like the list is down to three.

Germany, with Andrea Petkovic retired and Angie Kerber pregnant, is winless (w/ losses from Niemeier, Lys and Korpatsch). Tatjana Maria and Laura Siegemund are still to play in the 1st Round and could turn things around. Romania (w/o Halep) has yet to put a player through to the 2nd Round (w/ L's from Cirstea, Bogdan and Cristian), and Begu and Tig still to play. Italy is 1-3, with #21 Martina Trevisan ousted, and 1st Round winner Camila Giorgi's victory overshadowed by her vax card controversy. Bronzetti and Stefanini have yet to play 1st Round matches, though.

UPSET QUEENS: Ukraine may have wrapped up this one with Kalinina's win over #15 Kvitova, coupled with Marta Kostyuk's First Seed Out upset of #28 Amanda Anisimova. Kateryna Baindl also won her 1st Rounder, defeating Russian Kamilla Rakhimkova (and, after a courtside Russian flag was visible, seeing all RUS and BLR banned from the grounds afterward).

REVELATION LADIES: there are quite a few contenders here with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Round participants strung out across the bracket. They include CHN (with Zheng Qinwen, Wang Xinyu and Zhu Lin), CZE (Linda Fruhvirtova got the only Crusher MD win, but having the three youngest players in the MD, and it would have been the four youngest had Linda Noskova moved up the rankings a little earlier, still counts for *something*), RUS (Shnaider and Oksana Selekhmeteva, both out in the 2nd, and Potapova and Gracheva/Kasatkina still to play in the 1st, with V.Kudermetova, Samsonova and Alexandrova w/ 1r wins) and the USA (amongst others, there's Gauff, but also Volynets, McNally, Townsend and Pera, with Liu and Mandlik yet to complete their openers).

To be continued.

...elsewhere, play has begun in the Melbourne WC Open, and Diede de Groot -- shocking, I know -- opened with a double-bagel win over Manami Tanaka for her 75th consecutive singles victory. She and Aniek Van Koot are also alive in doubles.

Next week, de Groot will be looking to win her *ninth* straight slam singles crown.

Meanwhile, the Tennis Hall of Fame announcement *has* to be coming soon, right? The name "Vergeer" had better be in the press release.





...REMEMBER WHEN THE AO WAS "THE HAPPY SLAM?"...ON DAY 3:

Whatever happened to that?




Fact: the Australian Open was never *really* the "happy" slam. Oh, and the "great" fans have always been just as much a collective group of a-holes (see Vika 1.0) as the U.S. Open fans have been accused of being for years, too.



Yes, I know it's been a decade... but I haven't forgotten.


...DONNA SPORT...ON DAY 3:




...1929 LACOSTE > 2023 NIKE...ON DAY 3:



Wishing for a return of Vika's See-it-from-Space Yellow or The Shorts...

















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*MAIDEN CAREER SLAM MD WINS AT AO - 2020-23*
[2020]
Paula Badosa, ESP
Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
Ann Li, USA
Greet Minnen, BEL
Elena Rybakina, KAZ
[2021]
Olga Danilovic, SRB
Liudmila Samsonova, RUS
Mayar Sherif, EGY
Nina Stojanovic, SRB
[2022]
Lucia Bronzetti, ITA
Jaqueline Cristian, ROU
Maddison Inglis, AUS
Nuria Parrizas Diaz, ESP
Gabriela Ruse, ROU
Wang Xinyu, CHN
Wang Xiyu, CHN
Maryna Zanevska, BEL
Zheng Qinwen, CHN
[2023]
Anna Bondar, HUN
Olivia Gadecki, AUS
Diana Shnaider, RUS
--
NOTE: Lucrezia Stefanini/ITA to finish 1r







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I liked the reboot's premiere episodes. I always thought the original "Night Court" was the most underrated arm (John Larroquette's well-earned Emmy wins notwithstanding) of NBC's great old Thursday night comedy lineups.




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TOP QUALIFIER: Katherine Sebov, CAN
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2 - #27 Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE def. Daria Snigur/UKR 5-7/7-6(3)/6-3 (rallies from 7-5/5-1, break down twice early in the 3rd; 15-year old is youngest in AO MD in slam debut)
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/WC/Doub.): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #3 Jessie Pegula/USA (def. Jaqueline Cristian/ROU)
FIRST SEED OUT: #28 Amanda Anisimova/USA (1r-lost to Kostyuk/UKR)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Anna Bondar/HUN, Olivia Gadecki/AUS, Diana Shnaider/RUS
PROTECTED RANKING MD WINS: In 2r: Muchova, Podoroska
UPSET QUEENS: Nominee: UKR
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: In 2rs: Bucsa, Burel, Schmiedlova, Shnaider(L), Volynets
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: In 2r: Birrell, Gadecki, Townsend
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: In 2r: Birrell, Gadecki
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT (??): xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: xx
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF MELBOURNE: Nominee: Birrell (1r-Kanepi up a set and for match at 5-4 2nd; Birrell got WC when Venus withdrew)
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: xx
LADY OF THE EVENING: xx
AUSTRALIAN LANGUARGE ARTS AWARD: Nominee: one year after Barty is first WS champ in 44 years, #160 Fourlis is highest ranked AUS in MD
DOUBLES STAR: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx





All for Day 3. More tomorrow.
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