8. The start of the "Ai Sugiyama Era" of Japanese Cup history?
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9. In an unexpected '23 development... Jule Niemeier!
Mit einer geschlossenen Teamleistung erreichen Deutschlands Tennisspielerinnen die Endrunde im Billie Jean King Cup. Am zweiten Tag gibt es zwei Siege durch Jule Niemeier und Anna-Lena Friedsam. https://t.co/xLJzF8GCB7
10. Hungary, three years later, starting to look like a legit Finals field contender
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*SEVEN THAT WEREN'T AND/OR AREN'T*
1. A 2-0 lead after Day 1 (only applies to Italy and Romania)
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2. Poland without an Iga at hand
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3. The Brits hoping for another "free pass" into the BJK Finals (and another SF?) after once again not being able to play their way into the field themselves
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4. Thinking that the "Rybakina phenomenon" might lessen during clay season (only applies to WTA players not named either "Elena" or "Rybakina"... and *maybe* Iga, but we'll have to wait and see on that one, just to be *totally* sure)
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5. Anett Kontaveit in the clutch
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6. Bracelettes coming *this close*... again
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7. The BJK Cup website.
Never before during a Cup weekend has the *official* place for Cup news been more peppered with so many gameday mistakes (incorrect scores, mixed-up national representation, etc.), stalled scoreboard moments, "erased" pool play results, tie recaps lacking key details, delayed updating of pool play results and, quite simply, a sloppy general inattentiveness that shouldn't occur on a site that really only has *two* busy weeks all year long.
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When "the namesake" is, like, SITTING RIGHT THERE...
Q - [Marbella, ESP - RCO] ESP def. MEX 3-1 - MVP: Parrizas Diaz/ESP Q - [Antalya, TUR - RCO] CZE def. UKR 3-1 - MVP: Vondrousova/CZE Q - [Coventry, ENG - HCI] FRA def. GBR 3-1 - MVP: Garcia/FRA Q - [Vancouver, BC - HCI] CAN def. BEL 3-2 [dd] - MVP: Fernandez/CAN Q - [Delray Beach, CAL - HCO] USA def. AUT 4-0 - MVP: Pegula/USA Q - [Bratislava, SVK - HCI] ITA def. SVK 3-2 [dd] - MVP: Trevisan/ITA Q - [Stuttgart, GER - RCI] GER def. BRA 3-1 - MVP: Maria/GER Q - [Astana, KAZ - RCI] KAZ def. POL 3-1 - MVP: Rybakina/KAZ Q - [Koper, SLO - RCO] SLO def. ROU 3-2 [dd] - co-MVP: Juvan & Zidansek, SLO
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Americas I - [Cucuto, COL - RCO] ARG [rr #1] - MVP: Riera/ARG Americas I - [Cucuto, COL - RCO] COL [rr #2] - MVP: Arango/COL Asia/Oceania I - [Tashkent, UZB - HCO] JPN [rr #1] - MVP: Hontama/JPN Asia/Oceania I - [Tashkent, UZB - HCO] KOR [rr #2] - MVP: Kim Dabin/KOR Europe/Africa I - [Antalya, TUR - RCO] SWE [E/A #1] - MVP: Peterson/SWE Europe/Africa I - [Antalya, TUR - RCO] HUN [E/A #2] - MVP: Bondar/HUN Europe/Africa I - [Antalya, TUR - RCO] NED def. SRB 2-1 [dd] - MVPs: Lamens/Schuurs, NED
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Europe/Africa II - [Oeiras, POR - RCO] POR def. GEO 2-0 - MVP: F.Jorge/POR Europe/Africa II - [Oeiras, POR - RCO] GRE def. EST 2-0 - MVP: Grammatikopoulous/GRE
[BJK Qualifiers]
...with 2022 BJK Cup finalists Switzerland and Australia already having secured their spots in this year's Finals event field, nine Qualifier ties were held to determine all but one of the remaining ten spots in November's free-for-all.
Spain def. Mexico 3-1 / Marbella, ESP (RCO)
...even without top-ranked Spaniards Paula Badosa and Cristina Bucsa, and with the most successful active player of the bunch (Garbine Muguruza, now the *seventh*-ranked from the nation) "unavailable" while she tries to get her own tennis house in order and hopefully pull out of her 15-month slump, Spain's match-up with Mexico seemed to quite possibly (as far as singles, at least) be the most overmatched tie of the week. In the end, it was.
[MVP]
Nuria Parrizas Diaz, ESP
...the 31-year old, whose career trajectory has taken a late turn upward, didn't play her first Cup match for Team Espana until 2021, and didn't notch her first match wins until last year. In Marbella, she took essentially her first "lead" role (though, in the crunch, Captain Anabel Medina Garrigues was set to have the tie rest on Sara Sorribes Tormo's shoulders in a possible fourth singles match). But Parrizas never let it get to that, defeating Renata Zarazua 4 & 3 to give Spain a 2-0 lead on Friday, then clinching the tie in the opening match on Saturday with a 3 & love victory over Marcela Zacarias.
...one couldn't have better set the tone for this tie than Sorribes did on Friday. Just a week after her belated '23 tour debut in Bogota after an early year foot injury, Sorribes destroyed Fernanda Contreras in a love & love victory to give Spain what proved to be an insurmountable 1-0 lead.
In the three singles matches played, Mexico won a total of ten games and was bageled in three of the six sets before Giuliana Olmos & Zarazua got the visitors on the board with a dead-rubber doubles victory.
===============================================
Czech Republic def. Ukraine 3-1 / Antalya, TUR (RCO)
...even without a Cup title since 2018, the Czechs' abundance of (proven) roster wealth remains a bit obscene. Aside from all the Czechs *not* in Turkey (Kvitova, Siniakova, Pliskova, the Fruhvirtovas, etc.), Captain Petr Pala didn't even need to employ the services of roster members Karolina Muchova or Linda Noskova, and got just one win from Barbora Krejcikova. No matter... Marketa was there.
[MVP]
Marketa Vondrousova, CZE
...she's not the greatest Czech Cup player ever (that'd be Petra in the recent era), nor the winningest (Helena Sukova, in a past one), but she may be one of the most merciless when she's healthy and not slowed or knocked out entirely by various injuries. In Antalya, in a tie held at a neutral site since Ukraine surely couldn't *host* it, Vondrousova opened by allowing just three games to Marta Kostyuk in the opening match, then clinched the 3-1 victory with a 3 & 4 win over Katarina Zavatska in match #4.
Vondrousova has now won 12 straight combined s/d matches in Cup play, including her last 10 in singles starting with the 2017 SF tie vs. the United States (which would go on to win the title). A 17-year old Vondrousova made her Cup debut in that '17 tie in a match #1 loss to CoCo Vandeweghe, then a day later sent the tie to the deciding doubles with a victory over Lauren Davis. Six years later, she hasn't lost another Cup match since.
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[FRESH FACE]
Marta Kostyuk, UKR
...Ukraine put up little to match the powerful and deep Czech squad, but Kostyuk managed to briefly pull the team ashore and force a fourth singles match with her three-set win over Barbora Krejcikova. The Czechs never allowed more than four games in any of the other six singles sets played in the tie (including Kostyuk's 2 & 1 loss to Vondrousova).
The win over #12 Krejcikova is the biggest, rankings-wise, of Kostyuk's career, topping her '21 RG upset of then #13 Garbine Muguruza. She also defeated a then-#15 Krejcikova last year at Eastbourne.
On another note, Kostyuk also announced her engagement this weekend.
— First Serve Tennis Podcast (@FirstServeTnnis) April 15, 2023
France def. Great Britain 3-1 / Coventry, ENG (HCI)
...this tie had the scent of a potentially shocking one, should some sort of early calamity befall the Pastries. It almost did, but Caroline Garcia and (yes, it's true) Alize Cornet (yeah... I knooow) came to the rescue to (this time) stamp out the British Cup threat before it could threaten to turn another BJK Finals into a near-farce. Well, at least let's *hope* that's the case this time around.
[MVP]
Caroline Garcia, FRA
...it wasn't easy, but Garcia held up as the FRA #1 vs. the Brits. Sure, her opening match saw her take 3:26 to dispatch Katie Boulter, who led 4-2 in the 3rd. And her clinching win over Harriet Dart went three sets when the Brit, who's had a hard time pushing hardly any opponents in '23, won a tie-break to force a 3rd set. Garcia won 6-1/6-7/6-1 to secure the tie.
Garcia has a history of Cup success, including joining with Kristina Mladenovic to clinch the '19 title in doubles. What is mostly forgotten from the '19 final vs. AUS, though, is that Garcia was throttled 6-0/6-0 by Ash Barty in the tie's second match. She's rebounded well. First she regrouped to help win the doubles and erase that uglyl memory, and she's now gone 3-0 in singles for the team the last two years.
...try as they might, Amelie Mauresmo and Yannick Noah, nor those who came before them, couldn't "whisper" Cornet into being a Cup threat. Current captain Julien Benneteau, though? Hmm, well, things have been much better for Alize since he took over the reigns.
Playing for Benneateau-led France teams, Cornet has gone 4-2 since 2019, including her 7-6/7-6 win on Friday over Harriet Dart to give the Pastries a 2-0 edge. For all FRA captains not named Julien, Cornet went 3-14.
After such a surprising season in '22, the now 33-year old Cornet has been very slow out of the gate this season. But don't count her out yet. Maybe this weekend will lead to something good.
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[DOWN]
Harriet Dart, GBR
...Dart came into Coventry at just 4-8 on the season, a disappointing follow-up to her career year of 2022. Called upon to play a lead role for Team GB, she did not turn around her fortunes. Instead, her back-to-back losses on Friday/Saturday -- two TB sets vs. Cornet, then a three-setter vs. Garcia -- sealed the squad's fate and dropped her to 3-6 in her Cup singles career.
Dart went 3-2 in '22, with wins over the likes of Badosa and Tomljanovic in the BJK Finals.
===============================================
Match #1 - Caroline Garcia/FRA def. Katie Boulter/GBR 6-7(2)/7-6(4)/7-6(2)
...if the ultimate result of the tie depended on this match, it wouldn't have been a *huge* surprise, as the Brits showed a year ago that they know how to ride a little momentum and luck.
Boulter led 7-6/5-4, on serve in the 2nd, then was up a break at 4-2 in the 3rd before Garcia rode the wave of national pride -- again -- by winning consecutive tie-breaks to close out the 3:26 contest.
Match #4 - Alicia Barnett/Olivia Nicholls (GBR) def. Clara Burel/Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 7-5/3-6 [11-9]
...it didn't ultimately matter, but the British duo improved to 3-1 in Cup play by avoiding a sweep by the Pastries, coming back from 8-2 down in the match tie-break to salvage *something* from the weekend.
Of course, a year ago at this time, the Brits seemingly saw their BJK Finals hopes dashed with a deciding doubles loss to the Czechs in the spring Qualifiers, only to get a reprieve when the Finals event was belatedly placed in GBR and the team was given the "home team pass" (which I still abhor) into the event's field of 12. Essentially as "lucky losers," the Brits then won a group tie-breaker (all three teams went 1-1) due to Barnett/Nicholls having won a dead rubber doubles match (cementing the stupidity of the format) to reach the nation's first Cup SF since 1981. There it took a MTB win by Australia to keep the host nation, which had knowingly lost a match with a Finals berth on the line in April, from playing *for the title* seven months later.
With the home court advantage in the final, GBR very well may have beaten SUI, too. It'd have been the biggest "eyeroll-worthy" title run ever.
I *guess* that won't happen this year, but the Finals still don't have an announced home, and either the "home team pass" or a wild card team (for which GBR would be in the running as the only '22 semifinalists not in the '23 field) will have to be added to the 11 teams that have legitimately qualified to complete the field. So...
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Canada def. Belgium 3-2 [dd] / Vancouver, BC (HCI)
...the Waffles' long trip to the North American west coast and the land of maple syrup didn't set itself up as a potentially nail-biting affair, but it turned out to be quite the satisfying meal. In the end, the Canadian squad had ordered up a round of seconds to be delivered to them this November in a still-to-be-determined city.
[MVP]
Leylah Fernandez, CAN
...Fernandez seems especially built for Cup play, as few players can fire up a crowd with more flair, or be inspired to still greater heights from the corresponding roars that she's helped to create (see her '21 U.S. Open run).
Her love & 3 win over Yanina Wickmayer in the opening match appeared to signal an easy weekend, but she turned out to be the only woman in the Qualifier round to have a hand in all three of her nation's points in a tie victory. Point #2 gave Canada a 2-1 lead via a three-set win over Ysaline Bonaventure, as Fernandez rallied from a set and break down at 6-4/3-2 to keep the home court advantage turned up to 10 (or 11?). After having started her Cup singles career at 0-2, the two wins this weekend give Fernandez an 8-1 mark in her last nine over the past three years.
After the tie was pushed to the deciding doubles, point #3 came alongside Gaby Dabrowski in a straight sets win over Kirsten Flipkens & Greet Minnen.
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[RISERS]
Ysaline Bonaventure, BEL and Greet Minnen, BEL
...with three of the top four ranked Belgians -- Elise Mertens, Maryna Zanevska and Alyson Van Uytvanck -- not in attendance, the far more under-the-radar pair of Bonaventure and Minnen were called upon to carry the load in Vancouver. And darned if they didn't nearly pull what would have been the one *true* upset of Qualifier weekend.
First, Bonaventure's three-set win over Rebecca Marino in match #2 prevented the Canadians from sleeping on a 2-0 edge. She returned on Saturday and almost upset Fernandez, taking the '21 U.S. Open finalist to three sets, and even leading by 6-4 and a break at 3-2 in the 2nd before Fernandez pushed things to a 3rd and won it 6-2.
Up 2-1, Canada again breathed a sigh of relief... but then quickly had to catch its collective breath once more. Minnen stepped in vs. (Marino substitute) Katherine Sebov, in the middle of a career year and playing her first Cup match since 2018, and defeated the Canadian in three to force the deciding doubles.
===============================================
[DOUBLES]
Gaby Dabrowski, CAN
...with the classic best-of-five format, the role of the doubles specialist is to sit around for almost two full days not knowing if she'll ever get onto the court at all. Then, suddenly, it's time to go win the tie. Dabrowski played her part perfectly in B.C., saving captain Heidi El Tabakh after her Sebov Gambit had failed to clinch the win. Dabrowski and Fernandez teamed to defeat Flipkens & Minnen by a routine 1 & 2 score.
With a spot on the Finals roster likely assured, a few round robin (and maybe more) wins from Dabrowski (now w/ 12 in her career) and she'll begin to close in on Sonya Jeyaseelan's CAN Cup record (17) for doubles match wins.
...perhaps Fernandez's additional doubles success in 2023, during which she's reached the first two tour-level finals of her career, helped lay the groundwork for this win that sends Canada to the finals.
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United States def. Austria 4-0 / Delray Beach, CAL (HCO)
...with the comparative talent gap between the two rosters in Delray Beach large enough to drive a Buffalo Bills team bus through, it was difficult to see anything other than a sun-drenched trip to Cali was in store for Kathy Rinaldi's Bannerettes. Sometimes first impressions on right on target.
[MVP]
Jessie Pegula, USA
...Pegula may not always become the last woman standing (or even one of the last *two*) in her tour singles career, but she rarely *ever* flops, showing a rare consistency that generally eludes the overwhelming majority of WTA players.
But she'd only posted one Cup singles in win her career, a victory over Katarina Zavatska in last year's Qualifier vs. Ukraine (played just weeks after the start of the war, it surprisingly went to deciding doubles), where her Day 2 loss to Dayana Yastremska had opened the door to a potential comeback (Pegula and Asia Muhammad shut that door in the final match).
Pegula notched two singles wins this time around, defeating Sinja Kraus love & 5, then clinching the tie in match #3 with a 1 & 3 victory over Julia Grabher.
...even though she's still just 18, it feels like Gauff has been around for ages. But coming into this week she'd yet to register her maiden Cup singles victory, having lost her only previous match (to Katerina Siniakova) in the Finals event last November. She took care of that in Delray Beach, opening this tie with a 1 & 3 win over Julia Grabher, then added a dead-rubber doubles win to complete the set.
...the return of McCoco. It's been more than a year (Miami '22) since the former regular doubles partners teamed up in a tour-level match, but this is their second pairing in Cup play since November (they're 2-0). Their win meant that of the nine Qualifier ties, the U.S. was the only of the four nations that swept the singles matches to complete a full sweep and not allow a dead-rubber doubles loss to mar the final score.
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Italy def. Slovakia 3-2 [dd] / Bratislava, SVK (HCI)
...with captain Tathiana Garbin taking a rather "Japanese" approach to Cup decision-making -- i.e. seeing if she could get a singles win for *every* member of her roster rather than riding a hot hand and clinching the win as quickly as possible -- Team Italia very nearly saw its unexpected "build back" in the post-Quartet era besmirched with a rather large black mark as Friday's 2-0 lead devolved into the team being a game from elimination a day later.
...Trevisan's surprising 3r/QF results on hard court during the Sunshine swing turned out to be a good omen for the Italian, whose best results in the past have come on clay (including last year's RG semi). In her most recent Cup singles match (also on HC), Trevisan had been double-bageled by Leylah Fernandez as last year's Finals.
On indoor hard court in Bratislava, Trevisan's 7-6/6-3 win over Viktoria Hruncakova (nee Kuzmova, who has changed her playing name after marrying her coach last September) handed Garbin's Day 2 choices a seemingly uncatchable 2-0 lead. But "things" have a habit of happening in Cup play, and the fates deemed Trevisan to not be finished.
After losses from Jasmine Paolini (to AKS) and Elisabetta Cocciaretto (to Hruncakova), Trevisan returned to help pull Team Italia out of the fire, winning a deciding doubles match (w/ Cocciaretto) after seeing Slovakia twice lead by a break in the 3rd and serve for the match.
...there was a time when Giorgi wasn't just a question mark as a "team player" in Cup competition, but for quite a while she refused to play at all.
Giorgi returned to Cup play in 2019 for the first time since '16, only to go 0-2 in singles. Since then, though, she's gone 5-1 (w/ only a 3rd set TB loss to Kontaveit in pre-pandemic WG I play in February '20). Her 6-2/6-3 tie-opening win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova proved to be her only appearance this week, but Italy needed *every* point available to escape Bratislava with a win.
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[COMEBACK]
Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA
...Cocciaretto has had a fine comeback from injury over the past year, but her first appearance in this tie saw her lose 6-3/7-6 to Hruncakova. Instead of celebrating, the proceedings went to the deciding doubles, where Cocciaretto redeemed herself by joining with Trevisan to finally stop the Slovaks' near-historic comeback just short of the finish line.
...the most recent loss from 0-2 back had also involved Italy, as the nation blew a big lead vs. France in the 2015 WG 1st Round in Genoa (three months later, the Pennetta-led Team Italia upset the Serena-led U.S. in Flavia's final Fed Cup tie).
In the first of two opportunities in DD matches this weekend for a rare World Group comeback from 0-2 down in the best-of-five format, the Italians swatted away Slovakia's comeback attempt after twice falling down a break in the 3rd set. Slovakia served for the match at 5-4 before Italy completed a sweep of the last four games.
*Then* it was time to celebrate.
FORZA ????@MartinaTrevisa3 and Elisabetta Cocciaretto secure Italy a spot in the #BJKCup Finals with a fantastic victory in the deciding doubles, 6-4 4-6 7-5 ??
...it wasn't that the Brazilian team was *more talented* than the Germans that made them seem to be the favorites, even as visitors in Stuttgart. In fact, Germany was the *deeper* squad. It was that Beatriz Haddad Maia was lights-out for Brazil in '22 (going 4-0 in singles, 2-0 in doubles), and that a winning German effort was likely going to have to include a big weekend from Jule Niemeier, who has been suffering through a woeful early-season after her breakout campaign of last year. Well, things change.
[MVP]
Tatjana Maria, GER
...who would have thought that Maria could have emerged as one of the stars of a German win in Stuttgart while having to play only one match, and not having to defeat Haddad Maia? But that's what happened.
While Niemeier got the big upset victory a day later, Maria's match #2 win over Laura Pigossi, after the Brazilian had served for the match -- and a 2-0 lead heading into Saturday -- in the 3rd set made the 35-year old's triumph maybe the most *important.* Coming back from 0-2 down, even at home, would have been a tough ask for Rainer Schuettler's squad (see SVK in Bratislava), with Haddad Maia smelling the finish line (vs. Niemeier, only then with far more pressure on her shoulders to keep the tie alive) and Luisa Stefani waiting in the wings for a deciding doubles match.
...maybe this is the moment when Niemeier's 2023 season turns. After looking like Germany's "next big thing" last year, she's had a hard time getting started while opening the year at 2-11. All she needed was a push (and maybe a German crowd), apparently.
With the tie in play at 1-1 after Maria's win, Niemeier settled down and took out Brazil's powerhouse in Haddad Maia, winning a 1st set TB and then pulling away for a 6-2 victory in the 3rd. Maybe the Brazilians *did* fully expect Haddad to provide two points in this tie, as Niemeier's upset essentially ended the contest. Brazil only won one game the rest of the way.
===============================================
[DOWN]
Laura Pigossi, BRA
...Haddad Maia not winning *both* of her matches could have been overcome had only Pigossi produced one victory on her best surface. On Friday, she nearly knocked off two-time Bogota champ Maria, the same German she lost to in three sets in the '22 final in Colombia. Pigossi led 5-3 in the 3rd and served at 5-4, only to drop the final four games and allow Germany to knot the score at 1-1 heading into Saturday.
With the tie on the line, and Germany up 2-1, Pigossi was squashed 1 & love by Anna-Lena Friedsam in match #4 as Germany clinched the win.
===============================================
Match #2 - Tatjana Maria/GER def. Laura Pigossi/BRA 3-6/6-3/7-5
...not the act of revenge for the Bogota '22 final that Pigossi likely envisioned. After leading Maria 5-3 in the 3rd here, Pigossi would go on to lose 16 of 17 games in this match and against Friedsam a day later.
Match #3 - Jule Niemeier/GER def. Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA 7-6(3)/3-6/6-2
...come Wimbledon, when Niemeier tries to follow-up her surprise QF run (ended by Maria, interestingly), this match might be worth revisiting. For the German, she can erase the last few months. 2023 starts *here*.
...what looked to be a potential blockbuster match-up when the schedule was announced proved to be one of the biggest duds of Qualifier weekend, as the Iga-less (and Frech-free, as Magdalena had a three-point weekend in '21 vs. BRA but was pulled after being on the tie's roster at the start of the week) Poles couldn't muster a single point (or set) until the dead-rubber doubles as Elena Rybakina led the way in her first Cup tie on Kazakhstan soil (well, clay).
[MVP]
Elena Rybakina, KAZ
...Rybakina's performance on clay court in Astana might not be good news to the rest of the tour. Already accomplished on hard court, and a grass court slam champion, Rybakina has reached a RG QF (2021) but hasn't won a title on the surface since 2019 (only two of her 13 WTA finals have come on the surface, with the last coming three years ago). But the way she handled her business in Astana would lead one to believe that those numbers *could* change soon.
Back-to-back singles wins (Weronika Falkowska 6-3/6-4, Magda Linette 6-4/6-2) clinched the win before Yulia Putintseva could be allowed on the court for a second time to possibly endanger the celebration (good work, Captain Shvedova!).
Naturally, Elena had her usual over-the-top reaction upon officially sending the Kazakhs back to the BFK Finals for a second straight year.
...while she's often starred in Cup play, Putintseva also has a history of stupendous defeats -- often from way ahead -- that serve to cripple the momentum of the Kazakh team, playing a large part in the nation's underachievement in Cup competition over the years. Captain Yaroslava Shvedova, with her own history of such dramatics during her Cup career, decided to open the tie with Putintseva (vs. POL's top roster player, Magda Linette), providing a nice "safety net" (named Elena) behind her should something untoward occur. It wasn't necessary, as Putintseva handled Linette 7-5/6-3 to pick up her 17th career Cup singles victory, extending her KAZ record.
===============================================
[DOWN]
Poland
...prior to 2023, Poland was looked at as a possible BJK Cup favorite, certainly a contender, and without question a member of the 12-nation field. Umm, nope. All it took was for Iga Swiatek to skip the Qualifiers while practicing for this coming week's Stuttgart event and all hopes were dashed.
But are they?
Remember, the Finals field is only 11/12th's full, as either a host nation pass or wild card berth will fill out the roster. As of the most recent Cup rankings, the highest-ranked nations not in the Finals are Slovakia (#8), Romania (#12) and Belgium (#14), while the only '22 semifinalist not scheduled to be (wherever the event is held) is Great Britain (#15). Meanwhile, Poland is just #16... but is the only potential team to sport the current #1-ranked player, surely a big draw for the week-long, season-ending Cup celebration.
Don't count out the Poles *just* yet.
===============================================
Slovenia def. Romania 3-2 [dd] / Koper, SLO (RCO)
...about a decade ago, Romania's talent pool was so deep that the nation -- like the Czech Republic, which actually lived up to the hype -- seemed destined to win its first Cup title. Even with the likes of Simona Halep (usually) in the mix, though, it never happened. Perhaps the last gasp chance of fulfilling that potential came with a SF run in 2019, ended with a deciding doubles loss to eventual champion France.
Since then, the pandemic merged the 2020-21 seasons, the new BJK Cup format replaced the old Fed Cup one, Halep essentially ended her association with the "changed" competition that put the finals at a neutral site (for all but one team... which at the time was Hungary).
Romania came into Koper (SLO) having lost four of five ties starting with that '19 semi. The team took a 2-0 lead on Friday, then the decade-plus of frustrating underachievement was condensed into a day (plus one match) collapse of epic proportions as Slovenia became just the eighth team to stage a successful comeback from a Day 1 shutout in the best-of-five World Group format, the first to do so in eight years, and the first ever in the BJK Cup era.
[co-MVPs]
Kaja Juvan and Tamara Zidansek, SLO
...after Juvan blew a 4-0 3rd set lead over Ana Bogdan in match #1, then Zidansek lost in three to Jaqueline Cristian to put Slovenia in a 0-2 hole at home, the chances that these two would stage an heroic rally on the weekend seemed *very* remote. But...
Zidansek pulled SLO back from the brink in match #3, as Bogdan led 6-3/4-2, and twice served for the match (and tie) in the 2nd, then led 5-2 in the 3rd and served for the win again at 5-3. Zidansek swept the final five games.
Juvan handled Cristian 2 & 4, then headed to the deciding doubles alongside Zidansek against Irina Maria Bara & Monica Niculescu, the latter the remaining holdover from the "Swarmette" generation of Romanians -- which included the likes of Halep, Cirstea, Dulgheru, Buzarnescu, Olaru and others -- that never lived up to expected Cup glory.
The match was suspended at 3-3 in the 1st, first for nearby lightning and then for rain. Everyone returned on Sunday morning, where the Slovenians had one more comeback in them, dropping the 1st, then twice rallying from a break disadvantage in the 3rd for a 4-6/6-2/6-4 win to advance to the Finals.
...the chances for "redemption" still exist, be it in the form of a Finals wild card berth, a host "pass" (Bucharest, anyone?) or a November Playoff win that would put Romania back in this position again next spring. But this team likely won't have a more golden opportunity to advance than this one.
===============================================
Match #1 - Ana Bogdan/ROU def. Kaja Juvan/SLO 3-6/6-3/6-4
...the Tennis Gods giveth, as well as take away. And vice versa.
Juvan squandered a 4-0 lead in the 3rd set here. Then...
Match #3 - Tamara Zidansek/SLO def. Ana Bogdan/ROU 3-6/7-6(4)/7-5
...Bogdan served for the match/tie three times a day later, twice in the 2nd and once more in the 3rd. Then...
Match #5 [dd] - Kaja Juvan/Tamara Zidansek (SLO) def. Irina Maria Bara/Monica Niculescu (ROU) 4-6/6-2/6-4
...yet another comeback sealed the historic deal. Romania held break leads on two occasions in the 3rd, at 2-1, then again at 3-2. They broke to get back on serve at 4-5, only to drop serve to close the match/tie a game later.
===============================================
[BJK Zones]
[AMERICAS I - Cucuto, COL / RCO]
Argentina and Colombia, with the former winning the final pool play tie against the latter, finished in the top two positions in the six-team competition to advance to November's playoffs.
[MVPs]
Julia Riera, ARG and Emiliana Arango, COL
...#252 Riera, 20, made her Cup singles debut, going 5-0 on the week. 22-year old Arango (#220) went undefeated in pool play, getting three singles wins.
===============================================
[JUNIOR]
Lucciana Perez Alarcon, PER
...the 17-year old, already a three-time J300 title winner in '23 as she's climbed into the girls' Top 10, went 5-0 in her Cup singles debut, as well as winning two of four deciding doubles matches alongside Anastasia Iamachkine.
===============================================
[ASIA/OCEANIA I - Tashkent, UZB / HCO]
Japan, with new captain Ai Sugiyama, took a different approach and didn't seek to spread around *all* the singles points to every member of the squad. It worked out, as the nation handily won the six-nation pool competition to advance to the BJK Playoffs. China, long a disappointment in Cup play, didn't have its *best* players (Zheng Qinwen, Zhang Shuai and the Wangs) on hand, and tied for second in the pool, only to lose out on promotion due to losing a 2-1 tie to South Korea earlier in the week.
[MVPs]
Mai Hontama, JPN and Kim Dabin, KOR
...one usually didn't see a single player rack up a full handful of individual wins in Japan's Cup ties under former captain Toshihisa Tsuchihashi. But the arrival of Sugiyama saw the nation's all-time Cup workhorse (as far a years played, w/ 12 seasons of service) rely on the hot hand of #179 Hontama, who went 5-0 in singles as Japan won 14 of 15 matches in pool play.
World #640 Kim, 26, went 3-0 in pool play in her first career Cup singles action, including a win over Yang Zhaoxuan in South Korea's 2-0 singles sweep over China (Back Daveon also def. Zheng Wushuang) in a 2-1 tie victory that broke the tie between the nations after both finished with matching 3-2 round robin records.
===============================================
[SURPRISE]
Himeno Sakatsume, JPN
...the 21-year old (world #216) made her Cup debut in Tashkent, posting two singles wins in pool play.
===============================================
[DOUBLES]
Shuko Aoyama/Eri Hozumi, JPN
...the duo contributed four doubles win in four outings on the week, adding to their all-time team record for individual WD wins (Aoyama - 23) and most wins as a duo (14 in 16 matches).
===============================================
[EUROPE/AFRICA I - Antalya, TUR / RCO]
...a year ago, Serbia nearly advanced to the November BJK Playoffs from zone play, riding on the shoulders of Aleksandra "The Bracelet" Krunic, who accounted for all but one (6/7) of the points the nation earned in pool play en route to the Promotional Playoff. There, though, she lost in three sets to Petra Martic as Serbia fell short of advancement. As it turned out, Serbia slipped into the Playoff round via the backdoor due to the shifting BJK tides (i.e. the RUS/BLR bans, and GBR getting a Finals berth as the event host, opening up multiple Playoff spots), but (without an injured Krunic) lost to Mexico with a Qualifiers berth on the line, and thus landed back in this week's E/A I zone play.
With Krunic back on the roster this week, but never seeing the court, the Bracelet's "Bracelettes" put on a show, going 4-0 in pool play before the final tie match-up with Sweden that would determine the Pool B winner (and which nation would earn one of three promotions to this fall's Playoffs). Serbia lost, then came up just short again in the Promotional Playoff tie (vs. NED, in a deciding doubles loss) for the final E/A I Playoff berth.
Meanwhile, after seeming an ill-fitted inclusion in the inaugural BJK Cup Finals for 2020 as the event's host nation (Budapest), Hungary has spent the last two years looking more and more "worthy" since the '20 event was cancelled due to Covid, then moved out of Hungary (costing the nation a berth in the 12-team field) to Prague in '21 and passed over for Glasgow in '22.
After winning Pool A in E/A I play this week, Hungary will *finally* get the chance to set up its path the Finals. A November Playoff win would put Hungary into the '24 Qualifiers, with a berth in next year's BJK Finals event the belated gift to be received should the Hungarians choose to accept it.
Or, you know, this year's event could be placed (again) in Budapest and Hungary gets the "free pass" that eluded the nation three years ago.
=Group Winners Positional Final= Sweden def. Hungary 2-1 [dd...both advance to BJK Playoffs] =Group #2 vs. #2 - Promotional Playoff= Netherlands def. Serbia 2-1 [dd]
[MVPs]
Rebecca Peterson/SWE, Anna Bondar/HUN and Suzy Lamens/Demi Schuurs, NED
...Peterson carried the weight of the Swedish team in pool play, leading the nation to a Pool B win with three singles victories and clinching promotion with a singles win over Lola Radivojevic as SWE defeated SRB in the final pool match-up.
Hungary's path to the Playoffs saw the nation win a three-way tie-break (over NED and TUR) to win Pool A with a 3-1 mark. Bondar went a combined 5-1 (3-0/2-1) in pool play, then sat out the Positional Final vs. SWE since promotion had already been secured.
Meanwhile, the doubles duo of Lamens/Schuurs recorded the two keys points that led to the Netherlands' advancement to the Playoff round, winning a deciding doubles match vs. host Turkey that allowed the Dutch to win the tie-breaker (both were 3-1) that secured second place in Pool A and a spot in the Promotional Playoff vs. Pool B #2 Serbia. There, the Dutch duo won another DD (over Olga Danilovic/Katarina Kozarov) to grab the last of the three promotional spots for Europe/Africa I.
===============================================
[RISERS]
Dalma Galfi, HUN and Olga Danilovic, SRB
...Galfi proved a capable #2 to Bondar in pool play, going 4-2 (2-1/2-1), including a big win over Suzy Lamens in the Dutch women's only singles loss of the week in Hungary's sweep of the Netherlands in pool play, a win that helped secure the tie-breaker that earned promotion.
Try as she might, just like Krunic last spring, Danilovic couldn't drag the Serbian team into the BJK Playoffs. She went 3-0 in doubles in pool play, but never saw the court in singles despite being the highest ranked (playing, as slightly out-ranking roster mate Krunic was apparently a no-go) member of the team. In the final pool tie vs. SWE that determined the Pool B champ (and earned the winner promotion), the Serbs had lost both singles matches before Danilovic took the court in doubles (she won).
In the *actual* PP, captain Dusan Vemic finally turned to Danilovic in singles, and she recorded a win over Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove to send the tie vs. NED into the deciding doubles. But she and Katarina Kozarov couldn't best Lamens/Schuurs to earn promotion.
===============================================
[SURPRISE]
Lia Karatantcheva, BUL
...yes, *that* Karatantcheva family.
One of Sesil's three sisters -- and the third of the four siblings to play pro tennis -- 19-year old Lia (#518) made her Cup debut for Bulgaria six years after her now 33-year old sister played her own *last* Cup match. Karatancheva the Younger won six of seven matches, including going 4-0 in singles (she double-bageled Danish teen Rebecca Munk Mortensen, and posted other wins over Ulrikke Eikeri and Petra Marcinko).
Bonus Karatantcheva note: Sesil also returned to tennis this week, playing for the first time since 2019 in a challenger event. (See below for details.)
===============================================
[COMEBACK]
Clara Tauson, DEN
...Denmark didn't really contend for promotion (and, in fact, only narrowly avoided relegation to E/A II), but Tauson returned to Cup play for the first time since 2020, going 4-0 in singles (w/ a win over Rebecca Peterson).
===============================================
[FRESH FACES]
Caijsa Wilda Hennemann, SWE and Lola Radivojevic, SRB
...#333 Hennemann, 22, won more matches than any of the Swedes, going 4-1 in singles (w/ a slew of wins over teenaged opponents: Petra Marcinko, Rebecca Munk Mortenesen and Mia Ristic) while adding two more in doubles.
Radivojevic served time last year next to The Bracelet herself, and continues to produce good early results. The 18-year old went 3-1 in pool play, coming up short in Serbia's 2-1 loss to Sweden in what amounted to a Promotional Playoff, though it was only Pool B's final tie (and the one that decided the winner that would go to the Playoff round). In the actual PP, the teen again fell (to Suzy Lamens) in the opening match of Serbia's 2-1 defeat by the Dutch.
===============================================
[JUNIORS]
Mia Ristic, SRB and Rebecca Munk Mortensen, DEN
...16-year old Ristic made her Bracelette debut, winning four singles matches; while RMM, 17, posted her maiden Cup singles win over Ulrikke Eikeri (though she was just 1-4 for the week).
===============================================
[DOUBLES]
Jacqueline Cabaj Awad/Kajsa Rinaldo Persson, SWE
...with both pool-winning nations advancing to the November Playoffs, there was no Promotional Playoff, per se, between pool champs Sweden and Hungary. Thus, the clear "starters" -- Peterson, Bondar and Galfi -- sat out the tie. The "B"-teams battled it out for position, though, with the Swedes winning the deciding doubles over Reka Luca Jani & Amarissa Kiara Toth. Persson added a singles win over Jani (her lone WS win on the week) to push the tie to the DD.
===============================================
[EUROPE/AFRICA II - Oeiras, POR / RCO]
...the clear favorites here were Greece and Estonia. But, wouldn't you know it, the final pool standings saw the two nations *face-off* for a promotion to E/A I. That was where one of the biggest upsets of the Cup weekend occurred, and Greece won out as a result.
In the other PP, Portugal's Jorge sisters (Francisca and Matilde) led the way as the nation advanced to E/A I for the first time since 2018.
If you're wondering how the GRE/EST match-up happened, well, blame the Jorge sisters, whose deciding doubles win over Greece in pool play helped Portugal win Group A (4-0 vs. GRE's 3-1 mark) and set up the A #2 (GRE) vs. B #1 (EST) PP match-up.
=Promotional Playoffs= Portugal def. Georgia 2-0 Greece def. Estonia 2-0
[MVPs]
Valentini Grammatikopoulou, GRE and Francisca Jorge, POR
...Grammatikopoulou went 5-0 in singles (and 3-1 in doubles), improving to an impressive 16-5 in her Cup singles career (and 23-10 overall). Her 15 career singles victories are quickly closing in on Greek record of 18 held by Christina Papadaki (1988-99).
Jorge was a dual threat, stringing together eight combined wins (4-1/4-0), including the clinching PP victory over Ekaterine Gorgodze in Portugal's 2-0 sweep of Georgia.
===============================================
[SURPRISE]
Despina Papamichail, GRE
...Papamichail was just 1-3 in singles play in pool action, but in her biggest match of the week she downed former Top 10er Anett Kontaveit to clinch Greece's singles sweep of Estonia in the Promotional Playoff.
===============================================
[DOUBLES]
Francisca Jorge/Matilde Jorge, POR
...the sisters went 4-0 in doubles, enough to already make them (at 6-1) the winningest duo in Portugal's Cup history. Francisca is 23 years old, while Matilde is just 19, so they could put that number out of reach for a few generations. They've combined to win nine ITF WD titles together since the start of last year.
===============================================
[DOWN]
Anett Kontaveit, EST
...Kontaveit, a little surprisingly (but maybe not, as she hasn't played since mid-February) heading up the Estonian effort in E/A II play, did her work and went 4-0 (3-0/1-0) in pool play, but with promotion on the line vs. Greece in the Promotional Playoff the world #69 (yes, she's already fallen that far after a 2-4 start to '23) fell 2 & 4 to #151 Despina Papamichail as the Greeks secured promotion to E/A I next year.
===============================================
PP Match #2 - Despina Papamichail/GRE def. Anett Kontaveit/EST 6-2/6-4
...Kontaveit's loss to #151 Papamichail was her "worst" loss since falling to #356 Anna-Lena Friedsam at Eastbourne in 2019. Well, unless you count losing to #605-ranked Serena Williams at last year's U.S. Open. But we can't really count that one, right?
Kontaveit accounted for Williams' last singles win.
...yes, this is *that* Neel. As in the Oyster Bay, New York native and former NCAA star (Univ. of Florida) who made her Cup debut this week in Oeiras as a member of the *Estonian* team after switching her representating nation from the U.S. this year.
FYI: Neel's grandmother is Estonian.
===============================================
Captain Julien Benneteau (FRA) = "(whispers) Can you hear me? It doesn't matter -- Alize can, so I know it's clear." Captain Petr Pala (CZE) = "I hope this doesn't sound arrogant, but sometimes I think I could pick players Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey style." Captain Tathiana Garbin (ITA) = "Forzaaaaa!!!! Just how I planned it." Captain Kathy Rinaldi (USA) = "In Jess I trust, and Coco, and, oh, a handful of others right off the top of my head, too."
Captain Andrej Krasevev (SLO) = "That. Is. How. We. Do. It. Now, don't do that again!" Captain Rainer Schuettler (GER) = "Jule is my new favorite player." Captain Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) = "You see, I *know* Yulia because I sometimes *was* Yulia. Elena is a machine... I just plug her in and watch her go." Captain Heidi El Tabakh (CAN) = "In Leylah I trust... thank goodness." (wipes sweat from brow) Captain Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) = "Paula who? Garbi who?"
Captain Ai Sugiyama (JPN) = "We really should be better than we are. I plan to change that." Captain Miklos Palagyi (HUN) = "All right, BJK Cup organizers. We're finally ready for our close-up." Captain Johanna Larsson (SWE) = "And we didn't even need Bjorklund... or need to play against Alycia Parks." Captain Elise Tamaela (NED) = "Even I'm not sure how we pulled it off with this roster." Captain Mercedes Paz (ARG) = "I'd say that winning with a B-team is a sure sign of progress."
Captain Agni Stefanou (GRE) = "And Valentini shall lead them..." Captain Fabiola Zuluaga (COL) = "At the very least, we should be consistently competitive on clay vs. the rest of South America." Captain Neuza Silva (POR) = "The more Jorge sisters the better, I always say." Captain Kim Jungbae (KOR) = "It doesn't matter if anyone at the party recognizes you, it just matters that you're *at* the party." Captain Wim Fissette (BEL) = "I'm not sure what I did there, but it damn near almost worked!"
Captain Matej Liptak (SVK) = "Martina Trevisan? On hard court?" Captain Dusan Vemic (SRB) = "I still think we have the makings of something interesting here (and, yeah, maybe I should have played Olga one tie earlier)." Captain Dawid Celt (POL) = "Iga, where were you?" Captain Marten Tamla (EST) = "Really, Anett? Really?" (walks away with hands on hips) Captain Anne Keothavong (GBR) = "You know, I bet there are quite a few empty arenas in the U.K. in November. (Hint-hint, nudge-nudge.)"
Captain Horia Tecau (ROU) = "This is why Romanian BJK Cup can't have nice things!"
*2023 BJK CUP FINAL NATIONS - 12 (Nov.)*
Switzerland (2022 champion)
Australia (2022 finalist)
Canada (qualifier)
Czech Republic (qualifier)
France (qualifier)
Germany (qualifier)
Italy (qualifier)
Kazakhstan (qualifier)
Slovenia (qualifier)
Spain (qualifier)
United State (qualifier)
? (wild card/host) [in 2023 Playoffs (Nov.)]
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Colombia
Great Britain
Hungary
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
South Korea
Sweden
Ukraine
*WORLD GROUP COMEBACKS FROM 0-2 DEFICIT*
1996 WG II 1st Rd. - Australia def. Canada(H)
1999 WG II 1st Rd. - Austria(H) def. Australia
2004 WG 2nd Rd. - Spain(H) def. Belgium
2011 WG 1st Rd. - Russia(H) def. France
2013 WG II 1st Rd. - Sweden def. Argentina(H)
2013 WG Semifinal - Russia(H) def. Slovak Republic
2015 WG 1st Rd. - France def. Italy(H) = only time WG I home team lost
2023 Qualifiers - Slovenia(H) def. Romania
*FED CUP/BJK CUP FINALS*
1963 United States def. Australia 2-1
1964 Australia def. United States 2-1
1965 Australia def. United States 2-1
1966 United States def. West Germany 3-0
1967 United States def. Great Britain 2-0
1968 Australia def. Netherlands 3-0
1969 United States def. Australia 2-1
1970 Australia def. West Germany 3-0
1971 Australia def. Great Britain 3-0
1972 South Africa def. Great Britain 2-1
1973 Australia def. South Africa 3-0
1974 Australia def. United States 2-1
1975 Czechoslovakia def. Australia 3-0
1976 United States def. Australia 2-1
1977 United States def. Australia 2-1
1978 United States def. Australia 2-1
1979 United States def. Australia 3-0
1980 United States def. Australia 3-0
1981 United States def. Great Britain 3-0
1982 United States def. West Germany 3-0
1983 Czechoslovakia def. West Germany 2-1
1984 Czechoslovakia def. Australia 2-1
1985 Czechoslovakia def. United States 2-1
1986 United States def. Czechoslovakia 3-0
1987 West Germany def. United States 2-1
1988 Czechoslovakia def. USSR 2-1
1989 United States def. Spain 3-0
1990 United States def. USSR 2-1
1991 Spain def. United States 2-1
1992 Germany def. Spain 2-1
1993 Spain def. Australia 3-0
1994 Spain def. United States 3-0
1995 Spain def. United States 3-2
1996 United States def. Spain 5-0
1997 France def. Netherlands 4-1
1998 Spain def. Switzerland 3-2
1999 United States def. Russia 4-1
2000 United States def. Spain 5-0
2001 Belgium def. Russia 2-1
2002 Slovak Republic def. Spain 3-1
2003 France def. United States 4-1
2004 Russia def. France 3-2
2005 Russia def. France 3-2
2006 Italy def. Belgium 3-2
2007 Russia def. Italy 4-0
2008 Russia def. Spain 4-0
2009 Italy def. United States 4-0
2010 Italy def. United States 3-1
2011 Czech Republic def. Russia 3-2
2012 Czech Republic def. Serbia 3-1
2013 Italy def. Russia 4-0
2014 Czech Republic def. Germany 3-1
2015 Czech Republic def. Russia 3-2
2016 Czech Republic def. France 3-2
2017 United States def. Belarus 3-2
2018 Czech Republic def. United States 3-0
2019 France def. Australia 3-2
2020-21 Russia (RTF) def. Switzerland 2-0
2022 Switzerland def. Australia 2-0 [MOST TITLES]
18 - United States
11 - Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia
7 - Australia
5 - Russia
5 - Spain
4 - Italy
3 - France
2 - West Germany/Germany
2 - Slovakia
1 - Belgium
1 - South Africa
1 - Switzerland
*BACKSPIN FED CUP/BJK CUP AWARDS*
*-non-title winning nation [FED CUP/BJK CUP PLAYER OF YEAR]
2005 Elena Dementieva, RUS
2006 Francesca Schiavone, RUS
2007 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2008 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2009 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2010 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2011 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2012 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2013 Roberta Vinci, ITA
2014 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2015 Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2016 Caroline Garcia, FRA*
2017 CoCo Vandeweghe, USA
2018 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2019 Ash Barty, AUS*
2020-21 Jil Teichmann, SUI*
2022 Belinda Bencic, SUI [FED CUP/BJK CUP CAPTAIN OF YEAR]
2015 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA*
2016 Paul Haarhuis, NED*
2017 Kathy Rinaldi, USA
2018 Kathy Rinaldi, USA*
2019 Julien Benneteau, FRA
2020-21 Igor Andreev, RUS (RTF)
2022 Alicia Molik, AUS* [FED CUP/BJK CUP FINALS MVP]
2002 Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
2003 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
2004 Anastasia Myskina, RUS
2005 Elena Dementieva, RUS
2006 Francesa Schiavone, ITA
2007 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2008 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2009 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2010 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2011 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2012 Lucie Safarova, CZE
2013 Roberta Vinci, ITA
2014 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2015 Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2016 Barbora Strycova, CZE
2017 CoCo Vandeweghe, USA
2018 Katerina Siniakova, CZE
2019 Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
2021 Liudmila Samsonova, RUS (RTF)
2022 Belinda Bencic, SUI
*RECENT CZECH CUP HISTORY* [2009-2018]
20 - consecutive indoor tie victories (2010-18)
18 - consecutive tie victories on hard court (2010-18)
11 - consecutive home tie victories (2010-18)
10 - consecutive SF (2009-18)
6 - titles in 8 years (2011-18)
5 - title in 6 years (2011-16) [2011-current]
11-3 - deciding doubles matches
20-3 - hardcourt ties
6-2 - claycourt ties
23-3 - indoor ties
3-2 - outdoor ties
13-2 - home site ties (w/ '21 BJK Finals event)
10-2 - road site ties
3-1 - neutral site (w/ '23 UKR Q in Antalya)
26-5 - overall tie record
*WEEK 15*
ITF PLAYERS:Viktoriya Tomova/BUL and Mirra Andreeva/RUS
...one of the most improved players of '23, Tomova added to her list of accomplishments with her biggest title run since 2019, matching her career-best crown with a win in the $80K Zaragoza (ESP) challenger, her first since 2020.
The 28-year old, having previously reached her career high (#87) this season after playing in her biggest final last September (WTA 125 Budapest), has put together successful tour-level qualifying runs in '23 in Linz, Doha, Dubai and Miami. Her 4-6/6-2/6-3 win in the final over Tereza Martincova is Tomova's 17th career ITF win. She's at a new career high in the live rankings.
Tomova Triumph!
Viktoriya Tomova ties the biggest title victory of her career, lifting the ITF 80 trophy in Zaragoza, Spain with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Tereza Martincova.
With the title, Bulgaria's top WTA player launches to a new career high of #75 in the live rankings. ???? pic.twitter.com/Syb7hwRdFt
In Chiasso (SUI), 15-year old Andreeva claimed her fifth challenger crown since April with a 1-6/7-6(3)/6-0 victory in the $60K final over 17-year old Swiss Celine Naef (who'd been 5-0 in pro finals). She saved three MP in the 2nd set and then ran away from the injured Naef in the 3rd. Andreeva reached the Australian Open junior final in January, and will crack the WTA Top 250 with this result.
Games dropped in her ITFW60 Meitar title run: 15 in 5 matches
Games dropped in her ITFW60 Chiasso title run: 34 in 7 matches
Played 14 pro events in her career, won 5 of them.
...15-year old Serb (and maybe future Bracelette?) Kostovic (jr. #43) claimed her second straight J300 title in the Bulgaria Cup in Plovdiv, running her winning streak to 10 matches with a 6-4/6-1 win in the final over Bulgaria's Rositsa Dencheva.
===============================================
WHEELCHAIR:Yui Kamiji/JPN
...Kamiji made her return to the court a title-winning one. No surprise since #1 Diede de Groot was nowhere to be found at the Series 1 event in Seoul.
#2 Kamiji strung together four straight wins, including over Dana Mathewson (QF), Manami Tanaka (SF) and Zhu Zhenzhen in the final. Against Zhu, Kamiji was taken the distance in a 6-7(4)/6-0/7-6(5) victory, her 57th consecutive singles win vs. non-Diede competition. She's 62-1 the last two seasons vs. the field, but 0-10 against de Groot.
Kamiji combined with Zhu to win the doubles, defeating Kgothsatso & Tanaka love & 1 in the final.
Zhu, after losing to her two weeks ago, reached the singles final with a second win in as many weeks over 51-year old Sakhorn Khanthasit, then Jiske Griffioen in the semis via a 3rd set TB.
===============================================
1. Stuttgart Q1 - Alycia Parks def. Ana Konjuh
...1-6/6-2/6-4. Back in her "happy place" (i.e. an indoor event, albeit on clay), Parks gets her best win since taking the Lyon title with a victory over Caroline Garcia.
Parks lost a round later to Tamara Korpatsch, but entered the draw as a lucky loser. She'll face Zheng Qinwen, with the winner getting Iga Swiatek.
===============================================
My girl @sada_nahimana is runner up in home town Burundi first ever International Tennis Event...So proud of you ?? Lets Go next week my girl ??
...6-1/6-4. A week ago, the first ITF challenger event ever held in Burundi saw native daughter Nahimana reach the final in the capital city. The 21-year old's run ended in the QF in the second of back-to-back tournaments, but it doesn't dim the clear bright light that the junior and early pro success (2 ITF singles crowns) of Nahimana has brought to the east-central African nation's fledgling tennis establishment (see Ons Jabeur's impact in North Africa).
'There were no courts for us,’ follow Sada to her favourite hitting wall ????@sada_nahimana is currently competing in Burundi’s first ever professional women’s tennis tournament as back-to-back W25 level #ITFWorldTennisTour events take place in the capital city. ?? pic.twitter.com/LO9gn3upFa
3. $25K Boca Raton USA Final - Caroline Dolehide def. Hailey Baptiste
...6-4/6-4. Dolehide picks up career title #7, her first since 2019.
The 24-year old had seen her recent doubles success, including three SF (and 4 QF) and four tour finals (1-3), pave a way toward improved singles results. Her recent tour-level Monterrey QF was her first since 2017.
===============================================
HM- $25K Sharm El Sheikh EGY Final - Lucrezia Stefanini def. Emina Bektas
...6-3/7-6(5). While her countrywomen were avoiding an epic collapse in Bratislava, Stefanini was winning her eighth career challenger crown. The Italian won a pair of $60K titles last year, and a $40K in February.
...7-6(5)/7-6(3). It was a big week for the extended Karatantcheva clan. Not only did 19-year old Lia made her Cup debut in zone play (recording six combined s/d wins), but 33-year old Sesil played her first pro match since 2019.
Since she last played, former RG quarterfinalist (2005) Sesil has opened a tennis academy in Sofia and become a first-time mom. The two-TB loss is fairly impressive all things considered, as 21-year old Karunaratne (HKG) is a Top 300 player who won a pair of $25K titles last year.
===============================================
Well...
WTA to return to China, despite uncertain status of Peng Shuai - Sports Illustrated https://t.co/DOFhosrEC5
Of course, it should be noted that China wasn't really "open for business" in regards to international events in 2021-22 due to pandemic concerns, so the tour's "principled" response actually removed *nothing* from China. As soon as the "Open" sign was hung on the door again, the tour (largely out of financial necessity) was at the front of the line to rush back into the lucrative parlor.
Breaking news: The WTA will return to China this year in September, resuming a robust schedule including the WTA Finals in Shenzhen. It lifts the suspension imposed because of concerns about Peng Shuai.
— Christopher Clarey ???? ???? ???? (@christophclarey) April 13, 2023
Well, the "good" news here, if there is any to be identified, is that at least there are no longer any illusions (or delusions) about the 50-year old tour still persisting on anything resembling its founding basis, as the WTA finally admitted this week that it is no longer constructed upon any sort of principles that aren't, at heart, business-related.
If most searched their psyche they'd probably realized that already, but confirmation removes all those pesky gray areas. Be that good or bad, at least now everyone knows the *actual* playing field going forward. I suppose this should apply to the Ukrainian players and what to expect to come of many of their continued grievances, as well.
Of course, precious few tour players (Alize Cornet was one of the first, and remained one of a tiny group) even bothered to actually speak up about Peng Shuai a few years ago, did they? And they surely didn't wear the equivalent of a supportive flag on their outfits on the court in wishing for her safety following her disappearance after accusing a Chinese official of sexual battery, or take part in any charity exhibitions in her honor in an attempt to pressure the Chinese government to answer the WTA's queries about her condition, nor question whether their Chinese counterparts should be allowed to play while the mystery remained unanswered.
I guess individual outrage is as issue-specific and capricious when it comes to player/women's rights and well-being as that of the tour, eh? We surely see a similarly arbitrary tact from most players when it comes to publicly objecting to various sexist and misogynistic (or worse) words and actions from some current or past men's players.
So, in a way, one might say that the tour's China decision is really just lining up with the selective indignation of the majority of its members.
Facts aren't always pretty, but they're generally illuminating.
Peng sent photos, @WTA didn't believe. Peng sent videos, WTA didn't believe. Peng participated in kids' match, WTA didn't believe. Peng Shuai met with the Olympic Committee officials, but WTA still didn't believe. ... ... Now, for money, WTA believe?pic.twitter.com/ZVcT2VtStyhttps://t.co/qY5wrUPNHG
Hardly surprising news here. *Something* had to give.
TRANSLATION: "Garbiñe and I have decided by mutual agreement to end our employment relationship.
These have been fantastic years, full of great emotions and wonderful experiences, both on and off the track.
It has been a pleasure working with you, Garbiñe. I wish you the best."
Garbiñe y yo hemos decidido de mutuo acuerdo terminar nuestra relación laboral.
Han sido unos años fantásticos, cargados de grandes emociones y maravillosas vivencias, tanto dentro como fuera de la pista. Ha sido un placer trabajar contigo, Garbiñe.Te deseo lo mejor #friendshippic.twitter.com/mCSc9AHFvG
???? Petra Kvitova, 2-time Wimbledon champ & Rio Olympics bronze medalist: "I appreciate that Wimbledon had a tough time last year not giving the points, that Belarusian and Russian didn't play. And I think they shouldn't be allowed, actually, in my opinion, either to Olympics" ?? pic.twitter.com/Jqvuqxj2zy
— Ukrainian Tennis • BTU (@ukrtennis_eng) April 1, 2023
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 9, 2023
And there’s a difference between normalizing a war and criticizing people for using it as a basis to persecute people based on their nationality
— Bayern Fan (The Normal One) (@Bayern_1021) April 10, 2023
One should also note that the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the year after Kvitova was born and a decade before Swiatek was. That doesn't nullify any notions and opinions they might have on the war and the tour's reaction to it, but facts do still matter if you're going to use a player's actual "life experience" as justification for judging their public comments to be "correct." Just sayin'.
Did you know that some radio stations play old Casey Kasem "American Top 40" programs? This weekend's was from April 1982. Here was the a-little-bit-amazing Top 10:
#10 - "That Girl" (Stevie Wonder)
#9 - "Open Arms" (Journey)
#8 - "Key Largo" (Barry Higgins)
#7 - "Do You Believe in Love?" (Huey Lewis & the News)
#6 - "Don't Talk to Strangers" (Rick Springfield)
#5 - "Make a Move on Me" (Olivia Newton-John)
#4 - "Freeze-Frame" (J.Geils Band)
#3 - "Chariots of Fire" theme (Vangelis)
And, wait for it...
#2 - "We Got the Beat" (The Go-Go's)
#1 - "I Love Rock 'n Roll" (Joan Jett & the Blackhearts)
#11 was "Edge of Seventeen" (Stevie Nicks), and #15 was "867-5309/Jenny" (Tommy Tutone). And that's just a few. Oh, the riches were vast.
Hmmm, Andreescu calls Kalinskaya "the sweetest."
Is she subject to lockerroom and/or social media "banishment" now? I mean, Bianca actually referred to a Russian player she's competed against for years as an individual, not someone solely defined by the three letters (formerly) next to her name in draws who shouldn't be allowed to earn a living as an athlete in the sport of her choice because of where she was born a few decades ago.
Can you still do that?
EXCLUSIVE: Dan Snyder has reached an agreement in principle to sell the @Commanders for $6 billion to a group led by Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Josh Harris
I'd argue Dan Snyder has done more damage to his franchise's brand than any single person has done to any team in US sports history. He bought a franchise that was maybe a notch down from the Yankees/Canadiens/Celtics tier in terms of prestige.
‘It’s called stealing’: new allegations of plagiarism against Roy Lichtenstein. A new film alleges that hundreds of his pieces of work can be traced to other artists. https://t.co/XrH0x2FkuO
Imagine giving a fuck someone was shoplifting from a corporation. Imagine giving enough of a fuck to chase them. Imagine giving enough of a fuck to shoot someone shoplifting from a corporation. Imagine giving enough of a fuck to shoot a pregnant woman shoplifting from a 1/ https://t.co/t6PiMvsjU0
— King of Bottom Side Control (@Halfempty621) April 15, 2023
From people I NEVER would have if I was unarmed, because I knew that every confrontation you have when you're armed is literally two steps away from a deadly force situation. The fact of the matter is most of these people are constantly afraid or have a hero complex 3/
— King of Bottom Side Control (@Halfempty621) April 15, 2023
Of these people are delusional when it comes to the skills and circumstances required to shoot someone. 5/5
— King of Bottom Side Control (@Halfempty621) April 15, 2023
A couple weeks after 9/11 this photo was available in our newsroom and I was able to get a 36” square print made and it hangs in my office. The details are incredible, and haunting. (Sorry about the glare across the middle.) pic.twitter.com/cuMHunRDyO
