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Monday, May 29, 2023

RG.2- A Good Thing Comes to a Camila Who Waited

Sometimes, eventually, things just roll right. In many ways, that's happened for Camila Osorio over the last 24 hours.



As Day 2 began, most people probably didn't even know that the Colombian was even *in* the main draw at Roland Garros. Probably because she almost wasn't.

The 21-year old, though ranked in the Top 90, hadn't been able to secure an automatic entry into the field of 132 and was instead relegated to last week's qualifying rounds. As the #1 seed, she reached the final stage, only to fall to teen-on-a-mission-from-the-Tennis-Gods Mirra Andreeva, who added Osorio to her list of victims to become, at barely 16, the youngest player in the field.

As play began on Sunday, and four, then five, lucky loser spots had been drawn and filled, Osorio still hadn't gotten the call. Then, at a very late stage, Caty McNally officially pulled out and LL #6 was finally bestowed upon the former U.S. Open junior champ. Not that many hours later, she was on the court on Day 2 facing off with Romanian Ana Bogdan.

After dropping the opening set, and falling down a break twice early in the 2nd, Osorio found her groove and took off. She claimed the set, then raced to a 5-1 lead in the 3rd. Twice she served for the match, holding two MP at 5-4, but couldn't put away the win. But after having the Tennis Fates faintly shine on her late in Paris, always the fighter, Osorio didn't waste the opportunity. A late break of Bogdan's serve gave her a third chance to serve out the win at 6-5. She finally completed the task, winning 3-6/6-3/7-5.



Given her second chance, Osorio could be a name to watch during this first week of RG. A three-time tour finalist (w/ 1 title), the Colombian has put up good results on the clay this spring, qualifying and reaching the Rome Round of 16 while collecting her first career Top 5 win (def. Garcia), playing into the 3rd Round in Madrid and reaching a 125 QF. With today's win, she's 12-4 on clay this year.

Osorio's late entry into the Paris mix manages to shine a light on one of this season's under-the-radar storylines, as five months into 2023 there have been some rumblings coming out of South America, the continent that brought the sport the likes of Hall of Famers Maria Bueno and Gabriela Sabatini.

Nearly the entire continent has been conspicuously silent on the tour-level stages of women's tennis for a few decades, save for a few rare occasions. The recent rise of Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia, Top 20 in both singles and doubles last year, has been a reminder of the now distant past (though without any accompanying slam success, even if Bia *did* allow Tatjana Maria just one game in their match today), and it's come on the heels of Argentine Nadia Podoroska's surprise RG semifinal in 2020.

Osorio added her name to the conversation when she topped off her successful junior career by winning the U.S. Open girls' crown in 2019, making her the first South American junior girls' slam singles champ in her lifetime. After some quick tour-level success, including those three finals and a Top 35 ranking, the Colombian slipped outside Top 80 last season before her resurgence this year.

At the same time, Argentina has fully entered the conversion with follow-ups to the Podoroska blip (which was followed by a long injury/rest break, only recently ended... she won her first RG match in three years on Day 1), as Maria Carle's ITF success has her nearly in the Top 150, and Julia Riera has been a revelation this spring with BJK Cup success (w/ a Heart Award nom), ITF wins and last week a semifinal in her tour-level debut in Rabat. Neither of those two are in the MD in Paris, though.

Osorio is, but she doesn't have it easy from here. #28 Elise Mertens is her next opponent, with the winner of #3 Pegula/Giorgi awaiting a round later. The last Colombian woman to reach the Round of 16 in Paris was Fabiola Zuluaga in 2004, and Osorio has a lot of work to do if she wants to add another accomplishment to her resume.




=DAY 2 NOTES=
...the Bannerettes had a rough go of things on Sunday. Five hit the terre battue, but only one survived... and she was playing *another* Bannerette. All that changed on Monday.

In an early match-up between a former #1 who has never won a slam (#16-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova) and a former slam winner who has never been #1 (unseeded Sloane Stephens), the latter proved that she is *still* a (potentially) hot burner that one should be leery about touching when they're messing around in the kitchen.



Stephens' 6-0/6-4 win further added to her career numbers at what has been her best major, improving her overall mark at RG to 33-11. Even while Stephens has drifted in and out of relevance -- and sometimes, it has seemed, in and out of any real inititive inside the lines -- she's been fairly consistent in Paris. Since winning the U.S. Open in 2017, Stephens has reached the second week just twice in her 16 non-RG slam appearances. At this major, though, she's played into the back-half of the event four times in five years, including three QF and a RU (in 2018).

In all, Stephens has reached at least the 4th Round eight times in her last ten appearances. Her spring success, which saw her win a 125 title in Saint-Malo and reach the Rabat SF to account for eight of her 14 match wins this season, spoke to the *possibility* that she could be a factor once more. But, you know, it's Sloane... so anything can be as much of a mirage as it is a good omen.

Sloane's compatriots were largely just as successful on Monday.

Kayla Day, a junior slam champ in 2016, has struggled to become a regular tour player ever since. After missing out on the USTA's reciprocal RG wild card, she played her way into her first major MD since 2017 with a successful qualifying run after falling in the Q-rounds in the last two majors. Today the 23-year old took out French wild card Kristina Mladenovic 7-5/6-1 (the Pastry's seventh straight slam MD loss) to reach the 2nd Round at a slam for the first time since she defeated Madison Brengle in her debut at the '16 U.S. Open at age 16 (only to lose to that other U.S. Madison a round later).



U.S. women also winning today included that other Madison (Keys), Bernarda Pera and Peyton Stearns, as the '22 NCAA champ notched her maiden slam MD win with a victory over Katerina Siniakova.

Not so lucky were Alycia Parks (lost to Marketa Vondrousova) and Elli Mandlik, who fell to fellow qualifier Simona Waltert, the only Swiss (so far, as SUI #5 Ylena In-Albon still has a chance to join the SUI #4) to reach the 2nd Round after the SUI #1-2-3 -- Bencic (1r), Teichmann (1r) and Golubic (Q1) -- failed to win even one match in Paris. Waltert gets her maiden slam MD win in her debut, *and* puts a "Simona" into the RG 2nd Round for the ninth time in the last ten years.

Thus, after a 1-4 Day 1, the Bannerettes turned things around with a 5-2 Day 2. Six more will play their 1st Rounders on Tuesday.

...the only group of women in Paris with more success today than those from the U.S. were the Hordettes. Despite (still) all the controversy in some corners being kicked up about them even being allowed to play at all (I'm still waiting, by the way, for a legitimate explanation about why the Can of Worms has somehow avoided being an equally embarrassing/troubling/lingering/festering issue on the men's tour... Bueller... Bueller?), they've pretty much remained spotless on the dirt.

After a 4-0 start on Sunday, seven more went to the post on Monday (both Andreeva sisters hit the ground running tomorrow, rounding out the group of 13) and just one proved to be wanting.

Included on the winners' list today was Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The '21 finalist dispatched Linda Fruhvirtova 2 & 2 in her first match at RG since falling to Barbora Krejcikova on the final Saturday two years ago.

Meanwhile... Bandanna. Check. Racket. Check. Visa. Check. 1st Round win. Check.



A little over a week ago, Diana Shnaider was playing on hard court in Orlando as she led the N.C. State Wolfpack to the NCAA Women's Team final. Her team lost, but Shnaider was voted the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, anyway. As a Top 10 NCAA player in her first year on campus, the freshman would have been in last week's singles tournament, but once her travel visa was approved she packed up her things and headed to Paris.

After getting a 1st Round win in Melbourne and then pushing Maria Sakkari to three sets in (still) one of the matches of the season back in January, the 19-year old knocked off veteran Canadian Rebecca Marino and will next see #14 Beatriz Haddad Maia in the 2nd Round. Haddad has never reached the 3rd Round of a major.

Shnaider's win was somewhat overshadowed, though, by a countrywoman getting her *maiden* slam MD victory, and making it a big one, too.



Lucky loser Elina Avanesyan, 20, took down #12-seed Belinda Bencic in three today, holding firm in the decider to win win 6-3/2-6/6-4.



Bencic's 2023 season began so well, as she started 15-2, won titles in Adelaide and Abu Dhabi and reached the Charleston final. But exhaustion and injury have led to a gradual unspooling ever since. After missing nearly two months, she's now out in the 1st Round in Paris for the first time since 2014, and for just the fourth time in 31 appearances in majors.

The third LL to reach the 2nd Round, Avanesyan now finds herself in a section of the draw with just one seed (#27 Begu) left. A quarterfinalist will come from the group that includes Begu, a LL, a French WC (Jeanjean), a qualifier (Tauson) and four unseeded players who have all reached *at least* a slam semifinal (Muchova, Podoroska, Errani and Fernandez).

Other Hordette winners today included Varvara Gracheva (RG 3r 2021-22) and Strasbourg finalist Anna Blinkova. At that point, the group was a combined 9-0 with two seeded players (#11 Veronika Kudermetova and #23 Ekaterina Alexandrova) left to play today.

Alexandrova was forced to go three sets vs. Viktoriya Tomova but prevailed, while Kudermetova was a victim of the rare but glorious sighting of a wild Schmiedy, aka a gameday Anna Karolina Schmiedlova who manages to not squander a big moment.

The Slovak won in dominating fashion on the scoreboard, 6-3/6-1, but Kudermetova's play (or the wanting quality of it) didn't help her cause. The Hordette put in 40 UE in sixteen games vs. just 14 winners. AKS' numbers weren't *great*: 7 W, 21 UE, and three breaks of serve in eight games, including her first three service games of the match. In all, 63% (10/16) of the games played featured breaks of serve.

It's the fifth straight major in which AKS has posted a 1st Round win, a career best run. She lost her next match in the previous four, *but* her two best slam results (3r in 2014 and '20) *have* come at this tournament.



The early loss is a hugely disappointing development for Kudermetova. Not only did she reach her maiden slam QF in Paris a year ago, but she'd arrived in seemingly good form and poised to possibly (finally) post a superior result in a major. She'd reached back-to-back 1000 SF in Madrid and Rome, picking up a pair of Top 10 wins. So much for that.

Kudermetova's defeat is the first by a Hordette in the 1st Round, as they've gone 10-1.

...meanwhile, #5 Caroline Garcia survived a three-set tussle vs. Wang Xiyu, becoming the second Pastry to reach the 2nd Round (w/ Leolia Jeanjean). There will be *at least* one more, as Oceane Dodin and Selena Janicijevic face off on Tuesday, when three more French woman (Burel, Ferro and Parry) will also be in action.



...fresh off her Strasbourg title run, Elina Svitolina recorded her first slam win since last year's Australian Open. A three-time RG quarterfinalist, Svitolina had never lost her opening match in Paris in nine previous appearances, so #26 Martina Trevisan wasn't in exactly a position of power. Svitolina won 6-2/6-2, extending her winning streak to six.

A year ago, Trevisan's shocking springtime turn saw her win a title in Rabat and reach the RG semifinals. Flashforward a year later, and she followed up with a 2nd Round retirement in Rabat (as the #1 seed) and a 1st Round loss in Paris. After being in the Top 20 for the first time earlier this month, the points bottom has dropped out from under her and Trevisan is now outside the Top 60 in the live rankings.

...late in the day, #10 Petra Kvitova lost to Italy's Elisabetta Cocciaretto, falling in the 1st Round in Paris for the first time since 2010. Since her SF run in 2020, Kvitova has posted 2r-2r-1r results in the event.



While the Bannerettes (well, today, at least) and Hordettes have surged, the Czechs have not. Seeds Kvitova and Pliskova are out, and Crushers Bejlek and L.Fruhvirtova didn't come close in their 1st Rounders (Noskova and B.Fruhvirtova go on Tuesday). So far, they're just 2-6 overall (but ex-champ Krejickova has yet to play).

On the other side, Cocciaretto's first career Top 10 win puts the Italians at 3-1 at this RG (w/ Jasmine Paolini and Rabat winner Lucia Bronzetti playing on Day 3).

Petra is the eighth seed to fall (fourth in the Top 12) in the opening round, with ten more seeds set to play their 1st Rounders on Tuesday.

#17 Alona Ostapenko looked as if she might be tested in a 3rd set by Czech Tereza Martincova, but she avoided that situation and got just her fourth MD win at RG since winning the title in 2017. The Latvian charged back in the match from 5-1 down in the 2nd to win in straights, 6-3/7-5.

Because of course she did.





...ZHANG POSTSCRIPT... ON DAY 2:




...LA DIVINE BREAK... ON DAY 2:




...OKAY, THIS ONE WAS CLEVER... ON DAY 2:




...HMMM, SO SHE'S SAYING SHE HAS A "TO-DO" LIST?... ON DAY 2:




...BACKSPIN 2017-18 FLASHBACK... ON DAY 2:




















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=MAKING SLAM MD DEBUTS; #-won 1r=
=AUTOMATIC ENTRY MD=
AO - Julia Grabher, AUT

=WC=
AO - Olivia Gadecki, AUS #
AO - Talia Gibson, AUS
AO - Moyuka Uchijima, JPN

=Q=
AO - Brenda Fruhvirtova, CZE
AO - Polina Kudermetova, RUS
AO - Eva Lys, GER
AO - Katherine Sebov, CAN
AO - Diana Shnaider, RUS #
AO - Lucrezia Stefanini, ITA #
RG - Mirra Andreeva, RUS [still to play 1st Rd.]
RG - Iryna Shymanovich, BLR #
RG - Simona Waltert, SUI #






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TOP QUALIFIER: Mirra Andreeva/RUS (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: Q1: #29 Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE def. Antonia Ruzic/CRO 3-6/6-2/7-6(10) - Ruzic MP in MTB; B.Fruhvirtova qualifies for first RG
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.-WC): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Magdalena Frech/POL (def. Sh.Zhang)
FIRST SEED OUT: #29 Zhang Shuai/CHN (1r: Frech/POL)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Day 1/2 wins: Avanesyan/RUS, Shymanovich/BLR, Stearns/USA, Waltert/SUI
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: 1r wins: Day/USA, Hunter/AUS, Shymanovich/BLR, Tauson/DEN, Waltert/SUI (LL 1r wins: Avanesyan/RUS, Bolsova/ESP, Osorio/COL)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: 1r wins: Jeanjean/FRA
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: 1r wins: Pavlyuchenkova/RUS, Svitolina/UKR
LAST PASTRY STANDING: 1r wins: Garcia, Jeanjean
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT "TBD": xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: Nominee: xx
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Nominee: xx
DOUBLES STAR: xx
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): xx
Mademoiselle/Madame OF THE EVENING: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
Légion de Lenglen HONOREE: xx
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: xx






All for Day 2. More tomorrow.
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