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Tuesday, June 6, 2023

RG.10- Muchova Czechs In

When it comes to Karolina Muchova, even with all we've seen, it's sometimes easy to forget what we've been missing.




Since she first began to make major inroads on tour -- winning her maiden (and, so far, only) tour title in 2019, reaching the QF in her Wimbledon debut that same year and then doing it again in her next appearance at SW19, with a slam SF in Melbourne sandwiched in between -- the now 26-year old Czech's athletic, varied game with equal parts power and slice (i.e. a real headache for any opponent) not only elicits a decree of envy but is also a joy to watch play out.

When her body has allowed it, at least.

While Muchova has long passed the eye test when it's come to the potential of seeing her one day lift a slam championship trophy, staying healthy has often been her most consistent opponent. Remarkably, she's managed to actually only fully *miss* one slam (last year's AO) since her debut at the 2018 U.S. Open, but she's only occasionally been physically 100%, and has often seen her fortunes turn sour mid-event (she retired from her 3rd Rd. RG match last year, and turned up in a walking boot a day later).

Muchova has battled various injuries for years. She missed seven months from the end of the '21 U.S. Open until Miami the following March, then continued to be nagged by lingering issues. She was just 11-12 on all levels in '22, playing just 16 (8-8) tour/slam level matches. Having ranked as high as #19 in '21, Muchova fell into the #200s in October and finished at #149. As 2023 began, since her AO semi two years earlier, the Czech had missed more 1000 level events (8) than she'd played (6).

Still, when her health hasn't been an issue, Muchova is every top player's nightmare. 13-7 vs. Top 20 opponents the last three seasons, she's proven to be adept vs. high-level competition on the sport's biggest stages. She's beaten #1 Ash Barty in the Australian Open, and then-#3 Karolina Pliskova at Wimbledon. In the opening round of this RG, Muchova "upset" (thought no one *really* saw it as that, which was more of a compliment to the Czech than anything) '21 semifinalist and #8-seed Maria Sakkari in Paris for the second straight year.

This season has provided a *little* beacon of light in the dark for Muchova. To date, she's played two slams *and* all five 1000 events on the schedule. She's reached the QF in two (retiring from one w/ an ab injury), and won eight matches during the Sunshine swing. After her win over Sakkari, Muchova followed up with victories over former RG semifinalist Nadia Podoroska, #27 Irina-Camelia Begu and streaking lucky loser Elina Avanesyan, dropping just one set en route to her maiden QF in Paris. Even with all her injury issues, the Czech's second week run completed her set of (at least) one Round of 16 result at all four of the sport's major events.

On the other side of the net on Tuesday was Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who had battled back from her own injury setback that saw her miss most of '22. She arrived at RG, where she reached the final in '21, with a #333 ranking (she was in the draw w/ her pre-injury PR) that made Muchova's merely "disappointing" #43 standing seem glorious. Once play began at Roland Garros, the Russian's muscle/mental memory clicked back into place, and she staged multiple comebacks to return to the Final 8.

Against Muchova, Pavlyuchenkova would threaten to do the same. But the Czech would have none of it.

Muchova broke to open the match, then led 3-1 and 15/40 on Pavlyuchenkova's serve. She held five BP for a 4-1 edge, but Pavlyuchenkova held in a seven-deuce game. After holding a GP in the following game, Muchova then dropped serve as the Hordette fired a backhand return winner down the line to knot the set at 3-all. Pavlyuchenkova held to take a 4-3 lead.

Muchova broke to regain her break lead at 5-4, but Pavlyuchenkova's big shots put her up love/40 in the ensuing game as the Czech gave the break back, missing on four of five first serves. But unlike the Russian's previous opponents in Paris, Muchova didn't let Pavlyuchenkova get away. At 5-5, she grabbed an early 15/40 lead on return, then when Pavlyuchenkova DF'd on BP took the set lead and served it out on her second attempt, winning 7-5.



With a set in hand, Muchova found her stride. She broke to open the 2nd, and quickly put the onus on Pavlyuchenkova to try and keep up. The Hordette got on the board with an ace on GP to cut the lead to 2-1, but it'd be her final moment of glory. The Czech strung together a break for 4-1 with a love hold.

Pavlyuchenkova held to force Muchova to serve things out at 5-2. Pavlyuchenkova's last stand came in game 8, as Muchova turned back a BP and got the hold to close out a seven-minute game, winning 7-5/6-2 to advance to her second career slam semi.



Pavlyuchenkova now moves to the grass, where her big serve and power groundstrokes have always *seemed* to make her a threat, even if she sometimes questioned the logic, at least until her (overdue) QF result in 2016. Of course, she's put up 1r-1r-1r-3r results in four appearances since... so, you know, being Pavlyuchenkova, she'll probably make the semis.

Meanwhile, Muchova is the fourth different Czech to reach the Final 4 in France in the last five years, and the fifth in seven. She could be the second finalist in three years.

More importantly, with her only two tour finals both coming four years ago, Muchova is a win away from her third being a very, very big one.

Hehe, just like everyone expected. (Wink-wink.)




=DAY 10 NOTES=
...the other quarterfinal on Tuesday was, of course, part tennis and part "all the rest."



Through her nine-match comeback winning streak in Strasbourg and Paris, Elina Svitolina had bounced back and forth from great tennis to nearly letting her "moment" slip away to pulling things back from the edge and once more finding a wellspring of fight to pull herself over the finish line in the end. It resulted in not only a tour title run but a slam QF berth at Roland Garros less than eight months after giving birth to her daughter.

But Svitolina hadn't faced the sort of power tennis that #2 seed Aryna Sabalenka was set to employ on this day. Whether the Ukrainian's streak could continue was clearly not only going to depend on Svitolina's ability to withstand that power but, maybe more so, whether Sabalenka, trying to reach a third straight slam semifinal and with the #1 ranking now tantalizingly close to becoming a reality, would open enough doors via mistakes that she might manage to slip through one.

A year ago, Sabalenka likely would have done so. But the Sabalenka we've seen in 2023 is not that player.

As things turned out, Svitolina played quite well, though not nearly as aggressively early on as she likely needed to be, as the two played even on the scoreboard and Svitolina waited for the damaging errors that never came from Sabalenka's racket. Sabalenka didn't get her first BP opportunity of the match until game 9, but she converted it with a backhand return winner into the corner to take a 5-4 lead. She served out the set a game later.

Svitolina saved a BP to hold to open the 2nd, then converted on her first (and only) BP of the match in game 2 to take a 2-0 lead. But, needing to put something solid behind the break to establish a real foothold in the match, Svitolina found herself facing a handful of BP just moments later. Sabalenka committed UE on her first two chances, but a Svitolina DF gave her a third and she got the break back.

Sabalenka DF'd on GP in game 4, but got another opportunity and began blasting shots from the baseline, forcing Svitolina to scramble just to get a racket on the ball and send it back over the net. The Belarusian's inside out forehand winner secured the hold for 2-2. After Svitolina again fought off BP, but couldn't convert any of three GP, on BP #4 Sabalenka again set up shop at the baseline and fired back forehand after forehand until finally one was too much for Svitolina to handle. The break pushed Sabalenka into a scoreboard lead she never gave up.

In pushing her way to the front in the set, Sabalenka nearly perfected a style of play not generally seen on red clay (other than maybe in Madrid, where she won this year) in which brute force leads the way. It's not a particularly elegant style, but when freely unleashed -- think Serena rocketing back balls over and over and over again and daring an opponent to get each one back so she can load up and fire another just as fast -- *can* produce a beautifully percussive soundtrack on certain rallies, akin to hammering nails into cement.

Bam... bam...bam. BAM!

In those final games today, Sabalenka's consistency of power groundstrokes created that sound effect, and it was a little bit awesome. Not something you want *all* the time, but remarkable when presented in its unadulterated form.

While Sabalenka is still capable of lapses, they are brief and no longer seem to lead to the sort of spirals that held her back for so long. It's how she nearly spun gold at the WTA Finals last fall, won the Australian Open and is threatening to do more damage this summer. Case in point, serving at 5-4, Sabalenka fell behind love/30. Bam-bam-bam... she suddenly found herself at MP. A ball fired off the net cord delayed the inevitable, but Sabalenka converted MP 2 from near the net for a 6-4/6-4 victory.

With the win, Sabalenka improves to 5-0 in career slam QF, reaches a third straight slam semi, completes a Career SF Slam (she's the fifth active player who's completed it, and the only one under age 30) and now forces Iga Swiatek to reach the final in order to retain the #1 ranking. If she doesn't get it in Paris, with no Wimbledon points to defend, Sabalenka likely stands a good chance to do it at SW19.



With Svitolina's loss we reach the moment that now comes in so many tournaments where the last Ukrainian exits the draw, eliciting an inaudible sigh of relief as the realization arrives that the *rest* of the event can -- finally -- most likely be about the tennis between the lines rather than that *and* being simultaneously held hostage by the lingering subplot about what will happen immediately *after* the match. Of course, we still had that moment for *this* one.



In the latest episode of this needless clown-show, Sabalenka converted her MP near the net and after a quick celebration stepped forward and leaned on the netcord and looked up as Svitolina walked from the backcourt. She later said that is was an instinctive move, not a provacative act meant to show up Svitolina, and that she briefly "forgot" about the whole situation. Svitolina, naturally, said she felt that Sabalenka was attempting to inflame things.

As it was, after giving thumbs-up gestures to back-to-back Russian opponents, Svitolina reverted to the avoid-eye-contact-and-march-to-the-chair-umpire move that had previously been in play against the Belarusian. The Eurosport announcers acted as if there was surely a "minor" thumbs-up. Unless she did it *very* far away, there was not. So I guess Svitolina's attempts at defusion are selective.

Was Sabalenka's profession of "innocence" believable? Maybe, maybe not. Though, if she'd *really* wanted to make a scene she could have held her hand out knowing that it wasn't going to be reached for. As far as Sabalenka goes, even if purposeful, what she did today might be considered "subtle." Remember her dramatic, FU-very-much bow in the 1st Round when she thought she was being booed by the crowd? That'd be *less* subtle.

In her press conference, Svitolina continued to hold the line on the no-handshake rule because of how it would look to "people on the front lines," but what I wonder is if anyone has ever asked whether that would hold true with all RUS/BLR people, not just opponents. As we know, the old Soviet Union formerly included Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, so many families likely have members who at some point spread out from Ukraine to either of those now seperate nations, right? Would such snubs of those individuals, who have family members in Ukraine that they might still be in contact with, also hold up to this nationalistic line of demarcation? It's hard to believe that things can be so easily determined and enacted without legitimate question.

So rather than the iconic photos once envisioned, we still get this sort...



Meanwhile, after skipping press conferences after her last two matches after being grilled with questions by a Ukrainian reporter about her opinions on the war and BLR leader Alexander Lukashenko after her 2nd Round win, Sabalenka returned today, only before WTA representatives rather than the regular press. She said that she doesn't support war, and because of that can't support Lukashenko at the moment.

HERE is the non-paywall link to the Washington Post article below (one of the free "gift article" pages I have access to w/ my subscription).



...meanwhile, the junior Round of 16 is set, and the remaining field is led by four Hordettes and two Slovaks. The lone Bannerette left is #2 Clervie Ngounoue, while #11 Tereza Valentova is the only Czech.

...wheelchair action began on Day 10 and -- STOP THE PRESSES! (who cares if nobody says that anymore) -- Diede de Groot and Yui Kamiji won their opening matches to advance to the QF. Shocking.

Kamiji defeated Zhu Zhenzhen 6-3/6-0, her fifth win against her in '23, to extend her non-de Groot winning streak to 68 matches, while the Diede in question handled French wild card Emmanuelle Morch 2 & 2 to post her 100th consecutive singles win, and 30th in a row in slam competition.




*WOMEN'S SINGLES QF*
#1 Iga Swiatek/POL vs. #6 Coco Gauff/USA
#14 Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA vs. #7 Ons Jabeur/TUN
Karolina Muchova/CZE def. (PR) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS
#2 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR def. (PR) Elina Svitolina/UKR

=WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF=
#6 Melichar-Martinez/Perez (USA/AUS) def. (PR) Bouzkova/Sorribes Tormo (CZE/ESP)
#15 V.Kudermetova/Samsonova (RUS/RUS) vs. (PR) Hsieh S-w./Wang Xinyu (TPE/CHN)
#10 Fernandez/Townsend (CAN/USA) vs. #14 Chan/Chan (TPE/TPE)
#2 Gauff/Pegula (USA/USA) def. Bondar/Minnen (HUN/BEL)

=MIXED DOUBLES SF=
Kato/Putz (JPN/GER) vs. Sutjiadi/Middelkoop (INA/NED)
(Alt.) Andreescu/Venus (CAN/AUS) vs. Dabrowski/Lammons (CAN/USA)

=WHEELCHAIR SINGLES QF=
#1 Diede de Groot/NED vs. (WC) Pauline Deroulede/FRA
#4 Momoko Ohtani/JPN vs. Kgothatso Montjane/RSA
Dana Mathewson/USA vs. #3 Jiske Griffioen/NED
Katharina Kruger/GER vs. #2 Yui Kamiji/JPN

=WHEELCHAIR DOUBLES QF=
#1 Kamiji/Montjane (JPN/RSA) vs. Bernal/Funamizu (COL/JPN)
Mathewson/Shuker (USA/GBR) vs. Deroulede/Morch (FRA/FRA)
de Groot/Moreno (NED/ARG) vs. Griffioen/Ohtani (NED/JPN)
Cabrillana/Kruger (CHI/GER) vs. #2 Tanaka/Zhu (JPN/CHN)

=GIRLS SINGLES ROUND OF 16=
Melisa Ercan/TUR vs. Alevtina Ibragimova/RUS
(WC) Astrid Lew Yan Foon/FRA vs. #6 Lucciana Perez Alarcon/PER
Rebecca Munk Mortensen/DEN vs. Charo Esquiva Banuls/ESP
Anastasiia Gureva/RUS vs. #7 Renata Jamrichova/SVK
#8 Mayu Crossley/JPN vs. #11 Tereza Valentova/CZE
Emerson Jones/AUS vs. #3 Alina Korneeva/RUS
Teodora Kostovic/SRB vs. Alisa Oktiabreva/RUS
Iva Ivanova/BUL vs. #2 Clervie Ngounoue/USA







...IF THEY EVER MAKE A MUCHOVA BIO-PIC... ON DAY 10:

Raegan Revord (Missy from "Young Sheldon") would fit the bill...





...PURE ATHLETICISM *ALL OVER* THIS FLASHBACK... ON DAY 10:




...ANOTHER NEW ATHLETIC ENDEAVOR INCOMING?... ON DAY 10:




...GO FIGURE, EVEN MILLIONAIRE GOLF EXECUTIVES AND MURDERING BILLIONAIRES CAN GET ALONG IF HUNDREDS OF MILLION OF DOLLARS ARE INVOLVED... ON DAY 10:


Of course, some might have said it was already difficult to detect much difference between the two.


Sort of makes the WTA's return to China with no resolution of the Peng Shuai issue look like a game of checkers, doesn't it? Or maybe strip poker.

The biggest difference being that we know we're not going to see Jamal Khashoggi -- or any of the parts of him that are left -- ever again.


...LITTLE OSTAPENKO IN THE MAKING?... ON DAY 10:




...AGREE, BUT... ON DAY 10:



...as it stands, though it's an extremely strict reading of it, *that's the rule* as it's written, right? Either change it, or have an appeals process (is there one?) where players can at least get money/points reinstated under circumstances such as this.

If the rules aren't followed for doubles or lower-ranked singles players, the sport can't very well use the "that is the rule" justification when higher profile players (you know the ones, some still playing, some not) cry foul when *they* aren't given a pass for various in-match infractions.


...GOT A "DM" FROM THE "NUMBERS GUY"... ON DAY 10:


...and he wanted to remind me (for the millionth time) that he had this many *years* ago.

He said that if Djokovic wins this slam (or even if it happens in London or New York) he will go down as the greatest (men's) player in the history of the game, no matter where anyone who's around now ranks him, because the numbers will tell the tale to the generations that follow.

Slam #23 would install Djokovic alone atop the all-time list, and he will *never* be caught, likely *forever* being the winningest slam champion ever. His total will surely not be matched during the lifetime of any current adult, and probably not in that of any other living creatures on earth besides (maybe!) a very young Galapagos turtle or two. But probably not them, either... not that they'd notice.

With Nadal's absence from Paris and his recent surgery, slam #23 may never come for *him*, and if it does it'll likely be a year from now, in probably his final season, after Djokovic has already put even more distance between himself and Nadal (and Federer, w/ 20) on the all-time slam title list.

With Djokovic's personal head-to-head history vs. Nadal and Federer already is his favor, as well as his incredible consistency over the years, that slam title list was all that remained to tilt history in his favor when it one day comes down to the people making such future judgments being armed *only* with old video and numbers on which to make a decision.

Hearts and minds were never a part of the equation, as at some point it will *only* be about the numbers. That was *always* the "Numbers Guy's" contention. Hence, you know, the name.

























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You know, I hadn't even thought of that. The "she didn't mean to do it" defense doesn't really mean much since, you know, I WOULD *HOPE* NOT.









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*TCH/CZE SEMIFINALISTS AT RG - OPEN ERA*
1975 Martina Navratilova (RU)
1976 Renata Tomanova (RU)
1977 Regina Marsikova
1978 Regina Marsikova
1979 Regina Marsikova
1980 Hana Mandlikova
1981 Hana Mandlikova (W)
1982 Hana Mandlikova
1984 Hana Mandlikova
1986 Hana Mandlikova
1986 Helena Sukova
1990 Jana Novotna
1996 Jana Novotna
2006 Nicole Vaidisova
2012 Petra Kvitova
2015 Lucie Safarova (RU)
2017 Karolina Pliskova
2019 Marketa Vondrousova (RU)
2020 Petra Kvitova
2021 Barbora Krejcikova (W)
2023 Karolina Muchova


*UNSEEDED RG SEMIFINALISTS - since 2000*
2002 Clarisa Fernandez, ARG
2003 Nadia Petrova, RUS
2016 Kiki Bertens, NED
2017 Alona Ostapenko, LAT (W)
2019 Amanda Anisimova, USA
2019 Marketa Vondrousova, CZE (RU)
2020 (Q) Nadia Podoroska, ARG
2020 Iga Swiatek, POL (W)
2021 Tamara Zidansek, SLO
2021 Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (W)
2022 Martina Trevisan, ITA
2023 Karolina Muchova, CZE


*WTA "CAREER SF SLAM" - active*
[with slam at which completed]
Victoria Azarenka - 2013 RG (30th)
Simona Halep - 2018 AO (31st)
Karolina Pliskova - 2021 WI (36th)
Aryna Sabalenka - 2023 RG (21st)
Venus Williams - 2001 AO (15th)




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In D.C. sports news, the evergreen headline appeared again this week. And that's fine.



Stephen Strasburg, for all the frustration (and some jokes made at his expense, none better than Tony Kornheiser nicknaming him "The Orchid") from so many corners for almost a decade and a half, had a career in Washington that included some spectacular moments and eventually saw him help lead the Nationals to a World Series title (where he was even named the MVP).

His career is likely over (nerve damage is nothing to play around with), and that humongous contract he signed after 2019 was a disaster since he's barely played since. The good memories will stick around longer, though, and the "what if?" discussions will outweigh the disappointment.

When he was *able* to pitch he was always formidable, if not great, and gave it his all. It was unfortunate that it was a continual struggle to find those moments in a sea of caution, IR trips and surgeries.

Now go live a good one, you're only 34.



FREE POST ARTICLE LINK




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What the bloody helllll?




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TOP QUALIFIER: Mirra Andreeva/RUS (16; youngest in MD)
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): (Q) Mirra Andreeva/RUS (6 games lost in fewest in field; 10 con. sets Q+MD)
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): 2nd Rd. - Anna Blinkova/RUS def. #5 Caroline Garcia/FRA 4-6/6-3/7-5 (Garcia saves 8 MP, but Blinkova gets upset on #9)
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: M.Andreeva/RUS, Avanesyan/RUS, Grabher/AUT, Navarro/USA, Noskova/CZE, Shymanovich/BLR, Stearns/USA, Waltert/SUI
UPSET QUEENS: ITA
REVELATION LADIES: RUS (11-2 1st Rd.)
NATION OF POOR SOULS: CZE (3-9 1st Rd.; four seeds out 1r; Krejcikova 0-2 since '21 title)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Mirra Andreeva/RUS, Olga Danilovic/SRB, Kayla Day/USA, Clara Tauson/DEN (all 3rd Rd.)
LAST LUCKY LOSER STANDING: Elina Avanesyan/RUS (4th Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Leolia Jeanjean/FRA, Emma Navarro/USA & Diane Parry/FRA (all 2nd Rd.)
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS (QF), Elina Svitolina/UKR (QF); Sara Sorribes Tormo/ESP (4r)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: Oceane Dodin, Caroline Garcia, Leolia Jeanjean & Diane Parry (all 2nd Rd.)
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA (first BRA slam QF since '68) Additional nominees: Jabeur, Muchova
IT "One-Name Teen": Mirra Andreeva/RUS Additional nominees: Gauff
COMEBACK PLAYER: Elina Svitolina, UKR
CRASH & BURN: Barbora Krejcikova/CZE (0-2 since winning '21 title; 24 con. slam WD streak ends)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (2nd Rd.: down 5-2 3rd vs. Samsonova; #333 second-lowest ranked RG 4r; 4th Rd.: down set and 3-1, w/ 7 BP for 4-1 vs. Mertens)
DOUBLES STAR: xx
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Nominees: WD player, WC player, Tsurenko (34; oldest in 4r)
Mademoiselle/Madame OF THE EVENING: Nominee: Sabalenka
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
Légion de Lenglen: UKR/RUS-BLR controversies
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: 20th Anniv. of Justine Henin's first RG title in 2003






All for Day 10. More tomorrow.
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