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Sunday, June 18, 2023

Wk.24- Lawn Maintenance: Alexandrova Style






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*WEEK 24 CHAMPIONS*
ROSMALEN ('s-HERTOGENBOSCH), NETHERLANDS (WTA 250/Grass Outdoor)
S: Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS def. Veronika Kudermetova/RUS 4-6/6-4/7-6(3)
D: Shuko Aoyama/Ena Shibahara (JPN/JPN) def. Viktoria Hruncakova/Tereza Mihalikova (SVK/SVK) 6-3/6-3
NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND (WTA 250/Grass Outdoor)
S: Katie Boulter/GBR def. Jodie Burrage/GBR 6-3/6-3
D: Ulrikke Eikeri/Ingrid Neel (NOR/EST) def. Harriet Dart/Heather Watson (GBR/GBR) 7-6(6)/5-7 [10-8]
VALENCIA, SPAIN (WTA 125 Challenger/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Mayar Sherif/EGY def. Marina Bassols Ribera/ESP 6-3/6-3
D: Aliona Bolsova/Andrea Gamiz (ESP/VEN) def. Angelina Gabueva/Irina Khromacheva (RUS/RUS) 6-4/4-6 [10-7]




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS
...Alexandrova hasn't had much success at Wimbledon (just two MD wins), or at any slam for that matter (she's never reached a second week in 25 MD appearances), but the Hordette sure knows her way around the Rosmalen lawns.

After winning her first career grass crown at the event a year ago with a victory in the final over Aryna Sabalenka, Alexandrova returned and successfully defended her title this week, becoming just the second woman (Tamarine Tanasugarn 2008-09) to do so in the tournament's long history (this was the 26th edition of the event).

Alexandrova ran her tournament sets-won streak to 18 while reaching the final with victories over Evgeniya Rodina, Kimberly Birrell, Emina Bektas and Aliaksandra Sasnovich, then battled countrywoman Veronika Kudermetova for nearly three hours in the championship match. After being denied on three MP chances (all on Kudermetova's serve), she finally converted on her 4th chance in the deciding TB, ending a 72-minute final set in which neither player dropped her serve.



This was the first of Alexandrova's four tour titles that *hasn't* been claimed with the Russian closing out her run with a win over a player who either had or has since won a slam. In addition to the win over Sabalenka a year ago, she's beaten Rybakina ('20 Shenzhen) and Ostapenko ('22 Seoul) in finals.
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RISERS: Veronika Kudermetova/RUS and Mayar Sherif/EGY
...with Kudermetova, progress is always measured in miniature accomplishments.

The Hordette's trip to Rosmalen helped her hurdle a significant obstacle, as she rode wins over Alison Riske-Amritraj, Carol Zhao, Celine Naef and Viktoria Hruncakova to her sixth career tour singles final, her first in 14 months. Kudermetova's win over Hruncakova ended her string of seven straight SF losses (+ 1 SF walkover loss) since reaching the Istanbul final in April of last year.

In the final vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova, though, Kudermetova couldn't take the title after claiming the opening set vs. the defending champ. She fought off three MP on serve in the closing games of the 3rd set (one via a replay challenge), but still couldn't turn her luck in the deciding tie-break. Another replay challenge was involved, only this time the ruling on an Alexandrova ace went against Kudermetova, handing her countrywoman more MP at 6-3 in the breaker. Alexandrova converted on MP #4, dropping Kudermetova to 1-5 in career WTA singles finals.

Had she won Kudermetova would have returned to the Top 10 (she moves up one to #13, just 90 points off of #10), joined Coco Gauff and Jessie Pegula as the only players in the Top 10 in both singles and doubles, and passed Dasha Kasatkina to become the new RUS #1.

Kudermetova's only title came in Charleston 26 months ago, despite having never seen her ranking drop outside the Top 20 for nearly a full year. Already this year 11 players ranked outside the Top 20 have claimed tour titles, while in '22 there were 35.



In Valencia, Sherif continued her mastery of the 125 challenger circuit, extending her all-time title mark by picking up the sixth win of her career (second in two weeks), losing just 17 games over five matches (and dropping no sets) vs. the likes of Daniela Seguel, Maria Carle, Ann Li, Nadia Podoroska and Marina Bassols Ribera in a 3 & 3 final (the biggest final ever for the 23-year old Spaniard).

Sherif, now 6-0 in 125 finals (and 1-1 at tour-level) will climb to yet another career high of #31, putting herself in position to possibly earn a seed at Wimbledon (if not there, perhaps at the U.S. Open).


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SURPRISES: Jodie Burrage/GBR, Emina Bektas/USA and Lena Papadakis/GER
...a year after flashing during the grass season with a win over #4 Paula Badosa (in Eastbourne), and reaching the $100K Surbiton semis and Ilkley final (going 10-5 on the surface overall), Burrage took an even bigger step into the '23 grass season.

After losing her opening match last week (vs. Lily Miyazaki) in her return to Surbiton, Burrage arrived in Nottingham and rode upsets of Tereza Martincova, Magda Linette, Magdalena Frech and Alize Cornet into her first tour-level singles final. In a super-rare all-Brit tour final (just the third ever), Burrage fell in straights to Katie Boulter.

Burrage will jump 23 spots to #106, just two spots below her career high.



A former Michigan Wolverine (2011-15), Bektas made headlines a few years ago for her marriage to fellow tour player Tara Moore, but it's been the improvement of her tennis results that have more recently produced mildly raised eyebrows. Last season, she qualified to reach her maiden slam MD at the Australian Open, played in her first tour-level WD final (Bogota, w/ Moore) and then followed up with another slam Q-run at Wimbledon.

Already a two-time ITF champ this season, the 30-year old Bektas reached a new career high ranking (#182) last month. The Bannerette burst into the grass season this week with a qualifying run at Rosmalen (def. Miyu Kato and Ankita Raina), then posted MD wins over Dalma Galfi and Sachia Vickery to reach her maiden WTA QF. She lost to DC Ekaterina Alexandrova, but will crack the Top 150 in the new rankings.



Bektas carried over her form to Birmingham qualifying this weekend, picking up wins over Caroline Dolehide and Marcela Zacarias to reach the MD.

Also at Rosmalen, #348-ranked Papadakis (née Rüeffer) gave off signs that she could be one of those kind of players -- you know the kind -- who might require "extra attention" at this time of year. The 24-year old German came into the week having not played in a WTA MD since 2017 (Nurnberg), while failing in 15 other qualifying attempts at tour-level events in her career, including in her last 12 tries.

Papadakis ended that streak, getting Q-round wins over CoCo Vandeweghe and Taylah Preston, then battling Liudmila Samsonova for 3:40 in the 1st Round, leading 5-3 in the 3rd, and even serving for the match vs. the '21 Berlin champ. Papadakis was broken at love with the match on her racket, though, and ultimately fell in a deciding tie-break in a 7-5/6-7(5)/7-6(3) contest.



Traveling to Berlin for weekend qualifying, Papadakis lost in the opening round to Polina Kudermetova.
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VETERANS: Heather Watson/GBR and Alize Cornet/FRA
...after a forgettable end to the clay season in Paris, when *zero* Brits were in the MD, the grass season has once again opened the doors for Team UK on the women's tour to step into the spotlight. Enter Watson.

One of the four Brits in the Nottingham QF, and three in a semis (a WTA first since 1975), Watson got there after making it out of qualifying and then posting three wins in a tour-level event -- over Jule Niemeier, Tatjana Maria and Viktorija Golubic, all three SW19 quarterfinalists-or-better the last two years -- for the first time since last year's Wimbledon Round of 16 run.

Watson lost in the semifinal, her first at tour level in two years (Birmingham), to countrywoman Katie Boulter.



Watson also reached the doubles final, her first in more than two years, with countrywoman Harriet Dart, but lost to Ulrikke Eikeri & Ingrid Neel.

It took six months, but Cornet finally cracked the QF/SF barrier on the '23 season. After opening with a win over Katie Swan, one of the few Brits in Nottingham to *not* reach the final eight, the Pastry followed up with an upset of Maria Sakkari, her first Top 10 win in nearly a year, since ending Iga Swiatek's run at last year's Wimbledon. After taking out Elli Mandlik to post her first tour SF result since reaching the Monastir final in October, Cornet fell in a 7-5/7-5 contest vs. Jodie Burrage, one of *two* first-time tour singles finalists from the U.K. in the event.

Cornet is just a few weeks away from extending her WTA record slam MD appearance streak to 66.


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COMEBACKS: Katie Boulter/GBR and Viktoria Hruncakova/SVK
...before injuries put a stop to it (starting with a spinal stress fracture during Fed Cup play in spring '19, in a tie in which she'd played the "warrior" role vs. KAZ), Boulter had looked to be a Brit worth watching on the WTA tour. She'd cracked the Top 100 in 2018, and recorded her first slam MD win in Melbourne the following year. But she then missed six of the next eight majors, falling to #365 by the end of 2020.

Boulter has slowly worked her way back, winning three MD matches at Wimbledon the last two years and recording two upsets of Karolina Pliskova last grass season (at Eastbourne and Wimbledon). She started strongly in '23, winning the Canberra $60K challenger (where she def. Heather Watson, and then Jodie Burrage in the final), her biggest title since 2018. She's lost in qualifying at the last three slams, though, going out in the Q2 in New York, Melbourne and Paris.

As the schedule turned back to grass last week, Boulter reached the $100K Surbiton semis, then carried over that run into tour-level Nottingham, where the Brit had the greatest week of her career. Wins over Emily Appleton, Daria Snigur and Harriet Dart put Boulter into her first WTA semi, then she handled Watson (SF) and Burrage (F) yet again to finish off her maiden tour title run without dropping a set all week. The final vs. Burrage was the first all-Brit WTA title match since 1977, and just the third ever in tour history (it's the first to take place on home soil).

The result will lift Boulter back into the Top 100 (#77, from #126) for the first time since just shortly after her spinal injury in the spring of '19.



At Rosmalen, Hruncakova (née Kuzmova; she married her coach last September, and started playing under the new name in April) took a trip back a few years when she was a promising up-and-coming singles player on tour. Having ranked as high as #43 (2019), the Slovak's best results the last few years have mostly come in doubles.

Ranked #144, Hruncakova, 25, strung together wins over Susan Bandecchi, Bianca Andreescu (saving 9 SP in the 1st en route to a straight sets win) and Ashlyn Krueger to reach her first tour-level SF since Auckland in 2019. She went out to Veronika Kudermetova.

Over the past year, Hruncakova has had singles success on the challenger circuit, reaching three finals ($60K, $40K and $25K), and just qualified in Paris to make her first RG MD apparance since 2020.

Hruncakova added doubles success to her singles resurgence this week, too, reaching the final with Tereza Mihalikova.


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FRESH FACES: Daria Snigur/UKR, Elli Mandlik/USA and Ashlyn Krueger/USA
...Snigur didn't have the biggest *final* result of this group, but she had the biggest *single" win.

In Nottingham, the 21-year old Ukrainian (#157) lost in qualifying (to Mandlik), but entered the MD as a lucky loser and pulled the upset of defending champ Beatriz Haddad Maia, though the Brazilian *was* a bit late making the transition to grass this year (she was a little busy in Paris).

Mastering the big win follow-up is still a work in progress for Snigur, though. In New York last summer, after upsetting Simona Halep in the U.S. Open 1st Round, Snigur lost her next match (vs. Rebecca Marino), while this time it happened vs. Katie Boulter in the 2nd Round.



Meanwhile, Mandlik played all the way into the QF in Nottingham, the best result of her pro career to date.

After her qualifying run, the Bannerette staged a comeback from 4-2 down in the 3rd vs. Viktoriya Tomova, then put up another three-set win over Camila Giorgi. A third three-setter finally proved a bridge too far for Mandlik, though, as she rallied from a set down vs. Alize Cornet but couldn't best the veteran Pastry in the decider.

With the result, Mandlik will crack the Top 100 for the first time.



Krueger, 19, reached her maiden tour-level QF in Rosmalen, getting wins over Rebecca Peterson and Victoria Azarenka, the latter her first Top 20 win, before falling to Viktoria Hruncakova.

She'll climb from a #152 to a new career high of #143.


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DOWN: Jule Niemeier/GER
...it was around this time a year ago that Niemeier emerged from the shadows with a QF (and very nearly SF, as she lost to fellow German Tatjana Maria in three sets) run in her Wimbledon MD debut. Later in the summer, she reached the second week at the U.S. Open and climbed to #61 in the fall.

She's had a tough time getting started in '23. Her six-match losing streak was finally broken with a three-set win over Beatriz Haddad Maia in BJK Cup qualifier play in April. Niemeier reached the 3rd Round in Madrid, getting wins over Wang Xinyu and Petra Kvitova (her first Top 10 win of the year), but came to Nottingham ranked #118 and having not won a match since.

The German dropped a 6-4/6-3 1st Round decision to Heather Watson, marking her second five-match losing streak of this season (she's had an additional four-match slide) to drop to 5-17 on the season.

Perhaps a corner *has* been turned on grass, though, as Niemeier rebounded in Berlin, qualifying with back-to-back wins (her first since Madrid, and only her second winning streak all season) over Noma Noha Akugue and Greet Minnen to reach the MD.
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ITF PLAYER: Petra Marcinko/CRO
...a week after the $100K Surbiton grass challenger (won by Yanina Wickmayer), and a week before the $100K in Ilkley (where Burrage made the final in '22), there were no ITF grass court events held by the LTA or any other organization this week. Seems like a missed opportunity for *someone*.

Elsewhere, last year's AO girls' title winner, 17-year old Marcinko improved to 4-0 in career pro finals, claiming the $60K clay court title in Rome with a 6-2/6-2 win over Italy's Georgia Pedone. Marcinko had defeated Astra Sharma (a Wimbledon qualifier in '22) in the QF.
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JUNIOR STARS: Celine Naef/SUI, Sonja Zhenikhova/GER and Melisa Ercan/TUR
...has the tour-level success of Mirra Andreeva emboldened her fellow juniors? Perhaps. Naef is the first to make additional noise since the 16-year old's results in Madrid and Paris.

At Rosmalen, the 17-year old Swiss (#202), a winner of a pair of ITF crowns this season, took her MD wild card and played into the QF in her tour-level debut. Her first win? Over none other than Ms. Venus Williams in three sets. A round later, Naef rallied from 3-0 back in the 3rd to run off six straight games over Caty McNally to advance. She fell in straights to top seed Veronika Kudermetova, but will climb into the Top 170 in the new rankings.

She'll be the fourth youngest player ranked in the Top 200, behind Andreeva, Brenda Fruhvirtova and Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva.


15-year old German Zhenikhova, the junior #521, claimed her first career J300 crown -- her maiden ITF level junior crown ever -- in Bamberg, Germany. A wild card entrant, she defeated the #6 and #3 seeds and reached the final without dropping a set, then outlasted Czech Eliska Forejtkova 6-2/3-6/7-6(6) for the title.

Forejtkova, who also reached the doubles final, had reached J200 and J100 singles finals earlier this season.

In the $15K in Norges-la-Ville, France, 17-year old Turk Ercan picked up her maiden pro title, defeating Belgian Amelie Van Impe in a 6-7(8)/6-0/7-6(6) final.

Ercan was the champion at the pre-AO Traralgon J300 junior event this January, where she knocked off both eventual AO girls' finalists -- Alina Korneeva (SF) and Mirra Andreeva (F) -- en route to the crown. In this year's RG junior event, Ercan upset #1-seeded Sara Saito in the 2nd Round.
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DOUBLES: Shuko Aoyama/Ena Shibahara, JPN/JPN and Ulrikke Eikeri/Ingrid Neel, NOR/EST
...between 2019-21, Aoyama & Shibahara combined to reach nine tour finals, winning eight straight finals through the summer of '21. Having reached the WTA Finals (reaching the SF) that year, the Japanese pair took a break after reaching the AO semis last year. After far less success with other partners (neither won a title), they re-teamed at the BJK Cup Finals in November, going 6-0.

Back as regular partners in '23, they reached the AO final and Indian Wells semis (losing to Krejcikova/Siniakova on both occasions), and this week picked up their first title of the year at Rosmalen.

A 3 & 3 win in the final over Hruncakova/Mihalikova gives the pair a 9th title together. For 35-year old Aoyama, it's the 18th of her WTA career, while 25-year old Shibahara now has nine. Aoyama won a previous crown in the event in 2019 alongside Aleksandra Krunic.



In Nottingham, first-time tour level partners (though they joined for two challengers back in 2018), Eikeri & Neel took home the title while opening and closing with 1st Round (vs. Freya Christie/Ali Collins) and Final (vs. Harriet Dart/Heather Watson) match tie-break wins over all-British pairs, and threw in a straight sets win over the #1 seeds (Anna Danilina/Xu Yifan) in the semis.

It's the second career title for both, but Florida-born Neel's first at tour level since switching her representation from the U.S. to Estonia (her grandmother's birth country) in April. The former Florida Gator, her win clinched the school's 2018 championship, won a $60K title in February, and then added a pair of 125 wins after the switch.



So, I guess the little incident/accident from earlier in the week will go down as a good luck charm/good omen...


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WHEELCHAIR: Diede de Groot/NED
...the wheelchair action hasn't yet shifted to grass, so everyone gathered at the Mouratoglou Academy for the French Riviera Open on red clay. For the most part (though barely), nothing much changed.

Again de Groot took home the singles trophy, her 27th consecutive tournament title, as she extended her winning streak to 106, though only after barely escaping Kgothatso Montjane in the QF, as the South African took the 1st set off the world #1 (her first in 14 matches against her during the streak) and battled her into a 2nd set TB (won by de Groot 7-5) in the Dutchwoman's closest singles contest since January of 2021.

De Groot won the 3rd 6-2, then defeated Zhu Zhenzhen to reach the final. She was set to face Yui Kamiji yet again, riding a 22-match winning streak over the world #2, but the Japanese player withdrew from the match due to injury after having teamed with Montjane to defeat de Groot & Jiske Griffioen in the doubles final, winning a 10-5 MTB to take the crown.

During the week, Kamiji had extended her non-de Groot winning run to 73, and she's now won 20 straight doubles matches overall.

This de Groot interview with Andrea Petkovic isn't from this week, and is actually from ten months ago in Hamburg. But it's interesting nonetheless.


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A special nod to the WTA tour social media member who typed "an historic" rather than "a historic." It's greatly appreciated.

1. Nottingham Final - Katie Boulter def. Jodie Burrage
...6-3/6-3. Boulter claims her maiden tour title in the first all-GBR WTA final since 1977, and just the third ever. Both the other two involved Virginia Wade and Sue Barker.

It's the first WTA singles crown won by a British woman since Emma Raducanu's U.S. Open run in 2021.


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2. Rosmalen 1st Rd. - Liudmila Samsonova def. Lena Papadakis
...7-5/6-7(5)/7-6(3). The 24-year old German qualifier (#348) pushes the '21 Berlin (grass) champ to the limit in her first WTA MD match in six years (Nurnberg '17, when she was Lena Rueffer), leading the Hordette 5-3 in the 3rd and serving at 5-4 (she was broken at love). Samsonova finally won in 3:40 via a deciding tie-break.


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3. Nottingham 1st Rd. - Daria Snigur def. Beatriz Haddad Maia
...6-4/6-3. Lucky loser Snigur (#157) once again shows a penchant for the big upset. Last summer, it was Simona Halep in the 1st Round of the U.S. Open (things only got worse for the Romanian after that), and this time it's Nottingham DC Haddad Maia, hot off her Roland Garros semifinal run.


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4 Rosmalen 2nd Rd. - Celine Naef def. Caty McNally
...3-6/6-4/6-3. After her win over Venus Williams, the 17-year old Swiss rallied from 3-0 down in the 3rd, sweeping the final six games to reach her maiden tour QF.


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5. Nottingham 2nd Rd. - Alize Cornet def. Maria Sakkari
...6-1/6-4. Cornet picks up her first Top 10 win since Wimbledon (Iga) and escapes the 2nd Round for the first time in '23, while Sakkari falls to 2-4 in her last six.


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6. Nottingham SF - Jodie Burrage def. Alize Cornet 7-5/7-5
Nottingham SF - Katie Boulter def. Heather Watson 6-4/7-5
...for the first time in 48 years, three British women played in the semis of a tour-level events (there were four in the QF). At the 1975 French Indoors event in Paris in November, Virginia Wade defeated Sue Barker in the final, while Glynis Coles had also reached the semis.


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7. French Riviera Open QF - Diede de Groot def. Kgothatso Montjane
...4-6/7-6(5)/6-2. As close as anyone has gotten to knocking off de Groot since the start of her triple-digit winning streak, as the South African took the 1st set (ending de Groot's 42-set run) and nearly avoided a 3rd. Yui Kamiji took a love set from de Groot (serving horrifically) in the '23 AO final, but won just four games in the 2nd and 3rd sets that day.


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8. Nottingham 1st Rd. - Elli Mandlik def. Viktoriya Tomova 6-2/3-6/7-6(5)
Nottingham 2nd Rd. - Elli Mandlik def. Camila Giorgi 7-5/5-7/6-3
...Mandlik's first tour QF came after a qualifying run (including a win over Daria Snigur, who upset DC Haddad Maia as a LL), a rally from 4-2 down in the 3rd vs. Tomova and a three-set triumph over Giorgi (a former Rosmalen champ, albeit 8 years ago)


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9. Birmingham Q1 - Dasha Saville def. Madison Brengle 6-4/0-6/6-2
Birmingham Q2 - Cristina Bucsa def. Dasha Saville 6-4/3-6/6-1
...Dasha is back! No, not *that* Dasha. *THAT* Dasha!

For the first time since tearing up her knee (again) in Tokyo nine months ago (after playing just one game vs. Osaka), Saville is back.

She didn't make the MD in Birmingham, but as she noted in her tweet below, tennis is an unforgiving sport for players coming back from this type of injury. Athletes in other sports might be able to "take it easy" and play sparingly upon their return. Dasha had to play six sets in two days, spending hours on the court in her very first action in her return.


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10. $60K Madrid ESP Final - Tatiana Prozorova def. Marta Soriano Santiago
...6-3/6-1. Another teenage Hordette (19) claims an ITF title.


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11. Berlin Q1 - Vera Zvonareva def. Nigina Abduraimova 6-2/1-6/6-2
Berlin Q2 - Vera Zvonareva def. Genie Bouchard 6-3/5-7/6-3
...Zvonareva's first singles wins since her return in February, and her first since Miami last year.

Something about a 2010 two-time slam singles finalist defeating a 2014 slam singles finalist to reach a tour-level MD in 2023.

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12. $60K Biarritz FRA Final - Fiona Ferro def. Ipek Oz
...7-5/6-3. Ferro picks up her second '23 challenger crown.
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13. $60K Ricany CZE Final - Elvina Kalieva/USA def. Miskai Doi
...7-6(2)/6-0. The 19-year old Bannerette claims her second '23 ITF win.
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14. $15K San Diego USA Final - Sara Daavettila def. Chanel Simmonds
...7-6(5)/7-5. The former North Carolina Tar Heel All-American sweeps the s/d titles in San Diego, claiming her maiden pro titles in both disciplines.
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15. Berlin Q2 - Julie Niemeier def. Green Minnen
...7-6(2)/3-6/6-3. Finally, the start of something (again)?


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1. Rosmalen 1st Rd. - Celine Naef def. Venus Williams
...3-6/7-6(3)/6-2. The last few years, as the W's have been few and far between, Venus has been serving up a series of "resume wins" for any number of low-ranked and/or young players. The Swiss teen, in her tour debut, was the latest to benefit from the current dynamic.

In a match-up of players separated by 25 years (Venus 42, Naef 17) and 494 rankings spots (#202 Naef, #696 Venus), Williams swept the final 12 points of the set to take the 1st, but pushing *this* Williams -- in her first action since Auckland -- to three is usually the best path to victory. Williams held an early break lead in the 2nd, but Naef got things into a 3rd and ended up being the fourth #200+ ranked player to defeat the future Hall of Famer in her nearly three-decade pro career.


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2. Rosmalen 2nd Rd - Liudmila Samsonova def. Polina Kudermetova 6-4/6-1
Rosmalen QF - Aliaksandra Sasnovich def. Liudmila Samsonova 7-6(4)/3-1 ret.
Rosmalen SF - Ekaterina Alexandrova def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1/7-6(1)
Rosmalen Final - Ekaterina Alexandrova def. Veronika Kudermetova 4-6/6-4/7-6(3)
...Six Degrees of Kudermetova.

At the end of the chain, Alexandrova followed up her SF win over V.Kudermetova a year ago with one in an almost three-hour final (the 32nd all-RUS final in tour history).

In the 1:12 final set, neither she nor Kudermetova dropped serve and Kudermetova staved off three MP on her on serve (one after stopping mid-rally to challenge an Alexandrova baseline call). In the deciding TB, Kudermetova's challenge of an Alexandrova ace *didn't* go her way, though, handing the defending champ her fourth MP chance at 6-3. She didn't need a fifth.


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3. Berlin Q2 - Polina Kudermetova def. Susan Bandecchi
...5-7/6-2/6-4. After losing to Samsonova in the Netherlands, Veronika's little sister plays her way into another tour-level MD. She'll face Elena Rybakina in the 1st Round.


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Another Casey Kasem American Top 40 weekly special:

Belinda Carlisle's "Mad About You" (#31 the week of June 21, 1986). It was her first solo hit apart from the Go-Go's, and eventually got to #3...



"Live to Tell" (Madonna)... #4. It had been #1 two weeks earlier, making it her third #1 hit after "Like a Virgin" and "Crazy for You." Her next single ("Papa Don't Preach") also topped the U.S. charts.



And Janet Jackson's "Nasty" (#14). It ultimately rose as high as #3.









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*2023 FIRST-TIME WTA...*
[singles champions]
Zhu Lin, CHN - Hua Hin (29/#54)
Alycia Parks, USA - Lyon (22/#79)
Marta Kostyuk, UKR - Austin (20/#52)
Lucia Bronzetti, ITA - Rabat (24/#102)
KATIE BOULTER, GBR (#126/26 - Nottingham)
[finalists]
Linda Noskova, CZE (#102/18 = Adelaide 1)
Rebeka Masarova, ESP (#130/23 = Auckland)
Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA (#67/21 = Hobart)
Alycia Parks, USA (#79/22 = Lyon)-W
Zhu Lin, CHN (#54/29 - Hua Hin)-W
Varvara Gracheva, RUS (#88/22 - Austin)
Marta Kostyuk, UKR (#52/20 - Austin)-W
Peyton Stearns, USA (#116/21 - Bogota)
Lucia Bronzetti, ITA (#102/24 - Rabat)-W
Julia Grabher, AUT (#74/26 - Rabat)
KATIE BOULTER, GBR (#126/26 - Nottingham)-W
JODIE BURRAGE, GBR (#131/24 - Nottingham)
[semifinalists]
Auckland: Ysaline Bonaventure, BEL (28/#95)
Lyon: Alycia Parks, USA (22/#79)-W
Austin: Katie Volynets, USA (21/#92)
Bogota: Peyton Stearns, USA (21/#116)-RU
Bogota: Francesca Jones, GBR (22/#817)
Rabat: Julia Grabher, AUT (26/#74)-RU
Rabat: Julia Riera, ARG (20/#195)
Nottingham: KATIE BOULTER, GBR (26/#126)-W
Nottingham: JODIE BURRAGE, GBR (24/#131)-RU

*2023 REPEAT CHAMPIONS*
[singles]
Doha - Iga Swiatek
Bogota - Tatjana Maria
Stuttgart - Iga Swiatek
Roland Garros - Iga Swiatek
Rosmlaen - Ekaterina Alexandrova
[doubles]
Australian - Krejcikova/Siniakova
Doha - Gauff/Pegula
Dubai - Veronika Kudermetova
Stuttgart - Krawczyk/Schuurs

*2023 WTA TITLES w/o LOSING A SET*
Adelaide 1 - Aryna Sabalenka
Auckland - Coco Gauff
Hobart - Lauren Davis
Doha - Iga Swiatek
Charleston - Ons Jabeur
Nottingham - Katie Boulter

*2023 LOW-RANKED WTA FINALISTS IN 2023 (#100+)*
#508 - Elina Svitolina, UKR (Starsbourg, def. Blinkova)
#140 - Rebecca Peterson, SWE (Merida, L to Giorgi)
#136 - Lesia Tsurenko, UKR (Hua Hin, L to Zhu)
#131 - JODIE BURRAGE, GBR (Nottingham, L to Boulter)
#130 - Rebeka Masarova, ESP (Auckland, L to Gauff)
#126 - KATIE BOULTER, GBR (Nottingham, def. Burrage)
#116 - Peyton Stearns, USA (Bogota, L to Maria)
#102 - Linda Noskova, CZE (Adelaide 1, L to Sabalenka)
#102 - Lucia Bronzetti, ITA (Rabat, def. Grabher)

*ALL-RUSSIAN WTA FINALS (32)*
[most recent]
2017 Indian Wells - Vesnina d. Kuznetsova
2018 Tashkent - Gasparyan d. Potapova
2021 Saint Petersburg - Kasatkina d. Gasparyan
2022 Istanbul - Potapova d. V.Kudermetova
2023 Rosmalen - Alexandrova d. V.Kudermetova
[individual W/L - multiple finals]
12 - Elena Dementieva (6-6)
10 - Svetlana Kuznetsova (5-5)
7 - Dinara Safina (3-4)
5 - Maria Sharapova (3-2)
4 - Anastasia Myskina (4-0)
4 - Elena Vesnina (1-3)
2 - Anna Chakvetadze (2-0)
2 - Margarita Gasparyan (1-1)
2 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (1-1)
2 - Anastasia Potapova (1-1)
2 - Vera Zvonareva (1-1)
2 - VERONIKA KUDERMETOVA (0-2)
2 - Nadia Petrova (0-2)

*WTA ALL-GBR FINALS (both finalists)*
1975: Paris Indoors - Virginia Wade d. Sue Barker
1977: San Francisco - Sue Barker d. Virginia Wade
2023: Nottingham - Katie Boulter d. Jodie Burrage

*RECENT WTA ALL-NATION FINALS (both finalists)*
2017: (USA) Australian Open - S.Williams d. V.Williams
2017: (RUS) Indian Wells - Vesnina d. Kuznetsova
2017: (AUS) Strasbourg - Stosur d. Gavrilova
2017: (USA) Stanford - Keys d. Vandeweghe *
2017: (USA) US Open - Stephens d. Keys *
2018: (CHN) Nanchang - Q.Wang d. Sai.Zheng *
2018: (RUS) Tashkent - Gasparyan d. Potapova
2019: (FRA) Lausanne - Ferro d. Cornet
2019: (JPN) Hiroshima - Hibino d. Doi *
2020: (USA) Auckland - S.Williams d. Pegula
2020: (BLR) Ostrava - Sabalenka d. Azarenka
2021: (RUS) Saint Petersburg - Kasatkina d. Gasparyan *
2021: (CZE) Prague - Krejcikova d. Martincova *
2022: (RUS) Istanbul - Potapova d. V.Kudermetova
2023: (RUS) Rosmalen - Alexandrova d. V.Kudermetova
2023: (GBR) Nottingham - Boulter d. Burrage *
-
* - in home nation

*2023 REACHED FINAL IN HOME NATION*
Lyon - Caroline Garcia, FRA (L)
Nottingham - JODIE BURRAGE, GBR (L)
Nottingham - KATIE BOULTER, GBR (W)

*CAREER WTA GRASS TITLES - active*
6 - Venus Williams
5 - Petra Kvitova
3 - Caroline Garcia
3 - Angelique Kerber
3 - Karolina Pliskova
2 - EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA
2 - Beatriz Haddad Maia
2 - Simona Halep
2 - Ons Jabeur
2 - Madison Keys
2 - CoCo Vandeweghe

*TITLES ON HARD/CLAY/GRASS (active)*
[w/ diff. clay wins]
Belinda Bencic, SUI (gc)
Caroline Garcia, FRA (rc)
Simona Halep, ROU (rc)
Angelique Kerber, GER (rc/gc)
Madison Keys, USA (gc)
Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS (gc)
Petra Kvitova, CZE (rc)
Sabine Lisicki, GER (gc)
Garbine Muguruza, ESP (rc)
Alona Ostapenko, LAT (rc)
Karolina Pliskova, CZE (rc)
Elena Rybakina, KAZ (rc)
Venus Williams, USA (rc/gc)
Vera Zvonareva, RUS (rc)

*VENUS WILLIAMS LOWEST-RANKED LOSSES*
NR - Kim Clijsters (2009 U.S. Open 4th)
#674 - Bethanie Mattek-Sands (2019 San Jose 1st)
#313 - Coco Gauff (2019 Wimbledon 1st)
#223 - Peng Shuai (2016 Beijing 1st)
#202 - Celine Naef (2023 Rosmalen 1st)
#161 - Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (2020 Roland Garros 1st)
#199 - Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (2020 Monterrey 1st)
#152 - Bianca Andreeescu (2019 Auckland QF)

*2020-23 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
15 - Katerina Siniakova (1/6/6/2)
11 - Barbora Krejcikova (1/5/3/2)
8 - Elise Mertens (1/4/2/1)
7 - SHUKO AOYAMA (1/5/0/1)
7 - Hsieh Su-wei (4/2/0/1)
7 - Desirae Krawczyk (2/2/1/2)
7 - Jessie Pegula (0/0/5/2)
7 - ENA SHIBAHARA (1/5/0/1)
[duos]
11...Krejcikova/Siniakova (1/5/3/2)
7...AOYAMA/SHIBAHARA (1/5/0/1)
5...Gauff/Pegula (0/0/3/2)
4...Hsieh/Strycova (4/0/-/0)






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They're afraid that the current climate will hurt sales after being spooked by online moralists/trolls -- or, you know, they just don't think it's very good -- so they're delaying the release. Which is fine. But, please, spare us the "I don't want to cause Ukrainians further grief" BS. They wouldn't/shouldn't even know that the book exists (they've got other things to worry about).

Plus, it's a story about fictional humans from 100 years ago. Stop it.

Are we going to ban "Russian dressing" next? Vodka? Anton Chekhov plays? Feels a little reminiscent of "French fries" becoming "Freedom fries" during the Iraqi war, only more serious.



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Yeah, no kidding.




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All for now.
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