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Sunday, June 25, 2023

Wk.25- Green with Petra Envy


Grass + Petra = Pojd!






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*WEEK 25 CHAMPIONS*
BIRMINGHAM ENGLAND (WTA 500/Grass Outdoor)
S: Alona Ostapenko/LAT def. Barbora Krejcikova/CZE 7-6(8)/6-4
D: Marta Kostyuk/Barbora Krejcikova (UKR/CZE) def. Storm Hunter/Alycia Parks (AUS/USA) 6-2/7-6(7)
BERLIN, GERMANY (WTA 500/Grass Outdoor)
S: Petra Kvitova/CZE def. Donna Vekic/CRO 6-2/7-6(6)
D: Caroline Garcia/Luisa Stefani (FRA/BRA) def. Katerina Siniakova/Marketa Vondrousova (CZE/CZE) 4-6/7-6(8) [10-4]
GAIBA, ITALY (WTA 125 Challenger/Grass Outdoor)
S: Ashlyn Krueger/USA def. Tatjana Maria/GER 3-6/6-4/7-5
D: Han Na-lae/Jang Su-jeong (KOR/KOR) def. Weronika Falkowska/Katarzyna Piter (POL/POL) 6-3/3-6 [10-6]




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Petra Kvitova/CZE
...when it's grass season, there's a pretty, pretty, pretty good chance we're gonna hear from Petra.

This year, like clockwork, June arrived, Kvitova posted a loving tweet about how much she enjoys this time of year and -- boom! -- by the end of the month she was lifting another trophy. The 31st of her career. This time it came in Berlin for the first time, her sixth grass court title in a fourth different city over the past thirteen years. The six grass wins ties her with Venus Williams for the most amongst active women on tour.

Wins this week included straight sets victories over Karolina Pliskova (a former Wimbledon finalist), Nadia Podoroska, Caroline Garcia, two-time reigning Rosmalen champ Ekaterina Alexandrova and four-time grass event finalist Donna Vekic in the championship match.

Thus, Kvitova completes her first no-sets-lost title run in seven years.

Of course, now Petra will be viewed -- more than "usual" -- as a big threat to win her third SW19 crown.

Yes, that's the sort of result that almost everyone would like to see happen at least once before the Czech's career is over. It *could* happen this year (she did win Miami in the spring, her biggest "get" in five years), but it's also here where we should remember that Kvitova has gotten out of the 3rd Round just once ('19 4r) since her last Wimbledon title run in 2014, and in three of those years (like this season) she's won a tune-up grass court title (2017-18 and '22). She's just 9-7 in London since 2015 (after going 26-3 from 2010-14).

So, you know, just be forewarned, and maybe enjoy the moment for what it is. Just in case.


Hmmm, Petra might want to stop off in Nottingham next summer and try to pick up another edition in the "Collector's Set."
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RISERS: Alona Ostapenko/LAT and Donna Vekic/CRO
...in Birmingham, Ostapenko experienced the usual sort of ebb-and-flow that accompanies her matches, but never once allowed her streakiness to reach epic proportions. The result: her first grass court title in two years.

After a straight sets win over Linda Noskova, Ostapenko was off and running. She rallied from 2-0, 40/15 down vs. Venus Williams in the 3rd set, took out Magdalena Frech in three sets after being down a set and a break at 4-3, then staged another comeback from a set down vs. Anastasia Potapova to reach her 14th career tour final. There she won a 10-8 TB in a break-free 1st set, then held onto a 5-1 lead in the 2nd. After failing to serve things out at 5-2, Ostapenko completed the task on her second try to win 7-6/6-4 to claim her sixth career singles crown.

A former Wimbledon girls' champ, Ostapenko put together consecutive QF/SF in 2017-18, but has reached the second week ('22 4r) just once since. Still, Ostapenko has more wins (15) and a better winning percentage (68%) at SW19 than at any other slam.



Meanwhile, if you're looking for a dark horse contender for a nice run at Wimbledon, you could do worse than choosing Vekic.

While the Croat has only reached the second week once in London (2018), she *has* proven to be an adept grass court player. Her run to the Berlin final -- w/ wins over Varvara Gracheva, Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina, LL Extraordinaire Elina Avanesyan and Maria Sakkari -- was her fourth on grass in her tour career.

In the final, Petra Kvitova added her to her list of grass court final victims in a 6-2/7-6 match, dropping Vekic to 1-3 in grass finals (vs. Kvitova's imposing 6-1).

Already having drifted in and out of the Top 20 this season, making two one-ranking release cameo appearances (3 total weeks), Vekic is back *in* again on Monday as she rises three spots to #20. Her career high remains #19 from November 2019, but she is just 21 points behind current #19 Victoria Azarenka.


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SURPRISES: Zhu Lin/CHN and Magdalena Frech/POL
...Zhu broke fast out of the 2023 gate, going 13-4 while stringing together good results in Auckland (QF), Melbourne (4th), Hua Hin (maiden title) and Monterrey (SF). Her run crashed into a 1-6 skid in the immediate aftermath, though, and she arrived in Birmingham in need of a rebound result that would, at the very least, send her into the summer hard court season in a better frame of mind to attempt to replicate her early season success on the surface.

She got it.

After opening with a win over Nottingham champ Katie Boulter, Zhu knocked off Magda Linette and Rebecca Marino in succession to reach her third '23 semifinal, and the first of her career on grass. She fell to top seed Barbora Krejcikova, but will climb six spots in the rankings to match her previous career high (#33) from March.

Meanwhile, we know at least *one* Pole is looking good on grass this summer.

A week after a QF run in Nottingham, Frech posted another in Nottingham with wins over veterans Barbora Strycova and Sorana Cirstea. She led Alona Ostapenko by a set and a break at 4-3 in the 2nd, but saw the Latvian (as she does) surge to steal the set and, soon after, the match.

Last year, Frech recorded her career best slam result at Wimbledon, reaching the 3rd Round. She'll jump to a new career-high of #68 on Monday.


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VETERAN: Tatjana Maria/GER
...a year ago, Maria stunned (and frustrated) the tennis world by using her slice-dominant game to play her way into the Wimbledon semis, winning 5 MD matches in the event after having collected just 12 in her 34 other MD appearances in majors. She's since gone 0-3 in the US, AO and RG 1st Rounds, and her SW19 semi remains her only non-1st Round slam exit in her lst 12 slam MD (she lost in the Q1 in the only other slam in which she's participated since the start of the '19 season).

Still, the 35-year old *did* successfully defend her Bogota title this spring, and this week in the Gaiba WTA 125 challenger reached the second biggest grass final of her career (she won tour-level Mallorca in '18, as well as a $100K in Southseas UK in '17).

In Italy, Maria strung together wins over Ylena In-Albon, Lisa Pigato, Yanina Wickmayer ($100K Surbiton champ) and Olga Danilovic, and led Ashlyn Krueger 5-2 in the 3rd set in the final. She was unable to serve out the title at 5-3, getting within two points, and ultimately lost 7-5.

Maria is scheduled for one more stop before SW19. She'll have a very intriguing (and potentially revealing, but maybe not really) 1st Round opponent in Bad Homburg.


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COMEBACKS: Barbora Krejcikova/CZE and Rebecca Marino/CAN
...after a mediocre-to-bad clay court campaign, Krejcikova reaching her first career grass court singles final (and winning the doubles) surely counts as the rebound the Czech was looking for.

In Birmingham, Krejcikova reached the final without losing a set with straight sets wins over Cristina Bucsa, Tereza Martincova, Linda Fruhvirtova and Zhu Lin, but fell 7-6/6-4 to Alona Ostapenko in the championship match, losing to the Latvian for a third time (on a third different surface) in 2023 without taking a set off her.

Even without the title, the result will lift Krejcikova back into the Top 10 for the first time since her '21 RG title points fell off after Paris last year. She was at #30 in February.



After missing almost five years while dealing with depression, then another year and a half in 2019-20, Marino has settled back into being a regular tour presence the last few seasons. In 2022, the Canadian posted her best slam result (US 3r) since 2011 and climbed back into the Top 100 for the first time in a decade, finishing at #64.

The 32-year old has struggled in '23, though, and came into Birmingham at 10-13 on the season (on a 1-5 slide) and having fallen to #90. Then she lost to Ana Bogdan in qualifying.

But Marino got a second chance as a lucky loser. Playing her third, fourth and fifth consecutive three-set matches of the week (after two in the q-rounds), she defeated Wang Xiyu and Emina Bektas, ralling in the latter contest from 5-4, 40/love (3 MP) down in the 3rd, winning 15 of the final 18 points (and piling up a '23 tour-best 21 aces) to reach the QF, where she lost to Zhu Lin in another three-setter.

With Marino scheduled to be in the MD at Wimbledon, it'll be her eighth straight slam MD appearance. She was in eight *combined* slam MD between 2010-21.



Marino lost in the opening round of Eastbourne qualifying on Saturday to Petra Martic, serving for the match in her sixth straight three-setter, but dropping the final three games to lose a 7-5 final set. Before this past week, she'd played a *total* of seven three-setters in her 23 previous matches this season.
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FRESH FACES: Anastasia Potapova/RUS, Elina Avanesyan/RUS and Ashlyn Krueger/USA
...Potapova, 22, continues to edge ever so closer to a truly breakout result (and Top 20 debut), and this season the Hordette has shown a reliable consistency of results, reaching at least the 3rd Round at all four 1000-level events she's played (as well as a RG 3rd Round), a SF (Stuttgart) and two QF (Lyon/Miami) while winning a title in Linz and notching three Top 10 wins (bringing her career total to five).

In Birmingham, as the only Russian in the MD of either of the first two LTA-hosted, pre-Wimbledon grass court WTA events at which they were banned in '22, Potapova opened with (of course) a win over Marta Kostyuk (need you wonder?), then rallied from 5-2 down in the 3rd to defeat Caty McNally, ultimately winning a deciding TB at 7-0. A three-set win over Harriet Dart put Potapova into her first WTA semifinal on grass, where she fell to Alona Ostapenko in another three-set affair.

The 2016 Wimbledon girls' champ, Potapova's run still won't see her make her Top 20 debut (she was at #21 this week), as she'll swap places with countrywoman Ekaterina Alexandrova (falling to #22) to be the last of five Hordettes who'll be seeded at SW19.



Meanwhile, one wonders if Avanesyan owns a raspberry beret, because she always seems to be coming in through the out door (the out door).

The Hordette won't be seeded in London, and might not even be in the MD, but no one will want to face her if she is. Especially is she's there as a lucky loser after failing to make it through qualifying.

Having previously won an ITF title as a LL (2021 $60K Versmold), the 20-year old Hordette reached the Roland Garros Round of 16 after losing in qualifying just a few weeks ago. This week in Berlin, she fell to local favorite Laura Siegemund a round short of the MD. But her special powers were thus activated, and her "purple reign" added another chapter.

In another MD as an LL, Avanesyan staged a comeback from 5-3 back in the 3rd vs. Dasha Kasatkina, saving 2 MP and winning a deciding TB. After dropping a 6-1 1st set vs. Anna Blinkova, Avanesyan rallied to win in another three setter. She lost in straights in the QF to Donna Vekic, but even then managed to force a 2nd set TB after falling behind a double-break at 3-0 (even forcing the Croat to hold to reach the TB, which she then won 7-0).

After being ranked #167 in April (and #134 a month ago), Avanesyan will climb another 17 spots to yet another new career high of #64 on Monday.



In Gaiba, Italy, 19-year old Krueger followed up her Rosmalen QF run (in her first pro event on grass) with a title in the WTA 125 grass court challenger.

After an opening win over Dalina Jakupovic, the Bannerette saw Katie Swan retire at 5-5 in the 3rd set, then knocked off #7-seeded Lucrezia Stefanini and fellow U.S. teen Robin Montgomery (from a set down) to reach her biggest singles final. There, Krueger rallied from 5-2 back in the 3rd set vs. Tatjana Maria, breaking the German's serve in games 9 and 11 (on her fourth BP in the latter) and then serving out her biggest career title.

Krueger, 7-2 as a pro on grass (and now w/ a tour-level QF and 125 title) will rise from #143 to a new career high of #108 on Monday. She's the sixth-highest ranked teenager, behind only the far-more-headline-grabbing Gauff, Noskova, L.Fruhvirtova, Shnaider and Andreeva.


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DOWN: Jule Niemeier/GER
...the German can't win, even when she wins.



After struggling through the majority of the '23 season, Niemeier hit a good stretch in Berlin, qualifying and then posting a 1st Round upset of defending champion Ons Jabeur. A round later, while trying to push her match with Marketa Vondrousova to a 3rd set, Niemeier slipped in the backcourt and fell (without dropping her racket), injuring her wrist and ultimately retiring down 6-3/6-5.



So far, she hasn't yet pulled the ripcord on her (albeit points-free) Wimbledon QF defense, and remains in this week's Bad Homburg draw and that of SW19 until further notice.


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ITF PLAYER: Mirjam Bjorklund/SWE
...finally another secondary grass court event (along w/ the Gaiba 125), as the $100K Ilkley, England challenger went to Sweden's Bjorklund. The 24-year old upset the #3 ('22 champ Dalma Galfi, in the SF) and #1 (Emma Navarro, in the Final) seeds, as well as seeing grass court upset-generator Daria Snigur retire after just four games in their QF match-up.

It's Bjorklund's biggest career title. Last year, she qualified at Wimbledon and made her MD debut (losing to eventual finalist Ons Jabeur).


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JUNIOR STAR: Melisa Ercan/TUR
...in a week where there was just one junior event higher than a J100 (a J200 in Germany won by Aussie Maya Joint), we turn to the ITF challenger circuit.

There 17-year old Ercan picked up her second pro crown (both on HC) in two weeks, winning the Monastir $15K without losing a set. The young Turk's 6-3/6-3 win in the final over Italian wild card Beatrice Stagno extends her winning streak to ten matches. She's won her last 12 sets, and 20 of 21 over the two events.


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DOUBLES: Marta Kostyuk/Barbora Krejcikova (UKR/CZE) and Caroline Garcia/Luisa Stefani (FRA/BRA)
...even when apart, the Czech doubles pair of Krejcikova and Siniakova can flex their muscles. Only the former went home with a title this week, though.

In Birmingham, Krejcikova pulled double duty (literally) as she reached the final in both singles and doubles, losing as a solo act but teaming with Kostyuk to claim her 17th career tour crown, her first without Siniakova by her side since 2015 when she won her maiden WTA title while partnering An-Sophie Mestach in Quebec City.

In fact, just reaching the final without her fellow Czech was a rarity. Krejcikova's singles success (and injury/illness absences) has kept her from teaming up with many other partners the last couple of years, but it's still significant that her final appearance with Kostyuk marks just the second time in her last 23 WTA doubles finals that Siniakova wasn't there with her.

For Kostyuk, this was her second WTA crown.

If one of the two Czechs was to win a title without the other, Siniakova would have been the better bet, and she got within a single point in Berlin of making Marketa Vondrouosva the sixth different partner with whom she'd won a WTA title over the past three seasons.

As it turned out, Siniakova/Vondrousova held 3 MP in the final vs. Garcia/Stefani but couldn't get over the finish line.

Garcia, who reached the QF in singles, picks up her eighth tour doubles title, her first since the '22 Roland Garros and first on grass since 2015 (Eastbourne). It's also Stefani's eighth, but five of those have come since her September '22 return from knee surgery.

The Brazilian has gone a combined 7-0 in WD/MX finals in her comeback, winning with seven different partners (5 WTA, 1 125, 1 MX).

Also of note, Garcia has now won one more 2023 WD title than her '22 RG partner, Kristina Mladenovic, who has again fallen off the cliff in doubles along with her singles, going just 8-10 with her best WD results being a pair of WTA QF (+ 2 ITF QF) this season after winning seven combined WD/MX (4 WTA, 1 125, 1 ITF and 1 MX) titles in '22.



Pretty cool title... but also a pretty weak trophy design. These almost make the Linz atrocities look good (at least *they* resembled a cheap cake decoration). Although *I guess* these look like mock-up designs for a candy bar named "Winner."

Meanwhile, they were doing things right in Birmingham...


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1. Berlin 1st Rd. - Elina Avanesyan def. Dasha Kasatkina
...6-2/3-6/7-6(7). At it again, LL Avanesyan not only overcame a loss in qualifying, but she rallied from 5-2 down in the 3rd vs. Kasatkina, who served at 5-3. Down 6-4 in the TB, Avanesyan saved a pair of MP and won 9-7.

As for Kasatkina, it's a bad start to the grass season for the former Wimbledon quarterfinalist (2018), who has gone just 1-2 at SW19 since her high point run.


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2. Gaiba 125 Final - Ashlyn Krueger def. Tatjana Maria
...3-6/6-4/7-5. Krueger's biggest career title comes after trailing the veteran German 5-2 in the 3rd. Maria served at 5-3 and got as close as deuce to lifting her first 125 crown to go along with three at tour level (including this year in Bogota), but the teenager ultimately broke serve on her 4th BP of game 11 and then served out the 7-5 final set to take the crown.


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3. Birmingham 2nd Rd. - Rebecca Marino def. Emina Bektas
...6-4/4-6/7-6(1). Marino fires 21 aces (a tour-best in '23, but just her *second* best career total, as she had 24 vs. Garcia last year in Guadalajara) who recovers from 3-1 and 5-3 deficits in the 3rd. Bektas served up 5-4, 40/love before Marino saved triple MP -- on one, a seeming ace from Bektas was ruled a let, while another was saved via a net cord -- and won 15 of the final 18 points in the last three games.


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4. Birmingham Final - Alona Ostapenko def. Barbora Krejcikova
...7-6(8)/6-4. Alona learns the secret to winning a pre-Wimbledon grass court title: enter an event without Petra. Last year, she went title-less on the grass after losing to Kvitova in the Eastbourne final. The previous year, she won in Eastbourne when Kvitova wasn't in *that* draw.


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5. Birmingham Final - Petra Kvitova def. Donna Vekic
...6-2/7-6(6). Kvitova is the seventh singles champ this season to do so without dropping a set (the second in two weeks, w/ Boulter in Nottingham). It's the first time she's done it en route to a title since winning the late-season Elite Trophy crown in 2016.


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6. Birmingham 1st Rd. - Anastasia Potapova def. Marta Kostyuk
...6-7(6)/7-5/6-4. Last week, no Russians were in the MD in Nottingham in the LTA's first tour-level event that permitted Hordettes in the field since 2021. In Birmingham, there was just one. Potapova. Naturally, Ukrainian Kostyuk drew her.

The tournament's organizers *tried* to hide the match in the least-busy part of the grounds (Court 1), but Kostyuk couldn't hide from Potapova.

Kostyuk failed to serve out the 1st at 5-4, but denied Potapova's SP at 6-5 in the TB and won the set at 8-6. But Potapova rallied to get the win, her second over Kostyuk this year (w/ Miami). Since the start of the war last year, Kostyuk has gone 2-6 vs. Russians, dropping her last three such meetings after defeating Varvara Gracheva in the Austin final to pick up her maiden tour title.


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7. Berlin Final - Caroline Garcia/Luisa Stefani def. Katerina Siniakova/Marketa Vondrousova 4-6/7-6(8) [10-4]
Birmingham Final - Marta Kostyuk/Barbora Krejcikova def. Storm Hunter/Aljcia Parks 6-2/7-6(7)
...the world's #1 doubles duo nearly swept this week's doubles titles while splitting time in two different cities. Krejcikova (w/ Kostyuk) forced a 2nd set TB in Birmingham as Hunter/Parks served for the 2nd set, then won in straights; while Siniakova (w/ another Czech, Vondrousova) had held 3 MP in their match-up earlier in the day in Berlin.

Siniakova will still hold onto her #1 WD ranking for a 104th week come Monday, the eighth most weeks in tour history. By the end of 2023, should she hold it for the rest of the season, the Czech will rank fifth all-time behind only Martina Navratilova (237), Liezel Huber (199), Cara Black (163) and Lisa Raymond (137).


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8. Berlin 1st Rd. - Jule Niemeier def. Ons Jabeur
...7-6(4)/6-4. Niemeier finally finds her '23 form, upsetting the '22 Berlin champ...

Berlin 2nd Rd. - Marketa Vondrousova def. Jule Niemeier 6-3/6-5 ret.
...only to be unable to get through the next match, falling on her racket (and proverbial sword?) and putting her return to Wimbledon in jeopardy.
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9. Berlin 2nd Rd. - Donna Vekic def. Elena Rybakina
...6-7(1)/6-3/6-4. A year ago, Rybakina's Wimbledon title run was preceded by a 2nd Round loss to Shelby Rogers at Rosmalen and a 1st Round exit in Eastbourne to Lesia Tsurenko.


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10. Birmingham 2nd Rd. - Anastasia Potapova def. Caty McNally
...3-6/6-2/7-6(0). Another late-match collapse from McNally (but at least it didn't come in the latter stages of a tournament this time). After rallying from 3-1 back to win the 1st, McNally led Potapova 5-2 in the 3rd and served a 5-3. After dropping serve, she ultimately fell in a love tie-break.


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11. Berlin 1st Rd. - Jaimee Fourlis def. Wang Xinyu
...3-6/7-5 ret. Wang led the Aussie 6-3/4-1 in this one. She missed Wimbledon last year due to an injury.
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12. Birmingham 1st Rd. - Zhu Lin def. Katie Boulter 7-5/7-5
Birmingham 1st Rd. - Harriet Dart def. Jodie Burrage 4-6/6-2/7-5
Eastbourne Q1 - Jodie Burrage def. Kamilla Rakhimova 6-7(5)/7-5/7-6(4)
...what a difference a week (or even a few days) can make. After meeting in the Nottingham final, neither Boulter nor Burrage won a match in Birmingham.

After saving a MP vs. Kamilla Rakhimova in the opening round of Eastbourne qualifying, Burrage lost in the final round to Jasmine Paolini. Boulter will open with Barbora Krejcikova in the 1st Round this week.
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13. Berlin 2nd Rd. - Maria Sakkari def. Alize Cornet
...6-4/6-2. Speaking of the differences a week can make. Sakkari fell 1 & 4 to Cornet in Nottingham.


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14. Berlin SF - Donna Vekic def. Maria Sakkari
...6-4/7-6(8). Of course, *some* things also *don't* change all that often, such as Sakkari's record in WTA semifinals (on grass, clay, hard court or otherwise). This loss drops the Greek to 0-5 at that stage in '23, and 7-22 in her career. She lost in the Berlin semis last year, too.
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15. Birmingham QF - Alona Ostapenko def. Magdalena Frech
...4-6/7-5/6-2. Frech probably came the closest to derailing Ostapenko's title run, leading 6-4 and by a break at 4-3 in the 2nd before the Latvian took 9 of the final 11 games.
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16. Gaiba 125 1st Rd. - Laura Pigossi def. Jana Cepelova
...3-6/6-3/6-1. Look who's back! The latest player to return to action after having a baby, Cepelova plays her first match since Ostrava!!! in October 2020.


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17. Gaiba 125 2nd Rd. - Yanina Wickmayer def. Sofia Kenin
...3-6/6-4/7-5. The Waffle, the $100K Surbiton champ, stages a comeback from 3-1 back in the 3rd. Wickmayer lost in the QF to Tatjana Maria, but has posted 35 match wins at all levels this season, her most in any *full* season since 2010.
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18. $25K Wichita USA Final - Stacey Fung def. Fiona Crawley 6-3/6-2
$15K Los Angeles USA Final - Tian Fangran def. Jessica Luisa Alsola 6-2/6-1
...NCAA singles #1 Crawley (who won the doubles championship) reaches her first pro final, but falls to Fung as the Canadian picks up her third '23 circuit crown.

UNC's Crawley, 21, has played sparingly in pro events. This was just her second of '23 (Charleston 1st Rd. - Cornet 0-6/2-6) after playing a single match from 2020-22. She's played nine pro events since the start of 2017.

Meanwhile, '22 NCAA singles champ Tian claims her second title of the season (third career), and picks up the doubles crown, too.


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1. Birmingham 1st Rd. - Venus Williams def. Camila Giorgi
...7-6(5)/4-6/7-6(6). Proving that ranking (#697) and age (43) don't necessarily mean anything under the right circumstances, Williams posts her first win since January (just the second since Wimbledon '21) and the first over a Top 50 player since 2019 in Beijing (Strycova).

Williams was able to outpace Giorgi even after injuring her knee in the 1st set, and failing to serve out the match at 5-3 in the 3rd. Up 5-3 in the deciding TB, Giorgi's defensive (survival) block of a huge body serve nearly overturned the match. Rather than Venus holding multiple MP at 6-3, the rebound ball that just barely made it over the net and was just out of reach of a late-reacting Williams made it 5-4. Finally, Venus ended the 3:15 battle on her second MP, winning the breaker 8-6.



Williams (as expected) was given a WC into the Wimbledon MD where, in her 24th SW19 appearance (26 years after her debut), she'll be the oldest player in a slam MD since Kimiko Date in the 2015 AO. Since then, Venus will have been the oldest player in the MD of 26 of the last 27 slams in which she's participated, though on a few of those occasions it was only by about a week over Francesca Schiavone, who's now five years into retirement.

The only time Williams wasn't the oldest in the stretch came at the 2018 U.S. Open, when (at 38) she was out-seniored by a 39-year old Patty Schnyder.


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2. Birmingham 2nd Rd. - Alona Ostapenko def. Venus Williams
...3-6/7-5/6-3. Just when you thought she was (likely) at her limit, Venus very nearly pulled off an even bigger win. Williams saved a MP at 5-3 in the 2nd, and even took an early 2-0 lead in the 3rd.



If she'd been able to convert for a 3-0 edge after being up 40/15, who knows if Ostapenko would have been able to right the ship in time.


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3. Berlin 2nd Rd. - Veronika Kudermetova def. Aryna Sabalenka
...6-2/7-6(2). For the second consecutive year in Berlin, Kudermetova takes out Sabalenka in the early rounds (last year it was the 1st), this time notching her biggest career victory over the world #2 after previously having been 0-5 vs. #1/#2-ranked opponents. Sabalenka remains 3-0 vs. Kudermetova on hard courts.


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4. Berlin QF - Ekaterina Alexandrova walkover Veronika Kudermetova
...after SF/SF results in Madrid/Rome ultimately meant nothing in Paris for Kudermetova (who went out in the RG 1r), her RU/QF runs in Rosmalen/Berlin might go for naught at Wimbledon, too, after she withdrew from her second match vs. Alexandrova in less than a week (Rosmalen F) with a hip injury.

A round later, Alexandrova lost out in a hard-faught, straights sets loss to Petra Kvitova to end her seven-match winning streak (she'd beaten Liudmila Samsonova and Coco Gauff earlier in the week). Over the past two years, Alexandrova is a combined 13-1 on grass though she's just 2-5 in her Wimbledon career.
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5. Birmingham 1st Rd. - Hsieh Su-wei/Barbora Strycova def. Eri Hozumi/Zhang Shuai
...6-4/6-1. The returning vets/moms play their first match together on grass since they won the 2019 Wimbledon title. They also won the Birmingham crown what summer, so this victory improved their grass court record as a duo to 11-0.

They lost in the next round to Hunter/Parks.
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6. Berlin 1st Rd. - Petra Kvitova def. Karolina Pliskova
...6-3/6-4. Kvitova's win gives her a 55-13 record as a pro vs. Czech opponents. She's 34-5 since 2012. Pliskova *did* get a win over her in Stuttgart last year, though.


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7. Birmingham 1st Rd. - Linda Fruhvirtova def. Elina Svitolina
...6-2/6-4. Svitolina exits in short order here, but picked up a Wimbledon MD wild card this week. She reached the SF at SW19 in 2019 as part of her back-to-back slam semi summer (w/ the US). She's reached zero in her other 35 slam MD appearances.
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All the farewell mentions this week concerning Kontaveit being such a well-respected and nice person have been lovely. But the fact is that for someone who was around as long as she was, she leaves behind a shockingly minuscule footprint when it comes to the actual tennis. Ten years on tour, with a high of #2, but just one slam QF and with six of her seven career titles all coming in a brief seven-month stretch (and more than half of her finals occuring over a single calendar year).

And, you know, Ash Barty exited the stage -- with the #1 ranking and three slams in her pocket -- and it's already like she was never there.

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And now they can't even come together enough to shake hands after a match.


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Almost time for my annual re-watching of "Jaws"...







There were some good choices from this week's Casey Kasem Top 40 show from June 25, 1983 -- including Prince's "Little Red Corvette" (#36) and "1999" (#33), the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" (#32), Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" (#16), Michael Jackson's "Beat It" (#11) and the Police's "Every Breath You Take" (#4) -- but I'm going with a more recent version of Madonna's "Borderline" from the following year.

I stumbled upon a 2017 performance of the song from "The Tonight Show," so...



Okay, I'll go with one...












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Classic Petra "Pojd!" Pic...
























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*2023 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
3 - Aryna Sabalenka (Adelaide 1/Aust.Open/Madrid)
3 - Iga Swiatek (Doha/Stuttgart/Roland Garros)
2 - Belinda Bencic (Adelaide 2/Abu Dhabi)
2 - PETRA KVITOVA (Miami/Berlin)
2 - Elena Rybakina (Indian Wells/Rome)

*CAREER WTA GRASS TITLES - active*
6 - PETRA KVITOVA
6 - Venus Williams
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 - ALONA OSTAPENKO
2 - CoCo Vandeweghe

*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
Berlin - Petra Kvitova

*2023 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
3 - BARBORA KREJCIKOVA, CZE
3 - LUISA STEFANI, BRA
2 - Coco Gauff, USA
2 - Desirae Krawczyk, USA
2 - Jessie Pegula, USA
2 - Katerina Siniakova, CZE
2 - Aldila Sutjiadi, INA
2 - Taylor Townsend, USA
[2020-23 - individuals]
15 - Katerina Siniakova (1/6/6/2)
12 - BARBORA KREJCIKOVA (1/5/3/3)
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)
7 - LUISA STEFANI (1/1/2/3)

*2023 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
4 (2-2) = Coco Gauff, USA
4 (2-2) = Jessie Pegula, USA
4 (2-2) = KATERINA SINIAKOVA, CZE
4 (2-2) = Taylor Townsend, USA
3 (3-0) = BARBORA KREJCIKOVA, CZE
3 (3-0) = LUISA STEFANI, BRA
3 (2-1) = Desirae Krawczyk, USA
3 (1-2) = Chan Hao-ching, TPE
3 (1-2) = Shuko Aoyama, JPN
3 (1-2) = STORM HUNTER, AUS
3 (1-2) = Ena Shibahara, JPN
3 (1-2) = Wang Xinyu, CHN
3 (0-3) = Leylah Fernandez, CAN
3 (0-3) = Giuliana Olmos, MEX

*WIMBLEDON WILD CARDS*
Katie Boulter, GBR (26) - win in last three WI MD app. (2018, 21/22)
Jodie Burrage, GBR (24) - 3 con. WI wild cards
Harriet Dart, GBR (26) - 3rd wild card in last 4 WI
Sonay Kartal, GBR (21) - 2 con. WI wild cards
Elina Svitolina, UKR (28) - 2019 semifinalist
Katie Swan, GBR (24) - 2 con. WI wild cards (+2018-19 WC, '21 Q)
Heather Watson, GBR (31) - 13th con WI MD
Venus Williams, USA (43) - 5-4 in WI finals; 24th WI MD (90 MD wins)

[MD - protected ranking]
Margarita Betova, RUS (28) - last WI MD was in 2019
Jaqueline Cristian, ROU (25) - WI MD debut
Dasha Saville, AUS (29) - last WI MD win was in 2018
Sara Sorribes Tormo, ESP (26) - '23 RG 4th Rd. w/ PR
Barbora Strycova, CZE (37) - first WI MD since '19 SF





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All for now.
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