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Wednesday, July 5, 2023

W.3- Traffic


Through much difficulty, and more rain, Wimbledon finally began to direct the traffic around its backlog of uncompleted and unstarted 1st Round matches on Day 3.

The resulting "order" left a bit to be desired.

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=DAY 3 NOTES=
...with 42 women's matches (34 1r, 8 2r) scheduled for Day 3, as well as 45 on the men's side, another hour and a half postponement due to *more* rain at the start of the day wasn't exactly a prescription for success. Another stoppage just 30 minutes into play didn't help, either.

Eventually, things did get going, though.

Anett Kontaveit made her first appearance in what will be her last tournament (of course, who knows a few years down the road, right?). She won in straight sets over qualifier Lucrezia Stefanini, but some complained about the match's placement on the underwhelming Court 6 and said she should have been given more preferential treatment.

Umm, why? I get that she's a nice person and all, but let's be real here.

For one, she has no history at this tournament, unless you consider coming in with a 7-8 career record (w/ half of her appearances being 1st Round exits) to be "history." And on a day with 87 singles matches scheduled, to think that a player who has largely played her entire career well under the radar is going to suddenly be given a show court showcase seems a bit absurd. Actually, I'd say the placement is quite fitting, all things considered.

She'll be on Court 18 tomorrow vs. #32 Marie Bouzkova. *Maybe* that'll satisfy people.

...so long, 2022 memories. At least as far as Tatjana Maria is concerned.

Last year, the veteran German stunned (and frustrated) the tennis world by using her slice-dominant game to play her way into the Wimbledon semis, winning five MD matches in the event after having collected just 12 in her 34 other MD appearances in majors. She went 0-3 in the US, AO and RG 1st Rounds over the past year, as her SW19 semi remained her only non-1st Round exit in her last 12 slam MD (she lost in the Q1 in the only other slam in which she participated since the start of the '19 season).

Well, make it 0-4 (for five straight slam defeats) and now 12 1st Round exits in her last 13 slam MD. Maria lost today in three sets to Sorana Cirstea.



After defending her Bogota title during the clay court spring, Maria had looked as if she might recapture her grass prowess again, too. She reached the Gaiba 125 grass court final (and led 5-2 in the 3rd vs. Ashlyn Krueger before losing). But she then went to Bad Homburg and fell in the 1st Round via a love 3rd set vs. Iga Swiatek. And then today.

...that sound you heard wasn't another protest by that anti-oil group, but another Top 10 women's seed falling by the wayside. A day (wait, I guess it's been *two* days, right?) after #7 Coco Gauff went down vs. Sofia Kenin, #8 Maria Sakkari followed her out the door on Day 3.

Sakkari won a love 1st set vs. Marta Kostyuk, but the Ukrainian took a 7-5 2nd set and then raced to a double-break lead in the 3rd, winning 0-6/7-5/6-2 to pick up her first career Top 10 win.



Of course, since Sakkari has never reached the second week at SW19 it's difficult to call this a "shocker." She's reached the semis in Paris and Flushing Meadows (and lost them, as is her way), and has a pair of AO Round of 16 runs to her credit.

...#18 Karolina Pliskova *has* had success at SW19, though, so her 1st Round exit -- by a swift 6-2/6-3 score -- is more of an eyebrow-raiser. The Czech fell today to Serbian qualifier Natalija Stevanovic (nee Kostic), who was making her slam MD debut after finally making it through qualifying last week after coming up short in the first ten attempts at majors in her career.



...while Alize Cornet, in her record 66th consecutive slam MD and perhaps playing in her final Wimbledon, might have come into this tournament under .500 in her career at SW19 -- the only slam at which she hadn't won more matches than she'd lost -- some of her biggest career moments have come at the All-England Club.

Three of her five career Top 10 wins at slams have come on the grass in London, including two of her four career wins over #1-ranked players. She upset #1 Serena Williams in the 3rd Round in 2014, #7 Bianca Andreecu in the 1st Round in 2021, and last year ended #1 Iga Swiatek's 37-match winning streak by taking out the Pole in the 3rd Round.

Cornet's opponent today wasn't anyone of such a high standing, and was instead lucky loser Nao Hibino. Without a great deal of drama, the Pasty advanced with a 6-2/6-2 victory. Oh, but just you wait.



Now sporting a career 15-15 mark at SW19, Cornet's next opponent will be defending champion Elena Rybakina.

...after reaching the 3rd Round as a qualifier in Paris, Mirra Andreeva is into the 2nd in London. A qualifier again, she won in three sets over China's Wang Xiyu today, 6-4/3-6/7-5, breaking to end the match (unfortunately, with MP converted via a Wang DF).

...in the last women's match to finish on Day 3, on Centre Court, there was #9 Petra Kvitova again arriving at SW19 off winning a grass court title (Berlin), then struggling in the early rounds at Wimbledon. She's reached the second week just once (2019) since winning the 2014 title.

Jasmine Paolini, 0-2 at Wimbledon, pushed the match to a 3rd set, taking a 5-0 TB lead in the 2nd and winning it 7-5. But the 3rd set saw the Czech end a streak of 20 consecutive holds between the two when Paolini DF'd on BP to give Kvitova a 3-1 lead. Kvitova took the momentum to the finish line, winning 6-4/6-7(5)/6-1.



Meanwhile, as most players waited to get on the court for the first time this week, a lucky select few went out -- on schedule -- on Day 3 for their *2nd* Round matches, including some assured of doing so on Centre Court. How this is considered not to be an immense competitive imbalance is something only the AELTC, which now has a middle Sunday to work with to make up matches, can explain.

The first beneficiary of this, though, was #11 Dasha Kasatkina (hmm, is she from the fabled nation of "Kasatkina?"), who was due a break somewhere. Playing in first match up on Centre Court, as she faced Brit Jodie Burrage, went her way by a score of 6-0/6-2 as she became the first player to reach the 3rd Round before 33 of the 64 women's 1st Round matches had been complete (and more than half of those hadn't even *started* yet).

After none were allowed on the AELTC grounds a year ago, this marks the 89th of the last 91 slams (otherwise) in which at least one Hordette has reached the 3rd Round.



Later on Centre Court, #1 Iga Swiatek delivered her first "strawberry" of this Wimbledon to Sara Sorribes Tormo, winning 6-2/6-0. She's 12-1 in slams this season, and 33-3 the last two.

As the day wore on, the early rain delays again, and not surprisingly, led to the six 2nd Rounders on the outside courts being cancelled, along with four 1st Rounders. Three more matches were suspended mid-match at the end of the day.

The likes of RG finalist Karolina Muchova (#16) and '22 WI quarterfinalist Jule Niemeier won't play their 1st Round against each other until Day 4, while Swiatek and Kasatkina are already nice and snug in the 3rd Round. The same is the case on the men's side, where #2 Djokovic and #8 Sinner completed 2nd Rounders while 10 1st Round matches have yet to be finished (including all but one of the seven matches not involving Carlos Alcaraz in the #1 seed's section of the draw).

While The Rad likely enjoyed a great bit of what happened today, It isn't taking *any* of the "credit" for that little situation.

..at Roehampton, the big junior tune-up is down to a final four. #4-seed Renata Jamrichova (SVK) faces #5 Sayaka Ishii (JPN), while #7 Ena Koike (JPN) goes against #8 Tereza Valentova (CZE).

Going out in the QF were #1 Clervie Ngounoue (USA), British WC Isabelle Lucy and Aussie qualifiers Maya Joint (great name) and Taylah Preston.

...while some of the usual early-round awards are on hold, there are a few that can be talked about even without the 1st Round being completed as we can see the weekend just around the corner.

The "Revelation Ladies" and "Upset Queens" seem to come down to a group of six nations, all but one with players still to finish the 1st Round.

FRA: signed, sealed and delivered with Garcia, Parry, Cornet and new Pastry Gracheva completing a 4-0 opening round

ESP: 4-0 in the 1st w/ Bucsa (def. Rakhimova), Masarova (def. #31 Sherif), Badosa (back from injury) and Sorribes Tormo getting wins. Qualifier Bouzas Maneiro and Parrizas Diaz still have to post a result.

ROU: 3-0 in the 1st with Bogdan (def. #15 Samsonova) and Cirstea (def. Maria) taking out name players, and Cristian (PR) getting her first career WI win. Begu still has to finish the 1st Round.

RUS: after having 13 players in the MD in Paris, only 9 were there in London (w/ Gracheva exchanging a "blank" for the tricolour). Six won, with Alexandrova, M.Andreeva, Blinkova, Kasatkina, V.Kudermetova and Potapova moving on. Kasatina is already in the 3rd Rd.

CZE: 6-3. Vondrousova, Siniakova (def. #24 Zheng), Bouzkova and Kvitova are through. Noskova and Muchova still haven't played.

UKR: 3-1 with wins from Svitolina (def. Venus), Kostyuk (def. #8 Sakkari) and Tsurenko. Kalinina hasn't played.

The Nation of Poor Souls nominees included the likes of the U.S. (19 in the 1st Rd., but with just 7 wins), Belgium (1-4) and Italy (1-5, with Cocciaretto the only 1st Rd. win as Paolini was taking Kvitova into a 3rd set).

But Kvitova's 3rd set surge stuck a pin in this one, as Italy's 1-6 mark ends any suspense.





...HEY... ON DAY 3:


It was Radwanskian Massacre Remembrance Day, on the 10th anniversary of that Day 3 at SW19 in 2013, so you knew things could get weird. Well, mission accomplished.

We had (still more) rain, backed-up matches, and far too many 1st Rounders still not completed as we head to Day 4. One of last year's semifinalists (Tatjana Maria) went out in her opening match, as did a Top 10 seed (#8 Maria Sakkari) and a former world #1 and Wimbledon finalist (Karolina Pliskova). A men's player (Wu Yibing) fainted during a match.

And then you had multiple protests from a group of oil protesters, who littered courts with confetti, were dragged from the court, arrested and removed from the grounds. Meanwhile, women's players became "the clean-up crew"...



The Rad never rests. It just takes naps with (at least) one of Its eyes open.




...MAYBE SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE RE-THOUGHT THIS... ON DAY 3:

Today in the early coverage on ESPN, Brad Gilbert touted his (usually wrong) London weather information from the "Weather Underground." Which made me wonder, hey, wasn't Weather Underground a domestic terrorist group responsible for bombings in the 1970s?

Yes, by the way, it was.

Apparently, the Weather Channel also operates something called Weather Underground.

I say again, maybe someone should have re-thought this. Or, you know, done even a *tiny* bit of research. I'm just sayin'.


...WELL, TODAY WAS THE DAY... ON DAY 3:




...LET'S SEE IF HER MIC HAND IS AS STRONG AS HER FOREHAND... ON DAY 3:



Although we *will* see her forehand at this Wimbledon. See below.



...SO... ON DAY 3:

Cliff Drysdale noted to Mary Joe Fernandez that she recently said that she doesn't think that Iga Swiatek "gets enough love" for what she's done so far in her career.

Really? I'll just pretend I didn't hear that. You might have said that a *year* ago, but not now. I think she's gotten the appropriate level. Any more and it might induce people to throw up in their mouth a little. We've certainly seen that phenomenon when a player is given "too much love" for what they've done early (or even late) in their career.

To her "credit" (?), MJF at least did response with just, "A little." Drysdale *has* been known to exaggerate a bit when recounting what one of his colleagues has said about a player.


...BY THE WAY... ON DAY 3:

The Wimbledon Invitational Doubles duos are...

GROUP A: Cara Black/Caroline Wozniacki, Daniela Hantuchova/Laura Robson, Vania King/Yaroslava Shvedova, Li Na/Aga Radwanska (!!!)

GROUP B: Kim Clijsters/Martina Hingis, Johanna Konta/Sania Mirza, Andrea Petkovic/Magdalena Rybarikova, Francesca Schiavone/Roberta Vinci























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"The president of the CSD, @VictorFrancos, will present this Wednesday to the tennis player Garbiñe Muguruza the gold medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit."














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*RECENT WIMBLEDON "NATIONS OF POOR SOULS"*
[2017]
CZE (0-6 2nd Rd., Kvitova/Pliskova lose; no CZE in 3r since '09)
[2018]
UKR (1-4 1st/2nd Rd., Svitolina/1st Rd. worst major result since 2014)
[2019]
BLR (1-3 1st; 3/4 of "Dream Team" lose, #10 Sabalenka FSO)
[2021]
CAN (0-2 1st; #5 Andreescu & Fernandez lose; Bouchard DNP)
[2022]
AUS (1-5 1st; DC Barty retired in March)
[2023]
ITA (1-6 1st)

*ROEHAMPTON CHAMPS, w/ WIMBLEDON JR. RESULT*
1996 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA = won Wimbledon Jr. title
1997 Brie Rippner, USA = lost Wimb.Jr. F
1998 Jelena Dokic, AUS = lost Wimb.Jr. SF
1999 Lina Krasnoroutskaya, RUS = lost Wimb.Jr. F
2000 Aniko Kapros, HUN = lost Wimb.Jr. QF
2001 Gisela Dulko, ARG = lost Wimb.Jr. 3r
2002 Vera Dushevina, RUS = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2003 Allison Baker, USA = lost Wimb.Jr. QF
2004 Michaella Krajicek, NED = lost Wimb.Jr. SF
2005 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN = lost Wimb.Jr. 1r
2006 Kristina Antoniychuk, UKR = lost Wimb.Jr. 3r
2007 Petra Kvitova, CZE = lost Wimb.Jr. 3r
2008 Melanie Oudin, USA = lost Wimb.Jr. 2r
2009 Kristina Mladenovic, FRA = lost Wimb.Jr. F
2010 Kristyna Pliskova, CZE = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2011 Indy de Vroome, NED = lost Wimb.Jr. SF
2012 Genie Bouchard, CAN = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2013 Belinda Bencic, SUI = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2014 Alona Ostapenko, LAT = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2015 Dalma Galfi, HUN = lost Wimb.Jr. 1r
2016 Anastasia Potapova, RUS = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2017 Claire Liu, USA = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2018 Coco Gauff, USA = lost Wimb.Jr. QF
2019 Daria Snigur, UKR = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2021 Linda Fruhvirtova, CZE = lost Wimb.Jr. SF
2022 Liv Hovde, USA = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2023 ??

*ROEHAMPTON/WIMBLEDON GIRLS' CHAMPS IN SEASON*
1996 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
2002 Vera Dushevina, RUS
2010 Kristyna Pliskova, CZE
2012 Genie Bouchard, CAN
2013 Belinda Bencic, SUI
2014 Alona Ostapenko, LAT
2016 Anastasia Potapova, RUS
2017 Claire Liu, USA
2019 Daria Snigur, UKR
2022 Liv Hovde, USA






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FREE WaPo ARTICLE LINK




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TOP QUALIFIER: Jessica Bouzas Maneiro/ESP
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3 - #18 Lucrezia Stefanini def. (PR) Hsieh Su-wei 6-2/6-7(3)/7-6(11-9)
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: (PR) Barbora Strycova/CZE (def. Zanevska/BEL; first Wimb. match since 2019 SF)
FIRST SEED OUT: #15 Liudmila Samsonova/RUS (1st Rd.-Bogdan/ROU)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Bai Zhuoxuan/CHN, Jodie Burrage/GBR, Tamara Korpatsch/GER, Natalija Stevanovic/SRB
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: ITA (1-6 1st Rd.)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: in 2r: M.Andreeva, Bai, Juvan, Kenin, Stevanovic
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: in 2r: Boulter, Burrage(L), Svitolina
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: in 2r: Cristian/ROU, Sorribes Tormo/ESP(L), Strycova/CZE
LUCKY LOSER WINS: in 2r: Korpatsch/GER
LAST BRIT STANDING: in 2r: Boulter, Burrage(L)
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT "??": xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: Kenin, Juvan, Cristian
CRASH & BURN: Nominee: T.Maria (1r-Cirstea; '22 semifinalist)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF LONDON: Nominee: Bucsca (1r: saved 4 MP vs. Rakhimova)
DOUBLES STAR: xx
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Nominees: Strycova, Cirstea, Cornet, Kvitova
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
SPIRIT OF JANA (NOVOTNA) HONOREES: xx






All for Day 3. More tomorrow.
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