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Saturday, August 26, 2023

Wk.34- To Lose and Win in The Land

Imperfect perfection.




Hmmm... maybe *that* should be the tour's new motto?




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*WEEK 34 CHAMPIONS*
CLEVELAND OHIO, USA (WTA 250/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Sara Sorribes Tormo/ESP def. Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS 4-6/6-4/6-4
D: Miyu Kato/Aldila Sutjiadi (JPN/INA) def. Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Ellen Perez (USA/AUS) 6-4/6-7(4) [10-8]
CHICAGO ILLINOIS, USA (WTA 125/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Viktoriya Tomova/BUL def. Claire Liu/USA 6-1/6-4
D: Ulrikke Eikeri/Ingrid Neel (NOR/EST) def. Cristina Bucsa/Alexandra Panova (ESP/RUS) walkover




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sara Sorribes Tormo/ESP
...well, I guess they come in bunches, don't they?

After lucky losers finding their ways into MD and reaching the final, let alone winning a title, were the rarest of rarities in tour history for just about the *entire* now 50-year lifespan of the WTA, 2023 has become the Year of the Lucky Loser. Aside from the likes of one reaching a slam Round of 16 (Elina Avanesyan at RG), *three* have reached tour singles finals since the middle of July. Sorribes Tormo became #3 this week in Cleveland, joining Maria Timofeeva (Budapest) and Nao Hibino (Prague).

And, so far, they've gone three-for-three, with all winning the title.

Sorribes Tormo is something of a *double* comeback story, since the Spaniard missed six months across the 2022-23 seasons, not starting her most recent campaign until April. The former world #32 (#39 just last August) fell to #155 in May. Using her protected ranking early on, it didn't take long for Sorribes Tormo -- queen of the marathon matches in recent seasons -- to find her groove. She reached her maiden slam Round of 16 at Roland Garros, as well as the SF in Palermo and QF in Bogota.

Ranked #95 heading into the week, Sorribes Tormo fell in the final round of qualifying to Clara Burel, but found her way into the MD as one of four LL. After Katerina Siniakova retired down a set and a break in the 1st Round, the Spaniard didn't lose a set while dispatching Veronika Kudermetova, Sloane Stephens and Tatjana Maria to reach her second tour final ('21 Guadalajara 250). On Saturday, after falling behind Ekaterina Alexandrova by a set and 4-2, then being down a break at 3-1 in the 3rd, Sorribes Tormo claimed her second tour title with a 4-6/6-4/6-4 win that will almost lift her back into the Top 50 (#55).

Sorribes Tormo will rise past Cristina Bucsa (#65 on Monday) to become the ESP #2 in the pre-U.S. Open standings, not far behind ESP #1 Paula Badosa (#48), who just withdrew from the season's final slam as she continues to deal with her back injury.


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RISER: Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS
...Alexandrova nearly grabbed another title heading into the U.S. Open, but after falling in the Cleveland final to LL Sara Sorribes Tormo will have to be content with carrying on her extended good run of results into the final slam of the season, where she'll need just two MD wins to salt away the best slam season (4-2, 3r-3r-4r so far) of her career to date.

In Cleveland, despite fighting her second serve all week (averaging 8 DF per match en route to the final) the Hordette posted wins over Patricia Maria Tig, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Wang Xinyu (avenging her Indian Wells loss from earlier this year) and Zhu Lin before failing to put away Sorribes Tormo despite being up a set and 4-2, then 3-1 in the 3rd. The loss ends Alexandrova's streak of three straight wins in finals (all 250 events, like Cleveland), but the runner-up result -- in her fourth final since June '22 -- is her best non-grass result of the season (Rosmalan W, Berlin SF).

After a 4-5 start this season, Alexandrova has gone 23-10. This result will edge her back into the Top 20 (at #20) for the first time since April. (She'll only be the #22 seed at Flushing Meadows, though.)
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SURPRISES: Viktoriya Tomova/BUL and Zhu Lin/CHN
...28-year old Tomova continues to be one of the under-the-radar most improved players over the past 12 months.

Since this time last year, Tomova has posted her first two 1000 MD wins (and played in four 1000 draws in '23 alone, after previously having just two appearances in her career). Last September, she reached her biggest final in a WTA 125 in Budapest, and had her first Top 100 season. She won her biggest singles title ($80K) since '19 in April, climbing into the Top 75, the first Bulgarian to rank so high since Tsvetana Pironkova in 2017. At Wimbledon, she posted her first career Top 30 win (#27 seeded Bernarda Pera).

This week in Chicago, Tomova was at it again, collecting victories over Alize Cornet, Kamilla Rakhimova, Lucia Bronzetti and, in her second 125 final, Claire Liu, whom she downed 6-1/6-4 to claim her biggest career title... and the biggest won by a Bulgarian woman since Pironkova's lone WTA title run in Sydney in 2014.

After slipping a bit after her $80K win, going 9-14, Tomova's five-win week will lift her 22 spots and nearly back into the Top 80 (#82).



Zhu's results have leveled off since her hot '23 start, when she went 13-5 while winning her maiden WTA title in Hua Hin, reaching the AO Round of 16, Auckland QF and Monterry SF. She lost six of seven matches in the spring before another SF on the grass in Birmingham.

Zhu had recently hit another bad patch, arriving in Cleveland on a 1-6 slide. But the 29-year old rebounded yet again, reaching her fourth '23 WTA semi with wins over Anna Blinkova, Julia Grabher and Caroline Garcia, the latter victory her second career Top 10 win (both this year, w/ #6 Sakkari at the AO).

She lost in the semis to Ekaterina Alexandrova.


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VETERAN: Tatjana Maria/GER
...Maria's career year continues, though she's still *just* short of her career high ranking.

Arriving in Cleveland off her WTA 125 title run in Barranquilla, the 36-year old German posted wins over Varvara Gracheva and Leylah Fernandez on her way to the semifinals (her third WTA SF+ result this season), though is was there that she became another of lucky loser's Sara Sorribes Tormo's victims in The Land.

Since the 1-5 stretch that came earlier this summer almost an exact year after her Wimbledon SF result in '22, Maria has reached the Warsaw SF, won a WTA 125 crown and now reached another tour-level semi. She'll climb to #47 ahead of the Open, just one spot off her career high from 2017.


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FRESH FACE: Claire Liu/USA
...23-year old Liu was at a career-high #52 in January, but over the past seven months has slipped to #81 as she's lost her Rabat RU and Paris 125 title points from last season. She slumped to a 3-9 stretch during the spring, but reached a tour-level SF in Budapest in recent weeks (her best WTA result of '23).

Liu carried her momentum into the Chicago 125, posting wins over Storm Hunter, Rebeka Masarova (who twice served for the win) and Cristina Bucsa (ret. after 3 games) to reach the final. She fell to Viktoriya Tomova in straights, but has put up a 10-5 record since Wimbledon and will be up to #69 in the next rankings.
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DOWN: Veronika Kudermetova/RUS
...if Kudermetova was looking to pick up some momentum in Cleveland before she heads to New York, well, it didn't happen.

Instead, the world #16 fell to lucky loser Sara Sorribes Tormo in the 2nd Round, dropping to 1-3 in her last four matches, including her come-from-ahead (x2) defeat at the hands of Venus Williams last time out in Cincinnati.

The U.S. Open offers the Hordette her last chance for any '23 slam success, as she's so far posted 2r-1r-2r results a year after having the best slam season of her career with a 3r-QF-4r collection that accounts for *half* of her 18 *career* MD wins in majors (and she didn't need an appearance at Wimbledon to do it).
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JUNIOR STARS: Alena Kovackova/CZE and Emerson Jones/AUS
...Kovackova has had a busy summer. The 15-year old Crusher won the Wimbledon girls' doubles with Laura Samsonova, becoming the first Czechs to do so since Krejcikova/Siniakova in 2013...



Earlier this month, she helped the Czech Republic win the European 16u title for a third straight year, just before her younger sister Jana was part of the CZE squad that won the ITF 14u team title (Alena had been part of the '22 14u ITF champions)...



Fresh off a J300 Prague SF run last week (where she lost to eventual champ Tereza Valentova, who is also Czech, of course... she defeated Samsonova in the final), Kovackova claimed her biggest junior singles title this week at the J300 in Pancevo, Serbia, defeating Dutch teen Rose Marie Nijkam 6-2/7-6 in the final. (Another all-Crusher pair, Magdalena Smekalova & Lucie Urbanova, won the GD.)

A year ago, Kovackova became the first player to sweep the European singles 14s and 16s titles in the same year. Oh, and she apparently lists Karolina Muchova as her favorite player (so that's another pleat in her cape, I'd say)...



In College Park, Maryland, 15-year old Aussie Jones claimed her biggest junior title, taking the J300 event without dropping a set.

Jones defeated previous '23 J300 champs Monika Stankiewicz and Teodora Kostovic en route to the final, where she got a 6-2/6-3 victory over Bannerette qualfier Aspen Schuman (who'd defeated #1 seed Mayu Crossley) to close out the week.
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DOUBLES: Miyu Kato/Aldila Sutjiadi, JPN/INA
...in a season where the Czechs (you know the pair) have often been absent, injured or sub-par, it's become open season on the nomination list for Doubles Duo of the Year. Kato & Sutjiadi personally threw their names into the hat in Cleveland, becoming the fifth different pair to win multitple titles on tour this year (none have won #3).

Kato/Sutjiadi had to work overtime all week, winning a trio of MTB en route to the crown, posting such victories in the QF (10-6 Kalashnikova/Kolodziejova), SF (10-7 Dabrowski/Routliffe) and Final (10-8 Melichar-Martinez/Perez) to win their second '23 title.

2023 has been quite the breakout year for Kato, who won the RG Mixed title, as well reaching the Indian Wells SF and winning in Auckland and this week with Sutjiadi. Of course, she was also at the center of that DQ in Paris for accidentically having a barely-tapped ball "hit" a ball kid. This is her fourth career tour title.

For Sutjiadi it's also #4, but her third in '23 (she won Austin w/ Erin Routliffe).


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1. Cleveland 1st Rd. - Aliaksandra Sasnovich def. Emma Navarro
...3-6/6-4/7-5. Clocking in as a nominee for Comeback of the Year in the match department, Sasnovich rallied from 5-0 down in the 3rd -- with Navarro serving for the match three times, including when leading 5-2, 30/love -- to win the final seven games. Navarro held a BP in game 12 to force a TB, but couldn't grab the last life preserver.

Things didn't turn out well for Navarro, but at least she has those great, very unique, court backdrops by which to remember Tennis in the Land, right?


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2. Cleveland Final - Sara Sorribes Tormo def. Ekaterina Alexandrova
...4-6/6-4/6-4. When Wimbledon ended, there had been just two (Olga Danilovic '18 and Coco Gauff '19) -- or maybe three (+Andrea Jaeger 1980?) or four (+Kay McDaniel 1980?), depending on which record book one looks at -- lucky losers who'd won WTA singles titles. Over the last six weeks, Sorribes Tormo's win means we've seen *three* in the last ten WTA tournaments.
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3. Cleveland 1st Rd. - Sara Sorribes Tormo (LL) def. Katerina Siniakova 6-2/4-0 ret.
Cleveland 1st Rd. - Clara Tauson (LL) def. Barbora Krejcikova 6-4/6-1
...so, *both* Czechs losing to lucky losers the week before a slam probably isn't a good omen for their collective chances in New York. Krejcikova is 1-3 during the hard court summer.

Cleveland 1st Rd. - Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova def. Lyudmyla Kichenok/Nadiia Kichenok 5-7/6-3 [10-7]
Cleveland QF - Gaby Dabrowski/Erin Routliffe def. Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova 6-7(7)/7-6(4) [11-9]
...Krejcikova/Siniakova *did* get their first WD win together since winning Indian Wells, though. Barely. The Czechs served at 5-3 in the 2nd vs. Routliffe/Dabrowski in the QF, but will arrive in NYC to defend their '22 title with little to no wind behind their backs.
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4. Cleveland QF - Zhu Lin def. Caroline Garcia
...6-4/6-1. As the #1 seed in Cleveland, Garcia managed to end her four-match losing streak with wins over Linda Fruhvirtova and Peyton Stearns, but continued her string of events without a three-win week, a downturn that stretches over 13 tournaments back to March.
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5. Cleveland 1st Rd. - Wang Xinyu def. Clara Burel
...7-6(5)/4-6/7-5. While Burel ended Sorribes Tormo's qualifying (but not title) dreams in Cleveland, the Pastry fell in the 1st Round after being unable to serve out the match at 5-4 in the 3rd set of this three-hour contest.
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6. Chicago 125 1st Rd. - Quinn Gleason def. Jodie Burrage
...5-7/6-3/7-6(4). Burrage served for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd.

Gleason, as she did here vs. the #96-ranked Brit, notched a Top 100 win in 2021 at the Chicago tour-level 250 event (vs. Anastasia Potapova). Perhaps the proximity to South Bend just brings out the Golden Domer in the former Notre Dame player?

Gleason was a first-time WTA WD finalist in Prague (4495 mi. from campus) in July.
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7. Chicago 125 Final - Viktoriya Tomova def. Claire Liu
...6-1/6-4. The biggest tennis title won by a Bulgarian woman since...


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8. Chicago 125 QF - Claire Liu def. Rebeka Masarova
...7-5/5-7/7-6(3). Masarova twice served for the match in the 3rd, at 5-4 and 6-5.
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9. Cleveland QF - Sara Sorribes Tormo def. Sloane Stephens
...6-1/6-3. On Thursday, Stephens had to finish off Mirra Andreeva (from 6-3/3-0... winning 3 & 3) after rain suspended play on Wednesday, but wasn't able to double up vs. LL Sorribes Tormo later in the day.

I doubt Sloane complained afterward about being tired/fatigued, though, unlike some past U.S. Open champions who *always* seem to have a ready and convenient excuse when they lose a match.

This win made the Spaniard the fifth LL to reach at least the semis of a tour event since last summer.


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10. Cleveland Final - Miyu Kato/Aldila Sutjiadi def. Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Ellen Perez
...6-4/6-7(4) [10-8]. Melichar-Martinez/Perez, who lost their second consecutive Cincinnati final last week, drop to 0-4 in '23 finals (Melichar is 0-5, with 7 straight final losses and a 2-11 mark since spring '21).

As a pair, they're 1-7 in tour finals the last two seasons, with their only win coming in *last* year's tournament in Cleveland.
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HM- $15K Brasov ROU Final - Maria Sara Popa def. Selma Stefania Cadar
...5-7/6-2/7-5. New Swarmette Champion Alert!!

18-year old Romanian Popa wins her maiden pro title in her third '23 final.
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Winner gets a s***-ton of money... losers, hmmm, lose a few digits?

Ah, but maybe not... after all, the sport being willing to sells its dignity for blood money and "sportwash" away all of the Saudi human rights abuses will likely more than suffice. If the tour (and its players) want to play there and accept the money, fine... just don't come back later and try to act as if you stand for equality, rights and all that jazz while also trying to glom onto the mindset that was at play in the WTA's founding.

It's becomes crystal clear throughout 2023 -- ironically, the tour's 50th anniversary season -- that the entity has left such principles far behind in the dust (sand?).

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And, of course, there would be no better way to celebrate Women's *Equality* Day than the tour announcing a deal to play in Saudi Arabia, right? I mean... right?

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*MOST WTA FINALS in 2020's - 1920-23*
18 - 1/2/9/6 - Iga Swiatek (15-3)
14 - 3/3/3/5 - Aryna Sabalenka (8-6)
12 - 1/7/4/0...Anett Kontaveit (5-6-1)
12 - 5/0/3/4 - Elena Rybakina (4-8)
11 - 0/3/6/2 - Ons Jabeur (4-7)
9 - 1/6/2/ret...Ash Barty (8-1)
9 - 0/4/3/2 - Barbora Krejcikova (6-3)
8 - 0/3/2/3 - Belinda Bencic (4-4)
8 - 0/4/2/2 - Dasha Kasatkina (4-4)
6 - 3/1/2/0 - Simona Halep (5-1)
6 - 0/0/4/2 - Caroline Garcia (4-2)
6 - 1/1/2/2 - Petra Kvitova (4-2)
6 - 0/1/3/2 - Liudmila Samsonova (4-2)
6 - 1/1/2/2 - EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA (4-2)
6 - 1/5/0/0 - Garbine Muguruza (3-3)
6 - 0/2/3/1 - Alona Ostapenko (3-3)
6 - 0/2/3/1 - Veronika Kudermetova (1-5)
6 - 0/1/4/1 - Maria Sakkari (0-6)

*2023 WTA BEST LL RESULTS*
(post-prag) W: Maria Timofeeva, RUS (Budapest)
W: Nao Hibino, JPN (Prague)
W: SARA SORRIBES TORMO, ESP (Cleveland)
[since 2018]
W: 2018 Moscow RC - Olga Danilovic, SRB
W: 2019 Linz - Coco Gauff, USA
W: 2023 Budapest - Maria Timofeeva, RUS
W: 2023 Prague - Nao Hibino, JPN
W: 2023 Cleveland - SARA SORRIBES TORMO, ESP
RU: 2018 Elite Trophy - Wang Qiang, CHN (rr)
RU: 2021 Linz - Jaqueline Cristian, ROU
SF: 2018 Budapest - Viktoria Kuzmova, SVK
SF: 2019 Palermo - Liudmila Samsonova, RUS
SF: 2021 Belgrade - Viktoriya Tomova, BUL
SF: 2022 Warsaw - Kateryna Baindl, UKR
SF: 2022 Washington - Wang Xiyu, CHN

*2023 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
3 - Desirae Krawczyk, USA
3 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
3 - Luisa Stefani, BRA
3 - ALDILA SUTJIADI, INA
3 - Taylor Townsend, USA
2 - Shuko Aoyama, JPN
2 - Coco Gauff, USA
2 - Hsieh Su-wei, TPE
2 - MIYU KATO, JPN
2 - Diane Parry, FRA
2 - Jessie Pegula, USA
2 - Demi Schuurs, NED
2 - Ena Shibahara, JPN
2 - Laura Siegemund, GER
2 - Katerina Siniakova, CZE
2 - Yana Sizikova, RUS
[duos]
2...Aoyama/Shibahara, JPN/JPN
2...Gauff/Pegula, USA/USA
2...KATO/SUTJIADI, JPN/INA
2...Krawczyk/Schuurs, USA/NED
2...Krejcikova/Siniakova, CZE/CZE

*2023 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
5 (3-2) = Desirae Krawczyk, USA
5 (3-2) = Taylor Townsend, USA
5 (0-5) = NICOLE MELICHAR-MARTINEZ, USA
4 (2-2) = Shuko Aoyama, JPN
4 (2-2) = Coco Gauff, USA
4 (2-2) = Jessie Pegula, USA
4 (2-2) = Ena Shibahara, JPN
4 (2-2) = Katerina Siniakova, CZE
4 (1-3) = Storm Hunter, AUS
4 (0-4) = ELLEN PEREZ, AUS
[2023 finals - duos]
4...Gauff/Pegula, USA/USA (2-2)
4...MELICHAR-MARTINEZ/PEREZ, USA/AUS (0-4)
3...Aoyama/Shibahara, JPN/JPN (2-1)
3...Krawczyk/Schuurs, USA/NED (2-1)
2...KATO/SUTJIADI, JPN/INA (2-0)
2...Krejickova/Siniakova, CZE/CZE (2-0)
2...Gamarra Martins/Marozava, BRA/BLR (1-1)
2...Hunter/Mertens, AUS/BEL (1-1)
2...Fernandez/Townsend, CAN/USA (0-2)

*2023 TOP JUNIOR GIRLS' TITLES*
[Grand Slam]
Alina Korneeva, RUS (2)
Clervie Ngounoue, USA
[J500]
Mayu Crossley, JPN
Charo Esquiva Banuls, ESP
Kaitlin Quevedo, USA
Federica Urgesi, ITA
[J300]
3 - Lucciana Perez Alarcon, PER
2 - Iva Jovic, USA
2 - Teodora Kostovic, SRB
2 - Clervie Ngounoue, USA
2 - Sara Saito, JPN
1 - Sonja Zhenikhova, GER
1 - Melisa Ercan, TUN
1 - Mara Gae, ROU
1 - Ariana Geerlings, ESP
1 - Valerie Glozman, USA
1 - Tyra Caterina Grant, USA
1 - Gloriana Nahum, BEN
1 - Renata Jamrichova, SVK
1 - Emerson Jones, AUS
1 - Alena Kovackova, CZE
1 - Vlada Mincheva, RUS
1 - Rebecca Munk Mortenson, DEN
1 - Francesca Pace, ITA
1 - Wakana Sonoba, JPN
1 - Monika Stankiewicz, POL
1 - Federica Urgesi, ITA
1 - Tereza Valentova, CZE





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Not sure how a bunch of mugshots are labeled as "sensitive" material...


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All for now.
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