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Monday, January 15, 2024

AO24 - Aussies, Hordettes and a Slovenian, Oh My!

It's almost Day 3 in Melbourne. Do you know where your 1st Round participants are?

In some cases, still waiting to play, actually.




=AO NOTES=
...after not having even one Aussie woman on the schedule on the opening Sunday, the host nation was assured a day later of not being shut out when it came to competitors nor winners for the remainder of 1st Round action.

Qualifier Storm Hunter, the doubles #1, continued to do her part in the tennis "gig ecomomy," following up her Q-run in singles with her maiden AO MD win in her sixth 1st Round appearance with a victory over Sara Errani. It improves her career singles slam mark to 2-10.



Thus far, Hunter has yet to be joined in the 2nd Round by a fellow Aussie. The closest another has come was Dasha Saville, now seven and eight years (and multiple knee surgeries) removed from her "Dasha Show" Round of 16 runs in 2016-17.

The wild card put up a 3:13 fight against Magdalena Frech, turning around a 5-2 3rd set deficit and saving a MP in game 8. Frech couldn't serve out the win a game later, but the Pole finally broke Saville to win 7-5 on her sixth BP of the final game.



...if you're a seeded player, you know the Tennis Gods are upset with you (or wish to challenge you, I guess) if you draw Kaja Juvan in the 1st Round of a slam. It's not *fated* that you're going to be the victim of an upset, but after the Slovenian's win in Melbourne over #23 Anastasia Potapova she's now 6-2 when she's faced off with a seed in the opening round of a slam. So there's that.

*JUVAN SLAM WINS OVER SEEDS*
2020 RG 1st Rd.: #20 Angelique Kerber (lost 2nd Rd.)
2021 AO 1st Rd.: #13 Johanna Konta (lost 3rd Rd.)
2021 WI 1st Rd.: #9 Belinda Bencic (lost 3rd Rd.)
2022 WI 1st Rd.: #23 Beatriz Haddad Maia (lost 3rd Rd.)
2023 US 1st Rd.: #29 Elisabetta Cocciaretto (lost 3rd Rd.)
2024 AO 1st Rd.: #23 Anastasia Potapova


Last year, Juvan took a two-month break from tennis after the death of her father, but when she returned she *still* had her slam magic intact, pulling off a 1st Round seed upset in New York and reaching her fourth career 3rd Round at a major. She's never advanced to a Round of 16, though. Juvan's win over Potapova somewhat avenges a loss to the Hordette in the 2nd Round of Wimbledon last year.

Juvan, the most perpetually under-ranked player on tour (she's somehow never cracked the Top 50, and never finished a season higher than *#88*), had avoided having to go the qualifying route when a series of withdrawals allowed her to snatch a MD slot via automatic entry. Ranked #109, three of this AO's qualifiers were actually higher ranked.

After this one, Juvan added "court cleaner" and "dream maker" to her slam tennis resume...



...what to make of the Hordettes at this AO?

To date, four of the five Russian women in the singles seeds have already been shipped out (and the only one left, Dasha Kasatkina, has yet to play following her Adelaide final this weekend). That's Nation of Poor Souls type of stuff. And yet... there stands a good chance that more Hordettes will be playing in the 2nd Round than women from any other nation. That's Revolution worthy levels of depth, as so far three Russians have posted their maiden slam MD wins and two *16-year olds* -- both of last year's AO junior finalists -- representing the nation (well, you know the deal there) have won 1st Round matches.



Joining Liudmila Samsonova and Potapova on the seeded-but-sidelined list, in the most recent batch of matches were #17 Ekaterina Alexandrova and #15 Veronika Kudermetova.



Laura Siegemund continues to be a triple threat in 2024. Over the first two weeks of the season, she helped Germany to the United Cup title with a string of MX doubles MTB wins, joined with the Siniakova-less Barbora Krejcikova in doubles while also reaching the Adelaide singles QF. Against Alexandrova, the 35-year old veteran rallied from 4-2 down in the 3rd, and an 8-7 deficit in the MTB (the Hordette was two points from the win twice in the breaker) to win 11-9 in 3:01 to collect her second Top 20 win of the year.



Meanwhile, Kudermetova fell to Viktorija Golubic, giving her *five* straight 1r/2r exits in slams after posting a nice 9-win year (in just three slam events, remember) slam mark in '22, during which she reached her first QF, a Round of 16 and 3rd Round. 9-3 in '22 alone, from 2019-21 and in 2023-24, Kudermetova has gone 9-16 in slam action.

...in the night session, #16 Caroline Garcia cut off the comeback of former AO champ Naomi Osaka at the knees, winning 6-4/7-6(2) and freeing up bundles of time for people to talk about virtually *anything* not Naomi-related over the next two weeks. Can we get the Pastry some sort of framed Certificate of Honor to hang on the wall?



Osaka is 1-2 on the season in her return from maternity leave, having played well in a tight three-set loss to Karolina Pliskova and then in straights vs. Garcia. Still, this loss is actually her *fourth* straight in slam competition.

The four-time slam winner has a rather ambitious schedule planned for '24, even during the clay season, so we'll see how that plays out. Really, as far as results go, her history says that nothing will *really* matter from her on out until the hard court summer when the U.S. Open is just over the horizon. So, she's got about seven months to work things out.




...HONESTLY, IT'S ALL BLAH-BLAH-BLAH TO THESE EARS AFTER "Of course, I have to tell myself"...:




...HMMM, I MEAN, WON'T STELLA McCARTNEY *HAVE* TO DESIGN SOMETHING FOR McCARTNEY KESSLER TO WEAR IF THIS KEEPS UP?:




...MEANWHILE, BACK HOME...:










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*MAIDEN CAREER SLAM MD WINS AT AO - 2020-24*
[2020]
Paula Badosa, ESP
Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
Ann Li, USA
Greet Minnen, BEL
Elena Rybakina, KAZ
[2021]
Olga Danilovic, SRB
Liudmila Samsonova, RUS
Mayar Sherif, EGY
Nina Stojanovic, SRB
[2022]
Lucia Bronzetti, ITA
Jaqueline Cristian, ROU
Maddison Inglis, AUS
Nuria Parrizas Diaz, ESP
Gabriela Ruse, ROU
Wang Xinyu, CHN
Wang Xiyu, CHN
Maryna Zanevska, BEL
Zheng Qinwen, CHN
[2023]
Anna Bondar, HUN
Olivia Gadecki, AUS
Diana Shnaider, RUS
[2024]
Brenda Fruhvirtova, CZE
McCartney Kessler, USA
Alina Korneeva, RUS
Maria Timofeeva, RUS
Anastasia Zakharova, RUS

*MEXICAN WOMEN IN SLAM WS MD, since 2000*
2000 AO - Angelica Gavaldon (2r)
2020 RG - Renata Zarazua (2r)
2022 RG - Fernanda Contreras (2r)
2022 WI - Fernanda Contreras (1r)
2024 AO - Renata Zarazua
-
MOST RECENT QF: 1995 AO - Gavaldon (3r: 1995 WI/US)
-
=MEXICAN WOMEN w/ SLAM MD WINS; Open era=
Elena Subirats
Angelica Gavaldon
Renata Zarazua
Fernanda Contreras
-
=MEXICAN WOMEN IN SLAM WS FINAL=
1960 Roland Garros WS - Yola Ramirez (RU)
1961 Roland Garros WS - Yola Ramirez (RU)




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TOP QUALIFIER: Alina Korneeva, RUS
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2 - Alina Korneeva/RUS def. Ma Yexin/CHN 6-7/6-4/7-6(5) - '23 AO girls champ saves 2 MP; qualifies and is youngest in women's MD
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/WC/Doub.): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Kamilla Rakhimova/RUS (def. Emina Bektas/USA)
FIRST SEED OUT: #13 Liudmila Samsonova/RUS (1r-lost to Anisimova/USA)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE, McCartney Kessler/USA, Alina Korneeva/RUS, Maria Timofeeva/RUS, Anastasia Zakharova/RUS
PROTECTED RANKING MD WINS: 1r: Anisimova, Badosa
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: 1r wins: B.Fruhvirtova, Hunter, Korneeva, Timofeeva, Yastremska, Zakharova
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: 1r wins: Kessler, Wozniacki
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: 1r wins: Hunter
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT (??): Nominees: 16-year olds (M.Andreeva, B.Fruhvirtova & Korneeva)
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: Nominee: Linette (1r ret; '23 semis); 4 of 5 RUS seeds out 1r
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF MELBOURNE: Nominee: Siegemund (down 4-2 3rd vs. Alexandrova in 1st Rd., 2 pts. from loss twice in MTB)
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: xx
LADY OF THE EVENING: Nominees: Sabalenka, Garcia
AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE ARTS AWARD: xxx
DOUBLES STAR: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx





All for now. More soon.
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