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Thursday, January 25, 2024

AO24 - The Modern Major-General


She is the very model of a modern major-general,
She's information hard, and clay and even grass empirical,
She's met the queens and King of court, and can recall ten-nis historical
From Melbourne to New York and back, in every categorical.


A few years ago, no one would have believed you -- probably not even a certain Belarusian -- if you'd stated that by January 2024 Aryna Sabalenka would arguably be the most accomplished and consistent slam player on the women's tour over a two and a half year stretch. But, well, she's sort of been just that.



Yes, over the same stretch that began with the 2021 Wimbledon, Iga Swiatek has won a pair of slams (after having won at RG in '21 just one month prior to that) and finished two seasons at #1. But while the top-ranked Pole has gone 46-8 over that 11-slam stretch, she's only reached one additional QF and SF each in major events; over that same span, even with just 10 slams in the mix (I see you, '22 SW19), Sabalenka has gone 49-8, won one title, reached two additional finals as well as five other semis. She has SF+ results at six straight slams, and at 7 of the last 9 she's played.

And, at this Australian Open, the defending champ is not yet finished.

Sabalenka -- after often fighting against her serve, consistency and, quite frankly, herself just a few seasons ago (she failed to reach QF in her first 14 slam MD, though by that point she'd won 10 tour titles and was a Top 4 player) -- continues to put herself within striking distance of major titles.

Against Coco Gauff in the AO semifinals, Sabalenka was seemingly the more consistently in-form player throughout, though Gauff's continual fight and refusal to concede that it *couldn't* still ultimately become "her day" forced the Belarusian to not lose her focus on the task at hand.

Sabalenka won the first seven points of the match, and led 2-0, before Gauff gained her footing and knotted the set at 2-all. Sabalenka regained her advantage and served at 5-3, only to see Gauff get the break, then save a SP on serve in the next game before holding on her third GP.

Denying Sabalenka a pair of GP in game 11, Gauff got the break to take a 6-5 lead. With the 1st set on her racket, Gauff took a 30/love lead, but Sabalenka's power (and ability to pull it back when it best suited her) seized the moment. Gauff missed on a forehand at 30/15, and she lost control of the narrative of what remained of the set. She couldn't close and Sabalenka forced a tie-break. In the breaker, after seeming to have the set in her clutches, then seemingly squandering it away, Sabalenka burst out of the gate with a 4-0 lead. She went up 6-1, and won 7-2, winning 11 of the last 13 points.

Gauff saved a pair of BP and held in the opening game of the 2nd set, then after the streak of service holds reached six (four in a row at love over games 2-5), Gauff saved another BP and led 4-3. Sabalenka rallied from love/30 to even the score at 4-all, then broke Gauff on her second chance in game 9. Up 5-4, Sabalenka failed to convert her first MP, but an ace awarded her a second. A service winner ended it, as Sabalenka tightened the head-to-head between the two women to 4-3 (she's won two of three, save for last year's U.S. Open final) and she'll now have a chance at back-to-back AO title runs.



Sabalenka's 7-6(2)/6-4 win gives her 13 straight AO victories, including 14 straight sets won (12/12 in '24) and 26 of 27 over the past two years in the event. Meanwhile, the tour adds another must-see match-up to the ongoing round-about between players at the top of the rankings, as Sabalenka/Gauff joins Sabalenka/Swiatek, Swiatek/Rybakina, Rybakina/Sabalenka and (maybe) Swiatek/Gauff as a passel of developing rivalries that are producing match-ups -- and good ones -- on big stages in ways and numbers that have eluded the tour -- to its detriment -- for years.



Sabalenka advances to her third career slam final (all on hard court, so far), and second consecutive (Swiatek has yet to do that). She's a win away from equaling in Melbourne the Pole's own successful title defense in Paris from last year.

Last January, Sabalenka's AO title run officially kicked off a season-long chase of Swiatek in the rankings. She caught her by the end of the summer, though her 4Q stint in the #1 spot (she went 5-3) wasn't ideal and was easily bested by that of Swiatek, who reclaimed the top position in the final rankings.

By reaching the final, the Belarusian is assured of maintaining her #2 ranking, and simply by doing the same thing she did a year ago (i.e. winning the title) she'd close the ranking gap between the two from 975 to 865 points.

Welcome to "The Chase, Part II?"




=AO NOTES=
...in the concluding semifinal in the women's singles draw, Zheng Qinwen and Dayana Yastremska met to decide which would become a first-time major finalist, extending a streak of five straight Australian Opens in which a maiden slam finalist will vie for the women's title.

Ultimately, Zheng was the steadier of the two.



The 1st set saw the two trade off swings of momentum. Yastremska led 2-0, then threw in four DF in game 3. Still, she climbed out of a love/40 hole to reach GP, but got broken anyway. At 3-3, she fell into another love/40 cavity, pulled even at deuce, and then was broken once more. In game 8, it was Zheng who went up 40/15 and then saw the rollercoaster go into reverse. After saving a BP, she finally held on her third GP for a 5-3 edge. Two games later, she served out the 6-4 opening set.

The two exchanged breaks early in the 2nd, but after a Yastresmka hold gave her an on-serve 3-2 lead it was Zheng who ran off 11 straight points. She claimed back-to-back love games while taking a break advantage at 4-3. Yastremska managed to hold to stay in the match at 5-3, but Zheng went to the line and served out the 6-4/6-4 win. Zheng fired 28 winners (w/ 19 UE) to Yastremska's 21 (w/ 24).



Zheng, who'll make her Top 10 debut after this event, joins Li Na as the only Chinese women to have reached a slam singles final. Hall of Famer Li did so four times in her career, three times in Melbourne. This year is the 10th anniversary of Li finally claiming her first AO crown (she'd won RG in 2011) in 2014.





...JELENA & ARYNA:

I had to play a bit of catch-up on this whole story since ESPN managed to avoid showing the Sabalenka post-match interviews with Jelena Dokic the last two rounds (they *did* show Zheng's after her SF, though), and the AO Twitter team skipped it, as well.

Apparently, Dokic and Sabalenka have had a nice post-match relationship at this event. It started with a laugh, then a towel gifting got involved...



Jelena continued to play out the story on Aussie TV, then followed through on her plan last night.



I doubt this was some Dokic-assisted attempt by the AO to "make-up" for the prime (pre-SF) spots that Tennis Australia has given Zverev during this event, as Jelena has her own past with domestic violence. But the contrast of her actions and the relative silence about Zverev's situation, which looks to play out into the spring with his trial scheduled around Roland Garros time, is quite striking. No one should convict the German without a trial, but the ATP and the slams have almost aggressively attempted to sweep it under the rug and act as if it's not even a thing that should at least be acknowledged if not openly addressed.

Leave it to Jelena...


...SUPER ROLL XVIII:

Slam final match-up #18 between Diede de Groot and Yui Kamiji is now confirmed in Melbourne, as both advanced to the singles title match.

De Groot extended her winning streak to 134 (43 in slams) with a SF win over doubles partner Jiske Griffioen, while Kamiji's run vs. non-de Groot opponents is now 102-2 (23 straight) with her victory against *her* doubles partner, Kgothatso Montjane. (Both duos are still alive in the doubles semis.)

De Groot, with 25 consecutive wins (and 32 of 33) over Kamiji (who held a MP against her in last week's Melbourne Open), will look to improve on her 15-2 edge in slam final match-ups in their career series. A fourth straight AO crown (and 6th in 7 years) would tie de Groot with Hall of Famer Esther Vergeer for the all-time record for women's WC singles slam titles (21). It'd be her overall slam title #38, now just slightly behind Vergeer's women's record of 42.

The all-time WC marks are held by the recently retired men's player Shingo Kunieda, who won 28 singles and 50 overall slam titles.


...WATCH ZHENG DURING HER POST-MATCH INTERVIEWS...:

While most players just speak into the microphone as the interviewer holds it, Zheng can't help herself and *always* grabs the mic. It always makes me chuckle... the natural move of a would-be "star?"




...FREE LINK TO THIS here:




...HSIEH & MERTENS DEFEATED HUNTER/SINIAKOVA...:

...to reach the women's doubles final, meaning that Hsieh will have a chance to leave Melbourne with a-



Yeah, make that TWO chances. She's also in the MX final. She's already won a pair of slam WD titles (RG/WI) since her return to the tour last spring.


...LAYERS:




...THERE MIGHT BE QUITE A FEW SHOTS OF THESE TWO TOGETHER AS WE GO FORWARD...:



Maybe one day we'll get a group shot of all the Chinese slam (at least) semifinalists: Zheng Qinwen, Li Na, Zheng Jie and Peng Shu- yeah, probably not.








=WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL=
#12 Zheng Qinwen/CHN vs. #2 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR

=WOMEN'S DOUBLES SF=
#11 L.Kichenok/Ostapenko (UKR/LAT) vs. #4 Dabrowski/Routliffe (CAN/NZL)
#2 Hsieh/Mertens (TPE/BEL) def. #3 Hunter/Siniakova (AUS/CZE)

=MIXED DOUBLES FINAL=
#3 Hsieh/Zielinski (TPE/POL) vs. #2 Krawczyk/N.Skupski (USA/GBR)

=WHEELCHAIR SINGLES SF=
#1 Diede de Groot/NED def. #3 Jiske Griffioen/NED
#2 Yui Kamiji/JPN def. Kgothatso Montjane/RSA

=WHEELCHAIR DOUBLES SF=
#1 Kamiji/Montjane (JPN/RSA) vs. Bernal/Zhu (COL/CHN)
Mathewson/Tanaka (USA/JPN) vs. #2 de Groot/Griffioen (NED/NED)

=GIRLS SINGLES QF=
#1 Renata Jamrichova/SVK def. (WC) Ksenia Efremova/FRA
#10 Ena Koike def. #15 Vlada Mincheva/RUS
#12 Mimi Xu/GBR vs. #16 Iva Ivanova/BUL
#6 Emerson Jones/AUS vs. #2 Sara Saito/JPN

=GIRLS DOUBLES SF=
#1 Koike/Saito (JPN/JPN) vs. #3 Grant/Jovic (USA/USA)
Pastikova/Stusek (CZE/GER) vs. #2 Klugman/Xu (GBR/GBR)







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*CAREER SLAM SF - active*
23 - Venus Williams, USA (16-7)
9 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR (6-3)
9 - Simona Halep, ROU (5-4)
8 - Angelique Kerber, GER (4-4)
8 - ARYNA SABALENKA, BLR (3-5)
7 - Petra Kvitova, CZE (3-4)
7 - Caroline Wozniacki, DEN (3-4)
6 - Madison Keys, USA (1-5)
5 - Garbine Muguruza, ESP (4-1)
5 - Iga Swiatek, POL (4-1)
4 - Naomi Osaka, JPN (4-0)
4 - Karolina Pliskova, CZE (2-2)
4 - Vera Zvonareva, RUS (2-2)
3 - Genie Bouchard, CAN (1-2)
3 - Sara Errani, ITA (1-2)
3 - COCO GAUFF, USA (2-1)
3 - Ons Jabeur, TUN (3-0)
3 - Karolina Muchova, CZE (1-2)
3 - Sloane Stephens, USA (2-1)
3 - Elina Svitolina, UKR (0-3)
[SLAM SF 2020-24]
8 - ARYNA SABALENKA, BLR (3-5)
5 - Iga Swiatek, POL (4-1)
3 - Ash Barty, AUS (2-1)
3 - COCO GAUFF, USA (2-1)
3 - Karolina Muchova, CZE (1-2)
3 - Ons Jabeur, TUN (3-0)
2 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR (1-1)
2 - Jennifer Brady, USA (1-1)
2 - Simona Halep, ROU (0-2)
2 - Sofia Kenin, USA (2-0)
2 - Madison Keys, USA (0-2)
2 - Naomi Osaka, JPN (2-0)
2 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ (2-0)
2 - Maria Sakkari, GRE (0-2)
2 - Serena Williams, USA (0-2)
[SLAM SF BY NATION 2020-24 / 16 slams]
12 - USA (6-6)*
10 - BLR (4-6)*
7 - CZE (4-3)
6 - POL (4-2)
3 - AUS (2-1)
3 - TUN (3-0)
2 - GER (0-2)
2 - GRE (0-2)
2 - JPN (2-0)
2 - KAZ (2-0)
2 - ROU (0-2)
2 - RUS (1-1)
2 - UKR (0-2)*
1 (W) - CAN,CHN*,GBR,ESP
1 (L) - ARG,BRA,FRA,SLO,ITA

*AO DEFENDING CHAMPS, OPEN ERA - RETURNED TO FINAL*
1970 Margaret Court (W)
1971 Margaret Court (W)
1972 Margeret Court
1975 Evonne Goolagong (W)
1976 Evonne Goolagong (W)
1977 Evonne Goolagong (W)
1982 Martina Navratilova
1985 Chris Evert
1986 Martian Navratilova
1989 Steffi Graf (W)
1990 Steffi Graf (W)
1992 Monica Seles (W)
1993 Monica Seles (W)
1998 Martina Hingis (W)
1999 Martina Hingis (W)
2000 Martina Hingis
2002 Jennifer Capriati (W)
2010 Serena Williams (W)
2013 Victoria Azarenka (W)
2016 Serena Williams
2024 Aryna Sabalenka

*SLAM FINALS IN 2020s - BY NATION (16 slams / 32 finalists)*
6 - USA (2-4)
4 - POL (4-0)
4 - CZE (2-2)
4 - BLR (1-2)*
3 - TUN (0-3)
2 - AUS (2-0)
2 - JPN (2-0)
2 - KAZ (1-1)
1 - GBR (1-0)
1 - CHN (0-0)*
1 - ESP (0-1)
1 - CAN (0-1)
1 - RUS (0-1)

*SLAM FINALS IN 2020s*
4 - Iga Swiatek, POL (4-0)
3 - ARYNA SABALENKA, BLR (1-1)
3 - Ons Jabeur, TUN (0-3)
2 - Ash Barty, AUS (2-0)
2 - Naomi Osaka, JPN (2-0)
2 - Coco Gauff, USA (1-1)
2 - Sofia Kenin, USA (1-1)
2 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ (1-1)
1 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (1-0)
1 - Emma Raducanu, GBR (1-0)
1 - Marketa Vondrouosva, CZE (1-0)
1 - ZHENG QINWEN, CHN (0-0)
1 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR (0-1)
1 - Jennifer Brady, USA (0-1)
1 - Danielle Collins, USA (0-1)
1 - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (0-1)
1 - Karolina Muchova, CZE (0-1)
1 - Garbine Muguruza, ESP (0-1)
1 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS (0-1)
1 - Karolina Pliskova, CZE (0-1)

*RECENT FIRST-TIME SLAM CHAMPS AND NEXT MAJOR RESULT*
2017 Alona Ostapenko (RG): Wimbledon QF
2017 Sloane Stephens (US): Australian 1st
2018 Caroline Wozniacki (AO): Roland Garros 4th
2018 Simona Halep (RG): Wimbledon 3rd
2018 Naomi Osaka (US): Australian W
2019 Ash Barty (RG): Wimbledon 4th
2019 Bianca Andreescu (US): DNP 2020; Australian 2nd
2020 Sofia Kenin (AO): U.S. 4th
2020 Iga Swiatek (RG): Australian 4th
2021 Barbora Krejcikova (RG): Wimbledon 4th
2021 Emma Raducanu (US): Australian 2nd
2022 Elena Rybakina (WI): U.S. 1st
2023 Aryna Sabalenka (AO): Roland Garros SF
2023 Marketa Vondrousova (WI): U.S. QF
2023 Coco Gauff (US): Australian SF

*SLAM FINALS - CHN*
2011 Australian - Clijsters def. Li Na 6-3,3-6,3-6
2011 Roland Garros - Li Na def. Schiavone 6-4,7-6
2013 Australian - Azarenka def. Li Na 6-4,4-6,3-6
2014 Australian - Li Na def. Cibulkova 7-6,6-0
2024 Australian - Zheng Qinwen vs. Sabalenka

*"FIRST SLAM..." FEATS IN 2020s*
=FINAL=
2020 AO - Sofia Kenin, USA (12th slam MD)
2020 RG - Iga Swiatek, POL (7th)
2021 AO - Jennifer Brady, USA (15th)
2021 RG - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS (52nd)
2021 RG - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (5th)
2021 US - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (7th)
2021 US - Emma Raducanu, GBR (2nd)
2022 AO - Danielle Collins, USA (17th)
2022 RG - Coco Gauff, USA (10th)
2022 WI - Ons Jabeur, TUN (21st)
2022 WI - Elena Rybakina, KAZ (12th)
2023 AO - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (20th)
2023 RG - Karolina Muchova, CZE (17th)
2024 AO - Zheng Qinwen, CHN (9th)




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All for now. More soon.
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