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Saturday, January 20, 2024

AO24 - See Linda Win

See Linda. See Linda crush. See Iga go home early -- for real -- this time.



Coming into their 3rd Round Australian Open match-up, 19-year old Czech Linda Noskova (world #50, and a former junior slam champ) had just four career slam MD wins, compared to an opponent in #1 Iga Swiatek who had four slam *titles* under her belt. After losing her top ranking at the U.S. Open last year, the Pole had lost just once, going an impressive 19-1 while winning the WTA Finals and reclaiming her #1 ranking. She came into the day on an 18-match winning streak, the second-longest on tour this decade behind only her own 37-match run in 2022.

But since arriving in Melbourne off a 5-0 mark in the United Cup team event, Swiatek had been almost immediately been put against it. Sofia Kenin served for the opening set in the 1st Round before Swiatek won in straights, then Danielle Collins held a 4-1, two-break 3rd set lead in the 2nd Round before the Pole escaped with her AO life intact. Against Noskova, Iga stepped back into the fire.

Swiatek led 6-3/3-3, but the young Czech began to step things up in the 2nd set, grabbing it with a late break to force a 3rd against an increasingly perplexed world #1 whose response to a harder-hitting foe who had refused to genuflect and then didn't begin to sloppily give away her edge (ala Collins two days earlier) -- once again -- was to oddly try to outhit her opponent and attempt to be more aggressive without any real plan of action.

It was a non-plan that has rarely worked well for her in the past. And it didn't this time, either.



After exchanging breaks early in the final set, Noskova nosed ahead at 4-3 and didn't look back. Serving at 5-4, the teenager fell behind love/30 but hit her way to MP and then finished off Swiatek with a 3-6/6-3/6-4 win, a first career #1 victory that sends her to her maiden slam Round of 16.



The loss is only the second before the Round of 16 in a slam for Swiatek since the start of 2021, and her exit is the earliest for a #1 seed at the AO since 1979 when Virginia Ruzici fell in 1st Round, the only other such instance in the event in the Open era.

The consistency of #1 seeds in Melbourne is quite good compared to the other slams, as this is just the third time since the first seeded draw 100 years ago (in 1924) that the top woman has lost so early in the tournament. In 1939, #1 Nancy Wynne lost in the 2nd Round (which *was* the Round of 16), but no other pre-Open era #1 lost before the QF. Besides Ruzici and Swiatek, only six other Open era #1's have lost before the QF (Iga was one of those, too, with a 4th Rd. loss last year).

With her title run in Paris last spring the lone exception, Swiatek has gone out before the SF in four of the last five slams despite being the #1 seed at each event.

Maybe more eyebrow-raising, though, it that once again Swiatek appeared suddenly nearly tactically asea at times vs. the Czech, without a set pre-match Plan B to turn to against a harder hitting opponent when said opponent actually began to find her range and didn't eventually become her own worst enemy. This has been consistently the case going on (at least) two seasons now, and one wonders just what Tomasz Wiktorowski (who came aboard before '22) is doing to try and address this situation. He was the WTA's Coach of the Year in '23, yet a two-time season-ending #1 with four slam crowns to her name continues to get that familiar wide-eyed look of panic on her face when challenged by an opponent such as Noskova (who's surely not yet on the level of the even BIGGER hitting players on tour) whose power is giving her less time to react and her major response -- other than hoping the other player starts missing -- is to try and out-hit her and occasionally be more aggressive (often putting her even *more* at the mercy of her challenger). The numbers don't look good for that working out for Swiatek, yet she continues to go to that dry well.

Maybe I'm thinking crazy, but should that *still* be happening after it being a season-long issue throughout 2023? At the very least, I guess it just goes to show that the WTA CoY honor doesn't necessarily *have* to come along with a player's year-end #1 ranking (especially when it feels like, as was the case last year, it was just a "make-up" for not having given Wiktorowski the award after Iga's brilliant '22 campaign). Either Anton Dubrov (Sabalenka) or Brad Gilbert/Pere Riba (Gauff) would have been more worthy choices for *last* season.

Are we now about to runback the 2023 spring/summer when the likes of Sabalenka, Rybakina and others blew Swiatek off the court and put ranking pressure on her until she was finally caught? Now add in Coco Gauff there, as well, as she could get frightfully close to the #1 discussion with a deep run here and into the clay/grass seasons before she has to defend her summer hard court results.

If Swiatek was feeling pressure coming into this slam, what's her response when the chase group increases in size and speed? She rebounded well last fall by resembling her former self once more, so shouldn't competitive "muscle memory" count for a bit more this soon afterward? (Hmmm... thinking.)

Of course, maybe it was just Noskova's time. Make no bones about it, while the Hordettes have shined brightly at this slam, it's most notably the young Crush of Czechs who are deep and coming en masse for some big titles down the line.

A year ago in Melbourne, Linda Fruhvirtova was the first Crusher to reach a slam 4th Round. She was also the first to win a WTA singles title (Chennai '22). But it's Noskova, 0-2 in WTA finals last year, who is the first with a #1 win (Fruhvirtova is still seeking her first Top 10 win, while Noskova has four, including one over then-#2 Ons Jabeur last January) and the first to truly embrace the big stage slam spotlight (Laver Arena at night, check) with a major result against a top player. The last time a teenager defeated the world #1 in Melbourne was 1999 (Mauresmo def. Davenport), almost six years before the Czech was born.

With Noskova into the second week of play in Melbourne, there are more teens (3) still in action than Top 8 seeds (2). Only seven seeds remain overall. Yep, things can change quickly on the WTA tour. It'd be best to hold onto your seat.




=AO NOTES=
...a few notes from some parts of the rest of the now completed 3rd Round in Melbourne:

We're still waiting for the defending AO champion to be challenged, and one has to wonder if Aryna Sabalenka's easy first week might come back to haunt her if she's a bit "competitively rusty" when she *does* finally get some pushback from a top-level opponent. As it is, her 6-0/6-0 dismantling of Lesia Tsurenko put Sabalenka into her fourth straight AO Round of 16, and six consecutive in slam play. So far, she's dropped just six games over three matches. To begin last year's run, Sabalenka had dropped 14 at this stage.

Sabalenka seems to thrive as the "hunter" rather than the "hunted." Starting with her WTAF final run at the end of '22, the event where she defeated the world's top three ranked players (but then lost in the title match), she's gone 60-14 (81.1%) when ranked #2 or lower but was just 5-3 (62.5%) last fall when she held the top spot.

...Amanda Anisimova's win over Paula Badosa in the 3rd Round gives the Bannerette her first three-match winning streak since the 2022 Wimbledon (when she won four).



...Magdalena Frech is the second Pole not named Iga (Magda Linette reached the semis last year) to play into the AO second week the past two years, defeating qualifier Anastasia Zakharova to reach her maiden slam 4th Round in her 11th MD. So far, she's 0-9 vs. Top 10 players in her career, and she faces #4 Coco Gauff next.

...(Melbourne) Marta Kostyuk finally ended her 0-for-7 run vs. RUS/BLR competition. The Ukrainian avoided a major collapse vs. Hordette Elina Avanesyan after seeing her 4-1 3rd set lead become a 4-4, 30/30 nail-biter soon afterward. Kostyuk got the hold, then broke to claim the match and reach her first AO 4th Round (second in a slam, w/ '21 RG).

Naturally, she'll face *another* Russian next, in the form of qualifier Maria Timofeeva, who defeated #10 Beatriz Haddad Maia to reach the Round of 16 in her slam debut. The only other player to reach the second week of a major in their maiden attempt in the 2020s was Emma Raducanu at Wimbledon in 2021. She then won the title in her second slam MD.



Haddad Maia had been looking to become the first Brazilian in the Open era to reach the AO 4th Round. Maria Bueno only played the event twice in her long career, reaching the 1960 QF and 1965 final before the big change in the sport in '68.

...16-year old Mirra Andreeva continued to show signs of being "Her," rallying from a 5-1 deficit in the 3rd set vs. Pastry Diane Parry, saving a MP at 5-2, in what turned out to be a furious comeback.

With the tide turning, Parry could sense that she was losing control of a match that she seemed to have in her back pocket. Still up 5-3, after dropping the opening point of game 9 she slammed and cracked her racket. Parry was soon broken and things were back on serve. Her first DF of the match put her down 15/40 two games later, and Andreeva's break gave the teenager a chance to serve for the match. She failed to do so, but won a 10-5 MTB to advance to her second slam Round of 16.



...Dayana Yastremska remains knotted with Timofeeva in the Last Qualifier Standing race, with her win over #27 Emma Navarro sending her into her second career slam Round of 16, but her first since 2019.

...Zheng Qinwen won the all-CHN battle with Wang Yafan to reach her first AO Round of 16, winning a 10-8 MTB (not 22-20, but still pretty good) to close things out. She'll now get the chance to become the fourth Chinese woman to reach the QF in Melbourne. The others are former champ Li Ni, Zheng Jie and Zhang Shuai.



This will be Zheng's third career slam 4th Round at a third different event. She only needs a second week run at Wimbledon for the career set, which if she did it this summer would come in either her 10th or 11th slam (depending on if she plays in Paris) MD appearance. Only two players this decade have done it as fast or quicker (Barbora Krejcikova in MD #8 and Iga Swiatek in #11).

The fastest to Round of 16s at all four slams amongst active players: Bouchard (5 MD), Venus (6), Krejcikova (8), Stephens (10) and Kvitova/Swiatek/Zvonareva (11).

...meanwhile, Melbourne continues to be a port in any storm for Victoria Azarenka.



The 34-year old's straight set win over Alona Ostapenko, coming a year after the two-time AO champ reached the SF, gives Azarenka 50 career MD wins in the event. She's the sixth woman in the Open era (not counting Margaret Court, who racked up a large number of her wins in the pre-Open days) -- along with Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Martina Hingis -- to reach the number.

Azarenka's 30th career slam 4th Round is nearly twice as many as anyone else left in the draw (second is Elina Svitolina's 16, w/ Sabalenka's 11 third), and only Venus' 50 tops her amongst all active WTA players. It's Vika's third straight second week run in Melbourne. She hasn't done that at any major since doing so in the 2016 AO (after which she won the "Sunshine Double" two months later).

Azarenka is the only former slam finalist (and Svitolina is the only other w/ a SF) remaining in the top half of the draw.

Of course, the real joy of this one was the post-match interview between Azarenka and Andrea Petkovic. Those two should really get their own podcast, if not while she's still playing then after Vika is finally done (*whenever* that may be).)







...131-0...by the hair of her chinny-chin-chin:

Andreeva wasn't the only player to overcome a 5-1 3rd set deficit and save a MP en route to victory over the past few days. Of all people, Diede de Groot did it, too.

Occasionally, de Groot is a bit slow out of the box in January. Her last loss came then, in the 2021 Melbourne Open final vs. Yui Kamiji. Last year, she dropped a set in the final of the same event against Kamiji before then going on to complete her second straight undefeated season. In the final of this year's version of the event, it happened again. But it was more than that.

Last year in the French Riviera Open, de Groot dropped the opening set against Kgothatso Montjane, then had to win a 7-5 2nd set TB before winning in three. Up till now, that had been the closest the Dutch #1 has come to losing in her three-year run. Until now.

Kamiji led de Groot 5-1 in the 3rd set, up a double-break. She twice served for the match. De Groot broke Kamiji's serve at love to pull within 5-2, but the Japanese world #2 held a MP at 5-3 (de Groot saved it with a clean forehand winner and got the hold). De Groot continued to surge, winning five straight games to lead 6-5, but was unable to serve out the win in game 12 after taking a 30/love lead.

With everything on the line, though, de Groot dominated a 7-0 TB to win her 131st straight match, and 25th in a row over Kamiji, with a 6-1/3-6/7-6(0) victory. It's de Groot's 34th consecutive singles title, and she'll open her AO title defense riding a 40-match, 12-title streak in slam singles action.

Kamiji, 99-2 vs. players other than de Groot since the start of the '22 season, has now taken de Groot to three sets in their last two meetings (w/ the Wheelchair Masters final last fall) and has won 8 of the 11 sets that de Groot has dropped during her dominant streak (no other player has taken more than one), but she continues to come up *just* short even on her best days.

In the Facebook video replay of this match, Kamiji takes her 5-1 lead at around the 1:47:00 mark.

De Groot also took the WD title at the Melbourne Open, teaming again with Aniek Van Koot (after her countrywoman missed time w/ injury last year) to defeat Kamiji & Montjane 6-4/7-5. De Groot/Van Koot are 55-5 as a duo since 2021, and have gone 22-2 over the past three seasons.


...SPEAKING (and tweeting) OF ANDREEVA:




...THIS IS WHY PEOPLE ARE SKEPTICAL OF SEQUELS:

After winning a 22-20 tie-break to close out her last match, Anna Blinkova opened her 3rd Round match vs. Jasmine Paoline with another. This time she lost it 7-1.

The Italian won in straights to reach her first slam Round of 16 in her 17th major MD. In the first sixteen, she lost in either the 1st or 2nd Round all sixteen times.




...WHEN SHE CAN ACTUALLY STAY HEALTHY LONG ENOUGH TO PLAY MULTIPLE MATCHES:




...IS THE TIME FOR THE QUEEN'S SLAM SEMI CORONATION DRAWING NEAR? (Zheng can select the music.):




...ZAKHAROVA IS OUT, BUT...:

The great photo on the left from @JJLovesTennis looks like a old-school action shot you'd see on a poster hung on the wall over a young fan's bed. Love it.










=WOMEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16=
Linda Noskova/CZE vs. #19 Elina Svitolina/UKR
#18 Victoria Azarenka/BLR vs. (Q) Dayana Yastremska/UKR
#26 Jasmine Paolini/ITA vs. Anna Kalinskaya/RUS
#12 Zheng Qinwen/CHN vs. Oceane Dodin/FRA
Marta Kostyuk/UKR vs. (Q) Maria Timofeeva/RUS
Magdalena Frech/POL vs. #4 Coco Gauff/USA
Mirra Andreeva/RUS vs. #9 Barbora Krejcikova/CZE
(PR) Amanda Anisimova/USA vs. #2 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR








On what would have been Robert Palmer's birthday...



Backspin's Angelique Kerber/Karolina Pliskova "tribute" from 2016...







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**EARLIEST EXIT BY SLAM #1 AT AO**
[pre-Open era; seeds began in 1924]
1939 2nd Rd. - Nancy Wynne (Final 16)
[Open era]
1979 1st Rd. - Virginia Ruzici
2024 3rd Rd. - Iga Swiatek
1997 4th Rd. - Steffi Graf
2009 4th Rd. - Jelena Jankovic
2014 4th Rd. - Serena Willams
2017 4th Rd. - Angelique Kerber
2019 4th Rd. - Simona Halep
2023 4th Rd. - Iga Swiatek

**LONG WTA WINNING STREAKS - 2020s**
37 - Iga Swiatek (2022)
18 - Iga Swiatek (2023-24)
17 - Simona Halep (2020)
16 - Coco Gauff (2023)

**#50+ def. #1 - since 2010**
#116...2018 Beijing 1st - Jabeur d. Halep
#78...2014 Charleston 2nd - Cepelova d. S.Williams
#76...2023 Wimbledon QF - Svitolina d. Swiatek
#76...2011 Cincinnati 2nd - McHale d. Wozniacki
#73...2011 Bastad 2nd - Arvidsson d. Wozniacki
#71...2021 Charleston QF - Badosa d. Barty
#68...2017 Rome 2nd - Kontaveit d. Kerber
#67...2019 Dubai 2nd - Mladenovic d. Osaka
#55...2019 Wimbledon 4th Rd. - Riske d. Barty
#53...2020 Brisbane 2nd Rd. - Brady d. Barty
#50...2024 Australian Open 3rd Rd. - Noskova d. Swiatek

**"FIRST SLAM..." FEATS IN 2020s**
=ROUND OF 16=
2020 AO - Ons Jabeur, TUN (13th slam MD)
2020 AO - Maria Sakkari, GRE (17th)
2020 US - none
2020 RG - Paula Badosa, ESP (6th)
2020 RG - Fiona Ferro, FRA (10th)
2020 RG - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (3rd)
2020 RG - Nadia Podoroska, ARG (2nd)
2020 RG - Laura Siegemund, GER (16th)
2020 RG - Martina Trevisan, ITA (2nd)
2021 AO - Jessie Pegula, USA (10th)
2021 RG - Marta Kostyuk, UKR (5th)
2021 RG - Elena Rybakina, KAZ (7th)
2021 RG - Tamara Zidansek, SLO (9th)
2021 WI - Viktorija Golubic, SUI (18th)
2021 WI - Emma Raducanu, GBR (1st)
2021 WI - Liudmila Samsonova, RUS (6th)
2021 US - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (7th)
2022 AO - none
2022 RG - Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (13th)
2022 RG - Jil Teichmann, SUI (11th)
2022 RG - Zheng Qinwen, CHN (2nd)
2022 WI - Marie Bouzkova, CZE (14th)
2022 WI - Tatjana Maria, GER (35th)
2022 WI - Jule Niemeier, GER (2nd)
2022 WI - Harmony Tan, FRA (7th)
2022 WI - Heather Watson, GBR (43rd)
2022 US - none
2023 AO - Linda Fruhvirtova, CZE (2nd)
2023 AO - Magda Linette, POL (30th)
2023 AO - Zhu Lin, CHN (15th)
2023 RG - Elina Avanesyan, RUS (2nd)
2023 RG - Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA (12th)
2023 RG - Bernarda Pera, USA (21st)
2023 RG - Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, SVK (33rd)
2023 RG - Sara Sorribes Tormo, ESP (22nd)
2023 WI - Ekaterina Alexandrova, RUS (26th)
2023 WI - Mirra Andreeva, RUS (2nd)
2023 US - Peyton Stearns, USA (4th)
2023 US - Wang Xinyu, CHN (10th)
2024 AO - Oceane Dodin, FRA (20th)
2024 AO - Magdalena Frech, POL (11th)
2024 AO - Anna Kalinskaya, RUS (14th)
2024 AO - Linda Noskova, CZE (6th)
2024 AO - Jasmine Paolini, ITA (17th)
2024 AO - Maria Timofeeva, RUS (1st)



*2024 AO FINAL 16*
[by ranking]
#2 - Aryna Sabalenka
#4 - Coco Gauff
#11 - Barbora Krejickova
#15 - Zheng Qinwen
#22 - Victoria Azarenka
#23 - Elina Svitolina
#31 - Jasmine Paolini
#37 - Marta Kostyuk
#47 - Mirra Andreeva
#50 - Linda Noskova
#69 - Magdalena Frech
#75 - Anna Kalinskaya
#93 - Dayana Yastremska
#95 - Oceane Dodin
#170 - Maria Timofeeva
#442 - Amanda Anisimova
[by age]
16 = M.Andreeva
19 = Gauff, Noskova
20 = Timofeeva
21 = Kostyuk, Zheng Q.
22 = Anisimova
23 = Yastremska
25 = Kalinskaya, Sabalenka
26 = Frech
27 = Dodin
28 = Krejcikova, Paolini
29 = Noskova
34 = Azarenka
[by nation]
3...RUS (M.Andreeva,Kalinskaya,Timofeeva)
3...UKR (Kostyuk,Svitolina,Yastremska)
2...BLR (Azarenka,Sabalenka)
2...CZE (Krejcikova,Noskova)
2...USA (Anisimova,Gauff)
1...CHN (Zheng Q.)
1...FRA (Dodin)
1...ITA (Paolini)
1...POL (Frech)
[by career slam Round-of-16's]
30 - Azarenka
16 - Svitolina
11 - Sabalenka
10 - Gauff
7 - Krejcikova
6 - Anisimova
3 - Zheng Q.
2 - M.Andreeva
2 - Kostyuk
2 - Yastremska
1 - Dodin
1 - Frech
1 - Kalinskaya
1 - Noskova
1 - Paolini
1 - Timofeeva
[w/ consecutive slam Round of 16's]
6 - Sabalenka
2 - Gauff
2 - Zheng Q.
[w/ multiple career AO Round of 16's]
11 - Azarenka
4 - Sabalenka
4 - Svitolina
3 - Anisimova
3 - Gauff
3 - Krejcikova
[w/ consecutive AO Round of 16's]
4 - Sabalenka
3 - Azarenka
3 - Krejcikova
2 - Gauff
[WTA career slam Round of 16's - active]
50...Venus Williams
30...Victoria Azarenka
23...Angelique Kerber
23...Petra Kvitova
22...Simona Halep
22...Caroline Wozniacki
19...Madison Keys
16...Garbine Muguruza
16...Sloane Stephens
16...Elina Svitolina
16...Vera Zvonareva
14...Karolina Pliskova
14...Iga Swiatek
13...Elise Mertens
11...Aryna Sabalenka
10...Coco Gauff
10...Kaia Kanepi
10...Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
[WTA slam Round of 16's since 2020 (of 16) - active]
13 - Swiatek
11 - Sabalenka
9 - Gauff, Jabeur
8 - Mertens
7 - Azarenka, Krejcikova, Pegula
6 - Halep, Svitolina
5 - Badosa, Keys, Kvitova, Muchova
5 - Rybakina, Sakkari
4 - Anisimova, Bencic, Garcia, Kenin
4 - Kerbers, Pavlyuchenkova
4 - Ka.Pliskova, Vondrousova
3 - Cirstea, Collins, Cornet, Kasatkina
3 - Muguruza, Ostapenko, Rogers, Stephens
3 - Tomljanovic, Zhang Sh., Zheng Q.
2 - M.Andreeva, Bouzkova, Brady, Fernandez
2 - Haddad Maia, Kostyuk, V.Kudermetova
2 - Martic, Niemeier, Osaka
2 - Raducanu, Riske-A., Samsonova
2 - Trevisan, Tsurenko, Vekic
[2024 slam Rd. of 16's - by region]
8 (8/-/-/-) - Eastern Europe/Russia (BLR-RUS-UKR)
5 (5/-/-/-) - W.Europe/Scandinavia (CZE-FRA-ITA-POL)
2 (2/-/-/-) - North America/Atlantic (USA)
1 (1/-/-/-) - Asia/Oceania (CHN)
0 (0/-/-/-) - Africa/Middle East/Mediterranean
0 (0/-/-/-) - South America





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TOP QUALIFIER: Alina Korneeva, RUS
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #2 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR
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): 2nd Rd. - Anna Blinkova/RUS def. #3 Elena Rybakina/KAZ 6-4/4-6/7-6(22-20) - on 10th MP after saving 6 MP in MTB (at 42 points, the longest in women's slam history)
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: In 4r: Anisimova/USA; 3r: Badosa/ESP; 2r: Raducanu/GBR, Tomljanovic/AUS
UPSET QUEENS: France (only nation to defeat multiple seeds in 1st Rd.)
REVELATION LADIES: Unseeded Russians (9-1 in 1st Rd.)
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Seeds from Russia (1-4 in 1st Rd.)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: In 4r: Timofeeva, Yastremska
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: McCartney Kessler/USA, Caroline Wozniacki/DEN (2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: Storm Hunter/AUS (3rd Rd.)
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT (??): Nominees: Her? (Mirra), "Melbourne Marta" (Kostyuk), (Czech Crusher) Noskova
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominee: Anisimova
CRASH & BURN: #6 Ons Jabeur/TUN (2r- 2 games vs. M.Andreeva)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF MELBOURNE: Anna Blinkova/RUS (2r- saved 6 MP vs. Rybakina, wins on 10th MP)
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: Nominee: Azarenka
LADY OF THE EVENING: Nominees: Sabalenka (2-0), Blinkova & Rybakina (42-pt. TB)
AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE ARTS AWARD: First Sunday AO start
DOUBLES STAR: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx





All for now. More soon.
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