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Sunday, January 7, 2024

Wk.1- Act 1, Scene 1 (2024)

Elena Rybakina. We know her, we love her.

Maybe it's time the WTA started to truly fear her, too.



Rybakina's often button-down personality belies the killer instinct of a champion, but when her personal understatement combines with a very loud (racket-based) declaration of purpose on gameday, well, you get what we saw in Brisbane this week.

And it was awesome.



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*WEEK 1 CHAMPIONS*
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA (WTA 500/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Elena Rybakina/KAZ def. Aryna Sabalenka/BLR 6-0/6-3
D: Alona Ostapenko/Lyudmyla Kichenok (LAT/UKR) def. Greet Minnen/Heather Watson (BEL/GBR) 7-5/6-2
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (WTA 250/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Coco Gauff/USA def. Elina Svitolina/UKR 6-7(4)/6-3/6-3
D: Anna Danilina/Viktoria Hruncakova (KAZ/SVK) def. Marie Bouzkova/Bethanie Mattek-Sands (CZE/USA) 6-3/6-7(5) [10-8]
UNITED CUP (Sydney, AUS final; Hard Court)
Germany def. Poland 2-1




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Elena Rybakina/KAZ
...pardon Elena a moment while she undoes that top button.



Down Under, Rybakina showed up to start 2024 ready for whatever came her way, and if you've followed her weaving course over the past few years you know that she's (almost) seen it all.

Rybakina flashed the potential for domination at the start of the '20 season, going 21-4 and reaching five finals (winning one) in just two months. Then the pandemic hit, the sport (and world) hit pause, and she had a hard time fully recapturing the previous magic in the Restart after an unscheduled six-month break. 2021 was a recouping year, and featured her first slam QF, a win over Serena Williams and Olympic semifinal. Come '22, Rybakina was ready to make her move, but earned no points for her Wimbledon title run due to the tour's (brilliant, right?) decision to ban RUS/BLR players while *also* punishing everyone else. Rybakina had to play uphill in the draws the rest of the season (she got no WTAF berth because of the SW19 shutout, nor still more rankings points that would have gone with an appearance).

Still, Rybakina burst into '23 with an Australian Open final and near Sunshine Double (Indian Wells win, Miami final). It led off a season in which she had four #1 wins (three over Iga Swiatek), even while battling illness and being particularly victimized by tour mis-scheduling that served to play her into the ground (2:55 a.m., anyone?) and thwart her game over the summer and early fall. She managed to finish the season at #4, behind only a trio of slam winners.

Opening '24 without losing a set over five matches, Rybkina dropped just 15 total games through nine complete sets in Brisbane as she dispatched a virtual United Nations committee of opponents that consisted of an Aussie (Olivia Gadecki), a Belgian (Elise Mertnes), a Russian (Anastasia Potapova, who got off "lightly" with a 2nd set retirement), a Czech (Linda Noskova) and a Belarusian (Aryna Sabalenka, who went down love & 3) to claim her sixth tour title. The latter win improves her record to 6-2 vs. the current #1 and #2 players in the world since the start of last season.



Will '24 finally be the charmed year where everything goes Rybakina's way, she finally receives all the spoils of her work, *and* doesn't have to fight against a tour apparatus that not only remains clueless when it comes to marketing its own sport but also often seems to specifically work overtime to place its athletes in disadvantageous (and sometimes physically dangerous) positions rather than providing an environment where they (and the tour itself) can fully thrive while not also having to stave off various slings and arrows (usually) of its own making?

Ummm... maybe?

Hey, it's Week 1... if you're not going to be (sorta) optimistic now, then when?
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RISERS: Coco Gauff/USA, Iga Swiatek/POL and Aryna Sabalenka/BLR
...introducing, the usual suspects. And that's a good thing for the WTA, which could use a few familiar faces doing familiar things and (hopefully) becoming more and more familiar with each other's games on the biggest stages of the tennis world.

Granted, aside from the Rybakina/Sabalenka final in Brisbane, no other Top 10 match-ups occurred in Week 1 (#1 Iga vs. #11 Haddad Maia in round robin United Cup play was the next best-ranked match), but it's never a bad thing when a new season starts with every member of the singles Top 4 playing in finals on the first championship weekend of the year.

As it turned out, world #3 Gauff was the only one of these three who actually lifted winner's hardware. The only Top 10 player in the field in Auckland, the 19-year old defended her '23 title. After dropping just 16 total games vs. Claire Liu, Brenda Fruhvirtova, Varvara Gracheva and Emma Navarro to reach the final, Gauff rallied from a set down (losing a 1st set TB after having served up 5-3, 40/15) against Elina Svitolina to improve to 5-0 in finals since the start of last year. She's 7-1 in career tour finals, with her only loss coming to Swiatek in the '22 Roland Garros title match.



Speaking of the (once again) world #1, Swiatek went 5-0 in the ("exhibition with benefits," i.e. ranking points) United Cup team competition, notching wins over Beatriz Haddad Maia, Sara Sorribes Tormo, Zheng Qinwen, Caroline Garcia (from a set down) and the returned Angelique Kerber (6-3/6-0, the first bagel ordered at the bakery this season) in the final, but Poland fell 2-1 to Germany in the event final as Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz lost to Laura Siegemund/Alexander Zverev in the deciding doubles.

Swiatek's current singles winning streak stands at 16.



In Brisbane, #2 Sabalenka ran her Australian winning streak to 15 matches while dropping just 15 total games vs. Lucia Bronzetti, Zhu Lin, Dasha Kasatkina and Vika Azarenka, but was on the receiving end of Elena Rybakina's final spanking in the event via an eye-opening 6-0/6-3 scoreline in the title match.

So, with that, someone must now be fired. (Just kidding.)


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SURPRISE: Emma Navarro/USA
...while she wasn't the most visible recent NCAA singles champion on tour last season, it was Navarro (Virginia '21) who won more often and was the higher-ranked between her and Peyton Stearns (Texas '22).

On her way to 64 match wins in '23, Navarro actually defeated Stearns in a $100K final as she won a pair of $100K titles, and reached a 125 final and two WTA semis. By the end of the year, she'd played her way into what will be her first slam seed (ranked #31, she'll be at least four seeds higher with the absences of the pregnant Kvitova and Bencic, and injured Muchova and Keys) a week from now in Melbourne, something that will surely come as a "she's-ranked-that-high?" shocker a week from now for many.



In Auckland, the 22-year old reached her third career WTA semi with wins over Linda Fruhvirtova, Elina Avanesyan and Petra Martic before going out to Coco Gauff.

Oh, look... it's already happening.


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VETERANS: Elina Svitolina/UKR and Victoria Azarenka/BLR
...thankfully, a handshake is not required to share this honor.

In what should be her first full season since maternity leave, '23 WTA Comeback Player of the Year Svitolina surely seems set to be a legit contender for big things in '24 after producing quickly and often in about half a season of action in '23. She got off to an encouraging start in Auckland, reaching her 21st career tour final and second since her return. Svitolina opened with a win over fellow mom Caroline Wozniacki, then had to battle back from a set and 3-1 down in the 2nd set TB vs. Emma Raducanu before getting the victory. Wins over Marie Bouzkova and Wang Xiyu followed, and the Ukrainian took the 1st set in the final against Coco Gauff after the Bannerette had held a pair of SP.

But Gauff rallied to win in three, as Svitolina couldn't post a *third* Week 1 win over a former past slam champion.



Meanwhile, Azarenka has a Down Under history of good results (two AO titles, and a slam-best 47 match wins) and bad fan relations (vs. the Aussie crowds back in the day, though things seem to have improved since), and she backed up the former in Brisbane by reaching her first tour semifinal since playing in the Australian Open final four last year.

The 34-year old got off quickly in '24 with wins over Anna Kalinskaya, Clara Burel and Alona Ostapenko before falling to countrywoman Aryna Sabalenka a round short of her 42nd career WTA final.

The oldest player currently in the Top 30, Azarenka has outlasted most of her rivals from her days as the world #1 and/or part of the then three-headed top-of-the-WTA trio of herself, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova (from 2012-15, they combined to win 12 of 16 slams). Currently encamped just outside the Top 20, Vika continues to exist as a constant threat, if not *really* (it seems) a title contender, having not won a WTA singles crown since the 2020 Cincinnati-at-NYC event, her lone win since her Sunshine Double feat in 2016.


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COMEBACK: Angelique Kerber/GER
...the three-time slam champ is finally back after becoming a mom last year, playing in this week's United Cup in her first action since... yep, Wimbledon in *2022*. At times, she resembled the old Angie.



In whole, it was a weird week for the German. She won just once, saving two MP to defeat Ajla Tomljanovic in her fourth match (after losses to Jasmine Paolini, Caroline Garcia in three, and Maria Sakkari), then losing 3 & love in the GER/POL final vs. Iga Swiatek. But she then watched her teammates go out and win the deciding doubles and -- voila! -- Kerber was a champion once more.


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FRESH FACES: Wang Xiyu/CHN, Linda Noskova/CZE and Mirra Andreeva/RUS
...one each from three of the nations with perhaps (along with the U.S.) the biggest contingent of on-the-verge young stars.

In Auckland, Wang reached her fifth tour semi, some four seasons after reaching her first back in 2020 (Acapulco). A first-time tour champ (Guangzhou) in '23, the 22-year old won back-to-back-to-back three-setters over Jaqueline Cristian, Wang Xinyu and Diane Parry (the latter from 4-1 down in the 3rd) before losing another match that went the distance vs. Elina Svitolina after having grabbed the opening set.



No "Fresh Face" feels complete without a Czech Crusher, so Noskova fills that spot. The 19-year old saved a MP in her opener vs. Timea Babos, then followed up with three-set wins over Sorana Cirstea and Julia Riera. A straight sets win over fellow honoree Andreeva put Noskova into her fourth career WTA semifinal (second in AUS after a final in Adelaide last year, with the other two coming on home soil in Prague). She was Elena Rybakina's semifinal speedbump en route to the title, and will now slip just outside the Top 50 (from #40) heading into Week 2.



At this time last year, Andreeva will still just a junior. By the end of the month, she'd reached (but lost) the AO girls singles final. Since then, the now 16-year old has reached the *women's* Wimbledon Round of 16 in her debut, reached the Top 50 and become one in a long line of "one-named" teen would-be stars.

Week 1 saw the Hordette reach her first career tour QF with shockingly swift Brisbane wins over countrywomen Diana Shnaider (2 & 3) and Liudmila Samsonvoa (2 & 1), as well as Russian-born Aussie Arina Rodionova (1 & 1) before falling to Noskova in straights.

After having fallen outside the Top 50, Andreeva will return there in the new rankings as she awaits her women's AO MD debut in just a week's time.


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DOWN: Jessie Pegula/USA
...last season, Pegula set the tone for what would be a career year with a United Cup win over world #1 Iga Swiatek, the first of what would be three #1 wins in 2023 as she won two titles, reached the WTAF final and finished up at #5 (though still didn't reach a slam SF).

This time around she lost her season opener to Brit Katie Boulter, 5-7/6-4/6-4, before rebounding with a win over Ajla Tomljanovic in her only singles action as the U.S. was eliminated in round robin action.

Of course, if we're talking about who is "Down" when it comes to off-the-court status, well, we've now set off on yet another Australian swing without the (still recuperating) Karolina Muchova, Bianca Andreescu and *now* Jennifer Brady, as well. So much changes, but some things never quite seem to follow suit.
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ITF PLAYER: Fiona Crawley/USA
...another former NCAA champ -- '23 team champ with North Carolina, as well as in doubles -- 21-year old Crawley picked up career ITF title #2 in the $35K challenger in Arcadia, California in a 4-6/6-2/7-5 final over Ashley Lahey.

Lahey (ex-Pepperdine) had already defeated the reigning NCAA singles champ (Tian Fangran/UCLA) in the event.


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DOUBLES: Alona Ostapenko/Lyudmyla Kichenok (LAT/UKR) and Anna Danilina/Viktoria Hruncakova (KAZ/SVK)
...while Ostapenko put on an entertaining (is there any other?) run to the singles QF, it was in doubles where she buttered her Week 1 bread, taking the Brisbane crown alongside Kichenok with a 7-5/6-2 win in the final over Greet Minnen & Heather Watson. It's the third career title for the pair (in 6 finals, including a win in 1000 Cincinnati in '22), the 7th for Ostapenko and 9th for Kichenok overall.



The duo had survived a 13-11 MTB vs. Alexandrova/Kalinskaya in the 2nd Round earlier in the week.

In Auckland, Danilina & Hruncakova won their first title together, the fifth overall for both women.

After winning a 10-7 semifinal MTB over Ponchet/Siskova to reach the final, #2-seeded Danilina/Hruncakova won another (10-8) over top seeds Marie Bouzkova & Bethanie Mattek-Sands to take the crown, as BMS loses in the Auckland final for a second straight year ('23 w/ L.Fernandez).


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1. Auckland Final - Coco Gauff def. Elina Svitolina
...6-7(4)/6-3/6-3. Gauff failed to serve out the first at 5-3, 40/15, but rallied to get the win in three.

While Gauff is 5-0 in finals since the start of last year, before this loss Svitolina had been 13-1 in her last 14 tour finals (and 17-3 overall).
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2. Brisbane Final - Elena Rybakina def. Aryna Sabalenka
...6-0/6-3. Their 5th meeting over the last two seasons, with Rybakina now having won three. Sabalenka still leads the overall head-to-head 5-3. Five of the previous seven match-ups went three sets.



Not this one, though.
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3. Brisbane 1st Rd. - Linda Noskova def. Timea Babos
...5-7/7-6(8)/7-6(2). It's just how Noskova rolls.

Last year, the Czech Crusher opened her season with a win (in Adelaide qualifying vs. Anna Kalinskaya) in which she saved a MP. She ultimately reached the final. She saved a MP vs. Babos in her Brisbane opener, as well, but her run fell a round short of another final as she lost in the SF to Elena Rybakina.
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4. Auckland 1st Rd. - Varvara Gracheva def. Tereza Martincova
...6-7(3)/7-5/6-2. Down a set and 5-3, Gracheva saw the Czech serve for the match at 5-4 and hold two MP.
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5. Auckland 1st Rd. - Emma Raducanu def. Gabriela Ruse
...6-3/4-6/7-5. Raducanu's first match since April, and first win since Indian Wells (Haddad Maia).



Auckland 2nd Rd. - Elina Svitolina def. Emma Raducanu
...6-7(5)/7-6(3)/6-1. No one should really question *whether* Raducanu's past runs were a fluke, but wonder whether she can stay healthy enough to return to that form.

The Brit led 5-1 in the 1st, only to see Svitolina storm back to force a TB. Raducanu held on. Come the 2nd, it was Raducanu who staged a comeback from 3-1 to force and win another TB, where she squandered a 3-1 lead and lost 7-3. Svitolina got the break in game #2 of the 3rd (on BP #4) and never looked back.


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6. Auckland 1st Rd. - Amanda Anisimova def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
...7-5/6-4. Anisimova's first match since April, and first win since last February.


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7. Auckland 2nd Rd. - Wang Xiyu def. Wang Xinyu
...6-3/3-6/7-6(2). The Wangs' third meeting, but first since 2019.
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8. United Cup rr: Jasmine Paolini def. Angelique Kerber 6-4/7-5
United Cup rr: Angelique Kerber def. Ajla Tomljanovic 4-6/6-2/7-6(7)
...Kerber's first match since the '22 Wimbledon, and her first win (in match #4) of her comeback. She saved a pair of MP vs. the Aussie.


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9. Brisbane QF - Victoria Azarenka def. Alona Ostapenko
...6-3/3-6/7-5. Vika won. She was happy. Alona lost. She was not. (Wink.)


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10. Brisbane 2nd Rd. - Dasha Kasatkina def. Marta Kostyuk
...6-3/6-4. Since defeating then-Hordette Varvara Gracheva in the Austin final last March, Kostyuk has gone 0-7 vs. RUS/BLR opponents.

Sometimes the Tennis Gods even troll the trolls.
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11. Brisbane 1st Rd. - Zhu Lin def. Danielle Collins
...1-6/6-3/7-6(7). A year ago, Zhu's January run included an Auckland QF and AO 4th Round (leading to her maiden title in Hua Hin a week later). This year she saved a MP in her opening match (but got just one game vs. Sabalenka in the second).


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12. United Cup rr - Maria Sakkari def. Angelique Kerber
...6-0/6-3. Sakkari and Greece went out in the UC QF, but she was 3-0 on the week with wins over Leylah Fernandez and Kerber.

Sakkari ended '23 on a five-match losing streak, including going 0-3 (granted, vs. Sabalenka, Rybakina and Pegula) in the WTA Finals.
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1. Brisbane 1st Rd. - Naomi Osaka def. Tamara Korpatsch
...6-3/7-6(9). Osaka returns from maternity leave, playing in her first match since September '22 (just one game in Tokyo vs. Dasha Saville, who retired down 0-1) and her first full-match victory since defeating Zheng Qinwen in San Jose in August of that year.


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2. Brisebane 3rd Rd. - Anastasia Potapova def. Veronika Kudermetova
...7-5/6-7(7)/6-4. The first marathon of the new season, as Potapova rallied from 4-2 down to take the 1st (saving two SP) and won in 3:26.
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3. Brisbane 2nd Rd. - Karolina Pliskova def. Naomi Osaka
...3-6/7-6(4)/6-4. A virtual ace-fest, as they combined for 30 (Pliskova 16, Osaka 14) and the Czech won despite 11 DF (vs. Osaka's 2). Pliskova converted both BP she saw on the day, while Osaka was just 2-for-12. Osaka's last win over Pliskova came in the Australian Open semis in 2019.


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HM- Brisbane 3rd Rd. - Alona Ostapenko def. Karolina Pliskova
...6-2/4-6/6-3. One of the most common match-ups on tour, as they met for an 11th time. Ostapenko now leads 6-5.
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Making its 2024 debut, a section where I (semi) randomly pick an image from the "Backspin Photo Files," where I've collected hundreds of photos/images that at some point had some significance in the moment.



First off, the very first photo that I can remember seeing of Bianca Andreescu. It's from 2014, as she celebrated claiming the singles title at the 14-and-under Les Petits Trophy event at age 13.



Flashforward nearly ten years and we wish we could see more *current* trophy-lifting photos of Andreescu, who is once again recovering from injury and once more missing out on a slam (and the entire Australian swing).

This will be the third AO the Canadian has failed to participate in over the past five years (since she won the U.S. Open). She's played in just 10 of what will soon be the 16 slams played since she won in New York (only advancing to one 4th Rd., at the '21 U.S.).

She entered the new year ranked #95.




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I like the look (pastel faux tuxedo), as opposed to many which have been, umm, questionable for Alona of late...


















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*TEEN CHAMPS in 2020s*
6 - COCO GAUFF (2021,2023-24)
3 - Iga Swiatek (2020-21)
2 - Leylah Fernandez (2021-22)
2 - Clara Tauson (2021)
1 - Linda Fruhvirtova (2022)
1 - Ashlyn Krueger (2023)
1 - Camila Osorio (2021)
1 - Emma Raducanu (2021)
1 - Maria Timofeeva (2023)

*SABALENKA vs. RYBAKINA*
2019 Wuhan QF (hc) - Sabalenka 6-3/1-6/6-1
2021 Abu Dhabi QF (hc) - Sabalenka 6-4/4-6/6-3
2021 Wimbledon 4r (gr) - Sabalenka 6-3/4-6/6-3
2023 Australian Open Final (hc) - Sabalenka 4-6/6-3/6-4
2023 Indian Wells Final (hc) - Rybakina 7-6(11)/6-4
2023 Beijing QF (hc) - Rybakina 7-5/6-2
2023 WTAF rr (hc) - Sabalenka 6-2/3-6/6-3
2024 Brisbane Final (hc) - Rybakina 6-0/6-3

*2020s REPEAT WTA WS CHAMPS*
[2020]
Karolina Pliskova - Brisbane
Kiki Bertens - Saint Petersburg
[2021]
Ash Barty - Miami
[2022]
Leylah Fernandez - Monterrey
Iga Swiatek - Rome
[2023]
Iga Swiatek - Doha
Tatjana Maria - Bogota
Iga Swiatek - Stuttgart
Iga Swiatek - Roland Garros
Ekaterina Alexandrova - Nottingham
Elise Mertens - Monastir
[2024]
Coco Gauff - Auckland

*2020s WTA HARD COURT TITLES*
9 - Iga Swiatek (0/1/5/3)
6 - Aryna Sabalenka (3/1/0/2)
6 - Ash Barty (1/3/2 ret)
5 - Anett Kontaveit (0/4/1/0 ret)
5 - Barbora Krejcikova (0/1/2/2)
4 - COCO GAUFF (0/0/0/3/1)
4 - Dasha Kasatkina (0/2/2/0)

*CAREER WTA FINALS - active*
83...Venus Williams
55...Caroline Wozniacki
42...Petra Kvitova
42...Simona Halep
41...Victoria Azarenka
32...Karolina Pliskova
31...Angelique Kerber
30...Vera Zvonareva
25...ARYNA SABALENKA
21...Iga Swiatek
21...Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
21...ELINA SVITOLINA

*CAREER WTA TITLES - active*
[USA]
49 - Venus Williams (1998-16)
7 - COCO GAUFF (2019-24)
7 - Madison Keys (2014-23)
7 - Sloane Stephens (2015-22)
5 - Sofia Kenin (2019-20)
4 - Jessie Pegula (2019-23)
3 - Alison Riske-Amritraj (2014-21)
2 - Amanda Anisimova (2019-22)
2 - Danielle Collins (2021)
2 - Lauren Davis (2017-23)
2 - Bernarda Pera (2022)
2 - CoCo Vandeweghe (2014-16)
1 - Jennifer Brady (2020)
1 - Ashlyn Krueger (2023)
1 - Ann Li (2021)
1 - Alycia Parks (2023)

*LONG WTA (MD only) WINNING STREAKS - 2020s*
37 - Iga Swiatek (2022)
17 - Simona Halep (2020)
16 - IGA SWIATEK (2023-active)
16 - Coco Gauff (2023)

**RECENT BACKSPIN WEEK 1 PLAYERS-OF-THE-WEEK**
2016 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2017 Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2018 Simona Halep, ROU
2019 Julia Goerges, GER
2020 Serena Williams, USA
2021 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
2022 Ash Barty, AUS
2023 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
2024 Elena Rybakina, KAZ

**CAREER WEEK 1 TITLES - active**
3...Simona Halep, ROU
3...Karolina Pliskova, CZE
3...Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
2...Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2...COCO GAUFF, USA
2...Venus Williams, USA
1...Ekaterina Alexandrova, RUS
1...Amanda Anisimova, USA
1...Lauren Davis, USA
1...Kaia Kanepi, EST
1...Petra Kvitova, CZE
1...Katerina Siniakova, CZE
1...Sloane Stephens, USA
1...Elina Svitolina, UKR
1...Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
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NOTE: 1-Barty

**MOST CAREER AUS/NZL WTA TITLES - active**
4 - Victoria Azarenka
4 - Petra Kvitova
3 - Simona Halep
3 - Elise Mertens
3 - Aryna Sabalenka
2 - Lauren Davis
2 - COCO GAUFF
2 - Sofia Kenin
2 - Angelique Kerber
2 - Naomi Osaka
2 - ELENA RYBAKINA
2 - Venus Williams





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All for now.
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