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Sunday, February 11, 2024

Wk.6- Rybakina Pops More Buttons

Like magic...







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*WEEK 6 CHAMPIONS*
ABU DHBAI, UAE (WTA 500/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Elena Rybakina/KAZ def. Dasha Kasatkina/RUS 6-1/6-4
D: Sofia Kenin/Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA/USA) def. Linda Noskova/Heather Watson (CZE/GBR) 6-4/7-6(4)
CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA (WTA 250/Hard Court Indoor)
S: Karolina Pliskova/CZE def. Ana Bogdan/ROU 6-4/6-3
D: Caty McNally/Asia Muhammad (USA/USA) def. Harriet Dart/Tereza Mihalikova (GBR/SVK) 6-3/6-4
MUMBAI, INDIA (WTA 125 Challenger/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Darja Semenistaja/LAT def. Storm Hunter/AUS 5-7/7-6(6)/6-2
D: Dalila Jakupovic/Sabrina Santamaria (SLO/USA) def. Arianne Hartono/Prarthana Thombare (NED/IND) 6-4/6-3




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Elena Rybakina/KAZ
...button-down no more (at least when it comes to lifting titles), Rybakina kept pace in Abu Dhabi not only with the likes of 2024's *first* two-time champ (Alona Ostapenko) but also her *own* early-season self.

After opening '24 with a Brisbane title and 6-match winning streak, Rybakina had lost twice in her last three outings (including in that 42-point TB at the AO) when she arrived in Abu Dhabi. Given a 1st Round bye, but little in the form of "a good hand" after that, she nonetheless pounded her way to her second title of the season and seventh of her WTA career.

After dropping the 1st set in her opener vs. the dangerous Danielle Collins, Rybakina lost just six total games in the final two sets. After a win over Cristina Bucsa, she ousted Liudmila Samsonova (who led their head-to-head 4-0) in another three-setter to reach the final, the 16th of her WTA career (*half* of which have come in Jan./Feb. events, and 10 in tournaments that kicked off in a season's first three months).

Only Elena's good friend Dasha Kastakina stood between her and another title, but the Russian had had a glorious week-long run in the desert and was knotted at 2-2 (w/ three 3-setters) in their career series.

It was perhaps here that Rybakina got a bit of a break, as Kasatkina had played a long SF a day earlier, and that likely prevented her from bringing *all* of the game she'd shown in the previous rounds along with her to the final. Rybakina won 6-1/6-4, wrapping things up just in time for both to race off to Doha and pretty much immediately be forced into action there (in Kasatkina's case, on Monday).

While there is no marketing plan for the WTA tour, there -- as always -- also remains little real effort to give its athletes a physical break on a week-to-week basis, either. But I guess we've all come to expect that, on both fronts, after so many years of frustration, right?

Rybakina will move past Jessie Pegula and back to her more-rightful #4 slot in the rankings on Monday.


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RISERS: Dasha Kasatkina/RUS, Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA and Ana Bogdan/ROU
...in many respects, Kasatkina had one of the best, most masterful weeks of her career in Abu Dhabi, serving well, controlling rallies, winning big points and taking one marathon match vs. a big-hitting opponent who has often specialized in winning just those type of long affairs. But, in the end, she still came up just short.

Kasatkina's run, which ended in her 15th career tour final (second in a 500 event already in '24), included victories over Diane Parry, Ashlyn Krueger, Sorana Cirstea (allowing just 2 games in a brilliant display) and Beatriz Haddad Maia (an exhausting, three-hour drama that had both leaning on each other at the net when it was over). But after playing some of her best tennis ever all week, Kasatkina simply could not take down the tall tree that was Elena Rybakina, who won 1 & 4 to drop Kasatkina to 0-4 in four 500 finals (all lost in straights) since the start of last season.



Not to be deterred, Kasatkina vowed to use her disappointment as fuel for the rest of '24.



Haddad Maia had quite the eventful week in Abu Dhabi, as well, matching her '23 final four run by posting her biggest SF result since playing in her maiden slam semi last spring in Paris (she'd since won the second-tier season-ending Elite Trophy crown).

Wins over Wang Xiyu and Magda Linette (at 3:42, the longest match on tour so far in '24) preceded the Brazilian's tenth career Top 10 victory over Ons Jabeur (who was in tears late, whether it be because of injury, frustration or both). Haddad Maia finally lost in what was another marathon in a fine battle against Dasha Kasatkina in the semis that left both players exhausted, but only allowed one to advance.



The win over Linette was Haddad Maia's fourth match of 3:30 or longer the last two seasons, including 2023's longest (3:51 vs. Sorribes Tormo at RG).



Save for one year (2022), the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca has been blessed to have native daughters putting on great week-long runs in the event. In three of its four editions, including this second staging of the event in just four months, a Romanian has reached the singles final. In this case, it was Bogdan, who played into the second tour final of her career (w/ '22 Warsaw).

Sporting an eye-catching leopard print top (someone had to make up for Jaqueline Cristian's continued noncompliance with the "costume code"), Bogdan (a '23 quarterfinalist) hit her way into the final with wins over Alycia Parks, Erika Andreeva, Arantxa Rus (she was two points from defeat four times in the 3:28 battle) and the aforementioned Cristian to reach the final. In a (recently) rare all-thirtysomething final, Bogdan (31) led Karolina Pliskova (31) by a 3-0 score in the 1st, but the Czech moved to where the Romanian couldn't follow and won her first tour title in three and a half years in straight sets.


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SURPRISES: Harriet Dart/GBR and Cristina Bucsa/ESP
...another good week for Dart, who had already reached her biggest career singles final last month in a WTA 125 in Canberra. In Cluj, the 27-year old Brit qualified, then posted MD wins over Anna Bondar and Elisabetta Cocciaretto, winning the latter from a set and double-break (twice) down. A win over Nuria Parrizas Diaz, who'd beaten her in the Canberra final, put Dart into her first career tour-level semi. She'd been 0-5 in WTA quarterfinals.

Dart fell in the SF to Karolina Pliskova, but will return to the Top 100 on Monday.



Dart also had a shot at her first tour-level WD title in the Transylvania event, but she and Tereza Mihalikova fell in straight sets in the final (Dart's third at the WTA level) to Caty McNally/Asia Muhammad. Dart won her biggest WD title along side Muhammad in a 125 challenger in '21.

In Abu Dhabi, Bucsa became the second lucky loser to play into the QF this season (Hobart/Viktoriya Tomova) after three won titles in 2023.

The Spaniard lost in qualifying to Linda Noskova, but got into the 1st Round as a "double replacement" after the MD withdrawals of Jasmine Paolini and then Zhu Lin. She posted wins over Wang Xinyu and Heather Watson before falling to Elena Rybakina.



Since she played so late in the week, though, Bucsa had to withdraw from this week's Doha qualifying, as she'd been scheduled to play her first match there just a handful of hours after her match with Rybakina.
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VETERANS: Karolina Pliskova/CZE, Sorana Cirstea/ROU and Storm Hunter/AUS
...maybe Pliskova *does* have another good run in her.

The veteran Czech came into the week ranked as low as she'd been in a decade, having lost in the 1st Round in three of the last four majors (and the 2r in the other), having not played in a singles final since 2021 (Toronto) nor won a title since taking the pre-pandemic crown in Brisbane back in 2020. She was just 1-3 on the season, with her only win coming in her Week 1 opener in a three-set win over Naomi Osaka (Osaka's only three-setter thus far in '24).

All that changed in Cluj-Napoca.

There, the former world #1 and slam finalist ran off wins over Sinja Kraus, Camila Osorio, Sara Erani and Harriet Dart to reach her 33rd career tour final in the Transylvania Open 250 event, the site of her smallest final since 2018. Career win #17 (nudging her over .500 in WTA finals) came after rallying from 0-3 down in the 1st vs. crowd favorite Ana Bogdan and winning in straight sets, claiming the event without dropping a set.

At 31, Pliskova is so far the oldest and (at #78) the second-lowest ranked champion of the nine WTA singles champs crowned so far in 2024. She'll be at #59 on Monday.



Along with several others in Week 6, Cirstea finally sunk her teeth into the '24 season by getting on the board with a few wins.

In Abu Dhabi, the 33-year old Romanian put her 0-3 season mark behind her -- after a trio of three-set defeats -- with nice victories over Caroline Garcia (almost Top 20) and #9 Maria Sakkari, her 20th career Top 10 victory. She fell to Dasha Kasatkina in the QF, but she'll bump up four spots to #22.



Cirstea has another shot to finally make her Top 20 debut, or at least match her career high, after having been at #21 in 2013-14. She'll be just 246 points behind #21 Garcia on Monday, and a bit more away from #20 Elina Svitolina. Both Cirstea (1r/2r) and Garcia (2r/1r) had similar results last year in Doha and Dubai, and neither are defending much. Garcia opens vs. Naomi Osaka, while Cirstea has already defeated Sloane Stephens in a Sunday 1st Rounder (Iga will be up next in the 2nd).



Hunter ended '23 as the WTA's doubles #1, but '24 has been more about her singles.

The 29-year old qualified at the Australian Open and reached her first slam 3rd Round, and in this week's WTA 125 in Mumbai, India she reached the biggest final of her career (her previous best was a win in $60K events in 2019 and '23).

After getting past Fanny Stollar, Laura Pigossi and Katie Volynets, things didn't end the way Hunter wanted vs. Darja Semenistaja in the final. The Aussie served for a straight sets win, and held a MP in a 2nd set TB, but ultimately lost to the Latvian in three. Still, Hunter is 8-2 in singles on the season (she's just 4-1 in WD, where she's ranked #3), and will jump 24 spots to #126. Her career-high is #119 in 2021.

India's Prarthana Thombare reached the doubles final, as well.
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COMEBACKS: Anastasija Sevastova/LAT and Liudmila Samsonova/RUS
...in Cluj, Sevastova appeared in a WTA MD match for the first time since the 2022 Australian Open, exiting to become a first-time mom before returning to action late last fall (going 4-2 in ITF challengers, including a win over future AO semifinalist Dayana Yastremska). She played all the way into the QF, her first since Eastbourne in '21.

The Latvian recorded wins over Andreea Mitu and Elina Avanesyan before going out to Romanian Jaqueline Cristian. She'll rise from #656 to #482 in the new rankings.



Samsonova came into Abu Dhabi still looking for her first win of the season in Week 6, being 0-3 w/ 1st Rd. losses to Mirra Andreeva, Laura Siegemund and Amanda Anisimova.

A year after reaching the tournament final, the Hordette found her footing by stringing together three wins in the U.A.E., allowing just one game vs. Lesia Tsurenko, four to Anhelina Kalinina and then out-hiting Barbora Krejcikova to reach her first SF since defeating Elena Rybakina in the Beijing final four last October.

Waiting for her there was, naturally, Rybakina once again. Despite holding a 4-0 edge in their head-to-head, Samsonova dropped the opening set vs. the Kazakh at love, then fell in three after rallying to take the 2nd.


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FRESH FACE: Darja Semenistaja/LAT
...it's been a pretty good two weeks for Latvian women's tennis. Alona Ostapenko won in Linz, Anastasija Sevastova returned to the WTA for the first time in two years this week in Romania, and Semenistaja claimed her biggest singles title yet, picking up steam as she continues a lower-level run that is becoming more and more serious.

The 21-year old -- at #121, the *other* Latvian who entered the week in the Top 200 -- claimed a WTA 125 crown in Mumbai, India on Sunday, posting wins over Panna Udvardy, Amandine Hesse, Polina Kudermetova, Arianne Hartono and Storm Hunter in a three-set final. Hunter had served for the match in the 2nd set, and held a MP in the TB, before Semenistaja forced a 3rd and won it 6-2.

The win improves Semenistaja's pro singles final record to 16-1 (15-1 ITF, including four wins in '23 and one last month), with all of the finals having been played since the summer of 2021. She's 15-4 on the season so far.

With Ostapenko flying high, Sevastova back and Semenistaja rising, might a legit comeback by the Latvian BJK Cup team be on the horizon? Ostapenko and Sevastova used to form a great one-two punch, and having a true *#3* on the squad could be quite beneficial. With Sevastova's absence, Latvia fell back down into Europe/Africa zone play.

Semenistaja will climb to #112 on Monday as she angles to become the other Latvian in the Top *100* by the time spring gets here. She'll only be 75 points behind Monday's #100, Camila Osorio.


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DOWN: Maria Sakkari/GRE and Veronika Kudermetova/RUS
...in lieu of bonking the Transylvania Open's social media team for a *second* straight season, or the WTA (again) for *this* time seeing the ATP completely lap the women's tour's marketing efforts of the entire 2020s (and a bit earlier) with a single five-minute video, I'll go with these two.

Sakkari ended 2023 on a five-match losing streak, including going 0-3 in the Tennis Gods-forsaken WTA Finals Cancun. The Greek was just 4-6 after winning her first title in four and a half years in the Guadalajara event in September. She opened '24 by going 3-0 in the United Cup "fake" event last month (Iga went 5-0, then lost in the AO 3rd Round, so...), but was ousted in the 2nd Round in Melbourne by Elina Avanesyan.

In her first action since that early loss -- which came after three straight 1st Rd. exits to close out the '23 slam season -- Sakkari recorded just three games in a 2 & 1 defeat at the hands of Sorana Cirstea, continuing the backslide-or-run-in-place pattern that has characterized the vast majority of her results over the last few seasons.



Still, Sakkari will appear in the Top 10 on Monday for the 125th consecutive week, the second-longest streak on tour behind only Aryna Sabalenka (169, though with two major titles, a slam RU and five other semis, plus a run in the #1 ranking and 9 additional tour crowns in *her* stretch, as opposed to the lone title and a pair of slam semis three years ago during that of Sakkari). Since that two-slam SF season in '21, Sakkari has gone 10-9 in majors (Sabalenka is 40-6 over the same span).

While Jessie Pegula surprisingly parted ways this week with coach David Witt, who has helped guide her to a consistent Top 5 presence (though coming up short at slam time), Sakkari continues on her long run with Tom Hill despite her career freeze-frame status.

Also in Abu Dhabi, while countrywoman Liudmila Samsonova finally got her '24 season pointed in the right direction with a SF result, Kudermetova failed to break out of her early season rut.

Arriving at 2-3 on the season, with an AO 1st Rd. loss, the Hordette fell in the 1st Round to Heather Watson. Since she won a title in Tokyo last October (her first since '21), Kuderemetova has gone 4-7.

Oops, make that 4-8, as she's already out of Week 7 Doha courtesy of a 1st Round loss to Danielle Collins.
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ITF PLAYER: Rebecca Marino/CAN
...the 33-year old Marino is back in the winner's circle, dropping just one set en route to her biggest singles title ever in her biggest final appearance in 13 years. The Canadian's title run in the $100K challenger in Irapuato, Mexico comes 13 years after her runner-up result in her lone tour-level final in Memphis back in 2011.

Marino soundly handled Jule Niemeier 6-1/6-2 in the final, though the young German completed a second straight good week (combined 7-4) after qualifying and reaching the 2nd Round in tour-level Linz last week and this week winning a trio of three-setters (including a 3rd set TB vs. Whitney Osuigwe in the SF) to reach her biggest final since winning a WTA 125 crown in the summer of '22 (just weeks before her Wimbledon QF).
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JUNIOR STARS: Maya Joint/AUS and Laura Samson/CZE
...while it wasn't "A Spike Lee Joint," a Maya Joint joint broke out in Burnie, Australia this week, as she joined Jannik Sinner as the latest redhead to step into a Down Under winner's circle.

The 17-year old became the youngest Aussie to win the $75K challenger event, defeating 19-year old Aoi Ito from Japan in a 1-6/6-1/7-5 final to pick up her maiden pro singles title.

It's been quite a few months for the wonderfully-named junior, who last September claimed her first J300 crown (in Houston), announced her NCAA commitment to the Texas Longhorns tennis program (we won't hold that against her, or do the "Horns Down!" thing... well, at least not "in print") in November, won her first pro WD title that same month, and then entered the girls' Top 20 rankings just last month.

Joint will jump 113 spots to #333 in the pro rankings.



Meanwhile, 15-year old Samson (who for some reason seems to have decided against using the 'ova-ized version of her name, a move which at the very least might allow her to avoid all those "are you related to Liudmila?" questions down the line) kept up the, "Another week, another Crusher title" era on the ITF circuit.

The Czech picked up her maiden pro title in her first pro final in the $15K in Monastir, Tunisia, defeating German Selina Dal 6-1/6-3 to take the crown.


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DOUBLES: Sofia Kenin/Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA/USA
...playing together for the first time in almost three years, Kenin & Mattek-Sands claimed their second title together with a run in Abu Dhabi.

Of course, "run" is debatable, considering the pair received walkovers in both the QF *and* SF (their final opponents got a SF pass, too), but they did defeat Linda Noskova & Heather Watson in straight sets in the final to get the crown, adding it to a title they won together in Beijing in 2019 (a few months *before* Kenin's AO singles win).

Kenin improves to 3-0 in career tour WD finals, while Mattek-Sands is now 29-18 over her long, often injury-interrupted time on tour. A previous '24 finalist in Auckland, the veteran's win makes her the oldest title winner on tour this season. Two-time AO title winner Hsieh Su-wei had just turned 38 when she won the WD/MX in Melbourne, while Mattek-Sands will turn 39 next month.


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1. Abu Dhabi Final - Elena Rybakina def. Dasha Kasatkina
...6-1/6-4. Kasatkina expressed frustration during the AO when Australian TV showed her a Zverev night session match rather than one featuring Rybakina, who'd been playing at the same time. In Abu Dhabi, she got a close-up look at the Kazakh's game.

After barely making it through her semifinal, and surely not 100% ready to truly challenge Rybakina so soon afterward, Kasatkina probably would have felt more comfortable watching it from the hotel room, though.

Kasatkina barely gets time to breathe, and will be playing in Doha on Monday. Even before she'd played this final, the Hordette had pointed out how the packed-together tour/event scheduling of matches doesn't exactly allow the players to be able to present their best selves at every stop (well, as usual, she was a little more blunt about it).



Meanwhile, Elena didn't call out any clown cars, but also did her part (w/ a smile) to point out the situation.


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2. Cluj 2nd Rd. - Harriet Dart def. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
...5-7/7-5/6-3. Down 7-5 and a double-break in the 2nd set -- on two different occasions, at both 3-0 *and* 4-2 -- Dart rallies for the win. She saved a pair of BP in game 3 of the 3rd, then broke the Italian at love in game 4. The two exchanged breaks late, then Dart finally served out the match (saving a BP) at 6-3.

Add this match to a lengthening list of missed opportunities for Cocciaretto in '24, as she'd already lost a pair of matches this season (in Hobart and Linz) in which she'd held a MP.
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3. Abu Dhabi SF - Dasha Kasatkina def. Beatriz Haddad Maia
...6-3/4-6/7-6(2). en route to her other '24 final in Adelaide, Kasatkina coasted to the final match on the back of consecutive walkovers in the QF/SF. She made up for it here, winning an exhausting three-hour battle with the Brazilian.


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4. Cluj 1st Rd. - Jaqueline Cristian def. Marina Bassols Ribera
...6-3/6-2. Once again, as she did last year, Cristian eschews a caped entrance into the arena, following the lead of the Transylvania tournament, which has now fully lost the narrative of what made it a unique and fun entity a few seasons ago, rather than just an event with a unique color scheme and nice fan support.

Unlike last year, even after the win, Cristian didn't pull the cape out of the bag, either.



Turned out, it was right on brand for the WTA's unofficial "(Lack of) Marketing Week."
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5. Cluj QF - Ana Bogdan def. Arantxa Rus
...3-6/7-6(6)/7-6(5). Bogdan, two points from the loss four times, surges late in both TB (from 6-6 and 5-5, respectively) to get the win in 3:28 to become the fourth different Romanian to reach the singles semis in the four-year existence of the event.


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6. Mumbai 125 Final - Darja Semenistaja def. Storm Hunter
...5-7/7-6(6)/6-2. Two weeks, two big runs by Latvians.

While Alona Ostapenko's came at the tour-level Linz event, Semenistaja's comes in a 125 challenger. It's still the biggest title of her career, despite seeing Hunter serve for the match in the 2nd set and hold a MP in the TB.
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7. Cluj SF - Ana Bogdan def. Jaqueline Cristian
...6-3/3-6/6-4. After consecutive years with all-nation semis in the event (RUS in '22, GER in '23), Bogdan wins the first all-ROU semifinal in Cluj, joining Simona Halep (2021) and Gabriela Ruse (2023) as home-grown singles finalists in Transylvania.

Maybe if Cristian had brought her cape?
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8. Cluj 1st Rd. - Ana Bogdan def. Alycia Parks
...7-5/7-5. With Cristian going the "plain" route, a nod to Bogdan for dressing up the place from her opening match forward.

Meanwhile, after going 22-5 indoors (and winning a tour title in Lyon last year) from 2020-23, Parks is 0-2 under the roof this season.


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7. Cluj 1st Rd. - Anastasija Sevastova def. Andreea Mitu
...6-2/6-3. Sevastova's first WTA MD match since the '22 Australian Open, after which she had a baby that December.

Her nearly two-year absence was the second extended leave of her career, as Sevastova previously retired from May 2013 until January '15.


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10. Mumbai 125 1st Rd. - Sahaja Yamalapalli def. Kayla Day 6-4/1-6/6-4
Mumbai 125 1st Rd. - Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty def. Nao Hibino 2-6/6-1/7-6(5)
...good morning, Mumbai.

The week's 125 event began with big upsets by Indian wild card Yamalapalli (#336 over #1-seeded Day) and qualifier Bhamidipaty (#520 over #2 seed Hibino).



Mumbai 125 2nd Rd. - Polina Kudermetova def. Sahaja Yamalapalli 1-6/6-3/7-5
Mumbai 125 2nd Rd. - Alina Korneeva def. Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty 5-7/6-4/6-4
...the two didn't just go away quietly in their follow-up matches, either. Both pushed their Russian opponents to tight 3rd sets before finally going out.

Another Indian WC, Rutuja Bhosale, also posted a 1st Round win. She pushed #8 Katie Volynets to three sets in the 2nd Round after dropping a 10-8 1st set TB.
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11. Cluj Final - Caty McNally/Asia Muhammad def. Harriet Dart/Tereza Mihalikova
...6-3/6-4. McNally wins her eighth tour title with a sixth different partner, while Muhammad gets #9 with a seventh different player by her side.

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12. Abu Dhabi 1st Rd. - Liudmila Samsonova def. Lesia Tsurenko
...6-0/6-1. Samsonova gets her maiden '24 win, while Tsurenko loses her second straight match by a frigthening scoreline. In her previous outing, she'd lost 6-0/6-0 to Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open.

Tsurenko got on the board again on Sunday in Doha, defeating Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez 7-5/6-3 in the 1st Round.
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13. Abu Dhabi 2nd Rd. - Sorana Cirstea def. Maria Sakkari
...6-2/6-1. Cirstea how has 20 Top 10 wins (per an original WTA tweet) in her career (though her Wikipedia page list would make this #21), but such results haven't consistenly flowed from the Romanian's racket.

Per the Wikipedia list, Cirstea had 13 from 2008-13, but then just *three* from 2014-22. Over the past year (since I.W.) she's had *five*.
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14. $100K Irapuato MEX 1st Rd. - Marina Melnikova def. Anna Gabric 6-7(8)/7-6(5)/6-2
...6-3/6-2. It. Is. Never. Over.

Gabric led 7-6/5-0. She never had a MP.


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1. Cluj Final - Karolina Pliskova def. Ana Bogdan
...6-4/6-3. In three years out of four, the Cluj event has seen a Romanian reach the singles final. With Bogdan's loss, they've so far gone 0-3.

The home contingent (so far) only has Irina Bara's doubles crown in the inaugural '21 edition to show for their often-stunningly good efforts.

Maybe you-know-who could change the Romanians' title luck in Transylvania. But, of course, her fate is still not in her hands.
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2. Abu Dhabi 1st Rd. - Danielle Collins def. Naomi Osaka
...7-5/6-0. Qualifier Collins sweeps the final 9 games, dropping Osaka to 1-3 on the season in her comeback (her previous losses came vs. Pliskova and Garcia, the latter being whom she'll also play in the Doha 1st Rd.).

Collins lost in the 2nd Round to Elena Rybakina, then qualified once again this weekend in Doha, defeating Kimberly Birrell (3rd set TB) and Laura Siegemund to pick up her fourth and fifth match wins in about a week's time.

Collins picked up a sixth in early action on Sunday in Doha, knocking off #13-seeded Veronika Kudermetova in straights in the 1st Round.
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3. $35K Wesley Chapel USA SF - Sophie Chang def. Lia Karatantcheva
...6-1/6-0. Lia -- 20-year old sister of Sesil -- reaches her first pro singles SF, after getting wins over Grace Min and Katrina Scott. She's ranked #525.

Sesil, 34, played as recently as last year's U.S. Open qualifying after having returned to the court last season for the first time since 2019. She fell in the opening round to Arianne Hartono, her sixth straight loss in what was a 1-8 season. Going back to '19, she's gone 1-13 in her last 14 pro matches.

Their other tennis-playing sister, Gabriel (now 23, and not "Gabriela"), last played a pro match in 2017. She's currently a part of the D2 college tennis team at Francis Marion in South Carolina.
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HM- Doha 1st Rd. - Erika Andreeva def. Diana Shnaider
...7-6(2)/6-4. A big win for the *older* of the Sisters Andreeva, knocking off Hua Hin champ Shnaider for her second career win in a 1000 event (w/ Miami '23).
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Meanwhile...



Imagine if people in charge of things were this persistent about issues that were of great importance.

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I talked about the ATP's dropping of the first part of a new marketing campaign here. Needless to say, I enjoyed it... almost as much as stepping on and all over the WTA's own years-long (lack of) marketing effort and/or incompetence/disinterest in that area.



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This sounds a bit ridiculous. So Monfils gets punishes for a playful accident, where seemingly *both* were involved, while the head honcho bears *no* responsibility? "Rules are rules," but this doesn't sound anything like Djokovic firing a ball that accidentally hits someone or anything such as that.



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Hmmm, did he retweet something about Buffalo choking in the playoffs yet again? (Gratuitous Buffalo Bills shot #56, appropriately coming on Super Bowl Sunday, no less.)

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*2024 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
2 - Alona Ostapenko = Adelaide 500/Linz 500
2 - ELENA RYBAKINA = Brisbane 500/Abu Dhabi 500
[2020-24]
17 - 1/2/8/6/0 = Iga Swiatek
9 - 3/2/0/3/1 = Aryna Sabalenka
8 - 1/5/2 = Ash Barty (ret.)
7 - 0/3/2/2/0 = Barbora Krejcikova
6 - 0/1/0/4/1 = Coco Gauff
6 - 1/0/1/2/2 = ELENA RYBAKINA

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2024*
2 - Alona Ostapenko (2-0)
2 - ELENA RYBAKINA (2-0)
2 - Aryna Sabalenka (1-1)
2 - DASHA KASATKINA (0-2)
[2020-24]
20 - 1/2/9/8/0 = Swiatek (17-3)
17 - 3/3/3/6/2 = Sabalenka (9-8)
14 - 5/0/3/4/2 = RYBAKINA (6-8)
12 - 1/7/4/0 ret...Kontaveit (5-6-1)
12 - 0/3/6/3/0 = Jabeur (5-7)
11 - 0/4/3/4/0 = Krejcikova (7-4)
10 - 0/4/2/2/2 = KASATKINA (4-6)

*TWO 30+ PLAYERS IN WTA FINAL - 2014-14*
2014 Miami - S.Williams (32) d. Li (32)
2014 Quebec City - Lucic-B.(32) d. V.Williams (34)
2015 U.S. Open - Pennetta (33) d. Vinci (32)
2016 none
2017 Aust.Open - S.Williams (35) d. V.Williams (36)
2017 Ind.Wells - Vesnina (30) d. Kuznetsova (31)
2018 Wimbledon - Kerber (30) d. S.Williams (36)
2019 none
2020 none
2021 Nottingham - Konta (30) d. S.Zhang (32)
2022 none
2023 none
2024 Cluj-Napoca - Pliskova(31) d. Bogdan(31)

*MOST 2024 WTA TITLES w/o LOSING A SET*
1 - KAROLINA PLISKOVA (Cluj-Napoca)
1 - Elena Rybakina (Brisbane)
1 - Aryna Sabalenka (Australian Open)

*BEST CLUJ-NAPOCA RESULTS BY ROMANIANS*
2021: (RU) Halep; (QF) Cristian
2022: (best 2r: Ruse)
2023: (RU) Ruse, (QF) Bogdan
2024: (RU) Bogdan, (SF) Cristian

*2024 LOW-RANKED SEMIFINALISTS - #100+*
#195 Dasha Saville (Hobart)
#108 Diana Shnaider (Hua Hin)-W
#103 HARRIET DART (Cluj-Napoca)

*CAREER WTA TITLES - active*
49 - Venus Williams
31 - Petra Kvitova
30 - Caroline Wozniacki
24 - Simona Halep
21 - Victoria Azarenka
17 - KAROLINA PLISKOVA
17 - Elina Svitolina
17 - Iga Swiatek
14 - Aryna Sabaleka
14 - Angelique Kerber
[FINALS]
83 - Venus Williams (49-34)
55 - Caroline Wozniacki (30-25)
42 - Petra Kvitova (31-11)
42 - Simona Halep (24-18)
41 - Victoria Azarenka (21-20)
33 - KAROLINA PLISKOVA (17-16)
31 - Angelique Kerber (14-18)
30 - Vera Zvonareva (12-18)

*CAREER WTA HARD COURT TITLES - active*
31 - Venus Williams
24 - Caroline Wozniacki
20 - Victoria Azarenka
20 - Petra Kvitova
13 - Simona Halep
12 - Aryna Sabalenka
11 - KAROLINA PLISKOVA
11 - Elina Svitolina
10 - Iga Swiatek
[2020-24 - overall]
9 - Iga Swiatek (0/1/5/3/0)
7 - Aryna Sabalenka (3/1/0/2/1)
6 - Ash Barty (1/3/2 ret)
5 - Anett Kontaveit (0/4/1/0 ret)
5 - Barbora Krejcikova (0/1/2/2/0)
4 - Coco Gauff (0/0/0/3/1)
4 - Dasha Kasatkina (0/2/2/0/0)
4 - ELENA RYBAKINA (1/0/0/1/2)

*CAREER WTA TITLES*
[CZE - active]
31 - Petra Kvitova
17 - KAROLINA PLISKOVA
7 - Barbora Krejcikova
5 - Katerina Siniakova
[KAZ - all-time]
7 - ELENA RYBAKINA
2 - Yulia Putintseva
1 - Zarina Diyas
1 - Elena Likhovtseva (later RUS)
-
NOTE: Yaroslava Shvedova 1 as RUS; 0-1 in finals as KAZ
NOTE: Ksenia Pervak 1 as RUS; never in final as KAZ

*2024 WTA CHAMPIONS BY RANKING*
#2 - Aryna Sabalenka (Australian Open)
#3 - Coco Gauff (Auckland)
#4 - Elena Rybakina (Brisbane)
#5 - ELENA RYBAKINA (Abu Dhabi)
#12 - Alona Ostapenko (Adelaide)
#12 - Alona Ostapenko (Linz)
#31 - Emma Navarro (Hobart)
#78 - KAROLINA PLISKOVA (Cluj-Napoca)
#108 - Diana Shnaider (Hua Hin)

*2024 WTA CHAMPIONS BY AGE*
31 - KAROLINA PLISKOVA (Cluj-Napoca)
26 - Alona Ostapenko (Linz)
26 - Alona Ostapenko (Adelaide)
25 - Aryna Sabalenka (Australian Open)
24 - ELENA RYBAKINA (Abu Dhabi)
24 - Elena Rybakina (Brisbane)
22 - Emma Navarro (Hobart)
19 - Coco Gauff (Auckland)
19 - Diana Shnaider (Hua Hin)

*2024 BEST WTA QUALIFIER RESULTS*
SF - Yuan Yue - Hobart (25, #73)
SF - Dayana Yastremska - Aust.Open (23, #93)
SF - HARRIET DART - Cluj-Napooca (27, #103)*
-
* - first-time WTA SF

*2024 WTA WD FINALS - INDIVIDUALS*
2 (1-1) = Lyudmyla Kichenok
2 (1-1) = BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS
2 (1-1) = Alona Ostapenko
2 (0-2) = Guo Hanyu
2 (0-2) = Jiang Xinyu
2 (0-2) = HEATHER WATSON

*2024 OLDEST WTA WD/MX FINALISTS*
38 - BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS (Abu Dhabi -W)
38 - Bethanie Mattek-Sands (Auckland -L)
38 - Hsieh Su-wei (Australian Open -W)
38 - Hsieh Su-wei (AO Mixed -W)
36 - Sara Errani (Linz-W)

*DOHA/DUBAI ACCOMPLISHMENTS*
[reached AO-Doha-Dubai Finals; since 2001]
2001 Martina Hingis - AO RU, Doha W, Dubai W
[reached Doha-Dubai Finals; since 2001]
2001 Martina Hingis - Doha W, Dubai W
2004 Svetlana Kuznetsova - Dubai RU, Doha RU
2007 Justine Henin - Dubai W, Doha W
2009 Venus Williams# - Dubai W, Doha (WTA Chsp.) RU
2011 Caroline Wozniacki - Dubai W, Doha RU
2017 Caroline Wozniacki - Doha RU, Dubai RU
2021 Garbine Muguruza - Doha RU, Dubai W
2023 Iga Swiatek - Doha W, Dubai RU
--
NOTE: 2008 two Doha-Feb. & Nov.(WTA Chsp.)
# - 2009-10 Doha only as Oct. WTA Chsp.






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