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Sunday, May 5, 2024

Wk.18- Iga with a Save!







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*WEEK 18 CHAMPIONS*
MADRID, SPAIN (WTA 1000/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Iga Swiatek/POL def. Aryna Sabalenka/BLR 7-5/4-6/7-6(7)
D: Cristina Bucsa/Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP/ESP) def. Barbora Krejcikova/Laura Siegemund (CZE/GER) 6-0/6-2
SAINT-MALO, FRANCE (WTA 125/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Lois Boisson/FRA def. Chloe Paquet/FRA 4-6/7-6(3)/6-3
D: Amina Anshba/Anastasia Detiuc (RUS/CZE) def. Estelle Cascino/Carole Monnet (FRA/FRA) 7-6(7)/2-6 [10-5]
LLEIDA, SPAIN (WTA 125/Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Katerina Siniakova/CZE def. Mayar Sherif/EGY 6-4/4-6/6-3
D: Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Ellen Perez (USA/AUS) def. Katarzyna Piter/Mayar Sherif (POL/EGY) 7-5/6-2




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[Madrid 4th Rd.+]



PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Iga Swiatek/POL
...does the clay season *really* start before Iga wins a title on the surface?

If not, well, then it has *now* officially/unofficially commenced.

For most of her time in Madrid, Swiatek met little resistence. She handled Wang Xiyu 1 & 4, Sorana Cirstea 1 & 1 and Sara Sorribes Tormo 1 & love. Beatriz Haddad Maia managed to win a 1st set, but only after Swiatek had led 4-1, then fell love & 2 in the 2nd and 3rd. Madison Keys was taken out 1 & 3, sending Swiatek into her first clay final of the season and her second straight championship match in Madrid, a rematch with defending champ Aryna Sabalenka.

Swiatek somewhat stole a 1st set in which Sabalenka had led the way. Scoring her first point on the Belarusian's first serve in game #11, Iga broke and served out the set a game later. Sabalenka knotted the match in the 2nd, but Swiatek kept close throughout the 3rd, falling down a break twice but immediately breaking back a game later.

In the late going, the clash became classic, as Sabalenka held a pair of MP at 6-5 on Swiatek's serve, with Iga closing the door in the game with a forehand winner on the second, and then getting the hold to force a deciding TB. There, again, Sabalenka took a mid-way point mini-break lead at 4-3, but Swiatek immediately erased the edge with a deep return shot. Swiatek nosed ahead, holding a MP at 6-5 (Sabalenka fired an ace), but then had to save a third MP at 7-6. Sabalenka ended the match with three straight UE after holding her final MP, pushing Swiatek into the winner's circle for the first time in Madrid.

It's career title #20 for Swiatek (at 22, she's the quickest to 20 since Wozniacki in 2012), and her second career title run after having fought off a MP (w/ '21 Rome, 2 vs. Krejcikova 3r). Iga is now 64-6 on clay starting with her maiden RG title in 2020.

Hmmm, not sure what to make of the newly-redesigned Madrid trophy (I mean, other than it'd make a really good murder weapon)...


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RISERS: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR and Elena Rybakina/KAZ
...on the bright side, Sabalenka emerged from her post-Melbourne hangover in Madrid. On the other side, Madrid really *should* have been her second successful title defense of the season. As it is, she avoided falling from #2 to #4, and posted a tremendous win over Elena Rybakina to keep herself in any sort of "Big 2" discussion that might crop up heading into Paris. Meawhile, the women's game continues to build upon the sort of oft-intense, always-competitive, and (maybe most importantly) multi-chaptered rivalries that mostly eluded it (except for maybe when Henin was involved) during the long Williams era.

Geez, I know... how boring, right?

Sabalenka came to Madrid at just 4-4 since her Australian Open title run, with the event representing her last title defense attempt remaining on the '24 schedule. With her result, she could either maintain her position at #2 in the rankings or fall as low as #4 for the first time since she won her maiden slam crown in Melbourne 15 months ago (the result of which could have major implications come RG draw time at the end of the month).

In the early going, she was hardly at her best, being forced to three sets in her opening two matches vs. Magda Linette and Robin Montgomery. Things seemed to finally "click" for the first time in months vs. Danielle Collins in the 4th Round, where Sabalenka won in three (her sixth straight three-set match over her last three events and ninth in eleven matches over the last five -- she'd gone 2-4 in those matches prior to Madrid) to end the Charleston/Miami champ's season's-best 15-match winning streak.

Finally with a gust of wind behind her, Sabalenka ended teenager Mirra Andreeva's tournament in straights, then rallied from 6-1/4-2 down vs. Rybakina (though she was one overhit swing volley away from going MP down) and won a 3rd set TB to return to the Madrid final (her 3rd in 4 years, having already won twice over then-#1's Ash Barty and Iga Swiatek) and hold onto her #2 ranking.

In a worthy addition to the 1-vs-2 oeuvre the spreads throughout WTA history, Sabalenka faced off with Swiatek in a second straight Madrid final. She held break leads twice in the 3rd, and had three MP chances (2 at 6-5, then another in a deciding TB) to repeat as the tournament's singles champ. She just couldn't keep the ball in the court on the very biggest points, committing UE on two of her three MP, then three straight to end the match after seeing her last MP at 7-6 in the breaker.

With the loss, Sabalenka falls to 2-8 in finals vs. Top 10 players this decade.



Fresh off her title run in Stuttgart, Rybakina threatened to double-up any other player on tour with a *sixth* final appearance less five months into the new season. She posted straight sets wins over Lucia Bronzetti, Mayar Sherif and Sara Bejlek. Then things got complicated.

In an all-KAZ QF with Yulia Putintseva, Rybakina staged a comeback from 5-2 down in the 3rd, saving a pair of MP while sweeping the final five games of the match to improve to 22-1 since her MTB loss in Melbourne to Anna Blinkova.

Already the first to defeat Iga Swiatek twice on clay, Rybakina found herself two points from an opportunity to try to do it three times. Against Sabalenka in the SF, despite losing a 6-1/4-2 lead, Rybakina still served for the match at 5-4, and at 30/30 had a clear path to a MP, only to pull a swing volley forehand. Taken to a 3rd set, the Kazakh stayed close at 5-5, but couldn't convert on two BP for a second chance to serve for the win, then lost a 7-5 deciding TB.

It's her first on-court loss on clay since a 2nd Round exit *last* year in Madrid (vs. Kalinskaya).

Rybakina is now 5-1 in '24 semis, with her 16-match undefeated clay run dating back to 2023 now over (it wasn't a winning streak, as she had a walkover due to illness after win #8 at last year's RG), and next heads to Rome as the defending champion.
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SURPRISES: Yulia Putintseva/KAZ and Guiomar Maristany/ESP
...no matter what, Putintseva is gonna Putintseva.

After already having had a fine spring, including posting a 4th Round result at Indians Wells and QF in Miami, Putintseva made it back-to-back 1000 QF in Madrid after getting wins over Yuan Yue, Zheng Qinwen (ret.), Caroline Dolehide and Dasha Kasatkina. She then had Elena Rybakina on the ropes, winning the opening set, having a BP shot at 4-4 in the 2nd, then leading 5-2 in the 3rd, serving for the win at 5-3, and even holding double-MP on Rybakina's serve.

Of course, there's also the rest. Putintseva lost the match, as she never won another game after reaching MP at 5-2, 15/40, falling to 0-4 in QF matches this season.

Putintseva in annually good for 2 or 3 losses after holding MP. Coming into Madrid, she had managed to avoid any such WTA MD defeats in '24, and had even won one match after being *down* MP. She did lose a BJK Cup match after holding MP a few weeks ago, so the loss to Rybakina "unofficially* allows her to meet her season "quota," and it's only early May.

Putintseva will still climb nine spots to #41.



25-year old Spaniard Maristany fell a round short of her biggest career final in the Lleida 125, but maintains her upward progresssion in '24.

After picking up her biggest career title in a $50K challenger in January, the #290-ranked Maristany became the lowest-ranked SF+ player in a WTA or 125 event so far this year with her run this week, doing so after getting MD wins over Nao Hibino and Arantxa Rus (her first Top 50 win). She ultimately fell to Mayar Sherif in the semis, but will rise to a new career-high of #244 on Monday.


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VETERANS: Danielle Collins/USA and Madison Keys/USA
...since she's walking off into the sunset once it's over, Collins has clearly decided to go pedal-to-the-metal throughout the '24 season. It's proven to produce the most exciting storyline of the season, but she's not going to win *every* match.

Already with Miami and Charleston titles under the belt, Collins brought her traveling farewell tour to Europe for the first time in Madrid. With a pair of spirited contests, going three sets vs. both Olga Danilovic (wrapping up after midnight on her sixth MP in a deciding TB, after the Serb has served for the match) and Jaqueline Cristian (from a set down), Collins' career-best winning streak stood at 15.

Having produced her best career result on clay in a 1000 event (she reached the RG QF in '20), she took the 1st vs. defending champ Aryna Sabalenka in the 4th Round before the Belarusian finally seized the momentum in the 3rd to improve her career record in their head-to-head series to 5-0.

Though Collins' current run is over, the three-event, three-surface, two-continent stretch saw her raise her ranking from #53 to #15. And she still has more than six months to play with before it's all over. Well, unless she changes her mind. But since she's been pretty emphatic that that is *not* happening, with a catalog of reasons for why, at this point it just wouldn't really be polite to question it.

Right, Danielle...?



Meanwhile, with Garbine Muguruza now settled up with history, Keys stands alone shoulder-to-shoulder with Alona Ostapenko as one of the two players on tour who bring the most mystery to every match they play (i.e. they could literally beat *anyone*, or go down in UE flames in a bagel set to anyone else).

Personally, I've always found those traits with Ostapenko at times either endearing and/or exhilarating, while with Muguruza it mostly sowed frustration. With Keys, it's always been supremely aggravating and eye-rolling, and has always led me to habitually -- unlike the other two -- often disregard/forget about her being a force on tour, mostly because -- also unlike the other two -- it's never seemed possible they she could *ever* hold her powerful game together long enough to win the *biggest* titles to be had. To date, even with a slam final and five semis under her belt, that notion has proven out.

Of course, such a mindset when it comes to Keys also leads to her often seeming to "sneak up" on this space -- usually with the two or three really good results in big events that she gets every season -- and make me wonder how she's *still* in the Top 20 after having seemingly not been heard from in what *feels* like ages. She'll be at #16 on Monday.

Over a week and a half in Madrid, we saw the competing sides of the Keys game. In one case, all in one match. In the end, though, she was swiftly bundled out of the event by Iga Swiatek in the SF with Keys' blend of unforced errors and inconsistency eventually overwhelming her ability to (albeit almost blindly sometimes) blow just about anyone off the court off the ground (mostly with her well-clocked forehand).

Keys didn't start her '24 campaign until Indian Wells, and arrived in Madrid at 3-3 on the season (and 3-9 in the event during her career, with eight 1r/2r exits). She strung together wins over Irina-Camelia Begu, Liudmila Samsonova and Coco Gauff, the latter being Keys' 27th Top 10 victory. The win put her into her first QF since a U.S. Open SF last summer. Just reaching the 3rd Round had been significant for Keys, as combined with her I.W. 4th Round and Miami 3rd it marked the first time since 2016 that she'd gotten so far in three consecutive 1000 events (that season, she posted QF-3r-F-F-QF-SF runs in 1000s from Miami though Beijing).



Another Top 10 win followed, this time over Ons Jabeur after dropping the 1st set at love, but taking out Swiatek on clay proved a bridge too far as she fell 6-1/6-3 in 1:10. Keys *has* defeated the Pole in the past, getting her lone career #1 win in Cincinnati in '22.

One often thinks of hard court (and maybe grass) when recalling Keys' best results, but she *did* have back-to-back SF/QF results in Paris in 2018-19, though she hasn't reached a final on the red dirt in eight years (she won a green clay title in Charleston in '19). In the 2020s, with her 4-1 Madrid W/L stats included, she's moved over .500 on the surface in the decade at 16-14.
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COMEBACKS: Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA and Katerina Siniakova/CZE
...though nestled inside the Top 20 (#14) and with an AO 3rd Round and SF (Abu Dhabi) on her record this season, Haddad Maia stood at just 10-11 on the year when she began play in Madrid. With points for a pair of good results a year ago -- Rome QF, RG SF -- dropping off her totals soon, the Brazilian needed to get something going.

Wins over Sara Errani, Emma Navarro and Maria Sakkari (Top 10 win #11, second in '24) did the trick, as Haddad Maia reached her third career 1000 QF (and first since Rome).

She staged a comeback vs. Iga Swiatek in the final eight, rallying from 4-1 down to take the 1st set, only to then be granted just two games in the final two sets combined. Still, it was a productive two weeks that could set Haddad Maia up for the rest of the spring clay swing (and maybe the grass, too).



Meanwhile, the spring hadn't been kind to Siniakova. She retired from the 2nd Round in Miami, missed a month, then returned in Madrid and fell in the 1st Round. At the same time, a likely Hall of Famer for her doubles success, the Czech hasn't even take the court in WD since Indian Wells, *and* in recent weeks saw her '24 partner (Storm Hunter) suffer an Achilles injury that brought her season to a premature end.

With the two-week run of Madrid, 125 events were available this past week for those wishing to get more time on the dirt. With multiple wins in just one of her last eight events, Siniakova signed up... and never lost. Wins over Alycia Parks, Lina Gjorcheska, Ashlyn Krueger and recent Bogota champ Camila Osorio put her into her first singles final since winning a tour-level title last October.

Facing off with six-time 125 champ (the category record-holder) Mayar Sherif, Siniakova claimed the title, 6-4/4-6/6-3, handing the Egyptian her first singles final loss since August '21 (ending an eight final run which included her maiden WTA crown).


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FRESH FACES: Mirra Andreeva/RUS and Lois Boisson/FRA
...Andreeva carried over her opening week roll in Madrid -- during which she knocked off Taylor Townsend, Linda Noskova and Marketa Vondrousova to equal her '23 tournament debut 4th Round run -- by rallying from 5-2 down in the 1st (w/ a SP against) vs. Jasmine Paolini to win in straights, celebrating her maiden QF result on her 17th birthday.

With her next opponent, defending champ Aryna Sabalenka, having finally gotten her game in tune in her previous match win over Danielle Collins (ending her 15-game streak), Andreeva got a version of the Belarusian that we hadn't seen since her title run in Melbourne in January. Sabalenka won 6-1/6-4, sending the Hordette off to improve still more before their *next* match-up.

If the Sabalenka defeat wasn't enough of a reminder that Mirra is essentially still a "work in progress"...



Already an ITF circuit star in '24, 20-year old Pastry Boisson (#191) raised her level of competition this past week in the 125 event in Saint-Malo, and lifted her game accordingly to pick up her biggest career title, her fourth singles win this season (all on clay... so that RG wild card should be forthcoming).

A wild card in *this* event, Boisson knocked off Varvara Gracheva, Solana Sierra, Katie Volynets and Alize Cornet to reach the final, then rallied from 6-4/5-3 back vs. countrywoman Chloe Paquet (who twice served for the match) to win in three sets.

With the crown, Boisson stands at 31-6 at all levels this season, and will climb to a career high of #152 on Monday. She's 23-1 in her last 24.


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ITF PLAYERS: Julia Riera/ARG and Moyuka Uchijima/JPN
...Riera, 21, is most definitely a player on the rise. Last year, in her WTA tour debut, she reached a SF in Rabat. This January, she qualified and reached the 3rd Round in Brisbane, upsetting Ekaterina Alexandrova and taking Linda Noskova to three sets. She's cracked the Top 100 this season, won a $75K challenger last month, and went 5-0 in leading Argentina into the BJK Cup Playoffs.

This week, Riera picked up her biggest career title at the $100K in Wiesbaden (GER), defeating Dalma Galfi, Panna Udvardy and Darja Semenistaja before outlasting Jule Niemeier in a three-set final.

On a 15-1 run, and sporting a 19-3 mark on clay in '24, Riera should be making her slam MD debut in Paris later this month. She'll be at a career high #93 on Monday.



Meanwhile, in Gifu (JPN), 22-year old Uchijimi picked up her third ITF title of the season, and second $100K crown in a month (winning on hard court, after a previous run on clay in April).

Uchijima posted wins over Maddison Inglis and Arianne Hartono, then defeated Arina Rodionova (the Aussie's best result since her Top 100 debut at age 34 earlier this season) in the final by a 6-3/6-3 score.

Also with an additional $50K win in January, Uchijimi is 27-9 this season.
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JUNIOR STAR: Mayu Crossley/JPN
...in just her sixth pro event, 17-year old Crossley reached her first singles final, going from qualifier to finalist in the $35K challenger in Boca Raton, Florida.

After winning a 3rd set TB over Allie Kiick in the semis to advance, Crossley fell to Sweden's Kajsa Rinaldo Persson, 7-5/7-6.

Crossley (former girls' #5) has won a J300 crown, reached a J500 final and played in another J300 semi in her only junior events in '24.
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DOUBLES: Cristina Bucsa/Sara Sorribes Tormo, ESP/ESP
...since the start of last year, Bucsa has become something of a potential doubles star. Though she'd had some WD success on the ITF circuit (winning 9 titles in 19 finals), Bucsa hadn't played it much at tour level until the last few seasons. Coming into this week, she was just 2-4 in slams and 0-4 in 1000 events, but had teamed with three different partners to reach three finals since late '22 (winning a pair of titles the last two seasons, including at Bogota last month).

Teaming with Sorribes Tormo for the first time in Madrid, the duo became the event's maiden Spanish female champions (in singles or doubles), knocking off Stuttgart champs Chan Hao-ching & Veronika Kudermetova, as well as Pavlyuchenkova/Potapova before facing veterans Barbora Krejcikova & Laura Siegemund (w/ a combined 32 titles, including 8 WD slam crowns) for the title. The Spaniards dominated play, winning 6-0/6-2.

While Bucsa gets title #3, Sorribes Tormo (who had a good first week in singles, then got *two* games off Iga in the final two sets of a three-setter) improves to 5-1 in tour finals, picking up her second career 1000 crown ('23 Beijing). Additionally, while Bucsa now has a big title under her belt, she also earned the respect of no less than Barbora Krejcikova on Sunday. The Czech had such a fear of Bucsa's great play that during the final's brief mid-match delay she told her coach and partner Siegemund that she didn't want to hit anything in Bucsa's direction (it just wouldn't be a smart move).



Hmmm, I hear that Krejcikova's old doubles partner might be needing a regular playing mate the rest of this year (just a thought).
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WHEELCHAIR: Angelica Bernal/COL
...in the week before the start of the World Team Cup competition in Antalya (TUR), #10-ranked Bernal swept the titles at the Series 2 Kemal Sahin Cup in the city.

The 29-year old Colombian was the top seed, and took the singles crown to match her biggest career win, defeating the likes of Viktoriia Lvova (QF), Lucy Shuker (#3 seed, SF) and 18-year old Pastry Ksenia Chasteau in a 6-0/6-4 final.

Chasteau, the current WC junior #1, had upset the #2 (Manami Tanaka), #4 (Maria Florencia Moreno) and #8 (Charlotte Fairbank) seeds en route to the final. She's the current pro WC #30, and to date hasn't won a title above the Futures event level.

Bernal also took the doubles crown, teaming with Moreno for the victory.


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kosova-font

[Madrid 4th Rd.+]



1. Madrid Final - Iga Swiatek def. Aryna Sabalenka
...7-5/4-6/7-6(7). With Sabalenka looking to defend and win her third Madrid title, while Swiatek was trying to win her first at the last big clay event she had yet to claim, the rematch of the 2023 final turned into a three-hour drama in which both players saved MP, Swiatek stayed alive by upping the MPH on her shots in the deciding set and, ultimately, Sabalenka went from holding MP to being dethroned in a three-point stretch in which she produced a trio of UE to end the match.

The Belarusian had been the better player in the opening set, but Swiatek still managed to take it. Sabalenka's inability to convert any of three BP when up 3-2 was key, though she also denied the Pole multiple BP after trailing 15/40 but holding to maintain an on-serve 4-3 edge. Sabalenka didn't allow a point on her first serve until the score was 5-5, but once Swiatek broke through she got the break and then held to take the set at 7-5. Coming into the match, Swiatek was 75-0 in 1000 event matches after winning the opening set.

Sabalenka twice went up a break in the 2nd, only to see Swiatek immediately break back. It only delayed the inevitable, as Sabalenka began to outhit the world #1, finally getting the break to take the set 6-4.

Swiatek had two BP chances at 1-1, but Sabalenka's power staved off both. The two exchanged breaks in games 4 & 5. Swiatek upped the power on her groundstrokes, but Sabalenka still maintained her slight edge, holding from love/30 for 5-4, then two games later for 6-5. In game 12 on Swiatek's serve, Sabalenka held a pair of MP, pushing a forehand down the line wide on the first, then seeing Swiatek's forehand winner wipe away the second. Iga got the hold to force the deciding TB as the match clock ticked to 3:00.

The first mini-break of the TB went to Sabalenka, who led 4-3. But a deep return from Swiatek produced an error that got it back. Sabalenka's long forehand gave Swiatek her first MP at 6-5, but the Belarusian erased it with an ace. A long Swiatek forehand gave Sabalenka her third MP at 7-6, but a long backhand down the line kept the title out of reach.

As it turned out, Sabalenka wouldn't win another point, as two additional back-to-back UE sealed her fate: a long return that gave Swiatek a second MP at 8-7, then a long backhand into the corner that ended it after 3:11.



Swiatek's first Madrid win improved her career record in WTA finals to 20-4 (w/ 8 straight wins since losing to Sabalenka in last year's Madrid title match). 7-3 vs. Sabalenka in their career series (now 3-2 since their SF clash at the '22 U.S. Open), the Pole is 11-1 in finals this decade vs. Top 10 players.



Extra points to Iga for this (IYKYK)...



If the WTA had even a shred of marketing sense they'd turn the whole notion of one of their top-ranked players calling her sport "boring" on it's head and score major points by self-deprecatingly laughing at the daily absurdity (both good and bad) of the women's game by highlighting just how "un-boring" it is. But, well, you know.



I mean, is there anything more "boring" in tennis than the first set and a half of a best-of-five match?
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2. Madrid QF - Elena Rybakina def. Yulia Putintseva
...4-6/7-6(4)/7-5. The all-KAZ affair goes the distance, with Rybakina once again showing her mental fortitude (while Putintseva reminds everyone that no one loses more matches after holding MP than she does).

Putintseva had and squandered many opportunities in this match, including not converting a BP at 4-4 in the 2nd set that could have given her a chance to serve to end things in straights. Naturally, she whacked her left thigh so hard afterward that she left a noticeable bruise behind. Meanwhile, Rybakina's long reply on a short ball on SP at 6-5 led to a TB to stay alive, which she did with a 7-4 win.

In the 3rd, Putintseva couldn't put away a BP for 3-1, but did so two games later to lead 4-2. She held at love for 5-2, then saw Rybakina's three consecutive UE give her double MP at 15/40 in the next game. Putintseva produced a great drop shot on the first MP that should have won it, but Rybakina's response was even better as she got to the ball and scooped it crosscourt just over the net and out of reach.



Rybakina then fired an ace on MP #2, and soon secured the hold to stay alive. In her next two service games, Putintseva fell behind love/40. She was broken as she served for the match at 5-3, then broken at love at 5-5 as Rybakina earned her shot to serve out the win. She took a 40/love lead, missed on all three MP (including with a DF and forehand UE), but converted on her fourth try. As expected, Putintseva then killed her guilty racket with three crushing blows to the court surface.

Now, here's the actual final MP video, as correctly posted by Tennis Channel (more in a moment)...



And here's the post the WTA put up, using that truly aggravating zoom-in technique they they seem to like to employ, moving the camera back-and-forth in a way that almost makes me cross-eyed sometimes, and during which you can't see the full scoreboard in the corner to get the full context. In this case, you don't even see Rybakina after MP. Though we do get a good view of Putintseva murdering her racket, though... so there's that.


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3. Madrid SF - Aryna Sabalenka def. Elena Rybakina
...1-6/7-5/7-6(5). Rybakina escaped the Pit of Putintseva, but the Aryna Ambush proved to be her end in Madrid.

Rybakina seemingly had yet another final within her grasp, leading 6-1/4-2. Sabalenka got the 2nd set back on serve at 4-4, but immediately fell behind love/40 a game later and Rybakina soon had a chance to serve for the match. From love/30 down, Rybakina reached 30-all and was a swing volley forehand away from holding a MP, only to pull the shot wide. Opportunity missed, she then delivered a backhand error to end the following point and cede the momentum to Sabalenka.

Sabalenka held at love for a 6-5 lead, then on her third SP knotted the match when Rybakina dumped a volley into the net.

Rybakina pulled things back together in the 3rd, but at 5-5 failed to convert on a pair of BP chances (including on a long forehand down the line as Sabalenka attempted to race back across the baseline from the far side of the court). Sabalenka got the hold, then ran off to a 5-1 lead in the deciding TB. She reached triple MP at 6-3.

Rybakina's penchant for saving MP continued, for a bit, as she collected back-to-back points, only to see Sabalenka end things with a service winner on her third MP.



Had Rybakina won, then taken the title, Sabalenka would have fallen to #4 in the rankings. With the win here, Sabalenka kept her grasp on the #2 ranking over #3 Coco Gauff.
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4. Madrid 4th Rd. - Aryna Sabalenka def. Danielle Collins
...4-6/6-4/6-3. Collins' 15-match winning streak comes to a close as Sabalenka wins her third straight three-setter in Madrid.


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5. Madrid 4th Rd. - Madison Keys def. Coco Gauff
...7-6(4)/4-6/6-4. Wins over Arantxa Rus (love & love) and Dayana Yastremska had Gauff into her first Madrid 4th Round, but Keys takes a 3-2 in their head-to-head with her second straight win (w/ Eastbourne '23) in the series (in their first meeting on clay).



Following the match, Gauff stood at a (would-be) career-best #2 in the live rankings, but ultimately stayed at #3 after Sabalenka reached the final.
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6. Lleida 125 QF - Camila Osorio def. Magdalena Frech
...4-6/7-6(8)/7-6(4). A Colombian comeback, as Osorio loses her 5-3 2nd set lead as Frech breaks her from 40/love down to take a 6-5 edge. Serving for the match, the Pole went up 30/love but lost the game and went to a TB. Osorio took a 4-1 lead, but Frech held three MP (at 6-5, 7-6 and 8-7) before the South American rallied to win it 10-8.



In the 3rd, the pair traded breaks at the mid-way pint of the set, then went to a deciding TB. Frech led 4-3, but Osorio swept the final four points.
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7. Saint-Malo 125 Final - Lois Boisson def. Chloe Paquet
...4-6/7-6(3)/6-3. In an all-Pastry final on French clay, Paquet led 6-4/5-3. She served for the title at 5-4 and 6-5, but could only get as close as 30/30 in both games.

Boisson got the break, then raced to a 5-0 TB lead before leveling the match. After getting an early break edge in the 3rd, Boisson carried things out to their natural conclusion, winning for the 23rd time in her last 24 outings this year.
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8. Lleida 125 1st Rd. - Guiomar Maristany def. Nao Hibino
...6-4/1-6/6-1. Since going 2-0 (including a win over Putintseva) while taking the lead for Japan in a defeat of Kazakhstan to reach the BJK Finals, Hibino has gone 0-3.
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9. Saint-Malo 125 1st Rd. - Peyton Stearns def. Margaux Rouvroy 6-4/6-1
...not a three-setter, but Stearns gets on the board with a win...

Saint-Malo 125 2nd Rd. - Peyton Stearns def. Taylah Preston 6-1/3-6/6-1
...but one *does* come a round later, ending the Bannerette's six-match losing streak in three-set affairs. Hmmm, I wonder what FanDuel's odds were for *that* happening?

Saint-Malo 125 QF - Chloe Paquet def. Peyton Stearns 7-5/2-6/6-0
...well, it was fun while it lasted.
===============================================



10. Saint-Malo 125 1st Rd. - Jessika Ponchet def. Anna Blinkova
...7-5/6-3. Blinkova drops her fifth straight since back-to-back wins over Pliskova and Pegula in Indian Wells, and is 5-9 since winning the 42-point TB over Rybakina in Melbourne.
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11. Lleida 125 1st Rd. - Sofia Kenin def. Irene Burillo Escorihuela 2-6/6-4/6-4
...it took an opponent ranked #235 in a 125 event, and staging a comeback from 6-2/3-1 down, but Kenin finally ends her nine-match losing streak in Lleida.

Lleida 125 2nd Rd. - Ashlyn Krueger def. Sofia Kenin 3-6/7-5/7-5
...a round later, Kenin rallied again, this time from 6-3/5-3, with Krueger serving at 5-4. After saving a pair BP in game 11, Kenin broke Krueger to force a 3rd. Once there, Kenin fell behind 0-3 before knotting things at 5-5, only to see Krueger end the match with a break and hold of her own.
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12. Lleida 125 Final - Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Ellen Perez def. Katarzyna Piter/Mayar Sherif
...7-5/6-2. The #2 seeds in Madrid, Melichar-Martinez/Perez were upset in the 1st Round (by Pavlyuchenkova/Potapova), but then moved on to Lleida and picked up their first 125 crown as a pair.

They've gone 2-10 in WTA finals since the start of 2022 (w/ a win in San Diego this year).


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13. Madrid Final - Cristina Bucsa/Sara Sorribes Tormo def. Barbora Krejcikova/Laura Siegemund
...6-0/6-2. Krejcikova/Siegemund had knocked off the #1 (Hsieh/Mertens) and #4 (Gauff/Townsend) seeds en route to the final, losing no sets.

But the vets (in their fourth event together) came up well short vs. the first-time Spanish duo in the final, as Bucsa led the way and Krejcikova proved to be the most error-prone player on the court.

The loss prevented former (future?) double partners Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova from *both* lifting trophies on the same Sunday, as the latter won in singles at the Lleida 125 event. Their most recent multiple trophy-winning weekend *without* being side-by-side remains last June in Berlin (Siniakova WD) and Birmingham (Krejcikova WD).



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14. Saint-Malo 125 SF - Lois Boisson def. Alize Cornet
...3-6/6-1/6-4. Cornet puts on a good run in Saint-Malo in the week after announcing that she'd retire at Roland Garros. She'd come into the week at 3-9 on the year with eight consecutive losses.

Paris will present a sad farewell, but we've gotten "bonus Alize" the last two seasons, as Cornet had originally intended to retire after 2022, only to open the year with a QF run in Melbourne, reach the 3rd Round or better in the other three majors, and play in a WTA final in what was her best season in quite a while.

Things haven't gone as well since then, and since her last deep tour-level run (a SF in Rouen in October) she's 11-16. In 2023-24, she's posted 1r-1r-2r-1r-1r results in slam play.
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15. $35K Santa Margherita di Pula ITA Final - Jil Teichmann def. Andrea Lazaro Garcia
...6-3/6-4. It happened in a very different environment than some of those on which Teichmann has occasionally starred over the years, but Teichmann's first singles title since 2019 (at tour level Palermo, her second WTA win that year) in her first final since '21 (Cincinnati 1000) surely *is* something to at least keep an eye on.

The 26-year old Swiss has only played in a handful of matches (all in qualifying) in tour events in '24, and is currently ranked just outside the Top 200, but it *was* less than two years ago that she was #21 and starring in the biggest pre-RG clay events on the schedule. She reached in Madrid semis in '22, then the Rome QF, leading into a Round of 16 run in Paris.

Teichmann's win over Lazaro Garcia came a week after she lost to the same Spaniard in the same city in *another* $35K challenger, only then in the semis.
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16. $15K Osijek CRO Final - Amarissa Toth def. Denisa Hindova
...6-2/6-1. Toth improves to 21-4 this season, picking up her second title of the year.

The Hungarian now stands at 40-12 since "the incident," having won four challenger crowns. She'll crack the Top 400 on Monday.

Since then, Zhang Shuai has gone 0-7, and is riding a 20-match losing streak. Her last singles win came on January 31, 2023.
===============================================
HM- $100K Bonita Springs USA Final - Lulu Sun def. Maya Joint
...6-1/6-3. Former Texas Longhorn defeats current Texas Longhorn, as 23-year old Sun (a former SUI rep, but now playing for NZL, where she was born and whose flag she played under a tiny bit as a junior) defeats the Michigan-born Aussie, 18.

Sun's seventh career title will lift her to a new career high of #132.
===============================================






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Lleida 125 Final - Katerina Siniakova def. Mayar Sherif
...6-4/4-6/6-3. Sherif is the all-time 125 title leader, having gone 6-0 in such finals coming into this match. It didn't matter much to Siniakova, though.

The loss here topped off a multiple-loss weekend for the Egyptian, who was also in the doubles final alongside Katarzyna Piter.
===============================================





Another format change for BJK Cup play (and a good one, I think), as the groups are gone for the Finals and a bracket set-up is in place, meaning *every* tie will be a battle to advance a round closer to the final.

You have to wonder if this might be an attempt to lure more big-name players to Seville (the bracket format means fewer matches) at the end of a season that will also include an even bigger "national" event in the Olympics, and with the BJK finale taking place just days after the completion of the WTAF in Riyadh.



A little checkmark for that all-South American BRA/ARG face-off. Meanwhile, *again* Ukraine is in position to host a tie, but will have to choose a more beneficial neutral site.

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So the WTA's new business partner just secretly sentenced a woman to 11 years in prison for what the Saudi government called "terrorist offenses" that essentially amounted to her "choice of clothing and support for women’s rights" (such as an end to guardianship rules).



Let's see if any of the players utter a peep about this. I suspect not.






This past week (April 30), 31 years ago in Hamburg...






A Madonna-thon on what was a record-breaking weekend...







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*SWIATEK vs. SABALENKA*
2021 WTAF rr (hc) - Sabalenka 2-6/6-2/7-5
2022 Doha QF (hc) - Swiatek 6-2/6-3
2022 Stuttgart Final (rci) - Swiatek 6-2/6-2
2022 Rome SF (rc) - Swiatek 6-2/6-1
2022 U.S. Open SF (hc) - Swiatek 3-6/6-1/6-4
2022 WTA Finals SF (hci) - Sabalenka 6-2/2-6/6-1
2023 Stuttgart Final (rci) - Swiatek 6-3/6-4
2023 Madrid Final (rc) - Sabalenka 6-3/3-6/6-3
2023 WTA Finals SF (hc) - Swiatek 6-3/6-2
2024 Madrid Final (rc) - Swiatek 7-5/4-6/7-6(7)

*2024 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
3 - IGA SWIATEK, POL = 1000(3)
3 - Elena Rybakina, KAZ = 500(3)
2 - Danielle Collins, USA = 1000,500
2 - Alona Ostapenko, LAT = 500(2)
[2020-24]
20 - 1/2/8/6/3 = 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
7 - 1/0/1/2/3 = Elena Rybakina
6 - 0/1/0/4/1 = Coco Gauff

*RECENT WTA #1 vs. #2 MATCH-UPS*
2014 Brisbane Final - #1 S.Williams d. #2 Azarenka
2014 Miami Final - #1 S.Williams d. #2 Li
2015 Australian Open Final - #1 S.Williams d. #2 Sharapova
2018 Australian Open Final - #2 Wozniacki d. #1 Halep
2019 WTA Finals SF - #1 Barty d. #2 Ka.Pliskova
2023 Stuttgart Final - #1 Swiatek d. #2 Sabalenka
2023 Madrid Final - #2 Sabalenka d. #1 Swiatek
2023 WTA Finals SF - #2 Swiatek d. #1 Sabalenka
2024 Madrid Final - #1 Swiatek d. #2 Sabalenka

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2024*
5 - Elena Rybakina (3-2)
3 - IGA SWIATEK (3-0)
3 - ARYNA SABALENKA (1-2)
3 - Dasha Kasatkina (0-3)
2 - Danielle Collins (2-0)
2 - Alona Ostapenko (2-0)
2 - Marta Kostyuk (0-2)

*MOST WTA FINALS - 2020-24*
23 - 1/2/9/8/3 = SWIATEK (20-3)
18 - 3/3/3/6/3 = SABALENKA (9-9)
17 - 5/0/3/4/5 = Rybakina (7-10)
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)
11 - 0/4/2/2/2 = Kasatkina (4-7)

*RECENT ALL-TOP 10 FINALS*
[2023]
Doha - #1 Swiatek def. #4 Pegula
Indian Wells - #10 Rybakina def. #2 Sabalenka
Stuttgart - #1 Swiatek def. #2 Sabalenka
Madrid - #2 Sabalenka def. #1 Swiatek
Washington - #7 Gauff def. #9 Sakkari
US Open - #6 Gauff def. #2 Sabalenka
WTAF - #2 Swiatek def. #5 Pegula
[2024]
Brisbane - #4 Rybakina def. #2 Sabalenka
Doha - #1 Swiatek def. #4 Rybakina
Indian Wells - #1 Swiatek def. #9 Sakkari
Madrid - #1 Swiatek def. #2 Sabalenka
==MOST FINALS IN 2020s - WON/LOST=
12 (11-1) - SWIATEK
10 (2-8) - SABALENKA
5 (0-5) - Sakkari
3 (2-1) - Barty, Rybakina
3 (1-2) - Kontaveit, Pegula
2 (2-0) - Gauff
2 (0-2) - Jabeur
1 (1-0) - Badosa, Garcia, Halep, Muguruza
1 (0-1) - Andreescu, Krejcikova, Pliskova

*2024 WTA TITLES, MOST SURFACES*
2 - Danielle Collins = Hard,Green Clay
2 - Elena Rybakina = Hard,Red Clay
2 - IGA SWIATEK = Hard,Red Clay
[finals]
2 - Danielle Collins = Hard,Green Clay
2 - Dasha Kasatkina = Hard,Green Clay
2 - Marta Kostyuk = Hard,Red Clay
2 - Elena Rybakina = Hard,Red Clay
2 - ARYNA SABALENKA = Hard,Red Clay
2 - IGA SWIATAK = Hard,Red Clay

*CAREER WTA TITLES ON CLAY (active)*
9 - Simona Halep
9 - Venus Williams
8 - IGA SWIATEK
7 - Sara Errani
6 - Elina Svitolina
5 - Petra Kvitova
[clay titles in 2020s]
8 - IGA SWIATEK (1/1/3/2/1)
2 - Danielle Collins (0/1/0/0/1)
2 - Simona Halep (2/0/0/-/0)
2 - Ons Jabeur (0/0/1/1/0)
2 - Barbora Krejcikova (0/2/0/0/0)
2 - Camila Osorio (0/1/0/0/1)
2 - Bernarda Pera (0/0/2/0/0)
2 - Tatjana Maria (0/0/1/1/0)
2 - Elena Rybakina (0/0/0/1/1)
2 - Aryna Sabalenka (0/1/0/1/0)
2 - Elina Svitolina (1/0/0/1/0)

*2024 TITLES FROM MATCH POINT DOWN*
Linz - Alona Ostapenko, LAT (1 MP vs. Tauson, 2r)
Madrid - Iga Swiatek, POL (3 MP vs. Sabalenka, F)
[total titles from MP down in 2020s]
2 - Barbora Krejcikova (2021 Roland Garros, 2023 Dubai)
2 - Alona Ostapenko (2022 Dubai, 2024 Linz)
2 - IGA SWIATEK (2021 Rome, 2024 Madrid)

*TOTAL MP SAVED EN ROUTE TO TITLE - 2020s*
5 - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (2022 Monterrey)
4 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (2023 Dubai)
3 - Jessie Pegula, USA (2022 Guadalajara)
3 - Belinda Bencic, SUI (2023 Abu Dhabi)
3 - Katerina Siniakova, CZE (2023 Nanchang)
3 - IGA SWIATEK, POL (2024 Madrid)
2 - Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ITA (2023 Lausanne - 2 matches)
2 - Naomi Osaka, JPN (2021 Australian Open)
2 - Iga Swiatek, POL (2021 Rome)

*MOST WTA SF in 2024*
6 - ELENA RYBAKINA (5-1)
5 - IGA SWIATEK (2-2 +W)
3 - ARYNA SABALENKA (3-0)
3 - Dasha Kasatkina (2-0 +W)
3 - Marta Kostyuk (2-1)
3 - Ekaterina Alexandrova (1-2)
3 - Coco Gauff (1-2)
3 - Emma Navarro (1-2)
3 - Jessie Pegula (0-2 +L)

*CAREER WTA FINALS (active)*
83 - Venus Williams
55 - Caroline Wozniacki
42 - Simona Halep
42 - Petra Kvitova
41 - Victoria Azarenka
33 - Karolina Pliskova
31 - Angelque Kerber
30 - Vera Zvonareva
27 - ARYNA SABALENKA
24 - IGA SWIATEK
21 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
21 - Elina Svitolina

*2024 MOST 3:00 MATCHES (WTA/GS MD only)*
3 - Dasha Saville (1-2)
2 - Kamilla Rakhimova (2-0)
2 - IGA SWIATEK (2-0)
2 - Wang Xiyu (2-0)
2 - Ekaterina Alexandrova (1-1)
2 - Ana Bogdan (1-1)
2 - Marta Kostyuk (1-1)
2 - Veronika Kudermetova (1-1)
2 - Laura Siegemund (1-1)
2 - Arantxa Rus (0-2)

*LONG WTA (MD only) WINNING STREAKS - 2020s*
37 - Iga Swiatek (2022; ended by Cornet)
18 - Iga Swiatek (2023-24; ended by Noskova)
17 - Simona Halep (2020; ended by Swiatek)
16 - Coco Gauff (2023; ended by Swiatek)
15 - DANIELLE COLLINS (2024; ended by Sabalenka)
13 - Liudmila Samsonova (2022; ended by Tomljanovic)
13 - Bernarda Pera (2022; ended by Samsonova)
13 - Aryna Sabalenka (2023; ended by Krejcikova)
13 - Elena Rybakina (2023; ended by Kvitova)

*2024 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
2 - CRISTINA BUCSA
2 - Chan Hao-ching
2 - Hsieh Su-wei
2 - Sofia Kenin
2 - Bethanie Mattek-Sands
2 - Elise Mertens

*MADRID/ROME FINALS (Madrid started '09); w/ RG result*
2009 Dinara Safina (W-W)+ RU
2013 Serena Williams (W-W)+ W
2017 Simona Halep (W-RU)+ RU
2022 Ons Jabeur (W-RU)+ 1r






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The greatest "race" of ALL time...




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FREE LINK




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All for now.
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