Backspin Sites

Friday, June 7, 2024

RG.13- The Day Before the Day








=DAY 13 NOTES=
...Jasmine Paolini will play the biggest match of her career tomorrow, but she's still working on her backup plan.



Paolini and Sara Errani advanced to their first slam doubles final as a duo today with a semifinal win over Marta Kostyuk/Gabriela Ruse. They'll face first-time partners Coco Gauff & Katerina Siniakova (def. Dolehide/Krawczyk) for the title.

Already two-time title winners this year as a team (including in Rome), this will be the Italians' fifth overall final together. So far they're 3-1. While Paolini will *also* be seeking her first career slam title here (after she does so in the women's final), Errani has already won almost everything (in WD) all this level. Just not in a long time.

Errani won a Career Doubles Slam with Roberta Vinci over a nine-major stretch from 2012-14, going 5-3 in major WD finals (they played three straight in Paris), but hasn't played for a slam crown since the 2014 Wimbledon. She won the RG doubles in her first final appearance in Paris in 2012, the same year she also reached the RG singles final (sound familiar?).

A third member of the WD final has also reached the s/d title matches in Paris in the same year (Gauff in '22), while Siniakova's former doubles partner (Barbora Krejcikova in '21) is the most recent woman to complete the RG sweep.

Gauff may be a slam singles champ and one-time doubles #1 at age 20, but she hasn't won a major WD crown to date. She and Caty McNally were RU in the '21 US, while she and Jessie Pegula were RU in the '22 RG.

Siniakova, of course, is a seven-time slam WD winner, taking all of them with Krejcikova from 2018-23. The Czechs completed their Career Doubles Slam at the U.S. Open in 2022 (and are the only duo to complete a Career Super Slam by winning all four majors, Olympic Gold and the WTAF). This is Siniakova's first slam final without her longtime WD partner since she teamed with still another Czech, Lucie Hradecka, to reach her maiden slam final at the 2017 U.S. Open.

...Diede de Groot will next attempt to sweep the singles/doubles titles at a 15th major (she's done it in Paris in 2019, 2021 and 2022) after advancing (w/ Aniek Van Koot) to the wheelchair doubles final today. She'll get to play a match at this slam vs. Yui Kamiji, after all, as while the Japanese vet lost uncharacteristically early in singles she and Kgothatso Montjane are back in the doubles final, which they won last year (def. de Groot and María Florencia Moreno, an odd pairing precipiated by Van Koot's injury absence). De Groot/Van Koot had won the previous five RG doubles titles.

...for the first time ever, a junior girls singles title will be determined via an all-Czech final.

Both #3 Laura Samson (def. Kristina Penickova) and #12 Tereza Valentova (def. #4 Tyra Caterina Grant) defeated Bannerette SF opponents on Friday to make the championship an all-Crusher affair. Thus, we're assured of a third Czech girl being the champ in Paris in the last four years.



Valentova is still alive for a s/d sweep, reaching the GD final with Renata Jamrichova. They'll face the all-U.S. duo of Grant and Iva Jovic, who defeated Czechs Samson and Alena Kovackova in their SF today. Grant is the RG girls' doubles defending champ ('23 w/ Clervie Ngounoue), and also won the AO GD title earlier this year (w/ Jovic).

...Roland Garros crowned its inaugural junior wheelchair champions today, and in both occasions on the girls' side the trophy was won (or shared) by a Pastry.



WC junior #1 Ksenia Chasteau defeated #2 Maylee Phelps of the U.S. in the final, 6-2/6-3, matching her win over the Bannerette roller in last year's U.S. Open junior final. The two teamed to take the doubles, defeating the Brazilian/Japanese duo of Vitoria Miranda and Yuma Takamuro in an 18-16 match-closing MTB in which the champions saved a total of 8 MP in the breaker (the first coming at 9-6), winning 3-6/6-0 [18-16].








*WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Iga Swiatek/POL vs. #12 Jasmine Paolini/ITA

=WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL=
#11 Errani/Paolini (ITA/ITA) vs. #5 Gauff/Siniakova (USA/CZE)

=MIXED DOUBLES FINAL=
#2 Siegemund/Roger-Vasselin (GER/FRA) def. #4 Krawczyk/N.Skupski (USA/GBR) 6-4/7-5

=WHEELCHAIR SINGLES FINAL=
#1 Diede de Groot/NED vs. Zhu Zhenzhen/CHN

=WHEELCHAIR DOUBLES FINAL=
#1 Kamiji/Montjane (JPN/RSA) vs. #2 de Groot/Van Koot (NED/NED)

=GIRLS SINGLES FINAL=
#12 Tereza Valentova/CZE vs. #3 Laura Samson/CZE

=GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL=
#4 Grant/Jovic (USA/USA) vs. #3 Jamrichova/Valentova (SVK/CZE)

=WHEELCHAIR GIRLS SINGLES FINAL=
#1 Ksenia Chasteau/FRA def. Maylee Phelps/USA 6-2/6-3

=WHEELCHAIR GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL=
Ksenia Chasteau/Maylee Phelps (FRA/USA) def. Vitoria Miranda/Yuma Takamuro (BRA/JPN) 3-6/6-0 (18-16)







...HONESTLY... ON DAY 13:


If they all also wore capri pants and sleeveless shirts I could take the Nadal imitations without rolling my eyes.




...OH, MUCHOVA (we've got to get her back)... ON DAY 13:




...JUSTINE ON IGA... ON DAY 13:
























kosova-font

*SWIATEK vs. IN RG WINNING STREAK (20)*
3 - Coco Gauff, USA
2 - Lesia Tsurenko, UKR
1 - Marie Bouzkova, CZE
1 - Cristina Bucsa, ESP
1 - Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
1 - Leolia Jeanjean, FRA
1 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS
1 - Danka Kovinic, MNE
1 - Claire Liu, USA
1 - Karolina Muchova, CZE
1 - Naomi Osaka, JPN
1 - Jessie Pegula, USA
1 - Anastasia Potapova, RUS
1 - Alison Riske-Amritraj, USA
1 - Marketa Vondrousova, CZE
1 - Wang Xinyu, CHN
1 - Zheng Qinwen, CHN
--
6 - USA
3 - CZE
2 - CHN
2 - RUS
2 - UKR
1 - BRA
1 - ESP
1 - FRA
1 - JPN
1 - MNE
--
F vs. Paolini/ITA

*2024 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
3 (3-0) = Cristina Bucsa
3 (2-0) = SARA ERRANI
3 (2-0) = JASMINE PAOLINI
3 (2-1) = Irina Khromacheva
3 (2-1) = Bethanie Mattek-Sands
3 (1-1) = KATERINA SINIAKOVA
3 (1-2) = Lyudmyla Kichenok
3 (1-2) = Nicole Melichar-Martinez
3 (1-2) = Ellen Perez

*ROLAND GARROS GIRLS FINALS - since 2008*
2008 Simona Halep/ROU def. Elena Bogdan/ROU
2009 Kristina Mladenovic/FRA def. Dasha Gavrilova/RUS
2010 Elina Svitolina/UKR def. Ons Jabeur/TUN
2011 Ons Jabeur/TUN def. Monica Puig/PUR
2012 Annika Beck/GER def. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova/SVK
2013 Belinda Bencic/SUI def. Antonia Lottner/GER
2014 Dasha Kasatkina/RUS def. Ivana Jorovic/SRB
2015 Paula Badosa/ESP def. Anna Kalinskaya/RUS
2016 Rebeka Masarova/SUI def. Amanda Anisimova/USA
2017 Whitney Osuigwe/USA def. Claire Liu/USA
2018 Coco Gauff/USA def. Caty McNally/USA
2019 Leylah Fernandez/CAN def. Emma Navarro/USA
2020 Elsa Jacquemot/FRA def. Alina Charaeva/RUS
2021 Linda Noskova/CZE def. Erika Andreeva/RUS
2022 Lucie Havlickova/CZE def. Solana Sierra/ARG
2023 Alina Korneeva/RUS def. Lucciana Perez Alarcon/PER
2024 Laura Samson/CZE vs. Tereza Valentova/CZE

*TCH/CZE ROLAND GARROS GIRLS' CHAMPIONS*
1972 Renata Tomanova
1975 Regina Marsikova
1978 Hana Mandlikova
2021 Linda Noskova
2022 Lucie Havlickova
2024

*RECENT RG "JUNIOR BREAKOUT" WINNERS*
2017 Whitney Osuigwe, USA (W) and Claire Liu, USA (RU)
2018 Caty McNally, USA (RU) and Leylah Annie Fernandez, CAN (SF)
2019 Diane Parry, FRA (WS MD win) and Emma Navarro, USA (RU)
2020 Elsa Jacquemot, FRA (W) and Anna Charaeva, RUS (RU)
2021 Linda Noskova, CZE (W)
2022 A Crush of Czechs - Bartunkova, Bejlek & Havlickova
2023 Lucciana Perez Alarcon, PER (RU) and Alisa Oktiabreva, RUS (SF)
2024 All-Crusher Final - Laura Samson vs. Tereza Valentova

kosova-font









TOP QUALIFIER: Jule Niemeier/GER
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #2 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR (7 games lost in 1r/2r)
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #1 Iga Swiatek/POL (8 games lost 3r-QF)
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: Raluca Serban/CYP def. Dominika Salkova/CZE 3-6/6-4/7-6(13-11) - both served for win in 3rd, w/ Salkova 2 MP, then third in TB; Serban wins 24-point MTB
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - #1 Swiatek/POL def. (PR) Osaka/JPN 7-6(1)/1-6/7-5 - Osaka led in 3rd at 4-1 w/ pt. for 5-1, 5-2 up, served at 5-3 and had MP
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd. - #1 Iga Swiatek/POL def. Anastasia Potapova/RUS 6-0/6-0 (10 points lost total; 40 minutes)
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.-WC): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Donna Vekic/CRO (def. Tsurenko/UKR ret.)
FIRST SEED OUT: #29 Veronika Kudermetova/RUS (1r: Bouzkova/CZE)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Moyuka Uchijima/JPN (2nd MD)
UPSET QUEENS: United States
REVELATION LADIES: China
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Germany (1-5 1st Rd.)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Olga Danilovic/SRB (in 4th Rd.)
LUCKY LOSER WINS: Hailey Baptiste/USA, Jana Fett/CRO (both 2nd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Chloe Paquet/FRA (3rd Rd.)
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: 3rd Rd.: Bianca Andreescu/CAN, Irina-Camelia Begu/ROU; 2nd Rd.: Amanda Anisimova/USA, Naomi Osaka/JPN
LAST PASTRY STANDING: Varvara Gracheva (in 4th Rd.)
Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: Jasmine Paolini/ITA
IT "Teen": Mirra Andreeva/RUS
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: Osaka, Errani
CRASH & BURN: #6 Maria Sakkari/GRE (lost 1st Rd. 4 of 5 slams)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Iga Swiatek/POL (2nd Rd.: down 4-1 -- pt. for 5-1 -- and 5-2 vs. Osaka in 3rd; Osaka MP at 5-3)
DOUBLES STAR: Nominees: Siegemund(mx), Gauff/Siniakova
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Nominees: Errani(wd), Siegemund(mx), (Legends comp.)
Mademoiselle/Madame OF THE EVENING: Mirra Andreeva/RUS and Victoria Azarenka/BLR (1 a.m. 2r finish on Court 12)
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Czech Crushers: Laura Samson & Tereza Valentova (first all-CZE jr. slam final)
Légion de Lenglen: Firsts (Court Lenglen roof debuts, and Varvara Gracheva's first RG as FRA) and Last (Alize Cornet's farewell tournament)
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: Nominee: Iga attempt at first three-peat since Henin in 2007






All for Day 13. More tomorrow.
Posted by at