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Sunday, September 1, 2024

US.6- The One with All the Straight Sets Matches


Yep, nothing to see here. No, really...Saturday was one of the most uncompetitive days of women's tennis of this entire season.








=DAY 6 NOTES=
...as things turned out, the players assigned to the day schedule for their 3rd Round maches spent their hours in the sun on the first day of Labor Day weekend not really working all that much, or at least not for that long.

Over the six daylight matches, all were decided in straight sets, with none of the players who didn't advance to the Round of 16 ever winning more than four games in any set (and even that happened just twice). One of those instances came in the opening set of a match that began at the crack of 11 a.m., as Anastasia Potapova at least stayed close (for a while) with fellow unseeded player Karolina Muchova in one of the only two of sixteen 3rd Round matches that didn't include at least one seeded player.

Of course, just because Muchova allowed more games in a set than most any other player today didn't mean that the Czech -- a semifinalist at Flushing Meadows last year -- had any more trouble than anyone else getting a win to reach the second week.



Muchova won 6-4/6-2, reaching her second straight U.S. Open Round of 16, and at the third major of the last five she's played (the other two featured RU and SF finishes).

Muchova remains light on match play this season (just 14 matches so far), but she'd already shown an ability to string together wins in her shortened season before she showed up in New York. She reached the Palermo final six weeks ago, and only Zheng Qinwen prevented her from winning her first tour title (in her fifth WTA final, at 250 her smallest in five years) since 2019.

...Jasmine Paolini's assault on the 2024 majors, despite a lead up that saw the #5-seeded Italian go just 1-1 on hard court this summer (3-2 w/ the played-on-red clay Olympics), has continued at the U.S. Open.

Today Paolini handled Yulia Putintseva 6-3/6-4, joining Coco Gauff as the only women this year to reach the second week at all four majors (and the only Italian woman to *ever* do it), lifting her season mark in slam play to a tour-best 18-3 and -- taking one of the strangest "shortcuts" known to tenniskind -- completing her Career Round of 16 slam over a four-event stretch after never winning multiple MD matches in any of the 16 major tournaments she's appeared in over the previous five years (plus two more in qualifying).



Meanwhile, Putintseva continued to behave like, well, Putintseva...



Three cheers for the ballgirl. Hip-hip-hooray! Hip-hip-hooray! Hip-hip-hooray!

...with Gauff and Emma Navarro advancing into the Round of 16 on Friday, #6 Jessie Pegula joined her fellow Bannerettes there today, courtesy of a 6-3/6-3 win over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, a 21-year old Spaniard playing in her second straight slam 3rd Round.



It's Pegula third straight Open Round of 16, and her seventh in the last eleven majors. 23-6 on hard court in '24, Pegula is 12-1 on the surface this summer, a stretch which has included a title in Toronto, final in Cincinnati, and wins over three others players still alive in this tournament: Muchova, Paula Badosa and Pegula's *next* opponent in New York.

That person would be #18 Diana Shnaider, who fell to Pegula in the Toronto semis earlier this month.

The 20-year old Russian advanced to her first career slam 4th Round (in her 7th MD, joining Wang Yafan as Round of 16 first-timers at this Open) with a 2 & 2 win over 37-year old Italian vet Sara Errani. Since Roland Garros, where she had a disappointing 1st Round loss to Pastry Chloe Paquet, Shnaider has gone 24-5 over three surfaces, winning titles on grass and clay courts, returning to Paris and taking home a Silver medal in doubles, and then reaching a 1000 SF on hard.

Shnaider's win assured a Hordette presence in an 84th Round of 16 at the last 95 majors (minus the '22 WI), but countrywoman Liudmila Samsonova would soon join her with her even more commanding 1 & 1 victory over Ashlyn Krueger.

As has become a career pattern, Samsonova's '24 season has followed along with the late-blooming success strategy that has played out in her recent campaigns, when the Russian turned slow starts into gradually-improving results, and by the end of the season was able to look back on a pretty good year (though not as good as it probably *could* have been).

Samsonova stood at just 5-11 after her 1st Round loss in Rome to Shnaider, but since then has gone 21-8, reaching the 3rd Round in both Paris and Wimbledon, winning a title at Rosmalen (all five of her WTA titles, and seven of her eight finals, have come from June forward on the schedule), and now is into her second 4th Round in New York in the last three years (she's 9-4 in her U.S. Open career, while having just 11 MD victories in the other three majors combined).

...the other daytime 3rd Rounder saw Caroline Wozniacki, who first reached the U.S. Open Round of 16 as an 18-year old in 2008, become the oldest to do so this year as the 34-year old defeated qualifier Jessika Ponchet (who got that lucrative walkover from Rybakina, remember) 6-3/6-2.



Wozniacki's 23rd career slam second week journey is actually her second in two years at Flushing Meadows, as a year ago she performed well very early in her comeback (it was just her third event, and she'd been 1-2 when play began) once she returned to familiar courts where she reached the final in 2009 and '14 (and the SF three other years).

This year, Wozniacki has mostly operated well below the radar. She started this Open at just 13-13 on the season, with her only three-match winning streak coming during an Indian Wells QF run back in March (she ret. vs. Iga Swiatek).

The Dane's 44 MD wins at the U.S. Open are her career best at the four majors (as is her nearly 76% win rate in NYC).

...over the course of the first week, Ashe Stadium has proven to be a graveyard for some of the top seeds, as both the men's #2 (Djokovic, a four-time winner) and #3 (Alcaraz, the '22 champ) fell on successive nights, a fate that #2 Aryna Sabalenka avoided after a slow start on Friday night.

It was onto that landscape that #1 Iga Swiatek walked on Saturday night for her first appearance under the lights at this slam, facing off with #25 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Even when she didn't plan it, Swiatek played a bit unfair in this one. I mean, what's a person supposed to do? The look on Pavlyuchenkova's face says it all.



FYI: speaking of that sort of thing, Backspin's original name was actually "Spinback" in the weekly recap days of yore at Tennisrulz.

Swiatek broke to open the match, and held the advantage throughout, winning the 1st at 6-4 without facing a BP (and winning 78% of first serve points). The 2nd wasn't even that close. In the 2nd, Swiatek still didn't face a BP, committed 1 UE and this time won 80% of her first serves, closing out a 6-1/6-4 win.

It's Swiatek 16th career slam 4th Round, behind only Wozniacki's 23 of the remaining woman in the draw, and her fourth straight in New York. But it's only her second in a major in 2024.

...in the final 3rd Round match of the day, the trend continued until the bitter end as #22 Beatriz Haddad Maia defeated #15 Anna Kalinskaya 6-3/6-1 to reach her maiden 4th Round at the U.S. Open.

She's the first Brazilian woman to reach the Round of 16 in New York since Maria Bueno's semifinal run in 1968.

...in the first day of tennis action at the Paralympics, Diede de Groot's Gold medal defense began with a 6-1/6-0 win over German Katharina Kruger, while the other side of the draw saw Yui Kamiji allow just three games to RSA's Mariska Venter on the terre battue in Paris.

Li Xiaohui took out Dana Mathewson in three sets, while Zhu Zhenzhen did the same vs. Lizzy de Greef in the NextGen Dutch player's Paralympic debut.

Meanwhile, the younger set represented well as two recent junior stars -- Pastry Ksenia Chasteau, 18, and Bannerette Maylee Phelps, 17 -- both notched women's MD wins.





*WOMEN'S SINGLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Iga Swiatek/POL vs. #16 Liudmila Samsonova/RUS
#18 Diana Shnaider/RUS vs. #6 Jessie Pegula/USA
Caroline Wozniacki/DEN vs. #22 Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA
Karolina Muchova/CZE vs. #5 Jasmine Paolini/ITA
#26 Paula Badosa/ESP vs. Wang Yafan/CHN
#13 Emma Navarro/USA vs. #3 Coco Gauff/USA
#7 Zheng Qinwen/CHN vs. #24 Donna Vekic/CRO
#33 Elise Mertens/BEL vs. #2 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES ROUND OF 16*
#1 Dabrowski/Routliffe (CAN/NZL) vs. Cristian/Moratelli (ROU/ITA)
#10 Chan H-c./V.Kudermetova (TPE/RUS) vs. Dart/Parry (GBR/FRA)
Danilina/Khromacheva (KAZ/RUS) vs. Mihalikova/Nicholls (SVK/GBR)
#12 Haddad Maia/Siegemund (BRA/GER) vs. #7 L.Kichenok/Ostapenko (UKR/LAT)
#8 Schuurs/Stefani (NED/BRA) vs. #9 Kenin/Mattek-Sands (USA/USA)
Muhammad/Watson (USA/GBR) vs. #3 Siniakova/Townsend (CZE/USA)
#5 Melichar-Martinez/Perez (USA/AUS) vs. #11 Bouzkova/Sorribes Tormo (CZE/ESP)
M.Andreeva/Pavlyuchenkova (RUS/RUS) vs. Mladenovic/Zhang S. (FRA/CHN)

*MIXED DOUBLES ROUND OF 16*
Danilina/Heliovaara (KAZ/FIN) vs. Bucsa/Vliegen (ESP/BEL)
(WC) Townsend/Young (USA/USA) vs. N.Kichenok/Nys (UKR/MON)
#4 Krejcikova/Ebden (CZE/AUS) vs. (WC) Jovic/Bigun (USA/USA)
Siniakova/Peers (CZE/AUS) vs. #8 Sutjiadi/Bopanna (INA/IND)
#7 Hsieh/Zielinski (TPE/POL) vs. Olmos/Gonzalez (MEX/MEX)
(WC) Mateas/McDonald (USA/USA) vs. #3 Errani/Vavassori (ITA/ITA)
(WC) Krueger/Kwiatkowski (USA/USA) vs. Perez/Gille (AUS/BEL)
(WC) Gran/Kovacevic (USA/USA) vs. (WC) Parks/Withrow (USA/USA)


*PARALYMPICS WHEELCHAIR WOMEN'S ROUND OF 16*
#1 Diede de Groot/NED vs. Maayan Zikri/ISR
Momoko Ohtani/JPN vs. Guo Luoyao/CHN
#4 Wang Ziying/CHN vs. Maylee Phelps/USA
Saki Takamuro/JPN vs. #5 Angelica Bernal/COL
Li Xiaohui/CHN vs. Lucy Shuker/GBR
Manami Tanaka/JPN vs. #3 Aniek Van Koot/NED
#6 Zhu Zhenzhen/CHN vs. Macarena Cabrillana/CHI
Ksenia Chasteau/FRA vs. #2 Yui Kamiji/JPN

*PARALYMPICS WHEELCHAIR WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 de Groot/Van Koot (NED) vs. Ohtani/Takamuro (JPN)
#3 Li Xiaohui/Zhu Zhenzhen (CHN) vs. Montjane/Venter (RSA)
Bernal/Rodriguez Trujillo (COL) vs. Guo Luoyao/Wang Ziying (CHN)
Bos/de Greef (NED) vs. #2 Kamiji/Tanaka (JPN)








...WON'T BE THE LAST... ON DAY 6:





...NONSENSICAL STAT DECISION ALERT... ON DAY 6:




So, the idea here on ESPN was to show that Paolini's consecutive slam finals were a big leap from her previous results in majors, right? But why include the note that her best slam result prior to this year's RG/WI was a 4th Round? *That* result came in the *first* major of 2024 in Melbourne. Why wouldn't the note be that in the sixteen majors before 2024 she'd never made it past the 2nd Round?


...I TELL YA, PUTINTSEVA *NEVER* BREAKS CHARACTER... ON DAY 6:




So we now have incontrovertible proof that Paolini, no matter the conventional wisdom, CAN NOT make *everyone* smile.


...SHORT, SWEET and PAOLINI... ON DAY 6:





...ACTUALLY, THE DENIM LOOK MIGHT BE EVEN BETTER THIS TIME THAN LAST TIME (2004)... ON DAY 6:





...HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY... ON DAY 6:





...Hmmm... ON DAY 6:




You know, it's still possible that the winner of Zheng/Vekic could face Navarro in the semis.



...I JUST DON'T GET THE SOCIAL MEDIA FASCINATION WITH THIS NARRATIVE... ON DAY 6:




And there are tons of other posts accusing both of "not caring" about winning, and not "needing the money" so they shouldn't be playing at all. These people *do* realize that the majority of top athletes -- and *all* of the active superstars in every non-niche sport, and probably most of those, too -- have made enough money that they "don't need it" anymore, either, right?


...HE SHOOTS...and he scores!... ON DAY 6:
















The most oft-misrepresented song of the past fifty years? I mean, other the "Born in the U.S.A," of course.










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**RECENT U.S. OPEN "LAST QUALIFIER STANDING" WINNERS**
=2017=
Kaia Kanepi/EST (QF)
=2018=
Karolina Muchova/CZE (3rd Rd.)
=2019=
Taylor Townsend/USA (4th Rd.)
=2021=
Emma Raducanu/GBR (W)
=2022=
Clara Burel/FRA and Yuan Yue/CHN (3rd Rd.)
=2023=
Kaja Juvan/SLO and Greet Minnen/BEL (3rd Rd.)
=2024=
Jessika Ponchet/FRA and Gabriela Ruse/ROU (3rd Rd.)







*2024 U.S. OPEN FINAL 16*
[by ranking]
#1 - Iga Swiatek
#2 - Aryna Sabalenka
#3 - Coco Gauff
#5 - Jasmine Paolini
#6 - Jessie Pegula
#7 - Zheng Qinwen
#12 - Emma Navarro
#16 - Liudmila Samsonova
#18 - Diana Shnaider
#21 - Beatriz Haddad Maia
#24 - Donna Vekic
#29 - Paula Badosa
#35 - Elise Mertens
#52 - Karolina Muchova
#71 - Caroline Wozniacki
#80 - Wang Yafan

[by age]
20 = Gauff, Shnaider
21 = Zheng
23 = Navarro, Swiatek
25 = Samsonova
26 = Badosa, Mertens, Sabalenka
28 = Haddad Maia, Muchova, Paolini, Vekic
30 = Pegula, Wang Y.
34 = Wozniacki

[by nation]
3...USA (Gauff,Navarro,Pegula)
2...CHN (Wang Y., Zheng Q.)
2...RUS (Samsonova,Shnaider)
1...BEL (Mertens)
1...BLR (Sabalenka)
1...BRA (Haddad Maia)
1...CRO (Vekic)
1...CZE (Muchova)
1...DEN (Wozniacki)
1...ESP (Badosa)
1...ITA (Paolini)
1...POL (Swiatek)

[by career slam Round-of-16's]
23 - Wozniacki
16 - Swiatek
14 - Mertens
13 - Gauff, Sabalenka
8 - Pegula
7 - Badosa, Muchova, Vekic
4 - Paolini, Zheng
3 - Haddad Maia, Navarro, Samsonova
1 - Shnaider, Wang Y.

[w/ consecutive slam Round of 16's]
5 - Gauff
4 - Paolini
3 - Navarro
2 - Badosa, Vekic
--
NOTE: Sabalenka (last 8 played, DNP Wimb.'24)

[w/ multiple career US Round of 16's]
8 - Wozniacki
5 - Mertens, Sabalenka
4 - Swiatek
3 - Gauff, Muchova, Pegula
2 - Samsonova, Vekic, Zheng

[w/ consecutive US Round of 16's]
4 - Sabalenka, Swiatek
3 - Gauff, Pegula
2 - Muchova, Wozniacki, Zheng

[WTA career slam Round of 16's - active]
50...Venus Williams
30...Victoria Azarenka
23...Petra Kvitova
23...Caroline Wozniacki
22...Simona Halep
20...Madison Keys
18...Elina Svitolina
16...Sloane Stephens
16...Iga Swiatek
16...Vera Zvonareva
14...Elise Mertens
14...Karolina Pliskova
13..Coco Gauff
13...Aryna Sabalenka

[WTA slam Round of 16's since 2020 (of 19) - active]
15 - Swiatek
13 - Sabalenka
11 - Gauff
10 - Jabeur
9 - Mertens
8 - Krejcikova, Pegula, Svitolina
7 - Azarenka, Badosa, Rybakina
6 - Halep, Keys, Muchova
5 - Kvitova, Sakkari, Vondrousova
4 - Anisimova, Bencic, Collins, Garcia, Kenin
4 - Ostapenko, Paolini, Pavlyuchenkova
4 - Ka.Pliskova, Vekic, Zheng Q.
3 - M.Andreeva, Cirstea, Haddad Maia, Kasatkina
3 - Navarro, Raducanu, Rogers, Samsonova
3 - Stephens, Tomljanovic, Zhang Sh.
2 - Avanesyan, Bouzkova, Brady, Fernandez
2 - Kalinskaya, Kostyuk, V.Kudermetova
2 - Martic, Niemeier, Osaka, Putintseva
2 - Riske-A., Trevisan
2 - Tsurenko, Wang Xinyu, Wozniacki

[2024 slam Rd. of 16's - youngest]
16 - Mirra Andreeva (AO)
17 - Mirra Andreeva (RG)
19 - Linda Noskova (AO)
19 - Coco Gauff (AO)
20 - Coco Gauff (RG)
20 - Coco Gauff (WI)
20 - Coco Gauff (US)
20 - Diana Shnaider (US)
20 - Maria Timofeeva (AO)

[2024 slam Rd. of 16's - oldest]
34 - Victoria Azarenka (AO)
34 - Caroline Wozniacki (US)
30 - Danielle Collins (WI)
30 - Jessie Pegula (US)
30 - Wang Yafan (US)
29 - Ons Jabeur (RG)
29 - Elina Svitolina (WI)
29 - Elina Svitolina (RG)
29 - Elina Svitolina (AO)
29 - Madison Keys (WI)
29 - Yulia Putintseva (WI)

[2024 slam Rd. of 16's - unseeded]
=AO (9)=
M.Andreeva, Anisimova(PR), Dodin, Frech, Kalinskaya, Kostyuk, Noskova, Timofeeva(Q), Yastremska(Q)
=RG (7)=
M.Andreeva, Avanesyan, Cocciaretto, Danilovic(Q), Gracheva, Potapova, Tauson
=WI (6)=
Badosa, Putintseva, Raducanu(WC), Sun(Q), Vekic, Wang Xinyu
=US (3)=
Muchova, Wang Yafan, Wozniacki

[2024 slam Rd. of 16's - 1st-time GS 4th Rd.]
AO - (6) Dodin,Frech,Kalinskaya,Noskova,Paolini,Timofeeva
RG - (6) Cocciaretto,Danilovic,Gracheva,Navarro,Potapova,Tauson
WI - (1) Sun
US - (2) Shnaider,Wang Yafan

[2024 slam Rd. of 16's - completed "Career Round of 16 Slam"]
AO - none
RG - none
WI - Danielle Collins (27th slam MD)
US - Paula Badosa (19), Jasmine Paolini (20)

[2024 slam Rd. of 16's - lowest-ranked]
#442 - Amanda Anisimova (AO)
#170 - Maria Timofeeva (AO)
#135 - Emma Raducanu (WI)
#125 - Olga Danilovic (RG)
#123 - Lulu Sun (WI)

[2024 slam Rd. of 16's]
4 - Gauff (AO/RG/WI/US)
4 - Paolini (AO/RG/WI/US)
3 - Navarro (RG/WI/US)
3 - Sabalenka (AO/RG/US)
3 - Svitolina (AO/RG/WI)
2 - M.Andreeva (AO/RG)
2 - Badosa (WI/US)
2 - Kalinskaya (AO/WI)
2 - Krejcikova (AO/WI)
2 - Rybakina (RG/WI)
2 - Swiatek (RG/US)
2 - Vekic (WI/US)
2 - Zheng Q. (AO/US)

[2024 slam Rd. of 16's - by nation]
11 = 2/2/4/3 = USA (Gauff,Navarro,Pegula)
9 = 3/3/1/2 = RUS (Samsonova,Shnaider)
5 = 2/1/1/1 = CZE (Muchova)
5 = 1/2/1/1 = ITA (Paolini)
5 = 3/1/1/0 = UKR
4 = 2/1/0/1 = BLR (Sabalenka)
4 = 1/0/1/2 = CHN (Wang Y.,Zheng Q.)
3 = 0/1/2/0 = KAZ
3 = 1/1/0/1 = POL (Swiatek)
2 = 0/0/1/1 = CRO (Vekic)
2 = 0/0/1/1 = ESP (Badosa)
2 = 1/1/0/0 = FRA
=
1 AO: --
1 RG: DEN,SRB,TUN
1 WI: GBR,LAT,NZL
1 US: BEL,BRA,DEN

[2024 slam Rd. of 16's - by region]
24 = (5/7/5/7) - W.Europe/Scandinavia (BEL-CZE-CRO-DEN-ESP-ITA-POL)
19 = (8/5/3/3) - Eastern Europe/Russia (BLR-RUS)
11 = (2/2/4/3) - North America/Atlantic (USA)
8 = (1/1/4/2) - Asia/Oceania (CHN)
1 = (0/1/0/0) - Africa/Middle East/Mediterranean
1 = (0/0/0/1) - South America







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TOP QUALIFIER: Yuliia Starodubtseva, UKR (4 con. slam Q-runs)
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #2 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): x
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Francesca Jones/GBR def. #5 Rebeka Masarova/ESP 6-1/2-6/7-6(6) - Masarova comes back from 5-1 in 3rd to force MTB, and leads 4-2 before Jones rallies for 10-6 win
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - #29 Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS def. (WC) Iva Jovic/USA 4-6/6-4/7-5 - Alexandrova outlasts 16-year old, wins on MP #7
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F): x
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Wang Yafan/CHN (def. #9 Sakkari/GRE, ret. after 1st set)
FIRST SEED OUT: #9 Maria Sakkari/GRE (1r- retired vs. Wang Yafan after losing 1st set)
FIRST CAREER SLAM MD WINS: Maya Joint/AUS, Iva Jovic/USA, Ashlyn Krueger/USA, Jessika Ponchet/FRA, Ena Shibahara/JPN
PROTECTED RANKING MD WINS: Ajla Tomljanovic/AUS (2r)
LUCKY LOSER MD WINS: none
UPSET QUEENS: United States
REVELATION LADIES: Italy
NATION OF POOR SOULS: CAN (0-2 1st Rd.; '19 champ Andreescu & '21 finalist Fernandez)
CRASH & BURN: #4 Elena Rybakina/KAZ (2nd Rd. walkover is 8th '24 event pulled out, walkover or retired; at third different 2022-24 major)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEW YORK: Nominee: Samsonova (2r- down 6-3/5-2, Bouzkova served at 5-3, then up break 3-2 in 3rd); Badosa (3r- MP down 5-4 3rd vs. Ruse; 10-8 MTB win for first U.S. Open second week)
IT ("??"): Nominee: Jovic (Bannerette teen), Zheng Qinwen (Queen in Queens), Bandanna (Shnaider)
Ms.OPPORTUNITY: x
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Jessika Ponchet/FRA and Gabriela Ruse/ROU (both 3rd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Iva Jovic/USA and Naomi Osaka/JPN (both 2nd Rd.)
LAST BANNERETTE STANDING: in 4r: Gauff, Navarro, Pegula
COMEBACK: Nominees: Badosa, Muchova
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Nominee: Errani, Wozniacki, Wang Yafan, Pegula
DOUBLES STAR: x
BIG APPLE BANNERETTE BREAKTHROUGH: Ashlyn Krueger
BROADWAY-BOUND: "Final Curtains" (Collins & Rogers); "The Lights (Far) Off Broadway" (Paris Paralympic tennis); "España in the City" (Badosa); "Same Time Next Slam" (Paolini/Andreescu); "My Favorite Year" (Paolini)
LADY OF THE EVENING: Nominee: Sabalenka
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Nominee: Jovic (WS)







All for Day 6. More tomorrow.
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