Backspin Sites

Sunday, May 4, 2025

Wk.18- Aryna's (Third) Reign in Spain







futuristic-fonts




*WEEK 18 CHAMPIONS*
MADRID, SPAIN (WTA 1000; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR def. Coco Gauff/USA 6-3/7-6(3)
D: Sorana Cirstea/Anna Kalinsakaya (ROU/RUS) def. Veronika Kudermetova/Elise Mertens (RUS/BEL) 6-7(10)/6-2 [12-10]
Saint-Malo, France (WTA 125; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Naomi Osaka/JPN def. Kaja Juvan/SLO 6-1/7-5
D: Maia Lumsden/Makoto Ninomiya (GBR/JPN) def. Oksana Kalashnikova/Angelica Moratelli (GEO/ITA) 7-5/6-2
Vic, Spain (WTA 125; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Dalma Galfi/HUN def. Rebeka Masarova/SUI 6-3/6-0
D: Bianca Andreescu/Aldila Sutjiadi (CAN/INA) def. Leylah Fernandez/Lulu Sun (CAN/NZL) 6-2/6-4




[Madrid 4th Rd.+]

kosova-font



PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR
...Sabalenka had some unfinished business to attend to. A year ago, she didn't repeat as the Madrid champ despite holding three MP in the final vs. Iga Swiatek. This time around, though she had to traverse the usual ups and downs of a nearly two-week event, she lost just one set on her way to her 20th career tour crown and third in five years in Madrid (she's an odd-year dominator with titles in 2021, '23 and now '25).

Losing just a single set in the 3rd Round vs. former doubles partner Elise Mertens, Sabalenka ran the table the rest of the tournament with straight setters against Anna Blinkova, Peyton Stearns, Marta Kostyuk (in two dramatic TBs) and Elina Svitolina to reach the final in Madrid for the fourth time in five years. Twice holding off surges from Coco Gauff in the final -- late in the 1st, and early in the 2nd -- Sabalenka took a 6-3/7-6 final to belatedly avenge her loss to Gauff in their last final match-up, at the '23 U.S. Open.

The win over Gauff further solidifies Sabalenka's grasp of the top position on tour. Her six Top 10 victories lead the WTA, where she's 6-0 vs. Top 10 opponents and 11-2 vs. the Top 20 this season, while reaching six finals (topping the WTA) and winning three titles (ditto). By contrast, #2 Swiatek has yet to reach a final, is 5-2 vs. the Top 10 and 7-5 vs. the Top 20; while #3 Gauff hadn't reached a semifinal in '25 before this event.

Sabalenka's ranking point lead over Swiatek has now swelled to 4345 (Iga defends another title in Rome next, where Sabalenka was the RU in '24) and 4515 over the edging-up #3 Gauff.


===============================================



RISERS: Coco Gauff/USA and Marta Kostyuk/UKR
...before Madrid, Gauff's season had been a fairly mediocre one. She hadn't reached a semifinal since ending '24 with a WTA Finals title. Still, Iga Swiatek's eleven-month slippage gave her the chance to claim the #2 ranking with a win in the final on Saturday. She came up short vs. Aryna Sabalenka, but can't help but now be looked upon as a major factor in both Rome and Paris.

Things didn't start out well for Gauff in Madrid, as she dropped her opening set at love to Dayana Yastremska in the 2nd Round, then had to fight off the Ukrainian in the 3rd set as Gauff's 3-0 lead turned into a 5-5 tie after Coco couldn't convert on three MP chances in game 9 on Yastremska's serve, then dropped her own in the next game. But Gauff then swept the final two games and won her next four matches in straight sets, taking out Ann Li, Belinda Bencic, Mirra Andreeva (improving to 3-0 vs. the teen, though this was their first meeting since 2023) and Swiatek, destroying the world #2 6-1/6-1 -- the Pole's worst loss since 2019 -- in a match that somehow probably wasn't even as close as the scoreline might suggest. It's Gauff third straight win over the same former #1 who once (just recently) dominated her between the lines (and maybe between the ears), but does so no more.

In her first 1000 final on clay, Gauff had the chance to become the *fourth* player this season (in less than five months!) to defeat both the world #1 and #2 on the way to a title. But that feat will have to wait for another day, as #1 Sabalenka took a 6-3/7-6(3) final to secure her third Madrid title.

Gauff is now just 170 points behind #2 Swiatek, and (finally) with a gust of wind behind her back can tout her two past SF results in Rome (2021 and '24), as well as a 19-4 record at Roland Garros since 2021 (w/ QF-RU-QF-SF finishes), as reasons why she'll be near (or at?) the top of the list of favorites for the biggest clay titles left on the '25 schedule.

Meanwhile, Kostyuk couldn't produce her second career 1000 SF, but she put up a fight in Madrid before finally falling in her first QF appearance in the event.



Wins over Emma Raducanu, Veronika Kudermetova and Anastasia Potapova gave Kostyuk her third career opportunity against Aryna Sabalenka. It was their first meeting since the '23 RG, and the Ukrainian hadn't won a set in either of their first two encounters, winning three or fewer games in three of the four sets. It was also their first meeting with the Belarusian holding down the #1 ranking.

Kostyuk still hasn't defeated Sabalenka, nor taken a set off her, but their two-TB tussle -- during which Kostyuk had SP in both sets -- proved to be a (still) early-season contender for the best straight sets match on tour in 2025.

Kostyuk's QF run was the best of her career in a clay court 1000 event. She'd been just 3-5 in Madrid before this year, and is still 1-4 in Rome. She *did* reach the Round of 16 at Roland Garros in 2021, but is only 4-5 in her career in Paris, though that doesn't include her the Olympic QF there last summer.
===============================================



SURPRISES: Moyuka Uchijima/JPN and Dalma Galfi/HUN
...as it turned out, Uchijima had a little bit more to give in the second week of her dream performance run in Madrid.

After opening week wins from a set down over Robin Montgomery and Ons Jabeur, the 23-year old upset #3 Jessie Pegula (her first Top 10 win) and Ekaterina Alexandrova (who'd won 8 of 10 clay matches in '25) to reach her maiden 1000 QF and crack the Top 50 for the first time.

Her run ended in emphatic fashion at the hands of Elina Svitolina, but Uchijima is set to land at a best-ever #47 in the new rankings.

Suddenly, Galfi is a player whose name people are (maybe) starting to know. (Yep, she was one of the Backspin's original PWKYK picks back in 2017.)

The 26-year old Hungarian claimed her second straight 125 title this weekend in Vic, Spain, following up her win in Oeiras last week in what was her third straight 125 final on clay this spring. Galfi's current 10-match winning streak added a no-sets-lost week in Vic that included defeats of Wang Xiyu, Kimberly Birrell, Guiomar Maristany and, in dominating 6-3/6-0 fashion, Rebeka Masarova in the final.



Galfi, on a 14-1 run in her last three events, returns to the Top 100 on Monday (her career high is #79 in 2022).

With the loss, Masarova drops her third straight 125 final since 2022. The Swiss played in Vic after (as a qualifier) she'd reached the Madrid 3rd Round (her second there in three years, both her best 1000 results) with wins over Ajla Tomljanovic and Yulia Putintseva.
===============================================



VETERANS: Elina Svitolina/UKR and Madison Keys/USA
...Svitolina arrived in Madrid off a title run in Rouen, and ultimately extended her winning streak to eleven matches (9 WTA, 2 BJK) as she reached her 12th career 1000 semifinal.

Wins over Sonay Kartal, Elena Rybakina, Maria Sakkari and Moyuka Uchijima set up Svitolina with a match vs. Aryna Sabalenka for a berth in what would have been the Ukrainian's biggest final since the 2019 WTA Finals. That reality -- which would have also meant her eighth career #1 win vs. a fifth different #1 player -- didn't play out for the 30-year old, but she contested a tight two-set defeat (6-3/7-5), forcing Sabalenka to twice serve for the win after getting a break of serve to knot the 2nd set at 5-5.

The Madrid run is the best of Svitolina's career, as she'd been just 3-8 in the event and had never advanced past the 2nd Round. She's got a better history in her *next* two events: 17-8 with two titles in Rome, and a personal career slam best 29 wins at RG with four QF results.

She'll climb to #14 in the new rankings.



Though she's a former RG semifinalist (2018), Paris would seem to be the least likely major site at which Keys would have another breakthrough result in the wake of her maiden slam title run in Melbourne in January. But, hey, "new" Madi can't be ruled out.

She did what was necessary in Madrid to maintain such viability, posting wins over Lucia Bronzetti, Anna Kalinskaya and Donna Vekic en route to the QF (a year after reaching the semis in the event), then put up a love set vs. defending champ Iga Swiatek in the 1st. Keys had lost all six sets she'd previously played vs. the Pole on clay, and it was the first bagel handed the four-time RG champ on the surface since 2019.

Keys ultimately lost to Swiatek in three, after pressing Iga down the stretch in the decider, but is still less than a year removed from picking up her maiden red clay crown last spring in Strasbourg. She's 23-5 on the year.



Can Keys carry over her major success at the AO into RG? At the very least, she might keep in play opportunities to reach the second week at all four majors in a season for just the second time in her career (2016, w/ four 4th Rd. results -- the closest she's come since was a QF-SF-3r-SF slam season in '18) and match or succeed her best combined year in the majors, a 16-win season during that same '18 stretch. So far in '25, of course, she's 7-0.
===============================================



COMEBACKS: Naomi Osaka/JPN and Kaja Juvan/SLO
...after her early exit in Madrid, Osaka's decision to drop down and take a wild card to play a 125 on clay was a good sign of her long-wavering commitment to at least try to win on a surface other than hard court. Her performance during the week-long tournament in Saint-Malo proved to be just as winning.

Osaka's title run on the dirt, her first win ever on clay and her first crown on any surface since winning the AO in 2021, included a comeback from a set down vs. Diane Parry (2nd Rd.) and a love 3rd set against Leolia Jeanjean (SF). In the final vs. Kaja Juvan, Osaka rallied from 4-2 down in the 2nd to complete a 6-1/7-5 straight sets victory.

Osaka has never reached the Round of 16 at RG, nor the QF in either of the clay court 1000 events in Madrid and Rome. In fact, this was her first career final on any level on the dirt, her first in a 125 event in a decade and her first singles title anywhere other than in a tour event in her pro career. 7-5 in WTA finals, she'd been a combined 0-5 in 125/ITF finals until her win this weekend.

Thus, the teaming with coach Patrick Mouratoglou produces *something* new and good for Osaka. For her sake, hopefully the "new" remains "good" in their partnership.



Juvan returned to tennis in January after having taken a long break since losing a 2nd Round match at the AO in 2024.

After some enouraging results in the opening months of '25, the 24-year old Slovenian produced her first big run with a final appearance in the 125 in Saint-Malo.

Wins over Greet Minnen, Celine Naef, Katie Volynets and Viktorija Golubic put Juvan into her second biggest career final (behind only tour-level Strasbourg in '22 -- a three-TB set loss to Kerber). She fell in straight sets to Naomi Osaka, but will see her ranking rise significantly from #515 to into the #360 range after improving her season mark to 17-7.


===============================================



FRESH FACE: Diana Shnaider/RUS
...though it's been hidden a bit with her doubles success, early season QF/3r runs in Adelaide and Melbourne and a stable ranking position (she's been ranked between #13-16 since September and either #13/14 all but one week this season), Shnaider's game and results have been off in '25 following her first full season on tour a year ago saw her win four titles (on three surfaces, the only WTA player to do it in '24) and reach a major Round of 16 (US) and 1000 SF in Toronto last summer.

Being only 9-10 on the year heading into Madrid, Shnaider's recent addition of former world #1 Dinara Safina coach makes sense.

Right on schedule after the change, the Hordette surged on the Spanish dirt, dropping three combined games vs. Katie Volynets and Anastasija Sevastova (love & love), giving Shnaider multiple match wins in an event for the first time since the AO. Against defending champ Iga Swiatek in the 4th Round, Shnaider recovered from a love 1st set to force a decider and stayed on the Pole's heels as she threatened to get the set back on serve in the late going.

Even with the loss, Shnaider (now 11-11 in '25) will rise to a new career high of #11, behind only her doubles partner Mirra Andreeva amongst the tour's Hordette contingent.
===============================================



DOWN: Iga Swiatek/POL
...not that this is *really* a new thought, but something is just not *right* with Swiatek. The question is what the cause of it is, for it surely seems to be some sort of mental hurdle, far more so than anything that has to do with the mechanics of any individual groundstroke or her serve, and maybe even any particular tactical mindset or stubbornness (though there's been a lingering issue there when it's come to accepting the sort of coaching that might make her less susceptible to be being put on her heels by power-oriented players).

The evidence of *something* was all over the world #2's (latest) failed title defense attempt in Madrid, which continued a title/final-less streak that has carried on since last year's Roland Garros. After losing to Alex Eala in Miami, Swiatek quickly fell behind against her in Madrid, as well, dropping the 1st set and falling down a break early in the 2nd before rallying to win. After getting past Linda Noskova in two (Swiatek *has* mostly figured out how to defeat *that* formerly vexing opponent, winning five straight times since the Czech's upset at AO24, though Noskova has taken her to three sets in their last three hard court match-ups), Iga was also taken into a deciding set by Diana Shnaider in the 4th Round despite having taken the 1st set from the Russian at love (her usual front-runner momentum didn't materialize in the 2nd).

Then came the QF, where Madison Keys *bageled* the Pole -- on clay -- in the 1st set before another comeback victory. Keys had previously lost all six sets she'd played against Swiatek on clay. Afterward, the Pole was propped up from the outside more for the rally than being questioned about the *screaming* red flag that that love set represented. It didn't take long for the *other* shoe to drop, either, as a day later Swiatek was run out of Madrid on a rail by none other than Coco Gauff in a 6-1/6-1 destruction. Gauff, previously just 3-11 vs. Iga, had lost all ten sets between the two on clay prior to the win that now gives her three straight W's in the series (after wins at the WTAF and United Cup). At one point in the match, Gauff led 6-1/5-0... and the Tennis Channel commentator lauded Swiatek for holding serve to avoid a *second* bagel set lost in consecutive days.

It was hardly the point.

After the love set lost vs. Keys was Swiatek's worst single set since 2019 (RG vs. Halep), her two total agames vs. Gauff were her fewest in a match since a loss that same year ('19 Birmingham vs. a certain Latvian).



When are we going to stop acting as if Swiatek is the same player she was just a year ago, and begin to look "behind the curtain?" When she's dropped out of the Top 5? The Top 10? Because that's where this story is headed if something doesn't change, starting with two *more* title defenses this spring in Rome and Roland Garros. Rather than tennis' version of "hearts and prayers" every time Swiatek is dumped on her head by an opponent not the least bit intimidated by her resume, why not ask why this is happening to a player who not long ago seemed as dominant a #1 as we'd seen since peak Serena Williams.

While far too many Iga supporters shout from the roof tops after a win, they whistle past the proverbial graveyard after yet another stunning defeat. The common denominator in every such situation, though, is a former #1 who more and more finds herself at the mercy of opponents who don't genuflect at her trophy case. The Keys match notwithstanding (not that Keys hasn't blown big leads and lost momentum in matches before), most of those instances end just like the loss to Gauff.

Swiatek's slip is no longer just about her issues vs. power players, and things can't be pinned on a coaching change (still, after Iga cast off two WTA Coach of the Year winners, Wim Fissette would be wise to keep a "go-bag" ready considering his stint has produced no victories of note since he came aboard in October). Instead an arched eyebrow *should* be directed toward Swiatek's longtime sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz, whose six-year run as part of the team would seem to be rather important at the moment considering Swiatek's issues seem more mental (i.e. related to lost confidence) than anything else.

At this point, Swiatek's problems seem to be getting worse, not better. And now it's happening on clay.

The question is, what precipiated this downward stretch? Her failure to win at the Olympics in Paris? The reverberations of her positive drug test last summer (which was soon followed by coach Tomasz Wiktorowski's exit)? She's won no titles, nor even reached a final, since either of those occasions. Or maybe it's something we have no clue about, and might not for a long time (if we *ever* do).

Whatever the case, the vulnerability once *only* showed against big hitters is now extending to other sorts of foes, frustration is mounting, she's acting out publicly quite often (including getting dinged for an aubible obscenity in the Gauff match), and has been seen in tears on more than one occasion during defeats, including against those with little experience and some (like Gauff) that she formerly dominated.

The thought has been that clay would prove to be Iga's best medicine, but thus far that has not been the case. In fact, more weeks like these past two in Madrid might just excelerate the trend that has seen Swiatek fall from #1 and now begin to feel legitimate heat from players behind her that *aren't* named Aryna.

What's the breaking point in this that might cause a huge reassessent on Swiatek's part and lead to some triggers behind pulled (i.e. a full reorganization of her team, including the possible exit of Fissette and maybe even Abramowicz)? A first week loss in Paris? At this point, could anyone *truly* rule that out (especially if the draw lines up a certain way)?

Stay tuned, and maybe buckle up.
===============================================
ITF PLAYER: Anna Bondar/HUN
...a season ago, Bondar put together title runs in a 125 (Hamburg) and three ITF challengers (in five finals). This week in Wiesbaden, the Hungarian claimed her first '25 win in a $100K event.

Bondar's first career $100K crown came after a week of wins over Sinja Kraus, Jodie Burrage, Simona Waltert and Darja Semenistaja, then a 6-2/6-4 victory in the final over Julia Grabher.

The run gives a bright spot to what had been a disapointing season for Bondar. She'd been just 11-14 in '25 before her five-win streak, but now will return to the Top 100 on Monday.


===============================================



DOUBLES: Sorana Cirstea/Anna Kalinsakaya, ROU/RUS
...Cirstea & Kalinskaya's sterling week in Madrid, which had already included wins over the #1 (Dabrowski/Routliffe via a 10-7 MTB) and #3 (Hsieh/Ostapenko in the SF) seeds, ended with a dramatic finish in the final vs. Veronika Kudermetova & Elise Mertens.

After Kudermetova/Mertens had rallied from 5-3 down, saving four SP in a TB, to take the opening set on their own SP #3, Cirstea/Kalinskaya won the 2nd to force a deciding MTB. Tied at 8-8, the teams traded off on three MP in the final moments. After having failed to put away the title at 9-8, then saving a MP at 10-9, the Romanian-Russian pair finally won it 12-10.

It's Kalinskaya's fourth and biggest tour doubles title, while Cirstea has now collected six in her long WTA career. The Romanian's first came seventeen years ago (2008), with her prior most recent win coming six years ago (2019 Lugano). It's Cirstea's biggest WD crown ever, by far, as she'd never won above the old International (now 250) level.


===============================================









kosova-font

[Madrid 4th Rd.+]



1. Madrid QF - Aryna Sabalenk def. Marta Kostyuk
...7-6(4)/7-6(7). Sometimes less *is* more (and not just w/ men's best-of-5 matches), but that's especially so if the "less" is two dramatic tie-break sets rather than a three-setter with little close competition and/or few big points.

Sabalenka prevailed despite Kostyuk holding SP in both sets, one when serving at 5-4 in the 1st and, after the world #1 had rallied from an early break down and held a MP while serving for the win at 6-5, three in the 2nd set TB before Sabalenka again finished strong to close out the final women's QF in rainy Madrid.

The weather had forced the closing of the roof in the TB... though it should have happened earlier, which would have avoided a mini-drama when Sabalenka wouldn't hit a second serve into heavy rainfall when down 4-5. When play resumed, the chair umpire's decision to give Sabalenka a first serve was, well, questionable at best. Kostyuk still managed to reach SP after the situation, but couldn't force a decider.


============================================



2. Madrid QF - Iga Swiatek def. Madison Keys
...0-6/6-3/6-2. Well-earned kudos went out to Swiatek from many corners -- including, as usual, the she-walks-on-water contingent who bend the knee at the slightest provocation -- for recovering from dropping a love 1st set. But the more pertinent headline here wasn't about the comeback but the fact that she actually dropped a love set on clay, her first since 2019, in the first place.



Fact is, if everyone would be completely honest about it, if Swiatek was altogether "right," which she clearly hasn't been (by her lofty standards, at least) for much of the last eleven months, that 1st set shouldn't happen to her on clay against *anyone* (not even you-know-who) as long as she's upright on two feet.



And that notion of portending doom was backed up just one day later...
============================================



3. Madrid SF - Coco Gauff def. Iga Swiatek
...6-1/6-1. First off, Gauff played great. But just like with the love set won by Keys a round earlier, Swiatek getting run off the court on her favorite surface should never happen in this way and she bears much -- if not the majority -- of the blame for as much. For if the Pole is whom she is *supposed* to be, this type of thing would simply never happen.

For Gauff, though, it could be the light that supercharges what has mostly been a "meh" season, ala her Cincinnati win over Iga (her first ever) led into a U.S. Open title run to close out the summer of 2023.

Gauff had never gotten a set off Swiatek in five meetings on clay prior to this, yet led 6-1/5-0 here. This marks her third straight win over Swiatek, against whom she'd once been 0-7 without a single set claimed (and that was less than two years ago).

Naturally, Swiatek's latest defeat came accompanied by all the "usual" notes: a win in the prior round (vs. Keys) that had set off the expected Iga-colored-glasses chorus of "she is who we said she was" plaudits by the Iga Well Wishers, the sight of Swiatek scurrying off court after dropping the 1st set (and being absent for nearly ten minutes after a "grueling" 34-minute opener, a by-now-tiresome occurrence that even got the match's Tennis Channel commentator to comment negatively), the frustrated kicking of dirt and shouts at her player's box and, this time, even a new one in a code violation call by the chair umpire for an audible obscenity.



Quite possibly *the* best front-runner in the game, Swiatek continues to often be one of the worst competitors when outright challenged by an opponent not left stunned by her mere presence on the other side of the court. And now such a thing is becoming more and more common for oponents *not* named Alona.

For Swiatek, this is most definity not an encouraging development. How long before another shoe drops in this story, and how long before it *needs* to if Swiatek is going to escape this, well, whatever *this* is?
============================================



4. Madrid Final - Aryna Sabalenka def. Coco Gauff
...6-3/7-6(3). The last time Sabalenka faced off with Gauff for a title, she lost her grasp on her first U.S. Open crown despite winning the 1st set; and the last time she played in the Madrid final she failed to defend her '23 crown as she couldn't convert any of three MP en route to a loss to Iga Swiatek.

This time things were different (x2).

Still, there was more back and forth here than the score might suggest. Sabalenka led 4-1 in the 1st, but saw Gauff close to 4-3 before being broken to give the set to the world #1. In the 2nd, Gauff led 5-3 and served at 5-4. She fell behind love/40 but managed to hold a SP in game 10 before Sabalenka finally got the break on BP #5. Later, Gauff saved a MP and forced a TB, where Sabalenka took a 6-3 led and put away the title on MP #2 on a Gauff DF (#8).


============================================
5. Saint-Malo FRA 125 1st Rd. - Tiantsoa Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonah def. Tessah Andrianjafitrimo
...3-6/6-4/6-1. TSRR wins the tennis version of "The Name Game."

Sarah has more letters, so she was the betting favorite.
============================================
HM- $100K Gifu JPN Final - Zhang Shuai def. Mananchaya Sawangkaew
...6-3/6-4. Just last season, Zhang was mired in a 24-match losing streak. This week, though, the Chinese veteran picked up her first singles title since winning tour-level Lyon in March 2022.

The 36-year old posted wins over 17-year old Wakana Sonobe (QF) and 16-year old Emerson Jones (SF) en route to the final, where she handled Sawangkaew, who had recently rebounded from a 1-5 skid in March, in straights.


============================================






kosova-font

[Madrid 4th Rd.+]

1. Vic ESP 125 Final - Bianca Andreescu/Aldila Sutjiadi def. Leylah Fernandez/Lulu Sun
...6-2/6-4. An unexpected highlight for Andreescu's latest return to the court, as the Canadian wins her biggest career doubles title in the 125 in Spain. It's her first doubles crown anywhere since July 2018 in the Gatineau $25K in Canada, which came a season after her only tour-level WD final appearance in Quebec City. On both occasions, Andreescu teamed with fellow Canadian Carson Branstine, with whom she'd won the AO/RG girls' doubles titles in 2017.

Conversely, Sutjiadi has now claimed a fourth 125 crown to go along with the five WTA and sixteen ITF wins in her career.


============================================
2. $100K Bonita Springs (FLA) USA Final - Astra Sharma def. Whitney Osuigwe
...6-2/6-2. Former junior star Osuigwe continues to lift her game eight years after her girls' triumph at Roland Garros in 2017.

After $50K and $35K wins, she reached her fifth '25 ITF final in a $100K, her second such final in her career (six years after a 2019 loss to Taylor Townsend), but fell to Aussie Sharma, who picked up her biggest singles title since taking a 125 in 2023.

Osuigwe is close (new #158) to re-entering the Top 150, where she hasn't been since 2019-20.
============================================







Meanwhile, come 2300, it will be revealed that Professor Mayfair Bartkowski -- for reasons known only to her -- used her first time machine to travel back to 1981 and pick up Toby Kidd at the library of Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina (during 3rd period) and then switch her out with Iga Swiatek sometime during the summer of 2024.

The real Iga lived out the remainder of her days in early 22nd century Barcelona, winning six more Roland Garros titles while using the name "Toby Kidd" and joking about her resemblance to the four-time title winner from the 2020s. Meanwhile, the real Toby, after at first being uncomfortable in her own skin after undertaking the role of "Iga" decid-... well, we wouldn't want to give away any spoilers and ruin the fun to come, now would we?

kosova-font





kosova-font



Here-here (speaking Backpin's longtime "tennis-is-a-product-that-is-being-sold-right?" language with this talk of outlawing same-outfit match-ups)...




Of course, the WTA, for one, doesn't even to understand that marketing campaigns are meant to sell the sport to potential new customers, gin up excitement for longtime fans, and generate media and/or viral interest.

So what are the chances that the tour -- or tennis -- will ever even recognizes this as a problem to begin with?


kosova-font





kosova-font





kosova-font



In a follow-up to last week's match note concerning Grant... the smoke was legit.




kosova-font





kosova-font





kosova-font





kosova-font



Meanwhile, I guess the WTA social media person that did this very same thing in a post (later deleted) when Camila Osorio won a third Bogota title (over five years) just last month has learned absolutely nothing in the interim...



It's shocking, I know, that an arm of the WTA continues to make the same obvious mistakes. Who would've ever guessed?


kosova-font





During the pandemic Shutdown, I had a lot of space here and little tennis to fill it, so at one point I did a re-posted, re-written and updated version of the original "What If?" from days gone by:

Monica Seles: Almost the Best There Ever Was [WTA Backspin]
Monica Seles: Almost the Best There Ever Was [Backspin Tennis]

























futuristic-fonts


kosova-font



















kosova-font

*2025 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
3 - ARYNA SABALENKA, BLR = 2 1000, 1 500
2 - Mirra Andreeva, RUS = 2 1000
2 - Madison Keys, USA = 1 GS, 1 500
2 - Jessie Pegula, USA = 1 500, 1 250
[2020-25]
22 - 1/2/8/6/5/0 = Iga Swiatek, POL
15 - 3/2/0/3/4/3 = ARYNA SABALENKA, BLR
8 - 1/5/2 = Ash Barty, AUS (ret.)
8 - 0/1/0/4/3/0 = Coco Gauff, USA
8 - 0/3/2/2/1/0 = Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
7 - 0/0/1/2/2/2 = Jessie Pegula, USA
7 - 1/0/1/2/3/0 = Elena Rybakina, KAZ

*CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLES - active*
31 - Petra Kvitova (2023)
22 - Iga Swiatek (2024)
21 - Victoria Azarenka (2020)
20 - ARYNA SABALENKA (2025)
18 - Elina Svitolina (2025)
17 - Karolina Pliskova (2024)
--
ALSO: V.Williams (49), Wozniacki (30)

*LONG WTA (MD+BJK WG only) WINNING STREAKS - 2025*
16 - Madison Keys (January-March; ended by Sabalenka)
13 - Mirra Andreeva (February-March; ended by Anisimova)
11 - Aryna Sabalenka (January; ended by Keys)
11 - ELINA SVITOLINA (April-May; ended by Sabalenka)







futuristic-fonts


kosova-font


kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font



kosova-font






All for now.
Posted by at