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Sunday, September 27, 2026

Wk.38- Their Cup Runneth Over with Pojd!








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*WEEK 38 CHAMPIONS*
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE (WTA 500; Hard Court Indoor)
S: Leylah Fernandez/CAN def. Talia Gibson/AUS 7-5/6-0
WD: Erin Routliffe/Aldila Sutjiadi (NZL/INA) def. Tang Qianhui/Xu Yifan (CHN/CHN) 6-3/6-2
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (WTA 250; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Kimberly Birrell/AUS def. Maya Joint/AUS 6-4/6-2
WD: Chan Hao-ching/Wu Fang-Hsien (TPE/TPE) def. Lee Ya-Hsin/Ye Qiuyu (TPE/CHN) 6-2/6-3
Tolentino, Italy (WTA 125; Red Clay Outdoor)
S: Julia Grabher/AUT def. Guiomar Maristany/ESP 7-6(5)/6-2
D: Ekaterine Gorgodze/Despina Papamichail (GEO/GRE) def. Aneta Kladivova/Aneta Laboutkova (CZE/CZE) 6-1/6-2
Porto, Portugal (WTA 125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Maria Timofeeva/UZB def. Reese Brantmeier/USA 7-6(8)/6-2
D: Francisca Jorge/Matilde Jorge (POR/POR) def. Ariana Arseneault/Raphaelle Lacasse (CAN/CAN) 6-3/3-6 [10-3]
Ankara, Turkey (WTA 125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Berfu Cengiz/TUR def. Teodora Kostovic/SRB 2-6/6-4/7-5
D: Weronika Falkowska/Alana Smith (POL/USA) def. Dalila Jakupovic/Naima Karamoko (SLO/SUI) 6-2/7-6(2)
BJK CUP FINALS (Shenzhen, China; Hard Court Indoor)
F: CZE def. UKR 2-0 [MVP: Noskova/CZE]




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Leylah Fernandez/CAN
...seriously, when this happened way back in the second game of the opening set in the 1st Round, Fernandez should probably have figured that this week would belong to her.



Over the past five seasons, Fernandez has managed to pretty much outdistance, outlast and out-relevant both Bianca Andreescu (her fellow Canadian) and Emma Raducanu (her U.S. Open final opponent), the two tour players whose careers are most closely linked to her own.

While both those two have spent more time on the sidelines than on the court, and save for a pair of mid-level challenger events in January of this year (both claimed by Andreescu) neither has won a tour title since their two-years-apart championship runs in New York (in 2019 and '21), Fernandez has maintained a consistent presence just outside the tour's top tier in the half-decade-plus since the career high points of all three women, winning titles and reaching finals and generally being what she was when she had her original breakout moment: a consumate fighter who'll play to the last ball and will walk away on top a significant number of times, thus dispensing with any nonsense that her career high moments were somehow some sort of "fluke" unable to potentially be replicated under the right circumstances.

But, still, 2026 has been a rare disappointing season for Fernandez. She lost in the 1st Round in the first three majors of the year, started off at 3-8, and later lost four straight during the spring. Having never completed a sub-.500 season in her pro career, Fernandez stood at just 12-19 at the end of the grass court season.

But the same summer hard court stretch during which Fernandez made her name five years ago this season offered her an opportunity to turn things around, and she's taken advantage of her good fortune. Since the end of Wimbledon, Fernandez has gone 10-4, including a form-finding 4th Round run in Toronto and 3rd Round at the U.S. Open, ending her four-match slam losing streak.

In Singapore, Fernandez knocked off a whole list of season "checklist items," defeating Mirra Andreeva in the QF to record just her second Top 10 win in '26 (the other, in Toronto, also came at the expense of the Russian teen) to reach her maiden SF this year (she'd had 16 1r/2r exits in her first 23 events). A victory over RG finalist Maja Chwalinska (from a set down) extended Fernandez's streak of seasons with at least one tour-level final to seven, and her 7-5/6-0 win in the final over Talia Gibson grabbed the Canadian's sixth career title, her first since taking Washington last summer, adding to her all-time Canadian tour-level singles title total.

Though still not over .500 for the season (22-23), Fernandez is back inside the Top 30 at #26 ahead of her Osaka title and Hong Kong SF points defenses next month.


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RISER: Kimberly Birrell/AUS
...Birrell has often been at her best during the 4Q, post-U.S. Open stretch in Asia, and that past reliability reared its head once again this week in Seoul.

Having reached a pair of tour finals in Osaka and Chennai in the closing months of the last two seasons, the Aussie put on her maiden tour title run in Seoul, posting wins over the likes of Tamara Zidansek, Katie Volynets (in a 7-5 3rd, avoiding a final TB by saving a BP and converting on her fifth MP chance) and Anna Bondar (in three) to reach her third career WTA title match. She won her maiden crown with a 6-4/6-2 win over fellow Australian Maya Joint.

Birrell had only played beyond the QF on two occasions in her previous 20 tour-level events this season, both SF finishes in Adelaide (her first in a 500) and Austin. She'd suffered through a 2-9 stretch from March through June, losing five straight over the summer.

With this result, though, she'll crack the Top 50 for the first time and settle into a career-best #41 ranking heading into next week.


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SURPRISE: Tatiana Prozorova/RUS
...Prozorova's career week controversially ended earlier than she'd have preferred, but only after she'd won a string of nailbiters -- accumulating over nine hours of court time through three rounds -- as well as posted her biggest career win and reached her maiden tour-level SF.

In Singapore, the 22-year old Hordette (ranked #180) started her week by rallying from 7-5/4-2 down to nip Sofia Costoulas at the wire, then followed up with a comeback from 6-4/4-2 down against Alex Eala to collect her first career Top 20 victory. She then overcame a set deficit against Wang Xinyu to reach her first WTA SF, but then never got the chance to face off with Talia Gibson (also her doubles partner for the week) for a spot in the final.



Between her QF win and what would have been her tour-level SF debut, Prozorova took a shot to the head off her opponent's overhead smash (though she insisted later that the ball had just grazed her cheek and hit her shoulder) during doubles. After being taken off court by a physio, she was judged to have had a concussion that required she exit that match and, after the physio apparently pressed the issue after the match, will now have to miss six days of action, preventing her participation in Beijing qualifying, as well.

Afterward, Prozorova balked at the diagnosis, questioned the physio's judgment that she'd had a concussion based on the physical tests she'd been given off court (saying her long time on court in singles made it difficult to complete just one test -- standing on one foot with her eyes closed -- rather than any sort of head injury), and railed against the WTA's concussion rules preventing her from making her own decisions.



No matter how her week ended, Prozorova's work before the doubles incident will lead to a huge 57-spot rise in the rankings as she'll reach a new career high of #123 on Monday.
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VETERAN: Anna Bondar/HUN
...in Seoul, Bondar survived a trio of three-set contests to produce what was her second WTA SF+ run of the season (along w/ her final in Hamburg).

The 29-year old Hungarian rallied from a set down to defeat Renata Zarazua, then saved a MP (at 6-5 in the 3rd) against Alina Charaeva before outlasting Gabriela Ruse to reach the final four. Once there, she lost in her fourth three-set match of the week (and fifth in a row, after dropping her 2nd Rounder vs. Madison Keys at the U.S. Open after having led 5-2 in the 3rd and held 5 MP) against Kimberly Birrell.


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COMEBACK: Maya Joint/AUS
...after a sudden breakout season in '25, Joint has often had a difficult time finding her form in this follow-up campaign. The Aussie started the year at 3-15, and come the summer was forced to find encouragement in a three-set loss to Yuliia Starodubtseva in Nottingham and a close straight sets defeat at the hands of Emiliana Arango in Eastbourne, as she arrived at Wimbledon having gone 1-13 since reaching the Adelaide QF in mid-January.

Waiting for her in the 1st Round at SW19 was none other than Serena Willams, in her first match since 2022. Joint won that day, and pressed Alex Eala in a three-set loss a round later. Just like that, Joint had turned a corner. Starting with Wimbledon, she posted MD wins in three straight events, then had multiple victories in two of her next four tournaments.

She arrived in Seoul having fallen to #99 (she been #29 in February), and after rallying from 6-2/5-1 down in the 1st Round vs. Yao Xinxin (saving 3 MP in three different games), she pushed her way into the final (via a SF retirement from Alina Korneeva), her third at tour level (first on hard court) but her first since winning twice in May/June of 2025 (on clay and grass, the weeks before both RG and Wimbledon).

Joint lost in straight sets to fellow Aussie Kimberly Birrell, but will climb back to #82 on Monday, and suddenly has a narrow path toward climbing all the way out of her deep season hole if she can produce another run similar to this one before the end of the year. After Seoul, Joint is 16-23 after having gone 13-8 from the match against Serena Williams forward.


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FRESH FACES: Talia Gibson/AUS and Maria Timofeeva/UZB
...Gibson was one of the breakthrough stories of the early season, when the Aussie posted her second straight 1st Round win in Melbourne, won a $75K title in Brisbane and then rose still higher during the Sunshine Swing, reaching the QF in Indian Wells and 4th Round in Miami following qualifying runs in both events (going 11-2 in March, and 21-4 in the two months after the AO).

Gibson fell into a 1-5 slide during the spring, though, and had a pair of four-match losing streaks in the spring and summer. She arrived in Singapore having won three fewer matches since leaving Miami than she had during the whole Sunshine Swing, going 8-17 since the end of March.

But Gibson still had something more to achieve in '26, reaching her maiden tour-level SF and final following wins over Fiona Ferro and Maria Sakkari, and then getting a SF walkover from doubles partner (and singles breakout performer of the week) Tatiana Prozorova after she'd been hit in the head during a doubles match and deemed to have suffered a concussion.

Gibson lost 7-5/6-0 in the final to Leylah Fernandez, but will climb to a new career high of #41 on Monday, with the 22-year old assuming the top ranking amongst all the Australian women for the very first time.

In Porto, 22-year old Uzbeki Timofeeva picked up her second 125 crown of the season following a summer that saw her notch her first MD wins at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

Timofeeva, a surprise tour singles champion back in 2023 when she won Budapest as a LL in her WTA MD debut appearance, has yet to reach a second WTA final, but this was her fourth at the 125 level since last September as she'll rise to a new career-high of #68 in the next week.

Timofeeva posted wins in Porto over Gabriela Knutson (QF), Mia Pohankova (SF) and, in the final, qualifier Reese Brantmeier.


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ITF WORLD TENNIS: Ane Mintegi del Olmo/ESP and Alisa Oktiabreva/CZE
...multiple surgeries on her elbow had sidelined and thwarted Mintegi del Olmo's career by the end of the very same 2021 season in which she'd become the first Spaniard to win the Wimbledon girls' singles title. But over the past few years, her steady climb has seen the now 22-year old win in all seven of her appearances in singles finals at the challenger level back to 2023.

Her latest run came in the $50K in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where she closed out her week with a win in the final over 19-year old Bulgarian Elizara Yaneva, 2–6/6–1/6–3.

Yaneva had been on an impressive run, with nine staight wins and a 14-3 mark since her loss in U.S. Open qualifying.

In Santa Margherita di Pula (ITA), it was a case of another week, another Crusher champion due to a final match-up of a *pair* of teenage Czechs.

Reigning RG junior champ Oktiabreva, with the ink still drying on the papers that officially made her the latest new Czech tennis star and having *just* won her maiden pro title (*last* week in Santa Margherita di Pula) as a Czech representative, decided that she liked the idea so much that she went out and did it again, extending her winning streak to ten matches by claiming a second straight $35K title.

The 18-year old's 7-5/6-3 win in the final over another 18-year old Czech, Alena Kovackova (who won the doubles), improves Oktiabreva's career record in pro finals to 7-1. She's 25-6 in pro events this season.


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JUNIOR STAR: Mariella Thamm/GER
...17-year old German Thamm (jr. #13) picked up her third J300 crown of the season, the first on hard court, in Sanxenxo (ESP) with a 7-6/6-1 win in the final over Brit Daniella Britton.

Britton, 15, had been on an 11-1 run coming into the final, winning the pre-U.S. Open Repentigny crown and with her only junior level loss during the stretch coming to Nana Silva in the 2nd Round of the girls' singles at Flushing Meadows.


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DOUBLES: Erin Routliffe/Aldila Sutjiadi (NZL/INA) and Francisca Jorge/Matilde Jorge, POR/POR
...in the week's biggest event, Routliffe & Sutjiadi won their third title as a pair (along w/ Washington this season, and Austin in 2023), defeating Tang Qianhui & Xu Yifan in a 6-3/6-2 final.

It's Sutjiadi's ninth career WTA win (3rd this year) and Routliffe's 14th.

Routliffe has won in her last seven tour-level finals, a combination of matches in which she's partnered four different women (Dabrowski-4, Sutjiadi-2, Ostapenko-1, Muhammad-1).



Meanwhile, in the Porto 125, the Portuguese sisters took the home court honors.

Francisca and Matilde Jorge, respectively ages 26 and 22, have still yet to pick up their first tour-level title, but this weekend's win gives them three 125 crowns over the past three years (along with their 24 career ITF circuit wins as a pair). The siblings outlasted the Canadian team of Ariana Arseneault & Raphaelle Lacasse in the Porto final, winning via a MTB, 6-3/3-6 [10-3].


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WHEELCHAIR: Yui Kamiji/JPN
...already back on the court after having followed up her U.S. Open title run by coming up short in last weekend's WC World Team Cup final, Kamiji claimed the 250 level Sardinia Open in Alghero, Italy.

After wins over Guo Luoyao and Zhu Zhenzhen, Kamiji received a walkover in the final from Ksenia Chasteau. It's Kamiji's eighth singles title of 2026, and her third career win in the event. The first came in 2015.
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...with the BJK Cup Finals' shift to an earlier September date, while it *maybe* allows for more top players to take part (which was the idea... but only five Top 10 players were eligible participants for the eight-nation field, with three -- two of them Czechs -- actually in Shenzhen with their teams), it also causes the finale (though the BJK Playoffs are still in November) of the premier women's team event to sort of get lost in the shuffle of what was otherwise a cluttered week (w/ two WTA events, three 125s, and even a more-publicized men's team event in the Laver Cup taking place at the same time).

Of course, the actual flagship of women's tennis doesn't exactly help the situation.

True to form, the WTA didn't even bother to publicize the event on its own social media platforms, sort of like how it treats its own 125 challenger circuit... as if it doesn't exist. It's yet another case of the *great* synergy that exists (not really) when it comes to any sort of a-rising-tide-lifts-all-boats, all-for-one-and-one-for-all style of promoting the top women's events during the season that causes so much to slip through the cracks as each individual entity only pays attention to its own "gated community" while driving by all the others without a passing glance. The rare exception to that is the social media teams of, especially, RG and the U.S. Open, which generally and steadfastly promote the important events/results of the others.


BILLIE JEAN KING CUP FINALS - QF
[Shenzhen, CHN - HCI]
(1) ITA d. CHN 2-1 [dd] (MVP: Paolini)
(3) UKR d. BEL 2-1 [dd] (MVP: Kalinina)
(4) ESP d. KAZ 2-1 [dd] (MVP: Bucsa/Sorribes Tormo)
CZE d. (2) GBR 2-0 (MVP: Noskova)



ESP/KAZ QF M3 - Cristina Bucsa/Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) def. Anna Danilina/Zhibek Kulambayeva (KAZ)
...6-2/7-5. Even without Elena Rybakina in the mix, thanks to Yulia Putintseva's win over Bucsa in Match #2, the Spaniards needed all three matches to take care of the Kazakhs, as Bucsa returned to pull double-duty on the day to get Team Espana into the SF for the first time since 2008 (the last of seven such runs from 2000-08).


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UKR/BEL QF M2 - Greet Minnen/BEL def. Elina Svitolina/UKR
...6-7(5)/6-4/6-4. Things would ultimately turn in her favor later, at least for one day, but Svitolina's week got off to a disappointing start as she lost a set lead and fell in three as Minnen sent things to the deciding doubles.


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UKR/BEL QF M3 - Anhelina Kalinina/Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR) def. Magali Kempen/Lara Salden (BEL)
...6-3/6-3. Swooping in to save the day was Kalinina. Off a singles win over debuting 21-year old Jana Otzipka, she returned to join forces with Kichenok and send Ukraine into a second straight Cup SF.
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ITA/CHN QF M3 - Sara Errani/Jasmine Paolini (ITA) def. Guo Hanyu/Jiang Xinyu (CHN)
...6-3/5-7/6-3. The two-time defending Cup champions were required to go to the deciding doubles to return to the semis, with Paolini -- the star of the last two Finals events -- pulling the team out of a 0-1 hole (after Elisabetta Cocciaretto scored just two games off Zhang Shuai in Match #1) with a win over Zheng Qinwen, then joining once again with Cup stalwart Errani to bring what was a final bit of glory to Team Italia.
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BILLIE JEAN KING CUP FINALS - SF
(3) UKR d. ITA 2-0 (MVP: Svitolina)
CZE d. (4) ESP 2-0 (MVP: Noskova)



CZE/ESP SF M1 - Karolina Muchova/CZE def. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro/ESP
...7-5/6-4. All togther now: there is no lead that Jessica Bouzas Maneiro can't lose.

It happened again here, as the Spaniard led 4-2 in the 1st set, and was a game away from taking the match lead at 5-4, but ultimately fell in straight sets in what was Muchova's first Cup duty since 2022.

Linda Noskova's win over Cristina Bucsa sent CZE into the nation's first final since 2018, in Barbora Strycova's maiden year as Captain.
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UKR/ITA SF M1 - Anhelina Kalinina def. Tyra Grant
...6-3/6-4. Italian Captain Tathiana Garbin has usually played the right cards, but that was not the case here. After Cocciaretto had come up short in her QF singles match, Garbin went with Cup-debuting 18-year old Grant while Cocciaretto, Lucia Bronzetti and even Sara Errani sat idle on the bench.

It turned out to help send Italy to an early exit, wasting the absence of UKR's other Top 10er (Marta Kostyuk) and ending the nation's two-year title reign and three-year final appearance streak.
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UKR/ITA SF M2 - Elina Svitolina/UKR def. Jasmine Paolini/ITA
...6-2/6-2. Svitolina's redemption ended Paolini's six-match Cup singles winning streak (10 combined s/d) and sent Ukraine to its first Cup final.

The result prevented what would have been a tasty *first-ever* final match-up between the two most recently dominant Cup nations, Italy and the Czech Republic, winners of a combined 12 Cup championships since 2006 (including an eight-year run from 2009-16, with CZE winning five times and ITA three) and with appearances in 14 of the last 19 finals.

CZE and ITA split four SF ties between the two from 2010-14.


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BILLIE JEAN KING CUP FINALS - FINAL
CZE d. (3) UKR 2-0 (MVP: Noskova)



FINAL M1 - Karolina Muchova/CZE def. Anhelina Kalinina/UKR
...6-2/6-3. It's been a pretty good move in 2026 to take a ride on the Muchova train, and it was very much the case in Shenzhen as the Czech's return to Cup action (she went 2-0, skipping only the QF as Marie Bouzkova contributed a match win vs. GBR) proved to be a good luck charm.



Muchova's wins in the SF and Final helped assure that the Czechs (who went 6-0 in singles) never even had to play a deciding doubles match, leaving women's doubles #1 Katerina Siniakova serving as nothing more than a spectator all week long.

Kalinina, though under the radar, had been been UKR MVP up until this point, winning both s/d points vs. BEL in the QF, then downing Grant in the SF. This loss was her first ever in Cup play (she's now a combined 5-1).
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FINAL M2 - Linda Noskova/CZE def. Elina Svitolina/UKR
...6-3/7-6(5). We can now add Noskova's name to the list of Czech Cup greats. The Wimbledon champ was (according to this space) the overall MVP in the BJK Qualifiers in the spring, and her 3-0 mark in the week's final event only added to her legacy as the latest team leader on the court.

Noskova clinched the QF win over GBR with a win over Katie Boulter (w/ 15 aces!), clinched the SF over ESP with a win over Bucsa, and then salted away CZE's 12th overall title (seventh in the post-Czechoslovakian era, w/ the first coming in 2011) with the clinching win over Svitolina. She put away all three matches in straight sets.



Overall, Noskova went 5-0 in '26 Cup play, winning 10 of 11 sets, going 4-0 in TB (one in each of her last four matches). She's now 9-2 in her Cup singles career.

Meanwhile, the loss ended what wasn't a very good Finals for Svitolina. She managed to get the historic win over Paolini that sent UKR to its first Cup final, but went 1-2 overall, with her one win surely partly "credited" to Zhang Shuai for getting a QF win over Cocciaretto in the ITA/CHN QF and ultimately forcing Paolini to play twice in the previous tie just to get the defending champs to the SF before coming up short vs. Svitolina.
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The Cup title, the first claimed by the Czechs since 2018, comes in Barbora Strycova's maiden year as the team's new Captain (replacing Petr Pala after an untennisgodly successful run in the position). She joins Margaret Court, Chris Evert and Billie Jean King herself as individuals who've won Cup titles as both a player and captain.



Since 2009, the Czechs have posted Cup finishes of:

2009: SF
2010: SF
2011: W
2012: W
2013: SF
2014: W
2015: W
2016: W
2017: SF
2018: W
2019: QF
2020/21: BJK Finals event (rr)
2022: SF
2023: SF
2024: BJK Finals event (QF)
2025: lost in Qualifiers rr
2026: W






*BJK FINALS - TOP PLAYERS*
1.Linda Noskova, CZE
2.Anhelina Kalinina, UKR
3.Karolina Muchova, CZE
4.Kalinina/L.Kichenok, UKR
5.Marie Bouzkova, CZE
6.Errani/Paolini, ITA
7.Bucsa/Sorribes, ESP
8.Greet Minnen, BEL
9.Elina Svitolina, UKR
10.Yulia Putintseva, KAZ
HM-Jasmine Paolini, ITA

*BJK FINALS - TOP CAPTAINS*
1.Barbora Strycova, CZE (W)
2.Illya Marchenko, UKR (RU)
3.Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP (SF)
4.Tathiana Garbin, ITA (SF)
5.Yuriy Schukin, KAZ (QF)
HM-Wim Fissette, BEL (QF)










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1. Seoul 1st Rd. - Maya Joint def. Yao Xinxin
...2-6/7-6(7)/6-3. Joint's run to the final nearly derailed right out of the station, as she trailed Yao 6-2/5-1 and faced a MP on her own serve. After the Aussie held serve, then Yao failed to serve out the win in the following game, Joint was down another MP -- this time on return -- at 5-4 before breaking Yao for a third straight service game.

In the deciding TB, Yao had a *third* MP chance at 6-5, only to see Joint surge one final time and get the 9-7 win.
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2. Singapore 1st Rd. - Barbora Krejcikova def. Anna-Lena Friedsam
...6-0/5-7/7-6(4). The two sides of the Krejcikova coin. While it's great to see the Czech vet on the court staging rallies for exciting wins, which happened here, it usually comes with a price. That happened, too.

After winning a love 1st set, Krejcikova came back from 5-2 down in the 2nd to knot the score at 5-all, only to see Friedsam take the set at 7-5 to force a 3rd.

There, Krejcikova fell behind 5-3, with the German holding a pair of MP on serve. The Czech turned the tables and soon found *herself* serving for the win at 6-5. Friedman got the break to force a deciding TB, where Krejcikova finally put away the "W" on her second MP.

Unfortunately, that was Krejcikova's swan song for the week in Singapore, as she withdrw before her 2nd Round match with a sore lower back.


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3. Singapore 1st Rd. - Tatiana Prozorova def. Sofia Costoulas
...5-7/7-6(2)/6-2. Prozorova's week started innocently enough, with a rally from 7-5/4-2 down to take out the young Belgian.



Singapore 2nd Rd. - Tatiana Prozorova def. Alex Eala
...4-6/7-5/6-3. Things picked up considerably when the Hordette faced off with Eala, notching her first career Top 20 win after having seen the Filipina come back from 3-1 down to take the 1st, finally holding on SP #7 in game 10 (saving 2 BP) to win 6-4. Eala then went up 4-2 in the 2nd.

After taking a 7-5 2nd set to force a decider, Prozorova denied Eala on three BP chances to hold for 4-3. She then broke at love and served out the win, the biggest of her career.




Singapore QF - Tatiana Prozorova def. Wang Xinyu
...3-6/7-5/6-4. Things had finally started to settle for Prozorova by the QF, at least comparatively, as she led 5-2 in the 2nd but had to stave off a Wang rally to tie things up a 5-5 (Prozorova broke and held to force a 3rd). The Hordette then went on to close out another three-set, three-hour battle.

But before she could play in her first WTA SF, Prozorova was beaned by an overhead smash (though not according to *her* account of things) and forced to pull out of the tournament.
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4. Seoul Final - Kimberly Birrell def. Maya Joint
...6-4/6-2. Three of the four tour-level singles finalists this weekend were Australian, so (at least) the first Aussie champ at the WTA level this season was assured. It turned out to be Birrell, winning her maiden title in her third career final appearance over Joint, also in her third WTA final but having previously been undefeated at 2-0.

Though the switching over of Dasha Kasatkina to Australian representation at first made it appear as the AUS #1 spot was hers to claim, that hasn't happened. She's slipped all the way down to #87, the fourth-highest Aussie standing at the moment.

Neither Birrell (#2) nor Joint (#3) are the top-ranked Aussie, though. That'd be Talia Gibson, who ended last year as the AUS #6 at #136.






Singapore Final - Leylah Fernandez def. Talia Gibson
...7-5/6-0. Gibson's first career final appearance jumps her up nearly 30 spots to AUS #1 at #37, though she could have been even higher if she'd been able to handle Fernandez in the final.

Instead the Canadian, having extended her seasons-with-a-final streak to seven, made 2026 her fifth season of the last six in which she's claimed a tour-level title as her own, closing out crown #6 with a love set.


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5. Seoul 1st Rd. - Darya Astakhova def. Magda Linette
...3-6/6-1/7-6(2). In a back-and-forth final set, Astakhova and Linette exchanged breaks twice through the first six games, then again for a third time in games 9 & 10.

Linette had two MP opportunities on return at 6-5, but the 24-year old Hordette got the hold and then took command in the deciding breaker to record her first career tour-level MD victory.


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6. Seoul 1st Rd. - Alina Charaeva def. Sofia Kenin
...3-6/7-6(4)/6-4. Kenin's season highlight may have been her Night 1 win on Ashe over Venus Williams at the U.S. Open.

With her loss here after having led 6-3/4-2, and serving at 6-5, the former AO champ falls to 7-22 on the season.
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7. Seoul 2nd Rd. - Taylah Preston def. Alona Ostapenko
...6-4/6-1. Ostapenko managed to end her four-match losing streak with a 1st Round win, but saw her Seoul run end a round later as Preston notched her second win this season over a #1 seed in a tour-level event (matching Cirstea, Navarro and Rybakina for the most this season).

Meanwhile, further evidence that to ride the Alona rollercoaster is a sometimes head-spinning affair...


============================================
8. Singapore QF - Maja Chwalinska def. Oleksandra Oliynykova
...6-2/6-2. Chwalinska, after having been 1-6 since reaching the RG final in the spring (a stretch which included a 1st Rd. injury -- on MP -- at Wimbledon that put a two-and-a-half-month gap between match wins for the Pole), strung together a trio of straight sets wins in Singapore en route to the SF.

One of those included her doing the work so that no one else had to (i.e. silencing Oliynykova, allowing just a single game).


============================================
9. $15K Constanta ROU Final - Giulia Safina Popa def. Alesia Breaz
...6-3/6-1. In Simona Halep's hometown, the 16-year old wins an all-Romanian battle with her fellow teenager (18).

For Safina Popa, it's her second consecutive $15K title run, and her third this season.
============================================



10. Ankara 125 Final - Berfu Cengiz def. Teodora Kostovic
...2-6/6-4/7-5. The 26-year old Turk wins on home ground, taking her biggest career title in her biggest career final (she'd already played in her previous biggest at a $100K final in August) with a win over the big-talking (yeah, her pre-Sabalenka match comments will follow her until something *bigger* happens) Serbian teenager, who'd arrived off her maiden tour-level QF in Sao Paulo and will crack the Top 140 on Monday (just outside the "Teen Top 10" behind Emerson Jones).
============================================
11. Tolentino 125 Final - Julia Grabher def. Guiomar Maristany
...7-6(5)/6-2. The 30-year old Austrian wins her third career 125 crown, matching her biggest career title. She'll climb back into the Top 100 on Monday.

Earlier this season, Grabher tripled her career slam MD victory total with 1st Round wins at AO & RG. She'd posted just one other in her career, in Paris in 2023.
============================================
12. $50K Berkeley USA Final - Kayla Day def. Janae Preston
...7-5/6-4. Day wins the battle over 16-year old Bannerette Preston, playing in her second pro final (in nine career events) after earlier this season winning three J300 crowns on three different surfaces (including on the grass at Roehampton) and reaching the Wimbledon girls' SF and U.S. Open QF.
============================================






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1. Seoul Final - Chan Hao-ching/Wu Fang-Hsien def. Lee Ya-Hsin/Ye Qiuyu
...6-2/6-3. Chan & Wu take the Seoul title without dropping a set in what was their first appearance in a final as a duo since winning in Hua Hin in 2023.

It's Wu's fourth career tour title, while Chan -- with Zhang Shuai safely tucked away in Shenzhen for the week -- picks up #23, her second this season in her fourth '26 final.


============================================
2. Seoul 1st Rd. - Kamilla Rakhimova def. Polina Kudermetova
...6-3/6-2. In an all-Uzbeki match-up, Rakhimova couldn't secure a straight sets win over her former-and-once-again countrywoman despite leading 7-6/4-2. In the deciding 3rd set, Kudermetova served for the win at 5-4, but Rakhimova closed out the victory with a sweep of the final three games.

Neither are the top-ranked player representing Uzbekistan, though. Instead, that's be *another* former Hordette in Maria Timofeeva, who'll jumped 20 spots and into the highest ranking with her 125 title in Porto this weekend.

Still, having three players in the Top 104 isn't too shabby for a "tennis nation" that was essentially just a notion a year or so ago.

The next highest-ranked Uzbeki is Laima Vladson at #574. Vladson is a former Lithuanian who just started representing the nation late in 2025.
============================================









Meanwhile, the WTA continues to court engagement while simultaneously making itself look like a joke, and also pouring gasoline on the fires of animosity between fanbases and fostering social media hatred toward one of its own (in this case, Eala) all for the sake of a ridiculous popularity-contest-disguised-as-an-online-poll that crowns the winner of a 500 event the "star of the swing" over a grand slam champion.



The thing is, all they'd have to do to have their cake and eat it, too, would be to simply declare the reigning slam winner (at all four majors, during the "Australian" and various surface "swings") the Player of the (insert correct schedule period here), appropriately celebrating them, and then have a separate poll for fans to pick the (oh, just to pick out a few applicable terms) a "Rising Star" or "Fresh Face" to represent the player who improved or "broke out" the most during each swing.

But, you know, it's the WTA. So...

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More than one (okay, maybe almost all) of these made me laugh out loud...




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Unlike three other Aussies, Emerson Jones didn't reach a tour-level singles final this week. But...




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Meanwhile, just a Czech doing Czech things...




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Meanwhile, a suggestion for how they could decide *next* year's U.S. Open Mixed Doubles competition...


























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*2026 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
Abu Dhabi - Sara Bejlek, CZE (20/#101)
Merida - Cristina Bucsa, ESP (28/#63)
Rabat - Petra Marcinko, CRO (20/#76)
Rosmalen - Robin Montgomery, USA (21/#484)
Prague - Lilli Tagger, AUT (18/#74)
Memphis - Kristina Liutova, RUS (16/#229)
Washington - Alex Eala, PHI (21/#28)
Monterrey - Diane Parry, FRA (23/#50)
Sao Paulo - Kaitlin Quevedo, ESP (20/#105)
Seoul - KIMBERLY BIRRELL, AUS (28/#60)

*2026 FIRST-TIME WTA FINALISTS*
Sara Bejlek, CZE (#101/20 = Abu Dhabi)-W
Taylor Townsend, USA (#119/29 = Austin)
Yuliia Starodubtseva, UKR (#89/26 = Charleston)
Panna Udvardy, HUN (#92/27 = Bogota)
Veronika Podrez, UKR (#209/19 = Rouen)
Petra Marcinko, CRO (#76/20 = Rabat)-W
Maja Chwalinska, POL (#114/24 = Roland Garros)
Robin Montgomery, USA (#484/21 = Rosmalen)-W
Daria Snigur, UKR (#54/24 = Prague)
Kristina Liutova, RUS (16/#229 = Memphis)-W
Dasha Vidmanova, CZE (23/#114 = Memphis)
Alex Eala, PHI (21/#28 = Washington)-W
Diane Parry, FRA (23/#50 = Monterrey)-W
Nadia Podoroska, ARG (29/#317 = Sao Paulo)
Kaitlin Quevedo, ESP (20/#105 = Sao Paulo)-W
TALIA GIBSON, AUS (22/#63 = Singapore)

*2026 FIRST-TIME WTA SEMIFINALISTS*
Hobart: Taylah Preston, AUS (20/#204)
Hobart: Antonia Ruzic, CRO (22/#71)
Abu Dhabi: Sara Bejlek, CZE (20/#101)=W
Abu Dhabi: Hailey Baptiste, USA (24/#56)
Cluj-Napoca: Oleksandra Oliynykova, UKR (25/#91)
Cluj-Napoca: Daria Snigur, UKR (23/#144)
Austin: Taylor Townsend, USA (29/#119)=RU
Bogota: Jazmin Ortenzi, ARG (24/#206)
Bogota: Panna Udvardy, HUN (27/#92)=RU
Charleston: Yuliia Starodubtseva, UKR (26/#89)
Rouen: Veronika Podrez, UKR (19/#209)
Rabat: Petra Marcinko, CRO (20/#76)=W
Roland Garros: Maja Chwalinska, POL (24/#114)=RU
Memphis: Kristina Liutova, RUS (16/#229)=W
Memphis: Dasha Vidmanova, CZE (23/#114)=RU
Memphis: Elvina Kalieva, USA (23/#132)
Monterrey: Nikola Bartunkova, CZE (20/#38)
Sao Paulo: Kaitlin Quevedo, ESP (20/#105)=W
Singapore: TALIA GIBSON, AUS (22/#63)=RU
Singapore: TATIANA PROZOROVA, RUS (22/#180)

*2026 TOP 10 WINS ON THREE SURFACES*
Coco Gauff (2 HC, 1 CC, 1 GR)
Karolina Muchova (3 HC, 2 CC, 1 GR)
Emma Navarro (1 HC, 1 CC, 1 GR)
LINDA NOSKOVA (1 HC, 1 CC, 2 GR)

*CAREER WTA WS TITLES - CAN*
6 - LEYLAH FERNANDEZ (2021-26)
3 - Bianca Andreescu (2019)
2 - Carling Bassett-Seguso (1983-87)
2 - Helen Kelesi (1986-88)
2 - Victoria Mboko (2025)
1 - Genie Bouchard (2014)
1 - Aleksandra Wozniak (2008)
1 - Jill Hetherington (1988)
1 - Patricia Hy-Boulais (1986)

*CAREER WTA DOUBLES TITLES - active*
39 - Katerina Siniakova, CZE
36 - Sara Errani, ITA
36 - Hsieh Su-Wei, TPE
31 - Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
24 - Elise Mertens
24 - Gaby Dabrowski, CAN
23 - CHAN HAO-CHING, TPE
23 - Serena Williams, USA
22 - Venus Williams, USA
--
ALSO: 30 - Mattek-Sands; 29 - Babos

*FED CUP/BJK CUP FINALS*
1963 United States def. Australia 2-1
1964 Australia def. United States 2-1
1965 Australia def. United States 2-1
1966 United States def. West Germany 3-0
1967 United States def. Great Britain 2-0
1968 Australia def. Netherlands 3-0
1969 United States def. Australia 2-1
1970 Australia def. West Germany 3-0
1971 Australia def. Great Britain 3-0
1972 South Africa def. Great Britain 2-1
1973 Australia def. South Africa 3-0
1974 Australia def. United States 2-1
1975 Czechoslovakia def. Australia 3-0
1976 United States def. Australia 2-1
1977 United States def. Australia 2-1
1978 United States def. Australia 2-1
1979 United States def. Australia 3-0
1980 United States def. Australia 3-0
1981 United States def. Great Britain 3-0
1982 United States def. West Germany 3-0
1983 Czechoslovakia def. West Germany 2-1
1984 Czechoslovakia def. Australia 2-1
1985 Czechoslovakia def. United States 2-1
1986 United States def. Czechoslovakia 3-0
1987 West Germany def. United States 2-1
1988 Czechoslovakia def. USSR 2-1
1989 United States def. Spain 3-0
1990 United States def. USSR 2-1
1991 Spain def. United States 2-1
1992 Germany def. Spain 2-1
1993 Spain def. Australia 3-0
1994 Spain def. United States 3-0
1995 Spain def. United States 3-2
1996 United States def. Spain 5-0
1997 France def. Netherlands 4-1
1998 Spain def. Switzerland 3-2
1999 United States def. Russia 4-1
2000 United States def. Spain 5-0
2001 Belgium def. Russia 2-1
2002 Slovak Republic def. Spain 3-1
2003 France def. United States 4-1
2004 Russia def. France 3-2
2005 Russia def. France 3-2
2006 Italy def. Belgium 3-2
2007 Russia def. Italy 4-0
2008 Russia def. Spain 4-0
2009 Italy def. United States 4-0
2010 Italy def. United States 3-1
2011 Czech Republic def. Russia 3-2
2012 Czech Republic def. Serbia 3-1
2013 Italy def. Russia 4-0
2014 Czech Republic def. Germany 3-1
2015 Czech Republic def. Russia 3-2
2016 Czech Republic def. France 3-2
2017 United States def. Belarus 3-2
2018 Czech Republic def. United States 3-0
2019 France def. Australia 3-2
2020-21 Russia (RTF) def. Switzerland 2-0
2022 Switzerland def. Australia 2-0
2023 Canada def. Italy 2-0
2024 Italy def. Slovakia 2-0
2025 Italy def. United States 2-0
2026 Czech Republic def. Ukraine 2-0
[MOST TITLES]
18 - United States
12 - Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia (7 as CZE)
7 - Australia
6 - Italy
5 - Russia/RTF/USSR
5 - Spain
3 - France
2 - Germany/West Germany
1 - Belgium
1 - Canada
1 - Slovakia/Slovak Republic
1 - South Africa
1 - Switzerland



*BACKSPIN FED CUP/BJK CUP AWARDS*
*-non-title winning nation
[FED CUP/BJK CUP PLAYER OF YEAR - season]
2005 Elena Dementieva, RUS
2006 Francesca Schiavone, ITA
2007 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2008 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2009 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2010 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2011 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2012 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2013 Roberta Vinci, ITA
2014 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2015 Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2016 Caroline Garcia, FRA*
2017 CoCo Vandeweghe, USA
2018 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2019 Ash Barty, AUS*
2020-21 Jil Teichmann, SUI*
2022 Belinda Bencic, SUI
2023 Leylah Fernandez, CAN
2024 Iga Swiatek, POL*
2025 Elina Svitolina, UKR*
2026 Linda Noskova, CZE
[FED CUP/BJK CUP CAPTAIN OF YEAR - season]
2015 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA*
2016 Paul Haarhuis, NED*
2017 Kathy Rinaldi, USA
2018 Kathy Rinaldi, USA*
2019 Julien Benneteau, FRA
2020-21 Igor Andreev, RUS (RTF)
2022 Alicia Molik, AUS*
2023 Tathiana Garbin, ITA*
2024 Matej Liptak, SVK*
2025 Tathiana Garbin, ITA
2026 Barbora Strycova, CZE
[FED CUP/BJK CUP FINALS MVP]
2002 Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
2003 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
2004 Anastasia Myskina, RUS
2005 Elena Dementieva, RUS
2006 Francesa Schiavone, ITA
2007 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2008 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2009 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2010 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2011 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2012 Lucie Safarova, CZE
2013 Roberta Vinci, ITA
2014 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2015 Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2016 Barbora Strycova, CZE
2017 CoCo Vandeweghe, USA
2018 Katerina Siniakova, CZE
2019 Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
2021 Liudmila Samsonova, RUS (RTF)
2022 Belinda Bencic, SUI
2023 Leylah Fernandez, CAN
2024 Sara Errani/Jasmine Paolini, ITA
2025 Jasmine Paolini, ITA
2026 Linda Noskova, CZE

*FC/BJK CUP FINAL - SINGLES CLINCHER VICTORY; since 2000*
[finals event; 2000-2001]
2000 Lindsay Davenport, USA
2001 Kim Clijsters, BEL
[single-elimination bracket format; 2002-19]
2002 Janette Husarova, SVK
2003 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
2007 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2008 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2009 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2010 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2012 Lucie Safarova, CZE
2013 Sara Errani, ITA
2014 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2018 Katerina Siniakova, CZE
[finals event; 2020/21-current]
2021 Liudmila Samsonova, RUS (RTF)
2022 Belinda Bencic, SUI
2023 Leylah Fernandez, CAN
2024 Jasmine Paolini, ITA
2025 Jasmine Paolini, ITA
2026 Linda Noskova, CZE

*FC/BJK TITLE AS PLAYER and CAPTAIN*
Margaret Court/AUS
Chris Evert/USA
Billie Jean King/USA
Barbora Strycova/CZE




*FED/BJK CUP SEMIFINALS - since 2000*
2000 2001 2002
United States (W)
Belgium
Czech Republic
Spain (RU)		 Russia (W)
Belgium (RU)
France (Group 2nd)
Spain (Group 2nd)		 Italy
Slovak Republic (W)
Austria
Spain (RU)
2003 2004 2005
Belgium
United States (RU)
Russia
France (W)		 France (RU)
Spain
Russia (W)
Austria		 Russia (W)
United States
Spain
France (RU)
2006 2007 2008
Belgium (RU)
United States
Spain
Italy (W)		 Italy (RU)
France
Russia (W)
United States		 Russia (W)
United States
China
Spain (RU)
2009 2010 2011
Russia
Italy (W)
United States (RU)
Czech Republic		 Italy (W)
Czech Republic
Russia
United States (RU)		 Italy
Russia (RU)
Czech Republic (W)
Belgium
2012 2013 2014
Russia
Serbia (RU)
Italy
Czech Republic (W)		 Czech Republic
Italy (W)
Russia (RU)
Slovak Republic		 Italy
Czech Republic (W)
Germany (RU)
Australia
2015 2016 2017
Czech Republic (W)
France
Russia (RU)
Germany		 Czech Republic (W)
Switzerland
France (RU)
Netherlands		 Czech Republic
United States (W)
Belarus (RU)
Switzerland
2018 2019 2020/21
Germany
Czech Republic (W)
France
United States (RU)		 Romania
France (W)
Belarus
Australia (RU)		 Russian TF (W)
United States
Australia
Switzerland (RU)
2022 2023 2024
Switzerland (W)
Czech Republic
Great Britain
Australia (RU)		 Czech Republic
Canada (W)
Italy (RU)
Slovenia		 Great Britain
Slovakia (RU)
Poland
Italy (W)
2025 2026
Italy (W)
Ukraine
United States (RU)
Great Britain		 Italy
Ukraine (RU)
Spain
Czech Republic (W)







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“Trump and Xi Jinping visit the National Archives Trump explains to the Chinese president how he's destroying democracy” @anntelnaes.bsky.social On SUBSTACK anntelnaes.substack.com

[image or embed]

— paulpro (@mariopro.bsky.social) September 26, 2026 at 10:47 PM


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All for now.
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