Xiyu Wang
I’m just returned from a long holiday spent in my native place, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which kept me distracted from tennis during the last weeks. It is thus time to come back to my duties and write a little résumé on what happened up to now in the U.S. Open. As Paolo is writing on boys, focusing in particular on the exploits of Lorenzo Musetti, I have rock solid reason to write on girls only (as the fact that Paolo’s articles are written in Italian is not material…).
The tournament was stronger than usual, as the 22 rank Lea Ma was the 16th seed and 6 top 10 have taken part to the event; but let’s start from the end, i.e. from the final, which will be played in a few hours between the French Clara Burel and the Chinese Xiyu Wang (not the Wang I saw in Bonfiglio against Tauson, the ther Wang, who I like less). I followed a bit Burel during the last edition of the Australian Open and I quite enjoyed her game. After having reached the final in such tournament, which she lost against Liang, she went through a bit of a nasty period both at junior and pro level, having just reached the semi-final at the European Championship (which she lost, though, by 1-6 0-6 against Tauson) and the semi-final in a 15k, as positive results. In this U.S. Open, Clara managed to exploit very well a draw which turned not to be very challenging, as she didn’t have to play against any seeded player until the semi-final (which she won against Osorio Serrano by 7-5 1-6 7-6); though, in her way to the final she has beaten with ease other good players as Apisah and Raducanu, showing as such that she has possibly regained a good form. Wang, who was the third seed of the tournament, had to face maybe a bit more of a difficult draw, as she had to beat Naho Sato in the quarter finals (she won by 7-6 6-2) and a futher seed, i.e. Lea Ma. Moreover, in the semi final, Wang had to face the player who I judge to be the moral winner of the tournament, i.e. Dasha Lopatetskaya: Dasha gave a good fight against the Chinese, as the final result was 6-1 5-7 6-3 in favour of the latter.
I saw Dasha Lopatetskaya playing for the first time during the last Bonfiglio, as I assisted to the first set of her match against Osorio Serrano. The Ukrainian impressed me quite a lot, even if not as much as her compatriot Marta Kostyuk did two years ago. This is the first Grade A in which Dasha gained a noticeable result and indeed her performance has been stunning: she has beaten Clara Tauson in the second round, then my Elli Mandlik, who seems to be enjoying a good period of form in light of her latest results and, finally, she has beaten Her Majesty Cori Gauff in three sets in the quarter finals: it is to be noted that this is not the first time that Dasha has beaten the American prodigy, as in 2017 she has already dismissed Cori in the Petit As, having won the match in the tie-break of the third set.
Other girls who played a good tournament were (beside the other seimfinalist, Maria Osorio), in the first place, Emma Raducanu, who reached the quarter finals and has beaten in the process Alexa Noel by 6-0 6-1 and the Chinese Zheng; N.B.O., who has beaten Garland and Perry, before losing by Dasha (but not so easily: the score was 7-5 6-4 in favour of the Ukrainian); and the tiny Japanese Naho Sato, who has, noticeably, beaten the French Open finalist McNally by 7-5 6-4.
For sure it cannot be said that Gauff’s tournament was disappointing: she reached a further semi-final in a slam and indeed it is not possible that she wins any tournament she plays: this good result is an additional confirmation of the strength and consistency of the young American. Other players, instead, have not met the expectations: maybe I was looking for something better by the above-mentioned McNally: though she has played so well for so many months in a row that a weaker tournament cannot be interpreted as a such a disgraceful event. A bit different is the situation for the Italian Open champion Elè Molinaro: since her most prestigious win in Italy the Luxemburgish has gained only a good quarter final in Paris; though, during the last three months her results both at junior and at pro level declined materially compared to the great ones achieved during the first half of the season. Similar considerations may be made for Clara Tauson: yes, she has recently won the European Championships and a Grade 1, but I do not find these results to be particularly impressive: the only top notch players Clara has beaten in the two tournaments were Chwalinska and Burel (in both cases with very convincing scores): I am still waiting the girl to confirm the good results achieved in Milan (where she reached the semi-finals) in a top notch tournament: up to now, she failed in that. I expect this girl to reach at least a final in a (true) Grade A within next year, as her tennis indeed should allow her to achieve such a result. I am sorry to say that also Cocciaretto’s performance was a bit disappointing: the nice Italian girl has lost in the first round, even if it is fair to say that her match was not the easiest: her opponent was another “terrible” Ukrainian born in 2003, Oksana Selekhmeteva; Oksana will be one of the players to be taken most in account during the next season.
Hopefully, this evening I will follow the girls’ final and possibly also the boys’ final: if I manage, I will report on both.
Let’s now briefly switch to pro events: Indeed, we have to start from BerghemIga: in the last two weeks the Polish girl has confirmed she became a competitive pro, by winning two 60k in a row. I have seen her final against Zimmerman played a few hours ago and there was no match: the final score was 6-2 6-2 in favour of the Polish, who experienced just a little blackout at the beginning of the second set, when she missed a few pretty easy shots. Beside that, Iga was extremely solid with every shot, first serve and second serve included. In both the tournaments she won, Swiatek conceded only a few games per match; she has lost 2 sets overall, but each time won the remaining sets by 6-1 6-2. She probably showed that she is already too strong to play 60k and it may be time for her to further increase the level of the tournaments she plays.
Kaja Juvan has won a 25k+, having beaten in the final Jasmine Paolini in a very tight match: maybe also for her it’s time to make a step forward as she won most of the 25k she played in the last four months. But the warmest clap goes to Amanda Anisimova: after 6 months of stop due to an injury to her leg, Amanda came back on court and played a couple of good WTA events, having beaten players as Martic and Babos, having gained a set from Buzarnescu and offered good resilience against Svitolina. The young American is close to her best ranking, having reached now the 136th position: we may see her in the qualifications of next year’s Australian Open.
