–
Félix Auger-Aliassime got to the singles medal rounds at the Olympics because his serve was absolutely firing all week. It took him to top-10 wins over Daniil Medvedev and Casper Ruud.
But on Friday, the serve wasn’t there.
And so, combined with the fact that Carlos Alcaraz played lights out and is just insanely good, it was two baguettes and out for the Canadian, who has a bronze-medal match match in mixed doubles later Friday.
Alcaraz was very well aware that Auger-Aliassime had a tough three-set win in singles on Thursday and played late into the evening in mixed doubles. He also allowed that it was probably his best match of the week.
On the plus side? Auger-Aliassime hopefully can turn the page more quickly on a butt-kicking than a heartbreaking close one, not doubt the level he showed this week, and have energy left to go for the bronze in mixed.
He also will have a shot at the bronze in singles on Saturday. And given the uncertain state of Novak Djokovic’s knee, stay tuned for developments on that front.
****************************************
Swiatek wins bronze
Not the headline she came to Paris for.
But world No. 1 Iga Swiatek was able to shake off the huge disappointment of falling at the semifinal stage to Zheng Qinwen, and go for the bronze medal on Friday.
She did, routining the surprising Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-1 in a big hurry and offering up a small smile in triumph.
There wasn’t much serenity out there, understandable given her huge disappointment at not being able to play for gold in a stadium she barely knows defeat in.
But the tennis was more than solid enough.
“A lot of emotions, mixed emotions. Obviously I’d love to play the final tomorrow. But just getting up here and actually enjoying playing and being able to do everything professionally and playing such a tennis that I could really kind of have peace in my mind really gave me a lot. So I’m happy I could finish this tournament with a positive note,” she told NBC.
“Honestly, me and my sister we were kind of raised in this spirit that the Olympics were the most important tournament. That’s why it wasn’t the easiest tournament. But for sure, a great place for me to be and play, so I’m glad I could ad another success to it.”
****************************************
Young Russians to gold-medal match in doubles
As much talk as there was about Russian players competing in the Olympics – fully half of the 15 athletes representing were tennis players – no one did much in the tennis event.
But the surprise pickup team of 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva and 20-year-old Diana Shnaider absolutely destroyed Sara Sorribes Tormo and Cristina Bucsa of Spain in Friday’s semis, 6-1, 6-2.
They will play the Roland Garros finalists, Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini, in the gold-medal match.
Representing not Russia, of course, but “AIN”.
Shnaider is ranked No. 65 in doubles, a career high at the moment after playing a fair bit through the spring and summer. She and Emma Navarro reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and the third round at the Australian Open.
Andreeva is also at a career high, at No. 95. She reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals with Vera Zvonareva, but withdrew to focus on her singles run.
The two are playing together for the first time.
****************************************
Musetti, de Minaur out in Montreal
It was certainly expected (but not hoped) that it would happen.
But the withdrawals from the Montreal event on the ATP side are coming pretty quickly now, mostly as a direct result of the Olympics.
The draw is scheduled for late afternoon on Saturday.
You hoped the Montreal event – which always gets squeezed out in some way by the Olympics every four years – would escape the worst. Even if Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz were longshots from the get-go.
But in addition to those two and others, now it appears that Lorenzo Musetti, who is playing Novak Djokovic later today for a spot in the gold-medal match, is also out. So is Alex de Minaur, who would have been the No. 4 seed with the withdrawals of Djokovic and Alcaraz. Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany is also out – that brings the total of players withdrawing from the original entry list to nine. So far.
****************************************
More changes to WTA Calendar
Last week, the WTA annnounced that the Palermo clay-court tournament’s sanction was sold to the Transylvania Open, which had been played before, but not on a permanent sanction.
That tournament had been in the fall in its earlier incarnation; it’s been moved to early in the season, right after the Australian Open.
On Friday, the WTA announced that the WTA 5000 in Zhengzhou, China is moving to Ningbo. And that’s coming up quickly, effective for this fall season.
When you sort of dig into the changes on the WTA side, it just buttresses the reality that the pandemic really hit hard on the women’s side. Especially in terms of the survival of tournaments, and the need to scramble for alternate venues both during the worst of it, and even now.
The notable thing about this is that Ningbo had been a WTA 250 event, held early in the Asian swing right after the US Open in September. It is now a 500 event to be held in mid-October; that 250 sanction is, at this point, still up for grabs.
For this year, the tour will put a WTA 250 in Hua Hin, Thailand in that September slot, opposite the long-running Korea Open in Seoul.
It’s also worth noting the evolution from “no Asian swing at all” during the pandemic years to “Geez, how long is that Asian swing again?” is significant.
After a week with events in Guadalajara and Tunisia after the US Open, the WTA goes to Seoul and Thailand, then has an extended 12-day event in Beijing. Then another 1000 in Wuhan. Then another week with the new Ningbo and the WTA 250 in Osaka. And then a week with Tokyo and Guangzhou. And THEN a week that spills right into November with three WTA 250s: Hong Kong and Jiujiang (plus one in Mexico).
The second-tier “Zhuhai Trophy” for top players who don’t qualify for the year-end finals is gone.
For those who posit that “nobody” pays attention to tennis after the US Open, it’s hard to argue that the time differences involved in having this entire chunk of the season in Asia make it truly for diehards only.
****************************************
The Transformation of the WTA season
The move from Zhengzhou sparked some memories of just how MUCH the WTA calendar has changed in recent years.
Was it only five years ago that the long-running WTA event in New Haven, just before the US Open on a court that was modeled to look like the US Open, couldn’t find a title sponsor and basically was forced to give up and sell to China? It was.
Zhengzhou, China, in fact. Where there was promise of “new state of the art facility (that) will be constructed that includes an 8,000-seat stadium, slated to be completed for 2020.”
There were already three WTA events the week they planned to hold Zhengzhou. And so all of those events had to be shuffled around to accomodate in an already-packed section of the season that also had three tournaments the following week.
The pandemic kicked in, of course. And affected everything.
The event was held once. Then it wasn’t held in 2020, 2021 and 2022 before returning for one year in 2023.
But it was a pretty cool centre court.
<.center>How cool is our centre court? 😎#ZhengzhouOpen pic.twitter.com/ZyIKNOmOM4
— Zhengzhou Open (@ZhengzhouOpen) October 15, 2023
I mean, seriously cool.
And just like that…
— Zhengzhou Open (@ZhengzhouOpen) October 9, 2023
2023 Bank of Communications Zhengzhou Open has officially started. 👋🏻🥳🔥#zhengzhouopen #wta500 pic.twitter.com/pqkJknHkgG
And now, poof! it’s just gone.
Canadians Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe won the doubles in Zhengzhou last year. Zheng Qinwen won the singles.
She sang.
Hitting all the right notes this week 🎶
— wta (@WTA) October 15, 2023
Qinwen Zheng | #ZhengzhouOpen pic.twitter.com/3Mx0mhbgV9
And it was only three WEEKS ago that Hua Hin, where Diana Shnaider won the first of her three titles this year, was dumped in favour of Singapore, which promised a new, purpose-built facility.
Now, a few weeks later, Thailand is back in for a year while they presumably look for someone to take a WTA 250 license that, recent events have shown, has become a harder and harder sell because of the new rules the WTA instituted limiting the number of high-level players who are allowed to play a 250, if it’s held the same week as a 500.
The other thing that stands out in scrolling through those old posts is how many places are no more, in just a snippet of time: Luxembourg, Nanchang, Riga, Hiroshima, the “Moscow River Cup” on clay, Lausanne, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, St. Petersburg, Acapulco, Guadalajara, Lugano, Istanbul, Anning, Nürnberg, Tashkent, Linz, Tianjin, Moscow … all gone. It’s astonishing.
****************************************
Calling LLs in D.C.
The women’s Mubadala Citi DC Open is a WTA 500 draw, therefore it has a 28-player draw with byes for the top four seeds in the first round (they’re not ALL like that, but most are).
But when Ons Jabeur, scheduled as late as possible for a Thursday night debut in the second round, pulled out with a shoulder issue, opponent Robin Montgomery was simply given a walkover.
Jabeur had a first-round bye, and so her opening match was in the second round. And late Thursday night is literally as late as a second-round match can be played, with the quarterfinals on Friday.
Typically in this case, the lucky loser would then go directly into the second round, but not earn any extra ranking points unless they won that round.
Except … there seems to have been no lucky losers available or signed in.
The players who lost in the final round of qualifying were: Sachia Vickery (who retired), No. 2 seed Renata Zarazua, No. 3 seed Nao Hibino and No. 6 seed Arina Rodionova. None were called into action in the first round.
If those players weren’t available, you can even go back to the first round of qualifying to find a lucky loser, as long as they sign in. But it appears nothing was doing there, either.
It would have been a great opportunity for someone, as the opponent was American wild card Robin Montgomery – who is a good player but not a rock star.
For previous editions of the Daily Drill, click here.
About Post Author
More Stories
IW flashback: Giron’s big breakthrough
ATP Rankings Report – As of March 3, 2025
WTA Rankings Report – As of March 3, 2025