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The WTA Q2 Report Card Of 2018
How did your favourite player on the women’s Tour fair during the second quarter of 2018?
Ubitennis examines the performances of the most notable players from the second quarter of the season, as well as their prospects heading into Q3.
Simona Halep
Much like Caroline Wozniacki in Q1, Halep finally silenced the doubters and naysayers by winning her first Major in Q2. Will her Roland Garros title satisfy Halep, or will it release the pressure and allow her to play more freely in search of a second Major title? I’m banking on the latter, though the grass courts are Halep’s weakest surface. Although, Simona has reached the quarterfinals or better at The All England Club in three of the last four years, so her Wimbledon chances should not be discounted. Last year in the quarterfinals, she was just one match away from going atop the rankings for the first time, but lost to Britain’s Johanna Konta. The summer hard courts will be a good opportunity for the women’s number one to extend her ranking lead. Halep currently leads by over 1,200 points in the 52-week rankings, and has more than a 1,700 point edge in the year-to-date rankings. Simona should easily gain points at the US Open, following her first round loss last year to Maria Sharapova. With bitter defeats in her mind from last year’s Wimbledon and US Open, Q3 may see Halep conquer some more demons from her past.
Petra Kvitova
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Sitting right behind Halep in the year-to-date rankings is Kvitova, who leads the tour with five titles in 2018, three of which came in Q2. Petra won back-to-back titles for the second time this year by taking the trophies in Prague and Madrid. Her French Open performance was a bit disappointing, going down in the third round to Anett Kontaveit. But Kvitova bounced right back on the grass, as she usually does, by winning her fifth title of the year in Birmingham. This past week, she withdrew from Eastbourne due to a hamstring injury. Getting some rest heading into Wimbledon is a smart move by Petra, and I consider her the favorite to win her third Wimbledon title as long as she’s healthy. While the North American hard court swing has never been her strongest time of the season, she’s now made the quarters at the US Open in two of the last three years. Kvitova has never been higher than two in the world, but she has a shot at catching Halep if she can sustain her Q1 and Q2 success through the rest of the year.
Sloane Stephens
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Stephens was just 4-4 during the WTA clay court season heading into Roland Garros, yet she solidified herself as a top contender at the Majors by making her second Major final in Paris. She was up a set and break, but ran out of steam and was unable to close out Halep in the final. That was actually the first tournament final Stephens has lost on tour. Stephens did not play a grass court warm-up event, so I’m curious to see if she can carry her momentum into Wimbledon. She did make the quarters there in 2013. Looking ahead, the summer hard court season will bring with it a lot of pressure for Sloane. She’ll have 2,700 points to defend from her semifinal appearances in Toronto and Cincinnati, and of course her US Open title. It will be extremely challenging for Stephens to back up those results, and her ranking will likely fall from her current career-high spot at number four in the world.
Caroline Wozniacki
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Caroline had a predictable letdown following her maiden Major title in Melbourne, and didn’t make another tournament final until just this weekend, when she won her second title on the grass of Eastbourne. That confidence boost was much needed, especially considering Wimbledon is the only Major where Wozniacki has not been farther than the fourth round. The US Open will likely be the next Major where she has a legitimate shot at the title: Caroline is a two-time finalist in New York. The current world number two is 2,000 points behind Halep in the year-to-date rankings, so she’ll need a big Q3 if she wants to make a run at regaining the top ranking, which she held for a few weeks in Q1.
Garbine Muguruza
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After a slow Q1, Muguruza won the title in Monterrey during the first week of Q2. That victory did not translate into further success on the European clay until the French Open. Muguruza had her swagger back in Paris, and appeared prone to take her second Roland Garros title, until she was thwarted by eventual champion Simona Halep in the semifinals. Garbine is the defending Wimbledon champion, but did not get off to a good start on the grass. She was defeated in her second match at Birmingham by Barbora Strycova. While no player goes from cold to hot (and back) as often as Muguruza, she’s yet to successfully defend a title in her career, and has never won two titles at the same event. Garbine’s also never looked fully comfortable playing in New York: her fourth round appearance there last year was her best-to-date, and she’s only 5-5 lifetime at the US Open. With almost 4,000 points to defend in Q3, the current world number three will likely see her ranking slide considerably in the coming months.
Madison Keys
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Keys started off Q2 with a nice run to the semis in Charleston, but proceeded to lose in her opening round of both Stuttgart and Madrid. After winning her first two matches in Rome, she had to withdraw from her round of 16 match against Simona Halep due to a rib injury. So it was pretty surprising when she won ten straight sets to reach her first semifinal at Roland Garros, falling to fellow American Sloane Stephens in a rematch of last year’ US Open final. Madison then withdrew from Birmingham due to the same injury that forced her out of Rome. If Keys is healthy, she could be a legitimate threat at Wimbledon. Her game is perfectly suited for grass, and she reached the quarterfinals at SW19 three years ago. Unfortunately, her Q3 results will likely be dictated by her health, and it’s fair at this point to declare Keys as being injury-prone. Let’s hope she can get healthy in time to defend her run to the final last year in New York. I’d like to see how she’d perform there following last year’s career highlight which ended with a disappointing performance in the final.
Eilina Svitolina
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I could basically copy and paste what I wrote about Svitolina in Q1, and the quarter before that, and the quarter before that. She continues to keep herself in the top five with tournament victories outside the Majors, like her Q2 win in Rome. That was her third title of 2018, and the second year in a row she won the Italy’s Premier 5 event. Yet in Paris, she went out meekly in the third round to Mihaela Buzarnescu. She then lost again to Buzarnescu on the grass of Birmingham. I don’t like Svitolina’s chances at Wimbledon, where she’s just 5-5 in her career. She’ll look to defend another title at the Rogers Cup in August, but I’m much more interested to see when Elina can finally advance passed the quarterfinals at a Major. It seems only a matter of time, though it’s already taken longer than I expected.
Maria Sharapova
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Sharapova finally found some consistency and regained some momentum in Q2. In Madrid, Rome, and Paris, she picked up ten match wins. This run was highlighted her over three-hour quarterfinal battle against Jelena Ostapenko. After crushing Karolina Pliskova at Roland Garros 6-2, 6-1, she was subsequently crushed by Muguruza in the quarterfinals by the same scoreline. This will be Sharapova’s first appearance at Wimbledon in three years, when she reached the semifinals at The Championships. I’m sure she’ll be determined to prove she can still be a factor at the year’s most prestigious Major. But it may be the summer hard courts where Sharapova really shines. As her ranking continues to rise, she’ll of course receive more favorable draws. Q2 was the longest stretch in several years that Maria has looked healthy and confident, and she’ll be a force in Q3 if that continues. With less than 500 points to defend between July and September, look for Sharapova to make a big jump up the rankings.
Olympic tennis gets underway on Saturday in Paris, on the grounds of Roland Garros.
While not traditionally thought of as an Olympic sport, the tennis event at the last several Summer Olympic Games has provided some of the sport’s most memorable and emotional moments. Representing their country at the Olympics is one of the biggest achievements in the lives of many tennis players, and the 2024 event being staged at Roland Garros is unquestionably a very special one.
This will be the last tournament in the careers of a pair of three-time Major champions: Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber. And this will be the last Olympics, and likely the last time playing at Roland Garros, for 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal. Rafa’s status for singles is in doubt, but he is committed to playing men’s doubles alongside four-time Major champ Carlos Alcaraz.
Nadal and Alcaraz will play their opening round doubles match on Saturday evening, while Kerber faces fellow multi-time Major champ Naomi Osaka in a blockbuster first round contest to close out the night session. The day session sees both of the top seeds in the singles draws, Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek, play their opening round matches.
The draws for men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles will all be played across the next nine days in Paris.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Saturday’s play begins at 12:00pm local time.
Alcaraz and Nadal practicing this week (twitter.com/ITFTennis
Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni [ARG] (6) vs. Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal [ESP] – 7:00pm on Court Philippe-Chatrier
Eight years ago, Nadal won the gold medal in men’s singles at the Rio Olympics, alongside Marc Lopez. And eight years before that, he claimed the gold medal in men’s singles at the Beijing Olympics, notably defeating Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Now he goes for a third gold medal, teaming with the reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon men’s singles champion.
But this is a physically compromised, 38-year-old version of Rafa, who has only played six events within the last 18 months. And while he reached the final just last week in Bastad, that run apparently took a toll on his body. There are reports he may be pulling out of the singles draw in Paris, as a four-hour quarterfinal match last week against Mariano Navone certainly drained the King of Clay.
This will be the first time these two Spanish all-time greats team up, and both have rarely played doubles in their careers. By contrast, Gonzalez and Molteni are both top 20 doubles players. And while they didn’t team together during the grass court season, they’ve won seven titles together within the last 18 months.
However, facing these two Roland Garros champions on Court Philippe-Chatrier will be a daunting task. And Nadal should be less hampered on the doubles court than the singles court. I expect Rafa and Carlitos to embrace the energy of the Saturday night crowd in Paris, and advance to the next round.
Naomi Osaka [JPN] vs. Angelique Kerber [GER] – Last on Court Philippe-Chatrier
Both of these players returned from maternity at the start of the year, though neither has yet rediscovered their top form. 26-year-old Osaka has shown glimpses of it, specifically two months ago at this same venue, when she was just a point away from upsetting Iga Swiatek. 36-year-old Kerber is just 7-14 since returning, and arrives in Paris on a five-match losing streak. Angie announced earlier this week that she will retire from the sport following these Olympic Games.
These two sure-fire Hall of Famers played six times between 2017 and 2022, with Kerber taking four of those six encounters. However, most of those occurred while Angie was at her best, and before Naomi had reached her top level. They’ve never before played on clay, which is certainly neither’s favorite surface.
In the last tournament of her career, Kerber will be extra motivated to achieve a good result. And she’s done so before at the Olympics, as she was the silver medalist back in 2016. At the last Olympics in Tokyo, Osaka seemed distracted and overwhelmed playing in her home country’s Games. But this season, she’s been extremely focused on her tennis, and has dedicated herself to better acclimating to playing on clay. Based on her performance in Paris two months ago, I like Naomi’s chances of prevailing on Saturday, and thus ending Angie’s singles career.
Swiatek practicing this week (twitter.com/ITFTennis)
Other Notable Matches on Saturday:
Iga Swiatek [POL] (1) vs. Irina-Camelia Begu [ROU] – Swiatek is 21-1 this year on clay, and is on a 19-match win streak on this surface. Three years ago at Wimbledon, she thumped Begu by a score of 6-1, 6-0.
Jack Draper [GBR] vs. Kei Nishikori [JPN] – Nishikori was a bronze medalist at the Rio Olympics, but injuries have only allowed him to play four ATP events across the last three seasons. Draper currently sits at a career-high ranking of No.26, thanks to 21 match wins in 2024.
Novak Djokovic [SRB[ (1) vs. Matthew Ebden [AUS] – An Olympic gold medal is the one glaring blemish on the Djokovic CV, and at 37 years of age, this will most certainly be his last good chance to win the gold for Serbia, which might mean more to Novak than any of his other career accomplishments. Ebden replaces Andy Murray in the singles draw, and the Australian hasn’t played a singles match in over two years, as the ITF bizarrely uses doubles players already on site as singles alternates.
Hady Habib [LBN] vs. Carlos Alcaraz [ESP] (2) – Alcaraz will play both singles and doubles on Saturday, and he’s now 33-6 on the year in singles, coming off his fourth Major title at Wimbledon. Habib is a 25-year-old representing Lebanon who has never been ranked inside the world’s top 250.
Rinky Hijikata [AUS] vs. Daniil Medvedev [AIN] (4) – Three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics, Medvedev lost in the quarterfinals to eventual bronze medalist Pablo Carreno Busta. Hijikata peaked at No.70 in singles last season, but is just 10-16 in 2024.
Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula [USA] (1) vs. Ellen Perez and Daria Saville [AUS] – Gauff will be the flag bearer for the United States during Friday’s opening ceremony, after missing the Tokyo Games due to COVID. Her and Pegula are regular partners, while Perez and Saville are not, though Perez is a top 10 doubles player.
Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.
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