Success of Monfils, titles of Marchenko and Podrez, success of Snigur and Soboleva

Last week, six tournaments between men and women took place on the courts in three locations around the world. The men played the ATP 500 tournament in Tokyo, as well as the ATP 250 events in Stockholm and Antwerp. The women competed in three WTA 250 tournaments in Nanchang, Cluj-Napoca and Monastir. The ATP Challenger Tour and ITF competitions also continued and we achieved significant success here too.

WTA 250 Bitola / Cluj-Napoca / Nanchang

First Ukrainian woman to start the competition in Bitola Katarina ZavatskayaIt started in the qualifiers. Things aren’t going well for Katya this year, but they’ve been getting better lately. Earlier this month, Zavatskaya won the ITF 40K race in Lisbon, which helped her become competitive at a higher level again. While Katarina defeated Greece’s Despina Papamihail (3:6, 6:2, 6:4) in the qualifying round in Tunisia, she is also stronger than Serbia’s Natalia Stevanovic (6:4, 6:4). output. In the main draw, the Ukrainian managed to put the finishing touches on Spaniard Jessica Buzas Maneiro (6:4, 6:4) in two sets and came very close to advancing to the quarter-finals, but could not convert the match point in the match. Another representative of Spain who has more energy left for the third party is Nuria Parrisas Diaz. Still, this is definitely one of Zavacka’s most successful weeks this year, plus 20 places in the rankings is always nice.

Another representative of Ukraine in Bitola is Lesya TsurenkoThe one who had to withdraw before the start of this tournament last year. This season everything has been much more successful for Lesya; She reached the semi-finals by beating the guilty Zavatskaya away (6:3, 6:2). Overall, the Ukrainian did not have any difficulties in the matches against Chloe Paquet (6:2, 6:3) and Claire Liu (6:1, 7:5) before the semi-final against first seed Jasmine Paolini. However, the Italian is now on the move and playing the best tennis of his career, and Lesya had health problems in this match, so the result is natural (2:6, 6:4, 2:6). Tsurenko continues to move up the rankings and is closing in on becoming the third Ukrainian in the top 30. As for the winner of the competition, Elise Mertens from Belgium became the best here for the second year in a row; It will definitely return to the top 30.

There were slightly more Ukrainian women in Cluj-Napoca. Originally he was supposed to perform there too Angelina KalininaBut if you don’t take into account the upcoming national team match, the season is already over for him. We have prepared a pleasant surprise for Ukrainian fans Anastasia Soboleva. Nastya started the qualifiers by beating Maria Sara Popa from Romania (6:2, 2:6, 6:4) and Vivian Geisen from Germany (6:2, 6:1, rejection). Soboleva’s opponent in the main draw was the formidable Hungarian Anna Bondar. The Ukrainian surprised his opponent by winning the opening match, but Bondar proved to be stronger now (7:5, 2:6, 3:6). Performing well at a new level for Anastasia, she must strive to qualify for first place. At the moment this is a feasible goal, but it is too early to count on anything more.

This tournament can also be counted as an asset Daria Snigur. Dasha traditionally adds it at the end of the season, this year was no exception. In the first round, as an underdog, Snigur confidently defeated third-seeded Gret Minnen (6:3, 6:2) for her third victory against a top 100 opponent of the season. In the second round, in accordance with the best traditions of women’s tennis, she defeated the German Anna-Lena Friedsam (6:0, 1:6, 6:4), which ensured Dasha’s debut in the quarterfinals of WTA tournaments. . In her semi-final match with another German, Tamara Korpacz, she managed to win the first game again, but the second and third sets were lost to her opponent. Korpach also defeated Kiev’s Eva Lis, who was playing in the semifinals of a WTA competition for the first time. In the final, the German woman fought against Romanian Elena Gabriela Ruse (6:3, 6:4) and won the first championship in her career.

There were some unpleasant moments in Cluj-Napoca. Dayana Yastremskaya Already in the first round, she put her arms in front of 17-year-old Nikola Bartunkova from the Czech Republic, who received a wild card from the organizers. Later, Yastremskaya planned to play doubles but withdrew due to back pain. Meanwhile, Bartunkova nearly beat Romanian Ana Bogdan in the second round (6:4, 6:7, 5:7). After Yastremskaya’s departure, it was time Katherine Beindl, lost to “neutral” tennis player Ekaterina Makarova (not to be confused with the world’s first racquet in doubles, which is different). With such results in just a week, Beindle will be on the verge of breaking into the top hundred and will lose another 95 points on November 13.

In this week’s final women’s tournament, Katerina Siniakova defeated Maria Bouzkova in an epic Czech match in the Nanchang final. The meeting lasted 3 hours and 33 minutes, Sinyakova won her fifth singles title after breaking two ties.

ATP 500 Tokyo, ATP 250 Stockholm/Antwerp

Let’s start with the tournament in Stockholm, which attracts the most attention of Ukrainian tennis fans. The Frenchman returns to the tour after a month’s break Gael MonfilsHe showed that he is still ready to fight for championships. Gael beat Marton Fucsovics (2:6, 6:2, 7:5), Filip Misolic (6:3, 6:4), Adrian with the support of his mother and Elina Svitolina, who was in the stands at every match. Mannarino (7:5, 7:6) and Laszlo Gyore (7:5, 6:2). In the championship match, Monfils fought against Pavel Kotov to win the title for the first time as a father. For Gael, it was the 34th ATP final, and by this indicator he ranks seventh among active tennis players. But what is more impressive is that Monfils is playing in the final of the ATP tournament for the 19th year in a row (he caught up with Nadal) and in this indicator he ranks second after Roger Federer (20).

A Ukrainian doubles winner celebrated his victory in Stockholm Denis MolchanovIn a duet with Andrey Golubev from Kazakhstan. For Molchanov, it was the third doubles final and second ATP title in his career. Last February, Denis won the competition in Marseille together with Andrei Rublev.

Most successful in Tokyo, the biggest of the week’s three men’s tournaments Ben Shelton. Reaching the semi-finals with victory at the US Open, the 21-year-old American immediately entered the top 20 in the world rankings and will now be in the top 15. On the way to the championship, Ben beat Taro Daniel (3:6, 6:4, 7:6), Jordan Thompson (6:7, 6:4, 6:3), Tommy Paul (7:6, 6:) beat. 3), David Giron (6:7, 7:6, 6:4) and Aslan Karatsev (7:5, 6:1). Shelton admitted after winning the cup that he never got tired during the season because he lost so many times in the early stages. That’s what kept it so fresh.

It is impossible not to note the performance of world number 215 Shintaro Mochizuki in Tokyo. En route to the semi-finals, the wild card holder beat three top 50 players; one of them is Taylor Fritz (0: 6, 6: 4, 7: 6), who took the first place and was the current champion of the tournament at that time. These were the Japanese’s first victories in ATP tournaments. Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime may also have a stake in this competition; It won two matches in a row for the first time since March.

In Antwerp, 19-year-old Arthur Fiss and wordsmith Alexander Bublik reached the final, as this was the second championship match of the season. The cup was awarded to a tennis player from Kazakhstan (6:4, 6:4). Another interesting point to note is that the Tsitsipas brothers won the doubles here. And if Stefanos is a strong name in world tennis, then his younger brother stands on the sidelines. But starting Monday, the 23-year-old Petros will break into the top 100 in the doubles rankings.

Marchenko title and other ATP Challenger Tour tournaments

The 36-year-old Ukrainian started the Challenger in Hamburg with an easy victory over his former national team partner Alexey Krutykh (6:2, 6:3). Krutykh was supposed to play doubles next but decided to withdraw due to an ankle injury.

After the match, Ilya admitted that he was very motivated in the meeting with Alexey, because he wanted to prove to all the doubters that he was still capable of achieving high results. He also sensibly stated that there is not a single tennis player in this tournament in its current form that he cannot beat. That’s what happened in the end, there were two tough three-set matches on the way to the final, but Ilya managed to win with experience. Marchenko, who started his championship fight with a break in the first match, confidently defeated Austrian Dennis Novak, with whom he played his second match after two weeks. This was the tenth competition in which Ilya won, the absolute leader in this indicator among Ukrainians, Sergei Stakhovsky had seven titles at this level.

Also last week Vladislav Orlov In Olbia (Italy) he lost to Frenchman Kyrian Jacquet in the first round – 7:5, 3:6, 4:6. Before that, the Ukrainian player had successfully passed the qualification qualifier.

ITF tournaments

Veronica Podrez Winner of the W25+H competition in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. The 16-year-old Ukrainian, ranked tenth in the world rankings, defeated seed leader Alice Robbe (6:4, 2:6, 6:4), ranked 211th in the world rankings. With such a rating, it is not difficult to guess that Veronica entered the rankings and won seven matches in total. This is already Podrez’s second title; She won the 15,000 meter gravel climb at Vanfers Bol in August.

Katerina Volodko In a duet with Timea Babos, she reached the doubles final of the ITF W100 tournament held in Shenzhen (China). However, the title went to ranking leaders Kristina Mladenovic (France) and Moyuka Uchijima (Japan). Babos and Mladenovic were previously the top duo on the women’s tour, but they no longer played together after competing in Miami this year.

Yulia Starodubtseva This week I played in the ITF W80 competition in Macon, USA, but could not repeat the double title in Rancho Santa Fe. The six-game winning streak was stopped by Hungary’s Panna Udvardi. Nothing went well for the couples either.

Kolb Brothers Continuing his winning streak, he became the best of the ITF W25 hard court tournament held in Faro (Portugal). It is curious that the sisters played three matches on Saturday due to bad weather conditions in the previous days.

Won overall victory in doubles at ITF W15 tournament in American Jackson Anita Sagdieva. It was the second ITF title for the 19-year-old Ukrainian.

Other News

Lyudmila Kichenok She qualified to participate in the WTA Elite Trophy tournament to be held in Zhuhai. Luda’s partner in the Small Final will be Ulrike Eikkeri from Norway. The competition will take place between 24-29 October. The participants in singles have also been announced.

Legendary former tennis player Boris Becker He joined the coaching staff of world number six Holger Rune. Recently the career of a talented tennis player from Denmark has stalled, maybe the three-time Wimbledon champion can help him with something. Rune’s potential is insane, but it’s not easy for anyone.

off the field

Of course, the main event was the photo shoot for Vogue Ukraine, in which he took part together with Yaroslava Maguchikh and Olga Kharlan. Elina Svitolina.