Marta Kostyuk

The women have been solidified.

The only person that could possibly have gotten through was Kostjuk.

She lost in her recent match.

And of course, Iga Shiontek.

She shut her season down as well.

She was like, you know what, fuck it.

If Eager wins and Kostjuk wins and I don't make the WTA finals, I'm good with it.

now looks really good because now she's going to be really fresh going in there.

And Alexandra Alexandrova, after what has been a pretty disappointing year, has shown good run as well.

Got to the quarterfinals in Ningbo, beat by Leila Fernandez, but beat Kostjuk and entered Kostjuk in the round of 16.

Alexandra Ove has the head-to-head battle, two times they've played this year.

She's won the most recent.

So maybe that might be a little bit of a concern for her.

But the other losses have also come to Miran Drava as well.

And in that period, she's had wins over Linda Noskova, Diana Schneider and Kostjuk there.

You mentioned that she took the first set and then Kostjuk had to retire.

Although, having said that, the WTA finals field is now locked.

after this week, because after Igor Sviantek ended her season because of this injury that she's got, Marta Kostjuk lost in Ningbo, we now have our field.

Elena Rabakina, Irina Sabalenka, Mira Andreeva, Jessica Pagula, Coco Goff, Alina Svitolina, Karolina Mukova, and Linda Noskova are all going to be taking part in Indian Wells.

And we'll have a full preview of that, um, coming up because it starts literally in two, in less than two weeks.

There are three or four things really briefly to touch on before we get straight into the previews, and I'll try to keep the show as close as I can to 30 minutes, because it's nearly 10.30 at night on Sunday, and I've work tomorrow.

Elena Svetolina broke up with Gael Monfils and the reason I mention it obviously was big news in the tennis world last week and I didn't touch on it I mentioned I haven't done any reels because my parents were here but it was huge news and I mentioned Monfils you know I basically headlined the show last week with where the hell is Gael Monfils why is he pulled out of Lyon why is he pulled out of Paris he was due to get a he was due to get a good sign off from his French fans his legion of French fans and he never showed up or he basically pulled out and no one knew what was going on well now we know what was going on I don't really know even what to say or what I want to say on this I don't love Svitolina by any stretch of the imagination I don't have much time for her I don't like the way she plays the politics card in the tennis space these days it's the same as Marta Kostiuk I don't have much time for either of those um i'm not a big pro russian head or anything like that but i just hate the double standards and the way that for example russian players have their fat their flag taken off uh for the last four years and let's say israeli athletes are free to have the israeli flag on their profile and the us players even if you wanted to go that far are totally fine to have the us flag when they're supporting what I would consider a genocide in Palestine and stuff like that.

That's as political as I've ever gotten on this show, but I just felt I needed to say something on this thing.

But I don't like the way Svitolina plays the card when she's sponsored by Palantir, among other things, and I really don't have any time for her at all.

If she can beat Yulia Putintseva in round one, she's due to play Elena Rybakina in round two.

And Zachary is having a bit of a comeback and a bit of an old renaissance performance.

um she beat she made the finals in sorry the quarterfinals in wuhan where she lost to maya who won the tournament and in that tournament she defeated marta kostiuk who obviously you know just recently i think finished her season and was in the race for the tour finals in indian wells but obviously has lost that race but zachary's back playing okay and i'm interested in her here um Leila Fernandez is in here as well.

The difference between her and Elena Rybakina and obviously Rybakina beat her today in the final.

Defending champion Yannick Sinner withdrew before the tournament due to a knee injury, and former world number three Stefanos Tsitsipas also chose to pull out.

Elena Rybikina, Maja Kowalinska, and Diana Schneider will lead the lineup at the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo, which has experienced a late wave of high-profile withdrawals, including Iga Sviantek, Jessica Pegula, Elina Svitolina, and Marta Kostiuk.

Finally, Venus Williams is the biggest headline of the WTA 250 tournament in Guangzhou, as she has been awarded wildcards into both the singles and doubles main draws.

Thank you for listening.

And Alexandra Alexandrova, after what has been a pretty disappointing year, has shown good run as well.

Got to the quarterfinals in Ningbo, beat by Leila Fernandez, but beat Kostjuk and entered Kostjuk in the round of 16.

Alexandra Ove has the head-to-head battle, two times they've played this year.

She's won the most recent.

So maybe that might be a little bit of a concern for her.

But the other losses have also come to Miran Drava as well.

And in that period, she's had wins over Linda Noskova, Diana Schneider and Kostjuk there.

You mentioned that she took the first set and then Kostjuk had to retire.