The beginning journal pages for the World By Us girls and opening illustrations.
Makena's book was illustrated by Courtney Lovett
Evette's book was illustrated by Olivia Duchess
Maritza's book was illustrated by Caroline Garcia and Flavia Conley
Aryna Sabalenka won in straight sets. (<- nice and plain so I can copy/paste. She has lost one set in Melbourne in three years. I will keep bringing this stat up)
Clara Tauson, a previously hyped teen talent, beat Linda Noskova, a previously hyped teen talent
Anna Blinkova (who beat Rybakina last year in that epic third set 22-20 tiebreak) beat Aussie wildcard Daria Saville. Beating anyone at their home slam always merits applause from me, although I’m sure we can agree beating a French player at RG is the highest achievement in tennis. (14 Roland Garroses? Nahhhh)
Mirra Andreeva & Erika Andreeva both won! Good & bad news for my draw since I picked one of them to win. As an elder sister, I refuse to disclose which Andreeva I thought was going to lose
Diana Shnaider sssssnuck into the second round and I honestly should just stop here bc I feel like she’s still under the radar and I want to keep it that way until she wins big and I can say I was always there and where were you?
Zheng Qinwen beat a qualifier who looked like she was going to do something and then didn’t. We’ve all been there
Coco Gauff beat fellow American major champion Sofia Kenin and I think that’s where the similarities end. Bad news — Coco was double faulting more than she did at the WTA Finals and United Cup. Good news — she won in straights anyway
Naomi Osaka got her revenge and beat Caroline Garcia this time around. Her reward is playing Karolina Muchová in the second round. I can’t think of anything meaner to do to someone.
Jessica Pegula beat Aussie wildcard Maya Joint and I’m only mentioning this bc my mom and I watched the draw and one of the presenters pronounced her name as May-uh, not My-uh, which I’ve never heard before! Is that an Aussie thing? Or just a that guy thing? Friends Down Under, please respond
Elena Rybakina beat teenage wildcard Emerson Jones and now faces teenage wildcard Iva Jovic in the second round. It’s deja vu all over again!
Madison Keys keeps her winning ways going and beat fellow American Ann Li. Good for me since I have her in the final…
Destanee Aiava is in the second round and I have got to find out if she’s the first player of Samoan descent to make it to the second round of a major. Either way it’s so cool!
Beatriz Haddad Maia did Beatriz Haddad Maia things and won her match in three sets played in 2h40m (the exact run time of Wicked. these are the kind of meaningful stats you come to me for, no?)
Peyton Stearns TEASED ME, SPECIFICALLY, by taking the first set against Emma Navarro before losing the second and third. I don’t. Want. To talk about it. (I fell asleep listening to this on the radio, woke up a couple hours later, saw the result, and grumpily went back to sleep)
Camila Osorio, who had the bad luck of drawing a seed, had the good luck of drawing 31st seed Maria Sakkari. (I had Sakkari in my qfs!!! I didn’t want to be mean!!!! I learned my lesson!!!!!!!) She faces Ons Jabeur next and maaaaaan that sucks bc I want them both to win
Emma Raducanu beat Ekaterina Alexandria despite her best attempts to double fault the match away
I don’t actually have much to say ab Jasmine Paolini or Iga Świątek’s wins which if you think ab it is a compliment bc that means I couldn’t think of anything sufficiently funny. Solid performances. Top seeds top seedsing is always good news (for the top seeds)
