Badosa spoils Halep return
SPANISH former world number two Paula Badosa played the role of party pooper against former world number one Simona Halep, with the latter returning to the WTA Tour for the first time in 18 months at the Miami Open. Despite Halep completely dominating the first set, Badosa worked her way back into the contest, and […]
Sorana stuns Sakkari to reach Abu Dhabi quarters
A GOBSMACKING performance from Sorana Cirstea resulted in the Romanian world number 26 completely dismantling Greek third seed Maria Sakkari to reach the WTA 500 Abu Dhabi quarter finals overnight. Though Cirstea had a 2-1 head-to-head record over the top 10 talent, few could have seen the 33-year-old winning 6-2 6-1 in an hour and […]
Blinkova back to best, repeats shock upset
FRANCE’S best hope of a Roland Garros title was eliminated overnight, with fifth seed Caroline Garcia suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Russian Anna Blinkova. In a case of history repeating itself, Blinkova came back from a set down to win in three and advance through to the third round of the French […]
Déjà vu as Muchova downs Maria in Paris opener
FOR the second successive year, Czech Karolina Muchova has knocked off Greek talent Maria Sakkari at the French Open, grinding out a 7-6 7-5 victory on Court Suzanne Lenglen to advance to the Round of 64. After defeating Sakkari in the second round last year at Roland Garros, Muchova double down on her efforts against […]
Top 5 WTA potential breakout players in 2023
EACH year tennis sees a number of breakout players who have a season that catapults them from the middle or lower world ranking spots, into the top echelon of players. In the women’s game, that was the likes of Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina, while Iga Swiatek went from a one-time Grand Slam winner to […]
Crafty Cornet rolls reigning champ Raducanu
LAST year’s US Open winner, Emma Raducanu is out of the 2022 edition after falling to Frenchwoman Alize Cornet in straight sets on day two of action. Cornet won with a few extra breaks to serve to advance through to the second round 6-3 6-3 in an hour and 42 minutes on Louis Armstrong Stadium. […]
2022 US Open preview
THE 2022 US Open kicks off tonight with the world’s best tennis players to converge on Flushing Meadows. Both fields are wide open and we take a look who the favourites and contenders are, as well as some of the first round matches to watch. MEN’S SINGLES: The favourite: World number one Daniil Medvedev has […]
French resistance in Winston-Salem
IT WAS a good day for the French fans in Winston-Salem as their three hopes all won through to the Round of 16, two of them featuring upsets against seeded opponents. Experienced campaigners Richard Gasquet and Adrian Mannarino both knocked off younger talents Lorenzo Musetti (fifth seed) and Emil Ruusuvuori (ninth), while the 10th seed […]
Thiem hungrier than the Wolf
AUSTRIAN Dominic Thiem showed he was able to outlast American wildcard J.J. Wolf in a three-set epic in the opening round at Winston-Salem. In what will be the Austrian’s final tuneup before the US Open – his first and only Grand Slam title came from Flushing Meadows – Thiem knocked off Wolf 6-7 7-5 7-6 […]
Naomi returns to win first match since April
FOUR-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka has returned to the WTA Tour, producing a hard-fought three set win over promising Chinese teenager Qinwen Zheng. The former world number one has not played since her first round loss at Roland Garros, and has not won a match since the Madrid Open on April 30. In a […]
