Seeds continue to tumble as Aussie hopes end
THE surprises keep coming in the women’s draw of the Australian Open, with the seeds continuing to fall. One of the seeds to fall yesterday was Beatriz Haddad Maia, with the 10th-ranked Brazilian falling in straight sets to qualifier Maria Timofeeva 79 – 67, 6 – 3. The Russian served more aces and less double […]
Pliskova survives Osaka onslaught
IN A contest that far surpassed its second round standing, two genuine stars of the past decade went head-to-head at the Brisbane International today. Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova with 16 WTA Tour titles to her name, faced off against the returning multiple Grand Slam champion, Naomi Osaka. In just her second match back from a […]
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 […]
BJK Cup semi-finalists out of 2023 Finals
BILLIE Jean King Cup reigning semi-finalists Great Britain were eliminated from the 2023 title race after bowing out to France in the Qualifiers over the weekend. Twelve months ago, then top-ranked France suffered a shock loss to Italy in the Qualifiers to miss out on competing at the Finals, but after defeating Netherlands in the […]
Zheng continues ascent up WTA rankings
POWERFUL Chinese young gun Qinwen Zheng remains one of the shining lights on Tour, backing up a promising start to 2023 to reach the quarter finals of the Abu Dhabi Open. Following the conclusion of the Australian Open – where Zheng had a shock loss to American Bernarda Pera as 29th seed – the Chinese […]
Pegula powers past Kostyuk
AMERICAN third seed Jessica Pegula showed no mercy during a brutal 6-2 6-0 smashing of talented Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk to reach the fourth round of the 2023 Australian Open. Continuing her outstanding month to kick-start another year, Pegula only hit nine unforced errors in the match, as the powerful, but unpredictable Kostyuk was unable to […]
2023 Australian Open ICYMI: Day 5
AFTER a day of upsets and epics on Thursday, and though a bit more normality returned to Melbourne Park in the day session, there were still plenty of surprises at night. THE GOOD: Unpredictable wins. China’s Lin Zhu stunned sixth seed Maria Sakkari in three sets, while Sebastian Korda took down 2022 finalist, Daniil Medvedev […]
2023 Australian Open ICYMI: Day 1
IT was a massive opening day at Melbourne Park, with plenty of storylines coming from the 2023 Australian Open. We take a look at the good, bad and ugly, as well as some of the matches that stood out for fans as the first Grand Slam of the year got underway. THE GOOD: Chinese teenager […]
Around the Tours – Jan 5: Qualifiers surprise in Adelaide
QUARTER finalists have been determined in Auckland, Adelaide and Pune, with one semi-final also already set to take place in the latter’s ATP250 event. While we have provided daily coverage on the United Cup the past week, the other four majors events – including the Adelaide ATP and WTA events – have been running concurrently […]
Sabalenka steals near-impossible victory
BELARUSIAN sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka produced one of the most incredible come-from-behind victories in history to stay alive in the US Open. Trailing 2-6 1-5 in the second set, Sabalenka was all but done and dusted during her match against unseeded Estonian, Kaia Kanepi. Then, in the blink of an eye, Sabalenka only conceded three […]