IT was a bit of a mixed bag of results across the WTA Tour’s two grass court events yesterday, with two seeds making their way through in each of the Viking Classic and Bett1Open quarter finals, whilst in the other two matches the underdog prevailed. In Berlin, fifth seed Belinda Bencic advanced through to the final four with a hard-fought three-set win over Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4 4-6 7-6, needing two hours and 31 minutes to dismiss her opponent.
The Swiss star will now face Frenchwoman Alize Cornet who stunned Grand Slam winner and sixth seed Garbine Muguruza in an epic contest, winning in a third set tiebreaker, 7-5. The overall match saw Cornet come from behind to post a 4-6 6-3 7-6 win over the Spanish seed in two hours and 40 minutes to claim her spot in the final four. Cornet won 76.6 per cent of his first serve points and broke twice from her two chances, whilst rallied hard against a solid Muguruza who broke twice form four chances, and won 67.9 and 70 per cent of her first and second serve points.
“It was a long match with a lot of emotion, especially in the tiebreak,” Cornet said post-match. “I can’t believe I made it at the end. She’s a champion, she never gives up. I should have gone for a it a bit more, I was waiting for a mistake and I was a bit tight – it’s normal. But I was very resilient too, I was always behind in the score in the third set but I kept grinding, I kept fighting to the end and it’s a really nice victory.
“I had a really tough clay season, I couldn’t play well and I don’t know why – but to play well on grass, it’s unexpected but beautiful.”
REIGNING Madrid Open WTA 1000 champion Aryna Sabalenka came back from a disappointing first set to run over the top of Elena Rybakina in an epic three-set semi-final match. Sabalenka lost the first set 6-1 and was a break down in the second before finding a way to come back and close out the contest […]
KAZAKHSTAN Grand Slam champion Elena Rybakina had to fight back from an incredible deficit to overcome her compatriot Yulia Putintseva in a hard-fought three-set match. Rybakina face two match points at 2-5 15-40 down in the deciding set only to come back and hold, on her way to winning five consecutive games and advance to […]
RUSSIAN teenager Mirra Andreeva has backed up her breakthrough WTA 1000 Madrid Open performance last year with another fourth round appearance in 2024. The talented 16-year-old said after her first round win over American Taylor Townsend that the tournament was her “place of power” and that power ramped up with a third round straight sets […]
WORLD number two Aryna Sabalenka has survived a massive scare from Poland’s Magda Linette, needing three sets and two hours and nine minutes to shake off the determined world number 48. The Belarusian was gunning for a record-equalling third title in Madrid, but admitted her form was not up to scratch compared to her rivals, […]
JAPANESE Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka made it through to the second round of the 2024 Madrid Open overnight with a dominant 79-minute win over Belgian lucky loser, Greet Minnen. The former world number one is still returning to the WTA Tour, but gained her first clay court win in two years at the WTA […]
Wildcard Eala upsets former top 30 player in Madrid
SHE might be her nation’s only ranked player, but Phillipines’ Alexandra Eala showed she can punch above her weight with the world number 170 getting the job done against former top 30 player, Lesia Tsurenko, at the Madrid Open. The 18-year-old talent came back from a set down on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium to post a […]
CLAY court season is well underway and it is time for another combined 1000 event between the WTA and ATP Tours, with the world’s best players descending on Spain for the Madrid Open. The clay court event features 96 players in the women’s singles draw, with the 32 seeded players receiving a bye in the […]
AUSTRALIA will contest the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Finals after the green and gold whitewashed Mexico in the Qualifiers to reach the 16-team event. The Aussies won 4-0 over their Central American opponents in a result that came as no surprise considering the relative ranking difference between the nations. Aside from Arina Rodionova getting […]
RISING WTA Tour stars Dominika Salkova and Talia Gibson have both earned their way into the Top 200 for the first time in their respective careers. The young guns reached the recent W75 Maribor final where the teenager Czech saluted in straight sets, 6-2 6-4. Both players entered the tournament unseeded with Salkova ranked 204th […]
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