Open BLS De Limoges wrap: Day 2 – Brady and Pera lead one-sided dominance
THE American success at the Open BLS De Limoges continued on Day 2 of the tournament, with fourth seed Jennifer Brady and eighth seed Bernarda Pera advancing through to the second round without too much fuss. The duo from the United States were among five players that moved past the opening round, not dropping a […]
Open BLS De Limoges wrap: Day 1 – Gibbs fights back to secure second round spot
AMERICAN qualifier, Nicole Gibbs has moved through to the second round of the Open BLS De Limoges after an impressive come-from-behind win on Day 1. Gibbs made the main draw of the French hardcourt tournament following success navigating the qualifying stages, and was drawn against seventh seed Slovenian, Tamara Zidansek. The 26-year-old American is currently […]
Rodionova and Smith book Wildcard spots at Aus Open
ARINA Rodionova and John-Patrick Smith have booked their ticket to the Australian Open with wins in their respective Wildcard Playoff draws at Melbourne Park over the past week. The wins meant the pair does not need to go through qualifying, sparing them at least three matches in what is predicted to be scorching Melbourne heat. […]
Year in review – 2019: Belinda Bencic
THE past 12 months have been a rapid rise for Belinda Bencic, who went from a developing talent into a genuine top performer across the WTA Tour. She won just the two titles, but collected more than half of her career prize money, and upped her output to catapult herself into the top 10. Rank: […]
2019 Open BLS De Limoges preview: Can Alexandrova make it three out of four?
WHILE most of the WTA Tour is enjoying a break before the 2020 season, a number of keen players are descending on France for the final official tournament of the year. The Open BLS De Limoges takes place on hard court in the west-central city of Limoges. Whilst the tournament is only a 125K event […]
Year in review – 2019: Simona Halep
IF you are only going to win one tournament in a year, then a Grand Slam would be top of the list. For Romanian world number four Simona Halep, that was exactly how her year panned out. Rank: #4 Wins: 43 Losses: 17 Titles: 1 Prize Money: $6,962,442 The 28-year-old Romanian has won more titles […]
Young Gun focus: Frances Tiafoe
AMERICAN Frances Tiafoe had an up and down season in 2019. His best result came at the Australian Open, where he made his first Grand Slam quarter final. He toppled top 20 players Kevin Anderson and Grigor Dimitrov to get there, before losing to number two seed Rafael Nadal in straight sets. After this, things […]
Year in review – 2019: Daniil Medvedev
DANIIL Medvedev took a massive step forward in his career this year, bolting up the rankings to as high as world number four, before ending the year at five. Rank: #5 Wins: 59 Losses: 21 Titles: 4 Prize Money: $7,833,320 It was a heavy workload for the up-and-coming Russian who managed to move up to […]
Year in the review – 2019: Karolina Pliskova
FOR the fourth consecutive year, Czech Republic’s world number two, Karolina Pliskova finished in the top eight. A key player on the WTA Tour, she reached world number one at various stages over the past few years, but sits at number two heading into 2020. Rank: #2 Wins: 52 Losses: 17 Titles: 4 Prize Money: […]
Year in review – 2019: Roger Federer
ROGER Federer finished 2019 as he had begun it – in third spot on the ATP Tour rankings. He dropped as low as seventh at one point and this season has been far from one of his most glamorous, but you can never write the Swiss Master off. Rank: #3 Wins: 53 Losses: 10 Titles: […]
