Young Gun focus: Aryna Sabalenka
BELARUSIAN Aryna Sabalenka is one of the rising stars of women’s tennis. After finishing 2018 with eight wins over top 10 opponents and the 11th overall ranking, she came into 2019 with lofty expectations. Sabalenka won three titles this year, all of which took place in China (WTA Elite Trophy, Shenzhen Open and Wuhan Open) […]
Open BLS De Limoges wrap: Day 3 – Parmentier knocks out Fed Cup teammate as Alexandrova escapes scare
REIGNING Open BLS De Limoges title holder and number one seed, Ekaterina Alexandrova has escaped a scare from Romanian, Monica Niculescu to move through to the second round. The Russian, gunning for a standalone record of three titles at the event, had to fight hard to win, 6-4 2-6 6-3 in just under two hours. […]
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 […]
