WTA 500 wraps: Barty and Mertens claim crowns ahead of Aus Open
ASH Barty and Elise Mertens will head into the Australian Open undefeated after claiming WTA Tour 500 crowns yesterday. As part of the new Summer Series at Melbourne Park, Barty took out the Yarra Valley Classic in straight sets over Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, while Mertens won the Gippsland Trophy thanks to a 6-4 6-1 victory […]
WTA 500 wraps: Withdrawals reduce matches as finals decided
WITHDRAWALS galore across the three WTA Tour tournaments as players having little niggles opted to take a rest given the short turnaround to the Australian Open, presenting others with chances for their maiden titles. World number one Ash Barty might have had the walkover when Serena Williams pulled out of the pair’s semi-final at the […]
WTA 500 wraps: Barty Party rolls into final as other semi-finalists decided
IT was a massive day at the WTA 500 events as players squeezed in shortened matches to keep the tournaments on track after no play took place on Thursday. The Yarra Valley Classic and Gippsland Trophy semi-finals have been determined, whilst the quarter finalists are known in the Gippsland Trophy. Ash Barty is through to […]
WTA 500 wraps: Czechs fall as other top seeds advance
A HUGE day at Melbourne Park saw all three events – Yarra Valley Classic, Gippsland Trophy and Grampians Trophy – underway, in what was a largely predictable day, though did feature a number of upsets, particularly to top ranked Czechs. In the Yarra Valley Classic, the two top Czech players in the world – Karolina […]
WTA 500 wraps: Ash Barty returns to the court as 2020 Grand Slam champions make their mark
ANOTHER huge day at the two WTA 500 tournaments was had as the Round of 32 continued in the lead up to the Australian Open next week. Ash Barty made a triumphant return to the court at the Yarra Vally Classic for the first time since early 2020, while a number of seeds fell at the Gippsland […]
2021 Grampians Trophy preview: Stacked lineup as players come out of hard lockdown
THE next in a line of WTA 500 events opening the year is the Grampians Trophy, yet another competition added to the womens’ tournament list purely for players forced into hard lockdown once landing in Australia. But while the tournament is new for 2021, the calibre of players certainly is not, with a number of […]
WTA 500 wraps: Seeds prevail as top players enter draws while Round of 64 continues
IT was a successful day across the board for the top echelon of international talent at both the Yarra Valley Classic and Gippsland Trophy, with just one seed falling at each of the two competitions. Both competitions played both the Round of 32 and 64 in a huge day of action, with plenty of tough […]
WTA 500 wraps: Seeds stumble in Yarra Valley Classic as Australians fall across the board
ON the opening day of the WTA Tour’s Summer Series in Australia, all bar one of the host nation’s players fell, while a couple of French seeds bowed out in the first round at the Yarra Valley Classic. Kicking off the 2021 Summer Series in the Yarra Valley Classic, a couple of Americans in Shelby […]
2021 Yarra Valley Classic WTA preview: Barty returns in star-studded tournament
WORLD number one Ash Barty will make her return to the WTA Tour after 10 months off, coming in as top seed at the brand new 2021 Yarra Valley Classic. The 54-player event will feature four Top 10 players, and 16 inside the Top 50, in what is expected to be an entertaining week of […]
2021 Gippsland Trophy WTA preview: Grand Slam winners stack draw
IN the other WTA event running parallel to the Yarra Valley Classic, the 2021 Gippsland Trophy features three Grand Slam winners amongst the seven Top 20 players who have entered the event. With Ash Barty headlining the Yarra Valley Classic, the talking point of the Gippsland Trophy will be that the two most recent Grand […]
