Sorana stuns Sakkari to reach Abu Dhabi quarters
A GOBSMACKING performance from Sorana Cirstea resulted in the Romanian world number 26 completely dismantling Greek third seed Maria Sakkari to reach the WTA 500 Abu Dhabi quarter finals overnight. Though Cirstea had a 2-1 head-to-head record over the top 10 talent, few could have seen the 33-year-old winning 6-2 6-1 in an hour and […]
Tour scoreboard: Shnaider takes out top seed in Thailand
RUSSIAN teenager Diana Shnaider bounced back from a forgettable second set to knock off top-seeded Pole, Magna Linette in the WTA 250 Thailand Open. The first round matchup was always a danger for Linette – the world number 56 – with the 108th ranked Russian having caused some big upsets in the past. In what […]
Epic tiebreaker sees third seed undone
THE big names continue to fall in the women’s draw at the Australian Open, with Elena Rybakina the latest victim. After an epic record-breaking 31-minute third set tie breaker, the number three seed and 2023 finalist was ultimately beaten by Anna Blinkova 6-4, 4-6, 722-620. In the match Rybakina served nine aces compared to Blinkova’s […]
Day of upsets in Adelaide as Aussies shine in the Apple Isle
DAY 3 at the Adelaide International saw a big upset, with qualifier Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova picking up a massive win and defeating tournament fifth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia. Despite the 48 rank difference between the pair it did not matter as Pavlyuchenkova took the straight sets win 6-3, 6-4. Despite Pavlyuchenkova serving five more double faults […]
Svitolina’s Roland Garros run defies own expectations
HAVING given birth to her first child last October, Ukrainian Elina Svitolina admitted she never would have dreamed to reach a Roland Garros quarter final within eight months. But coming off a title in Strasbourg in the lead-up to the Paris event, Svitolina has ground her way through the first four matches to set up […]
Blinkova back to best, repeats shock upset
FRANCE’S best hope of a Roland Garros title was eliminated overnight, with fifth seed Caroline Garcia suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Russian Anna Blinkova. In a case of history repeating itself, Blinkova came back from a set down to win in three and advance through to the third round of the French […]
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 […]
Thiem returns home, reaches second round
FORMER world number three Dominic Thiem has returned home to much support, winning through to the second round of the ATP 250 event in Kitzbuhel. The Austrian star’s homecoming – at the tournament where he made his debut 11 years ago – was a sweet one, putting away lucky loser, Alexander Shevchenko in straight sets. […]
Waltert breaks three-year drought to repeat history
SWISS 21-year-old Simona Waltert is pretty good at knocking off number one seeds in Lausanne. Earning another wildcard at her home tournament, the right-handed talent who has almost exclusively played on the ITF Tour the last few years, stunned American Danielle Collins in three sets. Most remarkably, she faced three break points in the deciding […]
No rest for Mladenovic as 2021 WTA Tour concludes
WHILST the majority of the WTA Tour were enjoying a nice month’s break, plenty of lower ranked talents were trying to gain some momentum in the month off ahead of the Australian Summer. Most amazingly, 28-year-old Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic played all three tournaments, choosing to travel to Korea over Christmas – and just falling short […]
