Australian Open Women’s Round of 128 wrap: Top seeds skate through to second round as former Australian Open champion Kerber falls
THE Australian Open started with a bang on Monday, with the Grand Slam women’s circuit showcasing a heap of intriguing results in the Round of 128. A number of the obvious candidates head through to the second round after excellent day one efforts, with top three seeds Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka skating through completely unscathed. While the […]
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: 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 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 […]
Stunning Sabalenka collects third straight title in Abu Dhabi
IT rarely looked ever in doubt from the first serve through to the final point in the tournament, with Aryna Sabalenka dropping just one set on her way to her third straight title. The Belarusian fourth seed stormed through to her ninth overall WTA Tour singles title at the brand new Abu Dhabi WTA Tour […]
Sabalenka eyes off third straight title as she faces first-time finalist in Abu Dhabi
ARYNA Sabalenka has powered her way past some of the world’s best in the past three tournaments, showing a couple of months off and a change of year has not slowed down her remarkable winning streak. The Belarusian star won the final two WTA Tour tournaments of 2020, and has raced through the 2021 Abu […]
Three-set thrillers see come-from-behind victories
ACTION heated up in the quarter finals of the Abu Dhabi WTA 500 event with each of the four matches going the full three sets to determine a winner. In three of those four matches, the winner dropped the first set before coming back to win, including one 6-0 first set loss. That disastrous first […]
Youth rises in third round at Abu Dhabi
IT was the future of the WTA Tour on show in the third round of the Abu Dhabi 500 tournament, with 26-year-old Elina Svitolina being the “veteran” of the quarter finals competitors. The Ukrainian was one of only two players – Maria Sakkari was the other – aged 25 years and older, with the other […]
WTA Abu Dhabi Round of 32 wrap: Gasanova shocks Pliskova in debut tournament
RUSSIAN rising star, Anastasia Gasanova has shocked third seed Czech Karolina Pliskova, claiming her first ever Top 100 victory with a 6-2 6-4 triumph in the Round of 32 at the Abu Dhabi WTA 500 event. Gasanova had no troubles knocking off the former world number one, having come through qualifying and then toppling former […]
