Around the Tours: Adelaide champions to battle in semi
THE only two Adelaide International champions will do battle in the semi-final of the 2022 tournament, when world number one Ash Barty comes up against Poland’s Iga Swiatek. Both are Grand Slam winners and overcame their respective Grand Slam-winning opponents in Sofia Kenin and Victoria Azarenka. Whilst Barty won in straight sets over Kenin 6-3 […]
Around the Tours: Chinese teen continues run
CHINESE teenage Qinwen Zheng continued her remarkable run in Melbourne to reach a quarter final at the event. In what was only her fifth main draw match of her career – she made her WTA Tour main draw debut in Palermo last July – she was able to get past the always tough Vera Zvonareva […]
Around the Tours: Barty overruns Coco
WORLD number one Ash Barty produced a strong comeback to put away teenage prodigy Coco Gauff in three sets at the Adelaide International last night. In one of the matches of the day, Gauff took the first set against the rusty Australian, and went 4-2 up seemingly set to advance to the quarter finals. Instead, […]
2022 WTA Tour Players to Watch: Marta Kostyuk
UKRAINIAN teenager Marta Kostyuk snuck into the WTA Tour’s Top 50 last month, reaching her career-high ranking after a memorable season. The European young gun has been a name that has kept popping up over the last few seasons as a prodigy, so it would be easy to forget that she is only 19-years-old. Starting […]
Top 5 WTA Tour nations for 2021
ONE continued powerhouse, two nations with great depth, and a couple that are held up by top-end stars, Rookie Me Central presents five WTA Tour nations that impressed with overall titles in 2021. The five included won four or more singles titles in 2021. #1 United States Total Top 100 Singles Players: 162021 Singles Titles: […]
Billie Jean King Cup wrap: Day 6 – Russia claims fourth title in Switzerland sweep
RUSSIA has claimed its fifth Billie Jean King Cup title, and the inaugural one in this format, defeating Switzerland in a 2-0 sweep overnight. Daria Kasatkina returned to the fold to play the second singles, whilst Liudmila Samsonova fresh off her debut match at the tournament, caused a huge upset to secure the overall win. […]
Billie Jean King Cup wrap: Day 5 – Russia and Switzerland book finals spot
RUSSIA will take on Switzerland to decide the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup winner after both nations advanced to the final. Russia defeated USA 2-1, whilst Switzerland took care of Australia in the other semi-final. Missing Daria Kasatkina, the Russians pulled a surprise by handing Liudmila Samsonova a debut, and then despite being basically unranked […]
Billie Jean King wrap: Day 2 – Barty-less Australia Storm Belgium as Russia oust Canada
NO Ash Barty or Ajla Tomljanovic? No worries for Australia, as the green and gold stunned Belgium to move one win away from an unlikely semi-final spot and automatic qualification to next year’s Billie Jean King Finals. The Aussies came in with former Top 30 player Daria Gavrilova – now ranked 412th in the world […]
2021 Billie Jean King Cup nation preview: Russia
THE WTA Tour’s most prestigious team event is less than a month away, and Draft Central is counting down the days until it kicks off by previewing each team individually. Starting with the lowest ranked nation through to the highest one, we take a look at each squad, their fixtures, and what they might be […]
2021 Billie Jean King Cup nominations confirmed
WITH action just a few weeks away, the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup nominations have come in for the 12 teams battling it out for glory. Several big names will miss the event, led by world number one Ash Barty and world number two Aryna Sabalenka, but nations like Switzerland and Spain will be at […]
