WTA Tour hypothetical: What if they had Next Gen Finals this year?
THE ATP Tour’s Next Gen Finals are a highly sought after event to show off the best young talent coming through the men’s competition. In past years, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jannik Sinner have triumphed, leading them onto successful years the following seasons and beyond. As it stands, the WTA Tour does not have a Next […]
Three of top four Linz seeds through to semis in one-sided day of action
IT was a speedy day of action at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz tournament, with three of the top four seeds all booking their spots in the 2020 WTA Tour semi-finals of the International event. Raging tournament favourite, Aryna Sabalenka is into the last four with the only other two players capable of causing an […]
Yastremska, Pera out on Day 1 at Linz
PROCEEDINGS may have only just begun at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz, but two upsets greeted the competition to start on an intriguing note. Two seeds – third seed Dayana Yastremska and eighth seed Bernarda Pera – were both knocked out in straight sets in under 80 minutes, while two Russians in Ekaterina Alexandrova and Varvara Gracheva prevailed, with the […]
Which Sabalenka will we see in Linz? Belarusian standout player in final WTA Tour event
ARYNA Sabalenka has a perfect chance to head into the WTA Tour off-season by announcing herself ahead of a big 2021 season. In the final tournament of the year in the Upper Australia Ladies Linz, the Belarusian is the top seed and possesses by far the most power, but also great upside. The world number […]
Qualifers continue to rule as three top 30 players knocked out in Ostrava
THERE were plenty of upsets to pick from on the latest day at the Ostrava Open, though the three-set win by 75th ranked Russian qualifier Daria Kasatkina against top 20 talent Elena Rybakina might have been the pick of the bunch. The 23-year-old Russian has achieved a lot more than many might expect of her […]
2020 WTA Ostrava Open preview: Elite players return for last Premier event
CZECH Republic will play host to a brand new WTA Tour tournament designed to extend the season after the entire Asian season – including the WTA Finals – was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead what that means is this is arguably the last chance for many players to run out on court in […]
Intriguing winners list on day one of Roland Garros
A HUGE day one of the 2020 Roland Garros began with a couple of intriguing winners on the list among a plethora of seeds. As expected, top seed Simona Halep dominated her contest to head through to the second round, as did six of her fellow seeds. Halep was clinical in her effort against Spaniard […]
Putintseva survives against Rybakina in come-from-behind all-Kazakh triumph
YULIA Putintseva has stunned the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with a remarkable come-from-behind victory over fellow Kazakh, Elena Rybakina. The world number 30 faced a 4-6 2-5 deficit against the world number 18 and 10th seed, but found a way to fight back and win 4-6 7-6 6-2 to book her spot in the quarter finals. […]
Rybakina destroys Alexandrova as Bolsova piles on more pain for Riske
KAZAKH young gun Elena Rybakina has taken just 61 minutes to take apart fellow top 30 player, Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in a stunning role reversal. Just a fortnight earlier, Alexandrova defeated Rybakina in straight sets at the Western & Southern Open, with the 21-year-old winning just one match in her past […]
Internazionali BNL d’Italia sees Nadal return among a flurry of WTA players to the clay
THE Internazionali BNL d’Italia qualifying rounds are almost done and dusted making for an intriguing full draw at both the men’s and women’s Italian Open. While all US Open semi-finalists were given the first round of competition off to recover from the quick turnaround in competitions – and countries – just one ATP Tour player […]