Red-hot Rinky tames Thanasi
NO MATTER the result, an Australian was going to be the winner as wildcard Rinky Hijikata took on Thanasi Kokkinakis on Show Court 1 at the Brisbane International. In a match that lasted an hour and 37 minutes, it was Hijikata who emerged victorious, shaking off an early Kokkinakis challenge to win 7-6 6-2. Hijikata […]
Teen wildcard causes Hong Kong upset
IT WAS a dream start to 2024 for Chinese teenager Juncheng Shang, who upset seventh seed Laslo Djere in the opening round of Hong Kong Tennis Open yesterday. Shang, ranked 183rd in the world was able to mastermind the victory over the world number 33, some 10 years his senior, 6-7 6-3 7-6. That included […]
Popyrin ends year with three-hour epic against mate
IT was quite the tiring finish for Alexei Popyrin in Brisbane, as the talented 24-year-old overcame compatriot Christopher O’Connell in an epic three set match that lasted more than three hours at Brisbane International. Having only played one match against each other previously – where Popyrin won in straight sets at the Rome Masters last […]
2023 US Open Day 1 Talking Points
A COUPLE of huge upsets have already gone down at Flushing Meadows as the US Open got underway with the opening day of action completing in the Australia early afternoon hours today. Some big seeds bowed out, others came from behind and there were no shortage of talking points. Masarova sinks Sakkari The biggest upset […]
Stan The Marathon Man survives Paris epic
LOOKING strong early, Swiss Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka had a tougher than expected path to the second round needing all five sets to advance through at Roland Garros overnight. The 2015 French Open championship had won all seven previous matches against Albert Ramos-Vinolas, and at two sets to love looked set to do it […]
2023 Davis Cup Finalists confirmed
ALL 12 Davis Cup Finalists have been confirmed for November’s massive event, with the remaining qualifying matches completed. On Monday, seven of the 12 teams had been locked in, with the remaining five teams now secured following their respective victories. Those five nations are Croatia, Chile, Netherlands, Finland and Czech Republic, who due to timezone […]
2023 Davis Cup Qualifiers preview: Part II
IN the second of four parts previewing the Davis Cup Qualifiers, we take a look at the next three matches taking place this weekend across the globe. There are 12 matches all up, with the winner of each match qualifying for the Davis Cup Finals in November, while the loser of each match goes into […]
Tiafoe confident ahead of AO as Kooyong crowd treated to entertaining spectacle
WORLD number 17 Frances Tiafoe is bullish on his chances at next week’s Australian Open. There is saying you want to win a major, and there is confidently declaring it. Tiafoe has set that as a realistic goal ahead of this year’s first Grand Slam tournament. The American enters the Australian Open off the back of […]
Aussies de Minaur, Hijikata get wins ahead of Australian Open
TOP-RANKED Australian male Alex de Minaur has carried his strong form from the United Cup to Melbourne, defeating Dominic Thiem 6-4 6-4 in the Kooyong Classic opener on Tuesday. De Minaur has repeatedly spoken about his love for playing in front of his home crowd and representing his country, and, donning the green and gold, […]
Top 5 ATP potential breakout players in 2023
EACH year tennis sees a number of breakout players who have a season that catapults them from the middle or lower world ranking spots, into the top echelon of players. In the men’s game, year-end number one Carlos Alcaraz lived up to expectations far sooner than expected, while Casper Ruud and Taylor Fritz both became […]
