2024 BJK Cup Finals preview
TWELVE teams remain in the hunt for the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup title, which kicks off overnight with the first of the knockout matches. While four nations – Canada, Australia, Czech Republic and Italy – have a first round bye, another eight are battling it out to reach the quarter finals. We take a […]
Around the Tour: Upstaged in Antwerp; upsets galore
THERE was no shortage of upsets across multiple ATP and WTA Tour events overnight, but the major results came in Antwerp where three of the lower ranked players took out the top three seeds. In what was a dismantling day, number one seed Alex de Minaur, number two seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and number three seed […]
Around the Tour: Ito crafts third straight upset
ADMITTING she has not got “any power” and she is “skinny”, Japanese qualifier Aoi Ito has made a name for herself in Osaka. The 188th ranked Japanese hope knows where her strengths and weaknesses lie, and focuses on what she can do, rather than she cannot, leading her to a quarter finals appearance in the […]
Joint rocking as Aussies advance at US Open
IN an incredible first two days of tennis action over in Flushing Meadows, a whopping 11 Australians reached the second round of the qualifying. While only the first of three match wins required to make it into the 128-player US Open main draw, the signs were overwhelmingly positive from the green and gold representatives. Teenage […]
Czech it out: Samson stuns Siniakova
CZECH wunderkind Laura Samson wasted no time announcing herself on the big stage against a quality opponent, shocking her far more experienced compatriot Katerina Siniakova in front of home fans at the Prague Open overnight. Samson – who turned 16 in March – is a former junior girls number one, and shortened her surname this […]
Raducanu returns to roll Renata
BRITISH wildcard Emma Raducanu has returned to the scene where he career exploded three years earlier, winning in straight set in the first round of Wimbledon. In front of a passionate home crowd, the nation’s talented young gun who rose to fame in 2021 after reaching a fourth round at the All-England club then remarkable […]
Penko powers into Roland Garros second round
LATVIAN world number 11 Jelena Ostapenko advanced through to the second round of Roland Garros overnight, defeating Romanian Jaqueline Cristian in a tough two-set match. The ninth seed had to work for her win, eventually getting up 6-4 7-5 to book her place in the Paris Round of 64. The former Roland Garros champion has […]
Khachanov survives Struff scare
DESPITE a scare from home nation hero Jan-Lennard Struff, Russian seventh seed Karen Khachanov has won through to the second round of the ATP 500 event in Hamburg. As the next week of tournaments kicked off across four tournaments, Khachanov was the sole seeded winner in the men’s singles draw in Hamburg, winning against Struff, […]
Kubler grounds FAA in Newport upset
AUSTRALIAN Jason Kubler has continued his strong form on grass with a three-set come-from-behind win over top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in Newport. Having reached the fourth round of Wimbledon as a qualifier, the world number 12 took a huge scalp in the world number nine, weathering the Canadian’s serve to reach a quarter final at […]
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 […]