Triple treat in Cleveland as seeds fall
IT WAS a stunning day of upsets in Cleveland as the top three seeds fell in the women’s singles, leaving the draw wide open. The WTA Tour 250 event saw Barbora Krejcikova, Martina Trevisan and Ekaterina Alexandrova all bundled out by unseeded opponents. While Trevisan pulled out pre-match allowing China’s Shuai Zhang safe passage to […]
Thiem hungrier than the Wolf
AUSTRIAN Dominic Thiem showed he was able to outlast American wildcard J.J. Wolf in a three-set epic in the opening round at Winston-Salem. In what will be the Austrian’s final tuneup before the US Open – his first and only Grand Slam title came from Flushing Meadows – Thiem knocked off Wolf 6-7 7-5 7-6 […]
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 […]
Italy dumps France from BJK Cup Finals
IN a huge upset, Italy has taken down world number two France in the Billie Jean King (BJK) Cup Qualifiers to ensure their place in the Finals for the first time. France, who won as recently as 2019 – which is only two tournaments ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic – will not compete in […]
Fruhvirtova claims maiden WTA 1000 win
CZECH teenager Linda Fruhvirtova is a rising star on the WTA Tour and has just claimed her first ever WTA 1000 win at the Miami Open. The Czech 16-year-old defeated Danka Kovinic 6-0 6-4 in a stunning win to announce herself. Ranked 279th in the world, the soon-to-be 17-year-old was knocked out in just the […]
2021 Billie Jean King Cup nation preview: Germany
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 […]
Olympics Women’s wraps: Sorribes Tormo stuns Barty in Olympic-sized upset
FRESH off a second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, many were expecting world number one and Australian Ash Barty to cruise through her opening match at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. They could not be more wrong, as the top seed was bundled out in a shock loss to rising Spanish talent Sara Sorribes Tormo in […]
WTA Tour wrap: Stephens stuns Kvitova on day one at Wimbledon
SLOANE Stephens showed she means business at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, taking a huge scalp on day one. The US Open winner has struggled with consistency over the past few years, but she made not mistake in putting together a big win against two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, 6-3 6-4. In just 77 minutes of […]
WTA Tour wrap: Kerber reaches final on home soil
ANGELIQUE Kerber has earned a place in the 2021 Bad Homburg Open final after fighting through two tough matches on a catch-up day at the German grass court event. Fourth seed Kerber had to overcome an early fight from American Amanda Anisimova in the quarter finals, winning 2-6 6-3 6-3, before then struggling in an […]
WTA Tour wrap: Seeds storm to victory in Germany as Eastbourne faces rain delays
WITH the opening day of Eastbourne delayed due to rain, just the Bad Homburg event played out on Monday, as Day 2 rolled around fast. All five of the day’s seeds proceeded to the second round, in a successful day for the tournament’s top talents. Top seed Petra Kvitova and fourth seed Angelique Kerber both drew qualifiers, […]