Osaka eases into Madrid second round
JAPANESE Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka made it through to the second round of the 2024 Madrid Open overnight with a dominant 79-minute win over Belgian lucky loser, Greet Minnen. The former world number one is still returning to the WTA Tour, but gained her first clay court win in two years at the WTA […]
Badosa spoils Halep return
SPANISH former world number two Paula Badosa played the role of party pooper against former world number one Simona Halep, with the latter returning to the WTA Tour for the first time in 18 months at the Miami Open. Despite Halep completely dominating the first set, Badosa worked her way back into the contest, and […]
Under the Radar: Taylah Preston (Australia)
TEENAGE sensation Taylah Preston has been performing strongly on the ITF Tour the last five months, and is rapidly improving her WTA Tour ranking. Though many of her tournaments have been out of the spotlight given the lower level compared to the Tour, Preston has risen almost 300 places since September. Five months ago when […]
WTA Risers & Sliders: Feb 26, 2024
A MAIDEN WTA 1000 title in Dubai had Italian Jasmine Paolini and her final opponent Anna Kalinskaya high up in our WTA Tour Risers and Sliders piece this week, as we take a look at the players who took the biggest rankings jump and fall over the past seven days. RISERS: Jasmine Paolini (Italy)04/01/1996 | […]
Career-high WTA Tour rankings | February 5
FOLLOWING the first week of tournaments in February, five players – including three inside the top 100 – moved up to career-highs. Two of those entered the top 50 for the first time, and we take a look at how they, along with the other bolters have stepped up. Clara Burel (France)24/03/2001 | Previous best: […]
Maria does the Lourdes work in Vero Beach
ARGENTINIAN Maria Lourdes Carle continued her red-hot form of late on the ITF World Tennis Tour to claim a straight sets victory in the W75 event in Vero Beach, Florida. The 6-4 7-6 triumph over Romanian Gabriela Lee capped off not just a great tournament, but a purple patch of form since late November. Carle’s […]
Brits back from brink against Spaniards
GREAT Britain is just one win away from qualifying for the knockout stage of the United Cup, after both Cameron Norrie and Katie Swan staged comebacks to help the nation lead Spain 2-0. In a remarkable day of action in Sydney, Norrie and Swan both lost their respective first sets against Rafael Nadal and Nuria […]
Sweet start for Swiss at United Cup
SWITZERLAND is in the box seat of its opening round United Cup tie against Kazakhstan following day one of action after wins to Belinda Bencic and Marc-Andrea Huesler. The world number 12 Bencic fought back from a 1-4 deficit in the opening set against Yulia Putintseva to grind out a tiebreak victory – to love […]
Fit and firing Coric back on track in Hamburg
LUCKLESS Croatian Borna Coric has hit a major milestone in his return from a long-term shoulder injury that cruelled his 2021 ATP Tour season, winning back-to-back matches at Hamburg this week. Coric had not achieved back-to-back Tour wins since March, 2021, but he was able to do that feat in an ATP 500 event no […]
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, […]
