Youth rises in third round at Abu Dhabi
IT was the future of the WTA Tour on show in the third round of the Abu Dhabi 500 tournament, with 26-year-old Elina Svitolina being the “veteran” of the quarter finals competitors. The Ukrainian was one of only two players – Maria Sakkari was the other – aged 25 years and older, with the other […]
WTA Abu Dhabi Round of 32 wrap: Gasanova shocks Pliskova in debut tournament
RUSSIAN rising star, Anastasia Gasanova has shocked third seed Czech Karolina Pliskova, claiming her first ever Top 100 victory with a 6-2 6-4 triumph in the Round of 32 at the Abu Dhabi WTA 500 event. Gasanova had no troubles knocking off the former world number one, having come through qualifying and then toppling former […]
WTA Abu Dhabi Round of 64 wrap: Top six through without a hitch, young guns also advance
OF the 16 seeds on show in the brand new WTA Abu Dhabi 500 event, 12 reached the second round. Kicking off 2021 in style, the top six seeds advanced without dropping a set, whilst 2020 in-form players, Anett Kontaveit and Jennifer Brady were amongst the seeds to fall in the opening round of play. […]
WTA Teenage Stars – Daria Lopatetska
THERE is no shortage of top-end Ukrainian talent on the WTA Tour, and while Daria “Dasha” Lopatetska may not yet be among the trio of Elina Svitolina, Dayana Yastremska and Marta Kostyuk in the top 100, the 17-year-old is well on her way to creating a stir on Tour. Still splitting much of her competitive […]
Sabalenka survives early scare on Day 2 at Linz
TWO players retired on day two of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz, seeing six of the eight matches run out as expected and very little surprises bar the two late withdrawals. Top seed Aryna Sabalenka survived an early scare from Jasmine Paolini before consolidating a win, while it was Julia Grabher and Tereza Martincova who finished their matches early, […]
Teenager Tauson wins on Grand Slam debut as Pliskova and Kenin challenged
DAY three of the 2020 Roland Garros saw the remainder of the Round of 128 finish up their matches, with some predictable top seeds in Karolina Pliskova, Sofia Kenin and Aryna Sabalenka making their way through to the second round although the former two had to fight back after strong showings from their opposition. The […]
Osaka survives Kostyuk scare to book fourth round berth
FOURTH seed Naomi Osaka is through to the Round of 16 at the US Open after knocking off teenage Ukrainian, Marta Kosyuk in three sets. The match lasted two hours and 33 minutes before Osaka could safely advance through to the fourth round. The 18-year-old Ukrainian won a second set tiebreaker and forced Osaka onto […]
Garcia stuns top seed Pliskova to book third round US Open spot
CAROLINE Garcia has caused the boil-over of the US Open by defeating top seed and world number three, Karolina Pliskova in straight sets today. The unseeded Frenchwoman made her way into the third round at the Grand Slam with a 6-1 7-6 victory, winning the last five points of the match after the Czech seed […]
Rain delays sees Prague seeds drop in opening round
AN interesting start to the 2020 Prague Open was had yesterday, with the first day of proceedings – and last of qualifiers – delayed by rain and forcing a massive day on what was what meant to be the second day of action. Among the winning seeds of the day were first, second and third […]
2020 Fantasy WTA Mexican Open: Seeds skittled on opening day
THERE was chaos across the Mexican Open with three of the four seeds playing on day one already out of the tournament. With every player in the draw outside the top 100, it made for tight contests in most regards with five of the eight matches going the full distance. Of the three upsets, Russian […]