Adelaide and Auckland’s awful Aussie Day
IT was not a fun return home for Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Adelaide International, going down to Serbian Dusan Lajovic in three sets. Kokkinakis took the first set 6-3, before Lajovic took the next two 6-1 6-4. Kokkinakis finished with more aces than Lajovic, but also finished with the higher double faults tally. Lajovic meanwhile […]
Rune rolls into Brisbane quarters after another tough slog
TOP seed Holger Rune is not having the easiest run of matches or playing at his peak performance despite facing lower ranked opponents, but the Dane was still able to secure his place in the Brisbane International quarter finals. After having to come from behind against Australian Max Purcell in the first round, Rune was […]
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 […]
Italy secures second Davis Cup title
FOR the second successive year, Australia had to settle for runners-up as a powerful Italian unit continued its outstanding 2023 Davis Cup run to lift just its second men’s team trophy in history. Led by top five young gun Jannik Sinner – fresh off back-to-back victories against Novak Djokovic in singles and doubles last match […]
Aussies alive and into Davis Cup final four
AUSTRALIA’S hopes of a 29th Davis Cup title – and its first in two decades – remains alive after reaching the semi-finals of the knockout stage. The green and gold scraped into second of their round robin group stage to qualify for the eight-team finals series, then upstage Czech Republic in a come-from-behind victory. Despite […]
2023 Davis Cup Final 8 draw decided
EIGHT teams remain in the 2023 Davis Cup hunt following the group stage of the Finals that occurred over the weekend. Following the qualification from that, the eight sides who made it through – the top two from each pool – now know their respective roads to the ultimate nation glory. World numbers ones Canada […]
Altmaier finds faith to sink Sinner
AN INCREDIBLE comeback from the brink of defeat saw German Daniel Altmaier save two match points and topple Italian young gun Jannik Sinner in the second round of Roland Garros. The world number 79 German trailed two sets to one and was down 4-5 in the fourth, only to come back and win in a […]
2023 Australian Open ICYMI: Day 5
AFTER a day of upsets and epics on Thursday, and though a bit more normality returned to Melbourne Park in the day session, there were still plenty of surprises at night. THE GOOD: Unpredictable wins. China’s Lin Zhu stunned sixth seed Maria Sakkari in three sets, while Sebastian Korda took down 2022 finalist, Daniil Medvedev […]
The story behind wildcard Rinky Hijikata
RISING Aussie tennis star Rinky Hijikata was in Sydney when he received a phone call from his coach Mark Draper in mid-December. Draper, the brother of 2005 Australian Open mixed doubles winner, Scott, was calling to inform the 21-year-old that he had received a wildcard into the Australian Open main draw. “(He said it’s) time […]
