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 […]
Zheng seizes control to take out Uchijima in Tokyo
A DOMINANT purple patch when 5-4 down in the first set lit the flame of top seed Qinwen Zheng in Tokyo as the Chinese talent won the last nine games of the match against local hope Moyuka Uchijima to reach the Pan Pacific Open quarter finals. Uchijima took it up to Zheng early, was no […]
Bia’s back allows Bibi boost into Tokyo quarters
THERE was a sense of empathy coming from one side of the net to the other when injury-prone Bianca Andreescu shook hands with second seed Beatriz Haddad Maia after just three games. Haddad Maia suffered a left back injury and had to retire at 0-3 down in the opening set of the pair’s Pan Pacific […]
Katie Boults into Tokyo second round
BRITISH ninth seed Katie Boulter wasted no time in dismissing Australian qualifier Priscilla Hon to race into the Round of 16 at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo overnight. The sole seed in action, and only match that did not contain a local Japanese hope, Boulter needed just 77 minutes to get past Hon 6-1 […]
Turkish qualifier upsets Pole in Tokyo
AN EARLY upset on day one saw Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sonmez take out seventh seed Magdalena Frech to reach the second round of the WTA 500 event in Tokyo. Sonmez – ranked 148th in the world – defeated Frech 1-6 6-4 6-3, coming back from the brink to post the victory in an hour and […]
Around the Tour: Saito strikes on debut in Osaka
JAPANESE teenager Sara Saito had a WTA Tour debut to remember, picking up an upset win over Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in Osaka overnight. The junior girls world number two earned a wildcard into the WTA 250 event and played her first main draw match against the 22-year-old world number 62, coming away with the […]
Tsurenko overcomes early Bia bagel
UNPREDICTABLE Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko showed the best and worst of her game in a three-set win over local hope Bianca Andreescu in Toronto’s National Bank Open. The world number 85 – who has the most match retirements or walkovers on Tour with 20 in the past three years – looked in danger early after losing […]
2024 Paris Olympics draw talking points
LAST night the 2024 Paris Olympics took place and there was no shortage of talking points coming out of the draw. Here is some of those talking points from the men’s and women’s singles. MEN’S SINGLES: Novak vs Rafa one last time? Speculation pre-draw was whether or not the two most successful Grand Slam winners […]
Around the Tour: Demon hits roadblock as Rublev rolled
AFTER celebrating his second ATP Tour title of the year just two days earlier, Australian Alex de Minaur fell to Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the first round of the Cinch Championships in London. The new world number seven looked to be cruising after the first set with a 6-1 triumph, before Musetti found his rhythm […]
Rybakina romps to Roland Garros rout
FOURTH seed Elena Rybakina was in no mood to waste time overnight at Roland Garros, kick-starting the claycourt Grand Slam with a dominant 6-2 6-3 victory over Belgian Greet Minnen. The Kazakh was unstoppable at times, and once she found her rhythm, her opponent had no answers. Despite the world number 85 being able to […]
