Around the Tours: Adelaide champions to battle in semi
THE only two Adelaide International champions will do battle in the semi-final of the 2022 tournament, when world number one Ash Barty comes up against Poland’s Iga Swiatek. Both are Grand Slam winners and overcame their respective Grand Slam-winning opponents in Sofia Kenin and Victoria Azarenka. Whilst Barty won in straight sets over Kenin 6-3 […]
Around the Tours: Chinese teen continues run
CHINESE teenage Qinwen Zheng continued her remarkable run in Melbourne to reach a quarter final at the event. In what was only her fifth main draw match of her career – she made her WTA Tour main draw debut in Palermo last July – she was able to get past the always tough Vera Zvonareva […]
Around the Tours: Barty overruns Coco
WORLD number one Ash Barty produced a strong comeback to put away teenage prodigy Coco Gauff in three sets at the Adelaide International last night. In one of the matches of the day, Gauff took the first set against the rusty Australian, and went 4-2 up seemingly set to advance to the quarter finals. Instead, […]
Around the Tours: Osaka wins tough upon return
JAPANESE star Naomi Osaka has made a winning return to the WTA Tour in Melbourne, getting up in a tight three-set win over Frenchwoman Alize Cornet. It was the perfect start for Osaka, perhaps not the most dominant of performances, but she blew out the cobwebs and came away with the win. Cornet is a […]
2022 WTA Tour Players to Watch: Marta Kostyuk
UKRAINIAN teenager Marta Kostyuk snuck into the WTA Tour’s Top 50 last month, reaching her career-high ranking after a memorable season. The European young gun has been a name that has kept popping up over the last few seasons as a prodigy, so it would be easy to forget that she is only 19-years-old. Starting […]
Top 5 WTA Tour nations for 2021
ONE continued powerhouse, two nations with great depth, and a couple that are held up by top-end stars, Rookie Me Central presents five WTA Tour nations that impressed with overall titles in 2021. The five included won four or more singles titles in 2021. #1 United States Total Top 100 Singles Players: 162021 Singles Titles: […]
A combined Laver-Williams Cup: The time is now
THE Laver Cup was run and done last month, and for the fourth time, taken out by Team Europe. The men’s team competition which is supposed to feature the best ATP Tour players in the world outside of the European continent, has not been able to match it with those in it, for some time. […]
WTA Finals race: Who will be there at the pointy end?
JUST a month remains in the WTA Tour season until the 2021 WTA Finals takes place in Guadalajara, Mexico. The best eight players contest in a best-of-the-best event, but will this year’s event be just that? We take a look at those in the top eight spots, and who might earn a place there. Qualified […]
2021 WTA BNP Paribas preview: Andreescu returns to defend her title
FOUR past winners, including reigning champion Bianca Andreescu will line up at the 2021 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. The WTA 1000 event is the last major event on the calendar prior to the WTA Finals, with only a sprinkling of 250 events and one 500 left for the season. Andreescu joins two-time […]
WTA Tour rankings update: Swiatek, Sakkari break new ground
THE 2021 WTA Tour rankings have seen plenty of changes as the year has gone by, with four different Grand Slam winners gracing the court as young talent flies up the ranks and some established names fall. We take a look at some of the recent and notable movements in the rankings. While not necessarily […]
