Australian Open Women’s Round of 32 wrap: Top ranked players all advance to fourth round
JUST one unseeded player remains in the bottom half of the Australian Open Women’s draw after all of the highest ranked players won through on day five of the Grand Slam event. The final unseeded player remaining is Chinese Taipei’s Su-Wei Hsieh, who took out Italian qualifier and former Top 5 player Sara Errani in […]
Australian Open Women’s Round of 64 wrap: Cirstea stuns Kvitova as Halep holds on
A COUPLE of massive upsets and an almost even bigger upset were the talking points on day three of the Australian Open women’s competition. Eighth seed Bianca Andreescu‘s second match back from injury did not go to plan, losing in straight sets to Chinese Taipei’s Su-Wei Hsieh, while ninth seed Petra Kvitova‘s lacklustre form of […]
Australian Open Women’s Round of 128 wrap: Top seeds skate through to second round as former Australian Open champion Kerber falls
THE Australian Open started with a bang on Monday, with the Grand Slam women’s circuit showcasing a heap of intriguing results in the Round of 128. A number of the obvious candidates head through to the second round after excellent day one efforts, with top three seeds Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka skating through completely unscathed. While the […]
WTA 500 wraps: Czechs fall as other top seeds advance
A HUGE day at Melbourne Park saw all three events – Yarra Valley Classic, Gippsland Trophy and Grampians Trophy – underway, in what was a largely predictable day, though did feature a number of upsets, particularly to top ranked Czechs. In the Yarra Valley Classic, the two top Czech players in the world – Karolina […]
2021 Grampians Trophy preview: Stacked lineup as players come out of hard lockdown
THE next in a line of WTA 500 events opening the year is the Grampians Trophy, yet another competition added to the womens’ tournament list purely for players forced into hard lockdown once landing in Australia. But while the tournament is new for 2021, the calibre of players certainly is not, with a number of […]
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 Tour hypothetical: What if they had Next Gen Finals this year?
THE ATP Tour’s Next Gen Finals are a highly sought after event to show off the best young talent coming through the men’s competition. In past years, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jannik Sinner have triumphed, leading them onto successful years the following seasons and beyond. As it stands, the WTA Tour does not have a Next […]
WTA Countdown: 2020 Top 5 Improvers – #3 Ons Jabeur
AS the WTA Tour comes to a close for the 2020 season, Draft Central is counting down the top five standout performers across a severely disrupted year who have stepped up to a new level since the Tour’s return. At number three on the countdown is Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who sits at a current career-high […]
