2024 Davis Cup Finals preview
EIGHT nations will vie for glory in the 2024 Davis Cup Finals that kicks off overnight in Malaga. Headlined by reigning champions Italy with world number one Jannik Sinner named for his nation, the only element that tops it is the fact that 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal will bid farewell to tennis at […]
Machac marches into Vienna quarters
DEFYING the odds against the ATP Tour’s best indoor player in 2024, Czech Tomas Machac upset world number nine Grigor Dimitrov‘s chances of reaching the ATP Finals. Machac won the pair’s maiden encounter, winning 6-7 6-4 6-3 under the roof at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. The match itself lasted two hours and 31 […]
Felix eyes Basel three-peat by Baez beating
BASEL has always been a source of success for Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, and now the eighth seed is into the Swiss Indoors ATP 500 event second round in 2024. Auger-Aliassime is a back-to-back winner at the indoor hardcourt event having won the past two years and is now just four wins away from completing a […]
ATP Tour winners: RBA winds back the clock
SPANISH veteran Roberto Bautista Agut has snapped a two-year drought to claim the European Open ATP Tour title, defeating talented Czech Jiri Lehecka in straight sets. Bautista Agut collected the 12th title of his career, winding back the clock with a performance for the ages in Antwerp, winning 7-5 6-1. The 36-year-old became the second […]
Around The Tour: All-Russian final set for Ningbo
THOUGH the Japan Open in Osaka got washed out, there was still plenty of semi-finals action taking place across both the WTA and ATP Tours overnight. The WTA 500 final contestants in Ningbo were determined, with an all-Russian duo scheduled for the decider in fifth seed Daria Kasatkina and unseeded teenager Mirra Andreeva winning their […]
Around the Tour: Upstaged in Antwerp; upsets galore
THERE was no shortage of upsets across multiple ATP and WTA Tour events overnight, but the major results came in Antwerp where three of the lower ranked players took out the top three seeds. In what was a dismantling day, number one seed Alex de Minaur, number two seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and number three seed […]
Around the Tour: Ito crafts third straight upset
ADMITTING she has not got “any power” and she is “skinny”, Japanese qualifier Aoi Ito has made a name for herself in Osaka. The 188th ranked Japanese hope knows where her strengths and weaknesses lie, and focuses on what she can do, rather than she cannot, leading her to a quarter finals appearance in the […]
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 […]
Gael breezes into Shanghai second round
FRENCH enigma Gael Monfils wound back the clock with an impressive straight sets victory over fellow veteran Damir Dzumhur to reach the second round of the 2024 Shanghai ATP 1000 Masters yesterday. Monfils won 6-4 6-3 in an hour and 21 minutes, and despite the relatively rudimentary nature of the win, said it was still […]
Arthur gets his Fils after denying fellow Frenchman
PLAYING the role of party pooper perfectly, NextGen ATP Frenchman Arthur Fils denied compatriot Ugo Humbert a rare slice of history in Tokyo. Humbert was gunning to become the first player in tennis history to win his first seven ATP Tour finals, being one of three who had achieved half a dozen straight. Incredibly, Humbert […]