IT was a bit of a mixed bag of results across the WTA Tour’s two grass court events yesterday, with two seeds making their way through in each of the Viking Classic and Bett1Open quarter finals, whilst in the other two matches the underdog prevailed. In Berlin, fifth seed Belinda Bencic advanced through to the final four with a hard-fought three-set win over Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4 4-6 7-6, needing two hours and 31 minutes to dismiss her opponent.
The Swiss star will now face Frenchwoman Alize Cornet who stunned Grand Slam winner and sixth seed Garbine Muguruza in an epic contest, winning in a third set tiebreaker, 7-5. The overall match saw Cornet come from behind to post a 4-6 6-3 7-6 win over the Spanish seed in two hours and 40 minutes to claim her spot in the final four. Cornet won 76.6 per cent of his first serve points and broke twice from her two chances, whilst rallied hard against a solid Muguruza who broke twice form four chances, and won 67.9 and 70 per cent of her first and second serve points.
“It was a long match with a lot of emotion, especially in the tiebreak,” Cornet said post-match. “I can’t believe I made it at the end. She’s a champion, she never gives up. I should have gone for a it a bit more, I was waiting for a mistake and I was a bit tight – it’s normal. But I was very resilient too, I was always behind in the score in the third set but I kept grinding, I kept fighting to the end and it’s a really nice victory.
“I had a really tough clay season, I couldn’t play well and I don’t know why – but to play well on grass, it’s unexpected but beautiful.”
IT IS the dawn of a new era for Paula Badosa, with the Spaniard finally winning through to her first ever Grand Slam semi-final after beating Coco Gauff at the Australian Open yesterday. It certainly was not an easy match with Gauff giving her all, but in almost an hour and 45 minutes Badosa ultimately […]
MADISON Keys’ strong start to the 2025 calendar year has continued, after the American upset Elena Rybakina to move through to the quarter finals for the fourth time at the Australian Open. The tournament’s 19th seed won the first set, had a dip in the second then came back hard in the third to win […]
ARYNA Sabalenka just cannot stop winning at the Australian Open. The two-time defending champion has now won 18 matches in a row at Melbourne Park after thrashing Mirra Andreeva yesterday in straight sets. Sabalenka only took 62 minutes to dispose of Andreeva 6-1, 6-2, which was quicker than Sabalenka’s next opponent Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova took to […]
ONE OF the most remarkable stories of this year’s Australian Open is that of German Eva Lys. From missing out on the final round of qualifying to becoming a lucky loser with five minutes notice, she is now into the second week of the Australian Open after defeating Jaqueline Cristian yesterday. In a hard fought, […]
Danilovic dances into second week after monster scalp
THE WOMENS seeds continue to fall at the 2025 Australian Open, with Jessica Pegula the latest big name to be bundled out after losing to Serb Olga Danilovic last night. Danilovic, who had previously never made it past the second round at Melbourne Park, won the first set tiebreak and then blitzed Pegula in the […]
THE SECOND round has been somewhat of a roadblock at the Australian Open for Emma Raducanu, having never managed to get past it any time she has been at Melbourne Park. That changed yesterday after the Brit defeated Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-5 to progress to this year’s third round. “Fourth time lucky,” Raducanu wrote on […]
AS IS becoming somewhat of a tradition at the Australian Open, the women’s draw is continuing to prove that seeding is nothing more than just a number. One of the biggest casualties of this from yesterday’s action was fifth seed and 2024 runner-up Qinwen Zheng, who fell to Laura Siegemund in straight sets. In a […]
ONLY three local hopefuls remain in the Australian Open women’s draw after four faced first round exits on day three of the tournament. Meanwhile, it was a strong day for United States seeds as Emma Navarro [8] and Madison Keys [19] beat compatriots to advance to the second round. >> SCROLL to see all the […]
Swiss star sees positive return to Grand Slam action
FORMER world number four Belinda Bencic has made a winning return to Grand Slam tennis, toppling 16th seed Jelena Ostapenko in yesterday’s first round action. On her return from maternity leave, it may have taken Bencic six match points but she ultimately prevailed in straight sets 6-3 7-6. In a match littered with double faults […]
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