After a tricky first-round opponent in powerful Camila Giorgi, world number one and defending champion Serena Williams blew past Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the Australian Open third-round. “She’s definitely a tricky opponent,” said Serena afterwards. “It was a good matchup for me to play someone who can hit any shot…
The third day of the Australian Open gets underway tonight as the second-round begins in Melbourne. The top seeds, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are both in action, as well as former champions Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, making tonight’s action must-see television. Below are some of the matchups to watch: (1) Novak Djokovic (Serbia)…
Bill de Blasio may be the official Mayor of New York City, but he isn’t the only one who wears that title in the city that never sleeps. Jeffrey Appel is commonly and appropriately referred to as the “Mayor of New York Tennis” because of the relationships and connections he makes and develops between the…
Playing in the final tournament of his career, Australian Lleyton Hewitt guaranteed himself at least one more match in the career, knocking off his compatriot James Duckworth 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-4 to advance into the second-round at the Australian Open. After taking the opening set in a tiebreaker, Hewitt broke Duckworth twice in each of the…
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka steamrolled into the second-round of the Australian Open, defeating Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 6-0, 6-0 in just 53 minutes. “I’m pretty happy—I don’t think I’m looking for perfection, I’m looking for effort. I’m looking for focus,” said Azarenka. “I like that I was very composed today from the…
It was all the ESPN announcers were discussing throughout its coverage of the Australian Open yesterday: The epic five-set semifinal between Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco in 2009. And rightfully so, and the rematch on Tuesday between Nadal and Verdasco in the first-round did not disappoint. Nadal won that match in 2009 on his…
The second day of the Australian Open saw a couple of top women fall in the opening round, as second-seeded Romanian Simona Halep and eighth-seeded American Venus Williams were both eliminated in straight sets. Venus was up first and took on a tricky first-round opponent in Great Britain’s Johanna Konta, whom had battled Venus to…
Noah Rubin earned his first win at a major Monday with a big 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) victory over the 17th-seeded Benoit Paire of France at the 2016 Australian Open. Rubin, currently ranked 328th in the world, received a wild card entry into the main draw as part of an agreement between the U.S….
Last year at this time, Noah Rubin was a freshman at Wake Forest University, on his way to becoming the best freshman in college tennis and an NCAA singles finalist. While the pro tour beckoned, Rubin was focused on the task at hand: Successfully making his mark on the collegiate tennis world, as he prepared…
Players, fans and everyone in between have waited four long months for answers to many of their questions. Could anybody possibly knock off the two players who completed arguably a couple of the best individual seasons in the history of tennis? Will there be a new tier of athletes who rise up to challenge those…