Professional Tennis
Much to the surprise of no one, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were named the top seeds for the men’s singles and women’s singles, respectively, at the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam which begins next week. Djokovic and Serena both won the Australian Open a year ago, and each went on to win…
Jack Sock forged a valiant comeback against fourth-seeded South African Kevin Anderson at the ASB Classic on Thursday, fighting back from a set down to upend Anderson 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 and reach the semifinals in Auckland, New Zealand. Anderson rolled in the first set, breaking Sock twice in the opener to win it easily 6-1….
World number two and top-seed Simona Halep made her way into the Sydney International semifinals on Wednesday, downing fifth-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 7-5. Halep let a break advantage in each set slip away from her, but showed a lot of grit to hold off Pliskova each time. She finished with 22 winners, and took…
In an all-American second-round bout at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, the top-ranked man from the United States John Isner outlasted Sam Querrey 7-6(8), 6-7(4), 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals on Wednesday. “It was obviously a very close match,” said Isner. “I considered it pretty much a coin flip out here tonight, and…
It took a couple of weeks into the season, but world number two Simona Halep made her 2016 debut on Tuesday at the Sydney International, outlasting France’s Caroline Garcia 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 to advance. The top-seed from Romania showed some signs of rust in this one. After converting on her only break point chance of…
While most of the country was enjoying the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs, there was some top tennis being played on the other side of the world as the opening tournaments of the 2016 season came to a close. Stephens Rolls to Auckland Crown American Sloane Stephens had to win two matches over the…
While most of the country was enjoying the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs, there was some top tennis being played on the other side of the world as the opening tournaments of the 2016 season came to a close. Djokovic Buries Nadal for Doha Title World number one Novak Djokovic earned the 60th title…
The Qatar ExxonMobil Open finals will be a star-studded affair as world number one Novak Djokovic will take on Rafael Nadal, after each player won their respective semifinal matches in straight sets on Friday. Nadal was up first on Friday and he squared off with Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko, who had come through the draw with…
American Allison Riske continued her strong start to 2016, defeating Hungary’s Timea Babos 6-2, 6-4 to reach the Shenzhen Open finals. Riske gave herself 12 break point opportunities, converting on five of them to dismiss Babos in straight sets. “It was definitely a tough match for me,” said Riske. “Babos is a great competitor and…
Former world number one Victoria Azarenka put an end to the run of American Samantha Crawford in Brisbane on Friday, defeating her 6-0, 6-3 to advance to the Brisbane International finals. Azarenka came out determined to put away the American qualifier from the start. She broke Crawford in the opening game, and then followed suit…