Professional Tennis
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic and third-seeded Rafael Nadal both reached the semifinals of the China Open on Friday, each taking out Americans in the process to reach the final four in Beijing. Djokovic put together a clinical performance, ousting the sixth-seeded Jon Isner and moving past the top-ranked American 6-2, 6-2. The Serb, who is known…
Ana Ivanovic moved into the China Open semifinals on Friday, rallying late in the second to move past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 7-5 to reach the final four in Beijing. The sixth-seeded Serb secured a break at 3-2 in the opening set, and went on to serve out the set to take the advantage. In the…
The Board of Directors of the Women's Tennis Association has announced its unanimous decision naming Steve Simon, tournament director and chief operating officer of the BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells Tennis Tournament, as the new CEO of the WTA. "Steve Simon, with his successful career leading one of tennis' most prestigious tournaments, is the perfect person to…
American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands made her way into the China Open quarterfinals on Thursday, hanging on to beat 15th-seeded Italian and U.S. Open finalist Roberta Vinci, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. Mattek-Sands saved seven of the 10 break points she faced and converted on six break points of her own to outlast Vinci. Up next for the…
World number one Novak Djokovic rolled into the China Open quarterfinals on Thursday, moving past China’s Ze Zhang 6-2, 6-1 to reach the final eight in Beijing. Djokovic made sure he wasted no time getting past Zhang. He won 84 percent of his first service points, and was by far the more aggressive player. He…
Angelique Kerber of Germany cruised into the China Open quarterfinals on Wednesday, downing eighth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-3. The 10th-seeded German converted on seven of her 13 break point chances, and despite letting a 5-0 second-set lead slip to 5-3, and closed out Wozniacki in just under 90 minutes. Kerber has enjoyed a successful…
The second-seeded Tomas Berdych was ousted from the China Open in the first round on Wednesday, as Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas rolled Berdych 6-4, 6-4 to reach the Round of 16 in Beijing. Berdych failed to capitalize on any of his six break point chances, while Cuevas was able to secure one in each set to…
Venus Williams played some of her best tennis in recent memory in Wuhan, China last week, and it resulted in her biggest title win in five years, as the unseeded American knocked off fifth-seed Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 3-0 (retired) in the Wuhan final over the weekend. This one was close early, as both Venus and…
Tomas Berdych and David Ferrer both won titles over the weekend, as Berdych hoisted the trophy at the Shenzhen Open, while Ferrer took home the win at the Malaysian Open. Berdych won the 11th title of his career with a 6-3, 7-6(7) win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Monday. The match was delayed due to rain…
Venus Williams got some revenge for her younger sister Serena on Friday, downing U.S. Open finalist and 15th-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(4) to reach the Wuhan Open final. It was Vinci who ended Serena’s bid for a career Grand Slam in early September in the semifinals of the U.S. Open. The unseeded American…