Professional Tennis
Third-seeded American Sloane Stephens was sent home from the Aegon Classic on Friday, falling to China’s Zhang Shuai 3-6, 1-6 in the quarterfinals from Birmingham, England. Zhang looked poised from the onset, smashing a couple of nice returns early in the first set to put Stephens back on her heels. She broke Stephens which turned…
French Open champion and top-seed Rafael Nadal fell in his first match since Roland Garros as he was stunned by German Wild Card Dustin Brown 6-4, 6-1 in the Gerry Weber Open on Thursday. Brown broke Nadal’s serve in his fifth try late in the first set to jump ahead and capture the opening frame…
American Sloane Stephens advanced to the quarterfinals of the Aegon Classic on Thursday, defeating fellow American Alison Riske, 7-6(4) 2-6, 6-1. Riske, who is the fourth highest ranked American behind the Williams sisters and Stephens, is one of the rising American stars on the women’s side and provided a tough challenge for the third-seeded Stephens….
Andy Murray has announced the appointment of French coach and former world number one Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach, initially for the grass court season. Amelie, current captain of the French Fed Cup team, has won two Grand Slam singles titles, Wimbledon and the Australian Open along with a Silver Medal at the 2004 Olympics. She has also worked with several…
The Aegon Championships and the Aegon Classic got underway this week from The Queens Club in London, England and the Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham, respectively. A number of American players on both the men’s and women’s sides are taking the court in these two tournaments as some opened up on Monday, while a few…
With two weeks to go until the world’s top players take to the grass courts at Wimbledon for the third Grand Slam of the 2014 season, a number of Wimbledon hopefuls are in Halle, Germany for the Gerry Weber Open. The tournament is one of the first grass-court events prior to the start of Wimbledon,…
Maria Sharapova won her second career French Open title on Saturday, defeating Romania’s Simona Halep 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4. From the beginning, it looked as if Sharapova was easily on her way to the title. She held on to win the first set 6-4 and jumped to an early 2-0 lead in the second set, just…
Rafael Nadal, the “King of Clay”, entered the French Open with what many people saw as a chink in his armor because of three losses on clay during the European tour. He quickly put that notion to rest as the Spaniard captured his fifth straight and ninth French Open title overall, defeating Serb Novak Djokovic…
Something must have clicked on Wednesday after Rafael Nadal dropped the first set in his quarterfinal contest with David Ferrer. Since losing the opening set of that match, the four-time defending French Open champion has reeled off six consecutive set victories, including three in his semifinal victory over Andy Murray on Friday. Nadal cruised to…
The only major title that still eludes Serbian Novak Djokovic in his quest for a career grand slam is the French Open, and he will now play for that championship on Sunday after he defeated Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the semifinals on Friday. Djokovic looks like a man on a mission at…