Professional Tennis
Ernests Gulbis cruised into the finals at the Open de Nice in Nice, France on Friday, disposing of Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-0, 6-3 in match that took just over an hour. The Latvian was on his game all afternoon and dominated the match from the beginning. He smashed four aces to Montanes’ none, while winning…
John Isner lost a tough, two hour match with Federico Delbonis of Argentina on Thursday, falling just short of reaching the semifinals of the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur. Isner couldn’t secure a big third set lead and allowed the Argentinean to come back and win the match. After dropping the first set 6-4, Isner…
The quarterfinal matches in the WTA Internationaux de Strasbourg began on Thursday morning as two American players took the court. New Jersey’s Christina McHale eased into the semifinals in Strasbourg, France Thursday as she defeated Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas 6-2, 3-1. Diyas was forced to retire from the match early due to injury, but McHale seemed…
Roland Garros facts and figures Red dirt The French Open is played on clay, which owes its red color to the crushed brick which forms the upper layer of the surface. There are three layers in all—one of limestone, one of clinker and one of stone—as well as drainage pipes. Clay is the slowest of…
Two major upsets highlighted the first round of the Strasbourg International on Tuesday, as top-seeded American Sloane Stephens and sixth-seeded Bojana Jovanovski were bounced from the tournament in France. Stephens came into the tournament as the number one seed, hoping to improve her seed and draw at the French Open. She drew the German Julia…
Kei Nishikori, one of the fastest-rising stars in the tennis world, cracked into the top 10 after beating Feliciano Lopez in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open a few weeks ago. He then parlayed that into a semifinal victory over David Ferrer, and a chance to play Rafael Nadal in the tournament’s final. “It was…
Serena Williams captured her 60th WTA title on Sunday, cruising past Italy’s Sara Errani 6-3, 6-0 in the Internazionali BDL d’Italia championship in Rome. The world number one kept the hometown crowd out of play, jumping out to an early lead in the first set to take control of the match. After Williams took a…
Victoria Azarenka, who has been out of action for more than two months due to a left foot injury, has been forced to withdraw from next week’s 2014 French Open at Roland Garros. This marks the first time she has had to pull of a Grand Slam, having last played on the WTA Tour at…
In his first tournament since coming back from a wrist injury, Novak Djokovic captured the Internazionali BNL d’Italia title in Rome, Italy on Sunday. The Serbian used a comeback to defeat Spain’s Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to win the third Rome tournament of his career. “It’s been a great week considering where I’ve been…
Two of the tour’s youngest players moved into the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome on Friday. Canadian Milos Raonic and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, both 23-years old, advanced to the final four of the event and could potentially meet in the final. Raonic beat Jeremy Chardy, who knocked off Roger Federer earlier in…