Aryna Sabalenka (#4) wasted no time in overpowering Maria Sakkari (#9) – 6-3, 6-2 in just under an hour’s play – booking her place in tomorrow’s final with a ruthless showing of striking accuracy and purposeful serving too. She’ll play new world number 36 Veronika Kudermetova in the Abu Dhabi finale, hoping to futher extend an impressive 14-match winning streak. Continue reading
Maria Sakkari (#9) dropped her first set of the week, but duly responded emphatically: winning ten games in a row en route to her fifth career win over a top-five player, with a third set bagel against the tournament’s top seed Sofia Kenin. Aryna Sabalenka (#4) awaits in tomorrow’s semi-finals, after she outlasted Elena Rybakina (#6) in three sets earlier on as Day 7 continued. Continue reading
Sofia Kenin (#1) survived match point to fight back, edging the second set tiebreak before winning in three tightly-contested sets: 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 – vs. Yulia Putintseva (#13), to book an intriguing quarter-final matchup with Maria Sakkari on Monday, who blasted past Garbine Muguruza 7-5, 6-4 three hours earlier as the action from WTA’s Abu Dhabi 500 event continues. Continue reading
After a brilliant fortnight’s action where she blitzed through the competition with ruthless efficiency, Polish teenager Iga Swiatek topped that with another straight-sets victory – 6-4, 6-1 – to overcome Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin – winning her first Grand Slam title in style. Continue reading
Polish teenager Iga Swiatek dropped just three games against Nadia Podoroska to book her first Grand Slam Final, where she’ll play this year’s Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin on Saturday after the 21-year-old edged a competitive straight-sets win over Petra Kvitova. Continue reading
Ten days after losing to him in their Hamburg final on the eve of this year’s rescheduled Roland Garros tournament, world number six Stefanos Tsitsipas made relative light work of Andrey Rublev to reach the second Grand Slam semi-final of his career. He’ll play world no. 1 Novak Djokovic on Friday, who recovered from a set down to beat Pablo Carreno Busta on Wednesday. Continue reading
Diego Schwartzman needed five hours and eight minutes to outlast close friend and US Open winner Dominic Thiem during a gripping five-set encounter, progressing into the first Grand Slam semi-final of his career to date. His reward? Facing 12-time tournament champion Rafael Nadal on Friday, who came through a difficult test against Italian teenager Jannik Sinner. Continue reading
19-year-old Bianca oozed class and world-class potential to win her maiden Grand Slam with a straight-sets victory over heavy favourite Serena. The Canadian also becomes the youngest female teenager since Svetlana Kuznetsova (19y, 76d) back in 2004 to win a Grand Slam trophy.
