The second week of the 2016 tennis season is over with the Australian Open now on the horizon. It was another withdrawal-heavy week in Sydney with three players pulling out pre-tournament and two more during the actual tournament. It paved the way for an unexpected final between Svetlana Kuznetsova and Monica Puig with the former producing a special…
The draw for the 2016 Australian Open was completed on Friday morning in Melbourne with main draw action set to get underway on Monday. For this draw, a cloud of uncertainty looms over many of the world’s top ten including the defending champion, Serena Williams. This post is my preview of the draw looking at the…
Hi everyone, I’m Tom (@TennisZealot on Twitter) writing about my experiences at the 2016 Sydney International. This will be a mid-week recap, to be concluded with a final recap after the tournament’s conclusion on Saturday. Sunday, January 10: With play commencing at noon, there was time to watch Roberta Vinci hit with Ekaterina Makarova and…
NEW MATCH-UP ALERT… The Sydney quarter-finals include a first career meeting between Belinda Bencic and Ekaterina Makarova. Bencic had a solid win in the second round against the Sydney GOAT, Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-3 6-3. It was a far more straightforward match compared to her first round win over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, 7-6(6) 1-6 6-4. In the…
All eight second round matches are on Tuesday’s order of play at the Apia International in Sydney. This includes the first outing in 2016 for Simona Halep who plays at not before 6pm local time against Caroline Garcia (see preview HERE). This post covers Jelena Jankovic v Sara Errani (1st up on Show Court 1)…
Once again, Simona Halep is set to play her first match of 2016; after pulling out of the Brisbane International last week with an achilles injury, the world number two will now play Caroline Garcia in Sydney. In an all-French first rounder, Garcia edged past her doubles partner, Kristina Mladenovic in a tight two…
An all-top 20 match-up opens up proceedings at the Apia International in Sydney on Monday with the world number 10, Angelique Kerber going up against the world number 19, Elina Svitolina. Kerber arrives in Sydney having reached the final of the Brisbane International with wins over Camila Giorgi, Madison Brengle, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Carla Suárez…
Well this is a new one… both my finalists for Sydney, Agnieszka Radwanska and Petra Kvitova, have pulled out of the tournament. Radwanska has officially pulled out with a left lower leg injury, while Kvitova still isn’t over the stomach virus. It may be a smart move from Radwanska to rest before Melbourne after winning…
This week represents the final opportunity for players to get match practice before the Australian Open with nine of the world’s top 15 choosing to play the Apia International in Sydney. Once again, it’s one of those draws that has produced many first round matches that… you cannot believe are first round matches. I’m fully…
The first week of the 2016 tennis season has been wacky to say the least. While four of the world’s top five WTA players have forced to withdraw/retire from tournaments this week, there have plenty of interesting moments and several players have snapped their opportunities and brightened their prospects for the Australian Open. Here’s a…
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