While Serena Williams’s eighth of the draw has been left without any seeds, her third round opponent should not be overlooked; Serena plays the 18-year-old, Daria Kasatkina. The young Russian is playing just her second Grand Slam main draw and for the second time, has reached the third round. Kasatkina upset Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the first round with…
Day 3 at the 2016 Australian Open saw another top eight seed depart the tournament in Petra Kvitova. Her second round match against Daria Gavrilova was largely anticipated to be a tough one and proved to be just that with the Aussie player prevailing, 6-4 6-4. The only other seeded upset saw the in-form, Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated by a…
Naomi Osaka is enjoying a wonderful start to 2016. The 18-year-old Japanese player, who is no longer restricted in the number of tournaments she can play, has already won ten matches this year; Osaka won two qualifying matches in Brisbane, three in Hobart to qualify for the main draw, and then saved match points in her…
While there were fewer upsets on day 2 of the 2016 Australian Open, these ones were rather more seismic in their impact. The fourth quarter of the draw has now lost its two highest seeds in Simona Halep (2) and Venus Williams (8). It was easily the toughest quarter to predict and while I was unsure of both…
Wednesday’s blockbuster match will see Agnieszka Radwanska face her first significant test of the Australian Open when she plays Eugenie Bouchard in the first night match on Rod Laver Arena. After a battering of a 2015 season, Bouchard finished the year barely inside the world’s top 50 at number 48 in the world. It had all…
In a strange twist of fate, Petra Kvitova opened up her 2016 Australian Open campaign in the first round against the same player that had knocked her out at this stage back in 2014. In her first completed match of the year, Kvitova avenged that defeat to Luksika Kumkhum, progressing into the second round with…
I was hoping to do a comprehensive summary feature for every day at the Australian Open but i’ve realised this is just going to be too much for me to cover… so instead of Match Points, here’s Set Points! In a snappier feature, this will be ten things that resonated with me, be it, a great match, an interview,…
Hey Everyone. I’m Morgan and this is quick guest post just to highlight my day at the Australian Open on Monday. It’s always a pleasure to read James’ blog so I’d like to give back with a write-up of my experiences from today. My journey to the Australian Open was a little clunky – I…
A Wuhan rematch awaits in the first round for Venus Williams and Johanna Konta; the pair played out a fantastic third round match in China last year with Venus saving a match point to win, 6-4 3-6 7-5. The American player went on to win the title and have a wonderful end to the year, also…
The bottom half of the women’s draw will kick off on Tuesday with the likes of Simona Halep, Venus Williams, Garbiñe Muguruza and Angelique Kerber all opening their Australian Open campaigns. This post covers two matches from the third quarter of the draw. 1. Caroline Garcia v Barbora Strycova (AO, R1) One of the stand-out matches…
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