Serena Williams is into the second week of the Australian Open for the 12th time in her career. By contrast, her fourth round opponent, Margarita Gasparyan is contending not only her first fourth round at the Australian Open, but also her first fourth round at any Grand Slam. Previously, Gasparyan had never won a Grand…
I can’t believe we are five days into the Australian Open already… Slams go so quick! The fourth round matches from the top half of the women’s draw are all set and on the whole, there’s plenty to get excited for the second week. Here are ten things that struck a chord with me from day…
In a repeat third round match from last year’s Australian Open, Karolina Pliskova will once again be attempting to reach the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time when she plays Ekaterina Makarova. Pliskova has reached the third round of a Grand Slam twice but is yet to make that elusive breakthrough…
In one of just two all-seeded third round encounters, Ana Ivanovic and Madison Keys get centre stage on Saturday at the Australian Open on Saturday. Considering both players came into Melbourne without a match win, it’s somewhat surprising that both have progressed through unscathed. Ivanovic had a turbulent start to the year, suffering straight set losses…
Day 4 of the 2016 Australian Open was quite eventful with four more seeds going out. The slate of third round matches contains just two all-seeded match-ups, of which both come in the wide-open fourth quarter. There have been some fantastic storylines already this week and it’s been nice to see some players who produced upsets…
Third round action kicks off on Friday at the 2016 Australian Open with the top half of the women’s draw. Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Belinda Bencic are all on the schedule; a preview of Serena’s match against Daria Kasatkina can be read HERE. This post covers two fascinating matches featuring four players…
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…
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