Even for WTA International events, Istanbul has been wacky… On the first day of the tournament three seeds fell including the number two seed, Elina Svitolina. The number one and three seeds, Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic both lost on the Tuesday and by the quarter-finals there was just one seed left in Tsvetana Pironkova.…
1. Alizé Cornet v Kirsten Flipkens (Istanbul, R2) The last time that Alizé Cornet and Kirsten Flipkens played each other they put on a show… or should I say, Alizé put on a show. In a match that featured a 6-0 set, Cornet still needed three hours and 11 minutes to get the win earlier this…
There weren’t many people in the stands in Istanbul today and the organisers face an uphill struggle to fill seats for the rest of the week as the top three seeds all fell in first round action at the 2015 TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup. It’s such a shame because it’s an awesome stadium and…
1. Camila Giorgi v Dominika Cibulkova (Istanbul, R1) It’s great to see Dominika Cibulkova back on the WTA tour but not so great to see her down at number 56 in the rankings. It will take time for Domi to get back to where she belongs after she was forced to have surgery to address…
There are two WTA tournaments in the upcoming week with a hard court tournament in Istanbul, Turkey and a clay court tournament in Bad Gastein, Austria. I can never really get on board with this post-Wimbledon two week clay court stretch. The draw for Bad Gastein isn’t bad with Sara Errani and Sam Stosur the…
The most intriguing of Sunday’s three finals will be in Istanbul where the top two seeds (wow) have progressed through to the showpiece finale. Caroline Wozniacki and Roberta Vinci have both looked in great form so far this week; Wozniacki has lost two sets through the tournament to Karin Knapp (4-6 6-2 6-1 in the…
Another set of tournaments is already on the horizon for next week. On the WTA side, there is just one International event in Baku, meanwhile the ATP has three tournaments. The US Open Series kicks off in Atlanta and two more clay court events will take place in Gstaad, Switzerland and Umag, Croatia. It’s now…
Alexander Zverev reached his first ATP main draw quarter-fnal with another fabulous win, this time defeating Santiago Giraldo, 6-4 7-6(6). According to the ATP website, Zverev is the first 17 year old to reach the quarter-finals of an ATP 500 event since Rafael Nadal advanced to this stage of the tournament in Dubai in 2004. …
There isn’t a great deal to recap as Caroline Wozniacki double bagelled Belinda Bencic in just 44 minutes to wrap up first round action in Istanbul. I think there were a fair few people who gave Bencic a chance in this match, which makes the final scoreline all the more surprising. Wozniacki was absolutely brilliant…
There were a handful of notable results on Tuesday. In yesterday’s previewed match, Dominic Thiem came from 5-2 down in the deciding set and saved a match point to defeat Marcel Granollers and advance into the third round of the bet-at-home Open (what a name) in Hamburg. Another promising up-and-comer, Alexander Zverev enjoyed his first…
