The stars came out to play in Hong Kong in a terrific order of play for an International event. Agnieszka Radwanska and Venus Williams headlined the day session on Centre Court and came away with straight set wins. Radwanska didn’t face a break point in a 6-1 6-2 victory over Zhang Ling, while in a…
This is the penultimate week of regulation WTA tournaments in 2017 with three Internationals in Hong Kong, Linz and Tianjin. It’s a shame to see that the latter two are not being streamed on WTA TV. I’m a tad surprised about Tianjin since Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova are both competing. It seems that Linz…
Winning her two biggest titles to date and eleven matches in a row, Caroline Garcia has had a damn good fortnight! The Frenchwoman defeated soon-to-be crowned world number one, Simona Halep in Sunday’s Beijing final. Garcia won, 6-4 7-6(3) in one hour and 52 minutes. Garcia once again demonstrated her mental fortitude in a marathon…
For the third time in four months we have a brand new world number one! Simona Halep has been one match away from achieving this feat on four previous occasions this year, most recently in the Cincy final against Garbiñe Muguruza. Avenging the French Open final loss to Jelena Ostapenko, Halep won 6-2 6-4 in…
Quarter-finals action at the 2017 China Open began with a rematch from last week between Simona Halep and Daria Kasatkina. In a complete reverse of the scoreline from Wuhan, it was Halep who prevailed, 6-2 6-1 in 69 minutes. Halep was ultimately rewarded for being the more positive of the pair with not only sustained…
The remainder of third round matches were played at the China Open in Beijing on Thursday with the first match of the day yielding another upset. Sorana Cirstea recovered from 2-5 down in the second set and saved four set points to beat the number four seed, Karolina Pliskova in straights, 6-1 7-5. This was not…
From a slate of awesome third round matches, two were played on Wednesday’s schedule at the China Open in Beijing. The most anticipated match of the day was a US Open rematch between Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova. Five weeks ago, Sharapova won a three set thriller, 6-4 4-6 6-3. This time round, it was…
The line-up of third round matches for the 2017 China Open is so awesome that it has stirred me out my preview slumber! Thursday’s match of the day will see an all-seeded clash between the number five seed, Caroline Wozniacki and the number 12 seed, Petra Kvitova. This will be the pair’s first clash since…
Maria Sharapova and Ekaterina Makarova opened Tuesday’s proceedings on the National Tennis Stadium in Beijing. Sharapova maintained her 100% record against Makarova, recording an eighth consecutive victory, 6-4 4-6 6-1. Sharapova served up six double faults in the opening set, yet was lethal on return, breaking Makarova’s serve four times. Makarova rallied in the second…
Monday was a rainy day in Beijing with all the first round matches eventually completed. The first women’s match of the day featured Peng Shuai and Shelby Rogers on the National Tennis Stadium. For the second week in a row, Peng prevailed in a gruelling three setter, beating Rogers, 7-6 (3) 3-6 7-5 in two…
