In an all-American second-round bout at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, the top-ranked man from the United States John Isner outlasted Sam Querrey 7-6(8), 6-7(4), 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals on Wednesday. “It was obviously a very close match,” said Isner. “I considered it pretty much a coin flip out here tonight, and…
It took a couple of weeks into the season, but world number two Simona Halep made her 2016 debut on Tuesday at the Sydney International, outlasting France’s Caroline Garcia 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 to advance. The top-seed from Romania showed some signs of rust in this one. After converting on her only break point chance of…
Stefan Kozlov survived a shaky service performance to capture his first USTA Pro Circuit $25,000 Futures title in the U.S. as he beat fourth-seeded Philip Bester of Canada in an exciting two-hour, 50-minute match, 7-6 (7), 6-7 (3), 6-3, on Sunday at the Southern California Pro Futures Tournament at USC. “I served very bad today compared to…
While most of the country was enjoying the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs, there was some top tennis being played on the other side of the world as the opening tournaments of the 2016 season came to a close. Stephens Rolls to Auckland Crown American Sloane Stephens had to win two matches over the…
While most of the country was enjoying the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs, there was some top tennis being played on the other side of the world as the opening tournaments of the 2016 season came to a close. Djokovic Buries Nadal for Doha Title World number one Novak Djokovic earned the 60th title…
The Qatar ExxonMobil Open finals will be a star-studded affair as world number one Novak Djokovic will take on Rafael Nadal, after each player won their respective semifinal matches in straight sets on Friday. Nadal was up first on Friday and he squared off with Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko, who had come through the draw with…
American Allison Riske continued her strong start to 2016, defeating Hungary’s Timea Babos 6-2, 6-4 to reach the Shenzhen Open finals. Riske gave herself 12 break point opportunities, converting on five of them to dismiss Babos in straight sets. “It was definitely a tough match for me,” said Riske. “Babos is a great competitor and…
Former world number one Victoria Azarenka put an end to the run of American Samantha Crawford in Brisbane on Friday, defeating her 6-0, 6-3 to advance to the Brisbane International finals. Azarenka came out determined to put away the American qualifier from the start. She broke Crawford in the opening game, and then followed suit…
Australian Bernard Tomic moved into the Brisbane International semifinals on Friday at the Pat Rafter Arena, holding off second-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan for a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory. Tomic came out sharp in the opening set, and after saving a couple of early break points, he capitalized right away, and broke Nishikori at 4-3….
Rafael Nadal got a strong test from Russian Andrey Kuznetsov on Thursday, but battled past the 79th ranked Kuznetsov for a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory to reach the semifinals at the Qatar Open in Doha. After exchanging sets, Nadal broke for a 4-3 advantage in the third set, only to see Kuznetsov with a break of…