For you the tennis fan
Australia’s Ash Barty has lost to Russian wildcard Svetlana Kuznetsova. The former US and French Open champion winning the match 6-2, 6-4.
Kuznetsova was down 2-0 and stormed back to win six straight games to claim the first set.
Embed from Getty Images
If Barty reached the final she would have returned to no. 1. As it is Naomi Osaka will hold onto the top spot.
Barty had a poor serving performance, serving at just 51% compared with 73% from her opponent.
USA’s Sofia Kenin has defeated world no. 1 Ash Barty in a round two match at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. The world no. 29 coming from behind to take the match 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.
Kenin and simply was too good for Barty.
Kenin said, “I think today I wasn’t able to adapt quickly enough or well enough to play a match of the standard that I expect myself to play and I want myself to play. Sofia served today in the big moments. She served particularly well and got a lot of free points.
“I think these are courts where you need to be aggressive. You need to be confident and trust yourself and really hit through the ball, and today I didn’t have quite enough of that. And against a player like Sofia, who hits the ball so cleanly and so aggressive and takes it so early, that’s something you need.
“It wasn’t there today, but she played an exceptional match when she needed to, and in the big moments she played some really good stuff.”
Following the loss Barty’s world no. 1 ranking is at risk. The most recent world no. 1 Naomi Osaka just needs to defeat German qualifier Tatjana Maria in their round two match to retake the no. 1 ranking.
Depending on results, Karolina Pliskova could also take the no. 1 ranking.
Nick Kyrgios has defeated Daniil Medvedev 7-6(6), 7-6(4) to cap off one of the best weeks of his life to walk away with the sixth title of his career and the second ATP 500 title in 2019.
Kyrgios will now rise to no. 27 in the rankings and retake the top spot in Aussie tennis.
In the first set he was suffering from back spasms, but despite that, he did not have a single break point against him. Medvedev also did not face a break point.
The match came down to a few key points in the tie breakers with Medvedev making a few unforced errors at key moments.
The Russian looked to be on his way to taking the first set when ahead 5-2 but Kyrgios held his nerve and slowly fought his way back, firstly with help from Medvedev when he sent a backhand well over the baseline at 2-5 with Kyrgios having served.
Kyrgios showed good patience on the next point before Medvedev finally lost his as he went for a down the line winner that he hit wide.
A big backhand from Kyrgios that took Medvedev wide and deep was followed by a dropshot winner for Kyrgios to level the scores at 5-5.
A first serve that Kyrgios barely hit gave Medvedev a set point but that was saved by an Ace from the Australian. A down the line winner from Kyrgios gave him a set point on Medvedev’s serve.
A forehand hit wide by the Russian handed the set to Kyrgios. He then received treatment from the trainer.
As in the first set, the second came down to a breaker.
A backhand sent wide and long off the Medvedev racquet gave Kyrgios a mini-break on the first point. The Russian immediately hit back when hit a well angled backhand to force an error.
A big serve and a big forehand was too much to handle for Medvedev on the next point. A good volley from the Russian got the score level at 2-2.
The Russian attacked the net and forced another error from the Australian as he pushed a rushed passing shot wide for 3-2. Ace no. 16 took Kyrgios to 3-3.
A 225 km rocket serve could not be handled by Medvedev and his return sailed long for his to serve next at 3-4. Another Medvedev unforced error when he hit long had Kyrgios two points from the title.
Medvedev won the next point before Krygios was presented with two serves to claim the title. Championship point was earned with an Ace.
The title was his after an angled Ace to the forehand corner. The Australian fell to the court in celebration. He then thanked a lady in the crowd for her advice on match point.
“This has honestly been one of my favourite weeks of my life. I’ve made massive strides,” Kyrgios said. “I started becoming friends with the smoothie guy, he knew what smoothie I wanted. I was playing ping pong with some kids before I’m playing. You guys were amazing. It was honestly a week to remember.”
There were 32 winners from Kyrgios and 29 for Medvedev and Medvedev had just 14 unforced errors to 19 from Nick, but it was when the errors came that was the difference.
He improved to 5-1 against Top 10 players in 2019, a winning percentage of 83, best on the ATP Tour this year. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has won seven of his nine matches against Top 10 players this season (7/9, 78%).
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios is into his second ATP 500 final of the year after defeating Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7).
Kyrgios had early breaks in the first two sets, but in the second he let Tsitsipas back into the match as he went from 2-0 up to trial 5-2 before finally winning serve to see Tsitsipas serving for the second set.
Kyrgios seemed to be agitated due to someone in the stands.
With the match at a set apiece, there was a lighthearted moment when at 2-1 in favour of Kyrgios, Tsitsipas had a lace break on his shoes. Some shoes were delivered to his father and Kyrgios waited for them to be re-laced.
Kyrgios then took the bag containing the shoes and delivered them to his opponent with a bow as if Tsitsipas was the king.
Games went with serve in the deciding set although Tsitsipas had a look at two break points against the booming Kyrgios serve.
In the tie-breaker it was the Australian that jumped out to a 5-1 lead only to see Tsitsipas win the next six points to hold a match point at 5-6. A big first serve that Tsitsipas hit just long saved the match point for the Australian.
A booming Ace down the T gave Kyrgios his first match point with Tsitsipas to serve. The first serve was a fault, then the second serve looked long but Kyrgios did not challenge the serve.
After a backhand passing shot from Kyrgios could not be handled by his opponent Kyrgios held a match point. A big serve and an easy putaway sealed the win.
Kyrgios hit 43 winners to 39 from Tsitsipas and he had 25 unforced errors to 11. The Australian had 19 Aces.
Kyrgios will face Russia’s Daniil Medvedev. The Australian leads the head-to-head 1-0 after winning at the ATP Masters 1000 Rome claycourt event earlier this year.
After reaching the final Kyrgios will become the top-ranked Australian men’s player.
In an all-Australian quarterfinal in Atlanta Alex de Minaur has advanced after defeating Bernard Tomic 6-2, 3-0 as Tomic retired with a back injury.
“It’s not ideal obviously for him, but I’ll take this any day of the week. I got here to come, play some good tennis, and ended up with the win,” de Minaur said. “I hope Bernard gets better and recovers, and hopefully he’s all good for the next tournament.”
Alexei Popyrin lost to Great Britain’s Cam Norrie 7-5, 6-4.
Popyrin started well but seemed to be struggling in the heat and humidity in Atlanta with the temperature around 31C.
Both players held serve until at 5-5 Norrie gained a break point after a double-fault from Popyrin. A good body serve saved that point.
Popyrin then had game points but was not able to close it out. Eventually, Popyrin would hit long to see Norrie serving for the set at 6-5. The Brit had set point at 40-30 and converted as Popyrin sent a shot over the baseline.
The trainer then came to talk to the Australian as he was feeling the heat.
Popyrin was quickly down 0-1 and looked to be falling behind 0-2 before fighting back from 40-15 to break back.
Games were held until Popyrin was serving at 4-4. He again was broken and allowed Norrie to serve for the match at 5-4. The Brit won the game to advance to the semifinals in Atlanta for the second time in a row.
de Minaur will face giant American Riley Opelka in a re-match of their round two match at Sydney back in January. On that occasion de Minaur defeated Opelka 6-4, 7-6(5) but the American let a good lead slip in the tie-breaker.
World no. 1 Novak Djokovic has fought off two match points in the fifth set to go on to win a thrilling match against Roger Federer.
Embed from Getty Images
The match lived up to expectations going the distance after both players could not close out the match before the 12-12 limit was reached sending the final into the first ever fifth set tie-breaker.Embed from Getty Images
It was Federer that could have taken the title after he broke Djokovic in the 15th game of the fifth set then served for the match at 8-7 earning two break points along the way.
The first match point was lost due to sloppy footwork when Federer failed to get into position and he hit his shot wide.
The second match point was gone after Djokovic saw Federer charge the net and then the world no. 1 calmly whipped the ball past Federer.
A Boris Becker like dive might have given the Swiss maestro the match if he connected with a diving volley. Instead, he was left stranded at the net as the ball zipped past.
From 15-40 and facing the match points, Djokovic won four straight points to break back. The defending champion actually ran off seven straight points to move to 40-0 in the 17th game.
If you look at the stats from the match it is hard to see how Djokovic won, but he did win thanks to winning the points that mattered in the first, third and fifth set tiebreakers.
Federer hit 94 winners to 54 from Djokovic. The unforced errors favoured Djokovic 52 to 62. Total points won was 218 to 204 in favour of Federer.
Federer also broke seven times to three, won more first serve points, won more second serve points, but he still lost.
The three tie breaks got him over the line, winning the Championship 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(3).
It is the fifth time Djokovic has won the Wimbledon title. Federer was denied his ninth singles title. It is also now four runner-up plates for Federer.
The match will be remembered for some time however too many points were ended by an error instead of a winner, but it was still a high-quality match.
Djokovic, who at 32 years-old closes the all-time Grand Slam gap to four behind Federer on 20.
You would have to think if Djokovic can stay motivated for another five years and maintain form he will end up with the most Grand Slam singles titles in men’s tennis.
The US Open is the next Grand Slam, and Djokovic is again defending the title. Can Federer bounce back to claim his sixth US Open? He has not won the US Open since the last of five straight in 2008.
Simona Halep dominated the 2019 Ladies final against Serena Williams winning 6-2, 6-2 in 55 minutes.
Halep was always in control. She raced out to a 4-0 lead as Williams was looking a step behind Halep. The unforced errors were piling up for the American.
Halep played almost the perfect match. She had just three unforced errors to 26 from Serena. The winners favoured Serena 17-13 but the unforced errors were too much to overcome.
Serena only looked in the match late in the first set and early in the second before Halep again started to dominate.
Serena was again denied her first Grand Slam title since becoming a mother, also she missed out on matching Margaret Court’s 24 Grand Slam singles titles.
Halep added to her 2018 French Open title to now become a multiple Grand Slam winner. She will also move up to no. 4 in the rankings.
“I never thought – I’m very honest – I never thought that I’m able to win on grass with all these players that are very tall and serving with a lot of power,” Halep said. “But this year, I started to feel the game more and more. I started to feel safe on court, which helped me a lot to believe.”
“I knew that I have to be aggressive, being 100 per cent for every ball,” she said, “that I don’t have to let her come back to the match because she’s so powerful and so strong. She knows how to manage every moment. So I knew that I have to stay there, which I did pretty well today.”
“I’m very sure that was the best match of my life. Also on grass against her is never easy. So I’m really proud of my game of today and the whole tournament.
“I thought about the match, but I didn’t think at all against who I play. I always been intimidated a little bit when I faced Serena. Set and 5-2 when I was serving, after few points during the match, I looked at the scoreboard. I said, Okay, it’s 5-2, it’s real. Then I just played every ball. I didn’t think at the score at all.”
“Seems like every Grand Slam final I’m in recently has been an unbelievable effort to get there. It would be interesting to see how it would be under different circumstances,” Williams said.
“Maybe playing other finals outside of Grand Slams would be really helpful just to get in the groove, so by the time I get to a Grand Slam final I’m used to what to do and how to play. I can’t say I blame injury. I wasn’t injured when the tournament started. That really is a positive for me. I just have to keep going, keep trying, keep working, maybe be able to play some tournaments uninjured, like I did with this one.”
Serena Williams is facing Simona Halep at Wimbledon with the title on the line.
Williams famously had a meltdown against Naomi Osaka at the 2018 US Open. She was penalised by the umpire for receiving coaching from the stands.
In pleading her case after things had escalated she said “Every time I play here, I have problems. I did not have coaching, I don’t cheat. You need to make an announcement. I have a daughter and I stand for what’s right. You owe me an apology.”
Williams will be playing for her 24th Grand Slam singles title, but her first as a mum. This means a lot to her.
Halep is the first Romanian woman to reach the Wimbledon final. She is the 2018 French Open champion, her lone Grand Slam title.
The head-to-head between Williams and Halep stands at 9-1 for Williams. Halep got her sole win at the 2014 WTA finals in round one.
The most recent match was at the 2019 Australian Open during at which Williams defeated Halep in the round of 16.
Halep was coming off a back injury at the start of the year. The Romanian has been in good form recently while Williams has also found form as the tournament progressed.
Williams had not played a match since the French Open but she steamrolled Barbora Strycova in the semis. Halep also had a comfortable win over Elina Svitolina in the semis.
It was against fellow America Alison Riske that Williams faced her toughest test. Riske was coming off a fourth-round win over world no. 1 Ash Barty and took Williams to three sets.
Williams also dropped a set in the second round against Kaja Juvan, losing the first set.
Halep reached the 2014 Wimbledon semifinals losing to Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets.
At the 2019 Wimbledon tournament, Halep was taken to three sets against fellow Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu in round two, all other matches she was able to win in straight sets.
Williams has the power game but is prone to errors at times. She is however often able to rely on her serve to save break points or close out games.
Halep is a fighter and chases hard to stay in a point. She can also hit the lines or find the open court when required.
This will be a tough battle between perhaps the greatest female player of all time and a determined Romanian.
I am tipping Halep in three sets.
Australia’s world no. 1 Ashleigh Barty had not dropped a set en route to the round 4 match against USA’s world no. 55 Alison Riske.
Embed from Getty Images
That came to an end when the American dominated the second set to level the match at 1-1. Barty won the first set 6-3, Riske took the second 6-2.
Barty opened the match in outstanding fashion serving four Aces early in the set.
The signs were good in the first set. Barty hit 13 winners to 6 and it was 5 unforced errors to 9. Barty broke Riske twice, but was broken once herself.
In the second set the match swung in favour of the American. Barty served less Aces and served two double faults. She made 11 unforced errors to two from Riske.
Barty was serving at just 40% in the second set and Riske took advantage of this as she attacked the second serve. Riske broke twice to take the first set against Barty at the 2019 Wimbledon tournament.
In the deciding third set, it was Riske that got a crucial break to go ahead at 5-3 in the third set and she was able to serve out the match.
Barty held a break point in the fifth game of the third set but was denied by the American.
Riske was going for the lines and was relentless in attacking the Australian.
At 5-3 and serving for the match Riske held her composure to move to match point. Barty missed a shot wide and her 15-match win streak was over.
Riske has won most of her Grand Slam matches on the grass courts at Wimbledon. Her record stands at 11-8 after defeating Barty.
This was the first ever win against a world no. 1 for Riske, she is into her first Grand Slam quarterfinal against either Serena Williams or Carla Suarez Navarro.
Australia’s world no. 1 Ash Barty has extended her win streak to 15, that dates back to her round one match at the French Open.
Embed from Getty Images
Barty got better as the match went on in her third round match against British wildcard Harriet Dart winning 6-1, 6-1 in 53 minutes.
Dart is the world no. 182 and has a career-high ranking of 121.
The match was Barty’s first on Wimbledon’s centre court. She played like a world no. 1 against someone outside of the top-100.
The only time Barty was under pressure during a service game was in the sixth game of the second set when she fought back from 0-40 down.
The winners and unforced errors count show just how much Barty dominated as she hit 23 winners to five from Dart and Barty had six unforced errors to 18 from the Brit.
The Australian was 5-5 on break points and fended off all four against her serve.
Barty’s next opponent is USA’s Alison Riske who is ranked at no. 55. Riske defeated Belinda Bencic to set up a meeting with Barty. The American coming back from 0-3, 0-40 in the third set.
The winner of the Barty-Riske match could face Serena Williams in the quarterfinals if Williams is able to defeat Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro on Monday.
Barty was asked about that possible matchup. “I will give the athlete’s answer and say ‘I’m just going to worry about Alison first,” was her reply.
