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2025 Australian Open Day 6: Jack Draper comes out triumphant following his 3R win against another Aussie opponent yet again this time against Aleksandar Vukic

by Sports Benches

Damn, that was a bummer when Aleksandar Vukic was so close to closing out his third round match against 15th seed Briton Jack Draper but it seems he threw his chances away when trying to cross that finish line, and it turns out Draper succeeded in the end where Vukic failed following a long four-hour contest.

So that means, Jack Draper has once again won yet another Ashes of Tennis match against the Aussies this time under much a much higher standard against a completely different opponent in Vukic, having previously defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis in the 2nd Round a few days ago.

When will this winning streak gonna end? Don’t know. For now, he deserves to hold that little Urn as if it’s a five-match series.

But he will have a tough next match ahead this Sunday v Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (3rd seed), who only needs this tournament to complete his collection of grand slam champions, other than the Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open. 

He’s been there in the toughest of circumstances before off the back of his stunning US Open breakthrough in September last year from breaking Alex De Minaur’s heart at first in the Quarters to being knocked out by eventual champion Jannik Sinner during the last 4.

But he’s only just getting started at the age of 21 with more bumps expected to learn along the way regardless of this Sunday’s result. Other than that, it’s been a journey Vukic can be totally proud of following his best grand slam performance to date, especially at the ripe age of 28.

We wish Vukic all the best and he still has unfinished business at Melbourne Park when it comes to the men’s doubles competition straight after a good night’s rest and his first game will be an all-Aussie affair where he will join forces with James Duckworth against Luke Saville & Li Tu.

For now, we are rolling onto Super Saturday for Day 7 of 15 at Melbourne Park as everyone in Australia will be right behind Alex De Minaur – the only one standing in this men’s singles draw. Plus, there should be some from Great Britain if you’re a Katie Boulter fan who will be by his side from the stands – even though she won’t be able to take any further part following her elimination from 2R the other day in the women’s singles draw by Veronika Kudermetova. His next match will also be an afternoon game at the same Rod Laver Arena showpiece this time against Francisco Cerúndolo (Argentina).

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2025 Australian Open Day 5, Round 2: Alex De Minaur on song once again at Rod Laver Arena but Katie Boulter unlucky in her own match at the final set decider

by Sports Benches

Yes, it was another super Alex De Minaur day of Tennis in the 2025 Australian Open R2 albeit during the early afternoon v Tristan Boyer from the USA smoothly and effectively also in straight sets & also at the Rod Laver Arena (2-6, 4-6 and 3-6).

We’ve saw a bit of Alex taking his time there right from the beginning but he knows what to do under pressure as if he’s on the front foot and he’s done that really well by moving onto the third round this Saturday this time against 31st seed Francisco Cerundolo from Argentina.

Looking at his next opponent, he only did well just outside the Quarter-Finals back-to-back on clay at the Roland Garros & has won the Croatian Open a few weeks later last June. But that’s just it really and let’s hope Alex can keep his guard going into Monday’s Round of 16 if he wins it & hopefully earn his first ever AO Quarter-Final either against young American Alex Mickelsen, who just defeated James McCabe, or familiar AO specialist in Karen Khachanov (Russia). All he has to do is take one step at a time and the looming threat can go away under his own eyes.

Congratulations to the Demon once again as so far, so good & who knows if he will get another headline booking at RLA yet again – we shall find out on Day 6 during Super Saturday, should be a beauty!

Other than that, his fiancé Katie Boulter from Leicester in Great Britain saw her AO singles campaign come to an end unfortunately a little later by Veronika Kudermetova – even though she was so close in the first set via tiebreak & found her way back in the 2nd, but got taken away at the deciding end of the match.

What we do know though that she still did her best to fire back to her opponent as our Aussie and British fans were right behind Katie to get this job done. But again, can’t help when Kudermetova managed to pull off really quickly as if it was a final set drag race & the Russian turned out to the quickest than we thought – final score was 7-6 with 6-3 tiebreaker, 2-6, 6-2. 

Such a bummer because had Katie won instead then she would’ve got a great opportunity to play in the 4th round & that next round she was hoping to play against was Beatriz Haddad Maia from Brazil.

So yeah, sad not to see her progress to Saturday’s 3rd Round & looks like there’s no other Aussies left now that Destanee Aiava has been eliminated by 2022 AO runner-up Danielle Collins, as Katie may not be playing doubles but she will 100% be there to see her fiancé play by his side on what is going to be Alex’s biggest campaign up to date, especially at home.

For now, there’s Aleksandar Vukic we need to keep an eye on who could be the one to end Jack Draper’s good record of eliminating Aussies when it comes to his Ashes of Grand Slam Tennis. Don’t forget he’s the one of the two Aussies still in the men’s singles race alongside Alex with Tristan Schoolkate just eliminated by defending champion Jannik Sinner despite his good start & Sinner was just too good.

Can Vukic finally succeed where others failed? We shall find out to prevent Jack Draper’s 3-0 clean sweep at Margaret Court Arena tomorrow night.

And if you want more Alex x Katie, check out their funny appearance together on Andy Lee’s The Hundred quiz show segment dedicated for the annual AO the other day – didn’t know Katie thought that Aussies had less shark attacks of 4% compared to the rest of us at 59% including Alex himself who thinks it’s 81%. Speaking of that percentage they’ve both answered, looks like their own love relationship speaks for itself compared to McLaren in Formula 1 with No.4 representing Katie’s country in Lando Norris while the other No.81 is currently driven by another of our Aussie drivers with the one and only Oscar Piastri.

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Australian Open Day 4, 2nd Round: Thanasi Kokkinakis fell short by top Briton Jack Draper after a long five sets with Destanee Aiava last one standing in the women’s singles draw

by Sports Benches

Oh so close from our own Thanasi Kokkankis who wasn’t bad off the back of a brilliant start via the tiebreak including a third set reprieve and a near finish opportunity where he was only a game away at one stage during the fourth.

It’s a shame he just couldn’t hold off through to the finish line unfortunately having been thrown out at the hands of Briton Jack Draper following a long, gruelling five-set contest last night at John Cain Arena. The final score was 6-7 with 3-7 tiebreak, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 and 6-3 as the Kokk’s time at Melbourne Park isn’t over just yet when he will team up with Nick Kyrgios as his other “Special K’s” duo when the men’s doubles begins today.

If Kokkanikis have won it over Draper, then this could’ve been an all-Aussie third round match against Aleksandar Vukic going into tomorrow. But Vukic can be the one to shock yet another top-seeder in his watch like he did yesterday afternoon against 22nd seed American & 2023 AO Quarter-Finalist Sebastian Korda also following another long five-set stunner of his own (6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3 and 7-5).

Although you can tell Jack has been our nemesis for a quite a while now having defeated a couple of Aussies along the way.

He first broke the hearts of Alex De Minaur a few months ago at the US Open Quarter-Final before he was eliminated in the semi by eventual champion Jannik Sinner. Then as said above, he managed to stop Kokkinakis in his tracks from also being very nearly shockingly eliminated to finishing off as triumphant to keep his AO campaign alive – fair play to him for that.

Now it looks like he’s leading this Ashes series of Tennis 2-0 over the best of five – we’re just making this up since Australia and England have a great sporting rivalry together for a very long time.

Who could be the man to stop him and not let Jack collect this Ashes urn? Well, Vukic could be the one to solve this.

And yes, shoutout to John McEnroe who does know his cricket well thanks to the love of cricket bats. His favourite cricket player is not far from the US down south from the Caribbean in West Indies player Sir Vivian Richards – good on ya John!!

Elsewhere, we only have Destanee Aiava in this women’s singles draw and she will have to dig deep this afternoon against 2022 AO runner-up Danielle Collins (USA).

This comes after Talia Gibson was blown away big time by Paula Badosa also last night (6-1, 6-0) while Ajla Tomjlanovic had some good moments too against 12th seed Diana Dhnaider but just not quite enough unfortunately at the end (6-7, 4-5) & also not the same player really since her Wimbledon QF breakthrough back in 2022 thanks to her knee troubles.

Other than that, there’s always Alex De Minaur’s fiance Katie Boulter even though she’s British. She will be back in action  later today v Veronika Kudermetova & so does Alex who will be getting another chance to rock up Rod Laver Arena – his next opponent will be American Taylor Boyer & he will start not long after lunch.

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2025 Australian Open: Alex De Minaur and Katie Boulter off to their own good starts as the three-day opening round becomes back-to-back next rounds from today

by Sports Benches

So there you have it, it was a really top and lovely day yesterday for those who have been keeping an eye on one of the most power couples of world Tennis and also soon to be husband and wives too – our own Alex De Minaur and Katie Boulter from Great Britain in Leicester.

De Minaur absolutely too good thanks to a flying start by writing off the looming threat his that first round opponent was about to come up with against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in straight sets (1-6, 5-7 & 4-6). Looking at that Dutchman when some people has been talking up about him, it seems that he did do well at the US Open last year through to the third round but so far played in a Quarter-Final at the same place once back in 2021 – not much of a shock there to kick the Demon out. But hey, at least, De Minaur was the better player we know with still a long way to go if he was going to play his first Quarter-Final on home soil – very important to get behind him all along as a huge Australian Sports and Tennis fan.

Next up, American Tristan Boyer tomorrow rolling onto Round 2 as so far, so good to kickstart his journey on home crowd at the famed Rod Laver Arena showpiece.

Not only De Minaur was up and flying, his fiance Katie Boulter also off to a great start also at the same time last night, even though she had to overcome a 2nd set loss to shut down Canadian Rebecca Marino (4-6, 6-3 and 5-7). It was also sweet seeing De Minaur rushing his way straight following his own mach from RLA to the one of the show court venues to cheer her on by the way.

Yes, her journey looks a bit different to her loved one but she has been improving though in recent months, especially at WTA events plus the team tournaments for her country as we speak. Entering the 2025 AO as the 22nd seed with ranked No.23 in singles is such a huge reward for her to justify also going into tomorrow when Katie will take on Veronika Kudermetova who just defeated Olivia Gadeki (also one of our own) yesterday in straight sets (6-1, 6-1).

Another day, another win from both players with a bit of fun along the way when Alex and Katie appeared on The Hundred AO edition segment last night with comedian Andy Lee on Nine. We are sure to come back tomorrow for their next journey as we shall see both staying on for this weekend’s third round and hopefully the next for the Round of 16.

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Australian Open Tennis 2025: Nick Kyrgios eliminated on his return to grand slam singles by Jacob Fearnley from Scotland after a long time away due to injury

by Sports Benches

Last night was the moment we’ve been waiting for Nick Kyrgios to return out on-court after a long 1 1/2 years away from Tennis due to injury. Although his return wasn’t the result we wanted with Scotland’s Jacob Fearnley going through to the second round in straight sets, he at least did his best even though he wasn’t 100% fit to keep up with his opponent.

Yes, he fired off not bad where he gave us a really good time (love him or hate him, he’s one of our Aussie Tennis players) but still lack the long runs to beat him to the punch. 

Not long following his early-round elimination, it seems he played his final singles’ match again – at least at Melbourne Park with a bit more to go in the other grand slams later this year- during his post-match press conference. 

However, he has been successful in doubles before and that’s where he can still play an important for the rest of his career, especially at the age of nearly 30.

Yeah, gonna miss his own swashbuckling personality no matter how you see it as that’s how Nick operates if he truly decides to stick only on doubles for at least the next few years. 

Everyone in Australia has cheered on him many times before including his Wimbledon Final breakthrough by surprise back in 2022 alongside Ajla Tomjlanovic (eliminated in the Quarter-Finals) only for him to be defeated by his good mate Novak Djokovic. 

We also hoped he & Ajla could’ve carried into the 2023 AO with high hopes like Ash Barty did from her 2021 Wimbledon win on what has been her home championship win in the women’s singles’ Final v Danielle Collins (USA) before she announced her retirement from the game on a high note.

But again both of them suffered huge injuries along the way and unfortunately, that’s probably the last we probably saw from Kyrgios and Tomjlanovic.

For now, will we see Nick make a huge splash with our strong doubles’ competition & have his other “Special K’s” partner Thanasi Kokkinakis that is to begin later this tournament? We’ll see as his fitness to keep himself in good condition is at the upmost priority for now.

And if you want more AO spice today, there’s not only but two players everyone in Australia needs to get behind with:

  • Katie Boulter’s journey (even though she’s British & plays for them at team tournaments) set to begin this afternoon v Canadian Rebecca Marino.
  • Then her fiancé Alex De Minaur will also begin his own campaign tonight v Botic van de Zandschulp from the Netherlands.

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Australian Open 2025 Day 1: Sabalenka, Zverev, Ruud among the winners

by Admin

The first day of the Australian Open 2025 set forth plenty of action including the reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka defending the crown for the second time as well as top seeds Alexander Zverev, Casper Ruud, and Zheng Qinwen getting a taste of the competition.

Here is everything you need to know about AO 2025 Day 1.

Anca Todoni vs Qinwen Zheng

Chinese tennis star Qinwen Zheng began the Australian Open by facing Romanian Anca Todoni. There was little to differentiate between the two in the first set, which went to a tiebreak. 

After a grueling 75 minutes, Zheng ultimately secured the first set 7-6. The second set was much different. Despite the thunderous weather, the world number 5 looked more comfortable at the Rod Laver Arena. She got the lead 3-0 early into the second set and finished things off 7-6, 6-1 with an ace to qualify for round 2. 

She acknowledged after the match that the first set was “not easy” for her. It is unclear so far who she’ll face in round 2.

Casper Ruud vs Jaume Munar

In men’s singles, world number 6 Casper Ruud took on the tricky Spaniard Jaume Munar. In a five set thriller, Munar showed incredible tennis as he won the second set 1-6 after Ruud secured the first one 6-3. 

The Norwegian went on to win the third set 7-5 and lose the next one 2-6. Munar’s resilience eventually faded away, as he didn’t have much to show in the fifth set which ended in favor of Casper Ruud (6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1).

Casper will either face Jakub Mensik or Nikoloz Basilashvili in the next round. With 48 winners in the match and a close finish in last year’s Roland Garros, the Norwegian looks in good shape and could be up for winning his first ever grand slam title.

Aryna Sabalenka vs Sloane Stephens

Aryna Sabalenka continued her top form from the 2024 season where she captured her second Australian Open title and also the US Open title. The world number 1 tennis star has her eyes set on winning the AO title for the third consecutive time, a feat not very common in the women’s singles.

Sabalenka faced Sloane Stephens (US Open 2017 winner) in her first main draw fixture. While the overall affair was in favor of the defending champion(6-3,6-2), Sabalenka’s serves ignited discussion online. 

Her first serve success rate was at 70%, her second serve fell even below that number. However, this is something that might get better as the tournament progresses. 

Sabalenka will next face Spanish star Jessica Bouzas in round 2.

Lucas Pouille vs Alexander Zverev

Last year Alexander Zverev had his hopes shattered in the Australian Open semi-final against Daniil Medvedev in an iconic 5-set classic. Since then, the German tennis star has played the Roland Garros final and US Open quarter-final.

Now, he looks hell-bent on winning a grand slam in 2025, as he says himself “everybody knows what I’m chasing.” Zverev who entered the tournament as world number 2 played against Lucas Pouille, the Frenchman who was the Australian Open semi-finalist in 2019.

While Pouille showed great tennis skills, it all went down to Zverev’s deadly first serves which also included 18 aces.

The final scorecard as expected was a straight set victory for Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. The German will next face Spanish tennis star Pedro Martinez in the Australian Open round 2.

With Tsitsipas, Sinner, Dimitrov, Djokovic, Gauff, Azarenka, Svitlona, and Collins all scheduled to play their first round matches on Monday, action for Australian Open 2025 day 2 will continue from tomorrow.

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2024 Aus Open Golf: American Ryggs Johnston now a first-time champion with the Stonehaven Cup amid Lucas Herbert’s struggles on the final day at the Sandbelt

by Sports Benches

There were a bunch of our Aussie players still right up there when it comes to the lead over the weekend for the Australian Open Golf at Melbourne’s Kingston Heath Golf Club aka the Sandbelt. But at the end of the day, an overseas player has won them over for yet another year & also loves our country – this time it’s Ryggs Johnston from Libby, Montana in the USA.

Ryggs thought he has lost it yesterday at times but that’s golf for you when playing in poor weather conditions, and he managed to recover that brilliantly before he kept that lead clear right through the very end – enjoy your Stonehaven Cup trophy along with the $290,000 bonus.

You gotta feel for Lucas Herbert who started off well & also kept the lead for the majority where he went into Day 4 with a small lead over Johnston. However, his series of mistakes including on the putting green made him wanting to pull his hair out, which was quite frustrating to hear.

It’s a shame that proved extremely costly after he fell down the pecking order from 1st-2nd to around shared 5th over the course of the final day’s afternoon.

Meanwhile, oh so close from Curtis Luck with his resurgence from just inside the shared Top 10 pack. It may not be enough to cut down Ryggs Johnston’s lead on time but good to see him finish 2nd by a three strokes gap though. So does Marc Leishman who also had a great weekend out alongside the improved Jasper Stubbs, even though it was a bit of a long shot following their shared third-placed finish by just four strokes behind at -14.

Also, shoutout to Kiradech Aphilbarnrat from Thailand off the back of his impressive day shift over in shared 5th alongside last weekend’s Australian PGA Championship winner Elvis Smylie, Harrison Crowe & last year’s Australian Open winner in Sydney Joaquin Niemann.

And last but not least, also great to see two Koreans take home both the women’s and the all abilities contest. This is the second time since 2013 that Jiyai Shin has won it that ended a two year feat from South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai, with amateur Hyojin Yang in 3rd. They also couldn’t get enough of Simon Seungmin Lee, who has autism, also too good with  the All Abilities category title over Wayne Perske (scoliosis & also a former player) by 12 after the best of three yesterday.

So the two big weeks PGA Tour of Australia’s major tournaments are now over for another year. We continue to see more of our Aussies dominating the Australian PGA Championship where we always continue to see this coming but not so much when it comes to the Australian Open since the event was organised in an all-in-one package since 2022. For now, best of luck to all both here and overseas going into season 2025.

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2024 Australian Open Golf Day 1 & 2: Lucas Herbert still holding on top spot with a few other overseas players coming after him to keep their streak of recent winners

by Sports Benches

The 2024 Australian Open Golf Tournament has returned to Melbourne once again across Kingston Heath and the Victorian Golf Club after last year’s event was being held in Sydney. 

The good news is for a start that we have an Aussie leading the charge ahead of moving day tomorrow in the hope of getting the job done by final day Sunday thanks to Lucas Herbert, who started off well and is still hold on in a great position by four strokes at 14 under par, as this could be a long time coming since Matt Jones last won it as a Aussie back in 2019.

If that’s not enough, we got last weekend’s Australian PGA Championship winner Elvis Smylie making his way up the food chain in Tied 3rd, and that brilliant shift earlier today came from Kingston following a slow start yesterday at the Vic. 

Looks like he’s right on the money if he can stay that way throughout this weekend since the last two rounds will only be dedicated at Kingston, having seen the organisers already sought out the bottom half players who will no longer take further part now than Day 2. 

Should he win the Australian Open instead of Herbert, Elvis would be the next player to accomplish the Australian PGA major double since Robert Allenby back in 2005 & also Peter Leonard back in 2004 – how good would it be to see that happening at the age of 22.

Don’t forget there’s a slate of overseas players still wanting to make this tournament their own and we’ve continued to see that happen since this tournament was heavily expanded in 2022. 

There’s Ryggs Johnston still in 2nd after another brilliant shift to his good start also with fellow American Jordan Gumberg leading the way in Tied 3rd alongside Harry Higgs, as well as Oliver Lindell from Finland, Austrian Lucas Nemecz & don’t forget the Englishman in Matt Southgate.

Although you never know what could come if and when a few other Aussies and even Kiwis would be up for a great battle to try and steal the show as long as they can keep things up ahead of Sunday.

Elsewhere, Cameron Smith’s beef with the Sandbelt at Kingston continues this time on-course following a poor Day 2 earlier today from Tied 4th to now Tied 16th. The same goes to amateur Rintaro Nakano from Japan the other way round by surprise who was 2nd but now Tied 12th after he swapped from Kingston to the Vic. 

Plus, Min Woo Lee somehow survived the cut despite some knee issues as he’s currently on Tied 37th with still more work to do. And we won’t be seeing Anthony Quayle this weekend when he came off a good run a week ago from finishing just behind Smith and Smylie at the Aus PGA Championship in Royal Queensland to a bang average Aus Open show to forget. 

Now let’s hope this Aus Open 2024 edition will cap it off with a Aussie winner at last or yet another overseas player to saviour, which one would it be? It’s all happening at Kingston Heath’s Sandbelt as make sure you’re there to see it all if you can or there’s always Nine/9Now and Fox Sports/Kayo Sports on TV and online on the go.

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Today’s Tennis Match, Jannik Sinner goes from 2-0 down to now becoming the Australian Open winner on his first grand slam final match v Daniil Medvedev at RLA

by Sports Benches

How good was that men’s singles final to wrap up a long 15 days of the 2024 Australian Open at Melbourne Park when we thought Daniil Medvedev (Russia) was just one set away in his 3rd attempt here after a great start with the 2-0 lead v Jannik Sinner (Italy). However, Sinner won back to deny him not just a straight sets attempt but he also brought himself up into a 5th set decider at 2-2 all before the Italian quickly nailed down the seasoned grand slam finalist that secured him his first grand slam trophy towards the end in his first grand slam final. The final score lasted nearly four hours at 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 & 6-3.

Commiserations to Medvedev with the loss yet again who had a brilliant early form to get himself ahead of the match & he thought this would be breakthrough at last to take home his 2nd grand slam trophy since the 2021 US Open as Novak Djokovic cannot defend his title after his unexpected semis loss the other day v Sinner. Despite some close executions to try and shut down Sinner in his tracks whilst leading, he unfortunately lost his way that led to the 4th and 5th sets being activated including the top spot before Medvedev eventually ran out of huff and puff where he had to settle 2nd best in the end to a young and energetic elite challenger right there in Sinner. He will be 28 soon next month but the Russian will need to move on now and improve his other grand slam records at the Roland Garros and Wimbledon later this year which isn’t the same and hopefully that would help him come back & go one better for the fourth possible finals attempt next time in 2025.

Meanwhile, Sinner is having the best form of his life after he came off a semi-final breakthrough at Wimbledon last year while he played a key role with Italy’s Davis Cup win a few months later as the team trophy wouldn’t have happened without his outstanding tennis IQ and physicality that would’ve gone to Serbia or Australia. Now he might have struggled earlier on despite a great start but his long-form game began to click in the third set at 0-2 and he too has got the set or two back from Medvedev, who was never close to Championship Point himself at all, before he overtook the Russian for the lead the first time & Sinner has unleashed so fast he too didn’t hesitate so much to pull off such an unbelievable comeback from behind to now standing on top of Melbourne Park with the Norman Brookes Memorial Cup. It’s his moment tonight and he too deserves that breakthrough as what’s next for him now? He will look to win more grand slams from here by leading the line in Tennis’s next generation of grand slam superstars ahead of Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz just like the 2020s Roger Federer v Rafa Nadal.

The 2024 Australian Open Tennis tournament is now over where we had an awesome 15 days rather than 14 days as well as long spell showdowns, some upset moments that changed the course of the draw and a few first time finalists that includes one first time winner now in the men’s draw named Jannik Sinner. And shout out to some of the Aussies who did so well on home soil such as Alex De Minaur (men’s singles 4th round), Storm Hunter (women’s singles 3rd round) and Matt Ebden (men’s doubles title win last night with Rohan Bopanna). There is plenty of Tennis to look forward throughout the year with the next grand slam of 2024 coming up at the Roland Garros in Paris, France that will begin on Sunday 26th May-9th June.

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AO Open Tennis, Aryna Sabalenka goes back-to-back with the Championship win this time in straight sets against China’s Qinwen Zheng

by Sports Benches

The 2024 Australian Open Women’s singles final is now done and dusted with one more match to go for tonight’s men’s singles final before the 15-day competition is over between Jannik Sinner v Daniil Medvedev as Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka is your champion once again after she got the job done without having to drop a set against Qinwen Zheng with the win at Rod Laver Arena. Sabalenka had an amazing performance all around & commiserations to Zheng who gained a little here & there as of late but then the standard was just too much for her to catch up in the end. The final score was 3-6 & 2-6 being done in almost 90 minutes of play. This is Sabalenka’s 2nd straight Australian Open trophy & although she will still be World No.2 behind Iga Swiatek, the search is now on to win the other majors after falling short at the 2023 US Open to Coco Gauff (USA).

First of all, Zheng finally got the ball rolling from behind where she did her best to hold back Sabalenka following a poor start of the match. If she did give herself some time with the early headstart, then she would be in a fair shot to try and bring home another Australian Open trophy for China since Li Na last did that just 10 years ago. But she still could not exploit all of Sabalenka’s weaknesses where Zheng fell way behind as the game does on despite denying her a few Championship points when Zheng unfortunately did not have the chance to bridge her best 2nd half form & finish things off her way in defeat. She had a great last few months of Tennis as Zheng is age 22 with loads of potential to fulfill at World No.7 in the singles rankings.

Meanwhile, it’s been another amazing win from the Belarusian who is now a 2 x Australian Open women’s singles champion this time without having to lose a set and also without too much fuss v Zheng unlike Elina Rybakina last year. She was so quick to get off the mark which was huge so she can take her time to bridge the other half form while Zheng showed a bit of fightback here & there, but Sabalenka didn’t need to throw her game away and that is exactly she has done to bring home another grand slam major with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup to her silverware cabinet. As said, the game is on for Sabalenka to win both another grand slam title or two or even three where she always fell short other than some usual good performances from the 1st round to the knockout stages as well as being the World No.1 singles player again off Swiatek.

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