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2024-25 United Cup Tennis: Australia unable to advance to the Quarter-Finals despite series deciding win last night over Great Britain with poor women’s singles run a factor in their elimination from Group F

by Sports Benches

So there we have it despite Australia’s series deciding win over Great Britain to finish off the Group F campaign last night, it’s a shame they won’t even able to take further part unfortunately along with Argentina in this 2024/25 United Cup competition. 

Their poor women’s singles performances across both matches was a non-starter coupled with that shock mixed doubles series defeat a few days ago v Argentina proved so difficult for the Aussies to at least justify the best of second-place spot redemption for their Sydney group which belongs to Czech Republic when they won the opening tie v Norway even though the Czechs lost 2-1 v Poland earlier yesterday.

If so, Australia would’ve had another reunion with Italy being set up there who faced them not so long ago during the Men’s Davis Cup semi-final in November last year and again, that proved to be an extremely long shot indeed.

Yes, it was close but Great Britain had the upper hand particularly with Alex De Minaur’s future wife Katie Boulter, who is extremely good in that women’s singles area unlike us. It’s something we will have to live with for a long while until we find our next sensation to take on the world’s best when Ash Barty is clearly content away from the court these days following her Australian Open singles’ triumph three years ago. Although we can count ourselves okay when it comes to Billie Jean King Cups albeit from early qualifiers to Quarter-Finalists – nothing more.

Other than that, great to see De Minaur avoiding another series tie humiliation over Billy Harris in straight sets before De Minaur filled-in to empty the tank for doubles specialist Matt Ebden once more alongside Olivia Gadeki. However, his future wife wasn’t there though as Olivia Nicholls took Boulter’s spot instead to team up with Charlie Broom in order to avoid a conflict of interest between those two who love and cherish for each other, having just announced their long-awaited engagement lately.

I guess they won’t have to live up with that again as the next time Alex and Katie are playing on court, then it has to be together whether it’s through training or mixed doubles matches outside of team tournaments. Fortunately, he and Gadecki gave a good reason for us to celebrate our first night of 2025 on a high thanks to their match-deciding win v Nicholls & Broom.

Yes, it’s a pity Australia are unable to contend further having made the semis last year where they were defeated by eventual champions Germany. However, we are still good to go where our doubles performances are still top notch along with Alex Minaur off the back on a straight of recent grand slam quarter-finals outside of the Australian Open last season.

Make sure everyone will be right behind him as who knows if he will make his first Quarter-Final appearance at Melbourne Park soon enough. For now, they should be right behind his future wife Katie when her Great Britain team will take on Poland this evening from 5.30pm AEDT. It’s gonna be a tough one when she will go head-to-head v one of the top players in Iga Swiatek but her support would be greatly appreciated and she’s coming off a great run lately likewise as World No.24.

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2024-25 United Cup Tennis: Great Britain v Argentina group stage match day on-site at Ken Rosewall Arena

by Sports Benches

Now I may have not been able to see out the whole thing but at least was fortunate enough to see some of it, particularly during the first half morning and afternoon with the United Cup Tennis yesterday between Great Britain and Argentina in Group F drawn with Australia at Ken Rosewall Arena.

First of all, Katie Boulter too good against Nadia Podoroska in straight sets. She too is entering the next Australian Open edition soon with high hopes beginning mid-January at Melbourne Park & congratulations on her recent engagement by the way with our own Alex De Minaur.

Speaking of De Minaur, he is also entering Melbourne Park too off the back on his string of recent grand slam Quarter-Finals last year, particularly outside the Australian Open other than the fourth round here where he was defeated by Andrey Rublev. Who knows? Maybe either one or even both of them will look to have an extended 2nd week run and Australia will be right behind them, even with just Katie if she does stick around – at least in this upcoming women’s singles draw. 

Oh, nice seeing Alex watching on by the way also from yesterday too – just don’t know where he was sitting exactly when staring around the whole arena.

For now, they may as well have to face one another in the mixed doubles match on Wednesday when Australia v Great Britain regardless of outcome beforehand. But hey, they are very compatible with each other that makes this romantic relationship so unique as wishing them lots of success both on & off the court. 

Then this second match was a full of cat and mouse through a series of deuces where Billy Harris was on a roll from the start but Tomas Martin Etchverry proved to be the master of this court following his magnificent comeback from the opening set down to keeping Argentina’s hopes alive going into the mixed doubles decider. 

In the end though, Boulter came back along with Charlie Broom to secure the series game deciding win over Etchverry and Maria Loudres Carle, having stayed up all along that puts them now on top spot of their group in the 24/25 United Cup.

If you can’t get enough, here’s the two minute odd YouTube clip from yesterday’s game. Also, special shoutout to Chris Stubbs by the way who is currently hosting the United Cup Tennis world feed coverage on top of grand slam tennis and of course motorsports throughout the year! Good on ya Stubbsy!

Happy New Year to all as 2024 ends tonight before we say hello to 2025 at midnight while the United Cup Tennis reaches the halfway mark.

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Nick Kyrgios is now one win away from taking home the Gentlemen’s Singles title at Wimbledon after Rafa Nadal’s exit due to injury yesterday

by Sports Benches

Earlier this morning here in Australia, we woke up to the news that 22 x grand slam champion from Spain Rafa Nadal made a difficult decision to exit in this year’s running at Wimbledon ahead of tonight’s semi-final due to injury. That paves the way for our own Nick Kyrgios – who is now one step away from winning his first grand slam championship on Sunday – thanks to Rafa’s withdrawal via walkover. For now, he will watch the other semi final in a few hours time & see who will be his next challenger – either Britain’s Cameron Norrie or Novak Djokovic from Serbia.

Yes, it’s been heartbreaking not to see him continue if you’re a Rafa fan, but recovery comes first before getting back up to speed with fitness on the tennis court. We would’ve liked to see him win his third straight grand slam title this year, as well as make it title No.23 & go one better to complete the clean sweep at the US Open.

Although he can take home the fourth & grand slam tournament of the year in mid-September, but he will be approaching age 37 now going into mid-2023. So there will be plenty of decisions made if Rafa is gonna bounce back or else retire next year. If he still chooses to play, then he will try and be the third player to win all four grand slams in a single year before retiring from the sport for good – after Rod Laver back in 1962 & 1969 & Don Budge in 1938.

Meanwhile, what a moment to savour from our Aussie own Nick Kyrgios in his first grand slam final appearance – with the Wimbledon Men’s Singles trophy now on his sights. This is the moment he has been waiting for a long time after he took the world by storm out of nowhere – especially when he shocked 4th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece in the 3rd Round a few days ago.

Yes, there’s going to be talk about his off-court life over the next few weeks but now it’s not the time to talk about it. Instead, Australia is right behind him on the cusp of making history at Wimbledon – which would mean another golden moment in Australian tennis and sport in general – alongside the now retired Ash Barty earlier this year at the Australian Open.

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Cameron Norrie is one tie away from being the next Briton in-line for a home grand slam final after he defeated David Goffin in the Quarter-Final

by Sports Benches

What a thrilling Quarter-Final match to close out Day 9 of Wimbledon when we saw two brilliant players battle for that 1st of two semi-final spots for Friday v Novak Djokovic. We love seeing Belgian David Goffin & Britain’s Cameron Norrie fought back and forth through each and every set until the very end. There’s only one winner to settle at Court No.1 as Norrie came out victorious for Great Britain – 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6 & 5-7.

So unlucky from Belgian No.1 David Goffin who was just being eliminated from the last 8 of this gentlemen’s singles draw. He fired off well for a start before Goffin bounced back after the third set in a bid to wrap things up from his end. Sadly, he just couldn’t overcome the persistence, fightback and execution when Norrie brought to a fifth and final set showdown before it was too late. He’s always a top player with so much effort though, as this was his fourth grand slam Quarter-Final appearance since the 2019 edition here.

Meanwhile, Great Britain is right behind Norrie now in a bid to upsurge Djokovic in the semis on Friday, and be the next Briton to play on a home grand slam final since Andy Murray back in 2016. He finally got the ball rolling when Goffin already took the 1st set lead earlier on. However, that doesn’t mean it’s over when it comes to the overall result – as Norrie just never gave up under pressure all match long. It helped him respond every time Goffin fought back – especially after the 4th set that gave him a lifeline to close it out his way. And that is top level tennis from Norrie when he proved to be a better fighter than Goffin, before he kicked his opponent out of the Final 8 with a brilliant finish to seal the win in front of his home supporters.

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2022 French Open: Alex De Minaur eliminated early in a shock defeat by Frenchman Hugo Gaston despite a competitive battle out of a five-set showdown

by Sports Benches

We’re all gutted to see our Australian No.1 & World No.19 Alex De Minaur being eliminated early by Frenchman Hugo Gaston in the opening round of the 2022 French Open at Court Suzanne Lenglen, even though it was a really competitive effort by the two players.

He fired off well but then fell behind for a while where De Minaur at one point was on a brink towards an early end going into the third set. However, he never gave up and began to rebound lost time midway through this match-up with two easy mini-wins in sets 3 & 4. Unfortunately, he just couldn’t hold off Gaston in a head-to-head sprint to the finish when De Minaur blew his lifeline away during the 5th & final set via the tiebreak.

And hats off to 21-year-old Gaston who opened his French Open campaign he really wanted at home in Paris. He responded to De Minaur’s fire off beautifully at the beginning with a late snatch following the opening set before he was too good in the second stanza. Now he may began to falter when De Minaur denied Gaston the chance to close the opening round in straight sets, even though he was beaten so easily after the fourth set. However, you gotta praise his finishing going into the final set tiebreak where Gaston managed to reset himself that helped him bow out comfortably with the win.

The final score if 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 0-6, 7-6 via 10-6 tiebreaker, as Gaston will meet Argentine Pedro Cachin in the second round tomorrow.

There’s only one Aussie though in the men’s singles running when it comes to Jason Kulber after he too overcame a really tight battle v American Denis Kudla in straight sets that was all collected via tie-breakers. He will need to beat 10th seed Cameron Norrie from Great Britain if Kubler wishes to continue his run in the 2nd Round tonight.

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Felix Auger-Aliassime too good for Dan Evans in straight sets at John Cain Arena as he advances to Round 4 of 2022 Australian Open

by Sports Benches

Felix Auger-Aliassime too good for Dan Evans at John Cain Arena where he nailed down in straight sets (4-6, 1-6, 1-6), he will be watching the Andrey Rublev and Martin Cilic tie with interest & study what these players are like where one of them will meet him for Round 4 on Monday.

For Evans, he endured a huge blow against the 9th seed Canadian which wasn’t easy to reflect on after this match, even though he came off a brilliant warm-up spell before the main draw in Sydney via the semis. He was on the same page at the beginning where Evans narrowly fell short & had the chance to tie 2-2 in the 3rd set, unfortunately, the Brit just couldn’t unpack some fire having fell way behind before Auger-Aliassime comfortably made it home at the other end.

And Auger-Aliassime is one of two Canadians alongside Denis Shapovalov in the 4th Round as this is be an exciting time right now for that country, he displayed lots of Grand Slam quality that helped him shift up a few gears ahead of Evans & never looked back ever since. He had an excellent 2nd half last year with the Quarter-Final in Wimbledon & Semi-Final at the US Open, he has Daniil Medvedev on his radar where he hopes to upset last year’s runner-up in the Final 8 & potentially come home with a grand slam trophy.

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