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2025 Australian Open Day 8: Ayrna Sabalenka too good over Mirra Andreeva & a heartbreaking end for Jack Draper due to injury with Carlos Alcaraz’s win via walkover

by Sports Benches

Day 8 of the 2025 Australian Open at Melbourne Park so far began with Ayrna Sabalenka being too good for Mirra Andreeva, Coco Gauff sensational from the opening set down to a tremendous 2nd & 3rd set fightback over Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, and Carlos Alcaraz through to the Quarter-Final thanks to Jack Draper’s injury issues when he couldn’t continue following the 2nd set. 

With Sabalenka, we always love having a crowd favourite, especially at the RLA alongside her love of dance moves on TikTok unlike 2022 AO women’s runner-up Danielle Collins, who was knocked out in straight sets by her US compatriot Madison Keys. As said, she was unstoppable and unchallenged from start to finish – that’s all. Now her opponent will be 4 x AO and seasoned Quarter-Finalist in Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

For Andreeva, her record here wasn’t bad while she’s slightly better on clay when playing at the Roland Garros (semi-final where she was def. by Jasmine Paolini) including the Paris Olympics (Silver medal with Diana Shnaider for their unofficial Belarusian & Russian country team in the women’s doubles) last year. Yes, she’s only 17 and has a very bright future ahead but just not her day today at the hands of a AO’s back-to-back defending champion.

Meanwhile, the first of the men’s R16 also began during the day a bit later in the afternoon with Alcaraz and Draper. That first set was top-notch between someone who has won each of the grand slams outside the AO so far and a rising Brit coming off a breakthrough US Open run outside of the Final last year. 

Alcaraz managed to win the first two sets with the second one being too quick. 

But then the match ended right on the spot without seeing the other half distance hoping to see a Jack Draper miracle from behind when the Briton just couldn’t go on due to injury issues. He took some medical time out following the first set before he realised he had to retire hurt after he lost the second by saving it for the best next time. 

Yeah, heartbreaking to see him go following a brilliant run up here until this point every time Jack sees off through a series of five-set contests & nothing else like a straight or four-sets win – such as Argentine Mariano Navone (1R) + two Aussies in Thanasi Kokkinakis (2R) & Aleksandar Vukic (3R). We wish him all the very best with his recovery as he’s got really good potential to dominate in the other grand slam events later this year.

Carlos Alcaraz’s bid to finally win his first AO continues and that may be a bit of a tall order when it comes to his next opponent. Although he has that young age advantage if 22 x championship winner Novak Djokovic wins over Jiří Lehečka tonight & it looks like Novak has Andy Murray by his side as his coach. 

Interesting to see what both veterans has been up to stop these next gen elite youngsters stealing the torch from him as this ain’t over by the 37-year-old himself.

For now, Day 8 continues tonight with Alex De Minaur coming back out tomorrow night to hopefully book his first AO Quarter-Final when he takes on 20-year-old US superstar Alex Michelsen, even though that potential QF opponent may likely to be current champ Jannik Sinner.

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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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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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2024 US Open Tennis Men’s semi-finals day in New York review: Sinner def. Draper in straight sets while Fritz caps off magnificent comeback after a long five-setter v Tiafoe

by Sports Benches

So there you have it, the 2024 US Open Tennis Men’s semi-final day at Arthur Ashe Stadium was a joy to watch – one was Jannik Sinner so dominant & top good for Jack Draper while Taylor Fritz held back strong v Francis Tiafoe after a long five sets out of the best American winner. 

Now it’s the current Australian Open champ Sinner v the ever improving American Fritz for Sunday’s big Final (Monday 4am) with Aryna Sabalenka v USA’s own Jessica Pegula up first for the women’s main event tomorrow (6am).

Semi-Final Match 1

First of all, it was never an easy game when playing at a top-notch semi for the first time by the rising Brit in Draper, who defeated our Aussie own Alex De Minaur in the quarters the other day. He had some great moments to begin with the first two sets where he was so close to tying Sinner 1-1 but was underwhelming for the majority unfortunately, having lost the first set for the first time in this tournament before being quickly wiped out in the end. 

Meanwhile, we haven’t heard much for a while from Sinner but he still had a terrific year though including today’s semi v Draper, as this will be his 2nd grand slam final also on a hard court. Gotta say he was at his best where his next match v Fritz is going to be as good as it gets. He was tested with great difficulty by the Brit before Sinner won all two sets with a 2-0 lead and the Italian simply wrapped up the game without a fuss to book his next biggest match yet in three straight sets.

Semi-Final Match 2

Now this second semi was the one Americans long wanted to see in front of a brilliant crowd including some celebrity guests with both Americans who played one stellar of a match. But again, one can go through to Sunday’s Final which Fritz won while another will have to be eliminated from the last four in Tiafoe.

Commiserations to Tiafoe having made a good start alongside some brilliant fight to try and keep himself in the game with the first and 3rd set wins. It’s a shame he began to have slipped away in the 4th and even 5th sets before it was too late unfortunately. It would’ve been great if Tiafoe kept on pressuring Fritz as if Tiafoe was closer towards activating match point; But at the end of the day, you’re looking at a fighter who always been there & done that at major finals before in Fritz.

And congrats to Fritz on a stunning win from behind to beat Tiafoe as he’s the next American to play in a US Open men’s final since 2003 winner Andy Roddick back in 2006. Sure he had some near set wins & had Fritz won it, the match would’ve finished like the first semis game but this is about someone who never gives up. All he wanted to do is walk away was the win to punch his ticket into the main event & he has done it in the toughest of circumstances where he will be tested once again in the hope of finally winning his home grand slam v Sinner after his ever-improving 2024 season at age 26.

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2024 US Open Tennis: Alex De Minaur’s another grand slam Quarter-Finals shot got run down by Briton Jack Draper in straight sets at Arthur Ashe Stadium

by Sports Benches

It wasn’t the match we hoped for when Alex De Minaur took centre stage on what has been another grand slam Quarter-Final of 2024 this time in the US Open & got easily beaten in straight sets by Briton Jack Draper at Arthur Ashe Stadium. 

But proud to see him make back-to-back-to-back grand slam quarter-finals this year outside the Australian Open though where he fell short to Andrey Rublev in the Round of 16 tie back in January. Had he won this game, it would’ve still been difficult to walk into the semis either way by going up between the last Quarter-Final winner that’s going to start later on of Jannik Sinner (Italy) or Daniil Medvedev.

Yes, he’s getting back up to speed after that hip injury that ruled him out of the Wimbledon Quarter-Final match two months ago v Novak Djokovic. But as said, he simply wasn’t at his best today other than close 2nd set performance. 

Keep an eye on him going into next week with the Australian Davis Cup campaign against France & Czech Republic over in Valencia, Spain. He’s the glue to where the Aussies went all the way to back-to-back Finals in November last year and two years ago and hopefully he will help them go one better, so he can walk into Australian Open 2025 with an eye for a Quarter-Finals spot for the first time.

For now, Jack Draper is your winner en route to his first major semi-finals at age 22 after a brilliant performance from start to finish in straight sets (6-3, 7-5 & 6-2).

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