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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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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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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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British Women’s No.1 Katie Boulter def. Yue Yuan to kickstart her 2024 Australian Open Tennis campaign in straight sets at Court 7

by Sports Benches

Here’s another close straights sets match we just saw not long ago over in Day 3 of the 2024 Australian Open women’s singles draw when Briton Katie Boulter has just defeated China’s Yue Yuan at Court 7 as her next opportunity next for Round 2 this Thursday will either be China’s Qinwen Zhang (12th seed) or Ashlyn Krueger from the USA. The final score was 7-5, 7-6 with 7-1 tiebreaker & the match was done in just under two hours at 1 hour & 55 mins. Great effort by Yue Yuan to keep her game up with Boulter where she was so close to getting the set done herself after giving her opponent a hard time on occasions on the court. Unfortunately, she just couldn’t hold on and get that breakthrough where Boulter had the upper hand with the win as this is her 2nd grand slam singles appearance here at Melbourne Park. We wish her all the best, having played her first WTA Tour final a few months ago (October) where she lost to American Jessica Pegula in the Korea Open.

Meanwhile, the current women’s British No.1 has played her A-game to begin her Australian Open tour with the win. She never lets herself down without a fight against her opponent right through the very end of each set before things went her way where Boulter has the better pull to get things done under pressure & she did exactly just like that today. Now this will be her 2nd round appearance since the 2019 Australian Open, but she had a great 2nd half of 2023 thanks to back-to-back 3rd Round glam performances at Wimbledon & the US Open. Let’s take one match at a time but hopefully she’ll make another big breakthrough herself just like her boyfriend of our Aussie own Alex De Minaur aka The Demon.

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