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Rod Laver Arena

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Tennis News, Danielle Collins off to her 2nd Australian Open women’s semi-final since 2019 as she watches on either Iga Swiatek or Kaia Kanepi as her next opponent

by Sports Benches

Danielle Collins is off to her 2nd Australian Open semi-final having done once before in 2019 after she defeated Alize Cornet in straight sets (7-5, 6-1), she will be watching that 4th & last Quarter-Final right now between Poland’s Iga Swiatek & Kaia Kanepi from Estonia where one of them will face her in the 2nd semi-final tie tomorrow night.

Cornet gutted to be eliminated from the Final 8 after she finally made her first Grand Slam knockout appearance at the age of 32, this in incredible when her best previous record beforehand was a series of 4th Rounds. She showed some fightback as of late in the 1st set but a poor start & a lack of 1st half momentum saw Cornet being outplayed by Collins, Cornet still has a few years left at singles’ level so she hopes to continue that breakthrough run going into the Roland Garros in late May.

And Collins too good left, right and center thanks to an a terrific start that helped her build a big lead over Cornet, it allowed Collins to group some pieces together before she wrapped this up so quick and effective in the end.

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Tennis News, Recap of the first two thrilling Quarter-Final ties between Shapovalov v Nadal, Monfils v Berrettini from yesterday at Rod Laver Arena

by Sports Benches

Two brilliant Quarter-Final match-ups last night at the same Rod Laver Arena venue in Melbourne, these players such as Denis Shapovalov & Gael Monfils showed plenty of fight on the Tennis court but one of them had to end out on top as Rafael Nadal & Matteo Berrettini defeated their respective opponents, as they will face each other in the 1st semi-final on Friday Afternoon.

Unlucky from Shapovalov, who fought very hard, after he went from the first two sets down to a 2-2 lead that led to the 5th set decider. It goes to show he is no stranger of playing through long spells and did hit back Rafa on occasions, he just couldn’t hold it off a little longer during that climax towards the finish line and had to smash his racket in the end.

The same went with 35 year old from France Gael Monfils where he too was always on the same page as Berrettini, now Monfils began to make up lost time from the close first two set defeats & almost pulled a late comeback. However, he was blown away quickly by Berretini when it comes to a final lap sprint which confirmed his elimination from the Final 8 of this main draw.

Meanwhile, Rafa Nadal off to a flying start with an early lead following the first two sets, although he was tested on occasions later on but he had the better experience when it comes to his finishing & that came back to haunt Shapovalov’s renewed 2nd half momentum. And Berrettini just never gave up, who didn’t have the easiest of battles along the way, against an experienced Grand Slam semi-finalist like Monfils. He eventually found light at the end of the tunnel during the 5th set decider having held his early two sets lead intact as his advantage & pulled off too good in the end.

Look out for Jannik Sinner v Stefanos Tsitsipas plus Felix Auger-Aliassime v Daniil Medvedev in the other two Quarter-Final ties later today.

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Australian Open News, All eyes on Alex De Minaur in the Men’s singles Round of 16 tie today v Jannik Sinner for Australia after Ash Barty advanced to the women’s Quarter-Final last night

by Sports Benches

Great to see Ash Barty in the Quarter-Finals after another straight sets (6-4, 6-3) win v Amanda Anisimova, she had fought back a series of close battles at the beginning which wasn’t easy before it led to a easier path later on that summed up Barty’s terrific Sunday night at Rod Laver Arena. Her next challenger will be 21st seed Jessica Pegula on Wednesday, where one of them will face either Barbora Krejcikova or Madison Keys for the first semi-final tie on Thursday.

Anisimova played some great games especially when she fired off early on both sets, but she just couldn’t bridge that 2nd half consistency that became her huge weakness throughout this round of 16 tie and it eventually let her down. She has a bright future though having upsetted the reigning champion Naomi Osaka prior to her meeting last night v Barty, and Anisimova is sure to return where she left off from the 2019 French Open semis with the help of her consultant Darren Cahill.

For now, it’s all eyes on the men’s singles side and hope that another Aussie will advance to the Final 8, when Alex De Minaur will meet 11th seed Italian Jannik Sinner later this afternoon also at Rod Laver Arena.

#Tennis #AshBarty #AmandaAnisimova #JessicaPegula #AustralianOpen #GrandSlam #RodLaverArena

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Tennis News, Rafael Nadal confirmed as the first player into the Quarter-Finals of 2022 Australian Open after he defeated Adrian Mannarino in straight sets

by Sports Benches

Wow! This is such a brilliant contest we’ve just seen at Rod Laver Arena as Rafael Nadal is the first player confirmed into the Quarter-Finals, he had to overcome a grueling and competitive opening set run against Adrian Mannarino via tiebreaker before Nadal wrapped this up quick and easy in straight sets (6-7 via 14-16 tiebreaker, 2-6, 2-6).

Not the best day out there for Mannarino in the office, he fought really hard at the beginning where the Frenchman was on the same page as Rafa that went all the way & almost got snatched the early lead. However, he just couldn’t kick on ever since having fell way behind, as these consolation games Mannarino accrued later on reflected his next run of inconsistency & eventual elimination from this main draw.

And congratulations to Rafa with the win, the Spaniard endured plenty of highs throughout this tie such as when Rafa came out unscathed after a very competitive opening set tiebreak. It boosted his confidence before he used that early lead towards bridging that other half run towards the finish line, and Rafa wrapped this up in the next two sets without a fuss as he will now face Candadian Denis Shapovalov for a Final 4 spot on Tuesday.

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Tennis News, Alex De Minaur advances to Round 4 of the 2022 Australian Open v Jannik Sinner after he defeated Pablo Andujar in straight sets

by Sports Benches

What an easy win for Alex De Minaur here at Rod Laver Arena as the Aussie nailed down Spaniard Pablo Andujar in straight sets (4-6, 4-6, 2-6), he will now advance into the 4th round which is his career-best here so far and will face 11th seed Italian Jannik Sinner on Monday for a shot towards the Final 8.

Andujar was disappointed with the loss where he showed some fight that remained so competitive against De Minaur for the majority while fighting for these stage wins, he just missed that finishing part that fell just short twice before Andujar was wiped out this quick in the 3rd and final set.

And nice to see the Aussie crowd upped the noise for their hometown hero Alex De Minaur, who is the only guy still in contention, for the Round of 16. He’s got that build-up base going that allowed him to stretch a decent lead while Andujar fought back late, it gave him time to keep the momentum as this game goes on and it worked well where he went all-in with a super-easy run to the finish line.

We’ll see if this stella campaign from “The Demon” continues on Monday and have an extended shot towards the title.

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Tennis News, Danielle Collins went from the opening set down to a thrilling comeback against Dane Clara Tauson in the 3rd Round at Rod Laver Arena

by Sports Benches

Fantastic rebound from American Danielle Collins with the win, who went from the opening set down against Clara Tauson, to tied 1-1 going into the 3rd set decider and now advanced into the 4th Round of 2022 Australian Open. She will now face Belgian Elise Mertens on Monday for a spot in the Final 8, plus head off straight away to 1573 Arena in the Round 2 doubles tie with fellow American Desirae Krawczyk where they too will face off another American pair of Jessica Pegula and Asia Muhammad.

Final Score: 6-4, 4-6, 5-7

Unlucky from Clara Tauson after being eliminated from Round 3 of the Opening grand slam tournament in Melbourne, she fired off well that gave her the early lead. Now she continued to rack up more games to stay in the game, but she just couldn’t pull off these conversions where Collins read her main weakness that eventually caught up to her before it’s too late.

She’s 19 right now & currently ranked 39th in the women’s WTA singles rankings, it’s also her first Grand Slam main draw here when Tauson only made the 1st Qualifying Round twice in 2020-21 beforehand, so no doubt the Dane will get better with experience before challenging the title at some point.

And Collins was again brilliant on the court when she fought so hard against Tauson & at one point was almost eliminated even though Collins was on the same page, her past experience playing here as a semi-finalist once before in 2019 & fightback gave the American the better edge when she closed in to Tauson at a 1-1 lead, overtook her through the 3rd set decider & held off with the win.

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Tennis News, Ash Barty continues her 2022 Australian Open campaign with another easy win against 30th seed Camila Giorgi from Italy at Rod Laver Arena

by Sports Benches

What an easy win where Ash Barty has just wrapped this up in just one hour & one minute through straight sets at Rod Laver Arena v 30th seed Italian Camila Giorgi, she will now face American Amanda Anisimova, who just upset reigning Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka, for Round 4 on Sunday.

Final Score: 6-2, 6-3

There are no problems whatsoever from Barty, who fired off and built a very easy lead, now she may be a bit challenged along the way where Giorgi fought back a game or two but she always showed plenty of firepower that reflected her easy spell tonight.

And Giorgi gutted with the loss after being eliminated in Round 3, she won a couple of games & did her best to rescue this game having been on the same page as Barty after the break, however, she was way behind when it comes to the overall lead and just couldn’t catch up through the end of both sets.

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Tennis News, Matteo Berrettini wrapped up a gruelling four-hour duel against Carlos Alcaraz with the win at Rod Laver Arena

by Sports Benches

Just saw an entertaining four-hour showdown at Rod Laver Arena where Matteo Berrettini took the first two sets before Carlos Alcaraz came out of nowhere and tied a 2-2 lead that went to a 5th set decider, but it’s Berrettini, who rejuvenated himself, during the best of ten tiebreaks & came out on top with three sets pocketed out of the best of five.

Final Score: 2-6, 6-7 via 3-7 tiebreaker, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 via 5-10 tiebreaker

Well done to Berrettini with the hard-fought win as he will face Pablo Carreno Busta from Spain for Round 4, it wasn’t hard for the Italian to get the ground running when he was close to wrap up the game at the first attempt in straight sets. Although he had some tough moments where he lost the next two sets that included a fall along the way, but he later backed up his early lead advantage that gave him enough time to escape & prevented Alcaraz from plotting an upset.

And unlucky with the 3rd Round elimination from Alcaraz, who has plenty of potential of becoming the next Grand Slam superstar, at just 18 years old, having made it to the US Open Quarter-Final last year & sure this close loss will help him bounce back next time. Like the way how he stopped Berrettini from an early finish in the 3rd set & began to catch up with a 2-2 lead, he almost pulled off an upset, unfortunately, Alcarez just ran out of fire via the deciding tiebreak that saw Berrettini as the winner instead.

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Tennis News, Alex De Minaur continues his winning start on R2 of the 2022 Australian Open campaign in straight sets v Kamil Majchrzak at Rod Laver Arena

by Sports Benches

Alex De Minaur continues his winning start to the 2022 Australian Open campaign with a comfortable win against Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak in straight sets (4-6, 4-6, 2-6) at Rod Laver Arena, he wrapped this 2nd Round tie in 1 hour and 39 minutes.

De Minaur always got his build-up base up and running that helped stay ahead over Majchrzak, it gave the Aussie ample time to get the job done during the first two sets while the Pole began to catch up before he shut his opponent out towards the finish line with a nice & easy third set spell.

His best result here was Round 3 twice in 2019 & 2021 where De Minaur hopes to get past the Spaniard in Pablo Andujar before Round 4, and as long as he keeps that winning form then a Finals eight spot will come to him having made it once two years ago at the US Open.

And Majchrzak didn’t have a great day out, who did his best to hold back De Minaur, having won some games & closed in along the way towards the end of these first two sets. However, he just couldn’t hijack his opponent’s stella momentum & finish it off his way before Majchrzak became eliminated so quick in the 3rd & final set.

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Tennis News, Naomi Osaka advances to Round 3 & will face another American in Amanda Anisimova after an easy win v Madison Brengle tonight at Rod Laver Arena

by Sports Benches

It was an easy night for the defending Australian Open women’s champion in Naomi Osaka as she took down American Madison Brengle through straight sets 0-4, 4-6 at Rod Laver Arena, her next opponent for Round 3 on Friday will be another American in Amanda Anisimova.

For Brengle, it’s on the contrary who is disappointed with the early Australian Open exit having gone past Round 1 via walkover v Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska. She showed some fight after being beaten so easily from the first set and was so close towards securing a 3rd set decider, but Brengle left it too late where a poor start & some fightback later on made it harder to hold back Osaka.

And Osaka played outstanding as always for the whole time that secured a quick and easy win, she smashed it 6-0 in the first set before Brengle began to catch up after the break while Osaka took time to escape Brengle & eventually made it past the finish line unscathed with the win.

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