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2025 Billie Jean King Cup Qualifying Round Group D: Australia finish 2nd in their group having just missed out the Top 8 Finals after being too good for Colombia

by Sports Benches

The Aussie women’s team may not be first but they ain’t the last either when they were simply too good for Colombia this afternoon at Brisbane’s Pat Rafter Arena.

They’re happy to take away with the 3-0 series clean sweep where we began the day of 18-year-old adopted Aussie from the USA Maya Joint, whose team debut was a bitter pill to swallow the other day v her Kazakh opponent, and she had no issues this time at all against Yuliana Monroy in straight sets by 6-1, 6-0. 

Then there’s a bit of rain going on for a few minutes ahead of the next singles match and yes, this next one was a bit more difficult on the competitive speed dial, particularly in the 2nd set when the other Yuliana in Lizarazo began to make up some lost time and then took some medical time out. But again, Kim Birrell delivered what she wanted for the Aussies and there goes the joy following another straight sets Aussie team win – 6-1, 6-3.

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And last but not least, how good was Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez together?

They just crushed the Colombian doubles pair fair and square to sign off with a fantastic finish to the qualifying round – again another too good one of 6-0, 6-1.

What’s even better is that Hunter and Perez will be playing together more often when it comes to the upcoming clay court matches including the next grand slam at Roland Garros late next month which is good news indeed. Not only that, glad Birrell made her home front proud when she received some unwavering support from her team-mates and family. 

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Plus, Maya should be proud of herself in the way she responded today with a class of her own. I’m sure she will kick on from there to make up more amazing moments when it comes to future grand slams at senior level that can help boost her profile with experience in the years to come.

Ahh…wished they did better where at least one singles win v the Kazakh would probably still put us in a fighting spot but then Kazakhstan were also too good yesterday v the Colombians as well. 

So no can do unfortunately as the Kazakhs will now go to Shenzhen mid-September to have a crack at the prestigious BJK Cup crown while the Aussies will at least have to keep their starting qualifying spot for 2026 with the 2nd-tier Playoffs sometime this November.

For now, I’m glad our doubles stronghold will continue to be at its absolute best. 

However, we just need a singles leader figure that can help the Aussies go all the way with titles next time, and they need to find that ideal Ash Barty replacement ASAP for at least the next few years.

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Storm Hunter has stood tall from start to finish in a three-set win during the 2nd Round v Germany’s Laura Siegemund

by Sports Benches

Here’s another terrific amongst Aussies at the Australian Open on Day 4 earlier today and shoutout to 29-year-old Qualifier Storm Hunter who eliminated Germany’s Laura Siegemund in the toughest of challenges over at John Cain Arena. They both had great starts & restarts with Hunter having the early lead while Siegemund is great when it comes to the rebound. However, it can only be one winner & Hunter has answered Australia’s United Cup semi-final defeat with her grand slam singles win against one of the lead-up title winning opponents out of a three-set contest (4-6, 6-3 & 3-6). 

She’s normally the best in the world when it comes to the doubles circuit, but looks like Hunter is making waves here as well as a singles player in front of her home crowd. This is the first time she will be playing in the third round at a grand slam after making the 2nd round last year at Ronald Garros in Paris. As said, she had some tough duels against Siegemund, whom she faced recently a few weeks ago at the United Cup semi-final in a losing mixed doubles effort with Matt Ebden. But this time Hunter is the one that stood tall one-on-one along the way where the early lead and the patience needed to get the job done has gave many reasons why she is not going to back down without a fight – how good! Now she will take on 9th seed & 2021 French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova from Czech Republic for the 3R. And fair play to Siegemund with a brilliant effort on the court where she gave Hunter a hard time at times to try and stop her in its tracks. She gave herself the chance to get the job done following the 2nd stage win but couldn’t do so against the resistance of Hunter’s final set performance under pressure towards the end there with the loss. She might be a great team player but the German only made the Quarter-Final once at the 2020 US Open, so that is something she will need to work on & bounce back better next time.

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Tennis: Australia’s 2024 United Cup campaign has come to a close as their semi opponents Germany have eventually swooped the trophy v Poland in Sydney

by Sports Benches

Oh so close but what a run though by the Aussies after they were unfortunately eliminated from the United Cup semi-finals in the early hours of Sunday morning by Germany, having lost the mixed deciding doubles match 1-2.

Ajla Tomjlanovic fired off really well in the first set, but couldn’t find a way to kick on and hold Angelique Kerber back who was amazing from the set down to bring home a two-set win at the tiebreak (6-4, 2-6 & 6-7 – 7-9 tie). Meanwhile, Alex De Minaur gave the home fans so much hope to keep that run alive. He too bounced back from that close opening set loss with the win v Alexander Zverev (5-7, 6-3, 6-4) to level the semi-final series at 1-1 for Australia where his individual brilliance on the court will see him being ranked World No.10 in the ATP ladder next week. Let’s hope he can have the best Australian Open campaign yet starting next Sunday.

The tables have then turned on Storm Hunter & Matt Ebden to bring it home against Zverev again & Laura Siegemund for a spot to face Poland in the Final who defeated France the other day in a 3-0 whitewash. Now this was such an unreal deciding mixed doubles tie to watch, even though it did go past midnight. They all won each set in the first two (Germany in Stage 1 & Australia in Stage 2) before it went all the way through the best of 10 as Zverev’s decision to stay on has paid off for Germany that broke the hearts of the Aussie team & their fans itself on home turf at Ken Rosewall Arena. The final score was 6-2 – 2-7 tie, 7-6 – 7-2 tie & 13-15.

And speaking on Team Germany, they too have went on to become this year’s United Cup Champions after USA. Yes, these series of finals ties v Poland did end up going just past midnight but gotta say that Zverev has saved the day once again. 

Now He almost lost the match and even the final at one stage by Hubert Hurkacz after Iga Swiatek was too for Kerber (6-3, 6-0) earlier in the evening before he kept his country’s hopes alive going into the championship-winning doubles decider after three hours of play (7-6 with 7-3 tie, 6-7 with 6-8 tie & 4-6). Not only he and Siegmund has played really well right through the every end v Swiatek and Hurkacz again, but they too found both the finish line & the United Cup trophy via the final set tiebreak (4-6, 7-5 & 4-10).

All that’s left to come this week is the Adelaide International, Kooyong Classic, Women’s Hobart International & Men’s Auckland ASB Classic in New Zealand before the main event arrives for the Australian Open at Melbourne Park that will take 15 days beginning on Sunday.

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Tennis: 2024 Australia United Cup team performance in Perth review ahead of the 2nd semi-final this Saturday in Sydney 

by Sports Benches

Well, Australia has done extremely well so far despite the opening tie loss v Great Britain last week (29th December). But we got our strong doubles pair of Storm Hunter & Matt Ebden who continued to give us hope all along. Speaking of hope/luck, things ended up our way after USA defeated Great Britain on the 31st December before the Aussies got away on top of Group C a few days back also with the help of Hunter/Ebden thanks to a deciding doubles match win also v USA.

There’s one more match to settle though before the chance to fly into Sydney for the remaining knockout rounds (semi-final & final) this weekend when it comes to the Quarter-Final & that was a tough one to look out beforehand last night v Serbia.

Fortunately, Alex De Minaur reigned supreme in the best of challenges v Novak Djokovic in straight sets while Ajla Tomjlanovic has secured their early bird flight ticket before Hunter & Ebden secured a 3-0 whitewash that sums up a brilliant way to wrap up their performances at the heart of WA in Perth. Now the Australian United Cup team is on their way to Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney now ahead of the 2nd semi-final tomorrow v Greece or Germany. They are both strong contenders alongside Poland now that the defending champs USA have been eliminated after they were unable to finish off as the best 2nd placed teams in the Perth group. Let’s hope our strong team performances (Davis Cup & Billie Jean Cup not last year’s run) off the back of 2023 will help them go one better towards winning that United Cup trophy on home soil by the end of this weekend.

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