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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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Olympics Tennis News: Novak Djokovic finally achieves his long-awaited Olympic Games dream following a close straight sets win over Carlos Alcaraz

by Sports Benches

That was another close match between two of the best Tennis players we’ve had seen really this time in an Olympics level by both veteran Novak Djokovic from Serbia and rising star Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz for the gold medal match at Court Phillipe Chatrier. After two really close sets that all both ended via tiebreaks, the veteran stood out strong in none other than Djokovic who finally found the missing puzzle with the gold medal win.

The final score was 7-6 with 7-3 tiebreak and also 7-6 with 7-2 tiebreak that lasted nearly three hours in 2 hours & 50 mins.

Not bad from Alcaraz for a start when he got the ball rolling but then he began to struggle when it comes to the tiebreak under pressure and that’s where he was outrun by Djokovic on both occasions unfortunately here and there. Now that Djokovic had his moments and he’s age 37 right now, let’s hope he can get an Olympic gold at least but that will have to come in 2028 at Los Angeles. Plus, great to see him play at the Roland Garros over this past week alongside his idol and also veteran grand slam champion Rafael Nadal for a couple in the doubles too who played his last few matches for good.

At last but not least, Djokovic has conquered it all having won 3 x Roland Garros titles that now includes an Olympics gold medal at the same Roland Garros venue. Not only he got away against Rafa earlier this week during the 2nd round but he also just defeated another Spaniard involving Rafa’s heir in Alcaraz overnight for gold. Okay, the first couple of games during the first set wasn’t easy. However, he never gave up as always that cemented his place as a veteran grand slam star, and yet he’s done it including a long 2nd set where Djokovic stood his ground well through the very end to end his 16-year long wait – well done!!

Looks like it’s well and truly going to be the last time we’ve see these legends on-court with Rafa now retired while Novak may still have a bit longer to go before he too will eventually a call a day at some point but mostly like before LA 2028 by then. For now, bring on the 4th and final grand slam season of 2024 with the US Open tournament in New York beginning at the end of August to early September. 

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Olympics Tennis News: Super Saturday at Court Phillipe Chatrier with both the men’s doubles final as Matt Ebden & John Peers won gold including the women’s singles final

by Sports Benches

What a Final it was at Court Phillipe Chatrier as Matt Ebden and John Peers are now Olympic champions in the Men’s Doubles Final over Team USA’s duo of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram out of a tight three set contest. The last time Australia won a gold medal there at an Olympics level was back in Atlanta in 1996 by both Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde. Now fast forward to 28 years, Australia finally got their first gold medal in the 21st century for Tennis thanks to the superstar doubles duo of Ebden & Peers.

It wasn’t the easiest of starts when Ebden and Peers were behind earlier on, even though they had some fair share of battles before Team USA locked themselves in with the 1st set lead. But the game wasn’t over just yet when they began to turn themselves around from the set down & that paid off big time where they kept on going by putting their opponents under pressure until the very end. Now they might have almost lost 3 out of 4 gold medal points but at least that crucial final serve was good enough to see off both Krajicek and Ram for the gold medal win.

Commiserations from Krajicek and Ram whom they played oh so well off the back of a good headstart to stay ahead of Ebden and Peers. They never gave them an easy run for sure but they did however have slipped away at times following the 1-0 set lead where the final set best of ten tiebreak decider has been activated by Australia before Peers had the last say for the final serve for that gold medal point.

And how good was China Qinwen Zheng who finally got her breakthrough that may not be exactly at a grand slam at this stage but at least she won a gold medal at the Roland Garros with the straight sets (6-2 & 6-3) win over Croatia’s Donna Vekic. She too had a powerful first set performance while Zheng took her time well v the improving Vekic as the match goes on before she stood her ground that made her an Olympics champion for China. Sure she has unfinished ahead and that will be winning a grand slam after she fell short to Aryna Sabalenka back in late January of this year at Melbourne Park.

On Vekic, it wasn’t the match she wanted when she fired off not bad on both sets including some progress from the opening set down. But just couldn’t catch up nor found the long run consistency to put Zheng under pressure. She did make Croatia proud though as Vekic collected the silver medal ahead of Iga Swiatek from Poland who won bronze v Anna Karolína Schmiedlová from Slovakia (6-2 & 6-1).

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Olympics Tennis News: Carlos Alcaraz too good for Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semi with Matt Ebden & John Peers also on their way to an Olympic Gold Final in the doubles

by Sports Benches

What a way to finish off Friday here with two brilliant semi-final Tennis matches we’ve just saw tonight at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris coming from Stade Roland Garros where Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz was too good for Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets (6-1, 6-1) & so does our Aussie doubles pair of Matt Ebden & John Peers (7-5, 6-2) also in straight sets during the 2nd men’s doubles semi against USA’s Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz. Alcaraz will await his next opponent for Sunday’s gold medal match between the winner of the other men’s semi-final in either Serbian legend Novak Djokovic or Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti (another Wimby rematch from last month) later on while Ebden/Peers isn’t done with Team USA just yet going into tomorrow night where they will take on Austin Kraijcek & Rajeev Ram for the Men’s Doubles gold medal match.

It wasn’t Auger-Aliassime’s day today having came here off a great run up until this point including two good wins against Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round and Norway’s Casper Ruud in the Quarter-Finals the other day. However, going up against a seasoned grand slam champ is never easy to say unfortunately and that proved too good to be true other than some early head starts v Alcaraz. His time isn’t done yet with the Bronze Medal match tomorrow to hopefully give Canada another medal against whoever loses the other semi final in either Djokovic or Musetti. Looking at Alcaraz now, he’s simply unstoppable – that’s all! He too never looked out of place having dominated all two sets en route to an Olympics gold medal Final. Looks like it’s going to be another round of Alcaraz v Djokovic if Djokovic can win v Musetti again later on as the young Spaniard would love to win another major honour at the same Court Phillipe Chatrier all in the one year this time for gold.

And how good was Ebden and Peers on what has been an unreal performance to hold off Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz in straight sets. That first stage was really close where they both found a way to get out unscathed and although they had a few bumps along the way with the 1-0 lead but at least both Ebden and Peers took their time well to wrap all things up for the semi-final win. Hard luck to Paul and Fritz by the way who weren’t far off the pace of Ebden and Peers throughout the opening set but struggled mightily to stay in the game during the set, even though a couple of late saves wasn’t enough to warrant them a big turnaround from there. Now Ebden and Peers are one stop closer now to emulating “The Woodies” pair of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde from Atlanta 96′ if they can get this done tomorrow & Australia is surely right behind them.

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Olympics News: China’s Qinwen Zheng def. The Queen of Clay Iga Swiatek in straight sets en route to an Olympic Women’s Tennis Final

by Sports Benches

The Queen of Clay from Poland Iga Swiatek won’t be able to add another major honour other than her successive Roland Garros trophies in the Olympics gold medal this time around following her straight sets loss in the women’s singles semi-final v China’s Qinwen Zheng, who was also runner-up at the 2024 Australian Open Final back in January to Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, 2-6 & 5-7. She didn’t have a great start earlier on and although she did the best possible to keep that semi alive so Iga can activate that 3rd set decider, but it wasn’t meant to be when Zheng found a way to shut her down towards the end.

I don’t know when the next Olympics tennis tournament will be on clay but probably not for another long while like for a few decades unfortunately in which she may be well and truly reaching retirement by then. What she can do though is at least finish off on a high when it comes to the Bronze Medal Match this weekend v the losing player from the other semi-final.

We’ll see how that goes between Anna Karolina Schmiedlova from Slovakia v Croatian Donna Vekic who defeated NZ’s Lulu Sun during the Wimbledon Quarter-Final last month.

And how good was Qinwen Zheng with that magnificent performance in the hope of now winning her first major title that may not be a grand slam honour just yet but at least a Olympic Games Gold Medal would be nice to take home. She had an easy first set and while she had some challenges along the way that is going to make or break when being tested against the Queen of Clay (Iga Swiatek), she too never gave up with plenty of fight to hold Iga back and that was one thing Zheng pulled off well by seeing light at the end of the tunnel on what has been another of her best plays today. Now she’s ready to bring home an Olympics gold medal for China which she could be the first one to do so as a singles player and the last time China won a medal in Tennis was Li Ting & Sun Tiantian during the women’s doubles tournament exactly 20 years back in Athens.

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Tennis news today: Carlos Alcaraz reigns supreme once again with his 2nd straight Gentlemen’s singles Wimbledon crown in straight sets from last night v Novak Djokovic

by Sports Benches

It has been another main event rematch of the best youngster Carlos Alcaraz v the best veteran Novak Djokovic at Centre Court for the 2024 Wimbledon Gentleman’s Singles Final after an incredible two weeks through the early rounds and then the 2nd week Finals until were left with the last two remaining in SW19. The winner of the Final belongs to Alcaraz, who was simply too good all along including that 3rd set arm wrestle through the very end of that stage, as he successfully defended his crown here for the second straight year in straight sets: 6-2, 6-2 & 7-6 via the 7-4 tiebreak. Now it will be a week-long break before the next Summer Olympics will arrive on what is going to be another two weeks beginning next Friday 26th July.

It’s a bummer from Djokovic whose grand slam run this year didn’t see him hoist any of the three majors so far & he’s only got the US Open left to hopefully finish things off on a high come early September, especially being the age of 37. He gave his all with class at times including the 3rd set to try and keep himself in the game but he was way off the pace for the most part unfortunately with Alcaraz being the better player throughout the Final. He might had some great battles both past, present and the future of these Spaniards – we’ll see how long he’s got left before he eventually calls it a day alongside Rafael Nadal.

And Alcaraz is the man of the hour and the day right now at SW19’s Centre Court following another brilliant performance during a Final on the grass courts last night. As said, he was too good through the first two sets over a veteran champion who is around the mid to late 30s. Now that’s without saying that Alcaraz had the easiest time ever when Djokovic did his best to keep him in check, particularly during the 3rd set. But at the end of the day as most elite champions need to do, Alcaraz demonstrated his toughness well through the very end of that stage to close out in three straight sets. What’s next for him now is to win the Olympic Tennis gold in Paris in a few weeks time, as well as winning the US Open again later this year & then he can go and finally be the next Australian Open champ come January 2025 at Melbourne Park – more to come soon enough.

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Tennis news: Barbora Krejcikova def. Jasmine Paolini for the Wimbledon ladies’ singles title for 2024 last night via the best of three sets

by Sports Benches

Last night’s Wimbledon ladies singles’ final of 2024 was epic where there were two first time finalists with Jasmine Paolini & Barbora Krejcikova but only one can settle to take home the Venus Rosewater Dish trophy at the finish line. At the start, Krejcikova had an easy 1st set lead but that doesn’t mean Paolini can’t either who also won an easy 2nd set battle brought this Final into a final set decider. It was neck and neck between those two in a one-set drag race but Paolini’s inconsistency to get the job done including at deuces forced Krejcikova’s hand, and she too found a way to get the job done past a series championship point attempts on has been her 2nd grand slam crown since the 2021 Roland Garros on the clay courts.

The final score at SW19 was 6-2, 2-6 and 6-4 as Wimbledon 2024 will wrap up tonight on the 14th and final day’s play with a main event repeat from last year between Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) v Novak Djokovic (Serbia) for the Gentleman’s singles Final.

Commiserations to Paolini with another grand slam runner-up finish following an excellent year so far, having built on that Roland Garros breakthrough with a couple of good wins here and there until the very end. She can be exceptionally mobile despite not being the tallest where the Italian had some good moments including that 2nd set comeback. She’s probably struggled to finish off the puzzle unfortunately when trying to win that arm wrestle towards the end. This is someone Italy should be cheering for on top of Jannik Sinner & Paolini will vow to keep on chasing that breakthrough title soon enough.

And what a moment for Krejcikova with another grand slam singles crown in a while over these last few years. She might be in and out of the Quarter-Finals on a couple of occasions since her 2021 Roland Garros breakthrough win, but the Czech never let her game slip away where class is permanent that gave her country another Wimbledon women’s singles crown after Marketa Vondrousova last year. She’s got some unfinished business ahead to have a regular crack in the last 8 during the 2nd week every year where she will need to keep that consistency at times. But other than that, she played another of her best matches last night & congratulations once again to Krejcikova who is now the new Wimbledon women’s singles champion.

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It’s the Spanish rising star Alcaraz v Seasoned Serbian legend Djokovic now for Sunday’s Wimbledon Final following their respective semi-final wins v Medvedev and Musetti

by Sports Benches

Daniil Medvedev’s hopes of a Wimbledon breakthrough Final will have to wait next time after he lost to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz despite having the opening set via the tiebreak. However, Medvedev just couldn’t build on that good start unfortunately where he lost it the whole way through no matter how close he was before it was too late, and that puts the Spaniard to the Final spotlight once again as Alcaraz had the better pull to wrap things up (7-6 via 7-1 tie, 3-6, 4-6 & 4-6). 

Then in the 2nd semi Lorenzo Musetti put up a best show on what has been his first grand slam semi-final at age 22 including the 2nd set that gave him a 2nd chance to try close things out at the tiebreak. At the end of the day though, it was Novak Djokovic who dominated Centre Court all along in straight sets – even when going up against another young gun wasn’t easy    before he found a way to settle the score with him (4-6, 6-7 via. 2-7 tie and 4-6). 

Now it’s the rising star v the seasoned veteran for the men’s singles trophy come tomorrow night. Novak still has some unfinished business left to add yet another grand slam title onto his big trophy cabinet & he won’t let that young superstar stop him that is the next big thing after his former arch-rival Rafa Nadal. Meanwhile, Alcaraz has been at the top of his game with lots of energy to outshine the Djoker to make it two Men’s Wimbledon titles – having just won the Roland Garros on clay last month on top of his Wimbledon crown last year as well as the US Open nearly two years ago. 

Two days to go now with the women’s singles Final later tonight at SW19, which is 2024 Roland Garros runner-up Jasmine Paolini (Italy) v 2021 Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic). Then it’s showtime to finish the 14th & final day’s play tomorrow night between Alcaraz v Djokovic on what has been another great fortnight of Wimbledon in 2024.

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2024 Wimbledon women’s singles semi-finals: Back-to-Back 3rd set finishers where four become two now with Jasmine Paolini v Barbora Krejcikova set for Saturday’s Final

by Sports Benches

Last night’s Wimbledon women’s singles semi-finals day at SW19 was really good to watch with back-to-back three set ties that went down the wire as four finalists now set to become two ahead of Saturday’s main event at Centre Court. It’s going to be Jasmine Paolini from Italy going up against another Czech Republic player but this time in Barbora Krejcikova. Three more days to go with the Men’s semi-final day kicking off tonight with Daniil Medvedev v Carlos Alcaraz followed by Lorenzo Musetti v Novak Djokovic, with Djokovic not required to play the last eight two days ago due to Alex De Minaur’s hip injury.

Semi-Final 1

Croatian Donna Vekic who defeated NZ’s Lulu Sun the other day in the last 8 got away with a fast start before Jasmine Paolini didn’t give up at all by holding Vekic back on both sets – even though it wasn’t easy to pull off at all. However, the Italian finally saw light at the end of the tunnel on what is going to be another grand slam singles final following her breakthrough at Roland Garros last month. She hopes to go one better having fell short to the Queen of Clay Iga Swiatek from Poland including her same doubles final appearance that next day as the final score was 6-2, 4-6 and 6-7 with the 8-10 tiebreaker.

This is a breakthrough Vekic should be proud of after finally being able to go through in her first grand slam semi-final hoping she can go all the way following a really good start. She just couldn’t get the best out of Paolini as the game goes on & that semi-finals exit at the deciding end was really unfortunate. Let’s hope she can overcome that inconsistency after a few past rare Quarter-Final outings.

Paolini is having the time of her life at 28 and the way she stood up to Vekic was unbelievable from the opening set down to finishing off her way towards the finish line via a close arm wrestle. She might not be tall but so quick to wrap things up that Vekic couldn’t do to stop the ball from slipping past her in its tracks. It’s not too late from Paolini to become such a late bloomer in the elite world of grand slam tennis as this next breakthrough awaits in the hope of finally winning a major there.

Semi-Final 2

Now that tie had same difficulty shared by both players, although that was done without tiebreaks. 2022 Champion from Kazakhstan Elena Rybakina had a brilliant charge to open the match with the opening set lead but the game wasn’t over just yet when Barbora Krejcikova had a terrific restart to level the scoreboard at 1-1. Although that 3rd set battle was another arm wrestle with Rybakina not holding back to try and hold off top spot, but it was Krejcikova who got away unscathed on what is going to be another big match-up since her 2021 Roland Garros Final triumph. The final score was 3-6, 6-3 and 6-4.

Good to see Rybakina bounce back from that early-round disappointment at the Australian Open back in January with back-to-back knockout matches so far this year including this tourney at Wimbledon as sure she’ll keep on doing better from here. The only thing that held back her is the inconsistency following a good start but then struggled to keep Krejcikova away from her sight including during the final set decider under pressure before it was too late that sealed her semi-final elimination outside the Top 2 spots. There’s the Olympics coming up in a few weeks time back on clay where she didn’t do bad there as said with the Roland Garros up until the last 8 & she also did well in 4th behind Elina Svitolina during the last Summer edition in Tokyo.

And Krejcikova is here to fly the Czech flag hoping to give her country another Wimbledon women’s singles trophy this time by herself. She had some issues at the beginning but has always been great to hold her ground v Rybakina for the most part where she brought up the 3rd set decider before she overcame such a tough arm wrestle towards the finish line and she has done it in the hope of taking her 2nd grand slam women’s singles’ title this time on the grass courts. Other than a couple of rare Quarter-Final appearances, she has never lost in a Final before & Saturday could be another one of her best days yet as we’ll see how the Czech will go against someone is so quick & mobile in Paolini.

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Thoughts on Alex De Minaur forced to pull out from Wimbledon due to a hip injury with Novak Djokovic now through to the another semi-final now via walkover

by Sports Benches

We thought we all have woken up this morning hoping Alex De Minaur has played in another grand slam Quarter-Final this time on the grass courts at Wimbledon, even if it means taking on Novak Djokovic. However, a hip injury stopped him from taking part unfortunately where he limped towards the end the other day v Arthur Fils in the R16, and that is going to take some time to recover at this stage. With that being said, Djokovic will go straight to the semis against 25th seed Italian Lorenzo Musetti – an opponent De Minaur would’ve like to face had he took part & win that upset.

It’s a bummer that he couldn’t bring himself to Centre Court just hours before his next scheduled match, having endured an excellent grand slam campaign so far this year. We know that recovery time means he will be out for the Olympics by representing the Australian Olympic Team, but you never know if he can recover in time for the US Open that will begin in late August-early September. If not, another good Davis Cup run followed by homecoming return in January would be the perfect chance for De Minaur to finally make such a big impact like Ash Barty.

For now, we wish De Minaur a speedy recovery while Wimbledon will continue with the semis tonight. It will begin with back-to-back women’s singles matches that will follow the same with the men’s singles matches throughout Friday night & overnight Saturday morning.

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