Australian open 2017 results

Petra Kvitova warmed up for Wimbledon by winning the Eastbourne singles title for the first time with a 6-3, 6-2 rout of Jelena Ostapenko on Saturday. Kvitova needed just 77 minutes to finish off former French Open champion Ostapenko as the Czech veteran produced the kind of dominant grass-court tennis that earned her two Wimbledon titles. The 32-year-old, who lost the 2011 Eastbourne final to Marion Bartoli, ended Ostapenko’s reign as the women’s champion at Devonshire Park in emphatic fashion, demolishing the Latvian with her booming serve and fierce forehands. ALSO READ | Wimbledon Favourite Iga Swiatek Says Still Figuring Out Grass “I had already experienced losing in a final, so I guess I am lucky. Playing on the grass is very special for me, especially when you step onto a beautiful court such as here,” Kvitova said. “It’s really nice to play in front of the people again; in the pandemic it was a really tough time, it’s such a better feeling.” Kvitova’s 29th … [Read more...] about Petra Kvitova Wins Eastbourne to Bolster Wimbledon Prospects

The Championships at Wimbledon, one of the four most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world, began on Monday without the top-ranked men’s player in the world, who the tournament banned for being Russian. The organization managing Wimbledon, the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, announced in April that it would ban players of Russian nationality from participating in the tournament in protest of the Russian government’s expanded invasion of Ukraine. Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, colonizing the country’s Crimean peninsula and credibly believed to be backing ethnic Russian separatist groups in the eastern Donbass region of the country. Wimbledon officials did not change the policies of the tournament in any way to address the first eight years of the war but responded to the escalation in February that resulted in Russian troops invading more western parts of Ukraine — including the capital, Kyiv — by banning Russian players. Contrasting with its Russia … [Read more...] about Wimbledon Begins Without #1 Men’s Player, Banned for Being Russian

Rafael Nadal overcame a huge scare to reach the Wimbledon second round on Tuesday. Elsewhere title contender Matteo Berrettini was forced to pull out of the tournament with coronavirus. Elsewhere on day two of the Championships, women’s top seed Iga Swiatek extended her winning streak to 36 matches and Serena Williams returned to singles tennis after a year away. An off-key Nadal, already halfway to a calendar Grand Slam after winning the Australian Open and French Open, dug deep to beat Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. “Three years without being here on this amazing surface, it is amazing to be back and I can’t thank (people) enough for the support,” said the Spaniard, who has not played at Wimbledon since 2019. “It is not a surface that we play very often, especially in my case. In the last three years I didn’t put any foot on the grass.” The Spaniard appeared to be coasting to victory when he took a two-set lead but his Argentine opponent won the third set and then … [Read more...] about Nadal survives first round Wimbledon scare; Covid-19 forces Berrettini out