The X Blog - Dysfunctional Tennis Blogging at its Finest

January 13th, 2018

Resurgent Kerber Reinforces Australian Open Favorite Status After Winning WTA Sydney

“I am playing amazing tennis again and feeling just great,” Kerber said following the final. “It feels very good to win my first title in my first tournament this year. I have had a great week and the final was not easy against Ash but I was able to play my game in important moments. I feel like I am getting closer to my 2016 level.”

Posted by Staff @ 1:03 pm in Tennis | 1 Comment »

January 13th, 2018

Medvedev Halts Fairytale Run of Aussie De Minuar in ATP Sydney Final for 1st Title

“I mean, to make it through the qualies, there were so many circumstances,” Medvedev said afterwards. “I wanted to go to Auckland, because my girlfriend had a visa to New Zealand, and not even one guy withdrew from Auckland…now I won here. So just amazing.”

Posted by Staff @ 12:15 pm in Tennis | 2 Comments »

January 7th, 2018

Muguruza, 4 of Top 10 at WTA/ATP Sydney; Preview

Four of the Top 10 seeds and a field LOADED with floaters…The Top 2 seeds receive opening-round byes…Interesting openers for (1) Muguruza vs. the veteran Bertens, (7) Goerges vs. Stosur (winner to meet Gavrilova), (3) Ostapenko vs. Makarova, (6) Stephens vs. (Q) Giorgi (winner to meet Kvitova), (4) Konta vs. Radwanska, (8) Sevastova vs. Cibulkova, and (2) Williams vs. the Safarova/Kerber winner…

Posted by Staff @ 12:57 am in Tennis | Comments Off on Muguruza, 4 of Top 10 at WTA/ATP Sydney; Preview

January 16th, 2016

From Match Point Down, Troicki Turns Trick for ATP Sydney Title

“It’s in the game. Obviously it was Viktor’s day today. I think everything was pretty much going on his side…It’s been a while for me to be in a final. I think even early on I was nervous, but I still played good tennis.”

Posted by Staff @ 1:04 pm in Tennis | 59 Comments »

January 16th, 2015

Kvitova Enters Oz with WTA Sydney Title Under Belt

No. 2 seed Petra Kvitova enters the Australian Open on a hot streak, on Friday capturing the title at the APIA International Sydney WTA event with a 7-6(5), 7-6(6) win over unseeded fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova.

Posted by Staff @ 2:01 pm in Tennis | 3 Comments »

January 13th, 2015

Del Potro Wins, Meets Car Crash Fognini Next at ATP Sydney

Fognini was a car crash generally in 2014, flipping off Shanghai fans with the middle finger, threatening an official in Madrid, spouting racist remarks at Hamburg, and at Wimbledon rolling out a slew of mis-adventures that resulted in $27,500 in fines.

Posted by Staff @ 11:00 am in Tennis | 33 Comments »

January 10th, 2015

Tennis-X Previews: Sydney, Hoe-bart, More; X-Notes!

We thought Serena was all warm and fuzzy these days, hanging with bestie Caroline Wozniacki at the end of 2014, complimenting others, having charity events, showing her warm side, giving lollipops to children, but Evil Serena reared her head yesterday at the Hopman Cup when she choked the mixed doubles and called the chair umpire a liar! YOU’RE A LIAR! Here’s to an eventful 2015!

Posted by Staff @ 11:15 pm in Tennis | 9 Comments »

January 4th, 2014

Del Potro in Sydney; ATP/WTA Tennis Previews

Notes: Sam Stosur still injured?…Tough draws for (3) Vesnina against the Puerto Rican riser Puig, and (5) Pennetta against the former No. 1 Venus…Venus on the small-tournament guarantee-cash circuit this year?…Wildcards went to Aussies Casey Dellacqua, Olivia Rogowska and Storm Sanders…Storm Sanders is an awesome sports name, period…Pulling from the tournament were Nadia Petrova, Ashleigh Barty and Stefanie Voegele…Vesnina in last year’s final beat Barthel…Returning former champs in the field are Vesnina (2013), Barthel (2012), and Jie Zheng (2005).

Posted by Staff @ 10:52 pm in Tennis | 1 Comment »

January 6th, 2013

ATP/WTA Previews: Sydney, Auckland, More

Notes: Weak field with no Top 10 and only two Top 20 participants…wildcards went to Aussies James Duckworth, Matthew Ebden and John Millman…Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet pulled from the event…Aussie intrigued with Tomic opening against countryman Marinko Matosevic…Top-seeded Isner a question mark after inuring his knee at the Hopman Cup…No. 2 Simon after a bye likely looking at a tough match-up against veteran and 2012 winner Jarkko Nieminen…Returning champions in the field are Nieminen (2012) and Simon (2011).

Posted by Staff @ 5:00 pm in Tennis | 5 Comments »

January 11th, 2012

Wozniacki Injured; Kvitova Asthma; WTA Drama Heightens at Sydney

Just when you thought the injury-o-rama in women’s tennis couldn’t get any worse, the race for the No. 1 ranking imploded on Wednesday at the Sydney event where world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki was injured during a loss that could have consequences for her Australian Open.

Posted by Staff @ 11:10 am in Tennis | 48 Comments »

January 8th, 2012

Previews: No. 1 Up for Grabs in Loaded WTA Sydney Field; DelPo Leads Men

The men and the women gather this week in Sydney for the Apia International, where No. 2 seed Petra Kvitova can claim the world No. 1 ranking if she can navigate a field containing No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. In fact the women’s field is so strong that No. 10-ranked Andrea Petkovic finds herself unseeded.

Posted by Staff @ 6:07 pm in Tennis | 4 Comments »

January 12th, 2011

Clijsters Strong Before Aussie Open: ATP/WTA Wednesday Round-Up

Two players on the sidelines are trying to figure out how to tweak their games in time for the Australian Open — both dealing with equipment issues. Maria Sharapova switched from her long-time Prince racquet to a multi-million sponsorship with HEAD, but last week lost early in her only WTA warm-up event. This week world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki debuted her cash-grab switch to Yonex, losing her opening-round match. Wozniacki vaulted to No. 1 behind her long-time association with her Babolat racquet. Before the event, Wozniacki and her Yonex won one game off Vera Zvonareva in an exhibition match.

Posted by Jeremy Davis @ 10:14 am in Tennis | 36 Comments »

January 8th, 2011

Querrey Leads Sydney with Del Potro Appearance; Auckland; ATP Previews

Notes: (8) Lu opens against Simon, and (6) Lopez vs. (WC) Del Potro; other wildcards to Brit James Ward and Aussie Matthew Ebden; Baghdatis beat Gasquet in last year’s final; Del Potro makes his first tournament appearance since October and only his third in the last 11 months after a right wrist injury that required surgery; American Donald Young lost in the qualifying as did Aussie Carsten Ball; seeds Querrey, Gulbis and Lopez have losing career records in Sydney; the Bryan brothers, winners in 2009, are the top seeds in the doubles; Baghdatis, the only returning champ in the field, is looking to become the first back-to-back winner since James Blake (2007-06); Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt (twice) won back-to-back titles, but no one has one three in a row in Sydney in the Open Era.

Posted by Staff @ 11:28 pm in Tennis | 35 Comments »

January 8th, 2011

Wozniacki, Clijsters, 7 of Top 10 in Sydney; Hobart; WTA Previews

The list of floaters almost as impressive as the seed list; tough openers include Kirilenko vs. Cibulkova (winner to face (1) Wozniacki), (5) Schiavone vs. Kleybanova (winner to likely face Hantuchova), possible (3) Clijsters vs. Petrova 2nd rd., former world No. 2 Kuznetova vs. (WC) Dokic, winner to face (4) Stosur vs. Wickmayer winner, (6) Jankovic vs. Rezai, and (2) Zvonareva vs. winner of Pennetta vs. qualifier; 7 of the Top 10 players present in Sydney; Elena Dementieva (now retired) beat Serena Williams (now injured) in the 2010 final…Clijsters (2007, ’03) is the lone returning champ in the field, in addition to the 2008-05 runner-ups Kuznetsova (2008), Jankovic (2007), Schiavone (2006), and Stosur (2005); 11 former No. 1 players have won the Sydney title.

Posted by Staff @ 3:09 pm in Tennis | 3 Comments »

January 15th, 2010

Serena Loses Sydney Final to Dementieva, Spins Loss

“It’s just a little pain and the strapping usually helps the pain go away sometimes,” Serena said.

Posted by Staff @ 10:56 am in Sydney | 7 Comments »