Stanford: Venus vs. Riske
Venus Williams takes on Alison Riske in the semifinals of the Bank of the West Classic.
Venus Williams takes on Alison Riske in the semifinals of the Bank of the West Classic.
Top seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza eased into the last eight of the Australian Open mixed doubles event with Mike Bryan and Ivan Dodig, respectively.
Highlights from first round action at the Brisbane International.
An interview with Johanna Konta after her win in the final of the Bank of the West Classic.
MELBOURNE, Australia – No.2 seeds Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig overcame a stern test from the unseeded Gabriela Dabrowski and Rohan Bopanna to move into the semifinals of the mixed doubles competition at the Australian Open.
Mirza and Dodig needed one hour and seven minutes to complete the 6-4, 3-6, (12-10) victory despite hitting 19 winners to Dabrowski and Bopanna’s 32.
It was an interesting match for Mirza in particular, as the last time she shared a court with Bopanna they were on the same side of the net at the Olympic tennis event in Rio representing India in doubles. They finished fourth in the competition after losing the bronze medal match.
Up next for Mirza and Dodig will be a potential clash with another familiar pair of faces for the Indian World No.2, as they’ll take on either Mirza’s former doubles partner Martina Hingis and fellow Indian star Leander Paes or the Aussie duo Samantha Stosur and Sam Groth.
Also through to the semifinals are the unseeded duo of Abigail Spears and Juan Sebastian Cabal, who defeated Michaella Krajicek and Raven Klaasen, 6-4 6-3. They’ll face the winners between the top-seeded Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Mike Bryan or Elina Svitolina and Chris Guccione.
It’s the first podcast of the brand new season!
On Episode 12 we ring in the 2016 season at the first Premier tournament of the season at the Brisbane International, and take a quick look at what’s on tap at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, and the Shenzhen Open. I also sit down for a catch up with a very relaxed Simona Halep before she begins her 2016 season with a new coach in Darren Cahill and new outlook on life. Finally, the last time I spoke with Andrea Petkovic she was in tears in Zhuhai, genuinely questioning whether it was time to walk away from tennis. Now we sit down in Brisbane to get an update on how she rekindled her passion during the off-season.
“I still love tennis, the raw essence of the sport,” Petkovic said. “I may not always be in love with the world around it, but I love the essence, and that’s why I picked it up. It was me who made the choice; nobody pushed me into becoming a professional tennis player. So, I sort of made my peace with that.”
Hear more about Petkovic’s reconciliation and Halep’s new attitude:
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Highlights from final round action at the Bank of the West Classic.
Belinda Bencic takes on Sara Errani in the first round of the Brisbane International.
An interview with Barbora Strycova after her win in the first round of the Rogers Cup.
Serena Williams says that playing her big sister in the Australian Open final means it’s a win-win situation for her…