Tennis

The world number one extended her win streak to seven games but she wasn’t as dominant on serve against Maneiro as we could have expected. She won only 61% of 1st serve points which is well below par for her but was helped by winning the points that mattered – converting five of six break point opportunities. The defending Australian Open champion now faces a player that has started the season in fine style. Tauson won the ASB Classic in Auckland, where she defeated the likes of Keys, Kenin and Osaka. She crushed her most recent opponent but her 2nd…

Medvedev is coming off a terrible opening round performance and it may kick him into gear. There is no way that he should have gone five sets against Samrej and the score in the three sets that he won (6-1, 6-2 and 6-2) reflects that. Expecting him to get back on track here against a teenager who has some glaring weaknesses in his game. Firstly, let it be known that Tien is no slouch. He lost to Fonseca in the Next Gen Finals and has won 4 Challenger Tour events in the last 6 months, not to mention a stack…

Rybakina put on a serving clinic for the ages against Australian teenager Emerson Jones. The ability to hold serve in women’s tennis is invaluable, and after notching up 11 aces in only 7 games, the rest of the field has been put on notice. She now faces another teenager in 17-year-old Iva Jovic who has come up through the juniors alongside Jones. In fact, she lost to Emerson Jones in the semi finals of the Girl’s Singles at Wimbledon last year which provides us with an accurate gauge of where she is at but she defends better than the Aussie…

It was no surprise to see Zverev get through his opening round match against Pouille without dropping a set. He has been completely dominant on serve, especially against lower ranked players, and Martinez is no exception. The pair locked horns on clay in Hamburg last year with the German winning 6-2 6-4. Important things to note… Clay is Martinez’ favourite surface yet he was unable to generate a single break of serve. Expecting Zverev to win 90% of 1st serve points and at least half of his second serve points which means Martinez will not break serve. Take Zverev to…