Match Point from Doha, Dubai & Acapulco

A week that Denis Shapovalov needed despite ending in defeat Denis Shapovalov should definitely look back on his week in Dubai and be content with it, I do think it was a week of tennis the Canadian needed, there does seem to be a bit of a hangover continuing to brew following his time in...

A late Jelena Ostapenko revival a little too late against Anett Kontaveit who dominated for a place in a 7th final in her last 12 tournaments

Two of the form players over the course of the season have been Anett Kontaveit and Jelena Ostapenko from Estonia and Latvia respectively. Both came to Doha on the back of titles, Anett has rocketed up the rankings in the last 6 months with 5 titles in as many months. Jelena has found that form...

Aryna Sabalenka becomes just the third player to win back to back Premier 5 titles with Doha win!

Aryna Sabalenka continues to grow on the WTA tour, a lot of of big wins have been in doubles with titles at Indian Wells, Miami and US Open last year. The Belarusian has began to make more and more. The 21 year old has six career singles titles, four of which were won since the...

Very best arrive in Doha but who needs a big week?

Believe me when I say the Australian Open feels like a lifetime ago having sat on Rod Laver Arena just a few weeks ago but time moves fast and now it's time to kick on! The draw in Melbourne has former number one Halep as top seed as well as some other big names in...

Kvitova’s comeback has been incredible and it keeps on getting better!

Comebacks don't get better than this. Just over 12 months ago Petra Kvitova was stabbed at home in her left hand multiple times by an intruder. There were concerns whether she'd get back to her highest level but after her return to tennis around 9 months ago she hasn't looked back and it's been a...

Mladenovic 6-2 6-4 Peng – Controlled and Calm performance after weekend heroics!

After her Fed Cup heroics for France at the weekend winning all three of her matches to edge past Belgium 3-2 you couldn't blame Kristina Mladenovic for taking the sting out of this one to conserve her energy for an upcoming week in Qatar. The French woman was cool, calm and composed throughout the match...

Niculescu 4-6 6-4 6-3 Sharapova – How a strong performance quickly turned unnecessarily messy!

When you say the name Monica Niculescu you know what you are going to get. That slice shot is one of the unique shots in the game and for the first set and a half Maria Sharapova played what I would describe as a fast, dominate and strong performance against the Romanian and then mid-way...

Bellis 7-5 4-1 Kasatkina – Russian retires with injury but ran out of ideas early on!

Daria Kasatkina is a player who is only 20 years old but has been on the tour for quite some time. However today against American qualifier CiCi Bellis the Russian ran out of ideas. The Russian who has one WTA singles title to her name has wins against Venus, Halep and Kerber before a victory...

Cibulkova 7-6 6-4 Pavlyuchenkova – Slovakian edges in cagey Qatar opener

Right from the beginning it felt like a match that the two came out not to lose. Breaks of serve were exchanged and there was a 'tentative' approach from both players who are usually confident with approach but sometimes not so in their conviction. For Pavlyuchenkova it hasn't been a good season so far and...

Wozniacki 7-5 6-3 Radwanska – Dane’s aggression too much as Radwanska falls early in Doha

At the beginning of the season I wrote about Aga’s need to find something extra to challenge the top players as she is never going to power them off the court but today she ran into a composed, aggressive and determined Caroline Wozniacki in Doha. From the beginning of the match despite the first set...