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Halep, the 2015 champion, was broken four times in the final set. Altogether, the two players combined for 15 breaks of serve in the match.

Also, Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan, and Nina Stojanovic of Serbia defeated Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Original author: Ashley Ndebele

Kvitova’s spokesman, Karel Tejkal, says the two-time Wimbledon champion has gradually started doing exercises with her injured fingers and ”all have been going according to the plans and expectations.”

Kvitova has surgery on Dec. 20 following injuries on her left hand in the attack at her home in the town of Prostejov the same day.

She is expected to out for up to six months.

Kvitova’s fellow players from the Prostejov tennis club have offered a reward of $3,850 for information leading to the arrest of the attacker, who still remains at large.

Original author: Ashley Ndebele

Despite spending his 27th birthday on Dec. 29 in transit in order to get in good preparation for the Brisbane International, Nishikori was still a little rusty in his season-opening match against Jared Donaldson before holding off the American qualifier 4-6, 6-4 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals.

The third-seeded Nishikori, a three-time semifinalist in Brisbane, had a first-round bye and started the second round confidently by racing to a 4-0 lead. But Donaldson responded and won the next six games to take the opening set in less than an hour, breaking Nishikori three times.

After jumping to a 3-0 lead in the second, Nishikori dropped another service game but this time was able to limit the damge and used his experience in pressure situations to calmly hold on and win the second and third sets. He will next play either eighth-seeded David Ferrer or Jordan Thompson.

Nishikori went almost immediately back out to join Dominic Thiem in a doubles quarterfinal match against Gilles Muller and Sam Querrey.

Sixth-seeded Lucas Pouille was trailing Kyle Edmund 6-3, 3-1 when he retired from their second-round match. Pouille had treatment for blisters on his feet after winning the first game of the second set, then lost three games before signaling to the umpire that he could not go on.

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Top-seeded Serena was frustrated by a swirling wind, her inability to find her A-game, and a tenacious opponent as she went down 6-4, 6-7 (7-3), 6-4 to 72nd-ranked American compatriot Madison Brengle.

Older sister Venus withdrew from the tournament with an arm injury ahead of her scheduled second-round match.

The Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam tournament, begins on Jan. 16.

Original author: Ashley Ndebele

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Williams beat New Zealand wildcard Jade Lewis in a first-round match and was due to play Japan’s Naomi Osaka in the second round later Wednesday but withdrew before the match.

The former No.1 and seven-time grand slam winner struggled early against Lewis and had to save a set point in the first set.

Tournament director Karl Budge told reporters Williams “wasn’t able to serve as she would like to and at the level that we have come to expect from Venus and unfortunately that has taken her away from the tournament this year.”

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Original author: Andy Zodin

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Original author: Andy Zodin

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Original author: Andy Zodin

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Original author: Andy Zodin

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Original author: Andy Zodin

Here are five things to know about the new tennis ace:

Born on May 10, 2000, Aiava became the first millennium player to win a WTA main draw match when she defeated American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the first-round match at the Brisbane International.She is of American Samoan descent. Her mother Rosie is American Samoa, and her father Mark was born in New Zealand.In 2012 at the age of 12, the 16-year-old represented Australia at Roland Garros in the Longines Future Tennis Aces Tournament.She turned pro in 2015 after receiving wildcards for singles and doubles at the Burnie International, an ITF women’s tournament held in Australia.After winning the 2017 Australian Open Wildcard Playoffs last month in both singles and doubles, Aiava will become the first player (male or female) born in the 2000’s to play at a Grand Slam.

Watch Lindsay Davenport on Aiava

Original author: Ashley Ndebele

The 16-year-old Destanee Aiava advanced through qualifying before becoming the first player born in the 2000s to win a main draw match at an elite WTA event, beating veteran American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday in a first-round match at the Brisbane International.

She’s set for another memorable mark, too, after being granted a wild-card entry to the Australian Open starting Jan. 16 in her hometown of Melbourne. Aiava is set to become the first player born in the 2000s to play a main draw match at a Grand Slam event.

Her first win in the main draw didn’t come easily, spanning two days and giving her plenty of time to think about it.

Heavy rain forced a postponement on Monday night when she led 3-0, 40-15 in the third set.

Aiava struggled with her serve briefly on resumption Tuesday, but overcame a couple of double-faults and held on to close out with an ace on her first match point.

Ultimate Tennis Blog wishes everyone a happy, healthy, and successful new year full of memorable tennis moments. Yesterday the new tennis season got underway in Doha, Brisbane, and Chennai.

The 2017 tennis season is a new beginning in the sense that Federer and Nadal are back while Djokovic is trying to reassert his dominance which he lost in the second half of 2016.

That attempt almost had a disastrous beginning when Djokovic went down 0-4 to Struff in his opening match in Doha. Struff was blasting winner after winner while Djokovic was hitting short and making one unforced error after the other.

It was a very shaky start to the year, to say the least, but Djokovic recovered very well as he won the first set 7-1 on the tiebreak. After the Becker breakup, I feared the worst but it was nice to see Djokovic find his rhythm as he won the second set 6-3 after getting the second break at 5-3.

Murray attained the No. 1 ranking in his final match of the season last year, winning a career-best ninth title by upsetting then No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the ATP Finals championship match.

Murray, who won back-to-back Doha titles in 2008 and 2009, was greeted enthusiastically by the crowd when he took to the court.

One fan held up a handwritten sign, ”Welcome to Doha Sir Andy,” referencing his recently being knighted by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.

Murray won the opening set by posting only one unforced error and seven winners. In all, Murray had nine unforced errors and 18 winners.

The 69th-ranked Chardy settled into the second set, even managing to break Murray’s serve in the first game.

The top-seeded Pole broke Cirstea six times, a day after being forced to save three match points in a lengthy three-set win over Chinese wild-card entry Duan Ying-ying.

Radwanska will next face Alison Riske of the United States, the player she beat in last year’s final. Riske advanced by beating Tsvetlana Pironkova on Bulgaria 6-1, 6-1.

Third-seeded Johanna Konta also reached the quarterfinals after rallying to beat Vania King 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, while Wang Qiang defeated seventh-seeded Monica Niculescu 7-6 (1), 6-4.

Original author: Ashley Ndebele

The U.S. team opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over Czech Republic, and followed it up with a victory over another opening-day winner.

Vandeweghe beat Lara Arruabarrena 6-2, 6-4 and Sock had a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Feliciano Lopez in the singles matches before teaming up to win the mixed doubles 4-3 (3), 3-4 (2), 4-3 (2).

Defending champion Australia was to play the Czech Republic in a night match, needing a win to stay in contention following an opening 2-1 loss to Spain.

Original author: Ashley Ndebele

A 16-year-old high school student, who was inspired to take up tennis when she was 5 after watching Williams on TV, also made a mark on Tuesday with a first-round win.

Australian qualifier Destanee Aiava became the first player born in the 2000s to win a main draw match in an elite WTA event when she beat 31-year-old Bethanie Mattek-Sands 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a first-round match that spanned two days. She already has a wild-card entry to the Australian Open but, before then, will face two-time major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round of the tuneup event for the season’s first Grand Slam.

The third-seeded Pliskova, who beat Serena Williams in the U.S. Open semifinals last year before losing the championship match to Angelique Kerber, beat American qualifier Asia Muhammad 6-1, 6-4 to secure the first spot in the quarterfinals. She earned five service breaks and was relatively untroubled in her second-round match.

The sixth-seeded Svitolina, the only woman to beat both Williams and Kerber in 2016, advanced with a 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 win over Shelby Rogers. She could meet the top-ranked Kerber in the quarterfinals.

In other second-round matches, Alize Cornet beat Christina McHale 6-2, 6-1, and No. 4-seeded Garbine Muguruza was playing a night match.

Top-seeded Williams had to wait an extra day to make her first appearance of 2017 because rain forced the postponement of her first-round match on Monday.

It was wind rather than rain that troubled Williams on Tuesday as a swirling breeze on the open-air center court at the Auckland Tennis Center made it difficult to serve.

She took 74 minutes to beat No. 69-ranked Parmentier, serving eight aces – including one on match point – but also prolonging the match with a series of unforced errors, including four double-faults.

“This wind was getting to me,” Williams said. “It’s like every day I’ve practiced here there’s been no wind and today I play and it’s real windy, so it was fun. It wasn’t fun, actually, it was interesting.”

Williams made a shaky start, dropping serve in an opening game before Parmentier held her own serve to love. But she seemed to find some form and confidence in the third game which included a booming winner from a crosscourt forehand.

Nishikori, who has become a global household name, is surrounded by a dedicated team that helps him achieve his lofty goals.

TEAM NISHIKORI

The Coach – Michael Chang

44-year-old Chang joined Nishikori’s coaching team for the 2014 season. He spends about 25 weeks a year with Nishikori and the team. A former tennis pro, Chang became the youngest player to win a Grand Slam singles title when he won the French Open in 1989 at the age of 17 years and 4 months. Chang also reached the finals of the 1996 Australian and U.S. Opens. A devout Christian, Chang is married to former professional tennis player Amber Liu and they have two daughters.

Second-seeded Djokovic trailed 4-0 in the opener before recovering to 5-5 and finally finding his form in the tiebreaker, where his 63rd-ranked German opponent won only one point.

The second-ranked Serb broke serve in the first and last games of the second set to close out the match.

Djokovic next plays either Horacio Zeballos or Florian Mayer in the second round.

Top-seeded Andy Murray plays 69th-ranked Jeremy Chardy of France in his opener on Tuesday.

Murray, who took the top ranking from Djokovic at the end of last year, was in action on Monday with Mariusz Fyrstenberg in the doubles. The pair lost to David Marrero and Nenad Zimonjic 6-2, 6-4.

Original author: AP