Latest news with #CincinnatiOpen
GMA Network
a day ago
- Sport
- GMA Network
Alex Eala out of Cincinnati Open due to shoulder injury
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 1, 2025 Philippines' Alexandra Eala in action during her first round match against Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova. Photo: REUTERS/Toby Melville Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala has withdrawn from the upcoming Cincinnati Open due to a shoulder injury, a WTA report said on Wednesday. Based on the Cincinnati Open website, her name is also not listed in the competing players for the said WTA 1000 event which will run from August 5 to 15. Just last Monday, Eala competed in the Canadian Open where she made a first round exit as she fell to Czech Republic's Marketa Vondrousova. "Montreal was a short but sweet trip. I had so much fun out on court! Time to rest and recover," she said in an Instagram post on Tuesday. After her supposed stint in Cincinnati, Eala is also expected to play in the WTA 500 tournament in Monterrey, Mexico before the US Open on August 24. Eala has made significant strides this year as she made a dream run in the Miami Open last March where she defeated the likes of Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and Iga Swiatek en route to the semis where she fell to Jessica Pegula. Last June, Eala also made history by reaching her first WTA Tour finals in the Eastbourne Open where she fell short against Maya Joint. Eala also made her main draw debut in the French Open and Wimbledon. The Filipina, currently ranked 65th in the world, reached a career-high ranking of number 56 last June 30. —JKC, GMA Integrated News
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
At 45, Venus Williams Still Can't Quit Tennis
Until her appearance at a tournament in Washington, D.C., this month, it would have been fair to presume that Venus Williams had slipped quietly into retirement. She was 45 with nothing left to prove. Her seven major singles titles, four Olympic gold medals, and more than $40 million in career earnings were more than enough to call it a day after more than three decades as a pro. Even her younger sister, Serena, had hung up her Swarovski-crystal-studded sneakers three years earlier. Yet there she was in D.C., grinding out a first-round victory over world No. 35 Peyton Stearns, after 16 months away from the courts and nearly two years since her last win. The result made Williams the oldest player to win a tour-level singles match since 47-year-old Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 2004. 'It's hard to describe how difficult it is to play a first match after so much time off,' Williams said after her first competitive outing since March 2024. Williams went on to lose in the second round, but that won't slow the comeback. This week, she received a wild card to play the revamped U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament alongside Reilly Opelka, the 6-foot-11 American with a monster serve. Other pairs in the field include men's No. 1 Jannik Sinner playing with women's No. 11 Emma Navarro, and Carlos Alcaraz lining up alongside 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu. Though Williams joked that her motivation to return was retaining her eligibility for WTA health insurance, the world No. 571 is on a mission to earn a wild card berth for the U.S. Open singles tournament, too. That's why she is set to follow D.C. with a trip to the Cincinnati Open in August. 'There are no limits for excellence,' Williams said. 'It's all about what's in your head.' Williams hasn't played more than 10 singles matches in a season since 2021. And the last time she managed to string together back-to-back victories at any tournament was Cincinnati in 2019. Williams lost in the first round of the 2023 U.S. Open to Greet Minnen. None of that has dissuaded her. Nor has a series of health concerns linked to her 2011 diagnosis with Sjögren's syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disease, which causes fatigue and chronic pain, among other symptoms. Williams's love of the game is enough to keep her on the road—especially after returning to Wimbledon as a tourist this summer. 'It was so beautiful and exciting, and I remembered all the times that I had,' she said. 'And of course the adrenaline.' Williams is a long way from recapturing that on Centre Court, where she racked up five singles titles in eight years. For now, she'll settle for the rush she gets from any sign of progress. 'There is no doubt I can play tennis, but obviously coming back to play matches, it takes time to get in the swing of things,' she said. 'I definitely feel I'll play well. I'm still the same player.' Write to Joshua Robinson at
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Venus Williams gets US Open mixed doubles wild card spot
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Venus Williams is also set to play as a wild card in next month's Cincinnati Open and could ask for a US Open singles wild card. NEW YORK – Venus Williams, who made a comeback last week after more than a year's hiatus from competitive tennis, will compete alongside Reilly Opelka in mixed doubles at the US Open. The American, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion who turned 45 last month, and compatriot Opelka were among 14 teams named on Tuesday to the revamped Aug 19-20 event by the US Tennis Association. Williams won her opening singles and doubles match at the DC Open last week in her first WTA tournament since last year's Miami Open. She is also set to play as a wild card in next month's Cincinnati Open and could ask for a US Open singles wild card. Those are expected to be announced in about two weeks. The US Open winning mixed doubles team will receive US$1 million. Eight teams received direct entry into the field by combined singles rankings, including top-ranked Jannik Sinner of Italy – the reigning US Open, Wimbledon and Australian Open singles champion – with American Emma Navarro. Other duos making the field on rankings included Britain's fifth-ranked Jack Draper and Spain's Paula Badosa, Germany's third-ranked Alexander Zverev and Swiss Belinda Bencic, fourth-ranked American Taylor Fritz and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, Dane Holger Rune and American Amanda Anisimova, 2021 US Open winner Daniil Medvedev and fellow Russian Mirra Andreeva, Americans Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul and Poland's Iga Swiatek and Norway's Casper Ruud. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business S'pore's Q2 total employment rises, but infocomm and professional services sectors see more job cuts Asia Japan issues tsunami warning after 8.8-magnitude earthquake strikes off Russia Singapore Migrant workers who gave kickbacks to renew work passes were conservancy workers at AMK Town Council Singapore 2026 school year to begin from Jan 2 for MOE kindergarten, primary, secondary students Singapore Singapore prepared to recognise State of Palestine in principle, says envoy at high-level UN meeting Business MAS keeps Singapore dollar policy unchanged amid US tariff risks to economy Business S'pore car-sharing firm GetGo launches ZipZap no-deposit car leasing, starting at six months Singapore Escape, discover, connect: Where new memories are made Other wild card entry teams include five-time Grand Slam singles champion and world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain with Britain's Emma Raducanu, Americans Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe, world women's doubles No. 1 Taylor Townsend and fellow American Ben Shelton, Italians Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori and Serbians Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic – who has won a record 24 men's Grand Slam singles titles. Two other wild card teams will be announced later. Meanwhile in tennis action, Japanese qualifier Aoi Ito stunned Italian seventh seed Jasmine Paolini 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) on Tuesday to reach the third round of the WTA Canadian Open. The 21-year-old beat American Katie Volynets in the first round for her first WTA 1000 level triumph then followed with her first victory over a top-10 opponent by rallying from a set and break down to advance after 2hr 27min. Ito reached the semi-finals last October at Osaka in her WTA debut and claimed a 125-level title at Canberra in January, but until this week had not won a tour-level match. In another match, world No. 2 Coco Gauff also battled into the third round by outlasting US compatriot Danielle Collins 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2). AFP
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Venus Williams: 45-year-old makes winning return at Washington Open after 16 months away from tennis
Venus Williams made a winning return to tennis after a 16-month hiatus as she won her first round in the women's doubles at the Citi Open. Williams, the seven-time Grand Slam champion, accepted a wildcard for the event in Washington, DC and had not played since the Miami Open in March last year. Now 45, Williams joined compatriot Hailey Baptiste in the doubles, where the pair defeated Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue 6-3 6-1 to progress into the second round. Williams won the Cincinnati Open back in August 2023 - her last title - and she is not limiting herself to doubles, with her first-round singles match against fellow American Peyton Stearns. Venus and her sister Serena boast a combined 30 major singles titles, and they won 14 Grand Slam doubles events together as well. It was Venus' first time playing doubles in three years, and she joined 23-year-old Baptiste, the world No50, in the capital. She joked afterwards that she preferred playing with Baptiste than with her younger sister, who she dominated the tennis world with. "I think from the first point I could see that we were going to be a good team,' Williams told Sky Sports after her first-round win. 'We just should have started playing earlier, years ago, right? I think Serena was just in the way. "It was inspiring to be out here, I love this game and still hitting it big." Williams does not have a ranking due to such a long period out of the game, and it remains to be seen whether she will continue to play the American hard-court swing ahead of the US Open, which begins at the end of August. Elsewhere in the women's doubles draw, British No1 Emma Raducanu partnered with former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina to defeat her compatriot Olivia Nicholls and her partner Tereza Mihalikova 2-6 7-6(4) 11-9. Nicholls and Mihailikova were the fourth seeds in the draw. Raducanu and Rybakina's partnership took its time to gel, as the pair lost the opening five games of the opening set, being broken three times, before recovering to take the match with two tiebreak victories.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Canada's Fernandez, Andreescu and Marino exit National Bank Open in Montreal
MONTREAL — Leylah Fernandez, Bianca Andreescu and Rebecca Marino are all out of the National Bank Open. Fernandez, of Laval, Que., lost 6-4, 6-1 to Australia's Maya Joint in the first round on Tuesday, not long after Andreescu withdrew from the tournament with a left ankle injury. Earlier, Vancouver's Rebecca Marino fell 6-1, 6-2 to eighth seed Emma Navarro of the United States in second-round action. The 22-year-old Fernandez — the top-ranked Canadian at No. 24 in the world — was coming off winning her fourth WTA title at the D.C. Open on Sunday. Showing fatigue, Fernandez gave up six break points and won only 49 per cent of her points on first serve. The 19-year-old Joint won 62 of 109 points to win the match in 74 minutes. Andreescu sustained her injury on match point Sunday night versus Barbora Krejcikova, but pulled out the first-round win 6-3, 6-4. The 25-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., said she tore some ligaments in her ankle but wouldn't rule out a return to the court at the Cincinnati Open, which begins in just over a week. 'The ligaments are a little bit torn, so that takes time, so it's kind of a day-to-day thing,' she said, adding her ankle was not previously bothering her. "We can't really explain it. Maybe it was emotions, maybe I was a little bit tired. I just stepped in a weird way. We're kind of just saying it was a freak accident.' Andreescu was supposed to play No. 4 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia in the second round at the National Bank Open on Tuesday afternoon. The former world No. 4, who won the Canadian Open and the U.S. Open in 2019, has repeatedly spent time off the court over the years to nurse back, shoulder, knee, ankle and foot injuries. 'All I could think about is honestly, like why?' she said. 'I even screamed out like, why does this keep happening to me? Just a bunch of emotions. I was super overwhelmed, playing in front of a home crowd, winning the match, right? 'I started laughing at one point because honestly at this point it's laughable. It's just crazy, it's crazy. I'm trying to stay positive but it's getting really tough.' The 34-year-old Marino never broke Navarro, failing to convert three opportunities. She also won just 59 per cent of her first-service points and 23 per cent on her second serve. Navarro put 74 per cent of her first serves in play and won 82 per cent of those points. The 24-year-old broke Marino four times as the match lasted 63 minutes. Marino, ranked 123rd, beat French qualifier Elsa Jacquemot 7-6 (2), 6-1 in the first round. In the evening session, No. 1 seed Coco Gauff opened her tournament with a second-round meeting against fellow American Danielle Collins. Toronto's Victoria Mboko took on No. 23 seed Sofia Kenin of the United States in the late match. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2025. Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
