Sinner and Sabalenka victorious in Cincinnati

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The latest event in Cincinnati was the last of the Masters and WTA 1000 events before the US Open. The defending champions were Olympic Champion, Novak Djokovic, and world number two Coco Gauff. Djokovic pulled out of the event before the draw was made and would not be defending his title, while Gauff looked to find some form after disappointing results in recent months. The added pressure of Aryna Sabalenka overtaking her as world number two also being a possibility this week. Alcaraz also had an opportunity to move above Djokovic to number two in the world with the Serbian not defending his points this year.

In the men’s event, the favourites for the title were world number one Jannik Sinner, French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz and world number 4, Alexander Zverev. There were also other potential winners in Andrey Rublev, Daniil Medvedev, Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas. In the first round, the most anticipated match was former world number four Holger Rune, who has had a disappointing season in 2024 so far, and former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini who has been impressive in his comeback from injury, winning three titles so far this year at 250 level. After an impressive first set by the Italian, Rune came back to win the second and third sets comfortably to reach the second round. A number of seeds fell in the first round which included 10th seed Tommy Paul, 11th seed Taylor Fritz, 13th seed Ugo Humbert and 16th seed Sebastian Korda. This left Ben Shelton as the only American seeded player left in the draw. 

In the second round there were a number of major upsets with 2nd seed Carlos Alcaraz losing out to French veteran Gael Monfils, 4th seed Daniil Medvedev eliminated by Jiri Lehecka who is playing his first event in months due to injury. Grigor Dimitrov was also upset by Fabian Maroszan in the second round. Taking advantage of Alcaraz’s early exit was Holger Rune seeded 15th, who defeated Alcaraz’s conqueror Monfils, and the in-form Brit Jack Draper to reach the semi-finals. His opponent in the semi-finals was unseeded American Frances Tiafoe, who himself was struggling for results in 2024, having fallen out of the top 30. The second semi-final saw top seed Jannik Sinner take on 3rd seed Alexander Zverev after both had won tough 3 set matches with Sinner getting revenge on Rublev for his Montreal loss to the Russian, while Zverev defeated home favourite Ben Shelton.

The two semi-finals were extremely close with both ending in 3rd set tiebreaks, with world number one Sinner coming out on top against Zverev, and Tiafoe upsetting Rune to reach a first Masters final of his career. In the final Sinner was seen as the overwhelming favourite, the Italian won a close first set tiebreak and used that momentum to win the second set easily sealing a 4th title in 2024 with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 win. This title gives Sinner a larger lead over Djokovic and Alcaraz in the rankings, while Tiafoe returned to the top 30 due to his final run in Cincinnati. Both players will be in form for the US Open with Sinner looking to be a favourite for the title. Tiafoe has been impressive in New York in recent years with semi-final and quarter final runs in the last two seasons. 

After the conclusion of Cincinnati, it was revealed that Sinner had failed two doping tests earlier in the year at Indian Wells which has caused controversy within the tennis world.  He was deducted the points he gained in Indian Wells as well as the prize money he earned. All eyes will be on Sinner to see how he deals with the added pressure caused by this news in New York. 

The women’s event saw the return of some of the players who competed at the Olympics in Paris with world number one Iga Swiatek, and gold medallist Qinwen Zheng, playing their only warm up event before the US Open. American Coco Gauff was looking to defend her title despite a recent drop in form, while fellow American Jessica Pegula came in defending her Rogers Cup title in Canada. 

In the opening round there were very few upsets with Mirra Andreeva brushing aside 11th seed Emma Navarro 6-2 6-2, and 17th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia losing out to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in a close three sets 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3. In the second round there were a number of seeds that were eliminated, the biggest shock coming from the defeat of the defending champion Coco Gauff by Yulia Putinseva of Kazakhstan, who has had a great season so far. This defeat means that Gauff has only won one hard court match on the lead up to her US Open title defence, as well as falling to number 3 in the world, with Aryna Sabalenka replacing her at second. Jelena Ostapenko, Elena Rybakina and Anna Kalinskaya also had early exists in the second round. 

In the third-round, Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng was defeated by Anastasia Pavluchenkova in straight sets, while Jasmine Paolini was eliminated by 17 year old Mirra Andreeva in their third meeting this year. The quarter finals saw Aryna Sabalenka easily sweep aside Liudmila Samsonova who has given the world number three many problems in recent years, setting up a semi-final against world number one Iga Swiatek who survived a massive scare against Mirra Andreeva in their first meeting, which ended with Swiatek winning 4-6 6-3 7-5. The other half of the draw saw Jessica Pegula narrowly defeat Canadian Leylah Fernandez in a three-hour battle, her opponent in the semi-final was the Washington open champion Paula Badosa who has been in spectacular form in recent weeks with the Spaniard defeating Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets. 

The semi-final between Pegula and Badosa was a rain hit match where the American 4th seed overcame the resurgent Badosa in three sets. The other semi-final between world number one Iga Swiatek and soon to be world number two Aryna Sabalenka, was a two-set battle where the Belarussian came out on top against the world number one in an impressive performance, overpowering Swiatek to win 6-3 6-3 in their third meeting this year. In the final, Sabalenka once again overpowered her opponent with Pegula fighting hard to keep in touch with the Belarussian but was unable stop the third seed from winning the title in straight sets. 

Going into the US Open, Sabalenka will be the heavy favourite for the title, with Pegula a close second as the two most in form players. World number one Swiatek will always be a favourite to win, however she has been struggling physically due to the busy schedule of the last few months. Coco Gauff will most likely not defend her title due to an apparent lack of confidence, and Elena Rybakina has only just returned from injury so it is unlikely she will be too big a threat; however she can easily gain the momentum needed.  

The first Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 event of the north American hard court season was the Rogers cup in Montreal and Toronto where last year’s champions, Jannick Sinner and Jessica Pegula, both look to defend their titles. 

In Toronto, the draw had an impressive field alongside defending champion Jessica Pegula, with US Open champion and top seed Coco Gauff, and Australian open champion Aryna Sabalenka. The draw also included some dangerous unseeded players with the likes of Amanda Anisimova, Bianca Andreescu, Naomi Osaka and Katie Boulter. 

A number of seeded players fell in the second round. Canadian Leylah Fernandez was eliminated by qualifier Ashlyn Krueger, and 5th seed Daria Kasatkina  was defeated by Amanda Anisimova. Unfortunately, there were two retirements with Madison Keys pulling out of her match with Peyton Stearns in the third set with the leg injury which she has struggled with since Wimbledon. The other retirement came from 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia who played just two games against Britain’s Katie Boulter before pulling out with a lower back injury.

There was a number of upsets in the third round with top seed Coco Gauff losing out to Diana Shnaider in straight sets. Other upsets included lucky loser Taylor Townsend brushing aside 4th seed Jelena Ostapenko losing just 3 games. Amanda Anisimova continued her great run defeating 10th seed Anna Kalinskaya with the Russian retiring after losing the first set due to illness.

The quarter final line up included 5 Americans with Pegula, Stearns, Navarro, Townsend and Anisimova all having impressive runs. Defending champion Jessica Pegula battled past Peyton Stearns in two tight sets, while 8th seed Emma Navarro ended lucky loser Townsend’s run. Amanda Anisimova took the biggest scalp of the round knocking out 2nd seed Aryna Sabalenka comfortably in straight sets. The final quarter final match was won by the young Russian Diana Shnaider who defeated fellow Russian and last year’s runner up Liudmila Samsonova in 3 sets.  In the semi-finals, Pegula powered through Shnaider to reach a second successive Canadian Open final where she would face Amanda Anisimova, who had defeated 8th seed Emma Navarro in a back and forth 3 set match.

In the final, Jessica Pegula started stronger winning the first set 6-3 before Anisimova found her rhythm and took a one sided second set 6-2, sending the final into a decider. The defending champion came out on top as Anisimova began to run out of steam, winning the decider 6-1. This is Pegula’s third WTA 1000 title after winning the Rogers Cup last season in Montreal. As a result of defending her title, it keeps her in reach of returning to the top 5 in the rankings.  Anisimova rose significantly due to her run in Toronto returning to the top 50. Pegula will be a major contender at the US Open where she has yet to reach a major semifinal. Recent performances show that she has the potential to reach the latter stages. Anisimova will be a massive unseeded threat in New York and would be dangerous to any seeded player she faces early on. 

The men’s event in Montreal had one of the shocks of the season with a stacked draw and a very unexpected winner. The draw included world number one Jannick Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Grigor Dimitrov, amongst other big names, with one of these top players expected to take the title. However, it would turn out to be an unseeded player that would storm through. 

The first seeds to fall in Montreal were 8th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, losing out to former world number 4, Kei Nishikori. 10th seed Tommy Paul was eliminated by qualifier Brandon Nakashima, with Fritz and Shelton also falling in the second round. In the third round the biggest shock came from Australian Alexei Popyrin, who defeated 7th seed Grigor Dimitrov in a classic three set match. Other third round matches included 2nd seed Zverev eliminating 15th seed Holger Rune in straight sets, while 8th seed Casper Ruud gave a walkover to Sebastian Korda. 

In the quarter finals all the matches were close battles with some unexpected results.  Andrey Rublev eliminated defending champion Jannick Sinner and Sebastian Korda defeated Alexander Zverev meaning the top two seeds failed to make the semi-finals. Matteo Arnaldi ended Nishikori’s impressive run winning in straight sets, and Australian Alexei Popyrin defeated another seeded player in 4th seed Hubert Hurkacz, in another long 3 sets.  The semi-finals saw the last seeded player Rublev reach the final with a simple victory over Arnaldi, and Popyrin defeating the Washington Open champion Korda in straight sets to reach the first Masters 1000 final of his career. 

Going into the final, Rublev was a heavy favourite as he has 2 Masters 1000 titles to his name, including Madrid earlier this year. Despite the odds being stacked against the Australian Popyrin, he stunned the 5thseeded Russian to win in a one sided final 6-2 6-4. This is the first time a Australian has won a Masters 1000 event in 21 years. The result of this event caused Popyrin to rise into the top 30 in the world, giving him a seeding at the US open for the first time. Rublev did gain some important points as he has struggled since winning the Madrid title. 

Both players would go on to play in Cincinnati with Popyrin losing out to veteran Gael Monfils in the opening round, and Rublev would be eliminated by Jannick Sinner in the final 8. They will now prepare for the final Major of the season and will look to make deep runs. 

The Washington Open was the first hard court event of the US hard court swing, which took place during the Olympics tournament. Despite most of the big names competing in Paris, the draw in Washington was stacked with major talent of its own with the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Andrey Rublev, Ben Shelton and Emma Raducanu among those competing. 

In the women’s event top seed Aryna Sabalenka was playing her first event since pulling out of Wimbledon with a shoulder injury, despite this she was still the heavy favourite for the title. The seeds in Washington fell early with only Sabalenka, and Azarenka reaching the quarter finals. With the seeds being eliminated early, the quarter finals was filled with big names such as Raducanu and Badosa, in the lower half of the draw with the Belarusians in the top half facing each other. Sabalenka would win the battle of the former world number ones, winning a competitive two set match against fellow Belarusian Victoria Azarenka. The best match of the event came in the quarter final match between former world number 2 Paula Badosa, and 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, who are both climbing up the rankings this season after major injuries in 2023. The match was the longest of the tournament lasting over 3 hours, with both players playing at a level far higher than their current rankings, with the Spaniard winning the physical battle with a scoreline of 4-6 7-5 6-4.

The semi-finals saw top seed Sabalenka face Marie Bouzkova of Czechia, while Badosa faced big serving American Caroline Dolehide. Many expected a final between best friends Sabalenka and Badosa but Sabalenka would come up short against Bouzkova hitting over 60 unforced errors in a very windy Washington semi-final. Badosa however, would ease past Dolehide 6-3 6-3. This is a first final for the former world number two, who has been performing well throughout the season but has struggled with some difficult draws. The Spaniard who suffered a stress fracture to her back in 2023 maintained her composure in a tough final against the gritty Bouzkova in a final which was stopped by rain throughout to win her 4th career title.

This title is her first since her come back and marked her return to the top 40. She will have a chance to become seeded for the US open if she maintains this form in the next few weeks. It is great to see the former world number two competing at the top of the game once again. 

In the men’s event, the top seeds of world number 7 Andrey Rublev and big serving American youngster Ben Shelton, were the favourites to take the title. The seeds were mostly untroubled to the quarter finals, with 7 of the 8 players being seeded. In the quarter finals top seed Rublev was eliminated by 5th seed Frances Tiafoe in straight sets, who would face 4th seed Sebastian Korda in the semi-finals after the American defeated 7thseeded Australian Jordan Thompson. In the bottom half of the draw Italian 10th seed Flavio Cobolli won a 3-set epic against 11th seed Alex Michelson, winning a final set tiebreak to reach the semi-finals, where second seed Ben Shelton would be his opponent after the American’s opponent Denis Shapovalov, was defaulted in the second set tiebreak after a verbal altercation with a fan which has since become a heavily criticised decision. 

The semi-finals saw 4th seed Korda win the all American semi-final against former world number 10 Tiafoe in straight sets, while Italian Flavio Cobolli defeated 2nd seed Ben Shelton in three tight sets. In the final, both players who had been impressive on route to the title match, produced an enjoyable 3-set match with the Italian taking a close first set 6-4, however, the Italian ran out of steam in the second set with Korda taking advantage, and winning the second and third sets easily with a final scoreline of 4-6 6-2 6-0.

This was Korda’s first title of the season and his ranking rose to 15th. The American will look to keep up his momentum going into his home major and look to improve on his recent results after a disappointing first round loss at Wimbledon to lucky loser Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Consistency has been something Korda has struggled with so far in his young career; however, he seems to slowly be making the improvements needed and will inevitably make more deep runs in the majors. 

World number 7, Qinwen Zheng, made history at the Paris Olympics, becoming the first player from China to win the gold medal. This year’s Australian open runner-up has had mixed results since reaching her maiden major final, however this changed in Paris. 

Her first-round opponent was Italian veteran and former world number 5, Sara Errani, who was a French open runner up in 2012. The world number 7 and 6th seed in Paris breezed through, with a double bagel win in just 57 mins to reach the second round. Her second-round opponent was Arantxa Rus from the Netherlands, this match was also a comfortable win for the 6th seeded Zheng, winning 6-2 6-4.  In the third round Zheng faced her first seeded player of the tournament in the fast-rising American Emma Navarro who was seeded 11th. This match was the first major test the Chinese woman would face, losing the first set in a tense tiebreak. The 21-year-old rallied to come back to win a second set tiebreak, before prevailing in a one-sided final set with a final score of 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 in just over 3 hours. 

After surviving the Navarro match Zheng would face the dangerous unseeded German Angelique Kerber in the Quarter Finals. The German former world number one and 3-time grand slam champion was playing in her final event of her career, after announcing her retirement from tennis. The German playing on her weakest surface, was one of the giant killers in Paris defeating big names Naomi Osaka, and 13th seed Fernandez on route to the Quarter finals. This match between the young star and retiring legend was one of the best matches of the Olympics, with both players competing at their highest level and after just over 3 hours, the 6th seed eventually came out on top in a three-set epic, with Kerber saving 3 match points before Zheng eventually got over the line in the final set tiebreak. Zheng reached the semi-finals with a 6-7 (6-7) 6-4 7-6 (8-6), ending the amazing career of one of the biggest names of the last decade in Angelique Kerber. 

In the semi-finals Zheng would face the toughest challenge currently in women’s tennis, in world number one Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros. Zheng had yet to defeat Swiatek, with the polish woman having a 6-0 lead in their head-to-head. Despite playing for over 6 hours in her last two matches and Swiatek having been barely challenged so far in the tournament, the 6th seed claimed the biggest upset shocking the world number one in straight sets to guarantee a medal in reaching the final, with a 6-2 7-5 scoreline. 

Her opponent in the final was the inform Croatian Donna Vekic who had upset second seed Coco Gauff in the third round.  The final was a straightforward 6-2 6-3 win for Zheng, who became the first player from China to win Olympic gold. This will surely be a huge confidence boost for the world number 7 going into the US hard court swing, and could be a contender in the final major of the season in New York, after reaching the final of the other hard court major in January before losing to Aryna Sabalenka. 

Qinwen Zheng will return to the tour in Cincinnati where she is seeded 7th and will face the winner of Czech Marie Bouzkova and Polish qualifier Magdalena Frech. 

The long-awaited Paris Olympics has concluded for tennis in 2024, with the main storyline coming from Novak Djokovic finally winning an Olympic gold medal, which had been the one title missing from his extremely successful career. Coming into the Olympics Djokovic has really struggled this season, only reaching one final at Wimbledon where he was thrashed by Carlos Alcaraz in a repeat of last year’s final. With his knee still being a concern after having surgery after the French open a month ago, there were questions about how far the Serbian could go in Paris. However, the 24-time grand slam champion would prove all the doubters wrong in the French capital.

In his opening round he faced an alternate in Australian doubles player Matthew Ebden, who failed to challenge the world number two only winning a single game in his first singles match in over two years. His second-round opponent would be a major challenge in long-time rival Rafa Nadal, in their 60th career meeting. Playing in Phillipe-Chatrier where the Spaniard had been near unstoppable in his career, all eyes were on this match to see how Djokovic would play against his rival. The Serbian went on to dominate the match with easily the highest level he has played this season, thrashing Nadal 6-1 6-4. This match highlighted how far Nadal was from beating the major challengers, casting doubts on his career.  

The world number two would then face German Dominik Koepfer, where he won in straight sets once again 7-5 6-3. The next test for the Serbian was in the quarter finals against 8th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who many believed would challenge Djokovic. However, the Greek was unable to really trouble the 24-time major champion losing to the Serbian 6-3 7-6(7-3). This win gave Djokovic a spot in the semi-finals where he has failed to win any of his 3 previous appearances. His opponent was the inform Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who had knocked out the defending champion Alexander Zverev in the previous round. The last encounter between these two happened just a couple weeks ago in the Wimbledon semi-finals with Djokovic taking the win. Unfortunately for the Italian, the result would be the same as in SW19 with the Serbian winning in straight sets to reach the Olympic final for the first time in his illustrious career. 

In the final, Djokovic would face the inform world number three Carlos Alcaraz in a repeat of the Wimbledon final a few weeks ago, where the young Spaniard defeated the Serbian to win a second Wimbledon title. With a first Olympic title on the line for both players the pressure was building for the much-coveted Gold medal. The final was a classic match from start to finish with Djokovic playing at a much higher level than at Wimbledon. Both players built pressure on return but neither player was able to break serve in the entire match, with the match going to two tiebreaks. After a marathon 2 hours 52 minutes, Novak Djokovic was victorious, winning the only title missing from his trophy cabinet. This title means that the Serbian has now attained the career Golden Slam, winning all four majors and the Olympics, becoming only the 5th person in history to achieve this feat.  Carlos Alcaraz was understandably emotional after the loss; he will have many more chances at the title which he would be expected to win in the not-so-distant future. 

Both players will be missing from Montreal and begin their North American hard-court season in the next few weeks to build up to the US Open, where the Serbian is the defending champion. 

Jannick Sinner became the First Italian men’s player to win a grand slam title after victory in Melbourne. The 22-year-old was among the favourites for the title due to his impressive end to the 2023 season which led to a 4th ranked finish. A key factor into his favourite tag was his two victories over Novak Djokovic at the ATP finals and Davis cup. 

Being drawn in Djokovic’s half of the draw most fans hoped for a semi-final between the two. Sinner began his campaign against 59th ranked dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, where he won in straight sets in an impressive opening display. He followed this by easily defeating Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong, the 161stranked player proved to be no problem for the 4th seeded Italian, once again winning in straight sets.  Sinners’ 3rd round opponent was the 29th seeded Argentinian Sebastian Baez who had a career best season in 2023, however, Sinner would thrash his opponent only dropping 4 games in total in the match, easing his way into the second week of the Australian open without dropping a set. 

Sinner’s first main challenge came in 15th seeded Russian Karen Khachanov who has been making deep runs in the majors in recent years. Despite putting up a good fight during the match 4th seeded Italian proved too strong for the former Paris Masters Champion winning in straight sets. In Sinners first career quarter final in Melbourne, he faced world number 5 Andrey Rublev. The Russian who has failed to win a quarter final match at majors in his career, losing all 9 he has played, had a tough task in Sinner who had so far breezed through the draw. This match was Sinners toughest in the tournament so far as he had to come back from 5-2 down in the second set tiebreak to seal victory once again in straight sets. However, what was waiting in the semi-finals was  the defending champion and world number one Novak Djokovic.

The time had come for Sinner to prove he was ready to win his maiden grand slam, If he could defeat Djokovic he would become the favourite to win the title however, Djokovic who is looking for a record 25th major title had never lost a semi-final in Australia. With the match being the focus of the event, it came as a shock when sinner defeated Djokovic with relative ease only losing a tight 3rd set tiebreak which was his first set dropped at the event. Djokovic gave an extremely poor performance in the first two sets where he only won 3 games, despite winning the 3rd set he would not be able to keep up with sinner who reached a first grand slam final of his career becoming only the second Italian male player to reach a major final after Matteo Berretini at Wimbledon 2019. 

Sinners opponent in the final was world number three Daniil Medvedev who came from two sets down in his semi-final against Alexander Zverev. In his second Australian open final the Russian was looking to secure a first title in Melbourne after losing a two-set lead to Rafa Nadal in 2022. Unfortunately for Medvedev history would repeat itself with the Russian taking a fast two set lead over Sinner who started the match very nervously. In the third set the 22-year-old raised his game and managed to take the match to a 5th set after keeping up with Medvedev through the third and fourth sets. The final set is where Sinner played his best tennis while Medvedev’s 24 hours on court throughout the event seemed to catch up with him where the Italian sealed victory with a 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3 score line. Becoming only the third player in history to come from two sets down in his maiden final to win the title. For Medvedev he has now become the only player in history to lose two major finals after leading by two sets. 

With this victory Italy its new superstar and first men’s grand slam title winner in the open era with many women’s grand slam champions in recent years. Sinner will be a mjor threat this season at all the majors with great results on all surfaces and with such an impressive start to the season he will definitely be in contention for the number one ranking this season.

World number two Aryna Sabalenka has won her second grand slam by successfully defending her title in Australia after defeating Qinwen Zheng 6-3 6-2 in the final. Sabalenka becomes the first woman to defend a title since compatriot Victoria Azarenka won her second title in 2013.

Coming into Melbourne, Sabalenka was among the main favourites to win alongside word number one Iga Swiatek, world number three Elena Rybakina and world number four Coco Gauff. Sabalenka benefitted from being in the bottom half of the draw as most of the big names were drawn in the top half, her main threat being US open champion Gauff. On route to the final, Sabalenka dropped only 16 games with one sided victories over qualifiers Ella Seidel, Brenda Fruhvirtova, a double bagel thrashing of Ukrainian 28th seed Lesia Tsurenko, the dangerous returning American Amanda Anisimova and former French open champion 9th seed Barbora Krejcikova. 

In the semi-finals, Sabalenka would have a chance at revenge over Coco Gauff who defeated her to win her first major title in New York. Gauff who had been impressive for most of her run in Melbourne, gave a very lacklustre performance in the quarter finals against Marta Kostyuk, in what became her longest ever grand slam match, lasting over 3 and a half hours. With Sabalenka yet to drop more than 4 games to an opponent at that point in the tournament, the defending champion was the favourite to win before the match. The World number 2 started strongly with a 5-2 lead before Gauff upped her level to take the set to a tiebreak, however Sabalenka would raise her game and dominated the tiebreak winning the set 7-6 (7-2). In the second set, Sabalenka held her serve with ease, while also pushing Gauff to the limit on the Americans serve, but the US open champion showed her great competitiveness and fought off multiple break points until deep into the set, where Sabalenka eventually made the breakthrough and served out the match reaching the final with a 7-6 6-4 victory.

The final against 12th seed Qinwen Zheng was a one-sided match with Sabalenka powering through her opponent and taking advantage of a nervous start by the 21-year-old, Zheng was competing in her first major final, 10 years after her idol Li Na won the title. Sabalenka did not allow the 12th seed to get into the match and achieved victory with a 6-3 6-2 win to seal her second major title.

This dominant display by Sabalenka means that she won the title without dropping a set, last achieved by Ash Barty in 2022. With the level Sabalenka produced in Melbourne it will take quite the performance to defeat the Belarussian in slams this year. 

In 2023, she reached at least the semi-finals in each major, making the world number two a real threat to win all four majors in 2024.  With Swiatek losing early and dropping points Sabalenka also edges closer to reclaiming the number one ranking.

The Brisbane International returned to the WTA tour for the first time since 2020 and is the first WTA 500 event of the season. The event was filled with high profile players with grand slam champions Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jelena Ostapenko, Victoria Azarenka, Sofia Kenin all seeded with Sloane Stephens and the returning Naomi Osaka also participating.  With the top two seeds in Sabalenka and Rybakina, being the finalists at last year’s Australian Open many hoped for a repeat of that final and continuation of one of the major rivalries that developed last season. 

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka who had a bye in the first round played excellently throughout the week defeating Lucia Bronzetti, 15th seed Lin Zhu, 7th seed Daria Kasatkina and 8th seed Victoria Azarenka without dropping a set without facing any challenges throughout the matches. The top half of the draw included 4-time grand slam champion Naomi Osaka who returned to the tour for the first time since the end of 2022 after giving birth to her daughter last year. She won her opening match against German Tamara Korpatsch in straight sets and faced former world number one Karolina Pliskovan who has had a poor couple of seasons after her wrist injury, which saw her fall outside the top 15. Both Players competed well in a hard-hitting match between the former world number ones with Pliskova coming out on top by raising her level in the tight moments to edge out Osaka 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4. This match is a positive sign for Osaka who proved she will be dangerous this season after competing well. Pliskova would go on to lose in the next round against 3rd seed Jelena Ostapenko. 

In the bottom half of the draw 2nd seed Elena Rybakina swept through, similarly to Sabalenka she reached the final without dropping a set, only dropping 12 games on route to the championship match.  The final In Brisbane was highly anticipated with a rematch of the Australian Open final from last season in the growing rivalry between the two stars. Despite being the top two seeds, the final was extremely one sided, with 2ndseed Rybakina thrashing Sabalenka 6-0 6-3 to take the title. The world number 4 gave an amazing performance which gave Sabalenka no chance to get into the match. 

With the title Rybakina moves ahead of ASB Classic champion Coco Gauff to 3rd in the rankings behind Swiatek and Sabalenka. Both defending champion Sabalenka and last year’s finalist Rybakina will be two of the favourites for the title in Australia, alongside World number one Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Guff who all reached finals in the first week of the season. 

The Brisbane International returned in 2024 on the ATP tour for the first time since 2019 due to the ATP Cup and United Cup using the venue for their team events since 2020. This year Brisbane was not used in the United Cup which meant the event returned to the main after a 4-year hiatus with Grand slam champions Andy Murray, and Rafa Nadal who made his long awaited return to tennis after missing most of 2023 due to injury. Top seeds Holger Rune and Grigor Dimitrov who both ended their 2023 seasons strongly both looked to have a strong start to 2024 as they both struggled early in 2023.

The return of 22 time grand slam champion Nadal was much anticipated and the Spaniard was drawn against a qualifier in the first round however, the qualifier he faced turned out to be 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem who has struggled to rise up the rankings since his major wrist injury in 2021. With the Spaniard having a 9-6 record over the former world number 3 the signs were positive however, the Austrian had won their previous two encounters back in 2020. Despite the long layoff Nadal managed to defeat Thiem 7-5 6-1 after a competitive first set to advance to the second round. Nadal would go on to reach the Quarterfinals after sweeping aside Australian Jason Kubler and only losing 3 games. However, the Spaniard faced a much tougher test with Australian Jordan Thompson facing him in the Quarters. The Australian played brilliantly in the highly physical match and executed his tactics perfectly to defeat the former world number 1, 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 after saving 3 match points. This match was the standout match of the tournament. 

Top seed Holger Rune faced many players who had strong 2023 seasons during his run to the final with victories over Purcell and Shevchenko in the opening two rounds before straight set victories in his Quarterfinals and Semi-finals against home hope James Duckworth and upcoming Russian Roman Safiullin. In the bottom half of the draw Grigor Dimitrov faced former world number 1 Andy Murray in the opening round which was played at an extremely high level with the Bulgarian edging out the three time grand slam champion 4-6 7-5 6-2. Dimitrov would go on to ease his way to a first final of the season with straight forward victories over Altmaier, Hijikata and Rafa Nadal’s conqueror Jordan Thompson to face Rune in the Championship match. 

The Final in Brisbane was a highly entertaining match with brilliant shot making between the top two seeds in world number 8 Rune and world number 14 Grigor Dimitrov. The Bulgarian took advantage of Rune’s mistakes in key moments to take the title winning 7-6 (7-5) 6-4. This title is the first for the Bulgarian since 2017 and makes him a major threat in the upcoming Australian Open. Rune will be happy with his performance in Brisbane as he won some tight matches and will look to make a deep run in Melbourne.  

The ASB Classic in Auckland has been a popular event throughout the years for many players to start their seasons. Many big names were in attendance for this year’s event, with defending champion Coco Gauff who looks to continue her impressive form from the end of last season. Other big names include former world number 3 Elina Svitolina as the second seed and the returns of former world number 1 Caroline Wozniacki, and Britain’s 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, who both received wild cards.

The draw which saw top seed Gauff avoid the main threats, saw her toughest matches coming in the quarter Finals with 8th seed Varvara Gracheva and semi-finals with 4th seed Emma Navarro. Gauff reached the final with relative ease thrashing all her opponents and only dropping 14 games in total on route.

The bottom half of the draw included most of the big names with Amanda Anisimova returning after having a break from tennis in 2023 facing former French Open finalist, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in the opening round, where she won 7-4 6-4.  However, the bottom of the draw included Emma Raducanu, who won her first match back in a marathon match against close friend Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3 4-6 7-5. However, her next opponent would be a massive challenge as she faced the winner of the titanic clash between former world number 1 Caroline Wozniacki, and 2nd seed Eina Svitolina the former world number 3.  Both players are in the middle of their comeback after having children, with Wozniacki coming out of retirement during the US open series in 2023, and Svitolina returning during the clay season. Both players had impressive runs at the slams they competed in last year, with both looking to start the new season well and climb the rankings and return to the top 10 once again. In the clash of the mothers Svitolina was the victor defeating the Dane 6-4 6-3 in a highly physical match.

The match of the tournament was the brilliant battle between Raducanu and Svitolina in the second round where Raducanu, proved to the doubters that she is ready to challenge the best players once again as she went blow to blow with Svitolina which included 2 tiebreaks, the lack of match play however got to the Brit in the end as she ran out of steam in the deciding set, with Svitolina surviving the massive scare with a score of 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-1.

Svitolina would then go on to reach the final with a straightforward win over 5th seed Marie Bouzkova and 3 set battle over Xiyu Wang to face Gauff in the final.

The final between the top 2 seeds was highly competitive with former world number 3 Svitolina making a comeback in the first set to win a close tiebreak, but she was unable to seal the title as the US Open champion raised her game to win the next two sets to defend her title in Auckland 6-7 (7-4) 6-3 6-3.

With the US Open and with defending her title in Auckland, Gauff has proved she is a contender at the upcoming Australian Open. 

With most of her points coming in the second half of the season, Gauff has a great opportunity to have an impressive start to the season and start catching up with the top 2 in the rankings with Swiatek and Sabalenka far ahead of her in points.   

For the first time since 2002 the Hong Kong Open returned to the ATP Tour, which was headlined by top seed, world number 5, Andrey Rublev, and the returning Marin Cilic. With Rublev being the clear favourite at the event, he was expected to face his toughest challenges in 3rd seed Frances Tiafoe, and 2nd seed Karen Khachanov. However, he would not need to face either due to both losing early in the event with Tiafoe being eliminated in the Quarter Finals by Chinese wild card Jucheng Shang and Khachanov being eliminated in his first match of the season in the second round by Finnish youngster Emil Ruusuvouri.  Former US Open champion Marin Cilic who returned to the tour after missing 2023 with injury faced 5th seed Jan-Lennard Struff which was easily the match of the tournament, with Struff saving 3 match points to deny the Croatian victory winning 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (9-7)

Despite strong performances by British qualifier Liam Broady, 8th seed Arthur Fils and Chinese qualifier Jucheng Shang, top seed Rublev worked his way to a first final of the season where he would meet an unseeded opponent in Emil Ruusuvouri, the world number  50 who’s run included wins over world number 15 Karen Khachanov and Sebastian Ofner. The final was a tough contest with both players exchanging strong blows throughout the match however Rublev raised his level in key moments to break serve late in each set winning 6-4 6-4. 

This is the first title of the season for the Russian who had a career best season in 2023 and he will be looking to improve in 2024 by reaching a first major semi-final of his career after failing to make it past a major quarter final in his career so far. 

The ASB Classic in Auckland the first WTA 250 event of the year, has been a highly popular destination for players to start their season. Last year’s champion Coco Gauff is returning to try and defend her title with the 2023 US Open champion leading a strong field which includes Grand Slam champions Emma Raducanu, and Caroline Wozniacki, as well as former French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and the dangerous Amanda Anisimova, who is also making a comeback after taking most of 2023 off. 

Top seed and defending champion Coco Gauff has drawn fellow American Claire Liu with fellow seeds Varvara Gracheva, Emma Navarro, and Petra Martic in her half of the draw. The bottom half of the draw is filled with many players who could go deep into the event with the returning Amanda Anisimova drawn against former French open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in a blockbuster first round match. The seed who received the toughest draw was Elina Svitolina who will play former world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the first round with a potential meeting with 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the second round. Raducanu herself will be looking to start the 2024 strongly after missing most of 2023 after having wrist and ankle surgeries. She has drawn Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse in a first career meeting.

The Projected Semi finals include Gauff (1) v Navarro (4) in what would be a first career meeting between the Americans with Gauff being a heavy favourite to make the final. The second semi-final would include the two Ukrainian seeds Svitolina (2) and Tsurenko (3) in what would be a fifth career meeting, with the head-to-head level at 2-2. Their most recent meeting came in Rome 2023 with Tsurenko winning in straight sets. However, Svitolina was just starting her comeback during last years clay season and has improved considerably since. Should Svitolina get through her extremely difficult draw to reach the semis she would probably be the favourite to reach the final.  

Alongside the Brisbane International the Hong Kong ATP event has returned for the first time since 2002. This event is headlined by world number 5 Andrey Rublev, and Karen Khachanov. Other big names include Frances Tiafoe, former top 10 player Roberto Bautista Agut, and the return of 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic who missed the 2023 season due to injury. 

The top four seeds Rublev, Khachanov, Tiafoe, and Cerundolo all received byes in the first round with Cerundolo receiving the hardest possible opponent playing either Spanish veteran Bautista Agut or Fabian Marozan, the latter having had a strong 2023 which included a win over Carlos Alcaraz in Rome. The toughest match in the first round is between the returning Marin Cilic and 5th seed Jan-Lennard Struff, who had a career best season in 2023. This match will be a difficult start for Cilic as Struff will be full of confidence going into the event. This will be a fifth career meeting with the head-to-head tied at 2-2 with their last meeting coming in 2019 at the Rome masters where Struff won in straight sets.   

   The projected semi-finals are Rublev (1) v Tiafoe (3) which would be a fourth career meeting with the American leading 2-1 with Tiafoe winning their most recent meeting at the 2022 US Open where he triumphed in straight sets in his breakthrough Grand Slam run. The second semi-final includes Khachanov (2) v Cerundolo (4) in what would be a third career meeting with the Russian leading 2-0 in their head-to-head with their last match coming in Miami in 2023 with Khachanov winning in two sets. 

The 2024 ATP season will officially begin with the ATP 250 event in Brisbane which has not been played since 2019. 

The Brisbane International is headlined by top seeds Holger Rune and Grigor Dimitrov, with the key player in attendance being 22-time Grand slam champion Rafa Nadal who is starting his comeback after missing the 2023 season with a hip injury. Other seeds include 2023 breakout player Ben Shelton and fellow American Sebastian Korda.  

With the draw in Brisbane announced, the main focus for many fans would be who Nadal would be starting his comeback against, with a match against a top seed being possible. Thankfully for the former world number one he managed to avoid a seed in the first round and was drawn against a qualifier. However, this draw can still be extremely dangerous with former world number 3 and 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem being a potential opponent, as the Austrian is playing qualifying due to his ranking not being high enough to make the main draw. If the two are drawn together it will be a blockbuster match to start the 2024 season for Nadal. 

Second seed Grigor Dimitrov has been given a tough first round opponent to start his season in former world number one Andy Murray, which will be the first-round match to watch in Brisbane. The last meeting between Murray and Dimitrov was at last years US Open where Dimitrov brushed aside Murray in straight sets in the second round. With the head-to-head being 8-4 to Murray, this match has all the makings of a classic and will most likely be the highest profile match to start the new season. 

Top seed Rune will face home favourite Max Purcell in a first career meeting. The world number 8 will be looking to start 2024 strongly with his new coaching team which includes former Djokovic coach Boris Becker, and former Federer coach Severin Luthi. The Dane will have a tough challenge in the first round with 45thranked Purcell who has a very dangerous game which can threaten the 20-year-old if he is not on form.  

3rd seed Ben Shelton will be starting his season against Roman Safiullin. The 26-year-old Russian will be a difficult opponent for Shelton as he has been impressive especially against the top players in 2023. It will be a second career meeting for Shelton and Safiullin who met at the end of last season in Shanghai where Shelton came from a set down to defeat the Russian in three tight sets. This match has every possibility of once again going to three sets.