The French Open
Wimbledon 2025 Women’s Day 1
Aryna Sabalenka opened showcourt play at Wimbledon on Monday, dispensing a straightforward 6-1, 7-5 first-round dismissal of a Canadian qualifier.
Cason Branstine had little to show for her Grand Slam main draw debut barely a month after having lost in qualifying at Roland Garros.
The outsider ranked 193 on the WTA list went down in 74 minutes as her opponent, a three-time champion at the majors, won the first five games on the match and was never under pressure.
Both women struck 17 winners, with Branstine’s 26 unforced errors making up some of the difference.
Sabalenka won seven of the last 10 points to advance to the second round on a heat-wave day at the All England Club with temperature expected into the low 30s Celsius.
“The goal is to win as quickly, easily as possible, so physically you’re more fresh in the next rounds,” Sabalenka said.
“It was really good for me to have this little fight in the second set (late break) just to, like, see where my level is at, if I’m mentally ready to fight.
“I think I’m ready. So I think at the end it was good to have this little fight in the second set.”
Emma Raducanu performed as expected against fellow Brit and wild card entry Mimi Xu, posting a 6-3, 6-3 opening win against the No. 318.
“I’m super=pleased to come through, it’s so difficult to play another Brit in the first round,” the winner said.
“I can’t say I was loving that, she has some amazing weapons. There were good times and then I’d lose focus. But I’m happy how I won the important points today.
“I love playing in this atmosphere – I saw a champagne cork pop onto the court — so I’m happy to get another match here.”
The slump continued for former two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur, with the Tunisian crashing out in her opening match 7-6 (5), 2-0 as she quit with illness against Viktoriya Tomova.
Jabeur, who now stands 59th in the world, duplicated her recent first round loss in Paris. She left the court in tears and had to have her blood pressure taken during an extremely lengthy 14-minute injury timeout.
“I’ve been practising pretty well in the last few days but I guess these things happen,” she said.
‘I’m really sad. It doesn’t really help me with my confidence and what I keep pushing myself to do, even though it was a very tough season for me.”.’
Two-time semi-finalist Elina Svitolina secured a quick 62-minute trip to the second round over Anna Bondar 6-3, 6-1, while sixth seed Madicoan Keys scraped out a 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5 comeback over Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania.
No. 51 Sonay Kartal got British women off to a winning start with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 upset of 20th seed and former Grand Slam champion Jelena Ostapenko.
“My opponent can go through games, even sets, just playing tennis that’s just unplayable,” the winner said.
“The pace she gets and the angle she gets off the ball is honestly
unreadable at times.
“I knew I just had to stay with it. If she was going to go on a good run, just not get too down, and when I got the opportunity, to maximise it the most I could.”
Ostapenko, playing here for the 10th time, boasts a top pedigree, with grass titles in Birmingham and Eastbourne over the previous two seasons. She previously lost in the first round here in 0216 and 2019.
Alexander Zverev on Thursday made a long-sought after return to the Shanghai Masters semi-finals, booking his first final four at the event since 2019, defeating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4.
The 2027 year-end No. 1 last got this far as the Covid pandemic began to surface in China in 2019. The event was not played 2020-2022, with the German making modest progress here over the past three editions since resumption.
After winning his 62nd match of the season, the 29-year-old was pleased with his performance.
“I think it was a huge step up. From just being on the court I felt both of us were playing really well.
“I was, a lot of the time, outhitting Alex, which is difficult to do from the baseline because he is so fast and he loves this kind of court speed here.
“I felt good and I’m happy with the step up from the past couple of matches.”
Zverev advanced in 78 minutes, sending over 10 aces as he defeated the Australian for the ninth time in their 13 matches.
Added the reigning Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows Grand Slam champion: “I’ve been handling pressure quite okay this year. In a way you play a bit more relaxed.
“Once Jannik (SInner) unfortunately announced he won’t play for the rest of the year, I’m 4,000 points ahead of everyone else, so I trust myself enough that I’m going to win [enough matches].
Zverev will play for the final to wrap up the Asian swing as he takes on Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who advanced when Arthur Gea quit their quarter-final with injury.
Alexander Zverev will claim world year-end No. 1 honours for the first time on the back of two Grand Slam titles and a final this season.,
The ATP confirmed the changing of the guard as current No. 1 Jannik Sinner ended his season early last week due to a knee injury which has kept him off court since winning Wimbledon three months ago.
Zverev won Roland Garros and US Open trophies and lost to Sinner in the All England Club final.
His reign at the top will begin after the ATP Final in Turin with the ranking period starting on November 23.
Zverev will be 29 years, 217 days old on the date, three days older than Andre Agassi in 1999 (29 years, 214 days).
Main photo:- Alexander Zverev by ISF Ltd
Zheng Qinwen continued an injury comeback season on Sunday, defeating Roland Garros winner Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 to win the China Open.
Victory at the 1000-level event was the first trophy for the 54th-raked Chinese player who once reached fourth in the world before elbow surgery.
Zheng saved three set points in the opening set and claimed victory by winning the last 11 points of the set, breaking late in the second to conclude her success over her teenaged opponent.
The winner now owns six career trophies after winning her first 1000; she last claimed a title in Tokyo two years ago.
In an odd twist, the new winner was cajoled into singing a few bars of karaoke during the trophy ceremony.
She will now move back into the ranking top 25 while Andreeva advances to third in the world behind Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka after defeating her third top 10 opponent this season.
“The feeling was incredible, two weeks here in Beijing, in front of my home crowd is one of my dreams, especially playing against Mirra, such a great player,” the winner said.
“I’ve been through a very, very tough year.”
Andreeva broke new ground in her own career by reaching the final, becoming the third-youngest this century to reach the top 3 behind Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters.
“She’s a great server. I also think today I missed a lot of returns trying to go for it, trying to be more aggressive,” Andreeva said,
“I wanted to go for it but couldn’t really find I guess the margin, couldn’t really find the rhythm, as well. I will probably need to look at this match and just see why, try to improve and learn from that.
“Overall of course it was a good tournament,” she added. “A lot of positives to take from these two weeks. Of course, I felt like today just wasn’t meant to be.
“I think I will be able to look to this match maybe from a different perspective and see maybe some good things.”
Main photo:- Zheng Quinwen by ISF Ltd
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