Category: Tennis

• Czech defeats Gauff 6-3, 6-3 to reach last four

• Pegula eliminates Kostyuk with straight-sets victory

• Gauff and Pegula remain in contention for final berth

Linda Noskova secured her place in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Coco Gauff on Tuesday, while Jessica Pegula knocked Marta Kostyuk out of the season-ending tournament with a straight-sets win.

The Czech, who beat Kostyuk in her opening match, has won both encounters without dropping a set and is assured of advancing to the knockout stage. Gauff and Pegula are both 1-1, with the final round-robin matches on Thursday set to determine who joins Noskova in the last four.

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Finals have hit California desert after a stormy few years and pre-tournament kerfuffle has added to the fun

Towards the end of a positive day for Mirra Andreeva, one of the brightest young stars of women’s tennis, the 19-year-old approached the broadcast cameras to dissect her excellent 6-4, 6-0 win against Elina Svitolina in her first match at this year’s WTA Finals. Andreeva took her place alongside Madison Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion and a guest reporter for Sky Sports at Indian Wells, who greeted her with a mischievous smile. “Hey, diva!” Keys said.

This was an obvious reference to the kerfuffle on the eve of the tournament when Jessica Pegula, known usually as one of the most congenial players on the tour, had been caught on a hot mic delivering a series of stinging criticisms of Andreeva in a private conversation with her coach. Pegula, who had just finished a practice set with an angsty Andreeva, described her rival as a “diva” who “needs to be humbled”. Her comments spread instantly to all corners of the internet.

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• World No 3 wins 7-6 (5), 7-5

• Spaniard claims ninth 1000-level title of his career

Carlos Alcaraz avenged his loss to ⁠Ben Shelton in the US Open last eight as he edged the American 7-6 (5), 7-5 to win the Paris Masters ⁠on Sunday, clinching ⁠his ninth ​ATP 1000 title.

The world No 3 controlled the contest from the baseline to become the first Spaniard to win the ⁠tournament since David Ferrer in 2012, while Shelton was left frustrated by an erratic forehand.

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• WTA admits players were not told mics were live

• Pegula called Andreeva ‘diva’ who ‘needs to be humbled’

• Practice livestreams to continue without audio

The WTA has apologized and admitted it did not tell players their on-court conversations during practice sessions at the WTA Finals were being broadcast.

A controversy has erupted in Indian Wells after Jessica Pegula was heard on the WTA’s YouTube livestream making derogatory comments about Mirra Andreeva and her coach, Conchita Martínez.

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• Hijikata wins 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to end Serb’s ATP Finals hopes

• He becomes just fourth Australian to conquer Djokovic

Rinky Hijikata has revealed he almost didn’t even take the court before notching the biggest win of his career to send the great Novak Djokovic crashing out of ATP Finals contention.

Continuing his inspired run from qualifying, Hijikata lit up the indoor Plenitude Arena to bring down Djokovic 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to surge into the Paris Masters third round.

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• British player sent abusive messages after defeat in India

• WTA says ‘staff in Chennai offering Jodie support’

The WTA has offered additional support to Jodie Burrage after she received death threats and online abuse following a first-round defeat at a tournament in India on Tuesday.

Burrage shared a raft of abusive messages sent to her Instagram account after a gruelling 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 defeat by India’s Vaishnavi Adkar at the Chennai Open. The 27-year-old, who was playing her first WTA Tour match since last summer, accompanied the messages with the caption: “Nice welcome back to the tour. I remember why I left.”

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• Briton beats 18-year-old Austrian Lilli Tagger 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

• Dart, a qualifier, was competing in her first WTA final

Britain’s Harriet Dart won her first WTA title after coming from a set down to beat Lilli Tagger in the final of the Guangzhou Open in China. Dart, who saved three match points in her semi-final win over Sun Xinran to reach her first tour-level final, edged a thrilling match against the 18-year-old from Austria 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Dart, the British No 5 and a qualifier, dropped serve in the opening game and had to save a break point in her next service game before finally getting on the board against the fourth seed. The 30-year-old from Hampstead broke back for 4-4, but Tagger, who won the 2025 junior French Open, hit straight back before wrapping up the first set.

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• World No 10 holds nerve in 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4) semi-final win

• Australian will meet Carlos Alcaraz in championship match

Alex de Minaur has held his nerve to claim what could be one of the most significant wins of his career, downing the world No 1-elect Alexander Zverev with a fearless display of attacking tennis to reach the Vienna Open final.

The Australian played a fabulous deciding tiebreaker, nervelessly brushing off a couple of double faults to keep the pressure on the two-time grand slam champion to prevail 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4) to set up a championship match with Carlos Alcaraz at the Wiener Stadthalle.

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• World No 10 defeats Matteo Berrettini 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 in quarter-final

• 27-year-old becomes ninth Australian man to reach 350 tour-level wins

Alex de Minaur has enjoyed a landmark 350th tour-level win of his career at the Vienna Open, downing an old rival to set up a semi-final date with the world No 1-elect Alexander Zverev.

Australia’s main man defeated Matteo Berrettini, the Italian he’s had plenty of trouble with down the years, for the second successive year in the quarter-final of the ATP 500 event at the Wiener Stadthalle.

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• Plans to slash games by half and prize money criticised

• ‘Hard for players to build and sustain a doubles career’

More than 150 doubles players on the men’s ATP tour have signed an open letter addressed to the ATP board and management imploring the men’s tennis governing bodies to reconsider controversial doubles reforms and “protect” the format in professional tennis.

The subject of potential reforms to the ATP has been a significant issue since players were informed in a meeting during Wimbledon that the ATP was conducting a review of its doubles regulations and potential changes could see doubles draws being halved at the ATP events in 2028. Under these proposals, ATP Masters 1000 events would host only 16 doubles teams and the main draws at ATP 500 and 250 events would accommodate only eight teams.

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• World No 6 Svitolina opens up about toll of Russia’s war

• French star Monfils has retired after glittering career

The world No 6 Elina Svitolina has announced she has separated from her husband Gaël Monfils.

In an emotional Instagram post, the 32-year-old Ukrainian opened up about the mental toll of Russia’s war against her country, describing sleepless nights and self-doubt. Svitolina said she had come to realise she needed to rediscover herself and could no longer do so within her marriage.

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• French Open finalist wins 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 for her first title

• Kartal will become new British No 1 after record run

Sonay Kartal missed out on winning the biggest title of her career as her brilliant run at the Wuhan Open ended in a final defeat by Maja Chwalinska.

Kartal has enjoyed her best tournament only a fortnight after returning from six months out with a back injury, but her efforts appeared to catch up with her as she faded in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 loss.

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• The 24-year-old to become new British No 1

• Biggest final of career after six months out with injury

Sonay Kartal’s dream comeback continues as the Briton beat Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets to advance to the biggest final of her career at the Wuhan Open.

Kartal hit back from behind in both sets and fought off six set points to claim a 7-6 (9), 7-6 (5) win over the former French Open champion in only her second tour-level tournament back after injury.

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