Category: Tennis

• 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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• Human rights office denounces online targeting

• ‘Appalling vitriol and abuse’ of American

The United Nations’ human rights office has condemned the racist abuse of Coco Gauff and called for solidarity to help push back against racism and sexism.

The office, led by high commissioner Volker Türk, issued a social media post on Saturday saying the racist messages sent online targeting the American tennis player were “appalling and illustrate that Black female athletes are specifically targeted for vitriol and racial abuse”.

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• American involved in disputed point during tournament

• Gauff called out ‘insane’ amount of abuse online

Coco Gauff said she had been left drained by the racist abuse she experienced during the China Open after losing in the last 16 to Elise Mertens.

The American was dismayed earlier this week after an incident during her match against Chinese teenager Sun Xinran. The 16-year-old thought she had hit a winner late in the first set but Gauff had raised her hand to stop the point because she was distracted by flickering lights on the stadium’s advertising hoardings. The move prompted some boos from the crowd. The umpire agreed to have the point replayed, and Gauff went on to win 7-5, 6-1.

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• Serb victorious after De Minaur retires injured

• Alcaraz beats Lehecka for first title since February

Novak Djokovic capped an outstanding week at the China Open with his first title for nearly a year. The 39-year-old profited from the retirement of his final opponent, Alex de Minaur, after only one game of the second set to win a seventh title in Beijing and maintain his record of never having lost at the tournament.

The 7-6, 0-1 victory means Djokovic has won at least one title in each of the past 21 years, while he now has 102 tour level trophies overall. Both men reached the final without having to complete their matches on Monday – Djokovic thanks to the much-publicised disqualification of Daniil Medvedev, while De Minaur’s opponent Hubert Hurkacz pulled the plug because of injury.

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• American stopped rally after being distracted in match

• Home youngster Sun Xinran distraught after defeat

Coco Gauff said she received an “insane” amount of racist comments on social media following a controversial point in her China Open match against home player Sun Xinran.

Gauff stopped a rally after electronic advertising boards lining the court flickered during a point late in the first set of her 7-5, 6-1 third-round victory over Sun, a 16-year-old who recently won the US Open junior title.

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• Player struck rebounding ball into Beijing crowd

• Djokovic advances to final against De Minaur

Daniil Medvedev was disqualified from his China Open semi-final with Novak Djokovic on Monday after hitting a rebounding ball into the crowd that struck a ​spectator in the eye.

The Russian world ‌No 5 was ‌trailing 7-5, 5-3 and had lost a point ‌when, in frustration, he struck a ball that had come off the back wall. The spectator, sitting in the first row, clutched his left eye and appeared in pain as he left the gallery, assisted by the stadium’s ‌staff.

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• WTA announces ‘major milestone’ in fight for equality

• Combined WTA 1000 events to award equal prize money

All combined WTA 1000 tournaments will award women equal prize ⁠money to the men from 2027, the Women’s Tennis Association has announced, ⁠with the Italian ⁠Open ​and other major events joining the rest of the category in offering the ⁠same payouts.

Billie Jean King has often said that she was moved to form the women’s professional tennis circuit after earning $600 for her 1970 Italian Open title while Ilie Nastase took home $3,500 for winning the men’s tournament the same year.

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