Dubai Tennis Championships (WTA)
Previous Dubai Tennis Championships Coverage
Venus Williams won the singles title in Dubai on Saturday by beating Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-0. Williams had a fantastic tournament in Dubai this week winning all of her matches in straight sets and only losing more than three games in one set. Awesome, dominating play. It’ll be interesting to see if we get this Venus the rest of the year or if this was more of a one-time thing.
Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears couldn’t complete the sweep for the US in Dubai as they lost in the final 6-2, 5-7, 10-8. In a very tight final they won just two less points than their opponents.
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The next event we’ll be covering on the WTA tour is the BNP Paribas Open from March 3rd-16th. That’s a WTA Premier Mandatory tournament that has a large field of 96 singles, 32 doubles and has a qualifying draw of 48.
Abierto Mexicano Telcel (ATP) Qualfiying
Previous Abierto Mexicano Telcel Coverage
In the first round of qualifying on Saturday #1 Donald Young took out Guatemalan Christopher Diaz-Figueroa 6-1, 7-5. #5 Tim Smyczek beat Mexican Cesar Ramirez 6-2, 6-3 to set up an All-American matchup in the second round of qualifying on Sunday.
#7 Wayne Odesnik. Odesnik beat fellow American Daniel Kosakowski 6-3, 6-1 while Nicholas Meister, upset #8 Mischa Zverev, 6-4, 6-3. Odesnik will face #3 Stephane Robert on Sunday while Meister, the only non-seeded player in qualifying to win their first round match, takes on #2 Alejandro Falla
We’ll have at least one American join the main draw from qualifying but it could be as many as three. We’ll find out later today.
Schedule
- Approx. 7 PM ET – #1 Donald Young vs. #5 Tim Smyczek
- Approx. 7 PM ET – #7 Wayne Odesnik vs. #3 Stephane Robert
- Approx. 9 PM ET – Nicholas Meister vs. #2 Alejandro Falla
Brazil Sevens (Women’s Sevens Rugby)
Previous Brazil Sevens Coverage
The USA dominated their opponents on Saturday after being stuck in the Bowl Semifinals. The US destroyed Argentina 35-0 (and it wasn’t that close… the USA scored seven tries but missed all seven conversions) to advance to the Bowl Final. In the Bowl Final they played host Brazil and they won 21-0. It was just 7-0 at the half though and the US only scored three tries in this one. Definitely a lot closer than the game against Argentina.
Jessica Javelet once again led the US in tries this weekend. For just two weeks into her Women’s Sevens World Series career she’s off to an incredible start. A huge talent for sure. The US was just 4-13 on conversions this weekend.
By falling into the Bowl Semifinals the US lost a chance to get much bigger points and thus fell from a tie for fifth in the season standings to seventh.
The next Women’s Sevens World Series event will be in Guangzhou, China, but it won’t be until April 5th-6th. When it does get here we’ll have coverage. In the meantime the men’s Sevens World Series will be back in action one month from now when they head to Japan for the Tokyo Sevens. The US men will be in a pool with Fiji, Samoa, and France in Tokyo.
