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Venus Williams leads the way for American women in Auckland QFs
Check out some of the headlines and results from the top tournaments around the world that you may have missed while you were sleeping.
The American women dominated in Auckland.
Venus Williams led the American charge into the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-1 win over Kurumi Nara. CoCo Vandeweghe followed with a 6-1, 6-7 (5), 7-5 win over Kirsten Flipkens. But the surprise of the day came when No. 54 Lauren Davis came back to beat Sloane Stephens 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in an All-American derby. Stephens looked dominant for the first set and a half before her game slowly came undone and Davis capitalized.
Nadal loses in Doha, Sharapova dominates in season openers
In the quarterfinals Venus will face Elena Vesnina, Vandeweghe plays fourth seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, and Davis plays Urszula Radwanska.
Caroline Wozniacki holds off Taylor Townsend.
Wozniacki advanced to the quarterfinals in Auckland after beating Townsend 6-1, 7-6 (4). The American looked completely outmatched until she found her rhythm in the second set and built a 5-2 lead. But Wozniacki saved two set points and ran away with the tiebreaker.
Grigor Dimitrov saves two match points to beat Jeremy Chardy in Brisbane.
In his first match of the season, Dimitrov was outplayed for most of the match by No. 31 Chardy, who came out firing on all cylinders. Then the Frenchman blinked. He earned two match points in the third set tiebreak after a lucky netcord landed in. Dimitrov saved the first with an ace and then Chardy double-faulted on the second and then double-faulted again to give Dimitrov match point. The Bulgarian finally converted a few points later to win 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8).
Match highlights:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thFwHSKzfFM]
Kei Nishikori had an easier time in his first match of the year, defeating Steve Johnson 6-4, 7-5. Ana Ivanovic also got her first win, beating Jarmila Gajdosova in straight sets.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withdrew from the Australian Open
The rumors were swirling that something was up wtih Tsonga, who finished his 2014 season by ruling himself unfit for the final day of Davis Cup last season due to an injury. He formally announced his withdrawal from the Australian Open on Wednesday, citing a forearm injury.
Stan Wawrinka wins at the Chennai Open
The defending champion took care of Borna Coric, 6-1, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals.
Alexandr's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Seventh seed Alexandr Dolgopolov had six match points and won every statistical category against Martin Klizan in Brisbane. He lost 1-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(7). Dolgopolov won 25 more points than Klizan and still couldn't get it done.
[tweet=https://twitter.com/tennisabstract/status/552692242914480128]
[tweet=https://twitter.com/tennisabstract/status/552693873018171392]
Alexandra Krunic earns a match-up with Simona Halep.
Over at the Shenzhen Open, No. 84 Krunic saved six match points to beat Anna Schmiedlova 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1 to book a spot in her first WTA quarterfinal. The qualifier will play top-seeded Halep. The Romanian beat Russian wildcard Natlia Vikhlyantseva 6-2, 6-2. Another quarterfinal will feature a battle of two women on the comeback trail, as former No. 2 Vera Zvonareva plays her doubles partner Timea Bacsinszky. No. 2 seed Petra Kvitova will play fellow countrywomen Tereza Smitkova.
Photo of the day
Video of the day
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK_83cnHbE4]
Thursday's Matches to Watch
Brisbane: Roger Federer vs. John Millman, Maria Sharapova vs. Carla Suarez Navarro, Angelique Kerber vs. Elina Svitolina
Auckland: Caroline Wozniacki vs. Julia Goerges, CoCo Vandeweghe vs. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Venus Williams vs. Elena Vesnina
Shenzhen: Simona Halep vs. Alexandra Krunic, Petra Kvitova vs. Tereza Smitkova.
Doha: Novak Djokovic vs. IvoKarlovic, Richard Gasquet vs. Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer vs. Dustin Brown.
Tweets of the day
[tweet=https://twitter.com/MariaSharapova/status/552675801666052096]
[tweet=https://twitter.com/CoCoVandey/status/552670189385289728]
[tweet=https://twitter.com/andy_murray/status/552756819039240192]
[tweet=https://twitter.com/tsonga7/status/552737787552993282]
[tweet=https://twitter.com/RafaelNadal/status/552782331329912832]
[tweet=https://twitter.com/delpotrojuan/status/552773495202271232]
[tweet=https://twitter.com/AlizeLim/status/552758694945890304]
Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.