Australian players Destanee Aiava, Olivia Gadecki and Ivana Popovic all won titles this week.
Australia, 20 August 2023 | Leigh Rogers
Several Australian players rewrote history with extraordinary performances in the past week.
Ellen Perez became the first Australian woman in 50 years to reach back-to-back doubles finals at Cincinnati, a feat last achieved by Evonne Goolagong Cawley.
Max Purcell and Alexei Popyrin charged into the men’s singles quarterfinals at Cincinnati, marking the first time in 21 years that two Aussie men had reached this stage at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament. Lleyton Hewitt and Wayne Arthurs were the last to do so, also at Cincinnati, in 2002.
Olivia Gadecki, Destanee Aiava and Ivana Popovic all claimed titles too in an impressive week for Australian women.
At junior level, Pavle Marinkov won the biggest singles title of his career at an ITF J200 tournament in Sydney. Aussie talents Charlie Camus, Ashlee Narker and Alice Stevens were crowned doubles champions.
This week’s most outstanding performers include:
Ellen Perez: The 27-year-old and American partner Nicole Melichar-Martinez became the first team in the Open era to reach back-to-back women’s doubles finals at the WTA 1000 tournament in Cincinnati (USA). They finished runners-up for the second year in a row.
Max Purcell: A first top-10 win, beating world No.7 Casper Ruud, was a highlight in a breakout week for Purcell. The 25-year-old enjoyed a career-best run at ATP Masters 1000 level, advancing to the Cincinnati singles quarterfinals, where he extended world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz to three sets.
Alexei Popyrin: The 24-year-old took advantage of a lucky-loser spot at Cincinnati, progressing to the singles quarterfinals. This was Popyrin’s career-best result at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
John Peers: The 35-year-old recorded his best result of the season at ATP Masters 1000 level, advancing to the doubles quarterfinals with Croatia’s Nikola Mektic. This was Peers’ best performance in Cincinnati since 2019.
Storm Hunter: The 29-year-old enjoyed a career-best run in the doubles competition at Cincinnati, reaching the semifinals alongside Belgian partner Elise Mertens. Hunter has now made the semifinals or better in six of her past seven tournaments.
Olivia Gadecki: The 21-year-old claimed the biggest doubles title of her career at a WTA 125 tournament at Stanford (USA) with British partner Jodie Burrage. This is Gadecki’s…
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