As well as the exclusive interview with recent WTA Tour debutante Alycia Parks, Lucy and Eugene spend some time talking about Kinlo, Cordae and all the action in Madrid
Round-up Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the quarter-finals in Barcelona, lost in straights to runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas. Frances Tiafoe beat Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets in the first round before losing to Diego Schwartzman in three. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost in the first round to Egor Gerasimov.
– Tiafoe, an Estoril finalist in 2018, lost in round one to Kevin Anderson. Played well though and did serve for the match.
– Sada Nahimana, who trains at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in Nice, won both the singles and doubles W15 Antalya ITF titles. The 20-year-old from Burundi not drop a set en route to the singles title.
– Gael Monfils announced to his followers on social media that he received his first vaccination shot!
– Naomi Osaka should represent Haiti – the country of father’s birth – and not Japan on the international stage according to Dr Umar Johnson; the four-time Grand Slam champion also launched a new skincare line – Kinlo – for melanated skin; and Cordae referenced her in his latest project.
Alycia Parks Interview Michael and Alycia Parks talk about the father-coach relationship; the role basketball plays in her serve; turning down offers from Duke and UCLA; and aiming for the WTA top 100 among other things.
Madrid Open Sloane Stephens and Osaka got good straight-set, first- and second-round wins against Danka Kovinic and Misaki Doi respectively. Both then lost three-setters in their following rounds to Ons Jabeur and Karolina Muchova respectively.
– Coco Gauff, Venus Williams and Madison Keys all fell at the first hurdle. Gauff put up a good fight against sixth seed Karolina Pliskova.
– Auger-Aliassime, seeded 15th, is handed another tough first-round draw, starts against Monte-Carlo semi-finalist Casper Ruud. Tiafoe fell to Marco Cecchinato in the first round of qualifying. Will most likely play Rome qualifying and then the ATP 250 in Parma.
L’Open 35 de Saint-Malo Jasmine Paolini is in France for the WTA 250 event. The Italian has been drawn against French wildcard Elsa Jacquemot in round one.
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