Matt Trollope

@AustralianOpen & @TennisAustralia content producer. All views are my own. @Richmond_FC supporter.

[TennisAustralia @TennisAustralia]

FIRST TITLE 🏆

It's third time lucky in tour-level finals for Kimberly Birrell as she claims the all-Aussie battle against Maya Joint 6-4 6-2, scoring her maiden WTA title at the Korea Open!

#GoAussies

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

Great graphic. And massive fan of the Wikipedia colour scheme 😍

[womtennis @womtennis]

Slam performance of the Top 10 (as of tomorrow). Sabalenka the only one to make it to the second week of all the majors, and everyone made Semi-Finals or better at least once except for Swiatek.

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

Outstanding third-set stats for Elena Rybakina:

> 100% first-serve points won
> 15 winners, 6 unforced errors
> 4/4 points won at net
> generated 5 break points to Sabalenka's 0

#USOpen

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

Sabalenka v Rybakina.
Three Grand Slam finals.
Three three-set battles.
One of the best big-stage rivalries.

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

The last time the same two women set up a 3rd Grand Slam final meeting was in 2018, when Kerber played Serena in the Wimbledon final.

Their 3 major finals:
AO 2016 - Kerber won
Wimbledon 2016 - Serena won
Wimbledon 2018 - Kerber won

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

Speaking of match-ups, we're guaranteed a Grand Slam final rematch with Sabalenka through to the #USOpen decider.

SABALENKA v RYBAKINA
AO 2023 F - Sabalenka won
AO 2026 F - Rybakina won

SABALENKA v GAUFF
US 2023 F - Gauff won
RG 2025 F - Gauff won

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

Incredible.

[OptaAce @OptaAce]

8 - Aryna Sabalenka is the first female or male player in the Open Era to reach 8+ consecutive GS finals on hard court, surpassing the seven reached by Steffi Graf (US 1987-90), Martina Hingis (AO 1997-00) and Novak Djokovic (US 2010-13). Wow!

#USOpen | @usopen @WTA

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

LOVE how @OptaAce track match-up stats, and this is a banger re: Sabalenka v Pegula.

They're the first pair to meet this deep in the #USOpen women's SFs for three years in a row since Graf-Sabatini almost 40 years ago (1988-1990)

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

Are we going to get a rematch of the 2024 US Open SF between Navarro and Sabalenka?

Or a rematch of the 2025 US Open SF between Pegula and Sabalenka?

Both were fantastic, especially the 2025 edition.

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

Last time it happened at the US Open was 13 years ago, when Serena faced Azarenka in the final.

Serena was the reigning US Open and Roland Garros champion while Azarenka was the Australian Open titleholder.

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

Love a match between two reigning Slam champions!

They’ve been kinda rare on the women’s side — for example there’s only been eight such matches at the AO since it moved to Melbourne Park in 1988.

[José Morgado @josemorgado]

US Open QF:

[1] Aryna Sabalenka vs. [6] Linda Noskova

World #1 and two-time defending US Open champ vs. Wimbledon champ.

[#AusOpen @AustralianOpen]

Big gains ahead of the final Grand Slam 🤩

Will we see one of these five stake their claim to the 🏆?

[#AusOpen @AustralianOpen]

Coco and Iga enter the US Open tied at the top of their form 😮‍💨

Will we see a Grand Slam winner from among these five?

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

The Serena-Capriati rivalry was so good. A few notable things...

- they played 7 times at majors, but never a final
- those matches were compressed into a 3-year span
- 6 of those 7 matches went the full 3 sets
- Capriati a rare player with a winning H2H vs Serena at Slams (4-3)

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

Great stat from @OptaAce:

Jessica Pegula & Coco Gauff are the 2nd pair of Americans to face each other in multiple Tier I/WTA 1000 finals (Wuhan 2025, Cincinnati 2026) since the format’s introduction in 1990 after Serena Williams & Jennifer Capriati (Toronto 2001, Miami 2002-03)

[OptaAce @OptaAce]

82 - Aryna Sabalenka (+82) holds the best winner-unforced error differential of any player at WTA-1000 events in 2026, with Linda Noskova (+24) next-best this season. Gulf.

#CincyTennis | @CincyTennis @WTA

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

Top seven seeds - Sabalenka, Rybakina, Pegula, Gauff, Andreeva, Noskova and Swiatek - all into last 16 at #CincyTennis.

If we include Keys as well, every Grand Slam champion dating back to US Open 2024 is into the 4R.

Plus seeds 9 & 10 - Anisimova and Kostyuk - also through.

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

And the pattern holds for an eighth match, with Swiatek prevailing 6-3 1-6 6-3.

Into her first final of the year (!) and will meet either Gauff or Rybakina in a marquee Toronto decider.

[Matt Trollope @MattyAT]

In all seven previous meetings between Swiatek and Svitolina, the winner of the first set has gone on to win the match...