FAA successfully defended the title, Zheng Qinwen’s second-round opponent is her, Kvitova advances, and the 20-year-old rising star’s ranking soars.

Three minutes daily to stay informed about global tennis news. Hello tennis fans, today is Monday, February 9, 2026. Welcome to the news midday report brought to you by "Tennis Home."

Last night Beijing time, the ATP250 event in Montpellier, France, came to an exciting finish. In the men’s singles final, top seed and Canadian star Aliassime played steadily to defeat local veteran Mannarino 6-3, 7-6(4), capturing his first singles title of the season and the ninth ATP tour title of his career. Congratulations to FAA!

On the women’s side: last night Beijing time, the WTA1000 tournament in Doha began. On the first day, 14th seed Czech player Muchova defeated Romanian Cristian 6-2, 6-3, securing another victory over the opponent since the Australian Open and advancing smoothly; Australian naturalized Kasatkina came back from a set down to beat Japan’s Uchijima 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, ending her recent three-match losing streak.

American qualifier Parks, nicknamed “Little Black,” staged a comeback to win 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) against 15th seed Russian rising star Schneider, narrowly advancing to the second round, awaiting the winner between China’s top player Zheng Qinwen and American star Kenin.

Former champion and Czech player Kvitova cruised into the next round with a 6-1, 6-2 win over lucky loser Shera. She will next face defending champion and American Anisimova; meanwhile, 41-year-old Russian veteran Zvonareva, also a former champion who qualified, rallied from a set down to beat 17-years-younger American Stearns 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, earning her first main tour match win since 2023.

Mboko, Mertens, Jil Teichmann, Gracheva, Fletcher, Kocherato, and Linette also won their respective matches to advance to the second round.

Tonight at 9 PM Beijing time, China’s top player Zheng Qinwen will play her first match since returning on Court 1 as the third match, facing American Kenin; second-ranked Wang Xinyu will open on Court 2 against Colombian Arango around 6:30 PM. Additionally, around 9:30 PM, the doubles pairs Wang Xinyu/Zheng Saisai and Xu Yifan/Yang Zhaoxuan will compete in the women’s doubles first round. Best of luck to the Chinese stars!

Let’s check other news. Yesterday Beijing time, the main draws for two ATP tournaments this week were released. At the ATP500 Dallas Open in the USA, local stars Fritz and Shelton are the top two seeds, with defending champion Canadian Shapovalov also in the field.

At the ATP250 Buenos Aires tournament in Argentina, local favorite F. Cerundolo and Italian Darderi are the top two seeds, while the defending champion is Brazilian rising star Fonseca.

Now, let’s look at the world rankings. In the latest WTA rankings this week, players who performed well last week have all improved their positions. Among them, 20-year-old Czech player Beleck, who won the WTA500 Abu Dhabi title, jumped from 101st to 38th in the world rankings, marking a career-high and becoming this week’s WTA ranking star. Additionally, Orlikova, Bolt, Kolpach, and Snihur all rose by at least 20 places.

Finally, let’s play a guessing game. The picture below shows a player serving. Without any hints, can you recognize who she is?

In the previous guessing game, fans gave the correct answer. That’s right, the person in the picture is Russian Samsonova.

(Source: Tennis Home Author: Lone Wolf)