ERSA Pro Stringer Issue 2 - 2018 ProStringer_0218_07 final | Page 30
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AO 2018
Australian Open 2018:
New Stars and Veterans Shine Bright
Over the fortnight, Team Yonex showed grit and determination.
Former Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber made a strong
start to the year with a 14-match win streak. In Melbourne, she
made the semifinals facing the current World No.1 Simona Halep
in a long, heated battle. On the men’s side, Next Gen Champion
Hyeon Chung became the first ever South Korean to make a Grand
Slam semifinal. The young gun scored the biggest wins of his career,
taking out No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev and former Australian Open
champion Novak Djokovic.
Shingo Kunieda returned to the Grand Slam spotlight with an epic
battle in the final against Frenchman Stefan Houdet. Kunieda
mounted a comeback from three match points in the final set to
win his first Grand Slam title in 3 years. The win comes after having
joined Team Yonex this year, and the 47-time Grand Slam champion
accredits his EZONE 100 in unleashing powerful groundstrokes.
A new member to Team Yonex is Hungarian Timea Babos.
Switching to the VCORE SV 98, Babos secured the Women’s
Doubles title and finished as runner up in the Mixed
Doubles event. The big-hitting Hungarian loved the new
frame. “The racquet has a lot of speed and lots of control,
which gives me confidence in my shots,” she expounded.
The Yonex Stringing Team closes out another exciting year
Down Under in Melbourne at the 2018 Australian Open.
The team was comprised of a diverse mix of stringers from
all over the world: 24 stringers from 15
different countries. Each technician on the team was
devoted to providing top-level stringing to support the
world’s best, working from the early hours of the morning
to late at night. Tournament stringers are some of the
unsung heroes behind the Australian Open. The Yonex
Stringing Team is proud to serve at the year’s first Grand
Slam event, nicknamed the ‘Happy Slam.’ This year the
team totaled 5,206 restrings throughout the tournament,
with a maximum of 500 per day.
Shingo Kunieda (EZONE 98) (JPN)
Timea Babos (VCORE SV 98) (HUN)
Hyeon Chung (VCORE Duel G 97) (KOR)
Angelique Kerber (VCORE, POLYTOUR FIRE 120) (GER)
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ERSA PRO STRINGER // ISSUE 2-2018