No. 6 seed Arthur Fils made a successful return to competition at the Open Occitanie, his first event since early August 2025 following a lower back injury. The 21-year-old produced 50 winners, including 14 aces, to defeat countryman Valentin Royer 7-6(7), 6-7(4), 6-2 in two hours and 33 minutes in Montpellier.

“It’s been a while since I last competed, so returning to the circuit is great,” Fils told press during Media Day. “I feel a lot of joy and happiness. I’m very excited to be back on the courts with so many fans.

“It’s been a long process. I’m back, so that means everything is positive, both mentally and physically.”

Fils withdrew from Roland Garros in May 2025 after suffering a lower back injury that was later diagnosed as a stress fracture during a five-set, four-and-a-half-hour second-round battle against Jaume Munar. That match was later selected as the second-best of 2025, according to Steve Tignor.

He tried to resume play in Canada in August 2025, winning a singles match and teaming with Ben Shelton to reach a doubles quarterfinal, but the comeback was short-lived. He then announced that he would shut down his season to recover. “Excluding Roland Garros, I think withdrawing from the Masters 1000 in Paris was the hardest moment,” he said in Montpellier.

The injury interrupted a rapid rise: Fils climbed to a career-high No. 14 in April 2025 after runs to the quarterfinals at Indian Wells, Miami (including a win over world No. 2 Alexander Zverev) and Monte Carlo, and a semifinal in Barcelona. Now ranked No. 42, he arrives in Montpellier determined to rebuild and defend points.

Fils skipped the opening weeks of the 2026 season, missing the Australian swing while continuing rehabilitation, a decision he outlined in a vlog on his YouTube channel. He has worked with a nutritionist and said he lost “six or seven kilos since Roland Garros.” “I’m 21, I still have around 10 to 15 years of career [ahead], so it’s not a race,” he added. “I work with a lot of people to try to start fresh … and I think that now I’m on the right track, so I’ve got to continue.”

Oleksandra Oliynykova continued an eye-catching start to the 2026 season by reaching her first WTA quarterfinal at the Transylvania Open. The 25-year-old followed up her breakout performance at the 2026 Australian Open with a straight-sets victory over No. 8 seed Anna Bondar, 6-4, 6-4.

Oliynykova declined to shake Bondar’s hand after the match, a decision she said was made prior to the contest because of Bondar’s participation in a 2022 Russian tournament. The North Palmyra Trophies, held six months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was sponsored by Gazprom, which Oliynykova described as “one of the key financial pillars of Russia’s war machine.”

She explained the moral basis for her stance in a statement. “These are the same funds Russia uses to kill and maim Ukrainian women and children, and to destroy our families and cities,” said the 25-year-old. “From a moral standpoint, accepting Gazprom money in December 2022 is equivalent to playing in Nazi Germany in 1941 and being paid with property taken from victims of death camps. The same evil—just 80 years later.”

Oliynykova said she would have shaken Bondar’s hand if the Hungarian had issued an apology, but none was given and Oliynykova advanced. Earlier in the week she won her first WTA main-draw match in Cluh Napoca, recovering from a set down to eliminate Mayar Sherif.

Her run at the Transylvania Open is projected to lift her to a career-high ranking of No. 78, with the possibility of moving higher if she wins her quarterfinal match. The result builds on the momentum she generated in Melbourne, where she played an entertaining first-round match against defending champion Madison Keys and drew notice for temporary face tattoos.

Oliynykova’s performances this season have combined on-court progress with a public stance on matters she regards as morally significant for Ukrainians.

Mirra Andreeva arrived at the Adelaide final day juggling match preparation and a small personal debate. “It’s going to be very entertaining,” she said of the championship match, but immediately after her semifinal she admitted she was torn over how to unwind: “It’s like a chocolate fondant with pistachio sauce inside. And I’m debating whether I should go and have the dessert, or whether I should just should stay in the room and watch some Netflix.”

Whatever she chose, the 18-year-old world No. 8 understood the task ahead. She will meet 19-year-old Victoria Mboko for the title, a first meeting since their junior days. Andreeva, the No. 3 seed who advanced by brushing aside her former doubles partner Diana Shnaider, is contesting a title match for the first time since Indian Wells.

Andreeva offered a measured assessment of her opponent: “I felt like she’s been playing well, and she’s been raising her level tournament to tournament. I know that she likes to take the ball early. She likes to be aggressive on the court. She likes to dictate the point as well. She has a great serve.”

Mboko has arrived in Adelaide on the back of a breakthrough 2025 season. She earned WTA Newcomer of the Year after climbing more than 300 places into the year-end Top 20 and captured her first tour-level crown, a WTA 1000 title in Montreal. The Canadian then added a second WTA triumph in Hong Kong to finish the season.

“Seeing her uprise, I think it’s motivating for me and I think a lot of young girls out there who want to play at this level of tennis,” Mboko said of Andreeva. “Yeah, it’s just a nice thing to see. She’s a super nice girl, and we’re quite good friends off the court.”

Mboko, the eighth seed in Adelaide, improved to 5-1 on the young season after dismissing Kimberly Birrell and said the extra court hours can help: “I think having that many hours on court can help you. It can help me in the next round, being in difficult situations, and just generally improving throughout the tournament.”

Andreeva, visibly eager for the match, added: “Honestly, if I could have played tonight, I would have played. Because, I don’t know, for some reason I’m so excited to go on court tomorrow. I’m just happy to share the final with Vicky.”