Tennis

Associated Press Jan 6, 2024, 02:45 AM ET Open Extended Reactions AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Coco Gauff will defend her title at the Auckland Classic against Elina Svitolina after beating fellow American Emma Navarro 6-3, 6-1 in a semifinal Saturday. Gauff needed only 62 minutes to sweep past fourth-seeded Navarro and now has won 18

Associated Press Jan 6, 2024, 06:11 AM ET Open Extended Reactions BRISBANE, Australia — Almost a year after contesting the Australian Open final, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina will meet in the title match of a key tune-up event for the first major of 2024. Top-seeded Sabalenka overpowered her compatriot and two-time champion Victoria Azarenka

Associated Press Jan 5, 2024, 11:33 PM ET Open Extended Reactions SYDNEY — No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek won her singles match Saturday after Hubert Hurkacz gave her team the early lead over France to advance Poland to the United Cup mixed teams final. Swiatek won 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 while ATP No. 9-ranked Hurkacz’s 6-3, 7-5

Associated Press Jan 5, 2024, 12:47 PM ET Open Extended Reactions LONDON — Ukraine’s Davis Cup qualifying matches against the United States will be played in Lithuania on Feb. 1-2 because of the ongoing war in Ukraine. The other matches in this round of the men’s team tennis competition are scheduled for Feb. 2 or

Associated Press Jan 5, 2024, 12:03 PM ET Open Extended Reactions LONDON — Russian tennis player Vladislav Ivanov has been given a four-year suspension for refusing to provide a urine sample for a doping test, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said Friday. Ivanov’s violation took place in September 2022 while he was competing at a

Associated Press Jan 5, 2024, 01:55 AM ET Open Extended Reactions BRISBANE, Australia — Second-seeded Elena Rybakina only needed to play seven games in her quarterfinal Friday to reach the final four at the Brisbane International. Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka had a tougher run, needing three sets, about 2 1/2 hours and joked about the

Associated Press Jan 4, 2024, 11:34 PM ET Open Extended Reactions AUCKLAND, New Zealand — U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff moved into the semifinals of the Auckland Tennis Classic on Friday with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Varvara Gracheva of France on a rainy quarterfinals day. The top-seeded player and defending champion needed only 24

Associated Press Jan 4, 2024, 01:53 PM ET Open Extended Reactions NEW YORK — The U.S. Tennis Association has enlisted two lawyers at a U.S.-based firm to look into its safeguarding policies and procedures to protect players from sexual misconduct and other abuse. Lew Sherr, the CEO and executive director of the organization that runs

ESPN News Services Jan 4, 2024, 08:45 AM ET Open Extended Reactions France defeated Norway in the deciding mixed doubles match Thursday to set up a United Cup semifinal against top-seeded Poland. Caroline Garcia and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Ulrikke Eikeri and Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-4 to end a tie that stretched nearly 6½ hours. The

Associated Press Jan 3, 2024, 11:46 PM ET Open Extended Reactions AUCKLAND, New Zealand — U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff overcame hard-hitting Czech teenager Brenda Fruhvirtova 6-3, 6-0 on Thursday to extend her winning the start to the year and the defense of her title at the Auckland Tennis Classic. The 16-year-old Fruhvirtova came out

Jan 3, 2024, 07:47 AM ET Open Extended Reactions PERTH, Australia — Novak Djokovic crashed to his first defeat of the season and first in Australia for six years with a stunning 6-4 6-4 loss to Alex de Minaur, who put Australia on course for a 2-0 win over Serbia in their United Cup quarterfinal

Jan 3, 2024, 06:53 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Emma Raducanu last Grand Slam appearance came at last year’s Australian Open. Getty Emma Raducanu has been granted a place in the main draw at this year’s Australian Open after United States’ Lauren Davis pulled out of the tournament through injury. An injury-hit 2023, that saw Raducanu’s

Associated Press Jan 2, 2024, 11:52 PM ET Open Extended Reactions BRISBANE, Australia — Naomi Osaka‘s first tournament since becoming a mother ended in a 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 second-round loss Wednesday to three-time champion Karolina Pliskova at the Brisbane International. Osaka, who has won the Australian Open and the US Open singles titles twice,

Associated Press Jan 2, 2024, 06:54 AM ET Open Extended Reactions BRISBANE, Australia — The longest time off tour in his professional career made Rafael Nadal much more nervous than usual ahead of his first competitive match in almost 12 months. The 22-time major winner showed no signs of rust at the Brisbane International on

Jan 2, 2024, 05:29 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Emma Raducanu marked her return to competitive action after an eight-month absence with a 6-3 4-6 7-5 win against world No. 134 Elena-Gabriela Ruse at the Auckland Classic on Monday. In the buildup to the tournament, the former US Open Champion had said she felt “reborn”

Jan 1, 2024, 08:38 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Andy Murray suffered a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 defeat to second-seed Grigor Dimitrov in the first round of the Brisbane International on Monday, beginning what could be his final season on a sour note. The three-time Grand Slam champion told the BBC ahead of the match —

Associated Press Jan 1, 2024, 06:36 AM ET Open Extended Reactions SYDNEY — No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek led Poland into the quarterfinals of the United Cup mixed teams tennis tournament on Monday, winning both her singles and doubles matches. Swiatek took the court under pressure, needing to win her singles match against Spain’s Sara Sorribes

Associated Press Dec 31, 2023, 11:06 PM ET Open Extended Reactions BRISBANE, Australia — Naomi Osaka‘s first win at the elite level since becoming a mother didn’t come easily. It did come on Day 1 of the year, though. So that was two items Osaka checked off the list Monday for her comeback to professional