Tennis

Jan 8, 2023 Associated Press AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Top-seeded American Coco Gauff has capped a commanding start to the new season Sunday by beating Spanish qualifier Viktoria Masarova 6-1, 6-1 in the final of the ASB Classic. Gauff claimed her third WTA Tour title but her first in years on hard courts, boosting her

7:12 AM ET Associated Press ADELAIDE, Australia — Novak Djokovic showed no signs of an injury that might derail his Australian Open campaign when he beat unseeded American Sebastian Korda 6-7 (8), 7-6 (3), 6-4 Sunday to win the Adelaide International. Djokovic worried Open organizers when he said after his semifinal in Adelaide against Daniil

11:51 PM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Two-time champion Naomi Osaka has confirmed she will not play at the Australian Open, adding her name to a growing list of notable withdrawals. Organizers confirmed in a tweet on Sunday that Japan’s Osaka, the Open champion in 2019 and 2021, will not be playing in Melbourne.

1:02 AM ET Associated Press ADELAIDE, Australia — Novak Djokovic beat Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday to advance to the Adelaide International final despite sustaining a leg injury during the match. In the seventh game of the first set, Djokovic caught his left foot when sliding for a ball and immediately began stretching out

1:16 AM ET Associated Press AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Top-seeded Coco Gauff advanced to the final of the ASB Classic by beating Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-0, 6-2 on Saturday. The American hasn’t yet dropped a set at the Auckland hardcourt tournament and needed a little more than an hour to defeat seventh-seeded Kovinic to

2:33 AM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Venus Williams has withdrawn from the Australian Open for an undisclosed injury she suffered while playing in a tournament in Auckland, New Zealand, this week. A seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, Williams, 42, received a wild-card entry into the Australian Open last month to compete in what

4:47 PM ET Associated Press Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz pulled out of the Australian Open on Friday because of an injured right leg. The 19-year-old from Spain wrote on social media that he got hurt “through a chance, unnatural movement in training.” The year’s first Grand Slam tournament begins Jan. 16 at Melbourne Park. The draw

7:48 AM ET ESPN News Services ADELAIDE, Australia — Novak Djokovic beat Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-4 at the Adelaide International on Friday to set up a semifinal with Daniil Medvedev. The combined ATP-WTA event is a warmup for this year’s Australian Open, which the top-seeded Djokovic missed last year after being barred from the country

1:14 AM ET Associated Press AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Top-seeded Coco Gauff has beaten Lin Zhu of China 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the ASB Tennis Classic in a tournament that has been dogged by bleak weather and diminished by waning star power. Venus Williams, second-seeded Sloane Stephens and former US Open champion

5:05 AM ET Emma Raducanu left the court in tears after retiring from her round of 16 match at the ASB Classic with an ankle injury just 11 days before the start of the Australian Open. The British No. 1 was competing against Viktoria Kuzmova, with the score at 6-0, 5-7 when she appeared to

4:44 AM ET WTA Finals winner Caroline Garcia said she struggled with bulimia as she looked to “fill a void” when things were not going her way on court. The French player, who won top tier titles in Wuhan and Beijing in 2017, said the last couple of years had been marked by “tears and

12:18 AM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Australian Open officials say Reilly Opelka has withdrawn from the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year. Although no reason was given for the withdrawal on Wednesday, Opelka, a 25-year-old native of St. Joseph, Michigan, has been troubled by hip and ankle injuries over the last

9:55 AM ET The return of WTA tournaments to China in 2023 will hinge on a resolution to the Peng Shuai issue, with the governing body of the women’s game telling Reuters on Wednesday it had still not met the Chinese former doubles world number one personally. Peng had accused Chinese former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli

2:59 AM ET Associated Press SYDNEY — Two of the three city finals at the mixed teams United Cup tennis tournament were level at 1-1 Wednesday with two singles matches and potentially a mixed doubles decider to follow. Madison Keys gave the United States an early lead in its Sydney City Final over Britain after

1:52 AM ET Associated Press AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Spanish qualifier Rebeka Masarova defeated second-seeded Sloane Stephens 6-3, 7-5 (5) at the ASB Classic on Wednesday as organizers of the WTA Tour event contended with a backlog of singles matches caused by persistent rain. Matches had to be played indoors and without spectators to ensure

7:16 AM ET Associated Press Novak Djokovic maintained his winning streak in singles matches in Australia, beating Constant Lestienne of France 6-3, 6-2 Tuesday in the first round of the Adelaide International. It was the top-seeded Djokovic’s 30th straight singles victory on Australian soil in a streak that dates to 2018. It was Djokovic’s first

2:07 AM ET Associated Press AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu overcame wind and rain in a match which stretched over almost four hours to beat Linda Fruhvirtova 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 Tuesday in her first singles match of 2023 at the ASB Classic. The match twice was interrupted by rain and

12:39 AM ET Associated Press World No. 1 Novak Djokovic kept up his winning streak in singles matches in Australia, beating Constant Lestienne of France 6-3, 6-2 Tuesday in the first round of the Adelaide International. It was Djokovic’s 30th straight singles victory on Australian soil in a streak that goes back to 2018. Tuesday’s