Tennis

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) said on Thursday that The finals of the Billie Jean King Cup, the redesigned Fed Cup which was scheduled to be held from April 13-18 in Budapest, has been deferred once more due to COVID-19 guidelines in Hungary. The opening ceremony 12-nation finals was at first scheduled to take place in March last year before the COVID-19 outbreak obligated authorities to put it back a year. The ITF and the Hungarian National Sports Agency (NSA) said that the

MELBOURNE: Naomi Osaka clinched her fourth Grand Slam title on Saturday (Feb 20) after beating American Jennifer Brady at the Australian Open. The 23-year-old became the first women's player to win her first four Grand Slam finals since Monica Seles in 1991. Here, AFP describes how her two US Opens and two Australian Opens were won: US OPEN 2018 Osaka, 20, became the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles title by beating her idol Serena Williams 6-2, 6-4 in a

MELBOURNE: Confidence is king and Daniil Medvedev has plenty of it, with the affable Russian morphing into not just one of tennis's best players and premier athletes, but among the smartest. Standing at a lanky 6 ft 6 in and pencil-thin, he has emerged at the forefront of the next wave looking to smash the 'Big Three' monopoly of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. After reaching the 2019 US Open final, where he lost to Nadal, he has worked hard on

MELBOURNE: Second-seeded Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka swept past Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova to clinch their maiden Australian Open doubles crown on Friday (Feb 19). The Belgian-Belarusian combination proved too strong for the third-seeded Czech pair, winning 6-2, 6-3 at the Rod Laver Arena after sealing the match on their fourth championship point. "It's been a tough couple of weeks, so thank you to everyone involved. Glad to have fans back," said Mertens. It was their second Grand Slam success as a

MELBOURNE: Jennifer Brady spent two weeks in hard quarantine gathering mental strength for her tilt at a maiden Grand Slam title, and will hope there is plenty in reserve when she takes on Naomi Osaka in Saturday's (Feb 20) Australian Open final. While some of those in hard quarantine complained about not being able to train before the Grand Slam, Brady likened it to a long decompression session that probably helped her bulldoze through the draw against better-prepared players. Now the rising 25-year-old

Naomi Osaka ended Serena Williams’ bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title with an imperious 6-3 6-4 win on Thursday, a victory that booked her spot in her second Australian Open final and left the American great in tears. In a rematch of their tumultuous 2018 U.S. Open decider, Osaka underlined her status as the new queen of women’s tennis and soaked up the cheers from the Rod Laver Arena crowd as fans returned to the Grand Slam after a five-day lockdown.

Naomi Osaka claimed an impressive victory over Serena Williams to reach the Australian Open final and end the American's latest quest for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title. Three-time Slam champion Osaka withstood early pressure from Williams to win 6-3 6-4. Osaka is on a 20-match unbeaten streak and has never lost a Slam final. The Japanese will face Jennifer Brady in Saturday's final after the American beat Karolina Muchova. Brady came past the Czech 6-4 3-6 6-4 to seal a spot in

Novak Djokovic beat Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev  6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 53 minutes to reach his ninth final in of the Australian Open. He will now face the winner of the second men's singles semi-final between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev. Through the tournament, Djokovic has spoken about the abdominal injury that has hampered his movement but the Serb looked his best so far in the tournament and played an incredibly consistent game to get this easy victory. Karatsev made history by becoming the

In the middle of the first set, sensing her peril, Serena Williams bent at the waist and screamed to herself. “Make a shot,” she yelled. “Make a shot.” If only it was that easy. Unlike most of her matches during her legendary, two-decade-plus career, the Australian Open semifinals wasn’t so much about what Serena could do, but what her opponent could do … only better. Williams’ latest quest for her 24th Grand Slam championship ran into the buzzsaw known as Naomi Osaka in

MELBOURNE: Daniil Medvedev came out on top of a brutal all-Russian clash Thursday against Andrey Rublev to move into his first Australian Open semi-final and inch closer to a maiden Grand Slam title. The fourth seed had more firepower than his younger, eighth-seeded rival in scorching conditions on Rod Laver Arena, grinding him down 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 to extend his win-streak to 19 matches. His reward is a last-four clash with either 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal or fifth-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas."I

Karolina Muchova staged a stunning comeback Thursday to upset Ashleigh Barty and storm into the Australian Open semi-finals. Karolina Muchova staged a stunning comeback Thursday to upset Ashleigh Barty and storm into the Australian Open semi-finals, rallying from a set down to shatter the world number one's dreams. The Czech 25th seed looked on her way out after Barty raced through the opening set, but after a medical timeout Muchova returned a different player to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena

15 Feb 2021: Australian Open: Novak Djokovic registers 300th Grand Slam win World number one Novak Djokovic defeated Milos Raonic in two hours and 56 minutes on Rod Laver Arena to book a spot in the Australian Open quarter-finals for the 12th time. With 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Canadian number 14 seed, Djokovic went on to record his 300th win at Grand Slams.Here is more on the same. Fact: Djokovic only behind Federer in terms of Grand Slam winsDjokovic became

Australian Open: Naomi Osala beat Hsieh Su-Wei 6-2, 6-2 to seal a berth in the semi-finals. World number three Naomi Osaka sailed past Hsieh Su-wei in straight sets Tuesday to book an Australian Open semi-final against either Serena Williams or Simona Halep. The Japanese three-time Grand Slam champion overcame the Taiwanese world number 71's unorthodox style 6-2, 6-2 in an all-Asian quarter-final at a crowd-less Rod Laver Arena. "I was pretty calm. I'm really happy how I played today," said Osaka, who hit

Rafael Nadal looks to be peaking at the right time after brushing aside Fabio Fognini to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. The second seed came into the tournament with serious concerns over a back problem but revealed after beating Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the third round that it had finally started to improve. Fognini came from two sets down to beat Nadal at the US Open in 2015 but, after failing to convert a lead in the second set, he swiftly succumbed to a 6-3, 6-4,

The Scot, now ranked 125th, lost 6-2, 6-4 to 33-year-old Ukrainian Illya Marchenko, who is ranked 212th, in the hard-court event. Rome: Former world number one Andy Murray, forced to miss the Australian Open by a positive COVID-19 test, lost the final of the Biella Challenger event in Italy on Sunday. The Scot, now ranked 125th, lost 6-2, 6-4 to 33-year-old Ukrainian Illya Marchenko, who is ranked 212th, in the hard-court event. The indoor event in the foothills of the Italian Alps carried a modest overall

Novak Djokovic says it's a 'gamble' to keep playing the Australian Open and his abdominal injury could have an impact on the rest of his season, but the world number one is prepared to take the risk. The Serbian eight-time champion sustained a "muscle tear" during a thrilling five-setter against Taylor Fritz on Friday. He didn't train the following day but took to Rod Laver Arena on Sunday evening dosed up on painkillers to see off the threat posed by big-serving Canadian Milos

Naomi Osaka battled back from the brink to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Garbine Muguruza on Sunday. Naomi Osaka saved two match points and came back to beat Garbine Muguruza in a big-hitting fourth-round matchup of Grand Slam champions at the Australian Open. The third-seeded Osaka grabbed the last four games to win 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in Rod Laver Arena. That result puts her back in the quarterfinals of a tournament she won in

Karolina Pliskova said she never got into her comfort zone on Saturday as the sixth seed exited the Australian Open following a 7-5 7-5 third-round defeat by Czech compatriot Karolina Muchova at Rod Laver Arena. Pliskova's frustrations boiled over in the first set as she received a code violation for racket abuse and was then handed a point deduction for smashing another racket in the tunnel between sets. Pliskova told a news conference she had been a little bit surprised at the second

Serena Williams debuted a striking single-legged leotard in her first match in the Australian Open on Monday, paying homage to the Olympic track champion Florence Griffith Joyner, known for her long, colourful fingernails and flamboyant outfits. After wearing the black, red and pink catsuit to dispatch Germany’s Laura Siegemund, Williams credited Nike for coming up with the idea to channel FloJo, as the athlete was popularly known, and spoke of her admiration for the late athlete. “I was inspired by FloJo, who was

Serena Williams launched her latest bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam with a 56-minute demolition of Laura Siegemund at the Australian Open. The American, 39, said it was "vintage Serena" as she thrashed the German 6-1 6-1 in front of a small, unmasked crowd on Rod Laver Arena. US Open champion Naomi Osaka also made a convincing start with a 6-1 6-2 win over Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. But former champion Angelique Kerber was the first seed to be knocked out. The German