Tennis

3:17 PM ET Associated Press MONTPELLIER, France — – Top-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut was clinical in beating sixth-seeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Open Sud de France semifinals on Friday. Bautista Agut won 88% of the first-serve points and was ruthless on Humbert’s serve, converting all four break points. He served out

10:22 AM ET Associated Press PARIS — Gilles Simon will step away from the tennis tour for an undetermined period of time because he said his heart wasn’t in it right now. The 36-year-old Frenchman wrote on Twitter on Friday that his mental health is also a concern. “With my heart not being in it

5:08 PM ET Associated Press Top-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut swept aside French qualifier Gregoire Barrere 6-0, 6-3 Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Open Sud de France. The Spanish veteran, who is chasing a 10th career title, won 100 percent of his first-serve points in the first set and broke Barrere’s serve three times

2:01 PM ET Adrian Mannarino started his Singapore Open in style after beating Italy’s Roberto Marcora 6-3, 7-5 to send himself into the quarterfinals. Marrarino, who is the top-seeded French player at the competition, is due to face off against Moldovan Radu Albot, who beat Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann. “I never played against him [Marcora] before,

10:53 AM ET Associated Press Rafael Nadal pulled out of next week’s hard-court tournament at Rotterdam, Netherlands, because of the bad back that bothered him during the Australian Open. Nadal’s withdrawal from the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament was announced Thursday. The 20-time Grand Slam champion wrote in a series of posts on Twitter that

1:25 AM ET French Open champion Iga Swiatek is through to the semi-finals of the Adelaide International after Ash Barty’s conqueror was forced to pull out with injury. World No. 18 Swiatek was leading 6-2, 3-0 when American Danielle Collins retired during Thursday’s quarterfinal. Collins, who beat world No. 1 Barty in straight sets a

1:25 AM ET Swiss Jil Teichmann and American teen Coco Gauff are into the final four of the Adelaide International after surviving tough quarterfinal encounters. Teichmann clawed her way to a marathon victory over Latvian veteran Anastasija Sevastova, winning 6-4, 6-7(8), 7-5, and was later joined by Gauff, who also had a fighting battle with

4:43 PM ET Associated Press Billie Jean King and the other members of the Original 9 who laid the groundwork for the women’s professional tour are the first group elected together to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, joining Lleyton Hewitt and Dennis Van der Meer in the Class of 2021. In results announced Wednesday,

5:12 AM ET Maddison Inglis has earned a second-round clash with French Open champion Iga Swiatek after upsetting her idol and fellow Australian Samantha Stosur at the Adelaide International. It’s proving to be a breakthrough season in the 23-year-old’s blossoming career, with the 5-7 7-5 6-4 victory over former US Open champion Stosur another highlight.

3:47 PM ET Associated Press Naomi Osaka‘s Australian Open championship moved her up one spot to No. 2 in the WTA rankings Monday, while men’s finalist Daniil Medvedev rose to a career-best No. 3 behind winner Novak Djokovic on the ATP list. Jennifer Brady, the 25-year-old American who was the runner-up to Osaka, jumped 11

5:47 AM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic‘s Australian Open dominance is intact — nine finals, nine championships. And he keeps gaining on Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the Grand Slam standings, now up to 18 overall, two away from the men’s record shared by his two rivals. Djokovic used superb serving

9:59 AM ET MELBOURNE, Australia — The smile on Novak Djokovic‘s face after smashing an overhead backhand volley past Daniil Medvedev to secure a record ninth Australian Open title on Sunday wasn’t one of pure joy or even contentment. It was relief. As the “Nole, Nole, Nole” chant echoed around Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic dropped

9:39 AM ET MELBOURNE, Australia — Ahead of this year’s Australian Open final, there was a distinctly different buzz around Melbourne Park. There was a sense that, just maybe, this would be the year the King of Rod Laver Arena could be dethroned by a member of the “next generation.” World No. 1 Novak Djokovic

2:02 AM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Filip Polasek and Ivan Dodig have won the men’s doubles title at the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-4 win over 2020 champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury. Ram, a 36-year-old American who spent two weeks in hard quarantine after arriving in Australia last month, was attempting

7:15 AM ET ESPN staff MELBOURNE, Australia — All eyes will be fixed on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday when World No. 1 Novak Djokovic battles the red-hot Daniil Medvedev for the Australian Open men’s singles title (3:30 a.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App). The pair have had contrasting runs to the final at Melbourne Park. Djokovic,

4:28 PM ET MELBOURNE, Australia — The extreme speed of Melbourne Park’s courts have been the talk of the 2021 Australian Open. Dominic Thiem, a finalist last year, called the terrain this year “the fastest Grand Slam courts I have ever played on.” Jim Courier, a two-time champion of the tournament, likened the surface here

5:17 AM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — The trouble for Naomi Osaka at Grand Slam tournaments comes in Week 1. Get beyond that at the hard-court majors, though, and start preparing to etch her name on the trophy. Osaka won her fourth title in her past eight appearances at a Slam, emerging from what

9:40 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Naomi Osaka paused for a moment when asked about her perfect record in major finals. She had just defeated Serena Williams in the Australian Open semifinals and secured her spot in her fourth career championship match. She maintained a soft-spoken tone but her message was anything but quiet. “I have