Tennis

2:10 AM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka won the Australian Open women’s doubles final Friday night to collect a second Grand Slam title as a team. Mertens of Belgium and Sabalenka of Belarus had a 6-2, 6-3 win over the third-seeded Czech team of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.

3:00 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com As she made her way off court Thursday at Rod Laver Arena, Serena Williams stopped for a moment as the recently returned crowd stood and showered her with applause. She raised her left arm to wave before moving her hand over her heart, as if to let them know the

12:25 AM ET Excitement generated by the showdown between Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams in the semifinals of the Australian Open could not be overstated. The 23-year-old Osaka grew up idolizing Williams, who was trying to reach her ninth Australian final in a bid to win a record-tying 24th Grand Slam, and Osaka (the third

11:32 PM ET ESPN News Services Naomi Osaka advanced to the Australian Open final after beating Serena Williams 6-3, 6-4. Williams was trying to reach her ninth Australian final in a bid to win a record-tying 24th Grand Slam. The 23-year-old Osaka became the third player to win each of their first two major meetings

11:43 AM ET For most of tennis’s existence, winning even a single Grand Slam tournament meant career affirmation. From 1990 to ’98, 16 different players won a major, six for the first and only time. If there was a big-picture narrative involved, it likely had to do with reaching No. 1 in the ATP rankings.

2:07 AM ET Associated Press Daniil Medvedev will take a 19-match winning streak into the Australian Open semifinals after beating fellow Russian Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 in Melbourne. The pair were teammates when Russia won the ATP Cup team event on the eve of the Australian Open. They were on opposite sides of the

9:38 PM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Top-ranked Ash Barty built a big lead in her quarterfinal match at the Australian Open before her opponent took an injury timeout and left the court. More than an hour later, it was Barty heading abruptly out the exit. She was upset Wednesday by Karolina Muchova 1-6,

11:31 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Jessica Pegula surprised even her coaches with her quarterfinal run. It was the 2005 Eddie Herr International Junior Championship and the 12-and-under field included Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, Ajla Tomljanovic and Eugenie Bouchard. Pegula hadn’t played in many tournaments, so no one knew how she would handle the pressure competing

8:49 AM ET Associated Press Defending champion Novak Djokovic beat sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (6) to reach the Australian Open semifinals for the ninth time. The top-ranked Djokovic has never lost at Melbourne Park after making it to the last four. He shattered his racket in the third set by smashing

10:08 PM ET ESPN News Services MELBOURNE, Australia — Naomi Osaka advanced Tuesday to a potential semifinal showdown against Serena Williams at the Australian Open. Osaka earned her 19th victory in a row by overpowering Su-Wei Hsieh 6-2, 6-2, and will next meet the winner of the quarterfinal match Tuesday night between Williams and No.

12:00 PM ET When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady walloped the Kansas City Chiefs to earn Brady his seventh Super Bowl ring, it prompted a series of “Is Brady the GOAT of all GOATs?” conversations. Most of those greatest-of-all-time discussions ended, or should have, upon remembrance that Serena Williams exists. Like Brady, Williams

4:57 AM ET MELBOURNE, Australia — Twelve months ago, a golden opportunity presented itself for Ashleigh Barty to become the first homegrown player to win the Australian Open in 43 years. In the space of six enthralling hours on Day 5 in 2020, the previous three women’s champions in Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Caroline

9:32 PM ET Associated Press Jessica Pegula has reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open by earning her first victory over an opponent ranked in the Top 10. The 61st-ranked American, whose parents own Buffalo’s NFL and NHL franchises, beat No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in Rod

7:56 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Upon advancing to her first major fourth round on Saturday, Jessica Pegula grabbed the blue marker to write on the on-court camera lens, as is customary for winners at the Australian Open. She could have written anything. Before saying hi to her sister, she wrote: “Let’s go Jen Brady!” 🇺🇸

5:00 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com As a smiling Serena Williams made her way to the net after defeating Aryna Sabalenka in three hard-fought sets Sunday in the fourth round of the 2021 Australian Open, 18-time major champion Chris Evert seemed in awe over what she had just seen. “Is this the next level of women’s

9:17 PM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — So good for so long lately, Naomi Osaka was just one point from the end of her lengthy winning streak, one point from leaving the Australian Open with a loss to Garbine Muguruza. Bleak as things looked for her late in a big-hitting matchup of Grand Slam

11:00 AM ET MELBOURNE, Australia — From warming up with your opponent before a match to the mandatory all-white Wimbledon outfits and strawberries and cream at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, tennis purists are proud of the sport’s rich history of tradition, and have always grappled with the idea of having it altered too

1:14 AM ET ESPN News Services Daniil Medvedev finally worked out how to a win a five-setter. All by himself. The fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev was 0-6 in five-setters, and his match against No. 28-seeded Filip Krajinovic looked like it was going all the way in the third round of the Australian Open. After some angry