Tennis

Japan's Naomi Osaka said on Sunday that while she has spent her entire life waiting to compete at the Olympics, the risks of holding the Tokyo Games amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic should continue to be carefully discussed. Opinion surveys have shown that most Japanese oppose holding the Games this summer due to worries about the coronavirus, and Tokyo itself is currently under a state of emergency to tame a rise in infections. Osaka, the world number two women's tennis player and one

LONDON: Alexander Zverev underlined his credentials as a French Open title contender with a battling 6-7(8) 6-4 6-3 victory over Italian Matteo Berrettini on Sunday to claim his fourth Masters 1000 crown and second Madrid Open title. Germany's Zverev, conqueror of claycourt specialists Rafa Nadal and Dominic Thiem en route to the final, dropped his first set of the tournament. However, he fought back under a closed roof at the Manolo Santana stadium to lift his first claycourt title since 2019. "I feel

Aryna Sabalenka put on a powerful display to beat world number one Ashleigh Barty 6-0 3-6 6-4 and win the Madrid Open. The Belarusian raced through the opening set in just 25 minutes as Barty failed to win a game in a set for the first time in four years. Sabalenka's standard dropped in the second set as Barty dug in to level it. A sloppy service game from Barty at 4-4 in the third handed the advantage to Sabalenka who served out

Spain's Rafa Nadal was named the 2021 Laureus Sportsman of the year on Thursday, while fellow tennis player Naomi Osaka won the top women's honour. Japan's Osaka won her second U.S. Open title last year, while Nadal equalled Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam titles by claiming his 13th French Open crown. Nadal picked up his fourth Laureus honour, having previously scooped the Breakthrough, Comeback and men's individual awards. "The rest of the sportsmen probably deserve the trophy the same as me,

Top-seeded Ashleigh Barty of Australia outlasted Petra Kvitova 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open. Barty needed one hour, 48 minutes to defeat the Czech to improve to 11-1 in three-set matches she's played in 2021. "It's just always staying in the fight," Barty said. "Always staying in the hunt and never letting it slide away. That certainly doesn't guarantee results, doesn't guarantee success. It guarantees you give yourself the best chance to do what you do

MADRID: World number three Simona Halep was dumped out of the Madrid Open on Tuesday (Apr 4), losing 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the last 16 to Belgian Elise Mertens, while Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev won their opening men's matches. Romania's Halep, who won the Madrid title in 2016 and 2017, is still yet to reach a WTA Tour final this season and this was her earliest exit in the Spanish capital since a 2015 first-round loss. Halep had sailed through the first

Britain's Dan Evans reached the second round of the Madrid Open with victory over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. The British number one, who had never won in Madrid, came through 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (7-9) 6-2. Evans had three match points in the second set but the world number 51 saved them to send it to a decider. However, the world number 26 started the third set positively and broke his opponent twice, sealing it with an ace to go through to the last 32.

Britain's Cameron Norrie fought back to beat second seed Cristian Garin and reach the Estoril Open semi-finals. Norrie, who came through a three-hour match in Portugal on Thursday, beat the 22nd-ranked Chilean 3-6 7-5 6-3. The British number two received treatment on his left wrist after the first set but rallied to register his 17th win of the season and reach a second semi-final of the year. He will face sixth seed Marin Cilic of Croatia for a place in the final. Norrie,

LONDON: The Wimbledon Championships will become a 14-day tournament from 2022, with matches set to be played on Middle Sunday, traditionally a day off at the grasscourt Grand Slam, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) said on Tuesday. The first Sunday of Wimbledon is normally a rest day, on which tournament organisers work to get the courts back into top shape for the latter rounds, resulting in a packed "Manic Monday" schedule. "From 2022, to coincide with the centenary of centre court,

No. 7 seed Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany moved into the second round of the BMW Open with a 6-4, 6-3 victory Tuesday against Slovakia's Andrej Martin in Munich, Germany. Struff struck six aces and only faced two break points (saving one) during the 76-minute match. Up next is compatriot Dominik Koepfer, a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 winner against three-time Munich champion Philipp Kohlschreiber. No. 5 Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia cruised 6-2, 6-3 over Brazil's Thiago Monteiro. American qualifier Mackenzie McDonald upset No. 6 seed

Roger Federer's decision to make his long-awaited Grand Slam return on his least favourite surface at next month's French Open is part of a grand plan to peak in time for his beloved Wimbledon, according to ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe. Federer, who due to injury or schedule preference has not competed on the clay courts at Roland Garros in four of the last five years, returned to competition last month after sitting out more than a year following two knee operations. "He wouldn't

World number one Ash Barty said her tennis had reached a new level during a "phenomenal" week in Stuttgart where she pulled off three successive comeback wins to claim her second title on clay. The Australian, who turned 25 on Saturday, defeated fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka 3-6 6-0 6-3 in the final to hoist her third WTA trophy this season and cement her place at the top of the rankings. The Sabalenka win followed victories over fourth seed Elina Svitolina and sixth seed

Rafael Nadal saved a championship point to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 7-5 on Sunday and claim a 12th Barcelona Open title in the ATP's longest match of 2021. The Spaniard secured his first title of the year and 87th of his career, denying Tsitsipas back-to-back triumphs following his maiden Masters 1000 title at Monte Carlo last week. Nadal avenged his Australian Open quarter-final loss to Tsitsipas and will return to second in the ATP rankings on Monday by climbing back above Daniil Medvedev after his marathon

Rafael Nadal stayed on course for his 12th Barcelona Open title with a 6-1 6-4 win over British number two Cameron Norrie in the quarter-finals. The 34-year-old had far too much skill and guile on his favoured clay surface. The world number three swept through the opening set but although Norrie made more of a fight of it in the second, Nadal was too good. "I played well at the beginning then I stopped a little bit in the second," said the Spaniard.

STUTTGART: World number one Ashleigh Barty fought back to reach the semi-finals of the WTA Stuttgart clay-court tournament with a 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 win over Karolina Pliskova on Friday (Apr 23). "It was an incredible match, with two very different opening sets, and the third was extraordinary," said Barty after her 18th win this year. "I felt like I created a lot of opportunities and Karolina was able to come up with some quality stuff on some massive points. "It was a really

The top two seeds, Australia's Ashleigh Barty and Romania's Simona Halep, respectively, scored quarterfinal victories Friday and moved on to the semifinal round at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany. Fourth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine joined them, advancing past seventh-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-2. Svitolina needed two hours, 37 minutes to win the match, saving 13 of 16 break points (81.3 percent). The No. 5 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will meet Halep after

STUTTGART, Germany: Karolina Pliskova will face world number one Ashleigh Barty in the quarter-finals of Stuttgart's WTA clay-court tournament after seeing off Jelena Ostapenko in a three-set battle on Thursday (Apr 22). Pliskova, the sixth seed, recovered from losing the first set in a tie-break by firing down 21 aces, 10 of which came in the last set alone, for a 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 6-3 second-round win. "I like spending time on this court," joked Pliskova, the 2018 Stuttgart champion, after needing almost

STUTTGART, Germany: World number one Ashleigh Barty wasted no time on Wednesday (Apr 21) booking her place in the quarter-finals of the WTA clay-court tournament in Stuttgart. The top seed needed just 24 minutes to wrap up the first set against Germany's Laura Siegemund before claiming a 6-0, 7-5 second-round win. "It was good to play on a new surface, the court was quite quick compared to what I am used to," said Barty, who hit six aces in an impressive opening display.

Spanish top seed Rafael Nadal survived a scare before fighting back to beat Belarusian qualifier Ilya Ivashka in the second round of the Barcelona Open. Nadal, who has not lost on clay to an opponent ranked outside the world's top 100 since 2004, won 3-6 6-2 6-4 against 111th-ranked Ivashka. British number one Dan Evans was unable to continue his excellent form on clay, losing to France's Corentin Moutet in a spiky second-round match. Evans, seeded 16th, lost 6-4 5-7 6-3. The pair

Albert Ramos-Vinolas eked out in a win in the first round of his hometown event, beating Denmark's Holger Rune 6-7 (2), 6-1, 7-6 (2) at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Tuesday. Ramos-Vinolas needed more than three hours to get past his opponent, who is ranked 323rd in the world. Four of the five seeded players in action Tuesday earned second-round wins, with fifth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, seventh-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada, eighth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium and 11th-seeded Jannik Sinner