World No 12 Petra Kvitova returned to court dressed for the French Open but was happy to triumph in the women's draw at an all-Czech tournament on Thursday as the sports world starts to slowly return from the novel coronavirus shutdown. The Prague tournament - played among the top Czech men's and women's players but without fans and with ball boys and girls wearing gloves and face masks - was one of the first after professional tennis was suspended in early March as the world went into lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.
Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka all will be in action at Roland Garros on Wednesday
Singapore Slammers beat Indian Aces 27-21 in what turned out to be a dress rehearsal for the final of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), which the two teams will be vying for $1 million prize money.
Fashion statements from Roland Garros...
Images from Tuesday, Day 8 of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, in London.
As Serena Williams sits out a fourth straight Grand Slam, Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova will join Caroline Wozniacki in a quest for a major breakthrough in Australia.
Organisers are confident a rain-hit opening day will not hold up the tournament.
Azarenka, who sits on the eight-person WTA players council, said that combating abuse was the group's top priority.
Famous faces spotted at the finals:
Serena Williams creates ripples with her latest outfit.
Japan's Naomi Osaka cruised to victory in her first match since lifting the U.S. Open title, beating Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-1 in the last-16 at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Federer and world number one Nadal won the first three grand slam titles of the season as they came back to prominence with a bang, and nothing suggests their first-round opponents, American Frances Tiafoe and Serbian Dusan Lajovic, will bother them.
A look at the top women's contenders at the 2020 French Open.
'I think I started listening to them more when I watched 'Thor'. I listened to them even a few years ago, and I watched 'Thor' in Australia.'
The top seed was forced to dig deep into her vast reservoirs of experience to stave off Pliskova's challenge and emerge a 7-5, 7-6(6) winner against the gutsy Czech.
Serena William powered her way to within two victories of a seventh US Open title on Tuesday and while she refused to look ahead there are many willing to do it for her, and what they see is a suddenly open path to a 24th Grand Slam.
'He's done a lot for the African American community, and it's cost him a lot. It's sad' 'To be compared to Ali or Jordan, I really have no words'
IMAGES from matches played at the BNP Paribas tennis tournament played in Indian Well, California, on Thursday
Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Danielle Collins were among those to win their first-round matches at the Adelaide International
It will be the second consecutive final for Paes and Angel, who also reached the final at Montrrey Challenger last week, ending runners-up to Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Marcelo Arevalo.
Rafael Nadal beat Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3 6-3 in the Brisbane International first round on Tuesday to make a successful return to action following two-and-a-half months out due to injury. The Spanish former world number one, seeded fifth, made a sluggish start and fell 3-1 down in the first set against his Ukrainian opponent. But Nadal, 30, won four successive games to clinch the opening set and the 14-times grand slam winner broke twice in the second to see off 2012 Brisbane finalist Dolgopolov in one hour 15 minutes. He will next play Germany's Mischa Zverev.
Serena beat Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova 2-6, 6-3, (13-11) in the women's doubles.
Roger Federer is one win from becoming the oldest world number one in ATP Tour history after beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6(8), 7-5 in the last 16 of the Rotterdam Open on Thursday.
Reigning champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have been named top seeds for the Australian Open starting on Monday.
Elina Svitolina stayed calm in the face of adversity to secure a surprise 6-3 7-5 win over German world number one Angelique Kerber as the Ukrainian advanced to the China Open quarter-finals in Beijing on Thursday.
Of the top 15 on Forbes' list of best-paid female athletes, 12 were tennis players. Indian badminton player PV Sindhu came in tied for 13th ($5.5 million), with Thai golfer Ariya Jutanugarn ($5.3 million) rounding out the top 15.
Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open with a 6-3 6-4 win over Lucie Safarova on Thursday in the first full match played under a closed roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The $150 million retractable roof was installed ahead of this year's tournament and guaranteed there would be at least some action on a muggy and overcast Day Four at the year's final grand slam.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are just one step away from a US Open semi-final clash but both face tricky challenges to set up what would be their maiden encounter at Flushing Meadows.
Three women in the field have topped the world rankings this season, incumbent Simona Halep and her predecessors Garbine Muguruza and Karolina Pliskova, but none of them have been able to kick on and cement their place as the tour's dominant player.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
PHOTOS from day four of the Wimbledon championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London on Thursday.
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis are gunning for their third title of the season as they take on Czech Republic combination of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradeck in the Women's Doubles final at Australian Open. The Indo-Swiss pair had a dream time in 2015 when they won 9 titles which included the Wimbledon, US Open and the year-ending WTA finals. That form has carried in 2016 as they eye a successive third Grand Slam. The World No.1 duo had defeated Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova 6-1, 6-0 to continue their dominance in Women's Doubles events.
Here is a list of US Open women's singles champions since the open era began in 1968:
Top seed Ash Barty rallied from a set down to power into the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters on Friday.
Red-hot Rafael Nadal faces Delbonis, says majors tally not a focus
Briton Andy Murray and Germany's Angelique Kerber were named ITF World Champions on Tuesday, capping stellar years for the men's and women's world number ones. Murray, whose brother Jamie was named doubles World Champion along with Brazil's Bruno Soares, won Wimbledon in July before becoming the first player to win two Olympic singles gold medals when he retained his crown in Rio de Janeiro in August.
Rafael Nadal was made to wait before his second-round Rogers Cup match due to several rain delays but did his part to put the schedule back on track with a speedy 6-2 6-3 win over Frenchman Benoit Paire on Wednesday.
Images from all the action on Day 9 at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday
World No 1s Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber have been named top seeds for the first major of the season, Australian Open, which will commences on January 16.
World number one Rafael Nadal set a new record of winning 50 consecutive sets on a single surface by beating Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the Madrid Open quarter-finals.
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