Explore Business Standard
Tennis
Naturally there'll be attention on the backstory when Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina meet in the Australian Open women's semifinals. Top-ranked Sabalenka, who is seeking a third title in four years in Australia, is a 27-year-old from Belarus. She's popular on TikTok for her humorous posts and dance routines. Svitolina is a 31-year-old Ukrainian who will be returning to the Top 10 next week for the first time since returning from a maternity break she took in 2022. She reached her first Australian Open semifinal with a lopsided win over No. 3 Coco Gauff, needing only 59 minutes to end her run of three quarterfinal losses at Melbourne Park. They're both regularly asked questions relating to Russia's war on Ukraine. Both have regularly said they want the focus to be on tennis. Svitolina is trying to bring joy to the people of Ukraine, of course. Sabalenka said she supports peace. "It's very close to my heart to see a lot of support from Ukrainians," she said. "So I feel like (I)
Novak Djokovic advanced to the Australian Open semifinals after Lorenzo Musetti retired in the third set with an injury Wednesday after taking the first two sets. The fifth-seeded Musetti won the first two sets 6-4, 6-3 but took a medical timeout for treatment on his upper right leg after being broken in the third game of the third. He played on for another game but couldn't continue. Djokovic, who was leading the third set 3-1, will continue his bid for an 11th Australian title and a record 25th major but he says he was lucky this time. "I feel really sorry for him," the 38-year-old Djokovic said. "He was a far better player (today) - I was on my way home tonight." He will play the winner of Wednesday's later quarterfinal between No. 8 Ben Shelton and two-time defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner.
Aryna Sabalenka beat 18-year-old Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0 to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open on Tuesday before searing heat on Day 10 forced matches to be played under cover. Alexander Zverev got the benefit of playing under a roof at Rod Laver Arena and advanced to the final four with a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 7-6 (3) win over 20-year-old Learner Tien. The No. 3-ranked Zverev, last year's runner-up in Australia, reached his 10th Grand Slam semifinal on the back of 24 aces and just a single double-fault - which he served when he had six match points in the deciding tiebreaker. Top-ranked Sabalenka, also a runner-up in Melbourne last year, is aiming for her third Australian Open title in four years. She won back-to-back titles here in 2023 and 2024 and lost the final a year ago to Madison Keys. The first of the four quarterfinals scheduled on Day 10 was played outdoors, despite predictions of the temperature peaking at 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in Melbourne. "I guess, ye
Jannik Sinner may have felt lucky to survive the Australian Open third round but he rebounded quickly in a straight-sets win Monday over fellow Italian Luciano Darderi to reach the quarterfinals for a ninth consecutive Grand Slam event. The two-time defending champion struggled with the extreme heat and cramping in his Saturday afternoon win over No. 85-ranked Eliot Spizzirri, and only took control after the roof was closed in the third set. Sinner later admitted he got a bit lucky with the timing of the extreme heat policy being invoked, leading to an eight-minute break to close the roof. He was also able to refresh in a 10-minute extra cooling break between the third and fourth sets. In an evening match in cooler conditions, he was cruising until Darderi lifted his tempo in the third set. Second-ranked Sinner missed match points in the 10th game on his opponent's serve but then clinched victory 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2). Darderi, who saved two match points on his serve, took the first
Taylor Fritz's Australian Open ended in a grueling physical struggle on Monday as he was beaten 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 by fifth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti. While it marked a milestone for Musetti, for the No. 9-seeded Fritz, the fourth-round match signalled that his body may have reached its limit. The 2024 U.S. Open runner-up revealed in a post-match news conference that he had arrived in Melbourne in two minds about his fitness, and had nearly withdrawn because of knee and abdominal issues. "I was fully ready to shut it down for a couple of months to get it better," Fritz said, adding that he'd told his team: "If it stays how it is, we are just going to have to stop. I can't play through this." His physiotherapist had different ideas. "My physio, who is great and I trust him, he said that he thinks there's a pretty solid chance that we can do all the rehab protocol and do everything we need to do while I'm still playing," Fritz said. After feeling discomfort in his third-round win over ...
Defending champion Madison Keys has been knocked out of the Australian Open by fellow American, and podcast pal, Jessica Pegula. Pegula, seeded sixth, defeated the ninth-seeded Keys 6-3, 6-4 on Monday at Rod Laver Arena to reach the quarterfinals. Pegula, who has never claimed a Grand Slam, won the first set in only 32 minutes. Pegula raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set, and Pegula also broke to open the second set and again surged to a 4-1 lead as Keys struggled with her serve. The match ended when Keys hit a forehand into the net. "I've been playing really well, seeing the ball, hitting the ball really well this whole tournament, and I wanted to stay true to that," said 31-year-old Pegula. "Then just lean into a couple things that I felt like she would do, and I felt like I came out doing it pretty well "When I had the lead I tried to stick with that as much as I could. "Even when she got a little rhythm back, I just really tried to focus on what I needed to do and patterns to
Limping and desperately trying to stretch out cramps in his arms and legs, Jannik Sinner had just gone down a break in the third set when the extreme heat rules saved him. Play was suspended for several minutes and the roof was closed on Rod Laver Arena on Saturday afternoon, and the two-time defending Australian Open champion returned a revitalized man. After seemingly being on the verge of an unlikely exit - one his coaches, Darren Cahill, was urging the 24-year-old Italian just to stick it out for a few more games - Sinner won five of the next six games to take the set against No. 85-ranked Eliot Spizzirri. A 10-minute "cooling break" between the third and fourth sets followed - another allowance under the extreme heat policy - and Sinner returned for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory that highlighted a dramatic contrast of intense light and shade. "I struggled physically today. I got lucky with the heat rule," Sinner said, agreeing that the cooler indoor conditions suited him much m
Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka defeated Karolina Muchov 6-3, 6-4 Saturday to advance to the Brisbane International final. Sabalenka, the defending Brisbane champion, clinched the semifinal at Pat Rafter Arena on her fourth match point to advance to Sunday's final against the winner of a later semifinal between fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula and Marta Kostyuk. On Friday, in a rematch of last year's Australian Open final, Sabalenka broke Madison Keys' in five straight service games on the way to a 6-3, 6-3 win. Last year at Melbourne Park, Keys beat Sabalenka for her first Grand Slam singles title. The Brisbane International is a tuneup event for this year's Australian Open, which begins Jan. 18. In the men's tournament at Brisbane, top-seeded Daniil Medvedev will play Alex Michelsen of the United States in a later semifinal. Two Americans feature in the other semi, with Aleksandar Kovacevic playing Brandon Nakashima.