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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.
Jannik Sinner got broken for the first time in Week 1 of the U.S. Open. Dropped the opening set, even. Fell way behind in the third set, too. I'm not a machine, you know, he said with the hint of a smile Saturday. I also struggle, sometimes. Hmmm. Sure, Jannik, maybe so. Still, Sinner is the No. 1-ranked player in men's tennis and has won the past three Grand Slam tournaments played on hard courts, so no one was surprised when he set aside some lapses and emerged to beat No. 27 Denis Shapovalov 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 Saturday to take his title defense at Flushing Meadows to the fourth round. That I have pressure and tension is normal. I've had that for a year, and you need to handle it, the Italian said. Either you handle it or you don't. ... It's better to have to deal with that than not. On Monday, Sinner will face No. 23 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan for a place in the quarterfinals. Bublik beat No. 14 Tommy Paul of the United States 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1 in a 3 ...
It's a given that much of the coverage and attention devoted to Venus Williams' return to the U.S. Open, where play begins Sunday, has focused and will focus on how old she is. The American is, after all, 45, an age at which no one has competed in singles in New York since 1981. That, in and of itself, is noteworthy. And yet there is plenty more that is significant about her first appearance at a Grand Slam tournament in two full years, regardless of how Williams plays in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night when meets Karolina Muchova, the 2023 French Open runner-up and a two-time semifinalist in New York. All of this is happening shortly after Williams made it back to the tour at all, 16 months after playing an official match anywhere and less than a year after she had surgery for uterine fibroids. Venus Williams is at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in 2 years. It's just really, I would say, inspiring, said Naomi Osaka, 27, a four-time Grand Slam champion. My only th