Page 6 - Australian Open

Australian Open 2024: Aryna Sabalenka clinches back-to-back titles

Aryna Sabalenka clinched back-to-back Australian Open titles with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Zheng Qinwen on Saturday in a one-sided women's final. The No. 2-seeded Sabalenka broke Zheng's serve in the second game and took the first set in 33 minutes. She broke again to start the second set and maintained her dominance throughout against the No. 12-seeded Zheng. It's been an amazing couple of weeks. It's an unbelievable feeling right now," Sabalenka said in the trophy presentation. "As usual, my speech is going to be weird it's not my super power. Only two things slowed down Sabalenka's progress Saturday to her second Grand Slam singles title. In the third game of the second set, with Zheng serving, the match was interrupted after an activist started yelling out. The match continued after the man was escorted out by security. Then, when she was serving for the match, Sabalenka had three championship points at 40-0 but missed two with wide or long forehands and another with Zheng's clev

Australian Open 2024: Medvedev wins five-setter to meet Sinner in final

Jannik Sinner ended one of Novak Djokovic's perfect streaks in an Australian Open upset and then got to relax while Daniil Medvedev rallied from two sets down to beat Alexander Zverev after midnight to secure the other place in the final. For a self-described tennis fan, just everything went Sinner's way in the semifinals Friday. The 22-year-old Italian broke Djokovic's serve twice in each of the first two sets in a surprisingly lopsided 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 victory that ended the 10-time champion's unbeaten streak in semifinals at Rod Laver Arena. Almost an hour after missing a match point in the tiebreaker, Sinner converted his second to complete his third win in four head-to-heads since losing to Djokovic in last year's Wimbledon semifinals. I learned a lot from that, he said of that Wimbledon loss and his subsequent wins. "It gives you a better feeling when you know that you can beat one player. "The confidence from the end of last year has for sure kept the belief. Third-s

Australian Open 2024: One semi-final loss not beginning of end for Djokovic

A solitary loss in 11 semi-finals at the Australian Open was nowhere near enough for Novak Djokovic to contemplate a generational change in tennis. Djokovic didn't get a look at a breakpoint during a 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 loss to Jannik Sinner on Friday that ended the 10-time Australian Open champion's unbeaten streak after making the final four at Melbourne Park. He commended the 22-year-old Italian for playing flawless tennis it was Sinner's third win over Djokovic in their last four matches but rated his performance as the worst he could remember at a major. This tournament hasn't been up to my standard or criteria or the level that I would normally play or expect myself to play, Djokovic said, "but doesn't necessarily mean that it's beginning of the end, you know, as some people like to call it. Let's see what happens in the rest of the season. The 36-year-old Djokovic has been dealing with illness and a sore right wrist this month in Australia and wasn't at his peak, by hi

Jannik Sinner denies Novak Djokovic 25th Major at Australian Open 2024

Italy's Jannik Sinner won the first semifinal of the year's first Grand Slam 6- 1, 6- 2, 6-7, 6-4.

Australian Open 2024: Defending champ Sabalenka beats Gauff to reach final

Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka avenged a US Open final loss to Coco Gauff and became the first woman since Serena Williams to reach back-to-back finals at the Australian Open on Thursday. Sabalenka attacked Gauff's serve throughout a 7-6 (2), 6-4 semi-final win. She will meet Zheng Qinwen or Dayana Yastremska in Saturday's championship decider. Zheng and No. 93-ranked Yastremska were playing their first-ever Grand Slam semi-final. Sabalenka is on a 13-match roll at Melbourne Park, where she made her Grand Slam breakthrough last year. Williams reached consecutive finals here in 2015, '16 and '17. Gauff went into the semifinals unbeaten in 2024 after winning a title in Auckland, New Zealand. The 19-year-old American was on a 12-match winning streak in majors and attempting to be the first player since Naomi Osaka in 2020-21 to win the US Open and Australian Open titles back to back. She'd worked out how to beat Sabalenka in New York last September to win her first major title b

Australian Open 2024: Rohan Bopanna just one win away from Grand Slam title

Rohan Bopanna earned himself one more opportunity to win a Grand Slam title by reaching the Australian Open men's doubles final with Australian partner Matthew Ebden after prevailing in a tense semifinal against Tomas Machac and Zhang Zhizhen here Thursday. The second seeded Indo-Australian pair faced some stiff resistance from their rivals in the third set but eventually the experience of playing Super Tie Breakers helped them nail the finish with a 6-3 3-6 7-6 (10-7) scoreline after two hours and two minutes. A day after he was assured of becoming the world number one player, Bopanna as usual served well on big points and also manage to pull out the strokes and tricks when they needed the most. Bopanna has reached the US Open final twice (2013, 2023) but a Major trophy has eluded him in his career. Now at the fag end of his career at the age of 43, he will have the chance to tick that box on Saturday.

Zverev ousts Alcaraz to move into Australian Open semis against Medvedev

Alexander Zverev made no mistake with his second chance to close out a win over No. 2-ranked Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday night and moved into an Australian Open semifinal against two-time finalist Daniil Medvedev. The sixth-seeded Zverev was a up a break in the third set and missed a chance to serve it out but the Olympic champion didn't blink when he got another chance in the fourth, finishing off a 6-1, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-4 victory. Alcaraz won Wimbledon last year and was the only player to beat 10-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic in a Grand Slam match in 2023. The 20-year-old Spaniard won't get the chance in Australia this time. It was Zverev's first win over a top-5 player at a Grand Slam, and the reward was a spot in the semis for the seventh time at a major. Medvedev, a two-time finalist in Australia, outlasted ninth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 to make it to the semifinals at Melbourne Park for the third time in four years. Djokovic will play Jann

Australian Open 2024 semifinal live timing (IST), live streaming in India

Australian Open 2024 SF schedule: Men's singles - Djokovic vs Sinner & Medvedev vs Zverev. Women's singles - Sabalenka vs Gauff and DayanaYastremska vs Zheng; Bopana will be in action in men's doubles

Don't think anyone will ever come close to Djokovic: Former world no. 17

With the Australian Open currently on, defending champion Novak Djokovic has once again been dubbed as a favourite to retain the title, and former world No. 17 Bernard Tomic of Australia firmly believes there will be no one to challenge the great Serbian. Djokovic is the leading Grand Slam winner in the Open Era of tennis. He also has the chance of winning the most Grand Slam titles across eras, as another win would allow him to surpass the all-time record of Margaret Court. Djokovic is eying his 25th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. Tomic, who has lost to Djokovic on all six instances in the ATP circuit, dubbed him a "freak" and also the "G.O.A.T", besides adding that to beat him, one has to play at the highest level at all times. "I was lucky enough to beat Djokovic at the Hopman Cup 11 years ago (chuckles). He is a freak. "You have no choice but to play at the highest level to beat him. And, if you lower your level even the slightest against him, you will lose," he told

Australian Open: Bopanna set to become oldest World No.1 in men's doubles

India's Rohan Bopanna is set to become the oldest tennis player to achieve the World No. 1 ranking in men's doubles after reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open along with his partner Matthew Ebden here on Wednesday. The 43-year-old, who had entered the tournament with a career-high ranking of world no. 3, and Australian Ebden recorded a comfortable 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over sixth seeded Argentinian duo of Mximo Gonzlez and Andrs Molteni in the quarterfinals that lasted an hour and 46 minutes here. The second-seeded Indo-Australian pair will cross swords with unseeded Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang in the semi-finals. Bopanna will be crowned the new numero uno on Monday after the end of the tournament. Earlier, Rajeev Ram of the USA was the oldest player to be ranked world no. 1 when he had achieve the top ranking in October 2022 at the age of 38 for the first time in his career. Ebden, on the other hand, is set to reach the world no 2. Bopanna, who had achieved the highest r

Djokovic holds off Fritz to reach Australian Open semifinals for 11th time

Novak Djokovic held off Taylor Fritz 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in 3 3/4 hours to reach the Australian Open semi-finals for the 11th time on Tuesday. When he gets through the quarterfinals in Australia, Djokovic is unbeaten. The 24-time major champion has won all 10 semifinals he's contested at Melbourne Park and all 10 finals. In his record-extending 48th Grand Slam semi-final, he'll play No. 4-seeded Jannik Sinner or No. 5 Andrey Rublev. Fritz saved the first 15 break-points he faced, an unheard-of stat against one of the best returners ever. We all know Taylor has got one of the best serves in the world, Djokovic said. "I knew the kind of threat he poses when he serves on such a high quality. My conversion was really poor, but in the end of the day, I managed to break him when it mattered. I upped my game midway through the third set, all the way to the end." The first game set the tone for a long, tough match. It lasted 16 minutes and contained 24 points, going to deuce nine time

Australian Open 2024: Alcaraz sets up quarterfinal clash against Zverev

Carlos Alcaraz completed a Grand Slam set by reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals for the first time, setting up a showdown against Olympic champion Alexander Zverev. The 20-year-old Wimbledon champion missed the season-opening major in 2023 because of injury but is more than making up for lost time. The No. 2-seeded Alcaraz beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 in less than two hours Monday to open the night session on Rod Laver Arena. He has dropped just one set en route to the last eight. Zverev is there for the third time but is coming off some long five-set wins, including a four-hour, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3) fourth-round victory over No. 19 Cameron Norrie. It was the 32nd five-set match so far at Melbourne Park, a tournament record in the Open era. Their match on Margaret Court Arena was prolonged after being delayed briefly when a protester threw anti-war pamphlets onto the back of the court in the third set. The protester was escorted out by security. No. 3 Danii

Medvedev, Noskova, Yastremska advance to Australian Open quarterfinals

Daniil Medvedev is through to the Australian Open quarterfinals along with Dayana Yastremska and Linda Noskova, the latter two players for the first time at a Grand Slam singles tournament. Medvedev beat Nuno Borges 6-3 7-6(4) 5-7 6-1 on Monday to reach the last eight. He'll play either No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz or French wild-card entry Arthur Cazaux. Yastremska beat two-time champion Victoria Azarenka 7-6(6) 6-4 while 18th-ranked Elina Svitolina was trailing Noskova 3-0 when Svitolina retired with a back injury. Azarenka served for the first set twice and had two set points at 6-5 but couldn't take them and Yastremska won the opening set on her second chance after 74 minutes. The Ukrainian then led 3-0 in the second set but Yastremska won six of the next seven games to clinch victory, ending with 37 winners. "I think I need to take a thousand breaths because my heart I think is going to jump out of my body," Yastremska said. "During the match, I was imagining how I lost already like

Australian Open 2024: Bopanna-Ebden enter quarter-final with 7-6, 7-6 win

India's Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden entered the men's doubles quarterfinal of the Australian Open with an impressive 7-6 7-6 victory over Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Croatia's Nikola Mektic here on Monday. The 43-year-old Bopanna and his Aussie partner, who are seeded second in the draw, were broken early in both sets but showed themselves to be up to the task with some great returns against the 14th seeds. The Indo-Australian pair will now meet the sixth-seeded Argentine duo of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

Australian Open 2024: Sabalenka crushes Tsurenko, reaches 4th round

Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka reached the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday with a 6-0, 6-0 demolition of Lesia Tsurenko. The second-seeded Belarusian, who won her first Grand Slam title here 12 months ago, needed just 52 minutes for victory at the Rod Laver Arena. She has dropped just six games in three rounds so far. Last year, Iga (Swiatek) won so many sets 6-0 and this is one of the goals, to try to get closer to her, Sabalenka joked. I'm just super-happy with the level I'm playing so far. Hopefully, I can just keep going like that or even better." The pair did not shake hands as is the convention for Ukrainian players against opponents from Russia or Belarus but Tsurenko congratulated Sabalenka verbally. Sabalenka will play Amanda Anisimova, who continued her comeback with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Paula Badosa. Anisimova, who took seven months out of the game last year for mental health reasons, hit 40 winners on her way to the fourth round. It's quite unbelieva

Australian Open: Blinkova upsets Rybakina in a record-long tiebreaker

Her hand and her legs were shaking, she'd missed nine match points but also saved six, and Anna Blinkova was 41 points into a wild tiebreaker that was the longest ever in a women's Grand Slam event. Elena Rybakina, last year's Australian Open runner-up, was just as anxious on the other side of the net. When Blinkova lunged to retrieve a backhand, aiming just to keep the rally alive, and Rybakina's next backhand sailed wide, it finished off a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (20) second-round victory Thursday that she'll never, ever forget. It took me courage, she said. It took me some certain calmness to stay in the present moment and to play point by point no matter what happens. Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion who was runner-up here last year to Aryna Sabalenka, saved two match points in a third set that contained six service breaks. Blinkova twice served for the match but couldn't finish off, and a double-fault in the 12th game sent it to a 10-point tiebreaker. Once there, 13 minutes after

Australian Open 2024: Nagal bow out; Bopanna-Ebden pair moves to 2nd round

Chinese tennis prodigy Juncheng Shang blunted Sumit Nagal's challenge at the Australian Open to halt the Indian's impressive run at the first major of the season here on Thursday. Coming into the match after an inspiring win over a top-30 player, Nagal began in the same dominating fashion but the 18-year-old wild card entrant got better as the game progressed to walk out a winner with a 2-6 6-3 7-5 6-4 scoreline. The second round contest lasted two hours and 50 minutes and it was clear that Nagal had run out of steam in the fourth set. In contrast, Shang began to serve well from the third set onwards and was at ease in pocketing his service games despite being troubled by high backhand balls in the match. Nevertheless, the 26-year-old Nagal, who hails from Jhajjar in Haryana, will exit the Melbourne Park with cherishable memories, having made the main draw through the Qualifiers and scripting a win over world number 27 Alexander Bublik. Nagal will take home AUD 180,000 (nearly 98

Australian Open 2024: Swiatek escapes with a narrow win over Collins

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek rallied from 4-1 down in the third set to escape with a narrow 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over 2022 runner-up Collins on Thursday and advance to the third round of the Australian Open. Swiatek held the momentum to start after recovering an early break, leading by a set and a break before the American player rallied to take the second set and race to a 4-1 lead in the third. Swiatek absorbed the sustained pressure from Collins' powerful groundstrokes until she regained momentum and went on a match-winning five-game roll. Oh my God. I don't even know, Swiatek said of how she managed to come back. "Honestly, I was on the airport already. But I wanted to fight to the end. "I'm really proud of myself, because it wasn't easy." Both players beat past Australian Open champions in the first round. Swiatek defeated 2020 champion Sofia Kenin and Collins had a three-set win over 2016 winner Angelique Kerber. Swiatek had two match points at 15-40 in the last game but against Col

Australian Open 2024: 16-year-old Andreeva beats Wimbledon finalist Jabeur

When their paths crossed after first-round wins, 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva saw Ons Jabeur make a light-hearted gesture that signaled she could see her. The three-time Grand Slam runner-up probably didn't really see what was coming her way at the Australian Open. The first set was over in 20 minutes. The match was over in 54 minutes Wednesday, with Andreeva advancing to the third round 6-0, 6-2. In the first set, I showed amazing tennis, she said. "I honestly didn't expect that from myself. I'm super happy with the level that I showed." Andreeva went into the tournament knowing that a first main draw win at the Australian Open completing a Grand Slam set could pay off with a second-round encounter against one of her childhood tennis inspirations. Sixth-seeded Jabeur reached back-to-back finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2022 and was runner-up at Wimbledon against last year. Andreeva admired the Tunisian star and observed how she approached the sport, on and off the ...

History created at Australian Open: All you need to know about Sumit Nagal

Sumit Nagal, the man from Jhajjar, will next play China's 18-year-old wild card entrant Juncheng Shang on Thursday (January 18). Shang is ranked 140th in the ATP rankings.