Tennis

Associated Press Aug 18, 2023, 10:36 PM ET MASON, Ohio — Top-ranked Iga Swiatek overcame a rough start and a dispute with the chair umpire to defeat Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-6, 6-1 on Friday and advance to the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open, a tournament she has never won. Vondrousova was up

Associated Press Aug 18, 2023, 08:13 PM ET NEW YORK — Caty McNally, a runner-up in women’s doubles at the last two US Opens, withdrew from the tournament Friday because of an elbow injury. Roberto Bautista Agut also pulled out, the tournament announced. Editor’s Picks 1 Related McNally, from Cincinnati, missed her hometown Western &

Associated Press Aug 17, 2023, 09:29 PM ET MASON, Ohio — Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek, the top-ranked players in tennis, got past adverse weather conditions and challenging opponents on Thursday to reach the Western & Southern Open quarterfinals. Alcaraz overcame two rain delays totaling 2 hours, 35 minutes and 14th-seeded American Tommy Paul, who

D’Arcy Maine, ESPN.com Aug 17, 2023, 12:52 PM ET After multiple players complained about the use of a different ball for women during the 2022 US Open, tournament director Stacey Allaster said the USTA would be using the same ball for both women and men during the 2023 event. During a news conference Thursday held

ESPN News Services Aug 16, 2023, 09:58 PM ET MASON, Ohio — Novak Djokovic had a short night in his first singles match in the US since 2021, beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Wednesday in the Western & Southern Open after the Spaniard retired early in the second set with a lower back injury. The

Associated Press Aug 16, 2023, 03:28 PM ET NEW YORK — Marin Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, and Denis Shapovalov will miss the tournament this year because of knee injuries. Cilic used his title in Flushing Meadows and runner-up finishes at Wimbledon in 2017 and the Australian Open in 2018 to reach as high

Associated Press Aug 16, 2023, 05:38 PM ET NEW YORK — Juan Martín del Potro decided his body wasn’t ready for a comeback at the US Open. The 2009 champion wrote Wednesday in a social media post that he wasn’t healthy enough to make the return he coveted. Del Potro told The Associated Press in

Aug 16, 2023, 03:35 PM ET Iga Swiatek made quick work of qualifier Danielle Collins as she raced to a 6-1 6-0 victory on Wednesday to reach the Cincinnati Open third round as third seed Jessica Pegula survived a tough opening match. World number one Swiatek broke the 29-year-old Collins seven times, faced only two

D’Arcy Maine, ESPN.com Aug 16, 2023, 12:45 PM ET Venus Williams will be playing in her 24th US Open when the tournament gets underway later this month after receiving a wild card from the United States Tennis Association on Wednesday. The 43-year-old Williams returned to competition earlier this summer after being sidelined for six months

Associated Press Aug 15, 2023, 11:08 PM ET MASON, Ohio — Novak Djokovic fell in his first match in the United States since 2021, losing in doubles Tuesday in the Western & Southern Open. Djokovic and Nikola Cacic lost 6-4, 6-2 to Jamie Murray and Michael Venus in the Serbian star’s return to the country

Associated Press Aug 15, 2023, 07:19 PM ET NEW YORK — Reilly Opelka of the United States and Shuai Zhang of China have pulled out of the US Open. The U.S. Tennis Association announced the withdrawals Tuesday and said Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina and Caroline Dolehide of the U.S. will move into the vacated

D’Arcy Maine, ESPN.com Aug 15, 2023, 10:06 AM ET For much of the 2023 season, the talk in women’s tennis has centered around the emergence of the “Big Three” — Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina — and their collective dominance. But, all year long, Jessica Pegula has been ranked in the top five,

ESPN News Services Aug 15, 2023, 12:59 AM ET Andy Murray pulled out of the Cincinnati Open late on Monday with an abdominal strain. The 36-year-old continues to recover from the injury as he prepares to compete in the U.S. Open that begins later this month in New York. Cincinnati is among some of the

Associated Press Aug 14, 2023, 07:40 PM ET MASON, Ohio — Venus Williams beat a top-20 player for the first time in four years, rallying from big deficits in both sets to knock off 16th-ranked Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of the Western & Southern Open on Monday. The 43-year-old Williams, a

Aug 14, 2023, 04:04 PM ET Unseeded American Sloane Stephens overcame a sluggish start to the Cincinnati Open with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto on Monday to set up a second-round showdown with French defending champion Caroline Garcia. Stephens, who along with Cocciaretto was unable to get a full warm-up in due

ESPN News Services Aug 14, 2023, 02:48 AM ET Elena Rybakina said she felt “destroyed” by the National Bank Open schedule and took aim at the WTA’s “weak” leadership after her quarterfinal match ended at 3 a.m. Saturday and her semifinal was postponed to Sunday because of rain. Rybakina, the No. 3 seed for the

Associated Press Aug 13, 2023, 10:20 PM ET MASON, Ohio — Ben Shelton beat Wimbledon quarterfinalist Christopher Eubanks 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday in the first round of the Western & Southern Open, with the tournament’s future in Cincinnati in doubt. Also in the first round, Adrian Mannarino eliminated fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-3,

Aug 12, 2023, 04:16 PM ET Jessica Pegula beat world No. 1 Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4 on Saturday to reach the Canadian Open final in Montreal. Pegula, who is ranked third, will face either Elena Rybakina or Liudmila Samsonova in Sunday’s title match. Pegula, making her third straight Canadian Open semifinal appearance, broke