Daniil Medvedev fined $76,000 for his Australian Open outbursts

MELBOURNE: Daniil Medvedev has been fined a total of $76,000 for his camera and racket smashing outbursts during the first two rounds of the Australian Open. The fines were published Sunday by Australian Open organizers, two days after Medvedev's unexpected second-round exit. The 2021 U.S. Open champion destroyed a tiny camera hanging in the net by repeatedly smacking it with his racket during a surprisingly difficult, five-set, first-round win over Kasidit Samrej, who was ranked 418th. He was fined $10,000 for the first-round infringement. Medvedev was penalized a point during his second-round loss to 19-year-old American qualifier Learner Tien for showing similar signs of frustration. He was fined $66,000 for his second-round code violations. After getting broken to trail 4-3 in the second set when Tien delivered a lob that landed at the baseline, Medvedev chucked his equipment toward the sideline, skidding it across the court until it reached an advertising panel near his bench. At other moments of anger, Medvedev hit a ball against the back wall, toppled a camera behind a baseline and punched his racket bag. He also voiced displeasure about being called for two consecutive foot-faults, resulting in a double-fault, during the second-set tiebreaker. The 4-hour, 49-minute second-round contest ended shortly before 3 a.m. on Friday. Medvedev was seeded No. 5 at Melbourne Park, where he was the runner-up in three of the past four years, including 12 months ago. This was Medvedev's first tournament of the season his wife recently gave birth to their second child and the 28-year-old Russian never really displayed his best tennis

Aryna Sabalenka blows away Andreeva to reach Melbourne quarter-finals

MELBOURNE: Aryna Sabalenka stayed on course for a historic third consecutive Australian Open crown on Sunday, ruthlessly blowing away teenager Mirra Andreeva to reach the quarter-finals. Sabalenka was in irresistible form on Rod Laver Arena, powering to a 6-1, 6-2 victory in just 62 minutes against the Russian 17-year-old. It was the Belarusian's 18th consecutive win at Melbourne Park, where temperatures reached up to 34 degrees Celsius (93 Fahrenheit). I'm super happy to get through this difficult match in straight sets, said Sabalenka, who will face Russian 27th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova next. She's so young but always playing great tennis, it's always tough battles against her, Sabalenka said of Andreeva. Despite registering three straight-sets wins Sabalenka had not been at her imperious best during the first week. She dropped serve three times in the second round and five times before battling past Clara Tauson 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to reach the last 16. She had no such problems in much hotter conditions against Andreeva, ripping through her first two service games without conceding a point and breaking for a 4-1 lead. Two-time defending champion Sabalenka is into the fourth round at the Australian Open Previous days were such tough conditions, the ball was so heavy, said Sabalenka. The ball was flying like a rocket. I hope conditions are going to be the same till the end of the tournament. Andreeva struggled to live with Sabalenka's power and was being pushed further back as the champion pulled off a deft drop-shot winner to lead 5-1. A delicious backhand pass clinched the set in just 24 minutes. Sabalenka did not let up at the start of the second set, an early break giving her a 3-1 cushion. Andreeva showed a fleeting glimpse of her talent when saving two break points in the next. She then created three of her own, but all were saved and the Sabalenka juggernaut could not be stopped as she cruised to the finish line. Sabalenka can complete a hat-trick of Australian Open consecutive titles. It is a rare feat last achieved 26 years ago by Martina Hingis and only matched by four other women in history, all legends of the sport. Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles are the others to complete the treble. Pavlyuchenkova beat ailing Croatian 18th seed Donna Vekic 7-6 (7/0), 6-0. Vekic needed treatment on her knee at the end of a tight first set and from then on it was one-way traffic. Pavlyuchenkova reached the Australian Open quarter-finals in 2017, 2019 and 2020 but has never got to the last four.

Defending champ Jannik Sinner gets back to fourth round at Australian Open

MELBOURNE: Defending championJannik Sinnerbeat 46th-ranked Marcos Giron of the U.S. 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 at theAustralian Openon Saturday night, reaching the fourth round at Melbourne Park for the fourth time. Sinner stretched his unbeaten run to 17 matches, dating to last season. He had an eventful 2024, claiming his first two Grand Slam titles, reaching No. 1 in the ATP rankings for the first time and going through a doping case that is still not quite resolved, because the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed his exoneration. The 23-year-old Italian's next opponent in Australia will be No. 13 Holger Rune, who beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. After eliminating Giron, who was trying to get to the fourth round of a major for the first time, Sinner was critical of himself, pointing specifically to his 16-of-24 success rate on points when he moved forward. The percentage of my net game was not really good, Sinner said with a chuckle. For sure, if I want to go on in this tournament, I have to improve, he added. So hopefully in the next round, I'm able to raise my level.

Australian Open: Iga Swiatek is in total control during a 6-1, 6-0 rout of Emma Raducanu

MELBOURNE, Australia: Everything came so easily for Iga Swiatek during a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Emma Raducanu on Saturday in the only Australian Open womens third-round match between two past Grand Slam champions if you thought that meant it would be close, youd have been rather wrong that this was how she described it: I felt like the ball, Swiatek said, is listening to me. Loud and clear. Asked to explain that sensation, Swiatek put her two index fingers a few inches apart and said, Its just being able to aim for this kind of space. Then she spread her palms more than a foot apart to show thats the margin for error on other days. The difference, she said, comes down to being more precise and actually knowing where the ball is going to go, seeing the effects that you want it to. When the five-time major champion and former long-time No. 1-ranked woman now No. 2, behind Aryna Sabalenka is at the height of her powers, as she sure has seemed to be in Week 1 at Melbourne Park, it is hard for anyone to slow Swiatek down. The heavy-spinning, high-bouncing forehands. The squeaky-sneaker scrambling to get to every shot. The terrific returning. And so on. Later Saturday, No. 4 Taylor Fritz, the runner-up at last years U.S. Open, became the highest-seeded man to leave the bracket, defeated by 38-year-old Gael Monfils 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (1), 6-4. Monfils joined Roger Federer as the only men 38 or older to get to the fourth round in Melbourne since the field expanded to 128 players in 1988. At the other end of the age spectrum, a pair of young Californians who have been pals for a while and trained together in the offseason Learner Tien, 19, and Alex Michelsen, 20 earned debuts in the fourth round at a major. Ben Shelton, who is 22, won, too. No. 1 Jannik Sinner, however, eliminated American Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Tien, a qualifier ranked 121st, followed up his surprising win against No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in a five-setter that ended at 3 a.m. on Friday with a 7-6 (10), 6-3, 6-3 victory over Corentin Moutet of France. Michelsen, who is ranked 42nd, overwhelmed No. 19 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-2. It was the second time Michelsen knocked off a top-20 seed this week after beating No. 11 Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2023 Australian Open runner-up, in the first round. Shelton, the 21st seed and a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2023, defeated No. 16 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) and will take on Monfils on Monday. Michelsen will try to send another high seed packing when he plays No. 8 Alex de Minaur, an Australian who beat No. 31 Francisco Cerndolo 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-3. Tien faces 55th-ranked Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6), 6-1, 6-2 winner over Fabian Marozsan. Against Raducanu, who won the 2021 U.S. Open as a teenage qualifier, Swiatek played at a level she called perfect. Indeed, Swiatek mounted a 24-9 edge in winners, made only 12 unforced errors roughly half of Raducanus 22 and claimed 59 points to 29. That caused one spectator to yell out, No mercy! in the second set as Swiatek was reeling off the last 11 games after the match was tied at 1-all early with not a cloud in the sky and the temperature approaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit (above 25 Celsius). I think it was a little bit of her playing well, and me not playing so well, Raducanu said. That combination is probably not good. Fair. Swiatek, who agreed to accept a one-month suspension in a doping case late last year, owns four trophies from the French Open and one from the U.S. Open. But shes never been beyond the semifinals in Australia; she lost in that round to Danielle Collins in 2022. A year ago, Swiatek was upset in the third round by teenager Linda Noskova. Swiatek, who said she dedicated Saturdays win to her grandfather, has ceded a total of only 10 games through three matches with new coach Wim Fissette sitting courtside. Next up will be 128th-ranked Eva Lys of Germany, who lost in qualifying but was given a spot in the main draw when someone withdrew about 10 minutes before her first-round match. Lys defeated Jaqueline Cristian 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and is the first lucky loser to get to the Australian Opens fourth round since the tournament moved to Melbourne Park in 1988. Others who now will get a chance to play for a quarterfinal berth after victories Saturday included No. 6 Elena Rybakina, No. 8 Emma Navarro and No. 9 Daria Kasatkina. Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, beat No. 32 Dayana Yastremska 6-3, 6-4, Navarro eliminated three-time major finalist Ons Jabeur 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and Kasatkina got past No. 24 Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-1. Unseeded Veronika Kudermetova beat No. 15 Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4, 6-2. No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, who is a two-time Slam finalist, was eliminated by No. 28 Elina Svitolina 2-6, 6-4, 6-0. Navarro, who reached her first major semifinal at Flushing Meadows in September, has won all three of her matches in Melbourne this year in three sets. That means she has been involved in 30 tour-level three-setters since the start of last season, the most of any female player. I love three sets. I love tennis so much, I cant resist, joked Navarro, who grew up in South Carolina and won an NCAA singles title at the University of Virginia. I just wanted to stick in there and keep believing in myself.

Veteran Monfils stuns fourth seed Fritz at Australian Open

MELBOURNE: Gael Monfils said he was ready to do some damage after stunning fourth seed Taylor Fritz on Saturday to reach the last 16 at the Australian Open. The 38-year-old Frenchman fought back 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4 to make the fourth round for a sixth time in his 19th Australian Open. He is the second-oldest man to reach the last 16 at Melbourne Park after Roger Federer. Fritz had been in sizzling form before he met Monfils, dropping just eight games in his two previous matches. But the unseeded Frenchman was a different beast, unrelenting with his precision groundstrokes and booming serve to wear down the world number four. Monfils, ranked 41, fired a warning ahead of the tournament when he won the Auckland Classic to become the oldest singles champion in ATP Tour history. The strategy was to hold the baseline and definitely change the tempo. Hit some big shots down the line and used some shape with my forehand, some slice with my backhand and served well, he said. I have a strong belief in myself, a strong belief I can still do some damage and with a little bit of luck we are in the second week of the Australian Open. He will meet another American, Ben Shelton, or Italy's Lorenzo Musetti for a quarter-final berth. Monfils has never been beyond the semi-finals of a major in his long career. The pair went toe-to-toe at the start with some big baseline rallies, one stretching to 29 shots and another to 24. A Monfils double fault handed Fritz a break for 5-3, with the American holding serve to secure the first set. The baseline battle continued in the next set with neither player able to work a break-point opening until Fritz was serving to level up at 5-5. He lost his focus and the wily Monfils -- who won a remarkable 95 percent of first-serve points -- enticed a series of errors and broke to love for the set. Fritz needed a medical timeout at the changeover for treatment on his right foot, then saved two break points to stay on serve at 3-3. The third set went to a tiebreak, where the Frenchman destroyed an increasingly frustrated Fritz, racing 6-0 clear with a series of sizzling shots and winning the set. Monfils dug deep to win an 18-point fourth game in the fourth set, saving two break points, then pounced on the Fritz serve to break for a 5-4 lead before completing the upset.

History-making 'lucky loser' Eva Lys into Australian Open last 16

MELBOURNE: Eva Lys made history on Saturday as the 128th-ranked German battled into the fourth round of the Australian Open to set up a meeting with second seed Iga Swiatek. The 23-year-old fought back from a set down to become the first women's singles lucky loser to reach the fourth round since the event moved to Melbourne Park in 1988. She defeated Jaqueline Cristian of Romania 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. A lucky loser is a player who loses in qualifying but later gets a ticket into the main draw following another player's withdrawal, usually because of illness or injury. It has been a whirlwind few days for Ukraine-born Lys. She lost in the final round of qualifying in Melbourne last week, her hopes of making the first major of the year seemingly over. Her bags were packed and her flight out of Melbourne booked. But she hung about on the off-chance that another player would drop out and 13th seed Anna Kalinskaya did just that on Tuesday, suddenly giving Lys another Australian Open life. She said she had just 10 minutes' warning before defeating home player Kimberly Birrell in straight sets in the first round, then beat Varvara Gracheva of France. This is Lys's best performance at a major.

Australian Open: Bopanna, Zhang advance into mixed doubles round two

The former world No. 1 Indian showed his mettle alongside Zhang, delivering a clinical performance to close our the match in one hour and 12 minutes.

Australian Open: Medvedev stunned by teen qualifier Tien in late-night epic

The left-handed Californian Tien soaked up the applause at Margaret Court Arena after the biggest win of his young career following four hours and 48 minutes of seesawing action.

Iga Swiatek moves into a 3rd-round match against Emma Raducanu at the Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia: Iga Swiatek rushed through the first set in 26 minutes and completed her 6-0, 6-2 second-round win over Rebecca Sramkova in an hour at the Australian Open. The five-time Grand Slam champion makes a habit of advancing quickly through the early rounds at the majors. Shes won almost 12% of her sets in Grand Slams by 6-0, which puts her in exclusive company. So when No. 49-ranked Sramkova ended a seven-game losing run by holding serve on Thursday, she raised her arm to acknowledge the applause from the Rod Laver Arena crowd. It was one of the few chances she had to celebrate. It was good to play in such an efficient way and just finish it quick, Swiatek said. Also, you know, just feel the court and how it is in RLA. Second-seeded Swiatek next faces 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu, who recovered from an early break in the second set to hold off Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-5. Taylor Fritz hasnt wasted any time advancing to the third round, dropping just eight games across two rounds and spending just over three hours on court. The 2024 U.S. Open runner-up and No. 4 seed beat Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 to move into a third-round match against 38-year-old Gael Monfils, who last week became the oldest player to win an ATP Tour title. Also advancing on the mens side were local hope Alex de Minaur, seeded 8th, No. 16 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 19 Karen Khachanov and No. 21 Ben Shelton, who beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4. Raducanu has struggled with injuries since her breakthrough major in 2021, when she became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title. She didnt play a warmup tournament ahead of this years Australian Open because of a muscle strain and needed time during her match against Anisimova to get treatment on her back from a trainer. After advancing beyond the second round for the first time at Melbourne Park, the No. 61-ranked Raducanu was confident shed recover in time for her next challenge against Swiatek. Itll be a very good match for me, another opportunity to test my game, she said. Going into it, I have nothing to lose. Im just going to swing. Swiatek is moving on from the doping infringement which led to her one-month ban last year. And shes not showing any signs of it being a distraction. She did everything at pace in the second round, including quick claps of her racket to acknowledge the crowd after her win. Swiatek didnt face a break point against Sramkova and converted five of the six she had. She finished off points with winners off both sides, and also hit some clean volleys on her ventures to the net. Shes feeling slightly less pressure this year, too, after losing the No. 1 ranking to two-time defending Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka. Yeah, there was a lot of pressure starting the year as No. 1, but I think overall last year I didnt think about it this much anyway, she said. Also, I realized last year that I dont have 100% influence on what happens with my ranking sometimes. So now I just focus on tennis. Emma Navarro, a U.S. Open semifinalist last year and seeded in the top eight for the first time at a major, was in trouble after two service breaks early in the third set before she reeled off four straight games to beat Wang Xiyu 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. She hopped from the baseline toward the net, and made a big, swirling swing of her arm to underline another tough, three-set victory. It was really tough the whole time ... super tough there at the end, Navarro said. Found some good tennis there in the last games. Shell next play Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, who struggled with asthma but held off Camila Osorio 7-5, 6-3. Sixth-seeded Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion and runner-up in Australia two years ago, registered her 50th win in a Grand Slam main draw singles match when she beat American qualifier Iva Jovic 6-0, 6-3. No. 9 Daria Kasatkina also advanced 6-2, 6-0 over Wang Yafan and faces No. 24 Yulia Putintseva in the third round.

Fritz donates Melbourne prize money to help victims of LA fires

MELBOURNE: American world number four Taylor Fritz said Thursday he will donate his $82,000 first-round prize money from the Australian Open to help victims of the Los Angeles wildfires , calling the devastation insane. Fritz, who lives in California, made the gesture after reaching the Melbourne third round by beating Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-1, 6-0. First-round prize money is Aus$132,000 (US$82,000). I just want everyone to obviously stay safe, it's just insane what has happened, said the 27-year-old. I'm going to be donating my first-round prize money to LA wildfire relief funds. It's really the least I can do. Southern California is my home and LA was my home for a long time. I'm just doing what I can possibly do to help and I would encourage anyone else who can donate to help because a lot of people really need it. The deady fires began more than a week ago, fanned by hurricane-force gusts that have left two dozen people dead and large areas of the city in ruins. Several other players, including Coco Gauff, Madison KeysandJessica Pegula, have expressed shock and praised firefighters for their efforts. One-time LA area resident Keys donated $20,000 to the city's fire department in support of the incredibly brave firefighters working tirelessly to protect the community. Pegula, founder of the dog rescue charity A Lending Paw, has been sharing ways to help the hundreds of animals displaced by the fires to her online followers. Naomi Osaka, who represents Japan but lives in Los Angeles, said on Monday that wildfires were hree blocks from her house.