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Serena Williams through easily in Australian Open tuneup
United States' Serena Williams makes a backhand return to Australia's Daria Gavrilova during a tuneup tournament ahead of the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)MELBOURNE – Serena Williams found a silver lining in the delayed start to the Australian Open, the season-opening Grand Slam tournament that is starting three weeks later than usual because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Williams is playing in the Yarra Valley Classic, along with top-ranked Ash Barty and defending Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin. “So I definitely was pushing the limits, but I’m here.”Williams has been stalled on 23 major singles titles since the 2017 Australian Open, when she was two months pregnant with now-3-year-old daughter Olympia. AdFrances Tiafoe, an Australian Open quarterfinalist in 2019, lost to Corentin Moutet 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
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No chill for Coco: Gauff ousts 9th seed in French Open debut
(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)PARIS – Prepping in the relative warmth of a gym before heading out with leggings and long sleeves to make her French Open debut against the tournament’s No. I realized it’s just a tennis match. Such a far cry from last year’s French Open: Gauff failed to make it out of qualifying, while Konta was making her way to her third Grand Slam semifinal. She also made it to the fourth round at this year’s Australian Open, beating 2019 champion Naomi Osaka en route. The lack of match play coming in.
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Jennifer Brady preps for US Open by winning 1st tour title
Jennifer Brady holds the championship trophy after defeating Jil Belen Teichmann in the WTA tennis tournament championship match in Nicholasville, Ky., Sunday, Aug. 16, 2020. Brady won 6-3, 6-4 on the way to her first WTA title. Maybe I wasn't using my legs enough ... or the toss was coming a little bit to the left. A little bit of everything, said Brady, who eliminated 16-year-old Coco Gauff in the semifinals. I put a little bit more expectations on myself to perform well, so I was getting a little bit frustrated.