PETRA MARTIC

Emma Raducanu came down to earth in her first tournament since her surprising U.S. Open victory, losing in straight sets to Aliaksandra Sasnovich at the BNP Paribas Open.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal won a total of three matches over younger players and will renew their record-setting rivalry in the Italian Open final.

Rafael Nadal has ended a run of three straight losses to Alexander Zverev with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win over the German to reach the Italian Open semifinals.

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.

Jennifer Brady, of the United States, serves to Angelique Kerber, of Germany, during the fourth round of the US Open tennis championships, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)NEW YORK The Latest on the U.S. Open tennis tournament (all times local):12:45 p.m.Jennifer Brady has extended her dominant showing at the U.S. Open and reached the quarterfinals for the first time. The hard-hitting, 25-year-old Brady knocked off Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-4 in the opening match Sunday. Brady, who is one of four American women still alive in singles, will face either Petra Martic or Yulia Putintseva in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal match. The day begins with Angelique Kerber a three-time Grand Slam champion who won at Flushing Meadows in 2016 trying to extend her strong run through the bracket, facing 28th-seeded Jennifer Brady.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and 16-year-old Coco Gauff could face each other at the U.S. Open again after Thursdays, Aug. 27, 2020, draw for the Grand Slam tournament set up a possible third-round rematch. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger, File)American teenager Coco Gauff and two-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka could face each other at the U.S. Open again after Thursdays draw for the Grand Slam tournament set up a possible third-round rematch. Osaka, who won the 2018 U.S. Open and 2019 Australian Open, beat Gauff, then just 15, 6-3, 6-0 in the third round at Flushing Meadows a year ago. 1-ranked Ash Barty and 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu. The defending mens champion, Rafael Nadal, and 20-time Grand Slam title winner Roger Federer are also among those absent in New York this year.