Tennis

7:30 AM ET Associated Press PARIS — Former champion Jelena Ostapenko reached the third round by beating second-seeded Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-2. Ostapenko won her only major title here in 2017. Pliskova reached the semifinals that year and lost to Simona Halep. There were blue skies over Roland Garros after days of rain but the

8:29 PM ET Associated Press LONDON — Spanish tennis player Gerard Joseph Platero Rodriguez has been suspended for four years and fined $15,000 after being convicted of courtsiding, the first player to be charged with the offense. The Tennis Integrity Unit said Wednesday that six months of the ban were suspended on condition that no

1:49 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Serena Williams‘ latest much-hyped quest for her 24th major title came to an abrupt and anticlimactic halt on Wednesday when she withdrew from the French Open because of a left Achilles injury just hours before her second-round match against Tsvetana Pironkova. For now, that is. Assuming the 2021 season takes

6:23 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Three-time French Open champion Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament Wednesday because of a lingering left Achilles injury. She made the announcement shortly before her second-round match against Tsvetana Pironkova. “I really wanted to give an effort here. It’s my Achilles that didn’t have enough time to properly heal after

12:15 PM ET ESPN News Services Novak Djokovic‘s first Grand Slam action since his disqualification at the US Open went as smoothly as can be in Paris. Djokovic, the French Open’s No. 1 seed who is bidding for a second title here and an 18th major title overall, beat Mikael Ymer of Sweden 6-0, 6-2,

8:31 AM ET Associated Press Second-seeded Karolina Pliskova advanced to the second round of the French Open by beating Mayar Sherif 6-7 (9), 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday. Sherif was the first Egyptian player to qualify for the main draw at Roland Garros. She saved five break points in the seventh game of the third set.

11:26 AM ET ESPN News Services PARIS — Serena Williams went from a 72-minute first set that required a tiebreaker to a lopsided second set in which she did not drop a game in her first-round match at the French Open. “I just need to play with more confidence, like I’m Serena,” Williams said, by

3:38 PM ET Associated Press A women’s doubles player has been removed from the main draw at the French Open after she was declared a contact case following her coach’s positive coronavirus test. French Open organizers did not name the player. Doubles matches start on Wednesday. The French Tennis Federation has carried out around 1,900

9:37 AM ET Associated Press US Open champion Dominic Thiem advanced to the second round of the French Open by beating former US Open champion Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. The third-seeded Austrian won his first major tournament at Flushing Meadows two weeks ago and is among the favorites again at Roland Garros after losing

7:12 AM ET Rafael Nadal has won a record 12 French Open titles with the same ritual precision that compels him to line up his water bottles just so, or avoid treading on the painted lines on a court. For that reason, the 2020 French Open — so fraught with disruptions, so loaded with unknowns