6:28 PM ET Associated Press MADRID — Petra Kvitova opened her title defense in the Madrid Open by dispatching Sofia Kenin of the United States 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday. The second-seeded Kvitova, a three-time champion in Madrid, is coming off a title in Stuttgart and is the only woman to win two tournaments this season.
Tennis
1:23 PM ET Greece’s Maria Sakkari rallied from a set and a break down to beat British no. 1 Johanna Konta 2-6 6-4 6-1 and lift her first WTA title at the Rabat Grand Prix in Morocco on Saturday. 1 Related Konta, playing in her first WTA final since June last year, did not face
12:09 PM ET Associated Press Tennis is in turmoil as the French Open approaches. As three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka put it: “Politics have overshadowed the action on the courts.” In a letter published Friday in The Times of London, Wawrinka decried his sport’s “worrying decline in moral standards” and outlined several aspects of the
10:22 AM ET Associated Press ROME — Serena Williams is set to return from injury at the upcoming Italian Open. Tournament director Sergio Palmieri told The Associated Press on Friday that he spoke with Williams’ agent and that Williams “has already reserved her rooms and should be here a few days early” for the May
5:45 PM ET Associated Press WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Tommy Paul earned his first berth in the main draw at the French Open by winning the U.S. Tennis Association’s wild-card challenge. Paul, a 21-year-old based at the USTA’s national campus in Orlando, clinched the wild card on Thursday, when Tennys Sandgren lost at an ATP
8:38 PM ET Associated Press LONDON — Marco Trungelliti has received support from the Tennis Integrity Unit more than two weeks after he complained that he’d been “used” and felt abandoned after acting as a witness in the prosecution of three fellow Argentinian players who subsequently received bans for gambling-related activities. In a statement Wednesday,
3:31 PM ET Associated Press ROME — Three-time champion Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from the upcoming Italian Open as she continues to recover from a right shoulder injury. Rome organizers announced Wednesday that Sharapova’s spot in the draw for the May 13-19 tournament will be taken by 45th-ranked Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia. Sharapova, a five-time
11:59 AM ET Associated Press Justin Gimelstob has announced his resignation from the ATP board of directors, a little more than a week after pleading no contest to misdemeanor assault for attacking a former friend. The former professional tennis player, who also has worked as a coach and broadcaster, posted a lengthy statement Wednesday on
9:13 AM ET The Euroclay season is the most intensely concentrated competitive period of the year in tennis, at least for the ATP. No other segment has three Masters 1000 events jammed into a span of barely six weeks — followed just a week later by a Grand Slam event. The two most closely watched
9:55 AM ET Wimbledon prize money will see an increase of 11.8 percent and total £38 million ($49 million) for this year’s championships, the All England Club announced on Tuesday. The men’s and women’s singles champions will receive £2.35 million ($3.06 million) each — £100,000 more than in the previous year. Continuing a theme of