Americans Pegula, Gauff into 4th round at Australian Open

Associated PressJan 20, 2023, 1:00 AM EST

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MELBOURNE, Australia — American title favorites Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff had convincing third-round wins at the Australian Open.

The third-seeded Pegula, a quarterfinalist the past two years at Melbourne Park, needed 65 minutes for a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Marta Kostyuk. Seventh-seeded Gauff beat Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-2 to reach the last 16.

Pegula raced through the first set and though Kostyuk established herself in the second set, she was always playing catch-up.

“I thought I just didn’t give away a lot of free points,” said Pegula, who will meet Barbora Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open champion, in the next round. “I was playing aggressive when I had to but also smart. Happy to be through to the next round.”

Gauff had to withstand a barrage of big hitting from Pera.

“Today was a tough match,” Gauff said. “Bernarda hit the..I can’t say that word.she hit the ball really hard, I was just trying to hang in there. I’m happy to be through to the second week.”

Top-seeded Iga Swiatek beat Cristina Bucsa, a qualifier from Spain, 6-0, 6-1 in just 55 minutes. Last year’s finalist Danielle Collins of the U.S. was beaten 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.

Krejcikova was the first player to advance to the fourth round after a 6-2, 6-3 win over Anhelina Kalinina to open play Friday at Rod Laver Arena.

The 20th-seeded Czech player won the first five games of the match and dominated her Ukrainian opponent. Krejcikova has not dropped a set in three matches.

In men’s play, Stefanos Tsitsipas will take on Jannik Sinner in the fourth round.

Third-seeded Tsitsipas saved a set point in the second set but beat Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-3 to reach the last 16 at Melbourne Park for the third time in four years.

Sinner recovered from two sets down for the first time in his career as he beat Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 after 3 hours, 33 minutes, winning the last 12 games.

“For sure the first two sets were very tough for me,” the 21-year-old Italian and 15th-seeded player said. “I went on court with one tactic, then I had to change a little bit, going a little more to his backhand. We made a lot of work in the off-season physically so today I was good physically in the last few sets.”

Tsitsipas, the highest-ranked player left in the men’s draw following the exits of top-seeded and defending champion Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Casper Ruud, was pushed hard in the second set by the 63rd-ranked Griekspoor.

The Dutch player had a set point on Tsitsipas’ serve at 6-5 in the second set but couldn’t convert it and Tsitsipas pulled away for victory.

Tsitsipas and Sinner have played five times, with the Greek player leading 4-1. The 24-year-old is a three-time Australian Open semifinalist and was the 2021 French Open runner-up to Novak Djokovic. Sinner reached the quarterfinals in Melbourne last year.

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.

Mikael Ymer fined about $40K after default for hitting umpire stand with racket

Associated PressMay 31, 2023, 3:55 PM EDT

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — Swedish tennis player Mikael Ymer was docked about $40,000 after being disqualified for smashing his racket against the umpire’s chair at a tournament the week before he competed at the French Open.

An ATP Tour spokesman said Ymer forfeited about $10,500 in prize money and 20 rankings he earned for reaching the second round of the Lyon Open. Ymer also was handed an on-site fine of about $29,000.

The spokesman said the ATP Fines Committee will conduct a review of what happened to determine whether any additional penalties are warranted.

The 56th-ranked Ymer, who is 24 and owns a victory over current No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, was defaulted in Lyon for an outburst late in the first set against French teenager Arthur Fils last week.

Ymer was upset that the chair umpire would not check a ball mark after a shot by Fils landed near a line. As the players went to the sideline for the ensuing changeover, Ymer smacked the base of the umpire’s stand with his racket twice – destroying his equipment and damaging the chair.

That led to Ymer’s disqualification, making Fils the winner of the match.

After his 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 loss to 17th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the first round at Roland Garros, Ymer was asked whether he wanted to explain why he reacted the way he did in Lyon.

“With all due respect, I think it’s pretty clear from the video what caused it and why I reacted the way I reacted. Not justifying it at all, of course,” Ymer replied. “But for me to sit here and to explain? I think it’s pretty clear what led me to that place. I think that’s pretty clear in the video.”