Tennis

5:30 AM ET Associated Press TOKYO — Liudmila Samsonova of Russia extended a remarkable summer run by clinching her third title in two months after beating rising Chinese player Zheng Qinwen 7-5, 7-5 at the Toray Pan Pacific Open on Sunday. No. 30-ranked Samsonova won in Washington and Cleveland in August and also reached the

5:21 PM ET Associated Press LONDON — Roger Federer‘s tearful farewell to his playing career is over. True to his word, the 20-time Grand Slam champion did not say goodbye to tennis. A day after heading into retirement with a Laver Cup doubles match alongside longtime rival Rafael Nadal — the pair sat crying, side-by-side,

9:38 AM ET Simon Cambers Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Laver Cup on Saturday for personal reasons, his press spokesperson confirmed to ESPN. Nadal partnered with Roger Federer in his last professional match at the team competition between Europe and the rest of the world in London on Friday, losing in a deciding match tiebreak

6:30 AM ET Associated Press TOKYO — Rising teenager Zheng Qinwen continued her winning run at the Toray Pan Pacific tournament Saturday, beating the sole remaining seed Veronika Kudermetova 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the semifinals at the Ariake Coliseum. In another Chinese-Russian matchup, unseeded Liudmila Samsonova overcame Zhang Shuai 7-6 (4), 6-2. In a

7:27 PM ET Simon Cambers D’Arcy Maine LONDON — After 24 years on the ATP Tour, with 20 Grand Slam titles and 103 tournament wins worldwide to his name, Roger Federer played his final professional match on Friday night, when he partnered with his old rival Rafael Nadal in doubles at the fifth edition of

2:37 PM ET Simon Cambers D’Arcy Maine LONDON — After 24 years on the ATP Tour, with 20 Grand Slam titles and 103 tournament wins worldwide to his name, Roger Federer will play his final professional match on Friday night, when he partners with his old rival Rafael Nadal in doubles at the fifth edition

5:19 PM ET Associated Press Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print Stan Wawrinka put together his best performance in years to stun top seed Daniil Medvedev and reach the quarterfinals of the Moselle Open in Metz on Thursday. Despite letting slip a match point in the second set, the former world No. 3 went

3:12 PM ET Associated Press LONDON — A former professional tennis player-turned-coach from Chile received a lifetime ban from the sport Thursday for a record-high number of match-fixing offenses. The International Tennis Integrity Agency said Sebastián Rivera was found guilty of 64 match-fixing offenses, “the highest number ever detected for a player by the ITIA

9:27 AM ET Every word written to describe Roger Federer‘s incredible game was true, every misguided attempt at prose forgivable. He glided around the court, feet seemingly leaving the ground at his serve and not touching again until the point was over. He boasted the game’s best and most precise serve for nearly 20 years.

3:08 AM ET ESPN News Services Naomi Osaka‘s title defense at her home Pan Pacific Open ended Thursday when the former world No. 1 withdrew ahead of her second-round match against Beatriz Haddad Maia due to abdominal pain. “I am really sorry that I am not able to compete today,” Osaka said in a statement.

5:53 PM ET American Sebastian Korda beat No. 3 seed Lorenzo Musetti to advance to the final eight of the Moselle Open on Wednesday. Korda, 22, beat Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (6) in 1 hour, 41 minutes and will face either Lorenzo Sonego or Gilles Simon. 1 Related Elsewhere, Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi beat compatriot Ugo Humbert

6:25 AM ET Simon Cambers Roger Federer said he will play just one doubles match at this weekend’s Laver Cup in what would be his last professional match. The 41-year-old Swiss star announced his impending retirement last week, having failed to recover sufficiently from his most recent knee operation to resume his career. At a

10:03 AM ET Associated Press TOKYO — Elise Mertens won the first three games before Typhoon Nanmadol forced the match to be halted, and then won the next three when they resumed in a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Qiang Wang on Monday at the Pan Pacific Open. Wang was serving when the rain started, forcing

3:51 AM ET Roger Federer is set to make a last-minute decision on his participation in the Laver Cup, his physical trainer has said. Last week 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer announced he would be retiring from professional tennis after a series of knee operations and said the Laver Cup would be his last official

4:07 PM ET Associated Press Linda Fruhvirtova, 17, completed a magnificent breakthrough week by claiming her first WTA Tour singles title at the Chennai Open on Sunday. The Czech teenager defeated third seed Magda Linette of Poland 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and is now projected to make her top 100 debut Monday. Fruhvirtova showed her maturity

Sep 18, 2022 Associated Press Carlos Alcaraz is producing the goods for his country as well as himself. Seven days after winning his first Grand Slam tournament, the top-ranked Alcaraz beat Kwon Soon-woo in straight sets in the Davis Cup Finals to secure Spain’s victory over South Korea and a spot in the quarterfinals as

2:49 PM ET Associated Press GLASGOW, Scotland — Botic van de Zandschulp and Tallon Griekspoor won their singles against Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul for the Netherlands to finish top of their Davis Cup finals group on Saturday. Van de Zandschulp settled the tie when he defeated Fritz, the world No. 12, 6-4, 7-6

4:53 PM ET Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain — Carlos Alcaraz‘s biggest fans had flocked see the world’s new top-ranked player in his homecoming to Spain. Instead, they witnessed Felix Auger-Aliassime beat their new idol before staying on the hard court to secure a second victory in doubles and help Canada score a 2-1 upset over