Women's Tennis

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American Emma Navarro upset top-seeded Iga Świątek with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 win in the fourth round of the China Open on Wednesday.

Navarro, seeded 16th, had not won more than three games in two previous matches against Świątek, who committed 70 unforced errors and lost a love set for the third time this season.

It was the 24-year-old Navarro’s fourth career win over a top-five opponent.

Also, Sonay Kartal produced the biggest victory of her career by defeating Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals. It is the first time Kartal has beaten a top-10 player and the first time she has reached the last eight at a WTA 1000 event.

“I think the way I carry myself on the court is one of my biggest assets. You could look down the other end at me and you wouldn’t really know if I’m winning or losing,” Kartal said. “I just tried to put that second set behind me. She played some great tennis, so I just tried to level it out in the third set and keep the scoreboard pressure as high as I could.”

Fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula later defeated Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-1, making it the first time since the tournament started in 2004 that four Americans reached the final eight. Compatriots Coco Gauff and Amanda Anisimova had already made the quarterfinals.

Jannik Sinner, playing the concurrent men’s tournament in Beijing, won the China Open title by beating American teenager Learner Tien 6-2, 6-2.

The Associated Press and PA contributed to this report.

Sabalenka is the first woman since Serena Williams in 2014 to repeat as US Open champion

Ian Casselberry | Yahoo Sports

Aryna Sabalenka has won her second consecutive US Open women’s championship, dispatching Amanda Anisimova in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (3).

With the victory, Sabalenka becomes the first woman to earn consecutive US Open titles since Serena Williams won three straight from 2012-14.

The match presented a change of typical roles for the two players. In the past, Sabalenka has let her emotions rattle her when play wasn’t going her way. That appeared as if it might happen when she couldn’t dominate with her serve early on. Anisimova quickly moved from corner to corner, covering every area where Sabalenka could hit the ball.

However, Sabalenka didn’t get flustered and maintained her composure while slowly making adjustments with her shot-making. Initially trying to push Anisimova back with her serve and forehand, Sabalenka slowly worked in some touch and left Anisimova flailing at a few well-placed drop shots.

Early on, Anisimova looked like she would be the one to win with power. Her forehand was particularly formidable, firing shots deep into the corners that left Sabalenka out of position. She also showed impressive precision, slicing backhand and forehand slots just inside the sidelines. Sabalenka thought those shots might go out, but they repeatedly landed in.

However, Anisimova was the player who slowly became unglued as she continually made unforced errors. Those shots along the sideline that landed inside the boundary began to fall out of bounds. And she frequently missed with her serve, hitting the ball into the net.

The roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium was closed due to rain in Flushing, New York. Going into the match, the belief was that might help Anisimova if it made the crowd noise louder as they cheered for the American versus Sabalenka. Yet Anisimova claimed the lights from the roof were shining into her eyes as she tossed the ball up to serve.

Altogether, Anisimova committed 29 unforced errors while Sabalenka made only four for the match. That disparity might explain the match more than any other number.

The other imposing number was Sabalenka’s 20-1 record in tiebreakers. Anisimova won three consecutive games to rally from a 5-3 deficit in the second set to take a 6-5 lead. Suddenly, Sabalenka was in position of needing to hold to stay alive, which she did by rocketing a serve far to Anisimova’s right that she couldn’t hit back over the net.

Sabalenka’s record is now 21-1 in tiebreakers as she dominated the extra game. Anisimova didn’t help herself by again committing errors, hitting the ball outside or long. Despite blowing that lead in the second set, Sabalenka gained confidence and showed with her body language that she knew victory was imminent in a tiebreaker she easily controlled.

Sabalenka also becomes the 10th woman to win consecutive US Open championships. She joins Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams.

Just Women’s Sports

The 2025 US Open has officially landed in New York, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka looks to kick off her 2024 title defense when the main draw of the tennis season’s final Grand Slam hits courts on Sunday.

The Queens-based tournament marks Sabalenka’s last shot at winning a major title this season, with the three-time Slam victor falling in both the 2025 Australian Open and 2025 French Open finals as well as stumbling out of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships in the semifinal round.

With the sport’s biggest payday on the line, tennis’s top talent are preparing to battle Sabalenka for both hardware and the tournament’s record $5 million champion’s check.

Joining the 27-year-old on this year’s US Open roster are reigning Wimbledon champion No. 2 Iga Świątek, 2025 French Open winner No. 3 Coco Gauff, and home-state hero and 2024 US Open runner-up No. 4 Jessica Pegula.

With five of the WTA’s Top-11 players, the US contingent is hoping the reclaim the host nation’s Grand Slam trophy this year, as reigning Australian Open champ No. 6 Madison Keys, 2025 Wimbledon runner-up No. 9 Amanda Anisimova, and No. 11 Emma Navarro join Gauff and Pegula as the USA’s frontrunners.

Two-time US Open winner and fan favorite No. 25 Naomi Osaka also enters the tournament as a seeded competitor for the first time since 2021, while 45-year-old icon Venus Williams will take the main-draw court for her 25th Queens Slam after headlining this year’s wild card list.

ESPN SPORTS

CINCINNATI — Third-ranked Iga Swiatek captured the Cincinnati Open title for the first time by defeating No. 7 Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 6-4 on Monday night.

Swiatek had failed to advance past the semifinals in her six previous appearances at the Cincinnati Open. She reached the semifinals in Cincinnati each of the past two years, but lost to eventual champions Coco Gauff in 2023 and Aryna Sabalenka in 2024.

“It means a lot to me,” Swiatek said. “This year, I really wanted it. I’m just very happy. It’s nice to check off the list another tournament that I haven’t won. I have friends here. It’s a nice, relaxed tournament before New York.”

Swiatek has won all six meetings against the Italian, dropping only one set in those matches.

Paolini jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set, but Swiatek roared back to go ahead 5-3. Paolini broke serve to get even at 5-5, but Swiatek closed out a first-set victory in 56 minutes.

Swiatek’s eighth ace of the match gave her a 5-3 lead in the second set. Paolini broke serve twice in the second set and was within 5-4, but Swiatek served out the match for her 24th career singles title and 11th title in a WTA 1000 event, breaking a tie with Victoria Azarenka (10) for the second-most 1000-level titles since the level was introduced in 2009 (Serena Williams, 13).

“This season hasn’t been easy,” said Swiatek, who won Wimbledon in July after a slow start to the season. “I’ve had areas to improve. It’s not easy to win tournaments when everyone is expecting you to.”

Swiatek had seven double faults to two for Paolini. But she also had nine aces, while Paolini had none.

“When the rallies were going, I felt good on the court,” Paolini said. “The serves were the difference. When she needed an ace, she hit an ace.”

Paolini is the first Italian woman to reach the finals in Cincinnati. Since she was a qualifier at the Cincinnati Open in 2023, Paolini has reached two Grand Slam singles finals, won a Grand Slam doubles title and an Olympic gold medal.

“It was definitely a positive tournament for me,” Paolini said. “It wasn’t enough, of course. I just need to improve.”

The Cincinnati Open is considered a tuneup for the US Open, which begins Sunday in New York. In the past two years, the men’s and women’s Cincinnati Open champions won the final Grand Slam tournament of the year.

Carlos Alcaraz won the men’s final earlier Monday when Jannik Sinner retired because of illness during the first set.

Howard Fendrich, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — There are plenty of reasons why this particular victory by Venus Williams in this particular tennis match — just one of hundreds — resonated with so many folks.

That she’s 45, for one thing. Only one woman, Martina Navratilova, ever has won a tour-level singles match while older; her last victory came at 47 in 2004.

That Williams hadn’t entered a tournament anywhere in 16 months.

That she needed surgery for uterine fibroids.

And when asked Tuesday night after beating her 23-year-old opponent, Peyton Stearns, 6-3, 6-4 at the DC Open what message others might take away from that performance and that result, Williams was quick to provide an answer.

“There are no limits for excellence. It’s all about what’s in your head and how much you’re able to put into it. If you put in the work mentally, physically, and emotionally, then you can have the result,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how many times you fall down. Doesn’t matter how many times you get sick or get hurt or whatever it is. If you continue to believe and put in the work, there is an opportunity, there is space, for you.”

Williams has been winning at tennis for decades. Her pro debut came when she was 14. Her first Grand Slam title came at Wimbledon in 2000, less than a month after her 20th birthday.

She accumulated four major singles trophies before Stearns was born and eventually wound up with seven, five at Wimbledon and two at the U.S. Open, plus another 14 in women’s doubles — all with her sister Serena — and two in mixed doubles.

“I have so much respect for her to come back here and play, win or lose. That takes a lot of guts to step back onto court, especially with what she’s done for the sport,” said Stearns, who is ranked 35th and won NCAA singles and team titles at the University of Texas. “You have a lot behind you. You have accomplished a lot. And there is a lot of pressure on her and to kind of upkeep that at this age. So massive credit to her for that.”

There were challenges along the way for Williams, none more public than the diagnosis in 2011 of Sjögren’s syndrome, an energy-sapping auto-immune disease that can cause joint pain.

More recent was the pain from fibroids — noncancerous growths — and shortly before the DC Open, Williams said: “Where I am at this year is so much different (from) where I was at last year. It’s night and day, being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery.”

As thrilled as the spectators — “Who I love, and they love me,” Williams said — were to be able to watch, and pull, for her under the lights Tuesday, other players were rather excited about it, too.

“I commend her so much for being out here,” said Taylor Townsend.

Naomi Osaka’s take: “She’s, like, the queen. There’s a royal air around her.”

“She’s one of the best athletes of all time,” Frances Tiafoe said. “Her and her sister, they’re not only great for the women’s game, not only great for women’s sports, but they are so iconic.”

Yet, there were some on social media who wondered whether it made sense for the tournament to award a wild-card entry to Williams instead of an up-and-coming player.

DC Open chairman Mark Ein said it took him about two seconds to respond “Of course” when Williams’ representative reached out in April to ask whether a spot in the field might be a possibility.

A reporter wanted to know Tuesday whether Williams took any satisfaction from proving doubters wrong.

“No, because I’m not here for anyone else except for me. And I also have nothing to prove. Zip. Zero. I’m here for me, because I want to be here,” she said. “And proving anyone wrong or thinking about anyone has never gotten me a win and has never gotten me a loss.”