TAYLOR FRITZ

Nikoloz Basilashvili beat American Taylor Fritz 7-6 (5), 6-3 to set up a final against Cameron Norrie at the BNP Paribas Open.

Taylor Fritz beat No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open in front of a hometown crowd, scoring the biggest win of his young career.

Novak Djokovic is 26-0 in Grand Slam matches in 2021.

After reaching the U.S. Open final last year with no fans, Victoria Azarenka appreciates playing in front of people again.

Rafael Nadal has won his first match back after being off the tour for nearly two months.

In four weeks, Taylor Fritz has gone from a wheelchair at the French Open to the third round at Wimbledon.

The Associated Press has learned that teenager Coco Gauff and Australian Open runner-up Jennifer Brady will lead the U.S. Olympic tennis team at the Tokyo Games.

There are four American men in the French Open's third round for the first time in 25 years: John Isner, Reilly Opelka, Stevie Johnson and Marcos Giron.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal won a total of three matches over younger players and will renew their record-setting rivalry in the Italian Open final.

Rafael Nadal showed he’s still got the stamina to withstand much younger challengers in a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) comeback win over 22-year-old Denis Shapovalov that secured him a spot in the Italian Open quarterfinals.

There are no American men in the ATP's Top 30 for the first time in the nearly half-century of ATP computerized tennis rankings.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic smashes his racket during his quarterfinal match against Germany's Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill)MELBOURNE – Novak Djokovic smashed a racket, sending a piece of the frame flying. He dropped the opening set against Alexander Zverev, one of the young guys trying to shove aside Djokovic and the rest of the Big Three. And this is Djokovic at the Australian Open, where no man ever has been better. So, naturally, Djokovic pulled himself together and pulled out the victory, reaching his ninth semifinal at Melbourne Park by eliminating No.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic hits a backhand return to Canada's Milos Raonic during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021. For anyone curious about the severity of his injury, he put it into context after qualifying for the Australian Open quarterfinals for the 12th time. The eight-time Australian Open champion planned to spend most of the next two days recovering ahead of his quarterfinal against sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev. “If you’re here, it’s for a reason - there’s no doubt about it,” Dimitrov said after his 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 win. AdAnd not since Patrick McEnroe — John’s brother — in 1991 has a man ranked as low as 114th made it to the Australian Open quarterfinals.

AdHe said: “If it’s any other tournament than a Grand Slam, then I’d withdraw from that event, that’s for sure. Defending champion Novak Djokovic has started his fourth-round match against Milos Raonic at the Australian Open. He'll play either U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem or Grigor Dimitrov next and he says he doesn't have a preference. Their match is to be followed by eight-time Australian Open champion Djokovic against 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic — assuming Djokovic decides he can play. Other men in action include reigning U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem and the man he beat in that final, Alexander Zverev.

Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic serves to compatriot Karolina Pliskova during their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. Crowds were gone from the Australian Open on Saturday because of a five-day hard lockdown imposed by the state government to contain an outbreak of COVID-19 cases. And with the lack of fans, players were faced with an all-too-familiar feeling: a distinct lack of buzz. The Australian Open was allowed to continue during the lockdown — but without fans. He struggled without a crowd in a warm-up tournament before the Australian Open.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates after defeating United States' Talyor Fritz in their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. So I don’t know if I’ll manage to recover from that in less than two days. I don’t know. Let’s be honest.”This setback dropped Fritz's career record in third-round matches at Grand Slam tournaments to 0-6. I just want to make it to the fourth round," Fritz said.

Competition at the year's first Grand Slam tournament will be allowed to continue, but no fans can attend as of Saturday. Hopefully it will be all right.”A year ago, Williams dropped just three games against Potapova in the first round. But the 2016 Wimbledon junior champion double-faulted five times in that game, including twice on set point. 8 Diego Schwartzman became the highest-seeded man to lose so far, eliminated 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 by Aslan Karatsev, a qualifier from Russia ranked 114th and making his Grand Slam debut at age 27. AdIn other action, 2020 U.S. Open runner-up Alexander Zverev won in straight sets and now takes on No.

The last American man to win a Grand Slam tournament was Andy Roddick at the U.S. Open in 2003, and there's no sign the drought will end anytime soon. “But I don’t see it being what it once was ever again.”AdOpelka, for one, isn’t surprised the United States has the same number of seeded men in Melbourne as, say, Bulgaria or Norway. The United States has four seeded women in Melbourne, including Kenin and Serena Williams. That’s a challenge, because those kids want to play basketball and football.”The United States Tennis Association has inner-city programs in more than 250 locations. Opelka (ranked 38th), Fritz (ranked 31st), Tommy Paul (53rd) and Frances Tiafoe (64th) are all 23 and good friends who root for each other.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic makes a forehand return to United States' Frances Tiafoe during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. 1, had never beaten anyone in the Top 5, and now he'd just won a tiebreaker against Novak Djokovic to level their second-round match at the Australian Open. But it wasn't quite enough to beat the eight-time Australian Open champion, who won the 3 1/2-hour afternoon match 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 6-3. AdAnother U.S. Open champion, Naomi Osaka, needed only an hour to sweep Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-3. 29 Ugo Humbert 5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in a rollicking night cap full of turns and twists.

The 10th-seeded Frenchman is a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist, but he can't seem to win anywhere at the moment. ___4:55 p.m.U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem has moved into the second round at the Australian Open, where he was the runner-up to Novak Djokovic a year ago. Thiem had been 0-3 in Grand Slam finals until emerging for the championship at Flushing Meadows in September. The first tournament of this year’s Grand Slam season began after a three-week delay because of the coronavirus pandemic. Serena Williams begins her latest bid for a 24th Grand Slam singles title in the following match against Laura Siegemund.