YULIA PUTINTSEVA

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.

Russia's Daniil Medvedev gestures after defeating Serbia's Filip Krajinovic in their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill)MELBOURNE – Daniil Medvedev finally worked out how to a win a five-setter. The fourth-seeded Medvedev was 0-6 in Grand Slam matches that went to five sets, and his Australian Open third-round match against No. here I was really calm to finish the match," Medvedev said. Medvedev, the U.S. Open finalist last year, will next play McDonald, a player he compared with Roger Federer in style.

Italian tennis player Simone Bolelli, left, and Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez are escorted to their training session in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. (Luis Ascui/AAP Image via AP)With no way out, tennis players in lockdown are figuring out ways to keep themselves fit within the confines of their Melbourne hotel rooms as they prepare for the Australian Open. Angelique Kerber, who won the Australian Open in 2016, spent her birthday in quarantine on Monday. But local government, tennis and health authorities have said all players were warned of the risks well in advance. “We’ve got to do whatever we can to make it as fair as possible for those players that are in lockdown.”___More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Italian tennis player Simone Bolelli, left, and Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez are escorted to their training session in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. The number of players in hard quarantine swelled to 72 ahead of the Australian Open after a fifth positive coronavirus test was returned from the charter flights bringing players, coaches, officials and media to Melbourne for the season-opening tennis major. Some players have expressed anger at being classified as close contacts merely for being on board those flights with people who later tested positive. But local government, tennis and health authorities have said all players were warned of the risks in advance. The Australian Open starts Feb. 8 following a week of warmup tournaments at Melbourne Park and the ATP Cup.

Kenin is the top-seeded woman in Abu Dhabi, where the first womens tour-level tennis event of 2021 begins main-draw play on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)ABU DHABI – Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin of the United States came back from match point down to beat Yulia Putintseva and reach the quarterfinals of the Abu Dhabi Open on Saturday. Kenin posted 57 unforced errors to Putintseva's 43 but still prevailed 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 over the 13th-seeded Putintseva. Kenin dropped the opening set for the second consecutive match in Abu Dhabi. Also, Aryna Sabalenka recorded her 12th consecutive win in tour matches with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Ons Jabeur.

Amid all the tumult of the coronavirus pandemic, Simona Halep might very well have found the perfect formula to prepare for the French Open. When the clay-court Grand Slam tournament begins Sunday, 2018 champion Halep will be on court against 70th-ranked Sara Sorribes Tormo. Separated from her Australian coach Darren Cahill for seven months during the pandemic, Halep spent the extended break from competition with her Romanian coach, Artemon Apostu-Efremov. At the Italian Open, Halep’s final three matches came against Yulia Putintseva, Garbiñe Muguruza and Karolína Pliskova — all three of whom played at the U.S. Open. Halep added a second major trophy by dropping only four games against Serena Williams in last year’s Wimbledon final.

Jennifer Brady, of the United States, serves to Yulia Putintseva, of Kazakhstan, during the quarterfinals of the US Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)NEW YORK The Latest on the U.S. Open tennis tournament (all times EDT):___1:30 p.m.American Jennifer Brady has become this year's first U.S. Open semifinalist by beating Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-2. The quarterfinals at the U.S. Open are underway, with American Jennifer Brady facing No. Brady, seeded 28th, is the first former college player to reach the women's quarterfinals at the Open since Gigi Fernandez in 1994. In the other women's match Tuesday, two-time major champion Naomi Osaka will play American Shelby Rogers, who is ranked 93rd.

Jennifer Brady, of the United States, reacts after defeating Yulia Putintseva, of Kazakhstan, during the quarterfinals of the US Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)NEW YORK American Jennifer Brady said she was nervous at the start of her first career Grand Slam quarterfinal, but it didn't show. Brady notched the biggest victory yet in her breakout run at the U.S. Open, beating Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan on Tuesday, 6-3, 6-2. Brady, 25, is playing in her 13th Grand Slam event and is seeded in a major tournament for the first time. The last couple of times I played her, I got caught in playing her game, Brady said.

Jennifer Brady, of the United States, serves to Angelique Kerber, of Germany, during the fourth round of the US Open tennis championships, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)NEW YORK The Latest on the U.S. Open tennis tournament (all times local):12:45 p.m.Jennifer Brady has extended her dominant showing at the U.S. Open and reached the quarterfinals for the first time. The hard-hitting, 25-year-old Brady knocked off Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-4 in the opening match Sunday. Brady, who is one of four American women still alive in singles, will face either Petra Martic or Yulia Putintseva in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal match. The day begins with Angelique Kerber a three-time Grand Slam champion who won at Flushing Meadows in 2016 trying to extend her strong run through the bracket, facing 28th-seeded Jennifer Brady.

Naomi Osaka of Japan reacts in her Ladies' Singles first round match against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan during Day 1 of The Championships - Wimbledon 2019 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 1, 2019, in London. (CNN) - Naomi Osaka was dumped out of Wimbledon in the first round Monday as the two-time grand slam champion was flummoxed on the grass by Yulia Putintseva. The 24-year-old Kazakh might be ranked only 39th in the world but former world No.1 Osaka had no answer to an opponent she was also beaten by at the Birmingham Classic last month. Putintseva took the first set on a tie break and then broke Osaka in the second set's fifth and seventh games to win the match 7-6 (7-4) 6-2. Having beaten players in the world's top 10 seven times in her career, Putintseva never looked fazed against Osaka, unsettling the 21-year-old with her lethal backhand slice.