Serena, Murray out of Australian
Defending champion Serena Williams has withdrawn from the Australian Open, saying she is not ready to return to tournament tennis.
The season’s first major starts on Jan. 15 at Melbourne Park and seven-time Australian Open champion Williams will be missing it for the first time since 2011.
Williams was pregnant with her first child when she won here last year to collect her Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam singles title.
She gave birth to her daughter, Alexis, in September.
Williams played in an exhibition tournament last week in Abu Dhabi and indicated after her loss to French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko that she might not make it to Melbourne.
“After competing in Abu Dhabi I realized that although I am super close, I’m not where I personally want to be,” Williams said in a statement released Friday by Australian Open organizers.
“My coach and team always said ‘only go to tournaments when you are prepared to go all the way.’ I can compete — but I don’t want to just compete, I want to do far better than that and to do so, I will need a little more time.
“With that being said, and even though I am disappointed about it, I’ve decided not to compete in the Australian Open this year.”
The 36-year-old Williams needs one more Grand Slam singles title to equal the all-time record held by Margaret Court, who won 24 titles before and during the Open era.
Her withdrawal comes less than 24 hours after fellow former world No.1 Andy Murray withdrew from the men’s event with a chronic hip injury.
Several other stars, including top-ranked Rafael Nadal, sixtime champion Novak Djokovic and 2014 winner Stan Wawrinka, also are dealing with injuries.
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said Williams waited as long as she could before letting organizers know she wouldn’t be able to compete.
“I’ve been in constant contact with Serena and her team and know this is why she has pushed it and pushed it until the 11th hour to make her final decision,” Tiley said.
Murray needed only a couple of days in Australia to realize the hip problem that has kept him out of competitive tennis since Wimbledon was not going to improve in time for the season’s first major.
The five-time finalist withdrew from the Australian Open on Thursday, two days after pulling out of a tuneup event in Brisbane before his first match.
Confirmation of his absence came hours after Kei Nishikori announced that he, also, wouldn’t have enough time to fully recover from a torn wrist tendon before the Australian Open starts Jan. 15 in Melbourne.
Murray was preparing to leave Australia at the same time as injured former champions Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were on the way to Melbourne.
“Sadly I won’t be playing in Melbourne this year, as I am not yet ready to compete,” Murray said in a statement. “I’ll be flying home shortly to assess all the options but I appreciate all the messages of support and I hope to be back playing soon.”
In a heartfelt social media post earlier in the week, the 30-yearold Murray contemplated surgery as an option after failing to overcome the pain with rest and rehabilitation.
Federer, Bencic lead Swiss over U.S.
PERTH, AUSTRALIA » Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic advanced Switzerland into the Hopman Cup final with straight-set singles victories over their American opponents on Thursday.
Federer beat Jack Sock 7-6 (5), 7-5 before Bencic defeated CoCo Vandeweghe 7-6 (6), 6-4 to give Switzerland a winning 2-0 edge and first place in Group B.
Defending champions Dimitrov, Pliskova advance
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA » Grigor Dimitrov had to save two match points before getting his Brisbane International title defense underway with a victory against Australian wild-card entry John Millman.
Karolina Pliskova kept her title defense on track with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over 2012 winner Kaia Kanepi, setting up a semifinal against Elina Svitolina.
Dimitrov won 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-3 in his first competitive match since winning the ATP Finals.
, but was pushed for 2 ½ hours and finished after midnight.
The No. 3-ranked Dimitrov was broken in the last game of the first set to give No. 128-ranked Millman the lead. After an exchange of breaks midway through the second, the tournament’s top seed had to produce two big service games to stay in the secondround match.
Dimitrov fell behind 3-0 in the tiebreaker, went on a four-point roll to get back in front, then had to scramble to save match points at 6-5 and 7-6 before converting his second set point to force a third.
Top-seeded Thiem reaches Qatar Open semifinals DOHA, QATAR » Top-seeded Dominic Thiem came through with a 7-5, 6-4 win against tenacious Greek qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach the semifinals of the Qatar Open on Thursday.
The fifth-ranked Thiem, the only seeded player still in the quarterfinals, was tested by the 91st-ranked Tsitsipas, who had upset fifth-seeded Richard Gasquet in the second round.
Thiem served for the first set in the 10th game but was broken at 15-40 to even the score at 5-5. The Austrian then had to save three break points in the 12th game before taking the set.
Thiem hit two forehand winners from 15-30 to break Tsitsipas’ serve in the ninth game of the second set and saved a break point in the 10th before securing his place in the semifinals.
Top-seeded Cilic advances to Maharashtra Open semifinals PUNE, INDIA » Top-seeded Marin Cilic advanced to the Maharashtra Open semifinals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Pierre-Hugues Herbert on Thursday.
Cilic served seven aces and lost only one of his first service points in a match that lasted 64 minutes.
The sixth-ranked Croatian, who is bidding to win his third title in India, will meet Gilles Simon in the semifinals after Frenchman ended Spanish qualifier Ricardo Ojeda Lara’s run with a 6-2, 6-3 win.
Second-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa came back from a set down to beat Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2.
Anderson’s semifinal opponent on Friday will be France’s Benoit Paire, who won a hard-fought quarterfinal against Dutchman Robin Haase 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.