9:25 AM ET ESPN News Services MELBOURNE — Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley has confirmed the year’s first Grand Slam will go ahead from Feb. 8 despite anger from players forced into hard quarantine in Melbourne due to positive COVID-19 cases on their charter planes. Seventy-two players and their entourages have to isolate for

9:39 PM ET Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka is believed to be among a group of players set to be confined to their hotel rooms for the next 14 days after two positive coronavirus tests emerged from their charter flight. The Herald Sun has reported an email has been sent to all players and

12:42 AM ET Associated Press Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka was among the earliest arrivals into Melbourne on one of the 15 charter flights bringing players and officials into the city for the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year. And she wanted everyone to know she was pleased to be in Australia

1:20 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Madison Keys, currently ranked No. 16 in the world, revealed she has tested positive for COVID-19 in a post on her social media accounts on Thursday and was unable to make her scheduled flight for Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open. “I unfortunately tested positive for [COVID-19] before I was

8:26 AM ET World No. 2 Rafael Nadal and last year’s Australian Open finalist Dominic Thiem have both suffered setbacks with their coaches unable to make the trip Down Under for the year’s first tennis Grand Slam. Players and officials have to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine on arrival in Australia before they participate in

5:23 AM ET Former world No. 1 Andy Murray has tested positive for COVID-19, STV said on Thursday, adding that he is still in good health. The Scottish broadcaster said Murray was self-isolating and still had hopes of competing in the Australian Open next month. Murray is a three-time Grand Slam champion who has slipped

12:16 AM ET Tennys Sandgren was allowed to board a chartered flight from Los Angeles bound for the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday despite recently testing positive for COVID-19, the American tennis player said on social media. Sandgren, a quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park last year and in 2018, said on Twitter that after testing

5:50 PM ET Associated Press DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Hubert Hurkacz won his second career ATP Tour title Wednesday by beating American Sebastian Korda 6-3, 6-3 in the Delray Beach Open. Hurkacz’s only other title was in 2019 at Winston-Salem, where he became the second Polish tour-level champion in the Open era. Seeded fourth and

6:11 AM ET Associated Press ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — – Aryna Sabalenka won her third straight tour title and 15th straight match by beating Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 6-2 Wednesday in the Abu Dhabi Open final. The fourth-seeded Belarusian, who won indoor tournaments in Ostrava and Linz at the end of last season, last

9:20 AM ET Britain’s Francesca Jones, who suffers from a rare genetic condition, reached her maiden Grand Slam main draw on Wednesday when she beat China’s Lu Jiajing in the final round of Australian Open qualifying in Dubai. Jones suffers from ectrodactyly ectodermal dysplasia syndrome, a condition which meant she was born with three fingers