Browsing: Open

Oct 17, 2025, 12:39 AM ET

OSAKA, Japan — Naomi Osaka pulled out of her quarterfinal match at the Japan Open on Friday because of a left leg injury.

Her withdrawal ahead of the match resulted in Jaqueline Cristian advancing to the semifinals on a walkover, the WTA Tour said.

Tournament organizers said top-seeded Osaka hadn’t recovered from the injury suffered late in her second-round match. It will be Cristian’s third semifinal appearance of the year and her first on a surface other than clay.

Before the injury, Osaka had wins over Wakana Sonobe and 2024 champion Suzan Lamens.

After splitting the first two sets with Lamens, Osaka took a 5-0 lead in the third. But during a rally with Lamens, Osaka pulled up with an apparent issue with her left leg. She won the point after Lamens sent a backhand wide but requested a medical timeout after the next point.

Osaka, a four-time major winner, returned to the court with her left thigh wrapped and limitations in her movement but was able to close out on her third match point.

Osaka lost in the second round of the China Open in late September and also lost in the second round at the Wuhan Open last week.

In another quarterfinal Friday at the Japan Open, 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez beat Rebecca Šramková 7-6 (2), 6-3.

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The 2025-26 NBA season is here! We’re rolling out our previews — examining the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and win projections for all 30 franchises — from the still-rebuilding teams to the true title contenders.

2024-25 finish

• Record: 51-31 (lost to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals)

Offseason moves

• Additions: Guerschon Yabusele, Jordan Clarkson

• Subtractions: Precious Achiuwa, P.J. Tucker

(Stefan Milic/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

The Big Question: Can Mike Brown improve these Knicks?

The Knicks pulled off somewhat of a stunning upset, ousting the defending champion Boston Celtics in a six-game second-round playoff series. They ran into their ceiling a round later, losing to the fifth-seeded Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals. They defied expectations, only to fall short of them.

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It is a weird situation. On the one hand, nobody figured them for the league’s final four, not with two 60-win teams plying their trade in the East. On the other, they got there and had a real chance to make the Finals. For that, the Knicks decided to part ways with Tom Thibodeau, the coach who got them there.

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There is no doubt that over the course of Thibodeau’s tenure the Knicks overachieved. They reached the playoffs in four of his five seasons on the bench, winning four playoff series — more than the franchise’s 13 other coaches this century combined. And their best player, Jalen Brunson, is a 6-foot-2 point guard.

Brunson also happens to be one hell of a player. He averaged 26 points (49/38/82 shooting splits) and 7.3 assists per game at the helm of a top-five offense, garnering MVP votes for a second straight season. He was incredible in the playoffs, making clutch play after clutch play. How much longer he can maintain this pace as an undersized superstar remains to be seen, but at 29 years old he is squarely in his prime.

He is also bolstered by one of the league’s best playoff rotations, featuring Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson. The additions of Guerschon Yabusele and Jordan Clarkson make the Knicks deeper. With Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton sidelined for the Celtics and Pacers, respectively, New York has as clear a view of the NBA Finals as it has had since 1999.

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The Knicks saw a chance and took it. Kind of. Upon firing Thibodeau, the Knicks sought interviews with a handful of employed coaches, all of whom turned them down. In the end, they landed on Mike Brown.

Brown is a good coach. He took what he learned offensively as an assistant for the 2022 NBA champion Golden State Warriors and applied it to the Sacramento Kings, ending the franchise’s 17-year playoff drought. They thought they were better than they were, too, and fired him in the middle of last season.

[Get more Knicks news: New York team feed]

That’s the thing. Sometimes it isn’t the coach. Sometimes it is the personnel. And the Knicks have not had the personnel to reach the Finals. They have what some might consider a fatal flaw — the defense of Brunson and Towns. Neither is a stopper. Not close to it. Only they have to be on the floor together. And together they submitted a middling defense last year. Can Brown scheme around two defensive issues?

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More likely, Brown will lean into his team’s incredible offensive prowess, using more Brunson-Towns pick-and-rolls and movement in the offense, hoping to squeeze more from what was already a top-five outfit.

With Tatum and Haliburton out of the picture and the East’s last two champions in a gap year, the path to the Finals is open for the Knicks. They think they have the personnel now, but do they have the coach?

Best-case scenario

Brown coaches the Knicks up as one of the league’s elite offenses and finds a way to field a serviceable defense, perhaps benefitting from the presence of Robinson, who missed a good chunk of last season with an injury. Brunson maintains as one of the league’s elite playmakers. Towns, who has reached the finals of both conferences the last two years, carries that confidence into this season. Bridges and Anunoby find some consistency as reliable two-way performers, and the Knicks are the class of the East.

If everything falls apart

Brunson steps back from the MVP race. He and Towns cannot scrape together a top-10 defense. Bridges and Anunoby are as inconsistent as ever. Yabusele and Clarkson are not playoff difference-makers. Brown is no better than Thibodeau. The Knicks slam their heads against a sub-Finals ceiling once again, even in a watered-down Eastern Conference, and the outlook for the 2026-27 season is no better. Maybe they take another crack at trying to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo, but do they have the assets to get him?

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2025-26 schedule

• Season opener: Oct. 22 vs. Cleveland

Who else but the Knicks are capable of winning 55 games in the East? The Cleveland Cavaliers? Somebody has to win games, and the road could not be clearer for New York. Take the over.

More season previews

East: Atlanta Hawks • Boston Celtics • Brooklyn Nets • Charlotte Hornets • Chicago Bulls • Cleveland Cavaliers • Detroit Pistons • Indiana Pacers • Miami Heat • Milwaukee Bucks • New York Knicks • Orlando Magic • Philadelphia 76ers • Toronto Raptors • Washington Wizards

West: Dallas Mavericks • Denver Nuggets • Golden State Warriors • Houston Rockets • LA Clippers • Los Angeles Lakers • Memphis Grizzlies • Minnesota Timberwolves • New Orleans Pelicans • Oklahoma City Thunder • Phoenix Suns • Portland Trail Blazers • Sacramento Kings • San Antonio Spurs • Utah Jazz

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Oct 14, 2025, 07:12 AM ET

Emma Raducanu struggled physically once again as she exited the Ningbo Open in the first-round on Tuesday.

The British No. 1 was back on court a week after retiring from her opening match in Wuhan with dizziness in hot and humid conditions.

She posted a picture on social media from a doctor’s office and said she felt better but she faded after winning the opening set against China’s Zhu Lin and slumped to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 defeat.

Initially, there did not appear to be any concerns, with temperatures lower than last week, but Raducanu began to look lethargic early in the second set and called the doctor after seven games.

Things got worse in the decider, the 2021 US Open champion seeking medical attention again — this time for her troublesome lower back — and limping to the finish line.

Emma Raducanu’s fitness struggles have come back to haunt her this month. WUHAN OPEN OFFICIAL 2025/VCG via Getty Images

Raducanu was without her coach Francisco Roig, with the Spaniard taking a week off back at home in Barcelona and instead had hitting partner Alexis Canter courtside along with physical trainer Daniel Pohl.

Canter offered plenty of encouragement as Raducanu managed to keep her nose in front during the first set, despite appearing frustrated at how she was playing and dropping serve twice.

The looks turned to concern in the second set as the 22-year-old quickly fell 2-0 behind, moving sluggishly and being outhit by Zhu, who was ranked just outside the top 30 two years ago before injury saw her drop below 200.

CompetitionRaducanuDraperAustralian OpenThird roundFourth roundFrench OpenSecond roundFourth roundWimbledonThird roundSecond roundUS OpenThird roundSecond round

Raducanu kept herself in contention in the set, pulling back to 2-2 and then 4-4 following consultation with the doctor, where she had her blood pressure checked, but she netted a forehand on set point in the 10th game.

She walked slowly off court for a bathroom break but things did not improve, with Raducanu’s back problem, which has been an issue at times throughout the season, flaring up again.

She doubled over repeatedly early in the decider and then took a medical timeout for treatment after three games.

Raducanu opted not to retire again but she was barely able to move and the end came quickly.

– Raducanu withdraws from first round match of Wuhan Open
– Jack Draper hires Andy Murray’s former coach Jamie Delgado
– How many tennis titles has Coco Gauff won?

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• 

  Bradford DoolittleOct 13, 2025, 11:34 PM ET

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  • MLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com
  • Former NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com
  • Been with ESPN since 2013

MILWAUKEE — Few teams have a lineage of great pitching as long as that of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise. With this postseason, Blake Snell is making that star-studded line longer by one.

Snell dominated the Milwaukee Brewers over eight innings Monday, leading Los Angeles to a 2-1 Game 1 victory in the National League Championship Series before a packed house at American Family Field.

“That was just so good from the start,” said Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose sixth-inning homer broke a scoreless tie. “Sometimes it takes an inning or two for someone to settle in. [Tonight] it was from the get-go.”

Snell held Milwaukee to one hit in going a full eight innings for only the second time in a career that has netted him a pair of Cy Young Awards. He struck out 10 and picked off the only baserunner he allowed — Caleb Durbin, who singled in the third.

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Snell became the first pitcher to face the minimum through eight innings in a postseason game since Don Larsen threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. The only longer outing in Snell’s career was the no-hitter he threw for the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 2, 2024. Has he ever felt as locked in as he did Monday?

“The no-hitter, yeah,” Snell quipped.

Snell improved to 3-0 in a postseason during which no other starting pitcher has recorded two wins. He is the second Dodgers pitcher to win his first three playoff starts for the franchise, joining Don Sutton (1974).

If Los Angeles keeps winning, Snell will get more chances to add to his numbers, but for now, his 0.86 ERA over three outings is the second best for a Dodgers left-hander in a postseason (minimum 20 innings), behind only Sandy Koufax’s legendary run (0.38 ERA over three starts) in the 1965 World Series.

This is the kind of company Snell knew he’d be keeping when he signed with the Dodgers before the season.

“Even playing against them, watching, it was just always in the back of my mind, like, I wanted to be a Dodger and play on that team,” Snell said. “To be here now, it’s a dream come true. I couldn’t wish for anything more.”

Snell’s gem continued the Dodgers’ stretch of dominant starting pitching that began over the last month of the regular season and has propelled a postseason run for the defending champs, positioning them for a repeat despite an offense that has at times struggled to put up runs in the playoffs.

Dodgers starters are 6-1 with a 1.65 ERA so far in the postseason, logging six quality starts in L.A.’s seven games.

“Our starting pitching for the last seven, eight weeks, has been — I don’t know if you can write enough words in your stories about our starting pitching,” Freeman said. “It really has been amazing. They seem to feed off each other.”

But no Dodgers’ starter is on a run quite like that of Snell, who is hoping to win his first championship ring with the team he lost to as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2020 World Series.

Despite Snell’s dominance, the Dodgers still had to withstand a ninth-inning push by the stubborn Brewers and understand the series is just getting started. Still, with the way Snell is rolling, he’s conjuring names of Dodgers present and past, like Koufax, Kershaw, Sutton, Valenzuela and Hershiser.

“I feel like the whole postseason I’ve been pretty locked in, pretty consistent,” Snell said. “Different outings, but eight innings, went deeper. The last three I felt really good, really locked in. Consistent. Similar.”

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Oct 12, 2025, 11:46 PM ET

WUHAN, China — Coco Gauff reeled off four straight games to beat Jessica Pegula 6-4, 7-5 and win the Wuhan Open on Sunday in an all-American final.

Gauff, 21, won her second title of the year, having claimed the French Open on clay, and she now has 11 career titles.

“Winning every match (in the tournament) in straight sets, I don’t know if I’ve done that before on a title run,” Gauff said. “I just felt like I was really proud of what I accomplished this week, regardless of the result today.”

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The third-ranked Gauff served to save the second set at 5-3 down. She held and then broke the sixth-ranked Pegula to love for 5-5.

Pegula’s forehand volley at the net landed wide to give Gauff a first match point and, with Pegula on second serve, she clinched it with a forehand winner following a brief rally.

The 31-year-old Pegula rallied to beat top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals. But this time she lost momentum and missed out on a 10th career title as Gauff became the second American to claim the Wuhan title after Venus Williams in 2015.

It was their seventh career meeting and first in a final. Pegula leads 4-3 overall against Gauff, with whom she has won several WTA doubles titles.

“We’ve spent a lot of time together and, even though I’m a bit older, I always admire and respect her so much,” Pegula said of Gauff. “She’s just so mature for her age.”

Gauff improved to 11-3 in finals; Pegula dropped to 9-11.

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Marco Penge has now claimed three European Tour titles this season, and his latest victory comes with added rewards.

With a sudden-death win on Sunday at the Spanish Open over fellow Englishman Daniel Brown, Penge earned invites to next year’s Masters and Open Championship — perks that were put into place for the first time this year.

“It’s crazy,” Penge said of playing in the Masters. “It’s a course that I’ve always wanted to play, because I feel like my game sets up really good for it.”

Flip-flopped Masters invite shows pro golf’s shifting priorities

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Dylan Dethier

A lot of courses have seemed like a good fit of late for Penge, 27, who also won the Danish Golf Championship and the Hainan Classic in April.

At the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid this week, Penge kept up his strong play and entered the final round with a four-shot lead. But he flatlined on Sunday, shooting a 1-over par 72 while Brown, who began the day five shots back, punctuated a closing 4-under 67 with a birdie on the 18th hole to force a playoff.

The extended play did not last long, as Penge ended matters on the first extra hole.

It was a good time for a birdie, and a great time for a win, given a recent shift by two of the most powerful institutions in the game. In August, Augusta National Golf Club announced in conjunction with the R&A that the Masters, along with the Open Championship, would be offering new invites to a select group of national opens, including the Japan Open, the Hong Kong Open, the Australian Open, the South Africa Open and … wait for it … the Spanish Open.

At the same time, Augusta and the R&A did away with auto invites to those same events for the PGA Tour’s seven fall tournaments. If you want to compete for the green jacket or the Claret Jug, you’re now better off winning in Spain than in Napa or at the Baycurrent Classic in Japan.

Though far from a household name in the United States, Penge captured plenty of attention across the pond this year and was among the candidates in the conversation as a potential captain’s pick for the European Team in the Ryder Cup. He didn’t get the nod to travel to New York. But he now has other U.S. plans this spring.

Oct 12, 2025, 01:20 PM ET

MADRID — Marco Penge beat fellow Englishman Daniel Brown in a playoff to win the Spanish Open on Sunday and secure a spot in next year’s Masters and Open Championship.

Penge relinquished a four-shot lead but came out on top with a birdie on the first playoff hole to win his third European tour title this year.

“Dan and Joel [Girrbach] played great today. They were holing putts, and I just couldn’t really get it in the hole. It felt like I was really up against it,” Penge said. “But I felt like I managed myself really well, and I actually think tee to green, I feel like I played really solid. It doesn’t matter the putts; I think I used them all yesterday, but obviously holing that one there was worth the wait.”

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It was the first time the national tournament offered the winner an automatic spot for the Masters and The Open.

“It’s crazy,” Penge said about playing in the Masters. “It’s a golf course that I’ve always wanted to play, because I feel like my game sets up really good for it.”

Penge, who shot a 1-over 72 on Sunday, finished tied with Brown at 15 under for the tournament.

Brown, whose 31st birthday was on Saturday, started five shots back but made a run after shooting a 4-under 67 in the final round. That was despite dealing with a right shoulder ailment that required treatment during the back nine. He forced a playoff with a birdie on the final hole.

The 27-year-old Penge also won at the Danish Golf Championship and the Hainan Classic.

Girrbach (69) was four shots back to start the day. The Swiss player finished third at 14 under for the tournament.

Home favorite Jon Rahm, who was seeking a record fourth Spanish Open title, wasn’t in contention at the start of the final round, but he closed with a 6-under 65 to finish in a tie for ninth.

Shane Lowry, who like Rahm was back in action after helping Europe win the Ryder Cup in New York last month, didn’t make the cut at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid in the Spanish capital.

MADRID — Marco Penge beat fellow Englishman Daniel Brown in a playoff to win the Spanish Open on Sunday and secure a spot in next year’s Masters and Open Championship.

Penge relinquished a four-shot lead but came out on top with a birdie on the first playoff hole to win his third European tour title this year.

“Dan and Joel (Girrbach) played great today, they were holing putts and I just couldn’t really get it in the hole, it felt like I was really up against it,†Penge said. “But I felt like I managed myself really well and I actually think tee to green, I feel like I played really solid. It doesn’t matter the putts, I think I used them all yesterday, but obviously holing that one there was worth the wait.â€

It was the first time the national tournament offered the winner an automatic spot for the Masters and the British Open.

“It’s crazy,†Penge said about playing in the Masters. “It’s a golf course that I’ve always wanted to play, because I feel like my game sets up really good for it.â€

Penge, who shot a 1-over 72 on Sunday, finished tied with Brown at 15 under for the tournament.

Brown, whose 31st birthday was on Saturday, started five shots back but he made a run after shooting a 4-under 67 in the final round. That was despite dealing with a right shoulder ailment that required treatment during the back nine. He forced a playoff with a birdie on the final hole.

The 27-year-old Penge also won at the Danish Golf Championship and the Hainan Classic.

Girrbach (69) was four shots back to start the day. The Swiss player finished third at 14 under for the tournament.

Home-crowd favorite Jon Rahm, who was seeking a record fourth Spanish Open title, wasn’t really in contention at the start of the final round, but he closed with a 6-under 65 to finish in a tie for ninth.

Shane Lowry, who like Rahm was back in action after helping Europe win the Ryder Cup in New York last month, didn’t make the cut at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid in the Spanish capital.

Perhaps if the Los Angeles Lakers had a more realistic chance of landing a transformational superstar like Giannis Antetokounmpo down the line they would be more hesitant to make short-term additions.

However, the Milwaukee Bucks star has been primarily connected to the New York Knicks, and Lakers insider Jovan Buha (54-minute mark, h/t Hoops Hype) reported Los Angeles might be “more open to a short-term move” as a result:Â

“Giannis Antetokounmpo has left the door cracked open, but we’ve since had the reporting that Giannis’ preferred destination was the Knicks, not the Lakers, and that it was really one team he was considering, and that was specifically the Knicks. I wonder if the Lakers recent shift toward being more of a kind of short-term or like win-now mode is maybe in part due to DonÄić’s success at Eurobasket, but I think more so maybe gaining some intel that some of the big fish that they were hoping to catch are not going to be available or as available as they thought.Â

“I think the Lakers got to be careful with how they position themselves for the future because if it’s tough to find a Knicks-Giannis trade. So if that for whatever reason just can’t happen and Milwaukee refuses to play ball with New York because they just they don’t want to trade him in conference, they don’t like what New York’s offering, then the Lakers can swoop in and potentially offer a competitive package. … You got to be careful with the cap space, but it does seem like the Lakers are a little bit more open to a short-term move.”

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported the Knicks were “the only place Antetokounmpo wanted to play outside of Milwaukee,” which led to trade discussions between the two teams.

Yet those discussions “never got traction” as “those in Milwaukee believe New York did not make a strong enough offer” while the Knicks did not think the Bucks “were serious about entertaining an Antetokounmpo trade.”

From the Lakers’ perspective, a short-term move could help them capitalize on the upcoming season with DonÄić and LeBron James still paired together. The King is 40 years old and entering the final season of his deal, so the organization’s focus will likely eventually turn to building a winner around DonÄić.

Los Angeles’ front office will surely evaluate how things are unfolding in the loaded Western Conference ahead of the February trade deadline and re-assess accordingly, but a quick start could make it more likely to focus on win-now moves with one of the league’s best one-two punches in DonÄić and James leading the way.

That is especially true if the front office wouldn’t be sacrificing a realistic chance of landing a two-time MVP like Antetokounmpo with such a move.

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MADRID — Marco Penge is in position to win the Spanish Open after the Englishman reeled off eight birdies on Saturday, while home favorite Jon Rahm saw his hopes of landing a record fourth title all but disappear.

Penge went to 16 under for the tournament after hitting a 7-under 64 in Round 3. The overnight leader started the day with a third-hole bogey but then went on a red-hot run, going under par on eight out of 10 holes to distance himself from the pack.

“Whatever the outcome is, it’s going to be a great experience, great memories for me,†Penge said. “Tomorrow doesn’t define anything, it’s just another day, an 18-hole round of golf.â€

Playing partner Joel Girbach of Switzerland is his nearest challenger, four shots back. Daniel Brown and Patrick Reed are five back, followed by Tom McKibben, who is six behind.

Rahm will need a massive turnaround Sunday after a 71 that included a double bogey. He is 12 shots back and tied for 28th. The Ryder Cup winner is trying to surpass Seve Ballesteros as the tournament’s most successful golfer since the creation of the European Tour in 1972.

The 27-year-old Penge broke his wedge when he got stuck behind a tree on the second hole.

“I knew it was going to break,†he said. “I kind of picked a club I didn’t think I was going to need the rest of the way, just made sure not to hit my hand on the tree.â€

Penge began the day with a one-shot lead. He will now bid for his third tour win, after also prevailing this year at the Danish Golf Championship and the Hainan Classic.