Tennis

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag offered a defense of their worst season in decades Friday and argued the club owners will be sympathetic at the end of the campaign.

LONDON (AP) — Two more low-ranking tennis players linked to a match-fixing syndicate in Belgium have been banned from the sport, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said Friday.

LONDON (AP) — Former U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem plans to retire at the end of the year after struggling to return to his top form following a wrist injury.

ROME (AP) — For a brief stretch on Thursday, Rafael Nadal looked every bit of a weary 37-year-old player nearing retirement.

ROME (AP) — A first career victory over a top-20 player on clay. In heavy and slow conditions. In a match that was suspended for about an hour because of rain.

LONDON (AP) — Wimbledon girls finalist Nikola Bartunkova was provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency for doping on Thursday.

ROME (AP) — Naomi Osaka looked comfortable in her opening match at the Italian Open , beating 45th-ranked Clara Burel 7-6 (2), 6-1 on Wednesday.

LONDON (AP) — A low-ranked Argentinian tennis player linked to a match-fixing syndicate in Belgium has been suspended for five years for corruption, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said Wednesday.

ROME (AP) — Rafael Nadal’s clay-court form is slowly rounding into shape. Not that nearly invincible shape that the tennis world grew accustomed to over the past two decades.

ROME — Canada's Denis Shapovalov was ousted in the first round of the Italian Open on Wednesday, falling 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (4) to Luciano Darderi of Italy. The 25-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont.