Ashley Wagner, Gracie Gold headline Skate America; No Grand Prix for Adelina Sotnikova

By Nick ZaccardiJun 30, 2016, 5:13 PM EDT

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World silver medalist Ashley Wagner and two-time U.S. champion Gracie Gold headline Skate America, while Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova will reportedly sit out the 2016-17 Grand Prix figure skating season.

Wagner and Gold will be joined at Skate America by the last two U.S. men’s champions — Adam Rippon and Jason Brown — and the reigning U.S. ice dance and pairs champions in Hoffman Estates, Ill., from Oct. 21-23.

Wagner and Gold will also skate separately in Grand Prix events in China and France in November, looking to qualify for the Grand Prix Final in December.

Entry lists for all six Grand Prix events were published by the International Skating Union on Thursday.

GRAND PRIX ENTRIES: MEN | WOMEN | ICE DANCE | PAIRS

The biggest non-American news is that Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova of Russia will not skate in the Grand Prix season for the second time in three years since her gold medal in Sochi.

Sotnikova will sit out but still has training plans, according to R-Sport.

Other Sochi Olympic champions Yevgeny Plushenko and Tatyana Volosozhar and Maksim Trankov of Russia and U.S. ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White are also not competing in the Grand Prix series. Davis and White haven’t competed since becoming the first U.S. Olympic ice dance champs in Sochi but have not retired.

World champion Yevgenia Medvedeva of Russia is entered in Canada, where she will face countrywoman and 2015 World champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, and in France, where she will face Gold and three-time world champion Mao Asada of Japan.

The full U.S. entries from U.S. Figure Skating:

Skate America — Hoffman Estates, Illinois — Oct. 21-23
Ladies: Gracie Gold; Ashley Wagner; TBA
Men: Jason Brown; Adam Rippon; TBA
Pairs: Tarah Kayne & Daniel O’Shea; Madeline Aaron & Max Settlage; TBA
Ice dance: Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue; Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani; TBA

Skate Canada — Mississauga, Ontario — Oct. 28-30
Ladies: Mirai Nagasu
Men: Grant Hochstein; Ross Miner
Pairs: Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier
Ice dance: Madison Chock & Evan Bates; Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker

Rostelecom Cup — Moscow — Nov. 4-6
Ladies: Polina Edmunds; Courtney Hicks
Men: Max Aaron
Pairs: Alexa Scimeca Knierim & Chris Knierim
Ice dance: Madison Chock & Evan Bates; Elliana Pogrebinsky & Alex Benoit

Trophée de France — Paris — Nov. 11-13
Ladies: Gracie Gold; Tyler Pierce
Men: Nathan Chen; Adam Rippon
Pairs: Marissa Castelli & Mervin Tran
Ice dance: Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue

Cup of China — Beijing — Nov. 18-20
Ladies: Karen Chen; Courtney Hicks; Ashley Wagner
Men: Max Aaron; Ross Miner
Pairs: Alexa Scimeca Knierim & Chris Knierim
Ice dance: Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus; Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani

NHK Trophy — Sapporo, Japan — Nov. 25-27
Ladies: Karen Chen; Polina Edmunds; Mirai Nagasu
Men: Jason Brown; Nathan Chen; Grant Hochstein
Pairs: Tarah Kayne & Daniel O’Shea
Ice dance: Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker

MORE: Wagner looks to 2018 after worlds breakthrough

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2023 French Open men’s singles draw, scores

By OlympicTalkJun 5, 2023, 4:59 PM EDT

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The French Open men’s singles draw is missing injured 14-time champion Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2004, leaving the Coupe des Mousquetaires ripe for the taking.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Novak Djokovic is not only bidding for a third crown at Roland Garros, but also to lift a 23rd Grand Slam singles trophy to break his tie with Nadal for the most in men’s history.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Women’s Draw

But the No. 1 seed is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s U.S. Open to become, at 19, the youngest man to win a major since Nadal’s first French Open title in 2005.

Now Alcaraz looks to become the second-youngest man to win at Roland Garros since 1989, after Nadal of course.

Alcaraz missed the Australian Open in January due to a right leg injury, but since went 30-3 with four titles. Notably, he has not faced Djokovic this year. They could meet in the semifinals.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed, was upset in the first round by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild. It marked the first time a men’s top-two seed lost in the first round of any major since 2003 Wimbledon (Ivo Karlovic d. Lleyton Hewitt).

All of the American men lost before the fourth round. The last U.S. man to make the French Open quarterfinals was Andre Agassi in 2003.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek set French Open rematch

By OlympicTalkJun 5, 2023, 3:25 PM EDT

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Coco Gauff swept into the French Open quarterfinals, where she plays Iga Swiatek in a rematch of last year’s final.

Gauff, the sixth seed, beat 100th-ranked Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 7-5, 6-2 in the fourth round. She next plays the top seed Swiatek, who later Monday advanced after 66th-ranked Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko retired down 5-1 after taking a medical timeout due to illness.

Gauff earned a 37th consecutive win over a player ranked outside the top 50, dating to February 2022. She hasn’t faced a player in the world top 60 in four matches at Roland Garros, but the degree of difficulty ratchets up in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

Swiatek won all 12 sets she’s played against Gauff, who at 19 is the only teenager in the top 49 in the world. Gauff said last week that there’s no point in revisiting last year’s final — a 6-1, 6-3 affair — but said Monday that she should rewatch that match because they haven’t met on clay since.

“I don’t want to make the final my biggest accomplishment,” she said. “Since last year I have been wanting to play her, especially at this tournament. I figured that it was going to happen, because I figured I was going to do well, and she was going to do well.

“The way my career has gone so far, if I see a level, and if I’m not quite there at that level, I know I have to improve, and I feel like you don’t really know what you have to improve on until you see that level.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Also Monday, No. 7 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia dispatched 36th-ranked American Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-1, breaking all eight of Pera’s service games.

Jabeur, runner-up at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year, has now reached the quarterfinals of all four majors.

Jabeur next faces 14th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia, who won 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-5 over Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, who played on a protected ranking of 68. Haddad Maia became the second Brazilian woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in the Open Era (since 1968) after Maria Bueno, who won seven majors from 1959-1966.

Pera, a 28 year-old born in Croatia, was the oldest U.S. singles player to make the fourth round of a major for the first time since Jill Craybas at 2005 Wimbledon. Her defeat left Gauff as the lone American singles player remaining out of the 35 entered in the main draws.

The last American to win a major singles title was Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major drought matches the longest in history (since 1877) for American men and women combined.

In the men’s draw, 2022 French Open runner-up Casper Ruud reached the quarterfinals by beating 35th-ranked Chilean Nicolas Jarry 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-5. He’ll next play sixth seed Holger Rune of Denmark, a 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7) winner over 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.

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2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

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