United States' Serena Williams makes a backhand return to Australia's Daria Gavrilova during a tuneup tournament ahead of the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)MELBOURNE – Serena Williams found a silver lining in the delayed start to the Australian Open, the season-opening Grand Slam tournament that is starting three weeks later than usual because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Williams is playing in the Yarra Valley Classic, along with top-ranked Ash Barty and defending Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin. “So I definitely was pushing the limits, but I’m here.”Williams has been stalled on 23 major singles titles since the 2017 Australian Open, when she was two months pregnant with now-3-year-old daughter Olympia. AdFrances Tiafoe, an Australian Open quarterfinalist in 2019, lost to Corentin Moutet 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

___7:10 p.m.Serena Williams began her latest attempt to win a 24th Grand Slam singles trophy by beating Kristie Ahn in the first round at the U.S. Open. 3 and hoping to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. Pella reached the third round of the U.S. Open in 2018 and the third round of the Australian Open earlier this year. She is a seven-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist, including at the U.S. Open in 2013 and 2018. He's the first unranked player to win a Grand Slam match since Nicolas Kiefer at Wimbledon in 2007.

Paire is the first player to test positive ahead of the Grand Slam tournament, which begins Monday without spectators amid the pandemic. His positive test was first reported by French newspaper LEquipe. We are in a bubble.The Western & Southern Open, which ended Saturday, is normally held in Ohio but was moved to the U.S. Opens site in Flushing Meadows this year. On Aug. 20, the USTA announced one positive test but did not identify whose it was, saying only it was not from a player. Paire stopped playing his opening match in the Western & Southern Open on Aug. 22 while trailing 6-1, 1-0 against Borna Coric.