ESPN Airs the Australian Open Women’s and Men’s Finals

In the wee hours of Saturday and Sunday morning, ESPN will air the Women’s and Men’s Finals of the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year. At 3 a.m. ET/midnight PT on Saturday, ESPN will have the Women’s Final of the Australian Open live from Melbourne.

Communist China’s Li Na and Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia vie for the women’s title. ESPN original Cliff Drysdale and Chris Evert call the match. Pam Shriver will be analyzing the match from courtside at the famed Rod Laver Arena.

The men’s final between Rafael Nadal and Stanislav Warwrinka will air on Sunday at 3 a.m. ET/midnight PT. Chris Fowler, Patrick McEnroe and Darren Cahill will be on the call.

We have the particulars of the matches for you below.

Australian OpenAustralian Open Championships:  Li – Cibulkova, Nadal – Wawrinka

Live on ESPN, Encore Telecasts on ESPN2
New Women’s Champ Down Under to be Crowned; Nadal Seeks to Tie Sampras with 14 Majors
Tonight- Men’s Doubles, Boys and Girls Finals on ESPN3; American Stefan Kozlov in Boys Final

The Australian Open championships – No. 4 seed Li Na vs. No. 20 Dominika Cibulkova for the women’s title and No. 1 Rafael Nadal vs. No. 8 Stanislas Wawrinka for the men’s crown – will air early Saturday on ESPN at 3 a.m. ET (midnight PT) with an encore presentation later in the morning at 9 ET on ESPN2.

Cliff Drysdale and Chris Evert – with Pam Shriver courtside at Rod Laver Arena – will call the women’s championship, which will crown a first-time Australian Open winner.  Li, the 31-year old from China whose one Major victory came at the 2011 French Open, has twice previously reached the final in Melbourne (2011, 2013). Cibulkova, the 24-year old from Slovakia, is making her first appearance in a Major final, but upset No. 3 Maria Sharapova and No. 5 Agnieszka Radwanska to get there. Chris McKendry will host the telecast, joined at ESPN’s set in Melbourne by Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert and Darren Cahill. In addition, Tom Rinaldi will interview the players.

A day later, ESPN’s 30th Australian Open will conclude with the men’s championship early Sunday morning at 3 ET (midnight PT) with Rafael Nadal seeking his 14th career Major title, three shy of Roger Federer’s record 17. That achievement would tie him with the legendary Pete Sampras, who, ironically, is in Melbourne to present the men’s trophy. Also, Nadal, at 27, would join Rod Laver – for whom the court is named and who will be on hand – as the only men in the Open Era to claim all four Grand Slam titles at least twice. Appearing in a Major final for the first time, the 28-year old Wawrinka de-throned three-time defending Australian champ Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinal round and for his efforts as of Monday will be the top-ranked player from Switzerland (a title Roger Federer has held since January 14, 2001).  Nadal has never dropped a set to Wawrinka in taking their 12 previous meetings.  Chris Fowler will call the match with Patrick McEnroe in the booth and Darren Cahill courtside.  On the set, McKendry will be teamed with Gilbert; Rinaldi will interview the competitors.

Championships on ESPN3

Tonight at 9 p.m. preceding the women’s final, ESPN3 will present live the Australian Open Boys and Girls Championships.  In the first match, promising American Stefan Kozlov, the No. 2 seed faces top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany.  Kozlov, who turns 16 on February 1, was born in Macedonia but now calls the Miami area home. In the Girls Final, unseeded Jana Fett of Croatia plays No. 4 seed Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia.

Following the women’s title match, ESPN3 will show live the Men’s Doubles Championship. The No. 14 seeded team of Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden will square off against the unseeded duo of American Eric Butorac and Raven Klassen of Russia. The Minnesota native and Klassen eliminated the top-seeded Bryan Brothers twins in the third round.  None of the four players has ever won a Major doubles title.

A day later, preceding Nadal-Wawrinka at midnight (Saturday at 9 p.m. PT), ESPN3 will show live the Mixed Doubles Championship:  Kristina Mladenovic of France with Daniel Nestor of Canada vs. Sania Mirza of India and Horia Tecau of Romania.

Date Time (ET) Event Network  
Fri, Jan 24 9 p.m. – 1 a.m. Boys and Girls Championships ESPN3 LIVE
Sat, Jan 25 3 – 5:30 a.m. Women’s Championship
No. 4 Li Na vs No. 20 Dominika Cibulkova
ESPN LIVE
  5:30 a.m. Men’s Doubles Championship ESPN3 LIVE
  9 – 11 a.m. Women’s Championship
No. 4 Li Na vs No. 20 Dominika Cibulkova
ESPN2 encore
 Sun, Jan 26 Midnight Mixed Doubles Championship ESPN3 LIVE
  3 – 6:30 a.m. Men’s Championship
No. 1 Rafael Nadal vs No. 8 Stanilas Wawrinka
ESPN LIVE
  9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Men’s Championship
No. 1 Rafael Nadal vs No. 8 Stanilas Wawrinka
ESPN2 encore

That will do it.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013. He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television. Fang celebrates the three Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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