Sinner to play Alcaraz in China Open final; Osaka out with back injury

Sinner to play Alcaraz in China Open final; Osaka out with back injury
Italy's Jannik Sinner hits a return to China's Bu Yunchaokete during their men's singles semifinal at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing on Tuesday. (AFP)
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Sinner to play Alcaraz in China Open final; Osaka out with back injury

Sinner to play Alcaraz in China Open final; Osaka out with back injury
  • Sinner and Alcaraz accounted for all four Grand Slam titles this year between them
  • Arthur Fils saved a championship point and rallied to beat Ugo Humbert 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the final of the Japan Open

BEIJING: Top-ranked Jannik Sinner will play rival Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the China Open after recording a 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory over home favorite Bu Yunchaokete on Tuesday.

Sinner and Alcaraz accounted for all four Grand Slam titles this year between them. Alcaraz leads the head-to-head series 5-4 — including wins at both their meetings this year — but Sinner doesn’t believe that recent history will have a bearing on Wednesday’s final.

“We know each other very well now, but every match is different, so the situation on the court is also a bit different than it was the last two matches,” Sinner said.

The 23-year-old Italian is the defending champion and hasn’t appeared distracted by the World Anti-Doping Agency announcing Saturday it was seeking a ban of one to two years for the US Open champion, who tested positive twice for an anabolic steroid in March.

Chinese wild card Yunchaokete, ranked 96th, couldn’t take any of his three break-point chances in the first set.

Sinner’s experience proved crucial during the pivotal moments, especially in the second-set tiebreaker, where he surged to a 6-1 lead.

Earlier, third-ranked Alcaraz’s athleticism was again on show as he advanced to the final with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Daniil Medvedev.

“I felt great on the court once again, so I’m really happy about it,” Alcaraz said. “I couldn’t ask for a better semifinal.”

The four-time Grand Slam champion — including this year’s French Open and Wimbledon — extended his head-to-head record against the Russian to 6-2.

The 21-year-old Spaniard found his way through a testing first set that had five breaks of serve, but crucially it was Alcaraz’s third service break in the 12th game that secured the set.

Alcaraz has now won eight straight matches — across the Davis Cup, Laver Cup and in Beijing — since his loss to Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round at the US Open.

Osaka out with back injury

Coco Gauff advanced to the quarterfinals when Naomi Osaka retired at 3-6, 6-4 because of a lower back injury.

Osaka, a four-time major champion, was leading 4-3 in the second set before Gauff won three straight games.

The sixth-ranked Gauff then helped carry Osaka’s bags off the court.

Gauff hit six aces compared to Osaka’s one and improved to 3-2 over her opponent at WTA tournaments.

She will next meet No. 115-ranked Yuliia Starodubtseva, who earlier upset No. 14 Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 6-0.

Paula Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula to reach her eighth career quarterfinal at a WTA 1000-level event.

“She’s one the of the players I never want to face — she’s very solid, hits very flat, changes very well direction,” said Badosa, who was 0-3 previously against Pegula. “I prepared myself for a battle, but I think today everything worked pretty well.”

Badosa next faces 35-year-old Chinese player Zhang Shuai, who continued her resurgence with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Magdalena Frech of Poland.

Zhang entered the China Open on a 24-match losing streak and ranked No. 595, but she’s yet to drop a set in four matches this week.

Zhang is now into her first women’s tour quarterfinal since Tokyo in 2022, and her first at a WTA 1000 tournament since Cincinnati in the same year.

“In this draw, everyone has a higher ranking than me,” Zhang said. “Just step on court, just play. So I do not have much to think about, to prepare. I will just focus on myself.”

Japan Open

Arthur Fils saved a championship point and rallied to beat Ugo Humbert 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the final of the Japan Open to earn his third tour-level title.

The championship point was in the second-set tiebreaker against his French compatriot.

The 20-year-old Fils struggled with an injury to his left leg for much of the second set and when trailing 4-3 in the second set — with three break points for his opponent — it looked almost certain that Humbert would go on to win his seventh final in seven appearances.

Fils defeated four top-20 opponents — US Open finalist Taylor Fritz, defending champion Ben Shelton, Holger Rune and Humbert — on his way to the title.


Dortmund score 7 while Barcelona, Man City and Arsenal all win in Champions League

Dortmund score 7 while Barcelona, Man City and Arsenal all win in Champions League
Updated 51 sec ago
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Dortmund score 7 while Barcelona, Man City and Arsenal all win in Champions League

Dortmund score 7 while Barcelona, Man City and Arsenal all win in Champions League
  • Adeyemi scored a first half hat trick as Dortmund routed Celtic 7-1 at home
  • There were more big wins Tuesday with Inter Milan defeating Red Star Belgrade 4-0, and tournament debutant Brest routing Salzburg 4-0 away

LONDON: Karim Adeyemi starred as Borussia Dortmund ran riot against Celtic while Barcelona and Manchester City claimed their first wins in the restructured Champions League on Tuesday.

Adeyemi scored a first half hat trick as Dortmund routed Celtic 7-1 at home. It was the second big win from a German team in the competition after Bayern Munich’s 9-2 bashing of Dinamo Zagreb in the first matchday.

Robert Lewandowski got Barcelona off the mark as the Spanish giant eased to a 5-0 home win over Swiss team Young Boys, while his former teammate İlkay Gundogan got City off to a 4-0 win at Slovan Bratislava. Erling Haaland scored his 42nd goal in his 41st Champions League game.

City were held 0-0 by Inter Milan in their opening game, while Barca responded to their 2-1 loss at Monaco, the team’s first defeat under new coach Hansi Flick.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal outclassed his former team Paris Saint-Germain in a 2-0 win with Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka scoring in the first half for the Gunners. PSG coach Luis Enrique’s gamble on leaving Ousmane Dembele out did not pay off.

Arteta enjoyed a successful 18-month loan spell at PSG while still he was still a teenager at Barcelona.

Dortmund fans cry foul

Though the Dortmund team appear to have adapted to the new competition format very well — last season’s beaten finalists have 10 goals from two games after starting with a 3-0 win over Club Brugge — their fans made their opposition to the reforms clear with a huge tifo slamming UEFA.

This season UEFA changed the structure of Europe’s premier competition to add four more teams. The group stage was scrapped for a league system with each of the now 36 participating teams playing eight opponents once in a first phase of the competition.

UEFA claimed the changes would ensure more evenly matched games, but Tuesday’s results — the big wins for Barca, City and Dortmund — appear to belie that claim.

There were more big wins Tuesday with Inter Milan defeating Red Star Belgrade 4-0, and tournament debutant Brest routing Salzburg 4-0 away for its second win in as many games in Europe’s premier competition.

Iran forward Mehdi Taremi struck a penalty past Israel and Red Star goalkeeper Omri Glazer and set up two more goals for Inter hours after his country launched a barrage of missiles at Israel.

Senegalese forward Abdallah Sima netted twice for Brest to take his tally to three goals in two games after he scored in the French team’s tournament-opening 2-1 win over Austrian champions Sturm Graz.

Also Tuesday, Bayer Leverkusen defeated AC Milan 1-0 in Germany thanks a well-worked move finished by Victor Boniface.

Daniel Bragança scored late to earn Sporting Lisbon a 1-1 draw at PSV Eindhoven.

Kaan Kairinen’s brilliant free kick was enough for Prague to draw 1-1 at Stuttgart.

Stuttgart fans displayed a huge choreography saying “Back in Europe” behind one of the goals. It was the German team’s first Champions League match at home since a 1-1 draw with Barcelona in February 2010.


5-star Al-Hilal round off a perfect week for Saudi teams in AFC Champions League

5-star Al-Hilal round off a perfect week for Saudi teams in AFC Champions League
Updated 02 October 2024
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5-star Al-Hilal round off a perfect week for Saudi teams in AFC Champions League

5-star Al-Hilal round off a perfect week for Saudi teams in AFC Champions League
  • The Riyadh club made it 2 wins out of 2 in the competition as they overwhelmed Al-Shorta of Iraq in a 5-0 victory
  • The previous day the Kingdom’s other contenders, Al-Nassr and Al-Ahli, also racked up victories on matchday 2

Al-Hilal thrashed Al-Shorta of Iraq 5-0 on Tuesday to make it two wins out of two in the AFC Champions League Elite, and three for three matchday 2 wins for Saudi clubs in Asia’s premier club tournament.

Following victories on Monday for Al-Nassr and Al-Ahli, four-time winners of the competition Al-Hilal never looked to be in any danger in front of their home fans in Riyadh as they delivered a clinical, comprehensive victory without ever really breaking sweat and with each of the goals scored by a different player.

It was a ninth successive win in all competitions for the Saudi Pro League leaders and defending champions, who are once again starting to look very ominous, even at this early stage of the season, not only domestically but in the continental competition.

Their opening goal did not take long to arrive; 11 minutes, in fact. Aleksandar Mitrovic headed the ball across the face of goal for fellow Serbian Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, who was coming in at the near post. His shot, from almost point-blank range, was well-saved by Ahmed Basil but Marcos Leonardo, signed from Benfica just a month ago as cover for the injured Neymar, was waiting to bundle the ball into the net from the rebound.

It was the perfect start and things got even better for Al-Hilal just four minutes later. Brazilian left-back Renan Lodi struggled to impress last season after arriving from Marseille in January but has looked much more settled this time around. He clipped a cross toward the near post from just outside a crowded area and Mitrovic was able to get in front of the defense to head home.

What had been a big ask for the Iraqis was starting to look like a mission impossible. Even when they did manage to make it into their opponents’ half, Kalidou Koulibaly or Ali Al-Bulaihi always seemed to be waiting to tidy up and eliminate any threat. Hussein Ali did manage a shot that went wide but that was about the extent of the Iraqis’ chances.

Any lingering hopes Al-Shorta, who held Al-Nassr to a draw two weeks ago, might have had of getting back into the game were extinguished five minutes after the restart. Mitrovic played the ball on the edge of the area and it fell to Salem Al-Dawsari whose first-time, low shot headed smoothly into the bottom corner of the net.

Midway through the second half things almost got worse for the visitors when Leonardo broke into the penalty area and fired home from close range. However, the offside flag was up.

The home fans did not have too long to wait for a fourth goal. In the 73rd minute, Malcom did all the hard work on the right side before slipping the ball through to Portuguese international Joao Cancelo, who advanced to the near post and then pulled a pass across goal, where substitute Nasser Al-Dawsari made no mistake from the closest of range. He could not miss.

Another sub, Abdullah Al-Hamdan, came close to adding a fifth but the goalkeeper took the ball from his feet. Then a Cancelo shot from outside the area went just over the bar.

Right at the end, Al-Hilal did grab their fifth of the night and it was the best of the lot. Mohammed Kanno exchanged passes with Mohammed Al-Qahtani on the edge of the area and then bent the return into the top corner of the goal. It was the perfect end to a perfect evening.

On the evidence so far, with eight goals in two games and only one conceded, Al-Hilal are going to take some stopping.


Volleyball, badminton and futsal take center stage at the Saudi Games

Volleyball, badminton and futsal take center stage at the Saudi Games
Updated 02 October 2024
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Volleyball, badminton and futsal take center stage at the Saudi Games

Volleyball, badminton and futsal take center stage at the Saudi Games
  • In the group stage of the women’s volleyball, Al-Fayha defeat Al-Nassr, Al-Qadsiah beat Jeddah United and Al-Anqa are victors against Faid
  • In the men’s competition, Al-Hilal defeat Neom, and Al-Ahli secure the win over Al-Khuwaildia

RIYADH: In the women’s volleyball competition at the third Saudi Games on Tuesday, Al-Fayha defeated Al-Nassr 3-2 in Group A in the first match, Al-Qadsiah beat Jeddah United 3-0 in Group B, and Al-Anqa recorded a 3-0 victory over Faid in Group C.

In the men’s competition, Al-Hilal defeated Neom 3-0, and Al-Ahli secured a 3-1 win over Al-Khuwaildia. The men’s matches continue at the Ministry of Sports Hall in the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Olympic Complex in Riyadh on Wednesday with Al-Hilal vs. Abha at 2:00 p.m, Al-Ahli vs. Al-Nassr at 4:00 p.m. and Al-Ittihad vs. Al-Khaleej at 6:00 p.m.

The men’s and women’s badminton singles competitions began on Tuesday, with 32 players, representing 12 clubs, playing 24 matches. Both competitions continue on Wednesday with another 24 matches scheduled throughout the day.

In the Round of 16 of the futsal competition for deaf competitors, King Abdulaziz University defeated Jeddah Deaf Club 16-0, while Riyadh Deaf Club beat Taif Deaf Center 7-1. The quarter-finals begin on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, the 5x5 basketball competitions will begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Paralympic Hall in the Olympic Complex. The Saudi Games continue until Oct. 17.


Newcastle struggle past fourth-tier Wimbledon in League Cup

Newcastle struggle past fourth-tier Wimbledon in League Cup
Updated 02 October 2024
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Newcastle struggle past fourth-tier Wimbledon in League Cup

Newcastle struggle past fourth-tier Wimbledon in League Cup

LONDON: Newcastle needed a penalty from Fabian Schar to beat fourth-tier Wimbledon 1-0 on Tuesday and set up a League Cup fourth round clash with Chelsea.

The tie had been switched to St. James’ Park after the League Two side’s pitch was severely damaged by flooding last week.

Newcastle made eight changes to the side which started Saturday’s 1-1 Premier League draw with Manchester City and the Magpies struggled to hit top gear.

But Schar’s spot-kick in first-half stoppage time after Miguel Almiron had been felled inside the area was enough to book their place in the last 16.

Newcastle have not won a major trophy since 1969 and the pressure is on Eddie Howe to deliver silverware for a club backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

Chelsea’s trip to the north east and Tottenham’s clash with Manchester City are the standout clashes in the fourth round.

Liverpool visit Brighton, Arsenal will travel to Preston and Manchester United entertain Leicester.


Lewandowski hits brace as Barca crush Young Boys

Lewandowski hits brace as Barca crush Young Boys
Updated 02 October 2024
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Lewandowski hits brace as Barca crush Young Boys

Lewandowski hits brace as Barca crush Young Boys

BARCELONA: Robert Lewandowski struck twice for Barcelona as they demolished Young Boys 5-0 in a one-sided Champions League clash on Tuesday.
The Catalan giants, five-time winners, made amends for their defeat by Monaco in their first match by thumping their Swiss visitors.
Raphinha and Inigo Martinez strikes as well as an own goal helped Hansi Flick’s side secure a sizeable victory and boost their goal difference significantly.
Barca coach Flick rolled out arguably his strongest available team after the loss at Monaco, despite the Swiss side’s struggles.
Young Boys are in the relegation zone of their domestic league with just one win in eight games and were thrashed at home by Aston Villa on their European debut this season.
It took Barcelona just eight minutes to move ahead, with Lewandowski applying a poacher’s finish to Raphinha’s cross-shot.
Jules Kounde hammered over and Ferran Torres had a shot saved as Barcelona dominated, but Young Boys carved out a first opening after 30 minutes when Ebrima Colley pulled an effort wide.
Raphinha, enjoying a strong start to the campaign, doubled Barcelona’s lead from close range after Pedri’s shot was blocked but the ball ricocheted to his feet.
Center-back Martinez headed home Barca’s third from Pedri’s free-kick shortly afterwards as the Catalans overran their ragged visitors.
Torres wasted a fine chance for the fourth when he fired straight at Young Boys goalkeeper Marvin Keller when well placed to score.
Lewandowski netted his second with a close-range header after Martinez had nodded Lamine Yamal’s corner back across the face of goal as Barcelona began the second half just how they finished the first.
It was the 36-year-old’s ninth goal in 10 games this season as he enjoys a revival under his former Bayern Munich coach Flick.
Young Boys winger Joel Monteiro struck the crossbar but that was as close as the visitors came to joy in Catalonia.
Barcelona fans were pleased to see Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong come on as a substitute for his first appearance since an ankle injury in April as the game petered toward a close.
Mohamed Camara deflected Alejandro Balde’s cross into his own goal for Barcelona’s fifth in the 81st minute.
Home supporters chanted the name of former Barca midfield icon Andres Iniesta, after reports the Spanish 2010 World Cup winner will announce his retirement next week.
Monteiro had a late goal ruled out for offside and Inaki Pena made a smart save at his near post late on, with Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny watching on from the presidential box.
Barcelona are poised to sign the former Juventus and Arsenal stopper to replace the injured Marc-Andre ter Stegen.