Australian Open: Day four review

Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro celebrates after victory against Russia's Karen Khachanov in their men's singles second round match on day four of the Australian Open. (AFP)
Updated 18 January 2018
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Australian Open: Day four review

LONDON: Arab News takes a look at how all the other big names did on day four in Melbourne — who lived to fight another day and who has already been forced to pack their bags?

JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO (12) STAYING: The Argentine booked a third round clash against 19th seed Tomas Berdych thanks to a 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 Karen Khachanov. Made to fight over four sets this match should prove to be good practice for what promises to be an attritional match next up.

MADISON KEYS (17) STAYING: The American ace made light work of her second round encounter against Ekaterina Alexandrova. Last year’s US Open finalist won the first 11 games on her way to an easy 6-0, 6-1 win that took only 41 minutes. She won every point on her serve in the first set, holding at love in three games.

DOMINIC THIEM (5) STAYING: The 24-year-old Austrian recovered from two sets down to beat American Denis Kudla and reach the last 32. Thiem lost a tie-break in the opener but fought back to win 6-7 (6-8) 3-6 6-2 6-2 6-3.

ANGELIQUE KERBER (21) STAYING: The German celebrated her 30th birthday with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Donna Vekic to advance to the third round clash against Maria Sharapova. On this evidence she will take some beating, it was Kerber’s 11th win in a row to start the season.

STANILAS WAWRINKA (9) PACKING HIS BAGS: The 2014 came into the tournament struggling with a knee injury and it was always going to be a tall order for him to make much of an impression in Melbourne. That proved to be the case as the Swiss struggled during a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 defeat to American Tennys Sandgren. “I really came without thinking I will be able to play the first match. That’s a big step for me,” he said after the match.

DAVID GOFFIN (7) PACKING HIS BAGS: The Belgian was a dark horse to win the title, but his dreams were dashed by a 1-6, 7-6, 6-1, 7-6 defeat to wild-card entry Julien Benneteau. It was only the second time in the now 59th-ranked Benneteau’s career that he’s managed to beat a player in the top 10 in a Grand Slam singles match.

GARBINE MUGURUZA (3) PACKING HER BAGS: The Wimbledon champion is out after being beaten 7-6, 6-4 by Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan. Muguruza never looked comfortable in the match, double-faulting on break point in the second set and had as many as 43 unforced errors.

JOHANNA KONTA (9) PACKING HER BAGS: The Briton’s Melbourne mission ended in just the second round. The former semifinalist beaten by American lucky loser Bernarda Pera 6-4, 7-5. Konta arrived in Australia suffering from a hip problem.


Jake Paul beats 58-year-old Mike Tyson as hits failed to match the hype

Updated 16 November 2024
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Jake Paul beats 58-year-old Mike Tyson as hits failed to match the hype

  • Downdetector reported that the outage primarily impacted users in major metropolitan areas, including New York, Seattle and Los Angeles

ARLINGTON, Texas: Jake Paul won a unanimous decision over Mike Tyson as the hits didn’t match the hype in a fight between a young YouTuber-turned-boxer and the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Friday night.

All the hate from the pre-fight buildup was gone, with Paul even stopping to pay homage with a bow to Tyson before the final bell sounded at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

The fight wasn’t close on the judge’s cards, with one giving Paul an 80-72 edge and the other two calling it 79-73.

Tyson came after Paul immediately after the opening bell and landed a couple of quick punches but didn’t try much else the rest of the way.

Even fewer rounds and shorter rounds couldn’t do much to generate action for a 58-year-old in his first sanctioned pro fight in almost 20 years, facing a boxing neophyte with hopes of fighting for championships somewhere in the future.

Paul was more aggressive after the quickly burst from Tyson in the opening seconds, but the punching wasn’t very efficient. There were quite a few wild swings and misses.

Tyson mostly sat back and waited for Paul to come to him, with a few exceptions. It was quite the contract the co-main event, another slugfest in which Katie Taylor kept her undisputed super lightweight championship with a decision over Amanda Serrano.

It was the first sanctioned fight since 2005 for Tyson. Paul started fighting a little more than four years ago.

The fight was originally scheduled for July 20 but had to be postponed when Tyson was treated for a stomach ulcer after falling ill on a flight.


Kosovo players walk off in Romania game after ‘Serbia’ chants

Updated 16 November 2024
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Kosovo players walk off in Romania game after ‘Serbia’ chants

Bucharest: A Nations League game between Romania and Kosovo in Bucharest was suspended on Friday in injury time after fans in the crowd shouted “Serbia!.”
The Kosovo players left the pitch after the chants, leading to the game to be paused with the score 0-0.
Animosity between Kosovo and Serbia has persisted since the war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents in the late 1990s.
Kosovo and Serbia do not play each other in UEFA and FIFA tournaments.
Football’s world governing body opened disciplinary proceedings against Serbia during the 2022 World Cup after the team hung a flag in their changing room depicting Kosovo as part of Serbia.
Kosovo joined FIFA and European confederation UEFA in 2016.
When Romania played in Pristina, they beat Kosovo 3-0.


Ronaldo shines as Portugal rout Poland to reach Nations League last-eight

Updated 16 November 2024
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Ronaldo shines as Portugal rout Poland to reach Nations League last-eight

PORTO, Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Portugal staged a second-half supershow to crush Poland 5-1 and reach the Nations League quarter-finals on Friday.
Portugal join France, Germany, Italy and Spain in the last-eight while Poland’s hopes of going through from Group A1 were ended.
Having struggled to plant a shot on target in the first half, Portugal stepped on the accelerator after the break.
Rafael Leao broke the deadlock in Porto just before the hour mark after starting and finishing the move.
The AC Milan striker raced away and passed to Nuno Mendes whose cross from the left was headed powerfully past Marcin Bulka in the Portugal goal.
Thirteen minutes later, skipper Ronaldo got his name on the scoresheet, converting a penalty after Jakub Kiwior was penalized for a handball in the area.
Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes made it 3-0 in the 80th minute, scoring after a clever run by Vitinha.
Pedro Neto added the fourth three minutes later after Ronaldo’s fine pass which left the Polish defense stranded.
As Polish spirits sank, Ronaldo added his second and Portugal’s fifth in the 87th minute with a spectacular overhead kick before Dominik Marczuk tucked away a consolation goal for the visitors.
Poland had enjoyed the better chances before falling behind but their potency in front of goal was blunted by the absence of record goal-scorer Robert Lewandowski who was sidelined with a back injury.
Moments before Leao’s goal, Portuguese keeper Diogo Costa pulled off a fine save to deny Marczuk having also been alert to deny Nicola Zalewski in the first half.
Portugal’s best chance in the first 45 minutes had fallen to Ronaldo who fired a close-range effort over the bar from close range.


Japanese football player Kazuyoshi Miura says he will play next season at age 58

Updated 59 min 27 sec ago
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Japanese football player Kazuyoshi Miura says he will play next season at age 58

  • Miura will turn 58 in February
  • He intends to play next season for his fourth-tier Japanese club, Suzuka

TOKYO: Japanese football player Kazuyoshi Miura is several generations older than his teammates. His contemporaries retired decades ago. Lionel Messi is 37, and Cristiano Ronaldo is 39 — mere youngsters compared to Miura.
Miura will turn 58 in February, and the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported this week that he intends to play next season for his fourth-tier Japanese club, Suzuka. It will be his 40th season playing in professional football.
Miura is widely listed as the oldest active professional football player.
Miura scored 55 goals in 89 appearances and was a star with Japan’s national team in the 1990s.
He has played professionally in Brazil, Italy, Croatia, Australia and Portugal. He made his debut in 1986 with Brazilian club Santos, a side made famous by Brazilian star Pele.


Japan beat Indonesia 4-0 to extend group lead in Asian World Cup qualifying

Updated 16 November 2024
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Japan beat Indonesia 4-0 to extend group lead in Asian World Cup qualifying

  • Japan tops the group on 13 points with five games remaining in the round.
  • Australia, Saudi Arabia and China all have 6 points, followed by Bahrain with five and Indonesia with 3

JAKARTA: Japan defeated Indonesia 4-0 on Friday to move seven points clear at the top of Group C in the third round of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Two goals in each half mean the Samurai Blue stays on course for an eighth successive World Cup appearance.
After a bright start from the home team, the 78,000 fans at a sold-out Gelora Bung Karno Stadium were silenced after 35 minutes as Daichi Kamada broke down the left and sent a cross which defender Justin Hubner put into his own net from close range.
Takumi Minamino then scored from inside the area off Kaoru Mitoma’s pass to extend the lead five minutes before the break.
Hidemasa Motira took advantage of an errant pass from Indonesia’s goalkeeper to make it 3-0 early in the second half and Yukinari Sugawara rounded out the scoring in the 69th minute.
Japan tops the group on 13 points with five games remaining in the round. Australia, Saudi Arabia and China all have six points, followed by Bahrain with five and Indonesia with three.
The top two from each of the three groups will be guaranteed a place at the World Cup, with the third- and fourth-place teams progressing to the next stage.