Rafael Nadal into fourth round of Australian Open

Spain's Rafael Nadal hits a forehand return to Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina during their match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne. Nadal reached the fourth round in Australia for the 11th time with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 win over Dzumhur. (AP)
Updated 19 January 2018
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Rafael Nadal into fourth round of Australian Open

MELBOURNE: The heat wasn’t a factor for Rafael Nadal this time against Damir Dzumhur, despite the searing temperature causing trouble for players earlier Friday at the Australian Open.
Nadal reached the fourth round in Australia for the 11th time with the 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 win, and leveled his career head-to-head record with Dzumhur.
The 16-time major winner lost their only previous meeting when he had to retire because of heat-related issues in the third set at Miami in 2016, giving Dzumhur the win that day.
It was also a change of scenery for Nadal, who was playing on Margaret Court Arena — the No. 2 venue at Melbourne Park — while local hope Nick Kyrgios played Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a night match at Rod Laver Arena.
The youngest player in the tournament and the oldest player in the men’s draw went out earlier on Day 5.
Fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina ended 15-year-old Marta Kostyuk’s run with a 6-2, 6-2 victory, then met her fellow Ukrainian at the net for a warm embrace and some words of encouragement.
“She’s a great fighter,” Svitolina, one of five women in contention for the No. 1 ranking, said of her fellow Ukrainian. “We’re going to hear a lot more about her.”
Andreas Seppi withstood 52 aces from 38-year-old Ivo Karlovic for a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (5), 9-7 win in 3 hours and 51 minutes in an afternoon match.
Players were bothered and spectators clamored for shade and mist-spraying fans in searing heat earlier Friday, and organizers were on the verge of enforcing the tournament’s extreme heat policy before temperatures dropped significantly after peaking around 2 p.m. local time.
Play can be suspended at the Australian Open if the temperature 40 Celsius (104F) and a combination of factors — including temperature, humidity and breeze — reaches an unbearable limit.
Alize Cornet, who needed a medical timeout and a doctor to take her blood pressure as she struggled with heat stress in her 7-5, 6-4 third-round loss to Elize Mertens, was among those suggesting the extreme heat policy needs reviewing.
“I started to feel dizzy. ... I was feeling super, super hot. I kind of felt that I could faint at any moment,” she said, adding that while precautions were taken by tournament officials, “playing in this condition is of course very dangerous for the health of the player.
“The limit of not playing the match is really high. ... I think this limit should be a little bit lower.”
No. 3-seeded Grigor Dimitrov beat No. 30 Andrey Rublev 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in just over three hours after the change came through and said “the heat didn’t scare me at all today.”
Kyle Edmund overcame Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-6 (0), 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 in 3 ½ hours on an open court in the peak of the heat, earning a spot in the next round against Seppi. No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta had a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 win over No. 23 Gilles Muller.
Kostyuk entered the tournament ranked No. 521 — a number that will likely be halved next month — and had wins over 25th-seeded Peng Shuai and Olivia Rogowska to become the youngest player to win main-draw matches at the Australian Open since Martina Hingis in 1996.
The step up to facing a top 10 player was too much.
Svitolina, the only seeded player still in contention in her quarter, had five aces, only 11 unforced errors and didn’t serve a double fault in the 59-minute match.
Kostyuk, who had nine double-faults — including one on match point — sobbed into a towel in the tunnel soon after leaving the court, but could joke about the defeat when asked later what she could take out of the experience.
“Well, a lot,” she said. “How much you have to pay Svitolina to have one-hour lesson? I got it for free.”
Svitolina will next play Denisa Allertova, who beat Magda Linette 6-1, 6-4. No. 19 Magdalena Rybarikova had a 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 win over Kateryna Bondarenko.
Petra Martic celebrated her 27th birthday with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 over Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum.
“That was really ugly,” Martic said of the heat. “We were lucky to play on Rod Laver because we had some shade behind so you could hide for a few seconds in between the points.
“Other than that, you need to be mentally tough and ready to just suffer out there.”


Jamie Vardy leaving Leicester after 13 years and club hail their ‘greatest ever player’

Updated 18 sec ago
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Jamie Vardy leaving Leicester after 13 years and club hail their ‘greatest ever player’

The 38-year-old former England international will depart at the end of the season
“I want to keep playing and do what I enjoy most: Scoring goals,” he said

LONDON: Jamie Vardy is leaving Leicester following their relegation from the Premier League, ending the striker’s 13-year stay at a team he famously helped to win the English title in 2016 at preseason odds of 5,000-1.
The 38-year-old former England international will depart at the end of the season, Leicester said on Thursday in a statement in which the club described Vardy as its “greatest ever player.”
The announcement came two days after Vardy took to social media to express his “anger and sadness” at a season he called a “total embarrassment,” with Leicester having been consigned to relegation with five matches still to play.
Vardy, who intends to continue playing, will go down as a Premier League great, having scored 143 goals — placing him No. 15 on the competition’s all-time list. He once netted in a record 11 straight games in Leicester’s improbable title-winning campaign that will be remembered as one of the great underdog stories in sporting history.
“Nine years ago, we did the impossible — we won the Premier League,” Vardy said in a video message on Instagram in which he also recounted winning the FA Cup in 2021 and reaching the Champions League quarterfinals in 2017. “Those memories will last a lifetime.”
Leicester chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha described Vardy, who joined from lower-league team Fleetwood Town for 1 million pounds (now $1.33 million) in 2012, as a “unique” and “special” player.
“He holds a place in the hearts of everyone connected to Leicester City, and he certainly has my deepest respect and affection,” Aiyawatt said. “I am endlessly grateful for everything he has given to this football club.”
Vardy has five games left for Leicester. His final home match will be on May 18 against Ipswich.
Leicester have just 18 points from 33 games and are in next-to-last place.
“My only regret, and I’m devastated about this, is that I’m not saying goodbye on the back of a much better season,” Vardy said. “This isn’t the way I wanted my career here to finish.”
Vardy insisted “this isn’t retirement.”
“I want to keep playing and do what I enjoy most: Scoring goals,” he added. “Hopefully there’s one or two more for Leicester before the end of the season and many more in the future.
“I might be 38 but I’ve still got the desire and ambition to do so much more.”

Alcaraz blames ‘demanding sport’ for Madrid withdrawal but should be fit for French Open

Updated 23 min 13 sec ago
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Alcaraz blames ‘demanding sport’ for Madrid withdrawal but should be fit for French Open

  • The third-ranked Spaniard blamed his injuries on the “really tight” schedule
  • Alcaraz said he has not fully recovered from the upper leg ailment

MADRID: Home-crowd favorite Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the Madrid Open on Thursday because of muscle injuries, saying he didn’t want to risk making things worse before the French Open.
The third-ranked Spaniard blamed his injuries on the “really tight” schedule that is part of the “demanding sport” of tennis.
Alcaraz said he has not fully recovered from the upper leg ailment that bothered him during the Barcelona Open final last Sunday. He also said he has a left leg injury. His first appearance at the Caja Magica in Madrid was scheduled for Saturday.
Alcaraz is a two-time champion in Madrid, having won in 2022 and 2023. He was the second seed this week and in the same half of the draw as Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz said he did “everything possible to play” but had to make the “tough decision” to withdraw after listening to his body and talking to doctors.
“Madrid is one of the special tournaments for me, it’s a tournament that I enjoy, I get to play in front of my fans, it’s one of the first tournaments I attended when I was a kid,” Alcaraz said. “These types of decisions are not easy to make but sometimes you have to think about your health and about what is important. A Grand Slam is a Grand Slam. If I play here, I could make the injuries worse and stop for several months and that’s not worth it.”
He said he felt “secure” about recovering in time to play next month at Roland Garros, where he is the defending champion. He won the Roland Garros final last year against Alexander Zverev, who has just leapfrogged the Spaniard to No. 2 in the world after winning in Munich last week.
“I’m not really worried about it,” Alcaraz said. “I believe it’s going to take one week, one week and a half, two weeks maximum, but I won’t have doubts about coming back and moving 100 percent again.”
He said he plans to play in Rome ahead of the French Open, which begins on May 25.
“My mindset is to do everything it takes to be a hundred percent for Rome. I will do some tests at the beginning of next week just to see how it’s improved, and from that let’s see how it’s going to be the next days,” he said. “My hope is to play in Rome. If not, next tournament is Roland Garros for me. So I will try to be on court as soon as possible.”
Alcaraz needed treatment on his leg during his straight-set loss to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final. He had not practiced in Madrid yet, and said this week that he felt “fine” but was waiting on medical test results to determine whether he would play.
Alcaraz, who will turn 22 on May 5, won in Monte Carlo to start his clay-court campaign and on a nine-match winning run until the Barcelona final. He said he later also felt pain in a muscle in his left leg.

Demanding sport
Alcaraz vowed to “come back stronger” but complained of the tennis schedule.
“Tennis is really a demanding sport,” he said. “Playing week after week, so many matches in a row, and you have to heal your body sometimes and take difficult decisions.”
The four-time Grand Slam champion has a 24-5 record this year. In addition to Monte Carlo, he also won in Rotterdam on hard court in February.
“The schedule is really tight, really difficult tournaments week after week, and sometimes you have to think about yourself sometimes, and make the right decisions as to your health.”


Real Madrid lose injured Camavinga for Copa del Rey final against Barcelona

Updated 28 min 40 sec ago
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Real Madrid lose injured Camavinga for Copa del Rey final against Barcelona

  • Camavinga has a complete tear of the tendon in his left abductor muscle
  • Madrid said “his recovery will be assessed”

MADRID: Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga is expected to miss the Copa del Rey final and rest of the season because of a muscle injury.
Camavinga has a complete tear of the tendon in his left abductor muscle, Madrid said on Thursday. He was hurt late in the 1-0 win at Getafe in La Liga on Wednesday.
Madrid said “his recovery will be assessed.”
Madrid face Barcelona in the Copa final on Saturday in Seville.
Also hurt with a muscle ailment on Wednesday was defender David Alaba, though the club did not immediately give a medical update on him. They said he practiced alone in the indoor facilities on Thursday.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said after the match on Wednesday that it would be “hard” to see both players in the Copa final.
Camavinga had to leave in the final minutes of the match against Getafe. He replaced Alaba at halftime.


Gwangju focused on Al-Hilal’s Saudi contingent in Champions League clash

Updated 24 April 2025
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Gwangju focused on Al-Hilal’s Saudi contingent in Champions League clash

  • Lee Jung-hyo: ‘We know the big name players, we know how they play. We have to keep an eye on Salem Al-Dawsari, Mohamed Kanno or Ali Al-Bulayhi’
  • Jung-hyo: ‘The game will last maybe 100 minutes and this is a showcase for us, to show to the world how we play’

JEDDAH: Al-Hilal’s foreign players have made the Saudi team one of the favorites to lift the Asian Champions League Elite title but Gwangju coach Lee Jung-hyo has his sights set on the club’s domestic contingent ahead of the quarter-finals on Friday.
The Riyadh-based outfit are aiming for a record-extending fifth continental title when the finals phase of this year’s competition begin in Jeddah with attention largely focused on the expensively acquired talent within Jorge Jesus’ side.
While Serbian duo Aleksandar Mitrovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic have played key roles in a team of high-profile signings such as Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves and Joao Cancelo, Lee believes the key to prevailing against Al-Hilal lies elsewhere.
“We have to take care of the Saudi Arabian players, their domestic players,” said Lee, who has led the South Korean club into the continental championship for the first time.
“We know the big name players, we know how they play. We have to keep an eye on Salem Al-Dawsari, Mohamed Kanno or Ali Al-Bulayhi. They’re the players who are the core of Al-Hilal. We have to take care of them.”
Gwangju go into the clash at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium as underdogs having already performed above expectations to reach the last eight.
After a series of impressive displays in the league phase, the Koreans battled back from a two-goal first-leg deficit to eliminate J-League champions Vissel Kobe in the previous round.
Gwangju’s Albanian winger Jasir Asani is the tournament’s leading scorer with nine goals and Lee knows his players will need to be switched on for the duration of the quarter-final if they are to prevail.
“Every minute, every second is going to be very precious for us,” he said. “The game will last maybe 100 minutes and this is a showcase for us, to show to the world how we play.
“Tomorrow’s game is do or die. One is going to win and one is going to die.”
Al-Hilal go into the clash in the middle of a stuttering run of form, prompting Jesus to temper the expectations of his club’s demanding supporters.
“We know that this team (Gwangju) is very strong, that they have had a good performance and good forward with good potential,” said the experienced Portuguese coach. “We will face a team that plays well in a collective way.
“We have watched the games they played before. We are aware of all the details of our opponent and we can say they are a strong team and that will make the match harder.”


New York Knicks to face Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Abu Dhabi Games 2025 presented by ADQ

Updated 24 April 2025
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New York Knicks to face Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Abu Dhabi Games 2025 presented by ADQ

  • Teams feature several NBA All-Star players
  • Event will be broadcast to more than 200 countries and territories

ABU DHABI: The New York Knicks will face the Philadelphia 76ers in a preseason match-up during the NBA Abu Dhabi Games 2025, presented by ADQ, on Oct. 2 and Oct. 4 at Etihad Arena on Yas Island.

The Knicks currently feature two-time NBA All-Star Jalen Brunson, five-time NBA All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns and 2022 NBA All-Defensive First Team member Mikal Bridges, while the 76ers are led by 2023 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player and seven-time NBA All-Star Joel Embiid, nine-time NBA All-Star Paul George and 2024 NBA All-Star Tyrese Maxey.

Bridges and Brunson previously played in Abu Dhabi as members of the USA men’s national team prior to the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup while Towns participated in The NBA Abu Dhabi Games 2023 with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The 76ers’ Embiid previously played in Abu Dhabi as a member of the US national team prior to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The NBA Abu Dhabi Games 2025 presented by ADQ will air live in the UAE, across the Middle East and around the world, reaching fans in more than 200 countries and territories on television, digital media and social media, according to a statement from the NBA and the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi.

Ticket sales information will be announced at a later date.

The NBA Abu Dhabi Games 2025 are part of a multiyear collaboration between the NBA and DCT Abu Dhabi that features activities including preseason NBA Global Games, youth development programming and interactive fan events.