CINCINNATI, USA: Aryna Sabalenka polished her opening-match record at the Cincinnati Masters on an overcast Thursday by defeating Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-3, 6-4 while men’s second seed Alexander Zverev also advanced.
Third seed Sabalenka, who missed Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics with a shoulder injury, has now won six of seven opening matches at the American Midwest venue in the ATP and WTA tuneup for the US Open.
Sabalenka advanced as rain threatened play after three days of summer sunshine, finishing on a third match point for her 15th Cincinnati victory.
“I’m happy with my level in the tough moments,” the winner said. “Elisabetta is a difficult opponent. She fought to the last point.”
Cocciaretto was treated for a left hip problem midway through the second set and was seen by the trainer for a thigh tape adjustment at changeovers.
Zverev dodged a few raindrops late in the second set before wrapping up an ATP-leading 50th match win this season.
The German, who won the title here in 2021 after losing his first six career matches at the venue, advanced to the third round 6-3, 6-2 over Karen Khachanov.
The victory in 76 minutes was a repeat of the Tokyo Olympic final won by Zverev.
Khachanov committed 26 unforced errors in defeat against a long-time rival whom he now trails 5-2.
Zverev, who confessed to feeling poorly last week in Montreal despite making the quarter-finals, said his form is now much improved.
“I felt well on court. If you feel good in training it’s easier to bring it to the match,” he said. “I just hope my form can get better. I’m happy I got the win today.”
Zverev had no explanation for his 2023 run of success, saying: “It’s just been a good year, but I’ve also had some tough losses.”
Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta lined up as the German’s next opponent after defeating Australian Max Purcell 6-3, 6-3.
Fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz, who made a surprise comeback from July knee surgery by reaching last week’s Montreal quarter-finals, won his opening match, defeating Yoshihito Nishioka 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.
The Pole worked for more than two hours, dropping 16 aces against his Japanese opponent and saving 17 of 19 break points.
He will bid for the quarter-finals as he faces Italian Flavio Cobolli, who advanced when compatriot Luca Darderi retired trailing 7-6 (7/4), 3-1 with apparent illness.
In the WTA draw, Elena Rybakina was thwarted in her first match since Wimbledon, going down 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 as Canadian Leylah Fernandez saved two match points in an upset of the fourth seed.
Rybakina, who missed the Paris Games with acute bronchitis, suffered with 17 double faults — including on match points. Even 20 aces could not save her afternoon.
Elina Svitolina, a semifinalist here nine years ago, saw off Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-4, 6-1 to next take on Sabalenka.
Sabalenka has won their last two matches, including a Roland Garros quarter-final in 2023 and a three-setter in Rome three months ago.
Newly minted Armenian Elina Avanesyan, who only recently changed tennis nationalities, stunned eighth seed Jelena Ostapenko with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 fightback.
Sabalenka, Zverev start Cincinnati with convincing wins
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Sabalenka, Zverev start Cincinnati with convincing wins
- Third seed Sabalenka has now won six of seven opening matches at the American Midwest venue in the ATP and WTA tuneup for the US Open
- “I’m happy with my level in the tough moments,” the winner said
Greece’s Olympiacos hits out at police death probe
“It follows the unjust collective targeting of our fans“
ATHENS: Greek football powerhouse Olympiacos on Wednesday slammed a probe targeting their top management in connection with the death of a riot policeman at the hands of hooligans last year.
Judicial authorities have called owner and president Evangelos Marinakis to appear next week to answer to possible misdemeanour charges of supporting a criminal organization and fomenting sports violence.
“This latest development... is yet another attempt to blackmail Olympiacos FC, aiming to undermine both the Olympiacos family and its President,” the club, which is also active across several sports besides football, said in a statement.
“It follows the unjust collective targeting of our fans,” it added, which it said was “fueled by specific political and business interests.”
In December 2023 riot officer Yiorgos Lyggeridis was fatally injured by a marine flare fired outside a sports hall during an Olympiacos-Panathinaikos volleyball match near Piraeus.
The 31-year-old died in hospital and stadiums across the country were closed for several weeks as a result of the incident.
More than a dozen people, reportedly hard-line Olympiacos fans, were subsequently placed in pre-trial detention as part of the investigation.
Several of those held are said to be senior members of Gate 7, Olympiacos’s main supporters’ club, and authorities suspect they could not have operated without the knowledge of club officials.
Besides Marinakis, four other members of the club board including Piraeus mayor Yiannis Moralis have been called to appear on Tuesday, where the authorities will decide whether to formalize the charges facing them.
Olympiacos on Wednesday said Marinakis, a shipping and media magnate who is also a majority owner of Premier League side Nottingham Forest and Portugal’s Rio Ave, has a “clear conscience,” “cannot be intimidated and will not back down.”
Piraeus mayor Moralis has also denied any involvement.
Greek football powerhouse Olympiacos on Wednesday slammed a probe targeting their top management in connection with the death of a riot policeman at the hands of hooligans last year. (AFP/File)
Vieira takes over at struggling Genoa
- “Genoa CFC announces that Patrick Vieira has been entrusted with the technical management of the first team,” the club said
- The 48-year-old replaces Alberto Gilardino who was sacked on Tuesday
ROME: Former France and Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira was named on Wednesday as the new coach of relegation-threatened Serie A club Genoa.
“Genoa CFC announces that Patrick Vieira has been entrusted with the technical management of the first team,” the club said in a statement.
“The new coach will direct the first training session this afternoon after the formalization of the contract at the Villa Rostan headquarters.”
The 48-year-old replaces Alberto Gilardino who was sacked on Tuesday with the club 17th in the table, just one point clear of the relegation zone.
Vieira, a 1998 World Cup winner with France, spent the bulk of his playing career with Arsenal driving them to three Premier League titles and two domestic doubles.
He later went on to play for Juventus and Inter Milan, where he won four Serie A titles, before closing his on-field career with Manchester City.
His management career has taken him to New York City, Nice, Crystal Palace and his last job at Strasbourg which he left “by mutual agreement” in July.
’Rare joy’ as war-hit Sudan reaches African football showpiece
- The feat, achieved at the expense of Ghana comes despite the team having to play all their matches abroad and the domestic league being suspended
- The match marked Sudan’s 10th qualification for the continental tournament
PORT SUDAN: Football fans in Sudan, a country torn apart by war, are savouring a rare moment of pride after the national team qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations finals.
The feat, achieved at the expense of Ghana, one of the continent’s traditional powerhouses, comes despite the team having to play all their matches abroad and the domestic league being suspended.
Streets of Port Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of displaced endure agonizing waits for water and health care, came alive after the match, with car horns blaring and ecstatic fans waving Sudanese flags from the windows.
The match marked Sudan’s 10th qualification for the continental tournament, offering a rare moment of happiness to a nation devastated by 19 months of war.
“Our joy after the game... could not truly reflect the emotions in our hearts,” one jubilant fan, Hassan Mohamed, told AFP.
In Port Sudan, the country’s de facto capital since last year, fans gathered in cafes Monday to watch the final group stage match against Angola, played in Benghazi, Libya.
Others followed the action on mobile phones, holding their breath in the final moments, an AFP correspondent reported.
Despite a goalless draw, Sudan secured the second qualifying spot for next year’s AFCON finals from a group that, besides Angola and Ghana, also included Niger.
As the referee’s whistle signalled the end of the game, chairs toppled over as fans jumped for joy.
Celebrations spilled into the streets of the Red Sea port city, where car horns echoed in triumph.
It was only the second time that Sudan, the champions in 1970, made it to the AFCON finals in the last seven editions.
Social media platforms lit up with images of the players, as Sudanese users hailed the team’s qualification as a “rare joy in dark times.”
“Their aim was to bring a smile back to the Sudanese people,” Khalid Omer Yousif, vice-chairman of the Sudanese Congress Party, wrote on X.
Speaking to AFP by phone, sports journalist Nasr Al-Din Al-Fadalabi called the achievement “an impossible smile in a time of sorrow.”
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Tens of thousands have been killed and more than 11 million have been displaced, including over three million who fled the country.
Inside Sudan, displaced people face compounding humanitarian crises and the threat of famine, even in areas spared direct fighting.
The war has devastated the country’s infrastructure, crippled the health sector and shuttered most businesses.
Football has not escaped the turmoil.
With the domestic league suspended, Sudanese football has taken a new path.
Home games were relocated to South Sudan and Libya, and the national team trained in Saudi Arabia.
Players have signed contracts abroad, including goalkeeper Mohamed Mustafa in Tanzania.
Sudanese footballers in Libya benefit from local status, while others who played abroad are now in the national team.
Among them is Mohamed Eisa, a star forward who spent years in British leagues and now plays in Iran.
The war has also seeped into football.
In an October match against Ghana, team captain Ramadan Agab mimicked a victory gesture associated with army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, taunting his paramilitary rivals.
Burhan has praised the team in public statements and visits to the football federation.
For many Sudanese, this week’s qualification was a moment of pride and unity.
“Despite the divisions among some and despite so many obstacles... they (the players) have overcome every challenge,” said fan Akrama Ali Karamallah.
“I believe they will go even further, and as they say, nothing is impossible.”
Bento’s UAE enjoy dream international week to reignite World Cup hopes
- Emirati team raises possibility of a return to the game’s biggest stage for the first since 1990
- A quartet of charged fixtures remain to bridge a three-point gap to second-placed Uzbekistan
DUBAI: Not even the UAE’s Golden Generation enjoyed a night quite like this.
Tuesday’s rampant 5-0 thrashing of Qatar turbo-boosted hopes of making a hallowed World Cup return for the first time since 1990 and emphatically earned redemption for a series of humbling results inflicted by their Gulf neighbour.
Such was the heightened feeling of bonhomie throughout the Emirates that a post-match McDonald’s visit by four-goal Fabio De Lima was interrupted by a grateful Al-Nasr supporter telling the star of Dubai rivals Al-Wasl: “Today, I love you.”
At times of great joy, a sense of perspective is hard to find.
Especially when celebrations follow a thumping of the double Asian Cup holders to earn one of the great occasions in your country’s footballing history, bettering the contentious semi-final defeat on home soil by Qatar in 2019’s edition.
Added momentum comes from last week’s 3-0 Group A victory against Kyrgyzstan, inspired by Shabab Al-Ahli star Harib Abdalla.
Much has been accomplished by the third-placed Whites, who are now within touching distance of the automatic qualification spots, but much remains to achieve on this tricky path to World Cup 2026.
“In this moment, it is normal that some people are really happy and, sometimes, out of control,” said boss Paulo Bento at Al-Nahyan Stadium. “It is important that we keep calm and be humble.
“That is the most important for us. They (the players) know how we, as a technical staff, think.
“We faced a very good team (Qatar), with very good players. Well managed, that have very good principles.
“We tried to choose the best strategy to control their best features and, at the same time, explore their weaknesses. The responsibility for that was the guys.
“They accomplished the game plan in the best way. We know it was difficult to predict how Qatar could play.
“The guys adapted themselves in the right way. To reach a result like this, it is important to be fair.
“In Uzbekistan, we had chances to score, but at the end, we were not effective. Today, we were really effective.
“All of this allowed us to reach this kind of result. But, in football, it is normal that the good ones are the guys that win and the bad ones are the guys that lose.
“Things are not like that. It was because we respect them (Qatar) that we won the game.”
The UAE’s second-ever entry into the world’s most important football event appeared to be slipping away after October’s disheartening 1-1 home draw with bottom-placed North Korea and 1-0 defeat against 10 men in Uzbekistan.
This once-perilous situation has changed for the better during a crunch November that has returned them to contention.
It also shifts the narrative around a UAE side typically viewed as talented, but unable to consistently deliver in clutch moments.
No one questioned the peerless ability of AFC Players of the Year Omar Abdulrahman and Ahmed Khalil, ruthless 2015 Asian Cup top scorer Ali Mabkhout and much of the preceding Golden Generation.
They even gained silverware at the 2013 Arabian Gulf Cup and represented their country with distinction at the London 2012 Olympics.
This cherished cohort did not, truthfully, come close to making World Cup 2014 or 2018. False dawns included memorable qualifying wins against Japan and Saudi Arabia, eventually rendered worthless by dropped points versus also-rans.
Neither could the emergent squad that followed for 2022’s cycle. They narrowly fell to Asian heavyweights Australia in the fourth round, without the injured De Lima.
The confines are still punishingly tight for 2026. Bento, his players and the UAE en masse, however, now hold tangible reasons to believe.
They are the third round’s joint-second top scorers with 12 goals — only an omnipotent Japan have more with 22. Their four goals conceded is bettered only by the Japanese (two) and Iraq (three).
Clubmates Yahya Al-Ghassani and Abdalla were at their freewheeling best this month. A centre-back pairing of Al-Jazira’s graceful Khalifa Al-Hammadi and Al-Ain’s redoubtable Kouame Autonne competes with anything on the continent.
Enviable strength in depth was provided by Fleetwood Town utility man Mackenzie Hunt, Wasl’s Tahnoon Al-Zaabi and veteran striker Caio Canedo.
Words can scarcely do justice to De Lima, his adopted country’s first “super hat-trick” scorer in World Cup qualifying. Three of these came before half-time, including a sumptuous free kick.
Further encouragement is provided by possible debut call-ups for more naturalised players when qualifying resumes with avisit to World Cup regulars Iran on March 20, 2025. These could include prolific Sharjah forward Caio Lucas, plus Al-Wahda’s promising defenders Lucas Pimenta and Alaeddine Zouhir.
A quartet of charged fixtures remain to bridge a three-point gap to second-placed Uzbekistan and their section’s final automatic spot, with leaders Iran a further three points ahead. The penultimate clash with the Uzbeks on June 5, 2025 looms large.
Qatar are only three points further behind. Their ambitions of gate-crashing the top two are not extinguished, despite the UAE’s pair of redeeming third-round wins against them.
Fail to make the most of this month’s 100 percent haul and the fourth-round lottery awaits. Even more jeopardy would follow for the UAE in the fifth round/inter-confederation play-offs.
Bento’s measured approach has patiently put his charges in a position to secure direct entry. A shot at legendary status is theirs to grasp.
Olympia in Greece to host International Camel Racing Federation General Assembly
- The choice of Olympia as the venue underscores the federation’s drive to honor and advance camel racing
- Four-day event will celebrate the sport’s roots and outline a roadmap for the future
ATHENS: The International Camel Racing Federation’s 4th General Assembly, which takes place in Olympia, Greece on Nov. 23-26, will discuss the federation’s strategic roadmap for the coming years and initiatives to expand camel racing on a global scale.
The gathering will bring together representatives from national camel racing federations and international organizations, emphasizing the growing global prominence of camel racing as a sport and a cultural tradition, according to a media statement on Wednesday.
The choice of Olympia as the venue underscores the federation’s dedication to honoring and advancing the rich legacy of camel racing. The four-day event will blend a celebration of the sport’s ancient roots with a forward-looking approach to its global development.
The assembly will also unveil new projects and development programs aimed at enhancing the sport, alongside interactive workshops and dialogue sessions focused on incorporating cutting-edge technology and innovative practices to meet international standards for organizing races.
This year’s assembly coincides with the UN’s declaration of 2024 as the International Year of Camelids, highlighting the vital role camels play in food security, economic development and the livelihoods of millions worldwide. The designation also celebrates the cultural and social significance of camels in diverse communities around the globe.
The assembly promises to be a landmark event for the camel racing community, fostering international collaboration and charting a path toward a vibrant future for this historic sport.
