Kevin Lisbie and Steve Watson both scored premier league hat tricks on Sunday as Charlton Athletic came from behind to beat Liverpool 3-2 and Everton demolished Leeds United 4-0.
Fulham earned a convincing 2-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, while Manchester City missed a host of chances as they were held to a goalless draw by Tottenham Hotspur.
Czech midfielder Vladimir Smicer gave Liverpool an early lead, brilliantly put through by Australia playmaker Harry Kewell, but a double strike by Lisbie put Charlton in front just before the break.
England striker Michael Owen equalized within minutes of the re-start from the penalty spot but Lisbie, who has been regularly barracked by Charlton fans, answered his critics in style with a superb solo winner in the 83rd minute.
Kewell hit the woodwork but Charlton held on for a first home league win of the season that left them 12th in the table on eight points, while Liverpool slipped to eighth with 11 points.
Watson hit two in the first half at Goodison Park, with Duncan Ferguson also getting on the scoresheet, before bringing up his hat trick soon after the re-start.
Fulham are seventh after a goal in each half, scored by Luis Boa Morte and French striker Louis Saha, earned them a victory at Ewood Park.
Manchester City missed a hatful of opportunities to win their game and ruin David Pleat's first league game as caretaker manager of Spurs after Glenn Hoddle's sacking.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set