TENNIS
Hsieh cruises to quarters
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Laura Siegemund of Germany took just 54 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Brisbane International yesterday with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over US duo Christina McHale and Asia Muhammad. Hsieh and Siegemund failed to save the one break point they faced, but they converted four of seven, winning 57 of the 90 points contested to advance to a quarter-final clash against fourth seeds Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain.
CRICKET
NZ beat Bangladesh in T20
Kane Williamson belted 73 off 55 balls as New Zealand cruised to a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first Twenty20 match in Napier, New Zealand, yesterday. New Zealand reached their 142-run target with two overs to spare as captain Williamson held the innings together with support from Colin de Grandhomme after the first four wickets fell cheaply. New Zealand debutant Lockie Ferguson took the wickets of Sabbir Rahman and Soumya Sarkar with his first two deliveries. He finished with 3-32.
CRICKET
Rabada makes breakthrough
South Africa bowler Kagiso Rabada ended a stubborn Sri Lanka opening partnership when he bowled Kaushal Silva on the second day of the second Test at Newlands in Cape Town yesterday. Sri Lanka were 56-2 at tea in reply to South Africa’s first innings of 392. Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne defied South Africa for 73 minutes before Rabada made the breakthrough when Silva played on to his stumps. Kusal Mendis, who had earlier slog-swept for six, then tried to repeat the shot and top-edged a catch to J.P. Duminy. Karunaratne was unbeaten on 24.
FOOTBALL
Broncos’ Gary Kubiak quits
An emotional Gary Kubiak stepped down as coach of the Denver Broncos on Monday because of health concerns, less than a year after he led the team to a Super Bowl crown. The 55-year-old fought back tears as he told reporters he was “retiring from coaching” at a farewell news conference in Denver, Colorado. “This decision is strictly my decision, based on what I’ve been through this year and how I’m feeling,” Kubiak said. “I just feel like it’s time for me to do something different.”
SOCCER
Five-year-old wins award
A five-year-old Sunderland fan who has terminal cancer was adjudged the joint winner of the BBC’s goal of the month award for last month. Bradley Lowery, who earlier this season had his name chanted by Sunderland and Everton fans in the fifth minute of their match in which he led the Black Cats out, beat Chelsea reserve goalkeeper Asmir Begovic from the penalty spot at halftime of the English Premier League game last month. Lowery, who received 250,000 Christmas cards following the penalty, shared the award with Manchester United’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan. “We have woken up this morning to the news that Bradley’s goal got joint goal of the month,” his mother, Gemma, told the Sunderland Echo. “We can’t actually believe this and would like to thank every single one of you for your support. This is a very special moment for us and something we can treasure forever.”
Nottingham Forest FC are to go into the Europa League play-off round after a 4-0 win over Ferencvaros TC on Thursday, while Celtic FC secured their place in the knockout phase with a victory over FC Utrecht. Aston Villa FC finished second in the league phase after recovering from two goals down to beat FC Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 with their spot in the last 16 already assured. Forest stood an outside chance of climbing into the top eight going into the final round of matches, but needed to beat Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros and rely on other results going their way. Sean Dyche’s
HEATED RIVALRY: The pair had met 14 times previously, with Sabalenka winning eight of the encounters and entering the final as the favorite to take the title Elena Rybakina took revenge over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to win a nail-biting Australian Open final yesterday and clinch her second Grand Slam title. The big-serving Kazakh fifth seed held her nerve to pull through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne in 2 hours, 18 minutes. It was payback after the Belarusian Sabalenka won the 2023 final between two of the hardest hitters in women’s tennis. The ice-cool Rybakina, 26, who was born in Moscow, adds her Melbourne triumph to her Wimbledon win in 2022. It was more disappointment in a major final for Sabalenka, who won the US Open
Denver superstar Nikola Jokic returned from a 16-game injury absence to post a 31-point, 12-rebound double-double on Friday and propel the Nuggets to a 122-109 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic had not played since suffering a bone bruise in the left knee he hyperextended in a game against Miami on Dec. 29 last year. The Serbian big man did not miss a beat. He led all scorers, connecting on eight of 11 shots from the field, and also handed out five assists with three steals while playing just 24 minutes, 32 seconds as the
BATTERED AND BRUISED: Alcaraz suffered a cramp in the third set, but was allowed treatment despite Zverev’s protests, and continued on to win in five-and-a-half hours An ailing Carlos Alcaraz battled past Alexander Zverev yesterday in five epic sets to reach his first Australian Open final and move within a match of becoming the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam. The world No. 1 outlasted the German third seed 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 6-7 (4/7), 7-5 over a titanic 5 hours, 27 minutes in hot conditions to head to tomorrow’s title match. He only narrowly avoided crashing out after a huge fright at 4-4 in the third set when he pulled up in pain with what appeared to be cramp. He was allowed to have treatment
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