Karolina Pliskova qualified for her first-ever WTA final by crushing fourth seed Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-0, 6-2 in just 47 minutes yesterday.
The world No. 127, who has not dropped a set in the tournament, said she was surprised by the ease of the victory and by how well she has been playing in the BMW Malaysian Open.
“I expected a tough match, but I’m surprised it wasn’t,” said Pliskova, who turns 21 on March 21.
“I’ve been better in other tournaments, but the results were not as good as this. I’m excited to play in my first final. I’m quite surprised I have yet to drop a set, but I did tell myself I must finish the matches off quickly as the weather is really tough,” the Czech Republic player added.
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
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France head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday lauded his team’s attacking performance after their dazzling 36-14 victory over Ireland in their Six Nations opener. A brace of tries from Louis Bielley-Biarrey and one from mercurial flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert helped France storm into a 29-0 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing Ireland back into the match, before winger Theo Attissogbe put some gloss on the victory late on. “In an attacking sense, with the ball, the team played with great accuracy,” Galthie said. “It was one of the most accurate attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather
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