CROATIA OPEN
Thiem, Sousa to face off
Dominik Thiem of Austria and Joao Sousa of Portugal came from a set down to reach the Croatia Open final on Saturday. Fourth-seeded Thiem upset top-seeded Gael Monfils of France 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, and Sousa knocked out second-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Thiem recovered after a slow start to reach his second final of the year and the third of his career. Agut won the first set by a lone break in the 10th game, saving all eight break points he faced. Calm after losing the first set, the unseeded Sousa broke twice to win the second, forcing a decider. He won three games in a row at 3-3 to secure his second final of this year, after Geneva in May.
SWEDISH OPEN
Benoit Paire heads to final
Benoit Paire of France knocked out defending champion Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-4, 6-3 in the Swedish Open semi-finals on Saturday. Paire yesterday was to chase his first ATP title against Tommy Robredo of Spain, who would be trying for his third Bastad title, following victories in 2006 and 2008. Robredo defeated German teenager Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-4 in the other semi-final. Zverev led 2-0 in the second set, but could not take advantage, missing eight of 10 chances to break Robredo.
CLARO OPEN
Tomic set to defend title
Bernard Tomic of Australia defeated Michael Berrer of Germany 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/3) to reach the Claro Open Colombia final for the second year in a row on Saturday. Tomic is to defend his title against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who earned a chance to win his first ATP title by beating top-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5). It is the second career final for the 33rd-ranked Mannarino, who this year was runner-up at the Auckland Open. Karlovic, ranked 23rd, served 17 aces and did not allow a break point against Mannarino, but struggled in both tiebreakers. The second-seeded Tomic was broken in the third set, but recovered to clinch the victory in the tiebreaker, giving himself a chance for his third career title.
ISTANBUL CUP
Tsurenko defeats Flipkens
Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine and Usrzula Radwanska of Poland are to play for their first WTA singles title in the Istanbul Cup final. The 99th-ranked Radwanska beat the 71st-ranked Tsurenko by retirement in their only previous match at the Qatar Open in Doha in 2012. Tsurenko made it to her first career final by defeating Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday for the first time in three meetings. In the other semi-final, Radwanska beat Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Radwanska lost her serve five times, but had 19 chances against Rybarikova and took seven of them.
GASTEIN LADIES
Stosur to face Knapp in final
Second-seeded Samantha Stosur beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-1, 7-5 at the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies on Saturday. Stosur reached her second final of the season after winning the last five games against the seventh-seeded Schmiedlova. The 23rd-ranked Australian avoided break points and won five games in a row from 1-1 to comfortably take the opening set. She missed four break points in the opening game of the second set and fell behind 5-2 before winning five straight games again to set up a final against Karin Knapp. Italian Knapp defeated top-seeded Sara Errani 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 7-5 in the second semi-final, which was delayed until yesterday because of rain.
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
LeBron James is in quite the shooting slump — especially from long distance, highlighted by his zero-for-four effort from three-point range for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 109-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. That return stretched the nearly-40-year-old’s skid to zero-for-19 from deep over his past four games. James’ birthday is on Dec. 30. After going four-for-16 from the floor overall with six of his team’s 20 turnovers for a season-low 10 points against the Timberwolves, James was asked to reflect on the Lakers reaching the quarter mark of their 2024-2025 schedule under rookie coach J.J. Redick at 12-9. “I
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
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