TENNIS
Hsu wins Challenger title
Taiwanese tennis player Hsu Yu-hsiou yesterday won his maiden ATP Challenger Tour men’s singles title, defeating Australia’s Marc Polmans 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in the NSW Open final in Sydney. World No. 315 Hsu is the sixth Taiwanese to win a men’s singles title on the ATP Challenger Tour. The 23-year-old did not drop a set in the four matches he played at the tournament before securing the title. In the first set of the final, he had to dig deep to overcome three-time ATP Challenger champion Polmans 6-4. The match remained a close-fought affair at the start of the second set, with Polmans working hard to hold his serve and taking a 4-2 lead. However, Hsu was able to refocus, forcing a tie-break and eventually winning the second set.
SWIMMING
Ledecky breaks 800m record
Katie Ledecky on Saturday broke the 800m freestyle short-course world record at the FINA Swimming World Cup in Indianapolis, Indiana, her second record in one week. The US freestyle great clocked 7 minutes, 57.42 seconds, breaking the previous record of 7 minutes, 59.34 seconds set in 2013 by Spain’s Mireia Belmonte. Ledecky had opened her season at the World Cup stop in Toronto last weekend, where she shattered the 1,500m freestyle short-course record with a time of 15 minutes, 08.24seconds.
E-SPORTS
DRX surprise LoL favorites
South Korean team DRX were on Saturday crowned League of Legends (LoL) world champions after scoring a surprise 3-2 victory over compatriots T1 in a thrilling League of Legends World Championship in San Francisco. T1, the most successful team in e-sports history, started as favorites and took the lead in the first round of the competition. However, DRX took command after many upsets, in particular thanks to 19-year-old Kim “Zeka” Geon-woo. Their win, the team’s first ever, was highly anticipated for talented 26-year-old Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu, who started competing in 2014, but had only made it past the quarter-finals once, also in 2014. No player that “old” has ever won the world championship. The League of Legends World Championship is considered one of the most prestigious in e-sports, and the final took place at the Chase Center in San Francisco in front of about 16,000 spectators.
FIGURE SKATING
Canadian breaks age record
Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek on Saturday became the oldest athlete to win a figure skating Grand Prix competition, at the age of 39, when she took first place with Maxime Deschamps in the pairs event in Angers, France. Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps topped the podium with an overall score of 185.84 in the Grand Prix de France and qualified for the Grand Prix final in Turin from Dec. 8 to11. “This is the experience that we need to gain to be the type of team we want to be. We’re very excited to qualify for the final and very proud of our fight in the long program,” Stellato-Dudek told reporters. Six years ago, the 2000 world junior silver medalist, came back from a 16-year break after a string of hip injuries and a fractured ankle forced her to quit figure skating at the age of 17. While on a team-building retreat as part of her job at a plastic surgery office, Stellato-Dudek realized she was not ready to quit and retrieved her skates.
After letting another big lead slip with an error-strewn performance at the French Open on Wednesday, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka felt like getting as far away from the courts as possible. “Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said after wasting a lead of a set and two breaks in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider in the women’s singles quarter-finals. “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.” Sabalenka’s wait for a first French Open title continues despite the four-time major winner leading 4-1 in the second set and being two points from victory while
BIG NAMES GONE: Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title, reaching semi-finals for the fifth time in six years and finishing second on three occasions Alexander Zverev on Tuesday breezed past Rafael Jodar to stay on course for an elusive Grand Slam title at the French Open, while Jakub Mensik halted Joao Fonseca’s scintillating run in the quarter-finals. Zverev, the highest-ranked player left in the men’s draw, put an end to Spanish teenager Jodar’s impressive Roland Garros debut, easing into the semi-finals with a 7-6, (7/3), 6-1, 6-3 win. The 29-year-old Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title. He has finished runner-up on three occasions, including at the 2024 French Open. “I want to win the matches that are ahead of
For some, Cristiano Ronaldo remains the essential spearhead for Portugal’s FIFA World Cup bid, while others believe his presence would prevent Roberto Martinez’s strong side from flourishing. The debate around the five-time Ballon d’Or winner rages on, as it did at UEFA Euro 2024 and four years ago in Qatar — yet Ronaldo endures, ready to play in a record sixth World Cup. The 41-year-old remains a global superstar despite swapping the European elite for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr, and is the leading men’s international goalscorer with 143 strikes. With 25 of those coming in 30 games under Martinez, the coach
Taiwanese sprinter Chen Yi-cen on Friday won the silver medal in the women’s 400m final at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong, with a time of 53.16 seconds. Chen, 15, was the youngest among the eight finalists, and her performance also met the qualifying standard of 53.50 seconds for the Nagoya Asian Games in Japan in September and October. Chen first made her mark at the National Games in Tainan in 2023, at the age of 13, winning the women’s 400m final in 55.55 seconds to become the youngest gold medalist in the history of the event. Meanwhile,
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