TENNIS
Hsieh bags early Finals win
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Saturday beat Elise Mertens of Belgium and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia to secure their first win in the Martina Navratilova Group of the WTA Finals in Riyadh. Hsieh and Ostapenko beat the fourth seeds 1-6, 7-5, 10-5 in their first match of the round-robin portion of the tournament. It was a welcome victory for the Taiwanese-Latvian duo after Mertens and Kudermetova denied them the Wimbledon title in July. The hardcourt tournament at King Saud University has a US$15.5 million purse. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Liang En-shuo and Chinese partner Feng Shuo on Saturday crashed out of the Hong Kong Open, losing 6-2, 6-2 in the semi-final to the Chinese duo of Jiang Xinyu and Wang Yafan.
Photo: AP
GOLF
Yamashita stuns in Malaysia
Japan’s Miyu Yamashita yesterday produced a stunning final round to clinch the Maybank Championship on a playoff after she overturned an eight-shot deficit in Kuala Lumpur. The 24-year-old won her second LPGA Tour title in three months after turning in a flawless 65 in her final round, with her eighth birdie in the first playoff hole sealing the win over Australian Hannah Green and South Korea’s Choi Hye-jin. Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling finished tied for 23rd with an 11-under-par 277. The Maybank Championship, which is one of the most lucrative events on the Asian swing with a prize purse of US$3 million, also featured a pair of identical Japanese twins, Akie and Chisato Iwai, who made history together on the LPGA Tour. Competing in their debut seasons on the top professional women’s golf circuit, Chisato Iwai won the Riviera Maya Open in Mexico in May for her first LPGA title. Not to be outdone, Akie — nominally the older of the twins — triumphed in Portland just three months later. The 23-year-olds are the first twins to secure silverware on the LPGA Tour.
ATHLETICS
Canoeist hit over OnlyFans
British canoeist Kurts Adams Rozentals has been handed a two-year suspension and kicked out of the Olympic program after posting an explicit video on Instagram and misleading the press about the reasons for his initial ban, Paddle UK said. The canoe slalom athlete, who was part of Paddle UK’s World Class Programme for Olympic hopefuls, was initially suspended in April by the governing body. Rozentals, a 23-year-old canoe slalom athlete, had said he began using OnlyFans — a subscription-based service that allows users to monetize content, some of it adult in nature — to post “spicy” material to fund his Olympic dream. A disciplinary panel found that he admitted posting a video on Instagram which was “subsequently removed given its explicit nature.” Paddle UK said in a statement that “the athlete had intentionally misinformed the press that his suspension was related to his OnlyFans social media account.” Rozentals confirmed the “very extreme” punishment with BBC Sport and said the ban would never have happened if athletes were funded properly. “Looking back now, I probably wouldn’t post something like that, but I remember the state of mind I was in when I did film it and post it. It was the first time in my life I saw real progress in my financial situation. It was the first time I was able to fund the training myself.”
US President Donald Trump’s granddaughter, Kai Trump, is poised to make her LPGA Tour debut after receiving a sponsor invitation on Tuesday to the Nov. 13 to 16 tournament at Pelican Golf Club in Florida. “My dream has been to compete with the best in the world on the LPGA Tour,” Kai Trump said in a statement posted on the LPGA’s Web site. “This event will be an incredible experience,” she said. “I look forward [to] meeting and competing against so many of my heroes and mentors in golf as I make my LPGA Tour debut.” The 18-year-old high-school senior,
REACTION: Less than 24 hours after a 18-inning Game 3 loss, the Blue Jays’ win ensured that the best-of-seven series is to head back to Toronto for Game 6 tomorrow Vladimir Guerrero Jr on Tuesday blasted a two-run home run as the Toronto Blue Jays bounced back to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 and tie the MLB World Series at two games apiece. Less than 24 hours after a shattering 18-inning Game 3 loss, the Blue Jays climbed off the canvas to breathe new life into their hopes of a first MLB title in 32 years. Guerrero’s two-run blast off Dodgers starter Shohei Ohtani and a superb pitching performance from ace Shane Bieber laid the foundations for a gutsy victory that silenced Dodger Stadium. “I’m always trying to compete
Jannik Sinner on Thursday eased past Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1 at the Paris Masters to set up a quarter-final clash with Ben Shelton, while reigning champion Alexander Zverev earned a straight-sets win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round. A maiden crown in the French capital would return Sinner to No. 1 in the world rankings after current incumbent Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shock early exit at the hands of Britain’s Cameron Norrie. The Italian four-time Grand Slam champion is yet to drop a set in the tournament as he hones in on what would be a fifth title of the
Retired defender Jerome Boateng on Saturday pulled out of a planned coaching internship at Bayern Munich after fans voiced their objection due to the FIFA 2014 World Cup winner being found guilty of assaulting a former girlfriend last year. The former Bayern and Germany defender, who played for the club between 2011 and 2021, had discussed a short internship with coach Vincent Kompany. “Following the recent discussion regarding myself, I have decided to focus on my issues such as the A training license.... That is where my focus is,” he said in a social media post addressed to Bayern and
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