Sport

Bianca Andreescu beats Serena Williams

Published

5 years ago

September 8, 2019

Teenager Bianca Andreescu stunned Serena Williams in a gripping US Open final to claim a first Grand Slam title and deny the American a 24th major.

37 year old Serena Williams did not cope with the 19-year-old’s quality in a 6-3 7-5 loss.

Canadian 15th seed Andreescu, in the main draw here for the first time, blew a double break in the second set before taking her third match point and falling to the ground in disbelief.

Williams landed only 44% of her usually fearsome first serve and faced 13 break points in the match

“This year has been a dream come true,” Andreescu told the crowd.

“I am beyond grateful and truly blessed. I’ve worked really hard for this moment. To play on this stage against Serena – a true legend of the sport – is amazing.”

To the disappointment of a stunned home crowd on a passionate Arthur Ashe Stadium, Williams has now lost four successive major finals.

“Bianca played an unbelievable match,” Williams said. “I’m so proud and happy for you, it was incredible tennis out there.”

Williams, seeded eighth, looked edgy throughout as she aimed to match Australian Margaret Court’s tally of all-time major wins, handing over the first three of Andreescu’s five breaks of serve with double faults.

By contrast, Andreescu played with the confidence which has marked her out as a star in a stunning breakthrough year.

She is the first Canadian to win a tennis major and the first teenager to win a Grand Slam since Maria Sharapova claimed the 2006 title at Flushing Meadows.

She is the first teenager to win their maiden Slam since Russian Sharapova at Wimbledon in 2004.

Andreescu kept her nerve to take a third match point with a forehand down the line, dropping her racquet to the ground and then, after a warm hug with Williams, lying on the court with her arms spread out as she contemplated her achievement.

After returning to her feet, she used a hastily-arranged step ladder to climb into her player’s box and embrace her nearest and dearest, including parents Nicu and Maria.

Andreescu blocks out crowd to complete remarkable year

Before the match, Andreescu said if someone told her 12 months ago she would be facing Williams in the US Open final she would have thought they were “crazy”.

Tellingly, in a sign of her unwavering confidence, she said she would not have felt the same if they told her the same thing a fortnight ago.

Twelve months ago she lost in the first round of qualifying at Flushing Meadows and was ranked outside the top 200 in the world.

But she has become the most talked-about young player on the planet following a remarkable rise this year.

Andreescu, whose Romanian parents Nicu and Maria emigrated to Canada in the 1990s, had only played six tour-level matches at the turn of the year.

Since then she has won prestigious WTA Premier titles at Indian Wells and Toronto, rising to 15th in the world as a result and raking in £1.79m of her £1.97m career prize money.

Now she will climb to fifth in the world and take home another $3.85m (£3.13m) after this success.

Andreescu was fearless throughout her maiden Grand Slam final and unfazed by the occasion of playing an American icon on the biggest tennis court in the world.

Although the crowd was unsurprisingly backing Williams throughout inside an incredible noisy Ashe, the manner in which Andreescu coped and reset after seeing her double break in the second set disappear was remarkable.

At one point, Andreescu even put her fingers in her ears as the volume became particularly loud as Williams fought back from 5-1 down.

After her first Championship point went begging in the seventh game, another disappeared when Williams hit an ace for 30-40 in what proved to be the final game before Andreescu sealed victory at the third attempt with a forehand winner.

“I definitely had to overcome the crowd. I knew you guys wanted Serena to win,” a smiling Andreescu said in her on-court victory speech.

“Obviously it was expected for Serena to fight back, but I tried my best to block everything out. I’m glad how I managed to do that.”

Williams fails to get over the line again

Williams said after July’s defeat in the Wimbledon final against Simona Halep that the weight of history was not a burden as she aimed to clinch that record-equalling 24th Grand Slam.

Yet, after also losing last year’s Wimbledon final and a controversial US Open final against Naomi Osaka 12 months ago, this latest defeat inevitably leads to more questions about why she cannot get over the line.

With time seemingly running out for the six-time US Open champion, who turns 38 this month, it makes you wonder how many more chances she will have to earn her place as the greatest ever, at least in numerical terms.

However, BBC Radio 5 Live analyst Jeff Tarango is in no doubt she will reach more Grand Slam finals.

“I think Serena will pull it together. I don’t have any doubt. She’s going to be back, she’s not going to give up,” the American said.

If Williams was looking for a comfortable start following her three previous final defeats, that did not materialise.

Nerves again seemed to take hold as she produced two double faults to gift the opening game to Andreescu, leaving her chasing a deficit which she could not recover.

It was the first breakpoint she had faced – and lost – since the first set of her fourth-round win over Croat Petra Martic.

The confidence she showed in the routine wins over China’s 18th seed Wang Qiang and Ukrainian fifth seed Elina Svitolina were not apparent as Andreescu’s depth and variety, plus her ability to absorb Williams’ power, unsettled the American.

Williams, who had close friend Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, sitting with her family, could not play with the control she showed against Wang and Svitolina, producing 14 unforced errors in a loose opening set.

All of her nine previous defeats in Grand Slam finals came after losing the opening sets and this miserable record did not look like changing when Andreescu started racing away with the second set.

Williams looked dejected as she continued to struggle to land a first serve, regularly looking at her racquet and shaking her hand as though she had no answers.

Suddenly she started to provide them in a spirited fightback, only for two more unforced errors to creep in to stall her momentum as Andreescu broke for a sixth time.

“I was just fighting at that point [at 5-1 down in the second set], trying to stay out there a little bit longer. The fans started cheering so hard and it made me feel better and fight a bit more,” Williams said.

“Bianca played an unbelievable match. If anyone could win this, outside of [sister] Venus, I’m happy it’s Bianca.”

Source – BBC

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Nigerian soccer fans confident of AFCON win

Published

6 months ago

February 11, 2024

Nancy M

Soccer fans in Nigeria have expressed their confidence that the Super Eagles will win the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

The Nigerian team qualified for the finals after defeating South Africa in the semi-final round of the competition. They face hosts Ivory Coast for the last game of the tournament today.

This will be the second match between both teams. The elephants of Ivory Coast suffered a 1- 0 defeat in their encounter with the Super Eagles at the group stage. Nigerian soccer fans say they are confident that the team will also win the final game.

Moshood Olatunji says, “We’re taking the cup. We’re not bragging and we’re not being pretentious and we’re not underestimating any group. But I think the Nigerian team started slow and they really worked as a team. The thing they had that I could see was the teamwork. They play for each other, they’re not playing for the coach, they’re actually playing for each other as a team. And I think if they carry that attitude into the finals, there’s no stopping us.”

Maxwell Ogbaje says, “I’m not surprised that we got to where we are today. We actually have a strong team. We have been at our best. It’s not just by chance, people see it that the one zero, one zero has always been a lucky thing, but it’s not. There’s actually good effort from the team that has brought that success.”

“Let them keep doing what they are doing especially the back 5. It’s a fantastic tactic that the coach Peseiro has been able to knock the boys with, so they should do what they do. They should be tight behind and they should take their chances. They should hit them on the counter and I believe if they are able to do that and they stay together, then Nigeria will be able to carry the day,” says Sam Maimagani.

It’s the eighth time Nigeria has made it to the finals in the Africa Cup of Nations and the 4th for Ivory Coast.

Nigeria is already a three-time winner of the Africa Cup of Nations and a triumph in today’s encounter will make it the 4th in 10 years.

A win for Ivory Coast will make them a three-time champion of the AFCON. Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu is expected to be at the game today to cheer the Super Eagles to victory.

Source: SABC

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Bayern Munich wins 11th straight Bundesliga title

Published

1 year ago

May 28, 2023

Mimmy

Bayern Munich leapfrogged rivals Borussia Dortmund to clinch their 11th consecutive Bundesliga title in a last-day drama in German football on Saturday, May 27.

In a climactic season finale, Bayern Munich ended up celebrating an unexpected title win while Dortmund’s dream of their first league trophy since 2012 was left in tatters following a 2-2 draw with Mainz.

Dortmund were leading by two points before their last match for the season but were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Mainz on Saturday, allowing Bayern to finish in first place with a goal difference.

RB Leipzig and sensational Union Berlin are third and fourth respectively and will also compete in the Champions League next season.

Hertha Berlin and Schalke 04 have been relegated, while VfB Stuttgart will go into the relegation playoff.

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India look to next generation at Women’s T20 World Cup

Published

1 year ago

February 6, 2023

Nancy M

India is looking to a new generation of talented young cricketers led by teenage batter Shafali Verma to propel them to a first Women’s T20 World Cup title this month. Long-serving skipper Mithali Raj and record-breaking fast bowler Jhulan Goswami, trailblazers for women’s cricket in India, both retired last year.

New captain Harmanpreet Kaur said both players are still on hand to give advice, but it is time to look forward. Whenever we need they are always available to us, that’s what you expect from senior players,” the 33-year-old told a recent press conference.

“Nobody can fill their places, but the young girls who are getting the chances are doing well. One of the players who has grabbed her chance is Verma, an attacking opening batter who led India to victory in the inaugural U19 T20 World Cup in South Africa last month.

The 19-year-old will be back on familiar ground for the T20 World Cup, which is again in South Africa. It starts on February 10 and India are chasing a breakthrough first title, having been runners-up behind hosts Australia in the last edition, in 2020. Their first match is against arch-rivals Pakistan on February 12 in Cape Town.

Verma made her international debut at the age of just 15 and was in the team that reached the T20 World Cup final in 2020.

She also played in the one-day World Cup and was a member of the Indian side which took silver at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The youngster looks up to big-hitting England batsman Liam Livingstone for inspiration and considers Indian great Sachin Tendulkar a role model. After captaining India to victory in the U19 World Cup, Verma said: “This is just the beginning.”

“When I entered the Under-19s, I only focused on winning the Under-19 Cup and we have won that today,” ESPNCricinfo quoted her as saying. I will look to take this winning confidence with me and win the senior World Cup.”

Besides Verma, the India team also includes Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma and Renuka Singh. The women’s game is making inroads in the cricket-mad country, with the inaugural Women’s Premier League set for March, ahead of the men’s IPL.

Last month, India’s cricket board auctioned off five women’s IPL teams for $572.5 million. The new generation “are ready to be the representatives of the modern generation of women’s cricketers”, cricket journalist Sharda Ugra told AFP.

“The women’s IPL is going to start and they are the perfect representation of the kind of Indian women cricketers that belong to the T20 generation. They have the right mindset and they are very, very talented.

Source: eNCA

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