18/06/2025

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | JUNE 18, 2025

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‘I’ve come full circle’ Evans beat Tiafoe to reach the second round at Queen’s Club

D AN EVANS felt he had come full circle after winning the first men’s match at the newly christened Andy Murray Arena. Evans beat world No. 13 Frances Tiafoe 7-5, 6-2 to reach the second round of the HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club. The 35-year-old was Murray’s partner when the three-time grand slam winner and former world No. 1 played his final match, for Great Britain in the men’s doubles at the Olympics last year. “I didn’t really think anything of it when I was put first on,” said Evans. “But then a few people mentioned it, that I had finished with him in his last match and then played the men’s event, the first match. It was pretty cool to do that.” Evans, now ranked a lowly 199 and plodding around the lower-tier Challenger events, rolled back the years against big-serving American Tiafoe. He picked up his second career win over a top-20 opponent on grass, having knocked 16th-ranked Nikoloz Basilashvili out of Wimbledon six years ago. “I still believed I’ve got that tennis in me and I still believe I can do good things inside the top 100. But believing it and it happening is a lot different,” he added. “You know, that’s why I wake up in the morning to go to practice, to go to training. First-ever T20 triple Super Over THE Netherlands beat Nepal but needed a record-breaking three Super Overs to clinch victory in their Twenty20 tri-series match in Glasgow yesterday, the first time a triple Super Over has been seen in T20 or limited-overs cricket. The Dutch posted 152 for seven and appeared set for the win as Nepal required 16 runs from the final over, but Nandan Yadav scored a boundary on the last ball to force a Super Over. Nepal made 19 runs which the Dutch matched thanks to Max O’Dowd hitting a six on the final ball, and a second Super Over was needed for only the

lucky loser Christopher O’Connell. But there was disappointment for another home favourite in Cameron Norrie, who was beaten 7-6 (8-6), 1-6, 6-1 by Czech rising star Jakub Mensik. The 19-year-old, who beat Novak Djokovic to win the Miami Masters in March, next faces Roberto Bautista Agut, who edged out Nuno Borges 6-7 (6-8), 7 5, 6-4. Qualifier Mackenzie McDonald got the better of 38-year-old Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4. The Independent/AFP

“You know how some days you think ‘are you deluded, are you nuts, have you still got it, still got it in your legs’? I think today showed I still have a bit left.” Evans needed a wildcard to play at Queen’s and will need another if he is to compete at Wimbledon. “I don’t think any younger players have been ripping up stumps to knock me out of the wildcard spot,” he said. “So I think I’ve got a good shot again. If I don’t, yeah, I respect the All England Club. It’s an amazing tournament, and they might go for younger people, which is perfectly fine. If they don’t, I’ve got a chance.” British No. 2 Jacob Fearnley joined Evans in round two after he made short work of Australia’s Alex Bolt with a 6-2, 6 4 victory. Edinburgh-born Fearnley, 23, said: “It’s really special to play here at Queen’s on the Andy Murray Arena. “As a British tennis player, this is where we want to be playing, in front of a home crowd at Queen’s.

Evans. – REUTERSPIC

“It’s huge. I’m super happy he got an arena named after him. He was my biggest role model growing up.” Fourth seed Holger Rune eased into his grass court season with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Australian

Top seeds rise and fall in Halle

RUSSIAN third seed Daniil Medvedev eased past home hope Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-3 at Germany’s Halle Open yesterday, looking to find form in his Wimbledon tune-up after early round losses at the Australian Open and French Open. Bouncing back after a quarterfinal exit in Den Bosch last week, the former US Open winner and 2022 Halle finallist needed just an hour to beat the German, converting three of six break point opportunities and saving both break points he faced. Altmaier saved two match points on Medvedev’s serve but was ultimately beaten on the third, as the twice Wimbledon semifinalist closed out his opening Halle match and inched closer in his chase for a first grass-court title since Mallorca in 2021. “I didn’t really have that in my head,” Medvedev admitted shortly after his victory yesterday. “I knew he had played fantastically in Paris, but the surface is so different. Maybe it’s the case that the better you play in Paris, the harder it is for you to play in Halle.” Stefanos Tsitsipas, unseeded at an event for the first time since 2018 ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, edged past Italy’s Luciano Darderi 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) in a gruelling first-round battle. It was his first event with coach Goran

It is the first time Andreeva has lost a deciding set with a 6-0 scoreline in her professional career, and it was Frech’s second top ten win of her career. Lucky loser Ons Jabeur, beaten yesterday in the last qualifying round, made the most of her unexpected chance with a 7-6, 6-1 win over American Caroline Dolehide. The Tunisian, who has slipped to 61st in the world, earned a win for only the second time in her last five tournaments, and will come up against fourth seed Jasmine Paolini. World No. 9 Emma Navarro also advanced, with a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 win over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk. – Reuters/Agencies Ivanisevic, who joined his team after a second-round exit at Roland Garros0. Tsitsipas, a former world No. 3, is now ranked 25th, his lowest position since 2018. American tennis icon Andy Roddick shared his perspective on Tsitsipas’s recent play at the Halle Open. He noted a discernible shift in Tsitsipas’s intensity and focus, suggesting that the partnership is already fostering a renewed energy. Roddick stated, “Stef needs a jolt of energy, right? And a reason to focus…You can see Stef playing with maybe a little bit of a different intensity, maybe more intentional.” Alexander Bublik, Halle 2023 winner, dispatched France’s Alexandre Muller 6 4, 6-4. The Kazakh broke late in the first set and struck early in the second, dominating on serve to wrap up the match in exactly one hour. Bublik, who reached the French Open quarterfinals two weeks ago before losing to eventual runner-up Jannik Sinner of Italy, will next face either Halle defending champion Sinner or Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann. Last year’s runner-up Hubert Hurkacz of Poland withdrew from the event due to injury, with Dutchman Jesper de Jong taking his place in the main draw. – Reuters/Agencies

Daniil Medvedev of Russia. – REUTERSPIC

second time in men’s international cricket, after India and Afghanistan last year. The Netherlands, batting first, hit 17 runs and Nepal again stayed in the match after Dipendra Singh Airee hit a six on the last ball to mark the first instance of a third Super Over. It failed to live up to the drama of the previous two with Nepal failing to score a single run and with the Dutch needing just one run, Michael Levitt smashed a six to finally seal the win for the Netherlands. – Reuters

Andreeva stunned, lucky loser Jabeur powers through

Notices

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POLAND’S Magdalena Frech came from a set down to battle past world No. 7 Mirra Andreeva of Russia 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 yesterday, booking a place in the Berlin Open round of 16 and staging the upset of the tournament. The 18-year-old sixth seed looked to be cruising to victory when she bagged the first set with an audacious backhand slice dropshot on her fourth set point against Frech. The world No. 25, however, was far from finished, breaking at the start of the second set with Andreeva losing her calm and hitting a ball high out of the court. With Andreeva’s composure rapidly

eroding and her unforced error count shooting up, Frech levelled when the Russian teenager’s slice forehand sailed long. The Pole then powered past Andreeva with a bagel in the third, sealing her win when Andreeva sent another forehand wide. “It’s always tough to play against Top 10 players, especially Mirra,” Frech told former Top 10 player Andrea Petkovic on court. “She’s a great fighter, she’s playing really great tennis. I knew from the beginning that it’s going to be a very tough match.” Frech describing her comeback, added: “I tried to focus more on my service games, to be more patient.”

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