19/06/2025

SPORTS THURSDAY | JUNE 19, 2025

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Alcaraz ‘excited’ in ‘AlcarCanu’ formation Spaniard battles past lucky loser Walton to advance at Queen’s Club T OP seed Carlos Alcaraz got his grass court campaign up and running with a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Australian Adam Walton to move into the last 16 at the Alcaraz in the second round last year and the Briton is hoping to improve on his quarterfinal run. “It’s tricky coming onto the grass after clay, to adapt, I’m hitting the ball a bit late, not on time,” Draper said.

TRAMLINES

Sinner through in Halle WORLD No. 1 Jannik Sinner rebounded from his agonising French Open final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz with a straight-sets win at the Halle Open yesterday. The 23-year-old beat Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann 7-5, 6-3 on the Halle grass, just over a week after his loss to Alcaraz at Roland Garros. “I’m very happy about my performance,” Sinner said on court after the victory. The first set could have gone into a tie-break and then anything can happen. First matches are never easy on grass – and also second and third matches – so let’s see what’s coming in the next round.” Sinner will take on 2023 Halle champion Alexander Bublik in the last 16 today. Samsonova downs Osaka, Keys out RUSSIA’S Liudmila Samsonova came from behind to beat Naomi Osaka while Australian Open winner Madison Keys crashed out in the first round of the Berlin Open yesterday. World No. 20 Samsonova, who won the tournament in 2021, edged past the four-time Grand Slam champion 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. “I was just trying to fight until the end,”Samsonova said of her struggles early in the match, adding she wanted“to push and try to find my game”. Former world No. 1 Osaka’s defeat is the latest setback in her comeback since returning from maternity leave last year. She also failed to make it past the opening round, losing to 2023 Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 7-6 (8-6). World No. 4 Zheng Qinwen pulled out of the tournament due to injury on Tuesday. She was replaced by lucky loser Ashlyn Krueger, who lost to 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). Boulter leads British charge DEFENDING champion Katie Boulter defeated New Zealand’s Lulu Sun 6-2, 6-2 at the Nottingham Open on Tuesday as four Britons advanced to the last 16. Joining eighth seed Boulter were Mingge Xu , Sonay Kartal, and Francesca Jones, though Boulter and Kartal are set to face each other in the next round. “I’ve played enough of them now. It’s just another match for me. I have so much respect for Sonay, she’s an incredible tennis player,” said Boulter. “I’ve always said to her that she’s going to pass my ranking. I know how good she can be and dangerous. We actually played a really close match on grass quite a few years ago so I know it’s going to be an absolute battle.” Boulter, currently on an 11 match winning streak at her home tournament, is aiming to become the first player in Nottingham Open history to claim three consecutive titles.

Queen’s Club Championships yesterday. Alcaraz was tested by Walton who had set points in the second set before the Spaniard recovered and won the tiebreak. Alcaraz was meant to play compatriot Alejandro Davidovich Fokina but the Spaniard withdrew due to illness, giving lucky loser Walton the chance to play the French Open champion as he warmed up for his Wimbledon title defence. “I realised that I was going to play against Adam after my warm-up … He has played a few matches already before this one. I think he played really great tennis,” said Alcaraz, the champion at Queen’s Club in 2023. “It surprised me a little bit. So I knew that I was going to struggle a little bit today, but just really happy to get the win. “I feel super happy to be back on grass. It is a special surface, a special place to me.” Earlier this year, the US Open announced a new-look mixed doubles tournament to take place in the week preceding the major. With a winning purse of US$1m (RM4.25m), top singles players have been encouraged to participate in a two-day, quick-scoring format. There’s no doubting where the main stardust pairing lies. Alcaraz, the sport’s hottest property right now, is set to compete in a box-office duo alongside British No. 1 Emma Raducanu a.k.a. “AlcarCanu”. “She’s going to be the boss!” he said, with a wide smile in his press conference. “The US Open came to us and gave us the opportunity to play mixed doubles and I’m super excited about it. It’s going to be great. “I’ve known Emma a really long time and I have a really good relationship with her, it’s going to be interesting. The tournament told us about the mixed tournament and I was thinking it couldn’t be better than Emma. I asked Emma if she wanted to play doubles with me and yeah, I made that special request.” Asked if she said ‘yes’ straight away, Alcaraz humorously responded: “She took a while! She had to think a little bit!” French qualifier Corentin Moutet pulled off the biggest win of his career, saving a match point to stun American third seed Taylor Fritz 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 7-5 in a marathon battle. The 26-year-old, who earned just his second career victory over a Top-10 opponent, will face Britain’s Jacob Fearnley in the last 16. Second seed Jack Draper warmed up the home crowd when he claimed an impressive 6-3, 6-1 victory over American Jenson Brooksby for his first win on grass this season. Draper had beaten defending champion

“The more matches and time I have on practice courts, I’ll get better and better. It’s definitely a surface I really enjoy playing on.” Australia’s fifth seed Alex de Minaur bowed out of the tournament after a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Jiri Lehecka while Alexei Popyrin beat Aleksandar Vukic 6-2, 6-7(9), 7-6(3) in an all-Australian battle. American sixth seed Ben Shelton was also knocked out in a 7-6(5), 7-6(4) loss to French qualifier Arthur Rinderknech. – Reuters/The Independent

Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu. – AFPPIC/REUTERSPIC

Wolff dismisses RB’s ‘petty and embarrassing’ protest

protest was also rejected. The win in Canada was Mercedes’first in 10 races so far this season. Wolff, who has also had plenty of past run-ins with Horner, wondered who was behind the Red Bull protests but cleared Verstappen of any guilt. “I don’t even know what you refer to as ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour’ or something. “What is it all about? Who decides it? Because I’m 100% sure it’s not Max, he’s a racer. “He would never go for a protest on such a trivial thing,” he said. Horner said Red Bull had no regrets about the protest and were simply exercising their rights because they saw something they did not think was correct. – Reuters

MERCEDES Formula One boss Toto Wolff has dismissed Red Bull’s failed protest of George Russell’s Canadian Grand Prix win as petty and embarrassing. Stewards threw out the protest some five and a half hours after the chequered flag came down on the race in Montreal on Sunday. The team had accused Russell of unsportsmanlike behaviour, suggesting he had tried deliberately to get second placed Max Verstappen into trouble while the safety car was deployed, knowing the champion was at risk of

rejected,” added the Austrian. “You know, you race, you win and you lose on track. That was a fair victory for us, like so many they had in the past. And it’s just embarrassing.” Russell and four times world champion Verstappen have a long-standing rivalry and Red Bull have protested twice in the space of five races against the Mercedes driver. In Miami in May they protested the Briton’s third place, arguing the driver had failed to slow when yellow flags were waved during a virtual safety car period. Verstappen was fourth that time. That

a ban. “It took team Red Bull Racing two hours before they launched the protest, so that was in their doing. Honestly, it’s so petty and so small,”Wolff told Sky Sports television at the New York premiere of the Brad Pitt movie F1 on Tuesday. “They’ve done it in Miami. Now they launched two protests. They took one back because it was ridiculous. “They (Red Bull) come up with some weird clauses, what they call clauses. I guess the FIA needs to look at that because it’s so far-fetched it was