26/06/2025

SPORTS THURSDAY | JUNE 26, 2025

29

Paolini, Swiatek reach quarters, Osaka out

BRIEFS

Tomic earns first Tour win since 2021 AUSTRALIA’S forgotten bad boy Bernard Tomic earned his first ATP main draw victory since 2021 yesterday as he hit back from a set down to beat Rinky Hijikata at the Mallorca Open. The 32-year-old, once ranked 17th in the world but now languishing down at 248, battled to a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to set up a clash against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. It was his first main draw win since beating Yuichi Sugita in the opening round of the 2021 Australian Open. Bautista Agut, 37, will provide a stern test of Tomic’s desire after the Spaniard continued his recent resurgence with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Top seed Ben Shelton begins his Mallorca quest overnight against fellow American Learner Tien. The 22-year-old Shelton, ranked 10 in the world, warmed up yesterday with a knock-about against Mallorca’s former NBA star Rudy Fernandez before shooting some hoops. “It was fun, Rudy is a really nice guy, I’d never met him before,” Shelton said of the former Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets player. “He’s a better tennis player than I was expecting.” Murray to be immortalised WIMBLEDON will soon feature a per manent tribute to one of Britain’s sporting greats, as the All England Club announced plans to honour Andy Murray with a statue at the iconic ten nis venue. The 38-year-old retired in August after an appearance at the Paris Olympics and will get his own statue after ending Britain’s 77-year wait for a home men’s singles champion in 2013 when he beat Novak Djokovic in the final. Murray won Wimbledon again in 2016 and was knighted the next year for his services to tennis and charity. A popular player on and off the court, Murray reached world No. 1 and claimed three Grand Slam singles titles during his career despite competing in an era dominated by greats such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic. “We are looking to have a statue of Andy Murray here (at Wimbledon) and we’re working closely with him and his team,” chair of the All England Club Debbie Jevans said yes terday. “The ambition is that we would unveil that at the 150th anniversary of our first championship, which was 1877. He’s got to rightly be very involved in that and he and his team will be.” THE racing scenes in Brad Pitt’s new F1 movie are impressively authentic but the filmmakers have also made much of how the sport’s past is woven into the plot – with a hefty slice of Hollywood artistic licence. “We just drew from history. A little this, a little that, then we had Lewis Hamilton keep us straight,” commented Pitt at a New York premiere ahead of this week’s general release in cinemas. The Apple Original Films blockbuster – with scenes shot during grand prix week ends – is a redemption story, with Pitt playing ageing driver Sonny Hayes on an unlikely comeback alongside a young hotshot at a struggling team. Seven-times world champion Hamilton provided advice and is cred ited as a co-producer on a movie scripted for audiences unfamiliar with the sport. F1 movie draws on decades of drama

Iga Swiatek of Poland. – REUTERSPIC

SECOND seed Jasmine Paolini overcame a brave fightback from Leylah Fernandez to beat her 7 6(8), 7-6(6) in a dramatic round of 16 clash at the Bad Homburg Open yesterday in which Fernandez saved four match points. Paolini edged the opening set in a tiebreak, saving a set point at 5-4 before sealing it 10-8 after a gruelling 26-shot rally. The Italian looked on course for a straight-sets win when she led 5-2 in the second, but Canadian Fernandez saved a match point with an ace and clawed her way back. Paolini held more match

Swiatek broke Azarenka back for 4-3 and held to level. The Pole broke again for 5-4 and saved two break points in a tense final game before Azarenka sent a forehand wide to concede the set. The players traded breaks early in the second set before Swiatek pulled away. After breaking for 4-3, the top seed held serve twice more to seal the win in straight sets. Four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka’s poor form continued after she fell 6-4, 6-4 against American fifth seed Emma Navarro. Navarro will face compatriot Jessica Pegula overnight, after the top seed powered past Czech Katerina Siniakova 6-2 6-3 earlier. – Reuters

points at 6-5, but Fernandez saved all three to force a tiebreak. Fernandez went up 6-4 in the breaker, but Paolini held firm, saving two set points before clinching victory on her fifth match point. Despite converting only five of her 17 break points, Paolini secured her first win on grass this season after a two and a half hour match. “It’s very fun to play on grass, but you have to get used to it and you have to have confidence as well in your game, if not it’s really tough,” Paolini said. “I really like also to go on the net and doing drop volleys and it’s fun but at the same time it’s a bit tricky.” Fourth seed Iga Swiatek overcame a slow start to defeat Belarusian Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-4. After trailing 2-4,

‘It meant a lot to me’ Raducanu emotional after comeback victory at Eastbourne

Ű BY ED ELLIOT

ing Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova. Following two suspensions of play in the open ing set due to wet weather, the British No. 4 moved to the brink of one of the greatest wins of her career. But Krejcikova, who defeated Jasmine Paolini in last year’s Wimbledon final, survived a first-round shock by hitting back to progress 6-3, 6-7 (4). 7-5 in two hours and 40 minutes. The second seed will face another Briton in round two following Jodie Burrage’s 6-3, 6-2 win over Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima. Dart did little to hide her frustration at failing to capitalise on the pair of match-clinching opportu nities against the 2021 French Open champion, let ting out a piercing scream as the following game slipped away. The 28-year-old has only twice defeated oppo nents with a higher ranking than Krejcikova’s cur rent status of world No. 17. She upset 2024 Eastbourne champion Daria Kasatkina, who was then ranked ninth, in the first round of the 2022 US Open before beating then world number 13 Paula Badosa later that year at the Billie Jean King Cup.

E MMA RADUCANU fought back tears after resuming her Wimbledon preparations by battling back from a set down to beat American Ann Li in the first round of the Eastbourne Open. Amid blustery conditions, the British No. 1, who missed last week’s Berlin Open as she managed a back problem, triumphed 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1. Raducanu has been struggling with the issue since competing in Strasbourg before the French Open and took an off-court medical timeout during her quarterfinal loss at Queen’s Club earlier this month. But, aside from a slip and fall on the grass in set one, she Victory over world No. 64 Li in two hours and 18 minutes sets up a second round clash with 19-year-old Australian Maya Joint, who knocked out two-time Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur. Seventh seed Raducanu produced an emotional response after sealing progression with a fine back hand winner. “It feels incredible. I want to thank the crowd for getting me through some really sticky moments,” the former US Open champion said in her on-court interview. “It really meant a lot to me and I’m really proud of how I fought back after losing the first set. I’m very, very happy to come through that. “It was tough, it was up and down, but from the middle of the second set I think I found another gear and another level.” Earlier, Harriet Dart blew two match points on serve as she slipped to an agonising defeat to reign MAX VERSTAPPEN has named six F1 circuits which should always remain on the sport’s calendar – and is set to be disappointed with one of those tracks not on the 2026 schedule. Four-time F1 world champion Verstappen is known to favour historic, old-school circuits but has made clear his dislike for sprint races and the number of events on the current calendar, currently at 24. Now, the Red Bull driver has named his six F1 tracks which should stay on the schedule permanently. “If it were up to me, the calendar would look very different and also have fewer races,” he told Dutch Ű BY KIERAN JACKSON appeared to come through her open ing examination at Devonshire unscathed. Park

Dart said: “Some crazy, crazy conditions today. I was pretty close. I

missed a ball on match point and then she played a really good other point on my other match point and then

she becomes a bit freer. It was a tough match over all. “My level was 10 times better than I’ve

played the last two weeks. For me that’s more important, especially going to Wimbledon. “Of course, I’d like to have won today. But I was also playing a very experienced, multiple grand slam winner.” – The Independent

Britain’s Emma Raducanu in action yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Max names six tracks which must stay on F1 calendar

Interlagos in Brazil until 2030 and Silverstone until 2034. Verstappen also recently participated in a GT3 test at the Nurburgring Nordschleife but ruled out the prospect of F1 finding a permanent home again at the famous German track. “That’s really not going to happen with the Formula 1 cars we have now, I’m afraid,” he said. “With GT3 speed, it is okay and still doable. I have seen old footage now and then, also of Formula 1 on the Nordschleife. “One thing is for sure: F1 there, that will never happen again. Far too dangerous.” Verstappen will be eyeing his third win of the 2025 season at Red Bull’s home race this weekend, the Austrian Grand Prix. – The Independent

outlet Formule 1 Magazine . “Circuits that, in my opinion, deserve a ‘separate status’ and always belong on the calendar, purely on sporting grounds, are Spa-Francorchamps, Zandvoort, Silverstone, Imola, Suzuka and Brazil.” However, Imola’s contract with F1 has expired and the Italian circuit is not on the 2026 schedule. The only reprieve for the Emilia-Romagna circuit could be if the new street track in Madrid, which is scheduled to make its debut next September, is not completed on time. In addition, the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort – Verstappen’s home race – will no longer be on the calendar after 2026, while Spa-Francorchamps will only host a race once every two years from 2027. Yet Suzuka has a contract in place until 2029,