31/07/2025

SPORTS THURSDAY | JULY 31, 2025

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Winning return for Zverev German top seed in fighting form after month off court A LEXANDER ZVEREV made a storm ing return after a month away from tennis yesterday, with the top seed pounding out a 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 win over Adam Walton to reach the third round of the ATP Toronto Masters. The 2017 champion in Canada will now play Italian Matteo Arnaldi, who defeated qualifier Tristan Schoolkate 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti and No. 5 Holger Rune both eased into action with comfortable straight set wins.

Alexander Zverev returns a shot to Adam Walton (unseen) during the Toronto Masters. – AFPPIC

(Wimbledon) and then going down last week in his Washington opening match. His last victory came in early June in the Roland Garros quarters. Musetti had 17 winners while Duckworth was undone by more than 30 unforced errors. The Italian next faces American Alex Michelsen, a 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 winner over Chilean qualifier Tomas Barrios Vera. Rune, who was back in action a month after a first-round Wimbledon defeat, handed French Mpetshi Perricard a fourth career loss against top 10 players. Denmark’s four-time finalist at the Masters level produced his first hardcourt win since last March at Indian Wells. “It was a very tricky first match for me, he’s a big server and (there was) not a lot of rhythm in the match,” Rune said after his 75-minute win. “I had to really take care of my own serve, and then just look for the opportunities. “It was about finding a way to win at the end of the (first set) tiebreak. “In the second set I was pretty good when it mattered. I think I was serving very well today.” – AFP

The pair began after byes and wasted little time in advancing into the third round, with Musetti hammering Australian qualifier James Duckworth 7-5, 6-1. Rune dispatched big hitter Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 7-6 (9-7), 6-3. Casper Ruud put out Roman Safiullin 6-3, 6-3 for another seeded win. The event is missing the absolute cream of the player field, with both No. 1 Jannik Sinner and second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz out with injury and fatigue issues. Musetti, a former semifinalist at both Wimbledon and Roland Garros, was ruthless with Duckworth, advancing in 82 minutes. He broke for a set and 5-1 on his opponent’s double-fault and finished up a game later with an ace. The Italian is coming back into form after losing his only grass match of the summer

The German top seed, who lost in the Wimbledon first round, has spent the last weeks dealing with mental burnout and also made a trip to Rafael Nadal’s Mallorca academy for consultations and perhaps some career advice during his time away. The ATP world No. 3 came from 4-1 down in the opening set tiebreaker and did not face a break point until he found himself down 0-40 as he tried to serve out victory leading a set and 5-3. Though he lost that game, the German immediately broke back, with his Australian opponent double-faulting on a Zverev match point. His victory included a massive 52-shot rally, with the triumph putting Zverev on 499 wins for his career. “Sometimes it’s just about winning,” Zverev said. “It was not the prettiest match, though.”

Raducanu, Alcaraz pair up for US Open EMMA RADUCANU and Carlos Alcaraz have been confirmed as wild card entries in this year’s US Open mixed doubles event. The mixed doubles championship will take place before the main tournament on Aug 19 and 20, where US$1 million (RM4.3m) in prize money is at stake for the winners. Raducanu and Alcaraz are one of six teams who have received wild cards so far and two further wild cards are set to be announced at a later date to take the overall number of teams competing to 16. Speaking about the dynamics of their partnership, Alcaraz said: “She’s going to be the boss. The US Open came to us and gave us the opportunity to play mixed doubles. “I’m super excited about it, it’s going to be great, it was an amazing idea from the tournament. “I’ve known Emma since a long time ago – I have a really good relationship with her so it’s going to be interesting. “We are going to enjoy for sure, I’ll try to put my doubles skills on and we’ll try to win.” The Spaniard joked that his British partner took a while replying to his request to play mixed doubles. Asked about the delay, Raducanu quipped: “Gotta keep ‘em on their toes. I mean, of course, I had to ask my team if they wanted me to play. “But for me, when he asked me, I was going to say yes, I just had to kind of go through the formality of asking my coach, so I didn’t just make the decision.” Eight of the total 16 pairs have received direct entry into the draw, including Emma Navarro and Jannik Sinner along with Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud. Britain’s Jack Draper is also in the main draw, paired with Paula Badosa and US duo Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul will play together in front of their home crowd. Other notable wild cards include Novak Djokovic and Olga Danilovic, while two time grand slam mixed doubles champion Venus Williams will compete with Reilly Opelka. Current US Open mixed doubles champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori have also received wild cards. – The Independent/Express Newspapers

Gauff outlasts Collins to advance in Montreal

WORLD NO. 2 Coco Gauff battled into the third round of the WTA Canadian Open yesterday by outlasting US compatriot Danielle Collins 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2). Gauff won the last six points of the match to capture her opener in her first hardcourt tune-up event on the road to the US Open, which starts on Aug 24. Top seed Gauff, the reigning French Open champion who also won the 2023 US Open, advanced to a third-round Montreal match against fifth-ranked Veronika Kudermetova, who eliminated Serbian Olga Danilovic 6-4, 6-2. “It was a frustrating match for me just because I felt like I was practicing well and then I don’t think I transferred it,” Gauff said. “But hopefully I got my bad match of the tournament out of the way and I can come back stronger in the next round.” The 21-year-old Gauff,

playing well, except for that part of my game.” Gauff converted nine of 16 break chances in her first victory since capturing the title at Roland Garros. “For me to break her as many times as I did, there are some positives to take from today,” Gauff said. The day’s biggest shocker saw Japanese qualifier Aoi Ito stun Italian seventh seed Jasmine Paolini 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). The 21-year-old beat American Katie Volynets in the first round for her first WTA 1000 level triumph then followed with her first victory over a top-10 opponent by rallying from a set and break down to advance after two hours and 27 minutes. In other matches, DC Open champion Leylah Fernandez dropped her opener on home soil, falling to Australian Maya Joint 6-4, 6-1. Russian fourth seed Mirra Andreeva advanced to the third round in a walkover past Canada’s Bianca Andreescu due to a left ankle injury. – AFP

an ace after two hours and 55 minutes.

“It was a tough battle out there,” Gauff said. “Making serves in the court was the t o u g h e s t challenge. “Maybe if I cut that in half it could be a

Coco Gauff celebrates

after defeating Danielle Collins at the WTA 1000 National Bank Open. – AFPPIC

qu i cke r match for me. I thought I was

seeking her 11th career WTA title, fired 23 double faults against three aces, but closed out the match with

Antonelli paying price for Mercedes mistakes

MERCEDES have made mistakes in developing their Formula One car and teenage Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli’s struggles are a consequence of that, according to technical director James Allison. Antonelli, 18, finished third in Canada in June for his first F1 podium but has since failed to score. He has had two retirements since Montreal as well as 17th in a sprint race in Belgium last Saturday and then 16th in Sunday’s main grand prix. The Italian, who took a sprint pole in Miami and is the sport’s youngest ever race leader, has retired four times in the last seven rounds and admitted in Belgium he was lacking confidence in the car and not driving as he would like.

those reassuring words because we absolutely know that he is putting in the effort on his side of that bargain,” he added. Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, whose seat Antonelli took when the Briton moved to Ferrari, showed his support for the Italian after Saturday qualifying at Spa. “He was telling me to keep my head up, and that it’s normal to have bad weekends, and to just keep believing,” the Italian told reporters. Hamilton told Sky Sports television he could not imagine what the rookie was going through. “He’s been doing fantastic. But to be thrown in at the deep end at 18… he hadn’t even had his driving licence when he first started racing,” he said. – Reuters

“I think he’s, like the rest of us, massively fed up with a string of results that are well below what we were collectively achieving earlier in the year,” Allison said in a Belgian race debrief yesterday. “I hope he takes some solace from the fact that we tell him, and it’s demonstrably a fact, that we have taken the wrong steps with the car, making our team less competitive, and that he is paying the price for that, as is George (Russell). “If the car isn’t where it needs to be, then it will be a struggle getting through the qualifying stages in your rookie season in F1.” Allison said it was “utterly clear” to everyone that the car needed to be better and Antonelli’s fortunes would improve when it was. “Hopefully he’s listening to us as we say