22/02/2026

theSun on Sunday FEB 22, 2026

SPORTS 12 Svitolina downs Gauff, Pegula beats Anisimova

Alcaraz digs deep to topple Rublev

where you can find the solutions to a problem.” Fils secured a place in his first tour-level final since lifting the ATP 500 trophy in Tokyo in 2024 with an impressive straight sets win over 2024 finalist Mensik. The Czech was outstanding in his quarterfinal win over world no.2 Sinner but could not hit the same heights against Fils. “It’s been a tough journey,“ said Fils, who is playing just his third event since returning after eight months on the sidelines with a back injury. “Eight months without playing tennis, just watching the other guys battling… Staying in my bed and doing recovery was very long. “My team knows how tough it was, but now it feels even better when I am coming back like this. To be back in a final, it means a lot.” – AFP Russell concerned by Prancing Horse fast starts, his slow ones FERRARI’S fast practice starts in Formula One’s pre-season testing in Bahrain have caught the attention of rivals and alarmed Mercedes’ likely title contender George Russell. Russell told reporters in Bahrain yes terday that he was struggling to get off the line quickly, while seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton had shown impressive speed in the red car. Formula One’s governing body has been evaluating a new race start lights sequence at the end of each test session, with cars lining up and a new five-second pre-start flashing blue warning light before the standard procedure kicks in. The change reflects added complica tions of the new power units, some of which appear to take longer than others to get the turbo running at the correct speed to ensure a quick getaway. “I think we’ve got a lot of potential beneath us,“ said Russell, already installed as the bookmaker’s early title favourite. “But to win a race, you’ve also got to get off the line quite well. “And I think the two starts I’ve made this week were worse than my worst ever start in Formula One. And, Lewis, down in P11, got into P1.” McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, whose car has the same engines as Russell’s, sounded less concerned. “I thought mine yesterday wasn’t too bad. I was last but I think I passed about four cars as well. I think it’s just very ran dom at the moment, and I think we’re all kind of learning what makes a good start, what makes a bad start,“ said the Australian. “Just the way we do starts is much more difficult than last year. It’s trickier from every single angle. And I think what we’re seeing at the moment is people just getting things right and other people get ting them very wrong.” Piastri expected the field to converge pretty quickly after the early races. Apart from the starts, Russell said Red Bull appeared to have the best energy deployment of any team, but Mercedes were closing the gap. The season starts in Australia on March 8. – Reuters

maturing.” The Spaniard twice failed to serve out the opening set and saw a 3-0 lead in the second quickly wiped out. He then missed three match points on serve at 5-3 when Rublev staged another fightback. But Alcaraz held his nerve and after failing with two other match points sealed the match on his sixth to reach the Qatar final for the first time. “If you want to find a solution to a problem, you should find it in a calm place,“ said Alcaraz who needed three sets to get past former cham pion Karen Khachanov in the quar ter-finals. “It’s something I am working on. When I am playing and getting mad, seeing I’m not at my best, I just get frustrated. That is not the place you will find solutions. “In these matches, I have been really calm, thinking clearly and being positive. It’s in those places

WORLD no. 1 Carlos Alcaraz needed six match points before finally top pling defending champion Andrey Rublev 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 yesterday to reach the final of the Qatar Open. Playing his first tournament since completing his career Grand Slam at the Australian Open earlier in February, Alcaraz will face Arthur Fils in the final. The 21-year-old Frenchman was a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) winner over sixth seed Jakub Mensik, who defeated Jannik Sinner in the last eight. After two hours, two minutes on court, Alcaraz extended his perfect winning record to 11 matches this season. “The way that I am approaching every match, I’m just really proud about it,” said the seven-time Grand Slam winner. “It’s something I am trying to be better at and it’s paying off. I’m proud of myself (for) getting better and

final again after a few years. Coco is such a big fighter. I was expecting her to come back in the match. She’s won so many big tournaments. I’m very pleased with the fight and the win,“ she added. World No. 6 Anisimova took less than half an hour to win the first set before building a 3-1 lead in the second. But Pegula held her nerve and broke Anisimova three times in a row to win the second set, before securing vic tory in the decider. “I held on to my serve there in the second set. I just kept telling myself that I had some break points in the first set, even though it was convincingly the other way, and I knew I could get some break points back,” 2024 U.S. Open finalist Pegula said. – Reuters

UKRAINE’S Elina Svitolina kept up her recent winning run against Coco Gauff as she edged the American 6-4 6-7(13), 6-4 yesterday to set up a final show down with Jessica Pegula at the Dubai Tennis Championships. Pegula shook off a first-set stumble to defeat fellow American Amanda Anisimova 1 6, 6-4, 6-3 in the other semifinal. Svitolina secured her second consecutive victory over the world No. 4 in a gruelling three hour encounter, having previ ously beaten Gauff in straight sets at last month’s Australian Open quarterfinals. “I’m speechless after that fight. I was really trying to put myself out there, playing as if there was no tomorrow,” Svitolina said. “It’s really special to be in the

Aston Martin in disarray Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (left) and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc during a press conference before the pre season testing yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

… as Ferrari’s Leclerc tops F1 testing timesheets

FERRARI’S Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets on the final day of pre-season testing at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain yesterday while Aston Martin’s plans to make an impact in the new Formula One season crumbled into chaos. The new Adrian Newey designed Aston Martin car is radically different to the others on the grid, although all have undergone major changes as teams adapt to new regulations on chassis and engines. The eye-catching Aston Martin ran into problems with its Honda power unit on Friday when Fernando Alonso suffered a battery failure. The team were also short of spare parts and Lance Stroll only completed six laps yesterday – two in the morning and four in the afternoon – before Aston Martin called time on testing two hours before the scheduled close. “Overall, we are not happy with our performance and our reliability at the moment,” said Honda’s trackside general manager and chief engineer

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur pronounced himself “happy” with testing but stressed that it was not just important to be ready for Melbourne. “The development will be so huge during the season that the most important (thing) is the capacity of the team to develop, the capacity of the team to bring parts quickly, much more than the performance at race one,” he said. “We need to keep the momentum of the season and to be focused on development.” Mercedes have been tipped as the car to chase in 2026 although Kimi Antonelli was brought to a halt on the track on Friday by a pneumatic issue. In spite of that the 19-year old Italian said he was looking forward confidently to Australia. “I feel good going into the season,” he said. “Much more prepared compared to last year. Of course, there’s a lot of expectation around us but I think the other top teams are very strong as well.” – AFP

also fascinating.” Honda and Newey now have just two weeks to fix the problems before the teams gather in Melbourne for the opening grand prix of the new season. With teams still hiding their full capacity and testing different aspects of their cars, the timesheets were not a clear indicator of strength. However, over the course of the shakedown in Barcelona and the two sessions in Bahrain it appeared the top four teams – McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes – will again dominate in 2026. Ferrari’s Leclerc put in 132 laps yesterday and threw the quickest time of 1min 31.992sec, heading world champion Lando Norris in his McLaren and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. “It’s still difficult to understand where we really stand because teams are hiding their true form, so it’s important not to focus too much on lap times and prepare for the first race,” said Leclerc.

Shintaro Orihara in a press release. “We collected data successfully; however, we didn’t achieve the accumulated mileage that we were targeting.” Alonso and Stroll completed a total of just 128 laps over the three days – the equivalent of what many teams did in one day. “It’s been a challenging couple of weeks here in Bahrain, and today’s limited running wasn’t the way we wanted to finish the second test,” said Stroll. “It’s clear the car isn’t where we want it to be performance wise, and we know there’s a lot of work ahead in the coming weeks and months.” Aston Martin also missed almost two full days of last month’s Barcelona shakedown. “We know which areas we need to focus on and improve the car in, which is very positive,” team ambassador Pedro de la Rosa told F1 TV . “The new regulations are very complicated, but they are