25/04/2026

SPORTS SATURDAY | APR 25, 2026

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Tsitsipas gets emotional as ‘exhausting’ run takes toll S TEFANO S T S IT S IPA S became emotional after win ning his first match in just over a month at the Madrid Open. The former world No. 3 has struggled to find form this season and has dramatically fallen down the rankings, now sitting at 80th – his lowest position since February 2018. for sure, it does give me confidence,”Tsitsipas said. “It’s exhausting. I mean, I’ve been trying a lot and trying to improve in a lot of areas, and I had a match point last week in Munich to beat the opponent that I lost to eventually. I was literally a point away to win that match. And now really close again.

IGA S WIATEK is reaping the rewards of a recent training block with Francisco Roig and Rafael Nadal in Mallorca. The world No. 4 hired Spanish coach Roig ahead of the clay season, and they trained at Nadal’s academy in Manacor, with the 22-time Grand Slam champion joining them on the practice court and getting very involved in their sessions. The Polish star suffered a tough defeat in last week’s Stuttgart quar terfinals, but bounced back to start her Madrid Open campaign with a convincing 6-1, 6-2 victory over Daria Snigur yesterday, winning the last six games from 0-2 down, with her serve looking noticeably strong. Swiatek has been tweaking her serve and started putting in the groundwork while training in Mallorca earlier this month, but it didn’t quite translate to the match court in Stuttgart. That was different at the Caja Magica, however, and the former champion in Madrid was happy to see her progress in action. “I wouldn’t use past tense, because I feel like I’m still changing it, but this was the movement that I was supposed to already have in Stuttgart, but it didn’t really go as I wanted to,” Swiatek said of her new serve. “I wasn’t quite sure, I mean, I ana lysed the matches after, and I real ised that in Mallorca, I was serving a little bit differently. So today, I felt like this was it, and I just need to keep doing that, keep focusing on it, and remembering the right move ment. “Because in Stuttgart, I gotta say that I felt a that it’s gonna go a little bit more automatic, but a week in Mallorca is not enough for the body to remember the movement, so today, for sure, was a step forward.” Swiatek has been open about wanting to implement changes to her game. It’s something she tried to do with her previous coach, Wim Fissette. But, at times, the world No. 4 fell into a pattern of becoming stressed during matches, and losing sight of her game plan. Now, things are looking up after hiring Roig and enjoying a brief training block with Nadal. “Honestly, you never know with your body how fast you’re gonna catch a move ment, so some shots, it’s easier for me to change, some, a little bit harder,” she explained. “I’m not planning or expecting anything. But I, for sure, know that I have a lot of belief in this move ment, and with my elbow being in this position and being more bent, so it’s something that we wanted to achieve [for] quite a long time, and when we adjusted my movement a little bit, it wasn’t really working. “My hand always came back to the same position, but now we did a more drastic change, and I feel like it helped me to reset a little bit, and actually, from this reset, start the movement how I should.” While she’s settling in well with new coach Roig, who previously worked with Emma Raducanu, Matteo Berrettini, and Nadal himself, Swiatek also knows that Nadal is there if she needs any advice. – Express Newspapers Swiatek taps Nadal magic in Madrid

“I didn’t know much about him, to be honest, so I started the match a little bit uncertain of what his game style is. Obviously, my coach tried to see cer tain videos, and tried to gather as much data to see what his playing style is like. But it’s very different, actually seeing it on TV, or experiencing it on the tour on a regular basis to try and understand the goods and the bads. So yeah, it’s always tricky when I get to play opponents like that, because I really don’t know how they build their points.” Tsitsipas now has an even bigger challenge on his hands, as he faces No. 8 seed Alexander Bublik today. “He has improved a lot in his game. He is a tough opponent. I’m just hoping to deliver a great set of tennis from my side and show what I’m made of,” he said of his next match. –Express Newspapers

“I need a bit more confidence in my game. I think wins are important. And why wins are important is because they start building trust and faith, that you still got it. When you’re stepping out on the court, and you are kind of winless, you don’t have a lot of wins under your belt, it doesn’t help feeling pre pared and feeling like you got this to the fullest, to the maximum.” It didn’t help that Tsitsipas didn’t know much about his opponent, who got into the main draw as a lucky loser following some withdrawals.

A former finalist in Madrid, Tsitsipas was on a three-match losing streak coming into the tourna ment, including a heartbreaking defeat in Munich last week, when he blew a match point. But he came back from a set down to beat lucky loser Patrick Kypson 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) yesterday, finally getting a win on the board. It clearly meant a lot to the 27-year-old, who roared in celebration on the court, and later looked to be on the verge of tears as he shed light on his “exhausting” losing run. “I really needed that win, so

Rusty but ruthless ruthless

Sabalenka overcomes errors to maintain winning momentum in Madrid

A RYNA SABALENKA shook off some rust to post her first victory of the season on clay and extend her winning streak to 13 matches on Thursday in Madrid. The world No. 1, who was playing her first match since she completed the “Sunshine Double” by win ning Indian Wells and Miami last month, committed 26 unforced errors in her 7-5, 6-3 win over American Peyton Stearns in the second round in the Spanish capital. The defending champion, in search of a fourth career title at the Caja Magica, converted four of 12 break points against Stearns, double-faulted five times, and dropped serve twice, before she made it over the finish line to set up a third-round meeting with Romanian Jaqueline Cristian. “I’m super happy to start with a win, even though maybe the tennis wasn’t that good, but I felt like with every game I was playing, the better I was playing, so I really hope in the next one I bring a better perform ance,” said Sabalenka, who has won 24 of her 25 matches so far in 2026. Earlier on Manolo Santana Stadium, Iga Swiatek made quick work of her opening test in Madrid, breezing past Daria Snigur 6-1, 6-2. The Polish fourth seed needed just 61 minutes to move past Snigur, who was coming off the first tour level main draw victory of her career on clay over Daria Kasatkina. Snigur had little fight left in her for her clash with Swiatek, who barring a brief blip early in the second set was in fierce form as she continues her quest for a first clay-court title since she claimed a fourth Roland Garros crown nearly two years ago. “I’m very happy. Madrid is a special place to play, because of how special the tournament is, but also because of the conditions, so I’m happy that I adjusted well to them and was solid and just playing my game,” said Swiatek, who is contesting her sec ond tournament under the guidance of her new coach Francis Roig. The 2024 Madrid champion will next face 31st Mumbai blown away OPENE R Sanju Samson struck his second IPL cen tury of the season to set up a thumping 103-run win for Chennai Super Kings in a battle of heavy weights against Mumbai Indians on Thursday. Put in to bat first, five-time champions Chennai rode on Samson’s unbeaten 101 off 54 balls to post 207-6 at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. Chennai’s West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein then returned impressive figures of 4-17 to bundle out Mumbai, who have also won the IPL five times, for 104 in 19 overs. The colossal winning margin boosted Chennai’s net run-rate and took them to fifth spot in the 10 team table. Mumbai slipped to eighth with five defeats from seven outings. Chennai started their innings briskly, courtesy of skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 14-ball 22 before he fell to Afghanistan spinner AM Ghazanfar in the third over. INSIDE EDGE

seeded American Ann Li in round three. Meanwhile, Hungarian world No. 63 Anna Bondar upset seventh-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-4 to claim the first top-10 victory of her career. Ex-world No. 1 Naomi Osaka began her clay-court campaign with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Colombia’s Camila Osorio. She’ll play Ukrainian qualifier Anhelina Kalinina for a spot in the last 16. In men’s action, Paraguayan qualifier Adolfo Daniel Vallejo said he felt like he was living “a movie” after he dispatched former world number three Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-4. The 21-year-old cracked the top 100 for the first time last month – following a 14-1 start to the season at the Challenger level – and is making his Masters 1000 debut this week. He is the first Paraguayan to compete in Madrid Open history and will next take on American 17th seed Learner Tien. “For me this is unbelievable. Stefanos Tsitsipas eked out a 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4) win against American lucky loser Patrick Kypson. Currently ranked 80 in the world, the two-time Grand Slam finalist will square off with eighth seeded Alexander Bublik in round two. The soon-to-be-retiring Gael Monfils lost his opener 6-3, 6-4 to Camilo Ugo Carabelli, marking his last time competing at the Madrid Open. – AFP Samson then teed off with three fours and one six off Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya but kept los ing partners at the other end, including Dewald Brevis for 21. Mumbai bowlers struck regular blows as Ghazanfar and left-arm quick Ashwani Kumar took two wickets each before Samson’s final assault took Chennai past 200. Samson reached his fifth hundred in the T20 tournament with a four on the final ball of the innings and raised his bat to acknowledge the applause from the fans and the dugout. Shanto, Fizz seal series NAJMUL HO SS AIN S HANTO scored a century and Mustafizur Rahman claimed 5-43 as Bangladesh beat New Zealand by 55 runs in the third one-day international to clinch the series 2-1 on Thursday. Shanto hit 105 off 119 balls, smacking nine fours and two sixes for his fourth ODI century to lift New Zealand from early trouble to 265-8 after being invited to bat first in Chattogram. It looks like a movie, I don’t know what’s happening,” Vallejo told Tennis TV . Former world No. 3 and 2019 Madrid runner-up

Aryna Sabalenka in action during her match against Peyton Stearns (not pictured) at the Madrid Open yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Mustafizur, who returned from injury after miss ing the first two matches, then ripped through the New Zealand batting to help bowl out the opposi tion for 210 in 44.5 overs. The performance took Mustafizur’s tally to six five-wicket hauls in ODI cricket, the most by any Bangladesh bowler and level with with Wasim Akram (Pakistan) and Trent Boult (New Zealand) among left-arm quicks. Australia left-armer Mitchell Starc is top of the list on nine. Dean Foxcroft top-scored for New Zealand with a valiant 75 off 72 balls as he hit seven sixes to extend Bangladesh’s wait for victory after the tour ists slipped to 160-9. Nick Kelly made 59 off 80 at the top of the order. Pace bowler Nahid Rana and spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz took two wickets each. Earlier Bangladesh slipped to 32-3 before Shanto and Litton Das steadied the innings with a 160-run stand – the highest partnership for Bangladesh against New Zealand in the 50-overs format for the fourth wicket.