03/09/2026

SPORTS THURSDAY | SEPT 3, 2026

28

Jubilant Monfils celebrates birthday with US Open win FRANCE’S Gael Monfils turned back the clock yesterday, making the most of a US Open wild card and an ador ing New York crowd to advance to the second round. season, played with his trademark showmanship, offering exaggerated bows after embellishing a putaway shot in the fourth set with a leap in the air. atmosphere (in New York) is always electric – I feel great here. I always try to play great tennis and put on a great show.”

INSIDE EDGE Proteas beat Zimbabwe in T20 tri-series SOUTH AFRICAN opener Lhuan-dre Pretorius powered his side to a com fortable 43-run victory over Zimbabwe yesterday in the fourth match of the Twenty20 tri-series also involving hosts Namibia. Pretorius came close to a maiden T20 interna tional century, scoring 94 as South Africa elected to bat first and scored 185-7 at the Namibia Cricket Ground. Zimbabwe were bowled out for 142 in reply with captain Sikandar Raza top-scoring with 45 and pace bowler Duan Jansen taking 3-21. Pretorius hit 15 boundaries in his 51-ball innings before being bowled in the penultimate over. He and Dewald Brevis, who scored 41, added 86 runs for the second-wicket partnership. Zimbabwe take on Namibia today, followed by Namibia against South Africa in the last of the round-robin matches. The two teams with the most points after four matches each will contest Sunday’s final. Jasprit back for Afghanistan series JASPRIT BUMRAH was yesterday named in India’s T20 squad for three matches against Afghanistan this month, but will need fitness clear ance to play. India, led by Shreyas Iyer, have a near full-strength 15-man squad for the matches to be held at New Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sept 13, 15 and 17. The 32-year-old Jasprit has not bowled since the sec ond ODI of the England series in Cardiff on July 16 due to an impact injury he suffered in the match. Apart from Jasprit, three other players including Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy have made the squad but will need fitness clearance by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to play. Afghanistan, who have long used India and the United Arab Emirates as home venues, will officially be the hosts for the series. Pakistan selector Misbah resigns PAKISTAN cricket selector and ex captain Misbah-ul-Haq resigned fol lowing the shock sacking of red-ball head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed in the wake of successive Test defeats to England, sources told AFP on Tuesday. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Monday that Sarfaraz was being replaced by white-ball coach Mike Hesson, from New Zealand, for the last Test start ing in Birmingham on Sept 9. The board also sent seven players home from the England tour and replaced bowling coach Umar Gul with Australian Ashley Noffke in a move that has drawn criticism in Pakistan. The shake-up follows Pakistan’s embarrassing innings and 103-run defeat at Headingley and a 194-run drubbing at Lord’s, giving England an unbeatable 2-0 lead. Former Pakistan captain and selection com mittee member Misbah later resigned in protest at not being con sulted over the changes. “Misbah sent his resignation to the PCB by email on Monday night and is yet to receive a reply,” sources close to Misbah said. Former selector and Pakistan spinner Tauseef Ahmed called the changes “unprecedented and unjust”, adding they had“created a polluted atmosphere in Pakistan cricket.

in 2016 when he reached the semifi nals and lost to Novak Djokovic. Monfils, who reached a career peak ranking of sixth in 2016, is down to 311th, having only played a hand ful of tournaments in 2026. In contrast to Monfils, who is play ing in his 70th Grand Slam tourna ment, yesterday marked just the third of the 22-year-old Vallejo. – AFP/Agencies

Addressing the thousands of fans who created a celebratory atmos phere on Louis Armstrong Stadium, he added: “You guys rock – let’s keep it up for the second round.” This is Monfils’ 18th appearance at the US Open. His best showing came

Evidence of approval came when the crowd joined an impromptu per formance of “Happy Birthday” after the match. “To play on my 40th birthday is very special,” Monfils said. “The

Playing on his 40th birthday, Monfils opened shakily against Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay, but decisively turned the tables after the first set for a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 win. Monfils, who will retire after this

Gauff, Rybakina start strong Improved serve boost American while Kazakh eases heel concerns in New York C OCO GAUFF launched her 2026 US Open campaign with a straight-set vic tory while second seed Elena Rybakina eased into the second round with her troublesome left heel holding up. Fourth-seeded Gauff, the 2023 champion, overcame Turkey’s points in a lengthy game before sealing it with another big serve. Gauff described the hold for 3-3 as “real important”.

“I like to challenge my opponent to let them keep up the level the whole match, and if they do, you know I clap my hands and I walk off court with my head held high,” Gauff said. “But I was able to settle down.” She said she had gained confidence from knowing how difficult she can be to break. “Just knowing that it does take a lot maybe to break me,” Gauff told reporters, adding of the key service game in the second set: “I knew if I could hold that game, I felt confident breaking the next game.” Rybakina, meanwhile, advanced with a 6-3, 6 2 victory over American teenager Thea Frodin, offering encouragement that her left heel injury may not derail her Grand Slam campaign. The second-ranked Kazakh has ambitions of winning a third Grand Slam title and can also claim the world No. 1 ranking simply by reaching the semifinals in New York. “I’m happy with the match. Especially when you don’t know your opponent, it always can be dangerous, but overall I’m happy with the first match and how it went,” she said. “It’s a great result after 10 days from that kind of injury.” Rybakina was reassured in Cincinnati when a physio told her she had not torn her Achilles ten don, but she was unable to walk without pain for several days and has continued to manage her training, rest and treatment cautiously. “When I went to serve, I realised I cannot push from the leg. So it was impossible to con tinue,” she said. “From that, we started my recovery. We didn’t know if I’m going to be able to play here or not. “We were taking day by day. I was not playing for the full week, so seven days no tennis and basically not too much gym I could do move ment-wise. “Right now, I feel Ok,” she said after the match. “Of course we’ll see again day by day how I wake up tomorrow since it’s the first match and kind of a lot of movement.” – AFP

Zeynep Sonmez 6-3, 6-4 in a hard hitting battle fought mostly from the baseline, with an improved serve prov ing key to her victory. “It’s incredible to be back on this court,” an exuberant Gauff told the on court interviewer. “I love playing in this atmosphere.” Gauff was broken only once and looked increasingly assured with a stroke that had caused her major problems at last year’s tournament. Her service woes prompted a dramatic coach ing change days before the 2025 US Open and contributed to a fourth-round exit.

This time, however, the American arrived in New York with renewed confidence after win ning the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati this month. Gauff has worked on making her ball toss more consistent under the tutelage of biome chanics expert Gavin Macmillan, who previously helped Aryna Sabalenka retool her serve, improvements that helped the Belarusian rise to No. 1. “It’s been a gradual change with the serve,” Gauff said. “Slowly it’s adapting to maybe the way it should look.” She raced through the opening set without facing a break point, with Sonmez frequently unable to return her serve or offering only a weak reply that Gauff could attack. The Turkish player raised her level in the sec ond set, however, using heavy ground strokes and occasional forays to the net to finish points with deft volleys. Gauff broke early but Sonmez immediately responded, levelling at 2-2 and briefly taking the lead. At 2-3, Gauff fought off multiple break

Elena Rybakina celebrates after winning her women’s singles first-round match against Thea Frodin (not pictured) at the US Open in New York yesterday. – AFPPIC

Zverev out-lasts Sonego in wild five-setter

TOP-SEEDED Zverev scraped into the second round of the US Open yesterday, beating 89th ranked Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7 9), 7-5, 6-4. Zverev fought off a determined challenge from Sonego in a tense all court battle spiced by unlikely retriev als, impossibly angled winners and some inexplicable errors, which wrapped up on Arthur Ashe Stadium after four hours and 53 minutes at 1.55am (1.55pm Malaysian time). “I’m just happy I won, that’s it,” Zverev said. “Incredible battle, a lot of up and downs – nearly five hours for a first round, I think it’s the longest first round match I ever played in my life. “Credit to him, he played an incredi ble match,” Zverev said, adding it was just the kind of battle he needed after lackluster performances in two hard Alexander

Level again they went to the tie breaker, where Zverev surrendered the set with a double fault on Sonego’s second set point. Sonego saved a pair of break points to open the fourth set and had saved three more in the fifth game before Zverev broke for 3-2, seizing the advantage with a lunging cross-court backhand that Sonego couldn’t reach. The momentum was short-lived as Sonego broke back in the next game, taking advantage of Zverev’s botched overhead and closing out the game with a stunning passing shot and a forehand volley. A love hold then put Sonego up 4 3, but he couldn’t hang on, he fought off four more break points in the ninth game but Zverev broke him for 6-5 lead on the way to forcing the fifth set. – AFP

it out, saving four set points on his own serve in the ninth game before Zverev produced a love hold. The pressure built in the second set, Sonego earning his first break of the match for a 5-3 lead and serving it out to level the match. Zverev looked first frustrated and then dejected as his errors piled up in the third set. Sonego gave himself a break chance in the seventh game with a defensive lob that left the German stranded, and Zverev dropped his serve meekly with his second double fault of the game. Sonego was serving for the set at 5 4 when Zverev stepped it up, breaking the Italian at love in a game that opened with Zverev’s pinpoint passing winner off an acrobatic volley from Sonego.

court tournaments coming into the Open. Zverev, who followed his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros with a Wimbledon final appearance, notched his seventh win in as many matches against Sonego. He avoided becoming the first men’s top seed in 23 years to fall in the first round of Grand Slam, booking a second-round meeting with France’s Quentin Halys. After fending off a break point early in the fifth set, Zverev broke for 3-2 lead – aided by two unforced errors and a double-fault from Sonego. It was all the opening Zverev needed. The German had pocketed the first set without facing a break point. After surrendering a break in the seventh game Sonego made him work to close