MELBOURNE: Former world number one Simona Halep labored into the Australian Open second round Tuesday after an error-strewn clash with Poland’s Magdalena Frech which saw 11 service breaks.
The fit-again Romanian 14th seed came into the Grand Slam full of confidence after her first title in 16 months at the Melbourne Summer Set tournament this month.
But she struggled to find her groove against the 102nd-ranked Pole before banking the win 6-4, 6-3 on Margaret Court Arena to keep her dreams of a third major title alive.
“I found it so difficult today, I was unsure if I could play good tennis,” she said.
“But in the end I won and that makes me very happy. Hopefully this week I can play better and better.”
Halep, the runner-up in 2018 to Caroline Wozniacki and semifinalist two years later, is on her way back after a truncated 2021 season when she struggled with calf and knee injuries.
And it was a far from convincing performance, with both players struggling to hold serve in the opening set, with Frech broken three times and Halep twice.
Ultimately, the Romanian was stronger in the rallies and she finally sealed the set on serve with a trademark backhand down the line.
Neither player’s serve improved in the second set with Halep immediately breaking before Frech went on a three-game win streak as the error-count mounted.
Halep then reeled off five games in a row to ensure victory and a second round clash with either American qualifier Katie Volynets or Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Simona Halep battles service demons to stay alive at Australian Open
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Simona Halep battles service demons to stay alive at Australian Open
- Error-strewn clash with Poland’s Magdalena Frech which saw 11 service breaks
- Both players struggled to hold serve in the opening set
Saudi Crown wins $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on sloppy track
- Saudi Crown outlasted a late challenge from Dreamlike to win his first career Grade 1 stakes
- Cox said Saudi Crown could run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Santa Anita
BENSALEM, Pennsylvania: Saudi Crown led all the way to win the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby by a half-length on a sloppy track Saturday at Parx Racing.
Tropical Storm Ophelia brought rain to the suburban Philadelphia track, where Saudi Crown outlasted a late challenge from Dreamlike to win his first career Grade 1 stakes.
“He broke like a rocket and from there I thought I was in a great spot,” winning jockey Florent Geroux said. “He’s a 3-year-old this year. It’s just too bad because he came very late to the party.”
Saudi Crown ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.62. He paid $4.20, $3 and $2.60 to win as the wagering for trainer Brad Cox. Saudi Crown is a son of 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming.
Saudi Crown had been idle since finishing a nose behind Forte in the Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 29. He was also second by a nose in the Dwyer at Belmont on May 21.
“He gained a lot of experience and has been battle-tested in his last two runs,” Cox said. “He is two noses from being undefeated. Very proud of what he did.”
Cox said Saudi Crown could run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Santa Anita.
Dreamlike returned $7 and $4.80.
“He was closing,” Dreamlike’s jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said. “For a second I thought if that horse (Saudi Crown) would just come back a little I could get there.”
Il Miracolo was another six lengths back in third and paid $7.60 to show.
Jessica Paquette became the first woman to call a Grade 1 stakes in North America. The 38-year-old was hired as track announcer last November.
Magic Tap was fourth, followed by Crupi, the Bob Baffert-trained Reincarnate, Gilmore, Daydreaming Boy, West Coast Cowboy, Scotland and Modern Era.
Sebastian Muñoz sizzles to 63 for three-shot lead; Torque, Fireballs share top spot in team race
- The 63 left him at 13 under, three shots ahead of Crushers GC’s Anirban Lahiri, who shot his second consecutive 66 to move to 10 under
- Torque will be seeking their fifth team victory of the season
SUGAR GROVE, Illinois: Thanks to a brilliant 8-under 63, Torque GC’s Sebastian Muñoz will take a three-shot lead entering Sunday’s final round of LIV Golf Chicago.
Now comes the difficult part — converting that lead into a victory at Rich Harvest Farms.
That’s been an issue for the 30-year-old from Colombia, whose best individual finish since joining LIV Golf this season was a second place in Orlando.
“I don’t want to take care of the lead because I don’t have good experiences with that in the past,” said Muñoz, whose last professional win came in 2019.
“… It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be challenging, especially me talking about it now. But I’m going to do what I’ve been doing.”
One of five co-leaders after the first round, Muñoz opened his second round Saturday with three birdies before holing his second shot at the par-4 fifth hole from 123 yards for eagle.
It was the first of two eagles in his round, the other coming at the par-5 10th.
The 63 left him at 13 under, three shots ahead of Crushers GC’s Anirban Lahiri, who shot his second consecutive 66 to move to 10 under.
Three players – 4Aces GC captain Dustin Johnson, Fireballs GC’s Abraham Ancer and RangeGoats GC’s Thomas Pieters – are five strokes back at 8 under.
Fueled by Muñoz’s low round, Torque moved into a tie for the team lead at 22 under, with David Puig (68) and Mito Pereira (70) also supplying counting scores.
The Fireballs also are at 22 under after counting scores from Ancer, Carlos Ortiz (68) and Eugenio Chacarra (69). The Aces and Crushers share third at 18 under.
Torque will be seeking their fifth team victory of the season. If that happens and the Aces finish no better than third, then Torque will assume the lead in the season-long team standings.
Meanwhile, Muñoz will seek to deliver the team’s first individual trophy. “It’s time for an individual win for us,” he said.
From Lahiri’s perspective, it’s also time for him to end his individual drought. His last professional win was in February 2015 when he won twice that month.
He’s been close to ending the drought since joining LIV Golf last year, finishing second in Boston in his debut event, and adding two more runner-up finishes this season — three shots behind Talor Gooch in Adelaide and seven strokes behind Cameron Smith last month in Bedminster.
“I’ve had a few too many seconds,” said Lahiri, who opened with an eagle Saturday en route to a bogey-free round.
“… I can’t control what Sebastian or anyone else does, so I’m just going to focus on my process and what I’m trying to do on the golf course.”
Of the top five players on the leaderboard, three still have a chance to finish the season-long individual race inside the bonus-paying top three.
Johnson, the defending individual champion, is currently eighth in points, while Muñoz is 12th and Lahiri 15th.
Based on the second-round leaderboard, Muñoz is projected to move into third place.
Four rounds are left in the regular season — Sunday’s final round in Chicago and next month’s LIV Golf Jeddah, which will be followed by the Team Championship in Miami.
TEAM COUNTING SCORES
Here are the standings and counting scores for Saturday’s second round of the team competition at LIV Golf Chicago. The three best scores from each team count in every round for their total team score. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title.
T1. TORQUE GC (-22): Sebastian Muñoz 63, David Puig 68, Mito Pereira 70 (Rd. 2 score: -12)
T1. FIREBALLS GC (-22): Abraham Ancer 66, Carlos Ortiz 68, Eugenio Chacarra 69 (Rd. 2 score: -10)
T3. 4ACES GC (-18): Dustin Johnson 66, Peter Uihlein 69, Pat Perez 70 (Rd. 2 score: -8)
T3. CRUSHERS GC (-18): Anirban Lahiri 66, Bryson DeChambeau 69, Paul Casey 72 (Rd. 2 score: -6)
5. RANGEGOATS GC (-17): Talor Gooch 67, Thomas Pieters 67, Harold Varner III 71 (Rd. 2 score: -8)
T6. MAJESTICKS GC (-16): Ian Poulter 67, Henrik Stenson 67, Lee Westwood 69 (Rd. 2 score: -10)
T6. STINGER GC (-16): Dean Burmester 69, Louis Oosthuizen 70, Charl Schwartzel 71 (Rd. 2 score: -3)
8. RIPPER GC (-15): Marc Leishman 68, Matt Jones 70, Cameron Smith 71 (Rd. 2 score: -4)
9. SMASH GC (-11): Brooks Koepka 69, Jason Kokrak 71, Chase Koepka 72 (Rd. 2 score: -1)
T10. CLEEKS GC (-10): Richard Bland 66, Martin Kaymer 69, Graeme McDowell 69 (Rd. 2 score: -9)
T10. HYFLYERS GC (-10): Phil Mickelson 68, Brendan Steele 68, James Piot 69 (Rd. 2 score: -8)
12. IRON HEADS GC (-4): Scott Vincent 69, Kevin Na 70, Sihwan Kim 73 (Rd. 2 score: -1)
Europe rally to pull even with US at 8-8 going into final day of Solheim Cup
- Ciganda, the only Spaniard in the European team, won both of her matches Saturday to maintain a perfect record
- The contest will be decided by the 12 singles matches on Sunday, when Europe will try to win an unprecedented third straight Solheim Cup
CASARES, Spain: Led by home-crowd favorite Carlota Ciganda, Europe picked up the pace at the Solheim Cup to pull even with the US entering the decisive singles matches Sunday.
Ciganda, the only Spaniard in the European team, won both of her matches Saturday to maintain a perfect record as Europe drew level with the US at 8-8 after splitting the morning foursomes and winning the afternoon fourballs.
Captain’s pick Emily Pedersen and rookie Linn Grant also won both of their matches on Saturday to help Europe come from behind at Finca Cortesin.
The contest will be decided by the 12 singles matches on Sunday, when Europe will try to win an unprecedented third straight Solheim Cup. The Europeans arrived as favorites but had to rally after the Americans took a 4-0 lead in Friday’s first session.
“I’m out of words, but we have to remember we are not there yet, there are still 12 points up for grabs tomorrow,” Europe captain Suzann Pettersen said. “We made quite a comeback, now we are tied and we’ll put it in fifth gear and keep going. If you look at how we started after yesterday’s morning, we’ve come a long way.”
The US kept their two-point lead from the first day after the teams split the morning session on Saturday, but Europe were in control during most of the afternoon and ended up winning it 3-1.
“We certainly would have liked to have won a few more points today, but I’m not upset about our position,” US team captain Stacy Lewis said. “I mean, if you look straight at the scoreboard, you would say momentum goes to Europe, but I can tell you the way the girls feel and the way I feel about how we played today, I like our momentum.”
Lewis rested some of her players on Saturday and none will be playing all five matches this week. Pettersen will have three players going all the way — Pedersen, Grant and Leona Maguire.
The Europeans sealed Saturday’s victory when Ciganda and Grant defeated Danielle Kang and Lilia Vu 2 and 1 in a match in which both teams made plenty of birdies. Europe were 8-under par through nine holes but only 1 up over the Americans. Grant made six birdies in a row to start the match. Carlota had a clutch birdie on the 16th to help Europe seal the win.
“So, so happy for Carlota to come here to Spain. Literally bring her A game. She’s been under a lot of pressure, probably mostly from herself. But the way she’s handled it so far has been very, very impressive,” Pettersen said. “That match in the afternoon between Carlota, Linn and the Americans was just unbelievable to watch.”
Ciganda is the only player to win all of her matches. She won three straight sessions after sitting out the opening one on Friday.
“Playing in Spain in front of my family, home crowd, friends, I just love it,” Ciganda said. “I’m embracing this week. I think it’s been great. I still have a big day tomorrow, but I’m just trying to enjoy it.”
Maguire and Charley Hull earlier defeated Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing 4 and 3. Maguire, who thrived in her Solheim Cup debut two years ago, made birdies on nearly half of her holes.
“Suzann was pretty clear on what our job was today, so mission accomplished,” Maguire said. “One more day to give it our best shot and I think that’s the great thing about this team, there’s so much fight in this team. We’ve never given up.”
The Americans won its lone point in the afternoon when Cheyenne Knight and Angel Yin finished 2 up against veterans Caroline Hedwall — who had not played previously this week — and Anna Nordqvist, one of the vice captains for Europe.
Pedersen, playing in her fourth consecutive session, teamed up with Madelene Sagstrom for a 2 and 1 win over Rose Zhang and Andrea Lee.
“I think Emily’s a great pick, isn’t she?” Pettersen said. “I think she’s done fairly well.”
In the morning, Swedish rookies Grant and Maja Stark kept it close for Europe by making crucial birdie putts on their final two holes to help the hosts keep the deficit at 7-5. Stark and Grant defeated Kang and Lee 1 up in the final group to secure a 2-2 split.
“I think we came out with a more aggressive mindset today. Losing yesterday was not fun. Our first loss ever,” Grant said. “So we kind of had a different view of it today and just went out and crushed it from the start.”
Europe got the first point on Saturday with Ciganda and Pedersen winning 2 and 1 against Jennifer Kupcho and Vu, the world No. 2 who is yet to win a match at Finca Cortesin.
Korda, ranked No. 3 in the world, and US Women’s Open champion Allizen Corpuz gave the US their first point by cruising 5 and 3 past Georgia Hall and Celine Boutier in the final morning group. Boutier, the top-ranked European who was playing some of the best golf ahead of the Solheim Cup, remains winless.
US veteran Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang picked up their second win by defeating Maguire and Nordqvist 1 up. The American duo was rested in the afternoon session.
Lewandowski, Cancelo lead Barcelona to 3-2 comeback win over Celta with 3 goals in final 10 minutes
- “It was a great fightback,” said Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández
- “I made many mistakes, but you just have to keep focused and play until the end,” Cancelo said
BARCELONA, Spain: Robert Lewandowski scored two late goals before João Cancelo snatched the 89th-minute winner to lead Barcelona to a 3-2 comeback win over Celta Vigo at home in the Spanish league on Saturday.
Rafa Benítez was eying his first big win since returning to coaching in Spain with his team ahead 2-0 before Lewandowski struck in the 81st minute. Cancelo then set up Lewandowski to equalize in the 85th before the Portugal right back completed the turnaround.
“It was a great fightback,” said Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández, who signed a contract extension through 2025 on Friday. “It is true we were disorganized at times and didn’t make the ball flow like in other games, but the team won in faith and courage.”
Barcelona are tied on points with the surprising Girona at the top of the table after their fellow Catalan club routed Mallorca 5-3. Real Madrid are one point behind both before visiting Atletico Madrid on Sunday.
Jorgen Strand Larsen put Celta ahead in the 19th and substitute Anastasios Douvikas made it 2-0 in the 76th while their five-man defense held the defending champions in check — until the final minutes.
Cancelo joined Barcelona on the final day of the transfer window on loan from Manchester City. He has made an immediate impact by giving Barcelona a versatile right back, and it was never more evident than when he joined in a last-gasp push against Celta.
After Lewandowski had given Barcelona hope by scooping a shot over goalkeeper Ivan Villar, Cancelo acted as a midfielder to provide an assist for the Poland striker to make it 2-2. His next move was to make a run through the heart of the defense where he met a lobbed pass by Gavi Páez and guided it home.
Cancelo said he was relieved to have helped his new team after having had what he called a poor performance after turning the ball over several times.
“I made many mistakes, but you just have to keep focused and play until the end,” Cancelo said. “We didn’t play well and Celta did well defending its area. But it is always better to play poorly and win, than to play well and lose.”
It was a bitter loss for Benítez, who took over Celta this summer for his first job in Spain since his short-lived stint with Real Madrid in 2015. Celta have only one win in six games under the coach that led Valencia to league titles back in 2002 and 2004.
“I think we played well for most of the game, but in that final stretch I have the feeling their last two goals were preventable,” Benítez said. “Tiredness could have played a part, but those goals can be stopped if you are well positioned. I hope this helps us grow because for 80 minutes we were superb.”
Barcelona lost midfielder Frenkie de Jong near the end of the first half. Gavi Páez replaced him. Xavi said that De Jong would undergo tests to determine the nature of the injury.
GIRONA GROWS
The undefeated Girona are the revelation of the season so far. The modest team from Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region that are partially owned by Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi ownership have won five straight games after drawing their opener.
After beating Granada 4-2 last round, they have now scored nine goals in their past two games.
“(Being at the top of the standings) is anecdotal, we are happy for the victory. Winning five in a row in the first division is not an easy task,” coach Míchel Sánchez said.
“Even more important than the results is the sensation we have, knowing that we are competing well and have a clear idea of how we want to play.”
Mallorca went ahead early through a fourth-minute penalty converted by Vedat Muriqi. But Girona roared back with goals by David López, Artem Dovbyk, Iván Martín, Yangel Herrera and Sávio before substitute Ábdon Prats reduced the deficit for Mallorca with a late brace.
Also, Sevilla drew 0-0 at Osasuna.
Juventus fall to first defeat of season as 3 glaring errors contribute to 4-2 loss at Sassuolo
- It was Juve’s first loss of the fledgling campaign after three wins and a draw
- It was the third straight league match in which Leão scored
MILAN: Juventus fell to their first loss of the season after three glaring errors contributed to a 4-2 defeat at struggling Sassuolo in Serie A on Saturday, including a bizarre late own goal.
Bianconeri goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny first gifted the home side the lead when he failed to make a routine save on a shot from Armand Laurienté in the 13th minute.
Another mistake from Szczęsny gave Sassuolo a 3-2 lead in the 82nd and Juventus then added a comical own goal in injury time.
Szczęsny left his goal to take a free kick near the corner flag, passing the ball across the pitch to Gatti as Juventus tried to launch a final attack in search of an equalizer. However, the defender came under quick pressure and passed the ball back toward the goal — seemingly forgetting that his goalkeeper was not there — and it bobbled into the empty net.
It was Juve’s first loss of the fledgling campaign after three wins and a draw. On Tuesday they play Lecce, which are the only side still undefeated in the Italian league along with Inter Milan.
Sassuolo had only three points from their opening four matches but took the lead when Laurienté’s shot went straight at Szczęsny but the power behind the strike saw the ball bounce off the goalkeeper’s gloves and off the turf before going into the back of the net.
Juventus leveled in the 21st when Federico Chiesa whipped in a cross from the left but, under pressure from United States midfielder Weston McKennie, Matías Nicolás Viña prodded the ball into his own net.
Domenico Berardi restored Sassuolo’s lead shortly before halftime when he swept a finish into the bottom left corner but the home side’s hopes of getting an impressive win appeared to evaporate when Chiesa’s effort was deflected in with 12 minutes remaining.
However, Sassoulo went ahead again four minutes later after Szczęsny palmed Laurienté’s fierce strike straight at Pinamonti, who headed in the rebound for his fourth goal in three matches.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Gatti added the worst howler of the day right at the end.
LEÃO SCORES AGAIN
Rafael Leão appears back to his best and the AC Milan forward helped the Rossoneri bounce back from a disappointing week with a 1-0 win over Hellas Verona in Serie A on Saturday.
Leão scored the only goal of the delayed match in the eighth minute to help his team get back to winning ways. Milan were humiliated 5-1 by Inter Milan in the city derby last weekend before being held 0-0 by Newcastle in their Champions League opener on Tuesday.
It was the third straight league match in which Leão scored. The 24-year-old forward had a mixed campaign last season as he appeared distracted by off-the-field issues with his contract, which he renewed in June.
A mistake by the Verona defense allowed Olivier Giroud to win the ball back in midfield and he sent it through to Leão, who used his impressive pace to surge between two opposition players and slot into the bottom right corner.
The match almost didn’t go ahead, however, as the San Siro pitch was waterlogged following heavy rain and hail in the hour before kickoff. It eased off and the water drained quickly so the match was able to get underway 25 minutes late.
Christian Pulisic went close to doubling Milan’s lead in the 72nd when he raced into the right side of the area and left Verona defender Paweł Dawidowicz scrambling as the US international turned and curled in a shot, which Lorenzo Montipò managed to palm out from under the bar.
Milan moved level on points with league leader Inter, which play at Empoli on Sunday.
