LEIPZIG, Germany: RB Leipzig came from behind to beat Freiburg 3-1 at home on Saturday to leapfrog Bayern Munich and go top of the Bundesliga, while Borussia Dortmund’s away woes continued with another defeat.
Freiburg, impressive this season under new coach Julian Schuster, scored first when Japan winger Ritsu Doan was in the perfect place to head in a Vincenzo Grifo cross.
Leipzig, who looked heavy-legged after a 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday, were a goal down at half-time but equalized shortly after.
Germany defender Benjamin Henrichs, who was at fault for Freiburg’s opener, cut a dangerous cross goalwards for captain Willi Orban to divert into the net.
Lutsharel Geertruida put Leipzig in front after 58 minutes when he finished off a lightning-fast counter attack for his first Bundesliga goal.
Lois Openda put the home side in full control with 11 minutes remaining, again on the break — his fifth goal in eight games this season.
Leipzig are now three points clear of Bayern, who play at last-placed Bochum on Sunday.
Just days after letting a 2-0 lead slip to lose 5-2 at Real Madrid, Dortmund’s poor week continued with a 2-1 defeat at Augsburg despite going ahead early.
As he did against Real, Dortmund winger Donyell Malen gave his side the lead, blasting an excellent Serhou Guirassy assist into the net after four minutes.
Augsburg were level after 25 minutes however, Alexis Claude-Maurice taking advantage of some lazy defending to waltz through the center of the park and hit a low shot into the corner.
Claude-Maurice scored five minutes into the second half, this time capitalizing on an Emre Can error to slide the ball into the right-hand corner.
The loss leaves Dortmund seven points off top spot after just eight matches and last season’s Champions League finalists have not won away from home in the league since April.
Elsewhere, Stuttgart won 2-1 at home against promoted Holstein Kiel.
Captain Deniz Undav opened the scoring 19 minutes in and El Bilal Toure, who scored a stoppage-time winner against Juventus midweek, added a stunner in the second half.
Jeff Chabot’s second yellow meant Stuttgart were reduced to 10 men and Armin Gigovic cut the lead with six minutes remaining but Kiel, who lost Jann-Fiete Arp to a second yellow late, could not cut the gap further.
In Hamburg, promoted St. Pauli picked up a valuable point in a scoreless draw at home against Wolfsburg.
Later on Saturday, defending champions Bayer Leverkusen play away at Werder Bremen.
Leipzig beat Freiburg to go top, Dortmund lose away again
https://arab.news/4394f
Leipzig beat Freiburg to go top, Dortmund lose away again
- Leipzig, who looked heavy-legged after a 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday, were a goal down at half-time but equalized shortly after
- Just days after letting a 2-0 lead slip to lose 5-2 at Real Madrid, Dortmund’s poor week continued with a 2-1 defeat at Augsburg despite going ahead early
Rublev marches on, Bublik and Draper fall at Dubai Tennis Championships
- No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev, the 2022 champion, dispatches Ugo Humbert in epic three setter 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3
- Tallon Griekspoor upsets No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik in straight sets to set-up quarterfinal clash with No. 6 seed Jakub Mensik
DUBAI: Andrey Rublev signaled his determination to reclaim the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title on Wednesday, as the ruthless Russian dispatched fellow former champion Ugo Humbert in a titanic, three-set tussle on center court.
As a two-time finalist in Dubai and the winner there in 2022, Rublev already has fond memories of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium. Meanwhile Humbert, who has also tasted success in Dubai having edged Alexander Bublik to the title in 2024, was looking to tame a second former winner in the space of 24 hours after eliminating reigning champion Stefanos Tsitsipas on Tuesday.
In the early stages of the match a smattering of vocal young fans stirred up an endless cacophony of noise from all four grandstands as the near-capacity crowd repeatedly serenaded both players with cries of “Let’s go, Andrey” and “Allez, Ugo,” the even split among the supporters mirroring the evenly matched contest.
The nail-biter of a match went with serve for the first six games before, as is so often the case in professional tennis, the seventh proved to be a critical turning point. Rublev took advantage of two break points afforded by a pair of uncharacteristic double-faults by Humbert to achieve what Tsitsipas had failed to do in the entirety of their Round of 32 clash: he broke the Frenchman.
The set then resettled into a familiar pattern as the pair once again held serve amid minimal threats. And so, after 41 minutes of the back-and-forth, Rublev claimed the opening set 6-4 courtesy of that sole break of serve.
The second set mirrored the first, this time with both players avoiding a break of serve, until Humbert, the current world No. 37, narrowly edged the tiebreak 7-5 to even the match.
With very little separating the battling duo at this point, their seesaw duel was akin to two prize fighters exchanging punches with neither able to land a decisive blow. Buoyed no doubt by the feverish support from their respective fans, both players refused to buckle.
But then, with the third set tied at 1-1, Rublev held serve, broke and held again to win three straight games and move 4-1 ahead. The match then, predictably, once again went with serve until it was 5-3.
Then Humbert, facing the prospect of elimination, suddenly found himself with two break points as his opponent wobbled while serving for the match. The steely Russian held his nerve, however, and dispatched a trio of massive serves, including two aces, to reverse the deficit and set up his first match-point.
That was all the 28-year-old needed, as another huge serve forced a Humbert error and sealed the match 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
“It was a very dramatic ending,” Rublev said. “I’m really happy I was able to keep going and save the last game.
“It’s difficult to close a match; you can make a double-fault or a mistake, but I made three good serves and that helped me a lot. It’s much easier to win points from the serve than playing rallies every time.”
He commended his opponent, saying: “Ugo played really well. I took my two break chances but he served unbelievably all match. He shoots super hard and very fast, so it’s not easy to do something. I had to be ready for the one chance to break him in a set, and I got those chances and was able to do it.
“This match gives me a lot of confidence, so we’ll see what will happen in the quarterfinal. I’m playing well, so let’s see.”
Rublev now faces another Frenchmen, Arthur Rinderknech, who emerged victorious from a grueling three-set marathon against the British No. 4 seed, Jack Draper, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4.
Their match, which finished well after midnight and with an eerie mist hovering over center court, yielded only two breaks of serve, both of which went Rinderknech’s way. Despite the defeat, Draper can head home with his head held high as his return to top-level tennis continues after a six-month injury layoff.
On the new court 1, Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands pulled off the biggest upset of the day by taming No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. The win earned the world No. 25 a quarterfinal encounter with No. 6 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, who made short work of the Australian, Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2.
