NEW YORK (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka is going to be the No. 1 player in the WTA rankings next week, replacing Iga Swiatek there. That much is certain. The way Sabalenka is playing at the moment, she might very well supplant Swiatek as the U.S. Open champion, too.
In Sabalenka’s first match since being assured of rising to the top of women’s tennis, she showed off the power-based game that allows her to dominate so many opponents, overwhelming No. 13 seed Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-3 on Monday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium to advance to her fifth consecutive major quarterfinal.
“All this year, I’ve been pushing myself so hard to reach this goal,” Sabalenka said about getting to No. 1. “It really means a lot for me. It means a lot for my family. It’s crazy. It’s unbelievable.”
After the top-seeded Swiatek lost in the fourth round on Sunday night, No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 5 Ons Jabeur — who was the runner-up in New York a year ago — both were defeated Monday. No. 4 Elena Rybakina bowed out last week.
That all left Sabalenka as the only one of the top five women remaining in the bracket.
She will play No. 23 Zheng Qinwen on Wednesday for a spot in the semifinals. The other quarterfinal on the bottom half of the draw will be Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova against No. 17 Madison Keys, the U.S. Open runner-up in 2017.
The quarterfinals on the top half of the women’s bracket will be played Tuesday: No. 6 Coco Gauff vs. 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, and No. 10 Karolina Muchova vs. No. 30 Sorana Cirstea.
Zheng, a 20-year-old from China, was responsible for eliminating Jabeur, who’s been sick, by the score of 6-2, 6-3 to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time. Keys took care of Pegula 6-1, 6-3, while Vondrousova beat unseeded American Peyton Stearns 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2.
“I feel this is, like, an important win for me,” Zheng said. “I always believe that I’m able to beat everyone if I play the right tennis.”
In men’s action Monday, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz won in straight sets and will next meet No. 12 Alexander Zverev, who outlasted No. 6-seeded Jannik Sinner 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in a night match that lasted 4 hours, 41 minutes and ended early Tuesday morning.
The 2021 champion, Danill Medvedev, and No. 8 Andrey Rublev will face off in an all-Russian quarterfinal. Rublev beat Jack Draper 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the afternoon, and Medvedev got past No. 13 Alex de Minaur 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 at night.
Sabalenka said she thought she would be distracted against Kasatkina by the rankings news. Sure didn’t seem to be one bit.
Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open in January, frequently hits shots with such force, and such little subtlety, that her amount of control can vary. But when she’s on, she’s tough to counter, and Sabalenka was on-target against Kasatkina, winding up with a 31-7 edge in total winners in a match that lasted just 75 minutes.
“I’m super happy with the performance today,” Sabalenka said. “I’m super happy I was able to put her under pressure.”
Kasatkina acknowledges that her serve is a weakness and so, not surprisingly, she was in particular trouble in those games. Sabalenka repeatedly would tee off on second serves in the 70s mph, either ripping a clean winner or forcing an error on the other side of the net.
Kasatkina won just one of her eight service games.
After her big breakthrough at Melbourne Park, Sabalenka got to the semifinals at the French Open and Wimbledon, making her 21-2 in Grand Slam matches this season.
Now she’ll attempt to get back to the semifinals in New York, where she lost at that stage two years ago to Leylah Fernandez and last year to Swiatek.
The No. 1 ranking is hers, but Sabalenka is hoping to claim major trophy No. 2.
“I think she’s been knocking on the door for quite a while,” Pegula said. “It’s nice to see that change and see her get rewarded for how well she’s been playing, her consistency, especially in the Slams.”
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
