Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime was ousted from the Australian Open on Saturday, taking a straight-sets loss to Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena.
Medvedev defeated the Montreal native lost 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in 2 1/2 hours before midnight local time.
It was just the latest late finish for the Russian, after his second-round match finished close to 4 a.m. Friday.
Medvedev will next play Nuno Borges, who upset No. 13 Grigor Dimitrov 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (6).
“At least I have this super ability — I can sleep where I want whenever I want,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview.
The previous time he played Auger-Aliassime in Australia, he had to save two match points before clinching an exhausting quarterfinal in five sets. Medvedev lost the final that year to Rafael Nadal, a year after losing the 2021 decider to Novak Djokovic.
With nine of the top 10 still in contention here after three rounds, he’ll have to be tactically astute to make it back to the final. He says he’s back on track to add another major trophy to the one he captured at the U.S. Open in 2021.
“I want to … try to go again to the final, try to have my chance of winning another Grand Slam,” Medvedev said. “I had another final finally in U.S. Open. Just want to show good tennis, beat good guys, and hopefully get one more title.”
The men’s draw is stacked, with No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 3 Medvedev and No. 6 Alexander Zverev all having straight-set wins Saturday to reach the fourth round.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, No. 4 Jannik Sinner and No. 5 Andrey Rublev already reached the last 16 on the top half of the draw.
Auger-Aliassime eliminated at Australian Open in 3rd round
Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime was defeated by Daniil Medvedev in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in the third round of the Australian Open Saturday.
Auger-Aliassime’s loss means that there are no Canadians left in the singles draws at Melbourne Park.
All eyes are now on Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of Montreal, who did not have to play their women’s doubles match on Saturday.
The Canadian duo, who are the reigning U.S. Open champions and seeded fourth in Melbourne, advanced to the third round after the Russian pair of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Veronika Kudermetova withdrew from the competition.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face off against China’s Hanyu Guo and Xinyu Jiang on Sunday.
In mixed doubles, Dabrowski and her American partner Nathaniel Lammons will take on Australia’s Jamie Murray and Russia’s Yana Sizikova in a second-round match on Sunday.
Swiatek bounced by teenager
Already down a set and facing a break point against Iga Swiatek, No. 50-ranked Linda Noskova decided she had nothing to lose.
She won 11 of the next 12 points to take the second set and swing momentum in their third-round match Saturday, ultimately becoming the first teenager to beat a No. 1-ranked woman at the Australian Open since 1999.
With a big serve and equally big groundstrokes, she unsettled Swiatek and held her cool, even under pressure in the last game to serve it out, for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory that means there’s no top 10 players in the top half of the draw.
“I’m just really kind of exhausted mentally and physically,” Noskova said in her post-match news conference following the upset. “I just believed my game tonight. I just really wanted this.”
Swiatek is a four-time major winner but has never been past the semifinals at Melbourne Park. Even so, she was on an 18-match winning streak and expected to account for the 19-year-old Noskova, who is making her main draw debut at the tournament.
Swiatek beat 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the first round and had to rally from 4-1 down in the third to overcome 2022 finalist Danielle Collins in the second.
Swiatek said the tough opening matches didn’t hurt her.
“Physically I felt, honestly, I didn’t feel anything. So pretty good,” she said. “Mentally, as well, I felt like actually I came back in my match against Danielle, and I could kind of start over and not expect a lot, just try to play my game.
But after taking the first set against Noskova, she struggled for rhythm. The decisive break was in the seventh game of the third set, with two forehand errors costing Swiatek the game.
Two games later, she held at love and forced her rival serve it out, then jumped to 0-30 lead in the 10th game.
But Noskova won the the next four points to finish it off quickly, including an ace to set up match point. She’ll next play Wimbledon semifinalist Elina Svitolina.
Swiatek’s loss leaves No. 12 Zheng Qinwen as the highest-ranked player and two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka as the only past major winner in the top half of the draw.
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, seeded second, U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff, seeded fourth, and No. 9 Barbora Krejcikova are all on the opposite half.
Anna Kalinskaya beat 2017 U.S. Open winner Sloane Stephens 6-7 (8), 6-1, 6-4 to set up a meeting with Jasmine Paolini. The 26th seeded Paolini advanced 7-6 (1), 6-4 over Anna Blinkova, who was coming off a big upset win over 2023 finalist Elena Rybakina in the longest tiebreaker in women’s Grand Slam history.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
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.
