Las Vegas Aces Rookie Kate Martin Suffers Ankle Injury in Game Against Chicago Sky

NEW YORK (AP) — Emma Navarro’s first Grand Slam semifinal of her career will come at the U.S. Open against Aryna Sabalenka, someone trying to win her second major trophy of the year and third overall.

Navarro, an American who is seeded 13th, used a stunning turnaround to grab the last six games of her quarterfinal against Paula Badosa for a 6-2, 7-5 victory at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday, following up her upset of defending champion Coco Gauff.

“Sometimes you’re out in the court, and you can kind of picture yourself playing a third set. When I was out there, I didn’t picture myself playing a third set,” despite being down 5-1 in the second, Navarro said. “I felt like … I could come back and do it in two.”

Sure did.

There was no such drama in No. 2 Sabalenka’s 6-1, 6-2 win against No. 7 Zheng Qinwen, the gold medalist at the Paris Olympics last month. This was a rematch of the Australian Open final in January, when Sabalenka defeated Zheng for a second consecutive title at Melbourne Park.

With Roger Federer in the stands, attending the U.S. Open for the first time since his retirement, Sabalenka displayed a typically powerful performance to get into the semifinals in New York for the fourth year in a row. In 2023, she was the runner-up to Gauff.

Asked how she’s going to get some of the thousands of fans to support her against the American Navarro, Sabalenka, a 26-year-old from Belarus, joked: “Drinks on me!”

She is trying to become the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to win the hard-court major titles at the Australian Open and U.S. Open.

The opponents in the other women’s semifinal will be decided on Wednesday, when No. 1 Iga Swiatek plays No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia takes on unseeded Karolina Muchova.

In the men’s quarterfinals Tuesday, No. 12 Taylor Fritz of the U.S. earned his first berth in the final four of a major, beating 2020 U.S. Open runner-up Alexander Zverev 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Fritz had been 0-4 in Grand Slam quarterfinals but finally broke through against Zverev, the No. 4 seed he also defeated in the fourth round at Wimbledon.

“I’ve had a lot of looks at quarterfinals over the last couple of years and today just felt different,” Fritz said. “I really felt like it was my time to take it a step further.”

Frances Tiafoe had an opportunity to give the U.S. a third semifinalist when he faced No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday night. If he wins, the No. 20-seeded Tiafoe would play the 12th-seeded Fritz in Friday’s semis.

“That could be crazy, so I guess we’ll see what happens,” Fritz said, “but either way I’ll be ready to go.”

Navarro was three points from having to go to a third set against Badosa but won the next four points to stay alive, starting a stretch in which she captured 24 of the match’s last 28 points.

“Things weren’t looking great there in the second set, but just tried to be really tough, stick in there, make her hit one more ball,” Navarro said. “I felt like if I could scrap out a few longer points, maybe put some pressure on her, I felt like I could come back and maybe close it out in two sets. Happy with how I was able to do that.”

Navarro had never even won a match in the main draw of her home major before this year.

Badosa described herself as a “disaster” while dealing with the pressure of trying to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal.

“I never had the momentum in this match. I played four or five games OK. It was 5-1, but I never felt myself on the court,” Badosa said. “I lost, I don’t know, 20 points almost in a row. It’s very weird for me because I’m quite a consistent player, so I wasn’t expecting that either.”

Navarro also beat Gauff in the fourth round at Wimbledon before losing to eventual runner-up Jasmine Paolini in the next round, a 6-2, 6-1 rout in less than an hour.

But the 2021 NCAA singles champion for Virginia was ready for this matchup between New York natives, jumping on Badosa to win the first three games, then seizing the opening Badosa gave her late.

Navarro became the sixth player in the last 40 years to reach the U.S. Open semis without a previous main-draw victory in the tournament, a list that includes recent champions Bianca Andreescu in 2019 and Emma Raducanu in 2021.

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AP tennis:

More tributes are pouring in from around the hockey community after the deaths of NHL player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, who were killed last week by a suspected drunken driver while riding their bikes in their home state of New Jersey.

Jaromir Jagr posted a video Tuesday on social media of Gaudreau assisting on his 766th and final goal in the league when they were teammates with the Calgary Flames in 2018.

“It was a beautiful pass above all,” Jagr wrote in Czech. “Unfortunately, life can be sometimes unbelievably cruel. Thank you, Johnny Gaudreau, that you were here and you gave hope to all those guys by your unbelievable performances that they can succeed at the world class level in the NHL as you managed to do. My sincerely condolences to your family. R.I.P. to you and your brother.”

Donations also continued to pile up to support Matthew’s widow, Madeline, who is pregnant with the couple’s first child, due in December. A GoFundMe set up by Madeline’s sister, Holland Korbitz, and verified by the online fundraising company had raised more than $560,000 as of 7 p.m. EDT Tuesday.

Dozens of current and former players from around the league, or their significant others, are listed among the more than 7,800 donors, including $3,000 from the family of New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin and $2,013 from Matt Duchene of the Dallas Stars, for a total of $567,127 — well beyond the initial $30,000 goal.

Cliff Rucker, owner of the ECHL’s Worcester Railers HC for whom Matthew played two seasons from 2017-19, is listed as the top donor at $10,000.

“Maddy, the entire Railers HC family stands shoulder to shoulder with you during this incomprehensibly difficult time for you and your loved ones,” Rucker commented. “You and Matty will always be part of our Railer family, and I hope you can feel the love and support we are sending your way.”

The Gaudreau brothers were cycling on a road in Oldmans Township on Thursday night when a man driving an SUV in the same direction attempted to pass two other vehicles and struck them from behind about 8 p.m., according to New Jersey State Police. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said the driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins, was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. On Tuesday, police said nothing more about the case, including Higgin’s blood alcohol level, was being released at this time.

No information about a funeral or memorial services, public or private, was immediately available.

“As we embark on the journey of laying John and Matty to rest, we are greatly comforted by all those who have visited these growing memorials and who have left messages of love, prayers, thoughts of kindness as well as jerseys, skates, sticks, pucks, flowers, candles and so many other tokens of remembrance,” uncle Jim Gaudreau posted on Facebook. “We are consoled by the memorials on each of your doorsteps, in your yards and on your cars. We have heard and seen the countless moments of silence and heartfelt messages by so many professional athletes, organizations and other athletic leagues, by every single person in private, along with the extremely heartfelt messages from broadcasts, media and each and every single one of you along with the random acts of kindness and compassion by complete strangers.”

Fans in Columbus on Friday made a memorial out of hockey sticks, flowers and other mementos outside the Blue Jackets’ downtown arena. Flames fans in Calgary, Alberta, also paid tribute with messages and Gaudreau’s No. 13 written in chalk on the ground outside the Saddledome.

The Blue Jackets said fans are invited to a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night outside Nationwide Arena, which will include brief remarks from members of the organization as well as 13 minutes, 21 seconds of silent remembrance for the jersey numbers worn by Johnny and Matthew.

The Blue Jackets said general manager Don Waddell and players will speak to reporters Wednesday afternoon.

Wayne Gretzky over the weekend said he, wife Janet, and their family were devastated by the senseless tragedy.

“We are sending our love, thoughts and prayers to the Gaudreau family,” Gretzky posted on social media. “We lost two great young men who were loved and a huge presence both on and off the ice. Johnny and Matthew, you will always be remembered and missed.”

Their deaths on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding scheduled for Friday in Philadelphia transcended hockey. Play-by-play broadcaster Bob Wischusen offered somber words about Johnny and Matthew during ESPN’s college football broadcast of the game Monday night between Florida State and Boston College, the school the Gaudreau brothers attended and played hockey together at for one season a decade ago.

“The entire National Hockey League, as well as the Boston College community and so many others, were devastated Friday when we learned of the deaths of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau,” Wischusen said. “Our hearts are shattered, and we send every good thought and prayer to their wives, Johnny Gaudreau’s young children, Matthew’s child on the way and all of their family and friends.”

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Associated Press writers Bruce Shipkowski in New Jersey and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.

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AP NHL:

EDMONTON – Leon Draisaitl says he wants to be an “Oiler for life.”

The star forward took a big step towards that goal by signing an eight-year contract extension with the Edmonton Oilers. The deal, announced Tuesday has an average annual value of US$14 million, the highest in NHL history.

“I have a hard time picturing myself in a different jersey,” said Draisaitl, who scored 41 goals and added 65 assists for 106 points in 81 regular-season games last season.

He added another 10 goals and 21 assists through 25 playoff games, helping propel Edmonton to its first Stanley Cup final appearance since 2006.

He was set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Draisaitl’s deal is just the first of three major targets general manager Stan Bowman needs to tackle in the next couple of years. Defenceman Evan Bouchard’s $3.9 million bridge deal ends after this season, positioning him for a significant raise.

And, after this season, negotiations can begin with three-time MVP Connor McDavid, who is likely to command a contract that surpasses Draisaitl’s.

McDavid is currently on a deal that pays him $12.5 million per season, and expires at the end of the 2025-26 season.

“Certainly, there’s going to be challenges in the future,” Bowman said of the team’s need to stay under the salary-cap ceiling and lock down all three players.

“But, that’s for us to figure out down the road.”

Bowman said that players like Draisaitl are simply irreplaceable, so that’s why the deal was his “top priority” since he was hired earlier this summer.

“Players like Leon are special.” said Bowman. “There’s not many people in the world who can play hockey like he does. There’s no way we can ever replace what Leon brings to the table. He’s a huge part of our team; he has been and will continue to be.”

Draisaitl signed an eight-year, US$68 million contract extension in August 2017 that carried an annual average cap hit of $8.5 million — and quickly turned into one of the NHL’s bargains — that expires after the 2024-25 season.

The 28-year-old centre has 347 goals and 503 assists for 850 points in 719 regular-season games since getting selected third overall at the 2014 NHL draft.

With those eye-popping numbers, some GMs might even see the $14-million annual cap hit as a bargain. Draisaitl acknowledged the balance between maximizing his earnings and leaving the team some flexibility to build for another Cup run.

“It’s a fine line and I think that’s where negotiations normally probably get to a standstill and it doesn’t go any further,” said Draisaitk. “We know you can’t win with two-, three- or four-man rosters. It’s just not possible in this league. This league’s too good. I’m very happy it’s done … and I can focus on playing my game and continuing to get better and play my best hockey, especially when it matters most.”

Draisaitl is hopeful his extension will lead to a long-term deal for McDavid, keeping the NHL’s top one-two punch together for years to come.

“Connor’s going to do what’s best for him, right? That’s just the way this works,” said Draisaitl. “It’s supposed to work that way. I did what I thought was best for me, personally. Do I hope that Connor follows along? I would be lying if I said no. Of course I want him to stay on board. I want all our pieces to stay on board.”

But, does being the new highest-paid player in the NHL put a target on Draisaitl’s back? Will it make him grip his stick more tightly in the coming years?

“I don’t know about the word, ‘pressure.’ I think it’s a responsibility more so than pressure, maybe. I’m aware of my responsibility, I’m aware of the commitment that (owner Daryl Katz) and the entire Oilers organization has given me. It’s my time to give that back in a way, right? I’m aware of my responsibility. Is it pressure? In certain moments, there is pressure. But, you know I’m going to get paid a lot of money to handle those moments.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 3, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.