TENNIS
Taiwan’s Wu exits
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Friday was defeated in the women’s doubles at the National Bank Open in Toronto. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China lost 4-6, 7-6 (10/8), 10-1 to US pair Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin in the quarter-finals at Sobeys Stadium in the US$3,211,715 hardcourt tournament. In the women’s singles, Coco Gauff lost 6-4, 6-1 to 14th seed Diana Shnaider. Preparing for her US Open title defense, Gauff was broken trailing 5-4 in the first set. The 20-year-old American double-faulted down 2-1 in the second and Shnaider held serve to go up 4-1. “I just wasn’t finding my timing well,” Gauff said. Shnaider, in the quarter-finals faces Liudmila Samsonova. The others to reach the last eight were: Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Peyton Stearns, Taylor Townsend, Emma Navarro and Amanda Anisimova.
CRICKET
Maharaj dismisses three
Keshav Maharaj’s discipline and persistence on Friday earned him three important wickets as the West Indies were limited to 145-4 in reply to South Africa’s first innings total of 357 at the end of the third day of the rain-affected first Test at Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Maharaj returned figures of 3-45 from 28 overs. Fellow left-arm orthodox spinner Jomel Warrican (4-69) lead the home side’s effort in eventually dismissing the visitors on the third morning. “It’s really about keeping it simple and being consistent and repetitive in conditions like this... and I like repetitions,” Maharaj said at the end of play. “There’s not much to be had from the wicket, so I am trying to use different variations, different paces and trajectories to make it uncomfortable to score.”
CYCLING
Alaphilippe to leave team
Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe has told Soudal-Quick Step he will leave them at the end of the season, team boss Patrick Lefevere said yesterday. Alaphilippe is a two-time world champion. “Julian called me this week to tell me he was leaving.” Lefevere told Belgian daily Het Nieuwsblad. “He’d been thinking about it at night for weeks and it had been making him sick, but he told be he’s leaving the team.” With the arrival at the Belgian team of top local rider Remco Evenepoel, Alaphilippe would no longer be the team’s chief priority.
CROSSFIT
Serbian Lazar Dukic dies
Serbian athlete Lazar Dukic died on Thursday while competing in a CrossFit swimming competition in Texas, the fitness organization said on social media. He was 28. “We are devastated by the passing of Lazar Dukic. Our hearts are with Lazar’s entire family, friends, and fellow athletes,” CrossFit wrote on X. Dukic went underwater and did not resurface during a swimming event at the CrossFit Games, an annual multiday fitness challenge with athletes from around the world, local media reported. CrossFit said it was “fully cooperating with authorities and doing everything we can to support the family at this time.” The event was held at Marine Creek Lake in Fort Worth, media reported. Dukic was ranked third in Serbia and 88th worldwide, according to his profile on CrossFit’s Web site. Events were suspended for the remainder of Thursday, CrossFit wrote on X.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
FINAL WEEK LOOMS: PSG rose to 22nd place to set up another tense challenge against 24th-placed Stuttgart, while Man City require victory against Club Brugge Manchester City are on the brink of a humiliating UEFA Champions League exit after a stunning loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, while Real Madrid is no longer at risk after routing Salzburg. Man City blew a two-goal lead in a high-stakes clash of super-wealthy underachievers that PSG won 4-2 in Paris, who could still be eliminated alongside the English champions after the final round of games next week. Only the top 24 in the 36-team standings are to advance. Man City, the 2023 champions, are in 25th place, but could squeeze into the knockout playoffs round by beating Club Brugge. “We will
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