Sabalenka bags fourth US Open q-final ticket in a row

 Aryna Sabalenka reached the US Open quarter-finals for the fourth year in a row with an assured victory over Elise Mertens, reports bbc.com.

Second seed Sabalenka, beaten by Coco Gauff in the New York final last year, saw off her former doubles partner Mertens 6-2, 6-4.

The Belarusian hit 41 winners and saved all eight of the break points that Belgium's Mertens created.

Sabalenka is the first woman to reach four consecutive women's singles quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams in 2016.

She has now made the quarter-finals or better in her past eight Grand Slam appearances.

Her last defeat before that stage came at the 2022 Australian Open, where she was beaten by Kaia Kanepi in the fourth round. She has not lost a match in 

Melbourne since, winning the title in 2023 and defending it in January this year.

Sabalenka will face China's Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, who beat silver medallist Donna Vekic 7-6 (7-2) 4-6 6-2, in the last eight.

A match which lasted two hours 50 minutes ended at 2.15am local time on Monday, the latest finish to a women's US Open match.

Sabalenka beat Zheng in the Australian Open final this year.

Paula Badosa earlier breezed past Wang Yafan 6-1 6-2 to set up a quarter-final against Emma Navarro, who ended Gauff's title defence in a three-set win.

NPFL 2024/25 SEASON MATCHDAY 1 FIXTURES:

 Sept. 8:

Kwara United vs Niger Tornadoes

Heartland vs Enyimba

Bendel Insurance vs Rivers Utd

Kano Pillars vs Ikorodu City

Plateau Utd   vs Katsina Utd

Abia Warriors vs Remo Stars

Sunshine Stars vs Bayelsa Utd

Nasarawa Utd vs Shooting Stars

Sept. 9:

Lobi Stars vs Akwa United

RESULT OF OPENING GAME:

Aug 31, 2024

Enugu Rangers 0 El-Kanemi Warriors 0

Ahead Joshua/ Dubois clash: Saudi boxing chief hopes to lower PPV prices

Saudi boxing chief HE Turki Alalshikh has told talkSPORT that he intends to 'fix' boxing's rising pay-per-view prices.

Boxing fans have been left disillusioned with how much it now costs to watch the sport's biggest fights, leading to a rise in illegal streaming.

According to some claims, 20 million people illegally streamed Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk's historic undisputed heavyweight clash in May, costing TV rights holders around £95 million in lost revenue. 

Eighteen per cent of those watching illegally were from the UK, where the price was set at £25, while 25 per cent came from North America.

United States PPV prices have been ludicrously high for some time.

Fury vs Usyk was priced at $69.99 in the United States, where punters have come to expect $50-plus fees for blockbuster showdowns.

In an attempt to tackle illegal streaming and appease boxing fans around the world, HE Alalshikh has promised to drastically cut PPV prices for all Riyadh Season cards, starting with Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois on September 21.

"You mention the PPV, I think this is my next big fight and I want your advice also," he told talkSPORT's Jordan and White show on Monday morning.

"I dream of a PPV with a good price to make the fans happy and subscribe and get them to watch it legally.

"Usually when I see a high PPV, a lot of people go and watch the fight illegally and this is not healthy for boxing and the platform.

"What I will try to push is to have our Riyadh Season shows at less than £20 in England and less than $20 around the world...

"I would prefer to have one million fans subscribe and buy the PPV for £20 than less than 500,000 [for £40].

"The people go around it illegally because the price is high. In the future, this will not build boxing.

"If I give the fans good fights at a good price then I will increase the fanbase."

Joshua vs Dubois will be available for £19.95 in the UK, with prices elsewhere yet to be officially confirmed.

Bella's Kitchen ready to meet your taste

 

I'd join Ukraine war effort if...says Arsenal's Zinchenko

 
Arsenal full back, Oleksandr Zinchenko, has said he would return to Ukraine to fight in the defence of his country if called up.
The 27-year-old has already donated £1 million ($1.26m) to help those back home following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Asked by BBC's Newsnight whether he would answer a call-up, Zinchenko said: "I think it's a clear answer. I would go."
He said several of his former school friends had already joined the Ukrainian military.
"It's tough to understand that just recently we've been in the same school, we were playing in the playground or on the football pitch, and now they have to defend our country," he said. "Honestly, [it's] so hard to accept this, but it is what it is. We cannot give up."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy this week signed a bill to cut the mobilisation age for combat duty to 25 from 27.
Zinchenko began his career in Russia with Ufa before joining Manchester City in 2016 where he won four Premier League titles. He moved to Arsenal in July 2022 for a fee in the region of £35 million.
He added that he has little contact with his former Russian teammates.
"Since the invasion really few [have] texted me and sent me some messages and I can't blame them because this is not their fault," he said. "I cannot tell them, 'Guys, do the protests outside and all these things', because I know they can be [put] in prison."

Thrilla in Manila': Ali's iconic white trunks to fetch $6m at auction

 The trunks worn by Muhammad Ali in his epic 'Thrilla in Manila' victory over Joe Frazier are expected to fetch more than $6 million (£4.8m) at auction next week, reports www.bbc.com.
Ali's iconic white satin shorts went up for sale with renowned auction house Sotheby's on Thursday - and the bidding has already reached $3.8m.
The trunks, signed by Ali, were sold for $150,000 in 2012 but are likely to fetch 40 times that sum now.
The auction runs at Sotheby's New York branch until Friday 12 April.
The 'Thrilla in Manila', which took place in October 1975 in the capital of the Philippines, is one of the seminal bouts in boxing history.
Frazier, nicknamed 'Smokin' Joe', had won the first meeting between the pair four years earlier, becoming the first man to defeat Ali when he successfully defended his world heavyweight title via unanimous decision in New York.
Ali won a controversial non-title rematch in 1974, paving the way for a rubber fight the following year, by which time he had regained the world crown by beating George Foreman in another iconic bout, the 'Rumble in the Jungle' in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
And the third meeting also went the way of Ali after 14 gruelling rounds when Frazier was retired by his corner team.
The bouts are considered by many to be the greatest trilogy in boxing history.
As well as being signed by Ali, the Everlast trunks are also inscribed by his corner man, Drew 'Bundini' Brown, who died in 1988 - they fetched just $1,000 (£800) when auctioned after his death.
Ali, one of sport's legendary figures died in June 2016 at the age of 74 after living with Parkinson's Disease for much of his post-boxing life, while Frazier passed away in 2011 at the age of 67.

How Wilder went to sleep at Day of Reckong

 
Before his heavyweight fight against Joseph Parker on Saturday, Deontay Wilder said he wasn’t susceptible to “ring rust,” pointing out that a year and six days removed from his previous fight, he’d scored a first-round knockout the last time out, reports www.al.com/sports.
But that was more than 14 months ago, and Parker gave Wilder the third loss of his professional career by unanimous decision at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the co-feature fight on the Day of Reckoning card.
The judges’ scoring reflected the one-sided nature of the 12-round fight as they had it 118-111, 118-111 and 120-108 for Parker.
“Dangerous fight, tough fight, we trained very hard for this,” said Parker, The Associated Press reported. “We had great momentum coming into this fight. The strategy was to stay calm, stay relaxed, stay focused ... every minute of every round. This is a great finish to the year.”
Wilder entered the ring on Saturday with a 43-2-1 career record that included 42 knockouts. Both losses and the draw came against Tyson Fury, the WBC world heavyweight champion – a title he took from Wilder.
Parker trains with Fury, and before the fight said the champ’s advice had been to stay out of the way of Wilder’s right hand. And Parker did.
Wilder dubbed himself Dr. Sleep before the fight because of what he planned to do to Parker. But Wilder was in the sixth round of the fight before he seemed to wake up. By that time, Parker had landed a big right and a left hook in the fourth round as the best connections in the first five rounds.
In the eighth round, Parker hurt Wilder with a right, and the Alabama native had to hold on during a barrage from the New Zealand fighter to survive to the bell.
After that, it was desperation mode for Wilder, but he could never connect with the right against Parker.
“My timing was off a little bit,” Wilder said. “He did a great job of avoiding a lot of my punches. I did feel like I had the upper hand, but things happen. We move on to the next step.”
A former WBO world heavyweight champion, Parker improved to 34-3, retained his WBO inter-continental heavyweight crown and won the vacant WBC international heavyweight title.
Before Saturday’s right, Wilder had fought once since he suffered back-to-back losses to Fury on February 22, 2020, and October 9, 2021, in WBC world heavyweight championship fights. Wilder knocked out Robert Helenius in the first round on October 15, 2022, in Brooklyn, New York.