Category Sports News

Iga Swiatek, a five-time major champion, endured a massive shock as Filipina teenager Alexandra Eala continued her long-awaited dream to reach the Miami Open semi-finals.

After being verbally abused by an “aggressive and taunting” fan, second seed Swiatek completely out of sorts as she lost 6-2 7-5 to the world number 140 in Miami.

The 23-year-old’s serve was broken eight times as she worked to hold serve, and her baseline game was shaky and caused numerous forehand errors.

Eala, 19, managed to maintain her concentration and self-control as she won her most competitive job.

Swiatek, a Polish woman who has received a one-month ban for a doping offence and who doesn’t want to “step on the court,” recently spoke about the emotional strain she has endured.

She hasn’t made a final since winning the French Open in June because of this defeat.

In the semi-finals, Eala will face American fourth seed Jessica Pegula or British tennis player Emma Raducanu who was given a wildcard to play at the WTA 1000 tournament.

She will be among the top 100 in the world next week.

Eala later told Sky Sports on court that “my mind is really blank because I don’t believe I’ve thought through what I just did.”

Even though she is only a teenager, Eala is already accustomed to leading the country and has a low tennis pedigree.

With the 2022 US Open title, she became the first Filipino to win a WTA Tour match and the first to claim a junior Grand Slam.

The teenager gracing the cover of Vogue back home as a result of their success in New York.

After defeating some of the biggest names on the WTA Tour to reach the last four, Eala has now made an announcement to a wider international audience.

She was a Rafael Nadal Academy graduate before making a stunning run in Miami. She had only won two major-drawn matches.

Grand Slam winners have faced off against Grand Slam champions in three of her four victories at the WTA 1000 event, which is the lower category of tournaments.

When Spanish 10th seed Paula Badosa withdrew injured in the fourth round, Eala was given a walkover, but she showed once more why she is regarded as an emerging star in Wednesday’s quarter-final.

In her first professional game against Swiatek, Eala put on a strong performance by being fearless, ferocious, and hitting a flurry of winners.

However, they had previously spoken when Swiatek and 22-time major winner Nadal presented Eala with her diploma two years ago.

Eala, who had Nadal’s uncle and former coach Toni in her coaching role against Swiatek, exclaimed, “It’s so surreal.” “I’m so happy and blessed to be able to compete with such a player at this point.

Juan Ayuso, a member of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG, won the stage three photo finish competition, leading the Volta a Catalunya.

After the two pre-race favorites had cleared the field as the finish line approached, the Spaniard descended to the front of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Primoz Roglic, who was the Spaniard’s team, by the width of a tyre as the Spaniard advanced to the first major mountain stage.

With only four stages left, Ayuso now leads his Slovenian rival by six seconds in the overall classification.

Third-placed Spanish Soudal-QuickStep rider Mikel Landa, who is fifth overall in stage three, is five seconds further back.

The 218.6km climb from Viladecans to La Molina was a race for the climbers, despite the sprinters’ first two stages being in the favor of the sprinters, with British riders Matthew Brennan and Ethan Vernon each taking home one stage each.

1. Juan Ayuso (Spa/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 5 hrs 49 minutes 29 secs

2. Same time as Prince Roglic (Slo/Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe).

3. 2secs for Melikel Landa (Spa/Soudal-QuickStep).

4. 4 seconds added for LENNY MARTIN (Fra/Bahrain Victorious) + 4 seconds

1. Juan Ayuso (Spa/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 14 hrs 30 minutes 49 secs

2. Prioroz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) + 6secs

3. 11secs of Melekel Landa (Spa/Soudal-QuickStep) + 11 seconds

4. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) + 14 seconds

If a rebel motion to remove former Rugby Football Union executive Bill Sweeney is rejected on Thursday, interim chair Bill Beaumont warned that the organization would fall into months of “rancour and disruption.”

A group of clubs, led by those competing in the second-tier Championship, have forced a decision regarding Sweeney’s leadership.

They claim that the organization has lost touch with the grassroots game, citing Sweeney’s salary, which has significantly increased as a result of a pay raise and bonus program in the wake of the RFU’s record-setting losses.

A rival motion from the RFU promises to decentralize decision-making and rebuild club funding and support in the region.

Former England captain Beaumont accused those trying to remove Sweeney of running a campaign that had been, at times, “deeply regrettable, with demonstrably deceptive claims, especially around the game’s finances.”

“All of this playing out publicly has detracted from so many of the brilliant things happening in English rugby, including the strong men’s Six Nations performances, the focus on our Red Roses, who are building a home World Cup,” he continued.

However, RFU executives bear the brunt of the blame for the upheaval, according to Whole Game Union, who has organized the rebellion.

The game’s hostility and disruption was only brought on by their indolence and unwillingness to consider and address the issues that participants, club members, and referees’ organizations have raised over the course of several years, the statement said.

Additionally, it revealed that it has suggested structural changes to the RFU’s membership, which consists of 1,200 clubs and stakeholders, to give the organization’s wider membership more control over key decisions and leaders.

The changes would require a 66% majority to pass at the RFU’s annual general meeting in the summer.

If they were to be rejected, the RFU’s remodelled structure would conflict with the standards set by funding organizations Sport England and UK Sport, which support rugby union and the staging of major events.

As Billy Horschel’s golf ball disappeared into the hole, the American celebrated by sprinting, leaping, swearing and chucking his club.

It was an electrifying and animated move that became the signature moment of TGL’s debut season.

That downhill, snaking and ultimately successful putt helped land Horschel and his Atlanta Drive team-mates Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas victory against the franchise known as New York Golf Club.

This was in the second of the best of three final series. The victors came from 3-0 down (a point is awarded for each hole won) to triumph 4-3 to take an unassailable 2-0 position.

Such a dramatic finish was exactly what the Tech-infused Golf League needed – the sort of climax envisaged by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy when they bought into the idea of a raucous indoor simulator version of the game.

The decisive putt, which involved a number of dramatic breaks, could be seen as a metaphor for an opening season that was far from straightforward.

There were technical glitches, blowout matches, necessary rule changes and a mixture of reactions from golf fans. But somehow the TGL eventually hit its target.

Played largely on Monday and Tuesday evenings, this was all about attracting viewers. It began promisingly with more than 900,000 in the US tuning in for the initial match in January, but audiences tapered off to eventually average around the half-million mark.

The early contests lacked a competitive edge. The players seemed to struggle with the concept – there was an awkwardness between a competition worth $21m in prize money and an environment that made it seem a hit-and-giggle event.

In one match Woods misunderstood a distance instruction by 100 yards and laughed it off. Imagine that in a tour event. It wouldn’t happen. TGL’s competitive credibility undoubtedly took a hit with that moment.

The tactic of playing the ‘hammer’ to make a hole worth double points did not work initially but became a more effective tool once the rules were adjusted to allow for three ‘hammers’.

This dimension ultimately became a crucial factor in deciding the title and brought a welcome edge to proceedings.

TGL created the sort of buzz that has been the target of the breakaway LIV tour. The Saudi-based circuit, now in its fourth season, has only enjoyed limited success in that regard – most notably with their Adelaide tournament.

Horschel’s histrionics were straight out of the LIV playbook but did not seem out of place once TGL reached its play-off stage. The unalterably dead-pan Cantlay was a constant reminder that there was underlying serious business afoot.

It was Cantlay’s chip against Cameron Young one hole after Horschel’s dramatic putt that sealed Atlanta Drive’s victory.

“It would be great for golf if this were to succeed,” LIV’s Phil Mickelson observed on social media.

“The golf fan is the most loyal fan in sports – buy a ticket, walk miles and see a fraction of the action. But this could allow the golf fan to buy a ticket, sit down and watch all of the action just like other sports.

LIV players are not currently eligible for TGL because it is backed by the PGA Tour. That could change if a deal is done between the two rival tours and LIV’s Brooks Koepka attended the match between Jupiter and The Bay on 25 February.

The start of the first of the two deciding matches on Monday was delayed by an overrunning Women’s NCAA basketball game on ESPN2, which tells us of TGL’s standing in the bigger sporting picture.

Nevertheless, it will return. Investment is deep for a project that boasts 11 of the world’s top 15 golfers. The 1500 seat 250,000 square feet Sofi Centre venue on the Palm Beach State College campus cost $50m to build.

And there are already thoughts of adding a second venue on America’s west coast, although that would likely be years down the line.

“We’re in the middle of an expansion process now,” said Mike McCarley, the TMRW executive who co-founded the project with Woods and McIlroy.

“When exactly we make that decision – there’s no timeline on it necessarily,” McCarley added to the Palm Beach Post.

“We’ve had potential expansion team owners at every single match this season coming to visit us. Some of them, multiple times. Some of them have a lot of questions, a lot of feedback.”

TGL already has the backing of leading American sports investors, who are behind the six teams that competed.

They include the Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank (Atlanta Drive), John Henry and the Fenway Sports Group (Boston Common), New York Mets owner Steve Cohen (New York Golf Club), former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry (The Bay Golf Club) and David Blitzer, who joined Woods’ group that owns Jupiter Links.

“We really like those team owners that are operators of other sports teams and other professional leagues in their communities,” McCarley said.

“But we got a lot of really interesting diverse people domestically and internationally. They can kind of take a look and see what it looks like going forward.”

Former tennis great Serena Williams is co-owner of the Los Angeles team and her involvement prompts consideration over whether TGL missed a trick by not including some of the LPGA’s top stars, such as Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko.

Like LIV, TGL may struggle to win over traditional die-hard golf fans with its raucous environment, which is in stark contrast to the more genteel way golf is usually played.

But the new league was not brought in for the benefit of that constituency. It is there to broaden golf’s base.

Significantly, the players seem to have enjoyed it and deem it worth incorporating into their early season schedules.

“Obviously it is a little bit of a challenge with everything we’ve got going through the year with our own schedules, but I don’t think anyone has ever walked away and said ‘this felt like a burden’,” Horschel stated after collecting his share of the $9m winners’ spoils.

“I could never imagine what this was going to be,” the reigning BMW PGA champion added. “I remember coming into the arena in November and walking out and I was just in awe. I couldn’t imagine what I was seeing.

“I described it like a football player walking into Mercedes-Benz Stadium right about to play, a basketball player walking out – Steph Curry walking out at Oracle Arena, stuff like that.

According to Brighton’s CEO Paul Barber, female footballers may require “a different kind of pitch” in order to lower the chance of injuries.

According to Barber, the club is looking into building a purpose-built stadium for their Women’s Super League team in order to ensure the safety of various surfaces.

The chosen location for the ground, which will be close to the men’s team’s Amex Stadium, is currently being finalized by Brighton.

Barber claims he has “convinced” that playing football on men’s surfaces can cause female players to hurt, and that he has urged more investigation.

Brighton are working on their own research, which will likely involve working with local universities, to ensure that the surface of their new women’s pitch is appropriate.

Is it because we are training them for male athletes that pitch surfaces are contributing? At a Women in Football event, Barber told BBC Sport.

“A brief is starting to come together. It makes perfect sense to get this pitch right if we’re developing it and making that kind of investment.

There has recently been a lot of coverage about the high standards on which women’s football players are asked to play on, and for us, the entire purpose of building a women’s stadium is to show the same respect for the female athletes as we show the men’s.

Barber claims that the new stadium will have more family-friendly amenities and amenities than the current one.

There will be “buggy parks” for prams to be stored as well as breastfeeding rooms, baby changing facilities, and baby changing areas.

Because they weren’t designed for women football players or an audience that follows women’s football, “we don’t have]t those facilities in most football stadiums in our country,” Barber said.

Brighton are “inching toward the final piece of the puzzle,” according to the report.

We are currently finalizing a location with the landowner. Because of where it is, who owns it, and how it got its place to work, Barber continued.

“We’re really excited and really committed to delivering it,” the company said. We’ve always vowed to be as close to Amex as possible.

The Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL) are currently making several changes to the game’s structure to promote growth.

At their quarterly shareholders meetings, clubs will be asked to discuss and vote on any proposals. One possible change would be the temporary removal of Relegated from the Women’s Super League.

Barber says Brighton’s board should not have addressed this issue, but he is open to suggestions for improvement.

Barber remarked, “I think it is appropriate that the WPLL are looking at every possible way to promote the growth of the women’s game.”

We must take into account that if that means we need to provide owners with more security in order to invest more quickly. We need to have every argument on the table, not just that, I’m not saying that’s right or wrong.

WSL clubs “get that they will endure financial losses for a period of time as they invest in women’s football,” according to Barber, but they must also look to make it sustainable.

Because we can’t just run women’s football clubs at a loss forever, he continued, “The most important thing is that we are investing in the right things to turn around that position in the not-so-distant future.”

For those who want to enter a place, be paid well, and be looked after, “that doesn’t make any sense for anyone,” and that is unhealthy.

“We need to build a business that is financially sound for the future.”

When asked whether Financial Fair Play requirements should be included in the WSL, Barber responded that he believes there must be a balance between limiting investment and preventing losses. It’s very challenging.

The key is to pick up as many men’s game lessons as possible to prevent football teams from adopting more precautionary positions.

Wales vs. England at the Women’s Six Nations

Cardiff Principality Stadium Date: Saturday, March 29 Kick-off: 16:45 GMT

It’s difficult to miss one Premiership Women’s Rugby final due to injury, but missing two is just cruel.

Kelsey Jones, a Wales hooker, watched Gloucester-Hartpury win three straight titles earlier this month, completing the “threepeat” with a victory over Saracens.

Jones missed the 2024 showpiece because she had a disc removed in her neck while recovering from a serious knee injury in May.

“They are the times when I want to be on the field, and the business end of the season is probably when I enjoy rugby the most.”

Due to her involvement in the first final at the start of the season, Jones claimed that being forced to miss the first final was “probably the hardest.”

I simply knew it wasn’t possible for me to be there this time around, she continued. I just assumed a different role.

“It was utterly crazy in the shed, supporting my friends as loudly as I could, cheering them on.”

It was still a wonderful experience, but it was also bittersweet.

In the Women’s Six Nations, Jones made her comeback to action last Saturday, playing off the bench in Wales’ opening-round defeat to Scotland.

She cited the support of her family, friends, and team-mates as saying, “I fought so hard to try to be back.”

Gwenllian Pyrs and Donna Rose, two other front-row stalwarts from Wales, joined Jones in making the weekend’s return.

Both have neck surgery scars, just like Jones.

For Sale Sharks loose-head Pyrs, Scotland was their first appearance since undergoing surgery in November, which involved disc replacement and disc fusion, while Saracens tight-head Rose underwent a similar procedure in December.

After watching WXV [last October], we decided it was time to work and then we had enough time to recover for the Six Nations, according to Pyrs, who scored a try on her return in Edinburgh.

Playing on, however, was not an option for Rose.

I had been playing through it for a while, denying to myself how awful it actually was, before I realized I needed to tell myself, “You do need this surgery, let’s be honest here,” Rose said.

I was kind of of the impression that if I admit to hurting my neck, it will end up being a career-ending injury. I thought about it and endured the pain, but I still manage to stay fit and ready to leave today.

When Jones questioned whether her long-term physical reliance as a first-row forward preyed on her, Jones said that injury was “part and parcel of the sport.”

You are aware that playing rugby involves risks, but I don’t believe I’d make any changes. I’m here, living in the best possible way. When I get there, I’ll be worried about how much I adore it.

The accomplished trio, who have won over 100 caps, are expected to feature on Saturday against England at the Principality Stadium.

The game has already broken the previous record for a standalone women’s international rugby match in Wales with more than 12 000 sold.