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Amanda Anisimova pulled off a stellar comeback on Wednesday to get the better of Iga Swiatek 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-2 and book her spot in the last four of the WTA Finals in Riyadh.

Making her tournament debut this week, the fourth-seeded Anisimova secured the runner-up spot in the Serena Williams Group behind Elena Rybakina.

Rybakina completed round-robin play with a perfect 3-0 mark, thanks to a 6-4, 6-4 success against Russian alternate Ekaterina Alexandrova earlier in the day.

Anisimova improved her three-set record this season to an impressive 15-3 by posting her 10th top-10 win of the year.

“It’s so funny, my mom keeps telling me: ‘You know you’ve won like so many three-set matches this year? You’re so strong’. I was actually thinking about that. Against Iga today it was so, so tough, but honestly, I enjoyed it,” said Anisimova, who reached the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open this year.

“I’m so excited (to be in the semi-finals), this is surreal, especially for my first time playing here.”

Swiatek and Anisimova split their two previous meetings, with the former triumphing in the Wimbledon final and the latter avenging that loss in the US Open quarter-finals.

On Wednesday at King Saud University Indoor Arena, the Pole saved all four break points she faced before she clinched the tiebreak to bag the opening set in 65 minutes.

The quality was incredibly high throughout and little separated the pair until Anisimova finally converted a break point in game 10 of the second set to draw level and force a decider.

The American made the first move in the final set, breaking in the fourth game on a Swiatek double-fault. Another break sealed the deal for Anisimova over the six-time Grand Slam champion in two hours and 36 minutes.

This is the first time in Swiatek’s entire career that she has suffered two successive losses after winning the opening set.

The 24-year-old Pole was at a loss for words when trying to explain the reasons behind her defeat.

“I felt good mentally, physically, and tennis-wise also it was nice, looking at the conditions and everything; so, I don’t really get why I couldn’t go out of the group,” said a disappointed Swiatek.

“Maybe I won too much in the last years and this is karma. It’s really hard for me to say. It feels weird. It’s not like I’m expecting (to win), but from my experiences, if I put so much intensity and grit and I cared that much, it usually paid off. So we’ll see if I keep working if it’s going to pay off or not.”

READ ALSO: Lionel Messi Named In MLS Best XI Squad

 In-form Rybakina

In a rematch of the Ningbo final from three weeks ago, won by Rybakina, the Kazakh fired eight aces and saved five of six break points en route to a 73-minute victory.

The world number six extended her current winning streak to nine consecutive matches –- a run than began in Ningbo on October 16 and has continued through Tokyo, from which she withdrew at the semi-final stage, and now Riyadh.

“Ekaterina is always a tough opponent and has a big serve. I’m happy I was able to win in straight sets. Each win gives you confidence and I’m pretty happy that for now my last matches have been great,” said Rybakina, who was playing with taping on her shoulder.

Rybakina entered the match with Alexandrova having already secured her place in the semi-finals as the winner of the group.

Alexandrova was brought in as a replacement for American Madison Keys, who withdrew ahead of the match due to a viral illness.

The Australian Open champion suffered two defeats in round-robin play this week in Riyadh, to Swiatek and Anisimova, and had no chance of advancing to the knockout stage.

Thursday will see the conclusion of the Stefanie Graf Group, with Belarusian top seed Sabalenka taking on defending champion Gauff of the USA, and America’s Pegula scheduled to play Jasmine Paolini, although the Italian has also reported feeling unwell.

The league’s Best XI squad on Wednesday included six first-time honorees, including Lionel Messi, who has the highest goal total this season in MLS.

Messi, who won the 2022 World Cup with eight consecutive Ballon d’Or awards, led MLS with 19 assists and scored a league-high 29 goals for Inter Miami, making him only the second player to top goals and assists in the same season.

Denis Bouanga of Los Angeles FC and Anders Dreyer of San Diego FC both had forwards in the elite lineup.

Read more about [UCL] Flawless Arsenal Dispatch Slavia Prague, Extend Clean Sheet Streak To Eight Games.

Dayne St. Clair of Minnesota United, along with Alex Freeman of Orlando, Jakob Glesnes of Norway, and Kai Wagner of Germany, won the Best XI goalkeeper award.

Sebastian Berhalter of Vancouver, Evander of Brazil from Cincinnati, and Cristian Roldan of Seattle made the midfielders.

Canadian St. Clair won the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award, while Dreyer won the MLS Newcomer of the Year and Blackmon won the MLS Defender of the Year.

St. Clair, &nbsp, Blackmon, Freeman, Roldan, Berhalter, and Dreyer all received their first Best XI nods.

After finishing the purchase of the infamous San Siro, which is scheduled to be demolished, Inter Milan and AC Milan made a step closer to creating their own stadium on Wednesday.

Little more than a month after the city gave consent for the acquisition of the land on which the stadium sits, the two Serie A clubs announced “the signing of the deed of sale with the Municipality of Milan.”

San Siro, known as football’s La Scala, is one of the most well-known stadiums in the world and has long served as the home of Inter and AC Milan, both of whom have ten times been European champions.

After more than 11 hours of debate and a knife-edge vote at Milan City Hall on September 30th, Inter and AC Milan were granted permission to purchase the land for 197 million euros ($231).

A public building protection order for San Siro’s second tier would have taken effect if the sale had not been completed by next Monday.

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 Now the two clubs can move forward with a project worth about 1.2 billion euros that will radically alter an area of just over 28 hectares (70 acres) in a densely populated area on the western outskirts of Milan.

To the west of the current stadium, a modern 71, 500-capacity arena will be constructed, which will remain open to the public until the construction of the new stadium is finished.

The San Siro will almost entirely be replaced with new parkland, office, and entertainment facilities once the new ground is constructed, with Foster and Partners and MANICA directing the design of everything.

The clubs are anticipating having the new stadium ready for Euro 2032, which will be held jointly by Turkey and Italy.

By October of next year, the Italian football federation will be able to present new venues or those that need to be redeveloped to the European governing body UEFA, as long as construction is completed by March 2027.

The upcoming Milan-Cortina Winter Games’ ceremony will take place on February 6 at the current San Siro.

Chelsea’s blushes were spared when Alejandro Garnacho scored the equalizer in the Champions League match against Qarabag on Wednesday to rescue a 2-2 draw.

After falling behind in the first half, Enzo Maresca’s side was in danger of losing embarrassingly at Baku’s Tofiq Bahramov Stadium.

Before Marko Jankovic converted a penalty to give the Azerbaijani minnows hope of a famous upset, Estevao Willian gave Chelsea an early lead before Leandro Andrade equalized.

Garnacho, a former winger for Manchester United, came off the bench to save the Blues after the break with a composed finish.

Both teams are in contention for the top eight finish, which means automatic qualification for the last 16. Both teams have seven points from their first four league matches.

While Chelsea, the two-time European champion, has spent more than £1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) on new players in the last three seasons, Qarabag has spent less than £7 million since then.

Chelsea made the five-and-a-half-hour journey home despite the financial disparity, still without a Champions League away win since October 2022.

Qarabag have been a surprise package in this season’s competition despite being mocked “carrier bag” on their subpar Champions League debut eight years ago.

They came back strong to defeat Chelsea 2-0 at home, winning 3-2 at Benfica, and then beating Copenhagen 2-0 in a close second.

Chelsea’s players were in Baku on UK time as a precaution to prevent the four-hour delay before Saturday’s Premier League game against Wolves at Stamford Bridge, which takes place less than 72 hours after Chelsea’s players leave London.

Maresca made seven changes to his team’s performance against Tottenham on Saturday in an effort to keep his side fresh because the Blues didn’t arrive in Baku until early on Wednesday morning.

Read more about [UCL] Flawless Arsenal Dispatch Slavia Prague, Extend Clean Sheet Streak To Eight Games.

Garnacho to the rescue 

After a lively opening, Estevao gave Chelsea’s lackluster team a deserved lead in the 16th minute.

After being picked out by Andrey Santos’ pass, Estevao moved the ball onto his left foot and fired a low drive that beat Mateusz Kochalski, the Qarabag goalkeeper, at his near post.

The young 18-year-old scored his fourth goal in all competitions this year.

Ethan Nwaneri and Kylian Mbappe are the only other players in Champions League history to score in each of their first two starts, making it the third-youngest pair in history.

Chelsea was punished for their poor defending in the 29th minute because they had already made that promising start.

Camilo Duran broke into the Chelsea defense and sprinted inside Tosin Adarabioyo for a shot that was unable to land in the far corner thanks to Leandro Andrade, who had a skillful finish.

In the 39th minute, Qarabag regained control of the ball because Chelsea’s lack of experience was starting to manifest.

After blocking Duran’s cross with his outstretched arm, the hapless Hato lost possession of the ball and conceded a penalty.

Robert Sanchez was sent off the spot by Jankovic, leaving Chelsea a mess at the break.

The triple change, which Maresca introduced for the second half, immediately paid off.

For his second goal since arriving in August, the 21-year-old lashed a fierce strike past Kochalski from the edge of the area.

With a reflexive snap-shot that Kochalski tipped over, Fernandez almost emulated Garnacho’s impact.

In the final minutes, Chelsea laid a seige on the Qarabag goal, but Fernandez drained a close-range effort before Kochalski disallowed it.

After overcoming Real Madrid 1-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday, Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said the English champions must rebuild from the bottom.

Before a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa on Saturday, Liverpool had lost six of their previous seven games and gone ten games without recording a win.

As goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois prevented an embarrassing score for the 15-time European champions, Madrid arrived in Merseyside in free-scoring form with very few opportunities.

“We won twice in a row, so it’s simple to say now.” You must remain composed and observe the world from a different angle, according to Van Dijk.

“We all understand how football works; it can change over the course of a week.”

At the top of the Premier League, Arsenal leads Liverpool by seven points, and they have also won their first four Champions League games on a run of eight straight clean sheets.

Van Dijk and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, who has scored 26 goals for club and nation this season, will face off in a huge test of their title defense on Sunday.

“As you can see, Arsenal are flying right now, and it’s down to keeping clean sheets and not conceding chances,” Van Dijk continued.

“We have the ability to hurt anyone on the break,” according to the defending. You witnessed the diligent work today.

We must continue, they say. Another challenging day is on the horizon.

Read more about [UCL] Flawless Arsenal Dispatch Slavia Prague, Extend Clean Sheet Streak To Eight Games.

Arne Slot, manager of Liverpool, made an important point about a return to Anfield in light of the club’s recent upturn in fortunes.

Only two of the Reds’ six losses this season were at home, including one when Slot faced a changeless Crystal Palace side in the League Cup match last week.

In my opinion, playing in front of these fans and in front of Real Madrid is beneficial because it encourages both my players and our supporters, Slot said.

“A fantastic performance against a team that only lost once all season.” Maybe there could have been a little more. “

As a late substitute for Madrid, Trent Alexander-Arnold received a hostile reception upon his return to Anfield.

After claiming seven major awards while playing for his hometown club, the England international was once a hero among the Liverpool faithful.

In a shaky start to the season, Conor Bradley struggled to find his rightful place in Alexander-Arnold’s place.

Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate kept Kylian Mbappe quiet, but the Northern Irishman excelled in halting Vinicius Junior’s threat.

I mentioned before the game that Mbappe and Vinicius have each contributed 24 goals (goals or assists), and that Slot has also added.

You must ensure that these two are not on the scoresheet if you want to win this game.

Conor was outstanding. Not everyone wants to compete with Vinicius one against one. He excelled today.

Destiny Udogie, 22, was allegedly threatened with a gun by Tottenham and his family in London, and Tottenham say they are supporting him.

In connection with the September incident, police made a 31-year-old man’s arrest. While the inquiries continue, he has been released without bail.

We have supported Destiny and his family since the incident and will continue to do so,” according to a Tottenham spokesman on Tuesday.

We are unable to make any further comments because this is a legal issue.

Late on September 6th, police were called to a residence in north London where a man in his 20s was reported to have been threatened with a gun.

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what a player’s photo is. twitter.com/i0PfjDoKDY

Officers spoke to the victim, and according to a spokesman, another man in his 20s was allegedly threatened and blackmailed by the same person while also being investigated.

In either incident, no injuries were reported.

A 31-year-old man was detained on suspicion of driving without a license, attempting to infiltrate a computer, and attempting to do so with intent.

Tottenham defeated Copenhagen 4-0 at home on Tuesday to begin the Champions League campaign.