London, July 11 (IANS) Italy’s Jasmine Paolini battled from a set down and twice a break down in the decider to outlast Donna Vekic in three sets in the longest semifinal-ever in women’s singles at Wimbledon here on Thursday. Paolini, the No.7 seed, defeated Vekic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(8) in 2 hours and 51 minutes to become the first Italian woman to reach the final at Wimbledon in the Open Era.

The previous longest Wimbledon semifinal had been Serena Williams’s 6-7(4), 7-5, 8-6 defeat of Elena Dementieva in 2009, a contest which lasted 2 hours and 49 minutes.

Around 15 years on, Paolini held her first match point at 5-4 in the third set and her second at 6-5 before edging Vekic on her third in a gripping super-tiebreak. The result was her third win in four meetings with Vekic.

The runner-up at Roland Garros a month ago to Iga Swiatek, Paolini has immediately backed up that run with her second major final. The 28-year-old is the first player since Serena in 2016 to reach both the French Open and Wimbledon finals in the same season.

Paolini is only the fifth player to accomplish that feat in the past 25 years following Steffi Graf (1999), Serena Williams (2002, 2015, 2016), Venus Williams (2002), and Justine Henin (2006).

Having never won a tour-level match on grass before 2024, Paolini’s record on the surface is now 8-1, with her sole loss coming to Daria Kasatkina in the Eastbourne semifinals two weeks ago. Currently, at a career-high ranking of No.7, she is guaranteed to make her Top 5 debut next week.

–IANS

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Mumbai, July 11 (IANS) With four very different players in the semifinals, many fans and experts are expecting defending champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and Serbia’s 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic to face off in the men’s singles semifinals at Wimbledon 2024. In the semifinals on Friday, Alcaraz will take on Daniil Medvedev while Djokovic will meet Lorenzo Musetti. Former top-20 player from India and noted commentator Vijay Amritraj believes that Sunday’s final could be a repeat of last year’s summit clash in which Alcaraz overcame Djokovic in a five-set thriller.

Alcaraz defeated Djokovic 1–6, 7–6(6), 6–1, 3–6, 6–4 in an epic final last year ending the Serbian’s win-spree of four titles since 2018 (Wimbledon was not played in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Amritraj feels even if Alcaraz and Djokovic meet again in Sunday’s final, their clash may not produce spectacular tennis as it did last year.

Asked who will be his pick for the title at Wimbledon, Amritraj said, “Okay, you are trying to put me on the spot, but you know, I’ll go for it anyway. Before the tournament started, I looked at the draw and my thoughts were on Djokovic to get to the final. And then my thoughts were, if it goes according to plan, it would be either Alcaraz or Sinner. But as it turns out, things obviously change along the way and Wimbledon has a habit of doing that on a regular basis.

“Could it be an Alcaraz-Djokovic final still? Yes, it could be. Could it be a final like we saw last year? I don’t know. That final was absolutely magnificent. Came down to one point in that fifth set where Djokovic, missed a high overhead with with one love to go up a break of serve in the fifth.

“So, I think when we look at who’s left in the field, Medvedev has a habit of also causing major upsets that could possibly happen as well. But on the face of it, it still looks like Djokovic would be in the final. I think he’ll get by Mussetti. Taylor Fritz might have given him a bit more trouble, but I do believe that the Alcaraz vs Medvedev match will potentially be a longer match. But I still think it’ll be an Alcaraz vs Djokovic final,” Amritraj told IANS in an exclusive interaction facilitated by Star Sports, who are broadcasting the grass-court major in India.

Asked about the women’s section of Wimbledon in which Donna Vekic of Croatia, Jasmine Paolini of Italy, Elina Rybakina of Kazakhstan, and Barbora Krejcikova of Czech Republic have reached the semifinals, Amritraj said the women’s tennis scene has been more open since the retirement of the Williams sisters.

“Women’s tennis has been a lot more open in the last, I would say, five, eight years since the time of the Williams sisters. So I think when you look at women’s tennis, we’ve got one champion left in there with Rybakina. I think she has a chance as maybe an odds-on favourite at this point to perhaps win.

“But then again, if you look at Vekic and Paolini and Krejcikova, all three of them have been in situations where they’ve beaten big players in the past. Krejcikova has won a slam. I think Vecic is playing the best tennis of her life now on grass. It’s more wide open to me, outside of Rybakina perhaps, than a Djokovic-Alcaraz final,” said Amritraj, who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon twice in 1973 and 1981.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) The Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has approved multiple proposals for assistance towards equipment by athletes and Para-athletes as they prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

At its meeting, the MOC on Thursday approved a proposal of Paralympic medallist Bhavina Patel for assistance to compete in ITTF Para-Table Tennis Asia Training Camp 2024 in Thailand from July 16 to 20 along with her coach and escort.

It also approved the request of Para Shooters – Manish Narwal, Rudranksh Khandelwal, Rubina Francis, and Sriharsha R. Devareddy for various sport shooting-related equipment. These include an Air Rifle for Sriharsha and a Morini Pistol for Rubina and assistance towards procurement of two javelins (Valhalla 800g Medium NXB and Diana Carbon 600g) for para-athlete Sandeep Choudhary.

The MOC also approved requests for financial assistance towards the procurement of archery equipment for archers Ankita Bhakat, Deepika Kumari, and para-archers Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar.

It also approved assistance to judoka Tulika Maan, who along with her coach, will train in Valencia Judo High Performance Centre, Spain till July 25.

The members also approved table tennis player Manush Shah’s request for financial assistance for training in Gyeonggi Do, South Korea under Korean coach Taejun Kim and for procurement of physical fitness equipment.

It also okayed the inclusion of athletes Suraj Panwar, Vikash Singh, and Ankita Dhyani and swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu in TOPS Core Group while athletes Jeswin Aldrin, Praveen Chithravel, Akashdeep Singh, and Paramjeet Singh were promoted from TOPS Development to Core Group.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) Amidst reports of India’s decision to refrain from travelling to Pakistan for next year’s Champions Trophy, former captain Shahid Afridi feels that Virat Kohli will forget the love and affection he has received in India if he visits Pakistan. The veteran all-rounder asserted that Kohli has a huge number of admirers and gets massive adulation in Pakistan. Afridi also urged the Indian team to travel to Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy, keeping aside the difficult political relations between the two countries.

“I welcome the Indian team (in Pakistan) and they should come. We’ve always received huge respect and love in our tours of India. In the same way, the Indian team also received love and respect during their tour in 2005. Cricket tours should be kept aside from politics. There is no big politics than India and Pakistan playing against each other in their countries,” Afridi told News24 Sports’ YouTube channel.

“Virat will forget the love he has received in India when he would play in Pakistan. He has a huge craze in Pakistan and our people like him very much. In fact, he is my favourite player. He has his own class and he shouldn’t have retired from T20Is as because of him T20I looked beautiful,” he added.

When asked about the next big thing of Indian cricket alike legends Sachin Tendulkar and Kohli, Afridi said Shubman Gill has the potential to replicate their success in international cricket.

Afridi further went on to laud the Indian cricket structure especially the Indian Premier League (IPL) for unearthing a plethora of domestic talents and creating a solid bench strength for the Men in Blue.

“IPL has created so much talent pool for India that they can make two teams,” he said.

Commenting on the inconsistency in Pakistan cricket administration, Afridi said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman should be appointed for a longer duration so that the captain gets a decent tenure in the role.

“Chairman should at least get three years so that Pakistan captain can remain for 2-3 years at his post. With the change of chairman, other things should not be affected. If we work on the basis of merit, the results will come. (Sahi banda agar sahi kursi par baithe toh result khud aa jayenge) If the right person takes the right job, then the result will come automatically,” he said.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) Ahead of Sri Lanka’s white-ball series against India later this month, leg-spin all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga has resigned as the side’s T20I captain. Hasaranga was appointed as Sri Lanka’s T20I captain last year and led the team in 10 matches.

His last captaincy assignment saw Sri Lanka crash out of the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup in group stage. In a statement issued by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), Hasaranga said it was in the best interest of the team that he decided to relinquish his captaincy duties and would remain in the side as a player.

“Sri Lanka will always have my utmost best efforts as a player, and I will support and stand by my team and leadership as always,” wrote Hasaranga in his resignation letter to SLC. The governing body accepted his resignation and stated that Hasaranga would remain an important player for them in their international cricketing plans.

Sri Lanka’s next international assignment is taking on India in a home bilateral series, comprising three T20Is and as many ODIs, starting from July 26. It remains to be seen who becomes the Sri Lanka captain for the T20I leg of the tour, with the hosts having the legendary Sanath Jayasuriya as their interim head coach.

–IANS

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