Page 14 - aruba-today-20241007

A14 sports
Monday 7 october 2024
Coco Gauff wins China Open final in straight sets, Sinner and

Alcaraz advance in Shanghai

BEIJING (AP) — Coco Gauff The momentum was all
won her second title this with Sinner in the third as
season with a lopsided 6-1, he broke Etcheverry twice
6-3 victory over Karolina more to advance in 2 hours,
Muchova in the final of the 39 minutes under a retract-
China Open on Sunday. able roof on the Qizhong
Aged 20, the sixth-ranked Forest Sports City Arena.
U.S. player became the Due to heavy rain, play was
youngest China Open restricted to the main court
champion in 14 years. She with all matches on outside
is also the second Ameri- courts postponed to Mon-
can champion in Beijing, day.
following Serena Williams' "It was a very tough match,
title runs in 2004 and 2013. physically (and) mentally,
"Honestly, it means a lot so I am very happy to get
when I saw that the last through this one," said Sin-
American woman to win ner, who is chasing a sev-
this was Serena Williams," enth title this year.
Gauff said. "Anytime my Fifth-ranked Daniil Medve-
name is mentioned in dev also came from be-
whatever sentence hers is, hind for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 vic-
it's a huge honor." tory against Matteo Arnaldi
It was Gauff's eighth ca- to book his fourth-round
reer title. She improved her Coco Gauff of the United States kisses the trophy after defeating Karolina Muchova of Czech berth against either 12th-
record in tour finals to 8-1 Republic in the women's singles final match at the China Open tennis tournament at the National ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas or
Tennis Center in Beijing, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024.
and has now a 7-0 record Associated Press Alexandre Muller.
in hard-court finals, a feat The 28-year-old Medvedev
never achieved before in Gauff's win in Beijing im- win against Tomas Martin ton, who beat the Italian was forced to dig deep to
the Open Era. proved her chances of Etcheverry at the Shanghai here last year, or Roberto level the match after the
"That's pretty cool," Gauff qualifying for the WTA Finals Masters. Carballes Baena of Spain. Italian took a tight first set.
said. "I hope somebody featuring the eight top play- A night after winning his Etcheverry produced the In the deciding set, Medve-
else breaks it. I think records ers for the third consecutive 250th career match with shot of the night with a stun- dev's experience and com-
are meant to be broken, year. With her title, she will a straight-sets victory, the ning drop volley to bring up posure came to the fore as
honestly." overtake Jessica Pegula to 23-year-old Italian faced set point in the first set tie- he clinched a vital break in
Gauff, who defended her take the No. 5 spot ahead a much sterner third-round break, which he converted the ninth game and held
Auckland title earlier this of the final WTA 1000 tour- examination against the to take the lead. firm to close out the match
season, wasted no time nament of the season, the No. 37-ranked Argentine Sinner began to better find in 2 hours, 44 minutes.
and took the opening Wuhan Open starting Mon- under the roof inside Qi- his range in the second Second-ranked Carlos Al-
set in just 31 minutes. She day. zhong Forest Sports City and after trading breaks caraz, who won the China
dropped just five points on Shanghai Masters Arena that hosted play due midway through the set, Open on Wednesday for
her first serve, hit 24 winners Top-ranked Jannik Sinner to rain. the Italian found another his fourth title of the year,
and broke Muchova five overcame a one set deficit Sinner will next play either opportunity to level the defeated Chinese player
times. to rally to a 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2 No. 16-ranked Ben Shel- match. Wu Yibing 7-6 (5), 6-3.q

Ionescu scores 22 points to lead Liberty to 76-62 win over Aces

and into WNBA Finals

after the Aces ended the season and, including the with 11 points. For Las Vegas,
Liberty's dream of a cham- playoffs, went 6-1 against Las A'ja Wilson had 19 points, 10
pionship, New York returned Vegas. The Aces, whose re- rebounds and five blocked
the favor Sunday afternoon cord 12-game home playoff shots, Kelsey Plum scored 17
by defeating Las Vegas 76- winning streak ended, were points and Tiffany Hayes had
62 to advance to the WNBA hoping to make more WNBA 11 points.
Finals. history. They became the first Ionescu showed almost right
The top-seeded Liberty will team since the Los Angeles away this wouldn't be a re-
have home-court advan- Sparks in 2001-02 to win back- peat of Game 3 for her. She
tage in the championship to-back titles and were try- averaged 24.5 points in the
series and will face either the ing to become the first club playoffs entering that game,
Connecticut Sun or Minne- to capture three successive but was held to four points
sota Lynx. This is the Liberty's championships since the on 1-of-7 shooting Friday
sixth trip to the finals, but the Houston Comets took four night. She didn't score until
franchise is still seeking its first straight in 1997-2000. the fourth quarter.
New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) reacts after a three- title. In addition to Ionescu, Bre- This time, Ionescu needed just
point- basket during the first half of a WNBA Semifinal basketball
game, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. New York lost in four games anna Stewart totaled 19 3:04 to get on the scoreboard
Associated Press to the shorthanded Aces on points and 14 rebounds, when she nailed a corned
Oct. 18, 2023, and turned the Jonquel Jones scored 14 3-pointer. She finished the first
By MARK ANDERSON Ionescu rebounded from a painful defeat into a mis- points despite being in foul quarter with 12 points, mak-
AP Sports Writer rare off game to score 22 sion. The Liberty have been trouble most of the game ing all four shots that included
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sabrina points, and nearly a year the league's best team this and Leonie Fiebich finished three 3s. q