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SPORTSMonday 18 January 2016
Italian Roundup:
Juventus wins 4-0 at Udinese; Roma draws
DANIELLA MATAR
Associated Press
MILAN (AP) — Juventus
beat 10-man Udinese 4-0
Juventus’s Kwadwo Asamoah, center, and Udinese’s Molla Wague, left, challenge for the ball dur-
ing the Serie A soccer match between Udinese and Juventus at the Friuli Stadium in Udine, Italy,
Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016.
to move back into second
spot in Serie A on Sunday,
while Luciano Spalletti’s
second spell in charge of
Roma began with a 1-1
draw against bottom side
Hellas Verona.
Paulo Dybala scored twice,
including a 25th-minute
penalty after Udinese de-
fender Danilo was sent off
for bringing down Mario
Mandzukic.
Dybala also provided two
assists for Sami Khedira and Masina was sent off, while
Alex Sandro as Juventus
Spanish Roundup:
Neville still winless in Liga; Valencia draws straight sets both times. Asked about Giorgi, Williams
JOSEPH WILSON
Associated Press
BARCELONA, Spain (AP)
— Valencia coach Gary
Neville remained winless in
the Spanish league after
his team fought back to
salvage a 2-2 draw with rel- half and went ahead
egation-threatened Rayo
Vallecano on Sunday.
Both teams are without a
victory in nine consecu-
tive rounds, with Neville in gredo leveled against the
charge of Valencia for the
last six.
“We have to correct this
immediately,” Neville said.
Australian Open:
What to Watch for on Monday

DENNIS PASSA
dominated the first half. pi beat Sampdoria 2-1 for a AP Sports Writer
With its 10th consecu- second successive win. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The opening day of the
tive league win, Juventus Chievo Verona drew 1-1 Australian Open should provide quick answers to injury
moved two points behind against Empoli and Genoa questions which developed over the past few weeks
with two of the biggest stars in the women’s game.
Will six-time winner and defending champion Serena
Williams be affected by inflammation in her left knee
that forced her out of the Hopman Cup in Perth? And
will Maria Sharapova, who lost to Williams in last year’s
(AP Photo/Paolo Giovannini) final, get through her first-round match without the re-
currence of left forearm soreness that made her with-
Napoli after the Serie A beat 10-man Palermo 4-0 in draw from the Brisbane International, where she was
leader’s 3-1 win over Sas- the lunchtime kickoff. defending champion?
suolo on Saturday. Inter Udinese had beaten Ju- Both players said they’ve recovered from their respec-
Milan, which drew at Ata- ventus on the opening day tive ailments and are ready to go, Williams as the sec-
lanta on Saturday, was two and was looking for a simi- ond match on the main Rod Laver Arena, Sharapova
points further back. lar result to celebrate the to open the night program at Margaret Court Arena.
Fiorentina can leapfrog inauguration of the Nuovo Adding to a blockbuster first day are matches involv-
above Inter with a win at Stadio Friuli, ing five-time and defending champion Novak Djokov-
AC Milan later. Roma is where all 25,000 seats were ic and 17-time Grand Slam winner and four-time Aus-
nine points behind Napoli. sold out. tralian winner Roger Federer.
Elsewere, Lazio fought However, Juventus took Here are some things to watch on Monday:
back from two goals down the lead in the 15th minute
to draw 2-2 at Bologna af- when Dybala curled a free -DON’T TELL ME, PLEASE: Seeded players can’t meet
ter home defender Adam kick over the wall and mat- in the first round in a tournament, but Williams got the
ters grew worse three min- next-toughest assignment: the player with the high-
relegation-threatened Car- utes later. q est ranking and not seeded. She’s Camila Giorgi of
Italy and No. 36 in the rankings. The two have met
just twice before — on clay — and Williams won in
professed to not know who she was playing: “I don’t
“It was a very disappoint- leyed in a corner kick to really ever look at the draw, so I would appreciate
ing performance. In foot- seemingly end Valencia’s it if you didn’t mention it. Thank you.” That means
ball you have to win and rally in the 69th, only for she likely also doesn’t know that she could face for-
enjoy yourself, Paco Alcacer to win a ball mer No. 1 and close friend Caroline Wozniacki in the
and we didn’t show any of that fellow substitute Za- fourth round and No. 5 Sharapova in the quarterfinals.
that.” karia Bakali squared for him Sharapova, who plays No. 56 Nao Hibino of Japan —
Rayo dominated the first and scored with two min- they’ve never played each other — is just the oppo-
utes left. site — “ultimately you know all the players that are
through Jozabed Sanchez Despite saving a point with competing here. It’s no secret who you’re going to
after 15 minutes. his late goal, the Spain strik- be playing.”
With nerves fraying at Mes- er admitted his team was
talla Stadium, Alvaro Ne- struggling to find its form -THE MAJOR MEN: The form guide would suggest
under Neville. Djokovic and Federer should easily win their first-round
flow of play with an auda- “We can’t continue like matches. Djokovic plays Chung Hyeong, a 19-year-
cious strike from near the this,” Alcacer said. “We old from South Korea ranked 51st who has never
halfway line in the 55th. have to flip the switch be- played the Serbian. Federer takes on Nikoloz Basilash-
Rayo’s Diego Llorente vol- cause this is impossible. q vili of Georgia, ranked No. 117, and they’ve also never
met. Djokovic has won four of the last five Australian ti-
tles and is a perfect 5-0 in finals at Melbourne Park. He
also won 27 of his 28 Grand Slam matches last year,
losing only to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final
while winning the other three majors. “2015 was the
best season and best year of my life undoubtedly,”
Djokovic said Sunday. “I’ll try to obviously carry that
confidence and high level of performance that I’ve
had ... into the new season.”
-ACTIVE ‘SLAM CHAMPIONS: The Australian Open this
year features 15 active Grand Slam champions —
seven men and eight women — and the bulk of the
majors are held by the top three players on each side.
Federer’s leading 17 is three ahead of Rafael Nadal,
while Djokovic has 10. Lleyton Hewitt, who will retire
after this tournament, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Mur-
ray have two majors each, rounded out by Marin Cilic
(2014 U.S. Open) with one for a total of 48 by the men.
Nadal, Wawrinka, Murray and Hewitt play their open-
ing matches Tuesday. q