CONTACT US AT: Dimitrov claims ATP Finals...
1
Sports ❘ 07 CONTACT US AT: 8351-9190, [email protected] Tuesday November 21, 2017 VALENCIA kept pace with Span- ish leader Barcelona on Sunday by beating Espanyol 2-0 for an eighth straight league win despite having coach Marcelino Garcia Toral sent off. In his first season, Garcia Toral has transformed Valencia from a team that had struggled to compete with the league’s best in recent years into Barcelona’s top challenger. Undefeated Valencia con- tinued its best ever start to the league through 12 rounds. At four points behind Barcelona, the win set up a key match next week when Barcelona visits Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium. The victory also let Valen- cia open up a six-point gap over Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, which drew 0-0 in a derby Saturday. Assistant coach Ruben Uria, who will lead the team against Barcelona while Garcia Toral serves out his suspension, said Valencia is taking it one game at a time. “We will try to win any way we can and close the distance with Barca,” Uria said. “At this stage of the season, it is hard to say we’re going to fight for the title.” (SD-Agencies) Valencia wins to keep pace with Barca SIX-TIME defending champion Juventus fell to a surprise 3-2 defeat at Sampdoria in Serie A on Sunday. Inter Milan beat Atalanta 2-0 in the evening match to go second, two points ahead of Juventus. Napoli, which beat AC Milan 2-1 Saturday, is top with 35 points to Inter’s 33. Fourth-place Roma has 30 points with a game in hand. Duvan Zapata, Lucas Torreira and Gian Marco Ferrari put Sampdoria 3-0 up in the second half before Juventus threatened an astonishing stoppage-time comeback with a penalty from Gonzalo Higuain and a strike from Paulo Dybala. It will be a blow to Juve’s con- fidence ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League match against Barcelona. “Explaining this match is dif- ficult, it’s a match that leaves you with your mouth open because we didn’t let them have almost any chances,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri. “We played very well in the first half but if we didn’t score it means we weren’t good in finishing. Then we conceded a goal on their first chance, that’s also football.” It was Marco Giampaolo’s first victory over Juventus as a coach. “After 10 years I’ve finally beaten Juventus, I hope I won’t have to wait another Inter beats Atalanta to move 2nd after Juve loses 10 to beat it again,” he said. Juventus was without defender Andrea Barzagli and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who were recovering from the disappointment of Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup and Sampdoria made the most of their absences to expose the Bianconeri defensively. Samp broke the deadlock six minutes into the second half when a poor clearance by Federico Bernardeschi on Fabio Quagliarella’s cross fell straight to Zapata, who sent a looping header past Wojciech Szczesny. Juventus upped the pressure but was stifled by a solid Samp- doria side, which doubled its lead in the 71st with a fine strike from Torreira from just outside the area into the bottom left corner. It got worse for Juve eight minutes later. The defense should have dealt with a cut- back from former Juventus forward Quagliarella but Fer- rari beat Sami Khedira to tap in from close range. Juventus had penalty appeals turned down at the end of the first half but it was awarded a spot kick at the end of the second when Douglas Costa was tripped by Ivan Strinic for a last-gasp penalty. Higuain converted in the first minute of stoppage time but it seemed to be too little, too late. (SD-Agencies) Juventus’ Gonzalo Higuain (L) shoots at goal against Sampdoria during their match in Genoa on Sunday. SD-Agencies STEPHEN CURRY scored 35 points, Kevin Durant had 27 and the Golden State Warriors rallied for a 124-116 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Satur- day night. “We take everybody’s best shot every night but they fight and fortunately we turned it around,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. Joel Embiid scored 21 points and Ben Simmons had 23 points and 12 assists for Philadelphia, which led 47-28 after one quarter and 74-52 at the half. But the Warriors erased that large deficit with a furious rally in the third quarter. Curry’s 3-pointer got them within one point. He then made a pair of free throws to give Golden State a 90-89 lead. The two-time NBA MVP hit another 3 and Draymond Green blew past a defender for a dunk to make it 99-89 going into the fourth. “I was extremely aggressive in the first quarter, just didn’t make the shots,” Curry said. “We were more calculated in the third quarter.” A raucous, sellout crowd that chanted “Trust the Process” most of the night went silent while the Warriors put on a shooting clinic in the second half. Even veteran David West came off the bench and made big shots in the fourth quarter to give the Warriors distance. He finished with 14 points. Klay Thompson had 16. “We weren’t locked in, we weren’t focused in the first half,” Kerr said. “It took the embarrass- ment of being blown off the floor to get us going.” Embiid was coming off a career- best performance — 46 points, 15 rebounds, seven blocks, seven assists — in a 115-109 win at the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednes- day. It looked as if he was on his way to another monster game in the first quarter. Embiid embraced the frenzied fans and slapped hands with a guy sitting courtside after a dunk. But the Warriors showed why they’re the best by stifling Philadelphia in the second half to improve to 12-4. (SD-Agencies) Warriors rally to beat 76ers Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (R) drives past Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Harris during the first quarter at Bar- clays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday. SD-Agencies GRIGOR DIMITROV’S talent took him to the brink of his biggest career win — but he needed more than that to get over the line. The sixth-seeded Bulgarian claimed the title at the season- ending ATP Finals on Sunday, prevailing on his fifth match point to beat David Goffin 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the final. “I felt I had a good mental toughness throughout the whole year,” Dimitrov said. “So when my body’s allowing me to do this kind of prepara- tion, I feel I already have an advantage over any other player. And right now those are the moments that I rise up to.” It wasn’t the Roger Federer- Rafael Nadal matchup many fans had hoped for, but they were left satisfied as the two 26-year-olds delivered the lon- gest final since the tournament returned to a three-set format in 2008. Dimitrov won in 2 hours, 30 minutes, 15 seconds, adding 11 minutes to the mark set by Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2011. That wasn’t the only record Dimitrov set. After winning all five of his matches at the O2 Arena, he became the first player to win the elite tournament on debut since 1998, when Alex Corretja of Spain triumphed in Hanover. “I was a little bit tired,” said Dimitrov, who beat Goffin for the loss of just two games when they met Wednesday. “I had to play a few matches obviously back-to- back against solid opponents. I knew that David is going to try something new. He had to be aggressive in order so he doesn’t let me play my game.” Goffin’s adjustments paid off early as he broke Dimitrov’s first two service games either side of losing his own, before settling down to control the opener. However, Dimitrov fought his way back. He leveled in the eighth game before breaking once more in the 12th to snatch the set, despite Goffin hitting eight more winners. Dimitrov’s confidence carried into the second set, where he brought up the first break point in the sixth game, only for Goffin to produce a stunning cross- court backhand winner to save it. The momentum back with him, Goffin broke the following game for a 4-3 lead and calmly closed out the set. Having become the sixth player to beat Nadal and Federer at the same tournament — the latter from a set down in the semifinals — Goffin had every reason to be confident after drawing level. But he wasted four break points in the open- ing game and they would turn out to be his only chances in the decider. “I think after this week I’m a better player mentally,” said Goffin, who ends the season at a career-high No. 7 ranking. “I proved to myself that I can do it.” (SD-Agencies) Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in action during the final against Belgium’s David Goffin in London on Sunday. SD-Agencies Dimitrov claims ATP Finals title
Transcript of CONTACT US AT: Dimitrov claims ATP Finals...
Sports x 07CONTACT US AT: 8351-9190, [email protected]
Tuesday November 21, 2017
(SD-Agencies)
VALENCIA kept pace with Span-ish leader Barcelona on Sunday by beating Espanyol 2-0 for an eighth straight league win despite having coach Marcelino Garcia Toral sent off.
In his fi rst season, Garcia Toral has transformed Valencia from a team that had struggled to compete with the league’s best in recent years into Barcelona’s top challenger.
Undefeated Valencia con-tinued its best ever start to the league through 12 rounds. At four points behind Barcelona, the win set up a key match next week when Barcelona visits Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium.
The victory also let Valen-cia open up a six-point gap over Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, which drew 0-0 in a derby Saturday.
Assistant coach Ruben Uria, who will lead the team against Barcelona while Garcia Toral serves out his suspension, said Valencia is taking it one game at a time.
“We will try to win any way we can and close the distance with Barca,” Uria said. “At this stage of the season, it is hard to say we’re going to fi ght for the title.” (SD-Agencies)
Valencia wins to keep pace with Barca
SIX-TIME defending champion Juventus fell to a surprise 3-2 defeat at Sampdoria in Serie A on Sunday.
Inter Milan beat Atalanta 2-0 in the evening match to go second, two points ahead of Juventus. Napoli, which beat AC Milan 2-1 Saturday, is top with 35 points to Inter’s 33. Fourth-place Roma has 30 points with a game in hand.
Duvan Zapata, Lucas Torreira and Gian Marco Ferrari put Sampdoria 3-0 up in the second half before Juventus threatened an astonishing stoppage-time comeback with a penalty from Gonzalo Higuain and a strike from Paulo Dybala.
It will be a blow to Juve’s con-fi dence ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League match against Barcelona.
“Explaining this match is dif-fi cult, it’s a match that leaves you with your mouth open because we didn’t let them have almost any chances,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri. “We played very well in the fi rst half but if we didn’t score it means we weren’t good in fi nishing. Then we conceded a goal on their fi rst chance, that’s also football.”
It was Marco Giampaolo’s fi rst victory over Juventus as a coach. “After 10 years I’ve fi nally beaten Juventus, I hope I won’t have to wait another
Inter beats Atalanta to move 2nd after Juve loses
10 to beat it again,” he said. Juventus was without
defender Andrea Barzagli and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who were recovering from the disappointment of Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup and Sampdoria made the most of their absences to expose the Bianconeri defensively.
Samp broke the deadlock six minutes into the second half when a poor clearance by Federico Bernardeschi on Fabio Quagliarella’s cross fell straight to Zapata, who sent a looping header past Wojciech Szczesny.
Juventus upped the pressure but was stifl ed by a solid Samp-doria side, which doubled its lead
in the 71st with a fi ne strike from Torreira from just outside the area into the bottom left corner.
It got worse for Juve eight minutes later. The defense should have dealt with a cut-back from former Juventus forward Quagliarella but Fer-rari beat Sami Khedira to tap in from close range.
Juventus had penalty appeals turned down at the end of the fi rst half but it was awarded a spot kick at the end of the second when Douglas Costa was tripped by Ivan Strinic for a last-gasp penalty. Higuain converted in the fi rst minute of stoppage time but it seemed to be too little, too late. (SD-Agencies)
Juventus’ Gonzalo Higuain (L) shoots at goal against Sampdoria during their match in Genoa on Sunday. SD-Agencies
STEPHEN CURRY scored 35 points, Kevin Durant had 27 and the Golden State Warriors rallied for a 124-116 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Satur-day night.
“We take everybody’s best shot every night but they fi ght and fortunately we turned it around,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Joel Embiid scored 21 points and Ben Simmons had 23 points and 12 assists for Philadelphia, which led 47-28 after one quarter and 74-52 at the half.
But the Warriors erased that large defi cit with a furious rally in the third quarter. Curry’s 3-pointer got them within one point. He then made a pair of free throws to give Golden State a 90-89 lead.
The two-time NBA MVP hit another 3 and Draymond Green blew past a defender for a dunk to make it 99-89 going into the fourth.
“I was extremely aggressive in the fi rst quarter, just didn’t make the shots,” Curry said. “We were more calculated in the third quarter.”
A raucous, sellout crowd that chanted “Trust the Process” most of the night went silent while the Warriors put on a shooting clinic in the second half.
Even veteran David West came off the bench and made big shots in the fourth quarter to give the Warriors distance. He fi nished with 14 points. Klay Thompson had 16.
“We weren’t locked in, we weren’t focused in the fi rst half,” Kerr said. “It took the embarrass-ment of being blown off the fl oor to get us going.”
Embiid was coming off a career-best performance — 46 points, 15 rebounds, seven blocks, seven assists — in a 115-109 win at the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednes-day.
It looked as if he was on his way to another monster game in the fi rst quarter. Embiid embraced the frenzied fans and slapped hands with a guy sitting courtside after a dunk.
But the Warriors showed why they’re the best by stifl ing Philadelphia in the second half to improve to 12-4. (SD-Agencies)
Warriors rally to beat 76ers
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (R) drives past Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Harris during the fi rst quarter at Bar-clays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday.
SD-Agencies
GRIGOR DIMITROV’S talent took him to the brink of his biggest career win — but he needed more than that to get over the line.
The sixth-seeded Bulgarian claimed the title at the season-ending ATP Finals on Sunday, prevailing on his fi fth match point to beat David Goffi n 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the fi nal.
“I felt I had a good mental toughness throughout the whole year,” Dimitrov said.
“So when my body’s allowing me to do this kind of prepara-tion, I feel I already have an advantage over any other player. And right now those are the moments that I rise up to.”
It wasn’t the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal matchup many fans had hoped for, but they were left satisfi ed as the two 26-year-olds delivered the lon-gest fi nal since the tournament returned to a three-set format in 2008.
Dimitrov won in 2 hours, 30 minutes, 15 seconds, adding 11 minutes to the mark set by Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2011.
That wasn’t the only record Dimitrov set. After winning all fi ve of his matches at the O2 Arena, he became the fi rst player to win the elite tournament on debut since 1998, when Alex Corretja of Spain triumphed in Hanover.
“I was a little bit tired,” said Dimitrov, who beat Goffi n for the loss of just two games when they
met Wednesday. “I had to play a few matches obviously back-to-back against solid opponents. I knew that David is going to try something new. He had to be aggressive in order so he doesn’t let me play my game.”
Goffi n’s adjustments paid off early as he broke Dimitrov’s fi rst two service games either side of losing his own, before settling down to control the opener.
However, Dimitrov fought his way back. He leveled in the eighth game before breaking
once more in the 12th to snatch the set, despite Goffi n hitting eight more winners.
Dimitrov’s confi dence carried into the second set, where he brought up the fi rst break point in the sixth game, only for Goffi n to produce a stunning cross-court backhand winner to save it. The momentum back with him, Goffi n broke the following game for a 4-3 lead and calmly closed out the set.
Having become the sixth player to beat Nadal and Federer
at the same tournament — the latter from a set down in the semifi nals — Goffi n had every reason to be confi dent after drawing level. But he wasted four break points in the open-ing game and they would turn out to be his only chances in the decider.
“I think after this week I’m a better player mentally,” said Goffi n, who ends the season at a career-high No. 7 ranking. “I proved to myself that I can do it.” (SD-Agencies)
Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in action during the fi nal against Belgium’s David Goffi n in London on Sunday. SD-Agencies
Dimitrov claims ATP Finals title
