Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 27, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● C3 SPORTS MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2025 Keys upsets defending champion Sabalenka for first Grand Slam title Sinner back-to-back Australian Open champ M ELBOURNE, Australia — There’s all sorts of ways be- yond merely the score to meas- ure just how dominant Jannik Sinner was while outplaying and frustrating Alexander Zverev during the 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory Sunday that earned the 23-year-old Italian a second consecu- tive Australian Open championship. The zero break points Sinner faced. Or the 10 he accumulated. The 27-13 advantage in points that lasted at least nine strokes. Or the way Sinner accu- mulated more winners, 32 to 25, and fewer unforced errors, 27 to 45. The way Sinner won 10 of the 13 points that ended with him at the net. Or the way he only let Zverev go 14 of 27 in that category, frequently zipping passing shots out of reach. Well, here’s is one more bit of evi- dence: what Zverev said about Sinner. “I’m serving better than him, but that’s it. He does everything else better than me. He moves better than me. He hits his forehand better than me. He hits his backhand better than me. He returns better than me. He volleys bet- ter than me,” Zverev said. “At the end of the day, tennis has five or six massive shots — like, massive factors — and he does four or five of them better than me. That’s the reason why he won.” High praise from a guy who is, after all, ranked No. 2. Sinner has held the No. 1 spot since last June and is not showing any signs of relinquishing it. This was the first Australian Open fi- nal between the men at No. 1 and No. 2 since 2019, when No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated No. 2 Rafael Nadal — also in straight sets. “It’s amazing,” Sinner said, “to achieve these things.” The “things” include being the young- est man to leave Melbourne Park with the trophy two years in a row since Jim Courier in 1992-93 and the first man since Nadal at the French Open in 2005 and 2006 to follow up his first Grand Slam title by repeating as the champion at the same tournament a year later. “This one was joy. We managed to do something incredible this time, because the situation I was in was com- pletely different from a year ago here,” he said. “I had more pressure.” Go to the start of 2024 and take stock. In that span, Sinner has won three of the five major tournaments, including the U.S. Open in September, meaning he now has claimed three straight hard-court Slams. His record is 80-6 with nine titles. His current unbeaten run covers 21 matches. “There’s always something that can get better,” said one of his two coach- es, Simone Vagnozzi. “He is playing really well right now and everything comes easily. But there will be tough moments ahead.” The only thing that’s clouded the past 12 months for Sinner, it seems, is the doping case in which his exon- eration was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency. He tested positive for a trace amount of an anabolic ste- roid twice last March but blamed it on an accidental exposure involving two members of his team who have since been fired. Sinner initially was cleared in August; a hearing in the WADA appeal is scheduled for April. “I keep playing like this because I have a clear mind on what happened,” Sinner said Sunday. “I know if I would be guilty, I would not play like this.” While he became the eighth man in the Open era (which began in 1968) to start his career 3-0 in Grand Slam finals, Zverev is the seventh to be 0-3, adding this loss to those at the 2020 U.S. Open and last year’s French Open. Women’s final When Madison Keys stepped into Rod Laver Arena at 7:37 p.m. on Satur- day night ahead of the Australian Open final, she strode right past the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, the trophy that goes to the women’s champion and was placed on a pedestal near the entrance to the court. Keys didn’t break stride. Didn’t stop to stare. That bit of hardware then was placed near the net for the pre-match coin toss, close as can be to where the American stood. Close enough to touch. Close enough to feel real. Also right there was her opponent, No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time defend- ing champion at Melbourne Park, who would not make things easy on this cool, breezy evening. Exactly 2 ½ hours — and one 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Sabalenka — later, there was Keys, smiling the widest smile while holding that silver trophy with both hands, a Grand Slam champi- on for the first time at age 29. Keys was considered a future star before she was a teen and this was her second chance to play for a major title: the first ended in a lopsided loss at the 2017 U.S. Open, an experience that taught her she would need to be able to play through nerves. It was only after accepting she might never capture a Slam title and would be fine with that — a change that came after years of therapy — that Keys actually got there. “From a pretty young age, I felt like if I never won a Grand Slam, then I wouldn’t have lived up to what people thought I should have been. That was a pretty heavy burden to kind of carry around,” said Keys, who reached her first major semifinal a decade ago in Australia. “So I finally got to the point where I was proud of myself and proud of my career, with or without a Grand Slam. I finally got to the point where I was OK if it didn’t happen. “I didn’t need it to feel like I had a good career or that I deserved to be talked about as a great tennis player,” she said. Here’s how close this was: Keys won just one more point than Sabalenka, 92- 91. Both finished with 29 winners. — The Associated Press HOWARD FENDRICH NG HAN GUAN / AP PHOTO Madison Keys of the U.S. celebrates after defeating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the women’s singles final on Saturday. NG HAN GUAN / AP PHOTO Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men’s singles final on Sunday. Stolz completes hat trick at Olympic Oval, sweeping men’s podium Canadian women claim speedskating sprint gold CALGARY — Canada’s sprinters ensured the host team didn’t leave Calgary’s speedskating World Cup without a medal, while American star Jordan Stolz completed his hat trick at the Olympic Oval on Sunday. Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin, Carolina Hiller of Prince George, B.C., and Béatrice Lamarche of Quebec City won gold the women’s team sprint. “Very satisfying,” said Blondin, who was fourth in the women’s mass start less than an hour before the sprint. “It was a tough weekend. “I was celebrating pretty hard after that one. I was pretty proud of our team and what we were able to do together.” Stolz of West Bend, Wisc., captured men’s 500-metre gold to stay unbeaten this season in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 metres. The 20-year-old takes confidence from Calgary’s World Cup that came after the holiday break into the next one in his home state starting Friday in Milwaukee. “It kind of takes away the pressure,” Stolz said. “Usually, when you come back to racing after a break, there’s more pressure. Going into the second weekend is always a bit more calm. “I’m going to be pretty comfortable in my home track. I’ll enjoy the crowd and I think the ice will be quick, too.” After setting track records in the 1,500 and 1,000 in Calgary, his time Sunday of 33.85 seconds was two-hun- dredths quicker than Jenning De Boo of the Netherlands, who was also second to Stolz in the 1,000. Blondin, Hiller and Lamarche salvaged the host team’s weekend as Canadians were shut out of the medals in individual races in Calgary for the first time in 28 years of World Cup racing there. Canada’s middle- and long-distance skaters coming off a high-altitude training camp in Utah less than a week earlier didn’t return with full gas tanks. Ottawa’s Isabelle Weidemann, a 2022 Olympic silver medallist, was fifth in the women’s 5,000 and Graeme Fish of Moose Jaw, Sask., who was a world championship bronze medallist last year, was fifth in the men’s 10,000. Canada’s team won 10 medals, includ- ing a pair of team sprint gold, at the 2024 world championship in Calgary. “We’re close in a few events. It can turn around pretty quick,” said Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Que., who was fifth in the men’s 500. “It’s like a reminder to enjoy every single medal, because they’re very, very hard fought.” The 2021 world champion in the 500 metres and silver medallist behind Stolz the past two years felt rusty Sun- day in his first go at the distance since November because of a groin injury. Dubreuil, 32, was just under three- tenths of a second back of Stolz and less than a tenth off the podium. “I still believe I can win,” the Cana- dian said. “The last two years, I was second behind Jordan at the world championships. “I hope I get to beat him a couple of times (before) the end of my career and what better moment than the world championship this year or the Olympics next year.” While team pursuit is an Olympic event, team sprint is not. Three skaters from each country start the three-lap sprint and go head to head against three skaters from another country on the track. One skater drops out after each of the first two laps leaving one middle-distance specialist striving for the finish line. Dubreuil, Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu and Anderson Johnson set a world record en route to world championship gold in 2024. Dubreuil, Johnson and Connor Howe of Canmore, Alta., were fourth Sunday. Femke Kok of the Netherlands was the women’s 500-metre winner. Timothy Loubineaud of France was first in the men’s mass start and American Greta Myers prevailed in the women’s event. Blondin, the 2022 Olympic silver medallist in the mass start, found her- self chasing a breakaway pack alone late in the 16-lap race of cat-and-mouse tactics. “There was a breakaway that hap- pened and no one wanted to work it,” she explained. — The Canadian Press DONNA SPENCER TODD KOROL / THE CANADIAN PRESS Canadian speed skaters Ivanie Blondin (from left) Beatrice Lamarche and Carolina Hiller race in the women’s team sprint event on Sunday. For Peterson, it marks a consecutive runner-up finish in her quest for the elusive Buffalo. She lost a tight contest to Lawes in last year’s provincial final and returned to this year’s event with the same team. Peterson, the second seed this week, went 5-3 and beat Darcy Robertson’s Assiniboine-based team 9-1 in six ends earlier on Sunday to qualify for the championship. “Unfortunately, a lot of deja vu,” an emotional Peterson said after the trophy presentation. “We wanted to give Kate a harder shot to throw. You just want to make her throw her last one. Obviously they’re a really good team and they have a good chance of making one when they have hammer, but we just wanted to make her throw. I was just disappointed that we gave her a really easy shot. “Just hurt and sad. That’s all.” This year’s championship was once again a tight affair throughout. Both teams opened with strong de- fensive efforts, as they traded singles for the first three ends and Cameron stole a point in the fourth after a failed attempt a tap-back by Peterson. Peterson delivered one of her best shots of the day in the fifth end as a tre- mendous tap-back of the shot stone in the four-foot ring earned her three points and a 4-3 lead. After a blank in the sixth, Peterson continued her strong defence by forcing Cameron to settle for another single on a takeout in the seventh. The turning point, however, came in the eighth end with Peterson owning the hammer. Looking for a single, the skip tried to nudge a half-guarded red rock that had a piece of the button at the top of the four foot. Throwing into a pair of rocks, Peterson’s last stone was a bit too strong and slid right through the house, conceding a steal of a pair to Cameron. “To be honest, I felt like we con- trolled most of the game up until then and then it was just a tricky spot,” Peterson said. “In a final like this when your adrenaline is running, to play those soft, light shots is what you want to make someone do, and … Kate made a great draw and that’s what she made me do. Just overthrew it a little bit in a spot that was a little bit straight.” For the top-seeded Cameron, who went 6-2 and clinched a bye to the final, the win marked the end of a champi- onship run that began with a bit of un- certainty. With regular second Brianna Cullen unavailable, she brought in a long-time friend in Flaxey, who hadn’t played in an event this season. Flaxey, who Cameron credited for bringing positive energy to the team, played admirably and demonstrated her veteran prowess. It is unclear whether she will play for the team at the national championship next month. “I think we were so fortunate to be able to pick up Alli. I think she’s been crucial on this team all week. She’s called wicked line and made a bunch of shots, but I think most importantly she just fit in really easily,” Cameron said. “It’s nice that Taylor and I have curled with her before and we played a whole season with her, so she just came in and did whatever we needed and that’s all we could ask for.” Cameron has medalled three times at the national championship, winning bronze twice — once while represent- ing Manitoba in 2024 and the other while representing Alberta in 2021 — and silver once while wearing the Buffalo in 2017. joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca CURLING ● FROM C1 ;