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TENNIS| Page 2 NNBA|BA Page 7 I am only Durant, To Advertise here here for Curry help Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 one reason, Warriors Serena warns maintain streak Sunday, January 22, 2017 FOOTBALL Rabia II 24, 1438 AH Rooney becomes GULF TIMES United’s all-time leading scorer SPORT Page 8 Nadal quells fi ery German teen in fi ve-set epic to reach fourth round of Australian Open Ageless wonder AFP Nadal has often praised Zverev’s rich poten- saved a set point at 5-3 before Zverev took Spain’s 14-times Grand Slam Melbourne tial as a future top star of men’s tennis, and the opening set on his third set point in the champion Rafael Nadal serves to yesterday’s performance only reconfirmed next game. rising German Alexander Zverev it. “I think everybody knows how good Alex- Nadal, bidding to win his second Australian (inset) during their third round afael Nadal staged a magnificent ander now is, as I say, he is the future of our Open after beating Federer in the 2009 match in Melbourne yesterday. fightback to beat rising German sport and the present as well. A very tough final, got more into the contest in the sec- star Alexander Zverev in a five-set match for me,” Nadal said. ond set, breaking in the fourth game and Rthriller to reach the fourth round “He’s a player with an amazing potential. He levelling the match on his second set point at the Australian Open yesterday. is able to produce great shots. He’s already in 38 minutes. The indomitable 14-time Grand Slam cham- one of the best players of the world. He can Zverev won a tense third-set tiebreaker 7-5 pion, 11 years older than Zverev, dug deep be even better.” to go 2-1 ahead on sets and ensure Nadal into his physical reserves to pull out a 4-6, Zverev, who has twice beaten Roger Fed- would have to go the full distance to stay in 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-2 triumph in four hours erer, was left waiting for his first win over the tournament. and six minutes on Rod Laver Arena. Nadal after their second meeting. But the ninth seed hit straight back, break- The Spaniard was staring at defeat after Nadal saved a match point in overcoming ing Zverev’s opening serve in the fourth losing the third set in a tiebreaker but he him in the fourth round at Indian Wells last set and he carried the break through to showed his typical fighting qualities to deny year, winning 15 of the final 16 points. It was send the match into a fifth set, where Nadal the talented 19-year-old. again another gripping, evenly-matched broke Zverev’s opening serve but gave it It was Nadal’s 18th win in 26 five-set match- clash between the pair with Zverev show- back in the fourth game. es and set him up for a crack at French sixth casing his enormous potential. A fantastic 37-shot rally ended with a Nadal seed Gael Monfils in the round of 16. The German was bidding to join his elder netted backhand but the Spaniard would Nadal was pleased to have ended a run sibling Mischa in the last 16 and make them not relent and went on to break Zverev of losing three straight five-setters at the only the third pair of brothers to reach the again in a titanic fifth game of the deciding Grand Slams over the last two years. fourth round at a Grand Slam in the Open set to take the advantage. “It’s an important result for me. I lost the era. Zverev struck early, breaking Nadal’s Zverev was cramping and the driven last couple of ones in the fifth,” Nadal said. opening serve with a delightful backhand Nadal kept on the off ensive, breaking the “So it’s important for me to win a match like winner. The Spanish great fought off a German’s serve a third time to lead 5-2 and this, down two sets to one.” break point in his next service game and serve out for the match. WORLD HANDBALL Qatar face uphill battle against Germany By Our Correspondent Paris atar face an uphill battle when they take on European cham- pions Germany today for a spot in the quarter-fi nals of Qthe World Handball Championship. Runners-up in the event when it was held in Doha in early 2015, Qatar squeaked into the last 16 of this year’s event in France with just two wins – against Bahrain and Argentina in Group D. But having suff ered three defeats – against Egypt, Sweden and Denmark, they will have to play out of their skins the 22-year-old left wing scored off the the match was decided. against Germany in order to stay in the rebound and also added the last goal of “I am happy with the way my team hunt for a medal. the half to earn a two-goal advantage played today, especially in the fi rst half. The two sides met at the Rio Olym- for Qatar before the buzzer. We had a good fi rst half match, which pics last year when Germany raced to a Despite a third penalty save from allowed us to score at half-time,” said 34-22 win in the last eight. Green early in the second half, Qatar Qatar’s Spanish coach Valero Rivera. With fi rst place in the group already took a more commanding lead and hit “We have seen some good opposi- secured, Denmark coach Gudmundur a 20:15 advantage eight minutes in. But tion. I also had to preserve some play- Gudmundsson used the Qatar match Denmark slowly came chasing, stead- ers. Even if everyone is OK, some of on Friday as an opportunity to rest his ily closing the gap to a two-goal defi cit them had to take some rest. Now we will key players and gain experience for oth- at 21:23 by the time the clock hit the see what’s going to happen. We know ers. Mikkel Hansen, Niklas Landin and Qatar’s pivot Youssef Ali (L) jumps to shoot on goal as Denmark’s goalkeeper Jannick Green Krejberg (R) stretches out during 45-minute mark. that it will be a very complicated match Henrik Toft Hansen all sat on the bench their 25th IHF Men’s World Championship 2017 Group D handball match at the Accorhotels Arena in Paris on Friday. At right, Less than fi ve minutes later Niclas against Germany.” for the entire match, while Qatar coach Denmark fans cheer. Kirkelokke equalised at 24:24, and Denmark coach Gudmundur Gud- Valero Rivera also started with an unu- as the fi nal whistle drew near Gud- mundsson also praised Qatar. sual choice, as Yousuf al-Abdulla stood goal from Abdulrazzaq Murad. the game remained level until Qatar his squad and did not make any signifi - mundsson experimented with seven- “Congratulations to the Qatar team, in goal in place of Danijel Saric. Saric came into goal to save a penalty claimed their fi rst lead at 11:10 thanks cant changes. His team kept Qatar from against-six featuring two line players. who played a great game. It was not an The match ended 32-29 in Denmark’s off Jesper Noddesbo – another interest- to left back Roine Bertrand in the 20th. increasing the lead to more than two His team made it work, fi rst reclaim- easy match for both teams, but it was a favour as the Olympic champions took ing choice from Gudmundsson as the Despite Qatar moving ahead to a goals, and with fi ve minutes left in the ing a one-goal advantage then moving good handball game. It was important an early lead and held a steady one to line player is certainly not known for two-goal advantage, Gudmundsson half the diff erence stood at one in favour further ahead. When Kirkelokke tal- for me to give some players some rest, two-goal advantage until Qatar man- being Denmark’s primary shooter from showed his determination to gain ex- of the Asian champions. Jannick Green lied his seventh goal at 100 per cent, and to rely on the ones who haven’t aged to equalise in the 10th minute off a the seven-metre line – and from there perience for the younger members of saved a penalty off Ahmad Madadi, but he put Denmark in front by three, and played so much,” he said. Gulf Times 2 Sunday, January 22, 2017 TENNIS SPOTLIGHT World number one but Murray is I am only here for still mummy’s boy one reason, Serena Andy Murray said he thinks I don’t fall. If I do, I get up.” As it he’s the favourite child of his turns out, this is similar to her mother and one-time coach, approach to serving, which she warns her rivals Judy Murray. “I think that I am says she doesn’t practice too my mum’s favourite and Jamie much. “For me, I don’t think ‘It was really good to get this under my belt. I always try to take everyone super-serious’ is my dad’s favourite. That’s about it... I serve my best when my opinion. However they I just toss the ball up and serve AFP hardly got out of fi rst gear, dic- would tell you they love us both and see what happens,” she Melbourne tating terms from the opening equally, but that’s how I feel,” said.

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