6 February 21, 2021 Osaka Wins Women’s Title at Aussie Open Two Iranians Among hand unforced error on break point to fore going on to win, as well as com- Nominees for Best AFC hand Osaka the opening set. ing through some tricky moments Osaka then won the first four games against 23-time Grand Slam winner 2020 Free Kick of the second set en route to her sec- Serena Williams in the semi-finals. ond Australian Open title. While her level against Brady was The third seed seized control from not always at its highest, she still had that point, racing 4-0 ahead in the enough quality in the key moments. second set before sealing a deserved That was most evident at 5-4 in the victory. first set when her relentless pressure Osaka has now won two Australian forced Brady into the errors which Open titles after also triumphing at proved pivotal. Melbourne Park in 2019, with her And more brilliance enabled Osaka other Grand Slam successes coming to make a fast start in the second set at the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2020. from which Brady could not recover. Osaka’s face lit up with a wide grin, A sweet cross-court backhand win- Naomi Osaka adds this year’s Australian Open title to the first she won in 2019. raising her racquet above her head, ner brought up more break points MELBOURNE (Dispatches) - Ja- es since tennis’ pandemic return last when she clinched the title on her for a 2-0 lead, taking the first op- pan’s Naomi Osaka cemented her summer — and moved to 12-0 in first match point after Brady looped portunity when another deep return place as the outstanding star of the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals in a return long. bamboozled Brady into some clumsy TEHRAN (Dispatches) – magnificent individual 2019- women’s game by beating American her career at majors — in sweeping Around 7,500 fans were allowed to footwork. Two Iranian players have been 20 season, scoring 13 times for Jennifer Brady in the Australian Open Brady in a rematch of their quality watch the final on Rod Laver Arena From that point, Osaka’s confi- nominated for the Free Kicks his former side Al Shahania in final to win her fourth Grand Slam 2020 U.S. Open semifinal. and Osaka lapped up the acclaim af- dence further grew and she quickly of the 2020 AFC Champions the Qatar Stars League. title on Saturday. Brady, a strong server, was broken ter her U.S. Open victory came be- went a double break up. League. Osaka, 23, is unbeaten in major in her second service game while hind closed doors. While Brady did claw one back, The Asian Football Confed- Ali Karimi finals after a 6-4 6-3 win in Mel- struggling to get her first serve in. In the fourth round against 2020 Osaka never looked like relinquish- eration (AFC) has looked back Pakhtakor vs Esteghlal, bourne. Though the former UCLA Bruin runner-up Garbine Muguruza, Osaka ing another and served out the Cham- at the 2020 tournament which Round of 16 Osaka has won all 21 of her match- broke right back, she netted a fore- had to see off two match points be- pionship to love. turned out to be a thrilling af- With 32 minutes gone, Es- fair despite the challenging teghlal’s Mehdi Ghaedi looked circumstances. to make his way into the pen- Murray, Embiid Both Score 50 Points in Victories AFC kicked off the series in alty box but was brought down style, with fans voting Perse- just outside the area by Khoji- WASHINGTON (Dispatches) 2018. polis FC’s Mehdi Abdi Qara akbar Alijonov. - Jamal Murray became the first “Once I saw a few go down it as the winner of Best Headers Ali Karimi stepped up to take NBA player to score 50 points just took off from there,” said of 2020. The next installment the resulting free-kick, curl- in a game without attempting a Murray. looks at the fabulous goals ing the ball beautifully into free throw as the Denver Nug- “It’s kind of cool to make scored from free-kicks the back of the net past rooted gets got the better of the Cleve- history. It’s a cool stat.” This time six players have Pakhtakor goalkeeper Eldor- land Cavaliers. All Star Embiid made 17 been nominated for the Best bek Suyunov. Murray sank 21 of his 25 from 26 from the field and 15 Free Kicks of the 2020 Cham- . shots - including eight out of out of 17 free throws as he sur- pions League. Ai Kesen 10 from three-point range - in passed the 49 points he scored Here are the nominees: Vissel Kobe vs Guangzhou the 120-103 win. against the Atlanta Hawks last Evergrande, Matchday Four There was also a 50-point February. Ramin Rezaeian The Chinese Super League career-high haul for Philadel- “My team-mates found me. Al Duhail SC vs Sharjah, side kept knocking on the phia 76ers centre Joel Embiid I am pretty happy about what Matchday Three door with Talisca missing two against the Chicago Bulls. we did,” said the Cameroo- Murray and Embiid were in prolific scoring form as they New signing Ramin Rezae- chances in succession while He also had 17 rebounds, nian. guided their teams to victories ian struck the pick of goals to teammate Zhong Yihao’s ef- five assists and four blocks in “I have got to get the job send Al Duhail 2-0 up early in fort was expertly saved by Hi- the 112-105 win. points in two playoff games previous regular-season high done. That’s my job, that’s the second half after Almoez roki Iikura, and eventually suc- Murray, who scored 50 last season, surpassed his of 48 points from November why they pay me.” Ali had scored the opener for ceeded in doubling their lead the Qataris in the 40th minute. when Ai Kesen’s right footed The Iranian international had sublime free-kick settled in the Liensberger Ends Shiffrin’s Reign With Slalom Gold joined Al Duhail just three net for the 30th AFC Champi- close. I won this race and it means championships in a row, a fifth was weeks prior after enjoying a ons League goal of his career. so much to me,” added the first always going to require something Austrian women’s slalom world extraordinary. champion since Marlies Schild in After lagging Liensberger by 1.30 Froome Comeback Bid to 2011. after the first run, the gap grew to Vlhova and Shiffrin are the domi- nearly two seconds at the end on nant queens of slalom skiing, the the gleaming Druscie piste. Gather Pace at UAE Tour two of them winning every race ex- Shiffrin leaves Italy with gold pect one in the technical discipline from the combined event, silver in on the World Cup circuit since Jan- giant slalom and bronze in super-G uary 2017. as well as Saturday’s medal. Shiffrin was fourth after the first “It’s been a pretty incredible cou- run but secured her 11th world ple of weeks,” she said. “I never championship medal after Switzer- imagined I would win four medals land’s Wendy Holdener, who had and one world championship.” FIS Alpine World Ski Championships been third, was unable to hold on Italy’s Federica Brignone ended to her position and missed out by her championships in disappoint- CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy er’s second in Cortina d’Ampezzo 0.36. ment, the reigning overall World (Reuters) - Austria’s Katharina and her third medal after finishing The bronze was Shiffrin’s fourth Cup champion hitting a gate on the Liensberger won the women’s sla- equal first in the parallel event and medal in Cortina d’Ampezzo and first run and falling in her last at- lom gold at the Alpine skiing world taking bronze in the giant slalom. extended her record as the all-time tempt to medal on home snow. championships on Saturday as Mi- “It’s amazing. I really gave it all U.S. skier with most world cham- Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin, kaela Shiffrin’s bid for a record fifth today and I worked so hard for it,” pionship medals. bronze medallist in the combined LONDON (Dispatches) - Chris “I have spent a lot of time in the successive title ended with bronze. gasped the Austrian, who led Vl- The title was what she wanted, and the only woman to interrupt Froome will be part of a top-draw- UAE lately and I can say that the World Cup overall leader Petra hova by 0.30 after the first run and though. Vlhova and Shiffrin’s winning run er line-up as the four-time Tour de UAE Tour is a race I would really Vlhova of Slovakia took the silver. extended that advantage to finish Already the only skier, male or in the discipline on the World Cup France winner gets his second injury love to win someday. If it can be The gold in the final race of the exactly a second clear. female, to have taken the title in circuit, also failed to finish the first comeback rolling when cycling’s this year then that would be great,” women’s program was Liensberg- “It was so often so near and so the same discipline at four world run. first major race of the season, the Pogacar said on Friday. UAE Tour, starts on Sunday.