Sabalenka claws past Siegemund to reach semi-finals
World number one Aryna Sabalenka narrowly avoided a seismic shock as she fought back to beat veteran Laura Siegemund and claw her way into the Wimbledon semi-finals.The Belarusian, the heavy favourite for the title, had to twice come back from a break down in the deciding set to beat the 37-year-old German 4-6 6-2 6-4.Sabalenka has reached the final of the past three majors and, with most of her rivals falling in the first week of SW19, she has an incredible chance of reaching Saturday's showpiece.But few would have predicted the almighty scare that Siegemund - who had previously never gone beyond the second round in singles here - came within touching distance of completing.Siegemund, more noted for her doubles prowess, drove Sabalenka to distraction with her slices, brilliant returning and generally slow pace of play.It took all of Sabalenka's grit and determination to hang in and eventually advance after two hours and 54 minutes. Siegemund will face either 13th seed Amanda Anisimova or Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a place in a first Wimbledon singles final.
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The Guardian
12 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘That's our DNA': Russo praises ‘proper English' performance against Netherlands
Alessia Russo says England always knew they were capable of producing performances such as the one that delivered an emphatic 4-0 win against the Netherlands, as she praised her teammates for rediscovering their DNA. England were under pressure having been beaten by France in their opening Group D fixture at Euro 2025, knowing a defeat in this match could knock them out, but the defending champions had spoken in the buildup about wanting a 'proper England' performance and Russo believed they found one. The Lionesses will be guaranteed a place in the quarter‑finals if they defeat Wales in St Gallen on Sunday. 'I think 'proper English' to us means: 'We'll work hard, we'll work until we can't run any more. We'll stick together,'' Russo said, after being named as Uefa's player of the match. 'And we know we're very dominant on the ball as well. Returning to that, that's our standard, and that's our DNA as a team, and we definitely saw that today, from the first minute right until the end. Everyone was working so hard. 'We were really dominant on first and second balls, and clinical with our chances. We probably could have scored even more as well. It was definitely something that we wanted, to return to our roots, and we know we're capable of performances like that.' When England hit such standards, she said, 'the sky's the limit'. Sarina Wiegman said the 'proper England' phrase had been coined by her players since they responded to a disappointing draw with Portugal in February by beating the world champions Spain at Wembley in their next game. After her team again demonstrated their ability to bounce back strongly, the head coach said: 'The players use that [phrase] a lot now. [It's about] togetherness and the fight. But at the same time, when you're in possession, for me it's important that the passes we play are with purpose, and today you really saw the purpose in every pass we played, and for me that's also 'proper English'.' The England right-back Lucy Bronze praised her fellow defenders Jess Carter and Alex Greenwood for epitomising the idea, saying: 'Alex [Greenwood] was front-footed, she was aggressive. Jess Carter was completely covering her every single minute of the game as well. You put in the hard work to make sure you're doing a job for the team and that your teammate has got your back. Those two really embodied that and gave a lot of the rest of the team confidence.' The Netherlands head coach, Andries Jonker, admitted England's performance took his side by surprise. 'It is a heavy defeat and we didn't see it coming, we thought we would be able to compete with England,' he said. 'It was a surprise. I bear the responsibility. We were convinced this game plan would work out but unfortunately it didn't.' Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion Ella Toone, the scorer of England's fourth goal, told the BBC: 'We needed that. We should be proud of ourselves. We knew we had it in us. It should be a performance that we should be really proud of. There are always doubters – we don't listen to it. We know we have the talent, but it is just about getting it out on the pitch.'
Metro
20 minutes ago
- Metro
Novak Djokovic reveals biggest 'concern' about facing Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon
Novak Djokovic has revealed his main 'concern' heading into his Wimbledon semi-final battle with world No.1 Jannik Sinner on Friday. Djokovic defeated Flavio Cobolli to book his spot in the last four on Wednesday as he continues his hunt for a historic 25th Grand Slam title. The 38-year-old is set for a massive test against Sinner, with the Italian having beaten the Serbian the last four times they've met on the ATP Tour. Djokovic triumphed over Sinner in the 2023 Wimbledon semi-finals but it's all changed since then with the veteran now behind in their head-to-head. Since that clash at the All England Club two years ago, Djokovic has landed just one major trophy – at the 2023 US Open – while Sinner has won three. There has been talk of Djokovic being on his 'last legs' before retirement while John McEnroe accused him of playing his 'worst set in years' during his win over Alex de Minaur in the last 16. Speaking ahead of his showdown with Sinner, who leads the head-to-head 5-4, Djokovic said his biggest concern was about his own physicality. 'It is and it has always been my greatest goal to do well in Slams,' Djokovic said as he looks to move past Margaret Court for the most major singles trophies in the history of the sport. 'I'm, again, in another great position. Let's see. Sinner and [Carlos] Alcaraz, we know they're the dominant force right now in the tennis. 'If I want to at least go step further, I have to beat the No.1 in the world and eventually play Alcaraz in the final. 'Physically I hope that I'll be able to sustain that. That's more of a concern than game-wise. 'I think game-wise, the way I'm feeling the ball when I'm fit and ready, I feel like I can go toe-to-toe with those guys and even beat them if I'm playing my best.' Djokovic, who lost to Sinner in the French Open semi-finals earlier this year, feels the 23-year-old is the best tennis player on the planet right now. More Trending 'I lost straight sets to Jannik in the semis of Roland-Garros,' Djokovic added. 'I think I played a solid match. I could have played better, but he was just better player when the moments were important. 'So I get another opportunity. For me, this is what counts actually the most… Being in the last stages of Grand Slams and playing against the best player in the world right now. 'Him next to Alcaraz are the leaders of the tennis today, men's tennis.' MORE: Queen Camilla speaks with Novak Djokovic ahead of Wimbledon quarter-final clash MORE: 'I cried' – Boris Becker reaches out to Wimbledon player after 'incredibly sad' moment MORE: Scott McTominay reveals connection to 'one of the best Wimbledon clips of all time'
BBC News
24 minutes ago
- BBC News
Wiegman delivers 'proper England' performance
With doubts circling and pressure increasing, England needed to step up at Euro 2025 - and they did. A 2-1 defeat by France on Saturday meant the defending champions had catching up to do in Group England ensured their hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals remained intact with a commanding victory over the Netherlands."Proper England", as midfielder Georgia Stanway had called it earlier this week, returned as Sarina Wiegman's side played with fluidity and creativity. They were back to their defensive best and Wiegman's positional switches worked a treat. Now they must build momentum. How Wiegman dealt with scrutiny Wiegman knows what it means to be under the spotlight, having led England to back-to-back major tournament you have set that standard, anything less is a disappointment. England's level dropped dramatically against France which increased scrutiny on Wiegman, who suffered her first defeat at a Euros after winning 12 games in a row over the previous two was also the first time the reigning women's European champions had lost the first match of their defence at the following admitted the scrutiny was "hard" but she focused on the task in hand."I always knew ahead of this tournament that it was a very hard group. It can happen but then you need to win the other games," she said. "So yes, I was excited but at the same time I felt a little tense too. I think that's completely normal as you really want to stay in the tournament and you want to win. "I just had to focus on my job, review well and think about how we could bring people together."Wiegman has often delivered in the big moments and no manager has won more Euros matches than the Dutchwoman (13 - level with Germany's former manager Tina Theune).She also boasts the best goals-per-game rate in the competition among managers to take charge of four or more matches, with her sides scoring 40 in 14 come under criticism for her decision to start Lauren James in the number 10 role against France - which left England vulnerable defensively - Wiegman made all the right choices against the started on the right wing, with Manchester United's Ella Toone starting in the number 10 role. They scored three of the four goals on the Carter, who struggled against France at left-back, was moved into central defence, swapping with Alex Greenwood, and England kept a clean sheet."The priority was that we wanted to skip and exploit space. The Netherlands pushed up so we wanted to go over them. That worked really well," said Wiegman."When you're in their half of the pitch, you can start playing. We had some nice crosses and we spoke about that too. "[James] came in good positions but she can also do that in midfield. In midfield today we wanted Ella [Toone] because she can make good runs in behind."The plan striker Vivianne Miedema had just eight touches in the first half and the Dutch conceded more than two goals in a single match at a major women's tournament for the first also managed just four shots against England - their fewest on record (since 2011) at a major tournament. 'That's a proper English performance' England midfielder Keira Walsh said the players "had to acknowledge that sometimes it is a bad day and it was a really bad day against France".They wanted to put it behind them and do their talking on the pitch, as team-mate Stanway stressed this Alessia Russo felt they produced the "proper England" performance that Stanway had talked about."'Proper English' to us means we'll work hard until we can't run any more, stick together and know that we are very dominant on the ball," said Russo."We were picking up the ball in right areas and were clinical with our chances. We wanted to return to our roots and we know we're capable of performances like that."Russo was among the standout performers as she picked up three assists - the first player on record (since 2013) to provide as many in a women's Euros double means she has now been directly involved in more goals (eight) than any other European player at the past two major and Toone impressed in midfield, while Carter thrived in the centre-back role, with Greenwood producing the goods at left-back."We can change the structure of the team with so many different players. That's a strength of ours, that each individual player is so good at something," said Lucy Bronze."[Greenwood] isn't the fastest player on the pitch and I think she completely marked Chasity Grant out of the game. She was front-footed, she was aggressive. "Jess Carter was covering her every single minute of the game as well. I think that's a proper English performance."Carter told BBC Radio 5 Live that the two defenders had felt "isolated" in the defeat by France and they wanted to combat made the decision to swap them in training and tested it out."I'm not one to question and ask for a reason, I just do the job I'm asked to do," said Carter."This game felt the total opposite with Alex and the whole team. She was phenomenal at left-back." Has optimism been revived? England were one of the pre-tournament favourites and despite defeat by France, qualification for the quarter-finals is in their they beat Wales in their final group game, they will qualify for the last admitted the "consequences of the result were huge" against the Netherlands - but it was nothing they did not expect. "We knew exactly that we were going straight into finals [against strong opposition]," she added. "Losing the first game, it was not the end of the world but it doesn't put you in the best position. "We knew we had to perform really well and the team did."Were England written off too soon? They won Euro 2022 and reached the 2023 World Cup final after all."Everybody else was panic stations, but we still needed to win this game whether we beat France or not and we knew that," said Walsh."The objective didn't change. We wanted to take the game to them and put things right that we didn't the other day."I think we did back up what we said in the media and I think everyone was just on it from the first whistle to the last."
