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History in Harare: USA Finishes Series with Chetna Reddy Pagydyala’s 136* Run-Blitz

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By: Yashaaditi Teki | USA Cricket

The USA Cricket women’s team secured its second victory in the 5th ODI of the series against Zimbabwe Women. Despite losing the series 2-3, the Coach Hilton Moreeng-led USA returns home with several historical milestones.

The 7-wicket victory against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club was fueled by the history-making performance of 16-year old ODI debutant, Chetna Reddy Pagydyala, with a scintillating 136 runs not out off 152 balls.

USA restricted Zimbabwe to 246 runs in 50 overs and chased the total down comfortably with more than 5 overs to spare.

USA won the toss and elected to field first

USA started their bowling attack with Tara Norris picking up a crucial wicket of the opponents’ opening batter for a duck, and giving USA a strong start. Thereafter, Zimbabwe women picked up their momentum with a 117-run partnership between Modester Mupachikwa scoring 59 off 78 deliveries and Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano scoring 60 runs off 68 deliveries.

USA’s introduction of spin into the attack resulted in two quick wickets by Ritu Singh, shifting the momentum back towards USA’s favor. Saanvi Immadi provided excellent support once again by bowling an economical spell of 10 overs, 36 runs, with 2 maidens which aided in slowing down Zimbabwe’s scoring-rate during a crucial stage of the game.

Skipper Aditiba Chudasama ended the innings by picking up two wickets with Tara Norris following her lead to pick up a wicket in the death overs. USA Women maintained their composure and restricted Zimbabwe Women to 246 runs in 50 overs.

USA Women responded with a dominating chase that was fueled by Chetna Reddy Pagydyala’s historical milestone of scoring 136* runs in 152 deliveries, becoming the first American female player to score a century in any format of international cricket.

She now holds the world record for the highest individual score on debut in women ODIs of 136*, surpassing a 51-year old record held by England’s Lynne Thomas.

Pagydyala is also the second youngest to score a century on debut in a women’s ODI, only bettered by Amy Hunter of Ireland who achieved the rare milestone on her 16th birthday. The Southern Californian’s 136* also gives her the 14th highest maiden hundred in women’s ODIs.

Pagydyala and Disha Dhingra put on an impressive 116-run opening partnership, setting a confident tone throughout the innings. USA finished the chase with another crucial, 88-run partnership between Chetna Reddy Pagydyala and Sindhu Sriharsha (35 runs off 39 deliveries), taking the team to victory with 7 wickets remaining.

Despite the series loss, USA women have left an indelible mark at Harare with many firsts. Skipper Chudasama’s squad registered its first ODI win since gaining ODI status and Pagydyala picked up several records with her blistering century on debut.

USA Cricket expresses its gratitude to Zimbabwe Cricket for hosting our women’s team and congratulates both teams on a successful, competitive and exciting series.  

Gillian Apps: “It’s the idea of making this better”

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Ian Kennedy | The hockey News

Women and girls have historically been excluded from hockey. For more than a century, women have been barred from rinks, kicked off teams, and forced out of leagues. Girls have been given leftover ice times in the middle of the night, or early hours; and they’ve worn equipment not made for their bodies, faced ridicule and discrimination, and despite it all, continued to play the game of hockey.

The barriers are obvious, and it’s why Hockey Canada and a special steering committee aimed at solving these problems for women and girls, have released the first phase of their plan, a paper titled “building the future of women’s and girls’ hockey.”

Leading the charge is three-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time World Champion Gillian Apps. Apps is a member of Hockey Canada’s new board of directors and the lead of Hockey Canada’s Women’s and Girls’ Steering Committee.

Apps knows change has been slow, but feels that the new group, alongside HockeyN Canada are committed to opening opportunities for women and girls.

“It was very clear how Hockey Canada is committed to this,” Apps told The Hockey News.

“It is a testament to say, women and girls hockey matters to everyone involved in this paper, and the steering committee when people were asked to be a part of this, no one hesitated. People truly believe in, ‘how do we make women’s and girls’ hockey in Canada better.’ We have our paper but really trying to understand how Canadians are interacting with the game from coast-to-coast and put strategies in place to try to make it a really great experience, keep women in the game, have new Canadians start hockey and have that be an easy experience. Even for a 30-year-old, 40-year-old woman who has never played hockey before, how can she get involved in a learn to play?”

“It’s an exciting project, it’s an enormous project. We’re trying to get the voice of the country from coast to coast. It’s something that obviously matters a lot to me and something I’m really excited about.”

Apps grew up playing in an all-girls program in Markham-Stouffville, and she recognizes she was one of the lucky ones. She also saw the bulk of her career played without fanfare. After a collegiate career at Dartmouth, which included her first World Championship and Olympic golds, Apps went on to play in the CWHL with the Brampton Thunder.

While the stands would be packed for international tournaments, despite the fact the CWHL features the same national team stars, players, teams, and the league received almost no recognition. It’s why Apps believes visibility in media coverage, and through the PWHL are crucial to the next step for women and girls in hockey.

“Visibility and celebration is a really important thing,” Apps said. “The PWHL for example, for people to be able to watch those games, we’ve been fighting for so long in women’s hockey to be able to just have people in the rinks. I can’t tell you how many times when I was playing in, long ago, the CWHL and we had probably combined between the two teams 20 Olympians on the ice and we were at a rink in Brampton and no one was there except our parents.”


“It’s funny to think it because we were like ‘wow, I’m sure people would love to see this’, and then we’d play at the Air Canada Centre and it would be sold out. It’s juts the visibility and the ability for people to come watch and watch on TV and young girls to watch and young boys to watch.”

Ice time is another recognized gap as organizations have historically allocated ice to boys programs, men’s recreational leagues, and all other user groups before women and gils. Apps also recognizes that a barrier to participation and retention in Ontario will be different than the barriers in Prince Edward Island, or Northern Canada.

That’s why the next step in Hockey Canada’s process, in collaboration with IMI International, is to conduct surveys and interviews with all stakeholders, from parents to players, coaches and staff, and those who have left the game altogether to “try to figure out how we can really come up with strategies that can help people have a better experience and help people stay in hockey,” as Apps says.

The data collection phase, as Apps stated, is important “to have a pulse on underrepresented communities, new Canadians, the BIPOC community, people that have played hockey but then have since quit, understanding ‘why did you leave the game?’ and ‘can we get you back?'”

When they’ve collected the data, Apps and her steering committee, which also includes Jayna Hefford, Angela James, Mary-Kay Messier, Therese Brisson, Kim St. Pierre, Katherine Henderson, Marion Jacko, Allison Sandmeyer-Graves, Pierre Arsenault, Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Debra Gassewitz, Rob Knesaurek, Anne Merklinger, and Brad Morris, will look at developing and applying strategies in partnership with Hockey Canada to enact change.

“We’ll have some time where we’re just in pure data collection mode and then coming together and figuring out what are the insights from that, and really after that it’s the idea of how do we think through these difficult problems and come up with strategies and then put them into place,” Apps Said. How can Hockey Canada put them into place across the country so that we address these barriers…and make people’s experience better.”

In the end, it’s about removing barriers, and creating a better experience that promotes inclusion and lifelong participation in all communities in Canada, that has Apps and Hockey Canada optimistic.

“I hope that it makes peoples love for the game stronger and their experience better. There are always going to be things that are hard…but I think that overall if we can really make women’s and girls hockey across the country for everyone, something that it is more enjoyable than it is today, that is more accessible than it is today, that gives women and girls the opportunity that if you want to be an elite hockey player it’s up to you, that you are given all the resources that you need and you can choose whether you do that or not,” said Apps.

“It’s the idea of making this better, it’s a really hard problem to solve, and some of these barriers in order to fix, it doesn’t hap

USA Women Registers 1st Historic ODI Win to Keep Zimbabwe Campaign Alive

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By: Vency Saurabh Patel | USA CRICKET

The USA Cricket women’s team secured a historic first ODI win today after playing only five ODIs since gaining status in this format of the game in 2022.

The four-wicket victory against Zimbabwe is Aditi Chudasama’s first win since taking the helm of the team this month. After facing unfavorable results in the first two matches, the USA bounced back by bowling out Zimbabwe for 179 runs in 48.4 overs and chasing the total in 37.2 overs. The win keeps USA’s hopes alive in the five-match series currently underway at the Harare Sports Club.  

USA won the toss and elected to field first

After winning a crucial coin-toss, USA opted to send Zimbabwe in to bat on a challenging first-innings pitch. Zimbabwe struggled to build momentum, with top-scorer Modester Mupachikwa contributing 34 runs off 59 balls, and Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano adding 28 runs off 46 balls. 

USA’s impressive bowling performance, particularly from Geetika Kodali, who claimed a historic and match-winning 5 wicket-haul for 43 runs, played a crucial role in dismantling Zimbabwe’s batting. 

Saanvi Immadi provided excellent support with 3 wickets for 28 runs, while Tara Norris and Isani Vaghela maintained economical figures of 2.62 and 2.66, respectively, as they applied constant pressure throughout the innings. 

In response, the USA Women chased the target confidently, scoring 182 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in just 37.2 overs.  

Openers Gargi Bhogle (36 off 57 balls) and Disha Dhingra (41 off 46) provided a solid start for Team USA with an 87-run partnership before Dhingra fell to Audrey Mazvishaya in the 16th over. Vice Captain Anika Kolan anchored the chase with the top-score of 43 runs off 59 balls.  

Despite Zimbabwe’s bowlers Josephine Nkomo (2/32) and Olinda Chare (2/41) claiming a few wickets and creating a middle-order wobble, Sindhu Sriharsha guided the team home with a crucial 30 runs off 45 balls. 

The series remains alive as both teams head into the fourth ODI on Saturday, October 26. USA will look to carry forward its momentum to level the series against Zimbabwe.  
 

USA Innings Summary: 
 

●  USA: 182/6 (37.2 overs) 

●  Anika Kolan: 43 (59) 

●  Disha Dhingra: 41 (46) 

●  Gargi Bhogle: 36 (57) 

●  Zimbabwe Bowling: Josephine Nkomo – 2/32 (9), Olinda Chare – 2/41 (9.2), Audrey Mazvishaya – 1/33 (9) 

USA Women Squad: 

Aditiba Chudasama (C), Disha Dhingra, Ella Claridge, Gargi Bhogle, Geetika Kodali, Isani Vaghela, Jivana Aras, Lekha Shetty, Ritu Singh, Anika Kolan, Sindhu Sriharsha, Chetna Pagydyala, Saanvi Immadi, Sai Tanmayi Eyyunni, Tara Norris

Zimbabwe Innings Summary: 

●  Zimbabwe: 179 (48.4 overs) 

●  Modester Mupachikwa: 34 (59) 

●  Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano: 28 (46) 

●  Audrey Mazvishaya: 26* (41) 

●  USA Bowling: Geetika Kodali – 5/43 (10), Saanvi Immadi – 3/28 (9), and 

Isani Vaghela – 1/16 (6) 

Zimbabwe Women Squad: 

Josephine Nkomo (C), Ashley Ndiraya, Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano, Runyararo Pasipanodya, Sharne Mayers, Adel Zimunu, Beloved Biza, Christabel Chatonzwa, Modester Mupachikwa, Audrey Mazvishaya, Lindokuhle Mabhero, Loryn Phiri, Nomvelo Sibanda, Olinder Chare, Tendai Makusha 

See full scorecard here. 

Upcoming games: 

  • Saturday, October 26, 9:15am: 4th ODI 
  • Monday, October 28, 9:15am: 5th ODI

Watkins, Bueckers headline preseason AP All-America team in women’s hoops; 3 sophomores for 1st time

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By  DOUG FEINBERG | AP News

USC star JuJu Watkins and UConn’s Paige Bueckers headline The Associated Press preseason All-America women’s college basketball team released Tuesday that for the first time includes three sophomores in a clear sign of the young talent in a sport coming off a record year of fan interest.

Watkins and Bueckers were unanimous choices by the 30-member national media panel that selects the AP Top 25 each week. It’s the third appearance on the team for Bueckers, who also was a preseason choice in her sophomore season and last year.

The duo was joined by Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame, Madison Booker of Texas and Kiki Iriafen of USC. Watkins, Hidalgo and Booker are all second-year players.

“It’s unbelievable. Those players excelled as freshmen and their teams won. They did it in multiple ways,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “It’s really exciting for the game and the future of it.”

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Gottlieb’s stars, Watkins and Iriafen, are the first pair of teammates selected to the All-America team since 2017-18, when UConn had three of the five players chosen. Iriafen entered the transfer portal soon after Stanford Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer announced her retirement in April.


“Kiki came because she wanted to play with JuJu, who recruited her because she wanted to play with Kiki,” Gottlieb said. “It’s exciting to see their personalities mesh.”

Watkins and her fellow sophomores were part of the ratings and attendance boom last season for women’s college basketball that was led by Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese. NCAA Tournament attendance was the highest it’s ever been and the championship game that featured Clark and Iowa against undefeated South Carolina had a record TV audience of 18.7 million, the highest for a basketball broadcast of any kind in five years.

Bueckers averaged 21.9 points and 5.2 rebounds to help UConn reach the Final Four, where the Huskies lost to Iowa in another game that drew high vioewership. UConn’s star has eligibility left after sporadic injuries, but has said this will be her last year in school. She finally had a healthy season last year for the Huskies after missing most of her sophomore year.

Watkins burst onto the national scene as a freshman last year and put up eye-popping numbers. The Los Angeles native averaged 27.1 points, second only to Clark, and set the national record for a freshman with 920 points. She helped the Trojans reach the Elite Eight in their deepest NCAA Tournament run in three decades.

There are high expectations for the team, which is ranked third in the preseason poll behind No. 1 South Carolina and No. 2 UConn. Iriafen averaged 19.4 points and 11.0 rebounds for Stanford last year, including scoring a career-high 41 in the second round win over Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament.

Hidalgo, like Watkins, had a stellar freshman season. She averaged 22.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists for the Fighting Irish, helping the team win the ACC Tournament and advance to the Sweet 16.

Booker stepped up her play for the Longhorns after Rori Harmon went down with an ACL injury in late December. She was thrust into the starting point guard slot and shined, averaging 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists. Those numbers were even higher after Harmon’s injury.

Bueckers, Watkins and Hidalgo were all first-team AP All-Americans in the spring. Booker was on the second team with Iriafen earning honorable mention.

The AP began releasing a preseason All-America team before the 1994-95 season.

Everything you need to know ahead of Women’s Rugby World Cup draw

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By Martyn Thomas

1 day ago

Fans will be able to plot their team’s path to Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 glory once Thursday’s eagerly anticipated draw has been made.

Now that all 16 teams for the expanded showpiece tournament have been confirmed the next step is to find out who each team will be playing during the pool stage.

The qualified nations have been seeded based on Monday’s World Rugby Women’s Rankings and divided into four bands.

With exactly one year to go until Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 kicks off
in Sunderland, excitement is sweeping across the host nation in anticipation of what
will be the biggest and most accessible celebration of women’s rugby ever.

Register now for the ticket presale

The top four seeds have been prepopulated into the first position of each pool, with England in Pool A, Canada in Pool B, New Zealand in Pool C and France in Pool D.

You can find out who will join them in those pools by watching the official draw live on the BBC and RugbyPass TV from 19:20 BST (GMT+1) on Thursday.

To help you prepare for the draw, we have taken a closer look at each of the four bands.

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Band one

Teams: England, Canada, New Zealand, France

How they qualified: England were guaranteed their place at the tournament as hosts, while the Black Ferns are defending champions and Canada and France also made it due to their performance at Women’s RWC 2021, where they contested the bronze final.

Team to avoid: Canada are arguably the most-improved side in international rugby, but no team from the other three bands will want to be drawn in Pool A. The Red Roses are on a 20-match winning run and have lost just once in their previous 51 Tests.

John Mitchell’s side head into the draw with a record World Rugby Women’s Rankings rating having become the first team – men’s or women’s – to break through the 97-point barrier with victory against Canada last weekend.

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Band two

Teams: Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Italy

How they qualified: Ireland booked their ticket to England by finishing third in the Women’s Six Nations standings earlier this year. Australia, Scotland and Italy secured their passage at the end of WXV 2.

Portland Snaps Orlando’s Unbeaten Streak in NWSL Weekend Action

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With their first NWSL win since July 5th, Portland ended Orlando’s record 24-match unbeaten streak on Friday.

Thorns forward Morgan Weaver’s 13th-minute opening goal marked the first time the Pride trailed in a game since March 22nd.

Portland captain Christine Sinclair notched her 78th goal across all NWSL competitions to secure the 2-0 finish. The soon-to-retire legend’s 55th-minute strike puts her just behind league-leader Lynn Williams, who scored her 80th goal in Gotham’s 2-0 win over Chicago on Saturday.

The Pride, who secured the 2024 NWSL Shield earlier this month, notably did not start their three leading scorers: Barbra Banda, Marta, and Adriana. All entered in Friday’s second half to face a Thorns side still missing top scorer Sophia Smith due to ankle injury.

Seventh-place Portland will look to clinch their postseason spot in the NWSL season’s final two matchdays, a fact cheekily pointed out by Marta after the Thorns’s victory.https://www.instagram.com/p/DBDE4CTstvY/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=14&wp=1080&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fjustwomenssports.com&rp=%2Freads%2Fportland-thorns-win-orlando-pride-game-nwsl-unbeaten-streak-record-ends%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A324.70000000298023%2C%22ls%22%3A178.60000000149012%2C%22le%22%3A178.60000000149012%7D

Chawinga bags NWSL scoring record

With her season’s 19th goal in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Bay FC, Kansas City striker Temwa Chawinga surpassed former Chicago Red Star Sam Kerr’s 2019 scoring tally to etch her name into the NWSL record books. Like Kerr, none of the Malawian’s goals in her record-setting run have come from penalties.

“[The single-season scoring record] means a lot to me because it’s a very difficult league… So I thank my teammates and I thank God for giving me this chance to be here,” Chawinga said after the game.

“We know teams now are trying to close her down and close the space down in the area where she gets most of her chances,” KC boss Vlatko Andonovski told reporters after the match. “She ran out and hit a bomb.”

The all-but-guaranteed 2024 NWSL Golden Boot winner now boasts six more goals than the league’s second-leading scorer, the Pride’s aforementioned Banda.

The weekend’s results also saw the fourth-place Current earn a first-ever home playoff match alongside second-place Washington and third-place Gotham, while sixth-place Chicago officially secured their postseason berth.

Cloé Lacasse sits on Utah's throne after her record-breaking hat trick on Sunday.
Utah Royals forward Cloé Lacasse made hat trick history on Sunday. (Rob Gray/Imagn Images)

Lacasse hat trick sees Seattle eliminated from playoffs

Utah forward Cloé Lacasse’s Sunday hat trick didn’t just lift the Royals 3-0 over the Seattle Reign, it also made NWSL history.

The Canadian national opened scoring off of a third-minute corner kick, tying Utah’s record for the fastest goal before firing off two more before halftime.

The feat marked the first hat trick of the 2024 NWSL season as well as the first in Utah Royals history, with Lacasse joining Crystal Dunn as the only other NWSL player to ever book three first-half goals.

Now on a three-game winning streak, the victory keeps 10th-place Utah in the postseason hunt, while also eliminating Seattle from playoff contention.

Ruth Chepngetich does something no other woman has done before in Chicago Marathon

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Ruth Chepngetich did something no other female marathoner has ever done before and set an unofficial world record with her finish in the 2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

Her historic finish marks the first women’s marathon time under 2 hours and 10 minutes — the previous world record was 2 hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds, set by Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa at the 2023 Berlin Marathon. Chepngetich finished with an unofficial time of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 56 seconds.

“I feel so great. I’m proud of myself and I thank God for the victory and the world record,” she told NBC Chicago at the finish line moments after her stunning finish. “This is my dream that has come true. I fight a lot thinking about world record and I have fulfilled it and I’m much grateful.”

Chepngetich, the 2021 and 2022 Bank of American Chicago Marathon winner and runner-up in 2023, returned to the course in 2024 to try and reclaim her title. And she did more than that.


Ruth Chepngetich makes history with likely world record in women’s marathon as she cruises to Chicago Marathon title.
“This woman is on pace to do something that I never really thought I would see in a lifetime,” fellow marathoner and NBC commentator Carrie Tollefson said during the live broadcast as Chepngetich raced closer to the finish line.

“It’s almost like seeing someone land on the moon,” Tollefson added.


Experts likened the finish to the world record set in the men’s race in 2023, which saw the late Kelvin Kiptum become the first man to run a marathon in under 2 hours and 1 minute.

Chepngetich said she dedicated her race to Kiptum.

It’s not Chepngetich’s first time making Chicago Marathon history.

Chepngetich not only won the 2022 Chicago Marathon, but she ran the fourth-fastest women’s marathon time in history during that race, running 2:14:18.

Since making her marathon debut in 2017, she has won Chicago (twice), Nagoya (twice), Istanbul (twice), Dubai and the 2019 World Championships.

Recently, she finished ninth at the 2024 London Marathon with a 2:24:36 finish. In her most recent race, she won the Buenos Aires Half Marathon in 1:05:58.

Gauff wins big at China Open after coaching changes

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D’Arcy Maine, ESPN.com

It’s been an up-and-down season for Coco Gauff. After winning her first major title at the 2023 US Open, the now 20-year-old started her year by earning the trophy at Auckland and reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open but never quite found the same hot streak that highlighted her 2023.

Gauff, who won the French Open doubles title and was a flag-bearer for the United States at the Olympics, struggled during the summer and failed to defend her titles at Cincinnati and the US Open, losing in the Round of 32 and Round of 16, respectively. Following her disappointing result in New York, she parted ways with coach Brad Gilbert and brought in Matt Daly as his replacement.

Now, as the season’s end rapidly approaches, it seems as if Gauff has finally hit her stride again.

Perhaps in part buoyed by the new energy on her team, or the change of scenery during the Asian swing of the tour, Gauff won her biggest title of the season on Sunday at the 1000-level China Open behind a dominant 6-1, 6-3 victory over Karolina Muchova in the final. With 24 winners and a strong serving performance on the day — and epic points like the one below — Gauff was virtually unstoppable against the equally athletic and resurgent Muchova.

Throughout her run in Beijing, Gauff was unflappable and recorded multiple comeback victories, including against Paula Badosa in the semifinals. With the title — the eighth of her career — Gauff became the youngest champion at the event in 14 years and the first American since Serena Williams in 2013. She is now 7-1 in singles finals and became the first woman in the Open era to win her first seven hard-court finals. Gauff was unaware of that stat when asked about it by a reporter following the match but called it “pretty cool.”

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“I feel like every tournament, it’s a new stat or new record,” Gauff said. “I’m very thankful. I would be excited to see when the next stat is, the next girl, I don’t know, who will be the first person to do this since Coco Gauff. I’m excited to see that.

“It means a lot when I saw that the last American woman to win this was Serena Williams. Honestly, anytime my name is mentioned in whatever sentence hers is. It’s like a huge honor to do something no one has ever done before.”

Gauff now returns to the top five, after falling out of it after the US Open, and currently sits in the fifth spot in the race for the year-end WTA Finals. She is next in action this week at Wuhan, also a 1000-level tournament, and another title would firmly secure her ticket to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Here’s what else you might have missed last week from around the tennis world:

Alcaraz wins again
Playing the men’s final on Wednesday (and throwing off just about everyone’s internal clocks in the sport), Carlos Alcaraz defeated Jannik Sinner at the China Open. As we’ve come to expect when these players meet, it was a great battle between two of the brightest young superstars in the game with Alcaraz ultimately eking out a 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-6(3) victory in three hours and 21 minutes. It was the longest match in tournament history.

Alcaraz, who now owns a 6-4 career record over Sinner and has won all three of their meetings this season, called his rival “the best player in the world” after the match.

“He could [have won] in two, I could win in two, he could win in three,” Alcaraz said. “It was a really close match … The level that he’s playing, it’s unbelievable. It’s a really high quality of tennis. Of shots, physically, mentally, he’s a beast.”

With the win, Alcaraz returns to the No. 2 spot in the rankings, behind only Sinner. And despite the close match and their ever-evolving rivalry, the two provided the latest example of just how unique tennis is by sharing a private jet together just hours later as they made their way to Shanghai for the next tournament.

“It’s a weird thing, but I think tennis is different than other sports because of it,” Alcaraz later told Tennis TV. “Because we are fighting against each other, three-hour match, really close … At the end I got the win, and then two hours later we are in the same plane having some laughs, making jokes, talking about life and acting like nothing happened before.”

Both Alcaraz and Sinner were victorious in their opening two matches in Shanghai and are now into the Round of 16.

And prior to the China Open — which is a 500-level for men — Alcaraz and Gauff were chosen to represent the tours, visiting the Forbidden City in traditional clothing for the occasion. During the trophy ceremony on Sunday, Gauff was asked about their joint visit and the fact they had both gone on to win the titles.

“Someone in press told me that it was going to bring me luck,” Gauff said. “And I said ‘I don’t know, I don’t want to jinx it.’ Then Carlos won but at that time it was only the round of 16 for me. I guess the Imperial Palace brought us luck and maybe I will pay a visit again next year and get the same luck.”

Halep’s return
After receiving a wild card for entry at the Hong Kong 125 Open, Simona Halep notched her first victory in over two years with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win over Arina Rodionova in the first round on Wednesday.

It marked her first match since May due to injury and just her third match since coming back from a doping ban nearly two years ago. Halep was initially given a four-year suspension after testing positive for roxadustat but it was reduced in March to nine months and she was immediately cleared to play. She made her return at the Miami Open later that month. She played in just one other event before her comeback was derailed by a knee injury.

Wednesday’s victory was an emotional one for the former world No. 1 and two-time major champion.

“Words cannot describe the feeling of being out there on court competing — and winning my first match after such a long period — in the sport I love,” she wrote on Instagram.

Halep, 33, lost her next match in straight sets to Anna Blinkova on Thursday.

Greatest introduction of all time?
After a brief tour hiatus following his third-round exit at the US Open last month, Novak Djokovic — who did help lift Serbia to victory over Greece in Davis Cup group play in the interim — returned to competition in Shanghai on Saturday.

And while the year hasn’t exactly gone to plan for the 24-time major champion, Djokovic was still given perhaps the ultimate hero’s welcome by the tournament as he was introduced to the crowd as “the greatest of all time” while taking the court for his opening match against American Alex Michelsen.

In his first match in China since 2019, the 37-year-old Djokovic was challenged by Michelsen and needed tiebreakers in both sets, but got the straight-set victory to advance. Despite the test and some rust, Djokovic was clearly thrilled by how the day transpired.

“Today on the court was marvelous,” Djokovic said later. “To experience the introduction and the support and love from Chinese fans in this way is exactly the reason why I came.”

Osaka making moves
Nearing the end of her first year back on tour following maternity leave, former No. 1 Naomi Osaka is now just outside the top 50 after a fourth-round run at the China Open. The four-time major champion, who recorded a three-set win over No. 21 seed Yulia Putinseva in the second round, looked to be on the brink of her biggest win of the season against Gauff in the Round of 16 before retiring due to a back injury ahead of the third set.

After Gauff graciously helped Osaka off the court, Osaka explained on social media that she had “locked [her] back up” in practice ahead of the match and it got progressively worse as play went on. “Totally worth it though,” she added.

While not the result she had wanted — and she has since had to withdraw from Wuhan qualifying and the upcoming Japan Open because of the injury — the China Open also marked Osaka’s first with new coach Patrick Mouratoglou. After parting ways with Wim Fissette last month, Osaka brought in Williams’ (and Halep’s) former coach and told reporters ahead of the China Open she hoped it would be a “long-term” partnership. She also admitted she was still “a little nervous around him” because of his reputation.

“I think the fact that he was Serena’s coach for me made me want to avoid him just because his persona is so big,” Osaka said. “Like, this isn’t rude because I found out it’s not true, but I didn’t know — this sounds so bad — I didn’t know if he was a good coach or he coached Serena. Does that make sense? I’m like, I’m just going to do my own thing.

“Then I met him, talked to him, worked with him on the court. He absolutely is a really good coach. I’m really glad that he’s taking this project on, as well.”

And Mouratoglou seemed pretty pleased with their debut event together, calling the experience “so rich in terms [of] learning.”

Changes for Team Iga
Osaka and Gauff aren’t the only ones shaking things up with their teams before year’s end. World No. 1 Iga Swiatek announced the end of her three-year partnership with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski on Friday.

Swiatek won four of her five major titles and took over the top ranking for the first time with Wiktorowski by her side. He was also with her during her 37-match win streak in 2022.

Swiatek thanked him for his help and guidance in an Instagram post.

“Our main goal was to become [the] No. 1 player in the world and coach Wiktorowski was the one who said it first,” she wrote. “We aimed very high, we headed to every tournament with a clear goal to win it … it happened thanks to my entire sports team.”

Swiatek, who hasn’t played since losing in the quarterfinals at the US Open early last month, added she would be spending a “couple of weeks” to find a new coach and was in talks with “coaches from abroad” as she was “ready to take the next step” in her career.

She has withdrawn from this week’s tournament in Wuhan and it is unclear when she next plans to play. She has already clinched her spot for the WTA Finals, which gets underway on Nov. 2.

Orlando Pride Win First-Ever NWSL Shield Behind Marta’s Game-Winning Goal

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By: Dee Lab | Just women’s sports

With three regular-season matches left, the still-undefeated Orlando Pride clinched the 2024 NWSL Shield with Sunday’s rainy 2-0 win over the second-place Washington Spirit.

Marta converted the 57th-minute game-winning penalty kick, securing her team’s first-ever piece of hardware with her eighth goal of the season.

“I stayed here because I want to make history with this team,” the Brazilian soccer icon, who’s been with the Pride for eight years, said afterwards. “And then we did tonight, and then we go for more.”

Though the Pride’s dominance this season is unmatched, Washington was notably without several key players. Between injuries and yellow card suspensions, the Spirit faced Orlando without Trinity Rodman, Casey Krueger, Hal Hershfelt, Leicy Santos, or Ouleye Sarr.


It took less than two minutes for Kansas City’s Temwa Chawinga to find the back of the net in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Louisville, tying former Chicago Red Star Sam Kerr’s single-season NWSL scoring record with her 18th goal.

With three matchdays to go, the Malawian striker is all but guaranteed to upend Kerr’s 2019 record.

“I think that Temwa’s ability to get behind the line and then drive towards the goal, and being aggressive going towards the goal, is something that differentiates her,” KC head coach Vlatko Andonovski said after the match. “Temwa’s just a pure goalscorer. We’re happy that she’s done it for us this season and hopefully she continues to do it.”


In other NWSL news, fifth-place North Carolina punched their postseason ticket with Saturday’s 2-1 win over San Diego. The day before, last-place Houston become the first club eliminated from the 2024 playoff picture.

Gotham’s 5-1 Saturday blowout of Bay has the defending NWSL champs achingly close to leaping second-place Washington on the table. The two clubs are tied for points, with the Spirit’s shrinking goal differential giving them the tenuous edge.

On the other hand, Saturday’s 2-1 loss to 12th-place Utah extended Portland’s NWSL winless streak to seven matches. The Thorns are remarkably still in seventh-place, but sit tied for points with eighth-place Bay FC. With lower-table teams hungry to rise above the postseason cutoff line, every match left could see Portland fall from contention.

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