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Sport shorts: Gauff, 15, stuns defending champion Osaka and NBA star Curry wanted to be drafted by the Knicks
Ten things from the world of sport on Friday 24 January
American teenager Coco Gauff is through to the fourth round of the Australian Open after a stunning victory against women’s singles defending champion Naomi Osaka.
Following her 6-3, 6-4 win on Rod Laver Arena the 15-year-old said: “I don’t know where that came from. Honestly, like, what is my life?
“Two years ago I lost in the first round in juniors and now I’m here. I was telling myself one point at a time and keep fighting. You never know what happens on this court.”
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Williams, a 23-time grand slam champion, said: “Honestly, if we were just honest with ourselves, I lost that match. I can’t play like that. I literally can’t do that again. It’s unprofessional. It’s not cool.”
Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki has retired after her third-round defeat against Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur. In November the 29-year-old revealed that she would retire after this year’s Australian Open - the grand slam she won in 2018.
Wozniacki said: “It has been a great ride. It is fitting my last match would be a three-setter, a grinder, and I’d finish my career with a forehand error - those are the things I have been working on my whole career. I guess it was meant to be.”
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2. Djokovic storms into round four
Men’s singles defending champion Novak Djokovic is through to the Australian Open fourth round after a comfortable 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
The Serbian, who will play Diego Schwartzman next, took only 85 minutes to secure the win against Nishioka. He said: “This was one of my best serving matches.”
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3. Sort it out, Ole
If Jurgen Klopp can do no wrong at Liverpool right now, at Manchester United nothing is going right for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, whose fate hangs in the balance.
The back pages of the Daily Star and the Daily Express both go with “Sort it out, Ole” as their headline this morning. The Star reports: “Solskjaer is in the firing line if the slump continues.”
4. Cavani in demand
Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani is a man in demand after it was claimed that he wants to leave Paris Saint-Germain.
The Daily Telegraph reports that Man Utd are “cautiously exploring” the option of signing Cavani while Chelsea are also keen. However, the 32-year-old is strongly linked with a switch to Spanish giants Atletico Madrid.
The Ladies European Tour has announced that in 2020 players will compete for a record prize fund of £15.2m - a £3.9m increase from 2019. This season there will be 24 events on the Tour.
Europe’s Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew said: “I couldn’t be more excited about what’s been achieved to improve the schedule. This is a tour that existing players and those joining for the first time should be proud to be part of.”
Basketball star Steph Curry has revealed that he wanted to be drafted by the New York Knicks, not the Golden State Warriors, in the 2009 NBA Draft.
He told Showtime’s All the Smoke podcast: “I wanted to go to New York and thought I was going to New York. At the draft in the green room, I was like, ‘oh, get to the eight spot and New York can get me’. And then I got the call from [former Warriors GM] Larry Riley, like ‘we’re going to pick you in the seventh spot’.”
Curry’s move to the Warriors did not end up too bad. He has won three NBA championships and two MVP trophies.
7. Tranmere are up for the cup
After defeating Premier League Watford 2-1 last night after extra-time, League One Tranmere Rovers have been rewarded with a FA Cup fourth-round home tie against Manchester United on Sunday (3pm GMT).
Manager Mickey Mellon said: “We will give it everything we have got. There is no doubt we will be up against a good side. They are an unbelievable football club and we are a League One club, at the bottom end of League One, but we are going to give it everything we’ve got.
“We will try to represent the club again and the players will run their socks off again and who knows?”
8. Six months to go until Tokyo 2020
The six-month countdown has begun for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Taking place in the Japanese capital city from 24 July to 9 August, Tokyo 2020 will see more than 11,000 athletes compete.
Meanwhile, according to a new projection from Gracenote, Team GB is expected to finish sixth in the Tokyo 2020 medal table - four places lower than in Rio 2016.
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9. Barrichello hails Hamilton’s talent
Ex-Formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello has heaped praise on Lewis Hamilton by saying the current world champion’s talent is “even greater” than that of F1 legends Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
Brazilian Barrichello, a countryman of Senna and a former team-mate of Schumacher, said: “Hamilton has a talent that is possibly even greater than that of Ayrton and Schumacher. The only thing he lacked was maturity. He has progressed on that, and today you see the final product.”
Liverpool’s latest Premier League victory, their 22nd in 23 matches, makes all the back pages with the papers agreeing that the 16-point lead at the top of the table all but guarantees them their first title since 1990.
“The Firmidables” is The Sun’s headline, a nod to Roberto Firmino, whose late winner at Wolverhampton Wanderers secured Liverpool their 2-1 win last night.
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