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2024 US Open Tennis Women’s Singles Final: Aryna Sabalenka so dominant on the hard courts that sealed her third grand slam triumph in straight sets v USA’s Jessica Pegula

by Sports Benches

Aryna Sabalenka is now your 2024 US Open women’s champion following her straight sets win v USA’s Jessica Pegula 5-7 & 5-7 at Arthur Ashe Stadium. This is the first time she has won this major at Arthur Ashe Stadium following her runner-up finish last year to Coco Gauff while she continues to defend her 2nd straight Australian Open women’s title from 2023.

So close from Pegula who was so close to turning this around on both occasions including the 2nd set, having won some battles thanks to a brilliant start to the game along the way v the top-ranked opponent. She just couldn’t quite find the finishing touches unfortunately while Sabalenka won them all throughout the Final. It’s been a huge journey though to make it this far, especially when playing on home soil – hopefully we’ll see more of Jessica Pegula next year following a series of previous grand slam Quarter-Finals.

And what a game as always for Sabalenka  who got away with her third grand slam championship this time outside of the Australian Open in New York. There’s a reason or two why she’s so dominant in these hard courts and yet she’s done it once again also against a different grand slam finalist from start to finish. She didn’t even drop a set either when her finishing play was top-notch too as wondering who is really there to challenge Sabalenka now? Maybe Iga Swiatek, even though she’s normally good on clay or Coco Gauff if she can be good consistently on future grand slams other than late 23-early 24.

If the women’s final wasn’t enough, the US Open Saturday’s activities went on with the Men’s Doubles Final featuring own our Aussie pair of Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell v Germany’s duo of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz. Glad to say that Thompson and Purcell has done it in straight sets that marked their first major trophy together with Purcell’s 2nd since the 2022 Wimbledon tournament alongside Matt Ebden, even though their match wasn’t easy having felt so relieved to cross the finish line at the end of the 2nd set tiebreak. Sure that is going to help with Australia’s Davis Cup team run going into next week v France and Czech Republic as they’ve been in the big dance before and there’s no doubt they’re going to smash it once again.

Now that the Women’s Final is done, there’s one more game left on the US Open schedule tomorrow and that will be the Men’s Singles Final from 4am AEST between 2024 Men’s Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner v USA’s Taylor Fritz.

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2024 US Open Tennis Men’s semi-finals day in New York review: Sinner def. Draper in straight sets while Fritz caps off magnificent comeback after a long five-setter v Tiafoe

by Sports Benches

So there you have it, the 2024 US Open Tennis Men’s semi-final day at Arthur Ashe Stadium was a joy to watch – one was Jannik Sinner so dominant & top good for Jack Draper while Taylor Fritz held back strong v Francis Tiafoe after a long five sets out of the best American winner. 

Now it’s the current Australian Open champ Sinner v the ever improving American Fritz for Sunday’s big Final (Monday 4am) with Aryna Sabalenka v USA’s own Jessica Pegula up first for the women’s main event tomorrow (6am).

Semi-Final Match 1

First of all, it was never an easy game when playing at a top-notch semi for the first time by the rising Brit in Draper, who defeated our Aussie own Alex De Minaur in the quarters the other day. He had some great moments to begin with the first two sets where he was so close to tying Sinner 1-1 but was underwhelming for the majority unfortunately, having lost the first set for the first time in this tournament before being quickly wiped out in the end. 

Meanwhile, we haven’t heard much for a while from Sinner but he still had a terrific year though including today’s semi v Draper, as this will be his 2nd grand slam final also on a hard court. Gotta say he was at his best where his next match v Fritz is going to be as good as it gets. He was tested with great difficulty by the Brit before Sinner won all two sets with a 2-0 lead and the Italian simply wrapped up the game without a fuss to book his next biggest match yet in three straight sets.

Semi-Final Match 2

Now this second semi was the one Americans long wanted to see in front of a brilliant crowd including some celebrity guests with both Americans who played one stellar of a match. But again, one can go through to Sunday’s Final which Fritz won while another will have to be eliminated from the last four in Tiafoe.

Commiserations to Tiafoe having made a good start alongside some brilliant fight to try and keep himself in the game with the first and 3rd set wins. It’s a shame he began to have slipped away in the 4th and even 5th sets before it was too late unfortunately. It would’ve been great if Tiafoe kept on pressuring Fritz as if Tiafoe was closer towards activating match point; But at the end of the day, you’re looking at a fighter who always been there & done that at major finals before in Fritz.

And congrats to Fritz on a stunning win from behind to beat Tiafoe as he’s the next American to play in a US Open men’s final since 2003 winner Andy Roddick back in 2006. Sure he had some near set wins & had Fritz won it, the match would’ve finished like the first semis game but this is about someone who never gives up. All he wanted to do is walk away was the win to punch his ticket into the main event & he has done it in the toughest of circumstances where he will be tested once again in the hope of finally winning his home grand slam v Sinner after his ever-improving 2024 season at age 26.

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2024 US Open Tennis Women’s Singles semi-finals Day Review: Aryna Sabalenka off to another final this time v Jessica Pegula after Pegula’s stunning comeback from behind

by Sports Benches

The 2024 US Open women’s singles semi-finals day at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York saw two brilliant matches with one unbelievable comeback during the second match from behind. 

Yes, Americans – particularly the home fans- would’ve loved to see both of their own players play in the big dance this Saturday. But at least one is still not out of the race just yet though when she’ll be going up against one the world’s best as a new champion will be crowned since Coco Gauff was eliminated in the Round of 16.

Semi-Final 1

In the first game, 13th seed Emma Navarro never had an easy time out there against Aryna Sabalenka, having won some early battles in the process including the 2nd set that led into a tiebreak. But again, Sabalenka proved to be world-class as always en route to her 2nd straight US Open Final from start to finish in straight sets (3-6 & 6-7 via 2-7 tiebreak). 

It’s been a great 2nd half grand slam season for Navarro with back-to-back knockout matches as more to come but never an easy game unfortunately against Sabalenka who always been in the finals many times before. 

Speaking of Sabalenka, sure, she may not be good on clay (French Open) & the grass courts (Wimbledon). But she’s been excellent on the hard courts that earned her 2 x recent Australian Open titles & looks like this weekend will finally be perfect moment to add a US Open trophy for the first time.

Semi-Final 2

Now here’s something that’s going to cheer the home crowd up, Jessica Pegula may have had a rough start in the first set v Karolina Muchova, but she fought back though from behind that marked one of her best matches to date. She went from bringing up the 3rd set decider after tying 1-1 apiece with Muchova to booking her spot following an easy finish on what is going to be Pegula’s first grand slam Final right here at home in New York v Sabalenka. The final score was 1-6, 6-4 & 6-2.

If there’s one person out there who will try to stop Sabalenka in its tracks, it’s Jessica Pegula with her best grand slam campaign at age 30. She proved to Sabalenka what it takes to fight from behind in the hope of winning her first grand slam singles title also on home turf. She’s come from a long, long way whose parents are business people and NFL owners of the Buffalo Bills & no doubt this next match for Jessica is like her own Super Bowl but she will be up against one of the world’s elite stars in Sabalenka.

And Muchova did the best she can to secure a grand final spot since the 2023 Roland Garros tournament, especially when she just came back playing here following a wrist injury as she had a great run along the way up. She thought she could get there thanks to a flying start but just couldn’t keep it up unfortunately when it comes to her long form where Pegula turned out to be the better player. Will we see more of her next year? Sure as long as she can keep her good grand slam record up from here like regular 2nd week ties including an extended finals shot, etc.

Post-Notes

Now that the Pegula v Sabalenka women’s singles Final is all set, the US Open semi-finals day continues tomorrow with the men’s action. First up is Jannik Sinner v Rising Briton Jack Draper (who defeated Alex De Minaur in the QF the other day) followed by an all-American affair between Taylor Fritz & Francis Tiafoe.

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2024 US Open Tennis: Alex De Minaur’s another grand slam Quarter-Finals shot got run down by Briton Jack Draper in straight sets at Arthur Ashe Stadium

by Sports Benches

It wasn’t the match we hoped for when Alex De Minaur took centre stage on what has been another grand slam Quarter-Final of 2024 this time in the US Open & got easily beaten in straight sets by Briton Jack Draper at Arthur Ashe Stadium. 

But proud to see him make back-to-back-to-back grand slam quarter-finals this year outside the Australian Open though where he fell short to Andrey Rublev in the Round of 16 tie back in January. Had he won this game, it would’ve still been difficult to walk into the semis either way by going up between the last Quarter-Final winner that’s going to start later on of Jannik Sinner (Italy) or Daniil Medvedev.

Yes, he’s getting back up to speed after that hip injury that ruled him out of the Wimbledon Quarter-Final match two months ago v Novak Djokovic. But as said, he simply wasn’t at his best today other than close 2nd set performance. 

Keep an eye on him going into next week with the Australian Davis Cup campaign against France & Czech Republic over in Valencia, Spain. He’s the glue to where the Aussies went all the way to back-to-back Finals in November last year and two years ago and hopefully he will help them go one better, so he can walk into Australian Open 2025 with an eye for a Quarter-Finals spot for the first time.

For now, Jack Draper is your winner en route to his first major semi-finals at age 22 after a brilliant performance from start to finish in straight sets (6-3, 7-5 & 6-2).

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Thoughts on Network 10 retaining the Socceroos and Matildas rights for another four years until at least 2028 with the 2027 Women’s World Cup as part of the package

by Sports Benches

Yesterday, Network 10 officially extended its successful Football Australia contract who will continue airing the Men’s Socceroos and Women’s Matildas matches for another four years between 2025-2028.

Although there will be a couple of changes that you need to know going forward:

  • Home Socceroos matches remains live on 10 & 10 play but all away matches will be behind a paywall via Paramount + with the final round of World Cup Asian group qualifying set to begin later this year – expecting this to be similarly arranged across both the Socceroos and Matildas future friendly games.
  • 2027 Men’s Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia only on Paramount + regardless if the Socceroos qualify or not. It’s a shame there won’t be at least some free-to-air content unlike the previous one earlier this year in Qatar but again, they’re a team who is not at the top band of Asia unlike Japan at this stage – especially when their A-League comp isn’t so strong compared to the Saudi, Japanese and Korean domestic leagues.
  • But there’s a lot more though ahead for the Tillies with six free-to-air 2026 Women’s Asian Cup games on home soil and 15 2027 Women’s World Cup games in Brazil live on 10 & 10 Play with the rest on Paramount +. At least the best of our women’s soccer team will be showcased on free-to-air with the Women’s World Cup rights being a new addition to 10 thanks to Football Australia who recently purchased the 2027 Women’s World Cup rights on its own & then putting it onto this next Football Australia rights deal in order to fetch the best value possible. Sure, 10 missed out the previous Women’s World Cup last year to Seven & Optus Sport when it was held on home soil & also New Zealand, with the next edition going to be held early during the morning our time. But it’s better than nothing though since the Tillies is still on the rise despite their poor Olympics group stage exit at Paris 2024, although you can tell there was no Sam Kerr at the time as she’s still recovering from an ACL knee injury. 
  • All other AFC tournaments including the next two U23 Men’s Asian Cup editions for 2026 & 2028 still on Paramount + as well as the Australia Cup domestic knockout competition. It remains to be seen if some of the Round of 32 games onwards will be split across 10 Play & Paramount + or even see most games only on Paramount + but sure the annual grand final though will still be on 10 & 10 Play after all.

Not a bad deal to keep an excellent product that worked so well for 10 if you look at the Socceroos’s whirlwind 2022 journey to the main World Cup draw via Play-Offs as well as the Matildas’ enormous rise over these last few years. 

What’s next now is to sort out with the A-Leagues whose contract will expire at the end of the 2025/26 season with an option for a three-year extension. Since the competition standards aren’t so good as said with the AFC club rankings, this really translates their poor ratings across 10 and Paramount + where games have been aired on 10 Bold over the last few seasons rather than the main channel except the grand final. 

The good news that 10 is in no rush to stay covering Australian soccer when it comes to the A-Leagues but surely that’s up to the competition itself who needs to improve their standards as things won’t make much of difference if they stay running like this regardless of media partner before there’s nowhere else to look out for with competition at the end of the day. 

Although Foxtel would be happy to come back if it becomes available or 10 no longer wants it where some will be paywall and others would be free-to-view via Kayo Freebies (similar to what they do right now with Netball here), but an appropriate type of marketing, value and relationship with a particular broadcaster is key for that next domestic TV rights package.

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Thoughts on the World Athletics Diamond League competition now on Stan Sport

by Sports Benches

There was another new sport to the Stan Sport line-up yesterday off the back of Paris 2024 and it will be the World Athletics Diamond League competition when it comes to running & sprinting on track as well as throwing and jumping through the field. They will pick it up right away with a few events left to go this season as the final race on the calendar will be held in Brussels, Belgium on the weekend of 13-14 September next month. It’s never been a better time now to cheer on and follow our track and field athletes progress & also the world’s best if you can’t get enough after we’ve just witnessed in Paris 2024 as Stan Sport is the perfect place to bring these world-class Athletics/Track and Field events to you at home. 

Yes, these events were aired on YouTube prior to yesterday’s announcement in case you haven’t watch the Diamond League so far this year. But maybe that’s an extra offering to keep it up with their Olympics content when you can still view it for free I believe likewise with the Motorcycling Australia events such as the Australian Superbike Championship and Australian Motocross events as per Athletics Australia preview article two days ago. But we shall see tomorrow morning at 4am AEST for the Lausanne race event soon enough as would assume it will still be both on Stan Sport and YouTube since our interest levels aren’t as good on a regular basis compared to other sports here that requires a lot of $$$ to produce content.

Other than that, we could see the World Athletics Championships move to Nine from SBS next year in Tokyo, Japan since they’ve just acquired the Diamond League for their Stan Sport subscribers. Wondering if they gonna send some of their own on-air talent there or simply take the world feed like it was before. And could we see a Diamond League event here someday? Probably not when all our venues are covered for the winter Football season alongside some scheduling difficulties between April to September but I would love to see a World Athletics Championship event in Australia one day as you never know.

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Thoughts on the latest Brisbane Olympic Stadium proposal that is 100% privately funded following Australia’s best ever performance recently at Paris 2024 

by Sports Benches

Gotta love the look on that latest Brisbane Olympic Stadium design that won’t put pressure on the Government at all. You got the centrepiece venue in there with the athletes village on top as well as an aquatic centre, a warm-up track & many other hotel and commercial spaces. Yes, it doesn’t say much about transport nearby but at least the Stadium would be situated in the North Shore area of Brisbane. So not that hard compared to the QASC plan down south in Nathan with no transport. 

If accepted, it will be entirely private-funded with $6 billion to get this going between 2026-2031 – just one year out from the home 2032 Summer Olympics. 

But then it’s not even enough for the Government to change their mind unfortunately when they would like to have all of their proposed 2032 venues being publicly owned and operated, especially when you got Steven Miles in charge as Premier at the moment with the next State Election around the corner this October.

Well, if some of the venues we’ve seen two weeks ago from Paris 2024 was probably owned, why can’t Brisbane if they want to stage the best Olympic Games ever like our athletes do? Food for thought but I hope the current or even the future elected QLD Government can take the weight off their shoulders. Yes, it’s important what’s best for the state but this is an opportunity though to get things right. That way, they can send a really good message to NSW, VIC, WA and even the world that Brisbane can have a beautiful world-class stadium to stage world-class sports events and concerts.

There’s still at least 6-7 years away & one week already gone from the closing ceremony of Paris 2024, but we hope we can see light at the end of the tunnel going into next year before it’s too late & maybe Brisbane 2032 may not be good as Paris.

One thing for sure though is maybe just build the new world-beater Brisbane Olympic Stadium by itself that should normally cost around $1 billion like most other New Stadiums do nowadays rather than have $3-6 billion involving the other venues on top of the centrepiece Stadium.

I understand what’s it like to have the world’s best swimming events being held in an arena and even in a large-sized Stadium now like we’ve seen with the Paris La Defense Arena at the Olympics a few weeks ago, the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis two months ago for the US Swimming Trials, and now LA’s SoFi Stadium is going to be the proposed venue there for LA 2028. With the proposed 18,000 Brisbane Live Arena going to be the swimming venue, just turn back on the QASC renovation plan which doesn’t mean much when there’s little access to transport by going with the $1B Stadium. 

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2024 UEFA Super Cup: Real Madrid def. Atalanta BC 2-0 that gave a warm welcome to new signing Kylian Mbappe with his debut goal & his first European trophy in Warsaw

by Sports Benches

Some of the major European Soccer competitions may not have started just yet but we too had an amazing UEFA Super Cup pre-season match from Warsaw in Poland between the last season’s champions – 23/24 Champions League winners Real Madrid and the 23/24 Europa League winners Atalanta BC.

Prior to this match, Madrid got away with the 2nd half stunner v Borussia Dortmund for the Champions League triumph 2-0 while Atalanta ended Bayer Leverkusen’s long unbeaten run of 51 games to hoist the Europa Cup trophy 3-0.

It was a quiet first half to begin with but again, Madrid, likewise with their 23/24 Champions League Final performance, was just too good where they’ve bagged a few tricks here and there to secure yet another UEFA trophy towards the end 2-0.

For Atalanta, you can imagine what their attack would look like if they still had their main striker Giancula Scamacca, who is currently out for half if not most of the season due to an ACL knee injury. Sure, they’ve won some ball along the way but lack the finishing touches up front where Atalanta only scored two shots on target compared to Real Madrid’s six.

They got a huge new campaign ahead including the Champions League as it remains to be seen if Atalanta can keep on going without Scamacca across all competitions.

Meanwhile, it’s great to see Real Madrid win another major European trophy ahead of another busy campaign with the Super Cup. It’s never been a better time with superstar signing Kylian Mbappe now onboard after a few years in the Paris St Germain shirt. Brazil’s Carlos Vinicius Jr. has been excellent as always with his feeds, pace and trickery off the left flank that led to two amazing goals including Mbappe’s debut goal for the team’s 2nd strike.

Gotta say Mbappe has achieved everything in France with so many goals under his belt but his European ambitions when it comes to winning silverware is yet to come & that Super Cup win is his first step towards a long way at the Bernabeu.

The new look UEFA Club competition season under the expanded “Swiss model” format across the Champions League, Europa League & the Conference League will begin mid-next month.

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2024/25 EFL Championship Soccer: Burnley off to a red-hot start under new head coach Scott Parker with the 4-1 win v Luton Town

by Sports Benches

Looks like Burnley is off to a terrific start under new coach Scott Parker with the huge 4-1 win v fellow Premier League relegation team Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. The first half was easy to say Burnley with two goals out in front ahead of half-time. Yes, Luton may have found one back a few minutes at the restart thanks to Tanith Chong in the 55th minute.

But Burnley went all the way though to extend their lead with another two goals that put themselves right up within the Top 2 promotion spots alongside Sheffield Wednesday after Round 1 of 46 in the new 2024/25 EFL Championship season.

Yeah, it’s not the same for Burnley when they returned straight to the 2nd tier after their poor Premier League term campaign last season under previous head coach Vincent Kompany (now managing Bayern Munich). But at least retaining most of the crop would help Scott Parker get up and running for the huge task that proved to be the real real where goals were shared amongst the whole team, while playing possession-based attacking football was a huge plus too in the way Burnley wanted to play their soccer from here where they last topped the Championship table under Kompany two seasons ago (2022/23 term).

There’s still a long way to go so Scott can achieve yet another promotion back in the PL but this time it would have to be the 1st place, having achieved 2nd place before with Bournemouth & Play-Offs for Fulham in the past. Other than that, it was good seeing Burnley function as a whole unit with more to come going into this weekend v Cardiff City as it progresses.

Looking at Luton, they simply just couldn’t handle the dominant Burnley side on their first game back in the 2nd tier. They went with five defenders and a narrow front attacking three; Although they had a good moment or two after half-time, it’s been disappointing to hear that the Luton are not up to the task needed to fight off a side that already has Premier League experience. There’s still 45 odd matches left with League 1 champions Portsmouth next up, but time will tell if Luton can at least be challenging Top 6 between now and season’s end come May. A play-offs isn’t bad having been won that path before last season in the 2022/23 term but a straight promotion would mean a lot to this small team under coach Rob Edwards.

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From Saturday: Man City def. Man Utd this time via penalties for the pre-season FA Community Shield at Wembley since 2019

by Sports Benches

From yet another Manchester Derby weekend this time for the pre-season Community Sheid trophy at Wembley Stadium, this match went the other way round via penalty shootouts between two of the recent English Football champions – 23/24 Premier League winners Manchester City and 23/24 FA Cup winners Manchester United.

Man Utd as always got away with the scoresheets first that late thanks to substitute winger Alejandro Garnacho off the right flank. But then a fellow attacking sub at the opposite end of Bernardo Silva went on to quickly rebound a few mins later for Man City that held their Manchester rivals back after a long 90-100 mins of normal time followed by another half-hour’s play as the game had to be decided via penalties at 1-1 apiece. 

Man City were so close towards closing out another FA triumph when they capped off their inconsistent season with the FA Cup back in May that would mean a direct entry into the Europa League group stages, but then a series of late penalty misses unfortunately paved the way for Man City to end their years-long drought with that trophy plate since 2019 by 8-7. That was close there by Man Utd who thought the Community Shield trophy would be theirs that would mean yet another trophy for head coach Erik Ten Hag after all the stick he’s getting since he first took over back in the summer of 2022. There’s still a long way to go when it comes to winning back the Premier League title with Sir Richard Ratcliffe onboard as their minor owner and Man Utd hasn’t done that since Sir Alex Ferguson retired after he finished his long decorated career on a high back in 2013.

Meanwhile, great to see Man City lift the Community Shield plate having bounced back from behind when things were so quiet for the most part on what has been a terrific comeback to enter the new Premier League season with a trophy. Gotta say the late subs as well as their excellent penalty kicking options after holding back Man Utd worked well on their favour. 

Yes, it won’t an easy one for sure as seen over the last few Premier League seasons when you got Arsenal sniffing around top spot thanks to his student Mikel Arteta. But they’ve been there and done that by covering themselves in glory over the last decade or so and Man City will surely want to be the best by winning every completion they’ve got available across the whole of England, then Europe and also the World, especially with the proper Club World Cup happening in mid-2025.

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