Tag:

Australia

Other Sports

Tennis, Alex De Minaur def. Matteo Arnaldi in straight sets as his Italian affair continues with Fabio Cobolli for the 3rd Round

by Sports Benches

Great to see our Aussie own Alex De Minaur advance into the third round after following straight sets win (6-3, 6-0, 6-3) earlier in the afternoon v Italian Matteo Analdi. He might have been not far behind from the beginning but the Demon has worked his way up with some excellent challenged that reflected his natural game. The first set was there before he too good unchallenged in the 2nd set where De Minaur took his time well towards the end with the win after just two hours of play at Rod Laver Arena. His next opponent will be another Italian in 21-year-old Fabio Cobolli who just defeated Pavel Kotov out of a four-set contest at Court 6 (5-7, 3-6, 7-5 & 2-6). Meanwhile, Arnaldi may have put up a great fight on occasions but his time is now up after a few days at Melbourne Park with the straight sets loss. He started the opening game well before doing the best he can to stay in the fight during the 3rd set. However, he couldn’t bridge the upper half form where Arnaldi just couldn’t keep up with De Minaur that saw him being left out through every set of this match. He had a great career moment off the back end of last year such as the fourth round at the US Open as well as the Davis Cup trophy for his country, but there’s still some work to do if wants to be good as Jannik Sinner next time when it comes to the next few grand slams throughout 2024.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Matteo Arnaldi off to a great start after he defeated wildcard Adam Walton on Day 1 of the 2024 Australian Open Tennis at Kia Arena

by Sports Benches

Great start to the 2024 Australian Open campaign by Matteo Arnaldi from Italy with the straight sets win in Round 1 v Adam Walton at Kia arena. It was a tight opening stage battle for a start between the two players that went all the way through the tiebreak before one player went on to get the job done at his own pace that bundled up with the big lead for the win 7-6 (7-5 tiebreak), 6-2 & 6-4. 

Arnaldi is doing so well as he’s currently ranked just 40 in the ATP rankings at the age of 22, having reached his best finish in the 4th Round late last year where he was defeated by Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open. Keep an eye out though as his next round opponent will either be another Aussie Alex De Minaur or Canada’s Milos Raonic, which will take place 7pm tomorrow night at Rod Laver Arena.

Meanwhile, Walton’s time was short-lived at Melbourne Park today when he entered this tournament as the wildcard player. He did give the Italian a hard time at times, especially from the beginning where he tried to stop him from taking the opening set lead. But an unfortunate 2nd set saw Walton try to hang in there under pressure at 0-2 before it was too late in the end. He will keep on churning every week in the hope of getting better & better on the ATP circuit once this tournament is over.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Tennis: Australia’s 2024 United Cup campaign has come to a close as their semi opponents Germany have eventually swooped the trophy v Poland in Sydney

by Sports Benches

Oh so close but what a run though by the Aussies after they were unfortunately eliminated from the United Cup semi-finals in the early hours of Sunday morning by Germany, having lost the mixed deciding doubles match 1-2.

Ajla Tomjlanovic fired off really well in the first set, but couldn’t find a way to kick on and hold Angelique Kerber back who was amazing from the set down to bring home a two-set win at the tiebreak (6-4, 2-6 & 6-7 – 7-9 tie). Meanwhile, Alex De Minaur gave the home fans so much hope to keep that run alive. He too bounced back from that close opening set loss with the win v Alexander Zverev (5-7, 6-3, 6-4) to level the semi-final series at 1-1 for Australia where his individual brilliance on the court will see him being ranked World No.10 in the ATP ladder next week. Let’s hope he can have the best Australian Open campaign yet starting next Sunday.

The tables have then turned on Storm Hunter & Matt Ebden to bring it home against Zverev again & Laura Siegemund for a spot to face Poland in the Final who defeated France the other day in a 3-0 whitewash. Now this was such an unreal deciding mixed doubles tie to watch, even though it did go past midnight. They all won each set in the first two (Germany in Stage 1 & Australia in Stage 2) before it went all the way through the best of 10 as Zverev’s decision to stay on has paid off for Germany that broke the hearts of the Aussie team & their fans itself on home turf at Ken Rosewall Arena. The final score was 6-2 – 2-7 tie, 7-6 – 7-2 tie & 13-15.

And speaking on Team Germany, they too have went on to become this year’s United Cup Champions after USA. Yes, these series of finals ties v Poland did end up going just past midnight but gotta say that Zverev has saved the day once again. 

Now He almost lost the match and even the final at one stage by Hubert Hurkacz after Iga Swiatek was too for Kerber (6-3, 6-0) earlier in the evening before he kept his country’s hopes alive going into the championship-winning doubles decider after three hours of play (7-6 with 7-3 tie, 6-7 with 6-8 tie & 4-6). Not only he and Siegmund has played really well right through the every end v Swiatek and Hurkacz again, but they too found both the finish line & the United Cup trophy via the final set tiebreak (4-6, 7-5 & 4-10).

All that’s left to come this week is the Adelaide International, Kooyong Classic, Women’s Hobart International & Men’s Auckland ASB Classic in New Zealand before the main event arrives for the Australian Open at Melbourne Park that will take 15 days beginning on Sunday.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Tennis: 2024 Australia United Cup team performance in Perth review ahead of the 2nd semi-final this Saturday in Sydney 

by Sports Benches

Well, Australia has done extremely well so far despite the opening tie loss v Great Britain last week (29th December). But we got our strong doubles pair of Storm Hunter & Matt Ebden who continued to give us hope all along. Speaking of hope/luck, things ended up our way after USA defeated Great Britain on the 31st December before the Aussies got away on top of Group C a few days back also with the help of Hunter/Ebden thanks to a deciding doubles match win also v USA.

There’s one more match to settle though before the chance to fly into Sydney for the remaining knockout rounds (semi-final & final) this weekend when it comes to the Quarter-Final & that was a tough one to look out beforehand last night v Serbia.

Fortunately, Alex De Minaur reigned supreme in the best of challenges v Novak Djokovic in straight sets while Ajla Tomjlanovic has secured their early bird flight ticket before Hunter & Ebden secured a 3-0 whitewash that sums up a brilliant way to wrap up their performances at the heart of WA in Perth. Now the Australian United Cup team is on their way to Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney now ahead of the 2nd semi-final tomorrow v Greece or Germany. They are both strong contenders alongside Poland now that the defending champs USA have been eliminated after they were unable to finish off as the best 2nd placed teams in the Perth group. Let’s hope our strong team performances (Davis Cup & Billie Jean Cup not last year’s run) off the back of 2023 will help them go one better towards winning that United Cup trophy on home soil by the end of this weekend.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Matteo Arnaldi’s excellent 3rd set response v Alexei Popyrin & Jannik Sinner being too good for Alex De Minaur has secured Italy’s Davis Cup title since 1976

by Sports Benches

It’s not the day the Aussie Davis Cup Team wanted to bow out with another runner-up finish this time to Italy, but it was still a great run again nonetheless where they showed some fight by staying on right through the very end during Finals week in Malaga, Spain. We didn’t have a great start v Czech Republic but Alex De Minaur and the strong doubles pair of Matt Ebden & Max Purcell has turned things around from 0-1 to 2-1 that saw them live another day onto the semi-finals v Finland after they shockingly knocked last year’s champs Canada out of the tournament.

Yes, that semis performance was easily good enough without the need of a doubles match following a 2-0 whitewash win v Finland as the Aussies go through to the final for the second straight year. They needed that prestigious trophy so bad having last won it back in 2003 on home soil v Spain at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. But coming back again this time v the Italians after their big win in the other semi-final from Saturday v Serbia, we unfortunately fell short once again fair & square with a 2-0 loss where Italy set the benchmark higher ahead of everyone & they too deserve to win the Davis Cup Trophy for the second time since 1976.

Oh so close when Alexei Popyrin fought back from the opening set down but fair play to Matteo Arnaldi who responded really well to nail him down during the 3rd set drag race. And Jannik Sinner has unleashed his A-game in the 2nd singles tie after he blew Novak Djokovic away where Alex De Minaur just couldn’t grasp any of his weaknesses all along. If De Minaur or Popyrin won their own games, we could’ve seen our strong Doubles team back in the final tie decider to maybe outmuscle them towards the end there.

Italy has some excellent talent as they hope to see Sinner and/or Arnaldi go all the way in the next few grand slams starting with the annual Australian Open at Melbourne Park in January. Meanwhile, as said, Australia should keep on working that saw them work their way through to the big Davis Cup Final over the last two years. You never know as the Aussies can continue to be at their best when it comes to the World Cup of team Tennis & surely they will finally win back the Davis Cup next time around sooner rather than later.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

The Aussies were outstanding while Team India’s unbeaten run has come to an end as Travis Head’s top knock of 137 has sealed Australia a 6th Cricket World Cup trophy

by Sports Benches

So there you have it! The Aussies have lifted the Cricket World Cup trophy for the sixth time now after their six wicket win v the Hosts Team India a few hours ago at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

They won the toss with little surprise by going to bowl/field first and it actually paid off really well, having got both key men in Virat Kohli & KL Rahul not long after their respective 50s before Australia bowled India all out for 240 right at the end of the opposition’s 50-over batting shift. Then all the Aussies have to do is meet the 241 run target later on with the bat and the tournament will be theirs where they didn’t fire off well thanks to the early dismissals of Dave Warner, Mitchell Marsh & Steve Smith. But there’s one man who made Australia’s resurgent turnaround end India’s unbeaten streak is the other opener Travis Head, who scored an almighty 137, as Australia take home both the win by six wickets along with that prestigious trophy.

Commiserations to Team India who wanted to cap off their unbeaten campaign on a perfect sweep until this point, which was ruined by the Aussies on their home turf in front of a very huge crowd. India hoped they can score something big after their semi-final win v New Zealand where some good Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli & KL Rahul weren’t bad before things went downhill unexpectedly to 240 thanks to an brilliant Australian on-field display.

The same has been said later on when Mohammed Shami saw Dave Warner knock to Kohli that early while Jasprit Bumrah also quickly dismissed both M. Marsh & Steve Smith, but unfortunately couldn’t find a way to stop Head in its tracks where the fan noise volume went pretty quiet for the rest of the night due to his stunning knock off the willow. India might still be one of the top opponents to face regularly, but winning World Cups isn’t their trophy hunting ground having won twice back in 1983 & 2011.

And the now six-time World Champions Australian side showed what they can go to bounce back from 0-2 at the start to being triumphant at the final with the trophy. First of all, their fielding has been top-notch where they stopped some potential boundaries while producing stunning catches along the way that gave the bowlers some credit. Great seeing the Fast Bowling group pick up most of the wickets such as Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins & Josh Hazlewood that limited India’s ability to score big in the final.

Then with the bat, we all know Dave Warner will no longer be playing International Cricket soon while questions will be raised about Steve Smith in particular, who hasn’t been in great form lately, despite rejecting the chance to appeal his LBW dismissal which went outside the line. But as said, how good was Travis Head where he has silenced the crowd with some amazing cricket shots downtown alongside some amazing back up at the other end from Marnus Labuschagne. Now Marnus is more Test focused but he can still make a decent impact when he can possible. And although we would’ve loved to see Head finish off the winning runs when he couldn’t find the rope straight to Shubman Gill, but still it was an amazing final where Glenn Maxwell came in next up to hit two runs that steered the Aussies home first towards their record 6th world crown!!

Bring on Test Cricket now as the Home summer is coming back soon for another season sometime next month where there will be three Tests v Pakistan through Christmas/New Year + another two-match series v West Indies in January.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

The Aussies hold on tight v South Africa by three wickets thanks to Pat Cummins & Mitchell Starc as they’re in the 2023 Cricket World Cup Final against India this Sunday

by Sports Benches

It was a close one but the Aussies are through to the Cricket World Cup final now following their three wicket win last night v South Africa. They might have lost the toss where Australia were asked to bowl/field first, having fired off with four early wickets. Then the David Miller show has turned things around for South Africa off the back of his hundred before Australia bowled all out for 212, which sets up a 213 run chase to win. Now the strong starts are there as seen with Opener Travis Head’s quickfire 48 ball-62 before Australia were in real trouble by a thread as the game goes on. However, they never gave up by keeping it simple & that was enough to see them leapfrog South Africa at the finish line when Captain Pat Cummins provided them the winning runs like he did in the 1st Ashes Test v England at Edgbaston earlier in June this year. Now they will be up against the host nation Indian side at Narendra Modi Stadium this Sunday in Ahmedabad, who still has been unstoppable all along so far including their 70 run win the other day (Wednesday) during semi-final 1 v New Zealand. It’s going be one hell of a game to finish off the 2023 Cricket World Cup as it’s better for the Aussies to win the toss by batting first or they will have a hard time against the Indian batters who will score big before being able to win another World Championship on home soil since 2011 when India were the previous World Cup hosts alongside Sri Lanka & Bangladesh.

Unlucky from South Africa when their Opening and top order batting attack didn’t work well as expected with the exception both middle-order batters in Heinrich Klassen & David Miller. Yes, the bowling wasn’t bad with Gerald Coetzee & Tabraiz Shamsi on fire but then just not enough to stop the Aussies under pressure, especially when it’s a low scoring game. If their Top 4 batters did so well, then the final could’ve been easily been theirs as SA is one of the few teams who have still yet to play in a CWC final. Meanwhile, it’s the eighth time now that the Aussies are in the main event since its inception in 1979. Hats off to Captain Cummins and Mitchell Starc who can both do a bit of everything where they were not just good off their fast bowling but also with the bat as well. Plus, Travis Head has been amazing since his recent return from injury where he will try to stay there as long as he can with the hope of a big hundred looming v a top Indian team. Now it’s up to the rest of the XI to stop this unbeatable opposition at their own backyard. Let’s hope so as they’re still the most successful team in the history of the Cricket World Cup with five trophies before hoping to finish off this weekend with title No.6, having last won back in 2015. 

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Australia replied well by three wickets v Bangladesh thanks to the returning Mitch Marsh’s stunning 177* knock with the bat

by Sports Benches

Australia has wrapped up their group stage World Cup campaign on a high ahead of their next match in the semis on Thursday v South Africa, having finished 3rd on the ladder at joint 14 points with SA who had a better net rate difference in 2nd. They might have lost the toss where the Aussies had to bowl first while seeing Bangladesh bat big earlier on (306/7), but responded really well though with five overs to spare as they win by three wickets thanks to a Mitch Marsh masterclass (177* off 132 balls) as well as 50s off Dave Warner & Steve Smith. The only teams they’ve lost so far is against South Africa and India (potential Final opponent in the other semi v New Zealand on Wednesday) which was their first two games of the campaign as batting first by setting up a big score would be the key towards hopefully winning a 6th World Cup title next Sunday.

Love the fast start by the Bangladeshi batters who made the bowlers feel frustrated when piling up these runs on the board. However, the on-field and bowling performance later on unfortunately couldn’t stop the Aussies from scoring – despite another good start after getting Travis Head out early. They finished 8th of 10th just ahead of the under fire Sri Lanka side (9th) after they won two games – one was v Afghanistan and another was a big win v Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, it’s up to the seamers again to get the job done who were always underwhelmed against a free-flowing Bangladeshi batting cohort. The only positive I can say that Sean Abbott got his World Cup debut so that Mitchell Starc can rest up for the big semi on Thursday & he too got two wickets on hand which isn’t bad. Speaking of positivity, the batting was still the best though that will hopefully make other teams hard to chase – such as the always tremendous Davey Warner including two returnees at the right time in both Steve Smith (vertigo illness) & Mitchell Marsh (personal family reasons after his grandfather died last week). 

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Glenn Maxwell has rescued the Aussies into an amazing win as well as a semis berth v Proteas being confirmed that all came off his own bat v Afghanistan by three wickets

by Sports Benches

Wow!! Glenn Maxwell has saved the day for the Aussies who not only steered them home with the win but also able to avoid India when it comes to the semi-final berth, which is expected to be the No.2 Proteas (South Africa) side next Thursday.

They might have lost the toss to Afghanistan who chose to bat first where the Aussies may not have done well as they’d like with the ball while Ibrahim Zadran has punished them downdown (129 not out from 143 balls). Afghanistan wrapped up their fine batting card of 291/5 that sets up a 292 run for the Aussies to chase later on after the innings break. Now again, likewise with the bowling, the Top 5 batters also ended up with a hit and miss so early – especially when there was no Steve Smith due to an illness (vertigo). They were almost on the brink of a shock upset at 91-7 after 18 overs until Glenn Maxwell turned things around big time where he went on to score not just the double hundred but also the win the Aussies deserve by three wickets. Now they’re still in 3rd on the ladder which confirms their semi-final spot and not having to face Team India mid-next week with one group-stage game left v Bangladesh this Saturday whereas the fourth & final spot on the table will be a two-horse race between the Blackcaps (New Zealand) & Pakistan.

Oh so close from Afghanistan who did so well both bat and ball. Hats off to Ibrahim Zadran who batted beautifully without having to get out from start to finish. Plus, we also seen a few bowlers sharing the wickets on hand as well where they almost saw light at the end of the tunnel but only for Maxwell to ruin it towards the end there. It’s been a great campaign so far with one more game to go v Proteas this Friday as they might still have an outside shot of ousting Blackcaps & Pakistan for the 4th and final semi spot but it’s unlikely. Meanwhile, the man of the hour belongs to Glenn Maxwell, who is very established in the white ball game off the willow, alongside team-mate Adam Zampa with spin. Glad he recovered well from that golf cart accident where Maxwell had to sit out the last game v England where he loves & keeps on hitting big all over the place & the Aussies need him the most between now and next week. We hope it’s up to the rest including the seamers & the Opening/Top-order batters to help them out if they bring home the Cricket World Cup trophy real bad if they can prove India wrong in the final at their home turf next Sunday in Ahmedabad.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Australia confirms England’s early exit from the 2023 Cricket World Cup with two games left, having closed them out with a 33 run win

by Sports Benches

The old enemy arch-rivals Australia & England are back on the field together in a while last night at the huge Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad following the recent Ashes Test series in English soil during the middle of this year (June-July).

England have asked the Aussies to bat first after the winning toss where they might have early wickets on hand, but Australia have turned themselves around though to 286 thanks to a Marnus Labuschagne 50 as well as brilliant all-round knocks from Cam Green & Marcus Stoinis. Later on, England too scored not bad this time following Jonny Bairstow’s first ball duck of their batting spell, with 50s coming from Dawid Malan & Ben Stokes including some good runs down the order by Moeen Ali. But out of the best of the all-round displays between England’s Chris Woakes & Australia’s Adam Zampa in this game, it’s Zampa who never looked out of place as the frontline spinner (3 wickets) along with his excellent 19-ball 29 cameo off the willow. 

Australia went on to not just bowl England all out for 253 thanks to a 33 run victory, but they also confirmed their elimination from the CWC with two games left where England will not defend their 2019 crown come semi-finals time after next weekend.

It’s not been the tournament England was hoping for, especially when they came in as the defending champs who play an attacking, positive style of cricket under Bazball – even though Brendon McCullum doesn’t coach their white-ball team in One Day & T20s. The bowling/on-field performance wasn’t bad to begin with where they were good at limiting to such low scores thanks to the winning toss advantage. Now their batting has improved in some way but still just couldn’t quite hold it off there when it comes to the winning runs, as no hundred being scored against at least the top teams is the one big weakness that let’s them down big time. They still got the Netherlands (Wednesday) and Pakistan (next Saturday) left to play over the next seven days before England will fly back home empty handed, but sadly it’s been largely disappointing for the majority.

Meanwhile, it’s great to see another win for the Aussies which is five games in a row now. While the first 3 batters didn’t work out where they kept on trying to hit over the ground before being caught, but great seeing Marnus pile up the runs along with both fast bowling all-rounders in Green & Stoinis. Then with the ball, It’s always the Adam Zampa show when it comes to spin who not only got away with three wickets but he also batted well a bit down the tail end at 10. He might not be the biggest hitter but at least Zampa has found the gaps really well with some simple stuff to execute through these ropes for four. Let’s hope the fast bowlers step up to support Zampa in the hope of finishing 2nd or 3rd in the ladder so they can avoid Team India with Afghanistan next on Tuesday before before finishing off the group stages v Bangladesh next Saturday.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail