Injury hands Sam Wimbledon worry
THE Golden State Warriors are on the verge of an American major sports league record after handing the Cleveland Cavaliers another heavy defeat to go 2- 0 up in the NBA Finals.
The Warriors again showed they had the greater firepower, thanks largely to the addition of Kevin Durant since they lost last season’s finals series to the Cavaliers.
They overcame 20 turnovers and a triple- double by four- time NBA MVP LeBron James to win 132- 113 in game two at home yesterday.
The win extended their unbeaten streak in the season’s playoffs to 14 games. That matched the post- season winning streak of ice hockey’s 1992- 93 Pittsburgh Penguins – the best in the four biggest US pro sport leagues, the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA, according to EliasSports.
Durant was once again the best player on the court as he electrified the gold- clad soldout crowd at Oracle Arena with 33 points and 13 rebounds to go with five blocks and three steals. INDIA thrashed Pakistan by 124 runs under the Duckworth- Lewis method yesterday to go top of Group B in the Champions Trophy.
India let rip to reach 319- 3 from 48 overs after being put in to bat at a rain- hit Edgbaston. In reply, Pakistan finished on 164 all out in 33.4 overs.
Pakistan’s target at the start of their innings was 324 runs in 48 overs, but this became 289 in 41 after play was again interrupted by rain.
Yesterday’s UBET dividends
SAMANTHA Stosur is in a Wimbledon fitness battle after having her French Open sabotaged by a devastating injury that also ended one of the longest reigns in Australian tennis history.
Stosur’s painful 2- 6, 6- 2, 6- 4 fourth- round loss to Latvia’s rising former Wimbledon junior champion Jelena Ostapenko robbed the 33year- old perennial Paris threat of possibly one last crack at an elusive title at Roland Garros.
The 2010 runner- up also relinquished the Australian No. 1 ranking she’d held since October 2008 to Daria Gavrilova after failing to defend the feast of rankings points accrued from last year’s run to the final four.
But it’s a baffling careerfirst hand complaint that now threatens to also cruel Stosur’s grasscourt season and the chance to add credibility to an otherwise lamentable Wimbledon legacy that is worrying Stosur most.
“I’m still hopeful,” the former US Open champion said of her race with the clock to be ready for the grasscourt grand slam starting on July 3. “I’m hopeful that it’s nothing too serious, obviously.
“I’m still planning on sticking to my schedule. But until I know what it is, I can’t really say anything.”
Stosur seemed destined for a fifth quarter- final appearance in Paris in eight years after charging to a 4- 0 lead inside 13 minutes yesterday.
But after collapsing following a mid- match medical time- out – and dropping serve an uncustomary six times – the veteran revealed she’d required an ultrasound before taking the court for her third and fourth round encounters.
“My hand’s been sore for RAFAEL Nadal returned to Roland Garros after his birthday celebrations and showed no signs of slowing up, hammering compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut 6- 1, 6- 2, 6- 2 in a fourth- round performance that was also an emphatic statement.
Nadal destroyed his opponent on Court Suzanne Lenglen to move into the quarter- finals and one step closer to a 10th French Open crown.
Nadal, who turned 31 on Saturday and celebrated with two cakes, will next face another Spaniard, Pablo Carreno Busta, for a place in the semi- finals.
“He’s a friend whom I appreciate very much,” Nadal said of Carreno Busta. “I hope things are going well for him, and he’s someone I really like. He’s a good person. I think he deserves it.” Whether Nadal will be so generous in the quarter- finals is extremely unlikely as he continues to obliterate his opposition. about three or four days, since the day I played doubles here,” Stosur said.
“Don’t know what’s wrong with it. But from 5- 1 in that first set, it was just really, really painful and just wasn’t going away – every forehand and then it started to hurt my serve.”