Inter surges 12 points clear beating Atalanta
Hattrick hero Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia help Napoli hit a happless Sassuolo for a six and keep alive its push for European places Yuki & Haase in semifinals
Inter Milan continued its march towards the Serie A title with Wednesday’s 40 thumping of Atalanta which extended its league lead to 12 points, while Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia netted five of Napoli’s six at Sassuolo.
Convincing victory in its game in hand at the San Siro took Inter’s allcompetitions winning streak to 11 matches and left closest rival Juventus trailing in the distance.
Simone Inzaghi’s side was missing key players Francesco Acerbi, Hakan Calhanoglu and Marcus Thuram but it made little difference against one of the division’s form teams.
Matteo Darmian got the ball rolling in the 26th minute with his first club goal of the season before Lautaro Martinez scored his 26th on the stroke of halftime with a sensational spin and leftfooted hit.
Martinez was denied a brace when Marco Carnesecchi saved his penalty nine minutes after the break, but Federico Dimarco was on hand to ram home the rebound.
However things might not have gone all their way had Charles De Ketelaere’s early opener for Atalanta not been chalked off for a Aleksei Miranchuk handball following a long VAR check.
Clinical Osimhen scored a hattrick before Kvaratskhelia bagged a brace of his own as Napoli come from behind to win its game in hand hopes ball. 61 and reignite of European foot
After Amir Rrahmani levelled just before the halfhour mark, Osimhen rattled in his treble across 16 minutes either side of halftime to take his goal tally since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations to five in three matches in all competitions.
The results: Inter Milan 4 (Darmian 26, Martinez 45+1, Dimarco 54, Frattesi 71) bt Atalanta 0.
Sassuolo 1 (Racic 17) lost to Napoli 6 (Rrahmani 29, Osimhen 31, 41, 47, Kvaratskhelia 51, 75).
Yuki Bhambri and Robin Haase defeated third seeds Jamie Murray and Michael Venus 64, 76(1) in the doubles quarterfinals of the $3,113,270 ATP tennis tournament in Dubai on Thursday.
The results:
$3,113,270 ATP, Dubai: Doubles, quarterfinals: Ariel Behar (Uru) & Adam Pavlasek (Cze) bt Rohan Bopanna & Matthew Ebden (Aus) 36, 63, [108]; Yuki Bhambri & Robin Haase (Ned) bt Jamie Murray (GBR) & Michael Venus (Nzl) 64, 76(1).
$15,000 ITF men, Kish Island, Iran: First round: Savely Ivanov bt Ishaque Eqbal 64, 60; Samuil Konov (Bul) bt Adil Kalyanpur 64, 26, 75.
Doubles, quarterfinals:
Ishaque Eqbal & Adil Kalyanpur bt Amir Badi & Sina Moghimi (Iri) 61, 62; Rishi Reddy & Gheorghe Schinteie (Rou) bt Ivan Kazakov & Maxim Zhukov 67(2), 64, [107].
$15,000 ITF, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand: Men, first round: Credit Chaiyanin (Tha) bt Yuvan Nandal 64, 61.
Women, pre-quarterfinals: Watsachol Sawatdee (Tha) bt Jennifer Luikham 62, 16, 76(4).
First round: Kim Yujin (Kor) bt Bela Tamhankar 63, 61; Jennifer bt Zhu Chenting (Chn) 62, 26, 62; Carolann Delaunay (Ncl) bt Pooja Ingale 26, 63, 64;
Doubles, pre-quarterfinals: Liu Yanni & Zhang JIale (Chn) bt Jennifer Luikham & Zheng Yizhen (Chn) 75, 61.