Halep eyes first Grand Slam after rise to No. 1
Schaub’s winner, but Serbia can still advance by defeating Georgia in their final qualifier in Belgrade on Monday.
Tom Lawrence scored his first international goal to earn Wales a vital 1-0 victory in Georgia and keep them firmly in the hunt for a finals berth.
The Derby County forward rifled in the winner four minutes after halftime in Tbilisi as Chris Coleman’s team stayed a point clear of third-placed Republic of Ireland.
The Irish brushed Moldova aside 2-0 in Dublin through a first half brace from Daryl Murphy and now face Wales at home in a final-round showdown with first place in the group still in play.
“All we can do is work hard and take care of our business. We have a huge test on Monday night against the Republic of Ireland. We have a game plan and we will see where it takes us,” BEIJING: Emotional Simona Halep called it the best day of her life and targeted a maiden Grand Slam as she surged to No. 1 in the world for the first time on Saturday.
The tearful Romanian said she had fulfilled a dream courtesy of her defeat of Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-4 and will play France’s on-form Caroline Garcia in Sunday’s China Open final.
In the men’s draw, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal beat Grigor Dimitrov to set up a tasty final showdown with temperamental Australian Nick Kyrgios, who pulled off a stunning 6-3, 7-5 win over starlet Alexander Zverev.
Halep’s ousting of Spaniard Garbine Muguruza at the top of the women’s game will be officially confirmed on Monday when the latest rankings are released. Coleman told Sky Sports.
Serbia head the section on 18 points with Wales, aiming to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1958, second on 17 and Ireland another point further back.
Iceland took a huge step toward a maiden World Cup appearance with an impressive 3-0 win over Turkey in Eskisehir that leaves the hosts all but out of the running.
The 26-year-old will be the fifth woman to hold the top spot this year, but the first Romanian in the history of the WTA.
She smiled broadly, then cried and was presented with a flower arrangement in the figure “1” — which she hugged tightly — to celebrate the landmark moment.
“My dream is true now, in that moment you cannot believe 100 percent that it’s happening, so I was in tears a little bit,” she said.
“Maybe first time on court (to cry) nice tears... It’s the best moment in my life and I want just to keep it.
“Now tomorrow already I have just to restart everything, to start again to play the same and to work harder.
“And I have a few more dreams in my career.”
Asked by AFP what those were, she smiled: “I tell you one, only one: to win a Grand Slam, which you know.”
Halep saw off former No. 1 Maria Sharapova earlier this week on Beijing’s outside hard courts and her defeat of Ostapenko had a whiff of revenge — the 20-year-old won their duel in the French Open final earlier this year, depriving Halep of a first Grand Slam.
Halep will though face a tough test in the final against Garcia, who is chasing successive titles after winning the Wuhan Open last weekend.
The unseeded Garcia defeated Czech 12th seed Petra Kvitova, the two-time Wimbledon champion, 6-3, 7-5.
Halep’s ascension to the top brings Muguruza’s four-week reign as number one to an end, while the others who held the honor in 2017 are Angelique Kerber, Serena Williams and Karolina Pliskova.
The outstanding Williams is temporarily
Johann Gudmundsson, Birkir Bjarnason and Kari Arnason scored as Iceland pulled two points clear of Croatia at the top of Group I after the latter were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to eliminated Finland.
Ukraine are level on 17 points with Croatia following a 2-0 win away to Kosovo and host the Croats in Kiev on Monday. out of tennis after having her first child.
The Spaniard Nadal, 31, was taken to three sets by third seed Dimitrov before running away with the decider, winning their last-four clash 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
Nadal is chasing a sixth title this season but to do so he must beat the enigmatic Kyrgios, who is becoming a crowd favorite in Beijing.
A year ago the 22-year-old was suspended by tennis authorities for his behavior in a defeat in Shanghai during which he appeared to give up and argued with the crowd.
Kyrgios says he wants to show how far he has come and the 19th-ranked Australian did just that as he bustled past Zverev, the world No. 4 from Germany, in an entertaining and high-quality semifinal.