Sabalenka, Gauff avoid early upsets at Australian Open
From staff and wire reports
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka and U.S. Open winner Coco Gauff avoided the early Day 4 upsets at the Australian Open to advance to the third round along with 16-yearold Mirra Andreeva.
Three-time major finalist Ons Jabeur lost 6-0, 6-2 in 54 minutes to Andreeva in Wednesday’s opening match on Rod Laver Arena and then 2018 champion Caroline Wozniacki also lost to a young Russian on the No. 3 show court.
Two other 16-year-old players lost their center court matches to highlyranked players: No. 10 Beatriz Haddad Maia accounted for Alina Korneeva 6-1, 6-2 and Sabalenka overpowered Brenda Fruhvirtova 6-3, 6-2 to open the night session.
Gauff extended her winning streak to nine matches at Grand Slams with a 7-6 (6), 6-2 win over fellow American Caroline Dolehide.
Dolehide served for the opening set at 6-5 before U.S. Open champion Gauff took control in the tiebreaker.
“It was really hard,” Gauff said. “If you give her something short, she’s going to punish you for it, so if I could go back and do something I’d change that.”
Gauff will next play another American, Alycia Parks, who reached the third round of a Grans Slam singles tournament for the first time with a 7-5, 6-4 win over 32nd-ranked Leylah Fernandez.
Jabeur, the runner-up at Wimbledon in each of the past two years, made 24 unforced errors against Andreeva.
■ Defending champion Novak Djokovic challenged a heckler to “say that to my face” during a testy second-round win over Alexei Popyrin at the Australian Open on Wednesday night.
At 2-2 in the fourth set, the 10-time Australian Open champion paused, walked to the back of the court and yelled at the spectator.
Then he won three straight games to take the match away from the Aussie player en route to a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4) 6-3 victory.
After clinching the match on a Popyrin error, he turned around to the crowd again and yelled, pumping his fist to celebrate.
Warriors assistant dies, game postponed
Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic, a mentor to two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and a former star player in his native Serbia, died Wednesday in Utah after suffering a heart attack, the team announced. Milojevic, part of the staff that helped the Warriors win the 2022 NBA championship, was 46.
Milojevic died in Salt Lake City, where he was hospitalized Tuesday night after the medical emergency happened during a private team dinner. The Warriors had been scheduled to play the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night, a game the NBA postponed.
“We are absolutely devastated by Dejan’s sudden passing,” coach Steve Kerr said in a statement released by the team. “This is a shocking and tragic blow for everyone associated with the Warriors and an incredibly difficult time for his family, friends, and all of us who had the incredible pleasure to work with him.”
Milojevic was in his third season with the Warriors. He previously coached in Serbia — where he once worked with a young Jokic before the now-denver Nuggets star came to the United States — along with Montenegro. He had been a head coach for eight years in Europe and previously was an assistant coach for the Serbian national team alongside current Atlanta assistant Igor Koskoskov.
Milojevic worked closely with Jokic, Clippers center Ivica Zubac, Orlando center Goga Bitadze and Houston center Boban Marjanovic, among others, during his time as a coach in Europe.
■ Pascal Siakam is being traded to the Indiana Pacers, a person with knowledge of the agreement said Wednesday, ending a run of nearly eight years with the Toronto Raptors during which he was a twotime ALL-NBA selection, two-time All-star and part of the team that won the 2019 NBA title.
Siakam is going to Indiana in exchange for three first-round draft picks and a pair of players with NBA championship rings — guard Bruce Brown and forward Jordan Nwora — said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade was still pending league approval.
Retired Italian star joins LAFC staff
Former Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini was hired as a player development coach by Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles FC on Tuesday, one month after his retirement as a player.
The 39-year-old spent the previous 1 1/2 seasons with LA. He will work with coach Steve Cherundolo and his assistants.
Chiellini made 117 appearances for Italy, playing in the 2010 and ‘14 World Cups and winning the 2021 European Championship. He played for Juventus from 2004-22 during a 22-year career, winning nine straight Serie A titles from 2012-20.
Injury forces change for Feb. 17 event
UFC 298 has lost some of its local luster but will still have a key Southern California connection.
Due to an unspecified injury, undefeated strawweight Tatiana Suarez will not be fighting Feb. 17 at Honda Center against Amanda Lemos, with Huntington Beach’s Mackenzie Dern filling in on a month’s notice.
The news of the replacement was confirmed by a UFC source.
Suarez, a Covina native and former Northview High wrestling star, is 11-0 and has dealt with several injuries throughout her career. The 32-year-old endured a nearly four-year layoff before earning submission victories last year over Montana De La Rosa in February and former champion Jessica Andrade in August.
Dern, 30, is coming off a second-round TKO loss to Andrade at UFC 295 on Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist is 13-4 in her career and has gone 8-4 in the UFC with four submission wins.
Lemos (13-3-1) is looking to return to title contention. The 36-year-old Brazilian is coming off a lopsided unanimous-decision loss to 115-pound champion Weili Zhang at UFC 292 in August.
UFC 298 will be headlined by featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski facing surging challenger Ilia Topuria, with Merab Dvalishvili taking on former two-division champion Henry Cejudo in a potential bantamweight title contender bout.
— Brian Martin