East Lyme boys beat Montville in season opener
East Lyme — East Lyme rode a dominating second half to a 73-40 Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I boys' basketball victory over Montville on Saturday in the season opener for both schools.
The Vikings held a slim 32-26 halftime lead before outscoring the Indians 41-14 in the second half, including 21-5 in the third quarter when they took charge.
Marshall Gada led East Lyme with 27 points, six rebounds, five blocked shots and four assists while Will Anglim finished with 16 points, Riley Walsh 15 — including three 3-pointers — and Matt Valakos seven points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Freshman Armani Davis scored 13 points to Lead Montville and Bernard Hawkins added 10.
Men's hockey
• Saturday's Hockey East game between No. 20 UConn and No. 16 Providence in Storrs was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols, Hockey East officials announced. PC had beaten the Huskies 4-0 in the first game of the two-game scheduled weekend series on Friday night in Providence.
H.S. fencing
• Waterford opened its season by winning three of four events against Ledyard in the ECC. The Lancers defeated the Colonels 8-1 in girls' foil and 5-4 in girls' epee, then split the boys' competition, defeating Ledyard 8-1 in foil while losing 5-4 in epee. Waterford senior Liu Yang and sophomore Charlotte Morin went undefeated in girls' foil while juniors Ahsan Arshad and Derek Valencia went undefeated for the Lancers in boys' foil.
Men's indoor track
• John Buchert and Tanner Johannsen won two events apiece as Coast Guard Academy defeated Eastern Connecticut 69-49 on Friday night in its season opener. Buchert won the weight throw (49 feet, 0.25 inches) and shot put (40-1.5) while Johannsen captured the triple jump (42-1.25) and high jump (6-6).
Also for the Bears, Josiah Davis won the 800-meter race (1 minute, 56.67 seconds), Michael Samson won the mile (4:33.56), Daniel Taglianetti won the 400 (53.93), Matt Kerst won 600 (1:23.50) and Matt Doyle won the 3,000 (9:06.69).
Seniors Logan Bonner, Davis, Doyle, Ethan Geurtsen, Kerst, Dominic Roberts, Joseph Roth, Taglianetti and Adam VanDeren were honored in a pre-meet ceremony to mark the final indoor home meet of their careers.
Women's indoor track
• Senior Maeve Roach set the facility record in the 800 meters with a time of 2:16.63, the fourth fastest time in Division III this season, leading Coast Guard to a 62-49 win over Eastern Connecticut on Friday night in New London.
In addition, Megan O'Brien won the mile (5:52.95), Michelle Kwafo the 55 hurdles (8.85), Kevilyn Frazier the 400 (1:04.555) in a photo finish over teammate Rachel Bubeck (1:04.558), Mia Huncharek the 3,000 (10:41.59), Leilani Salang the weight throw (5111.75), Kalea Salan the shot put (383.25), Allie Osborn the high jump (50.25), and the Bears' 4x400 relay of Frazier, Hannah Jamison, Roach and Alexandra Murphy won in 4:29.39.
Seniors Noelle Greenwood, Malia Haskovec, Huncharek, Maddie Keller, Kaitlyn Mooney, Megan O'Brien, Roach, Leilani Salang and Emma Sims were honored in a pre-meet ceremony to mark the final indoor home meet of their careers.
— Daniil Medvedev finally worked out how to a win a five-setter. All by himself.
The fourth-seeded Medvedev was 0-6 in Grand Slam matches that went to five sets, and his Australian Open third-round match against No. 28-seeded Filip Krajinovic looked like it was going all the way.
After some angry outbursts from an increasingly animated and chatty Medvedev directed at his box in an otherwise empty Rod Laver Arena — fans have been banned as a COVID-19 precaution — his coach, Gilles Cervara, got up and left.
“He said just before leaving that he's sure I'm going to win the match. He's going to leave me alone to be more calm," Medvedev explained in his on-court TV interview after Saturday's 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-0 win. “It was a good thing to do. Luckily I won."
Some pundits, including John McEnroe, are tipping the 25-yearold Russian to make his major breakthrough in Australia.
Medvedev, on a 17-match winning streak that includes titles at the 2020 season-ending ATP Finals, said while that's nice to hear, he's got a long way to go.
He'll have to face unseeded American Mackenzie McDonald in the next round. After that could be a quarterfinal against No. 7 Andrey Rublev, who helped him win the ATP Cup title for Russia last week. No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal, a 20-time major winner, is also in his half of the draw.
Nadal extended his winning streak against fellow left-handers to 16 with a 7-5, 6-2, 7-5 victory over No. 69-ranked Cameron Norrie, reaching the fourth round at Melbourne Park for the 14th time in 16 trips.
He is chasing a men's record 21st major title but entered the tournament with back stiffness and without any competitive matches in 2021.
“Today is better, yeah,” Nadal said of his back soreness. “First day I feel an improvement, and that's the most important thing for me today.”
He hasn't dropped a set in three matches that, he said, "I hope will help me for what's coming.”
In his immediate future is No. 16 Fabio Fognini, who had a straight-set win over Australia's last hope in the men's draw, 21st-seeded Alex de Minaur.
Medvedev had been bothered by a problem with his upper left leg and had a medical timeout for treatment late in the fourth set.
When he fell behind 5-2 in the fourth, Medvedev shouted, “I never saw something like this!”
He returned to better much play in the deciding set, smacking an inside-out forehand winner to a corner to close an 18-stroke exchange and break to go up 2-0.
He didn't drop another game as he seized the momentum back from Krajinovic, who was previously 4-1 in matches that went the full five sets.
“In contrary with previous matches where I could get tight . . . here I was really calm to finish the match," Medvedev said. “Really happy I got the five-set win."
Medvedev, the U.S. Open finalist last year, will next play McDonald, a player he compared with Roger Federer in style. McDonald beat Lloyd Harris in straight sets to equal his best Grand Slam result by reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open.
Seventh-seeded Rublev had a 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 win over Feliciano Lopez, ending the 39-year-old Spaniard's 75th consecutive major tournament.
The Russian men had one loss on Day 6, with No. 19 Karen Khachanov beaten by No. 9 Matteo Berrettini 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). Berrettini will next play fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 winner over Mikael Ymer of Sweden.
Two women with titles already this year are through to the Round of 16.
Top-ranked Ash Barty, who won the Yarra Valley Classic last week for a title in her first tournament back from almost 12 months on the sidelines, beat Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 6-2, 6-4.
Barty said while it felt strange not having fans in the stadium for the first time in her career at the highest level, there were some things she didn't mind.
Barty next faces American Shelby Rogers, who beat No. 21 Anett Kontaveit 6-4, 6-3.
Elise Mertens, a 2018 Australian Open semifinalist who won the Gippsland Trophy tuneup tournament last week, had a 6-2, 6-1 victory over 11th-seeded Belinda Bencic.