Swiatek beats Paolini to win Cincinnati title
In a repeat of last year's French Open final, which Swiatek won, Paolini surged to a 3-0 lead on Monday before Swiatek rattled off five games in a row on her way to taking the first set.The pair twice traded breaks in the second set but 2022 US Open winner Swiatek took the decisive break in the seventh game before serving out victory two games later.Third seed Swiatek hit nine aces to Paolini's none and she converted all six of her break point opportunities.Swiatek has now won 11 titles at the WTA 1000 level and is two away from equalling the record held by Serena Williams.She is due to compete alongside Norway's Casper Ruud in the US Open's revamped mixed doubles event which begins on Tuesday.
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Daily Mirror
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
World's richest tennis star made Emma Raducanu feelings clear as US Open clash awaits
Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz will face Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper at the US Open in New York after the mixed doubles event was completely revamped for 2025 Jessica Pegula has made her thoughts on Emma Raducanu clear as the tennis stars gear up for a mixed doubles showdown at the US Open. Raducanu is set to partner with close friend Carlos Alcaraz, while Pegula will team up with another British ace, Jack Draper, following the withdrawal of their original partners, Paula Badosa and Tommy Paul. Both Pegula and Draper, who are among the top five in the singles rankings, have been given the top seeding. They will commence their campaign against wildcard pair Raducanu and Alcaraz. The mixed doubles event has been rescheduled to precede the main tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a whopping £750,000 prize money up for grabs for the victors of the 16-pair competition. Flushing Meadows in New York was the backdrop of Raducanu's historic US Open victory in 2021, when she stunned the globe by clinching the tournament as an unseeded 18-year-old. However, it hasn't been smooth sailing for the now 22-year-old, who has grappled with form, injuries and high expectations over the past four years and has worked with a host of coaches. Therefore, her win over top-10 player Emma Navarro at the Miami Open earlier this year was seen as a big moment in her career. Raducanu's emotional response after defeating Navarro 7-6(8), 2-6, 7-6(3) underscored the significance of the victory to her. Pegula, who was due on court next, caught glimpses of that match and fully grasped why the win meant so much to Raducanu given her previous struggles. "When she's playing at a top level, she belongs with the top players," said Pegula, widely regarded as the world's richest tennis player, thanks to father Terry's net worth of more than £5billion. "I just think she struggled a little bit with injuries. It's tough nowadays; the depth is so good. If you can't really rack in those matches and play a lot and get those wins under your belt, it can be really difficult to keep that confidence. "I can understand why she was probably a little emotional. Winning two matches at a WTA 1000, beating a top 10 player - that's massive. Sometimes it takes a physical and mental battle to get through that. "And in that moment, you're thinking, 'My gosh, how am I going to do this? Not again?' For her to come back in the third and win the tiebreaker. I'm sure she feels like there's a monkey off her back." Since then, Raducanu has shown her class at Wimbledon, giving world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka a run for her money in a third-round defeat. Earlier this month, she managed to take a set off Sabalenka in a hard-fought loss at the Cincinnati Open. She also switched coaches again, bringing on board Francis Roig, a key figure in Rafael Nadal's coaching team prior to the Spanish great's retirement.
Reuters
29 minutes ago
- Reuters
Royals' Seth Lugo aims to get back on track vs. Rangers
August 19 - While Seth Lugo looks to turn around his recent fortunes on the mound for the Kansas City Royals, fellow right-hander Merrill Kelly still is searching for his first win as a member of the Texas Rangers. Lugo aims to right himself and help the host Royals to a fifth straight win on Tuesday night when they meet the Rangers, who have lost nine of their past 11 games. When Lugo (8-6, 3.77 ERA) signed a two-year contract extension worth approximately $46 million in late July, he owned a 2.95 ERA. In four starts since then, the 35-year-old is 1-1 with an 8.84 ERA. Lugo has allowed 13 earned runs, 26 hits -- including six homers -- and 14 walks while lasting just eight innings in his last two outings. He gave up seven runs (six earned), including a grand slam, during Wednesday's 8-7 home loss to Washington. "Pretty bad," Lugo said. "Just need to execute better." Lugo likely couldn't have been much better than he was on June 17, when he allowed a run, three hits and struck out nine in six innings of Kansas City's 6-1 victory over Texas. He is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in two career appearances (one start) against the Rangers. The Royals improved to 4-0 vs. Texas this season with Monday's 4-3 win in the opener of a four-game set between teams trying to reach a wild-card position in the American League. Mike Yastrzemski, Vinnie Pasquantino and Maikel Garcia each went deep for Kansas City, which is 6-1 on a 10-game homestand. The Royals have hit 40 home runs while winning 17 of their last 26 games overall. "When you're playing against those teams that are fighting for a spot in the playoffs, it doesn't matter, because you want to go out and beat them," Garcia told FanDuel Sports Network. Yastrzemski, acquired from San Francisco before the trade deadline last month, is 4-for-9 with two homers in the last three games. He's 10-of-46 against Kelly (9-7, 3.36 ERA), however, and four of those hits left the park. Kelly is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in three starts since Texas acquired him from Arizona, but he can build on the first quality start with his new club. That happened to come against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, when he yielded two runs on seven hits over six innings and was in line for the win before his former team scored four times in the ninth for a 6-4 victory. Kelly has allowed three home runs his last two starts. Rangers pitching, meanwhile, has been taken deep 21 times while permitting at least one homer in eight consecutive contests. In his first appearance against the Royals, Kelly will try to help Texas turn things around after losing for the ninth time in 11 games Monday. "We're in a rut," Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. "We'll come out (Tuesday) and keep grinding. We know how important these games are." The Rangers' Corey Seager had three hits Monday and totaled five in the last two after going hitless in the four straight contests. However, he is 1-for-6 against Lugo. Kansas City star Salvador Perez could be back in the lineup after he was scratched Monday due to an illness. --Field Level Media
The Guardian
31 minutes ago
- The Guardian
I played in the NFL. Outrage over male cheerleaders is really about attempts to control masculinity
Of all the existential threats facing professional football – concussions that erode the minds of players, scandals that rot institutions from within, dwindling youth interest in a sport built on collision and control – who could've predicted that what would truly rattle some fans was the sight of two men dancing on the sideline? Earlier this month, the Minnesota Vikings unveiled their newly minted 35-member cheerleading squad with a bold promotional video captioned, 'The next generation of cheer has arrived!' It wasn't just the choreography that caught attention, but the fact that two male performers, Blaize Shiek and Louie Conn, were part of the group. Almost immediately, reactions erupted online, from heartfelt support to calls for a boycott, and even a homophobic slur wielded by a former NFL player whose name deserves no mention in this or any other reputable publication. Amid the storm, the Vikings stood firm. And rightly so. After all, Minnesota is no stranger to innovators who challenge convention. This is the home of Prince, a man who wore high heels, embraced gender ambiguity, and redefined masculinity. In an official statement, the Vikings reminded everyone that male cheerleaders – whose number include former US presidents – are nothing new, not only at the amateur and collegiate levels but also in the NFL itself. As of the 2025 season, at least 11 NFL teams include male cheerleaders on their official squads, the first being the Los Angeles Rams back in 2018, when Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies made history on the sidelines and later performed at the Super Bowl in 2019. The Minnesota Vikings also reminded people that Shiek and Conn earned their spots through the same competitive process as their peers, much like we football players compete and earn our spots on the roster. I was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in 2015, and I've been in those locker rooms where the pressure to perform as an athlete, teammate and man can feel overwhelming. The one thing that wasn't on my mind or any other player's mind was the cheerleaders. Not because they weren't talented. Not because they didn't belong. But because during the game, while they performed on the sidelines or at half-time, we were in huddles, making adjustments on the sidelines, giving our all on the field, or processing and schemes in the locker rooms for the next half. Everyone out there has a job to do, and the cheerleaders are no exception. They're not there for the players. They're there for the fans. Which means they should reflect all the fans. The people expressing outrage over male cheerleaders on the Vikings aren't talking about work ethic, talent or dedication. Their complaints are even more baseless than the Monday Morning Quarterbacks – a term created to address those who criticize players with the benefit of hindsight. This isn't about performance at all. It's about presence. It's about the mere existence and visibility of men on NFL cheer squads who don't conform to the rigid, outdated ideas of masculinity that so many use sport, and football in particular, to defend. What this backlash really reveals is not fear of change, but fear of visibility. The outrage over male cheerleaders isn't about sports. It's about control: over masculinity, over image, and over who gets to be seen and celebrated in public spaces or on the global stage of the NFL. It's the same impulse that drives anti-LBGTQ+ legislation, the same fear that fuels book bans, bathroom bills, and attacks on drag performers. This moment isn't isolated; it's part of a broader cultural backlash to liberation. And just as Christian nationalism has long been weaponized to marginalize queer people, so too has sport. Sport is used to draw lines around what's 'American' and 'man enough'. But those lines were never drawn for protection; they were drawn for power. The truth is, football isn't as rugged as society would like us to believe. The power of sport is in its intimacy; its emotional extremity. In the way players and fans alike grieve, cry, pray, dance, and embrace under the lights and flags, and banners. The locker room is one of the few places in American culture where men are allowed to be vulnerable, broken, weep, and to hug in celebration, speak with peers across all cultures and generations, and build themselves up again. When you peel back the helmets and hits, you'll see what's always been there: joy, vulnerability, brotherhood, and the undeniable truth that masculinity isn't fixed, it's fluid. And that's not changing. Shiek, Conn, and every male cheerleader across the league aren't just cheering for a team. They're cheering for possibility, for the next generation of boys who want to move their bodies with pride, for the kids who don't see themselves in shoulder pads but still belong in the stadium. Sport isn't sacred because it resists change. It's sacred because it brings people together, and the more inclusive that togetherness becomes, the more powerful the game will be.
