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Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Zverev rallies in Toronto to claim milestone 500th ATP match win
Top seed Alexander Zverev switched into survival mode to claim a milestone 500th ATP match win on Thursday, fighting back to beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-2 at the Toronto Masters. Germany's Zverev broke twice in the deciding third set to reach the fourth round of the US Open tuneup, converting his second match point to back up his defeat of the Italian ealier this year in Acapulco. "It's a great achievement," Zverev, winner of 24 ATP titles, said of reaching 500 career match wins. "Not a lot of player reach this milestone. "But I still want 500 more -- maybe even more," he joked. "You always want to win as many matches as possible. I'm all about this." Unable to gain the upper hand in an 82-minute first set, Zverev said his game improved as the minutes dragged on against 2024 Canadian semi-finalist Arnaldi. "I started playing better from the baseline and found my rhythm a bit. My backhand felt off but I was comfortable and happy with my level," added Zverev who next faces Francisco Cerundolo -- a 6-3, 6-4 winner over fellow Argentine Tomas Echeverry. Alex Michelsen reached a Masters 1000 fourth round for the first time with a 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 upset victory over third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti. The 20-year-old American survived nearly 50 unforced errors and converted just two of nine break chances, but it was enough to vanquish Italy's Musetti, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist ranked 10th in the world. "It feels really good," the 26th-ranked Michelsen said after finally converting his seventh match point. "I've put in a lot of hard work and it's paying off a little bit. I was wondering when it would happen and I guess it is starting to happen right now. "I returned really well today," he added. "I played offensive tennis and executed really well." Michelson will face fellow American Learner Tien for a place in the quarter-finals. Tien beat compatriot Reilly Opelka 7-6 (7/3), 6-3. Fifth-seeded Holger Rune advanced with an efficient 6-2, 6-4 result over Frenchman Alexandre Muller. - Ruud rallies - Eighth-seeded Casper Ruud shook off a slow start to beat Portugal's Nuno Borges 7-5, 6-4. The Norwegian was playing only his fourth match since Roland Garros after missing Wimbledon because of injury. Trailing 4-1 in the first set, Ruud thwarted Borges's two chances for a 5-1 lead, methodically lifting his game and taking control with a late break before earning the lone break of the second set for his 20th win of the season. "I just crawled into the first set," said Ruud, who fired nine aces. "I was able to get back into it. One break and things can happen. I raised my return game and got more balls back into play. "In the second set I got the break and served my way through." Despite his sluggish start, Ruud was delighted to beat Borges after falling to him at Roland Garros in May. "It was nice to get my revenge," said Ruud, who next faces 11th-seeded Karen Khachanov. Khachanov, seeded 11th defeated US qualifier Emilio Nava 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 6-1 to book his second Masters round of 16 spot this season. Ruud and Khachanov last played in a 2022 US Open semi-final won by the Norwegian. str/bb
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
From The THN Archive: Searching for Stanley
The Hockey News has released its archive to all THN subscribers: 76 years of history, stories, and features. Subscribe now to view the full THN Archives here and read the full issue here. Also, go to to subscribe. This article from the THN Archive was written by Ken Campbell. Andrei Vasilevskiy is already the NHL's best goalie and has a Vezina Trophy to prove it. The only thing missing is a Stanley Cup, and that's coming soon. Last spring at the World Championship, a lot of players talked to Andrei Vasilevskiy about winning the Presidents' Trophy. Like that was what he wanted to hear at the time. He was only in that tournament because his team won the aforementioned honor then flamed out spectacularly in the first round of the playoffs. Over the past couple seasons, winning the Presidents' Trophy has become hockey's version of the worst hangover ever. The party was fun while it lasted, but there's a harsh price to be paid. That's why almost everywhere Vasilevskiy turned, players were telling him about the perils of finishing first overall. Forget that much of it is due to recency bias and urban legend. Yes, no Presidents' Trophy winner has won the Stanley Cup since the Chicago Blackhawks in 2012-13. But in the 51 years since the league expanded to 12 teams in 1967-68, the fact is teams still have an overwhelmingly better chance of winning the Stanley Cup if they finish first overall than in any other position. Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy Named Finalist For Top Award The NHL has announced that Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has been named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. In addition to Vasilevskiy, Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck and Los Angeles Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper are finalists for the award. Teams that have finished first overall have won the Stanley Cup 19 times (or 37.3 percent), which is exactly the number of Cups won by teams finishing in the Nos. 2 through 5 spots combined. Think about it: if you were betting on the Cup winner at the start of the playoffs and you had the choice between the best team in the regular season and the 15 teams that make up the rest of the field, which would you choose? The Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues have emboldened the 'Just get in' crowd, but teams that are consistently at or near the top of the league give themselves the best chance to win. And that is where the Tampa Bay Lightning are now. Despite a rather uncharacteristic slow start to 2019-20, the Lightning are going to be in the conversation surrounding legitimate Cup contenders now and have a good chance of being a top-five team for the foreseeable future. That's because they are (a) star-studded at every position, and (b) in an era when it seems we're all just guessing at goalies, Vasilevskiy is showing all the signs of being a consistently elite goalie for a very long time. Chances are, Vasilevskiy will one day hoist the Cup with the bolt on his chest. This team is too talented, too well run and its scouting staff is too productive. And its goalie is too good, too consistent and too dedicated to his craft for that not to happen. 'His work ethic is impeccable,' said coach Jon Cooper. 'Only one guy can be first to the rink, and only one guy can be last to leave. Only one guy can do it. On our team, that's him.' There has been a lot of talk about load management in the NHL, especially for goalies. Vasilevskiy seemed to find a sweet spot last season when he played 53 games. The results were he proved himself to be an easy choice for the Vezina Trophy. Really easy. Vasilevskiy garnered 28 first-place votes among the NHL's 31 GMs. In doing so, he captured 90.3 percent of the first-place votes, which was the highest percentage since 1997-98 when Dominik Hasek was the No. 1 choice on 24 of 26 ballots. What Lightning's Latest Move Means For Andrei Vasilevskiy Following the Tampa Bay Lightning's 2025 playoff exit, one of the questions surrounding the team was what they would do regarding their backup goalie spot. Jonas Johansson was eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, but now that will not happen. This is because the Bolts announced on May 7 that they have signed Johansson to a two-year, $2.5 million contract extension. Last season's 53 starts for Vasilevskiy were a little misleading considering he missed a month with a broken foot. The team had no choice but to hand the goaltending responsibilities to Louis Domingue. But you get the sense 25-year-old Vasilevskiy will still get in the neighborhood of 55 starts this year even if he's healthy throughout. In order to keep him at that number, the Lightning needed a proven backup, so they went out and got 36-year-old veteran Curtis McElhinney, which gives them one of the best tandems in the NHL. 'If coach wants me to play every game, I will play every game,' Vasilevskiy said. 'It's all up to coach. It's hard to say. Some goalies need to play (a lot) of games. Some goalies need to play 30 games. It all depends.' Cooper has watched Vasilevskiy mature before his eyes the past couple of seasons. But this one is crucial. There are very few goalies who will ever have the demeanor of Carey Price, someone who doesn't seem to let anything bother him. Vasilevskiy has gotten much better at parking things from game-to-game. 'For me, lots of goalies told me after a good game or a tough game, you have to forget about it every time and right away,' Vasilevskiy said. 'If you lost, just forget and think about the next game. If we win, same thing. Just forget about it and move on so you don't get too comfortable.' Now comes the challenge of forgetting that the 2019 playoffs were a complete outlier, that Columbus was better than his team for a week at the most crucial time of the season. And there's no doubt who the better goaltender was in that span. Sergei Bobrovsky had a .932 save percentage through the series, Vasilevskiy .856. Does that mean Bobrovsky is a better goalie than Vasilevskiy? No, it does not. Both are elite stoppers with their names on the Vezina Trophy and have been first-team all-stars. This past summer, Vasilevskiy signed an eight-year deal that will carry a $9.5 million cap hit starting next season and will run until he's 34. His future is secure, and so is the Lightning's. 'This contract will not be his last,' Cooper said. 'He keeps his body in such good shape.' We know Vasilevskiy has the physical tools, but so much of this is mental. Vasilevskiy has talked about spending less time on the ice during the season and more time in the gym. How the Lightning get through the season isn't as important as what they do once it ends. And it's all about avoiding what happened in the spring of 2019. 'In the playoffs, our tank was empty,' Vasilevskiy said. 'We went straight down. I guess we will figure it out at some point.' From The THN Archive: Beauty and The Beast The Hockey News has released its archive to all THN subscribers: 76 years of history, stories, and features.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Surprise contenders, the Blue Jays go all-in with deadline deals
Trade details: Toronto Blue Jays acquire RHP Shane Bieber from the Cleveland Guardians for RHP Khal Stephen Toronto Blue Jays acquire RHP Louie Varland and Ty France from the Minnesota Twins for OF Alan Roden and LHP Kendry Rojas The Blue Jays went for it, which their fans have been asking the front office to do for an age at this point, trading three of their top prospects — albeit not their top two tradeable ones — to bring in two relievers, a bench bat and maybe a very good starter. Advertisement Shane Bieber is that last player, currently on rehab assignment as he finishes his recovery from Tommy John surgery. He throwing well in Double A so far with his slider looking sharp and the fastball maybe a little less lively than before. He's nearly back, with four minor-league starts so far, the longest a four-inning outing the other day for Akron where he threw 59 pitches. He walked one in his second rehab start in the Arizona Complex League, and that's it so far, a 2.4 percent walk rate on the season. I don't know how much he'll be able to pitch — it seems unlikely that he'll be going 100+ pitches in any games this year, although I am truly just speculating here — but I would expect him to be effective whenever he does pitch in the majors this year. Right-hander Louie Varland was wildly homer-prone as a starter for the Twins, so they finally conceded and moved him to relief in September of last year. He's been dynamite this year, with a 2.02 ERA/2.89 FIP in 49 innings, thanks to a 5.7 percent walk rate and just three homers allowed in that span — for comparison's sake, he allowed 16 homers in 68 innings in 2023, mostly coming as a starter. He's consistently in the upper 90s with a spike curveball that looks like it dies as it approaches the plate, generating whiffs and some ugly swings, too. With Varland and Seranthony Domínguez — acquired on Wednesday — they've dramatically improved the right side of their bullpen, and Varland gives them another option for the highest-leverage spots. The Blue Jays also picked up Ty France, for some reason. The price for these deals and the Domínguez one was fairly significant, though, as they sent out three of their top five pitching prospects — I'd have Trey Yesavage first for them and Johnny King second, if you're wondering — and a solid fourth outfielder in Alan Roden. Roden, who went to the Twins, didn't hit well in his brief MLB debut this year, but then went back to Triple A and raked again, with more walks than strikeouts and a huge platoon split. He hits right-handers well enough to be the strong side of a platoon in the majors or a really good fourth outfielder. Left-hander Kendry Rojas, who also headed to the Twins, just debuted in Triple A on Wednesday night and got hit around, but he'd thrown well prior to that, including a four-start stretch in Double A where he struck out 30 and walked two in 18 2/3 innings. His velocity is up again this year, 93-96 now, with life to it, with a 55 (out of the 20-80 scouting scale) slider and solid-average changeup. He's probably a fourth starter if he stays healthy, which is a big question; he's never topped 84 innings in a season and missed the first two months of this year with an oblique injury. Advertisement Right-hander Khal Stephen went to Cleveland in the Bieber deal, a one-for-one swap. He's very polished, working with three pitches and at least 55 control, coming from a high slot that does make him pretty north-south. He gets good spin on a slider that I think is an average or better pitch, but I've had scouts and analysts grade it below that, and his changeup is at least average, as well. I don't think there's a ton of upside here, but he's almost certainly a big-league starter. He just went on the IL with a 'mild' shoulder impingement, which, whatever you say, doc. That's a decent chunk of prospect change for the Jays to give up. They did cash in on Juaron Watts-Brown breaking out to some extent this year to acquire Domínguez, and I could certainly see the argument that neither Rojas nor Stephen is any kind of sure thing given their IL stints this year. It's also in service of the Jays pushing not just to make the playoffs but to win the AL East and try to advance in October, which all of these pitching acquisitions should do — Bieber more than the others, if he's able. I think the Twins did well here, and the Guardians will probably make Stephen into some sort of 0.5 percent walk rate god, but credit the Jays for trading some real prospects where it seems like every other non-Padres team wouldn't do so. (Top photo of Bieber: Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)
