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US OPEN starts Today! Can Serena Williams finish her mission?

by SportsWhat's Hot

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The US Open starts today in New York. Serena Williams will look to complete the Calendar Slam, that is, winning all 4 Grand Slams in 1 Calendar year. This was last accomplished by Steffi Graf in 1988.

She has already completed her ‘Serena Slam’ after winning Wimbledon this year, by holding all 4 Grand Slam titles at once, since she won the US Open last year.

Serena is also chasing Steffi Graf’s 22 Grand Slam titles, the most in the Open era. She currently has 21. So this year, the US Open is a BIG DEAL to Serena.

Suga wishes her the best and will follow and update her progress in the tournament.

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The Weekend in Sports – Michael Phelps is back, Tiger Woods’ record broken, Chelsea beaten 3-0 and more!

by SportsWhat's Hot

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What a weekend of Sports! Suga had no idea the weekend would be packed with so many Championships, drama and talent, but the Sports channels certainly delivered some unexpected treats and entertainment.

Swimming – U.S. Nationals in San Antonio

Michael Phelps (30 years old), the most decorated Olympian is not only back but back in Olympic form with 1 year to RIO! Phelps was out of the picture for a while, especially with his 6-month suspension for a DUI that ended 4 months ago. However, he was still not allowed to enter the World Championships in Russia. Instead he was confined to swimming in a more minor, but still important and respected National meet in San Antonio, USA.

Looks like they should have sent him to Kazan, Russia though, because Phelps’ times were faster than the Gold-winning times there. USA also had a poor performance only winning 2 individual gold medals! Phelps’ 3 individual events were the 100m Fly, 200m Fly and 200m IM. He had a late entry in the 200m Breast stroke perhaps just for practice, since he is worst at that one. He finished 5th in that race. But for his 3 main performances? He was body lengths ahead, racing against the clock and not the field. His 200m Fly time was faster than his Gold winning performance at the London Olympics and his 100m FLY and 200m IM times were just tenths of a second off. Spectacular performance. Can the legend on the track, Usain Bolt show he is back and ready for RIO too at the World Championships in Beijing this August 23?!

Golf – PGA Championship

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Jason Day finished the PGA Championship at 20 under with a par on the 18th hole, breaking Tiger Woods’ major championship record set of -19 at the 2000 Open Championship. After 7 top 5s including 3 second place finishes previously at majors and 10 top 10s since 2010, he finally came through and won his first major championship in style. Congrats Jason!

Netball- World Cup 2015

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Surprise Surprise, the Aussie Diamonds won the Netball World Cup in Australia. The Aussies have dominated for decades with their only threat, if any, being from New Zealand. The Sunshine girls from Jamaica played well, finishing 4th overall. They fell to the Aussies in the semi-finals 56-67 and then lost to England in the usual fight for Bronze, 44-66.

Tennis – Rogers Cup, Montreal

Serena Williams was upset by Belinda Bencic (mentored by former rival of Serena, Martina Hingis) in the semi-finals of the Rogers cup in 3 sets. Serena said she felt that she played like an amateur. Did she play like an amateur or did Bencic finally get an opportunity to beat her strategically? Bencic went on to win the cup in the finals by default versus Simona Halep, who retired down 0-3 in the 3rd set due to injury/heat.

For the men, Andy Murray (no. 2) beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to win his 3rd Rogers Cup and eight-match losing streak versus world no. 1, Djoko. It was not easy though. After Djoko steam rolled him to even sets, Murray took an extended bathroom break before the 3rd and came out to serve first then quickly broke Djokovic to go up 2-0. At 3-1, Djokovic failed many times to break Murray’s serve and Murray finally went up to 4-1 after Deuce #10, a point that lasted over 15 minutes! I think that decided the match. Djokovic still showed some effort but Murray did not give up after losing 4 Championship points. He finally converted the 5th and won. Satisfying for Murray but frustrating for Djoko, whose streaks had to finally come to an end – 30 straight wins at Masters events, 24 straight wins in Masters deciding sets, 12 straight wins in Masters finals and of course, 8 straight wins versus Andy Murray.

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Gymnastics – USA Nationals

All Suga can say is that the men looked pathetic as usual. They were described as sloppy, making it hard for the selection committee to choose the best from the worst with competitors failing in what should be their strongest events individually. There were numerous falls off the bars, outrunning the runway after the vault and even unsure dismounts, one of which had to be repeated. Embarrassing.

Thank goodness for the ladies. Look out for Simone Biles, the women’s all-round Gymnastics Champ.

Barclay’s Premier League, BPL

Manchester City, runner up of BPL 2015, surely made their agenda known yesterday with a convincing 3-0 win over Defending Champs, Chelsea. After Terry’s failed attempt to defend the start of a play ending with Sergio Aguero’s first goal (31′), Terry was taken off for the entire 2nd half of the match. Kompany took advantage of a corner kick to head in the 2nd goal (79′) that went in off of the post and then Chelsea’s defense totally fell apart, resulting in Man City’s 3rd goal (85′) by Fernandinho. Mourinho placed players such as Fabregas and more in positions they should not have been, resulting in crucial coaching errors and they also played without their goal keeper who was sent off in the previous match, however Suga thinks Man City would have still come out on top regardless. After a draw with Swansea and a horrible loss to Man City for the opening of BPL, Chelsea has some work to do.

Looking forward to another weekend of high quality competition and variety of sports some time soon! Suga hopes you enjoyed as well.

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World no. 1s win Wimbledon!

by Sports

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Serena Williams has done it! She has achieved her second, ‘Serena Slam’, holding all 4 Grand Slam titles at once. After winning the toss and opting to serve, nerves got the best of her and she was broken in the first game of the match by Garbine Muguruza. She eventually broke back Muguruza’s serve and won the first set 6-4. In the second set Serena stormed to 5-1 and nerves got the best of her again. Her serve was off for the majority of the match and she over-hit a lot of balls. Muguruza, the Spanish-Venezuelan made her pay, saving a Championship point until it reached all the way to 5-4. Serena then prevailed and won 6-4. She did not even realise she won. What an anti-climax after such a huge build up to this moment. The umpire said game-set-match and she had to hear it again as Muguruza was fighting so hard in that game, Serena felt like she still had more work to do. Hilarious. She breathed a sigh of relief, went to Muguruza then the umpire and waved to the crowd. After sitting down for a minute, it finally sunk in and she jumped out of her seat for joy. Serena will enjoy this moment and then continue her mission to win the US Open, where she would achieve the Calendar Grand Slam that was last done by Steffi Graf in 1988. Garbine Muguruza who was ranked world no. 20 is now ranked world no. 9. She has a lot of potential, since she is a power hitter and has a good serve and dangerous backhand, but her forehand is extremely weak and Suga believes no matter how nervous Serena was, that forehand would make her lose anyway.

Novak Djokovic won his 3rd Wimbledon in 4 sets including two tiebreaks versus world no. 2 and 7-time Wimbledon champ, Roger Federer. Throughout the tournament, RFed, age 33,  just went for the balls he needed to, saving his energy. That worked against other opponents including, world no. 3, Andy Murray, but not against the spritzy, hungry world no. 1 Novak Djokovic. RFed could have won the first set after breaking Djokovic but quickly lost that opportunity when he was broken right after. Roger served well but a few unforced errors at crucial points in the game hurt him and he just did not have enough in him to win. We all know it could have been a different story if he won that first set. But congrats to Novak for keeping his composure and winning 7-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.

See you at the US Open!

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Chile beat Argentina 4-1 on Penalties to win the country’s 1st COPA America title! Today is also the best day in Tennis!

by SportsWhat's Hot

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Last Saturday, Chile won Copa on Penalties! Argentina missed 2 penalty kicks and Alexis Sanchez closed it out with a cheeky penalty kick to the centre of the goal as the Argentina keeper flew to the right!

Messi was totally shut down by Chile’s defenders and nobody else from Argentina stepped up to the plate with DiMaria out in the 1st half with an injury. Argentina can give thanks for Mascherano, aka the defensive genius. So the score was 0-0 into overtime. Then Penalties. Chile played their heart out. Congrats to them!

Today is also considered the BEST DAY IN TENNIS with ALL ROUND 16 matches being played in 1 day at Wimbledon. Matches to see?! Serena Williams continues her mission to complete her Serena Slam, i.e. to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to accomplish the Calendar Grand Slam. However, she will have to beat her sister, Venus Williams today who has been playing very well to continue her mission. Serena has not been at the top of her game so far this Wimbledon and has been using pure emotion to carry her through, but that will not work against her sister. Serena needs to raise the level of her game if she wants this win. They have not met in a while, as it will be their 1st Grand Slam vs each other in 6 years! It will be interesting to see how it plays out, but Suga doubts it will be easy for Serena. Even past rival, Martin Hingis has finally given the  Williams sisters props for still being out there, playing competitively at their age, while she can only be found in the doubles draw. Look out though, Hingis still has a chance this week to derail one of the Williams sisters. She is mentoring Swiss teenager, Belinda Bencic who plays Azarenka in the round of 16. If she gets past Azarenka, she will meet one of the Williams sisters.  Who has more experience mentally playing the Williams sisters but Hingis? All of 34 matches vs both, winning 17.

Roger Federer is also up against Bautista Agut. He has not lost a set yet in this tournament, as he aims to win his 8th Gentleman’s title. Can RFed win one more Grand Slam?

Young, Australian, Kyrgios will be up against Gasquet. Kyrgios has been creating a lot of excitement on the court.

May the best players win!

Spoiler Alert! Serena wins the Australian Open!

by SportsWhat's Hot

Apologies SuGa Readers. The match seemed to be in the am and not the pm. However, Congrats to Serena Williams who fought through that cough and beat Maria Sharapova 6-3; 7-6, closing the match in style with an ace. This is Serena’s 6th Australian Open title and her 19th Grand Slam victory. She is looking to reach 22 to be on the same level as Steffi Graf to be the best in the open era for women. She plans to take it in steps to reach 20 and then 21 before she can look to 22.

SuGa wishes Serena all the best this year and hopes she can do it! The quicker, the better.

The time difference would also affect the time stated previously for the men’s final. So look out for that one in the early am tomorrow. There will be no clashes with the Super Bowl. Can’t have that happening. Enjoy the weekend!

Big Sports weekend! Australian Open Finals too!

by SportsWhat's Hot

For the Women’s Singles final tomorrow, it will be a battle between World number 1 and 2, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova not before 7:30pm.

News just in that Serena cut practice short because she is suffering from a cold. Can she find the Michael Jordan within her to win the Championship and move even further up in rank amongst the greats?

The Men’s Singles final will be this Sunday, not before 7:30pm, conflicting with Super Bowl time. It will feature World number 1 Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray (6).

Serena Williams wins her 3rd straight US Open!

by SportsWhat's Hot

Congratulations to Serena Williams on not only her 3rd straight US Open title, winning 6-3, 6-3 over Caroline Wozniacki, but her 18th Grand Slam Singles title joining the greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratalova with the 4th most major titles in history.

Serena won 4 million dollars in total cash money and was presented with a bracelet from Tiffany’s by Evert and Navratalova for joining them on her 18th. She will now look to continue to charge up that ladder.

Surely an emotional win for Serena.