Britain’s Jack Draper ousted Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) on Friday to set up a Madrid Open title showdown with Norwegian Casper Ruud tonight. “I felt like both of us, our quality didn’t drop from the first ball. Credit to Lorenzo, he’s honestly playing so good on the clay,” said Draper, who had won the Indian Wells in March and is set to enter the top five next week. Also Read: ‘Awards not a full stop, just a comma towards bigger goals’ “I’ve played him on the hard [courts] and on the grass in the juniors, growing up with him. But on clay he’s a different beast and so, to get this win, on this court, in this stage, in the semi-finals of this competition, honestly it means so much to me.” The 23-year-old lefty fired home 20 winners against 19 unforced errors in a high-quality two-hour showdown with the Italian. Earlier, Casper Ruud had beaten Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 7-5. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
04 May,2025 07:47 AM IST | Madrid | AFPHriday Chheda — a member of the 2023 Asian Games gold medal-winning Indian team in dressage, the first equestrian gold for India in 41 years — has been training hard after bagging the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Award for 2023–24. The award has motivated the Mumbai rider to look ahead, preparing for the highest level in dressage for the forthcoming Grand Prix-level Aachen 2026, FEI World Championships. He also has The Dressage Asian Continental Championship 2025 in Thailand in his sights and the next Asian Games in 2026 in Japan. Always on the horizon are the Los Angeles Olympics, still a while away in 2028. Yet every athlete dreams of the ultimate and LA is also on Chheda’s radar, distant but omnipresent, like the faint thundering of horse hooves in the distance. Also Read: India women lose 2-3 to Australia The early days He has come such a long way post the beginning of his equestrian journey. He began formal training at the Japalouppe Equestrian Centre near Pune and later joined the Amateur Riders’ Club (ARC) at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse in Mumbai, where he competed at state and national levels. Currently training in France at the Pamfou Dressage, Chheda is sharpening his skills under French Olympian Corentin Pottier, Camille Judet and Isabell Judet. The young equestrian has most importantly, forged a new synergy with a horse called, ‘Dono DiMaggio.’ “It is a six-month partnership with this horse,” he explained. Hectic training schedule Chheda’s riding schedule, he said from Europe, “depends on the number of horses we are training each day. It’s usually six days a week. I typically ride between six to eight horses in one day.” He added, “Training starts around 7.30 am and goes on until noon. In the evenings, we focus on taking care of the horses and maintaining the facility. Each horse has an individual schedule, and the intensity of the work varies depending on the horse and changes from day to day.” Awards, for the 27 year-old, whose passion for horses ignited post a pony ride at Juhu, are “a motivator, a reminder that as an equestrian there are bigger challenges. Awards, recognition, acknowledgement is not a full stop, just a comma towards bigger goals and accomplishments.” One cannot say neigh to that!
04 May,2025 07:45 AM IST | Mumbai | Hemal AsharThe Indian women’s senior hockey team produced a spirited performance, but went down 2-3 to hosts Australia in the penultimate match of the bilateral series at Perth Hockey Stadium on Saturday. Navneet Kaur (35th minute) and Lalremsiami (59th min) were the scorers for India, while Australia struck through Grace Stewart (2nd min), Jade Smith (36th min), and Greta Hayes (42nd min). Also Read: RCB hold off CSK’s fightback to take top spot in IPL 2025 standings India had lost 3-5 and 2-3 to Australia ‘A’ before going down 0-2 to Australia’s senior side on Thursday. The final match of the series will be played here on Sunday. The Indian eves have won only once in their last five matches, a 1-0 win against Germany in February. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
04 May,2025 07:39 AM IST | Perth | PTIAryna Sabalenka swept into the Madrid Open final by beating Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-5 in straight sets. The World No.1 also ended the Ukrainian’s nine match unbeaten run on clay courts this season. Svitolina had not dropped a single set during her dominance on clay, but the Belarusian proved too tough an opponent to overcome. Sabalenka won four of the first five games and a second break of serve was enough to pocket the opening set. She led 4-2 in the second set, but was broken when serving for the match a few games later. However, Sabalenka responded right away with another break before sewing up victory at the second attempt. Sabalenka is the first WTA player to win 30 matches this season and is through to her fourth Madrid Open final in five years — she won the tournament in 2021 and 2023 before losing to Iga Swiatek last year. Sabalenka will face United States’ Coco Gauff in the final today. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
03 May,2025 07:15 AM IST | Madrid | AgenciesFour-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen arrived at the Miami Grand Prix on Friday as a first-time father after announcing he and partner Kelly Piquet had welcomed a daughter. “Welcome to the world, sweet Lily. Our hearts are fuller than ever. You are our greatest gift. We love you so much,” Verstappen and Piquet wrote on an Instagram post on Friday. The Red Bull driver had skipped Thursday activities at this weekend’s Miami GP to be with his partner, who is the daughter of three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet. The couple released no further details of the birth, including when his daughter was born. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
03 May,2025 07:15 AM IST | Miami | AP | PTIMIG Cricket Club and CCI A won two matches each on the opening day of the Motiram Cup in the Motiram, Ulla and Kanji Cup inter-club badminton Championships, organised by GMBA, at the Willingdon Sports Club recently. Mangrish Palekar and Ruturaj Rathod helped MIG blank NSCI B 3-0, after which they outplayed Thakur Sports Club by a similar scoreline. Nigel D’Sa and Siddhesh Aroskar did well as CCI A beat NSCI A 3-0. They followed that up with a 2-1 win over P M Hindu Bath. Meanwhile, Chembur Gymkhana beat CCI C 3-0, while Brihanmumbai Kreeda Ani Lalit Kala Pratishthan beat Bombay Gymkhana 3-0.
03 May,2025 07:15 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentA spirited Don Bosco Academy held Republicans SC to a 2-2 draw in a BK Mohite Memorial league match at the Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd Stadium recently. Vivek Panchal and Krishna Rane scored a goal each for Republicans while Foaad Shaikh and Deepak Yadav struck once each for Don Bosco Academy. Meanwhile, Companeroes beat Jeevan Jyoti SC 2-1. Sanket Dhotre netted both goals for Companeroes while Bikash Soreng pulled one back for Jeevan Jyoti. In other matches, Champions Training Centre blanked BEST 8-0, United Bandra SC routed Flamingos 5-0 and Savio Hockey Foundation beat Anstrengung United 3-0.
03 May,2025 07:14 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentSpearheaded by a brilliant hat-trick from attacking midfielder Aryan Uthappa, Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) staged a stunning second-half comeback to beat Mumbai Customs 3-2 in a first-round match of the Hockey Mumbai Super League at Don Bosco turf, Matunga, yesterday. Mumbai Customs asserted early control and scored in the 10th minute, as Moses Pullantara found space inside the circle and struck a precise shot into the bottom-left corner to hand Customs the lead. Also Read: All gone for Rs 8.5L to Indian-origin bizman! Suraj Shukla’s composed finish doubled Customs’s lead just before half-time (29th minute). After the break, MbPT, who were struggling with on-field communication, adopted a novel approach by calling out jersey numbers to improve coordination. And it worked. Uthappa, showing excellent awareness and attacking flair, began the fightback in the 39th minute, reducing the deficit with a deft strike. His pace and positioning troubled the Customs defence and with four minutes remaining, Uthappa struck again in the top left corner, levelling things at 2-2. In the 58th minute, with the match getting intense, Uthappa completed his treble in style — dribbling past Customs custodian Rasal Shivratna to seal a 3-2 victory for MbPT.
02 May,2025 08:14 AM IST | Mumbai | Rufus VedanayagamReigning Madrid Open champion Iga Swiatek suffered a crushing semi-final defeat by Coco Gauff on Thursday, with the American triumphing 6-1, 6-1. The Polish World No.2 could not force a single break point and dropped serve five times as she fell in 64 minutes. Also Read: India bag consolation win over England Gauff, 21, broke in the third, fifth and seventh games to blow Swiatek away in the first set, converting her second set point. She secured two more breaks in the second set and wrapped up victory at the first time of asking, on serve to love. In the men’s draw Casper Ruud reached the semi-final with a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Daniil Medvedev. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 May,2025 07:32 AM IST | Madrid | AFPIndia beat England 3-2 in their final Group D match to register a consolation win at the BWF Sudirman Cup Finals here on Thursday. Anupama Upadhyaya hardly broke her sweat to get the better of Miu Lin Ngan 21-12 21-16 in the women’s singles match. Also Read: India finish second with 43 medals Satish Kumar Karunakaran then had to toil hard to beat Harry Huang 18-21 22-20 21-13. The women’s doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra managed to cruise past Lizzie Tolman and Estelle Van Leeuwen 21-17 21-17 to secure the contest for India. However, England ended the night on a high by winning the men’s doubles and mixed doubles matches. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 May,2025 07:29 AM IST | Xiamen (China) | PTIIndian boxers wrapped up their campaign at the inaugural Asian U-15 & U-17 Championship in style, adding four gold medals on the final day to finish second overall. Also Read: IPL 2025 | "I just planned to bowl my best": Yuzvendra Chahal after hat-trick vs CSK India’s tally included 15 gold, 6 silver, and 22 bronze medals, placing them behind Kazakhstan, while Uzbekistan took third place. The final four golds were bagged by the girls. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
02 May,2025 07:27 AM IST | Amman (Jordan) | PTIADVERTISEMENT
