Author: Australian Associated Press

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Alex de Minaur sounds warning with ruthless victory at Madrid Open

  • Australian No 1 seals 6-2, 6-3 win Lorenzo Sonego
  • Djokovic suffers third straight loss in 6-3, 6-4 defeat

While Alex de Minaur looks more comfortable and impressive on the clay with every passing match, the great Novak Djokovic seems to be losing his magical powers on the red stuff.

For while Australia’s No 1 kicked off his Madrid Open quest with a clinical 6-2, 6-3 victory over Italian Lorenzo Sonego on Saturday, all the talk at the Caja Magica surrounded another dismal first-round defeat for Djokovic, whose quest for 100 titles took another savage hit.

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Auckland clinch ALM premiership as City held to draw by Adelaide

  • Auckland clinch A-League Men premiership in maiden season
  • Melbourne City held to 0-0 by Adelaide United at AAMI Park

Auckland FC have claimed the A-League Men premiership in their first season, while Melbourne City will lick their wounds and turn their focus to locking in second place after falling short.

Second-placed City were held to a 0-0 draw by Adelaide United at AAMI Park on Saturday night. The draw also means City could yet let second place slip - and with it an Asian Champions League Elite berth and the first week of finals off - while Adelaide’s finals hopes are all but over.

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Melbourne Storm leave Indigenous elder ‘heartbroken’ after cancelling Welcome to Country

  • Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin was to perform before NRL Anzac Day clash
  • Club say was ‘miscommunication’ over decision to call off ceremony

Melbourne Storm are under fire after being accused of cancelling a Welcome to Country at its Anzac Day NRL match at the last minute, leaving an Aboriginal elder “broken-hearted”.

Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin said she was informed by the club on Friday afternoon that she was no longer required to address the crowd before the match at AAMI Park.

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NRL approves revised Perth team expansion bid to bring back the Bears

  • ARLC agrees in principle to Western Australian government proposal
  • Clubs and Rugby League Players’ Association still to sign off deal

The NRL is set to expand into Perth after the Australian Rugby League Commission agreed in principle to a revised proposal from the Western Australia government for an NRL team.

The ARLC has signed off on an increased offer from WA Premier Roger Cook, which has salvaged plans for the Perth Bears concept to enter the competition in 2027.

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Australia teenager Maya Joint breaks Ash Barty’s record with win on Madrid Open debut

  • 19-year-old is youngest Australian to win a match at WTA 1000 level
  • World No 78 beats Carlota Martinez Cirez 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in first round

Australia’s teenage tennis sensation Maya Joint has eclipsed one of Ash Barty’s records by earning her first WTA 1000 match triumph at the Madrid Open.

On her tour-level clay-court main draw debut in the Spanish capital, the 19-year-old Queenslander outlasted local wildcard Carlota Martinez Cirez 6-2 2-6 6-4 for a third win in three days.

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AFL player Noah Balta avoids jail for car park assault but given curfew and alcohol ban

  • Richmond footballer fined $3,000 after pleading guilty to attack
  • Premiership defender also pays victim $45,000 in compensation

AFL star Noah Balta has walked free from court and instead been handed a night-time curfew and alcohol ban as part of his punishment for assaulting a man outside a regional venue.

Richmond defender Balta was sentenced at Albury Local Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to repeatedly punching Thomas Washbrook, 27, outside the Mulwala Water Ski Club, in the NSW Riverina, on 30 December.

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Alex de Minaur beaten by in-form Alcaraz in Barcelona quarter-final

  • Australian goes down 7-5, 6-3 against the world No 2
  • Victory gives the Spaniard a 4-0 record in head-to-heads

Alex de Minaur’s 50th tour-level quarter-final has ended in defeat, the Australian No 1 beaten 7-5 6-3 in 100 minutes by defending champion Carlos Alcaraz at the Barcelona Open.

De Minaur began well, breaking the top seed in the third game before taking a 3-1 lead, and breaking again in the seventh after Alcaraz had broken back. But the Spaniard took four of the last five games to claim the set.

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Richmond court controversy with Noah Balta slated for polarising AFL return

  • Premiership star to play against Gold Coast on Saturday
  • Tigers backman faces court after pleading guilty to assault

Richmond premiership star Noah Balta returns to an AFL field against Gold Coast on Saturday, three days before fronting court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to assault outside a NSW Riverina club on 30 December last year.

Prison time – his charge in NSW carries a maximum five-year stretch – appears unlikely, but Balta’s return to football has become a political football.

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Rohan Dennis shows ‘no remorse’ over death of Melissa Hoskins, says her family

The Olympian’s mother tells champion cyclist that his temper is his ‘downfall’ during victim statements in Adelaide court

Former world champion and Olympic cyclist, Rohan Dennis, has shown no remorse and “perceives himself as a victim” despite him accidentally killing his wife, her family has told a court in South Australia.

Melissa Hoskins, 32, also an acclaimed world and Olympic cyclist, died when she was struck by a car driven by her husband in December 2023.

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‘In a league of his own’: Oscar Piastri star continues to rise with Bahrain GP win

  • Australian leads from pole to flag to pick up second win of season
  • ‘It was relatively straightforward,’ says McLaren driver

Australian Oscar Piastri hailed an “incredible weekend” after earning another pole-to-flag Formula One triumph at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The McLaren driver made his 50th grand prix start on Sunday and moved into second place in the drivers’ standings with the victory, which left him breathing down the neck of his low-on-confidence teammate Lando Norris.

After he held off a challenge on the first corner from Mercedes’ George Russell at the floodlit Sakhir circuit, Piastri then utterly dominated, even after a mid-race restart under the safety car. The man from Melbourne, the first driver to win two grand prix this season after his Chinese GP victory, ended up outpacing Russell by 15-and-a-half seconds – the biggest margin of victory by any winner this year – with championship leader Norris third.

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Alex de Minaur records first ‘double bagel’ with whitewash of Grigor Dimitrov

  • The Australian reaches last four of Monte Carlo Masters
  • He will play either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Lorenzo Musetti

Alex de Minaur has humbled Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov 6-0 6-0 to feast on the first “double bagel” of his professional career while powering into the Monte Carlo Masters semi-final.

The Australian was in merciless mood against the out-of-sorts veteran, taking only 44 minutes to hand the world No 18 one of his most embarrassing defeats on the Monte Carlo Country Club’s main arena, Court Rainier III, on Friday.

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Australia on brink of Billie Jean King Cup exit after defeat to Kazakhstan

  • Kim Birrell and Maya Joint lose singles in straight sets in Brisbane
  • Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez win doubles in BJK Cup qualifying tie

Kazakhstan have placed Australia on the brink of Billie Jean King Cup elimination with a 2-1 victory in their qualifying tie in Brisbane.

Big-hitting former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina out-gunned Kim Birrell to secure victory for Kazakhstan before the hosts picked up a precious point with success in the not-so-dead-rubber doubles.

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McLaren’s decision to deny Oscar Piastri shot at Japanese GP win was ‘fair’, says driver

  • Australian finishes third behind teammate Lando Norris at Suzuka
  • Piastri’s request to swap places with Norris was turned down

Oscar Piastri has said he has no complaints about McLaren rejecting his request to shoot for glory at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Australian finished third behind teammate Lando Norris and victor Max Verstappen on Sunday, but he believed he had possessed the pace to get past the Red Bull champion and possibly make it back-to-back F1 wins following his victory in China.

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Tim Tszyu gets career off the canvas with stunning fourth round TKO of Joey Spencer

  • Tszyu wins IBO superwelterweight title following two shock losses
  • Sydney fighter calls out American Keith Thurman for next bout

Tim Tszyu has restored his reputation and reignited his international career with a brutal beatdown of American Joey Spencer in Newcastle.

The referee stopped the fight two minutes and 18 seconds into the fourth round after Australia’s former WBO world champion battered Spencer with a stunning blitz to the head and body.

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‘Stressful’ debut as Daria Kasatkina appears as Australian player for first time

  • World No 12 switched allegiance from Russia last week
  • She overcomes nerves to beat Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-1 in Charleston

“And please welcome from Australia, Daria Kasatkina!” With those words from the MC introducing her on court at the Charleston Open on Wednesday, Australia’s latest tennis import admitted she was left feeling a bag of nerves about the advent of her new adventure.

She need not have worried. For just over an hour later, following her consummate first triumph as an Australian player, Kasatkina was soaking up the cheers of the US crowd amid the strains of “I come from a land Down Under”, while beaming a smile of relief mixed with joy.

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