Sinner continues Zverev domination to set up Miami Open final against Lehecka
For one intense, gripping hour inside Miami Open’s stadium court, Alexander Zverev outperformed the modest expectations of his sceptical audience.Under sustained, suffocating pressure from the best returner in the world, he held his own serve and kept Jannik Sinner honest as a competitive second set culminated in a tie-break.Eight points in, nothing could separate them.Things changed abruptly.At 4-4 on his own serve, Zverev set up a routine overhead that would have moved him narrowly ahead.
Instead, the tension that comes with facing a player of Sinner’s calibre finally prevailed.Zverev crumbled, framing his smash into the net.This point perfectly demonstrated the pressure Sinner imposes on all opponents these days, and it unsurprisingly proved his undoing.Moments later, after landing two excellent first serves, Sinner powered into the Miami Open final with a gritty 6-3, 7-6 (4) win.On paper, this was the toughest semi-final matchup that Sinner could have faced, the No 2 player against the world No 3.
However, the gap between the top two and the rest of the field is so great,Sinner entered the match with 11800 ranking points in the ATP live rankings, much more than double Zverev’s count of 5205,Zverev had initially led their head-to-head record 4-1, but since August 2024 Sinner has won their last seven encounters, winning their last 10 sets,Still, Zverev is playing with far greater confidence since his five-set defeat to Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open,He served well and attacked his forehand with enough authority to hold his own from the baseline while frequently looking to close down the match.
He played a good match, but he was still beaten in straight sets by a far better player armed with greater weapons in his game and mental toughness.Sinner now stands a win away from clinching consecutive titles at Indian Wells and Miami Open, a feat now colloquially known as the Sunshine Double.He will be heavily favoured to win on Sunday as he faces the 21st seed Jiri Lehecka, who continued his own spectacular run by dismantling Arthur Fils, the 28th seed, 6-2, 6-2.“Standing here again in the final means very much to me.Obviously we try to push now in a couple of days but at the same time, in any case, it has been an incredible swing,” said Sinner.
“Trying to play as many matches as possible.That was my goal and I couldn’t do better so I’m very happy today.”Ever since a dazed Sinner expressed his intention to retool his game with greater variation in the aftermath of his loss to Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open, all eyes have been on the Italian’s usage of his drop shots, slices and volleys.Yet the most impressive part of his four weeks on the US hard courts has actually been his serve, which he has taken to another level.Against Zverev, Sinner fired down 15 aces, landing 74% first serves in and winning 79% of points behind them.
He has lost his serve just once over the past two weeks,Earlier on Friday, Lehecka reached a Masters 1000 final for the first time in his career by producing one of his best performances,Fils had, in many ways, been the most interesting story of the tournament on the men’s side,The 21-year-old was competing in just his fourth tournament back after an eight-month injury layoff due to a stress fracture in his back,Having already reached a final in Doha and a quarter-final at Indian Wells, Fils broke new ground by reaching his first Masters 1000 semi-final after recovering from four consecutive match points down to defeat Tommy Paul in a final set tie-break.
However, while Fils looked mentally exhausted from his quarter-final efforts, he came up against a sublime Lehecka who simply did not put a foot wrong throughout the match.Lehecka, who has not dropped his serve at all in Miami, dominated with his massive serve as usual.But he also returned brilliantly and commanded the majority of rallies from on top of the baseline, striking the ball so cleanly off both wings.At 24 years old, Lehecka’s talent has been well known for some time and a big run to a significant final is not as surprising as it first appears.Now he will face one of the toughest challenges possible in the biggest match of his career.
Wall Street hits six-month low and Dow falls into correction as Trump ‘appears to lose his grip on markets’ – as it happened
The US stock market has dropped to its lowest level since last September, as analysts warn that president Trump may be losing his grip on the markets.The S&P 500 index has dropped by 0.8% today to 6,425 points, adding to Thursday’s 1.75% fall on the benchmark US stock market index.The tech-focused Nasdaq index is down 1%, also at a six-month low
Lloyds bank faces £66m court battle with car loan customers
Lloyds Banking Group is facing a court battle with 30,000 aggrieved car loan customers who are to abandon the City regulator’s official redress scheme amid fears it will shortchange consumers and favour lenders.The claims law firm Courmacs Legal is planning to file a £66m omnibus claim on behalf of borrowers who believe they were financially harmed by car loan contracts set up by Lloyds’ motor finance arm, Black Horse.The grievances are part of a much wider car loans commission scandal, in which drivers were overcharged for their loans due to unfair commission arrangements between lenders and car dealers.However, the omnibus case, which is expected to be filed in the coming weeks, means consumers are deciding to pre-emptively waive their rights to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) estimated £11bn compensation scheme, even before the final details are due to be set out on Monday. That is despite claims law firms such as Courmacs taking a 28% cut of any potential payout
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AI models that lie and cheat appear to be growing in number with reports of deceptive scheming surging in the last six months, a study into the technology has found.AI chatbots and agents disregarded direct instructions, evaded safeguards and deceived humans and other AI, according to research funded by the UK government-funded AI Security Institute (AISI). The study, shared with the Guardian, identified nearly 700 real-world cases of AI scheming and charted a five-fold rise in misbehaviour between October and March, with some AI models destroying emails and other files without permission.The snapshot of scheming by AI agents “in the wild”, as opposed to in laboratory conditions, has sparked fresh calls for international monitoring of the increasingly capable models and come as Silicon Valley companies aggressively promote the technology as a economically transformative. Last week the UK chancellor also launched a drive to get millions more Britons using AI
‘Accountability has arrived’: dual US court losses show shifting tide against Meta and co
In the span of just two days, the most powerful social media company in the world faced a more severe public reckoning than it has in years.Jurors in California and New Mexico gave back-to-back verdicts this week that for the first time ever found Meta liable for products that inflict harm on young people. For years, lawmakers, parents and advocates have raised red flags over how social media can hurt children, but now the tech firms are being held to account via court rulings that could set long-lasting precedents.A jury in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $375m in damages on Tuesday over claims that its products led to child sexual exploitation, among other harms. The following day, a jury in California ordered Meta and YouTube to pay $6m over claims that both companies deliberately designed addictive products to hook young users
Tiger Woods released on bail hours after arrest at crash scene on suspicion of DUI
Tiger Woods was released on bail on Friday, hours after the golf star’s Land Rover clipped a truck, rolled onto its side and he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to officials.Martin County sheriff John Budensiek said Woods was driving a Land Rover that overturned after attempting to overtake a truck on a narrow two-lane road shortly before 2pm near Woods’s residence on Jupiter Island. The vehicle clipped a trailer, veered off and came to rest on its driver’s side after sliding along the roadway.The truck had been slowing to turn into a driveway when Woods approached at what the sheriff described as a “high rate of speed” on a road with a 30mph limit.Woods, who was alone in the vehicle, was able to exit through the passenger side
Australia break new ground to thump West Indies in first women’s ODI
Australia have powered to a 103-run win over the West Indies, despite Stafanie Taylor’s breakthrough one-day century.Opener Phoebe Litchfield top-scored with 77 and five other teammates reached the 40s as Australia made 341 from 49.5 overs on Saturday (AEDT) in St Kitts. It is a record women’s one-day team total in the Caribbean.After sweeping the three-game T20 series, the tourists then restricted the West Indies to 238-8 from their 50 overs in the first of three one-dayers
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