Mikaela Shiffrin wins Maribor slalom, snags World Cup lead in teenage finale (video)

By Nick ZaccardiFeb 22, 2015, 8:51 AM EST

Mikaela Shiffrin won her 13th World Cup race in her final scheduled start as a teenager, moving into the World Cup slalom standings lead in rainy Maribor, Slovenia, on Sunday.

Shiffrin, who became the youngest Olympic slalom champion in Sochi, prevailed by 1.03 seconds over two runs for her fourth World Cup win this season. Slovakian Veronika Velez Zuzulova was second, followed by Czech Sarka Strachova.

Shiffrin said she likes skiing in the rain.

“I have really good goggles,” she joked a finish-area interview.

Shiffrin moved into sole possession of third place in World Cup wins by active female skiers. The only ones with more are Lindsey Vonn (64) and Tina Maze (26).

Vonn won the first of those 64 at age 20. Maze had one victory as a teenager. The only female skier with more World Cup wins as a teenager than Shiffrin was Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell, who took 27 en route to 62 total victories.

Vonn and Maze own wins in all five disciplines, while Shiffrin has only contested two of the five (slalom and giant slalom) and scrapped a plan to add super-G earlier this season when she struggled with her slalom.

“I’m hesitant, I don’t want to rush the super-G because I’m doing pretty well in slalom and [giant slalom] right now,” Shiffrin, who owns one World Cup giant slalom win from October, said in a press conference Sunday. “In my perfect world, I would be winning both slalom and GS consistently and then move into super-G. So, if I go too fast with that, then I won’t get any of it.”

Shiffrin regained her form in the slalom earlier this winter, repeating as World champion two weeks ago and surpassing Swede Frida Hansdotter for the World Cup slalom standings lead Sunday. She went from 41 points behind to 30 points ahead of Hansdotter, who was ninth Sunday.

There are two World Cup slaloms remaining — March 13 in Are, Sweden (Shiffrin’s 20th birthday) and in Meribel, France at the World Cup Finals one week later.

Shiffrin is trying to win a third straight World Cup slalom season title. The last woman to do that was Vreni Schneider, who took the last of her six World Cup titles in 1995. The only women since 1996 to capture three straight titles in any discipline are Vonn and six-time Olympic medalist Janica Kostelic.

Also Sunday, Austrian Matthias Mayer prevailed in a super-G in Saalbach, Austria. Mayer, the Olympic downhill champion, won for the second straight day. France’s Adrien Theaux was second, followed by Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud. Travis Ganong was the top American in ninth.

The women’s Alpine skiing World Cup continues with two super-Gs and a super combined in Bansko, Bulgaria, next weekend. Vonn is expected to race, if healthy following her Saturday fall.

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Novak Djokovic breaks record he shared with Rafael Nadal at French Open

Associated PressJun 4, 2023, 11:18 AM EDT

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Novak Djokovic broke a tie with rival Rafael Nadal by reaching the French Open quarterfinals for the record 17th time, never truly in trouble during a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Juan Pablo Varillas on Sunday.

Djokovic is closing on bettering Nadal in a more prestigious category: Grand Slam singles championships. Both currently sit at 22. For Djokovic, that total includes two at Roland Garros, in 2016 and 2021, and he can become the first man to own at least three trophies from each major tournament.

Nadal is a 14-time champion in Paris but is missing this time because of a hip injury; he had arthroscopic surgery Friday night.

Against the 94th-ranked Varillas, who had never won a Slam match until this event and then took three in a row in five sets, Djokovic was, not surprisingly, at his dominant best at Court Philippe Chatrier on a warm, sunny day.

The 36-year-old from Serbia finished with more than twice as many winners, 35-15, and fewer unforced errors. He went 15 for 17 on trips to the net. He put in 80% of his first serves. He converted 6 of 12 break points while dropping his serve only once.

All in all, a no-drama showing in under two hours from Djokovic, who hasn’t ceded a set yet through four matches. He’s had his less-than-amiable back-and-forths with some spectators over the past week in Paris, but when this one ended, Djokovic gestured as though to hug everyone as he heard some chants of his two-syllable nickname, “No-le!”

In his 55th career major quarterfinal — Roger Federer, who retired with 58, is the only man to reach more — and 14th in a row at Roland Garros, the No. 3-seeded Djokovic will face No. 11 Karen Khachanov on Tuesday.

Khachanov, who is 1-8 against Djokovic, made it this far at a Slam for the fifth time by defeating Lorenzo Sonego 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7), 6-1.

The other men’s fourth-round matches Sunday were No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz vs. No. 17 Lorenzo Musetti, and No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Sebastian Ofner.

Two unseeded women moved into quarterfinals and will play each other next: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 2021 runner-up at Roland Garros, and Karolina Muchova.

Pavlyuchenkova, who missed last year’s tournament as part of a lengthy absence with a knee injury, got past a third consecutive seeded opponent, No. 28 Elise Mertens, by a 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 score.

Muchova was a 6-4, 6-4 winner against Elina Avanesyan, who lost in qualifying but got into the main draw when another player withdrew.

The other women’s matches scheduled for later: No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka vs. 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens, and No. 9 Daria Kasatkina vs. Elina Svitolina.

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French Open doubles team disqualified after tennis ball hits ball girl

Associated PressJun 4, 2023, 9:57 AM EDT

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French Open doubles player Miyu Kato and her partner were forced to forfeit a match when Kato accidentally hit a ball girl in the neck with a ball after a point on Sunday.

In the second set on Court 14 at Roland Garros, Kato took a swing with her racket and the ball flew toward the ball kid, who was not looking in the player’s direction while heading off the court.

At first, chair umpire Alexandre Juge only issued a warning to Kato. But after tournament referee Remy Azemar and Grand Slam supervisor Wayne McEwen went to Court 14 to look into what happened, Kato and her partner, Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia, were disqualified.

That made Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain the winners of the match.

“It’s just a bad situation for everyone,” Bouzkova said. “But it’s kind of something that, I guess, is taken by the rules, as it is, even though it’s very unfortunate for them. … At the end of the day, it was the referee’s decision.”

Bouzkova said she did not see the ball hit the ball girl, but “she was crying for like 15 minutes.”

She said one of the officials said the ball “has to do some kind of harm to the person affected” and that “at first, (Juge) didn’t see that.”

Bouzkova said she and Sorribes Tormo told Juge “to look into it more and ask our opponents what they think happened.”

During Coco Gauff’s 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-1 singles victory over Mirra Andreeva on Saturday, Andreev swatted a ball into the Court Suzanne Lenglen stands after dropping a point in the first set. Andreev was given a warning by the chair umpire for unsportsmanlike conduct but no further penalty.

“I heard about that. Didn’t see it,” Bouzkova said. “I guess it just depends on the circumstances and the given situation as it happens. … It is difficult, for sure.

In the quarterfinals, Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo will face Ellen Perez of Australia and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States.

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a tough scene in Paris. Doubles partners Kato/Sutjiadi just got defaulted as Kato hit a ball girl accidentally at 6-7(1), 3-1.#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/A7BIshh1CX

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) June 4, 2023

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