Déjà vu for Lindsey Vonn in Olympic test event super-G

By Nick ZaccardiMar 4, 2017, 11:59 PM EST

Lindsey Vonn came to the 2018 Olympic venue and just missed victories on two straight days, by .07 on Saturday and then .04 in a super-G on Sunday.

Italian Sofia Goggia bumped Vonn to second both days, picking up the first two World Cup wins of her career in Jeongseon, South Korea.

Vonn’s performances this week certainly bode well for what should be her fourth and final Olympics next year. She came to South Korea on Tuesday still recovering from a race crash the previous Saturday, plus food poisoning last week.

Vonn overcame it to post the fastest downhill training runs Thursday and Friday before her back-to-back podium finishes in the official races.

She also made a hefty improvement in super-G. Before Sunday, Vonn’s best super-G finish was ninth in four races since returning from crash-caused knee and arm fractures in January.

“I’m really happy with my performance [Sunday], you know I struggled this season in super-G, so this is my best result by a lot,” Vonn said on NBCSN. “But still definitely frustrated by getting second place. … But, you know, I’ve learned to be patient in ski racing. I’ve lost many races by a few hundredths. I hope that the time will come back around next year for the Olympics.”

Full Results | Race Replay

After two training runs, Vonn said her confidence level on the South Korean track was similar to how she feels at her favorite venue of Lake Louise, Alberta.

Vonn has won 18 times in 41 World Cup starts at Lake Louise, a record number for any racer (male or female) at one place in history.

“The main point of this weekend is that I’m really confident on this hill,” said Vonn, who was also second in the Olympic test event downhill for the 2010 Winter Games in Whistler, B.C. “It suits my skiing really well. I know what I can do to be faster.”

Vonn remains on 77 career World Cup wins, nine shy of the record held by retired Swede Ingemar Stenmark. If Vonn stays healthy (no sure thing) and wins at her usual rate, she could break the record next season. Vonn owns one victory in 12 races across all disciplines since returning to racing in January from her latest injuries.

World Cup overall leader Mikaela Shiffrin skipped the South Korean speed races to prepare for next week’s giant slalom and slalom in Squaw Valley, Calif.

Shiffrin leads by 178 points over Slovenian Ilka Stuhec with six races left this season. Only a complete collapse would prevent Shiffrin from becoming the third U.S. woman to take the World Cup overall title (Tamara McKinney, Vonn).

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

MORE: Vonn among Olympic medalists in documentary about gender in sports

Follow @nzaccardi

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

Associated PressJun 4, 2023, 11:18 AM EDT

Getty

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.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

French Open doubles team disqualified after tennis ball hits ball girl

Associated PressJun 4, 2023, 9:57 AM EDT

Getty

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.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

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

More: Olympics

More: Olympics