U.S. women’s water polo shuts down Spain for third straight world title

By Beau DureJul 26, 2019, 6:43 AM EDT

The dominant U.S. women’s water polo team moved another step toward a triple-double of major titles Friday, winning a third straight world championship with an 11-6 win over Spain in a rematch of the 2017 final.

Next year, the team will go for a third straight Olympic gold, having already clinched a berth in the tournament by winning the World League Super Final last month. The Americans will be heavily favored, having won 53 straight games.

After a sloppy start that allowed Spain to forge a 3-3 tie in the second quarter, the U.S. broke things open with a 6- run, including a 4-0 spread in the third quarter.

Goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson, an East Coaster on a team full of Californians, was once again nearly unbeatable, stopping nine of 14 shots in the first half to keep Spain from taking the lead. She stopped six shots in the first quarter alone and finished with 14 saves before heading to the bench when the game was safely in hand late in the fourth quarter.

.@theAshJohnson named 2019 FINA World Championship MVP!#Gwangju2019 pic.twitter.com/MNGEhhANPR

— USA Water Polo (@USAWP) July 26, 2019

The U.S. took charge in the middle of the game with a balanced attack to compensate for the absence of leading scorer Maddie Musselman, who was out sick. Eight different players — Maggie Steffens, Paige Hauschild, Stephanie Haralabidis, Makenzie Fischer, Melissa Seidemann, Aria Fischer and Kiley Neuschel — scored the first eight U.S. goals.

Neuschul finished with a hat trick, one shy of her four-goal output from the 2017 final, while Steffens added her second.

The U.S. women are the first team to win three straight world titles. Since Adam Krikorian took over in 2009, the team has won four of six world championships, two straight Olympic championships and three straight World Cups.

Coach Krikorian on the comparisons to the other highly successful Women's National Teams in the US from soccer to basketball and others. Plus the role this team plays in #sportgrowth.#Gwangju2019 #waterpolo pic.twitter.com/AjPcCpHGOG

— USA Water Polo (@USAWP) July 26, 2019

The gold medal kicked off a banner day for the U.S. at the World Aquatics Championships, with Simone Manuel‘s 100m freestyle win accounting for one of three swimming medals while Caeleb Dressel and Regan Smith set world records in their semifinal races.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

SWIM WORLDS: TV Schedule | Results

Follow @nbcolympictalk

2023 French Open men’s singles draw, scores

By OlympicTalkJun 5, 2023, 4:59 PM EDT

Getty

The French Open men’s singles draw is missing injured 14-time champion Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2004, leaving the Coupe des Mousquetaires ripe for the taking.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Novak Djokovic is not only bidding for a third crown at Roland Garros, but also to lift a 23rd Grand Slam singles trophy to break his tie with Nadal for the most in men’s history.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Women’s Draw

But the No. 1 seed is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s U.S. Open to become, at 19, the youngest man to win a major since Nadal’s first French Open title in 2005.

Now Alcaraz looks to become the second-youngest man to win at Roland Garros since 1989, after Nadal of course.

Alcaraz missed the Australian Open in January due to a right leg injury, but since went 30-3 with four titles. Notably, he has not faced Djokovic this year. They could meet in the semifinals.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed, was upset in the first round by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild. It marked the first time a men’s top-two seed lost in the first round of any major since 2003 Wimbledon (Ivo Karlovic d. Lleyton Hewitt).

All of the American men lost before the fourth round. The last U.S. man to make the French Open quarterfinals was Andre Agassi in 2003.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek set French Open rematch

By OlympicTalkJun 5, 2023, 3:25 PM EDT

Getty

Coco Gauff swept into the French Open quarterfinals, where she plays Iga Swiatek in a rematch of last year’s final.

Gauff, the sixth seed, beat 100th-ranked Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 7-5, 6-2 in the fourth round. She next plays the top seed Swiatek, who later Monday advanced after 66th-ranked Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko retired down 5-1 after taking a medical timeout due to illness.

Gauff earned a 37th consecutive win over a player ranked outside the top 50, dating to February 2022. She hasn’t faced a player in the world top 60 in four matches at Roland Garros, but the degree of difficulty ratchets up in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

Swiatek won all 12 sets she’s played against Gauff, who at 19 is the only teenager in the top 49 in the world. Gauff said last week that there’s no point in revisiting last year’s final — a 6-1, 6-3 affair — but said Monday that she should rewatch that match because they haven’t met on clay since.

“I don’t want to make the final my biggest accomplishment,” she said. “Since last year I have been wanting to play her, especially at this tournament. I figured that it was going to happen, because I figured I was going to do well, and she was going to do well.

“The way my career has gone so far, if I see a level, and if I’m not quite there at that level, I know I have to improve, and I feel like you don’t really know what you have to improve on until you see that level.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Also Monday, No. 7 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia dispatched 36th-ranked American Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-1, breaking all eight of Pera’s service games.

Jabeur, runner-up at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year, has now reached the quarterfinals of all four majors.

Jabeur next faces 14th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia, who won 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-5 over Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, who played on a protected ranking of 68. Haddad Maia became the second Brazilian woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in the Open Era (since 1968) after Maria Bueno, who won seven majors from 1959-1966.

Pera, a 28 year-old born in Croatia, was the oldest U.S. singles player to make the fourth round of a major for the first time since Jill Craybas at 2005 Wimbledon. Her defeat left Gauff as the lone American singles player remaining out of the 35 entered in the main draws.

The last American to win a major singles title was Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major drought matches the longest in history (since 1877) for American men and women combined.

In the men’s draw, 2022 French Open runner-up Casper Ruud reached the quarterfinals by beating 35th-ranked Chilean Nicolas Jarry 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-5. He’ll next play sixth seed Holger Rune of Denmark, a 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7) winner over 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

More: Olympics

More: Olympics