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Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz beats Daniil Medvedev to return to the Wimbledon final

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Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz beats Daniil Medvedev to return to the Wimbledon final

LONDON (AP) — Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz beat Daniil Medvedev 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on Friday to return to the Wimbledon final as he seeks his fourth Grand Slam title at age 21.

After a so-so opening set, Alcaraz transformed back into the energetic, attacking, crowd-pleasing force who already was the first teenager to be No. 1 in the ATP rankings and is the youngest man to have won a major trophy on three surfaces: grass, clay and hard courts.

Now the Spaniard is one victory away from joining Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg as the only men in the Open era, which began in 1968, with multiple championships at the All England Club before turning 22.

Alcaraz also triumphed at the U.S. Open in 2022 and the French Open last month.

He is 3-0 in major finals so far and will go up against 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic or Lorenzo Mussetti on Sunday. That duo was scheduled to meet in the second semifinal — the 49th appearance at that stage of a Grand Slam tournament for Djokovic, and the first for Musetti.

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A year ago at Wimbledon, Alcaraz eliminated 2021 U.S. Open champion Medvedev in straight sets in the semifinals before defeating Djokovic in five sets in the final.

This time, on a cloudy afternoon at Centre Court, the No. 3-seeded Alcaraz went through some ups and downs against No. 5 Medvedev, a 28-year-old from Russia who was trying to get to the seventh Slam title match of his career.

Medvedev grabbed an early 5-2 lead, then got into trouble with his play and his temper.

Alcaraz broke to get within 5-4 with a drop shot that chair umpire Eva Asderaki ruled — correctly, according to TV replays — bounced twice before Medvedev got his racket on the ball. He appeared to curse afterward, and Asderaki, after climbing down from her seat to huddle with tournament referee Denise Parnell during the ensuing changeover, issued a warning to Medvedev for unsportsmanlike conduct.

He regrouped quickly and was just about perfect in that set’s tiebreaker. His own defensive abilities — if Alcaraz relies on pure speed and reflexes, Medvedev is all about instincts and the long limbs on his 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) frame — combined with some strong serving and a return winner to take it relatively easily.

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Then it was Alcaraz’s turn to get headed in the right direction, which didn’t take long.

Three forehand errors by Medvedev translated into a break for Alcaraz and a 2-1 lead in the third set, accomplished with a backhand winner that capped a 27-stroke point that was the match’s longest. Fans roared stood; Alcaraz held an index finger to his ear, and the noise only grew louder.

Alcaraz got the last break he would need for a 4-3 edge in the fourth when Medvedev sailed a backhand long, then sat in his sideline chair, locked eyes with his two coaches up in the stands and started muttering and gesticulating.

That’s what Alcaraz can do to an opponent.

Nearly every time Alcaraz emitted one of his “Uh-eh!” two-syllable grunts while unleashing a booming forehand, spectators audibly gasped, regardless of whether the point continued. Often enough, it didn’t: Of the match’s 28 forehand winners, 24 were produced by Alcaraz’s racket.

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That, needless to say, is hardly the kid’s lone skill. He was terrific at the net, whether serve-and-volleying or otherwise, winning 38 of the 53 points when he moved forward. He won three points via drop shots in the opening set alone.

As dangerous as Alcaraz can be at his aggressive best, his defense is something to marvel at, too.

At times, it feels as though an exchange is never over until he decides it is. And if at appears that way from the comfort of the stands, just imagine how frustrating that must be for foes. On one point, Alcaraz left a skid mark several feet long in the grass when he sprinted, then slid, to reach an unreachable ball and sent up a lob that drew an errant Medvedev overhead in response.

___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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Jeff Baena, Film Director and Husband of Aubrey Plaza, Dead at 47

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Jeff Baena, Film Director and Husband of Aubrey Plaza, Dead at 47


Jeff Baena Dead: Aubrey Plaza’s Husband’s Cause of Death



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World’s oldest person dies in Japan at 116

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World’s oldest person dies in Japan at 116

Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was the world’s oldest person, according to Guinness World Records, has died, an Ashiya city official said Saturday. She was 116.

Yoshitsugu Nagata, an official in charge of elderly policies, said Itooka died Dec. 29 at a care home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan.

Itooka, who loved bananas and a yogurt-flavored Japanese drink called Calpis, was born May 23, 1908. She became the oldest person last year after the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

Tomiko Itooka celebrates her 116th birthday at the nursing home where she lives in Ashiya, Japan, May 23, 2024.  (Ashiya City via AP)

WORLD’S OLDEST MAN, DEAD AT 112, ATE THIS MEAL EVERY FRIDAY

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When she was told she was at the top of the World Supercentenarian Rankings List, she simply replied, “Thank you.”

When Itooka celebrated her birthday last year, she received flowers, a cake and a card from the mayor.

Born in Osaka, Itooka was a volleyball player in high school and long had a reputation for a sprightly spirit, Nagata said. She climbed the 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake twice.

Tomiko Itooka celebrates her 116th birthday

Tomiko Itooka celebrates her 116th birthday at the nursing home where she lives in Ashiya, Japan, May 23, 2024. (Ashiya City via AP)

OLDEST PERSON IN THE US, ELIZABETH FRANCIS, DIES AT 115 YEARS OLD IN HOUSTON

She married at 20, and had two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness.

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Itooka managed the office of her husband’s textile factory during World War II. She lived alone in Nara after her husband died in 1979.

She is survived by one son and one daughter and five grandchildren. A funeral service was held with family and friends, according to Nagata.

According to the Gerontology Research Group, the world’s oldest person is now 116-year-old Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Itooka.

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Austrian chancellor to resign after coalition talks collapse

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Austrian chancellor to resign after coalition talks collapse

Nehammer says his People’s Party would not support measures that it believes would harm the economy or new taxes.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has said he will resign after talks between the country’s biggest centrist parties on forming a government without the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) collapsed.

The announcement on Saturday comes a day after the liberal Neos party withdrew from the negotiations with Nehammer’s conservative People’s Party (OVP) and the Social Democrats (SPO).

“After the breakoff of the coalition talks I am going to do the following: I will step down both as chancellor and party chairman of the People’s Party in the coming days,” he said.

In a video posted to his social media accounts, the outgoing chancellor said “long and honest” negotiations with the centre-left failed despite a shared interest in fending off the gaining far right.

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Nehammer emphasised that his party would not support measures that it believes would harm the economy or new taxes.

He said he would enable “an orderly transition” and railed against “radicals who do not offer a single solution to any problem but only live from describing problems”.

The far-right Freedom Party (FPO) won the first parliamentary election in its history in late September with close to 30 percent of the vote.

But other parties refused to govern in a coalition with the eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO and its leader Herbert Kickl, so President Alexander Van der Bellen in late October tasked Nehammer to form a coalition.

Nehammer’s announcement comes after he also failed to reach an understanding with the Neos party.

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Neos leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger said progress was impossible and that “fundamental reforms” had not been agreed upon.

After the chancellor’s exit, the OVP is expected to convene to discuss potential successors.

The political landscape remains uncertain in Austria, with no immediate possibility of forming a stable government due to ongoing differences between the parties.

The president may now appoint another leader and an interim government as the parties try to find a way out of the deadlock.

The next government in Austria faces the challenge of having to save between 18 to 24 billion euros ($18.5-24.7bn), according to the European Commission.

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The country’s economy has been in a recession for the past two years, is experiencing rising unemployment and its budget stands at 3.7 percent of gross domestic product – above the European Union’s limit of 3 percent.

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