Daily Mirror - 27.08.2019

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mirror.co.uk/sport TUESDAY 27.08.2019 DAILY MIRROR^47

TENNIS

US OPEN

FLUSHING MEADOWS

CONFIDENT Lightweight

contender Luke Campbell

BY TOM HOPKINSON

LUKE CAMPBELL will stun

boxing if he beats pound-

for-pound king Vasiliy

Lomachenko on Saturday.

But the Humberside

fighter says victory will

come as no surprise to him

or his team.

Lomachenko’s WBA

Super and WBO world

lightweight belts, as well as

the vacant WBC world

crown, are on the line at

London’s O2 Arena.

And Campbell, 31, said:

“Everybody in the outside

would see it as an upset but

it wouldn’t be an upset to

us. I’m in a great place —

physically, mentally, in the

gym, training, everything.

“I’m coming into my best

and in these next couple of

years I will be in my zone

and ready to beat anyone.”

Campbell, who lost his

first world title shot against

Jorge Linares in California

in 2017, said: “Lomachenko

is the best out there but

that’s exactly where I want

to be. And I’m more excited

for the big fights. I always

thrive off that so I’m more

in my comfort zone the

bigger the fight is.

“This would certainly top

everything, and after this

one it’s about going on and

sealing a legacy.”

Luke’s like

I can turn

up the Vas

UNITED STATES Solheim

Cup captain Juli Inkster has

put her faith in two veteran

all-rounders.

Stacy Lewis, 34, and

Morgan Pressel, 31, are her

two wildcard picks for next

month’s matches against

Europe at Gleneagles.

Inkster said: “I just felt

like I needed some veteran

leadership and a lot of my

team wanted them on the

team.

“They’ve both been

there. Morgan, I can just

put her with anybody.

“And the same with

Stacy. They just fit right in.”

The US have won five of

the last seven Solheim

Cups and Europe last won

the biennial trophy in 2013.

US call up

Cup vets

BOXING

GOLF

around” after his year-long

absence from the sport for taking

cocaine.

The world No.58 brushed

aside Mannarino, one place

above him in the rankings,

to avenge his first-round

defeat by the Frenchman at

Queen’s last year, their only

previous meeting.

Evans (above) dropped just

three service games.

DAN NOW THE MANN

DAN EVANS is through to the

second round of the US Open,

showing he is deadly

serious about getting his

career on track.

The British No.2

eased past Adrian

Mannarino 6-4 6-3 2-6

6-3 at Flushing Meadows.

Evans, 29, who recently split

with coach David Felgate, says he

no longer has time “to be p*****g

SLIM PICKINGS

Murray in Majorca

coccccca

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fitness after his operation in

January. And Murray, with career

earnings in excess of £50million,

had no trouble in seeing off the

French youngster, who has so far

made just £125 from tennis.

Sibille, 17, a trainee at Nadal’s

academy, avoided a whitewash by

winning the penultimate game.

Murray now faces third-seed

Norbert Gombos in today’s second

round, with the Slovak likely to

provide a much sterner test.

MURRAY FEELING MINTED

ANDY MURRAY banked only £400
for breezing past teenager Imran
Sibille as he continued his
comeback from surgery at the Rafa
Nadal Open.
Murray, currently ranked 329th in
the world, won 6-0 6-1 in just 44
minutes in Majorca last night to
register his first singles victory
since returning from hip surgery.
The Scot decided to enter the
second-tier Challenger Tour for the
first time since 2005 to build up his

Open in 2006. He has a 100 per cent

success record in the opening two

rounds at Flushing Meadows and

barely broke sweat against Baena,

who has a career-high ranking of 72.

The world No.1, who has won four

of the last five slams, will now face

either American Sam Querrey or

Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero in

the second round.

Margarita Gasparyan, in the

second round tomorrow.

The Brit dominated the first

set, but a series of unforced

errors in the second set allowed

Kasatkina back in. But she held

her nerve in the third and broke

three times.

Harriet Dart lost 6-3 6-1 to

Romanian Ana Bogdan on her

first appearance in the US

Open main draw.

The British No.3 could not

reproduce the form that took

her to the third round at

Wimbledon, but vowed to learn

from her first experience of

Flushing Meadows.

Dart, 23, said: “It is very

different to the other slams. A

lot of things are going on, from

the smell of hamburgers to the

concerts, and it gets you to

focus on the matches and

control what you can control.”

busy’, then he actually said, ‘I

don’t usually do this, but

I’m a massive fan’.

“I was like, ‘Who

else is here?’ We got

chatting and he’s

super nice and some

of his co-stars came

along to the match, as

well as a group of my friends. I

Daria Kasatkina 6-1 4-6 6-2 in

front of an enthusiastic crowd,

many of whom, like Hiddleston,

(right) were Brits.

She said: “We only met a few

days ago and he turns out to be

a big tennis fan so I invited him

down. We just crossed paths.

“I said to myself, ‘Don’t

bother him, he’s obviously

had a lot of support in the box.

“I’m a fan – I thought The

Night Manager was great

and if I have the time I

would love to take in his

show.”

Konta will have to wait

longer to give her regards to

Broadway as she won through

to face another Russian,

JO’S A MARVEL

BY GARY RALSTON

JO KONTA turned tennis

Avenger after teaming up

with Tom Hiddleston at the

US Open.

The British No.1 was cheered

on by Hiddleston, who plays

Loki in the Marvel movies, after

they bumped into each other in

New York.

The English actor is currently

starring in Betrayal on

Broadway and took the chance

to support Konta at Flushing

Meadows.

The 16th seed advanced to

the US Open second round for

the first time in three years and

eased concerns about her form

after first-round defeats in her

last two tournaments.

Konta, who reached the

French Open semi-finals and

Wimbledon quarter-finals this

year, saw off tricky opponent

Movie star Tom backs

his fellow Brit

Konta as she

gets her latest Major

bid off to a flying start

REIGNING champion Novak Djokovic

cruised through his US Open first-

round match against Roberto

Carballes Baena.

The Serb, seeking his 17th Grand

Slam title, beat the Spaniard 6-4 6-1

6-4 inside two hours.

Djokovic (left) has not lost a first-

round match in a Grand Slam since

he was bundled out of the Australian

NOVAK’S FAST CAR

Konta seeing off

Daria Kasatkina in

the first round in

New York

SHOW

NO FEAR

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me

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Im

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