Section:GDN 1N PaGe:49 Edition Date:190830 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 29/8/2019 21:09 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Friday 30 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
49high as it sometimes looks when the
journey starts. When Evans played
Federer for the second time in the
second round of the Australian Open
this year, he took him to two tie -breaks
in a high-grade three-set match.
Whether it was that showing or
Federer’s curiosity about this one-time
tearaway and his expansive, intelli-
gent game that brought them together
is uncertain, but theirs is one of the
m ost interesting friendships on the
tour, strengthened by a recent training
stint they had in Switzerland.
Pouille , too, has trained occasion-
ally with Federer, at his winter base
in Dubai, but there was no dividend
evident from that experience for most
of this match, as his unforced error
count grew alarmingly to 81 – and on
both wings.
All was going so well for Evans
until, leading by two sets and a break
with the coolness of the locker room
beckoning, he missed a volley to go 5-2
up on his serve in the third. This gave
slim hope to an opponent who was
playing woefully and broke and held
to serve for the set. But his wretched
form struck him down again and hedumped a regulation forehand to hand
Evans parity.
The enigmatic Frenchman forced
two deuce points and the result was
very much up in the air.
Evans blew a 3-0 lead in the tie-
break, which propelled them into a
fourth set of a match the British No 3
could so easily have won half an hour
earlier. A couple of calamitous shot
choices cost Pouille his serve in the
ninth game and Evans served for
the match, fi nishing the job when
he forced a long lob from his weary
opponent.Rugby unionGatland picks
reserves and
zeroes in on
Irish nerves
Wales’s fi rst Test as leaders in the
world rankings is Warren Gatland’s last
in charge of them in Cardiff. He has
chosen a reserve side to face Ireland,
looking for evidence to settle the fi nal
eight places in his World Cup squad
that will be announced the follow-
ing day, after chatting to his opposite
number, Joe Schmidt, who has made
11 changes from the side overwhelmed
by England last weekend.
Schmidt may have been tempted
to take drastic action, never mind the
verbal agreement with Gatland. It was
Ireland’s heaviest defeat against Eng-
land and provoked a reaction that Gat-
land, who has never been shy in trying
to unsettle opponents before a match,
exploited in his team announcement.
“They are under an enormous
amount of pressure back home with a
lot of criticism given that they haven’t
progressed in World Cups further than
they would have expected,” said Gat-
land. “There are a lot of doubts in the
coaches’ minds about who are their
best players: some are getting a bit
older so is it a time to put some of the
youngsters in? It’s a massive game for
Ireland that will answer a lot of ques-
tions. That’s why I’m excited. It’s a
challenge for us. This is professional
sport and we can put a massive dent in
their confi dence and derail them a bit.”
It looks as if Gatland will take 13
backs to Japan, including two spe-
cialist fl y-halves, three centres and
three scrum-halves, and 18 forwards,
including six props, one of whom, the
21-year-old Rhys Carre, who has joined
Saracens from Cardiff Blues, will win
his fi rst cap on Saturday along with the
wing Owen Lane.
“It is a great opportunity for them
both,” said Gatland. “They have
worked hard all summer to get to this
point and they have the chance to put
their hands up for the World Cup. They
had a shock at fi rst when they saw howhard we train – Rhys has lost 10 kg since
he has been with us – but they have
both fi tted in well.”
Carre walked into the Wales camp
weighing 21st 8lb and, after training
camps in Switzerland and Turkey, is
now a trimmer 19st 13lb. “Running is
a lot easier now,” he said. “I am not
out of breath after 10 seconds. When
I came into camp I expected training
to be tough, but not that tough. The
emphasis here is to be the fi ttest side
and that shows in training. I could not
describe the horrors of one of the ses-
sions, but we are all the better for it.”
Josh Navidi will captain Wales from
No 8. The fl anker James Davies is the
only starter from Wales’s last match,
against England earlier this month, an
afternoon on which he suff ered con-
cussion after 23 minutes. Scott Wil-
liams returns to the centre more than
a year after winning his last cap and
Aaron Shingler starts in the back row.
If Wales fail to win, they will lose
their place at the top of the rankings, a
position World Rugby’s vice-chairman,
Agustín Pichot, believes they occupy by
default, claiming the system is driven
by commercial interest and does not
accurately refl ect what has happened
on the fi eld. His promise to change it
did not bother Gatland who said: “We
did not apply for it. If he is not happy,
take it off us. We offi cially decline the
position, thanks very much.”
Ireland were aiming for the summit
when they defeated New Zealand last
November but, after losing home and
away to England this year and to Wales
in Cardiff in the Six Nations, a win will
do, though they will go top if they win
by 15 points or more. There are four
survivors from Twickenham, includ-
ing Peter O’Mahony, who captains the
side, but the fl y-half Jonathan Sexton
is not involved. Garry Ringrose covers
the position from the bench.
“Johnny, Robbie Henshaw and
Keith Earls are all highly likely to play
next week [against Wales in Dublin],”
said Schmidt. “What we saw at Twick-
enham was what it looks like when a
team has had a couple of games and
the other hasn’t. I believe we are in a
better place now to play rugby rather
than prepare to play it.”Men: Singles: Second round:
N DJOKOVIC (Ser, 1) bt JI Londero (Arg) 6-4
7-6 (7-3) 6-1;G Dimitrov (Bul) w/o B CORIC
(Cro, 12); D Koepfer (Ger) bt R Opelka (US) 6-4
6-4 7-6 (7-2); A De Minaur (Aus) bt C GARIN
(Chl, 31) 6-3 7-5 6-3; D GOFFIN (Bel, 15) bt
G Barrere (Fr) 6-2 6-2 6-3; D Kudla (US) bt
D LAJOVIC (Ser, 27) 7-5 7-5 0-6 6-3; K Majchzrak
(Pol) bt P Cuevas (Uru) 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 2-6 6-4
6-1; D Evans (GB) bt L POUILLE (Fr, 25) 6-4 6-3
6-7 (4-7) 6-4Women: Singles: Second round:
E SVITOLINA (Ukr, 5) bt V Williams (US) 6-4
6-4; M KEYS (US, 10) bt Zhu L (Chn) 6-4 6-1;
A BARTY (Aus, 2) bt L Davis (US) 6-2 7-6
(7-2); S WILLIAMS (US, 8) bt C McNally (US)
5-7 6-3 6-1; F Ferro (Fr) bt K Mladenovic (Fr)
6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3; M SAKKARI (Gre, 30) bt
Peng S (Chn) 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-2; WANG Q
(Chn, 18) bt A Van Uytvanck (Bel) 7-5 6-4;
O Jabeur (Tun) bt A Sasnovich (Blr) 3-6 6-4
6-2; D YASTREMSKA (Ukr, 32) bt R Peterson(Swe) 6-4 6-1; S KENIN (US, 20) bt
L Siegemund (Ger) 7-6 (7-4) 6-0; P MARTIC
(Cro, 22) bt A Bogdan (Rom) 6-2 6-4;
K Muchova (Cz) bt HSEIH S-W (Tai, 29) 6-1 4-6
7-6 (7-2); A Petkovic (Ger) bt P KVITOVA
(Cz, 6) 6-4 6-4; A SEVASTOVA (Lat, 12) bt
I Swiatek (Pol) 3-6 6-1 6-3; N OSAKA
(Jpn, 1) bt M Linette (Pol) 6-2 6-4; J KONTA
(GB, 16) bt M Gasparyan (Rus) 6-1 6-0;
E MERTENS (Bel, 25) bt Kristyna Pliskova (Cz)
6-2 6-2.Results
▲ Johanna
Konta powers
into the third
round, beating
Margarita
Gasparyan
in 54 minutes
ELLA LING/
BPI/SHUTTERSTOCKReplacements
E Dee Dragons
R Evans Scarlets
L Brown Dragons
J Ball Scarlets
R Moriarty Dragons
T Williams Cardiff Blues
R Patchell Scarlets
J Holmes LeicesterWales Ireland
H Amos Cardiff Blues 15 W Addison Ulster
O Lane Cardiff Blues 14 A Conway Munster
S Williams Ospreys 13 C Farrell Munster
O Watkin Ospreys 12 B Aki Connacht
S Evans Scarlets 11 J Stockdale Ulster
J Evans Cardiff Blues 10 J Carty Connacht
A Davies Ospreys 9 K Marmion Connacht
R Carre Saracens 1 D Kilcoyne Munster
R Elias Scarlets 2 N Scannell Munster
S Lee Scarlets 3 John Ryan Munster
A Beard Ospreys 4 I Henderson Ulster
B Davies Ospreys 5 James Ryan Leinster
A Shingler Scarlets 6 T Beirne Munster
James Davies Scarlets 7 P O’M ah ony Munster (c)
J Navidi Cardiff Blues (c) 8 J Conan LeinsterWales
Ireland
Venue Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Referee Romain Poite (Fr) 18°
TV Channel 4 Radio BBC Wales and BBC CymruTomorrow 2.30pm Warm-upReplacements
R Best Ulster
A Porter Leinster
T Furlong Leinster
D Toner Leinster
J Murphy Ulster
L McGrath Leinster
G Ringrose Leinster
D Kearney LeinsterPaul ReesSam Johnson will make his return
from injury in Georgia but three
more players will not feature at
all before Scotland’s head coach,
Gregor Townsend, picks his World
Cup squad. The centre suff ered
an ankle injury during Scotland’s
summer camp but will start in
Tbilisi tomorrow. However, Fraser
Brown and Magnus Bradbury
have not made the 23 and Jonny
Gray will also have to rely on past
contributions to make Townsend’s
fi nal 31-man squad when he names it
on Tuesday. PA Media
Scotland team to face Georgia: B Kinghorn; D Graham,
R Hutchinson, S Johnson, S Maitland; F Russell, G Laidlaw
(capt); A Dell, S McInally, WP Nel, B Toolis, G Gilchrist,
J Barclay, H Watson, M Fagerson.
Replacements: G Stewart, J Bhatti, Z Fagerson, S Cummings,
J Strauss, A Price, A Hastings, H JonesJohnson back for Scotland
RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws