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China Ends Japan's Long Reign to Win Women's Basketball Asia Cup Title

China's Han Xu, right, and Li Meng embrace as they celebrate after defeating Japan in the Asia Cup women's basketball final in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, July 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
China's Han Xu, right, and Li Meng embrace as they celebrate after defeating Japan in the Asia Cup women's basketball final in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, July 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
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China Ends Japan's Long Reign to Win Women's Basketball Asia Cup Title

China's Han Xu, right, and Li Meng embrace as they celebrate after defeating Japan in the Asia Cup women's basketball final in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, July 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
China's Han Xu, right, and Li Meng embrace as they celebrate after defeating Japan in the Asia Cup women's basketball final in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, July 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

China rallied to claim its first women’s basketball Asia Cup title since 2012 as they beat five-time defending champion Japan 73-71 in an epic final on Sunday.
Trailing at halftime it appeared China may fall for a third consecutive time in a title game as reigning champions Japan scored the last 14 points of the first half to lead by nine points.
Led by player of the tournament center Xu Han, China seized the momentum early in the third quarter and took what proved a match-winning lead late in the game to end their 12-year wait for a gold medal in front of a large crowd in Sydney.
Xu finished with a match-defining 26 points and 10 rebounds to complete the feat of recording a double-double in every game of the tournament. Siyu Wang scored 17 points.
Maki Takada led Japan with 17 points and four rebounds, with Saki Hayashi scoring 12 points for Japan.
China's title follows its silver medal at the women’s basketball World Cup, also held in Sydney, late last year.
Japan and China met in the 2019 and 2021 title games with the Japanese prevailing in both to claim their fourth and fifth titles.
Earlier Saturday, host nation Australia claimed its third consecutive bronze medal as they cruised past New Zealand 81-59 to repeat its result from Bengaluru, India in 2019 and Amman, Jordan in 2021.
Alice Kunek contributed a team high 19 points and Anneli Maley completed a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Tess Madgen scored 14 points with five rebounds and three steals for the Opals.
The eight-team regional tournament doubled as qualifying for next year’s Olympics, with the semifinalists — Japan, Australia, China and New Zealand — qualifying for Paris 2024.

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Sinner, Berrettini Lift Italy Past Australia and Back to the Davis Cup Final

Italy's Jannik Sinner returns the ball against Australia's Alex de Minaur during the Davis Cup semifinal at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Italy's Jannik Sinner returns the ball against Australia's Alex de Minaur during the Davis Cup semifinal at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
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Sinner, Berrettini Lift Italy Past Australia and Back to the Davis Cup Final

Italy's Jannik Sinner returns the ball against Australia's Alex de Minaur during the Davis Cup semifinal at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Italy's Jannik Sinner returns the ball against Australia's Alex de Minaur during the Davis Cup semifinal at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Top-ranked Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini won matches Saturday in front of a supportive crowd to lift defending champion Italy past Australia 2-0 and back into the Davis Cup final.

Sinner extended his tour-level winning streak to 24 singles sets in a row by beating No. 9 Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4 after Berrettini came back to defeat Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-5, The Associated Press reported.
“Hopefully this can give us confidence for tomorrow,” said Sinner, now 9-0 against de Minaur.
Italy will meet first-time finalist Netherlands on Sunday for the title. The Dutch followed up their victory over Rafael Nadal and Spain in the quarterfinals by eliminating Germany in the semifinals on Friday.
Italy, which got past Australia in last year's final, is trying to become the first country to win the Davis Cup twice in a row since the Czech Republic in 2012 and 2013. Italy’s women won the Billie Jean King Cup by defeating Slovakia in Malaga on Wednesday.
The much shorter trip for Italian fans than Australians meant the 9,200-seat arena sounded like a home environment Saturday for Berrettini, with repeated chants of “I-ta-lia!” or “Ole, ole, ole, ole! Matte’! Matte’!” amplified by megaphones and accompanied by drums and trumpets. Chair umpire James Keothavong repeatedly asked spectators to stop whistling as Kokkinakis was serving.
“We're in Spain,” Kokkinakis said, “but it felt like we were in Italy.”
Sinner received the same sort of backing, of course, although he might not have needed as much with the way he has played all year, including taking the title at the ATP Finals last weekend.
“It's an honor, it's a pleasure, to have Jannik with us,” Italian captain Filippo Volandri said.
The biggest suspense Saturday on the indoor hard court at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martina Carpena in southern Spain came in Berrettini vs. Kokkinakis.
Berrettini, the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2021, needed to put aside the way he gave away the opening set, wasting three chances to finish it, and managed to do just that. He grabbed the last three games of the match, breaking to lead 6-5, then closing it out with his 14th ace after 2 hours, 44 minutes.
The big-hitting Berrettini has been ranked as high as No. 6 and is currently No. 35 after missing chunks of time the past two seasons because of injuries or illness. He sat out two of this year’s four major tournaments and lost in the second round at each of the other two.
But when healthy, he is among the world’s top tennis players, capable of speedy serves and booming forehands. He was in control for much of the match against No. 77 Kokkinakis, who was the 2022 Australian Open men’s doubles champion with Nick Kyrgios and helped his country get past the United States in the quarterfinals Thursday.
Berrettini earned the first break to lead 6-5 in the opening set and was a point away while serving at 40-30. Kokkinakis saved that via a 21-stroke exchange that ended with Berrettini sending a forehand long, then ended up breaking back when the Italian missed again off that wing.
Then, ahead 6-4 in the tiebreaker, Berrettini had two more opportunities to own the set. But Kokkinakis — who saved four match points against Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals — saved one with a gutsy down-the-line backhand passing winner and the other with a 131 mph (212 kph) ace, part of a four-point run to close that set.
“It wasn’t easy to digest ... because I had so many chances,” Berrettini said.