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Ronaldo Rested as Al Nassr Top Asian Champions League Group

Al-Nassr's Portuguese forward #07 Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the AFC Champions League group E football match between Saudi Al-Nassr SC and Tajikistan's FC Istiklol at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh on October 2, 2023. (AFP)
Al-Nassr's Portuguese forward #07 Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the AFC Champions League group E football match between Saudi Al-Nassr SC and Tajikistan's FC Istiklol at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh on October 2, 2023. (AFP)
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Ronaldo Rested as Al Nassr Top Asian Champions League Group

Al-Nassr's Portuguese forward #07 Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the AFC Champions League group E football match between Saudi Al-Nassr SC and Tajikistan's FC Istiklol at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh on October 2, 2023. (AFP)
Al-Nassr's Portuguese forward #07 Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the AFC Champions League group E football match between Saudi Al-Nassr SC and Tajikistan's FC Istiklol at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh on October 2, 2023. (AFP)

Al Nassr rested Cristiano Ronaldo and started the majority of their foreign contingent on the bench as they concluded the Asian Champions League group campaign with a 1-1 draw away to Istiklol on Tuesday night.

With progress secured with one matchday to spare, Nassr manager Luis Castro chose to leave Ronaldo out of the squad for the match in Dushanbe, while he named among his substitutes the likes of Sadio Mane, Aymeric Laporte, Otavio and Anderson Talisca.

Istiklol took the lead at the Pamir Stadium just after the half hour when midfielder Alisher Dzhalilov fired a fine low shot into the bottom corner, AFP reported.

The hosts, yet to win in this season’s competition, were hoping for three points to lift them off the bottom of the group.

However, Abdulrahman Ghareeb levelled five minutes into the second half, the Nassr winger converting a close-range volley at the second time of asking following an initial stop from Istiklol goalkeeper Rustam Yatimov.

Castro did send for Talisca, Nassr’s second-top scorer this season behind Ronaldo, in the 74th minute, and Ivory Coast midfielder Seko Fofana and Portugal winger Otavio late on but the visitors could not snatch the win.

Nassr ended the group stage unbeaten, with four victories and two draws.

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Swiatek Moves Into 3rd-round Match against Raducanu at Australian Open

Iga Swiatek of Poland in action during her round 2 match against Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia for the Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, 16 January 2025. EPA/LUKAS COCH
Iga Swiatek of Poland in action during her round 2 match against Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia for the Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, 16 January 2025. EPA/LUKAS COCH
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Swiatek Moves Into 3rd-round Match against Raducanu at Australian Open

Iga Swiatek of Poland in action during her round 2 match against Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia for the Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, 16 January 2025. EPA/LUKAS COCH
Iga Swiatek of Poland in action during her round 2 match against Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia for the Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, 16 January 2025. EPA/LUKAS COCH

Iga Swiatek rushed through the first set in 26 minutes and completed her 6-0, 6-2 second-round win over Rebecca Sramkova in an hour at the Australian Open.
The five-time Grand Slam champion makes a habit of advancing quickly through the early rounds at the majors. She’s won almost 12% of her sets in Grand Slams by 6-0, which puts her in exclusive company.
So when No. 49-ranked Sramkova ended a seven-game losing run by holding serve on Thursday, she raised her arm to acknowledge the applause from the Rod Laver Arena crowd. It was one of the few chances she had to celebrate.
“It was good to play in such an efficient way and just finish it quick,” Swiatek said. “Also, you know, just feel the court and how it is in RLA.”
Second-seeded Swiatek next faces 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, who recovered from an early break in the second set to hold off Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-5, The Associated Press reported.
Taylor Fritz hasn't wasted any time advancing to the third round, dropping just eight games across two rounds and spending just over three hours on court.
The 2024 US Open runner-up and No. 4 seed beat Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 to move into a third-round match against 38-year-old Gael Monfils, who last week became the oldest player to win an ATP Tour title.
Also advancing on the men's side were local hope Alex de Minaur, seeded 8th, No. 16 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 19 Karen Khachanov and No. 21 Ben Shelton, who beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4.
Raducanu has struggled with injuries since her breakthrough major in 2021, when she became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title.
She didn't play a warmup tournament ahead of this year's Australian Open because of a muscle strain and needed time during her match against Anisimova to get treatment on her back from a trainer.
After advancing beyond the second round for the first time at Melbourne Park, the No. 61-ranked Raducanu was confident she'd recover in time for her next challenge against Swiatek.
“It’ll be a very good match for me, another opportunity to test my game,” she said. "Going into it, I have nothing to lose. I’m just going to swing."
Swiatek is moving on from the doping infringement which led to her one-month ban last year. And she's not showing any signs of it being a distraction.
She did everything at pace in the second round, including quick claps of her racket to acknowledge the crowd after her win. Swiatek didn't face a break point against Sramkova and converted five of the six she had. She finished off points with winners off both sides, and also hit some clean volleys on her ventures to the net.
She's feeling slightly less pressure this year, too, after losing the No. 1 ranking to two-time defending Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka.
“Yeah, there was a lot of pressure starting the year as No. 1, but I think overall last year I didn’t think about it this much anyway," she said. “Also, I realized last year that I don’t have 100% influence on what happens with my ranking sometimes. So now I just focus on tennis.”
Emma Navarro, a US Open semifinalist last year and seeded in the top eight for the first time at a major, was in trouble after two service breaks early in the third set before she reeled off four straight games to beat Wang Xiyu 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
She hopped from the baseline toward the net, and made a big, swirling swing of her arm to underline another tough, three-set victory.
“It was really tough the whole time ... super tough there at the end,” Navarro said. “Found some good tennis there in the last games.”
She'll next play Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, who struggled with asthma but held off Camila Osorio 7-5, 6-3.
Sixth-seeded Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion and runner-up in Australia two years ago, registered her 50th win in a Grand Slam main draw singles match when she beat American qualifier Iva Jovic 6-0, 6-3.
No. 9 Daria Kasatkina also advanced 6-2, 6-0 over Wang Yafan and faces No. 24 Yulia Putintseva in the third round.