Coco Gauff to Face Elina Svitolina in WTA Auckland Classic Final

Coco Gauff of the United States throws her racket in the air during her semifinal match against compatriot Emma Navarro at the ASB Tennis Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. (Andrew Cornaga/Photosport via AP)
Coco Gauff of the United States throws her racket in the air during her semifinal match against compatriot Emma Navarro at the ASB Tennis Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. (Andrew Cornaga/Photosport via AP)
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Coco Gauff to Face Elina Svitolina in WTA Auckland Classic Final

Coco Gauff of the United States throws her racket in the air during her semifinal match against compatriot Emma Navarro at the ASB Tennis Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. (Andrew Cornaga/Photosport via AP)
Coco Gauff of the United States throws her racket in the air during her semifinal match against compatriot Emma Navarro at the ASB Tennis Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. (Andrew Cornaga/Photosport via AP)

Coco Gauff will defend her title at the Auckland Classic against Elina Svitolina after beating fellow American Emma Navarro 6-3, 6-1 in a semifinal Saturday.
Gauff needed only 62 minutes to sweep past fourth-seeded Navarro and now has won 18 straight sets and nine consecutive matches over two years in Auckland. She has lost only 15 games in four matches so far this year.
Gauff’s win in Auckland last year was the start of a golden run which culminated when she won her first major title at the U.S. Open. She seems in similar, compelling form this year, dominating matches with her serve and powerful ground shots.
She set down 10 aces in 12 games in beating Navarro.
“It’s a good start to my 2024,” Gauff said. “Emma's a great player. We’ve played each other when I was like 12 years old and she was 15 so it’s our second time playing since then. So it’s really cool to play on this stage. I wish her the best for the rest of the season.”
Gauff is 19, Navarro 22.
Gauff broke Navarro in the opening game of the second set and went on to win the set in 32 minutes in a controlled and dominating performance. Her deep ground shots allowed her to follow to the net where she dominated and used her powerful forehand with accuracy.
“I’m just being aggressive with my serve and return,” The Associated Press quoted Gauff as saying. “We played one set in practice over here before the tournament began and she was playing really well so I think I knew I had to be at my best to be able to win.”
Gauff’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be second-seeded Svitolina, who needed two medical timeouts on her way to a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Wang Xiyu of China.
Svitolina dropped her serve in the third game of the first set and again, to love, in the fifth game to trail 4-1.
She received courtside treatment for a lower back injury then left the court for a medical timeout. When she returned, she immediately broke Wang’s serve but lost her own and lost the set 6-2.
Svitolina took the second set with a solitary break in the 10th game. She called for another medical timeout at the start of the third set but returned to hold serve and to break Wang for 3-1 and 5-1 leads.
Wang broke back in the seventh game but Svitolina rallied and served out the set in the ninth game which included two aces.



Bayern Battle Past 10-man Augsburg but Musiala Goes Off Injured

04 April 2025, Bavaria, Augsburg: Munich's Jamal Musiala receives treatment on the ground by team doctor Dr. Jochen Hahne (C) during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and Bayern Munich at WWK-Arena. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa
04 April 2025, Bavaria, Augsburg: Munich's Jamal Musiala receives treatment on the ground by team doctor Dr. Jochen Hahne (C) during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and Bayern Munich at WWK-Arena. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa
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Bayern Battle Past 10-man Augsburg but Musiala Goes Off Injured

04 April 2025, Bavaria, Augsburg: Munich's Jamal Musiala receives treatment on the ground by team doctor Dr. Jochen Hahne (C) during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and Bayern Munich at WWK-Arena. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa
04 April 2025, Bavaria, Augsburg: Munich's Jamal Musiala receives treatment on the ground by team doctor Dr. Jochen Hahne (C) during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and Bayern Munich at WWK-Arena. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa

Bayern Munich came back from a goal down to beat 10-man Augsburg 3-1 away on Friday and move nine points clear at the top of the Bundesliga but Jamal Musiala went off injured and looks unlikely to be fit for next week's Champions League quarter-final.
Musiala equalized before Harry Kane's header and a deflected own goal from Augsburg's Chrislain Matsima gave Bayern the points after the hosts took the lead through Dimitris Gianoulis' strike but ran out of steam when Cedric Zesiger was sent off.
Bayern now have 68 points with six games left, nine ahead of Bayer Leverkusen, who travel to lowly Heidenheim on Saturday.
Bayern, who host Serie A pacesetters Inter Milan in the first leg of Europe's elite club competition on Tuesday, are already without injured defenders Hiroki Ito, Alphonso Davies and Dayot Upamecano as well as goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
"We have played without Jamal a few times already this season," Reuters quoted Bayern coach Vincent Kompany as saying.
"I'm no doctor and don't want to look too far ahead but unfortunately it looks like he will miss it (Inter match). We'll know more after checks today or tomorrow.
"But in these moments I always have the feeling that we should not stop. These moments happen.
"We worked our way into this situation, and in the six remaining league games and in the Champions League we want to use our chances and win something, be successful.
"So we should not take too much from the sometimes sad stories and get strength from the issues we have solved this season," he added.
Augsburg, undefeated in their previous 11 league matches, stunned their Bavarian rivals with Greece defender Gianoulis' superb 30th minute finish.
The visitors hit back three minutes before the break when Germany international Musiala turned in the box and beat goalkeeper Finn Dahmen with a low shot.
Bayern rattled the crossbar with Michael Olise's effort in the 52nd but then saw Musiala helped off the pitch with what looked like a muscle injury.
The game turned in the 59th minute when Augsburg had Zesiger dismissed for a second booking. Bayern scored from the resulting free kick through Bundesliga top scorer Kane's diving header for his 23rd league goal of the campaign.
It was the England striker's 78th goal in 84 matches across all competitions for the Bavarians.
Bayern's Leroy Sane, who had missed a golden chance minutes earlier, made sure of the three points with a deflected cross off Matsima in stoppage time which was awarded as an own goal.
"If you take away the goal that we conceded, in the first and second half we were solid defensively," Kompany said.
"After going 1-0 down and how the team worked its way back into the game was a good sign."