Liverpool Forward Mohamed Salah in Contention to Play against Brentford on Saturday

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (AFP)
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (AFP)
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Liverpool Forward Mohamed Salah in Contention to Play against Brentford on Saturday

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (AFP)
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (AFP)

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah could play against Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday after recovering from a hamstring injury, manager Jurgen Klopp said.

The Egypt international has been out for a month since sustaining the injury at the Africa Cup of Nations.

“Mo is back in full training, that brings him automatically in contention of course,” Klopp said Friday.

Salah's return to fitness is a boost to Liverpool after injury to Trent Alexander-Arnold, Thiago Alcantara and Dominik Szoboszlai.

Klopp dismissed suggestions that setbacks for those players could be attributed to them returning too soon after injury.

Alexander-Arnold is out of next week's League Cup final against Chelsea because of a recurrence of a knee problem in last weekend’s win against Burnley.

Thiago was out for around nine months with a hip injury and suffered a muscle problem 10 minutes into his comeback against Arsenal earlier this month.

Szoboszlai missed most of January with a hamstring problem. He is out again after hurting his hamstring.

Klopp insisted “we never forced anyone back and never will do.

"But we work in a high-performance area and if you have the same injury you are fit after three days and (for) another guy (it can be) after four weeks," Klopp said.

"We have to bring the boys back as soon as possible but never sooner than they are ready from our point of view.”



Sinner and Alcaraz Breeze through Shanghai Masters Openers

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain reacts during his Men's Singles match against Juncheng Shang of China at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai, China, 05 October 2024. (EPA)
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain reacts during his Men's Singles match against Juncheng Shang of China at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai, China, 05 October 2024. (EPA)
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Sinner and Alcaraz Breeze through Shanghai Masters Openers

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain reacts during his Men's Singles match against Juncheng Shang of China at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai, China, 05 October 2024. (EPA)
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain reacts during his Men's Singles match against Juncheng Shang of China at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai, China, 05 October 2024. (EPA)

Carlos Alcaraz and top-ranked Jannik Sinner showed no signs of fatigue from their China Open final earlier this week to advance with comfortable straight-set victories in their opening matches of the Shanghai Masters on Saturday.

The second-ranked Alcaraz, who beat the Italian in Beijing on Wednesday for his fourth title of the year, recorded his 10th consecutive win with a 6-2, 6-2 result against 19-year-old Shang Juncheng of China.

The 21-year-old Spaniard won the first nine points of the match and four of seven break points as he rushed into a third-round meeting with another Chinese player, Wu Yibing.

“I’m not used to playing against players younger than me,” Alcaraz said. “He has been playing good tennis lately, lifting his first ATP (title in Chengdu), so I’m pretty sure he’s going to climb the rankings. I’m just happy to to be able to win these kinds of matches.”

Sinner, who is dealing with an ongoing doping case, had a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 outing against Taro Daniel of Japan for his 250th career win.

The Italian, who won the US Open last month for his second major of the year, fired 12 aces and 38 winners.

“I felt quite comfortable today,” said the 23-year-old Sinner, who next plays Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina. “I feel in good shape also physically, which is very important for me. Of course I will try to improve for tomorrow’s performance, but today I was serving really, really well, especially in important moments, and was moving well.”

No. 65-ranked Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic broke sixth-ranked Andrey Rublev seven times on his way to an upset 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Yosuke Watanuki also had a surprise win, beating No. 35-ranked Brendan Nakashima 7-6 (4), 6-3. The Japanese qualifier plays either seventh-ranked Taylor Fritz of the US or French qualifier Terence Atmane next.

Also, 24th-ranked Alexei Popyrin of Australia beat Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2.

Later Saturday, third-ranked Alexander Zverev began his campaign against Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci, while fourth-ranked Novak Djokovic faced Alex Michelsen of the United States.