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Sports Boulevard Sponsors Saudi Cup, World’s Most Valuable Horse Race

The partnership was signed by JCSA chief executive Ziad Al-Mogren and SBF chief executive Jayne McGivern in the presence of Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al-Faisal, the chairman of the Equestrian Authority and the JCSA. SPA
The partnership was signed by JCSA chief executive Ziad Al-Mogren and SBF chief executive Jayne McGivern in the presence of Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al-Faisal, the chairman of the Equestrian Authority and the JCSA. SPA
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Sports Boulevard Sponsors Saudi Cup, World’s Most Valuable Horse Race

The partnership was signed by JCSA chief executive Ziad Al-Mogren and SBF chief executive Jayne McGivern in the presence of Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al-Faisal, the chairman of the Equestrian Authority and the JCSA. SPA
The partnership was signed by JCSA chief executive Ziad Al-Mogren and SBF chief executive Jayne McGivern in the presence of Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al-Faisal, the chairman of the Equestrian Authority and the JCSA. SPA

Sports Boulevard Foundation (SBF) signed a partnership with the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia (JCSA), making Sports Boulevard an official sponsor for the Sports Boulevard Riyadh Dirt Sprint race, one of the races held in the evening of the 2024 Saudi Cup, the world's most valuable horse race.

The partnership was signed by JCSA chief executive Ziad Al-Mogren and SBF chief executive Jayne McGivern in the presence of Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al-Faisal, the chairman of the Equestrian Authority and the JCSA.

This is the second year of the Sports Boulevard’s official sponsorship with the Saudi Cup, which this year has a combined prize fund of more than $37.35 million -- an increase of $2 million from last year. The greatest racehorses, jockeys, trainers, and owners will be welcomed by the organizers.

“Alongside the Sports Boulevard sponsorship of Riyadh Season races, their mission to transform the city of Riyadh and offer state-of-the-art equestrian sports facilities aligns with our ambition of bringing more of Saudi Arabia’s residents into the sport,” said Al-Mogren.

“We look forward to collaborating with the Sports Boulevard to promote equestrian sports to people across Riyadh City.”

According to McGivern, “Creating access to grassroots sports for people across Riyadh and the Kingdom, including horse-riding and other equine activities, is something I am passionate about.”

“Horseracing has a deep-rooted history in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with thoroughbred horses descended from Arabian bloodlines. As a globally famous horse racing event, this partnership is the perfect platform to encourage community engagement,” said McGivern.

The Saudi Cup will take place on February 23 and 24 at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh. Through the partnership, visitors will have plenty of opportunities to find out more about the Sports Boulevard. Visitors to SBF’s booth will be able to learn more about how the megaproject will transform health and wellbeing in Riyadh.

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Coco Gauff Comes Back at US Open and Beats Elina Svitolina

USA's Coco Gauff celebrates winning the second set against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their women's singles third round match on day five of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on August 30, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
USA's Coco Gauff celebrates winning the second set against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their women's singles third round match on day five of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on August 30, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
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Coco Gauff Comes Back at US Open and Beats Elina Svitolina

USA's Coco Gauff celebrates winning the second set against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their women's singles third round match on day five of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on August 30, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
USA's Coco Gauff celebrates winning the second set against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their women's singles third round match on day five of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on August 30, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

Coco Gauff was not aware that she'd lost five consecutive matches against opponents ranked in the top 50. She was not sure exactly how many points in a row she'd dropped — 11, it turns out — to give away the first set against Elina Svitolina in the US Open’s third round on Friday.
Here, then, is what was entirely clear to Gauff at that moment: “I needed a reset.” So before the second set, the 20-year-old from Florida went to the bathroom, changed part of her outfit and splashed water on her face. Then Gauff went back on court and extended the defense of her first Grand Slam title by turning things around to beat the 27th-seeded Svitolina 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, The Associated Press reported.
“Felt like a new person coming out,” the third-seeded Gauff said. “I just didn’t want to leave the court with any regrets.”
After making mistake after mistake early on at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Gauff managed to reel off nine of 11 games in one stretch and won again despite losing the opening set, something she did three times en route to claiming the 2023 trophy at Flushing Meadows, including in the final against Aryna Sabalenka.
“It was in my mind today. It gave me a lot of confidence,” Gauff said, “just because it felt like déjà vu a little bit.”
On Sunday, Gauff will face No. 13 Emma Navarro, one of her teammates at the Paris Olympics, for a berth in the quarterfinals. Navarro eliminated Gauff in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
“I did a good job of neutralizing her serve and just playing really aggressive from the baseline and pushing back against her groundstrokes,” Navarro, who is from South Carolina and won an NCAA title for Virginia, said about that matchup last month. “And then always getting one more ball back in the court.”
Navarro advanced Friday with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over No. 19 Marta Kostyuk. Other women's fourth-round matchups set up in the afternoon were No. 7 Zheng Qinwen vs. No. 24 Donna Vekic, and No. 26 Paula Badosa vs. Wang Yafan. No. 2 Sabalenka was set to play No. 29 Ekaterina Alexandrova at night, with the winner to face No. 33 Elise Mertens, who outlasted No. 14 Madison Keys in three sets.
The first men’s fourth-round pairing that was set up was No. 6 Andrey Rublev against No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov. No. 8 Casper Ruud will meet No. 12-seeded Taylor Fritz.
Zheng-Vekic is a rematch of the gold medal match at the Summer Games four weeks ago; Zheng won that one.
Vekic beat Gauff in the third round at the Olympics, part of Gauff's recent drought against top-50 foes. That also was part of a recent slump that saw Gauff win just five of her previous nine matches.
Such a contrast to a year ago, when Gauff won 18 of 19, and 12 in a row, along the way to two tuneup titles on hard courts and then the championship at the U.S. Open that made her the first U.S. teenager to triumph at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams in 1999.
By the conclusion of one set against Svitolina, it seemed as if another loss might be in the offing. Gauff’s totals were 16 unforced errors — nine on backhands — and just seven winners. She put only 45% of her first serves in. She went 0 for 3 on break points. She allowed Svitolina to claim 19 of the 28 points that lasted more than four strokes.
All of those numbers got better across the last two sets as Gauff tried to be more aggressive with her forehands and be more careful with her backhands. And something else changed, at the behest of her coaches: Gauff got the partisan crowd more involved.
Svitolina said afterward she was bothered by an ankle injury picked up last week
“I feel like she started to go (for) more a little bit. But to be fair, I didn’t play the way that I wanted to play. ... Then she started to be more alive," said Svitolina, a three-time Slam semifinalist. "And, of course, the crowd was behind her."
Everything began to change for Gauff on Friday after 1 hour, 10 minutes, when she broke to lead 4-2 in the second set, smacking a cross-court forehand winner. She celebrated with a yell of “Come on!” and raised her left hand to wiggle her fingers and ask the spectators to get louder.
Soon that set belonged to Gauff, who closed it with a 94 mph ace, shook a fist and shouted.
In the third, with UConn women’s basketball stars Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd sitting in her guest box at Ashe, Gauff broke right away, then held to go up 2-0 with the help of one 38-stroke point that she took when Svitolina sent a backhand wide.
Soon it was 5-1 for Gauff, whose only late wobble came when she served for the match at 5-2. She wasted three match points and got broken there. But Gauff broke right back to close things out.
“I’m glad that I had that match,” Gauff said, “because I think it just makes me match-tough and gets me ready, probably, for future challenges.”