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Bayer Leverkusen Completes Unprecedented Unbeaten Bundesliga Season, Cologne Relegated

Bayer Leverkusen's Spanish head coach Xabi Alonso celebrates with the Bundesliga trophy after the German first division Bundesliga football match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Augsburg in Leverkusen, western Germany on May 18, 2024. (AFP)
Bayer Leverkusen's Spanish head coach Xabi Alonso celebrates with the Bundesliga trophy after the German first division Bundesliga football match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Augsburg in Leverkusen, western Germany on May 18, 2024. (AFP)
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Bayer Leverkusen Completes Unprecedented Unbeaten Bundesliga Season, Cologne Relegated

Bayer Leverkusen's Spanish head coach Xabi Alonso celebrates with the Bundesliga trophy after the German first division Bundesliga football match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Augsburg in Leverkusen, western Germany on May 18, 2024. (AFP)
Bayer Leverkusen's Spanish head coach Xabi Alonso celebrates with the Bundesliga trophy after the German first division Bundesliga football match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Augsburg in Leverkusen, western Germany on May 18, 2024. (AFP)

League champion Bayer Leverkusen became the first team to complete a Bundesliga season undefeated on Saturday.

Early goals from Victor Boniface and Robert Andrich gave Leverkusen a 2-1 win over Augsburg in their last game of the season.

The win was their 28th in 34 Bundesliga games.

Leverkusen, which won the title in April to end Bayern Munich’s 11-year run, is the first team to complete an unbeaten season in any of Europe’s top five leagues since Juventus in the Italian Serie A in 2011-12.

Leverkusen hasn’t lost a game in any competition all season, a 51-game unbeaten run.

It had a firm grip on Augsburg but Mert Kömür pulled one back in the 62nd minute, prompting Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso to send on Florian Wirtz and Granit Xhaka, the star players he’d been trying to rest before the Europa League and German Cup finals next week.

Local rival Cologne was relegated. Cologne's hopes of avoiding the drop evaporated in a 4-1 loss at Heidenheim.

Janik Haberer scored in stoppage time for Union Berlin to clinch survival with a 2-1 win over Freiburg. Union’s win meant Bochum dropped into the relegation playoff place after losing at Werder Bremen 4-1.

Stuttgart finished second at Bayern Munich’s expense with a 4-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach, while Bayern slumped to a 4-2 loss at Hoffenheim in Thomas Tuchel’s last game as coach.

Mainz ensured its survival with a 3-1 win at Wolfsburg.

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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.