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Spain, England to Meet in European Championship Final in Front of Prince William, King Felipe

The match is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) in Berlin - The AP
The match is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) in Berlin - The AP
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Spain, England to Meet in European Championship Final in Front of Prince William, King Felipe

The match is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) in Berlin - The AP
The match is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) in Berlin - The AP

Spain and England will meet in the European Championship final on Sunday, with much of the focus on a teenage wonderkid and whether one of the world's most underachieving teams can end its decades-long wait for a title, The AP reported.

The match is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) in Berlin and is expected to be attended by Prince William, Spain's King Felipe, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Keir Starmer, Britain’s new prime minister.

Spain is bidding to win the Euros for a record fourth time, breaking a tie with Germany/West Germany, and for the first time since 2012. The team's new superstar is winger Lamine Yamal, a prodigy who turned 17 on Saturday.

England, who lays claim to be the birthplace of soccer, hasn't won a major title since the 1966 World Cup and that was on home soil. This is the team's second straight European Championship final, having lost in a penalty shootout in the final to Italy three years ago.

The teams have taken different paths to the final, which will take place at Berlin's Olympiastadion — the 71,000-seat venue built for the 1936 Olympic Games and which hosted the 2006 World Cup final that featured Zinedine Zidane's infamous headbutt.

Spain has won all six of its matches and is widely regarded as the best team at Euro 2024, having seen off Germany and France in the knockout stage. England was unimpressive in the group stage and has shown resilience in coming from behind in all three of its knockout-stage games.

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Townsend, Siniakova Win Women's Doubles at Australian Open

TOPSHOT - USA's Taylor Townsend (L) and Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova celebrate with the trophy after their victory against Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei and Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in their women's doubles final match on day fifteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2025. (Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP)
TOPSHOT - USA's Taylor Townsend (L) and Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova celebrate with the trophy after their victory against Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei and Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in their women's doubles final match on day fifteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2025. (Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP)
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Townsend, Siniakova Win Women's Doubles at Australian Open

TOPSHOT - USA's Taylor Townsend (L) and Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova celebrate with the trophy after their victory against Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei and Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in their women's doubles final match on day fifteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2025. (Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP)
TOPSHOT - USA's Taylor Townsend (L) and Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova celebrate with the trophy after their victory against Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei and Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in their women's doubles final match on day fifteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2025. (Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP)

Taylor Townsend of the United States returned to the court on which her career first took flight, teaming with Katerina Siniakova to beat Hsieh Su-Wei and Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in the women's doubles final Sunday at the Australian Open.
“This is super-special to me,” The Associated Press quoted Townsend as saying. "The last time I played on this court I was 15 and in 2012 I won the juniors here and that was the kick-start.
“Honestly, being here is so special to me because this tournament was the beginning of me being able to live out my dream.”
Top-seeded Townsend and Siniakova of the Czech Republic led 6-2, 5-3 and served for the match for the first time at 5-4 in the second set. But third-seeded Hsieh and Ostapenko rallied to take the second set in a tie-break and to hold an early break in the third.
Taylor and Siniakova were able to fall back on proven teamwork on crucial points. This was their third Grand Slam together: they won Wimbledon last year and reached the semifinals of the US Open.
They were also able to exploit a hint of weakness on Hsieh's serve with Ostapenko at the net, breaking her four times in the match including in the ninth game of the final set. Siniakova then served out the match, with Townsend providing the finishing touch at the net.
The match was played in warm conditions on the Australia Day national holiday. The temperature was around 22C (71.6F) mid-afternoon and the court was warm, causing the ball to skip through quicker, particularly from the left-handed Townsend.
Siniakova and Townsend raced to a 5-1 lead inside 30 minutes and while Hsieh managed to hold at 5-2 in the best game of the set, Siniakova held to love to close out the first set in 37 minutes.
Win or lose Siniakova was going to extend her stay atop the WTA doubles rankings to 136 weeks, the fifth-best run of all-time. She has reached the semifinals or better at the last five grand slams.
The second set, much the same as the first, began with Ostapenko and Townsend holding serve, then Hsieh was broken at 2-1.
Ostapenko held at 2-3 and there was noticeable lift in intensity from the third seeds, a recognition of the importance of the moment and they managed to break Townsend to level at 3-3.
But another Hsieh service break gave Townsend the opportunity to serve for the match at 5-4 but again, Ostapenko and Hsieh rallied to level at 5-all. Hsieh then managed a crucial hold with Ostapenko occasionally starting at the back of the court, rather than at the net.
Siniakova's hold sent the set into a tie-break in which Ostapenko and Hseih picked up two points off Townsend at 5-4 and 6-4 to level the match.
The complexion of the game had changed and the third seeds were able to break Siniakova for the first time in the opening game of the third set, though Siniakova and Townsend immediately broke Ostapenko to level at 1-all.
Hsieh was broken again in the ninth game and this time Siniakova didn't miss.