Dortmund Holds on with 10 Men for 1st Away Win in Bundesliga

Borussia Dortmund's players celebrate with the fans after the German first division Bundesliga football match between VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund in Wolfsburg on December 22, 2024. (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)
Borussia Dortmund's players celebrate with the fans after the German first division Bundesliga football match between VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund in Wolfsburg on December 22, 2024. (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)
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Dortmund Holds on with 10 Men for 1st Away Win in Bundesliga

Borussia Dortmund's players celebrate with the fans after the German first division Bundesliga football match between VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund in Wolfsburg on December 22, 2024. (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)
Borussia Dortmund's players celebrate with the fans after the German first division Bundesliga football match between VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund in Wolfsburg on December 22, 2024. (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)

Borussia Dortmund held on after Pascal Groß’ sending off to beat Wolfsburg 3-1 for its first Bundesliga away win of the season on Sunday.

Donyell Malen got the visitors off the mark with a volley to a corner in the 25th, three minutes before Julian Brandt played in Maximilian Beier to score Dortmund’s second goal. Beier, who scored with the outside of his boot in off the left post, celebrated with a throwing-dart gesture, The Associated Press reported.

Beier returned the favor for Brandt to score Dortmund’s third two minutes after that.
Wolfsburg improved drastically after the break, when coach Ralph Hasenhüttl made two changes, including sending on Lukas Nmecha to face his brother Felix Nmecha, who was playing for Dortmund.
Denis Vavro pulled one back in the 58th, four minutes before Groß was sent off for a foul on Lukas Nmecha when the Wolfsburg forward was through on goal.
The home team pushed hard but Dortmund managed to hold on to ease the pressure on coach Nuri Sahin.
Dortmund climbed to sixth ahead of the league’s winter break.
Earlier, bottom club Bochum defeated relegation rival Heidenheim 2-0 for its first win of the season in the league. It was the visitors’ seventh straight Bundesliga defeat, the culmination of a busy schedule after clinching European qualification from its league debut last season and the offseason loss of star players like Jan-Niklas Beste, Tim Kleindienst and Eren Dinkci.



Daniil Medvedev Destroys TV Camera Attached to the Net During 5-Set Australian Open Win

Daniil Medvedev of Russia smashes his racket while in action against Kasidit Samrej of Thailand during their Men's Singles first round match during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
Daniil Medvedev of Russia smashes his racket while in action against Kasidit Samrej of Thailand during their Men's Singles first round match during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
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Daniil Medvedev Destroys TV Camera Attached to the Net During 5-Set Australian Open Win

Daniil Medvedev of Russia smashes his racket while in action against Kasidit Samrej of Thailand during their Men's Singles first round match during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
Daniil Medvedev of Russia smashes his racket while in action against Kasidit Samrej of Thailand during their Men's Singles first round match during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 14 January 2025. (EPA)

Daniil Medvedev used his racket to smash a tiny camera attached to the net at the Australian Open while he was trailing someone ranked 418th before eventually avoiding a monumental upset and winning 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the first round at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.

The No. 5-seeded Medvedev earned the title at the 2021 US Open and is a three-time runner-up at Melbourne Park, including a year ago, but was hardly playing his best in the second and third sets against Kasidit Samrej, a wild-card entry from Thailand who was making his Grand Slam debut.

“I know I play better when I play more tennis,” Medvedev joked afterward. “So I was like, ‘Why play 1 hour, 30 (minutes)?’ Need a minimum of three hours, at least, to feel my shots better.”

The camera-destroying racket swings happened in what would be the last game of the third set, which Samrej claimed to take a two-sets-to-one-lead in the best-of-five match.

Medvedev's display of anger came after he lost a 13-stroke point to trail 40-15. Samrej hit a shot that clipped the net, altering its trajectory and throwing off the Russian's balance, before a cross-court forehand passing winner left Medvedev unable to make contact.

Medvedev went up to the net and brought his racket forward with full force five times, breaking his equipment while shattering a small black camera and sending pieces of it flying. That earned a code violation warning for racket abuse from the chair umpire.

Soon enough, Medvedev had dropped the set, leaving him with plenty of work to do to avoid a massive upset in his first match of the 2025 season. Medvedev quickly did turn things around, though, claiming 12 of the remaining 15 games, and 61 of the remaining 94 points.

He finished with 24 aces and fewer than half as many unforced errors as Samrej, 34 to 69.

“In the end of last year, this match, I probably would have lost it,” said Medvedev, who went 3-1 in five-setters at the 2024 Australian Open. “New year, new energy.”

Samrej got treatment from a trainer because of a problem with his left leg late in the fourth set.

He was trying to become the lowest-ranked man to eliminate one of the top five seeded players at a Grand Slam tournament since the ATP's computerized rankings began in 1973, according to the International Tennis Federation.

The biggest such result entering Tuesday was when No. 234 Alex Kim beat No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov at the 2002 Australian Open.

Samrej earned his way into this year's Australian Open bracket by going through four rounds of a wild-card playoff for the Asia-Pacific region in November. He never had played against someone ranked higher than 78th until Tuesday and never has beaten anyone ranked higher than 157th.

“I watched his matches, and I didn't see this level, so I was surprised,” Medvedev said. “If he plays like this every match, his life will be good.”