Monaco Loses at Rock-bottom Montpellier and Concedes 3rd Place to Lille in Ligue 1

Mousa Tamari of Montpellier HSC celebrates after scoring a goal during the French Ligue 1 soccer match between Montpellier HSC and AS Monaco, in Montpellier, Southern France, 17 January 2025. EPA/GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO
Mousa Tamari of Montpellier HSC celebrates after scoring a goal during the French Ligue 1 soccer match between Montpellier HSC and AS Monaco, in Montpellier, Southern France, 17 January 2025. EPA/GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO
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Monaco Loses at Rock-bottom Montpellier and Concedes 3rd Place to Lille in Ligue 1

Mousa Tamari of Montpellier HSC celebrates after scoring a goal during the French Ligue 1 soccer match between Montpellier HSC and AS Monaco, in Montpellier, Southern France, 17 January 2025. EPA/GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO
Mousa Tamari of Montpellier HSC celebrates after scoring a goal during the French Ligue 1 soccer match between Montpellier HSC and AS Monaco, in Montpellier, Southern France, 17 January 2025. EPA/GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO

Monaco's floundering season took another turn for the worse as it lost at rock-bottom Montpellier 2-1 in Ligue 1 and conceded third place to Lille on Friday.
Bruno Genesio's Lille extended its unbeaten run in all competitions to 21 games with a 2-1 home win against Nice to move one point above Monaco, which played earlier.
Despite taking the lead through Germany defender Thilo Kehrer in the first half against the league's worst defense, third-placed Monaco collapsed after the break when Jordan forward Mousa Al Tamari scored twice, The Associated Press reported.
New signing Mika Biereth started in attack for coach Adi Hütter's Monaco, which has won only twice in the past 11 games overall.
It was only Montpellier's third win in 18 league games.
Defeat left Monaco 12 points behind leader Paris Saint-Germain and increased the pressure on Hütter.
Next up for Lille is a tough trip to Premier League leader Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday, but Genesio's side is proving very resilient this season.
Lille fell behind in the 29th when midfielder Sofiane Diop turned the ball in after goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier spilled a right-wing cross from Jonathan Clauss.
Clauss was fooled by striker Jonathan David's dummy shortly after the break, however, and David astutely set up Hakon Haraldsson's equalizer. Then Clauss botched a clearance in the 63rd and defender Bafodé Diakité finished.
Nice dropped to fifth place and one point behind Monaco.
PSG is at Lens on Saturday.



Defending Champ Sinner Gets Back to 4th Round at Australian Open

Jannik Sinner (L) of Italy celebrates winning his Men's Singles round 3 match against Marcos Giron (R) of USA at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 18 January 2025. EPA/JOEL CARRETT
Jannik Sinner (L) of Italy celebrates winning his Men's Singles round 3 match against Marcos Giron (R) of USA at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 18 January 2025. EPA/JOEL CARRETT
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Defending Champ Sinner Gets Back to 4th Round at Australian Open

Jannik Sinner (L) of Italy celebrates winning his Men's Singles round 3 match against Marcos Giron (R) of USA at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 18 January 2025. EPA/JOEL CARRETT
Jannik Sinner (L) of Italy celebrates winning his Men's Singles round 3 match against Marcos Giron (R) of USA at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 18 January 2025. EPA/JOEL CARRETT

Defending champion Jannik Sinner beat 46th-ranked Marcos Giron of the US 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 at the Australian Open on Saturday night, reaching the fourth round at Melbourne Park for the fourth time.
Sinner stretched his unbeaten run to 17 matches, dating to last season. He had an eventful 2024, claiming his first two Grand Slam titles, reaching No. 1 in the ATP rankings for the first time — and going through a doping case that is still not quite resolved, because the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed his exoneration.
The 23-year-old Italian's next opponent in Australia will be either No. 13 Holger Rune or Miomir Kecmanovic, The Associated Press reported.
After eliminating Giron, who was trying to get to the fourth round of a major for the first time, Sinner was critical of himself, pointing specifically to his 16-of-24 success rate on points when he moved forward.
“The percentage of my net game was not really good,” Sinner said with a chuckle.
“For sure, if I want to go on in this tournament, I have to improve,” he added. “So hopefully in the next round, I'm able to raise my level.”