Carlos Alcaraz declared he would be going to the French Open with the title in his sights after the teenage sensation stormed to Madrid Open glory.
The 19-year-old swatted aside a weary Alexander Zverev 6-3 6-1 in an hour and two minutes in Sunday's final.
That followed hard-fought three-set wins for Alcaraz over Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, two of the pillars of men's tennis this century, and it points to a glorious future.
If the present moment seems good, then thoughts are already turning to what remarkable feats Alcaraz might achieve across his career.
He is widely considered a multiple slam winner in waiting, but must first knock off that first major.
The Spanish teenager has won a tour-leading four titles already in 2022, and he said on Tennis TV: "Yes, I think I'm ready to win a grand slam. I think I'm ready to go for it.
"This is a goal for me this year, try to get my first grand slam. I'm going to work for it and let's see what is going to happen at Roland Garros."
The French Open begins on May 22, and Alcaraz will skip the Internazionali d'Italia to ensure he is rested and focused on the tournament in Paris.
He reached the third round last year, but the Alcaraz of 12 months ago was not the winning machine he has become, a powerful striker of the ball who should fear nobody on the French clay.
Alcaraz has become the second-youngest player to win two Masters 1000 titles, after the 18-year-old Nadal in 2005, having added Madrid to his Miami triumph, and is the youngest, also since Nadal, to scoop five ATP Tour titles.
Alcaraz has a perfect record in title matches, becoming the sixth man in the Open Era to win his first five finals at tour level, and he has strung together seven consecutive wins against opponents ranked inside the top 10.
On Monday, he will jump three places to sixth in the ATP rankings, a new career high. Yet the teenager says there is plenty of scope for growing his game, as the likes of the 'Big Three' have shown.
"I think that I have to improve everything still," he said. "I have always said that you can improve everything. You never reach a limit.
"Look at Rafa, Djokovic, [Roger] Federer, all of them improve and they have things to improve. They keep on working and improving.
“That's what I want to do. I want to keep on progressing."
He added, quoted on the ATP official website: "I have really good shots. I don't say that I don't have them, but I know that I can improve them and they can be even better.”
In Madrid, Alcaraz became the youngest player to beat three top-five stars at the same tournament since the ATP Tour launched in 1990, by taking out top-ranked Djokovic, world number three Zverev and Nadal, who sits fourth in the rankings.
He leads the way for wins in the 2022 season as his 10th straight triumph takes him to 28 match victories for the campaign, one more than Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Max Homa held on down the stretch to win the Wells Fargo Championship for a second time at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm.
The 31-year-old finished eight under after a two-under 68 on Sunday, eventually winning by two strokes, but it was anything but smooth sailing.
Starting the day at six under, Homa birdied the opening hole as well as the fifth, and after a bogey at seven, he responded strongly with back-to-back birdies on nine and 10.
The 2019 champion was locked in a tight battle with 54-hole leader Keegan Bradley, who double-bogeyed the second hole and the 11th. Another Bradley bogey at 15 allowed Homa to open up a three-stroke lead with a birdie on the same hole.
But the margin was cut back to one just a hole later as the roles reversed on the 16th, where Homa had to sink a tricky bogey putt to avoid the scores being levelled.
After both made par on the difficult par-three 17th, Homa teed off on the last with a one stroke lead, and he had the luxury of seeing Bradley put his drive in the bunker first to take the pressure off. Homa made no mistakes, taking even par to seal the two-stroke win as Bradley bogeyed.
It is the American's fourth career PGA Tour win and second of the season after winning the Fortinet Championship in September to kick off the 2021-22 calendar.
Speaking to the media after stepping off the 18th green, Homa said he and his caddy had been reminiscing about how much had changed since their first career win at this tournament at the Quail Hollow Club and paid respect to Bradley for a gripping battle.
"It's crazy, I was thinking about it when I was walking to the first tee," he said.
"[Caddy] Joe [Greiner] and I were talking about it in 2019 – I was leaning on Joe to help me, he was talking about getting to the tee after Rory [McIlroy] so I didn't have to hear the roar.
"I didn't have to deal with that [this time] – I've got a great support system on this tour. [The crowd was] a little crazy, but it's super awesome. I'm coming into my own, I'm starting to believe in myself a lot, and that's all I can ask for.
"Keegan is a really good golfer – he hits it so well, and he holed some really good putts.
"I was just trying to play my game and see what happened – he made an unbelievable birdie on 16 while I was trying not to make double.
"I knew he was never going to go away – I was watching the guys behind – but I felt like eight or nine under was going to be pretty good, and I was just focusing on hitting good shots and not worrying about the bogeys."
In a tie for second at six under were Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young, with the latter's final-round 66 matching the second-best score of the day.
After finishing round two right on the cut-line, Rory McIlroy produced two consecutive 68s to claim outright fifth place at four under..
The round of the day belonged to Stewart Cink, with his five-under 65 seeing him shoot up into the top 10.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner asserted after the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday that Sergio Perez's form is critical to helping the team take points away from Ferrari.
Max Verstappen won a tightly contested race while Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished within 10 seconds of the reigning world champion.
Perez came fourth despite being the only driver in the top 10 to pit twice and experiencing a sensor fault that resulted in a loss of power.
With that, Verstappen has only made an incremental gain in the driver's standings after his wins at Miami and Imola, with the Leclerc now holding a 19-point advantage.
Horner believes Perez can join the fight and be on the podium but due to the car's reliability concerns was simply not able to do so in Miami.
"Of course, reliability's going to be an issue," Horner told Sky Sports. "We had a sensor issue on Checo's [Perez's] engine, the guys did well to move them around but he lost about 30 horsepower with that. He was losing half a second a lap and I think without that he might have even been second with the tyre advantage, because we pitted him.
"We need Checo in there and he's capable of doing that. You saw in Imola how quickly things can turn around and I think we've got some interesting races coming up.
"The car's running well, we've got some developments hopefully coming later in the summer that will help us, we need to save a little bit of weight, but generally, I think we're on a good trajectory."
With DNFs in Bahrain and Australia, Verstappen has fought off challenges from Leclerc to win the other three races of the season, showing distinct poise under pressure.
That was particularly the case in Miami, where the Dutch driver stayed consistent and managed to shake off Leclerc from the DRS window.
Horner was full of praise for Verstappen and how consistent he stayed despite the challenge from Ferrari.
"Max is under so much pressure in that position, it's easy to lock the wheel and so on, and he kept it clean," he said. "He didn't make any mistakes and then was gradually able to break the DRS after five-six laps and was able to manage it from there."
Lewis Hamilton was frustrated to be asked to make the call on whether to pit under a virtual safety car during the Miami Grand Prix.
It seemed like Hamilton would take advantage of the opportunity to switch onto fresh tyres after Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly collided, as team-mate George Russell did.
However, Mercedes appeared to dither on whether to pit the seven-time champion, who eventually opted to stay out on the hard compound.
Hamilton ended up being overtaken by Russell in the closing stages and finished directly behind him in sixth, with the two Ferraris coming between race winner Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
The Mercedes driver did not understand why he was left to make the call on whether to pit or not.
"In that scenario [the virtual safety car], I have no clue where everyone is, so when the team say it's your choice, I don't have the information to make the decision," Hamilton told Sky Sports.
"That's what your job is, make the decision for me; you've got all the details, I don't. So, that's what you rely on the guys for, but today they gave it to me and I didn't understand it.
"But anyway, it's just been a bit unfortunate with the safety car, but at least we got points today. We're finishing, reliability is good. I'm excited to at some stage to take a step forward, which we haven't yet."
Team principal Toto Wolff revealed Mercedes are struggling for morale as the usually dominant team continue to find themselves quite a distance behind Red Bull and Ferrari this season.
"George stayed out a long time, and we were betting on a safety car for him and that materialised from nowhere, but it went against Lewis, who lost a position," said Wolff.
"At the end of the day, there's no happy or not happy moment at the moment. It's just a bit down. We're third quickest on the road, which is no man's land. This is where we are.
"We're not as quick in qualifying sometimes, and you have the outliers, and we go back to where we are, which is behind the Red Bulls and Ferrari."
Russell, who failed to get out of Q2 on Saturday and started 12th, believes Mercedes do have a good car this year but are yet to find a way to get it working well for them.
"It was mixed feelings. Based on [Saturday] it was a good result. We have a fast race car in there, we don't have the key to unlock it. There's more to do," he said.
"It's frustrating, but I'm sure we'll get there at some point.
"It's good, when you battle with your team-mate, you show more respect, give more space. I enjoyed it. I think there's good respect between us. I was pushing as hard as I could."
Charles Leclerc thought he was going to catch Max Verstappen towards the end of the Miami Grand Prix before settling for second place.
Ferrari driver Leclerc qualified on pole but was overtaken by Verstappen – who started third – on lap nine and was almost eight seconds behind when a safety car was deployed with 16 laps remaining.
Leclerc was initially able to keep pace with the reigning Formula One champion after the restart but was unable to find a way past the Red Bull even with DRS enabled.
The Dutchman pulled out the fastest lap to get away from the championship leader, whose lead was consequently cut to 19 points.
"It was a very difficult race physically. We struggled quite a bit on the medium tyres in the first stint and got overtaken. It made our race a bit more difficult from that moment onwards," said Leclerc.
"On the hard we were very competitive and towards the end I thought I could get Max at one point, but they had the advantage in terms of pace.
"We need to keep pushing. Upgrades will be important, and I hope now we can do a step up from the next race onwards. It has been an exciting beginning to the season and that's what we like to see."
Verstappen acknowledged he had to dig deep in order to follow up his success at Imola with another victory.
"It was an incredible grand prix. Very physical as well, but I think we kept it exciting until the end," said Verstappen.
"I am really happy with winning here in Miami, it was an incredible Sunday for us."
Carlos Sainz kept Sergio Perez at bay after the restart following the safety car to get back on the podium after retiring early in the previous two races.
He had to battle through the pain barrier to achieve it, because he was still feeling the effects of a crash in practice.
"I have been better. Obviously after the crash on Friday, I had a little bit of neck pain going into the race, but I had to manage it and I fought through it," said Sainz.
"Especially with Checo [Perez] at the end on the medium tyres he was very difficult to keep behind, but we managed to keep the volume, which is a decent result.
"It wasn't easy at all. It has been a tough race with the tyres and the heat, the car was sliding a lot, and we got what we deserved, I think, which is a decent P3, and we can build it up from here."
Alexander Zverev slated ATP chiefs after a punishing defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the Madrid Open final, but described his Spanish conqueror as "the best player in the world" and predicted he would win a stack of grand slam titles.
German star Zverev was fuming over his court scheduling this week, claiming late-night contests meant he came into the title match in no fit state to compete as he described tournament bosses as "an absolute disgrace".
He claimed he had only been able to get to bed at 5.20am after a late-night semi-final victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas on Saturday.
While Zverev had warm words for 19-year-old sensation Alcaraz, he felt he had cause to feel aggrieved at his handling by tennis organisers after his 6-3 6-1 final reverse.
"I want to congratulate Carlitos," he said in an on-court interview. "Right now, you are the best player in the world. It is great for tennis that we have such a new superstar that is going to win so many grand slams, that is going to be world number one, and I think is going to win this tournament many more times."
Later, in a news conference, Zverev said Alcaraz had been "playing amazing".
"But one thing I have to say is that the ATP's job was an absolute disgrace this week," Zverev said, according to tennismajors.com. "Two days ago I went to bed at 4:00, 4:30am. Yesterday I went to bed at 5:20am. If any normal person goes to bed one night at 4:00am, the next night at 5:00am, it will be a tough time just to be awake for them.
"And for me to play a final against Carlos Alcaraz, who for me is the best player in the world right now, in a Masters 1000 event, the next day, it is difficult."
There is little doubt Alcaraz, who will now skip the Internazionali d'Italia to rest before the French Open, is only going to keep progressing.
After beating Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic this week before overcoming Zverev in the title match, he will leap three places to sixth in the ATP rankings on Monday, having followed up last month's triumph in Miami with his second Masters 1000 title.
"It feels great to be able to beat these players," Alcaraz said. "To beat two of the best players in history and then Zverev, the world number three.
"I would say this is the best week of my life. I am 19 years old, which I think is the key to be able to play long and tough matches in a row. I am feeling great physically.
"It is a great moment for me. It is the first tournament I watched, so lifting the trophy today is so emotional."
Emma Raducanu is "managing" a back problem ahead of her first-round Internazionali d'Italia clash with Bianca Andreescu.
The reigning US Open champion exited the Madrid Open at the last-16 stage, going down in three sets to Anhelina Kalinina after struggling with an injury which she admitted had been "taking its toll".
Raducanu said in the aftermath of that 6-2 2-6 6-4 defeat that she would only have given herself a "five per cent chance" of advancing after suffering the injury, and expressed doubt over her ability to compete in Rome.
However, the 19-year-old now insists she will be able to cope on the clay in Italy, saying she needs to adapt to the intensity of top-level matches after suffering from several injury problems this year.
"I think it's just coming from a lot of intensity and overload" Raducanu said. "My back, I'm managing it.
"It's fine. But it's just trying to adapt again to the long matches, to the intensity. I think that all of the small sort of niggles I'm getting, they're all related and connected to each other, when something is overcompensating perhaps."
Raducanu's first assignment in Rome will see her face Canadian Andreescu, who also won the US Open as a teenager when she shocked Serena Williams with a straight-sets final victory in 2019.
That contest will mark the first head-to-head meeting between the two players, and Raducanu was looking forward to facing the former world number four as she highlighted the contrast between conditions in Rome and Madrid.
"Of course, we are both pretty good players," Raducanu said. "It's going to be a good match-up. She's a great athlete and obviously a champion. She's got a really good attitude. I think it's going to be interesting.
"I think here is completely opposite [to Madrid]. It's quite heavy and slow, so there's going to be a lot longer points. It will be interesting to see what the differences are. But I can already feel them on the court tennis-wise."
Max Verstappen sealed his second straight Formula One win by getting the better of Charles Leclerc at the maiden Miami Grand Prix.
Reigning champion Verstappen – who started in third – got past Carlos Sainz and pole-sitter Leclerc in the early stages and never looked back.
It was not entirely plain sailing for the Red Bull driver, with a safety car deployed after Lando Norris collided with Pierre Gasly seeing his seven-second advantage evaporate.
Leclerc was on Verstappen's tail thereafter, but the Dutchman got out of DRS range by setting the fastest lap and cut the Monegasque's championship lead to 19 points.
Verstappen got away well at lights out and dived down the outside of Sainz at Turn One, while DRS helped him reel in Leclerc by lap nine.
Leclerc was unable to retaliate with the Ferrari lacking pace on the straights, and Verstappen gradually established a lead of almost eight seconds.
The collision between Norris and Gasly, which forced both drivers to retire, initially brought out a virtual safety car on lap 41 of 57, but that was quickly upgraded to a full safety car.
Neither Verstappen nor Leclerc were able to get into the pits quick enough for fresh tyres, but the Ferrari man was seemingly energised by having the Red Bull back in his sights.
However, after failing to make a move, Leclerc started to lose time and Verstappen took the chequered flag in relative comfort.
Carlos Alcaraz secured his fifth ATP Tour title and second Masters 1000 crown by cruising past defending champion Alexander Zverev 6-3 6-1 at the Madrid Open.
Alcaraz became the first player to ever defeat Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in consecutive matches en route to the final in the Spanish capital, while Zverev edged out Stefanos Tsitsipas to make the showpiece.
Zverev, a two-time winner in Madrid in 2018 and 2021, boasted a 2-0 head-to-head record over Alcaraz on the ATP Tour heading into the clash on Sunday, but it was the 19-year-old who seized the early initiative.
Alcaraz struck first with a break to go 4-2 up after a dipping backhand evaded the reach of Zverev, who could not muster a response as the Spaniard served out a dominant first set.
The teenager continued in commanding fashion in the second set, delivering a deft drop shot to break Zverev, who missed two straightforward volleys and produced a double fault to fall 4-1 down.
World number three Zverev managed to save three match points, but a double fault then handed Alcaraz victory in just 62 minutes, becoming the youngest five-time tour winner since Nadal won seven titles by the same age in 2004-05.
Alcaraz leads the way for wins in the 2022 season as his 10th straight triumph – and seventh consecutive victory over top-10 ranked players – takes him to 28 for the campaign, one more than Tsitsipas.
Alcaraz is also the second-youngest player to win two ATP Masters 1000 titles, after triumphing in Miami in March, and will rise to second in the Race to Turin as he seeks his debut at the prestigious end-of-season event in November.
An incredible finish to the final day's play in the British Masters saw Thorbjorn Olesen seal the title, despite almost throwing away his lead.
The Dane came into day four at The Belfry in first place but struggled in the early going, bogeying the first hole and he was four over par for the day after 16 holes.
However, an eagle on 17 followed by a birdie on 18 allowed Olesen to leapfrog his challengers and win by just one shot, remarkably matching the same eagle-birdie finish he produced to end his third round.
The turnaround denied Sweden's Sebastian Soderberg, who shot a round of 68 on Sunday to end on nine under for the tournament before Olesen managed to claw his way back up to 10 under at the death.
It could also have been a different story for Scotland's Richie Ramsay, who was on 10 under himself earlier in the day heading to the 18th hole, but a double bogey sent him back down to eight under, ending up tied for third with Connor Syme and Justin Walters.
Elsewhere, there was an unlucky moment for another Dane as Rasmus Hojgaard saw his second shot on the 16th land straight in the hole, before bouncing back out again. He ended the tournament tied for 16th on five under par.
Host Danny Willett also finished tied for 16th, while Jordan Smith climbs one place to sixth in the DP World Tour rankings after finishing tied for 21st on four under.
It was a weekend to forget for Spaniard Rafael Cabrera Bello, though, who finished 67th out of the 68 who made the cut, ending with a round of 78 and a final score of nine over par, dropping to 12th in the tour rankings.
Jamaica’s beach volleyball teams are set to participate in the 2022 North, Central America and Caribbean Confederation (NORCECA) Beach Volleyball Tour this year thanks to the timely intervention of the Jamaica Olympic Association that has provided the necessary funding to the Jamaica Volleyball Association (JaVA).
The 2024 Olympic cycle began in 2020, and without being able to compete for the last two years, Jamaica’s teams are forced to play catch up as other countries in the region were able to continue to train, compete and improve their rankings.
The lack of funding has also presented challenges as the JaVA was only able to send their Men’s team to the tour that is currently being held in Varadero, Cuba, and only the Women will be able to compete in the tour to be held in La Paz, Mexico from May 13-16, 2022.
However, thanks to the JOA, the JaVA will now be able to compete in the 2022 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tours, which is used to earn points and improve rankings in order to qualify for the Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games and the Olympics.
With the support of the JOA, Jamaica will be sending both Men and Women's Beach Volleyball Teams on the following tours:
July 28 – July 31 – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
August 4- August 8 - Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
August 25 – August 29 – Canada
September 29 – October 3 – Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
November 3 – November 7 – Hato Mayer, Dominican Republic
Audley Weir, General Secretary of JaVA, in thanking the JOA said “due to the financial support from the JOA, Jamaica is poised to qualify for major tournaments, as the lack of funding and not being able to participate in competitions in the past, has seen our teams narrowly missing out on qualifying for both the Olympic and Commonwealth Games,” he said.
Aslan Karatsev staved off a match point to earn a meeting with Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Internazionali d'Italia.
After coming from a set down to force a decider against Lloyd Harris in his opening match in Rome, Karatsev held serve when facing match point in a back-and-forth tie-break.
The Russian had already missed a chance to break for the match but did not fail at the second attempt, completing a 3-6 6-3 7-6 (9-7) win to book a date with world number one Djokovic.
Djokovic will be eager to get back on track after suffering a defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open.
Filip Krajinovic's reward for a 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-4) victory over Frances Tiafoe is a showdown with Andrey Rublev, while Cristian Garin will take on the in-form Alcaraz following a 6-3 6-2 success over wildcard Francesco Passaro.
Marin Cilic was the other main-draw winner on Sunday, cruising past Matteo Arnaldi 6-1 6-4 in an hour and 20 minutes.
Mark Cavendish powered across the line to claim his 16th Giro d'Italia stage victory on the final day in Hungary on Sunday.
Contesting the Giro for the first time since winning the points classification in 2013, Cavendish was always in control after a brilliant lead out from Michael Morkov and sprinted to victory at the end of a 201-kilometre flat ride from Kaposvar to Balatonfured.
The Briton now has 11 more Giro stage wins than anyone else in the field this year – Fernando Gaviria, Arnaud Demare and Caleb Ewan all have five.
The Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team made their move at the right moment and were rewarded with their first victory in the Grand Tour since Maximilian Schachmann won stage 18 in 2018.
"I'm very happy. It was really nice. I've got an incredible final group here and they delivered today," Cavendish said after tasting victory on stage three.
"In the end I had to go long, with 300 [metres] to go. I'm happy I could hang on that long for the win."
Cavendish held off the challenges of Demare and Gaviria, who finished second and third respectively.
Mathieu van der Poel retained the maglia rosa and an 11-second advantage over Simon Yates after leading out team-mate Jakub Mareczko, who was fifth behind Biniam Girmay.
COMEBACK CAVENDISH
Cavendish's haul of Grand Tour stage wins now sits at 53 – he also has 34 at the Tour de France and three at the Vuelta a Espana. Mario Cipollini (57) and the legendary Eddy Merckx (64) are the only riders to have managed more.
Four of Cavendish's total at the Tour came last year, ending a five-year wait for a victory at one of cycling's three main events.
Asked about the Manxman's resurgence, Van der Poel said: "We knew he was one of the favourites for today. After the Tour de France last year, we all know he can win stages again."
STAGE RESULT
1. Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) 4:56:39
2. Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) same time
3. Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) same time
4. Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) same time
5. Jakub Mareczko (Alpecin-Fenix) same time
CLASSIFICATION STANDINGS
General Classification
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) 09:43:50
2. Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +0:11
3. Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) +0:16
Points Classification
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) 62
2. Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) 55
3. Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) 53
King of the Mountains
1. Rick Zabel (Israel-Premier Tech) 5
2. Pascal Eenkhoorn (Jumbo-Visma) 5
3. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) 3
The winning owner of Rich Strike asked "What planet is this?" after the 80/1 shot produced one of the biggest Kentucky Derby shocks at Churchill Downs.
Rich Strike was only added to the 20-horse field on the eve of one of the most prestigious races in the world after Ethereal Road withdrew and went off as the biggest long shot.
Bought for only $30,000 last October and with only one win in seven outings, the rank outsider was expected to be an also-ran.
Yet the Eric Reed-trained Rich Strike bolted up on the inside with a blistering burst under Sonny Leon to become the second-biggest priced winner in the history of the Kentucky Derby.
Rick Dawson, owner of Rich Strike, could not believe what he had seen as a massive crowd of 147,294 caught their breath following a stunning upset.
"What planet is this? I feel like I have been propelled somewhere. I'm not sure," Dawson told Bloodhorse.
"This is unbelievable. I asked my trainer up on the stage, I said, ''Are you sure this is not a dream? Because it can't be true.' He assured me this is real."
Trainer Reed was also in dreamland after such an unlikely success on the big stage.
"I don't know how [to put the win into words]," Reed said. "I fell down in the paddock when he hit the wire. I about passed out. I'm so happy.
"This is something, you know, is the reason everybody does this, because we're not supposed to be here, but I knew this horse loved the track, and we've been training so good all year."
Jockey Leon was not entirely surprised as he worked his way through the field to cross the line first.
"I didn't know if he could win but I had a good feeling with him," Leon told Bloodhorse. "I had to wait until the stretch, and that's what I did. I waited, and then the rail opened up.
"I wasn't nervous. I was excited. Nobody knows my horse like I know my horse."
Floyd Mayweather was celebrating another Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez defeat in Las Vegas on Saturday after Dmitry Bivol's victory earned him $42,500.
Russian Bivol retained his WBA light heavyweight title at the T-Mobile Arena, claiming the scalp of the Mexican superstar with a unanimous decision victory.
Super-middleweight king Canelo suffered only the second loss of his illustrious career stepping up in weight, with all three judges scoring the bout at 115-113 in favour of Bivol.
Mayweather consigned Canelo, rated as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, to the only other defeat of his professional career at the T-Mobile Arena nine years ago.
The retired American legend cashed in on the 31-year-old's second defeat, placing a $10,000 bet on Bivol to come out on top for a return of $52,500.
Mayweather posted a picture of his winning betting slip on Instagram and wrote: "Easy pick up."
Alvarez confirmed he would exercise his rematch clause.
Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez accepted the result of his unanimous decision defeat to Dmitry Bivol, hailing his opponent as a "great champion" after just the second loss of his career.
The Mexican came up short of claiming the WBA light heavyweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday against the Russian, who won 115-113 on all three scorecards after a 12-round bout.
His only other defeat in 61 fights coming against Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2013, Alvarez was left in an unfamiliar position.
But speaking afterwards, the 31-year-old was congratulatory of Bivol, while vowing to bounce back even stronger down the line.
"You have to accept it, it's boxing," Alvarez said. "He's a great champion. Sometimes in boxing you win and lose and I'm not giving excuses. I lost and he won."
On the possibility of whether he desired a rematch, he added: "Yeah, of course I do. "This doesn't end like this."
"This doesn't end in this way, I'm a very competitive person, I've got many years ahead of me, and I'm gonna come back stronger.
“We want the rematch, and we want to do much better in the rematch. I'm very proud and competitive. I've gone up and fought at 175lbs.
"I've gone out of my comfort zone to fight at a weight that's not mine, there's no shame in that. I'm looking for challenges that others would be scared to take on because they might lose.”
Alvarez's loss means he now moves to 57-2-2, while Bivol extends his unbeaten record to 20-0.
Red Bull are hopeful DRS and a strategic edge could help them overhaul Ferrari in Sunday's inaugural Miami Grand Prix, with drivers expecting racing to be difficult on a surface that has been branded "a joke".
World championship leader Charles Leclerc took pole ahead of Carlos Sainz as qualifying ended in a Ferrari one-two.
Max Verstappen was third ahead of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, who did not mince his words when asked about the track following qualifying.
Echoing a sentiment shared by seemingly every driver in the paddock, Perez was emphatic in his criticism of a lack of grip off the racing line.
"I think most importantly the surface is a joke," Perez told Autosport when asked if there will be overtaking during the race.
"Tomorrow the racing is going to be difficult. And you're going to have the drivers making mistakes because we've been put into this situation."
With racing potentially set to be compromised, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner pointed to the deployment of DRS on straights where Red Bull have a pace advantage over Ferrari as an area where the race could be decided in their favour.
Praising the performance of Verstappen, whose qualifying session was impacted by a lack of track time in Friday practice because of gearbox and hydraulics issues, Horner said: "Max has been on the back foot, he's down on laps on the other guys and still learning about the track so it's a good recovery from him.
"We know both our cars have good straight-line speed and the DRS could be pretty powerful here tomorrow, and with all the support races the braking zones should open up a bit, so there are a couple of places where we should be able to overtake.
"Strategy and pit stops will be crucial, as no one has really been able to do any long runs, it should be a fascinating contest tomorrow."
Leclerc topped the timesheets with a lap of one minute and 28.796 seconds, reaping the benefit of upgrades that appear to have strengthened the hand of the team that have emerged as the favourites to win both championships.
"It's definitely better," Leclerc said of the performance of his F1-75. "Yes, I mean both cars are very competitive, so Carlos and I are very competitive.
"So, it's great for the team and yes, we'll push to try and finish in the same positions tomorrow.
"It is a very strong package that we have, it works in more or less every condition since the beginning of the season so that is a good sign for the future.
"As I've said many times, the upgrades this year will be very, very important. We've had a few here that went in the right direction and hopefully we'll have a few more throughout the season to stay on top."
Verstappen will be out to ensure Ferrari do not stay on top in Florida and joked he may need to call his father for advice, former F1 driver Jos having recently returned to motorsport as a rally driver.
He said: "It's quite slippery outside the racing line, it almost feels like gravel, maybe I need to call my Dad and ask for some rally advice."
New York Rangers coach Gerard Gallant has defended his call to pull goaltender Igor Shesterkin after the first period as Pittsburgh Penguins ran out to a 7-4 victory in Game 3.
The visitors suffered a playoffs setback at PPG Paints Arena, as their Pennsylvanian hosts moved into a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round series.
Shesterkin was hooked after the first period after Pittsburgh raced into a 4-1 lead and was replaced by Alexandar Georgiev.
That helped spark a turnaround for the Rangers, who clawed back three goals in the second period to move back on level terms.
But after Danton Heinen put the Penguins back in front halfway through the third period, Pittsburgh did not relinquish their lead again, with Jake Guentzel and Jeff Carter extending their advantage.
Gallant backed his decision to withdraw Shesterkin, a 2018 Olympic gold medallist, saying that it was to offer the goaltender much-needed rest after a busy schedule and thought it might provide a spark.
"It's 4-1 and you want to change momentum," he stated. "Igor has been outstanding.
"If you look at it right now, he's played 10 periods, more or less, in basically 4 and half, five days. I thought it was a good time to jump-start it.
"It was 4-1. It was totally tilted. Sometimes you spark your team with a goalie change. Igor was our MVP all season.
"I thought we'd give him a little rest tonight and hopefully spark our team. And it worked."
The Rangers will attempt to hit back in Game 4 on Monday.
Jordan Poole has refuted he "broke the code" with a play on Ja Morant that left the Memphis Grizzlies point guard an injury doubt in the Golden State Warriors 142-112 Game 3 win.
Morant posted 34 points, plus three rebounds and seven assists, but limped off with five to go in the last quarter after the Warriors man grabbed his knee in a trap near half-court.
The Warriors surged on to a blowout victory in the end, resulting in them taking a 2-1 lead in the series after they were edged out in Game 2.
That led to a fiery post-game response from the Grizzlies star, who tweeted and then deleted a video claiming that Poole "broke the code" in intentionally injuring him.
The Grizzlies are yet to formally confirm the extent of Morant's injury - but speaking afterwards, Poole knocked back suggestions his play was intended to harm his opponent.
"It was a basketball play when we doubled him," Poole said. "And I hit the ball and I was going for the ball.
"I mean, obviously, you don't want to see anybody get hurt. I'm not even that type of player. I respect everybody.
"Hopefully he gets better and, you know, we can see him out there next game. I don't even play like that for real. That's not my type of game."
Poole's grab is the latest flashpoint in a fiery series, with Memphis forward Dillon Brooks sitting out Game 3 after hitting Gary Payton II in the head, resulting in a fractured elbow.
Memphis boss Taylor Jenkins skirted an official comment on whether Poole's move on his player was intentional, instead saying: "We just watched the replay.
"He was going after a dribble and Jordan Poole actually grabbed his knee and yanked it, which kind of triggered whatever happened.
"I'm actually going to be very curious to see what happens after that. I don't know what goes through you guys' head.
"No, I didn't say that it went on purpose. I said the play happened. There was a grab. I'm just curious what happened."
The two teams meet for Game 4 on Monday at Chase Center, San Francisco once more, with the Warriors looking to go 3-1 up.
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