beats

“Take nothing away from Subriel – he’s a great champion.

“I didn’t really stick to the tactics tonight. I played him at his own game.

“I gave my dad a bit of a heart attack in there as that wasn’t the gameplan, but I took all his best shots and thought ‘you can’t hurt me’. I knew I’d get to him.”

Smith joins heavyweight Fabio Wardley, welterweight Lewis Crocker, super-featherweight Jazza Dickens and featherweight Nick Ball as one of the UK’s five current male world champions.

Ticket sales were reportedly modest, but there was no shortage of noise from travelling supporters as Smith walked to the ring to ‘When the sun goes down’ by Arctic Monkeys, who are from his home town of Sheffield.

Yet it felt like a home fight for Matias, with New York’s strong Puerto Rican population firmly behind the 33-year-old.

He appeared so relaxed that he stopped for selfies with family members during his ring walk.

Making the first defence of the title he won against Alberto Puello in July, Matias has at times been a slow starter and Smith exploited that by banking the opening round with sharp, crisp punches to head and body.

Matias edged the second, forcing Smith on to the back foot as blood trickled from the Briton’s nose.

After a scrappy third, Smith unexpectedly chose to trade with the champion.

With 22 knockouts in his 23 wins, Matias entered with a reputation for relentless pressure and heavy hands. Smith, however, also carried stoppage power, having recorded 13 knockouts of his own.

He landed several heavy left hooks to close the fourth round. Then came the career-defining moment that truly announced Smith on the world stage.

After briefly stumbling from a Matias combination, an unfazed Smith came roaring back in a fifth-round firefight.

He landed two straight left-right combinations that snapped Matias’ head back, before the decisive overhand right.

There was a brief protest from Matias at the referee’s decision, while Smith’s trainer and father, Grant, rushed into the ring in celebration.

Kaleena Smith scored 50 points, including 14 after regulation, to lead Ontario Christian to a 96-87 double-overtime triumph over San José Archbishop Mitty in a high-noon showdown between the top two teams in the state Saturday in the featured game of the Kay Yow Showcase at Mater Dei.

Tatiana Griffin contributed 20 points and 18 rebounds, while Dani Robinson added 16 points for the No. 1-ranked Knights (20-0), who overcame a 12-point deficit with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Smith was fouled with 4.7 seconds left and made both free throws to pull Ontario Christian even at 78-78. Archbishop Mitty missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.

“I’m pretty confident I’ll make them in that situation,” Smith, who reached the 50-point mark for the second time this season, said of her free throws. “This is what I do. I was in a similar spot in the Southern Section finals last year and made them.”

Smith, a junior, made nine of 10 from the foul line and added four steals and three assists. Her career high for points in a game is 63, which she accomplished her freshman year.

No. 2-ranked Archbishop Mitty (12-2), which lost to Etiwanda in the Open Division state finals last season, got 25 points from McKenna Woliczko and 21 from Ze’Ni Patterson.

The Northern and Southern California powerhouses could meet again for the state championship in March.

“During a timeout in the fourth quarter I reminded them why they’re here,” Knights coach Aundre Cummings said. “The girls love being No. 1 in the country and the attention that brings but with that comes the pressure to prove yourselves.”

Kyrgios, who is currently 671st in men’s rankings, beat the four-time Grand Slam singles champion in straight sets.

Nick Kyrgios beat women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the “Battle of the Sexes”, in a highly-publicised showdown with modified rules that divided tennis fans.

Former Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios won 6-3, 6-3 in an exhibition match in Dubai on Sunday that bore little resemblance to the era-defining 1973 encounter between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

Back then, there was more at stake with the nascent women’s professional tour, set up by King, fighting for its legitimacy and prize money for female players still far lower than for the men.

King, one of the all-time greats of the women’s game who was at the peak of her powers, saw off the 55-year-old Riggs, a top player in his day, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in Houston.

On Sunday, each player received only one serve and the dimensions of Sabalenka’s side of the court were nine percent smaller, in an attempt to restrict Kyrgios’ power and speed advantage.

Kyrgios has dropped to 671 in the rankings after playing just six ATP matches over the past three seasons, but the 30-year-old Australian still had enough to see off four-time Grand Slam singles champion Sabalenka.

The maverick Australian was drenched in sweat and appeared out of breath in the second set ‌after going 1-3 down, while his opponent danced to the music ‌during a strategic timeout, but he ⁠persevered to make it 3-3 after Belarusian Sabalenka sent a shot long.

Kyrgios, who shortened the points with cheeky drop shots ‌and used variations on his serve to good effect, pulled away to seal the win on serve ‍before sharing a warm hug with Sabalenka at the net.

“Honestly, it was a really tough match. She’s a hell of a competitor,” said Kyrgios.

“I had to strap in because she was putting the pressure on and ultimately it was a really hard-fought battle.”

Sabalenka said she would “love” a rematch.

“I felt great. I put on a great fight. He was struggling. He was getting tired. I was happy to see that,” she said.

“It was a great level [of tennis]. I made a lot of great shots. I really enjoyed the show. I feel like next time when I play him I know all his tactics and strengths.”

World number 86 Justin Hood beat sixth seed Danny Noppert in an Alexandra Palace classic as three more seeds exited the PDC World Championship on the final day of competition before the Christmas break.

Hood won a sudden-death leg of a high-quality match to progress to the last 32, having missed a dart at the bull to win in straight sets.

Noppert fought back to force a decider and, helped by some clutch ton-plus finishes throughout, created a victory chance for himself in a dramatic final set.

But Hood, the 32-year-old debutant, held his nerve in the final leg to land a 78 finish, setting up a third-round tie with fellow English left-hander Ryan Meikle.

Both players averaged more than 102 and hit more than 40% of their attempts at doubles.

Hood told Sky Sports: “It was a good game and I knew it would be because Danny is a class player.

“I don’t worry about the pressure, I just throw the darts and if it’s good enough, it’s good enough. Tonight it was.”

Seventeen of the 32 seeds have been knocked out in the opening two rounds of the tournament, with Noppert the highest-ranked player to fall so far.

Also beaten on Tuesday were two-time former champion Peter Wright, who lost in straight sets to German debutant Arno Merk, and Northern Ireland’s Daryl Gurney, who came out on the wrong side of a deciding set with England’s Callan Rydz.

Seventh seed James Wade suffered a fourth successive second-round exit at the PDC World Championship, losing a thrilling tie to fellow Englishman Ricky Evans.

Both players missed match darts in the deciding set, with world number 43 Evans eventually taking it 6-4 in the fifth.

Wade is the highest-ranked seed to be eliminated so far and his defeat, along with Wessel Nijman’s loss earlier on Monday, means 14 of the 32 seeded players have been knocked out.

Dutch 31st seed Nijman lost in straight sets to Germany’s Gabriel Clemens, who reached the semi-finals in 2023.

Elsewhere, Kenyan debutant David Munyua was unable to follow up his shock win over Mike de Decker in round one, winning just two legs in a 3-0 defeat by world number 40 Kevin Doets.

Scotland’s Darren Beveridge was beaten 3-1 by Latvia’s Madars Razma in Monday’s opening match.