tournament

Teenager Mirra Andreeva reached her first Madrid Open final with a 6-4 7-6 (10-8) victory over Hailey Baptiste.

The 19-year-old Russian will face 26th seed Marta Kostyuk in Saturday’s final, after the Ukrainian beat Austria’s Anastasia Potapova 6-2 1-6 6-1.

Ninth seed Andreeva has won all bar one of her 13 clay-court matches this season, taking the title in Linz and reaching the semi-finals in Stuttgart, and becomes the first teenager to reach three WTA 1000 finals.

After taking the first set against the 30th seed, Andreeva served for the match at 5-4, but was broken by Baptiste who then took the second set to a tiebreak.

The 24-year-old American, who defeated world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the previous round, saved three set points before Andreeva completed her win.

“Honestly, I feel so much adrenaline inside. I feel like I’m still nervous. I’m just so happy that I won and that I was able to save all those set points,” said Andreeva, who has become the second-youngest finalist in the tournament’s history, behind Caroline Wozniacki.

“The serve helped me a lot. I’m so, so happy – I cannot really find ways to describe what I’m feeling right now,” added Andreeva.

Kostyuk advanced to her first WTA 1000 final in an error-strewn match against lucky loser Potapova, winning the first set with two breaks but losing the second in 30 minutes.

The 23-year-old raced to a 4-0 lead in the decider and refused to shake the hand of her Russian-born opponent after closing the match out.

In the men’s tournament, defending champion Casper Ruud was beaten in the quarter-finals by Belgian Alexander Blockx, 6-4 6-4.

Unseeded Blockx, who only broke into the top 100 for the first time last month and is at a career-high 69th in the world, has knocked out four consecutive seeds, including third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, in the Spanish capital.

The 21-year-old defeated Ruud, the Norwegian 21st seed, in 96 minutes and will now face Alexander Zverev in his first tour-level semi-final, having never previously won a tour match on clay prior to this season.

Two-time Madrid champion Zverev won 6-1 6-4 against Italian 10th seed Flavio Cobolli, who beat the German en route to the Munich final 12 days ago, and has now reached the semi-finals in seven of his past eight Masters 1000 tournaments.

Top seed Jannik Sinner will face 21st seed Arthur Fils in Friday’s other semi-final after the pair won their quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Two weeks ago, LIV Golf did its best to conceal the fact that the Saudi Public Investment Fund would cease to bankroll the league after the current season, only to have LIV CEO Scott O’Neill let the truth slip during a television interview.

This week, the intentions of PIF and consequences to LIV are known by all.

LIV Golf announced Thursday that it has established a new independent board that will attempt to keep the league afloat utilizing a “diversified, multi-partner investment model.” In other words, a model that doesn’t include PIF.

PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan no longer will serve as LIV Golf chairman, another unmistakable signal that the Saudi sovereign wealth fund worth an estimated $1 trillion is cutting ties with financially troubled LIV.

LIV Golf was supposed to be a key component in Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “Vision 2030” plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil. PIV lured megastar golfers Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and others away from the PGA Tour by shoveling hundreds of millions of dollars into their bank accounts.

Al-Rumayyan, Prince bin Salman’s trusted technocrat, was charged with implementing the plan, but LIV Golf has failed to attract significant viewership or commercial sponsors despite innovations such as a 54-hole format and a team model.

When LIV and the PGA Tour came to a short-lived, tentative agreement to end pending litigation and potentially join forces in 2023, Al-Rumayyan was a key figure in the negotiations.

A last-ditch effort to broker a merger between the rival leagues took place in the White House in February 2025 when President Trump hosted Al-Rumayyan, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Tiger Woods. No agreement was reached.

Now, apparently, PIF will attempt to turn its attention to initiatives that don’t bleed billions. The fund has invested more than $5 billion into LIV Golf since it was launched in 2022 and is reportedly spending $100 million per month this year.

The wealthy but suddenly unmoored LIV golfers have been left to scramble like a weekend hacker trying to salvage a bogey after chipping into a sand trap.

LIV Golf Louisiana announced that the tournament scheduled for June 25-28 in New Orleans has been postponed. A new date hasn’t been set. However, an official told ESPN on Thursday that next week’s tournament at Trump National Golf Club outside Washington, D.C., will take place as planned.

Six other tournaments remain on the schedule that concludes with LIV team championships on Aug. 27-30 at The Cardinal at Saint John’s in Michigan. Tournaments outside the United States are scheduled for South Korea, Spain and Great Britain.

Hired Thursday to come up with a financial model to keep LIV afloat sans PIF are Gene Davis and Jon Zinman, described in a LIV statement as “seasoned experts with proven track records of navigating complex situations and unlocking value for global organizations.”
 
LIV Golf’s contorted spin on acknowledging that PIF will no longer subsidize the league was a statement saying it will focus on ”securing long-term financial partners to support its transition from a foundational launch phase to a diversified, multi-partner investment model.”

Davis, the newly appointed chairman of the LIV Independent Directors Committee, sees opportunity in the face of a PIF-less future.

“LIV Golf has built something truly differentiated — a global league with passionate fans, world-class talent, and demonstrated commercial momentum,” he said in a statement. “The executive leadership team, along with Jon and I, see a clear opportunity to help the league formalize its structure, attract and secure long-term capital, and position the business for growth while continuing to promote the game across the world.

“ We look forward to positioning LIV Golf for future success.” 

At a school with the rich athletic tradition of Santa Ana Mater Dei, it is rare to be the first to achieve anything, but Matteo Huarte made history Saturday by becoming the Monarchs’ only CIF singles champion at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament.

After losing in straight sets to Rishvanth Krishna from Irvine University in last year’s final, Huarte was not about to squander his second chance. He raced to an early lead in the first-set tiebreaker, then broke to open the second set on his way to a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over Woodbridge’s Brayden Tallakson in front of a packed grandstand at Libbey Park.

Huarte had four service breaks — the last being a cross-court passing shot on match point. The final resembled Huarte’s semifinal win versus Irvine University’s JiHyuk Im in which he took the first-set tiebreaker 7-4 then cruised 6-2 in the second set.

“I’m happy I was able to do it for my school,” said Huarte, a junior who has committed to USC. “We’ve played each other a couple times and the key was to manage his serve and get into the rally. Once I got ahead of him in the tiebreak and then won the first game of the second set I was able to run away with it.”

Mater Dei’s only other title in the Ojai tournament’s long and storied history came in doubles in 2008 when Charlie Alvarado and Chris Freeman upset top-seeded Tyler Bowman and Jon Kazarian of Peninsula in three sets.

“It’s kind of hard to believe I’m the first to do it,” said Huarte about his singles title.

Last year, Huarte fell in the Southern Section semifinals to Palos Verdes ninth-grader Andrew Johnson, who went on to beat Tallakson 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

Tallakson was trying to make history of his own Saturday at a venue near and dear to his heart.

Woodbridge’s Brayden Tallakson celebrates after his quarterfinal victory over Beckman’s Rohan Grewal at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“I started playing tennis down in lower Libbey, my dad Steve grew up here and won the men’s tournament, so this place is like home for my family,” said Tallakson, who quickly downed Palisades freshman Kensho Ford 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals. “Matteo came out real aggressive, I made a couple errors on big points and he was just the better player today.”

Tallakson won the boys’ 14s division at Ojai in 2022 and had he prevailed Saturday, he would have been the first player to capture CIF singles and doubles titles at Ojai since Santa Barbara’s Nathan Jackmon won the doubles in 1993 and the singles in 1994. Tallakson won the doubles crown in 2023 with older brother Avery, with whom he will reunite next year at Boise State.

Peninsula seniors Colin Bringas and Edward Feuer completed one of the most dominant runs through the doubles draw ever seen at Ojai by beating Harvard-Westlake’s Aaron Chung and Chase Klugo 6-4, 6-2 in the finals. The Panthers’ duo did not drop a set in six matches and did not give up more than three games in a set until the first set Saturday when they broke in the ninth game to go up 5-4 and then served it out.

Bringas and Feuer are the first Peninsula pair to reach the CIF final at Ojai since 2011 and the third tandem in history to win it, joining Rylan Rizza and Jeff Kazarian in 2001, and Kazarian and Tiege Sullivan the following year.

Peninsula seniors Colin Bringas, left, and Edward Feuer celebrate after winning the CIF boys’ doubles title at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“We’ve been playing together since second or third grade and we’ve been best friends since middle school at Ridgecrest Intermediate [in Palos Verdes],” Bringas said. “I always play the ad side, he’s always played the deuce court. I think the key was big serves … they make it easy for the net person to put balls away.”

Bringas and Feuer have partnered at Ojai the last three years, losing in the quarterfinal round as sophomores and juniors but steamrolling this year. They made a measly three unforced errors in a 6-1, 6-1 semifinal wipeout of Marina’s David Tran and Alejandro Hill. Tran was playing in his second straight final, having taken the runner-up prize with Trevor Nguyen in 2025.

“We were confident we’d win, but we felt the pressure and knew there are a lot of good teams here,” said Feuer, who plays No. 1 singles for dual matches while Bringas plays the No. 1 doubles spot with another teammate. “It’ll be really strange playing against each other next year.”

Bringas is bound for Westmont College and Feuer is headed to Point Loma Nazarene — rival NCAA Division II programs in the Pacific West Conference.

Harvard-Westlake, Woodbridge and University shared the Griggs Cup trophy, presented to the school with the most combined wins in singles and doubles. All three notched seven victories to force a three-way tie for only the fifth time since the award debuted in 1955 and the first since Santa Barbara, Palisades and Fresno Bullard were tri-champions in 1997. University has won it 13 times.

Scotland are back at the World Cup, after a 28-year hiatus. Steve Clarke’s men will be hoping to make it past the group stages for the first time in the nation’s history, but face a tough task in Group C, which they share with five-time winners Brazil and Africa Cup of Nations champions Morocco, as well as Haiti.

Their away kit comes in a bold coral colour, reminiscent of Scotland’s 1999 away strip.