Sabalenka wins latest-starting match in US Open history that finally begins after midnight

PARIS: Victor Wembanyama said he played one of the best five games of his young career after delighting his home crowd in Paris on Thursday by scoring 30 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 140-110 rout of the Indiana Pacers.

The 21-year-old 7ft 3in (2.21m) center took control of the game in a third-quarter performance when the Spurs roared into a 23-point lead.

Wembanyama was playing in the French league a year and a half ago before his selection as the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft set him on the path to global stardom.

Returning to France with the Spurs for the first time, Wembanyama’s first block of the game brought loud cheers from a crowd of nearly 16,000 at a sold-out the Bercy Arena, where he helped France win the men’s basketball silver medal at the Paris Olympics last year.

There was an even bigger roar when he scored his first points 4min 30sec into the game on the way to 15 first-half points.

“That was one of the matches that was closest to my heart,” Wembanyama said. “And in terms of pure performance, it’s in the top five.

“It means everything. It’s crazy to have the public like that. Tonight was different. It’s a different kind of support that the crowd brings and we tried to use the circumstances to our advantage and tonight was an easy night to use it to our advantage.”

The first of two regular-season games in the French capital this week was watched by a host of former NBA stars including French four-time champion Tony Parker, his former San Antonio teammates Manu Ginobili and David Robinson, as well as Pau Gasol and the legendary Oscar Robertson.

Paris Saint-Germain footballers Ousmane Dembele and Achraf Hakimi and Super Bowl winner Odell Beckham Jr. were also on hand to enjoy the action.

They saw Wembanyama drive his team to a 103-80 lead in the third quarter with three rejections in a row, two assists and a thunderous dunk, bringing the crowd to their feet to chant “MVP, MVP, MVP.”

“I told Vic after the game this is one of the best complete games I’ve seen him play all season long,” the Spurs’ veteran guard Chris Paul told reporters.

“With the expectations, being home in front of all his family and friends, in front of all you guys, some guys could get lost in the game and start doing too much, but I think he played a great game both ends of the court and it’s really nice to get the win in the first of two games.”

Devin Vassell contributed 25 points for the Spurs who could afford to bench Wembanyama and his fellow starters with five minutes remaining. They moved to a 20-22 record for the season and stay in contention for the play-in tournament.

Bennedict Mathurin top-scored for the Pacers with 24 points.

The Spurs meet the Pacers again on the same court on Saturday.

MELBOURNE: When Madison Keys finally finished off her 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8) upset of No. 2 Iga Swiatek in a high-intensity, high-quality Australian Open semifinal on Thursday night, saving a match point along the way, the 29-year-old American crouched on the court and placed a hand on her white hat.

She had a hard time believing it all. The comeback. What Keys called an “extra dramatic finish.” The victory over five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek, who’d been on the most dominant run at Melbourne Park in a dozen years. And now a chance for Keys to play in her second Grand Slam final, a long wait after being the 2017 US Open runner-up.

“I’m still trying to catch up to everything that’s happening,” said the 19th-seeded Keys, who will face No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion, for the trophy Saturday. “I felt like I was just fighting to stay in it. ... It was so up and down and so many big points.”

Just to be sure, Keys asked whether Swiatek was, indeed, one point from victory, acknowledging she really had no idea. Yes, Madison, Swiatek was that close to ending things while serving at 6-5, 40-30, but missed a backhand into the net, then eventually getting broken by double-faulting, sending the contest to a first-to-10, win-by-two tiebreaker.

“I felt like I blacked out there at some point,” Keys said, “and was out there running around.”

Whatever she was doing, it worked. Keys claimed more games in the semifinal than the 14 total that Swiatek dropped in her five previous matches over the past two weeks.

“It was a matter of one or two balls,” said Swiatek, who lost in the Australian Open semifinals two years ago, too. “Madison was kind of brave.”

Sabalenka beat good friend Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-2 earlier Thursday. Sabalenka, a 26-year-old from Belarus, can become the first woman since 1999 to complete a threepeat.

“If she plays like this,” the 11th-seeded Badosa said, “I mean, we can already give her the trophy.”

Keys might have something to say about that.

Still, Sabalenka won her first major championship at Melbourne Park in 2023, and she since has added two more — in Australia a year ago and at the US Open last September.

The last woman to reach three finals in a row at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament was Serena Williams, who won two from 2015-17. Martina Hingis was the most recent woman to win three titles in a row in Melbourne, doing it from 1997-99.

“I have goosebumps. I’m so proud of myself,” said Sabalenka, whose 4-1 head-to-head record against Keys includes a win in the 2023 US Open semifinals.

Swiatek had not lost a single service game since the first round, but was broken three times by Keys in the first set alone and eight times in all.

That included each of Swiatek’s first two times serving, making clear right from the get-go this would not be her usual sort of day. And while Swiatek did eke out the opening set, she was overwhelmed in the second, trailing 5-0 before getting a game.

This was the big-hitting Keys at her very best. She turns 30 next month and, at the suggestion of her coach, former player Bjorn Fratangelo — who also happens to be her husband — decided to try a new racket this season, an effort both to help her with generating easy power but also to relieve some strain on her right shoulder.

It’s certainly paid immediate dividends. Keys is now on an 11-match winning streak, including taking the title at a tuneup event in Adelaide.

She was good enough to get through this one, which was as tight as can be down the stretch.

“At the end, I feel like we were both kind of battling some nerves. ... It just became who can get that final point and who can be a little bit better than the other one,” Keys said. “And I’m happy it was me.”

Sabalenka trailed 2-0, 40-love at the start but quickly figured things out, especially once Rod Laver Arena’s retractable roof was shut in the first set because of a drizzle. She straightened her strokes and overpowered Badosa, who eliminated No. 3 Coco Gauff to reach her first major semifinal.

“She started to be very, very aggressive,” said Badosa, who thought about retiring last year while dealing with a stress fracture in her back. “Everything was working.”

Sabalenka and Badosa did their best to avoid any eye contact for much of the evening, whether up at the net for the coin toss or when they crossed paths at changeovers.

When their match was over, they met for a lengthy hug.

During Sabalenka’s on-court interview, she joked about taking Badosa — who by then was sitting in a hallway, her head bowed — on a shopping spree to make things up to her, paying for whatever the Spaniard wants.

Told what Sabalenka said, Badosa noted: “It’s going to be something really expensive.”