������Ƶ

LIVERPOOL, England: Liverpool talisman Mo Salah and substitute Federico Chiesa struck late goals as the Premier League champions began the defense of their title by beating Bournemouth 4-2 in a thriller on the opening night of the season at Anfield on Friday.

On a bittersweet evening charged with emotion after the July death of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota, newcomer Hugo Ekitike bagged a goal on his league debut to put the hosts ahead after 37 minutes and Cody Gakpo doubled the lead in the 49th.

But Antoine Semenyo, who was the target of racist abuse in the first half that led to a pause in the game, pulled one back for the visitors in the 64th minute and completed a double 12 minutes later to rock Liverpool and shock the home fans.

However, Chiesa came off the bench and sent the Anfield faithful away happy with an 88th-minute strike after goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic swatted away a ball into the box by Salah, who scored himself deep into added time to wrap up the three points.

“Fantastic,” Liverpool boss Arne Slot said of Italian forward Chiesa’s goal. “He came in in the end because we needed a goal. For him then to score in such a moment is special.

“It’s even more special because the fans have supported him. It’s nice he gives them something in return with a great goal.”

With Liverpool ahead again, Salah chased the ball past the defense before cutting inside and firing into the bottom corner with a 94th-minute goal that put the Egyptian joint-fourth with Andy Cole on the all-time Premier League scorers’ list with 187.

An emotional Salah pointed to the heavens and flapped two hands to mimic Jota’s shark goal celebration.

He headed for The Kop stand after the final whistle, and wiped away tears while applauding the fans who were singing their Jota song to the tune of “Bad Moon Rising.”

Minute’s silence

The night started with an emotional minute’s silence for Jota and his brother Andre Silva, who died in a car crash. Fans fought back tears as they sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Ekitike, who has joined from Eintracht Frankfurt, was the most impressive of Slot’s close-season signings in a spending spree topping 300 million pounds ($406.53 million).

“Obviously I think it was a good performance, I could do better,” said the French forward — who held up two fingers in one hand, and made a zero with the other in a tribute to Liverpool’s Jota, who wore number 20 — after his goal.

“But the most important thing was winning, the mentality we showed. Obviously we wanted to win tonight for the people who came and for Diogo,” added the 23-year-old forward.

The game was halted for several minutes after Bournemouth’s Ghana international Semenyo reported the racist abuse.

“It’s totally unacceptable,” Bournemouth captain Adam Smith said. “Kind of in shock to be honest that it happened. In this day and age it shouldn’t be happening.

“I don’t know how Ant’s played on to be honest and come up with those goals ... Something has to be done. We’ll support him in there and hopefully he’ll be ok.”
 

CINCINNATI: Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka was dismantled 6-1 6-4 on Friday by Elena Rybakina who powered into her first Cincinnati Open semifinal with a display of clinical serving.

The Kazakh ninth seed delivered a brilliant performance to secure her seventh career win over a top-ranked player and set up a blockbuster clash with Poland’s Iga Swiatek in a showdown of Wimbledon champions.

Rybakina fired 11 aces throughout the match, earning an impressive 81 percent of points on her first serve, while saving all five break points she faced as she secured her fifth win over Sabalenka in 12 meetings.

“I’m happy with the serve. It was the key,” former world number three Rybakina said.

“We’re both big hitters. Today I served really well. If Aryna serves well, it’s completely different. Hopefully I continue like this.”

Earlier, third seed Swiatek advanced to her first WTA 1000 semifinal in 15 months, beating Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya 6-3 6-4.

Kalinskaya, who had defeated Swiatek in their only previous meeting, put up a spirited fight by saving four match points, before the six-times Grand Slam winner converted her fifth opportunity on serve to seal the victory.

“I just played my game,” Swiatek said. “For sure, it wasn’t easy. Just happy I was solid and had the intensity to apply pressure.”

Veronika Kudermetova breezed past Varvara Gracheva 6-1 6-2 to reach her first Cincinnati semifinal. The Russian seems to be back to the form that once carried her into the Top 10, earning her first WTA 1000 last-four spot since 2023.

She will next face either second seed Coco Gauff or seventh-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini in the semis.

In the men’s draw, second seed Carlos Alcaraz survived a three-set battle against Russian ninth seed Andrey Rublev, claiming a 6-3 4-6 7-5 win to reach the last four.

The Spaniard was far from his best, committing 15 unforced errors and three double faults in the decider, but capitalizing on his lone match point, courtesy of a Rublev double fault, to secure his 15th consecutive Masters 1000 win.

“Playing someone like Andrey, when you lose focus on two or three points, it can cost you the set or the match. I just stayed strong mentally and that’s what I’m most proud of,” Alcaraz said.

“It’s just accepting the moment, accepting that I am playing a third set, that it’s going to be a really tough battle, and I love that,” he added after setting up a showdown with either third seed Alex Zverev or American fifth seed Ben Shelton.

Five-times Grand Slam champion Alcaraz, winner of 37 of his last 39 matches, advanced to his 12th Masters 1000 semi, equalling the mark of Italian top seed Jannik Sinner, who faces Frenchman Terence Atmane in the other last-four clash.