-
)
LaLiga
18 Feb 21:00
)
Levante
)
Villarreal
- - -
)
Serie A
18 Feb 21:45
)
ACMilan
)
Como
- - -
)
Premier
18 Feb 22:00
)
Wolverhamp
)
Arsenal
- - -
)
Bundesl
20 Feb 21:30
)
Mainz05
)
HamburgerS
- - -
Serie A
20 Feb 21:45
)
Sassuolo
)
HellasVero
- - -
)
Ligue 1
20 Feb 21:45
)
Brest
)
Marseille
- - -
LaLiga
20 Feb 22:00
)
AthleticBi
)
Elche
- - -
LaLiga
21 Feb 15:00
)
RealSocied
)
RealOviedo
- - -
Serie A
21 Feb 16:00
)
Juventus
Como
- - -
Bundesl
21 Feb 16:30
)
FCKoeln
)
Hoffenheim
- - -
Bundesl
21 Feb 16:30
)
BayernMuni
)
EintrachtF
- - -
Bundesl
21 Feb 16:30
)
UnionBerli
)
BayerLever
- - -
Bundesl
21 Feb 16:30
)
Wolfsburg
)
Augsburg
- - -
Premier
21 Feb 17:00
)
AstonVilla
)
LeedsUnite
- - -
Premier
21 Feb 17:00
)
Brentford
)
Brighton&a
- - -
Premier
21 Feb 17:00
)
Chelsea
)
Burnley
- - -
LaLiga
21 Feb 17:15
)
RealBetis
)
RayoVallec
- - -
Ligue 1
21 Feb 18:00
)
Lens
)
Monaco
- - -
Serie A
21 Feb 19:00
)
Lecce
)
Inter
- - -
Bundesl
21 Feb 19:30
)
RBLeipzig
)
BorussiaDo
- -
"MY LEG WENT FIRST": JANNIK SINNER’S BRUTAL DESCRIPTION OF THE CRAMPS THAT NEARLY ENDED HIM
Jannik Sinner battles extreme heat and severe cramps to defeat Eliot Spizzirri, aided by a timely roof closure at Rod Laver Arena.
Jannik Sinner caught a serious break at the Australian Open, fighting through leg cramps and a gritty Eliot Spizzirri to reach the fourth round.
Honestly, it looked rough for Sinner early in the third set. The heat was brutal—Rod Laver Arena felt like an oven, and his legs locked up. But right then, the tournament’s heat stress scale hit five. Suddenly, officials shut the roof and stopped matches on the outside courts. Sinner got a breather, and the air conditioning kicked in.
Even then, he still looked uncomfortable, but getting out of the sun made all the difference. Sinner dug deep and pulled off a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win.
“I struggled physically a bit today,” Sinner admitted, sounding relieved. “I got lucky with the heat rule and the roof closing. I took my time and felt better as the match went on.”
Organisers had moved matches up by an hour, bracing for temperatures to hit 40 degrees—the first time this tournament. Sinner took the court just after noon, and anyone who’s followed him knows he doesn’t love these conditions. Last year, his only real challenge came in a hot fourth-round battle with Holger Rune. And his last loss, in Shanghai, ended with cramps too.
After dropping the first set to Spizzirri—a 24-year-old making his Grand Slam debut, ranked 85 in the world—Sinner started cramping in the third set. Spizzirri broke and went up 3-1. Then the heat scale ticked from 4.9 to five, and the roof closed. Spizzirri managed a wry smile. Sometimes you just have to laugh.
“My leg went first, then my arm,” Sinner said later. “I was cramping all over. This is the sport. I know I need to get better at this. Tennis is so mental. I just tried to stay calm.”
It didn’t get much easier after that, but Sinner took advantage of a 10-minute pause between sets, steadied himself, and found a way through.
Spizzirri didn’t seem too fazed by the conditions. “I smiled when the heat rule kicked in,” he said. “I wouldn’t say he got saved by it—he’s too good for that—but the timing was wild. That’s just tennis.”
Now Sinner faces fellow Italian Luciano Darderi. For the first time, three Italian men have made it to the last 16 in Melbourne.
Fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti handled the heat better than Sinner, grinding out a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win over Tomas Machac in a marathon lasting four hours and 27 minutes.
Meanwhile, play on the outside courts stopped just after 2:30pm and didn’t start again for nearly five hours.
That was bad news for Britain’s Hollie Smart. The 16-year-old had to retire in tears from her first-round girls’ singles match, leading Japan’s Azuna Ichioka 7-5, 6-7 (7), 3-2. Cramps took over, and medics rushed to help. After a few minutes and a lot of ice, she managed to walk off.
British doubles player Olivia Nicholls was in the middle of a tight second-rounder with Tereza Mihalikova against Storm Hunter and Maya Joint when play stopped. They eventually lost 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. At first, officials said matches might resume at 5:30pm, but it was 7:15 pm before anyone could play again.
Nicholls summed up the day: “It was tough. Everyone had to deal with it, but having to mentally get ready every half hour was exhausting. I’ll sleep well tonight. We had a heat stoppage in Wuhan last year, but the Australian sun is just something else. It’s probably the hottest I’ve ever played in.”
CHASING HISTORY: WHY ELENA RYBAKINA IS THE NEW FAVOURITE FOR WORLD NUMBER ONE
Elena Rybakina is eyeing World No. 1: Discover how the Australian Open champion can overtake Iga Swiatek at the 2026 Dubai Open.
Elena Rybakina isn’t shy about it; she wants to be world No. 1. That’s the goal, plain and simple. She’s coming into the 2026 Dubai Tennis Championships still buzzing from her second Grand Slam win at the Australian Open and sitting at a career-high No. 3 in the rankings, a spot she first hit back in June 2023.
Right now, Rybakina has 7,523 ranking points. After making the quarter-finals in Doha last week, she’s just 280 points behind Iga Swiatek at No. 2, though Aryna Sabalenka holds the top spot with a bigger lead, 3,347 points ahead. Here’s the thing: neither Sabalenka nor Swiatek is playing in Dubai this week. That opens the door for Rybakina. She can move up to No. 2 and maybe chip away at that gap at the top.
She’s actually leading in the Race to Riyadh, too, the annual race that decides who makes it to the season-ending WTA Finals.
Before Dubai got underway, reporters asked Rybakina if she’s thinking about grabbing the No. 1 spot this year. She didn’t hesitate. “Well, it’s definitely a goal,” she said. Still, she knows it’s not just about her; how the other players perform matters, too. The season’s long, and there’s no room to slow down. “You need to improve every day,” she said. “We have so many tournaments. You need to catch up, and you need to keep on going.”
She’s honest; she wants to climb higher, win another Slam, and keep pushing. “Definitely, that’s the goal,” she said. “We’ll see just how this season goes.”
She’s 26 now, and besides that Wimbledon title in 2022, people want to know what surface she likes best after grass. “Probably the hard courts,” she said, but she’s quick to point out she’s done well everywhere, even on clay, even if that part of the season is short. “I think I can play on all the surfaces,” she said. “Definitely the faster ones are better for me, for my game.”
As for Dubai, it’s home. She lives there, trains there, and knows the courts even if they resurface them before tournaments. “I really love Dubai,” she said. “I’ve been practising and doing pre-season on these courts. Everything is familiar. So yeah, it’s good.”
THE DUBAI EXODUS: WHY EMMA RADUCANU’S DRAW IS NOW A LUCKY LOSER LOTTERY
Emma Raducanu faces lucky loser Antonia Ruzic in Dubai! Read why Cocciaretto, Swiatek, and Sabalenka withdrew from the tournament.
Emma Raducanu’s got a new opponent for the Dubai Tennis Championships after some last-minute drama. Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who’s been on a real run lately, pulled out just hours before their match was supposed to happen. Cocciaretto, fresh off a big week in Doha where she beat Coco Gauff and made the quarter-finals, tried to keep the momentum going in Dubai. She had barely any time to catch her breath, lost in Doha, hopped on a plane, then jumped straight into Dubai qualifying. She won two matches to make the main draw, but her body gave out. She’s out with a thigh injury.
So now, it’s Antonia Ruzic stepping in as a lucky loser. She’s facing Raducanu in the fourth match on Court 2 on Monday. The news dropped just as play was getting underway in Dubai. And honestly, the tournament organisers must be tearing their hair out. There have been so many withdrawals that Ruzic is actually the sixth lucky loser who’s made it into the main draw. She lost in qualifying to Rebecca Sramkova, but here she is anyway. The same thing happened for Anastasia Zakharova, Hailey Baptiste, Peyton Stearns, Magdalena Frech, and Kamilla Rakhimova, all out in qualifying, all in the main draw now.
Cocciaretto just ran out of steam. After her deep run in Doha, she lost to Ostapenko on Thursday, and by Friday, she was already back on the court in Dubai, beating Donna Vekic in the first round of qualifying. Then she took out Zakharova to book her spot in the main draw, but the packed schedule caught up to her.
She’s not alone, either. Karolina Muchova, who just won her first WTA 1000 title in Doha, also pulled out of Dubai, chalking it up to a “change of schedule". Maria Sakkari and Olympic champ Qinwen Zheng both withdrew because they’re sick. And the biggest gut punch for the tournament? World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek both dropped out.
Sabalenka hasn’t played since losing the Australian Open final. Swiatek lost to Sakkari in the Doha quarters and admitted she’s not happy with her game right now; she wants to work on some new things, so she’s taking some time off.
Tournament director Salah Tahlak didn’t hide his frustration. He told The National that he thinks players who pull out late should face bigger penalties. “It was an unfortunate surprise to get news of the withdrawal of Aryna and Iga. And the reasons for withdrawal were a bit strange. Iga said she wasn't mentally ready to compete, while Sabalenka said she has some minor injuries,” he said.
As for Raducanu, this is her first Dubai match since last year’s weird scene with a fixated fan. She was left in tears after a man with a bit of an obsession showed up at her match with Muchova. She played on but lost in straight sets. The WTA later put out a statement saying the guy was spotted again during her match and then kicked out. He’s now banned from all WTA events until they finish a threat assessment.
Premier League Standings
Must Read
Read More News