Category: 6. Sports

Head Coach Seb Hines:

Before we even consider her quarterfinal opponent, Anisimova deserves credit for progressing to this point. It’s by far her best US Open result – she had won only three main-draw matches at Flushing Meadows prior to 2025 – and it’s a result achieved at the venue where she most wants to succeed.

“It’s super special,” said Anisimova, who crushed Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-0 6-3 in the fourth round on Monday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

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“Going into this [tournament] I truly was taking it one match at a time. Like, never really made it this far at the US Open, so it really means a lot.

“I know how hard it is to play at this Slam, just because it’s the city, and I feel like there’s a lot going on. Also being a home Slam, it puts a little bit more pressure on the American players, I think.

“But I really just tried to embrace it, I think, since the first day that I got here.”

Anisimova has already produced the best Grand Slam season of her career. Her Wimbledon final and US Open quarterfinal followed a fourth-round finish at Roland Garros, helping her build a 14-3 record at the majors this year, exceeding the 10 wins she managed at this level in 2022.

Perhaps even more impressively, she has won six of eight matches following that Wimbledon final defeat – a result observers worried could derail her.

“Bouncing back from that actually was a little bit difficult, because that never happened to me before,” said Anisimova, the world No.9.  “But I’ve worked through it, and the hardcourt season started off strong for me. I feel like I have moved on from that at this point.

“[The Wimbledon final] wasn’t a good performance by any means. I feel like maybe I learned some things from it and some things I can do differently, but above all, I think it was just a learning experience.”

Since joining Honda in 2022, Mori has steadily improved his competitive performance. This season, he has been demonstrating his competitive toughness, recording the second-fastest time ever by a Japanese runner in the men’s 3000m event at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix held in May. Later that month, at the Asian Athletics Championships held in Korea, he earned a bronze medal by competing strongly against some of Asia’s top runners. Building on these achievements, Mori secured a berth at the WCH Tokyo 25. In this first opportunity to face world-level competition, he will boldly take on the challenge of competing against the world’s top-class runners.

At the WCH Tokyo 25, the men’s 5000m heats are scheduled on Friday, September 19, with the final on Sunday, September 21, 2025, at the Japan National Stadium.

As official partner of the WCH Tokyo 25, Honda will provide environmentally-responsible official vehicles, including electric vehicles, based on its theme — “Maximizing the excitement and inspiration from the athletes’ great performance, through the realization of an environmentally-responsible and safe event by providing a wide variety of mobility products equipped with innovative technologies.”

Based on the Honda vision for its sports activities – “To increase the number of people who take on challenges through sports activities and make the lives of all people more enjoyable” – Honda will continue to support various athletes who take on challenges toward the realization of their own dreams.

Sititi, who returned from injury off the bench in the Buenos Aires loss to Argentina, said Savea was a player he watched while growing up.

“He revolutionised the loose forward position. We saw that first-hand this year. He’s someone I model my game on and also somebody to take inspiration from.”

He said Savea’s advice to him was to ‘have a jam’ when playing.

“That’s what footy is, that’s the way we play. So, as much as there’s pressure at the end of the day, it’s just going out there, having a jam with the boys and living the dream.”

However, being able to do that depends on achieving more accuracy against the world champions.

“We were disappointed with the way we performed in the second [Argentina] game, especially coming off a strong win in that first game. Physically, we didn’t front up, which is a finger to the chest for us.

“That’s what we’re looking forward to getting to in our week and building into the weekend.

“The Springboks are a quality side, they’re defending champions for a reason. They’ve been at the top of their game for a long time now, and it’s a huge opportunity for us.

“We always respect who our opponent is, but, it’s a big match. Everyone knows that, and training has been intense, and we’ll build that intensity through the week.”

Sititi said having Sir Wayne Smith at training during the week was valuable.

“He’s been there and is someone that’s gone through these moments and times, so we lean on him as well and the little gold nuggets he’s throwing around. It’s something special and something we’ll take seriously.”

Sititi said Smith had reinforced the need for players to get all their content in and then through the end of the week, to be ready to go out and play.

Having debuted against the Springboks last year, he learned the importance of winning key moments and the impact of small mistakes.

Assistant coach Scott Hansen said the All Blacks are looking forward to Saturday’s challenge. It is a timely game, especially after their loss to Argentina.

Their attention has been on ‘ownership, preparation and opportunity’ in the build-up to the game.

He said if they had been more successful in the aerial contests and not conceded two yellow cards in their loss to Argentina, they could have controlled the game differently.

“We looked at the opportunity to be better. We continue to grow that skill set and will need to be better. South Africa will be looking at that. They’re about the direct, the physical, and they go to the air, so, we know what’s coming.”

Hansen said the concentration on box kicking was about reshaping the defence.

“It’s about moving the point of attack and going to the air.”

The law changes have encouraged that because escorts and others have to get out of the way.

“Teams are seeing that as a massive opportunity to apply pressure differently. When you’re attacking, there’s a chance to move the ball to a new opportunity around the aerial game.

“You can destructure a defence there. Also, it’s Test match footy around understanding where you can control the air and what it gives you also from those opportunities.”

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The Cinderella run of Leylah Fernandez and Venus Williams in the doubles draw at the US Open ended in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at the hands of No. 1 seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 6-2.

US Open: Draws | Scores | Order of play

Wild cards Fernandez and Williams, who didn’t drop a set in their first three rounds, faced an uphill battle against the two-time Grand Slam champions inside Louis Armstrong Stadium, despite the full support of a packed house. From the match’s opening points, Siniakova and Townsend showing why they’re one of the world’s top teams throughout the 56-minute match, denying the scratch pairing a third upset against a seeded team in Flushing Meadows.

In a performance that world feed commentator Chanda Rubin called “near-perfect,” Siniakova and Townsend hit 19 winners to just three unforced errors, and lost just six points total on the serve to march into the semifinals. They are the first top-seeded team in seven years to reach the final four in New York, since Siniakova did it with Barbora Krejcikova.

“I’m really happy with the way that we played today,” Townsend said post-match. “I felt like we really executed our game plans to a T, and you know, that’s the most that we can ask as players. You know, our coaches were really happy with the way we played, as well.

“There are times when, especially playing opponents that are that tough and are able to kind of make adjustments on the fly, and Venus is a legend and understands and knows how to win and figure things out when things aren’t going her way. And Leylah the same. She always is a fighter.

“It really made me very proud, and I’m sure Kat as well, of the way we were able to stay solid from start to finish.”

Siniakova, an 11-time Grand Slam doubles champion, went on to call it a “privilege” to play “a legend” like Williams at this stage in her career. She had previously played the former World No. 1 in singles twice, dating back to a 2015 clay-court meeting in Rome.

Townsend, who herself became a fan favorite in the Open’s first week with a run to the singles Round of 16, also had praise for her 45-year-old compatriot.

“The earliest memory [of Venus] was watching her on TV, especially here at the US Open,” the World No. 1 doubles player in the PIF WTA Rankings said, joking that she was inspired to play tennis because of Williams’ then-famous Reebok outfits.

“I remember watching that. Growing up watching Venus and Serena, for me and my sister, it was an inspiration and we really wanted to be like them when we great up, so it’s an honor to be able to share the court with her today.”

Siniakova and Townsend, bidding to reach their third Grand Slam final as a team and first together at the US Open, will face No. 4 seeds Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova in the semifinals.

• Aston Martin Valkyrie set to make Circuit of the Americas debut
• Aston Martin THOR Team building competitiveness with spectacular and unique V12-powered British hypercar
• Valkyrie targets first top ten finish in FIA World Endurance Championship
• All-British line-up, Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble to race Valkyrie #007
• Three-time FIA WEC GT champion Marco Sørensen and Alex Riberas return to Valkyrie #009 for COTA
• Valkyrie the only ‘Hypercar’ to contest the world’s two premier sportscar series, IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship
• Aston Martin THOR Team returns to scene of maiden WEC GT class win

 

2 September, 2025, Austin (TX), USA: The spectacular new Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar makes its debut at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) this weekend, as the ultra-luxury performance brand celebrates its 75th anniversary in the Americas in 2025.

 

The FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) arrives in Texas, for the six-hour Lone Star Le Mans, as momentum continues to build through the trail-blazing debut season of the unique 6.5-litre, V12-powered British hypercar. Valkyrie is the first ‘Le Mans Hypercar’ (LMH) to be produced by Aston Martin. Raced by the works Aston Martin THOR Team, Valkyrie is also the only car in WEC’s premier category derived from a road-legal hypercar.

 

Many US-based motorsport fans are familiar with Valkyrie, which is the only LMH to compete in both the FIA WEC and in North America’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA) and has scored top-10 finishes in every race it has contested in the USA – including Road America most recently, where the US-based version of the Aston Martin THOR Team finished in an encouraging sixth place.

 

In WEC, where Aston Martin competes against seven of the world’s most prominent endurance sportscar manufacturers, Valkyrie is also growing in competitiveness. This was evidenced by its combined best qualifying performance (11^th and 12^th) in the most recent Rolex 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, in July. The car also raced deep into the top ten in the early hours of the event. This follows an encouraging 24 Hours of Le Mans (in June) where both Valkyrie hypercars completed their maiden twice-around-the-clock event without issue, finishing 12^th and 14^th, and the UK-based ‘WEC’ arm of the Aston Martin THOR Team registered the cars’, and Aston Martin’s first Manufacturer’s World Championship points in the Hypercar Class.

 

Valkyrie made its global debut in the Qatar 1812km in February. The British machine has subsequently demonstrated outstanding reliability, having finished 14 times from 15 starts in all competitions.

 

The Aston Martin THOR Team will keep to its two regular WEC Valkyrie line-ups for the Lone Star Le Mans, with the #007 driven by Tom Gamble (GBR) and Harry Tincknell (GBR) and the #009 by Alex Riberas (ESP) and Marco Sørensen (DEN).

 

Developed from the Valkyrie production car by Aston Martin and THOR, the competition version blends a race-optimised carbon fibre chassis with a modified 6.5-litre V12 powerplant that revs to 11,000rpm and produces over 1000bhp in standard form, but adheres to a strict 500kw (680bhp) power limit as per hypercar regulations.

 

Tom Gamble, driver #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “This will be my first time racing at COTA, so I’m really looking forward to going there and discovering the circuit. We’ve improved every time we have raced with Valkyrie and I’m very excited to see how we get on in Austin. Hopefully we can get ourselves into the top 10 this weekend which would represent a great result for the programme.”

 

Harry Tincknell, driver #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “I’m looking forward to COTA. It’s hopefully a track that suits us more than Sao Paulo. They’ve got some big, long straights in Austin and we were very quick in Sector 1 and Sector 3 in Brazil. That race was another step forward for us where we were just 0.05s off Hyperpole, and that is a good target for us to achieve this weekend. We are still learning about our tyre strategies, and this is also a good focus for us. Coming off the summer break the team is feeling fresh and positive. It will be super-hot, so we need to do our best to keep our tyres cool, keep our heads cool and ourselves cool because it will be a tough event.”

 

Alex Riberas, driver #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “I’m extremely excited to go back to Austin, which used to be my home town for a couple of years, so for me personally it feels like going back home. Regarding COTA, it is probably my favourite track in the entire world so I’m also very excited about that. We have had plenty of success there in the past, and of course last year we won our first WEC race with the Heart of Racing in LMGT3. So, with it being a home race for us, and with the success we’ve had there before and with how much we improved the car in Brazil, I think everybody is just very enthusiastic and pumped about Austin. It cannot come soon enough.”

 

Marco Sørensen, driver #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie: “After strong results in Sao Paulo and Le Mans, coming into the Lone Star Le Mans we’re determined to keep that momentum rolling. It’s a track with its own unique challenges – fast-flowing sections, big braking zones, and relentless heat. The team has been operating at a high level all season, and if we stay sharp and execute, there’s no reason we can’t be fighting for a result there.”

 

Ian James, Team Principal, Aston Martin THOR Team: “We arrive at our home race in WEC with a lot of optimism. I say this a lot, but the focus within the programme is about incremental progress and using what we learn to build a more competitive package. We’ve been testing since the last race, and the understanding we gain from each new outing with the car gives us more reason to believe we are heading in the right direction. Last year’s event marked the first victory for THOR in WEC, and it would be nice to get a top ten finish in the Hypercar Class there this year. To achieve that we need to execute and perform to the maximum and that is the target this weekend.”

 

Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport: “Valkyrie is beginning to show the world glimpses of the potential we believe it is capable of, but we are still in the early days of this programme. Our understanding of the car has exponentially increased since its debut in Qatar and there were occasions during the most race in Brazil where the car was able to demonstrate its capability to compete for points positions on track. WEC is a tough environment to conquer, and that is precisely why we are competing in it, and at COTA this weekend we aim to take another step towards that goal.”

On any other day, Townsend, playing at her home major, would have been the crowd favourite.

On Sunday, the Louis Armstrong Stadium rode every high and low as she spurned eight match points before losing to Barbora Krejcikova in three sets to exit the women’s singles in the last 16.

But on the same stage in the doubles, she was playing against a partisan crowd.

Williams is, after all, a four-time champion at Flushing Meadows across the formats, winning back-to-back singles titles in 2000 and 2001 and earning two doubles titles alongside sister Serena in 1999 and 2009.

Across her career, she has fought back from wrist and back injuries as well as being diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue.

This was her first appearance in the last eight of a Grand Slam since reaching the semi-finals in the singles in New York in 2017 and her first doubles quarter-final since winning Wimbledon in 2016.

But despite the raucous reception as she walked on to court, the match was one-way traffic.

The top seeds were relentless, winning 12 of the first13 points to race into a 3-0 lead.

Their success was met with polite, if muted, applause and it was not until the fourth game, when Williams rolled back the years with a bruising forehand winner off Siniakova’s serve, that the crowd erupted into life.

Williams later held her second service game to 15 but Townsend and Siniakova, who only dropped six points on serve throughout the match, had one foot in the last four after 22 minutes.

The second set proved more competitive, with Williams and Fernandez both holding their serves, but with their opponents sending down 12 winners and just two unforced errors, they could not get a foothold in the match.

Townsend and Czech Siniakova, who have yet to drop a set, will face fourth seeds Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens for a place in the final.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski – the sixth seeds – fought back from a set down to reach the third round of the men’s doubles with a 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 win over Monaco’s Hugo Nys and Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

However, Briton Marcus Willis was knocked out as he and Karol Drzewiecki of Poland fell to 4-6 6-3 6-1 defeat by Czech pair Tomas Machac and Matej Vocel.

NEW YORK — Just a few hours before she was to meet World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a US Open quarterfinal match, Marketa Vondrousova withdrew with a knee injury.

That sent Sabalenka into a Thursday semifinal against No. 4-seeded Jessica Pegula, who earlier defeated Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-3.

It’s a rematch of last year’s US Open final, won by Sabalenka in straight sets. We make the case for each player left in the draw’s top half.

No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 4 Jessica Pegula

Head-to-head: 7-2, Sabalenka, including the last three in a row — all on North American hard courts.

Advantage, Sabalenka

In the dizzying daily flood of numbers-crunching statistics, this one stands out:

Sabalenka is only the fifth woman in 35 years to reach all four Grand Slam semifinals in a single year. The others are named Graf, Seles, Hingis and Serena, a Who’s Who of tennis greatness.

The catch is that Sabalenka has yet to win one in 2025 — thanks to three Americans — a development that suggests she wants to defend her title here very, very badly.

It was Madison Keys who beat her in the Australian Open final, Coco Gauff in the Roland Garros championship match and Amanda Anisimova in a stunning upset in the semifinals of Wimbledon. Going in, with the exception of Roland Garros, Sabalenka went in as the favorite.

She’ll be the favorite here, based on that decisive head-to-head advantage.

After she got word that Vondrousova was granting her the walkover, Sabalenka immediately headed for the practice court. She’ll be exceedingly fresh for Thursday’s match with an extra day off, and after winning her first four matches in straight sets.

You can be sure that Sabalenka, who was stung by those missed opportunities in Melbourne, Paris and London, will throw everything into this one.

Advantage, Pegula

Last year was a watershed year for Pegula: She turned 30, shook up her coaching staff and advanced to her first major final.

And now Pegula has the opportunity to beat the very player that denied her the title. On a court that’s become her favorite in all the world. Pegula, an American in the only American Grand Slam, is now 15-4 in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Thursday’s crowd will be almost completely behind her.

“It would be cool to be able to get revenge, obviously,” Pegula told reporters. “It’s going to be a tough challenge. But at the end of a Slam, you expect that to happen, and you expect people to be playing their best tennis and to be playing the best players, because those are the players that are playing the best.”

After a disappointing summer, Pegula has caught fire at just the right time. And while none of her five victories have come against seeded players, she’s been exceedingly sharp. She converted five of nine break-point opportunities against Krejcikova and was broken only twice herself.

Pegula knows just how close she was, losing that US Open final 7-5, 7-5.

“I was like, ‘Wow, I was right there,’” Pegula marveled. “This year I’ve come back with a different perspective, knowing that I wasn’t playing well, to really enjoy the fact that this is pretty cool.

“I would probably have that mentality, instead of maybe being so focused on what I have to do so strongly … and enjoying the crowd a little bit more, and enjoying the fact that I’m in this position again to possibly be in another final and I’m playing the best player in the world.”