Euro Weekly News - Costa de Almeria 18 - 24 July 2019 Issue 1776

SPORT www.euroweeklynews.com 27 June - 3 July 2019 71
EWN
Mallorca back in La Liga
IN CONTROL: Daní Rodriguez.
MALLORCA are back in the big tine
after a stunning comeback in the second
leg of their play-off final saw
them overcome Deportivo la Coruña.
They will be back in La Liga facing
the likes of Barcelona and Real
Madrid for the first time in six years
after they overturned a two-goal
deficit from the first leg.
Ante Budimir, Salva Sevilla and
Abdon Prats scored during a 3-0 win
in the second leg held at their home
Iberostar Stadium, leading to a 3-2
success on aggregate.
The result means that they join Osasuna
and Granada as the teams promoted
this year.
The result on Sunday led to scenes
of celebrations, with thousands of
fans flooding on to the pitch to salute
their team at the final whistle.
There were noisy scenes in Palma
through the night as the celebrations
continued.
French Open champion and Mallorca
native Rafa Nadal was in the
stands to back his local team
He posted a picture of the fans’
celebrations on Instagram saying:
‘No words, incredible emotions.’
Mallorca had finished the La Liga2
season in fifth place but overcame
fourth placed Albacete in the playoff
semi-final.
Third positioned Malaga were
beaten by Deportivo who had finished
sixth. In last Thursday’s first
leg Deportivo had won 2-0 after Mallorca’s
Marc Pedraza was shown a
red card in the first half.
Past glories
ARE McLaren finally showing signs of reclaiming
past glories?
Their Spanish driver Carlos Sainz certainly
hopes so after an excellent weekend in
France - home country of his team’s engine
suppliers Renault - saw him take sixth place
and eight championship points.
Of course, there is a heck of a long way before
he can even think about catching Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton took his sixth win of
the season as he showed his mastery at the
Paul Ricard circuit, a full 95.4 seconds ahead
of Sainz.
But at least the Woking-based team can
start a challenge to be the ‘best of the rest’
after Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
Hamilton drove a flawless race to beat
teammate Valtteri Bottas, with the Ferrari of
Charles Leclerc in third.
Then came Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and
in fifth spot was Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari.
Sainz too drove a good race, with a blistering
start nearly putting him into fourth in
front of Verstappen until Leclerc (legitimately)
blocked him off.
He did, however end up beating the other
McLaren of Lando Norris, who nevertheless
was named Driver of the Day, much to the
chagrin of sections of the Spanish press.
Queens title for Spanish veteran
SPANISH veteran Feliciano
Lopez has become just the
third wildcard to win the
Queens tennis championship,
joining Ivan Lendl (1989) and
Pete Sampras (1999).
And as if winning his second
Queens singles title at the
age of 37 wasn’t enough, he
also helped Andy Murray
ease his way back into competitive
tennis by partnering
him to a doubles triumph later
the same day.
To say Lopez’s win was
unexpected would be a bit of
an understatement. Up until
the start of the tournament he
has only won three ATP main
draw matches all year. By the
time he had completed the
week he had four more under
his belt and some silverware
for his trophy cabinet.
He beat Frenchman Gilles
Simon 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) in a
tournament that holds fond
memories for him. He won at
the Queens Club in 2017 and
was runner-up in 2014.
Now number 53 in the ATP
Rankings after jumping 60
places, he has also become
CHAMPIONS: Lopez and Murray triumphed at Queens (right).
the oldest champion at this
event in the Open Era.
“I thought the best moment
of my career was when I won
this tournament in 2017, but
it’s right now,” said Lopez.
“He (Simon) was coming up
with unbelievable passing
shots and I was a little bit
desperate, to be honest. The
tie-break is a bit of a lottery,
of course, but I’m just so happy
to win here.”
This was the seventh ATP
tournament success in
Lopez’s career, and his fourth
in grass, a surface that suits
his service game.
He then teamed up with
Andy Murray who was making
his comeback from hip
surgery in January, and who
Credit: ATP Tour
could surely not have been
expecting a title in his first
tournament back.
Speaking after the event
Murray said: “I just won the
doubles with Feli, with a metal
hip. It’s mental, really.
“That’s a cool thing to be
able to have done just because
of where I was a few
months ago. I wasn’t thinking
about this… I was really happy
to be pain-free and enjoying
life, literally just doing
normal things. It’s really special.
It’s more special than a
lot of the singles tournaments
that I’ve won for a lot of different
reasons.”
He and Lopez defeated top
seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal
and Robert Farah in the opening
round, then third seeds
Henri Kontinen and John
Peers in the semis.
In the final they defeated
Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
7-6(6), 5-7, 10-5.
Murray said: “In terms of
how I was hitting the ball, I
think I did okay.
“There’s things I can do
better. I think a lot of it is positioning
on the court, like
where to stand after Feli has
hit a return or where to position
ourselves at the net.
“But one of the things
that’s quite difficult with doubles
is that you’re never going
to find the partner who
has everything, and you yourself
don’t have everything. I
have flaws in my game and
Feli will have weaknesses in
his game. But we used our
strengths and complemented
each other very well. You
need to be able to do that and
not get frustrated with yourself.”