Sports world daily: Teenager Mirra Andreeva reaches Madrid R16; Barca on course to win La Liga title

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva has created a stir by reaching the round of 16 at the Madrid ATP/WTA 1000 Masters, beating former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez and 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia and 17th seed Magda Linette.

In football news, Barcelona are a step closer to winning their first La Liga title since 2019.

Fakhar Zaman became only the 12th batter to score three or more consecutive centuries as he led Pakistan to a win over New Zealand in the second ODI of the bilateral series.

Here’s a look at the key stories from international sporting events through the day for 30 April, 2023:

Teenager Andreeva makes waves at Madrid Masters

Mirra Andreeva celebrated her 16th birthday by continuing her sensational run in the Madrid Open with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Magda Linette to reach the fourth round on Saturday.

World No 6 Coco Gauff, however, suffered a surprise third round defeat at the hands of Spaniard Paula Badosa, losing 6-3, 6-0.

Russian teenager Andreeva, ranked at a lowly 194, and who ousted 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez and world number 14 Beatriz Haddad Maia earlier in the tournament, will face world number two Aryna Sabalenka in the last 16.

Andreeva, a wildcard, became only the third 15-year-old to win a WTA 1000 main draw match when she beat Fernandez on Wednesday.

She finished as runner-up at the junior Australian Open in January, while her next opponent Sabalenka won the women’s title for her breakthrough Grand Slam.

The Belarusian beat resilient wildcard Camila Osorio 6-4, 7-5 earlier Saturday.

Medvedev through

World No 3 Daniil Medvedev saw off Andrea Vavassori 6-4, 6-3 to reach the third round of the men’s competition.

Vavassori battled his way past Andy Murray in the first round but could not oust another former world No 1 in the Spanish capital.

Dusan Lajovic earned a surprise win over world No 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5).

The Serbian stunned 22-time Grand Slam winner and world No 1 Novak Djokovic on the way to winning the Banja Luka title last week, as well as beating world No 6 Andrey Rublev in the final.

Results in the Madrid ATP/WTA 1000 tournament on Saturday (x denotes seeding; players representing Russia and Belarus are banned from competing under the name or flag of their countries):

Men’s singles second round

Dusan Lajovic (SRB) bt Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN x7) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5)

Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) bt Ben Shelton (USA x32) 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5

Pedro Cachin (ARG) bt Francisco Cerundolo (ARG x24) 6-1, 7-6 (8/6)

Frances Tiafoe (USA x9) bt Tomas Etcheverry (ARG) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5)

Roman Safiullin bt Tommy Paul (USA x14) 6-3, 7-6 (7/3)

Bernabe Zapata Miralles (ESP) bt Dan Evans (GBR x19) 6-3, 6-2

Sebastian Baez (ARG x25) bt Marcos Giron (USA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE x4) bt Dominic Thiem (AUT) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5)

Taylor Fritz (USA x8) bt Christopher O’Connell (AUS) 7-6 (13/11), 6-4

Christian Garin (CHI) bt Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB x27) 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (5/7), 6-4

Zhang Zhizhen (CHN) bt Denis Shapovalov (CAN x21) 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/1)

Cameron Norrie (GBR x11) bt Yosuke Watanuki (JPN) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5)

Alex De Minaur (AUS x16) bt Marco Cecchinato (ITA) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5)

Aslan Karatsev bt Botic van de Zandschulp (NED x23) 6-2, 7-5

Alexander Shevchenko bt Jiri Lehecka (CZE x31) 6-1, 6-1

Daniil Medvedev (x2) bt Andrea Vavassori (ITA) 6-4, 6-3

Women’s singles third round

Paula Badosa (ESP x26) bt Coco Gauff (USA x6) 6-3, 6-0

Maria Sakkari (GRE x9) bt Rebeka Masarova (ESP) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Liudmila Samsonova (x14) bt Jelena Ostapenko (LAT x19) 6-2, 6-0

Irina-Camelia Begu (ROM x31) bt Shelby Rogers (USA x33) 7-5, 6-2

Mayar Sherif (EGY) bt Caroline Garcia (FRA x5) 7-6 (7/2), 6-3

Elise Mertens (BEL x24) bt Jule Niemeier (GER) 6-3, 6-4

Mirra Andreeva bt Magda Linette (POL x17) 6-3, 6-3

Aryna Sabalenka (x2) bt Camila Osorio (COL) 6-4, 7-5

Barca beat Betis

Barcelona thrashed 10-man Real Betis 4-0 on Saturday to move a step closer to winning La Liga for the first time since 2019.

Real Madrid beat Almeria 4-2 to cut the gap to eight points earlier on but Barcelona triumphed to restore their 11 point advantage.

Andreas Christensen, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha struck for Barca at Camp Nou with Guido Rodriguez netting a late own goal to round off the rout.

Edgar Gonzalez’s early dismissal made it an easy night for Xavi Hernandez’s side to protect their lead with six games remaining.

With his side comfortably winning, Xavi brought on 15-year-old forward Lamine Yamal to become the club’s youngest ever player to debut in La Liga.

Betis also brought on veteran Joaquin Sanchez, 41, for his final appearance at Camp Nou before he retires at the end of the season, and he was afforded a standing ovation by Barcelona supporters.

The Catalans bounced back from a 2-1 defeat by Rayo Vallecano in midweek.

Pakistan beat New Zealand in second ODI

Fakhar Zaman smashed a third consecutive century to guide Pakistan to a seven-wicket victory over New Zealand in the second one-day international on Saturday.

The 33-year-old left-handed opener hit an undefeated 180 off 144 balls for his tenth ODI hundred.

It followed his 117 in the first match and 101 against the same opponents in January as Pakistan chased a stiff 337-run target in 48.2 overs.

The win gives Pakistan a 2-0 lead in the five-match series with the last three matches in Karachi on May 3, 5 and 7.

Along with Zaman, skipper Babar Azam hit a brisk 66-ball 65 and Mohammad Rizwan a 41-ball 54 not out as Pakistan achieved their second highest successful ODI chase behind 349 against Australia in Lahore last year.

New Zealand were guided to 336-5 by a second successive hundred for Daryl Mitchell, who made 129, Tom Latham’s 98 and 51 by Chad Bowes.

Zaman is the 12th batter to score three or more hundreds in consecutive ODIs with Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara the only man to hit four on the trot. Azam has achieved the feat twice.

When on 98, Zaman joined West Indian Shai Hope as the second fastest to 3,000 ODI runs in 67 innings. South African Hashim Amla is the fastest to the milestone in 57.

With text inputs from AFP

Updated through the day