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GUYANA CHRONICLE Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Vickery gets US Open main draw … US Open prize money to reach record $53 million By Rawle Toney SACHIA Vickery’s 2018 season keeps getting better, with the world No.75ranked player set to feature in the main draw of the US Open for the first time in her career. The August 27–September 9 tournament, played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York, will see Vickery make her fourth appearance but it will be the first time the player will not play in the qualification tournament. T h i s y e a r, Vi c k e r y notched wins against some of tennis’ biggest names, including Eugenie Bouchard,
current world #3-ranked and former French Open (2016) and Wimbledon champion (2017) Garbiñe Muguruza and 2017 ASB Classic champion Lauren Davis just to name a few. At the just-concluded Wimbledon, Vickery’s run was halted in the second round, following her straight-sets defeat, suffered at the hands of Elise Mertens, who won 6-1, 6-3. Markéta Vondroušová was Vickery’s first round victim with the Czech Republic player losing 6-1, 6-2. Vickery, who flies the ‘Golden Arrowhead’ in the world, having been born to ‘GT’ parents Paula Liverpool
and Rawle Vickery, will play as an automatic main draw for the first time at the Tennis Grand Slam tournament. Meanwhile, it was announced that the richest prize purse in the history of tennis is set to get even bigger with the announcement that prize money at the 2018 US Open will reach a record $53M. Each singles champion will receive $3.8M - the largest pay-out in US Open history and a $100 000 increase from last year. Prize money at the US Open has increased by 57 percent since 2013. The US Open was the first tournament to offer equal prize
money to men and women competitors in 1973. The total $53M purse for the 2018 US Open is more than a 5 percent increase on the $50.4M offered in 2017. In the men’s and women’s singles tournaments this year, players will earn $54 000 for playing in the main draw, $93 000 for reaching the second round and $156 000 for advancing to the Round of 32. They will take home $266 000 for reaching the fourth round, $475 000 for contesting the quarter-finals and $925 000 for making the semi-finals. Reaching the final is worth $1 850 000, an increase of $25 000 over last year. Both the men’s and women’s doubles champion teams will earn $700 000, the highest in US Open history. First- and second-round losing teams will earn $16
Sachia Vickery
500 and $27 875, respectively. Teams reaching the Round of 16 will receive $46 500, quarterfinalists
will win $85 275 and semifinal teams will take home $166 400. Finalists will collect $350 000.
Froome welcomes rivals’ lack of aggression on first mountain stage By Julien Pretot LE GRAND BORNAND, France (Reuters) - Defending champion Chris Froome welcomed his rivals’ lack of aggression as he stayed firmly on course for a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title after the first mountain stage yesterday. The 10th stage followed Sunday’s punishing cobbled ride to Roubaix and Monday’s rest day and, with a long descent to the finish, none of the top guns were in the mood to risk a long-range attack. Belgian Greg van Avermaet retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after
featuring in the day’s breakaway and he leads Briton Geraint Thomas, Froome’s lieutenant at Team Sky, by two minutes and 22 seconds. S p a i n ’s A l e j a n d ro Valverde is third, 3:10 off the pace, with Froome in sixth place, 3:21 behind Van Avermaet, who said he had “zero chance” of keeping the yellow jersey after Wednesday’s brutal mountain stage to La Rosiere. For Froome, the 158.5km trek from Annecy was one day ticked off his to-do list as the Briton remained in a perfect position to become the first rider in 20 years to achieve a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double.
CRICKET QUIZ CORNER (Wednesday July 18, 2018) COMPLIMENTS OF THE TROPHY STALL Bourda Market & The City Mall (Tel: 225-9230) & Cummings Electrical Company Ltd. 83 Garnett Street, Campbellville, Georgetown (Tel: 225-6158) Answers to yesterday’s quiz: (1) WI vs ENG, 1930 (2) WI vs SA, 2005 Today’s Quiz: (1) When did Albion host an ODI for the first time? (2) When did Albion host an ODI for the last time? Answer in tomorrow's issue
good.”
Chris Froome
“We couldn’t have asked for much more, really. It was pretty steady,” said Froome, whose climbing abilities should do the talking in the coming days. A final time trial on the eve of the Champs Elysees parade should also help him gain time on his rivals, with the exception of
Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, who is 3:42 off the pace in 11th. “We were pretty happy to have the numbers up front. For the first big mountain day I think the guys really showed exactly what we’ve been training for,” Froome added. “I’m feeling pretty
FROOME’S RIVALS Among Froome’s rivals, the Movistar team - with three potential winners in Valverde, Nairo Quintana and Mikel Landa - did not even try to unsettle the fourtime champion in yet another demonstration of their conservative tactics. “Everyone’s got their own gameplan. Other people are probably also thinking about these next hard days coming up,” said Froome. “No one really showed all their cards today. Everyone I think played it a little conservatively maybe thinking about the next two days to come, which are going to
be hard as well.” Dumoulin, the 2017 Giro champion, refused to see the day as a lost opportunity to shake Team Sky, the dominant force in the peloton. “It’s only the first mountain stage,” he told Reuters. That stage, however, was fatal to last year’s runner-up Colombian Rigoberto Uran, who lost over two minutes just two days after losing ground following a crash on the cobbles. “He’s pretty sore after crashing two times on the cobbles,” his EF Education First-Drapac sports director Charly Wegelius said. “He did what he could to limit the damage but unfortunately it’s the way sport goes. It’s a brutal sport.”
Narine wins Franco Crawford 50th birth anniversary 45-miler
BALRAM Narine continued his dominance of Flying Ace Cycle Club’s (FACC) members-only cycle road races last Sunday, winning the Franco Crawford’s 50th birth anniversary 45-mile cycle road race. Narine, who has been enjoying winning ways in his club’s members-only races over the past three months,
registered one hour 50 minutes for the 45-mile event that started at the junction of Main and Alexander Streets, New Amsterdam, proceeded to Bush Lot, Corentyne, Berbice and finished at the place of origin. He also won six of the eight prime prizes that were on offer. Ralph Seenarine and David Hicks won the other two prime prizes.
After being sent on their way, Narine and three others broke from the 18-man pack and held the lead almost throughout the entire distance, but with approximately two miles remaining, Narine jumped the others and none of the other three responded. So Narine crossed the finish line all by himself. Donovan Fraser, Seenarine, Sybourne Fernandes
and Daniel Mootoo occupied the other four positions in that order. The 12-14 years category was won by Jeremiah Joseph. Second was Marion Washington. Calvin Persaud won the Over-60 age group ahead of Daniel Rigby. They both rode from New Amsterdam to Port Mourant and back.