Rafael Nadal returns to the tour with a win. Julian Wanders achieved a strong performance in the Valencia road race. And Belinda Bencic starts in Sydney against Barbora Krejcikova. The most important sports news at a glance.
Ice hockey: The ZSC Lions defeat SC Bern 4: 3
Two early power play goals, two hits by Chris Baltisberger (second from left, No. 14) for the ZSC Lions.
ZSC Lions – SC Bern 4: 3 (2: 1, 0: 1, 2: 1). 9059 spectators. – Gates: 5. C. Baltisberger (Roe, Malgin / exclusion of Untersander) 1: 0, 13. C. Baltisberger (Weber, Malgin / exclusion of B. Gerber) 2: 0, 17. Thomas (Kahun, Scherwey) 2: 1, 40 Henauer (Kahun) 2: 2, 51. Roe (Schäppi, Bodenmann) 3: 2, 58. Malgin 4: 2. 59. Thomas. – If the result hides a confused appearance: The ZSC awards an early 2-0, but in the end it still gets enough momentum to be the winner for the fifth time in a row.
This is how the game went: The power play is generally considered to be an indicator of the mental state of a team: If the goals are outnumbered, they appear with a broad chest, if they do not fall, they are under stress. Seen in this way, things were already worse for the people of Zurich. The SCB is given two penalties early on, both times with the Zurich power play formation with Chris Baltisberger as the executor.
Nevertheless: The ZSC Lions are not doing really well on this Sunday afternoon. With the exception of the above-mentioned majority situations, they hardly manage anything worth seeing, the mood level in the indoor stadium, which is well-filled with over 9,000 spectators, remains largely lukewarm. SC Bern also takes care of that. He quickly fights his way back into the game with the connection hit and keeps the pressure on the opponent high.
In the beginning, the ZSC benefits from fines, after which it collects a few and otherwise regularly gets into trouble. The Zurich trainer Rikard Grönborg approaches the referees loudly at every unwelcome whistle – on the other hand, he notices that his staff are largely uninspired, flawed and too passive.
It is only thanks to their new goalie Jakub Kovar that the Lions are not already behind after two thirds. The Czech destroys some top-class SCB chances in his second game for Zurich.
After all: With one of the very rare liquid actions, Grönborg’s players enrich their confused appearance with a sign of life. In a skilful teamwork, Garrett Roe, Simon Bodenmann and Reto Schäppi intercept the SCB in the build-up of the game and score the groundbreaking 3: 2 ten minutes before the end. Denis Malgin, the top scorer, takes care of the freestyle shortly before the end, when he drives away all opponents with his irresistible start and makes the decisive blow: 4: 2. Bern comes closer to 4: 3 again, again through the strong Canadian Christian Thomas, but the Lions successfully bring their lead over the last few seconds.
It’s not enough for a beauty award, but that doesn’t matter to the people of Zurich. They have their fifth victory in a row. On Wednesday it will continue for them in Lugano. (pic.)
National League. Sunday: Biel – Ambri-Piotta 4: 0 (1: 0, 0: 0, 3: 0). ZSC Lions – SC Bern 4: 3 (2: 1, 0: 1, 2: 1). – Ranking list: 1. Freiburg 34/71. 2. Rapperswil-Jona Lakers 35/67. 3. Biel 35/64. 4th move 32/63. 5. Davos 34/62. 6. ZSC Lions 35/61. 7. Lugano 34/51. 8. Lausanne 33/46. 9. Bern 33/45. 10. Geneva / Servette 33/44. 11. Ambri-Piotta 35/39. 12. SCL Tigers 35/32. 13. Ajoie 34/18.
Tennis: Canada wins the ATP Cup
Denis Shapovalov during the handshake with the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.
(sda) Canada has won the third edition of the ATP Cup, which is endowed with ten million dollars. In Sydney, the North Americans defeated Spain in the final of the team competition thanks to two individual victories.
Denis Shapovalov and Félix Auger-Aliassime emerged victorious from the two duels between the top 20 players. Schapovalov (ATP 14) won against Pablo Carreño-Busta (ATP 20) 6: 4, 6: 3, before Auger-Aliassime (ATP 11) won 7: 6 (7: 3), 6: 3 against Roberto Bautista Agut ( ATP 19) made everything clear before the possible double.
The Spaniards, who entered without Nadal, lost for the second time in the final after losing to Serbia in 2020. Last year Russia won. Switzerland has never participated in the ATP Cup before.
Tennis: Nadal returns to the tour with a tournament victory
(sda) Rafael Nadal has successfully returned to the ATP tour after a five-month absence. The Spaniard, who was injured for a long time, defeated the American qualifier Maxime Cressy 7: 6 (8: 6), 6: 3 in the final of the ATP 250 tournament in Melbourne.
On the way to his 89th tournament victory, Nadal did not have to defeat any player from the top 90 and only win three matches. The sixth in the world rankings needed 107 minutes to win against Paris-born, almost two meters tall Cressy (ATP 112).
Athletics: hiking with a strong performance – Le Guen with a personal record
(sda) Julian Wanders finished 11th in the street race in Valencia. In the busy race he was significantly faster over the 10 kilometers with 28:14 minutes than last October in Geneva, where he had to be content with 28:59.
His Geneva club colleague Morgan Le Guen finished the race in 28:26 minutes in 18th place. Wanders and Markus Ryffel were the only Swiss ever to run this distance faster.
Tennis: Belinda Bencic starts in Sydney against Krejcikova
(sda) Belinda Bencic (WTA 23) starts the season at the tournament in Sydney against the French Open winner. The eastern Swiss, who starts the tennis year with a week delay due to her corona illness, meets the Czech Barbora Krejcikova (WTA 5) in the first round. Bencic has won two duels so far: in the round of 16 of the Olympic Games in Tokyo and at the Billie Jean King Cup last November.
Jil Teichmann (WTA 37) and Viktorija Golubic (WTA 43) will start next week in Adelaide. Teichmann meets a qualifier, Golubic meets the Czech Marketa Vondrousova (WTA 35), the Olympic runner-up from Tokyo.
Ice hockey: Roman Josi and Timo Meier continue scoring
(sda) Roman Josi has led the Nashville Predators to their fourth straight win with one goal and one assist. The Swiss strikers Timo Meier and Kevin Fiala were also decisive for their teams.
Josi had another big appearance in the 4-2 away win against the Arizona Coyotes, one of his favorite opponents in the NHL. The Bernese defender, who was honored as the best player of the game, captured the puck shortly before the first break in his own third and initiated the 3-0. In the final section he hit the power play from the blue line to make it 4-1. It was the scorer points 10 and 11 for the captain of the Predators in the last five games against Arizona.
Timo Meier contributed two assists to the 3-2 win for the San Jose Sharks at the Philadelphia Flyers. The Appenzeller was involved in the first two goals of the Czech Tomas Hertl, who secured the Californians victory after 24 seconds with his third goal. Meier has 38 scorer points after 31 games and is number 9 in the league.
Kevin Fiala was named the third best player in the Minnesota Wild at home 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals. The Swiss from Eastern Switzerland was involved in the equalization to 2: 2 35 seconds before extra time and was one of two successful shooters in the penalty shootout.
Nico Hischier lost to the New Jersey Devils at the Columbus Blue Jackets 3: 4, but was able to score his 7th goal of the season. With a wrist shot, he scored 1: 2 in the 15th minute.