Ashleigh Barty moves into the final in Melbourne and meets Danielle Collins there. GC sign a Portuguese centre-back. And Pius Suter scores the tenth goal of the season in the NHL. The most important sports reports at a glance.
Football: Yann Sommer voted Swiss Footballer of the Year 2021
The goalie Yann Sommer prevailed in the election against Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri.
(sda) Yann Sommer, the goalkeeper of the national team and Borussia Mönchengladbach, prevailed against his national team colleagues Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka in the shortlist of the Swiss Football Night, which was held virtually for the first time. Yann Sommer had a great credit for the national team advancing to the quarterfinals at the European Championships and qualifying directly for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in the group matches ahead of Italy.
The other winners of the election held jointly by the SFV and the Swiss Football League are: Arthur Cabral (Super League Player), Noah Okafor (Youngster), Roman Buess (Challenge League Player), Lia Wälti (Female National Player) and Sandy Maendly (Women’s super league player)
Football: Fabian Frei extends with Basel until 2024
(sda) Fabian Frei extended his contract with FC Basel, which expired in the summer, until 2024. The 33-year-old midfielder is currently in his tenth season with the Basel team. Frei has won five championships with FCB and three cup winners. With 438 competitive games, he should soon replace Massimo Ceccaroni (452) as the club’s record player.
Tennis: Barty sovereign in the final
The dream of home victory lives on: Ashleigh Barty is the first Australian to reach the final in Melbourne since 1980.
(sda) Ashleigh Barty’s dream of a home win at the Australian Open lives on. The world number 1 wins the semifinals against the American Madison Keys 6:1, 6:3 and now meets her compatriot Danielle Collins in the final.
The spectators in the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne witnessed two one-sided semi-finals during the night session. After Barty’s clear victory, the Polish Iga Swiatek (WTA 9) surprisingly had no chance against Danielle Collins (WTA 30) and lost 4: 6, 1: 6.
The 28-year-old from Florida put the 2020 French Open winner under constant pressure with her returns and celebrated her greatest success of her career after 79 minutes. In 2019, Collins had reached a major semifinal for the first time – also in Melbourne.
In the final, however, Collins will be the clear outsider. Barty has the chance to become the first Australian to win the title since 1978.
Soccer: GC bring in Portuguese centre-back
(sda) The Grasshoppers are strengthening their Portuguese faction: Zurich signed central defender Tomas Ribeiro from Belenenses Lisbon. The 22-year-old made 72 appearances for the Portuguese top flight club. Most recently, he ran several times as a captain.
Ribeiro is the fifth Portuguese in the Grasshoppers squad and the third to join from Belenenses to sixth in the Super League.
Ice hockey: defeat for Pius Suter against the ex-club
(sda) Pius Suter scored his tenth goal for the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL, but lost 5-8 to his former club Chicago.
13 seconds before the second break, Suter made it 3:4 after the Red Wings had started the middle third with a deficit of 0:4. The Zurich native and his teammates couldn’t get any closer. Philipp Kurashev came to an assist for the Blackhawks. He has 12 scorer points this season, Suter has 20.
Timo Meier also scored in the San Jose Sharks’ 4-1 away win over the Washington Capitals. He scored his 47th scorer point before the 3:1 thanks to a hard-fought puck.
Dean Kukan lost 6-0 at home with the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Calgary Flames. The defeat would have been even worse if former Lugano keeper Elvis Merzlikins hadn’t saved 56 shots in the hosts’ goal.
Tenth goal of the season for Pius Suter in the NHL.
Football: Salah with Egypt in the quarterfinals
Mohamed Salah dances out the Ivoire Serey Die (left) and Ghislain Konan.
(sda) Record winner Egypt is in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. Liverpool’s star striker Mo Salah’s team won the penalty shoot-out against Ivory Coast 5-4 after 120 goalless minutes.
Manchester United defender Eric Bailly was the only shooter not to score in extra time from 11 yards out. For the losing team, Sion’s Geoffroy Serey Dié came on after the half-hour to replace AC Milan’s Franck Kessie with a rib injury.
Egypt meets Morocco in the quarter-finals on Sunday.
Africa Cup in Cameroon (9 January to 6 February 2022). Round of 16: In Douala: Ivory Coast (from 30th with Serey Dié/Sion) – Egypt 0:0 aet – Egypt 5:4 winner in penalty shootout. In Limbé: Mali 0-0 aet Equatorial Guinea – Equatorial Guinea 6-5 winners in penalty shoot-out.
The further program. Quarterfinals. On Saturday: Gambia – Cameroon, Burkina Faso – Tunisia. – On Sunday: Egypt – Morocco, Senegal – Equatorial Guinea. – Semi-finals on 2./3. February, Final and 3rd place match on February 6th.
Ice hockey: Beat Gerber has another season coming up
Beat Gerber signed for a 20th season at SC Bern.
(sda) Beat Gerber will stay with SC Bern for another season. The 39-year-old defensive defender, who is currently in his 19th professional season with SCB, extended his expiring contract by another year until 2023. A follow-up contract for a function that has yet to be defined after the end of his playing career was confirmed.
With 1202 games played so far, Gerber is the record player in the National League. In addition, the 89-times Swiss international was six times champion with the SCB – also a record.
the #SCBern has extended the contract with Beat Gerber, which was renewed in February 2021, by a further year. In addition, a follow-up contract for a still to be defined function was confirmed after the end of his career. https://t.co/LIZUcWr3vU
— SC Bern (@scbern_news) January 26, 2022