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Fri/Sat/Sun January 12~14, 2018

TOP-RANKED Rafael Nadal and defending champion Roger Federer have been seeded fi rst and second for the Australian Open, meaning they can only play each other at Melbourne Park this month if they set up a rematch of last year’s fi nal.

Federer was coming off an extended injury break and was seeded 17th at last year’s Austra-lian Open when he beat Nadal, who was seeded ninth, in fi ve sets in the fi nal. Grigor Dimitrov, a semifi nalist here last year, is seeded third and six-time cham-pion Novak Djokovic is 14th.

The seedings for the season’s fi rst major tournament refl ected the rankings in both singles tour-naments. The draw was sched-uled later.

Serena Williams decided not to defend her Australian title, saying that just four months after having her fi rst child that her tennis hadn’t yet returned to a level where she felt she could win a Grand Slam title.

Two-time French Open fi nalist Simona Halep, yet to win a major, is seeded No. 1 in the women’s draw, with Caroline Wozniacki at No. 2 and Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza at No. 3.

(SD-Agencies)

LOU WILLIAMS scored 27 of his career-high 50 points in the third quarter and the Los Ange-les Clippers beat the Golden State Warriors for the fi rst time in more than three years with a 125-106 win Wednesday that spoiled a milestone night for Kevin Durant.

Williams shot 16 for 27 with a career-best eight 3-pointers and made all 10 of his free throws.

Durant became the 44th player in NBA history to score 20,000 career points, fi nishing with 40 as the Warriors had their fi ve-game winning streak snapped along with a 12-game unbeaten stretch in the Clippers rivalry.

Durant reached the milestone on a pull-up jumper from the left wing at the 1:41 mark of the second quarter. The Warriors announced his accomplish-ment on the main scoreboard and Durant received a standing ovation, shaking his head in acknowledgment while still very much in game mode.

By late in the fourth quarter, that crowd was making its way for the exits with the game out of reach.

The NBA Finals MVP returned from a three-game absence due to a strained right calf and scored 25 points in the fi rst half against

REAL Madrid reached the quar-terfi nals of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday but its struggles continued with a 2-2 draw against second-division team Numancia.

Madrid, playing with a second-string lineup, advanced 5-2 on aggregate thanks to its 3-0 win in the fi rst leg last week, which marked the team’s only win in its last four games.

Zinedine Zidane’s side was coming off a 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo and a demoralizing 3-0 home loss to Barcelona in the Spanish league, a competition in which it trails the Catalan club by 16 points with a game in hand.

In front of fewer than 38,000 fans at the 81,000-capacity San-tiago Bernabeu Stadium, Lucas Vazquez scored for Madrid in the 10th and 59th minutes, while Guillermo Fernandez got Numancia on the board in the 45th and 82nd.

Madrid struggled to create signifi cant chances and was unable to prevent Numancia from threatening.

“We faced a team that gave all it had and played a good game,” Zidane said. “We need to win two or three games in a row to regain some of our confi dence. We will keep working hard. We will not just give up.”

Numancia captain Dani Calvo was red-carded in injury time.

“We are happy with our per-formance,” Fernandez said. “It’s not easy to earn a draw in this stadium. We are very satisfi ed.”

Cristiano Ronaldo was among the players rested by Zidane on Wednesday. Regular starters Casemiro and Isco entered the match in the second half.

On Tuesday, Atletico Madrid eliminated third-division club Lleida, while Valencia beat Las Palmas.

Three-time defending cham-pion Barcelona hosts Celta Vigo in a later match. The teams drew 1-1 in last week’s fi rst leg in Vigo. (SD-Agencies)

CHELSEA wasted a chance to take control of its League Cup semifi nal against Arsenal as the misfi ring Blues were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw in Wednesday’s fi rst leg.

Antonio Conte’s side domi-nated possession for long peri-ods at Stamford Bridge — where the Video Assistant Referee system (VAR) was in operation — but lacked the killer instinct required to take a step towards the fi nal.

They had 21 shots to just eight from Arsenal, yet the tie remains on a knife-edge heading into the second leg at the Emirates Sta-dium on Jan. 24.

“We are not so clinical despite creating chances. If you want to win you have to score,” Conte said.

“We didn’t concede a goal, but we know we play away at Arsenal and we must be ready to fi ght if we are to play the fi nal.”

While it was a frustrating evening for the Blues as they chase a fi rst League Cup fi nal berth since 2015, the stalemate was a welcome tonic for their London rivals.

The Gunners, who also drew both Premier League encounters with Chelsea this season, suffered one of the most chastening defeats of Arsene Wenger’s reign Sunday as second-tier Nottingham Forest won 4-2 in the FA Cup third round.

While Arsenal was well below its best once again, in contrast to its surrender in Nottingham,

Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (R) shoots the basketball against Los Angeles Clippers guard Tyrone Wallace during the third quarter at Oracle Arena Oakland on Wednesday. SD-Agencies

the Frenchman will be encour-aged that they showed enough spirit to keep Chelsea at bay.

“I felt there was great togeth-erness. I am pleased with the spirit and determination,” Wenger said.

“You want fi rst to be solid, but ideally you want to score as well.”

Conte had mostly fi elded fringe players en route to the last four, but Eden Hazard, back from a calf injury, N’Golo Kante and Thibaut Courtois were called upon with a Wembley showdown against Manchester City or Bristol City in sight.

Wenger surprisingly left Alexis Sanchez on the bench amid talk of the unsettled Chile forward joining Manchester City, while Mesut Ozil missed out with a knee injury.

Wenger was watching from the press box as he serves his touchline ban and the Gunners boss was shifting anxiously in his seat early on when Hazard’s pass gave Alvaro Morata an opportunity that he drove into the side-netting.

After a tepid opening from Arsenal, Alexandre Lacazette escaped the Chelsea defense to collect Jack Wilshere’s pass,

but the French striker wasted the chance as he scuffed a hur-ried shot wide.

Chelsea wing-back Victor Moses forced David Ospina into action with a stinging drive that the Arsenal goalkeeper fumbled before recovering to snatch the ball away from Morata.

Moses was proving a prob-lem for young left-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles and the Nige-rian found space for another shot moments later, this time his low shot hit Ospina’s near post before Arsenal scrambled it away.

(SD-Agencies)

Chelsea frustrated by Arsenal stalemate

Clippers spoil Kevin Durant’s milestone

the Clippers — KD’s biggest half of the season and the exact number he needed for 20,000.

Durant, who had a four-point play during the second quarter on the way to 14 points in the period, is at 29 the second-youngest player behind LeBron James and fi rst to reach the 20,000 mark as a member of the Warriors.

He shot 14 for 18, includ-ing 6 of 7 from deep, and Zaza Pachulia added 12 points on a night when the Warriors were without their starting backcourt. Stephen Curry re-sprained his right ankle during the morning

shootaround, and Klay Thomp-son also was out for rest that had been previously scheduled.

Williams also dished out seven assists and rookie Tyrone Wallace added a season-best 22 points off the bench for the Clip-pers while returning to the Bay Area, where he starred in college at California. Nick Young started in place of Thompson and had seven points but shot 3 for 11 and missed six of his seven 3-point tries. It was Young’s fi rst start with the Warriors. Shaun Liv-ingston played in place of Curry and contributed eight points and four assists. (SD-Agencies)

Nadal seeded 1st for Aussie Open

Real advances in Copa despite draw against Numancia

Real Madrid’s Lucas Vazquez (L) cel-ebrates with teammate Daniel Ceballos after scoring the opening goal against Numancia during their match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid on Wednesday. SD-Agencies

Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette (L) in action with Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta during their match at Stamford Bridge in London on Wednesday. SD-Agencies