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Tennis-Krejcikova holds off Paolini to win Wimbledon title
By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) -Barbora Krejcikova held off Italian crowd favourite Jasmine Paolini to win the Wimbledon singles title on Saturday, coming through 6-2 2-6 6-4 on a sunlit Centre Court.
The Czech doubles specialist had dominated the opening set with a near-perfect display but was then rocked by a dazzling Paolini fightback which sent the showpiece into a decider.
The momentum appeared to be with seventh seed Paolini, but a tight third set swung 31st seed Krejcikova’s way when she broke serve at 3-3 courtesy of a double-fault.
Serving for the title at 5-4, Krejcikova just about held her nerve, wasting two match points and saving two break points before sealing victory at the third time of asking.
“I was just telling myself to be brave and if the game doesn’t go my way it’s still 5-5 and we continue,” Krejcikova, who was watched by Czech-born nine-time singles champion Martina Navratilova, said when describing the nerve-shredding finale.
Before being presented with the trophy, the 28-year-old also paid tribute to her friend, mentor and fellow Brno native, 1998 Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna who died in 2017.
“Jana was the one that told me I have potential and that I should turn pro and before she passed away she told me to go and win a Grand Slam,” said Krejcikova, who adds the Wimbledon title to her 2021 French Open triumph and also owns 10 Grand Slam doubles titles, including two at the All England Club.
While there were tears of joy for the Czech, it was heartache for the popular Paolini who lost the French Open final a few weeks ago and was bidding to become the first Italian to win a Wimbledon singles title.
“Today I am a little bit sad. I try to keep smiling because I have to remember today is still a good day, I made the final of Wimbledon,” Paolini, whose joyful and bubbly personality has lit up the tournament, said.
Krejcikova was seeking to continue a tradition of Czech-born Wimbledon champions including Marketa Vondrousova who claimed the title last year and she began in dominant fashion.
Striking the ball with pace and accuracy she broke serve in the first game before holding for a 2-0 lead.
Paolini, who beat Donna Vekic in the longest ever Wimbledon women’s semi-final to become the first Italian woman to reach the final, weathered some fierce ball-striking in her next service game to get herself on the scoreboard.
The Centre Court crowd came alive in the fourth game as Paolini showed unbelievable court coverage to stay in one point but to no avail as Krejcikova held for 3-1.
Chatting to herself between points, Paolini tried to fire herself up in the face of a Krejcikova onslaught but another dropped service game left her reeling and the Czech pouched the opener in 35 one-sided minutes.
Paolini disappeared off court, presumably for a deep breath, and returned with fire in her belly. Immediately the momentum shifted as she seized on the first Krejcikova dip to move into a 3-0 lead with some flowing winners.
Suddenly it was Krejcikova who looked tight with consecutive double faults adding more fuel to the Paolini fire but the Czech steadied down to avoid slipping 4-0 behind.
It was all Paolini though as she rode the cheers of the crowd to take the final to a decider.
She looked poised to join Francesca Schiavone (2010 French Open) and Flavia Pennetta (2015 U.S. Open) on the list of female Italian Grand Slam singles champions, but Krejcikova used all her experience to wrestle back control.
Krejcikova banged down five aces in the deciding set and when Paolini wavered at 3-3 it proved decisive.
(Reuters) -Private equity firm Insight Partners is on the brink of closing a new $10 billion-plus fund, roughly half the amount originally targeted, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing five people with knowledge of its plans.
Insight will not formally close its 13th fund until early next year, the report said, adding that the final figure may be closer to $12 billion.
Insight Partners declined to comment on the report.
The report said Insight is using a private equity-style structure to sell more than $1 billion worth of stakes in start-ups and to free up cash to return to investors.
One of the start-ups is Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz, which had called off a $23 billion deal with Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:) in July, the report said.
New York-based Insight raised $20 billion for its 12th flagship fund in 2022, aiming to ramp up investments in software and technology companies.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would inflict a “heavy price” on the Iran-aligned Houthis who control northern Yemen, after they reached central Israel with a missile on Sunday for the first time.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group struck with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that travelled 2,040 km (1270 miles) in just 11 1/2 minutes.
After initially saying the missile had fallen in an open area, Israel’s military later said it had probably fragmented in the air, and that pieces of interceptors had landed in fields and near a railway station. Nobody was reported hurt.
Air raid sirens had sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel moments before the impact at around 6:35 a.m. local time (0335 GMT), sending residents running for shelter. Loud booms were heard.
Reuters saw smoke billowing in an open field in central Israel.
At a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the Houthis should have known that Israel would exact a “heavy price” for attacks on Israel.
“Whoever needs a reminder of that is invited to visit the Hodeida port,” Netanyahu said, referring to an Israeli retaliatory air strike against Yemen in July for a Houthi drone that hit Tel Aviv.
The Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Israel repeatedly in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians, since the Gaza war began with a Hamas attack on Israel in October.
The drone that hit Tel Aviv for the first time in July killed a man and wounded four people. Israeli air strikes in response on Houthi military targets near the port of Hodeidah killed six and wounded 80.
Previously, Houthi missiles have not penetrated deep into Israeli air space, with the only one reported to have hit Israeli territory falling in an open area near the Red Sea port of Eilat in March.
Israel should expect more strikes in the future “as we approach the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 operation, including responding to its aggression on the city of Hodeidah,” Sarea said.
The deputy head of the Houthi’s media office, Nasruddin Amer, said in a post on X on Sunday that the missile had reached Israel after “20 missiles failed to intercept” it, describing it as the “beginning”.
The Israeli military also said that 40 projectiles were fired towards Israel from Lebanon on Sunday and were either intercepted or landed in open areas.
“No injuries were reported,” the military said.
PARIS (Reuters) – Eight people have died trying to cross the Channel from France to England, French authorities said on Sunday, confirming earlier media reports.
This latest incident follows the deaths of 12 people earlier this month when their boat capsized in the Channel on its way to Britain and highlights the pressure on the British and French governments to find ways to tackle the boat crossings.
Jacques Billant, the Prefect of the Pas-de-Calais region, said that rescue crews were alerted that a boat with 59 people onboard was in difficulty in waters off the coast of Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais area.
“A new drama took place around one in the morning and we deplore the death of eight people,” he told a news conference, adding that the other 51 onboard were now in the care of rescue and medical crews.
The dead were men from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Egypt, Iran and Afghanistan, he added.
The Channel is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and currents are strong, which makes crossing on small boats dangerous.
The latest incident brings to 46 the number of people who have died trying to cross the Channel from France since the start of the year, Billant said.
On September 14 alone there were eight attempts to cross the Channel from France and some 200 migrants were rescued, he said.
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