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maltatoday SUNDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2018 53 Sports TENNIS OLYMPICS OLYMPICS Kvitova knocks out Wozniacki to set up Qatar final with Muguruza PETRA Kvitova made a shaky start but found her attacking verve mid- way through the match to beat world number one Caroline Wozni- acki 3-6 7-6(3) 7-5 in the Qatar Open on Saturday and set up a final with Spain's Garbine Muguruza. Kvitova, 27, who lost the open- ing set tamely and looked in some trouble while trailing 3-1 in the sec- ond, fought back in style to clinch her fourth straight victory over the Dane in two hours and 35 minutes. "I don't know what happened. I was a little crazy in my mind and I was playing everywhere and not to the court," twice Wimbledon champion Kvitova said in a court- side interview. "I tried to calm myself down a little bit in the second set. Even though I was losing, I was trying to get back somehow. "When I was down 3-1 I was really angry with myself and I tried to hit some winners," added Kvitova, who made 59 unforced errors including 11 double faults, but also hit 50 win- ners. Having dragged the second set into a tiebreaker which she edged, the battling Czech quickly switched gears and attacked her opponent re- lentlessly to prevail in the decider. Up next for Kvitova is Muguruza, who enjoyed the day off after her semi-final opponent Simona Halep pulled out of the tournament with a right foot injury after her win on Friday. "She (Muguruza) had a day off today. Who knows if it's an advan- tage or not, but I had a great match," added Kvitova. "It was great for my confidence turning the match around." World number 21 Kvitova won the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy earlier this month and a second title of the season on Sunday could give her a shot at getting back into the top 10. Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic celebrates after defeating Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark Russians shut out U.S. men, claim group lead ILYA Kovalchuk and Nikolai Prokhorkin each scored twice earning the Olympic Athletes from Russia a bruising 4-0 win over the U.S. men's ice hockey team on Sat- urday, to claim the top spot in their prelimi- nary round group. The convincing victory moved the Rus- sians directly into the quarter-final round, giving them an extra day of rest and ce- menting their credentials as one of the tournament favourites, despite a surprise opening loss to Slovakia. The Americans will have to play in a qualification playoff on Tuesday. Kovalchuk's goals came 29 seconds apart on either side of the second intermission and proved to be the back breakers in a game the Americans had hung close in de- spite getting out-hit and finding themselves repeatedly on the defensive. The former NHL all star's first came with one second remaining in the second period and he got his second inside the first 30 seconds of the third, rifling a shot over U.S. goaltender Ryan Zapolski's left shoulder and into the top of the net. With the two goals, Kovalchuk, who now plays in the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League, became the top scoring Rus- sian Olympian ever. His 13 career Olympic goals top Pavel Bure's previous record of 11. "I still have some gas left in my tank, so I hope I score some more," Kovalchuk said. "I think we played well. We came out strong. We scored the first goal then our goalie made some great saves." Prokhorkin, who was drafted by the NHL's Los Angeles Kings but has never played there, opened the scoring in the first period for the Russians, redirecting a hard feed from Sergei Mozyakin as he was crossing in front of the U.S. goal. His second came early in the second. It was a physical game from the moment the puck dropped, with the Russians, pound for pound a bigger team, levelling a hit on an American each time a U.S. player touched the puck They set their sights repeatedly on the big- gest American player, Jordan Greenway, and he found himself in more than one extended shoving match with a Russian, including one in front of the Russian bench with Alexander Barabanov in the first period. "He didn't want to let go of me," Greenway said. "He wanted to do a little dance with me by the bench, so I was willing to do it." It is a rivalry that has held outsized impor- tance ever since a group of American col- lege players toppled the mighty Soviet team at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid. In six Olympic meetings since then, in- cluding Saturday's victory, the Russians hold the series lead, winning four times, losing once and tying once. Saturday's win avenges a 3-2 shootout loss to the Ameri- cans in Sochi, where the Russians were hosts. The U.S. had chances, however. Ryan Donato, who scored two goals against the Slovaks on Friday, ripped a wrist shot off the cross bar behind Russian goal- tender Vasili Koshechkin, and the Ameri- cans caught a couple of other unlucky posts. U.S. captain Brian Gionta missed a chance to bring the U.S. back to within one on a breakaway in the second period. He had Ko- shechkin beaten but the puck slid off the toe of his stick. "We had a couple of really good looks, my- self included," Gionta said. "We get a cou- ple of those, it's a different game going into third." "It's tough when we can't score," Zapolski said. "It's a little bit frustrating... I think we did a lot of good things again, but we've just got to find a way to score some more goals and have more pressure down there." Broc Little of U.S. in action with Olympic Athlete from Russia goalie Vasili Koshechkin Girard avoids mayhem to grab 1,000m gold CANADA'S Samuel Girard steered clear of some late lap mayhem to steal the Olympic short-track speedskating 1,000 meters gold medal yesterday. With a crash tak- ing out three of five skaters as the pack entered the final lap, Girard held off John- Henry Krueger of the United States, who took the silver while South Korea's world champion Seo Yira was quickest to get to his feet to secure a bronze. Girard powered across the fin- ish line then looked around to see who was behind him raising his fists into the air and signaling number one with both hands. "This was a strong race, every- one wants to win the race. I was the guy in the front putting in a good pace that put everyone in trouble fighting to pass me. That was the key to the race," ex- plained Girard. "My plan was to put the other skaters in trouble and try to leave me alone. "I know everyone wants to be in the front. One guy passed me and I went right back right away. "It was my time to go, my time to shine in front." Girard's victory recalled one of the more memorable finals seen on the Olympic short track when Stephen Bradbury skated away with the 1,000m gold at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games af- ter all four other skaters fell on the last turn. The carnage was not quite as spectacular as in Salt Lake as Girard still had to fight off a challenge from Krueger to break Asia's domination of the 1,000m. Six of the eight gold medals in this event have been claimed by South Koreans while another was won by Russian Viktor Ahn, who was born in Korea. Bradbury had the other. Girard seemed destined for his first Olympic medal, narrowly advancing out of his semi-final when team mate and mentor Charles Hamelin was disquali- fied in an incident that involved the 21-year-old Canadian. Hamelin, the winner of three golds and competing in his fourth and final Olympics, got up and was in Girard's corner when he stepped onto the ice for the final. "Just before the race he came to me and said 'let's go, you can do this'," smiled Girard. "He just gave me a little tap and said, 'you can do it'." One major obstacle to the gold medal was removed when the In- ternational Olympic Committee banned Sochi 1,000m champion Ahn from competing in Pyeo- ngchang following an investiga- tion into widespread state spon- sored doping. Gold medallist Samuel Girard of Canada celebrates in front of silver medallist John-Henry Krueger of the U.S