THE EVE EDITION
AFTERGLOW | THU OCT 8
Elise Mertens keeps taking former champions out of Beijing. The #13 seed beat #8 Iga Świątek in straight sets without facing a break point, the third Grand Slam champion she has removed from the China Open draw this week. Hometown wild card Qinwen Zheng beat #6 Elina Svitolina earlier in the session, so Mertens will face both Zheng and a full stadium in Saturday’s semifinal.
Back in the States, Thursday belonged to the favorites on the volleyball court and to the underdogs on the soccer field. Nebraska swept #15 Indiana in a sold-out Bloomington gym to reach 16-0, and every ranked team on the slate won. Soccer went the other way: Florida beat #5 Alabama in the 89th minute and #24 Colorado routed #7 Baylor, leaving #12 Texas Tech alone atop the Big 12. In San Antonio, M by Elegance kept the Knockouts Television Championship only because the clock ran out with Elayna Black making the cover, one count from a new champion.
Mertens Stuns Świątek, Meets Zheng in Beijing Semifinals
Elise Mertens beat #8 Iga Świątek 7-6(0), 6-3 in one hour and 50 minutes Friday in Beijing, reaching the China Open semifinals for the first time without facing a break point. The #13 seed won 33 of 38 first-serve points and swept the opening tiebreak 7-0, the first time any player has blanked Świątek in a tour-level tiebreak. One break for 3-1 in the second set was all she needed. Mertens has now beaten three straight Grand Slam champions this week, Jelena Ostapenko, Coco Gauff and Świątek, and reached her first WTA 1000 semifinal since 2021.
Her opponent Saturday is Qinwen Zheng, who beat #6 Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6 earlier in the day. The Chinese wild card, with the home crowd behind her, broke three times in the first set, then recovered from a slow start in the tiebreak to close it out. The other semifinal pairs #4 Mirra Andreeva with #26 Nikola Bartůňková.
Nebraska Reaches 16-0 as Every Ranked Team Wins
Nebraska swept #15 Indiana 25-15, 25-19, 25-19 before a sold-out Wilkinson Hall, moving to 16-0 and 5-0 in the Big Ten and stretching its regular-season winning streak to 47. The Huskers hit .379, opened with an 8-2 run and never let a set get tight late. Harper Murray led with 11 kills, Manaia Ogbechie added eight kills and six blocks, and Bergen Reilly returned from a one-match absence to run the offense with 35 assists. Indiana’s .282 hitting was still the best any opponent has managed against Nebraska this season.
In the ACC, #3 Louisville beat California in four sets to stay perfect at 5-0, losing its first conference set of the year along the way. BYU, ranked #17, saved a set point at Houston with a successful challenge and went on to sweep, holding the hosts to .093 hitting. Wisconsin won at #24 Illinois in straight sets behind Audrey Flanagan’s 12 kills, its 13th straight win in the series. That sets up Saturday in Lincoln, where Nebraska hosts Wisconsin with both teams 5-0 in the Big Ten.
Florida and Colorado Topple Top-10 Teams
Lena Bailey scored in the 89th minute to give Florida a 1-0 win over #5 Alabama in the rain in Gainesville, handing the Crimson Tide their first SEC loss and first shutout defeat of the season. Colorado took #7 Baylor apart 3-0. Hope Leyba scored twice to reach 41 career goals, third on the program’s all-time list, Jace Holley added a third in her return from injury, and Brooke Goerish saved all six Baylor shots on target.
Those results, plus #16 West Virginia’s 2-0 win over #20 BYU, left Texas Tech alone atop the Big 12 after the Red Raiders scored three times in the first 17 minutes at Oklahoma State to stretch their unbeaten run to 17. Elsewhere, #2 Michigan State routed Minnesota 4-0 behind Kennedy Bell’s two goals and an assist, #8 Stanford beat Syracuse 2-0 with a 30-5 edge in shots, #18 Notre Dame edged #14 Virginia 1-0 on Izzy Engle’s 83rd-minute counter, #6 Ohio State won 3-2 at Wisconsin and #13 Washington beat Iowa 2-1.
Clock Saves M by Elegance Against Elayna Black
M by Elegance kept the TNA Knockouts Television Championship on the last Impact before Bound For Glory, but only because the 10-minute time limit expired with Elayna Black covering her after Black Out. With the rest of The Elegance Brand barred from ringside in San Antonio, M punished Black with a suplex off the steel steps before the challenger’s late rally came within a count of the title.
Knockouts World Tag Team Champions Allie and Kiera Hogan beat Alex Gracia and Ki Vybes, then challenged Zoey Serrano to find a partner for Bound For Glory. Serrano produced Shayna Baszler, who will make her TNA debut Sunday in Tampa. Xia Brookside and Indi Hartwell traded final words before their Knockouts World Championship match; TNA said Hartwell sat out Thursday with injuries but was expected to be cleared.
LAST LIGHT
Saturday in Beijing sets the China Open final: Mertens against Zheng, and #4 Mirra Andreeva against #26 Nikola Bartůňková. The same day, Nebraska puts its perfect record on the line at home against Wisconsin, the only other team still unbeaten in Big Ten play.
Sunday brings Bound For Glory in Tampa, where Brookside defends against Hartwell and Allie and Hogan meet Serrano and Baszler. Louisville hosts #14 Stanford in volleyball the same afternoon.