THE EVE EDITION
AFTERGLOW | TUE OCT 20
Germany Beats the Hosts in Morocco
Germany beat the hosts 4-2 in Salé, scoring four times in 23 minutes either side of halftime to clinch a place in the round of 16 at the U-17 Women’s World Cup with a match to spare. Marie Kleemann scored in the 27th minute, Lena Martens doubled the lead seven minutes later, and Clara Choisy made it 3-0 in first-half stoppage time. Mia Giesen converted a penalty five minutes after the restart. Morocco pulled two back, the second a stoppage-time penalty from Nessma Mouradi, and those goals keep the hosts second in Group A, ahead of Argentina on goal difference.
Argentina won a match at the tournament for the first time, 2-0 over New Zealand on two goals from Mercedes Diz, and meets Morocco in the final round with second place at stake. In Group B, Korea DPR, champion in Morocco a year ago, scored six for the second straight match in a 6-1 win over Poland, and Nigeria beat Puerto Rico 2-0 to join Poland on three points.
U-17 Women’s World Cup Full Story →
Furusawa and Rian Take the NEW BLOOD Tag Titles
Kian Furusawa and Rian won the NEW BLOOD Tag Team Championship at Korakuen Hall, ending the reign of Aya Sakura and Sayaka Kurara in their third defense when Rian forced the finish with a Hanaguruma at 16:32. The match was first set for Ryogoku in August and called off when Rian was out, and it became Kurara’s first match back after six weeks away. It was the longest match on the card by more than five minutes, and the winners are the sixth champions in the title’s history.
Saya Kamitani took the deciding fall with a frankensteiner as her team beat Hanan, Maika and Utami Hayashishita, and Suzu Suzuki and Akira Tetsu beat Starlight Kid and Emma Mashima. HANAKO, Rina and Maki Itoh each won with a single leg crab in the first three matches.
Bencic Advances as Ostapenko Retires in Ningbo
Belinda Bencic led Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 1-1 when the Latvian retired from their first-round match in Ningbo, sending the #5 seed into the second round after losses at the WTA 1000 events in Beijing and Wuhan. Ostapenko, a semifinalist in Wuhan last week, took a medical timeout in the first set to have her vitals and blood pressure checked, held serve to open the second and stopped once Bencic leveled. Bencic had raced to 3-0, let Ostapenko close to 3-2 and broke again to take the set. She plays Katarzyna Kawa next for a place in the quarterfinals.
Ekaterina Alexandrova, last year’s runner-up, beat wildcard Hanyu Guo 6-2, 6-3 through a brief rain delay and plays #3 Marta Kostyuk on Wednesday. The draw had already lost the #2 seed, Iga Świątek, who withdrew with a left thigh injury and ended her season, and Wuhan champion Maja Chwalińska, who also pulled out.