THE EVE EDITION
FIRST BLUSH | SUN OCT 25
Sunday starts in Ningbo before the coffee is ready. Elena Rybakina, the world #1, plays Leylah Fernandez at 5:00 AM for the title she won a year ago, and a win would give her a fourth title this season with the year-end #1 ranking close enough to touch. Fernandez spent nearly eight hours on court in her first three matches and keeps finding a way through.
Rotterdam closes the World Championships with beam and floor. China’s two beam specialists qualified first and second, and Skye Blakely and Kaylia Nemour, the week’s two individual stars, are in that final too. At noon, #1 Maryland plays for the first time since losing a game this season.
The afternoon belongs to the Big Ten and the NWSL. #21 Washington, a five-set winner over #6 Wisconsin on Friday, plays at Minnesota, and the Washington Spirit go to Kansas City three points off first place with two matches left and the Shield still in play.
#1 Elena Rybakina vs. #30 Leylah Fernandez
The defending champion has dropped one set all week. Rybakina needed 11 set points to take the first set from #6 Diana Shnaider on Saturday and was broken at love serving for the match before closing it out 6-3, 7-5. Fernandez took the long way: three straight three-setters, including a comeback from 5-3 down in the deciding set against Elise Mertens, then a straight-sets win over Marie Bouzková. She won the Singapore title in September and is 11-2 since the Asian swing began. Rybakina leads their series 3-2 and won the last meeting, a three-hour quarterfinal in Stuttgart in which she saved two match points. A win would be her 15th career title.
EVE’s Edge: Rybakina to win, 6-4, 6-3. Fernandez will make her hit one more ball, but Rybakina has the bigger serve and a court that rewards it.
Women’s Beam and Floor Finals in Rotterdam
China’s Zhang Qingying and Qiu Qiyuan qualified first and second on beam with 15.100 and 14.966, more than half a point clear of Brazil’s Flavia Saraiva. Skye Blakely, the new all-around champion, is in it after medals on vault and bars on Saturday, and so is Kaylia Nemour, who defended her bars title and posted the best beam score of the all-around final. Floor follows at 11:30 AM. Reese Esponda of the United States qualified first with 13.633, ahead of Canada’s Lia Grace Redick and Britain’s Abigail Martin, and vault silver medalist Claire Pease is fifth.
EVE’s Edge: Zhang Qingying to win beam and Reese Esponda to win floor. Zhang qualified with the best beam score of the week, and Esponda led floor.
#1 Maryland at #13 Indiana
Maryland lost for the first time this season on Thursday, 4-2 at Northwestern after leading 2-1 at halftime, and comes to Bloomington 14-1 and 5-1 in the Big Ten. The Terps have outscored opponents 53-14 with eight shutouts and outshot them 246-126, and Francisca Eschoyez leads them in goals. Indiana is 9-5 and 4-2 in the conference and has lost its last two, 4-1 to Northwestern and 1-0 to #19 Penn State. Celia Arroyo Cabezudo and Molly Stutte have eight goals each, and Stutte leads the Hoosiers with 23 points.
EVE’s Edge: Maryland to win, 3-1. The Terps have had three days to think about the fourth quarter in Evanston, and they still take far more shots than anyone they play, nearly twice as many as their opponents.
#21 Washington at Minnesota
Washington beat #6 Wisconsin in five sets on Friday, and the Gophers lost in five at #12 Purdue the same night, so both teams come into this Top 25 match off a long one. Minnesota serves tough: it is second in the Big Ten in aces per set, and Mckenna Wucherer leads the conference with 5.19 points per set and has 33 aces of her own. Washington is tied with the Gophers at 119 aces and is second in the league in digs at 14.91 per set. Lucie Blažková anchors the Minnesota block. The series is tied 3-3, and Minnesota won last season’s meeting in four sets in Seattle.
EVE’s Edge: Minnesota to win, 3-2. Washington digs nearly everything and arrives with confidence after Wisconsin, but Wucherer at home is the best player on the floor.
Washington Spirit at Kansas City Current
The Spirit are third on 52 points, three behind Gotham with two matches to play, after a 1-0 win over the leaders last weekend clinched their playoff place. Kansas City is fourth on 47 and already in, playing to keep the top-four finish that brings a home playoff game. The Current have turned their season around since April, when the Spirit beat them 4-0 before a sellout at Audi Field, and now have a goal difference of +12, two behind the Spirit’s +14. Gotham plays at Orlando earlier in the day, and San Diego, a point off the top, hosts Boston at night.
EVE’s Edge: Kansas City to win, 2-1. Washington needs the points more, but the Current have been the better team for months and will want to settle April.
UNBUCKLING THE BELT
U-17 Women’s World Cup. The United States, already through to the round of 16 with 23 goals in two matches, closes Group E against China at 2:00 PM on FS2.
NCAAW Field Hockey. #2 Northwestern, 15-1 after handing Maryland its first loss, hosts Rutgers on Senior Day at 1:00 PM on B1G+.