Sports
Maria Sakkari upsets No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek in Doha QFs
Maria Sakkari, of Greece, returns to Jasmine Paolini, of Italy, during the Cincinnati Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, on Aug. 10, 2025. Unseeded Maria Sakkari of Greece toppled No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open on Thursday in Doha.
Swiatek wasn’t alone in the early exit, as Canadian No. 10 seed Victoria Mboko knocked out No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
The semifinals of the WTA 1000 event will feature two unseeded players, as Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko will meet Mboko and Sakkari will face Czech 14th seed Karolina Muchova.
Sakkari, ranked as high as No. 3 in the world four years ago, has fallen to No. 52 and hasn’t won a tournament since September 2023. She’s now one step away from her first final appearance since March 2024 at Indian Wells.
“I’m speechless because it’s been a while since I had a big win like today,” Sakkari said in her on-court interview. “When you drop in the rankings and you’re not playing good tennis, you start doubting yourself. And you’re thinking that you’re never going to beat those players again.
“So it’s a huge process that you have to go through in your head, that you know you can do it. Last year in the second round here against (Swiatek), I was not confident. I was not believing in myself. And this year, it’s different. I feel quite a lot better.”
Sakkari built a 4-1 lead in the second set before Swiatek rallied to tie the set with three games in a row. Sakkari saved two break points in the ninth game and broke Swiatek in the 10th to eke out the win and extend the match.
It was a similar story in the third set, as Swiatek charged out of a 5-2 hole and saved one match point to tie it 5-5. Sakkari led the 12th set 40-15 and Swiatek saved a second match point, but not a third as the Greek sealed the deal.
Meanwhile, Rybakina’s nine-match winning streak that includes her Australian Open championship is now over despite having a 4-2 lead in the third set.
Mboko, 19, was down a break but rallied to win the final four games. Rybakina saved three match points in the final game but it only served to put off the inevitable. Mboko won 14 of 18 first-service points in the decisive third set, and she took advantage when Rybakina went to her second serve, winning 9 of 11 second-return points.
Ostapenko beat another unseeded player, Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy, 7-5, 6-4. Muchova swept Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-4.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Kansas star freshman Darryn Peterson to return vs. Iowa State
Feb 7, 2026; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Darryn Peterson (22) shoots against Utah Utes forward Josh Hayes (7) during the second half at Allen Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images After sitting out against the No. 1 team in the country, Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson will be back in time to face No. 5.
Kansas coach Bill Self told ESPN on Friday that Peterson was “good to go” when the ninth-ranked Jayhawks visit fifth-ranked Iowa State on Saturday.
Peterson sat out with flu-like symptoms on Monday when the Jayhawks hosted No. 1 Arizona. Kansas was able to win without him, handing the Wildcats their first loss of the season, 82-78.
Peterson is considered one of the frontrunners to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft this June, but he has played in just 13 of Kansas’ 24 games due to multiple ailments, including quad and hamstring injuries.
He has averaged 20.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 48.9% from the field and 41.9% from the arc this year. Peterson had 16 points when Kansas took down Iowa State 84-63 back on Jan. 13, marking the Cyclones’ first loss of the season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ilia Malinin making history with skating's first Olympic backflip in decades
Feb 10, 2026; Milan, Italy; Ilia Malinin of the United States of America competes in men’s singles short program during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-Imagn Images MILAN, Italy — When Ilia Malinin launched himself into a backflip at the Milan Cortina Olympics, it detonated through the crowd like a firecracker and even brought tennis great Novak Djokovic to his feet with his hands on his head in disbelief.
The 21-year-old double world champion landed the first legal Olympic backflip since American Terry Kubicka in 1976, when he helped clinch gold for the U.S. in the team event in Milan on Sunday.
The crowd will get another chance to see Malinin’s maneuver when he takes the ice for Friday’s men’s free program as the favorite for gold.
The backflip was banned for safety reasons after Kubicka did one at the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics.
The maneuver became known as the “Bonaly flip” after Surya Bonaly of France famously thumbed her nose at the International Skating Union’s restrictive rules at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.
Bonaly had sustained a groin injury the day before the free program and knew her quest for a medal was over, and so defiantly unleashed the jump with a one-footed landing.
The ISU removed the somersault ban in June 2024, saying in their meeting agenda: “Somersault type jumps are very spectacular and nowadays it is not logical anymore to include them as illegal movements.”
AERIAL SHOWMANSHIP
Malinin, the self-named “Quad God,” has drawn global attention for his aerial showmanship. He became the first skater to land seven quadruple jumps in a program at the Grand Prix Final in December. He is also the first to land the quadruple Axel in competition, considered the toughest jump in the sport.
The backflip carries no set point value, but it can contribute to Malinin’s component score – known under the old judging system as “artistic impression”.
It also gets a bigger roar from the crowd than his more technically demanding jumps because it plays to pure spectacle in a way quads simply cannot.
“It gets that audience applause, feels really suspenseful and I really just like doing it,” Malinin said last season when he began doing the maneuver.
His programs also include one-handed cartwheels and a “raspberry twist,” another zero-points move in which his body, much like a break dancer’s, rotates in the air horizontally to the ice.
However, the young skater has so far resisted the temptation to land the first quadruple Axel on Olympic ice, saying he is choosing caution over showmanship.
“I’m hoping that I’ll feel good enough to do it (on Friday),” he told reporters on Tuesday. “But of course, I always prioritize health and safety, so I really want to put myself in the right mindset where I’ll feel really confident to go into it and not have that as something that I’m going to risk.”
Malinin takes a score of 108.16 from the short program into Friday’s free skate. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama is second on 103.07, Adam Siao Him Fa of France is third (102.55).
–Reuters, special to Field Level Media
Sports
NBA suspends Suns F Dillon Brooks 1 game after 16th technical foul
Jan 2, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks (3) reacts after being issued a technical foul during the first half against the Sacramento Kings at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images The NBA suspended Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks on Thursday for one game without pay after he received his 16th technical foul this season.
A player or coach is automatically suspended without pay for one game after a 16th technical foul in the regular season, per league rules. Every additional two technical fouls during that season results in the player or coach suspended without pay for another game.
Brooks, 30, was whistled for a personal foul and then a technical with 6:37 remaining in the second quarter of the Suns’ 136-109 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
He will serve the suspension after the All-Star break on Feb. 19 when Phoenix visits the San Antonio Spurs. He previously served one-game suspensions in May 2022, February 2023m, March 2023 (twice) and April 2025.
Brooks is in his first season with Phoenix and is averaging a career-high 21.2 points and career-high-tying 3.7 rebounds as well as 1.8 assists, 1.1 steals and 31.1 minutes in 49 games (all starts).
For his career, Brooks is averaging 14.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 29.6 minutes in 541 regular-season games (514 starts) for the Memphis Grizzlies (2017-23), Houston Rockets (2023-25) and Suns.
He was All-NBA Defensive second team with the Grizzlies in 2022-23.
Houston selected Brooks in the second round of the 2017 NBA Draft out of Oregon and traded him the same day to Memphis for a second-round pick that became guard De’Anthony Melton.
–Field Level Media
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