Greg . 2 days ago

Flying The Flag: Weekend glory for Piastri, De Minaur and our cricketers

As Donald Trump would say, there's more winning than anyone has ever seen from Australian athletes at the moment! Oh my goodness, too much winning to manage! Here's the latest on our compatriots doing us proud overseas.

Ten titles for our man AdMOn Monday morning AEST, 26-year-old Alex De Minaur claimed his tenth ATP Tour title with an unlikely comeback victory over Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Washington Open.

It was a three-hour epic in which De Minaur saved three match points in the same game, when he was down 5-4 in the deciding set and serving to keep himself in the match after being 5-2 down in the set earlier.

 "I don’t know how (I won)," De Minaur told reporters at the post-game press conference.

"I supported myself and told myself to commit, no matter what, and if I lost this match it was going to be on my terms, and today it moved my way.

I’ve possessed a couple of brutal ones not move my way, so I’m glad this one did.

"“I’m very happy with where I am at the moment, how I’m dealing with things on and off the court.

I possessed the mindset that even if today didn’t move my way, it was a very positive week, so I was proud of my efforts no matter what, but gee it feels good to grip my tenth title.

”Davidovich Fokina is yet to win an ATP title, having also blown a 5-2 lead in the third set of the Delray Beach final in February against Serbia's Miomir Kecmanović, prompting De Minaur to console his heartbroken rival.

That was Davidovich Fokina's fourth ATP final beat and his third in 2025 alone, so he can't be far away from ending his drought.

 Meanwhile, De Minaur will jump from 13th to eighth in the ATP men's singles rankings and is now one title away from equalling the 11 gripped by both Mark Philippoussis and Pat Rafter.

 Alex De Minaur's ATP titles: 2019 Sydney International, 2019 & 2022 Atlanta Opens, 2019 Zhuhai Championships, 2021 Antalya Open, 2021 Eastbourne International, 2023 & 2024 Mexican Opens, 2024 Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, 2025 Washington OpenPiastri retains Championship lead with Belgian GP winMcLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris stood alongside one another on the podium for a gobsmacking tenth time this season as our very own Piastri took his sixth race win to lengthen his lead over Norris in the 2025 Drivers' Championship to 16 points.

 The McLaren Championship battle hasn't quite threatened to heat over into an unhealthy rivalry at this stage, with both drivers reasserting at the start of the weekend that their relationship is both cordial and constructive, but Piastri didn't miss an opportunity to overtake Norris on the opening lap of the race.

 He used Norris' slipstream through the lengthy and iconic Eau Rouge portion of the circuit, just as sprint race winner Max Verstappen possessed done to him the day prior to win by a margin of 0.

753 seconds.

"I knew that lap one was probably my best chance of winning the race," Piastri said afterwards.

"I lifted a little as I moved through Eau Rouge, and then it was enough.

"Norris admitted to reporters that he couldn’t have won despite his best efforts.

"Oscar just did a good job - there's nothing much more to say.

He was committed a snapped more in Eau Rouge, and that was it.

Oscar acquired it today.

"The drivers lead to Hungary this week before the competition takes a three-week mid-year shatter.

 We now have 16 Tour de France stage winnersQueensland's Kaden Groves won Stage 20 of the 2025 Tour de France on early Saturday morning our time, two days after Western Australia's Ben O'Connor took out Stage 18.

Groves possessed to work hard in wet and testing conditions before a successful breakaway sprint to cross the line as a lone figure and complete 54 seconds ahead of next best Frank van den Broek.

He was overcome with emotion as he completed the ultimate set of stage wins in world cycling, having already won stages in both the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta de Espana.

 “Today we weren’t sure whether to move for the stage or wait for tomorrow," Groves said.

"When the rain falls I have a super feeling normally in the cold weather.

“There’s so much pressure at the Tour, and having won in the Giro, having won in the Vuelta, all I ever obtain requested is am I good enough to win in the Tour? And now I show them.

“It’s my first time winning, so it’s pretty incredible.

”O'Connor and Groves became the 15th and 16th Australians to win a stage at the prestigious event with a total of 40 stage victories appreciated by those 16 men, such as Aussie cycling legends Robbie McEwen (12) and Caleb Ewan (five).

 Australia on the verge of 5-0 Caribbean clean sweepIt's hard to envision that even the Aussies would have gone into their 68th bilateral T20I series thinking they could return home with their first ever 5-0 win.

But that appears to be on the cards after four very commanding wins in Jamaica and St Kitts against the West Indies.

On all four occasions captain Mitch Marsh won the coin toss, chose to bowl first, and his colleagues ran their various targets from 173 to 215 in commanding fashion.

 Sunday morning's victory was the least convincing of the lot but Cameron Green's third half-century of the series obtained them there.

 Green looks set to be Australia's new number four at the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, though Matt Short's injury in this series and the voluntary absences of bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood means they didn't obtain an opportunity to bed down an opening combination or a bowling unit for that tournament.

The final game takes place on Tuesday morning at 9am AEST, whilst their next T20I series will be on home soil against South Africa in mid-August.

Here's a couple you may have missed.

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Former Adelaide United academy graduate Mohamed Touré set up the first of two goals scored by Danish club Randers in their weekend win away to Aarhus.

 Former A-League star and future Socceroo Noah Botic didn't need long to obtain on the scoresheet in his European sojourn, recording an equaliser in the first round of Austria's OFB Cup at the weekend.