It could not have been any closer between Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso at Monza on Saturday
Kevin Magnussen says Fernando Alonso “thinks he is a god” and that he “can’t wait for him to retire” after a clash in Italian Grand Prix qualifying.
The two drivers tangled with each other at Monza on Saturday, arriving at the first chicane side by side, ruining both their final laps.
The Danish Haas driver said Alonso’s actions were “stupid and unnecessary”.
Magnussen added: “He came to me after qualifying and laughed to my face. Just outright disrespectful.”
Asked for his response to the comments, McLaren’s two-time world champion said: “Nothing.”
The incident was referred to the stewards, who decided not to take any further action.
Alonso said the incident happened because Magnussen had made a late decision to pass him into the Parabolica corner just before they started their laps.
“It was a normal out lap until the inside of Parabolica,” said the Spaniard, who is leaving F1 at the end of the season. “I saw one of the Haas go on the inside. He decided to start the lap together.
“Unfortunately, we arrived into Turn One together, launching the lap out of Parabolica at the same time. It didn’t change much for me because maybe I didn’t have the performance to go much better than P13.
“But it was a shame that it changed the performance for him because his team-mate was sixth [Magnussen qualified 11th].”
Tyres are locked as Magnussen and Alonso go into Turn One at Monza
Asked whether he thought about backing off, Alonso said: “No, because I was preparing my lap and everyone is preparing their laps in the out laps.
“Especially after Ascari [the corner before Parabolica], we try to respect that position we carry with ‘x’ distance from the cars in front.
“And with his decision I could not complete my lap. With my decisions, everyone could complete their laps. With his one, at least one car, mine, could not complete their qualifying attempt.”
Alonso said there was no-one to blame and that it was “just an unlucky situation”.
But Magnussen, who has clashed with Alonso on other occasions this season, disagreed.
“He thought he could have the perfect slipstream and overtake me. He gained, I don’t know how many tenths – but you gain a lot if you do that,” added the Dane.
“But I’m not going to let him pass me, and sacrifice my own lap. No way. I know he thinks he’s a god, but no way.
“We were kind of six or eight cars, in a bit of a group. And at the exit of Ascari, Fernando was warming his brakes, I think, so not going fast.
“And I’m going fast, so just cruised past him. But then for some reason he decides to try and accelerate and get close to me, rather than create a gap, as everyone else is doing.”
The US military has made a final decision to cancel $300m in aid to Pakistan, the Pentagon says, citing Islamabad’s perceived failure to take decisive action against armed groups in the country.
The Coalition Support Funds were part of a broader suspension in aid to Pakistan announced by President Donald Trump at the start of the year, when he accused Pakistan of rewarding past assistance with “nothing but lies and deceit”.
The Trump administration says Islamabad is granting safe haven to fighters who are waging a 17-year-old war in neighbouring Afghanistan, a charge Pakistan denies.
“Due to a lack of Pakistani decisive actions in support of the South Asia Strategy, the remaining $300m was reprogrammed,” Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner said on Saturday.
“We continue to press Pakistan to indiscriminately target all terrorist groups,” said Faulkner before adding that the aid amount would be used on “other urgent priorities” following Congress’ approval.
A Pakistani official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he was unaware of a formal notification of the US decision on assistance but said one was expected by the end of September, according to media reports.
The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!
The announcement came just weeks after Pakistan’s newly elected prime minister Imran Khan took office.
Khan has repeatedly blamed Pakistan’s participation in the US-led “anti-terror campaign” for the surge in attacks on home soil over the last decade and has vowed to rebalance Islamabad’s relationship with Washington.
The disclosure also comes just days ahead of an expected visit to Islamabad by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the top US military officer, General Joseph Dunford.
Pakistan Foreign Office refuted the US statement which said “Pompeo raised the importance of Pakistan taking decisive action against all terrorists operating in Pakistan”.
“The impression that has been given in their press release, which mentions terrorists operating in Pakistan, is in contrast with reality. And I say this with full confidence,” said Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Herein lies the crux of the dysfunction in US-#Pakistan ties: Expectations are hopelessly and endlessly divergent. https://t.co/2DKN4B9raj
Some analysts warn there may be no real way to pressure Islamabad and say a suspension in aid could see the US lose crucial influence over Pakistan which will instead look to other countries for support, particularly its longtime ally China.
“The announcement is to put Pakistan under pressure. Pakistan is expected to give a very tough response and also take it up with Pompeo when he’s in Islamabad,” Mateen Haider, a defence and security analyst, told Al Jazeera.
“The co-operation between Islamabad and Beijing is also increasing rapidly, particularly in the field of defence and security. Pakistan is now buying most of its defence equipment from China instead of the US and that strategic partnership is upsetting Washington.”
Pakistan has fought fierce campaigns against homegrown armed groups, and says it has lost thousands of lives and spent billions of dollars in its long-time war against them.
But US officials accuse Islamabad of ignoring or even collaborating with groups, which attack Afghanistan from safe havens along the border between the two countries.
The White House believes that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency and other military bodies have long helped fund and arm the Taliban for ideological reasons, but also to counter rising Indian influence in Afghanistan.
It also believes that a Pakistani crackdown could be pivotal in deciding the outcome of the long-running war in Afghanistan.
Roger Federer smiled to himself after his incredible shot, while Nick Kyrgios could only gasp in disbelief
2018 US Open
Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 27 August-9 September Coverage: Live radio coverage on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website
Roger Federer says a stretching forehand winner around the net post that left opponent Nick Kyrgios open-mouthed in disbelief ranks as one of the greatest shots of his career.
The 37-year-old Swiss somehow reached a drop-shot from Kyrgios to flick it past the incredulous Australian on his way to a three-set win in the US Open third round.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion was already in control, leading two sets to love, when he produced the shot on advantage point for Kyrgios at 3-3.
“I definitely think it was a special one, no doubt about it,” said the second seed, who won 6-4 6-1 7-5.
‘In practice you’d run into a fence’
Federer showed no signs of his advancing years to produce a spectacular moment which left almost everyone inside Arthur Ashe Stadium on their feet in amazement and caused a stir on social media.
Although Kyrgios went on to hold serve in the game, Federer broke four games later to help seal his place in the last 16 at Flushing Meadows.
“You don’t get an opportunity to hit around the net post very often,” Federer said.
“You can’t train for that.
“The net is out further and the court is more narrow, so for a shot like this to happen in a practice, you will be running into a fence and you will hit it into the net.”
“These shots can only really happen on a big court.”
Federer ranked the shot alongside his smash against Andy Roddick in Basel in 2002, tweener [hitting the ball between the legs while facing backwards down the court] against Novak Djokovic at the US Open in 2009, and lob against Andre Agassi in Miami in 2005.
Chasing down a drop shot, the Swiss hit the ball inches off the ground and curled it around the net post for a winner
It was almost unreal – Kyrgios
Kyrgios was already scrapping to stay in the match when Federer produced a moment of magic.
The 23-year-old Australian mouthed ‘Oh my god!” before trying to congratulate Federer, who allowed himself a sly smile, from across the net.
“It was almost unreal,” said Kyrgios, who is no stranger to trick shots of his own.
“Almost got to the point where I wanted him to start making shots like that, and I finally got it.
“If anyone else is doing those shots against me, I’m probably not too happy. But it’s Roger.”
‘Are you even from this planet?’ Social reaction to that shot…
Taryn Bray: MOTION TO NEVER LET ROGER FEDERER RETIRE!
Gerard Ye: How?! Goat or God Roger Federer?
Rob Koenig: That was NAUGHTY from Roger Federer!
Scarface: Out of this world Roger Federer…
Crazyfedfan: You are unreal Roger Federer.
Matt Kreisher: Roger Federer just got one of the greatest shots I’ve ever seen
OurnumberoneRF: Touch of Roger Federer, I mean GENIUS.
Paulina Estrada: OH MY GOD ROGER FEDERER ARE YOU EVEN FROM THIS PLANET?
Oliver Brown: Roger Federer with one of the shots of this or any other year. Just preposterous.
James Stevenson: A mere mortal doesn’t get that. Roger Federer is immortal. No doubt.
The blockbuster rom-com, Crazy Rich Asians, has earned much praise from critics and millions at the box office. The film has dominated discussions in entertainment news and talk shows, with many welcoming its all-Asian cast – a first for Hollywood in a long time.
One can easily see why this romantic comedy has become such a hit in the West so quickly: because Hollywood, and by extension liberal America, hungers for a win on diversity.
In Hollywood, the growing criticism of white men dominating the industry culminated in the outrage over #OscarsSoWhite in 2015, which pushed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the institution responsible for the Oscars, to pledge to diversify its members to include more women and minorities by 2020.
Meanwhile, with the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency, latent tensions over race and socioeconomic inequality have escalated and shocked liberal America. The current society-wide crisis – from a resurgent white supremacy movement to the forceful separation of migrant families at the US border with Mexico to the many ugly revelations of the #MeToo movement – has left many Americans longing for reassurance that things are not as bad as they seem.
Crazy Rich Asians and other successful films that have cast minority actors in leading roles, like Get Out or Moonlight are seen as a response to bigotry. Judging by the astounding media attention and the overwhelmingly positive reviews Jon Chu’s film garnered, it seems liberal America got what it wanted: a self-congratulatory pat on the back for scoring another point on diversity.
In Singapore, the film produced mixed reactions. Some Singaporeans also celebrated it because its success meant that their nation has finally “joined the West”. Singapore can now be known for something glitzier than its chewing gum ban or its ironic moniker “Disneyland with the death penalty”.
Yet, other Singaporeans were incensed by the film’s blatant misrepresentation of their society. Crazy Rich Asians relegates Singapore’s brown Asians to the periphery. In the few scenes, they appear in the film, Malays and Indians play the roles of “servants” to rich folks of East Asian descent.
The film symbolically strips Singapore’s ethnic minorities of their dignity and agency for leading meaningful, non-dependent lives. Such representation reinforces the advantageous position of the Chinese, Singapore’s majority ethnic group. This “Sinofication” is basically the Asian equivalent of “whitewashing” – Hollywood’s favourite tool to make non-Western stories more digestible for Western audiences (think Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell and the all-white cast of Exodus: Gods and Kings).
The politics of Chinese identity inadvertently raised in the film is complicated.
The experience of being Chinese in America is different from the experience of being Chinese in Singapore. While Chinese Americans have always been aware of racism, some Chinese Singaporeans are only awakened to how their skin colour and culture define them in the eyes of others when they study or work abroad. Indian and Malay Singaporeans have these experiences on a daily basis at home.
There are also tensions between Chinese from Singapore and China – something that the film glosses over. China is seen to be increasingly intrusive of the domestic affairs of Singapore, reaching out to its Chinese diaspora there to advance its national interests to the chagrin of Singapore political elites.
As a result of all these nuances being ignored, the country depicted in Crazy Rich Asians resembles something like Singapore, but not quite.
Lest we forget, these sham depictions of Southeast Asia are not new. Back in the 1980s, critically acclaimed Hollywood films about the region such as Platoon and The Year of Living Dangerously either erased or marginalised the narratives of the local population. American actress Linda Hunt even won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for portraying a Chinese Australian male character by the name of Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously.
Literature has an even longer history of fraught representations of Southeast Asians. Take the German author Hermann Hesse, who won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature. His literary essay about touring the streets of Singapore in 1911 described the Chinese as industrious, the Malays as gullible and the Indians looking like dethroned rajas. Other examples abound from the proses of Rudyard Kipling and W Somerset Maugham, to name a few.
Film Crazy Rich Asians takes Hollywood by storm
It is, however, simplistic to say that misrepresentation is the primary problem with these narratives of Sham-East Asia. Rather, the big issue here is the conflation of race and market demands. The bigoted racial order in content is fuelled by the drive for profit in the market. For this reason, films set in Africa or Asia, are not quite about Africa or Asia, but about how Westerners (including Western minorities) see them.
This conflation of race and capital shapes narratives to appeal to someone from the US, Canada, United Kingdom or Australia – consumers who would lap up these cultural products from the centres of the Anglophone culture industry without hesitation. Protagonists need not be white, but they are often characters hailing from, or have a strong connection to these world republics of letters, to borrow the term from literary theorist Pascale Casanova.
It is for this reason that Chu was so preoccupied with finding Asian actors speaking with the “right” accent. His struggle was that “mainland Chinese actors can’t necessarily do an English accent properly or understand the strife of an Asian American character.”
Although some critics have discouraged comparisons between Marvel’s Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians, there is one important similarity: They are both Western films “shot with a Western gaze and primarily for a Western audience”.
The success of Crazy Rich Asians seems to suggest that the phenomenon of Sham-East Asia is making a comeback. We might expect more to come depending on how its sequel, China Rich Girlfriend, or HBO’s film adaptation of Tan Twan Eng’s 2012 novel, The Garden of Evening Mists (2012) turn out.
If Hollywood truly wants change and diversity, it should seek to make film adaptations of under-represented Southeast Asian stories. It should dive into narratives without the need for a Western mediator in the form of a protagonist, antagonist or even supporting cast members, while making strong commitment to authenticity.
Ultimately, such films should not be “affirmative action” narratives solely meant to counter under-representation. They should be great narratives where diversity is a natural feature of the stories. Eka Kurniawan’s Man-Tiger (2004) would be a good candidate here, as would be Gopal Baratham’s novel Moonrise, Sunset (1996).
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
I am one of the greatest managers in the world – Mourinho
Manchester United visit Burnley on Sunday with manager Jose Mourinho under greater pressure than ever at Old Trafford.
Successive defeats by Brighton and Tottenham, whose 3-0 win at Old Trafford was the worst home result Mourinho has suffered in his entire career, and seven goals conceded in three league games this season would have left him exposed, even without the ‘respect’ rant that followed that loss to Spurs.
Mourinho insisted at Friday’s news conference that he remains “one of the greatest managers in the world” – but on the eve of their trip to Turf Moor, BBC Sport assesses just how bad things really are for the 55-year-old.
What is the situation at Old Trafford?
From the outside looking in, it appears chaotic and disconnected. But sources inside Old Trafford insist the reality is far calmer.
That may be true. But other sources describe the atmosphere in the dressing room as flat – only to be expected after consecutive defeats, particularly a three-goal home reverse to one of your major rivals.
More worrying are claims from those well-placed sources that no-one appears willing to take responsibility for the position the club finds itself in, that the players are confused by Mourinho’s erratic team selections and that some have no wish to play for the manager over the long term.
Is there a power struggle?
If there is, Jose Mourinho will lose it.
Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward is responsible for the day-to-day running of Old Trafford and speaks to the club’s owners, the Glazer family, daily.
As the man who was largely responsible for steering the entire Glazer family ownership of Manchester United through in 2005, he has the complete trust of the low-profile Florida-based family. It is inconceivable they would choose Mourinho ahead of him.
Mourinho is aware of this. Undoubtedly, however, there is a difference of opinion in terms of the strategy of squad building.
Mourinho wants to compete now and feels that experienced, high-quality players are the way to do it. United either cannot, or will not, fund such a project, especially when there is no guarantee of success.
Senior figures at the club believe there has to be a degree of building, and that it has to include developing younger players.
Does Mourinho have the solutions?
Crudely, if the answer is playing Ander Herrera in central defence, as Mourinho did against Tottenham on Monday, then it can be argued the wrong questions are being asked.
In the aftermath of the 3-0 defeat, the Portuguese said he did not know what his best central defensive pairing was.
Given he is now in his third season and he was responsible for buying two of the five legitimate options in Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof, this is damning.
There has been a suggestion Mourinho was playing games, underlining to Woodward why he was right to argue for further defensive reinforcements which, for a variety of reasons, did not arrive. If true, this would be a risky strategy in the extreme.
The other accusation levelled repeatedly against Mourinho is that he does not develop players, or trust younger ones.
When United desperately needed a goal on Monday, England forward Marcus Rashford remained on the bench while Marouane Fellaini did not, something viewed as a negative.
Yet that overlooks the significant improvement made under Mourinho by Jesse Lingard.
And how do you analyse Luke Shaw’s return to the England squad?
Shaw has been the focus of Mourinho’s sharp tongue on numerous occasions over the past two years. Yet now he is performing at a level he had not reached since his arrival from Southampton in 2014. Is this a response to his manager’s tough love? Or is it just a coincidence?
So… is this the end game for Jose?
Not many experienced United watchers can make a case for Mourinho still being in charge at the start of next season, let alone to 2021, when his contract, extended in January, expires.
However, some take the apocalyptic view that the situation has become so negative, so toxic, that Sunday’s trip to Burnley will be Mourinho’s last game in charge and that his extended applause in front of the Stretford End after Monday’s defeat effectively marked his Old Trafford farewell.
That is not an assessment being given credence by anyone at the club, with sources adamant the board remains confident that Mourinho can turn the situation around.
Neither the Glazer family nor Woodward reacted at the first sign of trouble when David Moyes and Louis van Gaal were in charge, so there is no evidence to suggest it will happen now.
However, a third consecutive Premier League loss, something that has not happened since December 2015, would shine the fiercest spotlight imaginable on Mourinho and Woodward heading into an international break, and leave United languishing uncomfortably near the relegation zone.
‘Respect! Respect! Respect!’ – Mourinho walks out of news conference
And where does Anthony Martial fit in all of this?
Mourinho was willing to let Anthony Martial leave if the right offer came in this summer.
The United boss believes Martial goes missing in big games and, in an ideal world, Mourinho would have brought in Chelsea’s Willian or Ivan Perisic of Inter Milan in his place.
However, Willian is 30 and Perisic is 29. The price tag for either this summer would have been upwards of £60m. In contrast, Martial is 22.
Tottenham were interested in taking him but, at best, United would have got back the £36m they paid for him in 2015 had a sale gone through. Woodward blocked it anyway and this week the revelation has come that United are negotiating with the Frenchman over a new five-year deal.
United sources argue they are merely protecting their financial interests by doing so.
They say Mourinho has been kept fully informed of the situation, point out nothing has been agreed yet and that even if it were, it would not mean Martial could not be sold.
However, as Martial effectively has two years left on his current contract and extending it would weaken his own bargaining position with prospective clubs, it looks like a statement of intent in terms of future planning which – once again – is at odds with Mourinho’s outlook.
Iran is planning to increase its missile capacity and acquire modern fighter jets and submarines as part of efforts to expand its defence capabilities, a senior official has said.
Mohammad Ahadi, Iran’s deputy defence minister for international affairs, made the announcement in a speech to a group of foreign military attaches, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Saturday.
“Increasing ballistic and cruise missile capacity … and the acquisition of next-generation fighters and heavy and long-range vessels and submarines with various weapons capabilities are among the new plans of this ministry,” he said in the capital, Tehran.
His comments came a day after Tehran rejected a French call for negotiations on future nuclear plans, its ballistic missile arsenal and its role in ongoing regional conflicts, in the wake of a decision by the United States to withdraw from a multinational nuclear deal with Iran and reimpose sanctions against it.
Earlier this week, Iranian lawyers asked the International Court of Justice to order the US to lift the sanctions, saying the measures – which are damaging Iran’s already weak economy – violate terms of a little-known 1955 friendship treaty between the two countries.
In his address, Ahadi said the sanctions had not slowed the development of the country’s arms industry.
“We have the necessary infrastructure and what we need to do is research and development, and at the same time upgrade and update the defence industry while relying on the country’s very high scientific capabilities and tens of thousands of graduates in technical fields and engineering,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
He also defended Iran’s actions in Syriaand Iraq, saying they were central to defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (also known as ISIL or ISIS) armed group.
“If Iran and its allies … had not stopped [the] Islamic State [of Iraq and the Levant], today the map of the region would be different and the world would face a terrible challenge.”
In August, Iran unveiled a new domestic fighter jet, reportedly the first to be “100-percent indigenously made”.
At the time, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the country’s military strength was designed to deter enemies and create “lasting peace”.
Rouhani later said that the Islamic Republic’s military prowess deterred the US from attacking it.
Relations worsened between the two countries after US President Donald Trump‘s decision in May to pull out from the landmark nuclear deal, which was signed in 2015 between Iran and several world powers.
War games
In a separate announcement on Saturday, the head of the defence ministry’s naval industries said a water jet propulsion system was in development and would be ready by March, according to semi-official news agency Tasnim.
Earlier this week, Iranian state media reported the launch of military exercises involving some 150,000 volunteer Basij militia members, led by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who vowed to protect Iran from “foreign threats”.
“The motto of these war games is unity … and to declare that, when it comes to adversity and threats from foreigners, we all join to defend the [Islamic Republic’s] system,” Basij commander Gholam-Hossein Gheibparvar was quoted by IRNA as saying.
The exercises come in advance of massive annual rallies planned for later this month to mark the start of the Iran-Iraq war, which raged from 1980 to 1988.
Recapping the top moments from college football’s Week 1 action, which include Maryland’s upset of Texas and how Ohio State fared without coach Urban Meyer. USA TODAY
Sophomore Tua Tagovailoa got the start at quarterback for Alabama in the season opener against Louisville, and he made the most of the opportunity he was given.
Tagovailoa shined in the Crimson Tide’s 51-14 destruction of the Louisville Cardinals, completing 12 of 16 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns and adding 26 yards and another TD on the ground.
The move to Tagovailoa comes after months of speculation about who will be under center for the Crimson Tide following Tagovailoa’s halftime insertion into the national title game in January, where he led the Crimson Tide to victory.
Jalen Hurts, a now-junior who Tagovailoa replaced in the title game comeback against Georgia, was the backup.
Things started great for Tagovailoa as he marched the Crimson Tide down the field in seven plays, completing four passes and rushing for 8 yards. The drive was capped by an incredible touchdown pass where he spun out of pressure and fired the ball while being hit hard.
He was slow to get up, but jogged off the field under his own power. He was back on the field for the next series.
Hurts saw his first action of the game on Alabama’s fifth series. That came in the second quarter with the score 21-0 Tide. Tagovailoa had thrown for 170 yards and rushed for 26 with an additional rushing score when Hurts finally took the field.
Tagovailoa returned for the Tide for the final series of the first half, and connected with Jerry Jeudy for a 25-yard touchdown with 9 seconds remaining that made the score 28-0 at the break.
Hurts finished 5-of-9 passing for 70 yards.
Alabama coach Nick Saban remained, well, Nick Saban when asked in an on-field interview about what he learned by the performance of his QBs:
“Well I still like both guys. I think both guys are good players, I think both guys can help our team,” Saban said. “So why are you continually trying to get me to say something that doesn’t respect one of them. I’m not going to. So quit asking.”
German Angelique Kerber beat Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final earlier this year
2018 US Open
Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 27 August-9 September Coverage: Live radio coverage on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website
Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber was beaten 3-6 6-3 6-3 by Slovakian 29th seed Dominika Cibulkova in the third round of the US Open in New York.
Kerber broke three times in the first set but Cibulkova repeated the feat in the second to take it to a decider.
The German fourth seed was then broken again twice in the final set and misses out on a last-16 tie with last year’s finalist Madison Keys.
None of this year’s Grand Slam winners are now left in the women’s singles.
American 14th seed Keys, runner-up to Sloane Stephens last year, recovered from a set down to reach the last 16, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic 4-6 6-1 6-2.
Keys was broken in her first service game of the match en route to losing the first set but broke twice in the second set to take it to a decider.
The first five games of the third set went against serve before the American held for 4-2 and closed out the match.
“I was definitely a little bit nervous and she came out playing really well and put pressure on me from the start. I am just happy to be in the next round,” Keys, 23, said.
“There were too many unforced errors in the first set but I’m glad I settled down a bit and played much better. I wasn’t aggressive enough in the first set and was too passive. The biggest thing was trusting myself.”
Another high-ranked departure was French sixth seed Caroline Garcia, conqueror of Britain’s Johanna Konta in round one, who lost 5-7 6-4 7-6 (7-4) to Carla Suarez-Navarro.
After taking the first set, Garcia was broken in the opening game of the second set and could not find a way back, before losing a tight third set on a tie-break.
Elsewhere, Dutch 13th seed Kiki Bertens was knocked out by Czech Marketa Vondrousova 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 7-6 (7-1).
Japan’s 20th seed Naomi Osaka thrashed Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-0 6-0 and will face either fifth seed Petra Kvitova or 26th seed Aryna Sabalenka.
34-year-old Shanann Watts, her unborn child and her two daughters, 4-year-old Bella Watts and 3-year-old Celeste Watts, were honored at a candlelight vigil outside their family home in Frederick, Colo. on Friday, Aug. 17. Mikaela Rodenbaugh
Forbes said Shanann’s mother described her daughter as a “fireball” who worked hard to be an exceptional wife and mother and make a difference in people’s lives, and her daughters as bringing light to those around them, especially their grandparents and uncle.
In a letter read by Forbes at the funeral, Shanann’s mother Sandra Onorati Rzucek wrote to her daughter and grandchildren that “Mom, Nonna, loves you with all her soul.”
And she prayed for those who have reached out or cried with them, and thanked God.
“I can only pray to you that this tragedy changes everyone’s soul to be close to you. Please continue to hold us all in your love and protection.”
Forbes also read letters from Shanann’s father Frank Rzucek and brother Frankie Rzucek.
Frank Rzucek wrote about how he had so much to say but would keep his letter short.
“Daddy loves you,” he wrote. “You are a wonderful daughter and a great mother.”
He called Shanann “nothing but pure love, always caring for everyone,” and he said she would always be “Daddy’s little girl.”
And to his grandchildren, he told them that they could always make “Pop Pop” have days filled with smiles, adding that he would take care of Celeste’s truck and that Bella would “always be my silver bells.”
Frankie Rzucek wrote in his letter that he always knew his sister would be successful and how tough it was to have her and her daughters live so far away and that he couldn’t be there to protect them.
He shared how happy and ready Shanann was to be a mother, and that “she was my mom times 10 whether either one of them wanted to admit it.”
Shanann’s girls were well-dressed and well-mannered, he said, and she taught them to be brave and independent, like herself. He called her the “perfect role model” growing up.
“She was ready to take on the world, and we know she did,” he said.
Shanann’s husband Christopher Watts, 33, is accused of killing her and their two children, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, after Shanann returned from a business trip in the early morning hours of Aug. 13.
Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant at the time, and Forbes said Shanann’s family members want to see a law passed to protect unborn children like their grandson Nico.
The case has gained national attention — the funeral livestream attracted more than 7,000 viewers as people shared their well-wishes and thoughts to the family.
Christopher Watts has been formally charged with nine felonies, including three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree murder of a child under the age of 12 by a person in a position of trust, one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.
While Shanann’s family members “want to see justice done,” Forbes said that they weren’t seeking vengeance and death, rather justice and light.
All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in court. Arrests and charges are merely accusations by law enforcement until, and unless, a suspect is convicted of a crime.
Reporter Saja Hindi covers public safety, courts and accountability. Follow her on Twitter @BySajaHindi or email her at shindi@coloradoan.com.
Honoring Shanann
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations in Shanann’s honor to the Lupus Foundation of America at 2121 K Street NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20037-1830, the Frederick Colorado Police Department’s Missing Persons Division at PO Box 435 Frederick, CO 80530, or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
England fought through the third day to finish on 260-8 and earn a lead of 233 to leave the fourth Test against India wonderfully poised in Southampton.
trustedenews 