Swiatek survives Eala scare to start Madrid Open defense

Stephen Curry sat down after the Golden State Warriors went through their shootaround practice in Minneapolis on Thursday, quickly announcing that he’s feeling great.
He was not telling the truth.
“Sarcasm,” the four-time NBA champion with the Warriors quickly clarified, just in case anyone missed the joke.
Curry is going to be a postseason spectator for at least a few games, his Grade 1 hamstring strain bad enough that it forced him out in the second quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal series at Minnesota on Tuesday night. He missed the lopsided Game 2 loss to the Timberwolves on Thursday night that evened the series and will likely be sidelined for at least Games 3 and 4 in San Francisco, too.
Curry — who is with the team but isn’t allowed to do anything basketball-related yet, even stationary shooting — isn’t exactly sure how or why the injury happened. He’s never had any hamstring issue of significance before.
“It’s hard to really predict this stuff is what I’m learning,” Curry said. “There were no, like, warning signs or any weird feelings. I felt great the whole game up until that point. And then I made a little pivot move on defense and felt something.”
Curry thought he would be able to return to Game 1, then quickly realized that wasn’t the case. Playing with the strain could have made the issue far worse, Curry said. Hamstrings, he’s quickly learning, need time no matter what sort of rehabilitation program he partakes in.
“Obviously, a tough break,” Curry said. “Hopefully, I’ll be back soon.”
Curry scored 13 points in 13 minutes of Game 1 before his exit, and Golden State went on to a 99-88 win. Buddy Hield, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green combined for 62 points for the Warriors, who held Minnesota to a 5-for-29 clunker on 3-point tries and limited the Timberwolves to 60 points through three quarters.
“We have a lot of confidence that we can still win the series and guys will step up no matter how it looks,” Curry said. “And it’s obviously a situation where you want to think positively and optimistically that we can win games and buy me some time to get back and hopefully have another series after this and be able to be in a position where I can get back out there safely, where I’m not putting too much risk on the body if it’s not ready.”
Curry, who is averaging a team-best 22 points in these playoffs, can still contribute in small ways even if he’s not playing.
“The guys obviously revere Steph, and they love his presence and that’ll matter to us tonight during the game,” coach Steve Kerr said in his pregame interview. “I’m sure he’ll be talking to the guys on the sidelines and giving some thoughts. He may come into our huddle and make a suggestion, which I always welcome, so it’s good to have him here for sure.”
At one point, when Green picked up his fifth technical foul of the playoffs, two short of an automatic one-game suspension, Curry was concerned enough about his pal getting ejected for a second technical that he went over to the scorer’s table to try to talk Green down and walk him back to the bench.
But not having Curry on the court clearly hurt.
“Everybody knows it’s difficult to recreate or even get close to doing what he does, but we’re going to have to find a way,” Butler said. “So we’ll go to the tapes, talk about it and execute it to the best of our abilities.”

The UFC is back in Montreal for the first time in a decade on Saturday night with a pair of title fights, which includes welterweight champion Belal Muhammad and No. 5-ranked Australian challenger Jack Della Maddalena topping the 12-fight card for UFC 315.
Muhammad  is making his first title defense after suffering an injury late last year. Muhammad upset former champion Leon Edwards last July in the main event of UFC 304 to usher in a new era at 170 pounds.
Muhammad, a Chicago native, said Thursday that Della Maddalena  will see a new version none of Muhammad’s previous opponents have seen before: “Canelo Hands.”
“Jack goes down in three ,” Muhammad told reporters at the pre-fight presser.
UFC CEO Dana White confirmed Muhammad is in the mix for a potential super-fight against former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria or UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev if he were to be victorious. Former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira also is in the conversation for a title shot, barring possible outcomes.
“That’s pretty accurate,” White said.
Della Maddalena didn’t take too kindly to Muhammad’s words, dismissing the notion that Muhammad won’t use his potent wrestling base to win the fight.
“That’s not gonna happen,” Della Maddalena said.
Della Maddalena hasn’t lost in nine years, compiling an unblemished UFC mark after earning a UFC contract by winning his Dana White Contender Series bout against Ange Loosa in September 2021.
The co-headliner sees Valentina Shevchenko begin her second stint as UFC flyweight champion against French native Manon Fiorot. Shevchenko  exacted revenge last September against Alexa Grasso to regain the belt. Meanwhile, Fiorot  looks to become the first Frenchwoman to win a UFC title and extend her promotional win streak to eight.
The rest of the card features a mix of former champions, veterans and top prospects.
The main card festivities get underway at 10 p.m. ET/5 a.m. KSA time.

Main card:
• Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena, welterweight — Muhammad’s UFC welterweight title
• Valentina Shevchenko vs. Manon Fiorot, flyweight — Shevchenko’s UFC flyweight title
• Jose Aldo vs. Aiemann Zahabi, bantamweight
• Alexa Grasso vs. Natalia Silva, flyweight
• Benoit Saint-Denis vs. Kyle Prepolec, lightweight