The combatants in this year’s Super Bowl have been decided with the Denver Broncos set to face the Seattle Seahawks in New York on February 2. The Broncos, led by Peyton Manning who threw two touchdown passes, proved too strong for Tom Brady’s Patriots as they surged to a 26-16 win in the AFC Championship game. Soon afterwards it was the Seahawks prevailing in an NFC thriller with Malcolm Smith’s late interception denying a last-minute push from the San Francisco 49ers to ensure they reached the second Super Bowl in their history. The two sides could be in for a rude shock when they run onto MetLife Stadium though with this game set to be the first in Super Bowl history to be played outdoors in a cold climate city. Temperatures are tipped to reach around minus three degrees celsius!
The Australian Open has entered its second week but not before we saw a huge upset in the women’s draw on Sunday as Ana Ivanovic dumped top seed Serena Williams out in the fourth round. Having won the WTA Auckland title in the lead-up to the Open, Ivanovic appears to be regaining her form of old and will now be favorite to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final since she won the French Open in 2008. Third seed Maria Sharapova was another surprise casualty, falling to Dominika Cibulkova, with Victoria Azarenka now in a great position to defend her title.
The English Premier League saw Liverpool suffer a major setback as they managed only a 2-2 draw at home to Aston Villa. With all other title contenders scoring wins, the Reds have now dropped out of the top four behind Tottenham and could find their dreams completely crushed if they can’t win next week’s Merseyside derby against Everton.
In Spain, league leaders Barcelona and Atletico Madrid both slipped up with 1-1 draws against Levante and Sevilla respectively. With Real Madrid crushing Real Betis 5-0 on Saturday there is now just one point separating the top three sides.
And England’s Ronnie O’Sullivan claimed a fifth Snooker Masters crown with a crushing 10-4 win over defending champion Mark Selby. O’Sullivan didn’t play in last year’s Masters amid rumors he was ready to quit the game completely but his comeback was a memorable one as he secured his first Masters in five years.
