It’s high five for dressel

Zverev bags tennis gold

TOKYO – Caeleb Dressel powered to his fifth swimming gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday as the United States won their duel in the pool with Australia, while Xander Schauffele claimed golf gold.

Dressel dominated the men’s 50m freestyle final, setting a new Olympic record of 21.07 seconds, and then returned to help his team smash the world mark in the men’s 4x100m medley relay.

The other undoubted star of the pool was Emma McKeon, who finished with four golds to become the first woman to win seven swimming medals at a single Games.

McKeon provided a golden finish when she helped Australia to the women’s 4x100m medley relay crown, less than 40 minutes after winning the 50m freestyle.

US swimmer Robert Finke touched first in the men’s 1500m freestyle to make it a distance double after winning the 800m earlier in the meeting.

The United States ended with 11 golds in the pool, two ahead of fierce rivals Australia, whose nine golds marked their best-ever showing.

Dressel, 24, didn’t get close to matching Michael Phelps’ eight-gold haul at Beijing 2008 but he joins just four other swimmers with at least five wins at a single Games.

“I’m proud of myself,” said the American, who also won two relay golds at the 2016 Rio Games. “I think I reached what my potential was here at these Games.

McKeon, 27, became just the second woman to win seven medals at one Olympics in any sport, after Ukrainian gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya in 1952, and is now Australia’s most successful Olympian, with five gold medals and 11 overall.

“I look at the athletes that have gone before me and have been so impressed and inspired by what they’ve done but I’ve never been into the stats and medal counts,” she said.

“But to be in that kind of company, it’s an honor and I know I’ve worked hard for it.”

US golf star Schauffele held his nerve at the Kasumigaseki Country Club to see off Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini by one shot.

The American world number five finished on 18-under par 266 after carding a 67 while veteran Sabbatini shot a stunning, course-record 10-under-par 61. Behind them, there was a seven-man playoff for bronze.

Alexander Zverev brushed aside Karen Khachanov in straight sets to seal the Olympic men’s singles title and win Germany’s first tennis gold since 1992.

The fourth seed, who ended Novak Djokovic’s Golden Grand Slam bid in the semifinals, produced a dominant display to win, 6-3, 6-1, after just 79 minutes at the Ariake Tennis Park.

“I couldn’t feel anything. I wasn’t playing for myself. I was playing for my whole country,” said Zverev, who fell to the ground in celebration after clinching the win.

Luka Doncic will take his unbeaten record with Slovenia straight to the Olympic quarterfinals.

Doncic just missed the first triple-double in the Olympics in nine years and the Slovenians edged Spain, 95-87, in a tense and important final game of men’s group play.

Meanwhile, Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum turned on the style as the US men’s basketball team eventually shook off the Czech Republic to win, 119-84, and reach the knockout phase Saturday evening.

Boston Celtics star Tatum scored 27 points and Brooklyn Nets forward Durant hit 23 points in a win that sent Gregg Popovich’s team into the quarterfinals.

China’s Gong Lijiao lived up to her pre-Olympic form by winning gold in the women’s shot put, denying New Zealand veteran Valerie Adams a third successive gold.

US gymnastics great Simone Biles, struggling with a debilitating mental block, withdrew from the floor final, leaving her with just one more chance of competing in Tokyo.