Weekend Review: Super Bowl LIX set as Sinner and Keys reign in Australia

Super Bowl LIX is set while Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys are the first two grand slam winners in 2025. 

We are back again from another weekend that had it all in the world of sports. It was a weekend of Championship matches and controversies. Football once again took centre stage but Tennis was not left out. In Europe, the action continued across the top leagues as the race for the title gets intense. 

Starting in the Premier League,  Liverpool remain the runaway leaders as they thrashed Ipswich  Town 4-1 to remain six points clear of Arsenal, who were 1-0 winners at Wolves. Meanwhile, in Spain, both Real Madrid and Barcelona won their respective matches, although Los Blancos remain seven points clear at the top. 

In Serie A, Napoli came from behind to beat Juventus and maintain their lead at the top. But Inter Milan stayed in touch with them as they thrashed Lecce. 

However, the biggest news last weekend was the NFL Championship games and the Australian Open final. 

Bills and Eagles to clash in Super Bowl LIX 

Super Bowl LIX is set and it will be a repeat of Super Bowl LVII after the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles won their championship games. 

The Eagles won the NFC championship game after beating the Washington Commanders in what was a beat down, 55-23. 

Saquon Barkley was the star for the Eagles, getting the party started with a 60-yard run on the Eagles' first offensive play of the game and finishing with three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Jalen Hurts, who was a doubt going into the game, had one of his best games of the season with four touchdowns, including three on the ground.

As for the Commanders, they could not replicate their success over the top seed, Detroit Lions, but it was still a season to remember for them, especially their rookie star, Jayden Daniels. 

Meanwhile, standing in front of the Eagles for a Super Bowl trophy is a familiar opponent, the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs, who are two-time defending champions, will be seeking a third successive title after beating the Buffalo Bills 32-29 in a thrilling encounter. Their star player Patrick Mahomes played a major role in the win. Mahomes scored two rushing touchdowns in the same game for the first time in his career and added another through the air to outduel Allen, who completed 22 of 34 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns.

However, Allen (MVP favourite) was unable to beat a resilient Chiefs’ defence. In the end, the Chiefs converted 5 of 9 third-down conversions and another fourth-down conversion, while the Bills were 5-of-14 on third down and 4-of-6 on fourth down.

Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys reign in Australia 

Away from the NFL to the hard courts of Australia, where Madison Keys and Jannik Sinner won the men’s and women’s singles titles at the Australian Open. Keys had one of the most impressive runs in grand slam history, beating world no. 1 and no. 2 in the final and semi-finals respectively. The soon-to-be 30-year-old also defeated 10th seed Daniel Collins and sixth seed Elena Rybakina on her way. 

Having suffered a heartbreaking loss at the 2017 US Open final, the pressure was on Keys going into the final against Sabalenka. The American did start well, though, taking the opening set 6-3. However, when Sabalenka stormed back to take the second set, it looked like Key would crumble again. But the 29-year-old was calm under pressure to secure a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory. 

A day after Keys secured her maiden final, it was the turn of men as Sinner took on Alexander Zverev. Zverev led the head-to-head going into the game, but Sinner was the world no.1 and on a 20-match win streak. 

Although it was a battle of World No. 1 vs World No. 2, the gulf in glass between the two guys was clear as daylight. Sinner was just unplayable, taking the match in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3. The win increased his perfect record in major finals to 3-0. Meanwhile, Zverev is now 0-3 in grand slam finals.