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LONDON — For all Pep Guardiola’s insistence that the quadruple represents an impossible dream, Manchester City have never been better placed to win all four trophies in one season.

A further boost to their chances should be delivered this week with British media reporting that City will break their own transfer record by paying Athletic Bilbao £57 million ($80 million) for Aymeric Laporte.

The Frenchman, who would be eligible for the Champions League, is considered one of Europe’s most promising defenders and would provide cover at left back, where City have been weakened by injury, or at the heart of the back four.

Laporte’s arrival ahead of Wednesday’s transfer deadline would be a welcome boost for Guardiola as he ponders how to martial his resources on four fronts.

That task is made much easier by City’s 12-point lead in the Premier League which they are on course to win in record time, well ahead of the Manchester United team of 2000-01 who did so with five games to spare.

City are also well placed on the other three fronts with a final berth secured against Arsenal in the League Cup, a comfortable-looking Champions League last-16 tie against Basel coming up and a place booked in the FA Cup fifth round.

The best measure of City’s progress is that two years ago they also went into February contesting on four fronts, although six points adrift in the Premier League.

Weakened side

Determined to make up ground, and with a Champions league tie coming up, manager Manuel Pellegrini played a weakened side in the FA Cup fifth-round tie at Chelsea, which City lost 5-1.

Although Guardiola also rotated in City’s fourth-round tie at Cardiff on Sunday, starting Sergio Aguero on the bench, City’s side remained strong with man of the season Kevin De Bruyne directing operations in midfield and Raheem Sterling up front. Aguero was sent on when Leroy Sane was injured.

The Germany international faces a few weeks on the sidelines after limping off at halftime following a foul by Joe Bennett in City’s 2-0 fourth round win.

Guardiola was clearly angered by Cardiff’s physical approach and animatedly spoke to referee Lee Mason after the game.

Speaking about Sane in his post-match news conference, Guardiola said: “He will be out for a while, minimum two to three weeks or a month. We will see tomorrow exactly.”

Guardiola wants referees to do more to protect the players, who he labelled as artists, from being repeatedly fouled.

“I have said many times, all the referees have to do is protect the players — not just the Manchester City players, all players,” added the Spaniard.

Predictably, Guardiola used the German winger’s likely absence over the next few weeks to deflect attention away from quadruple talk.

“I do not have enough players, I have players out injured. It is impossible,” said the Spaniard, who twice won variations of the treble with Barcelona.

Only one British team, Celtic in 1967, have won all four major trophies in one season, but others have gone close.

Liverpool bagged the league, European Cup and League Cup in 1984 while Manchester United secured an even more illustrious treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup in 1999.

Eight years later Chelsea competed on all four fronts until May 1 when Liverpool knocked them out in the Champions League semi finals. The Blues went on to win both domestic cups and finished second in the Premier League.

City look on course to better that and their former England defender Joleon Lescott is among those who think they can.

“If anyone can, they can,” he told the BBC. “If they get some luck, they could do it.”

Just do not mention it to Guardiola.

AMMAN — Faisali will play Uzbekistan’s Nasaf Qarshi on January 30 in the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League play-off match with the aim of qualifying for Group Stage of the event.

Should Faisali advance, they will play in Group 3 alongside the UAE’s Wasl, Iran’s Persepolis FC and Qatar’s Sadd. Jordanian teams have never before made it past the ACL preliminary round. Wihdat were knocked out in 2017, 2016 and 2015, while Shabab Urdun were eliminated in 2014.

In 2017, then reigning league champs Wihdat were eliminated by the UAE’s Wihda in the playoffs after eliminating India’s Bengaluru FC in the preliminary round. Wihdat were also Jordan’s representative in 2016 and were knocked out early by Saudi Arabia’s Ittihad Jeddah. In 2015, they lost to former titleholders Kuwait’s Qadissieh. In 2014, Shabab Urdun were eliminated by Bahrain’s Al Hidd.

The 2018 AFC Champions League is the 37th edition of Asia’s premier club football tournament organised by the AFC, and the 16th under the current AFC Champions League title.

Faisali hope to build on last season’s success when they combined their local league triumph and finished runner-up to Tunisia’s Tarajji in the Arab Clubs Championships.

Should Faisali be knocked out they will play in the AFC Cup — the second-tier Asian club competition. Last year, Wihdat were eliminated from the 14th AFC Cup West Asia zone semifinals. The West Asia zone champ faced the winner from the rest of the Asian zones to decide the AFC Cup champion.

The AFC Cup was previously won three times by Jordanian teams: Faisali won titles in 2005 and 2006, and Shabab Urdun won in 2007.

MELBOURNE — A determined Caroline Wozniacki held firm to shake off a tenacious challenge from Simona Halep, edging a classic Australian Open final 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4 to claim her first Grand Slam title on Saturday.

After a captivating tussle played out in stifling humidity at a floodlit Rod Laver Arena, the Dane hung tough in a see-saw final set to claim the thriller when Halep wavered on serve.

The result ensured Wozniacki swiped Halep’s world number one ranking, six years after losing it at the 2012 Australian Open.

“I have to take a second to hug Daphne... it’s a dream come true, and my voice is shaking, it’s a very emotional moment,” a teary-eyed Wozniacki said, cradling the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup at the presentation ceremony.

“I want to congratulate Simona. I know today is a tough day and I’m sorry I had to win.

“It was an incredible match and an incredible fight, again I’m sorry.”

After closing out the nerve-shredding win when Halep netted a backhand, an overwhelmed Wozniacki threw her racket away and collapsed onto the blue hardcourt as the packed terraces roared.

It was third time lucky for Wozniacki following her runner-up finishes at the 2009 and 2014 US Opens. 

Both players battled leg problems in the taxing two hour and 49 minute encounter, the first clash of two non-Slam champions in 38 years at the Australian Open. 

After battling through a fortnight blighted by an ankle problem, Halep was gallant in defeat, but she let Wozniacki back into the match after breaking her three consecutive times in the final set.

“It’s not easy to talk now but first of all I want to congratulate Caroline, she played amazing... It’s been a great tournament to me,” the twice French Open runner-up told the crowd.

“Of course I’m sad I couldn’t win today but Caroline was better than me.”

The temperature was 32°C when the players took the court and they were quickly racked with sweat after a handful of rallies.

Wozniacki’s edge in power told early as she roared to a 3-0 lead in the opening set before Halep could find her range.

The Dane edged a breathless 17-shot rally laden with lobs, volleys and dropshots to keep Halep at bay and held serve to 5-2.

A hollering fan at 0-15 made her pause on serve and she suddenly lost focus to be broken with a tepid slice that floated long.

But there was to be no Wozniacki wobble in the tiebreak.

She closed it out with a blazing shot that all but knocked the racket out of Halep’s hand.

The Romanian was on the back foot and suddenly dizzy, and she called a medical timeout to have her blood pressure taken after holding serve to 3-2 in the second set.

She then began grabbing at her left thigh after points, but somehow found the energy to break Wozniacki with a swashbuckling forehand down the line.

Nothing would come easy for Halep, who saved further break points in a nervous service game before claiming the set with a risky dropshot that Wozniacki failed to deal with.

Romanians in the terraces went ballistic at the breakthrough, but were silenced as Wozniacki took full advantage of her opponent’s weakening second serve to break her to 2-0 with a fiery return.

The grind of a long fortnight suddenly came to the fore as both players threw away their serve, but Halep nudged in front when Wozniacki’s forehand deserted her.

It all looked grim for the 27-year-old Dane as a trainer strapped her leg at the change of ends, but she hung tough to break back before holding serve for the first time in three attempts.

Sensing her moment with Halep flagging as she served out the match, Wozniacki held on grimly until the Romanian finally buckled.

MELBOURNE — World No. 1 Simona Halep quelled a tenacious Angelique Kerber fightback and saved two match points to reach her first Australian Open final with a 6-3, 4-6, 9-7 victory in a compelling scrap on Rod Laver Arena on Thursday.

A wildly unpredictable match veered one way, then the other, before Romanian Halep ended Kerber’s resistance on her fourth match point in a spellbinding deciding set that pushed both players to the limit of their endurance.

Former champion Kerber, who won only five points in losing the opening five games, was jelly-legged at times but fought off two match points in the 10th game of the third set before seeing two of her own go begging two games later.

Halep’s insatiable desire for a maiden Grand Slam title proved the key ingredient in the end as an exhausted Kerber struck a backhand over the baseline.

She will now face Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in the first Australian Open final between two players still chasing one of the four majors since 1980. To add spice to the showdown between the top two seeds, the No. 1 ranking is also on the line.

“I had confidence in myself. I said to myself ‘I will fight for every point and have a big rest after the tournament’,” Halep, who also saved match points in a three-hour marathon against Lauren Davis in round three, said on court.

“I tried to be calm but today I was like a roller-coaster, up and down. If you don’t give up, you can win the match in the end. I’m really proud of myself actually.”

She will need to dredge the depths of her energy reserves against Wozniacki if she is to join the Grand Slam winners’ circle after losing two heart-breaking French Open finals.

“If it’s going to come, it’s going to come,” added the 26-year-old.

Halep predicted a marathon against former World No. 1 Kerber but when she charged to a 5-0 lead in 14 minutes it looked as though she might have caught the German on an off-day.

Catching fire

However, Kerber roused herself to win 12 of the next 13 points and although Halep closed the set, the touch-paper had been lit.

It felt like Halep was turning the screw when she ran a red-faced Kerber into the ground to seize a 3-1 lead in the second set, but the match was about really catch fire.

Kerber broke back in the next and saved two break points at 3-4 before breaking Halep in the next game when the Romanian struck a wayward backhand into the tramlines.

A netted forehand by Halep set up a decider that will go down as one of the most memorable witnessed at Melbourne Park.

At various times, both players were left propping themselves up with their rackets, lungs heaving, as the rallies grew ever more excruciating.

Kerber won a 22-point exchange featuring drop shots, moon balls and impossible gets to break at the start of the third but Halep hit back immediately, and eventually worked her way into a 5-3 lead. 

Kerber was literally on her knees when she struck a sensational backhand to win a 26-point exchange to break back. Halep had two match points at 5-4 but watched a Kerber winner fly by before missing a backhand.

Halep began to feel the strain, looking daggers at her coach Darren Cahill as Kerber broke to lead 6-5 and then led 40-15, only for Houdini-like Halep to extricate herself.

It was exhausting to watch as the battle raged on but Halep found some extra aggression, crashing two forehand winners for an 8-7 lead before holding her nerve to finish it.

MELBOURNE — A momentary loss of Roger Federer’s trademark cool enlivened an otherwise routine victory by the defending champion over Tomas Berdych as the Swiss player moved into the semifinals of the Australian Open on Wednesday.

Federer’s ninth successive defeat of the burly Czech, this time 7-6(1), 6-3, 6-4, was not all smooth sailing for the 36-year-old who snapped at umpire Fergus Murphy in the first set.

His mini-rant about malfunctioning Hawkeye technology when Berdych served for the opening set said much about the struggle Federer was having to contain the 19th seeded powerhouse.

But in the end all was well for Federer, who reached his record-extending 43rd Grand Slam semifinal where he will face 21-year-old South Korean sensation Chung Hyeon.

It is the 11th time Federer has reached the final four of a Slam without dropping a set and, with Rafa Nadal out of action, he is clear favourite to win a 20th Grand Slam title and sixth Australian Open.

Federer had dropped only two sets in his previous eight matches against Berdych but came desperately close to losing the opener on Rod Laver Arena when the 32-year-old served at 5-3, having secured an early break.

Berdych had one set point but Federer blazed a backhand past him to snuff out the danger, before breaking with an equally sublime swish of his matt black racket to break.

The main talking point of the match had arrived a few points earlier though with Berdych 15-40 down. Federer thought a serve was out despite no call and immediately challenged.

Unfortunately, however, the usual video playback failed and Federer was told by Murphy that the serve was in.

When announcing that Federer had lost his challenge, the Swiss saw red and marched to the chair.

“Are you comfortable with this?” he said, as the crowd booed. “You can’t steal my challenge. You’re okay with this?”

Federer then dumped a forehand in the net before refocussing and taking the set into a tiebreak in which he allowed Berdych one point — taking the set with an impudent drop shot. 

Later, with his 92nd Australian Open victory in the bag, Federer played down the incident.

“I hung around, got a bit lucky, a bit angry, a bit frustrated at the umpire,” Federer said in the now obligatory comedy duo on-court interview with Jim Courier.

After the first-set dramas it was routine with Federer breaking decisively for 5-3 with an easy backhand winner after Berdych’s half volley sat up begging.

Berdych could have thrown in the towel when he fell behind in the third set, but kept Federer on his toes by breaking back.

It only delayed the inevitable, though, as Federer broke again and completed the job with a love service game.

“Coming back from 5-2 in the first set, it was clearly big tonight,” Federer, the oldest man to reach the semis here since Ken Rosewall in 1977, told reporters.

Federer’s said Nadal’s retirement in the fifth set against Marin Cilic the previous evening, scuppering a repeat of last year’s epic final, had played on his mind.

“I feel that’s exactly the moment when you stumble. That’s why I think I was actually very nervous going into this match tonight, and that’s why I struggled early on,” he said.

“I knew the danger of Berdych. Seeing what happened to so many other top seeds here in the draw, I was a bit wary.”

MELBOURNE — Elise Mertens produced another huge upset in a tournament littered with them when she thrashed fourth seed Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open at the first attempt on Tuesday.

Ukrainian Svitolina came into the match riding high on a nine-match winning streak from the start of the season but, hampered by a hip injury, was completely outplayed by the aggressive Belgian on Rod Laver Arena.

Barely putting a foot wrong over the entire contest, the world number 37 sealed the victory and her first Grand Slam semi-final when she ripped a 26th winner, this time off her backhand, after 73 minutes.

The 22-year-old emitted a huge shriek of delight and danced around the court in triumph before blowing a kiss to the skies and beaming at her coach and boyfriend Robbe Ceyssens in the stands. 

“I’m without words, I don’t know what to say. I have mixed emotions, all good emotions,” Mertens said on court, the smile still fixed on her face. 

“I gave it all today, it was a little stressy at the end. I played my game and it went well.”

The first Belgian to make the semifinals in Melbourne since her mentor Kim Clijsters won the title in 2012, Mertens will next meet Caroline Wozniacki or Carla Suarez Navarro.

For Svitolina, who said she had been struggling with the hip injury since winning the Brisbane International warm-up, it was a third Grand Slam quarter-final defeat in three attempts after her two previous disappointments at the French Open.

Given the Ukrainian’s renowned mobility, Mertens was well aware that she would have to go for her shots if she was to win and she did just that to break for 2-1 at the start of the opening set with a thumping backhand return.

A second break for 5-2 put Svitolina firmly on the back foot but the World No. 4 finally exerted some pressure and got one of the breaks back when Mertens double faulted while serving for the set.

That could have been a turning point but Mertens regathered herself, and served out at the second attempt when Svitolina miscued a forehand after 41 minutes.

“I knew it was going to be tough, I tried to be aggressive, make her move, come to the net a bit more, just try to play aggressive in the court,” Mertens added.

Mertens was now oozing with confidence and an overhead volley at the net saw her break in the first game of the second set before she romped away for a handsome victory. 

“She’s a great player [and] I couldn’t match it, because physically it was very tough for me,” Svitolina said.

“Going into the tournament, I had a few issues with my health. She didn’t give me opportunities. All the credit to her, because she played really good tennis and was only today, so I couldn’t really match it.”

Karolina Pliskova may have been somewhat confused by being compared to a cucumber after reaching the quarter-finals, but she was crystal clear about what she needed to do to go a step further.

The sixth seed burnt the midnight oil in her all-Czech fourth round grudge match against Barbara Strycova, finally clinching a 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 victory at 1.35am local time on Tuesday morning.

The pair fell out last year when coach Tomas Krupa switched from Strycova to Pliskova, with David Kotyza later moving the other way. 

Pliskova was clearly a little nonplussed when the on-court presenter described her as “cool as a cucumber”, later explaining she had never heard the expression before.

“I don’t know if this is something from Australia?” Pliskova said. “I was fine. Obviously the first set took me some energy, some power. I had some chances. I didn’t play well on them,” the 25-year-old added.

MELBOURNE — Roger Federer was a strictly nocturnal beast throughout the first week of the Australian Open but proved just as effective with the sun on his back as he sauntered into the quarter-finals for the 14th time on Monday.

The defending champion did not require his dazzling best against 80th-ranked Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in his first match scheduled during the day session but still emerged a comfortable 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-2 winner.

After his earlier-than-usual finish, the 36-year-old World No. 2 said he might even be able to make the most of a night off and take his wife Mirka out for dinner.

“I was considering sunglasses and a towel for the beach but, no, the only thing is the racket strings are a bit tighter but it’s not crazy hot today,” Federer told former champion Jim Courier in a knockabout post-match chat on court.

“It’s a different rhythm playing in the day and not going to bed at 3am. We might go out for dinner tonight but Mirka has left already — she must have other plans!”

Federer’s light mood matched the sunny conditions and he was even reduced to giggles during one point late in the second set when he miss-hit a forehand high into the air, then defended three consecutive Fucsovics smashes to win a bizarre rally.

“This one was the biggest joke of a point maybe I have ever played,” he said later. “Thankfully it didn’t decide the outcome of that second set. That would have been too much of a joke, to be honest.”

Federer is, yet, to drop a set and did not even face a break point against the 25-year-old Fucsovics, who arrived in Melbourne without a Grand Slam main draw victory to his name.

Yet his unheralded opponent, bidding to become only the third Hungarian man to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final in the professional era, offered an all-round display that belied his record, even if it did not surprise Federer.

“I practiced with him for a few days in a row in Switzerland. That helped, you know, knowing his strength and weaknesses a little bit,” he said.

“He was not completely the unknown opponent that maybe people thought he was.

“He hung with me for a long time. So it was a good match.”

Federer was in cruise control in the first set but struck decisively when Fucsovics served at 4-5, squeezing the throttle enough to earn a set point converted with a smash.

Fucsovics kept Federer honest in the second set and played his part in some entertaining rallies to extend the 19-times Grand Slam champion to a tiebreak.

Federer rifled a running forehand pass to earn three set points and again finished the set at the net, with a smash.

The third set was all over in 31 minutes as Federer raced into the 52nd Grand Slam quarter-final of his career, booking a last eight encounter against 19th seeded Czech Tomas Berdych. 

MELBOURNE — Top seed Rafa Nadal was rattled by a feisty challenge from Diego Schwartzman, but held firm to fend off the diminutive Argentine 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3 and reach his 10th Australian Open quarter-final on Sunday.

In an often breathtaking clash laden with sumptuous shot-making, the Spaniard was rocked by the hard-hitting Schwartzman who broke him three times to claim the second set at Rod Laver Arena.

But the 16-times grand slam champion responded with typical grit, bolstering his defence to blanket the 24th seed’s firepower and counter-punching brilliantly to book a match with Croatia’s Marin Cilic.

After three cakewalks in the previous rounds, the three-hour 51-minute work-out was timely, said Nadal, who came into the tournament with some queries over a knee injury. 

“You can’t expect easy matches when you’re playing in big tournaments,” the world number one told reporters after saving all his seven break points in the final set.

“It’s always better winning in two hours than in four. But that’s it. It was a good test for me. It was a lot of hours on court. Moments under pressure.

“A lot of positive things that I managed well.

“But being honest, too, moments like this helps to be more confident in yourself, in your body.”

The victory ensured Nadal, who lost a five-set classic to long-time rival Roger Federer in the final last year, will retain his world number one ranking.

It also put the Mallorcan equal second with Stefan Edberg on the number of quarter-final appearances in the Australian Grand Slam in the professional era. Federer, naturally, leads with 14.

The jet-heeled Schwartzman joined the Grand Slam quarter-final club at the US Open, a milestone moment during an impressive rise up the rankings in 2017.

Nadal had seen off his first three opponents without dropping a set but it was soon clear at Rod Laver Arena that Schwartzman was cut from a different cloth.

Top spin bombs

The 1.70m Argentine virtually needed a step-ladder to reach the bounce of Nadal’s top-spin bombs but he was all over the Spaniard’s serve from the get-go.

He grudgingly surrendered his own first, though, allowing Nadal to wrap up the first set in 45 minutes. 

From there the match went stratospheric in quality, each player landing blows like bare-knuckled prize-fighters.

After six breaks of serve and a feast of glorious shot-making, the fireworks continued in a frenzied tiebreak.

Schwartzman cracked a blazing forehand down the line to lead 2-0, then outpointed the Spaniard with a backhand volley to move within two points of the set.

The pressure told as a forehand ballooned off the frame of Nadal’s racquet and another backhand sailed long to put the match on level terms.

Schwartzman was pumped, but he left the court immediately, his extended break allowing Nadal time to marshal his forces.

The lefthander resumed with renewed vigour to break Schwartzman to love and after roaring to 5-2, he claimed the third set with an ace.

The momentum was now all with Nadal. He broke again quickly, leaving Schwartzman to curse loudly in Spanish and bicker with the chair umpire at the change of ends.

The 25-year-old kept swinging for the fences to the finish and saved a second match point by ripping a backhand winner down the line.

Nadal simply bided his time before pouncing on the third, a second serve dismissed with a sizzling return winner to keep his bid for a 17th Grand Slam title firmly on track.