England were given a sharp reality check on the opening day of their Test series in India, spun out for 246 in Hyderabad before a bruising introduction for debutant Tom Hartley.
India have lost just three times in their last 46 games on home soil and were quick to offer a reminder of the task that faces England’s Bazball brigade over the next seven weeks.
England captain Ben Stokes, who was on crutches after knee surgery in November, struck a vital 70 to give his side a fighting chance in their first innings but on a predictably helpful surface eight of his team-mates fell to spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
England, who were dismissed for less than 200 six times in eight attempts on their last visit in 2021, had loaded their own attack with three slow bowlers of their own but they were unable to replicate the same threat as India made 119 for one in reply.
Left-armer Hartley, a selectorial hunch fancied to flourish in the sub-continent, had never opened the bowling in his first-class career but accepted Stokes’ challenge to do so. It proved a gamble too far.
The 24-year-old’s first delivery in the Test arena was brutally smashed for six by Yashasvi Jaiswal, reaching to drag it high into the leg-side in what looked a pre-meditated assault. Four balls later, Jaiswal cleared the ropes again.
Stokes backed his man, keeping him on for an extended spell and keeping the field up, and the runs continued to flow. He struggled to hold both line and length, dragging a couple of long hops into the middle of the pitch and drifting down the leg side as Jaiswal continued to feast.
In amongst the carnage he showed glimmers of promise, and one promising appeal, but his nine-over spell cost a damaging 63 – including 44 in boundaries. It was impossible not to ponder the fate of Hartley’s Lancashire predecessor, Simon Kerrigan, who shipped 53 runs in eight overs on debut in the 2013 Ashes and never played for his country again.
The current regime are less likely to cut players adrift but it was a painful welcome. England’s only wicket came from the more established finger spin of Jack Leach, who had Rohit Sharma caught by Stokes trying and failing an elaborate strike down the ground.
Jaiswal, seen as an up and coming star, finished 76 not out from 70 balls having cashed in on his takedown of Hartley.
England’s day started positively, Stokes batting first after winning a handy toss and watching as Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett shared an opening stand of 55.
Despite some evident swing, the pair backed themselves and picked up an early flurry of fours before Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj made way for spin after eight unsuccessful overs.
The change was profound, with England losing three wickets for five runs in the space of 21 deliveries. Ashwin removed both set batters, Duckett lbw propping forward for 35 and Crawley driving low to mid-off for 20.
In between, the returning Ollie Pope lasted 11 skittish balls and edged Jadeja to slip for just one. Pope has not played since dislocating his shoulder in the second Test of last summer’s Ashes and the cobwebs accrued over six months were there for all to see.
Jonny Bairstow led a restorative partnership of 61 with his fellow Yorkshireman Joe Root, securing a promising lunch score of 108 for three, but further trouble arrived in the middle session. Bairstow (37) had his off stump taken by a cracker from Patel, moments before Root (29) top-edged a sweep to fine leg.
However, Stokes shepherded things impressively at the back end of the innings, which seemed to be disappearing swiftly when Ben Foakes’ nick behind made it 155 for seven. Having played his way in smartly with a secure defence, Stokes began to make his presence felt as he ran out of partners.
The reverse sweeps came out of his bat sweetly, he got value when he opted to drive and after tea he reached his half-century with back-to-back sixes off Jadeja.
Before he was finished he dealt Ashwin a similar blow, but he was last man out in the 65th over when Bumrah got one to jag away off the pitch and part his stumps.
As he walked off England’s score felt close to competitive but Indian aggression and the failed experiment with Hartley made it look slimmer and slimmer. Worse still, England used all three reviews unsuccessfully in just 14 overs – two in an attempt to win Hartley a first scalp.
Oisin Murphy is relishing the prospect of being reunited with Mawj when she lines up in the Jebel Hatta at Meydan on Friday.
Globetrotting Murphy has kept himself busy overseas this winter, having most recently plied his trade in Florida.
He will jet into Dubai to link up with the horse that provided him and trainer Saeed bin Suroor with Classic honours last season, before returning to America for the big-money Pegasus World Cup meeting at Gulfstream Park on Saturday.
After outbattling Tahiyra to scoop the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, Mawj missed the height of summer with a setback before travelling to America herself, where she added to her top-level tally at Keeneland before being cruelly denied by a nose in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita.
She now returns to the nine-furlong trip over which she won the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup in Kentucky last October and bids to maintain her unbeaten Meydan record in this Group One event.
“I’m really looking forward to riding her and she obviously had a great year last year,” said Murphy.
“She has won over a similar distance at Keeneland in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and she seems to be nicely drawn in the middle, so it will be interesting to see how the pace sets up.
“She can take a lead or make the running – she is very happy doing lots of things, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Spirit Dancer gave Richard Fahey and famous co-owner Sir Alex Ferguson a day to remember when striking in Bahrain in November and having flourished over the last 12 months, now tries his hand in Group One company for the first time.
“We’ve always liked him and he’s relatively lightly raced, but we’re getting a good go with him now as he’s been a bit of a backward horse who has taken time to mature physically and mentally,” said Fahey.
“We’re not surprised he’s improving, but he will need to improve again now.”
Charlie Appleby has won this race three times in the past eight years and after rattling the crossbar with third-placed Master Of The Seas 12 months ago, he now saddles three seeking to get his hands back on the trophy.
Stable jockey William Buick has elected to partner Al Rashidiya winner Measured Time, with the son of Frankel and half-brother to Breeders’ Cup Turf hero Rebel’s Romance winning four of his five career starts.
“Measured Time was an impressive winner of the Al Rashidiya and has done well physically since,” the Moulton Paddocks handler told the Godolphin website.
“This will obviously be more of a test, with Mawj and San Donato in the field, but he heads into it in great order.”
Measured Time is joined in the race by the reliable Ottoman Fleet and Highland Avenue, who were both behind their stablemate in Meydan’s pre-Christmas Group Two.
Appleby added: “Ottoman Fleet has proved ultra-consistent over this trip and doesn’t know how to run a bad race. He deserves to be in the line-up and I’m sure he will give his usual running.
“Highland Avenue has been competitive at Group level and was unlucky to get stuck wide in the Al Rashidiya. Hopefully he can get a better run around this time, which will help his chances.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard expressed their surprise at the firing of Bucks coach Adrian Griffin after Milwaukee won its first game since the decision.
There was a third triple-double in four games for Giannis as Milwaukee ended the Cleveland Cavaliers’ eight-game winning streak on Wednesday with a 126-116 home victory.
Antetokounmpo had 35 points, a season high-tying 18 rebounds and 10 assists for his seventh triple-double this season. He came up one assist shy of having four consecutive triple-doubles after he had 31 points, 10 boards and nine assists in Saturday’s win at Detroit.
Joe Prunty served as Milwaukee’s interim head coach after Griffin was fired on Tuesday despite the Bucks leading the Central Division with a 30-13 record, putting them second in the Eastern Conference. The team was finalising negotiations with Doc Rivers to take over.
Lillard added 28 points and Khris Middleton had 24 for the Bucks, winners of six in seven, as Cleveland lost despite Donovan Mitchell scoring 23 points and Jarrett Allen having 21 and 12 assists.
Two-time MVP Giannis was not expecting the decision to fire first-year coach Griffin, but stressed he trusted the front office.
"Their job is to create the best team possible and the best atmosphere around the team possible that they believe gives us a better chance to win a championship," Giannis said to ESPN.
"But yeah, I do think [firing coach Griffin] was a surprise.
"I've got to trust the front office, I've got to trust the ownership group that they consider the bigger picture. My job is to be the best version of myself, to lead this team out there and help win games."
Giannis had expressed concerns over the Bucks’ performances this season but stressed he had no personal issues with Griffin.
"I loved the guy, I invited him to my wedding," Antetokounmpo said. ""I was coached by him and we did very, very, very well.
"When somebody is being hired, the GM might come and ask, 'What do you think about that? What do you think about this?' or whatever and not just me – players and people that he trusts their advice.
"But at times they make it seem like it's the players that are making the decision.
"For a coach like Griff, from Day 1, everything was about togetherness. He was always leading this group into the direction we set at the beginning of the year.
"Him not being here, at the end of the day, we’re humans. It hurts everybody. But we’ve got to keep on moving forward. We have a goal in our head, which is to be the best basketball team that we can be."
Lillard had a similar view to Giannis that the news was unexpected, though has agreed the Bucks could be playing better.
"There's been a lot of expectations on our team," he said. "Things have been expected to look a certain way. We've had a bumpy road to our success, which is sometimes a part of the process.
"I was surprised. But it's part of the game. People get traded, people get waived, people get fired, and that's never something you want to see."
The Bucks never trailed in a win which avenged their 40-point loss in Cleveland last week and the teams will play again on Friday.
"Our experience really worked in our favor in this situation,” added Lillard. "We have all experienced a lot of things.
"I think this was different for everybody, but we just understood we had a game tonight, and it was going to be a tough game against a really good team that kind of handled us the last time we played them."
Aryna Sabalenka took her revenge against Coco Gauff to make it back-to-back Australian Open finals.
Gauff denied Sabalenka a second grand slam title of the year with victory in the US Open final last summer but her winning run at the majors came to an end with a 7-6 (2) 6-4 defeat under the roof on Rod Laver Arena.
Sabalenka will now be a big favourite to win a second-straight title at Melbourne Park on Saturday.
The second seed has been in tremendous form this fortnight, not losing more than three games in any set prior to this semi-final meeting.
Gauff’s stellar powers of defence, which turned the tables in New York after she had lost the first set, ensured she got significantly closer than any of Sabalenka’s previous opponents, but it was still not enough.
Sabalenka came out firing, winning the first seven points and immediately breaking the Gauff serve.
Nerves were on show from both and Gauff hit back to level, but five double faults from the American in her opening three service games proved very costly and Sabalenka opened up a 5-2 lead.
Gauff’s ability to get one more ball back in play than anyone else in the women’s game had put Sabalenka into meltdown mode in New York and she threatened the same here.
Sabalenka failed to serve out the set at 5-3 and Gauff saved a set point in the next game before making it four games in a row, the crowd gasping as the Belarusian pushed a forehand wide with the whole court at her mercy.
Gauff was two points away from taking the set but Sabalenka refused to let history repeat itself, forcing a tie-break, where she put on a display of awesome power that even the athletic American could find no answer to.
Gauff kept her nose in front on serve in the second set and a real test of Sabalenka’s nerve arrived when she trailed 0-30 in the eighth game.
But the 25-year-old responded with four exceptional points, broke Gauff in the next game and served out the victory to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 and 2017 to reach successive finals here.
Tom Dean is counting on his aura giving him an added edge at this summer’s Olympics as he chases history on two fronts in Paris.
Dean joined an illustrious list including Mark Spitz, Ian Thorpe and Michael Phelps by pipping close friend and British team-mate Duncan Scott to gold in the men’s 200 metres freestyle at Tokyo 2020.
As well as seeking to become the first man to retain that title, Dean has eyes on winning five medals in the French capital and usurping Scott as Britain’s most decorated athlete at a single Games.
Having already made a name for himself on the grandest stage, the Bath-based 23-year-old has noticed a shift in attitudes from his rivals and hopes to use it to his advantage in six months’ time.
“I’ll always be announced as Olympic champion,” Dean told the PA news agency. “I’ll be announced as reigning Olympic champion heading into this meet, it’s not an arrogance thing, it’s just the way it is.
“It’s a fact. If that plays into people’s minds then good, I hope it does and I hope it stamps a degree of authority. I’ve felt it in terms of how I’ve been approached by other swimmers since Tokyo.
“Having a reputation can only only play into my hands. There’s obviously pressure, there’s been pressure every time I’ve stepped up to race since winning that Olympic gold and this is no different.
“There’s a target on your back at domestic and international meets, you’ve got a target at training sessions, when people are trying to beat you when you’re just doing your reps. It’s always the way.”
Scott was on the podium four times at Tokyo 2020, including winning gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay alongside Dean, who edged out his team-mate by four hundredths of a second to claim individual glory.
Along with attempting to win those crowns again, Dean intends to compete in the men’s 200m individual medley, the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay and the men’s 4×100m medley relay.
“I’m making a conscious effort to give myself the best shot, it’s a momentous task – the stars are going to have to align because anything can change,” Dean said.
Despite Dean being Olympic champion, Britain can only choose two swimmers for the men’s 200m freestyle, with Scott and Matt Richards, who won gold at last year’s World Championships, also in the mix.
The British Championships at the London Aquatics Centre in April doubles as the Olympic trials and Dean acknowledges the strength in depth can only be a good thing.
“The Olympic trials is going to be just as hard as the Olympic Games,” Dean, who is set for a brief trip to Doha next month for a relay race at the World Championships, said.
“I need to make sure I stamp my ticket to Paris. It’s not going to be easy and everyone will be fighting their hardest to get on that team. That’s why we’re so strong on those relay events.”
In his quest for additional advantages, Dean, who won seven medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and four at last year’s World Championships, has launched a podcast which will build towards the Olympics.
Titled ‘Tom Dean Medal Machine’, the double Olympic champion will sit down weekly with celebrity guests to pick their brains and see if he can glean anything from them that can help him in France.
“There’s a reason why people do sports psychology because it helps them tweak that area of your game, there’s a reason why you speak to a nutritionist to help that area of your game,” Dean added.
“Why can’t I speak to someone who’s stepped out on stage at a music festival in front of 20,000 people? I’ll be stepping out and performing in front of 20,000 people come Paris.
“I’m convinced there are things to be taken from every single different person who’s gone and done something like that.”
:: Tom Dean Medal Machine is available from 25th January, listen and follow here: https://www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/42KweB/
Fans have poked fun at England international Eric Dier for going “full Steve McClaren” after he appeared to have adopted a German accent following his debut for Bayern Munich.
The 30-year-old, who is on loan at Bayern from Tottenham, was introduced as a half-time replacement for the injured Dayot Upamecano in Wednesday night’s 1-0 Bundesliga victory over Union Berlin and was interviewed on the pitch afterwards.
Dier, who was born in Cheltenham but raised in Portugal, spoke with a German twang, prompting amused comments from social media users.
In it, he said: “A very proud moment for me, obviously, to make my debut for this club. It’s a very proud moment for me and my family and I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed playing here.”
The interview rekindled memories of current Manchester United coach McClaren, who famously appeared to mimic a Dutch accent in an interview during his time in charge at Eredivisie club Twente.
Nico de Boinville will miss Friday’s action at Sandown and the plum ride on Jonbon at Cheltenham on Saturday to give himself more time to fully recover from the broken collarbone he suffered in a fall at Doncaster last month.
The leading jockey returned from nearly a month on the sidelines at Lingfield last Sunday and has since taken up a total of 11 rides, including a winner at Warwick on Monday.
However, having suffered a narrow defeat aboard 11-8 favourite Ilfu Un Mome at Chepstow on Wednesday – his only ride on the card – De Boinville has made the difficult decision to withdraw from the upcoming action, meaning James Bowen will take over aboard Jonbon in Saturday’s Clarence House Chase.
“Nico was sore after yesterday, so he won’t be riding this weekend,” said De Boinville’s agent Sam Stronge.
“We’ll just take it day by day and see how it is next week. It’s unfortunate, we obviously tried to do our best as quickly as we could, and after riding for a couple of days he obviously wasn’t quite right.
“The sensible thing to do when you’ve got big rides like that (Jonbon) is to not let everybody down. It’s a very difficult decision, but we’ll take it day by day and hopefully he’ll be back next week.”
Ben Stokes hit a counter-attacking half-century in tricky conditions as England were spun out for 246 on the first day of the first Test against India.
While far from an imposing total it was higher than seven of England’s eight innings on their previous tour of the country in 2021, bolstered by a gutsy effort of 70 from the captain.
Stokes struck three sixes and six fours in his first appearance since undergoing knee surgery, balancing sound technique with blasts of raw power and was last man out midway through the evening session.
India’s trio of spinners shared eight of the 10 wickets, with familiar foes Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja taking three apiece and Axar Patel claiming two. Although there was nothing outrageous from the surface, the amount of movement was significant for a first day pitch and is only likely to head in one direction.
England, who gambled on three spinners of their own, will be hoping to take advantage in a similar way.
Stokes would have been mightily relieved to win the toss and bat first and, for 45 minutes at least, everything fell England’s way as Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett kicked off the tour with an opening stand of 55.
But their fortunes nosedived as soon as the hosts swapped out seam for spin, losing three wickets in 21 balls for the addition of just five runs.
The hosts devoted the first eight overs of the game to pace but despite a hint of swing for Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, Crawley and Duckett took their chance to get on top with a handful of boundaries.
Crawley produced a pair of beautifully balanced on-drives, with Duckett riding the odd play-and-miss as he attacked the off side. At 41 for nought, India skipper Rohit Sharma had seen enough and sent for spin.
Almost instantly, things began to happen. Duckett swept a couple of fours before he became the first wicket of the series, pushing forward with a straight bat and falling for 35 as Ashwin won a tight lbw.
Ollie Pope, playing his first innings since the second Ashes Test in June, followed close behind. He lasted 11 uncomfortable deliveries before nicking Jadeja tamely to slip for one. After six months on the shelf, the cobwebs were clear to see.
A big lbw shout against the newly-arrived Root came moments later but after a long delay DRS appeared to show a thin edge before impact with the pad.
England’s relief lasted just a matter of seconds with Crawley driving Ashwin low to mid-off. At 60 for three it was a tense time but Bairstow’s arrival at his former IPL home ground shifted the tone.
He led the way in his stand of 61 with Root, seeing England to 108 at lunch. There was a growing sense of calm as they resumed but Patel produced a cracker to dismiss Bairstow, spearing it in on a leg-stump line and ripping it into the top of off.
Bairstow (37) was nearly blameless but Root (29) took a share of the blame when a hard-handed sweep at Jadeja looped high to short fine-leg.
Ben Foakes nicked Patel behind for four on his return to the side, Rehan Ahmed was done by an off-cutter as Bumrah returned for a second spell and debutant Tom Hartley was cleaned up by Jadeja after a sparky knock that included a swatted six off Ashwin.
Stokes resumed after tea on 43 not out and made the most of the time he had left, leathering Jadeja for back-to-back sixes to reach his fifty and later dishing out some of the same treatment to Ashwin.
The innings subsided when he was bowled by a Bumrah yorker, beaten through the air as he made room outside leg.
Bayern Munich defender Dayot Upamecano is facing several weeks on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury during Wednesday night’s 1-0 Bundesliga victory over Union Berlin.
The 25-year-old France international pulled up as he tracked a break by Union’s Benedict Hollerbach towards the end of the first half at the Allianz Arena and although he managed to continue until the break after treatment, he was replaced by debutant Eric Dier before the restart.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel said: “It’s a torn fibre in the back of the thigh. It’s going to be weeks, not days.
“That’s really tough to take for Upa and for us. He’s been in top form in recent weeks.”
Upamecano was not the only Bayern player to emerge from a hard-fought victory with an injury.
Full-back Konrad Laimer was withdrawn with a knock four minutes from time, while midfielder Joshua Kimmich finished the game nursing a shoulder problem, and both will be assessed ahead of Saturday’s trip to Augsburg.
Jurgen Klopp hailed Liverpool’s game plan and admitted his players “understood” the occasion better than Fulham after Wednesday night’s 1-1 Carabao Cup semi-final draw booked their place in the final thanks to a 3-2 aggregate win.
Luiz Diaz’s first-half strike was cancelled out by Issa Diop’s 76th-minute equaliser but the Cottagers could not find another at Craven Cottage as the Reds set up a Wembley showdown with Chelsea.
Klopp praised Liverpool’s second-half performance, where they soaked up pressure and frustrated Marco Silva’s men.
“They came out and they pressed for a while, but we understood the game slightly better,” Klopp said.
“I liked the second half as well. We should’ve scored, there were two situations.
“I think the counter-attack, everything was perfect and then Lucho (Diaz) doesn’t find the right player – which was a little bit of a shame – and when Harvey (Elliott) could shoot with his slightly-weaker right foot, we could’ve put the game to bed, but we didn’t.”
Liverpool were far from their best on the night and missed the presence of Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Klopp knew the occasion would not be an easy one against their Premier League rivals but a solid team performance saw the visitors capitalise on their 2-1 first-leg advantage at Anfield.
“It was just a good game, a good cup game,” Klopp added.
“Whoever expected tonight that we just show quality and we get through and this will be a walk in the park doesn’t understand the game and doesn’t understand the importance of the occasion.
“Both teams wanted to go to Wembley – and we qualified and that’s all we could wish for.”
Joe Gomez continued to feature at left-back in place of the injured Andy Robertson and rarely put a foot wrong against Bobby De Cordova-Reid.
Klopp added: “He played exceptional today again. He’s a real defender and he comes inside. He’s doing that really well.
“He is a life-saver, to be honest, that he was here, that he could play and people forget how important Joey (Gomez) was in the best years we had.
“I don’t know how many games he played in the year when we became champions and how many games he played when we won the Champions League. A lot and rightly so because he’s a top-class player.”
India’s spinners dialled up the heat on England on the first day of the first Test, leaving the tourists 215 for eight at tea on a turning track in Hyderabad.
Although the movement was not yet extreme, it was enough for the slow bowlers to share seven wickets in two sessions, with England captain Ben Stokes making a late charge on 43 not out.
Stokes’ hopes of batting first were realised when he won a crucial toss and, for 45 minutes, everything went England’s way as openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett kicked off the tour with a busy stand of 55.
But their fortunes nosedived as soon as the hosts swapped out seam for spin, losing three wickets in 21 balls for the addition of just five runs as familiar foes Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja took hold.
The Yorkshire duo of Joe Root (29) and Jonny Bairstow (37), both experienced campaigners in these taxing conditions, worked hard to repair the damage with a 61-run partnership but trouble resurfaced after lunch.
England lost both in quick succession, Bairstow finding a good rhythm before falling to the ball of the day from Axar Patel and Root top-edging a sweep to short fine-leg.
India snapped up another three before the break, including debutant Tom Hartley for a lively 23, but could not shut down Stokes.
He collected five boundaries, turning up the aggression with some neat reverse sweeps and crisp drives to carry his side past the 200 mark.
Novak Djokovic puts his 33-match unbeaten Australian Open run to the test against Jannik Sinner on Rod Laver Arena on Friday.
The world number one has not been beaten at Melbourne Park since a fourth-round loss to Chung Hyeon back in 2018, with only two opponents in the intervening six years managing to push him to five sets.
Djokovic appears to have recovered from the illness that was troubling him at the start of the fortnight, but was tested in a four-set quarter-final win over Taylor Fritz and, if anyone is going to end his streak, Sinner appears a prime candidate.
The 22-year-old beat Djokovic twice in successive weeks at the end of last season at the ATP Finals and Davis Cup, where he led Italy to the title, and is the only player in the men’s draw yet to drop a set.
“This is what I practise for, to play against the best players in the world,” said Sinner. “Obviously he has an incredible record here, so for me it’s a pleasure to play against him, especially in the final stages of the tournament where things are a little bit more interesting.
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be tough. This, I know. I will control the controllable, which is giving 100 per cent, having the right attitude, fighting for every ball. And then we see the outcome. More than this, I cannot do. It doesn’t really matter who my opponent is.”
Sinner reached his first slam semi-final at Wimbledon last summer but lost in straight sets to Djokovic, who is tantalisingly close to a record-breaking 25th major title.
This has not been one of his more straightforward paths through the draw in Melbourne, but his desire to continue racking up the biggest titles remains unquestionable.
“I’m aware of the streak that I’m on and the amount of matches that I have won in my career on the Rod Laver Arena,” said Djokovic.
“I don’t want to let that go. The longer the streak goes, the more that kind of confidence, also expectations, build, but also the willingness to really walk the extra mile.”
The second semi-final pits two very familiar opponents against each other in the shape of third seed Daniil Medvedev and sixth seed Alexander Zverev.
Medvedev is bidding to reach his third final at Melbourne Park in the last four years while Zverev crashed the top-four party by defeating Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday for his best victory at a slam.
Medvedev and Zverev, who are certainly not the best of friends, have played each other 18 times previously but strangely never at a slam.
Russian Medvedev leads the head-to-head 11-7 having won five of the six matches they played last season, but Zverev took time to get back to his best after a serious ankle injury.
“A lot of matches were extremely close,” said the German, who lost his only grand slam final at the US Open in 2020.
“A lot of the times it came down to him being extremely confident last year, him playing some of the best tennis of his life, and me coming back from injury and not having the confidence in deciding moments and not being able to finish matches.
“He’s obviously extremely difficult to play. No question about it. He’s one of the best players in the world right now. But I’m happy in the position I am, and I’m going to do everything I can to win that match on Friday.”
England lost three wickets in quick succession against India’s spinners after the tourists enjoyed a bright start to the first Test in Hyderabad.
At lunch the tourists were 108 for three, with Yorkshire duo Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow in the midst of a repair job following India’s triple breakthrough.
A bullish opening stand of 55 between Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett gave England the upper hand for the first 45 minutes, but once the seamers gave way to the slow bowlers it was a different story.
India picked up three wickets for five runs in the space of 21 balls, Ravichandran Ashwin picking off both set batters and Ravindra Jadeja making short work of an uncomfortable Ollie Pope.
The game was moving away from England quickly, as it has many times before in this part of the world, but they found stability in their experienced middle-order pair.
Root survived an lbw scare off his second ball to reach 18no and Bairstow, resuming life as a specialist number five after ceding the wicketkeeping gloves to Ben Foakes, found a nice flow for 32no.
With a side containing a solitary seam option and four spinners, England captain Ben Stokes would have been mightily relieved to win the toss and surprised nobody by choosing to bat.
The hosts devoted the first eight overs to pace but despite a hint of swing for Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, Crawley and Duckett took their chance to get on top with a handful of boundaries.
Crawley produced a pair of sweet on-drives off, with Duckett riding the odd play-and-miss as he flashed eagerly through the off-side.
At 41 for nought, India skipper Rohit Sharma had seen enough and sent for spin. Almost instantly, things began to happen. Duckett swept a couple of fours before he became the first wicket of the series, pushing forward with a straight bat and falling to a tight lbw as Ashwin squeezed one through.
Pope, playing his first innings since the second Ashes Test in June, followed close behind. He lasted 11 uncomfortable deliveries before nicking Jadeja tamely to slip for one. There was a big shout against the newly arrived Root moments later, but after a long delay DRS appeared to show a thin edge before impact with the pad.
England’s relief lasted just a matter of seconds with Crawley driving Ashwin straight to mid-off, where Siraj scooped a low catch. At 58 for three, it was a tense time but Bairstow’s arrival at his former IPL home ground shifted the tone.
Nathan MacKinnon scored three of his four goals consecutively and added an assist and Mikko Rantanen had a goal and four assists to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 6-2 rout of the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
MacKinnon’s first goal of the game at 2:39 of the second period extended Colorado’s lead to 2-0, and he made it 3-0 at the 7-minute mark. He notched his third goal of the game 2:16 later and completed his second four-goal game of the season with 3:46 remaining in the third period.
MacKinnon, who drew an assist on Rantanen’s third-period goal, leads the NHL with 82 points, two more than Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov.
The Avalanche superstar extended his home point streak to 24 games to break a tie with Joe Sakic for the franchise record. MacKinnon has 11 goals and 15 assists during an overall 12-game point streak.
Cale Makar set the franchise record for goals by a defenseman with his 76th and Colorado improved to 10-1-0 in its last 11 home games.
Canucks rally to extend point streak in OT loss
Pius Suter completed his hat trick with 52 seconds left in regulation and the Vancouver Canucks pushed their point streak to 10 games with a 4-3 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues.
Brayden Schenn scored the game-winner at 1:54 of overtime after Vancouver battled back from a 3-1 deficit in the third behind Suter’s two goals.
Jake Neighbours had a goal and an assist to help the Blues win their third straight.
Quinn Hughes had a pair of assists as the Canucks moved to 8-0-2 in their last 10 games and increased the league’s highest point total to 69.
Hurricanes cool Bruins with late goal
Jordan Martinook scored with 2 ½ minutes remaining and Spencer Martin made 26 saves to win his Hurricanes debut as Carolina ended the Boston Bruins’ six-game winning streak, 3-2.
Boston rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period on goals by Brad Marchand, but Martinook beat Linus Ullmark on a breakaway for the winner.
Martin Necas and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for the Hurricanes, who have won five straight road games.
Marchand’s goals gave him 395, tying him with Ray Bourque for fifth on the team’s all-time list. Bourque scored 395 of his 410 career goals with the Bruins.
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