Rory McIlroy gave back the shots he made by holing in one on the eighth as he was left trailing the record-breaking halfway leaders at the Travelers Championship.
McIlroy aced the par three in the first round, but could only find the water second time around as he double bogeyed the hole en route to a six-under-par 64.
“I hit a pretty good shot, I just misjudged the wind a little bit and it came up short in the one place you couldn’t miss today,” said McIlroy, who is tied for 10th on eight-under-par – seven behind leaders Keegan Bradley and Denny McCarthy at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut.
“Other than that, it was a really good round of golf.”
McCarthy followed his opening round of 60 with a 65 to set a commanding clubhouse target which only Bradley, who fired a second round 63, could match – their 15-under-par total of 125 setting a tournament record.
“It’s nice, but golf tournaments aren’t 36 holes unfortunately,” said McCarthy. “I know there’s still a lot of golf left and I’m playing some really nice golf, so I’m looking forward to having fun this weekend.”
Chez Reavie, who won the title in 2019, moved within two of the lead with a 63 with Eric Cole a further two strokes back.
Defending champion Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland are among those in a large group alongside McIlroy on eight-under, one better than a group containing England’s Aaron Rai, Ireland’s former Open champion Shane Lowry and world number one Scottie Scheffler.
Matt Fitzpatrick was a shot further back while his successor as US Open champion Wyndham Clark shot a 67 to move to five under – Masters champion Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood missing the cut.
Rookie sensation Elly De La Cruz became the first Reds player to hit for a cycle in 34 years and Cincinnati outslugged the Atlanta Braves 11-10 for their 12th straight victory.
De La Cruz led off the second inning with a double, hit a two-run homer in the third, had a run-scoring single in the fifth and completed the cycle with a triple in the sixth for his fourth RBI of the game.
The cycle is the seventh overall in Reds’ history and the first since Eric Davis on June 2, 1989. The 21-year-old De La Cruz achieved the feat in just his 15th game – the third fewest since 1900.
Cincinnati matched the 1939 and 1957 teams for the franchise’s longest single season winning streak since 1900.
Atlanta, which had an eight-game winning streak stopped, scored five runs in the first off Luke Weaver, with Travis d’Arnaud’s three-run homer the big blow.
Cincinnati got two runs back in the second inning on Jake Fraley’s home run and pulled within 5-4 an inning later on De La Cruz’s two-run blast.
Joey Votto’s first home run of the game in the fourth inning tied it, but the Braves went back on top in the fifth as Matt Olson’s homer scored Austin Riley.
The Reds went ahead for good with four runs in their half of the fifth. De La Cruz singled in a run and Votto delivered a three-run homer.
Atlanta got solo home runs from Ronald Acuna, Jr., Riley and Olson again in the eighth but was unable to push across the tying run in just its third loss in 18 games.
Ohtani hits MLB-best 25th home run in Angels’ loss
Shohei Ohtani extended his major league lead with his 25th home run and fell a triple shy of the cycle in the Los Angles Angels’ 7-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies.
Ohtani homered off starter Kyle Freeland in the fifth inning and Mike Trout followed with his 16th home run to give the Angels a 4-2 lead.
Ohtani has at least one extra-base hit in 10 straight road games, a franchise record and the longest such streak in the majors since 2009.
Colorado, which had lost eight in a row, went ahead in the eighth on Elias Diaz’s grand slam.
Conforto leads Giants past Diamondbacks in NL West matchup
Michael Conforto had three hits and four RBIs to lead the San Francisco Giants to an 8-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in a battle between the top teams in the NL West.
Conforto had a two-run double in San Francisco’s three-run third inning and came through with another two-run double as part of a four-run fifth. Patrick Bailey capped the uprising with a two-run homer.
The Giants have won 11 of 12 to get within 2 ½ games of NL West-leading Arizona.
Allianz Premier 15s chief executive Belinda Moore believes that women’s sport is beginning to “stand alone” as interest continues to grow.
The RFU announced in June 2022 that up to £220m would be invested into the professional women’s game over 10 years and Moore was announced as CEO of the Premier 15s last October.
It comes as part of an exciting time of growth in women’s sport which will be seen this summer with England’s cricketers and netballers in action alongside the Lionesses, who will be aiming to build on last year’s Euro win at the World Cup.
There has also been success in rugby as the Red Roses reached the World Cup final last November before scooping a fifth successive Six Nations title in front of a record-breaking crowd of 58,498 at Twickenham in April, and Moore insists women’s sport is now providing entertainment in its own right.
“We all know what an amazing job the Lionesses did and the growth that’s come off the back of that,” she told the PA news agency.
“One of the things they proved very eloquently was that women’s sport now is starting to stand alone.
“It’s recognised for what it is, so it’s not regarded as men’s sport – there’s a women’s brand of football, a women’s brand of rugby and they’re really entertaining games in their own right.”
Women’s domestic rugby is set to take centre stage on Saturday when Exeter Chiefs face Gloucester-Hartpury in the Premier 15s final at the renamed “Queensholm” Stadium.
Neither team has previously won the competition and so far 8,000 tickets have been sold for the West Country clash.
“I’m hugely looking forward to Saturday, I think the two semi-finals set a really good benchmark for what we can expect this weekend,” Moore said.
“It’s been amazing to see the growth of women’s rugby, even in the short time since the World Cup last year and that crowd last year, and the crowd at Twickenham for the England-France game.
“They’ve sold over 7,000 tickets for this match this weekend, which is a huge uptake on last year.
“The great news is we can see the interest in the sport is growing and I’m looking forward to a cracking final at Queensholm, as they’ve aptly renamed it this weekend!”
Alongside plans to grow the Premier 15s competition, England are also set to host the World Cup in 2025.
Last year’s World Cup final saw hosts New Zealand beat the Red Roses in front of 42,579 in Auckland and Moore believes a home tournament is an ideal opportunity to keep generating interest.
She said: “The number of people who got up at daft o’clock in the morning, myself included, was a really big thing.
“It was a great one, the challenge always is when you play rugby of any description down on the southern hemisphere, it’s harder to get that wider attention in a busy, crowded sports market.
“So I think what you got primarily was rugby fans, which is brilliant, but what we also want to do is expand the game out to those who maybe don’t know it so well, sports fans or more general fans of women’s sport.
“The great news is we’ve got a strong base to build on, but we definitely need to build on it and 2025 I think will be that big springboard that puts women’s rugby in people’s living rooms at primetime and starts to change that narrative.”
Mel Reid moved to within a shot of the lead at the second women’s major of the year – nine months after quitting golf.
Ireland’s Leona Maguire fired four late birdies in a second round 68 to take the halfway lead at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in New Jersey, one clear of a group on four-under which includes England’s Reid after her 67.
She was joined by China’s Xiyu Lin and Norwegian rookie Celine Borge with first round leader Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa and Australia’s Minjee Lee, chasing her second major title after a second round 67.
For Reid, it is a big change from deciding to give up playing due to injury.
“I legit quit,” she said. “When I got my injury, I tried to play through it, which I kind of felt I had to. In September I literally told Carly (her wife), I’m going into the media, I’m not playing golf anymore.
“With things like that, if you just give me a bit of space, I do kind of work it out myself.
“I missed the competitiveness of it and I thought let’s give it one more go. I’ve just been really enjoying myself this year.”
Maguire birdied four of her final six holes as she took the halfway lead in a major for the first time.
“This is uncharted territory for me,” Maguire said. “Whatever happens this week, I’m sure I’ll learn a lot, and just sort of taking it one day at a time.
“I think this golf course demands that. I think you can’t think more than one shot ahead, let alone a hole or a round ahead.”
Northern Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow shot a second round 68 to be in a group on one-under with only 15 players under par on the Lower Course at Baltusrol.
World number nine Lexi Thompson birdied her last four holes to sneak inside the cut at four-over-par, but England’s Georgia Hall, Charley Hull, Bronte Law and Laura Davies all missed out, alongside world number two Nelly Korda, number four Lilia Vi and number six Atthaya Thitikul.
Dan Mousley shone with bat and ball as Birmingham Bears clinched a Vitality Blast quarter-final spot with a convincing 53-run win over rivals Worcestershire on Friday.
Mousley hit 51 in his side’s imposing 228 for four and then took four for 41 as the Rapids were restricted to 175 for nine by the North Group leaders.
Rob Yates also scored 59 for the Bears and Glenn Maxwell added 44 from 20 deliveries while Mitchell Santner top-scored for the visitors with 56.
South Group leaders Somerset secured a home quarter-final with a tight four-wicket win over Gloucestershire at Taunton.
The hosts made a fine start as they reduced Gloucestershire to nine for three but Grant Roelofsen’s 52 and an unbeaten 42 from Jack Taylor helped the visitors post a competitive 186 for eight.
Will Smeed cracked 78 from 42 balls in reply but it took further contributions from Ben Green (37), Kasey Aldridge (32no) and Craig Overton (17no) to ensure the job was completed with three balls to spare.
Elsewhere, Daniel Bell-Drummond smashed a century and Grant Stewart took a hat-trick as Kent claimed a crushing 55-run win over Middlesex.
Bell-Drummond hit 12 fours and four sixes in a 58-ball 111 and shared in a 127-run opening stand with Tawanda Muyeye (50) as Kent ran up 228 for three.
Middlesex were bowled out for 173 in 19 overs in reply as George Linde, Joey Evison and Stewart each took three wickets.
England white-ball captain Jos Buttler hit a 39-ball 83 with six sixes and eight fours as Lancashire beat Derbyshire by 27 runs in a rain-affected match at Old Trafford.
Liam Livingstone added an unbeaten 47 as the Lightning made 177 for four from their reduced allocation of 15 overs.
Derbyshire could muster just 150 for seven in response.
Chris Lynn (62) and Saif Zaib (55) hit half-centuries as Northamptonshire powered to an emphatic 92-run win over the North Group’s bottom side Leicestershire.
The pair put on 114 for the third wicket to help the Steelbacks to 210 for seven.
The Foxes then crumbled to 118 all out despite 49 from England squad member Rehan Ahmed. Ben Sanderson was the pick of the bowling with three for 20 as the Steelbacks kept themselves in the quarter-final picture.
Shadab Khan struck 87 from 53 balls as Sussex beat Glamorgan by 20 runs. The Pakistan all-rounder hit five fours and five sixes in his side’s 182 for six at Cardiff.
Cam Fletcher top-scored with 57 in reply and Sam Northeast weighed in with 44 but Glamorgan fell short after Brad Currie and Tymal Mills took two wickets apiece.
Hampshire beat Essex by four wickets by four wickets after 76 from captain James Vince in a close finish in Southampton.
James Fuller also scored 56 but Benny Howell’s 36no and a late flurry from Liam Dawson were also needed for the hosts to reach their target of 210 in the last over.
Dan Lawrence (70) and Feroze Khushi (61) were the mainstays of Essex’s 209 for seven after putting on 127 for the first wicket.
The encounter between Durham and Yorkshire at the Riverside was declared a no result after rain intervened. Yorkshire were 49 for one after 8.1 overs when play was abandoned.
Harriet Dart is confident her game is heading in the right direction after her run at the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham was ended by a narrow quarter-final loss to Anastasia Potapova.
Dart defeated top-30 player Anhelina Kalinina for the second week in a row to reach the last eight but was unable to capitalise on a good start against fourth seed Potapova, losing out 4-6 6-3 6-4.
It has been a difficult season for Dart, who has plummeted out of the top 100 after a breakthrough year in 2022, but the 26-year-old has found her form on grass and this was a second consecutive quarter-final appearance following on from Nottingham last week.
“I thought it was a really high-level match,” said Dart, who has been awarded a wild card for Eastbourne next week.
“I don’t think I served particularly very well but managed to find a way to get ahead with the first set. I definitely had a lot of chances. But overall a positive week.
“Of course I wanted to do better today and to keep going but it’s important just to keep building week in, week out to be able to compete with the best players in the world.
“And to also be realistic. This is grass, it’s a unique surface. I really enjoy these couple of weeks and just to try and use this momentum for the rest of the season.
View this post on Instagram
“Today I played someone who’s 21 in the world and lost 6-4 in the third, and I think there’s a lot of areas I can improve on, so it’s heading in the right direction.”
Dart struggled with her serve throughout the match but managed to win the opening set despite five double faults, producing some fine shots from the back of the court, and she made the first move in the second set with a break for 2-1.
But Potapova, ranked 21st, began to punish Dart’s second serve and the Russian turned the match around with a run of four games in a row, cutting down on the errors that had blighted her game.
Dart recovered from 3-1 down in the deciding set to level at 3-3 but Potapova’s heavy groundstrokes were taking their toll and the Russian broke again before serving out the victory.
Potapova next faces second seed Jelena Ostapenko, who mounted an impressive comeback from a set and 4-0 down to defeat Magdalena Frech 4-6 7-5 6-2.
The Latvian played until after 8pm on Thursday night in her victory over Venus Williams and was back on court on Friday lunchtime to take on Pole Frech.
Ostapenko needed treatment for a left calf problem and at one stage looked like she might not finish the match but she managed to turn things around in the second set before taking the decider.
“It was very little time to recover from yesterday because we finished very late,” she said.
“I was struggling as well with my left calf. I was thinking at some point maybe I should not continue but there is a fighter inside of me so I want to play until I cannot walk or something.
“After winning the second set I felt like I was playing better and my footwork was there. I’m really glad to manage to win this match.”
Top seed Barbora Krejcikova is through to the last four for the first time at a grass-court event having beaten teenage compatriot Linda Fruhvirtova 6-3 6-2, and the Czech will take on China’s Zhu Lin, who was a 4-6 6-3 6-2 winner over Rebecca Marino.
Christopher Nkunku has vowed to “give everything” for Chelsea after completing his move to Stamford Bridge.
The France forward this week signed a six-year contract with the Blues as the club finalised his reported £63million switch from RB Leipzig.
The 25-year-old had committed to moving to Stamford Bridge when he signed a pre-contract agreement last December.
Chelsea will hope he can bolster an attack that scored only 38 goals in the Premier League last season.
“We can say that I am a hard worker,” Nkunku told the club’s website, chelseafc.com. “I will give everything for the club, for the fans and to help the team bring some trophies, to give the best of my football.
“I hope I will make them as happy as I am to be here at this club.”
Nkunku scored 23 goals in 36 appearances for Leipzig in an injury-hit 2022-23 in which he was forced to miss the World Cup.
Chelsea’s struggles in the second half of last season, when they limped to a 12th-placed finish, have not dampened his enthusiasm for the move.
He said: “I think the project was good for me. It is a good project for me to develop myself as a player and a man also.
“And this is a good city, after all, and for sure I want to improve in football and I want to win trophies and improve myself also.”
Nkunku is the first new player to arrive at Chelsea since former Tottenham and Paris St Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino was appointed as manager.
The pair have not yet met.
“I have not had a chance to speak to him, not yet,” said Nkunku, who began his career at PSG.
“I spoke to some of my friends from Paris about him a little bit. I speak about him a little bit with some of the players.
“They told me that he’s a very good coach and I’m excited to work with him.”
Bournemouth have signed winger Justin Kluivert from Italian club Roma for an undisclosed fee.
The 24-year-old, who was capped twice by the Netherlands in 2018, has agreed a “long-term contract” at Vitality Stadium.
He becomes the Premier League club’s first signing since the appointment of head coach Andoni Iraola following the sacking of Gary O’Neil.
Cherries chief executive Neill Blake said in a statement: “We are delighted to have made Justin our first signing ahead of the new season.
“He was coveted by a number of clubs across Europe and his arrival is a sign of his ambition which is matched by ours.
“Justin is an exciting and versatile attacking player who has an eye for goal. He is pacey, direct and boasts a high level of technical ability.”
Kluivert, the son of former Netherlands striker Patrick Kluivert, began his career at Ajax before moving to Serie A in 2018.
He scored nine goals in 68 appearances for Roma and spent last season on loan at Valencia following similar spells with RB Leipzig and Nice.
Tammy Beaumont insisted she would only take satisfaction from her maiden Test hundred if it counts towards an England victory in the Women’s Ashes series opener.
Beaumont reached three figures in the penultimate over of day two, going to stumps unbeaten on exactly 100 as England closed on 218 for two having rallied after Australia posted a formidable 473 all out.
She rode her luck as she was dropped on four while leg-spinner Alana King twice found the England opener’s inside edge after she had passed her fifty – the first looped over the short-leg fielder while the second struck Beaumont’s boot on the full before being caught but Australia neglected to review.
Despite admitting she has ticked an item from her bucket list in compiling an Ashes Test ton, Beaumont will rank its significance at the end of the match which marks the start of the multi-format series.
“There were probably moments where I thought I wasn’t going to face enough balls to get there but it put the team in a good position,” she said.
“If we go on to win this Test match then it would be right up there. It’s great to tick it off and as a kid, I dreamt of scoring an Ashes Test hundred. But as I’ve gone on, it’s contributing to the team.
“If you apply yourself as a batter there’s definitely runs out there to be had and so far our batters have pretty much looked at ease.
“I guess I got lucky with one but then again I’ve probably had a couple of unlucky decisions in the last month or so in regional cricket – luck came at the right time.”
This innings a decade on from her Test debut carried Beaumont into an exclusive group as just the second woman to register a ton across all three international formats, joining England captain Heather Knight, with whom she shared a crucial 115-run stand as the hosts launched a robust fightback.
“Heather said to me when I came into the changing room ‘welcome to the club’ – I didn’t realise she meant the all three formats one, I thought she just meant an Ashes hundred,” the 32-year-old said.
“It’s always good to look back at personal milestones and nice to tick that one off – something that I thought probably might evade me as I’m coming to the later half of my career.”
With Nat Sciver-Brunt unable to bowl on Friday after jarring her right knee – she fielded and later batted, registering a fluent 41 not out – England’s bowlers were understaffed on a flat pitch.
But Sophie Ecclestone rose to the challenge as she claimed a maiden five-wicket haul in Tests, a fitting reward following 46.2 overs of hard toil, and Beaumont cheekily suggested afterwards the slow left-armer could be an option for the men’s side as doubts swirl over Moeen Ali’s readiness for Lord’s.
“There’s not enough adjectives for how good Sophie Ecclestone is and how good she can be,” Beaumont added.
“To bowl 40-odd overs in the first innings of a Test match, how she held an end like she did and also challenge to look like she would take wickets consistently – maybe if Mo’s finger doesn’t hold up, she’ll have to go off there or something.”
Australia added 235 for the last four wickets, largely thanks to a maiden international century from Annabel Sutherland, whose highest score in 33 previous internationals in all formats was 35.
But she capitalised on England’s aching limbs – they were kept in the field for 124.2 overs – to record the fastest Test hundred by an Australian woman off only 148 balls.
She showed the enviable depth of Australia’s batting pool with the highest score by a number eight in women’s Tests and there was no keeping her out of the game as she snared Emma Lamb before Beaumont and Knight, who registered a composed 57, redressed the balance at Trent Bridge.
“It’s pretty special. I’m not sure it’s quite sunken in yet,” she said.
“It’s something you dream of growing up. To do that job for the team was pretty cool.”
“A paradigm shift for boxing in Jamaica,” is how Jamaica Boxing Board President, Stephen ‘Bomber’ Jones described the country’s newest platform for boxers to show off their skills, Wray & Nephew Fight Nights.
“These are exciting times. I think the events will speak for themselves in terms of how we shift the paradigm of boxing in Jamaica going forward,” Jones said at the launch of the event on Wednesday.
“I want to thank Wray & Nephew. They bought into the vision of the Boxing board when our mandate was to expand the footprint of the sport island wide and now, that we’ve got to another level and with the mandate changing to expanding the footprint globally, they didn’t miss a beat,” he added.
The idea, according to Jones, is to have a Pro Am card at least eight times a year with at least six amateur bouts and two professional fights.
The first card will take place at the Kling Kling Oval in Olympic Gardens on July 1 and will be headlined by a pro fight between Jermaine ‘Breezy’ Richards and Omar ‘Crane’ Edmund. The night will also feature seven amateur bouts.
“Breezy who is the main event is a 2-0 fighter and the idea is, if he wins on July 1, that, by next year this time with his proper management and his promoter, you’d have watched him get to at least 9-0 and where there’s a Breezy, we have many more boxers,” Jones said.
“Where it is that we were turning boxers into world champions once every decade, the idea is now to be always having, year after year, talented Jamaican boxers with an opportunity to get a title fight,” he added.
Jones says he wants to use this platform to help Jamaica produce home-grown world champions in the sport.
“It’s common knowledge that for decades, Jamaica has been producing world champions from all different categories and weight classes. People like Mike McCallum, Trevor Berbick and Nicholas ‘Axeman’ Walters to name a few. What those boxers have in common was that they all had to chart their career overseas. This Wray & Nephew Fight Night series is about to change that,” said Jones.
“This is about putting our local boxers on the face of international boxing,” said Wray & Nephew Marketing Manager, Pavel Smith.
“You don’t have to now go overseas to develop your career. You can stay right here, train at the local gyms and have an opportunity to build your professional career and have your title fights here in Jamaica,” he added.
Former West Indies opener, Chris Gayle, the self-proclaimed Universe Boss, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Toronto Blue Jays’ inaugural Cricket Day on Saturday, June 24 and he wants everyone to come see him do it.
Known worldwide as one of the most destructive batters in world cricket, the charismatic Gayle is in Toronto, Canada as a special guest and had a batting practice session prior to the big day on Saturday.
“I’m town, Toronto just comes alive. So tomorrow is Blue Jays Cricket Day and Universe Boss will be doing the first pitch. You don’t want to miss that one,” Gayle declared in a short video on Twitter. “It’s going to be epic; 95 miles per hour pitch from the Universe Boss. You don’t wanna miss it.”
In addition to throwing out the first pitch and engaging in batting sessions, Gayle is also expected to be involved in other activities expected to excite fans in the Canadian city.
Rob Burrow’s daughters Macy and Maya played a starring role ahead of Leeds Rhinos’ Betfred Super League clash against Huddersfield Giants at Headingley on Friday.
The duo led a dance performance and also teamed up to conduct the pre-match interviews with respective coaches Rohan Smith and Ian Watson as part of a ‘Burrow Family Takeover’ in the Rhinos’ annual MND Awareness game.
Smith dodged Macy’s cutting question about his favourite player by responding: “I think my favourite player is your dad”, while Maya nudged Watson into revealing he was “a bit nervous” given the magnitude of the match.
Burrow’s four-year-old son Jackson also had a crucial job as he presented a special Rob Burrow/MND Association match ball to referee Ben Thaler.
Burrow was set to pick the man of the match after what Smith described as a “mini Grand Final”, with both clubs clinging onto increasingly tenuous hopes of landing a play-off place.
The Rhinos wore their special Doddie Weir celebration shirt for the fixture, from which 20 per cent of all gate receipts would be donated to the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation set up by the late Scotland rugby union forward who died last year of motor neurone disease, the same condition afflicting Burrow.
Harriet Dart’s run at the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham ended in the quarter-finals with defeat by Anastasia Potapova.
Dart defeated top-30 player Anhelina Kalinina for the second week in a row to reach the last eight but was unable to capitalise on a good start against fourth seed Potapova, losing out 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Dart struggled with her serve throughout the match but managed to win the opening set despite five double faults, producing some fine shots from the back of the court.
The 26-year-old was bidding to reach a first WTA semi-final having lost three previous quarter-finals, all on the British grass, and she made the first move in the second set with a break for 2-1.
But Potapova, ranked 21st, began to punish Dart’s second serve and the Russian turned the match around with a run of four games in a row, cutting down on the errors that had blighted her game.
Dart recovered from 3-1 down in the deciding set to level at 3-3 but Potapova’s heavy groundstrokes were taking their toll and the Russian broke again before serving out the victory.
It has nevertheless been a strong tournament for Dart to back up last week’s run to the last eight in Nottingham, and she will have another chance to pick up more wins ahead of Wimbledon having been awarded a wild card for next week’s tournament in Eastbourne.
Potapova next faces second seed Jelena Ostapenko, who mounted an impressive comeback from a set and 4-0 down to defeat Magdalena Frech 4-6 7-5 6-2.
The Latvian played until after 8pm on Thursday night in her victory over Venus Williams and was back on court on Friday lunchtime to take on Pole Frech.
Ostapenko needed treatment for a left calf problem and at one stage looked like she might not finish the match but she managed to turn things around in the second set before taking the decider.
“It was very little time to recover from yesterday because we finished very late,” she said.
“I was struggling as well with my left calf. I was thinking at some point maybe I should not continue but there is a fighter inside of me so I want to play until I cannot walk or something.
“After winning the second set I felt like I was playing better and my footwork was there. I’m really glad to manage to win this match.”
Top seed Barbora Krejcikova is through to the last four for the first time at a grass-court event having beaten teenage compatriot Linda Fruhvirtova 6-3 6-2, and the Czech will take on China’s Zhu Lin, who was a 4-6 6-3 6-2 winner over Rebecca Marino.
Brendan Rodgers is intent on improving Celtic’s fortunes in Europe as he prepares to return to the Champions League stage.
The newly-appointed Hoops manager had two cracks at the continent’s elite competition during his previous stint at the club in 2016 and 2017, but mustered only three points on each occasion.
When the Hoops got back into the Champions League group phase last year under Ange Postecoglou, they collected just two points.
Rodgers admits the tournament poses a formidable challenge for any Scottish club, but he believes it is possible for Celtic to become more competitive.
“Your bread and butter is always Scotland, you have to ensure that you have dominance here,” he said. “But I’d like to think we can do something in Europe.
“It’s well documented over the years when the club hasn’t qualified (for the Champions League) or hasn’t had a great record in terms of European football, so even though that’s a challenge in terms of the resources other clubs in Europe have, it’s a great challenge for us.
“We’ve got Champions League football this season and we hope to have European football after Christmas, that’s a great challenge for us all.”
Rodgers would love to lead Celtic to the last 16 of the Champion League, while even parachuting into the latter stages of the Europa League would represent progress on previous campaigns.
“We all know the challenges of the Champions League and if you can get through to the knockout stages, that’s a big step for a Scottish team,” he said.
“When you go into Europe, there are competitions now where, with that little bit of luck and quality, you can go a long way.
“For us, it’s about getting through a qualification phase and seeing where it can take us. Europe is a great challenge for us, and it’s something we have to embrace.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
