Max Scherzer delivered 11 strikeouts across seven innings to cap a perfect day for the New York Mets who swept their divisional double-header with the Atlanta Braves on Saturday.

The Mets got past the Braves 8-5 in the matinee game, followed by a 6-2 victory in the evening led by Scherzer's impressive outing.

The wins were critical in the National League (NL) East where the Mets improved to a 69-39 record ahead of the reigning world champions at 64-45.

Scherzer was at his vintage best for the Mets, amid tension given the Braves had recently closed in on Mets in the race for first place ahead of the five-game series.

"This is what you play the game for," Scherzer said. "You play to face the best, especially deep in the season. You grind it out here in the NL East."

Scherzer's 11 KS means he sits fourth on the all-time MLB list for most 10 or more strikeout games by a pitcher with 109, behind Nolan Ryan (215), Randy Johnson (212) and Roger Clemens (110).

Yankees shut out as Montgomery stars

Jordan Montgomery came back to haunt his former employers only days after being traded as the St Louis Cardinals defeated the New York Yankees 1-0.

Montgomery pitched five scoreless innings for the Cardinals who triumphed courtesy of Paul Goldschmidt's first-inning run driven in by Nolan Arenado.

The Cards new left-handed pitcher, who was involved in the trade deal for Harrison Bader, only managed one strikeout but only allowed two hits and a walk.

Dodgers edge divisional rivals

Max Muncy's fifth-inning go-ahead three-run blast helped the Los Angeles Dodgers topple the San Diego Padres 8-3 in their National League (NL) West battle.

The Dodgers were trailing 3-2 at the time, but Muncy's intervention turned the tide. The Dodgers extend their lead in the NL West with a 74-33 record compared to the Padres who are 61-49.

The home run was Muncy's 11th for the season. Will Smith also had a solo home run, to finish with three hits with two runs and three RBIs.

World number one Daniil Medvedev strolled to victory for his first title of the year at the Los Cabos Open with a 7-5 6-0 demolition of reigning champion Cameron Norrie on Saturday.

The Russian, returning to hard-court tennis in Mexico this week ahead of his US Open title defence, pulled away after an injury timeout late in the first set to comfortably triumph against the 12th-ranked Briton.

Medvedev won every game after the timeout, taken for treatment on a hand issue, after scores were locked at 5-5, with both players having broken serve in the first set.

The third-seeded defending champion had no answers in a lopsided second set which only lasted 26 minutes.

This year's Australian Open runner-up, playing in his fourth final of the season, sent down 5-0 aces and converted six of 10 break points for the match to secure his 14th career title. He was exceptional on serve, with a 67 per cent first-serve win percentage.

The triumph capped an excellent week for Medvedev, who did not drop a set across five wins.

"Every match was very good, but the final match is always special," Medvedev said on court after the match. "It's always a high-level match and I'm really happy I managed to show some good levels and play some good shots."

Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios will take on unseeded Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka in the Washington Open final on Sunday after maintaining his unblemished record at this year's event with a 7-6 6-3 victory over Mikael Ymer on Saturday.

Kyrgios, who won in Washington DC in 2019, had played twice on Friday following rain delays on Thursday but found his passage through with 10 aces including one on match point to secure victory in one hour and 34 minutes.

"I didn’t play anywhere near my best tennis today," Kyrgios said. "I served pretty solid, but from the back of the court I didn’t play well at all. I'm just happy to be in the final once again."

Kyrgios is yet to drop serve throughout this year's tournament and has knocked off seeds Francis Tiafoe, Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul along the way.

The Australian will take on Nishioka who stunned top seed Andrey Rublev 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 20 minutes to secure a spot in his third career final, beating a top 10 opponent for the third time in his career.

Rublev blasted 21-8 winners but also hit 31-14 unforced errors, with the Japanese's consistency proving enough for victory.

Shelby Rogers continued her dream run at the Silicon Valley Classic with victory over ninth seed Veronika Kudermetova securing a spot in the final against last year's runner-up Daria Kasatkina who toppled Paula Badosa.

Unseeded 29-year-old American Rogers has knocked off top seed Maria Sakkari along with Amanda Anisimova and 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu on her way to the decider.

Rogers is also yet to drop a set, maintaining that run against the higher-ranked Kudermetova for a 6-3 6-4 victory in one hour and 20 minutes.

The triumph marks Rogers' biggest final in her career and her first on tour in six years.

Rogers, who trailed 2-0 in the second set, broke Kudermetova's serve with her second match point to clinch victory.

Second seed Badosa was bundled out by Kasatkina 6-2 6-4 in 46 minutes in the other semi-final on Saturday.

Badosa did not appear 100 per cent physically throughout the match and Kasatkina capitalised to secure back-to-back finals in San Jose.

The Spaniard had three break points in the decisive game before Kasatkina converted her first match point.

Kaia Kanepi and Liudmila Samsonova both powered their way into the Citi Open final with comfortable victories on Saturday.

Sixth seed Kanepi ruthlessly swept aside Australian Daria Saville 6-3 6-1 in one hour and 13 minutes, moving her closer to her fifth career title. The 37-year-old Estonian blasted 18 winners for the match.

World number 60 Samsonova proved too good for China's Wang Xiyu, winning 6-1 6-1 in one hour and seven minutes. Samsonova's big hitting was a key feature behind her win with four aces and 17 winners.

Brandon Wu holed out an eagle to grab a share of the lead with Im Sung-jae moments before play was halted and ultimately suspended on Saturday at the Wyndham Championships due to inclement weather.

Only 12 of 86 players completed their third rounds on Saturday, with Im and Wu both managing just 11 holes before play was called off amid rain and lightning in Greensboro, North Carolina.

There are 10 players within two strokes of the lead including five chasing their first wins on the PGA Tour.

The lead duo are tied at 12-under, with the South Korean moving into joint top spot on the leaderboard after four birdies across his 11 holes.

American 25-year-old Wu landed a birdie on the 10th hole and followed that up with an eagle on the 11th to draw level with Im just before the horn blew to suspend play. After a lengthy delay, play was called off for the day with light fading.

Wu had shared the lead at the halfway point with Kim Joo-hyung and Ryan Moore but the latter slipped two shots back after two bogeys from his completed 10 holes on Saturday.

John Huh, who held the lead after a first-round nine-under-par 61, steadied to be equal second at 11-under-par through 11 holes alongside Kim who completed 10 holes.

Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat was the only player sitting near the top who finished their third round on Saturday, to be 10-under-par, with none of the rest of the top 10 getting through more than 11 holes.

Irishman Shane Lowry only got through 13 holes having been forced to charter a private jet to make his tee time after leaving the course on Friday presuming he had missed the cut. Lowry is 11 shots off the pace.

The third round will resume at 7.30am local time on Sunday.

Raphael Varane will be able to show his best this season, says Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag, who adds that the Frenchman's fitness will be "a huge boost".

The veteran centre-back arrived at Old Trafford last term to partner Harry Maguire, but a run of injuries saw him muster just 22 league games in all, robbing United of some much-needed stability at the back.

While England international Maguire often shouldered much of the ire, supporters were also left frustrated by Varane's fitness issues, and wondered what role he would play this term under new management, particularly with the arrival of Lisandro Martinez.

But Ten Hag believes having the World Cup winner at full fitness will only aid his squad, adding that he constructed a specialised pre-season training plan in order to help bolster the 29-year-old's prospects.

"[I'm] 100% convinced [we'll see his best]," the Dutchman stated ahead of his side's Premier League opener against Brighton and Hove Albion.

"During pre-season, we built a careful and individual training plan. In the last three weeks, he has been involved in every session on the pitch, I am really happy about that.

"You see him growing, his fitness levels and also his performance levels. I am happy about that as, at the moment, Rapha will be fit and it is a huge boost for both the squad and the team."

Elsewhere, Ten Hag addressed his desire to balance both a commitment to victory and an appreciation for attractive football, after United struggled for both results and flair last term under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick.

"A Dutchman, they always want to play attractive football," he said. "That's why I am here and I like it. You want to win, but you also want to win in a certain way, being proactive, brave and with adventure.

"That is also what belongs to the culture of Man Utd, we want to bring it in but, at the end of the day, if you cannot win in a good way or an entertaining way, you still have to win.

"That is the mentality and the attitude that we have to bring in. Of course, there will be games where you will not play well but you still have to win."

Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi tried to look on the bright side after his team were beaten 4-2 by Villarreal in their final pre-season outing before the new Serie A campaign.

The contest in Pescara on Saturday saw Romelu Lukaku find the net for the second time since returning to the Nerazzurri on loan from Chelsea, while Danilo D'Ambrosio also scored.

However, goals for the Yellow Submarine from Alfonso Pedraza (two), Francis Coquelin and Nicolas Jackson gave Unai Emery's side an impressive win over the Italian giants.

Speaking after the game, Inzaghi simply said: "These tests help to grow, and there are things to review, but we played against a team that last year reached the Champions League semi-final."

Since beating FC Lugano 4-1 in their first pre-season outing, Inter have not won any of their four subsequent friendlies, drawing with Monaco and Lyon and losing to Lens and Villarreal.

Dutch centre-back Stefan de Vrij was more direct in his words, saying post-game: "Too many goals conceded. We have to keep working, because that's not enough."

Inter begin their Serie A campaign away to Lecce on August 13, as they look to reclaim the Scudetto after losing out to local rivals Milan last season.

Paris Saint-Germain head coach Christophe Galtier confirmed Kylian Mbappe's absence from their Ligue 1 opener was precautionary, with the star striker set to return next week.

The France international sat out the first game of PSG's title defence just under a week on from missing their Trophee des Champions triumph over Nantes.

Mbappe's absence was not particularly felt on Saturday, as a Lionel Messi double and a superb four-goal-involvement performance from Neymar helped PSG to a 5-0 rout of Clermont Foot.

But speaking to Canal+ afterwards, Galtier has assuaged fears the 23-year-old could be a long-term absentee, acknowledging he could have risked him had it been a high-stakes game.

Asked if Mbappe could be back next weekend, Galtier said: "Yes, I think so. He had a little problem, [and] we didn't want to take any risks.

"Obviously, if we had been playing a difficult game or a Champions League game, Kylian might have participated.

"We preferred to delay his return and he will be with us obviously, I think, against Montpellier."

PSG will play their first home game of the season against Montpellier next Saturday, with the club hoping to make it three competitive wins on the bounce under their new boss.

The Premier League kicked off on Friday as Arsenal beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, but the first Saturday of the season always feels like the real curtain raiser.

An unusually early August Saturday saw some surprise results, with Liverpool forced to come from behind twice to rescue a draw at Fulham, while another promoted team secured all three points as Bournemouth beat Aston Villa 2-0 at the Vitality Stadium.

The third new arrival in the top flight, Nottingham Forest, were beaten 2-0 at Newcastle United, while Tottenham had to respond to an early setback before eventually running out 4-1 winners against Southampton.

Leeds United also recovered to snatch a 2-1 victory over Wolves despite going 1-0 down inside six minutes, and the late kick-off saw Chelsea edge a 1-0 win at Everton to ruin Blues legend Frank Lampard's opening day.

Here, Stats Perform uses Opta stats to bring you some of the more interesting numbers from the day's action.

Fulham 2-2 Liverpool: Salah's usual opening day goal not enough for Klopp's Reds

It can go either way when you are scheduled to face a promoted team. You either get nervous opponents, or confident ones.

Liverpool got the latter on Saturday as an excellent Fulham performance could easily have led to Marco Silva's men beating last year's Premier League and Champions League runners-up.

Two goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic gave the Cottagers hope of an upset, though substitute Darwin Nunez equalised the first on his debut, before Mohamed Salah cancelled out the Serbian's second, a cool penalty.

Mitrovic became the first player to score two goals for a promoted side on the opening day of a Premier League season since Steve Mounie for Huddersfield Town against Crystal Palace in August 2017.

Salah usually finds the net on the opening day and now has eight goals on matchday one of an English campaign, the joint-most with Alan Shearer, Lampard and Wayne Rooney.

Nunez and Salah provided assists for one another in a promising start to their life together in Jurgen Klopp's forward line, and the Uruguayan became just the third player in Premier League history to both score and assist off the bench on his debut after Sergio Aguero (Man City v Swansea, August 2011) and Alvaro Morata (Chelsea v Burnley, August 2017).

Bournemouth 2-0 Aston Villa: Promising start for Parker as Villans' woes continue into new season

In the battle of former England midfielders in the dugout on the south coast, it was Scott Parker who came out on top against Steven Gerrard.

Jefferson Lerma was the surprise scorer of an early opener, with his goal after one minute and 56 seconds the earliest scored on the opening day by a promoted team in Premier League history.

Kieffer Moore rose to head in the second late on to seal the win, and the Wales international has now scored in each of his past four league games for Bournemouth (five goals in total), as many as he managed in his previous 25 (one appearance for Bournemouth, 24 for previous club Cardiff City).

It was a far from ideal start to the campaign for Gerrard's Villa, who have now lost three of their four opening-day Premier League matches since returning to the top-flight in 2019 (W1), having won three in a row between 2013-14 and 2015-16.

After ending last season poorly, Villa have won just two of their past 12 Premier League games (D3 L7), despite winning three in a row prior to that.

Tottenham 4-1 Southampton: Kulusevski dazzles as Conte's side come back in style

With Antonio Conte in charge and some interesting signings through the door, it is difficult to recall a season where there has been more optimism at Spurs.

That may have been dampened briefly when James Ward-Prowse volleyed Southampton in front, but it did not take long for the hosts to fire back, with goals from Ryan Sessegnon, Eric Dier, a Mohammed Salisu own goal and the impressive Dejan Kulusevski sealing a big opening-day win.

It was Spurs' biggest win on matchday one of a league season since August 1986, when they beat Aston Villa 3-0.

Kulusevski both scored and assisted in a Premier League game for the third time since signing for the north London club in January, with the Swede having been directly involved in 15 goals (six goals, nine assists) in his past 17 league matches.

It was a landmark day for Sessegnon, who scored his first Premier League goal for Spurs (22nd appearance), 1,319 days after his last goal in the competition, which came for Fulham against Wolves in December 2018.

For the Saints, they have lost all four of their opening games of a Premier League season under Ralph Hasenhuttl – the worst 100 per cent losing record for a manager in the competition.

Everton 0-1 Chelsea: Jorginho penalty enough for Tuchel as Mendy records another clean sheet

'The Narrative' will always be a threat whenever Lampard comes up against Chelsea, where he made such a name for himself as a player.

But a tight game at Goodison Park was ultimately settled in the visitors' favour by a penalty at the end of the first half, when Ben Chilwell was fouled in the box by Abdoulaye Doucoure, and Jorginho calmly slotted his spot-kick into the corner of the net.

Both teams went into the game with impressive opening-day records, and Chelsea have now won their first match of a Premier League season for the 20th time, with no side winning more such games in the competition (Manchester United also 20).

Everton came into the match with the longest unbeaten run on matchday one, having previously not lost since a 1-0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers in 2011.

Jorginho's effort was the 139th penalty scored in Premier League history for Chelsea, now the outright most of any team (above Liverpool on 138).

Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy more than played his part in keeping Everton out, and he has now kept a clean sheet in 47 per cent of his Premier League starts (31/66) – only Manchester City's Ederson (50 per cent) has a higher clean sheet ratio among goalkeepers to have started at least 50 games.

Australia produced an excellent second-half showing to come from behind and secure a 41-26 victory against Argentina in Mendoza in the 2022 Rugby Championship.

Having suffered a 2-1 series defeat at the hands of former coach Eddie Jones' England last month, the Wallabies may have been fearing the same with Michael Cheika leading Argentina.

But Australia avoided a similar fate on Saturday despite a spirited first-half performance from the hosts.

Los Pumas scored the first try after just five minutes, with Pablo Matera picking up a short pass before diving over the line.

An Australian penalty was followed by two for Argentina, before the Wallabies fought back to narrow the deficit to three points after 17 minutes as Jordan Petaia was given the ball out of a scrum before powering through the opposition defence to cross.

The boot of Emiliano Boffelli added more penalty points shortly thereafter, with the contest becoming more tense as Argentina attempted to pull away, but a stubborn Australia side managed to stay in the game.

Boffelli scored another three points just before the break as his team went in 19-10 ahead, but Fraser McReight scored Australia's second try eight minutes into the second half off the back of a rolling maul.

Argentina may have thought they had seen off their opponents when they responded with a try of their own through Juan Martin Gonzalez as he went over in the corner, but when a collapsed maul led to a penalty try for Australia in the 55th minute, with lock Matias Alemanno receiving a yellow card, it provided the impetus the visitors needed.

Reece Hodge scored a penalty to give the Wallabies the lead, before a try from Folau Fainga'a took the wind out of Argentina's sails and Len Ikitau rubbed salt in the wounds with another deep into overtime, sealing an entertaining win for Dave Rennie's team.

Pumas feel comeback brunt

Having come back from 31-20 down with 15 minutes to go to beat Scotland in July, Cheika's new team know what it takes to overturn a deficit.

Unfortunately for him, his former side also have the capacity for a comeback, as they demonstrated with vigour when taking full advantage of dropping Argentinian heads, scoring 24 unanswered points after Gonzalez's try in the 55th minute.

Loss of Alemanno makes all the difference

A yellow card for Alemanno after the collapsed maul that led to Australia's penalty try was the real turning point in the game.

From that point on, Argentina did not score another point, with Rennie's side wearing them down with relative ease in the closing stages.

Frank Lampard admitted Everton's injury situation could force the club's hand in the transfer market, as he revealed Ben Godfrey had suffered a suspected fractured fibula in the Premier League defeat to Chelsea.

Jorginho's first-half penalty was enough to give Thomas Tuchel's Blues a 1-0 win at Goodison Park on Saturday, ending their run of four consecutive league defeats on the ground.

While Chelsea were indebted to Edouard Mendy for preserving their clean sheet with fine saves from James Tarkowski, Demarai Gray and Abdoulaye Doucoure, Lampard's side were hampered by injury problems on the opening day of the new campaign.

Having already been left without a recognised striker through Dominic Calvert-Lewin's injury and Salomon Rondon's suspension, the Toffees saw Godfrey leave the pitch on a stretcher following an ugly collision with Kai Havertz, before Yerry Mina was also forced off after 70 minutes.

After seeing Everton lose their opening league game for the first time since 2011-12 (v Queens Park Rangers), Lampard bemoaned their selection woes and revealed Godfrey's injury is thought to be serious. 

"It makes it hard, you know? Ben gets that injury, we think it's a small fracture of his leg, his fibula," he told Sky Sports.

"We'll see how long that will be, and Yerry, it's an ankle injury that we don't know much about at the moment. 

"We've had that here a little bit; it's hard to put your finger on those freak injuries. I think Ben's foot was caught in the grass, Yerry's I didn't see. They're not muscle injuries, they're freak injuries, so we have to make sure the squad is strong enough to handle those things."

Asked whether the setbacks would impact Everton's recruitment plans, Lampard added: "Maybe, maybe not. We've got centre-backs at the club, but we're looking at different areas where we know what we want to do. 

"We're not going to declare them now, but I think everyone can feel that there's movement and that we're trying to move in the right direction.

"My main focus today is the performance of the lads that were on the pitch. You saw the fans at the end of the game, they responded to what the players did today.

"It's one game out of 38 and we didn't get the point that I felt we probably could've got, but we have to take confidence in not only what the players did out there today, but in how we're going to look going forward, because we're looking to bring in a few players to help the squad."

One area in which Everton are certainly targeting reinforcements is in attack, with Calvert-Lewin expected to miss up to six weeks after suffering a knee injury in training.

Lampard insists replacing Calvert-Lewin, who scored 16 goals in 33 Premier League appearances during the 2020-21 campaign, is crucial after Everton squandered opportunities to snatch a point against Chelsea.

"We're looking at that, because Dominic being out three days before the first game and you can't replace him, Salomon's suspended… We need to look at that to make sure that we've got not just adequate players to play, but players to bring in," he added.

"We've got nine subs now, you look at Chelsea's bench and you understand the difference.

"I think our overall performance deserves us to put the ball in the net once or twice, and of course we'll look for those types of players."

Pep Guardiola insisted winning the Champions League is "not an obsession" for Manchester City, as he refuted suggestions European success could determine whether he stays at the Etihad Stadium.

Meanwhile, Guardiola has backed Jack Grealish for a successful second campaign with the club, praising his contribution to last season's Premier League title win.

Guardiola's team have won four of the last five Premier League titles and are heavily fancied ahead of the 2022-23 campaign after recruiting Erling Haaland and Kalvin Phillips during a busy transfer window.

However, City are yet to experience European success under Guardiola, with last term's humiliating Champions League semi-final collapse against Real Madrid representing the latest of several near misses on the continental stage.

But the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach, who has just one year remaining on his City contract, insists the absence of a Champions League title will not impact any decision on his future.

"It's not about that. I would like to win it, it's not an obsession, it's a dream, a target we can do," Guardiola said ahead of Sunday's trip to West Ham.

"I'm completely aware how good the opponents are and how difficult this competition is. I said many times, maybe people don't believe me or think I'm making an excuse, I didn't come here to win the Champions League.

"I'm the first to want it, [but] it was the same in Munich. In Barcelona we won it twice, I wanted to win four! The 30 or 40 seasons where I'm a manager, I want to win every single Champions League, [but] I don't feel a failure when we don't win it.

"We want it, but if we win it I'm not the master of the universe. We tried, we were closer last season, we will try this season.

"Improving the team, playing better, this is main reason I'm here. I'm sad because we lost the Community Shield, but especially because we didn't play as we can do. The only thing I'm here for is to make the team play better, to see the team, watch on the touchline and say, 'I like it'.

"The consequence is to win or lose, we are going to lose sooner or later the Premier League. Nothing is eternal, not even this team that has done many good things in the last years. To win four Premier Leagues in five years is something extraordinary.

"We can improve. We can do better, this is the only reason [I'm here]. I'm not leaving here [saying] 'I have to win the Premier League, what happens if I lose the Premier League?'"

As City successfully defended the Premier League title last season, only Kevin De Bruyne (87) and Bernardo Silva (59) created more chances than Grealish (53) for Guardiola's men in all competitions.

However, the England international has faced criticism from some quarters after registering just eight goals and four assists in all competitions following a club-record move from Aston Villa.

But Guardiola insists Grealish's contribution was vital to City's triumph last term and wants to see more from all of his attacking stars, not only the 26-year-old.   

"The most important thing you have to know is Jack Grealish won the Premier League. That's why we bought him, to help us to win the Premier League, and we did it," Guardiola said.

"Jack is incredibly loved in the locker room, he's incredibly humble. Of course, I want more, but not just for Jack, for everyone.

"Of course, I definitely want more, he has to fight because the competition up front is so big, we have really good players.

"We're optimistic because he arrived very well, we know they have the World Cup around the corner, Gareth [Southgate] has to make big selections because there are many good players in the England team, and everybody knows what they have to do."

Grealish will likely assume a more important role after the departures of fellow attackers Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling, and Guardiola believes a refresh of his title-winning squad was necessary.

"Always I thought that after five or six years together, we need to change. Changing the manager is an option, or to change a few players, always," he added. 

"To the old players, it's normal, new players bring new energies, new desire. You have to take decision always before it's going to happen. Always the intention is to get better."