Naomi Osaka delivered a terrific third set to defeat China's Qinweng Zheng 6-4 3-6 6-1 in the opening round of the Silicon Valley Classic.
Osaka's serve was sharp and it carried her through the match, with 11 aces to Zheng's three, while giving up one break of serve and securing three breaks herself.
After Zheng fought back to win the second set, Osaka was the steady head in the decider, allowing her opponent to implode with three double-faults in crucial points to collect her first win since April.
Osaka will meet Cori Gauff in a star-studded second-round matchup after Gauff dominated Anhelina Kalinina 6-1 6-0.
She was simply too powerful for her Ukrainian opponent, winning 89 per cent (25-of-28) of her first serves to never give Kalinina a chance.
Canada's Bianca Andreescu was eliminated by American Shelby Rogers 6-4 6-2, while Russia's Veronika Kudermetova won a hard-fought battle against Italy's Camila Giorgi 7-6 (7-2) 4-6 7-5.
Meanwhile, in Washington at the Citi Open, Emma Raducanu looked in good touch as she handled the challenge of Louisa Chirico 6-4 6-2 to advance to the second round.
Raducanu will meet Colombia's Camila Osorio after she beat American Sofia Kenin 7-6 (7-2) 6-1, and top-20 talent Victoria Azarenka had no issues against Dayana Yastremska to win 6-4 6-0.
Australian Ajla Tomljanovic continued her strong run of form with a convincing 6-1 6-4 win against American Sloane Stephens, and the Czech Republic's Tereza Martincova recovered from a horrible first set to defeat Xinyu Wang 0-6 6-4 6-4.
Germany's Andrea Petkovic cruised to a 6-2 6-2 win against Denmark's Clara Tauson, and Russia's Anna Kalinskaya defeated American Madison Brengle 6-3 6-0.
Seeking to end the longest active postseason drought of any National League team, the Philadelphia Phillies acquired a pair of former All-Star pitchers in Noah Syndergaard and David Robertson at Tuesday’s MLB trade deadline.
Syndergaard’s acquisition was one of two separate trades the Phillies struck with the Los Angeles Angels, as the teams agreed to a swap earlier in the day that sent young outfielder Brandon Marsh to Philadelphia.
The Phillies were among the most aggressive teams at the deadline as they attempt to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2011. Only the Seattle Mariners, whose last postseason appearance came in 2001, have a longer active streak of missing the playoffs.
Philadelphia entered the day a game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL’s third and final wild card spot, and are 33-18 since Rob Thomson replaced Joe Girardi as manager on June 3, the third-highest winning percentage in MLB over that period.
"I think we’re a lot better ballclub," Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told MLB.com. "We’ve got a tough division and tough people who are in the race, but I think we’re better.
"We tried to address certain areas, knowing that we’re getting [second baseman Jean] Segura back soon. And [2021 NL MVP Bryce] Harper is making progress, which is very encouraging."
Dombrowski sent outfielder Mickey Moniak – the number-one overall pick of the 2016 draft – and minor league outfielder Jadiel Sanchez to the Angels for Syndergaard, an All-Star with the New York Mets in 2016 who has had a bounce-back year after missing nearly the entire 2020 and 2021 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.
The hard-throwing right-hander has remained healthy this season and has posted a solid 3.83 ERA and 1.21 WHIP in 15 starts. Syndergaard signed a one-year, $21 million contract with the Angels in November.
Robertson, obtained from the Chicago Cubs for Double-A pitcher Ben Brown, has put together a strong comeback season of his own at age 37. The veteran reliever has held opposing hitters to a .162 average while going 3-0 with a 2.23 ERA and 14 saves in 36 appearances.
The 2011 AL All-Star previously pitched in seven games for the Phillies in 2019 before undergoing Tommy John surgery and missing all of the following season. Robertson began the 2021 campaign out of the majors before signing with the Tampa Bay Rays last August.
Philadelphia traded catcher Logan O’Hoppe – the organisation’s No. 3 overall prospect according to MLB.com – to the Angels in exchange for Marsh, who could take over as the Phillies’ center fielder.
The 24-year-old has hit just .226 with eight home runs and eight stolen bases in 93 games this season, but has received high marks for his defensive abilities.
"He is one of the best defenders in baseball in center field," Thomson said. "Obviously, that’s an upgrade. He can run. He’s just a grinder, gamer type of guy. He’s hit in the past. He hasn’t hit lately, but I think there’s some stuff that [hitting coach] Kevin [Long] can do to help him out."
Odubel Herrera, who has started a team-high 43 games in center field, was designated for assignment following Marsh’s addition. Herrera was hitting just .215 with a .550 OPS since June 1.
Jamaica’s Ebony Drysdale Daley won the country’s first Commonwealth Games medal in the sport of Judo after claiming silver in Birmingham on Tuesday.
Competing in the women’s 70 kg category, Daley was outpointed by Australia’s Aoife Coughlan. The Australian was the aggressor from the outset as opposed to the Jamaican who took a more passive approach to the final.
The approach did not pay dividends, however, as Coughlan was handed the win, a golden score in the extra period when a third shido penalty was issued to Daley.
The British-based Drysdale Daley made history by being the first athlete to represent the country at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The medal was the first for Jamaica at the event.
Bouwahjgie Nkrumie smashed the Jamaican national junior record to secure a silver medal in the Men’s 100m at the World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia on Tuesday.
Nkrumie, who equaled the previous national junior record by running 10.11 in the semi-finals earlier, sped to a spectacular 10.02 for silver behind Botswanan sensation Letsile Tebogo, who ran 9.91 to break his own world junior record of 9.94 set at the World Championships in Eugene in July.
South Africa’s Benjamin Richardson ran 10.12 for bronze.
Jamaica’s quartet of Jasauna Dennis, Abigail Campbell, Malachi Johnson and Alliah Baker ran 3:19.98 for bronze in the Mixed 4x400m relay final behind the USA (3:17.69) and India (3:17.76).
In the field, Cuba’s Alejandro Parada jumped 7.91m for silver in the Men’s long jump. France’s Erwin Konate defended his title from last year with a world junior leading 8.08m while Brazil’s Gabriel Luiz Boza jumped 7.90m for third.
Jamaica’s Kobe Lawrence threw a personal best 20.58m for silver in the Men’s shot-put won by the USA’s Tarik O’Hagan (20.73m). Germany’s Tizian Lauria was third with 20.55m.
The Minnesota Twins signalled their win-now mindset with a trio of pitching moves, while the Los Angeles Dodgers took on a big-name reclamation project on Tuesday's MLB trade deadline day.
Minnesota lead their division by one game from the Cleveland Guardians, so the decision to push their chips into the middle and make a run at the playoffs is one that makes sense, and to make any noise, they needed pitching reinforcements.
A strong hitting side, the Twins are sixth in the majors in both on-base percentage (.321) and slugging percentage (.419) – but sit in the bottom half of the league in key pitching stats ERA (19th, giving up 4.03 runs per nine innings), strikeouts (21st) and walks allowed (19th).
Out of all 30 teams in the majors, only the Washington Nationals have had fewer 'quality starts' than the Twins – defined by the starting pitcher conceding three or fewer runs in six complete innings. The Nationals are also the only team to have less 'saves' collected by closing pitchers than the Twins.
In a bid to remedy both of those issues, the Twins acquired starting pitcher Tyler Mahle from the Cincinnati Reds, and All-Star closing pitcher Jorge Lopez from the Baltimore Orioles.
The nature of a starting pitcher is that they will throw more innings, and accumulate more overall value, but Lopez is arguably the more significant addition.
One of the best closers in all of baseball this season, 29-year-old Lopez boasts a terrific 1.68 ERA and is 10th in the league in saves with 19. He has allowed 47 total baserunners in 48 innings of work for an impressive WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 0.97.
Mahle, 27, does not have spectacular numbers this season (4.40 ERA), but that was mainly due to a rocky start.
He has since rebounded with a run of nine starts of at least five innings pitched with no more than four runs conceded, including back-to-back showings against the Arizona Diamondbacks where he totalled 22 strikeouts and one earned run from 15 innings.
Completing their haul, the Twins also traded pitching prospect Sawyer Gipson-Long for established reliever Michael Fulmer from the Detroit Tigers in another win-now move.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers acquired Joey Gallo from the New York Yankees in the midst of the power-hitting outfielder's worst season of his career.
Gallo, who has a pair of 40 home run seasons on his resume, and is still only 28 years old, has been a disaster since being traded to the Yankees last season, batting .159 with just 37 hits compared to 106 strikeouts.
One of the best teams in baseball, the Dodgers are hoping a change of scenery is all that is needed to re-energise the hard-hitting lefty, and they were able to acquire him as a depth piece for only minor league pitcher Clayton Beeter, who did not figure to contribute in any way to the major league side this eason.
Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst said his players were "lucky it is only 2-0" after they were beaten by Union Saint-Gilloise in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round tie.
Last season's Europa League runners-up started the game in Belgium brightly, but the hosts grew into their first ever Champions League game, and a first half finish from captain Teddy Teuma was added to by a controversial Dante Vanzeir penalty in the 76th minute to give them a two goal advantage.
Van Bronckhorst was far from happy with the Scottish side's performance and result, one which has left Rangers staring down the barrel ahead of the second leg at Ibrox next week.
The former Netherlands international told Premier Sports: "The performance today was below-par.
"They just dropped deep, so that means they were afraid. But eventually, we didn't do anything with our ball possession and were sloppy.
"Slowly, they became better and better, and we didn't react well after that. We were never really in the game."
The Gers now face an uphill task if they are to reach the Champions League group stage for the first time since the 2010-11 season, with the winner of this tie going into a play-off against PSV or Monaco.
Not all hope is lost though, with Van Bronckhorst's side having pulled off a number of memorable second-leg comebacks at Ibrox in last season's run to the Europa League final.
And the 47-year-old is confident his side can produce yet another dramatic turnaround back on home turf in Glasgow.
He added: "We are still in the tie, 2-0 difference, we are capable of making that up at Ibrox on Tuesday.
"But first of all, we need to concentrate on our performance. If we have the same performance like we did today, then we have no chance.
"I'm confident that if we change those things around, we have to have a much better performance next week."
Bernd Leno swapped London clubs as the Germany goalkeeper left Arsenal to join Fulham on Tuesday in a move that could rekindle his World Cup prospects.
The 30-year-old sealed a move in a reported £8million deal, having lost his Gunners first-team place to Aaron Ramsdale last season.
He joins Fulham, who return to the Premier League in the new campaign, becoming the latest addition to Marco Silva's squad ahead of a season that gets under way at the weekend.
Fulham host last season's runners-up Liverpool on Saturday at Craven Cottage.
Leno, who did not feature in Germany's squad for Nations League games at the end of last season, has won nine caps for his country, but the hold of Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer on the national team number one jersey has meant opportunities have always been limited.
The new recruit has signed a three-year contract with Fulham and told the club's FFCtv channel: "It feels amazing to finally be here. I can't wait to join the team, to train and play with the team.
"I'm relieved that everything is done. I'm just happy to be here. It took a little bit of time but in the end we made it, and that's the most important thing."
Former Bayer Leverkusen shot-stopper Leno said he had enjoyed "four amazing years" with Arsenal.
He played 49 first-team games in the 2020-21 season and featured 125 times overall during his Emirates Stadium career, but a mere eight appearances last term indicated his time was up at Arsenal.
His most recent Germany appearance came in the 2-0 win over Liechtenstein last September, Hansi Flick's first game as national team boss.
Denver Broncos wide receiver Tim Patrick is set to miss the entire 2022 season after being carted off the field with a right knee injury sustained during Tuesday's practice.
Patrick made a leaping grab on a pass from Russell Wilson, but upon landing and planting his foot to make a move, his knee buckled and he went down to the ground.
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported earlier on Tuesday that the Broncos were concerned he had suffered a significant injury.
It was later reported by Mike Klis of 9NEWS that the diagnosis was not good, according to sources, with an MRI apparently revealing it to be a torn ACL, meaning Patrick will miss the whole of next season.
Second-year running back Damarea Crockett was also getting an MRI after hobbling off the practice field and it is believed he also suffered a significant knee injury.
Losing Patrick will be a big blow for Denver as he was expected to see an increased role in first-year coach Nathaniel Hackett's offense with Wilson at quarterback.
The 28-year-old Patrick led the Broncos with five touchdown catches last season, while ranking third on the team in receiving yards (734) and receptions (53). It was his second straight season with 50+ catches, 700+ receiving yards and 5+ TD receptions.
Undrafted out of Utah, Patrick is entering his fifth season after signing a three-year, $34million contract extension with Denver last November.
Denver Broncos wide receivers Tim Patrick and Damarea Crockett are both set to miss the entire 2022 season after suffering torn ACL injuries during Tuesday's practice.
Patrick made a leaping grab on a pass from Russell Wilson, but upon landing and planting his foot to make a move, his knee buckled and he went down to the ground.
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported earlier on Tuesday that the Broncos were concerned he had suffered a significant injury.
It was later reported by Mike Klis of 9NEWS that the diagnosis was not good, with an MRI apparently revealing it to be a torn ACL, meaning Patrick will miss the whole of next season.
Second-year running back Crockett also revealed he had suffered a torn ACL and will miss the season after hobbling off the practice field.
Losing Patrick will be a big blow for Denver as he was expected to see an increased role in first-year coach Nathaniel Hackett's offense with Wilson at quarterback.
The 28-year-old Patrick led the Broncos with five touchdown catches last season, while ranking third on the team in receiving yards (734) and receptions (53). It was his second straight season with 50+ catches, 700+ receiving yards and 5+ TD receptions.
Undrafted out of Utah, Patrick is entering his fifth season after signing a three-year, $34million contract extension with Denver last November.
Denver Broncos pair Tim Patrick and Damarea Crockett are both set to miss the entire 2022 season after suffering torn ACL injuries during Tuesday's practice.
Patrick made a leaping grab on a pass from Russell Wilson, but upon landing and planting his foot to make a move, his knee buckled and he went down to the ground.
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported earlier on Tuesday that the Broncos were concerned he had suffered a significant injury.
It was later reported by Mike Klis of 9NEWS that the diagnosis was not good, with an MRI apparently revealing it to be a torn ACL, meaning Patrick will miss the whole of next season.
Second-year running back Crockett also revealed he had suffered a torn ACL and will miss the season after hobbling off the practice field.
Losing Patrick will be a big blow for Denver as he was expected to see an increased role in first-year coach Nathaniel Hackett's offense with Wilson at quarterback.
The 28-year-old Patrick led the Broncos with five touchdown catches last season, while ranking third on the team in receiving yards (734) and receptions (53). It was his second straight season with 50+ catches, 700+ receiving yards and 5+ TD receptions.
Undrafted out of Utah, Patrick is entering his fifth season after signing a three-year, $34million contract extension with Denver last November.
England goalkeeper Dean Henderson has taken an astonishing swipe at parent club Manchester United, admitting he did not want new manager Erik ten Hag to see him train as he feared the Dutch coach would want to keep him.
Henderson recently signed a deal with newly promoted Nottingham Forest for a season-long loan, having made only five appearances in all competitions for United in 2021-22.
Speaking to talkSPORT, the 25-year-old said he was "so happy" to leave Old Trafford, and claimed he had been promised a role as number one at the club prior to getting COVID-19 last season.
"To be honest with you, it's probably been the toughest 12 months of my career," he said. "I'm so happy I've got out the other end of it now, and I'm excited to be here and ready to go.
"The conversation I had [with United following Euro 2020] was 'you're coming here to be the number one goalkeeper'. I got COVID, come back, so I should have still been the number one, but then unfortunately no one followed through with anything.
"It was so frustrating as well because I turned so many good loans down last summer for that reason, and they wouldn't let me go, so it was frustrating. To sit there and waste 12 months is criminal really at my age, I was fuming.
"But I worked hard off the pitch and on the training pitch to keep improving day in, day out, so I'm really excited to be back here and looking forward to the season with Forest."
Henderson has been with the Red Devils since the age of 14 and has 49 top-flight appearances to his name, but found himself largely acting as understudy to David de Gea at United.
After successful loan spells with Sheffield United and earning international recognition with England in an impressive 2019-20 campaign, Henderson hoped to establish himself, but at the end of last season he was determined to get his move, revealing he deliberately avoided letting Ten Hag observe him in training.
"I didn't really want the manager to be able to come in and see me in training because I knew that he'd probably want to keep me, so I tried to do it before I left for the season. I told all the hierarchy 'I need to go and play football, I don't want to be here playing second fiddle'," Henderson said.
"I was almost gone before the manager came in the door and I haven't spoken to him since."
Henderson is set to make his Forest debut when they start their Premier League campaign at Newcastle United on Saturday.
Jamaica’s Bouwahjgie Nkrumie equaled Yohan Blake and Christopher Taylor's national junior record of 10.11 to advance to the final of the Men’s 100m at the World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia on Tuesday.
Nkrumie produced the record performance to win semi-final three and advance to the final scheduled for later on Tuesday. Grenada’s Nazzio John narrowly missed out on a place in the final despite a personal best 10.31 to finish third in semi-final three.
Jamaican National junior champion Sandrey Davison unfortunately fell to the track shortly after leaving the blocks after suffering an apparent leg injury in the second semi-final. Cuba’s Reynaldo Espinosa advanced as a fastest loser from that heat courtesy of a personal best 10.29 to finish third.
In the 110m hurdles, Antoine Andrews of the Bahamas ran 13.39 to win semi-final two and advance as the fastest qualifier. Jamaica's Demario Prince will join him in the final after a second-place finish in semi-final one in 13.58, a personal best.
Rangers suffered a 2-0 defeat at Union Saint-Gilloise in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round match – a huge blow to last season's Europa League runners-up.
The Scottish giants started much the brighter of the two teams, but the hosts grew into the game and went ahead after 27 minutes, when a powerful drive from captain Teddy Teuma was too hot to handle for Jon McLaughlin.
In the Belgian side's first ever Champions League appearance, they were awarded a controversial penalty with 17 minutes remaining after a Teuma shot ricocheted off Ben Davies onto Connor Goldson's arm.
After a lengthy VAR check, Dante Vanzeir stepped up and calmly sent McLaughlin the wrong way as he rolled the ball into the bottom-right corner.
The hosts nearly added a third goal late on, but Rangers captain James Tavernier blocked a Christian Burgess header off the line in the dying seconds.
The outcome means Giovanni van Bronckhorst's Rangers will have to be at their best in the return leg at Ibrox next Tuesday to overturn the two-goal deficit.
They are looking to take a step towards reaching the Champions League group stage for the first time since the 2010-11 season, with the winner of this tie going into a play-off against PSV or Monaco.
A study from Ofcom ahead of the new season has found that seven out of 10 Premier League footballers have been abused on Twitter.
It also revealed that 362 tweets containing abuse are sent to Premier League players every day, and that eight out of the top 10 Premier League players most abused online played for Manchester United last season.
Half of the derogatory tweets were targeted at just 12 players, with United's Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire receiving the most abuse.
Other players in the top 10 included Bruno Fernandes, Fred, David de Gea, Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Harry Kane and Jack Grealish.
In the report, Ofcom's Group Director for Broadcasting and Online Content Kevin Bakhurst said: "Football is a game of high emotion, pride and belonging.
"Sometimes that emotion can cross the line. Over the years, football has made great strides in tackling unacceptable behaviour by small minorities, which can blight the game for everyone else.
"This kind of abuse has no place in sport, any more than in wider society.
"Reports such as this will help us to understand the problem, hold tech firms to account when we take on our new responsibilities, and ultimately create a safer life online."
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