Katie Boulter continued her stellar start to 2024 with a dominant victory over Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia to reach the fourth round of the Miami Open.

The British number one was barely troubled by the 11th seed, whom she beat last month on her way to the San Diego title, as she wrapped up a 6-2 6-3 victory in 90 minutes.

The 27-year-old will meet WTA Tour veteran Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round.

Meanwhile, world number two Aryna Sabalenka went down 6-4 1-6 6-1 to Anhelina Kalinina in what was her second match following the death of her former boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov.

Koltsov died at the age of 42 on Monday in what police described as an “apparent suicide” in Miami.

Sixth seed Ons Jabeur was upset 6-1 4-6 6-3 by world number 65, while ninth seed Jelena Ostapenko was bundled out in straight sets by Anna Kalinskaya.

Japan’s Naomi Osaka picked up the second victory over a top 20 player in her past four matches, eclipsing world number 17 Elina Svitolina 6-2 7-6 (5).

And world number one Iga Swiatek marked the 100th WTA 1000 match of her career with a straight sets win over Italy’s Camila Giorgi.

Max Verstappen’s bid to win a record-equalling 10 consecutive races went up in smoke as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz returned from surgery just 16 days ago to win in Australia.

Verstappen suffered a brake failure after just four laps of Sunday’s 58-lap race at Melbourne’s sun-cooked Albert Park to end his winning streak which stretched back to September’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Sainz took advantage of Verstappen’s first retirement in 43 races to claim just the third win of his career a fortnight after he was ruled out of the previous round in Saudi Arabia with appendicitis.

Charles Leclerc finished second to complete a Ferrari one-two with Lando Norris next up as the British driver landed his first podium of the year.

Lewis Hamilton’s miserable start to his final season with Mercedes continued after he retired on lap 17 with an engine failure.

Hamilton, who is leaving Mercedes to join Ferrari at the end of the season, has taken just eight points from the opening three rounds – the worst start of his 18-season career.

Both Mercedes cars failed to make it to the end in Melbourne after George Russell crashed out on the penultimate lap. Russell’s Mercedes ended up on his side but the Englishman was able to walk away from the accident.

More than 132,000 spectators were crammed into Albert Park anticipating another Verstappen victory after the Dutch driver took pole position here on Saturday.

And when the 26-year-old held off Sainz at the start, and ended the opening lap one second clear of the Spaniard, Verstappen looked on course to take his third victory from the opening three rounds.

But to the amazement of the record crowd in Australia, Sainz sailed past Verstappen on lap two before smoke began pouring out the back of his Red Bull machine.

“I have smoke,” he said over the radio “Fire, fire, brake, my brake.”

Verstappen was falling back through the pack and the crowd cheered his demise. He managed to get his wounded machine back to the pits before his right-rear brake temporarily caught fire.

Verstappen remonstrated with performance director, Tom Hart at the back of the garage – appearing to say “that is f***** stupid” – before heading to his changing room and putting on his Red Bull civvies and taking the long walk through the paddock to the media pen.

“The brake stuck on from when the lights went off,” said Verstappen. “The temperatures kept on increasing until the point where it caught on fire.

“Having one brake caliper on was like driving with the handbrake on. I didn’t know at the time but I could feel the balance in the car was off.”

Asked about his exchange with Hart, he replied: “That was related to us doing a pit stop while the car was on fire!”

It was a bad day for the winners of the past seven world championships after Hamilton’s miserable weekend here ended with him stopping on track as his engine expired.

Hamilton started 11th and was running in ninth before his Mercedes gave up the ghost.

Hamilton’s previous worst start to a season had been back in 2009 when he was disqualified at the first round before finishing sixth and seventh. Before today’s retirement, Hamilton had started the season with a seventh and ninth in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

But for Sainz, the man making way for Hamilton at Ferrari next year, he had an afternoon to remember by leading home a Ferrari one-two from Charles Leclerc with Lando Norris completing the podium.

Sainz took his win under the virtual safety car after Russell’s Mercedes dramatically ended up 90 degrees to the floor after he thudded into the wall in his pursuit of Fernando Alonso.

Russell reported over the radio that he was “OK” and was able to walk away from the crash. Oscar Piastri took fourth for McLaren ahead of Sergio Perez’s Red Bull with Alonso sixth.

Filip Forsberg scored in his fifth straight game and Juuse Saros stopped 23 shots as the Nashville Predators extended their franchise-record point streak to 17 games with a 1-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.

Saros stopped eight shots in the first period, nine in the second and six more in the third for his third shutout this season and 23rd of his career.

Nashville won its fifth in a row and improved to 15-0-2 in its last 17 games since a regulation loss to Dallas on Feb. 15. The Predators pulled within five points of Winnipeg for third place in the Central Division.

Forsberg snapped a scoreless game with his team-leading 39th goal with 5:14 remaining, giving him 10 goals and six assists in his last nine games.

Alex Lyon made 32 saves for the Red Wings, who dropped their sixth consecutive road game and remained one point ahead of Washington in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Kings blow lead but top Lightning in OT

Vladislav Gavrikov scored 25 seconds into overtime and the Los Angeles Kings recovered for a 4-3 win to snap the Tampa Bay Lightning’s five-game winning streak.

Mikey Anderson’s first goal in 55 games early in the third period extended the Kings’ lead to 3-1, but Steven Stamkos scored twice in the final 4:34 of regulation, netting the equaliser with 46 seconds left in regulation.

Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore also scored for the Kings, who won their third straight to pull within three points of second-place Edmonton in the Pacific Division.

Brayden Point had a goal and an assist as Tampa Bay lost for just the second time in March.

Rangers edge Panthers in shootout

Artemi Panarin scored twice in regulation and again in the shootout to lift the New York Rangers to a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers in a matchup of Eastern Conference heavyweights.

Carter Verhaeghe scored with 4:08 left in regulation to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead, but Panarin answered less than a minute later.

Adam Fox had a goal and an assist and Mika Zibanejad also converted in the shootout for the Rangers, who extended their lead in the Metropolitan Division and moved one point ahead of Boston for first place in the East.

Matthew Tkachuk and Eetu Luostarinen also scored for the Panthers, who have lost four straight (0-3-1) and are two points behind the Bruins in the Atlantic Division.

Jalen Green poured in 41 points and Fred VanVleet scored 34 with 10 3-pointers as the Houston Rockets extended their winning streak to eight games with a 147-119 rout of the Utah Jazz on Saturday.

Green shot 15 of 22 from the field, 7 of 11 from 3-point range and hit all four free throws to fall one point shy of his career high.

Jeff Green added 21 points for the Rockets, who sank a season-best 27 3-pointers and have their longest winning streak since an eight-game run in November 2019. They have closed to within 1 ½ games of idle Golden State for 10th place and the last play-in spot in the Western Conference.

Houston improved to 35-35, marking the first time it has been at .500 since Jan. 13, with a 19-19 record.

John Collins scored a season high-tying 25 points for Utah, which matched a season high with its fifth straight defeat.

Celtics win 9th in row

Jayson Tatum scored 26 points and Sam Hauser and Al Horford each added 23 to lead the NBA-leading Boston Celtics to their ninth straight win, 124-113 over the Chicago Bulls.

Derrick White chipped in 17 points and Payton Pritchard had 15 and eight assists as the Celtics won for the 19th time in 21 games to improve the NBA’s best record to 57-14.

Boston sank 21 3-pointers and won again despite missing Jaylen Brown (sprained right ankle) and Kristaps Porzingis (right hamstring) – two of its top four scorers.

DeMar DeRozan had 28 points, nine assists and six rebounds for the Bulls, who lost all three meetings this season against the Celtics.

Kings edge Magic with late free throws

De’Aaron Fox sank the tying and go-ahead free throws with 21.2 seconds left and finished with 31 points to give the Sacramento Kings a 109-107 victory over the Orlando Magic.

After Fox’s two free throws gave the Kings a 108-107 lead, Keon Ellis made the second of his two free throws with two seconds left and Paolo Banchero missed a long 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Domantas Sabonis had 21 points and 14 rebounds and Keegan Murry scored 22 points for Sacramento, which completed a 2-1 road trip.

Jonathan Isaac matched his career high with 25 points, but Orlando had a five-game winning streak stopped.

Albania coach Sylvinho looked up to Arsene Wenger as his inspiration, while he hailed Pep Guardiola as a "genuis".

Sylvinho did not have much success during spells in charge of Lyon in France and Corinthians in his homeland of Brazil, but has excelled in his first job as a national team manager.

He took over Albania's national team at the start of 2023, and guided them to the Euro 2024 qualification. It is just the second time the Balkan nation have progressed to the finals of UEFA's flagship competition, and his efforts saw him rewarded with the Golden Decoration of the Eagle by Albania's prime minister.

Sylvinho lost just one of his opening eight games as Albania coach, with that defeat coming in his first match against Poland, though his side did slip to a 3-0 friendly defeat to Chile on Friday.

His success, though, should perhaps not come as a surprise given who the 49-year-old played under during his time at Arsenal and then Barcelona.

Sylvinho said to Stats Perform: "Outside Brazil, my first manager was Arsene Wenger. I learnt a lot from him, he was a person of a very high level in terms of management, education, football and vision. 

"I had the chance to work with [Frank] Rijkaard at Barcelona, he's a great manager too. I finished the 2008-2009 season with a treble and [Pep] Guardiola was the coach. 

"He was another coach I learnt a lot from. He's a genius. He's different. And you learn a lot from him too."

Before moving to Europe, Sylvinho spent time with Corinthians, where he developed under Nelsinho Baptista and Vanderlei Luxemburgo.

Sylvinho added: "Nelsinho Baptista was a coach I worked with for a while at Corinthians. He was a very competitive coach, with a great sense of humour and a very serious line-up, as was his entire career. 

" In 1998, we were Brazilian champions and made a leap forward technically as a team, and I also saw myself in one of the best moments of my time as a professional footballer.

"Vanderlei Luxemburgo was our coach. We had a very technical team, very well-adjusted on the pitch, and very well-coordinated."

Gareth Southgate was pleased by England’s display in the defeat to Brazil and praised his trio of debutants as he experimented ahead of Euro 2024.

Saturday’s Wembley clash between these injury-hit sides ended in the hosts’ first defeat since their World Cup quarter-final exit to France 15 months ago.

England had hoped to start the international year with a bang but stumbled as teenage star Endrick came off the bench to secure Brazil a late 1-0 win.

The 17-year-old became the youngest man to score a senior international goal at Wembley, where Southgate was largely happy despite his side’s 10-match unbeaten run coming to an end.

“I was pleased,” the England manager said. “Clearly don’t like losing football matches, but I thought there were lots of very good individual performances from players who’ve hardly played for England.

“I thought our more regular players were very good.

“You know, with 15 minutes to go we’re thinking ‘we’ve managed to see a lot of new players, we’ve had more than our share of the game, we’ve had as many attempts on goal as they have’.

“The difference in the end was one moment, really, and that is the ruthlessness of football at this level.”

Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon made a promising first start and Ezri Konsa came on in the 20th minute following an injury to stand-in skipper Kyle Walker.

The Aston Villa defender filled in at right-back and Manchester United midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, 18, came off the bench 15 minutes from time.

“I thought Anthony was very good,” the England boss said. “Both sides of his game looked very accomplished.

“Ezri, to come in at the moment he did and to deal with a player of that quality (Vinicius Jr), I thought he was also excellent, showed real composure and he should be really happy with his debut. We were really pleased with him.

“Kobbie was a chance to dip his toes. We needed to refresh some of the team because we’ve got to manage their minutes a little bit, so that’s a strange situation when it’s a game of that size but that’s where we are.

“To get Kobbie on the pitch was a brilliant moment for him and his family. You saw a couple of turns and a couple of really composed moments that is a bit of an indication of what he might become.”

Southgate was waiting to find out the severity of the issue that forced Walker off in the first half, saying the right-back was unsure “whether it’s just tightness”.

But the England boss suspects “it’s a little bit more than that”, meaning he would miss Tuesday’s friendly against Belgium.

Southgate expects to have Cole Palmer and Jordan Henderson available for that game but confirmed captain Harry Kane will not feature due to an ankle injury.

“Yeah, he’ll go back,” he said. “He won’t he won’t be fit for Tuesday.

“(Henderson and Palmer) trained today so they’ve come through that OK.

“They should join the group that will train tomorrow and we’ll go from there with that.”

With Kane out and Ollie Watkins having the chance to lead the line against Brazil, the Belgium friendly surely provides a chance to start Ivan Toney.

The one-cap striker was an unused substitute on a rare night when England failed to find the net.

“We are playing a top team so chances are going to be limited,” Southgate said.

“Perhaps we had the chances from set-plays to capitalise on one of them that often makes the difference in those tight games.

“But I was really pleased with the players that went in. We need to find out about them, we need to know where we might head if we didn’t have Harry for a big match.

“I thought Ollie did a good job, didn’t get that clear chance on goal that you might want as a forward but a lot of his work was very, very good.”

Andy Murray picked up his best win of the year so far with a straight-sets victory over Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Miami Open.

Murray swept past the Argentinian, ranked 30 in the world, 7-6 (0) 6-3 in a rain-interrupted match to reach the third round.

The 36-year-old Scot gained a measure of revenge for his defeat by the same player in the first round of the Australian Open in January.

Murray will face Czech youngster Tomas Machac, who beat Russian world number six Andrey Rublev, in the next round.

Fellow Briton Jack Draper’s challenge was ended by Nicolas Jarry, however.

Jarry, the world number 23 from Chile, beat 22-year-old Draper 7-6 (5) 4-6 7-6 (2).

Florian Wirtz scored after just seven seconds as Germany grabbed a surprise 2-0 friendly win over France in Lyon.

The 20-year-old Bayer Leverkusen forward struck moments after kick-off as the Euro 2024 hosts stunned the tournament favourites.

There was also an immediate assist for Toni Kroos, back in a Germany shirt three years after announcing his international retirement.

Straight from the whistle, the 34-year-old chipped the ball forward to Wirtz, who had darted to midway inside the France half.

Wirtz controlled the ball, took two more touches as he strolled forward before lashing his shot home from 20 yards.

It was the youngster’s first goal for his country and would have been the fastest international goal on record had Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner not opened the scoring after six seconds in his country’s friendly against Slovakia earlier on Saturday.

The previous quickest was Lukas Podolski’s strike for Germany against Ecuador in 2013.

France dominated the rest of the first half but Marcus Thuram side-footed their first decent chance over the crossbar from the edge of the box.

Kylian Mbappe then brought down a cross in the area only to shank his shot wide, before Aurelien Tchouameni skied a cross from Ousmane Dembele.

But Germany made it to half-time in front and promptly doubled their lead three minutes into the second half.

Wirtz turned provider, lifting the ball into the path of Jamal Musiala, who drove diagonally round France goalkeeper Brice Samba.

The Bayern Munich winger reached the byline before pulling the ball back for Arsenal forward Havertz to slot in his 15th international goal.

Mbappe, enduring a quiet evening, got himself booked after a tussle with Robert Andrich before firing an ambitious shot wide.

Stuttgart defender Maximilian Mittelstadt almost made it a debut to remember 10 minutes from full-time when he strode forward and fired goalwards.

His shot looked destined to nestle inside the far post until Samba stretched to get a fingertip to the ball and divert it wide.

Samba also denied Thomas Muller with a fine one-handed save after the substitute shot from 14 yards.

Mittelstadt was spared a comical own goal late on by a goal-line clearance from Antonio Rudiger, who sliced the ball onto his own crossbar to cap an ultimately disappointing night for the French.

Interim Republic of Ireland boss John O’Shea backed Evan Ferguson to end his goal drought after seeing the Brighton teenager miss a penalty during Saturday’s 0-0 friendly draw with Belgium.

The 19-year-old striker had a first-half spot-kick saved by Matz Sels at the Aviva Stadium to extend his run without a goal for either club or country to 21 games dating back to the end of November.

Asked about Ferguson’s barren spell, O’Shea said: “It’s one of those things. He’ll have another spell five, six years down the line of a couple of months without a goal. It happens with top strikers.

“As soon as he gets on the goal trail again, he’ll be back on a run again.”

Ferguson’s big moment came 24 minutes into the game when fellow teenager Arthur Vermeeren was adjudged to have handled.

However, Ferguson slipped as he approached the ball and Sels blocked his mishit attempt with his legs.

O’Shea said: “It was just unfortunate. Ev had a little slip just before he knocked it, so it would have put him off. But look, a youngster stepping up like that, it shows the courage he has and he didn’t let it affect him.

“He knocked into the centre-backs as soon as he could again, got his confidence going and it’s one of those things. He was unlucky with one – he got himself in a great position second half as well.”

O’Shea, taking charge of the first of two friendlies with Switzerland to come in Dublin on Tuesday evening, blended the old with the new as he recalled former team-mates Seamus Coleman and Robbie Brady and handed a debut to Blackburn striker Sammie Szmodics.

Unsurprisingly, he reverted largely to type, asking his team firstly to be difficult to beat after three and a half years of promise, but not results, under Stephen Kenny before he lost his job in November.

As Ireland had been throughout much of his 118-cap international career, O’Shea’s team were solid and threatened most through Ferguson’s physicality and Chiedozie Ogbene’s pace, although without finding a way past keeper Sels.

O’Shea said: “Look, it’s a frustrating one because you appreciate Belgium had a decent bit of possession, but we kind of felt beforehand that we didn’t mind that in a sense because we knew the damage we could create against them on the break.

“If you take those chances when they arrive in the game, that even opens up Belgium a little bit more for us and we can exploit that even more, so it’s a frustrating one in that sense.

“But look, you’re playing Belgium in Dublin, you’d take a clean sheet, but a little bit disappointed in the end too.”

Opposite number Domenico Tedesco was less than impressed by what he had seen.

Asked for his verdict, the Belgium boss said: “A more or less boring game, not a good one. I think from both sides low rhythm, many, many difficulties to build up the game, slow passes, no sharpness. This is my conclusion.

“At the end, it looked a little bit like a summer friendly game.”

England suffered their first defeat since the World Cup as teenage star Endrick came off the bench to seal Brazil a late victory against Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 hopefuls.

After a build-up dominated by the brouhaha over an altered St George’s flag on the back of the new shirt and talk about the manager’s future, Saturday’s glamour friendly between these injury-hit sides failed to live up to the hype.

Southgate’s side survived a few scares on a night that was heading towards a goalless conclusion until 17-year-old Endrick’s first senior international goal secured a 1-0 win at a sold-out Wembley.

This was England’s first defeat since their World Cup quarter-final exit to France 15 months ago, with the meek end to their 10-match unbeaten run leading to early exits and some grumbles at the final whistle.

Brazil had been on a run of three straight losses but, under new boss Dorival Junior, had the best chances of a stop-start opening period that saw Lucas Paqueta hit the post and somehow escape a second yellow card.

Vinicius Jr and Raphinha also had chances for the Selecao, with the former’s late shot leading to teenager Endrick’s matchwinner as England made a poor start to a year they hope will go down in history.

Ralph Beckett will be looking for stable stalwart Kinross to shine in what could be a transitional year for the Hampshire handler, although he still has genuine Classic aspirations with the likes of Task Force.

Kinross took his tally of wins to 10 last season when securing Grade Two victories in the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood and the City of York Stakes at York.

He then signed off with elite-level runner-up efforts in the Prix de la Foret at ParisLongchamp and Ascot’s British Champions Sprint Stakes, taking his career earnings to over £1.75million.

Now aged seven, the Marc Chan-owned gelding has an important role to play following the departure of some high-profile stablemates.

“We’ve lost a few; Prosperous Voyage, Lezoo, Westover, but Kinross is still around and doing work, showing all his old enthusiasm,” Beckett told Sky Sports Racing.

“He’s in good shape and he’ll start at Ascot in the Jubilee and then we’ll work our way through the rest of the year. He’s in good form and he looks like he’s retained all his enthusiasm, so we’re looking forward to him, as ever.”

Task Force is quoted at between 14-1 and 20-1 for the 2000 Guineas after following up two wins with second place behind Vandeek in the Middle Park at Newmarket, while Skellet is rated a lively outsider for the 1000 Guineas.

Beckett added: “Task Force is training well and at the moment we’ll go straight to Newmarket for the Guineas.

“It’s difficult to know how good he is because he was never a six-furlong horse, either on pedigree or on physique. We stuck at six because it was working and he was quite a free-running horse as a two-year-old.

“He’s settled down a lot over the winter, so we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do.

“Skellet was second in the Oh So Sharp, she’ll probably go for the Guineas as well, she’s done well over the winter.

“There’s a couple of others and a few for the Oaks, plus we’ve got a few Derby entries, including Feigning Madness, who beat Harper’s Ferry on debut, so lots to look forward to. Hopefully, we’ll shake something out.”

Paul Nicholls showed he is firmly up for a battle in the jump trainers’ championship by adding just over £59,000 to his tally when Regent’s Stroll galloped on strongly to land the Goffs UK Spring Sale Bumper at Newbury.

The five-year-old, who hails from the same family as the mighty Denman, was sent off as the 7-2 joint-favourite favourite but looked to have it all to do under a 4lb penalty when only fourth at the two-furlong pole.

However, he picked up in impressive fashion for Harry Cobden from that point on and ultimately powered to a five-length triumph ahead of Don’t Mind If I Do.

Nicholls had started the day approximately £80,000 behind Dan Skelton, who boosted his hopes of securing a first title success when Heltenham battled on to land the £20,812 first prize on offer in the Get Best Odds Guaranteed At BetVictor Handicap Chase.

Sir Psycho made the evens favourite work hard for victory but Harry Skelton conjured up one last surge from his mount in the closing stages to get up by a neck.

Having previously scored in the Greatwood Gold Cup over the same course and distance, Heltenham was cut to 14-1 with Coral for the Topham Chase at Aintree.

Goodwin produced a brave front-running display to land the opening John Haine Memorial Novices’ Hurdle for Chris and Freddie Gordon.

The six-year-old was challenged down the home staight by hot favourite Cannock Park and Lario but showed great spirit to see them off by half a length and three-quarters of a length, to oblige at 3-1.

Following a lengthy delay due to a medical incident, Irish raider I Love My Baie came with a late charge to land the Bet In-Play On Racing With BetVictor Novices’ Handicap Hurdle.

With J J Slevin deputising for the injured Daryl Jacob, Stuart Crawford’s 22-1 shot managed to reel in Pretending to prevail by a length and a quarter.

All The Glory made a mockery of his 25-1 starting price when romping home by nine lengths in the Grade Two British EBF BetVictor ‘National Hunt’ Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle.

Jonjo O’Neill junior was always travelling sweetly on his father’s seven-year-old and the only worrying moment he had was when having to avoid El Elefante following her fall at the final flight.

Robbie Dunne came with a smooth and well-timed challenge on 100-30 chance Rath Gaul Hill to win the Colleagues Celebration Of Business Handicap Chase by a comfortable length and a quarter from Duhallow Tommy.