Australian Astra Sharma scored a shock win over top seed Ons Jabeur in the final of the MUSC Health Women's Open, landing her first WTA Tour singles title.

The world number 165 made a slow start to the match but eventually overwhelmed Jabeur 2-6 7-5 6-1 in Charleston.

Having risen to 27th in the world rankings without a trophy to her name, the 26-year-old Jabeur looked to have an ideal opportunity to put that right.

Sharma recovered from the one-sided opening set to lead early in the second, and despite Jabeur getting it back on serve, the underdog surged ahead again to level the contest.

In her second WTA singles final and first for two years, Sharma went one step further than when she was runner-up in Bogota, racing through the deciding set as she swatted away Jabeur's threat.

Jabeur said the defeat was "very tough" to take, while Sharma said of her breakthrough week: "This has been an amazing event. I've really enjoyed playing here."

Real Madrid might be heading for a European Super League at some point in the future but a 0-0 draw with Getafe on Sunday was a reminder of the charms of good old LaLiga.

An under-strength Madrid were given a rough ride by their near neighbours and lost ground to Atletico Madrid as a result, Diego Simeone's team seeing their lead at the top of the table grow from one point to three on Sunday.

After Atletico's 5-0 thumping of Eibar earlier in the day, the onus was on Zinedine Zidane's Madrid to follow up their Champions League success against Liverpool and last week's victory in El Clasico.

This was far from being classic Madrid, although they played their part in an entertaining tussle against relative minnows at Coliseum Alfonso Perez, the sort of match that would be missed if they were ever taken away by big-money deals.

Moments after Thibaut Courtois saved well from Mathias Olivera, Madrid had the ball in the net in the eighth minute when Mariano sprinted through and went wide of goalkeeper David Soria, sliding the ball into the net from a tight angle to the right of goal.

That was disallowed for offside after a VAR review, and Madrid were in trouble soon after when Mauro Arambarri had a clear sight of goal from 12 yards, only to rifle a foot wide of the left post.

The home side went even closer to a shock lead in the 23rd minute when Jaime Mata's flicked header from Nemanja Maksimovic's cross, drifted in from the left, rattled the right post.

David Timor made an outstanding clearance to deny Mariano in front of goal after Soria failed to gather a cross from Madrid left-back Marcelo. Vinicius Junior then drew an athletic but ultimately comfortable save from Soria with a header before half-time.

With Sergio Ramos absent through injury and Raphael Varane out after a COVID-19 positive test, it was a makeshift defence again for Madrid and they looked susceptible, Courtois having to make a fine save just before the hour mark to prevent Enes Unal finding the top left corner from 16 yards.

Madrid were sorely lacking sparkle and Angel Rodriguez nearly made a breakthrough for Getafe with 20 minutes remaining, clipping just wide of the left post. Courtois then saved expertly when a deflected shot from Maksimovic almost looped into the back of the net, the goalkeeper preventing a shock loss.

Brendan Rodgers is hoping to write his name in Leicester City folklore by guiding them to FA Cup glory in next month's final against Chelsea.

Leicester edged out fellow Premier League side Southampton 1-0 at Wembley on Sunday through a Kelechi Iheanacho strike to reach their first final since 1969.

The Foxes were memorably crowned English champions in 2015-16 but never before have they lifted the FA Cup, finishing runners-up on four occasions.

Rodgers is looking to put that right as Leicester attempt to balance their cup exploits with finishing in the top four of the Premier League over the remainder of the season.

"We have the chance to create history. That is what this game is about, creating a memory," he told BBC Sport. 

"I have been made aware since I've been at Leicester how important this cup is for the supporters. When we arrived here that was the ambition. 

"We said we wanted to be competitive. From a football perspective we wanted to be able to compete and we've been able to do that. Now we have a trophy to genuinely go for. 

"When you fail it is an integral part of being successful. We missed out last year, so a great credit to the players this time."

The victory was Leicester's first at Wembley since the 2000 EFL Cup final, with Iheanacho once again the hero.

He scored for the third round running to take his tally in the competition to 14 goals in 19 appearances since his first-such outing in January 2016 – the most of any player over that period.

"I've been unlucky in the past few years but I need to keep working hard to go to the next level now," Iheanacho told BT Sport.

"We did it together. Without the whole team we wouldn't have won. It's not a one-man show. 

"I'm happy with the way we played together and stayed together at the end and I was at the right place at the right time. We are in the final and we're really happy.

"I think the FA Cup loves me and I love the FA Cup."

Iheanacho is the first Nigerian player to score 15 goals in all competitions in a season for a Premier League club since Odion Ighalo in 2015-16 for Watford.

Rodgers added: "His confidence levels are very high. Some of his set-up play was a bit loose today but his confidence was not affected by that. 

"Him and Jamie [Vardy] are a real threat but it is very much a team effort."

Southampton have been eliminated in eight of their last 10 FA Cup semi-final appearances, two of which have come in the last four seasons.

The Saints had kept a clean sheet in each of the previous four rounds and scored eight goals, but they failed to have a single shot on target this time around.

"It's hard to take because we haven't been the worst team," Ralph Hasenhuttl told BBC Sport. "We saw a not very good football game to be honest, with both teams a little nervous.

"That such a goal decides such a game is a pity for us. We had a good run and we wanted to get to the final to give our fans the chance of another final. 

"In the end, especially in the final third, we didn't have good moments. We couldn't get a shot on goal and this is not enough. We had the chance to get to the final. We'll try again next year."

Inter's 11-game winning streak in Serie A came to an end as Samir Handanovic's first-half own goal helped Napoli seal a 1-1 draw on Sunday.

Antonio Conte's side are still red-hot favourites to win a first league title since the 2009-10 season, though the gap to neighbours Milan is down to nine points with seven games remaining after their city rivals overcame Genoa earlier on Sunday.

Inter hit the woodwork twice in the first half, yet they went in at the interval behind after Handanovic had fumbled a cross into his own net.

Christian Eriksen gave Inter hope of securing consecutive away league wins over Napoli for the first time since 1997, but Gennaro Gattuso's hosts held firm to move within two points of fourth-placed Juventus.

After a tepid start, Inter went agonisingly close to going ahead shortly before the half-hour mark when Romelu Lukaku diverted Marcelo Brozovic's strike onto the crossbar from six yards.

Napoli then broke the deadlock nine minutes before the interval after some slapstick goalkeeping from Handanovic.

Lorenzo Insigne's cross should have been comfortably dealt with by the Inter keeper, yet the ball conspired to end up in the back of the net after he collided with Stefan de Vrij when trying to claim it.

Lukaku hit the woodwork again before the interval, steering Eriksen's free-kick onto Alex Meret's right-hand post, as Inter finished the first half strongly.

Inter deservedly pulled level 10 minutes into the second half when Eriksen rifled in just his second Serie A goal for the club from 20 yards.

Matteo Politano struck the crossbar with a thunderous strike late on, while Inter had a nervous wait when referee Daniele Doveri reviewed a De Vrij tackle in the penalty area on the pitchside monitor, the official ultimately deciding the Dutchman had legally won the ball.

Lewis Hamilton believes his remarkable recovery to finish second at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday will prove "very valuable" this season.

In the second race of the year, Hamilton seemed set for a lowly finish at best.

Having lost first place to Max Verstappen at Turn One on the first lap of an epic affair, the defending champion, chasing his rival, ran off into a gravel trap midway through the grand prix.

Hamilton was briefly stuck against the wall, struggling to reverse his car back onto the track, before the W12 limped towards the pit under a shower of sparks.

But a red flag prompted by an incident involving team-mate Valtteri Bottas then brought the race to a standstill.

Hamilton had been ninth and a lap down, yet the restart allowed him to weave through the field and claim P2, behind Verstappen but still ahead of the Red Bull man in the drivers' championship.

"I think, without doubt, getting back to second and getting these points will be very valuable through the season," said the Briton.

"If I'd lost 25 points, that would have been hard to recover based on the fact that [for] Red Bull it's the first time that they've had a championship-winning car.

"Their car is incredibly fast. They were faster than us this weekend, definitely in qualifying trim but it looks like a little bit also in race trim.

"I don't know if they made a couple of mistakes – I think they did, Max did in qualifying for example otherwise he would have been on pole.

"But we've got a real close battle. We love the fact that it's a close battle and it's great to see McLaren back up there after such a long time, it's great to see Ferrari looking strong.

"So, there's going to be a lot of exciting races up ahead and challenging for all of us in so many different ways."

Although Hamilton's resurgence prevented Verstappen from taking an early lead in the standings, the Dutchman was delighted to land a blow in the title tussle, having trailed the Mercedes man in the season opener.

But he was also not getting carried away after a first win of the year.

"It's a very long season. We just have to keep on working very hard," Verstappen said. "I'm very happy with the result today, of course, but that's today.

"I'm of course going to be happy about today, but tomorrow, we start again. We have to keep on improving because there's still a lot of work to be able to keep doing this the whole season.

"It's great to be fighting against Lewis, Mercedes who, I think, as a team, have been so dominant and they're very difficult to beat.

"To be able to sit here now, now two races in a row, we were very, very competitive – that's very promising but no guarantees."

With his nose pressed against the wall and rivals crashing elsewhere on the track in torrid Imola rain, Hamilton could easily have retired following his crash.

He was not to know then that the collision between Bottas and George Russell would provide a reprieve, but he was delighted to be able to continue and learn "an amazing lesson" regardless.

"I remember just sitting there, looking at the barrier, and I refused to think that the race was over," Hamilton said. "I refused to believe that the race was done.

"I could have obviously just turned the car off and got out but I'm grateful that I didn't.

"I'm grateful that I did do a reverse and then, after that, just kind of getting out the car and trying to switch the anger and turn it into positive energy so that I could get back in and race forwards.

"It's an amazing lesson to be sent and experience."

And Hamilton, so often starting from the front of the grid, actually relished the chance to blaze past the opposition from ninth place.

"I loved it," he added. "That's how my career actually started as a kid, coming through.

"We had a really dodgy, old go-kart, so I was always starting at the back. It just took me back to my roots."

Diego Simeone is confident Atletico Madrid officials will do what is best for the club amid talk of a new European Super League.

Reports emerged on Sunday claiming that 12 clubs – including LaLiga leaders Atleti – will compete in the new competition, a rival to the UEFA Champions League. 

Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Milan and Inter are said to be the other sides involved, though the proposal reportedly includes an expansion option to 16 or 18 teams.

UEFA responded strongly, insisting it will do everything in its power to block the plans, including banning the 12 clubs from their own competitions, while there has also been a suggestion that players involved may not be allowed to represent their countries on the international stage.

Speaking after his side's 5-0 thumping of rock-bottom Eibar on Sunday, Simeone said he had no doubts any decision made by Atleti would have the club's best interests at heart.

"We are prepared to train the clubs," he told a media conference. "Our club will make the best decision for our future.

"I am a coach and I am prepared to train wherever they tell me. I have no doubt that the club will decide what is best for us."

Atleti tightened their grip at the LaLiga summit with a clinical win over Eibar, who did not register a single shot.

Angel Correa put Atleti 2-0 up at the interval – his first brace in 273 games across all competitions for the club – before Yannick Carrasco added a third shortly after the interval.

Marcos Llorente then added a double of his own to wrap up all three points in style, the Spaniard's first helping him reach 10 LaLiga goals in a season for the first time in his career.

It marked just Atleti's fifth win in their past 12 LaLiga matches, but they still have a slender advantage over neighbours Real Madrid and Barcelona as they bid to win a first title since the 2013-14 season.

Atleti did not have a shot on goal until the 34th minute and Simeone was pleased with his side's renewed dynamism after the interval.

"Goals always generate enthusiasm and energy," he added. "The second half was not the same as the first; we were much more dynamic, precise, with more movements. Energy and winning always gives you strength.

"The most important thing is to be able to win. It is what gives you peace of mind for the next day."

Correa has now been involved in 17 goals this season across all competitions (six goals, 11 assists) – just one behind his best ever return for Atleti in a single season (18 in 2016-17 and 2017-18).

Simeone was pleased with the Argentina international's contribution after a season which has seen him feature in every LaLiga game.

"We have been working together for many years," Simeone said. "We understand when to talk and when to leave the footballer alone and the numbers speak for themselves in the confidence we have in him; he is the only one who has participated in all the games of the season."

Leicester City reached the FA Cup final for the first time since 1969 as Kelechi Iheanacho continued his sensational form to secure a 1-0 win over Southampton.

Iheanacho had scored more FA Cup goals (13) heading into Sunday's contest at Wembley – which was played in front of a small crowd – than any other player since the start of 2015-16, and it was his second-half strike which proved decisive.

Playing in their first FA Cup semi-final since 1982, Leicester had the better chances throughout, although Iheanacho's effort was the only shot on target in the entire contest.

It gave the Foxes their first win at the new Wembley in four attempts and Brendan Rodgers' side will now chase a second when they face Chelsea in next month's showdown.

The 4,000 socially distanced fans were not treated to a true opportunity until Jamie Vardy raced through after half an hour, only to slice a close-range chip into the side netting.

With Southampton having more possession without threatening Leicester's goal – they finished the first half without registering a single attempt – Wilfried Ndidi had the next chance, his looping header landing on the roof of the net.

Leicester's breakthrough arrived 10 minutes after the restart. Vardy spun his marker to get to the byline and squared for Iheanacho, who slotted in after his initial effort was blocked.

Southampton responded swiftly, mustering four shots in quick succession, with Ibrahima Diallo going agonisingly close to restoring parity with a strike which whistled just wide.

Returning from the bench after his club-enforced suspension for a breach of COVID-19 regulations, James Maddison could have made it 2-0 with 13 minutes remaining but thumped over from Iheanacho's pass.

Maddison went closer still moments later with a venomous shot which flashed across Fraser Forster's goal, though a blunt Southampton attack failed to make Leicester pay for those missed opportunities.

Shikhar Dhawan smashed 92 to lead Delhi Capitals to a six-wicket win over Punjab Kings in a high-scoring Indian Premier League encounter.

Half-centuries from KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal helped Punjab post 195-4 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai after being put into bat by Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant.

However, Delhi – who came into the contest having alternated between defeat and victory across their previous seven IPL games – bounced back from a three-wicket loss to Rajasthan Royals last time out in stunning fashion.

Dhawan dominated the Kings attack in a well-paced chase, following up his 85 in his side's opener against Chennai Super Kings with a marvellous knock that included 13 fours and two sixes.

Opening partner Prithvi Shaw contributed 32 at the top of the Capitals' order while Marcus Stoinis finished the job in a hurry, the all-rounder making 27 not out from just 13 balls.

Punjab's total had been built on the solid foundation provided by openers Rahul and Agarwal as they shared a 122-run stand, the latter the more aggressive of the pair as his score of 69 came from 36 deliveries.

West Indian duo Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran made just 11 and nine respectively as the innings briefly stuttered, but late cameos from Deepak Hooda – who hit two sixes to make 22 not out from 13 deliveries – and Shahrukh Khan (15 off five balls) lifted the Kings.

Delhi had lost five of the past seven meetings between the franchises but Dhawan made sure they prevailed this time, in the process becoming the competition's leading run-scorer in 2021.

 

Kings run into a spot of trouble

Rahul hit seven fours and two sixes while at the crease, but his 61 runs came from 51 deliveries at a strike-rate of 119.60.

Punjab Kings would have had designs on making in excess of 200 following the start they were given by their openers, but an inability to get after Ravichandran Ashwin – his four overs of spin went for just 28 runs – saw them come up just short.

Capitals gain from in-form opener

Dhawan received the orange cap after the game as he moved above Glenn Maxwell of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the run-scoring table. The left-hander is scoring at 163.15 runs per 100 deliveries in the 2021 edition of the Twenty20 tournament, despite having only hit four sixes.

Bowled within sight of a century as he attempted to sweep Australian seamer Jhye Richardson, Dhawan then watched on as Stoinis rushed his team home with 10 balls to spare.

Mason Greenwood scored twice as Manchester United left it late to beat Burnley 3-1 at Old Trafford and make it five Premier League wins in a row for the first time since January 2019.

United had failed to defeat Burnley at home in their last four attempts and could not find a way through in a goalless first half on Sunday that saw Chris Wood have an early goal ruled out.

It was the fourth league game running the Red Devils had failed to score in the first half but Greenwood fired in the opener three minutes into the second period.

James Tarkowski promptly equalised with his first goal of the season, though Greenwood popped up again six minutes from time and substitute Edinson Cavani wrapped up a win that moves United to within eight points of leaders Manchester City.

Roger Federer has confirmed he will grace the clay courts at the French Open and Geneva Open.

The 20-time grand slam champion made his comeback at the Qatar Open last month after a long absence following knee surgery.

Federer was beaten by Nikoloz Basilashvili at the quarter-final stage in Doha before opting against playing in Dubai and Miami.

The 39-year-old Swiss on Sunday announced he will feature on home soil in a Geneva Open event that gets under way on May 16.

World number seven Federer will also be in the draw for the second grand slam of the year at Roland Garros, where he reached the semi-final two years ago in his first appearance at the Paris major since 2015.

He tweeted: "Hi everyone! Happy to let you know that I will play Geneva and Paris.

"Until then, I will use the time to train. Can't wait to play in Switzerland again."

Rafael Nadal will be a strong favourite to surpass Federer's tally of grand slam titles in Paris, where he has won the French Open a record 13 times.

Atletico Madrid tightened their grip at the LaLiga summit after cruising to a 5-0 win over rock-bottom Eibar at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Los Colchoneros' bid for a first top-flight title since the 2013-14 season had faltered in recent weeks, but just a second win in six games keeps them a step ahead of neighbours Real Madrid. This result meant Real stood four points behind Atletico heading into a clash with Getafe later on Sunday.

Diego Simeone's home side were poor for much of the first half, yet Angel Correa struck twice shortly before the interval to give them a healthy lead.

Yannick Carrasco and Marcos Llorente added gloss to the scoreline in the second half as Atleti extended their unbeaten home run over Eibar to seven matches.

Despite a dismal start, which did not herald a shot until the 34th minute, Atleti went in at the break two goals to the good.

Correa opened the scoring in the 42nd minute, prodding in at the back post after Hector Herrera headed on Kieran Trippier's corner.

The man who made the breakthrough grabbed a second goal just two minutes later, superbly turning Anaitz Arbilla after collecting Carrasco's pass before slotting past Marko Dmitrovic from close range for his sixth goal of the season.

The hosts extended their advantage four minutes after the restart, Carrasco latching onto Saul Niguez's long ball over the top, rounding Dmitrovic and rolling into an empty net.

Correa turned provider for Atleti's fourth in the 53rd minute, his low pull-back into the middle of the penalty expertly dispatched by Llorente into Dmitrovic's bottom-right corner.

Llorente scored his 11th LaLiga goal of the season in the 68th minute, controlling Carrasco's pass before firing a half-volley past a hopelessly exposed Dmitrovic as Atleti sealed all three points in style.

Lewis Hamilton apologised for his error at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix but was relieved to be able to secure an outstanding P2 on Sunday.

Defending Formula One champion Hamilton, who started from pole, looked to have blown his chances of a podium finish when he ran off into a gravel trap while chasing Max Verstappen midway through the race.

But as his Mercedes limped back to the pit lane a lap down, an incident involving Silver Arrows team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton's one-time reserve George Russell brought out the red flag.

Neither man involved in the crash could continue, although both avoided injury, but the stoppage gave Hamilton time to regroup.

That he did and the Silver Arrows superstar climbed from ninth to second, behind only Verstappen in a stunning display of resolve.

"Awesome job, guys," the Briton told his team radio. "Apologies for that mistake earlier on."

After congratulating Verstappen and third-placed Lando Norris in the post-race presentation, Hamilton said: "On my side, it was not the greatest of days.

"It was the first time I've made a mistake in a long time, but I was grateful I was able to bring the car home still."

He added: "I was really, really grateful that we got to get going again and to get some points for the team. That was really important."

Having set the fastest lap time late in the race, too, Hamilton still leads the drivers' championship, a point ahead of Verstappen.

But he said such a scenario was not on his mind as he prepared to restart.

"I wasn't thinking about it," he said. "I was just trying to get over the gutting feeling it is when you make a mistake and just moving on from it, learning from it real quick.

"You don't have time to dwell on it. So, that's what I did, get back into racing spirit.

"I didn't know if we'd be able to overtake, because off-line was really wet, but I still had some really fun battles with all the guys."

Verstappen is not concerned by his placing in those standings, however, responding: "It's a long season. We'll stay calm."

The Dutchman was one of the few drivers to enjoy himself in difficult conditions, most notably in the approach to Turn One as he pushed past Hamilton.

"I surprised myself," Verstappen said. "Last week we were struggling a little bit off the line, but we worked really hard to make that better.

"In these tricky conditions, we did a great job."

 

Jamaican winger Leon Bailey scored two goals and had an assist as Bayer Leverkusen blanked Cologne 3-0 in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Europe's top leagues and UEFA have vowed to do everything in their power to block a so-called European Super League and urged others to boycott what they describe as a "cynical project founded on the self-interest of a few clubs".

In an emphatic response to media reports, UEFA together with the English Football Association (the FA), Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), LaLiga, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Serie A have joined forces in attempt to quell the Super League.

They reiterated a pledge to ban teams from other competitions if they take part in the Super League, while FIFA's threat of barring players from the World Cup was also alluded to.

French and German clubs were also thanked for refusing to sign up to the tournament, meaning neither of last season's Champions League finalists – Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain – are set to be involved.

The statement read: "UEFA, the English Football Association and the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A have learned that a few English, Spanish and Italian clubs may be planning to announce their creation of a closed, so-called Super League.

"If this were to happen, we wish to reiterate that we – UEFA, the English FA, RFEF, FIGC, the Premier League, LaLiga, Lega Serie A, but also FIFA and all our member associations - will remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project, a project that is founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever.

"We will consider all measures available to us, at all levels, both judicial and sporting in order to prevent this happening. Football is based on open competitions and sporting merit; it cannot be any other way.

"As previously announced by FIFA and the six federations, the clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams.

"We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough."

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