Related items

• Arsenal's Saka lands first Premier League Player of the Month award

  Bukayo Saka has been named the Premier League's Player of the Month for the first time, scooping the prize after helping leaders Arsenal win all four of their games in the competition in March.

  Saka hit three goals and added two assists in four appearances during the month as Arsenal posted wins over Everton, Bournemouth, Fulham and Crystal Palace.

  Only Manchester City's Erling Haaland (33) and Tottenham's Harry Kane (23) have been involved in more Premier League goals than Saka this season (22).

  The 21-year-old – considered a candidate to be named player of the season – is the only player to reach double figures for both goals (12) and assists (10) in the competition this term.

  Having helped Arsenal establish an eight-point lead over City as the Gunners chase their first league title since 2004, Saka also scored with a stunning long-range strike as England beat Ukraine 2-0 in the international break.

  Saka saw off competition from Alexander Isak, Alexis Mac Allister, Tyrone Mings, Mohamed Salah and Arsenal team-mate Leandro Trossard to win the Premier League award.

  He becomes the second Arsenal star to land the monthly prize this campaign, after Martin Odegaard was named the best player across November and December either side of the World Cup break.

• Rybakina matches Serena Williams aces feat and follows in footsteps of Graf

  Elena Rybakina moved one win away from completing the 'Sunshine Double' and did so on the back of a serving feat last achieved by Serena Williams almost seven years ago.

  Reigning Wimbledon champion Rybakina battled past Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals of the Miami Open, scoring a 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 win to book a clash with Petra Kvitova or Sorana Cirstea in the title match.

  In doing so, Rybakina set up the chance of sealing an Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back double, a feat that only four women have pulled off before: Steffi Graf (1994, 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005), Victoria Azarenka (2016) and Iga Swiatek (2022).

  She also becomes just the sixth woman to appear in the finals of the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami in the same year after Monica Seles (1991), Graf (1994), Lindsay Davenport (2000), Martina Hingis (2000) and Maria Sharapova (2012).

  The Williams accomplishment that Rybakina has matched stands as testament to the Kazakhstani player's serving prowess.

  She has served at least 10 aces in each of her five matches in Miami, and Williams at Wimbledon in 2016 was the last player from the WTA Tour to serve 10-plus aces in five matches in a single tournament.

  Rybakina lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open final in January but has put that behind her and enjoyed a stellar March. She beat Swiatek in the Indian Wells semi-finals before toppling Sabalenka in the final, and now another chance of a trophy awaits.

  Discussing the challenge of completing the hard-court US double, Rybakina said: "It's really difficult, and because of different conditions in these two weeks by the matches you could see that it's much more difficult for me here than even in Indian Wells.

  "It's just the finals, still close but the same time far. The Sunshine Double, I try my best, and hopefully I can make it. I didn't expect to be in the final. I knew that it was going to be very tough from the beginning, from the first match. And it was, actually. First two matches was really tough."

  She came through dicey three-setters against Anna Kalinskaya and Paula Badosa before kicking on, winning in straight sets against Elise Mertens, Martina Trevisan and Pegula.

  "Actually, the whole two weeks were really tough," Rybakina said after seeing off Pegula late on Thursday. "I'm happy to be in another final."

  With her runs in Indian Wells and Miami, the Russian-born 23-year-old has already won 13 main-draw matches at WTA 1000 level in 2023, matching her personal best for an entire season, achieved last year.

• Judge 'where I wanted to be' after homer against free agency suitors San Francisco

  Aaron Judge hit the first home run of the MLB season from his first at-bat and declared he is "where I wanted to be" – on the New York Yankees.

  The reigning AL MVP was straight back at it at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day as New York beat the San Francisco Giants 5-0.

  Yet Judge could have been in the visiting team on Thursday.

  He was a Giants fan as a child and the subject of interest from San Francisco in free agency this offseason before returning to the Yankees.

  The quirk in the schedule was not lost on Judge then as he joked ahead of the game: "I don't know who at MLB did that to me."

  But afterwards, the four-time All-Star reiterated his commitment to the Yankees.

  "I didn't want to go anywhere," he said. "I was pretty vocal about that from the beginning. This is where I wanted be."

  That Judge should have the year's first homer was as fitting as the identity of the Yankees' Opening Day opponents. He had 62 last year, an AL record.

  Just three players – Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa – have previously topped that mark in the major leagues. All three were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs during their careers; Bonds was indicted but not convicted for allegedly lying about his alleged use of steroids, McGwire admitted to using PEDs, while Sosa denied he had ever used them.

  Only McGwire and Sosa have ever had back-to-back 60-homer seasons, and they are among five players to have had back-to-back 50-homer seasons.

  The legendary Babe Ruth is the sole Yankee on that list, and Judge knows the scale of the task before him.

  "I know very few followed up with 60. A couple I know hit 50 after that," he said. "But we'll see what happens. Maybe we can make a new list. We'll see."