Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan threw his support behind Zach LaVine after the shooting guard let the Minnesota Timberwolves off lightly.

Facing his old team, LaVine was not at his sharpest and there were post-game suggestions he might be struggling physically.

LaVine, who joined Minnesota in the 2014 draft before moving to the Bulls three years later, managed just 12 points and six assists in almost 37 minutes on court.

Ultimately, it hardly mattered that he fell well short of his season's average of 24.6 points, as the Bulls pulled off a 134-122 win.

They are now 35-21 for the season and will tackle the Oklahoma City Thunder – Donovan's old team – on Saturday.

Coby White scored 22 points, Javonte Green bagged 23 and Nikola Vucevic's 26 points proved important as the Bulls were led by DeMar DeRozan's 35-point game.

It was a fifth successive 30-point game for DeRozan and Donovan saluted his "unbelievable" performance.

After quarters of 27-27, 33-32 and 32-32, the Bulls stretched clear in the fourth, which they took 42-31 to swat away the Timberwolves (29-27).

Asked afterwards about LaVine's condition, Donovan said: "I just think at this time of the year, I don't think anybody's feeling probably great.

"He's had to deal with his knee, he's had to deal with his back. It's a lot right now, and I'm sure he's not quite where he wants to be physically, but I give him a lot of credit, he's going out there and competing and playing and trying to do what he can do to help the team.

"We're going to have to work through this with him a little bit. He's trying to do everything he can to help us."

Donovan said the Bulls would "take his pulse – [see] how's he feeling, what's he going through, what's he experiencing" before finalising plans for Saturday's game.

"Zach's an elite scorer in this league and has been for quite some time," Donovan said, "but if he has a game like that you've got to try to generate good shots.

"It was great to see Javonte and Coby step up and have the offensive nights they had. DeMar's been doing it pretty consistently all year long.

"Zach tried to play the right way. I think the guys are trying to help each other and complement each other, and they're very, very unselfish based on who's going well and who's playing well."

Doc Rivers believes the Philadelphia 76ers have the tools to make a play for an NBA championship after clinching a deal to bring in James Harden.

The Sixers coach saw his team beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 100-87 on Friday night to improve to 33-22 for the season, and they sit fifth in the Eastern Conference.

A stiff test comes on Saturday as they tackle the Cleveland Cavaliers, who sit three places above Philadelphia after winning two more games, and from next week Harden comes into contention once he touches down after departing the Brooklyn Nets.

The Sixers signed up Harden and Paul Millsap this week from the Nets, sending Seth Curry, reserve center Andre Drummond, Ben Simmons and two first-round picks the other way.

Asked whether the trade means his team might now be equipped to mount a serious title challenge, Rivers said: "Yeah, I think so. I mean, I don't know. That's something we will find out. We did it with the belief we do, obviously."

Rivers is looking forward to coaching Harden, the 2018 MVP, despite the 32-year-old only scoring at 22.5 points per game this season, his worst record since posting an average of 16.8 with Oklahoma in the 2011-12 season.

"Obviously, we don’t have him yet, so we have to wait and see. But he's a guy that creates his own shot, creates shots for others," Rivers said. "He's another guy on your team that gets double-teamed, which is really valuable. When you have all that, you like it a lot."

Rivers, now 60, has previously won an NBA title, landing glory with the Boston Celtics 14 years ago.

His hunger for more success on that scale remains unstated, and he said: "Let me repeat this one more time - you and no one else can put no more pressure on myself than I do. It will never happen. I'm in this to win. I've always been in this to win.

"I think the reason we did this deal was so we could step into the fray."

Rivers acknowledged Drummond's part in the multi-player deal came as a surprise to the player.

"Drummond - he never thought he was leaving, but Ben and Seth had a pretty good inkling this could happen," Rivers said.

Joel Embiid had 25 points and 19 rebounds in the Sixers' Friday night win, and he will relish teaming up with Harden.

Simmons had not played for Philadelphia since their playoffs exit at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks last season, and he has finally got his wish to move on.

Embiid took aim at his former teammate as he said: "I honestly don't care. It's unfortunate how everything happened, because you look at the history and we didn't get it done as far as winning in the playoffs, but you look at the history being on the court, what we did in the regular season, we were dominant.

"So it's unfortunate that winning was not the biggest factor.

"It's unfortunate that for him, having his own team and being the star was more of his priorities. But I always thought that everything was great, the fit was great. But unfortunately Ben thought that it wasn't. But we all move on."

France and Ireland face off at the Stade de France on Saturday in a contest that may well determine exactly where the Six Nations title ends up next month.

Pre-tournament favourites France kicked off their campaign with a routine victory over Italy, while a much-fancied Ireland proved far too strong for reigning champions Wales.

Both sides picked up bonus points to lead the way at the top, setting up a mouth-watering encounter in the French capital as Ireland aim to stretch their nine-match winning run.

Wales have a chance to respond to last week's disappointment when they host a Scotland side who should be full of confidence following their Calcutta Cup win over England last time out.

The final match of the weekend takes place in Rome as perennial whipping boys Italy take on England with the aim of ending their long-running losing streak in the competition.

Ahead of the second round of fixtures, Stats Perform previews each match with help from Opta.

WALES v SCOTLAND

FORM

Wales have lost just two of their 11 home matches against Scotland in the Six Nations, though one of those losses did come in the last such meeting two years ago at Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli.

The last three encounters between the sides in the competition have been decided by a margin of seven points or fewer. Indeed, four of the last six clashes have seen the side losing at half-time come back to win the match.

Scotland are on their longest away winning streak in the championship, having won four on the spin – not since between 1925 and 1927 have they won five in a row on their travels. However, Wales have won nine of their last 11 Six Nations home matches.

ONES TO WATCH

Taine Basham was a rare shining light for Wales in their heavy loss to Ireland, the tournament debutant crossing over late on to prevent his side from losing to nil on a day to forget in Dublin. Basham also made 22 tackles, which is the most of any player on the opening weekend, missing none in the process.

A number of Scotland players impressed in the late win over England, not least Darcy Graham. The diminutive wing set up Ben White for the opening try, won the crucial turnover in injury time and beat six defenders – the most of any player in round one.

FRANCE v IRELAND

FORM

France and Ireland have played each other 100 times previously, with France victorious on 58 occasions, Ireland prevailing 35 times and seven games drawn. In the Six Nations, Les Blues edge the win record 11 to nine from their 22 previous encounters, the other two matches finishing level.

Ireland have lost their last two meetings with France in the competition, having been beaten in just one of the previous eight. Ireland's win rate of 41 per cent against Les Blues in the Six Nations is their lowest against any side.

After recovering to see off Italy last week, France are aiming to win their opening two Six Nations games for the third year in a row, this after managing it just twice in their previous eight campaigns.

ONES TO WATCH

France head coach Fabien Galthie, back involved after missing the Italy match with coronavirus, has put his faith in youth by handing Yoram Moefana his first Six Nations start. The 21-year-old impressed in his cameo role against Italy by playing a part in his side's last two tries.

Ireland will have to make do without injured skipper Johnny Sexton, who passed the 500-point mark in the Six Nations last week, so all eyes will be on Joey Carbery – the only change from the Wales game – at fly-half. The Munster number 10 is tasked with pulling the strings on his first tournament start.

ITALY v ENGLAND

FORM

England are the only side Italy have never managed to beat in the Six Nations, losing all 22 of their previous showdowns. England's 80-23 win in this fixture 21 years ago remains the most points scored and biggest winning margin in any fixture in the competition's history.

Italy have lost their last 33 matches in the competition – the longest losing streak by any team in the Five or Six Nations – in an unwanted run that stretches back to a win over Scotland in 2015.

Eddie Jones' visitors have lost their last two Six Nations matches, but only once over the last 15 editions have they lost three in a row, while not since 2005 have they lost their opening two games to a campaign.

ONES TO WATCH

Italy's Michele Lamaro (21 tackles) was one of just three players to make 20 or more tackles during the opening weekend, along with Basham (22) and Nick Tompkins (21). However, he also missed four tackles, which was the joint-most of any player, level with Dan Biggar.

Ben Youngs, who made the most kicks in play of any player in round one (17), is one of six players to make way for England. Should the experienced scrum-half make it off the bench, he will become England's joint-most capped player of all time alongside Jason Leonard with 114.

Joel Embiid extended his scoring run as the Philadelphia 76ers won their first game since trading for James Harden on Friday.

The 76ers have been busy in trade action this week, finally moving on Ben Simmons to the Brooklyn Nets and receiving Harden in exchange, but focus returned to the court against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Former MVP Harden is yet to make his 76ers bow, but Embiid – perhaps the best performer of this NBA season – continued to perform without him.

The Cameroonian center had 25 points, 19 rebounds and five blocks in the 76ers' 100-87 win, which also saw Tyrese Maxey score 24.

This was Embiid's 22nd straight game with 25 or more points in a sequence only three players – Kevin Durant (twice), new 76er Harden and former 76er Allen Iverson – have topped this century.

Embiid, who shows no sign of slowing, had already secured the best streak by a foreign-born player of the past 50 years when Giannis Antetokounmpo's 20-game run ended against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday.

Pacers new boys beaten

The 76ers next play the Cleveland Cavaliers, who will be on a high after a dramatic late show against the new-look Indiana Pacers.

The Pacers, fired by debutants Tyrese Haliburton (23 points) and Buddy Hield (16 points, nine rebounds, eight assists), did not trail at any point until late in the fourth quarter at home to the Cavs.

But Rajon Rondo's three-pointer swung momentum in the Cavs' favour, and their own recent signing Caris LeVert had a key role late on as he finished with 22 points in a 120-113 win.

More debutants deliver

Haliburton and Hield were not alone in making an instant impression.

Montrezl Harrell had 15 points as the Charlotte Hornets routed the Detroit Pistons 141-119, also boosted by 31 from LaMelo Ball and a triple-double for Terry Rozier. Meanwhile, Derrick White's 15 from the bench helped the Boston Celtics see off the Denver Nuggets despite Nikola Jokic's triple-double.

It was not all about those who have been on the move this week, though, as Jokic showed.

Dejounte Murray had a 32-point triple in the San Antonio Spurs' defeat of the Atlanta Hawks, while DeMar DeRozan's remarkable season continued with his fifth straight 30-point game.

DeRozan reached 35 as a blistering fourth quarter took the Chicago Bulls past the Minnesota Timberwolves 134-122.

Casper Ruud will have to overcome another home hopeful if he is to reach the final of the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.

Top seed Ruud defeated Federico Coria 6-3 6-4 in the last eight on Friday to set up a semi-final against another Argentinian in Federico Delbonis.

Delbonis defeated Fabio Fognini 6-4 6-4 to make his first semi since losing to Pablo Carreno Busta in Hamburg last July.

The 31-year-old has not played an ATP Tour final since winning in Marrakech in 2016.

There will be a home representative remaining in the other half of the draw, too, although his identity is still to be confirmed.

Diego Schwartzman and Francisco Cerundolo were tied in the third set when rain saw play suspended for the day.

The winner of that match will play Fognini's compatriot Lorenzo Sonego, a straight-sets victor against Fernando Verdasco.

At the Dallas Open, there is an all American cast for the semi-finals – but top seed Taylor Fritz is not among those in the last four.

He lost a third-set tie-break to countryman Marcos Giron, whose reward is a match against Jenson Brooksby. Brooksby beat Australia's Jordan Thompson 6-3 6-0.

John Isner breezed through in straight sets and will face Reilly Opelka.

Consistent domination is difficult to achieve in the NFL. Not since the 1993 season have the same teams played in the Super Bowl in successive years and no team has won back-to-back Super Bowls since the 2004 New England Patriots. Parity is one of the league's primary selling points but, while it largely retains a balance among clubs in terms of results on the field, there can be no doubt there is a scheme establishing dominion over the NFL.

Sunday's clash between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams will mark the third time in the last four seasons that an NFL campaign has come to end with a game featuring at least one team employing a version of the offense run by Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay.

With McVay going up against his former assistant in Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, Super Bowl LVI will serve as a compelling illustration of the pre-eminence that offensive scheme enjoys, and this recent round of coaching hires also painted the same picture.

The Miami Dolphins hired Shanahan's offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, Mike McDaniel, to be their new head coach. Nathaniel Hackett, having worked as offensive coordinator in that offense under Matt LaFleur with the Green Bay Packers, was appointed as the Denver Broncos head coach. Kevin O'Connell, the Rams offensive coordinator, cannot officially be hired by the Minnesota Vikings until the Super Bowl is over, but that agreement has already been reached.

Those hires have taken the tally of offensive head coaches from the Shanahan-McVay tree to five. Robert Saleh was Shanahan's defensive coordinator in San Francisco until 2021, and he took Niners passing game coordinator Mike LaFleur with him when he was hired by the New York Jets. Brandon Staley got the Los Angeles Chargers job last year after one season revolutionising the Rams on defense for McVay.

The fingerprints of Shanahan and McVay are all over the NFL, and they will be overtly smudged over the Super Bowl. One offensive system having this level of influence over the league feels unprecedented, but is it? 

"If you look back at it, I assume if you did the actual lineage of it, the way that the league looked in the mid-90s, early 2000s, most of it probably comes enough from the Bill Walsh tree to say it's similar," Robert Mays, NFL writer for The Athletic, tells Stats Perform. 

"It starts fragmenting because even if you look at the genealogy of the Shanahan tree, it comes from the Bill Walsh tree, because you have Mike Shanahan coming from San Francisco, they combine it with the wide zone running scheme, so now even that DNA is still sort of similar, if you go back far enough it all comes from the same place, but no I can't remember anything like it in this modern era, the last 10 years or so, because there just hasn't been anything similar. There were a lot of the Seattle defensive guys on that side of the ball but it still wasn't as popular as it is right now."

So why is it so popular? The obvious answer is its success.

The 49ers (first), Rams (fourth), Bengals (seventh) and Packers (eighth) all finished the regular season in the top 10 in yards per play. All four were playing on Divisional Round weekend.

But it is more than just the offensive efficiency and the results that have made Shanahan, McVay and now LaFleur assistants attractive to teams looking to turn their fortunes around, it is also a combination of the scheme, the adaptability of the scheme and the willingness of the coaches to take a flexible approach.

"What you have to understand about why the Niners are successful, why Sean is successful, it's not because they run this offense, it's their understanding of defensive rules and how to manipulate them is what makes them really successful, they all just happen to come from the same place," Mays explains.

"I think the quarterback-friendly aspect of it is really important. How they attack the middle of the field, the play-action, I do think it's the easiest way to get the most out of a quarterback in a quarterback-centric league.

Speaking to the quarterback-friendly nature of the offense, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford threw to an open receiver on 82.5 per cent of his attempts, second behind Patrick Mahomes (85.5) among signal-callers with at least 200 pass attempts. Zach Wilson (79.5), playing in Mike LaFleur's offense, was 10th, and the likely departing 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was still above average on 79.1 per cent.  

It goes beyond the quarterback, though, with wide receiver Andrew Hawkins, who played under Shanahan and Mike McDaniel during his time with the Cleveland Browns, enjoying personal experience of how they get the most out of the surrounding talent.

"The thing that anybody who played for Kyle, the Mikes and the LaFleur's and the McVay's, they figure out their offense around the players," Hawkins told Stats Perform. 

"It's traditional for coaches to say 'here's my system' and they're gonna get jobs off their system and they say 'this is my system, this is the way we run it, this is the kind of tight end we need, we need this quarterback to do these things, we need this guy to do this and if they're not these kind of guys I'm gonna go find people who will do what I say, my system bang, bang, bang'.

"Shanahan and those guys, they don't do it that way. They are, I don't want to say true coaches, but to me, they're the best version of it because they'll come into a place and say hey Hawk, you're limited here, but you do these things really, really, really well and although my last receiver might have been 6'4", 215 pounds, your skill set is this so we're going to change things around that fit your skill set and get the best out of you for the best version of our offense it can be.

"That's what you want as a player, you want your coaches to understand your skill set and maybe not ask the 5'7" guy to go make jump-ball catches in the red zone, it's not exactly what I do, it's not my thing, I like to be in space, let's find ways to get me in space and that's what they'll do.

"They'll cater it to their players, to their O-Line, to their running backs, to their outside guy, their inside guy, their tight end, as players you want coaches who are gonna tell you the truth and put you in the best position to win for your skill set. Don't try to fit a square peg into a round hole and those coaches, just by philosophy, do it better most guys in the league."

Agreeing with Hawkins' assessment, Mays adds: "It's interesting because it takes on different flavours, that's the most important thing, you have to understand how it is tailored to your personnel."

And, though Taylor, cut his teeth under McVay, the way he has tailored his Bengals offense to his personnel has made their attack markedly different from that of the Rams.

Burrow did not throw to an open receiver as often, doing so just 76.9 per cent of the time, but that is reflective of a more aggressive downfield passing game that has regularly relied on the ball-winning skills of Ja'Marr Chase and his quarterback's unerring accuracy.

This season, Burrow led the NFL by delivering an accurate, well-thrown ball on 86.1 per cent of his pass attempts as his skill set meshed perfectly with a more ambitious passing game. No player produced more passing plays of more than 50 yards than Burrow with 12. Next on the list, Stafford, with 10.

"It's very different, it's much more spread out than you would see with Sean's offense, the Bengals are a spread team, they play in the shotgun, they have one of the widest formations on average in the entire NFL, they are not doing a lot of things that the Rams are doing," Mays says of the Bengals' attack.

"I think it's really tailored to, this is what we are, we have a true X receiver on the outside, we honestly have two because of what Tee Higgins is, we don't need to worry about all those bunches and stacks and things like that, and they run very little play-action, you think about the fact that Zac was under Sean in 2018 when the Rams were running play-action 38 per cent of the time or whatever it was, and the Bengals are like under 20 with one of the lowest rates in the entire NFL."

Matt LaFleur weaponised the scheme in Green Bay via the brilliance of Aaron Rodgers, McVay has molded it around Stafford following the trade that sent Jared Goff to Detroit and moved away from play-action somewhat while Shanahan has leaned heavily on the run with the 49ers. McDaniel, O'Connell and Hackett will surely recreate the system to mesh with their respective talent pools and, ultimately, what owners and general managers are buying when they invest in an assistant from the McVay and Shanahan offense is not the scheme, but the ingenuity these coaches gain from their association with two of the most talented football minds of this generation.

"I think what people are searching for when they hire all these Sean assistants, aren't necessarily we want this offensive system, it's we want whatever environment comes with these guys from this place," Mays observes. "Brandon Staley's not an offensive coach and they still hired him to be the head coach.

"I think they're trying to capture whatever this kind of incubator of football ideas is, that I feel like is what they're trying to tap into as much as the actual Xs and Os of the offensive scheme."

Sahith Theegala recovered from a tricky start on Friday to maintain a breakout run at the Phoenix Open, where he now leads by two after two rounds.

Theegala, playing on a sponsor's exemption, had taken a one-shot lead into the day's play – albeit only after a suspension on Thursday due to bad light.

Starting with a par putt at the 17th on seven under, Theegala missed the hole and then bogeyed the 18th, too, falling back to five under.

But the 24-year-old, who turned professional in 2020 but is still living with his parents, got back in the groove in round two.

Three consecutive birdies and a fourth at the par-four fifth put Theegala in a great position, turning in 32 after a bogey at the eighth.

It only got better from there with a bogey-free back nine that featured four birdies, including at each of the last two holes – ending his Friday in far more convincing fashion than he had started it.

Theegala's only top-10 finish on the PGA Tour to date was a tie for eighth at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October, but he heads into the weekend at Scottsdale leading a star-studded field.

"I haven't had time to let it set in," he said after signing for a seven-under 64 to move to 12 under.

"Hopefully I don't think too much about it, because obviously what I've been doing has been working the first couple days.

"I'm just thankful that I'm here and trying to make the most of the opportunity – no expectations at all, honestly."

Having already threatened to crumble once, the pressure is only set to ramp up from here. Theegala's closest challengers are Brooks Koepka (66) and Xander Schauffele (65) at 10 under. Patrick Cantlay (66) is a shot further back.

"I'm ready to embrace whatever is ahead of me this weekend," Theegala added.

Russell Westbrook has claimed his back injury stems from "sitting down for long stretches" on the Los Angeles Lakers' bench.

Westbrook and the Lakers have endured a dismal season following his move from the Washington Wizards.

The former MVP, who averaged a triple-double last year for the fourth time in his career, has struggled to have an impact for a Lakers team who have missed star men LeBron James and Anthony Davis for long periods.

Westbrook is averaging 18.3 points – his lowest mark since his second season in the NBA in 2009-10 – along with 7.8 rebounds and 7.6 assists.

Lakers coach Frank Vogel has seemingly lost faith in the point guard, who has started all 55 games this year but is finding himself on the bench at crunch time.

Twice in 2022 Westbrook has not played a single second for the Lakers in the fourth quarter – most recently in their last game, a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Before the Bucks defeat, Westbrook was also kept on the bench for the entirety of overtime against the New York Knicks, having scored a season-low five points on 1-of-10 shooting in 29 minutes.

The player was then missing from this week's Portland Trail Blazers game that followed the Bucks' visit, and he – along with James – has been listed as questionable for Saturday's game at the Golden State Warriors.

Asked to explain the back pain that is keeping him out of action, Westbrook said on Friday: "It comes and goes.

"I'm not accustomed to sitting down for long stretches and getting up and then, like, moving quickly. It kind of stiffens up a little bit."

The Brooklyn Nets went "all in" on James Harden, general manager Sean Marks says, making the decision to trade the former MVP "not easy".

After 80 games in just shy of 13 months, Harden has left the Nets for the Philadelphia 76ers in a blockbuster trade involving Ben Simmons.

The 76ers had been looking for a superstar in exchange for Simmons and were able to put together a package to tempt the Nets when it became clear Harden was open to moving on.

Harden had last January forced his way out of the Houston Rockets to move to Brooklyn and team up with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

But the Nets' 'Big Three' played just 365 minutes together across 16 games in the regular season and playoffs.

Although the Nets went 13-3 in those games, Harden and Irving were each absent for three games of the seven-game series against eventual champions the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2020-21 postseason.

The injury issues that dogged the trio last year have continued this season, while Irving has played just 13 games due to a refusal to be vaccinated.

The Nets, on a 10-game losing streak, are now moving in a new direction, but Marks insists their commitment to Harden up until Thursday's trade could not be questioned.

"Make no bones about it: we went all in on getting James Harden and inviting him to the group," Marks said on Friday.

"And these decisions to move on from a player like that, of that calibre, are never easy ones. I just want to be clear that this is not something that you think, 'great, let's just make a split decision and move on from that'.

"I give James a lot of credit for having open dialogue, open discussions with me and with the group, [Nets coach Steve Nash] and [owner] Joe Tsai and everybody over the last 24, 48 hours.

"Again, I said they're not easy, but I think that's something we pride ourselves on is being open and honest. James was honest with us and we were honest with him.

"I think it's a move that enables him to have a fresh start, enables this team to have a fresh start, without trying to push things to make things work.

"If we realise this is not going to work, short term or long term, then it's time to say for, both parties involved, this is better off."

Harden, whose 76ers debut is likely to be next week, will be warmly received in Philly.

Second-year point guard Tyrese Maxey welcomed the 10-time All-Star, who is set to shine alongside MVP candidate Joel Embiid.

"It's going to be great. It's two MVP-calibre players on top of what we have here already," Maxey said, adding: "It's going to be great, and I just can't wait."

Stefanos Tsitsipas' impressive display of power hitting helped him past Alex De Minaur and into the semi-finals of the Rotterdam Open.

The Greek has yet to win an ATP 500 tournament but is now a step closer to ending that record after overcoming his Australian opponent 6-4 6-4 in a little over 90 minutes.

De Minaur's excellent movement was quelled by Tsitsipas, who hit 19 winners and won 27 of 33 first-serve points (82 per cent).

Speaking after his win, Tsitsipas said: "I took my time, I tried to understand what works for me and what doesn't, and with the right momentum, with the right intention, things kind of paid off. 

"I was able to get ahead in the score, which gave me a lot of confidence, and I think my serve was very good today, it gave me a lot of points and applied a lot of pressure to him."

Czech qualifier Jiri Lehecka is Tsitsipas' surprise semi-final opponent as the world number 137 continued a fine run by defeating Lorenzo Musetti 6-3 1-6 7-5.

There was a sense of deja vu in the later sessions as Andrey Rublev defeated Marton Fucsovics 6-4 6-3.

Rublev defeated the same opponent in the final of the 2021 tournament, and is now one win away from returning to the showpiece match.

Felix Auger-Aliassime is backing up a strong performance at the Australian Open, where the world number nine was beaten by Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals.

The Canadian came through a tough encounter against Cameron Norrie 7-5 7-6 (7-4) as he aims to go one better than his runners-up appearance in Rotterdam in 2020.

Los Angeles Rams tight end Tyler Higbee has been officially ruled out of Super Bowl LVI.

Higbee will not face the Cincinnati Bengals after he and offensive tackle Joseph Noteboom were placed on injured reserve on Friday.

Running back Darrell Henderson Jr. and nose tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day were both activated ahead of Sunday's game, but Higbee's absence comes as a blow – albeit one that was expected.

The former fourth-round pick suffered an MCL strain in the NFC Championship Game win over the San Francisco 49ers.

Higbee had 61 catches for 560 yards and five touchdowns in the 2021 regular season, adding nine receptions for 115 yards in the playoffs.

He has been targeted 14 times in the postseason, third-most on the Rams behind superstar wide receivers Cooper Kupp (32) and Odell Beckham Jr. (23).

Aaron Rodgers will soon make a decision on his Green Bay Packers future after winning his fourth NFL MVP award and second in a row.

Rodgers seemed set to leave the Packers as the reigning MVP last year as he pushed for a move – and that scenario could yet play out after the quarterback won again for 2021.

But the 38-year-old does not intend for another saga to follow this offseason.

While there is no guarantee Rodgers will be returning to Green Bay, he at least plans to make a prompt call.

Speaking after his MVP recognition, the controversial QB – in the spotlight this season for his vaccine status as well as his future plans – said: "I have not made any decision yet."

Rodgers added: "I'll make a decision in due time and not a ton of time. I'll give the team plenty of time to do what they got to do.

"And I think that time is coming. There will be a decision in the near future. And I'm not going to keep a lot of people waiting."

Fellow great Tom Brady has retired since exiting the playoffs, like Rodgers, in the NFC Divisional Round.

After losing to the sixth-seeded San Francisco 49ers, the possibility of a similar decision remains for Rodgers.

"I talked at length at various times about being comfortable walking away and just not playing," he said. "And I don't want to create more questions than I probably already have, but I don't fear retirement and I don't fear moving on.

"I'm very proud of what I've accomplished, proud that I've accomplished it in Green Bay over the last 17 years, and I'm excited about the future, whatever that ends up being or looking like.

"I'm also still highly competitive and still a bitter taste from the Divisional game. So [there is] definitely a lot to weigh."

Maria Sakkari is handling the pressure of playing as top seed in a WTA Tour-level tournament for the first time, as she put herself to within one win of the final at the St Petersburg Ladies Open.

The Greek world number seven saw off a stern test from Elise Mertens on Friday, winning 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 to reach the semi-finals.

Sakkari had to salvage three set points in the opener, but eventually came out on top in the tie-break at the first time of asking.

Even with a comfortable lead in the second set, she failed to take the first three match points on offer, but got the fourth over the line to progress to her first semi-final of the season.

Sakkari, 26, previously reached the St Petersburg semi-final in 2020, where she lost to Elena Rybakina.

"When you're down in the score, you try to play more aggressively and [Elise] was playing really good in the last couple of games," Sakkari explained. 

"She came up with good serves and solid shots from the baseline. I just fought hard."

Next up

Irina-Camelia Begu stands in the way of Sakkari and a place in the final. 

The unseeded Romanian overcame two-time grand slam champion Petra Kvitova in the last 16 and defeated Tereza Martincova 6-4 6-2 in her last-eight tie.

It took just 85 minutes for Begu to secure her place in a fourth semi-final of her career at WTA 500 level or higher, but the first since 2017 in Moscow.

Kontaveit continues remarkable indoor run

World number nine Anett Kontaveit will face Jelena Ostapenko in the other semi-final, after ousting Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Belinda Bencic 7-6 (9-7) 6-2.

After her defeat of Bencic, second seed Kontaveit has now won 18 successive matches at indoor tournaments. She is the first player since Justine Henin in 2010 to go on such a streak.

Last year, the Estonian won titles in Ostrava, Moscow and Cluj-Napoca, which form part of this run.

Ostapenko, meanwhile, beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-3 to take her place in the last four. The 2017 French Open champion has only lost to top-10 players so far in 2022 (Paula Badosa and Barbora Krejcikova).