Sports

Naomi Osaka ended Serena Williams’ bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title with an imperious 6-3 6-4 win on Thursday, a victory that booked her spot in her second Australian Open final and left the American great in tears. In a rematch of their tumultuous 2018 U.S. Open decider, Osaka underlined her status as the new queen of women’s tennis and soaked up the cheers from the Rod Laver Arena crowd as fans returned to the Grand Slam after a five-day lockdown.

England fast bowler Mark Wood has asked to withdraw from Thursday's Indian Premier League auction in order to spend more time with his family. Wood, 31, has just rejoined England on the tour of India after being rested for the first two Tests of the series. If he had been selected by one of the eight IPL teams, he could potentially have been away from home until June. Sixteen English players will be in the auction, while another eight have been retained by

Curry scored eight of the final 11 points, including a superb late three-pointer, to finish with a 25-point haul and complete a remarkable comeback San Francisco: Steph Curry sealed a stunning late fightback to help the Golden State Warriors to a 120-112 overtime victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday. Curry scored eight of the final 11 points, including a superb late three-pointer, to finish with a 25-point haul and complete a remarkable comeback at San Francisco's Chase Center. The Warriors had looked

Naomi Osaka claimed an impressive victory over Serena Williams to reach the Australian Open final and end the American's latest quest for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title. Three-time Slam champion Osaka withstood early pressure from Williams to win 6-3 6-4. Osaka is on a 20-match unbeaten streak and has never lost a Slam final. The Japanese will face Jennifer Brady in Saturday's final after the American beat Karolina Muchova. Brady came past the Czech 6-4 3-6 6-4 to seal a spot in

Novak Djokovic beat Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev  6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 53 minutes to reach his ninth final in of the Australian Open. He will now face the winner of the second men's singles semi-final between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev. Through the tournament, Djokovic has spoken about the abdominal injury that has hampered his movement but the Serb looked his best so far in the tournament and played an incredibly consistent game to get this easy victory. Karatsev made history by becoming the

Porto scored in the first minute of each half to beat Juventus in their Champions League round of 16 first-leg tie. It was a crucial win for the hosts as Juventus have a lot to play for in the return leg in Turin. Mehdi Taremi scored after just 63 seconds in the tie to kick off the proceedings. Taremi pounced on Rodrigo Bentancur's poor back pass to slide in and convert the first. Juventus saw an Adrien Rabiot shot get saved after an

Erling Braut Haaland scored a brace for Borussia Dortmund as the Bundesliga side overcame Sevilla in their Champions League round of 16 first leg tie. Dortmund were trailing in the match 1-0 before Mahmoud Dahoud and Haaland helped them go 3-1 up. Howerver, Luuk de Jong scored late to keep Sevilla alive. Here we present the records broken. Sevilla took a lead with Suso's shot that deflected in off Mats Hummels. Dahoud leveled before Haaland got two goals in a space of 16

In the middle of the first set, sensing her peril, Serena Williams bent at the waist and screamed to herself. “Make a shot,” she yelled. “Make a shot.” If only it was that easy. Unlike most of her matches during her legendary, two-decade-plus career, the Australian Open semifinals wasn’t so much about what Serena could do, but what her opponent could do … only better. Williams’ latest quest for her 24th Grand Slam championship ran into the buzzsaw known as Naomi Osaka in

Many of the NBA's top players are expressing apprehension about accepting invitations to participate in league-sponsored public service announcements to bolster broader acceptance of the coronavirus vaccine, sources told. The NBA's outreach to the agents of many of the league's elite players -- with hopes of getting stars to participate in PSAs to promote the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine -- has been met with a tepid response, sources said. Player apprehensions about receiving the vaccine are consistent with those that also

Pep Guardiola has told his players not to look at Manchester City's forthcoming schedule but to embrace the 'beautiful challenge' after watching his side go 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League with a 3-1 win at Everton. Carlo Ancelotti's side did manage to lay a glove at least as Richarlison cancelled out Phil Foden's opener - only the second time in the last nine league games City have failed to keep a clean sheet - but there was no

Japan Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto emerged as a candidate to lead the Tokyo Olympics organising committee, public broadcaster NHK said on Wednesday, after ex-prime minister Yoshiro Mori resigned from the post over sexist remarks. Born days before Japan hosted the Summer Olympics in 1964, Hashimoto’s parents named her after the Olympic flame. She has lived up to that name by taking part in seven Olympics, both winter and summer Games and in two sports. A 56-year-old ruling party lawmaker, Hashimoto has served as

South African cricketing superstar AB de Villiers is celebrating his 37th birthday today and the veteran received wishes from the cricket fraternity on the occasion. KL Rahul, Gurkeerat Maan, Suresh Raina, Navdeep Saini, Harbhajan Singh and Washington Sundar were some of the Indians who have conveyed their wishes on Twitter. "Happy birthday legend aka Mr 360 and everyone's favourite @ABdeVilliers17 You make batting look so easy. Have a great day and thank you for inspiring us," read the message from Rahul. Raina wished

IPL 2021: Kings XI Punjab posted their last tweet from the social-media account on Twitter, hinting at a change in the franchise's name ahead of the IPL season as reported in the media earlier. Kings XI Punjab posted a tweet on Wednesday indicating that it will be the last tweet from their present account. "THIS IS OUR LAST TWEET! Thank you @Twitter and Sadde fans!" tweeted KXIP. Kings XI will reportedly change their name to Punjab Kings ahead of the upcoming IPL 2021

Timo Werner netted late in the first half at Stamford Bridge after setting up Olivier Giroud's opener for Thomas Tuchel's revitalised Chelsea team. Timo Werner ended his Premier League goal drought as the Chelsea forward sealed a 2-0 win against Newcastle that lifted the Blues into fourth place on Monday. Werner netted late in the first half at Stamford Bridge after setting up Olivier Giroud's opener for Thomas Tuchel's revitalised team. It was a cathartic moment for Werner, who had gone 14 league

Qatar’s two brand new 2022 FIFA World Cup venues – Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium and Education City Stadium – have been nominated for a global ‘Stadium of the Year 2020’ contest.  A Polish website StadiumDB.com, based on Stadiony.net, is conducting the global vote, details have shown. The website hosts the annual ‘Stadium of the Year’ competition, which managed to bring record interest and became the world’s largest public vote on stadiums opened every year. In ‘Popular Vote’, people can select their ’top five’

Tuesday's win over RB Leipzig was not only the ideal result for Liverpool after their recent problems, it was pretty much the perfect performance too. Jurgen Klopp's side looked organised and hungry in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, plus they played with such high intensity, and their pressing was really strong. After three successive Premier League defeats, it was like the old Liverpool was back - the team that has been so hard to stop in the past couple

BARCELONA: Barcelona's crushing 4-1 home defeat by Paris St Germain in their Champions League last-16 first leg at Camp Nou on Tuesday underlined the scale of the rebuild the club needs to get back to their former glory days, coach Ronald Koeman said. Barca were back in the knockout stage of Europe's elite club competition for the first time since an 8-2 hammering at the hands of Bayern Munich in last season's quarter-finals and started well with Lionel Messi's opener from the penalty

BARCELONA: Kylian Mbappe ripped Barcelona apart on Tuesday by scoring a stunning hat-trick in a 4-1 rout to put Paris Saint-Germain on the brink of the Champions League quarter-finals. Mbappe underlined his status as the rising superstar of world football with a ruthless display of finishing at Camp Nou that will go down as one this competition's most devastating individual performances.The 22-year-old eclipsed Barca's Lionel Messi, whose opening goal from the penalty spot had been reduced to nothing more than a footnote by

JOHANNESBURG: Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis on Wednesday announced his retirement from Test cricket to focus on the shorter formats with T20 being his priority.The 36-year-old made the announcement through a statement on his instagram page."It has been a year of refinement in the fire for us all. Uncertain were the times but they brought clarity for me in many aspects. My heart is clear and time is right to walk into a new chapter," du Plessis posted."It has been an

MELBOURNE: Daniil Medvedev came out on top of a brutal all-Russian clash Thursday against Andrey Rublev to move into his first Australian Open semi-final and inch closer to a maiden Grand Slam title. The fourth seed had more firepower than his younger, eighth-seeded rival in scorching conditions on Rod Laver Arena, grinding him down 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 to extend his win-streak to 19 matches. His reward is a last-four clash with either 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal or fifth-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas."I