Latest – New Zealand doubles player Erin Routliffe and her Polish partner Alicja Rosolska have lost a tight final at the WTA 500 tennis tournament in St Petersburg in Russia.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Routliffe and Rosolska have lost 3-5 6-7 (5) 10-4 to Russian Anna Kalinskaya and American Caty McNally in an hour and 39 minutes.
While Routliffe and Rosolska fought hard to level the match at a set all and force a match tiebreak, they dropped the first five points in the decider and couldn’t recover.
It’s the second defeat in a WTA 500 final for Routliffe who nevertheless is expected to climb to a career high of 39 in the WTA doubles rankings.
Routliffe and Rosolska will play next week’s WTA 1000 tournament in Doha next week after pulling out of this week’s tournament in Dubai.
Reds overcome Burnley
Brazilian Fabinho’s first-half goal earned Liverpool a 1-0 win at Burnley, as Juergen Klopp’s side closed the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester City to nine points.
Fabinho
Photo: Photosport
The hosts initially coped better with the awful Lancashire conditions, creating more chances than Liverpool, only for their wastefulness to prove costly as midfielder Fabinho bundled in what proved to be the winner five minutes before the break.
Victory moved Liverpool on to 54 points from 24 matches and if they win their game in hand on City the gap at the top would be just six points.
Burnley remain rooted to the bottom of the table.
Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier scored for the second successive game as Eddie Howe’s side earned a 1-0 win over Aston Villa at home to move 17th-placed Newcastle four points clear of the relegation zone.
Villa are six points ahead in 11th.
Tottenham Hotspur sank to a third successive Premier League defeat as they went down 2-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Wolves are now seventh and Spurs eighth.
-Reuters
England too strong for Italy
England got their Six Nations campaign back on track with a 33-0 bonus-point win in Italy, as Jamie George scored two tries and Ben Youngs equalled his country’s test cap record.
An opening loss to Scotland was a bad start for Eddie Jones’s World Cup runners-up, but they made short work of the ill-disciplined Azzurri, who suffered their 34th consecutive defeat in the competition.
Man of the match Marcus Smith scored his second try in two games and George crossed twice before the break, with Smith nailing all three conversions.
Elliot Daly sealed the bonus point with a try early in the second half and Kyle Sinckler added a late fifth. Youngs came on to equal Jason Leonard as EnglandG��s most capped menG��s player in his 114th test appearance.
The result lifted England into second place on six points, three behind leaders France and ahead of Ireland on points difference. Italy remained bottom of the standings.
-Reuters
Australia sneak home
Australia beat Sri Lanka in a Super Over in the second Twenty20 international in Sydney as Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka struck a brilliant 73 from 53 balls in vain.
Australia posted 164-6 and were cruising to victory until powerful hitting by Nissanka and captain Dasun Shanaka (34 from 19 balls) kept the touring side in the game and they finished level on 164-8.
In the tie-breaking Super Over, Australia’s Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell easily chased down the five-run target set by Sri Lanka to put their side 2-0 up in the five-match series.
Josh Hazlewood was the pick of Australia’s bowlers, taking 3-22 in addition to his miserly Super Over, capping a brilliant weekend for the 31-year-old after he was bought for $1 million in the Indian Premier League auction on Saturday.
Steve Smith suffered a concussion and will miss the rest of the series.
The series moves to Canberra for game three on Tuesday.
-Reuters
AC go top
AC Milan climbed to the top of the Serie A table with a 1-0 win over Sampdoria, when an early strike from in-form winger Rafael Leao proved decisive at San Siro.
Stefano Pioli’s side jumped ahead of Inter Milan and Napoli, who drew 1-1 in Naples on Saturday, to go top with 55 points.
It completed a superb week for Milan, in which they defeated rivals Inter in the Milan derby and hammered Lazio 4-0 in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals, leaving Inter one point behind with a game in hand and Napoli two points back in third place.
Milan knew that three points would send them top as they look for a first Serie A title since 2010-11.
-Reuters