Tennis: Angelique Kerber (picture, right) was forced to dig deep in her WTA Finals opener before the German world number one battled past Dominika Cibulkova 7-6 2-6 6-3 in a high-class baseline slugfest at the Singapore Indoor Stadium yesterday. Earlier, Simona Halep got her campaign off to a perfect start when the Romanian world number four dominated an erratic Madison Keys to kick off round-robin play in the elite eight-woman, season-ending event with a 6-2 6-4 victory. Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska opens her campaign against Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova today.
Cricket: England need two more wickets on the final day to keep their all-winning record in tests against Bangladesh intact with the hosts 33 runs away from a famous victory in the closely-contested opening test at Chittagong. Chasing 286 for their first win in nine tests against England, Bangladesh reached 253 for eight when bad light ended play on the fourth day yesterday. Debutant Sabbir Rahman (59) and Taijul Islam (11) were at the crease. England batted for some 20 minutes in the morning, adding 12 runs to their overnight second-innings total of 228 for nine before they were bundled out for 240.
Rugby Union: Australia flanker Dean Mumm has been cited for striking following the Wallabies’ 37-10 defeat to New Zealand in the third Bledisloe Cup match in Auckland on Saturday. The incident at Eden Park was missed by referee Nigel Owens but the match-citing commissioner deemed it had met the red card threshold for foul play. The All Blacks were already assured of retaining the Bledisloe Cup and with Saturday’s victory became the first top-tier side to win 18 consecutive tests.
Baseball: Jubilant fans of Chicago Cubs erupted in celebration on Saturday when the side clinched a berth in this year’s World Series, pumped up by the dizzying prospect that their team could win Major League Baseball’s top prize for the first time since 1908. Chicago’s North Side turned into a roving street party as thousands of people wearing “Cubbie” blue spilled out of Wrigley Field after witnessing the team vanquish Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0. The Cubs face Cleveland Indians as the final opens tomorrow.
Cycling: Katie Archibald won her second title with omnium gold at the European Track Championships in Paris, last weekend. Twenty-four hours after claiming a third consecutive individual pursuit victory, the Scot – part of Britain’s gold medal-winning team pursuit quartet at the Olympics in Rio – triumphed in the new-look omnium with a strong showing in all four disciplines, staying clear as Dutch rider Kirsten Wild beat Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky for second place.