Tennis Doubles: Top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci (picture), of Italy, produced a great escape yesterday as they beat Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4 3-6 7-5 to retain the Australian Open women’s doubles title. The Russian third seeds led 5-2 in the decider before Errani and Vinci roared back to clinch their fourth grand slam title and retain their world number one ranking.
Canoeing: History-making British Olympian Tim Baillie has decided to retire from canoeing. Baillie won a first gold medal for Team GB in canoe slalom with C2 partner Etienne Stott at the London Games. The pair enjoyed one of sport’s longest running partnerships, spanning nine seasons, with gold in 2012 the pinnacle. Baillie, 34, said: “Retiring has been a difficult decision which I’ve agonised over for a long time. I still love canoeing but I’ve realised that I no longer have the underlying desire required to commit all of my time to the singular pursuit of canoe slalom excellence.”
Cycling: Andre Greipel won his 15th career Tour Down Under stage as he burst to victory in a bunch sprint over the final 600 metres of stage four, yesterday. It was a one-two for Lotto Belisol with the German sprinter crossing the line in three hours, 33 minutes and seven seconds, just ahead of Belgian team-mate Jurgen Roelandts, as they led a 55-man peloton over the finish line at Victoria Harbour. Australia’s Cadel Evans (BMC) retained his 12-second general classification lead over compatriot Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE).
Cricket: England finally beat Australia on their troubled tour Down Under, with a 57-run win in the fourth one-day international in Perth, yesterday. After Alastair Cook revealed he was “desperate” to remain as captain before play, his side delivered a much-welcomed success which also ensured a record-equalling 10th con-secutive loss was avoided. Australia had inflicted all nine defeats in that run – dating back to last summer and including the Ashes whitewash – and had not lost to England at the WACA Ground in any format since New Year’s Day 1987. Man-of-the-match Ben Stokes led the way with 70 and four wickets for 39 runs on the same ground he hit his maiden century earlier in the tour.
Basketball: Six-time Euroleague champions CSKA Moscow snapped Real Madrid’s 31-game winning streak in all competitions by beating the Spanish side 85-71 in an entertaining clash between two of the continent’s heavyweights. The result left CSKA with a 3-1 record in Group F of Europe’s premier club competition, level with eight-time winners Real and behind Maccabi Tel Aviv, who have four wins out of four after strolling to an 88-67 home victory over 1992 champions Partizan Belgrade. Real won all 10 games in the Euroleague’s preliminary group stage as well as their opening three in the Top 16, the second phase featuring two pools of eight teams.
Rugby Union: Ireland back Keith Earls is likely to miss the entire Six Nations after being ruled out for six to eight weeks through injury, his club said. A statement on the Munster website said the player had suffered medial ligament damage to his left knee during Sunday’s Heineken Cup game against Edinburgh. The 26-year-old underwent a scan this week before meeting a specialist in Dublin where the injury prognosis was confirmed. Ireland begin their Six Nations campaign against Scotland on February 2 and finish with a game in France on March 15.