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Tennis: Simona Halep (picture, right) marked herself out as a real contender for the French Open by beating Dominika Cibulkova to win the Madrid Open. The Romanian, beaten by Maria Sharapova in the final at Roland Garros two years ago, began the season ranked second in the world but has slipped to seventh after a poor run of form. However, Halep will be back in the top five today following her 6-2 6-4 win over Cibulkova in the final at the Caja Magica. The fifth seed certainly had a helping hand as the favourites fell away around her.
Swimming: Michael Phelps became a father last week when his fiancee Nicole Johnson gave birth to a boy. Three months before the Rio Olympics, where he hopes to add to his record haul of 18 gold medals, Phelps posted a photo of himself cradling the baby. “Welcome Boomer Robert Phelps into the world!!! Born 5-5-2016 at 7:21pm!!! Healthy and happy! Best feeling I have ever felt in my life!!!,” he wrote on Instagram. Phelps, 30, is training for the United States Olympic trials that will be held from June 26-July 3. He retired after the 2012 London Olympics, but announced a comeback less than two years later.
Athletics: Elaine Thompson clocked a sizzling wind-assisted 10.71 seconds to win the 100 metres at the Jamaica International last weekend, sending out a warning to her sprint rivals ahead of August’s Rio Olympics. The Jamaican got off to a blistering start with English Gardner before pulling away from her rival in the last 40 metres to win by 14 hundredths of a seconds. Gardner, of the US, was second in 10.85 with the fast-finishing Michelle-Lee Ahye, of Trinidad and Tobago, third in 10.98, both also aided by an illegal wind of +2.4 metres per seconds.
Basket, NBA: If the NBA’s 2015-16 campaign has revealed anything about coaching, it is that no job can be considered safe any more. Memphis Grizzlies dismissed coach Dave Joerger yesterday, a move which would have come as a surprise in any other season bar this one. Joerger, who had been with the franchise since becoming an assistant in 2007, enjoyed three winning seasons and recently pushed the Grizzlies to a third consecutive play-off appearance, despite serious injuries to key players. Those achievements were not enough, however, to secure his job.
Giro d’Italia: Marcel Kittel produced another blistering sprint finish to make it back-to-back stage victories at the Giro d’Italia and claim the leader’s pink jersey, yesterday. The German powerhouse left challengers trailing in his wake in the final stretch in Arnhem to win stage three ahead of Italians Elia Viviani (Team Sky) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo). Kittel’s victory, the 13th Grand Tour stage win of his career, and the accompanying 10-second time bonus, saw the Etixx-QuickStep rider move into first place in the overall classification ahead of Holland’s Tom Dumoulin, winner of Friday’s opening stage time-trial.