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Snooker: Barry Hawkins (picture) crushed Liang Wenbo 6-1 to reach the Ladbrokes World Grand Prix final in Preston. The Hawk is already accustomed to lifting ranking silverware at the historic Guild Hall venue. He won the Players Championship Grand Final in 2014, where he thrashed Gerard Greene 4-0. That week he won a first prize of £100,000, which matches the total he would receive for victory this week. The win guarantees Hawkins a place in the top 16 on this season’s money list and therefore a place in the Players Championship. Hawkins will play either Marco Fu or Ryan Day in today’s final.
Golf: Englishman Danny Willett moved into position to claim a first title since his dramatic US Masters win last April after the Briton forged a three-stroke lead going into today’s final round at the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur. The 29-year-old has struggled to replicate the play that led him to a first major triumph at Augusta National but Willett has shone this week at the Saujana Golf and Country Club and a five-under-par third round 67 took him to 16-under yesterday. Willett sits three clear of American David Lipsky and four ahead of Frenchman Alexander Levy.
Basketball, NBA: The Golden State Warriors dished out some revenge to the Memphis Grizzlies as they claimed a 122-107 victory in the NBA. The Grizzlies had beaten the Warriors on their two previous meetings this season, but Klay Thompson’s 36 points inspired the win for his team. Anthony Davis got the better of fellow Kentucky Wildcats old boy Karl-Anthony Towns in a hotly-anticipated match-up as the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 112-106.
Tennis: Richard Gasquet will face Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the final of the Sud de France Open in Montpellier after beating fellow Frenchman Benoit Paire yesterday. The 30-year-old has reached the final of the tournament for the fourth time and it took 68 minutes for Gasquet, who won 6-2 6-2. Zverev booked his place after beating home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7(8/6) 6-2 6-4 to reach his fourth career ATP World Tour final.
Rallying: Finn Jari-Matti Latvala leads the Rally Sweden for Toyota Gazoo Racing following yesterday third day of action in the snow. The 31-year-old, whose first World Rally Championship victory came in this event in 2008, finished fifth in the final stage of the day – the 1.9km Super Special Stage Karlstad – to move top of the weekend’s standings with a time of two hours, four minutes and 59.3 seconds. Estonia’s Ott Tanak celebrated wins in the four opening stages of the day in his Ford Fiesta and edged past overnight leader Thierry Neuville (Hyundai Motorsport) before stage 12 was cancelled “due to safety reasons after analysing the average speeds on SS9 and on recommendations from the FIA”.