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With a 6-1 victory over Wu Yize, Neil Robertson advanced to the finals of the York UK Championship.

Wu of China had already broken the opening frame with a score of 62, but as the Australians came in, things largely went one-way.

Robertson, 43, who has previously won the UK title three times, drew breaks of 51, 65, 75, and 68 as he reeled off the next five frames.

Robertson came from 48 points back to take the seventh frame after Wu, who won the International Championship last month, had no response.

Pang Junxu, who defeated Mark Williams 6-3, will now face Robertson.

Pang, who had only met the Welshman in his previous meeting before losing 6-1, received a standing ovation after completing his victory with a superb break of 116.

The 25-year-old Chinese won the next three frames after the players traded the opening two frames.

Williams, who had two centuries, unintentionally knocked in a red while potting the pink to give his opponent the lead in the subsequent frame, and was then punished for missing a long red in the ninth frame.

“I played pretty poorly,” I said. I either play well or I’m terrible, Williams said. That’s how it is now.

Robertson has appeared revived in recent years despite initially falling to 28th in the world in 2023 and 2024 after a terrible run of form.

He is currently at the top of the snooker one-year list for prize money, having previously won the lucrative Saudi Arabia Masters earlier this year, and he is now third overall in the world rankings.

Robertson claims that tighter pockets have fostered a fairer test and are more in line with his first ten years as a professional despite the complaints of several players regarding table conditions.

Robertson said on BBC Two, “I believe there have been much more events with much bigger pockets over the past ten years.”

You have a group of players who are great even in those pockets and a group who aren’t great in those pockets, according to the statement. Many of the mistakes I saw in my first ten years as a professional have now come to mind.

There are too many matches where three or four people go through the same level of quality, you wonder.

They maintain honesty among everyone. Many professionals will be relaxing at home and saying, “Thanks Neil for speaking up.” Players have been discussing this issue in the video game, especially in China, where players are reporting inflated results.

Linsey Smith of Hampshire is one of 17 players to have signed full England women’s central contracts between 2025 and 2026.

Smith, 30, has played in 34 one-day and T20 internationals for England, earning her first central contract.

Em Arlott and Emma Lamb, both of whom have two years of experience, have received their first contracts.

England’s women have decided not to extend any of their players’ two-year contracts, a change from last year and their male counterparts have.

Ten players have signed new one-year contracts, and seven others are extending their current terms.

Bowler Kate Cross, 34, made the announcement in September that she would lose her entire deal and that she would be the only player to do so.

Cross had “years of extraordinary service” to the women’s game, according to Clare Connor, managing director of England women, and that “none domestic cricket player ever has their door wide open.”

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has a skill contract, which effectively places them between a domestic contract and a central contract, to manage the workload and development of those players.

The T20 World Cup will be held in England after South Africa defeated them 125 runs in the semi-finals in October.

The awarding of these contracts, according to Connor, “reflects our confidence in this group of players with our collective focus firmly on winning the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup on home soil next summer,” he said.

Tammy Beaumont (The Blaze), Maia Bouchier (Hampshire), Alice Capsey (Surrey), Lauren Filer (Durham), Mahika Gaur (Lancashire), Danielle Gibson (Somerset), Sarah Glenn (Yorkshire), Freya Kemp (Hampshire), and Linsey Smith (Hampshire) have all signed new one-year contracts.

Analysis – Matthew Henry, a journalist for BBC Sport

This appears to be a predictable announcement, on the surface. The difficult decision to leave Cross was already known, but everything is still yours.

However, it’s interesting that no England player will be signed on a multi-year deal.

The women’s game was last year praised for its two-year contracts as a last-ditch effort to combat the growing threat of franchise cricket.

The younger generation could have benefited from contracts held by companies like Sciver-Brunt, Knight, Ecclestone, Jones, and Wyatt-Hodge, which were both held by older people. No offers of this nature were made.

This is in part due to a generation’s career transition in the last stages. Why offer a player a multi-year contract if they could leave after the T20 World Cup in their home country next summer?

The 2029 Women’s European Championship will be held in Germany, according to Uefa.

Aleksander Ceferin, president of the body’s executive committee, claimed that Germany’s offer was ahead of Poland’s and Denmark’s and Sweden’s joint offers.

Before he took Germany’s name out of the envelope, Ceferin, who was speaking at a meeting of Uefa’s executive committee in Nyon, Switzerland, declared it was heartbreaking that any of the three bids should have lost.

16 national teams will compete in the summer competition, which will take place in Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Leipzig, Munich, and Wolfsburg, as well as eight other cities.

Portugal and Italy both submitted dossiers to host the event, but they withdrew to pursuing co-hosting the men’s Euro 2032 and 2030 World Cup.

In the end, Germany won, receiving 15 votes from the committee, with Poland receiving none and Denmark and Sweden receiving two.

Germany, which has hosted the 2029 finals for the third time, will host the event after eight-time champions.

They won both times, both as West Germany in 1989 and in 2001.

It involved a lengthy journey. The German football association’s president, Bernd Neuendorf, stated that there are so many people working at DFB to host this tournament.

“We felt this support throughout the campaign thanks to all who supported us.”

England defeated Spain on penalties in the final to retain their trophy at Euro 2025 in Switzerland.