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Defending champion Luke Littler maintained his hopes of becoming world number one with a dominant win against Wessel Nijman in the last 16 of the Grand Slam of Darts, as Michael van Gerwen was knocked out.

Littler, who would usurp Luke Humphries at the top of the rankings if he reaches the final in Wolverhampton, raced into a 5-0 lead before his Dutch opponent got on the scoreboard.

Nijman reduced his deficit to 6-3 but, after missing three darts at a double to move two legs behind, found himself 7-3 down.

World champion Littler went on to win 10-4, finishing with an average of 105.38, and will play Josh Rock in the quarter-finals.

Three-time champion Van Gerwen faced fellow Dutchman Danny Noppert and both finished with 170 checkouts in the first and third legs respectively in a fast start.

Van Gerwen was doing the chasing for most of the match and kept himself within range before his compatriot took three legs in a row to move 9-5 in front before winning 10-6.

Rock, who won the World Cup of Darts for Northern Ireland along with Daryl Gurney in June, held off Connor Scutt to earn a narrow 10-9 victory.

Rock held leads of 3-0 and 8-5 but Scutt battled back to force a decider, which the Irishman – with the throw – took to progress into the last eight.

Lukas Wenig 10-8 Niko Springer

Josh Rock 10-9 Connor Scutt

Luke Littler 10-4 Wessel Nijman

Neil Robertson claimed a hard-fought 6-4 victory over John Higgins to reach the semi-finals of the Champion of Champions in Leicester.

Australia’s Robertson knocked in breaks of 83 and 127, while Scotland’s Higgins replied with runs of 91 and 81 as the first four frames were shared.

However, breaks of 115 and 64 handed 43-year-old Robertson a 4-2 lead and he also took the eighth frame, either side of breaks of 86 and 79 from four-time world champion Higgins.

And an excellent long red in the 10th laid the platform for Robertson to seal his win on the black with a well-crafted 63.

His reward for defeating Higgins is a meeting with another four-time Crucible winner, home favourite Mark Selby, in the last four on Saturday.

Robertson had earlier beaten Englishman Tom Ford 4-1, while Higgins came from behind to win 4-3 against Xiao Guodong.

Kai Trump shot a 13-over-par round on her LPGA debut as she ended the first day of the Annika tournament in last place.

The 18-year-old amateur, who is the granddaughter of US President Donald Trump, hit two double bogeys and nine bogeys in her opening round in Florida.

She has played only three events this year and is ranked number 461 in the American Junior Golf Association rankings.

Trump received a sponsor’s exemption to play at the Annika but ended the first day four shots behind her closest competitor and 19 off the lead, held by South Korea’s Haeran Ryu on six under.

The LPGA said her “broad following and reach are helping introduce golf to new audiences, especially among younger fans”.

Trump has more than six million followers on social media and recently launched her own apparel and lifestyle brand.

Major League Soccer has voted to change its competition schedule to align with other top leagues from the summer of 2027.

The MLS season currently operates from February to December and the switch to a summer-to-spring format marks one of the most significant developments since the North American competition’s formation in 1995.

The decision follows a two-year review process and the MLS believes the shift in calendar will help its clubs operate more effectively across global transfer windows.

“The calendar shift is one of the most important decisions in our history,” said MLS commissioner Don Garber.

“Aligning our schedule with the world’s top leagues will strengthen our clubs’ global competitiveness, create better opportunities in the transfer market, and ensure our Audi MLS Cup Playoffs take centre stage without interruption.

“It marks the start of a new era for our league and for soccer in North America.”

Mauricio Pochettino, the head coach of the United States, added: “This is a great step forward for MLS to be on par with the top leagues in the world.

“The ability to align with the international calendar will have a huge positive impact for the players, coaches and clubs.”

The alteration is also designed to reduce clashes with international fixtures and summer tournaments, with the end-of-season play-offs moving to May when the US domestic sports calendar is less crowded and the weather is milder.

In addition to a new calendar, league owners also voted to update the regular season format to a single-table competition and said research showed that 92% of fans were in favour of the move.

Plans are also in place for the competition to observe a winter break from mid-December into February, with no league matches scheduled during January.

The MLS say that it is working with the MLS Players Association to finalise an agreement on a transition plan and will continue to review potential adjustments to its play-offs.

The league proposes to stage a transition season from February to May 2027 that features a 14-game regular season, play-offs, and the MLS Cup.

There are currently 30 clubs in the MLS – a far cry from its inception when just 10 competed during the first season in 1996.

Yet this term has provided another snapshot of why the league wanted to take yet another step in a long period of evolution.

While the league’s play-offs are currently under way, they are battling for attention with the NFL and US college football seasons.

The debate around the MLS calendar has raged for years.

The current structure avoids teams having to play in the depths of winter – which would be impossible in the northern US states and Canada.

Crucially, it also limited clashes with the major American sports leagues – the NFL, NBA and NHL – with whom teams often shared stadiums (in the case of the NFL) and might be competing with for TV income.

However, the clear drawback is that the league has to continue during the summer when international matches and tournaments take place – there will be a point next year when the USA and Canada are hosting World Cup and MLS matches, with a consequent weakening of teams and a likely lessening of interest in domestic matches.

Most MLS sides now have their own soccer-specific stadiums and the competition has its own niche on the US sporting map so the main reasons for a summer league no longer exist.

The clock is ticking on whether Anthony Joshua is going to fight Jake Paul in December.

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn told BBC Sport on Thursday there is a tight deadline on talks, with MVP promotions aiming to announce Paul’s next opponent on Monday.

Hearn has already played down reports a deal is close and says Paul is in talks with other potential opponents.

Joshua, 36, is still aiming for the biggest fights in the heavyweight division and Hearn says he hopes to finalise a bout with Tyson Fury for 2026.

He has also been mulling a partnership with current champion Oleksandr Usyk’s training team, having twice lost to the Ukrainian in 2021 and 2022.

So does what appears to be a money-making tune-up fight against Paul undermine how seriously he will be taken in future?

“Is it a bit of a circus? Yeah, absolutely”, says former WBA lightweight champion Anthony Crolla. “I think it’s an insane situation, and I’ll believe it when I see it.

“It would be a very dangerous fight. If there were some kind of injuries inflicted on Jake Paul, then there would be a lot of people who would have to answer big questions.

“Anybody who knows boxing can’t allow this to be built up like it’s a serious fight. I think it’s crazy, but will I watch it? Probably, out of curiosity.”

Whether knockouts would be permitted is unclear – the fight would have to be arranged as an exhibition, unless sanctioned as a professional fight by a local commission.

Last year, Texas approved Paul’s fight with former world champion Mike Tyson, who was 58 at the time, as a pro fight but with “certain waivers”.

That contest was only eight, two-minute rounds and 14oz gloves were worn, rather than 10oz.

“I don’t think it’s going to damage his career or tarnish his legacy,” says 2008 Olympic bronze medallist David Price.

“People aren’t going to remember Anthony Joshua for knocking out Jake Paul – George Foreman and Muhammad Ali fought fad events and journeymen, and nobody talks about that anymore.”

A bout between the two, which according to reports would likely be on Netflix, would earn Joshua tens of millions of pounds and represent one of the biggest paydays of his illustrious career.

Paul’s fight with Tyson last July garnered 108 million viewers on the platform, with the YouTuber taking home a reported £31m and Tyson’s purse around half of that.

“There’s nothing really happening in the heavyweight division right now – it has stagnated,” Price added.

“Joshua is in a bit of a limbo position, where he doesn’t want to stoop down to fight an up-and-coming British heavyweight because that has no upside for him.

“So if he is going to drop his level, why not do it against someone who he’ll get a massive fee for knocking out without any risk?

Influencer boxing matches began to garner high viewership with KSI’s first boxing fight against Joe Weller in 2018 and have become more common over time, with fighters boasting lofty reputations increasingly willing to be involved because of the money on offer.

At the same time, boxing’s reputation has taken a hit because of difficulties arranging fights at the highest level and the influx of money from Saudi Arabia, which has become a prominent player in the professional arena.

Some believe that influencer fights attract new fans and are helping safeguard the future of the sport, while others argue they render it a laughing stock.

“Jake Paul has done a lot of good for boxing, especially women’s boxing,” Crolla says. “He is putting on some big nights and bringing new people into the sport.

“I worked the fight he had with Tommy Fury and so many young kids were coming up to me saying ‘you were at the fight!’, and they didn’t even recognise me from my own career.”

But the benefits of big names like Paul taking to the ring come at the cost of heritage and history.

“It does make a mockery of the sport,” Price concedes. “I watched Rod Stewart’s son get knocked out the other day – these things do turn it into a joke.

“The sport has got this far without things like that going on, so I don’t think it’s needed for boxing to survive.

“But the fact there is a tiny percentage chance an influencer is going to knock somebody out is what makes lots of these people tune in. It’s a new generation of fight fans and, like it or loathe it, views matter.