Archive August 31, 2025

US Open 2025

Dates: August 24 through September 7 in Flushing Meadows, New York

With a three-set victory over unseeded Americans Maxwell Exsted and Cooper Woestendick, British duo Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski advanced to the third round of the US Open men’s doubles.

After winning the French Open final earlier this year, the sixth seeds are pursuing their first major title together.

Salisbury defeated Skupski and Wesley Koolhof in a three-game men’s doubles match at Flushing Meadows in 2022, which included beating American Rajeev Ram and winning three of their previous titles there.

The British duo, who had won their first-round match in straight sets, did not have it all their own way on Sunday.

They won the first set 6-4, but they broke serve in the second game’s opening game to set up a decider.

In the second set, Exsted and Woestendick saved three of their own serves by converting three of their nine break points.

Marcus Willis, a Brit in another tournament, defeated Jackson Withrow and John Peers, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6, and 13-11, to claim his spot in round three.

Willis and Drzewiecki continued to hold their serve throughout the third set after winning the second set to prevent three break points early in the third.

After withrow and Peers scored three match points, Willis and Drzewiecki also lost a match point at 10-9 before turning the tables on their own, before winning at the second attempt.

However, Luke Johnson and Sander Arends, who were both Dutch, lost to Argentine duo Tomas Etcheverry and Camilo Ugo 7-5 7-6 (8-6), in round two.

Meanwhile, Sonay Kartal and Katie Boulter lost to Zhang Shuai and Ekatarina Alexandrova in three sets, ending British interest in the women’s doubles.

In the second game of the third set, the British pair saved two break points before the match went to a decider.

Due to uncertainty surrounding Nicolas Jackson’s future and Liam Delap’s injury, Chelsea are in talks to bring Marc Guiu back from his loan at Sunderland.

After Delap suffered a hamstring injury in the 2-0 win over Fulham on Saturday, the Blues made the decision to withdraw from the agreement, which also included a £56.2 million option to buy, after agreeing to have Jackson, 24, undergo a medical at Bayern Munich for an initial £13 million loan move.

Jackson was requested to travel back to London, but Bayern had the option to make a permanent deal change that way.

Conrad Harder, who had been identified as the main target by Sporting strikers, had already been in advanced discussions with German club RB Leipzig, and is still expected to step up as the replacement for the now-Manchester United striker Benjamin Sesko.

Harder, age 20, was given a less prominent role in the Chelsea squad than Leipzig.

Guiu, 19, is currently undergoing investigation and is expected to be reinstated from his Sunderland loan spell.

Guiu made two substitute starts for the Black Cats after moving to Chelsea from Barcelona for £5 million in 2024, scoring one goal in his first start.

Manager Enzo Maresca expressed concern that Delap would miss “six to eight weeks” in three different scenarios.

The first option was to recall Guiu, the second was to bring back Jackson, and the third was to sign Harder and sell Jackson at the same time.

Diomansy Kamara, Jackson’s long-term agent, has since said: “We are not going back. The plane doesn’t “go backwards.”

With transfer plans made more complicated by Delap’s injury and an already busy 24 hours planned, Jackson recall seems to be the most difficult of the three options.

On Monday, the transfer window closes at 19:00 BST, with Facundo Buonanotte expected to join on a season-long loan.

Prior to Delap’s injury, Chelsea made an offer on Saturday for Barcelona forward Fermin Lopez, but he appears unfit now that he has already played La Liga games away at Rayo Vallecano on Sunday evening.

US Open 2025

Dates: August 24 through September 7 in Flushing Meadows, New York

Jessica Pegula, an American, claims that working out in an escape room with friends helped her rediscover her form and begin a run to the US Open quarter-finals.

Fourth seed Pegula needed only 54 minutes to defeat a agitated Ann Li 6-1, 6-2, on Sunday to maintain her hopes of winning her first career Grand Slam.

In a thrilling encounter, she will face 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, who defeated home favorite Taylor Townsend 1-6 7-6 (15-13) 6-3 in the final match.

Pegula, 31, has had a difficult summer, with a humble first-round exit at Wimbledon and early-round exits at WTA competitions in Washington, Montreal, and Cincinnati.

After defeating compatriot Li, Pegula declared, “I felt terrible coming into this tournament, honestly.”

After a night out with friends, Pegula’s mood improved after leaving just before the US Open’s practice session with world number one Aryna Sabalenka.

We went to an escape room with my friends, and afterward, she said, “We realized I needed to stop being so irritable and overthinking all these behaviors.”

Pegula, who won the championship game at Flushing Meadows 12 months ago, looked much more capable on Sunday, breaking Li six times to claim the victory.

Pegula compared Li to Li, who she defeated in a much tighter match at the French Open back in May, saying, “I know when she’s serving well and has confidence she’s really dangerous.”

Despite having 58 aces in her first three matches and having 22 in her second, Li represented a potentially difficult opponent.

After winning the coin toss, the 25-year-old appeared confident, but Pegula quickly broke.

After making 10 unforced errors in the first set and winning just 8% of her second serves in the second set, Pegula appeared to have raised her game in response.

Pegula made a conscious effort to move to the net as well as always, even as she did on the baseline. In contrast, Li frequently avoided Pegula’s potent strokes in an effort to keep up.

“I felt really at ease moving in today and entering at the right times; it didn’t always feel that way,” Pegula said. “I wanted to carry that forward until the last game.

“It’s a component of my game that I can really use as a weapon. I occasionally get stuck at the back because of how well I perform there, but our coaches are pleased when I finish my overhead and volleys.

After missing the first two months of the season with a back injury, Krejcikova braved a stunning comeback against Townsend on Sunday, before admitting she wasn’t sure if she would ever play tennis again.

“What a match,” he said. After qualifying for her first US Open quarter-final since 2021, she said, “Just four months ago, I was off the court and I couldn’t play, I had pain in my back, and I didn’t know if I would ever be back.”

Few would have predicted that Krejcikova would turn things around after she defeated Jelena Ostapenko and fifth seed Mirra Andreeva to reach the last 16. Townsend is the world’s doubles world no. 1 but is 139th overall.

Before a marathon tie-break, Krejcikova’s way was swung in a second set riddled with errors, which required two breaks for each player.

Before maximizing her fourth set point, the Czech displayed remarkable mental fortitude to save eight match points.

Townsend started to appear subdued as a result of that fightback, but the American came out of a break to give Krejcikova a mental edge in the decisive set.

Complete in three pieces.

The Hundred features The Hundred’s Oval Invincibles. They have dominated over the men’s title for three years straight, in addition to that.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan’s opinion on BBC Two was “just too good once again.”

“They possess all the necessary skills.”

This side has been expertly built, with no weaknesses and many advantages, under the guidance of coach Tom Moody.

Although they lack some of the franchise cricket’s out-and-out star names, they still appear to be a match for any team, especially one that isn’t in the Indian Premier League.

They possess all the power, left-hand and right-hand combinations, and bat, according to Vaughan.

A core of players who have been together for a long time, which is unusual in franchise cricket, has been the key to their success.

More than 30 games have been played for the Invincibles by five players: Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Will Jacks, Sam Billings, and Nathan Sowter. Invincibles also have Jordan Cox, the year’s leading run-scorer, in 29 matches, while no other men’s Hundred side has more than three.

Every player now has a sense of their role.

A batter like Donovan Ferreira can relax knowing that he has a good chance of not having many balls to hit and that the job is straightforward: hitting sixes.

This summer, the South African’s 235.06 strike rate, which he scored from just 77 balls, earned him a tournament-high 231.06 in the process.

Ferreira is an excellent choice to fill a particular role, but the Invincibles have shown a willingness to go out and seek the very best for some positions.

In recent years, Sunil Narine and Adam Zampa have received significant funding from Leg-spin before Rashid Khan took over the majority of the group stage this summer. They only flew in from Australia for this year’s final.

In 2025, they bowled 270 balls of leg-spin, or 110 more than anyone else, earning them a total of 22 wickets, 16.31, with unsung hero Sowter serving as the side’s second leggie.

After Spencer Johnson’s two previous stints in 2018, Sam Curran and Jason Behrendorff have both contributed to the Invincibles’ 33 powerplay wickets since 2023. All three have contributed to the team’s varied attack.

They also took a wicket every 7.3 deliveries, which was comfortably the best of any side prior to the final, having not only had the second lowest runs-per-ball conceded at the death in the previous three years, but they also had the second-lowest runs-per-ball conceded at the death.

With 102 sixes in the final 25 balls of an innings since The Hundred’s inception, they typically explode late in their innings. This is a rare exception in the final against Trent Rockets this year.

However, some qualities of a great team cannot be quantified by statistics.

All year long, the grit and resolve to fight for every ball have been present.

Opening pitcher Tawanda Muyeye’s statement earlier this week that playing for the Invincibles “feels like playing for the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s” was a reflection of the squad’s talent.

The Invincibles have tried to get themselves moving by imagining they have been let down by opponents at times this season, which has also been a bit like Michael Jordan.

Despite the fact that the game was almost won, Tom Curran called Birmingham Phoenix’s Liam Livingstone, a long-time friend of his, a “fat slob,” while a number of Invincibles players, including Ferreira, were only too happy to engage in a fiery verbal exchange with London Spirit’s Jamie Overton recently.

It’s a team that’s willing to battle and seek out each other. They find it enjoyable. And it has led to three straight titles.

New owners and fresh ideas are brought into The Hundred as a result of new investment, with shareholders taking over the company’s operations starting October 1st.

According to reports, this could be the 100-ball format’s final year, with the 2026 edition becoming a T20 competition to compete against other franchise leagues around the world.

The broadcast agreement between Sky and the England and Wales Cricket Board expires at the end of the 2028-year season, but the tournament may experience a reboot before then, which might include the squads.

Saqib Mahmood, the fast bowler for the Invincibles, told BBC Two, “With what is going on next year, there has been discussion in the group that it might be our last game playing against each other.”

“It’s special to win it with this group, knowing what will happen.”

This could be the end of this Invincibles side, with talk of a new auction system to replace the draft and teams only being able to retain a certain number of players.

The changes will not only affect them, but also their team.

The suggestion is that only one overseas player will be retained by the sides, which would mean Northern Superchargers, the reigning champions of women’s football, would have to choose between, for instance, Annabel Sutherland and Phoebe Litchfield.

How will young Invincibles fans react if their team struggles after having a formidable side torn apart next year? The goal is to create a more level playing field.