Archive August 9, 2025

Raducanu wins first match with new coach Roig

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Emma Raducanu brushed aside Olga Danilovic at the Cincinnati Open to make a confident start with her new coach.

The British number one has added Rafael Nadal’s former coach Francis Roig to her team on a full-time basis as she prepares for the upcoming US Open.

And the surprise 2021 champion in New York cruised to a 6-3 6-2 win in her first match since the Spaniard came aboard.

Danilovic beat British number three Katie Boulter in the first round while Raducanu had a bye, and the Serbian number one broke Raducanu to love in the first game of Saturday’s match.

After four breaks of serve between the pair in the opening five games, Raducanu came from 30-0 down to grab another and make it 5-3.

The 22-year-old won seven points in a row to bring up three set points and took the first with an ace.

In the second set, Raducanu drew errors from her 24-year-old opponent and eventually earned a break for 3-2.

From that point the world number 39, ranked four spots higher than Danilovic, did not drop another game as she booked her spot in the third round in Ohio.

Raducanu is playing in the WTA 1,000 event for the first time since 2022 and could next face world number one Aryna Sabalenka, against whom she suffered a narrow Wimbledon defeat last month.

Earlier, Poland’s Iga Swiatek eased through to the last 32 as the Wimbledon champion claimed a 6-1 6-4 win over Russian Anastasia Potapova.

Tennis coach Francis Roig speaking to Emma Raducanu after a training session at the Cincinnati OpenGetty Images

Sinner wins first match since Wimbledon title

In Cincinnati’s ATP draw, Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galan proved no match for Italy’s world number one Jannik Sinner who won through 6-1 6-1 in his first match since claiming his maiden Wimbledon title.

However, eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti from Italy was bounced out by Benjamin Bonzi, with the Frenchman, ranked 63rd in the world, fighting back to win 5-7 6-4 7-6 (7-4).

Another Frenchman regrouped to pull off an upset as 70th-ranked Arthur Rinderknech beat Norway’s Casper Ruud, the 11th seed, 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-2.

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Salah criticises UEFA tribute to ‘Palestinian Pele’

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has criticised the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)’s tribute to the late Suleiman Al-Obeid, known as the “Palestinian Pele,” after European football’s governing body failed to reference the circumstances surrounding his death this week.

The Palestine Football Association said that Al-Obeid, 41, was killed by an Israeli attack on civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

In a brief post on the social media platform X, UEFA called the former national team member “a talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times”.

Salah responded: “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?”

UEFA was not immediately available to comment when contacted by the Reuters news agency.

One of the Premier League’s biggest stars, the 33-year-old Egyptian, Salah, has previously advocated for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza during the nearly two-year-long war.

‘No quick fix’ as Martin faces familiar Rangers problems

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New ownership, a new head coach, nearly a full team of new players, but the man charged with improving fortunes on the pitch has been left insisting there is “no quick fix” after familiar failings reappeared to blight Rangers at the start of the new season.

Russell Martin’s rebuilt side remain unbeaten in five games under the former Southampton boss.

But two of those have been draws in their opening matches in the Scottish Premiership – something the former Rangers defender knows is not good enough for a side expecting to challenge reigning champions Celtic for the title.

Lauded for their 3-0 win over Viktoria Plzen in Champions League qualifying on Tuesday, the same Rangers players were booed off after escaping defeat thanks to a late penalty against a Dundee side many expected to be lambs to the slaughter.

‘I should’ve made some changes’

Having finished 15 points adrift of their city rivals last season, Rangers are already a one behind Celtic before Brendan Rodgers’ side play their game in hand in Aberdeen on Sunday.

If Rangers get through their Euro tie after Tuesday’s second leg against Plzen, they will postpone the league match against St Mirren on 24 August to prepare for the play-off tie, which means they could be seven behind by the time Celtic visit Ibrox the following week.

They could have been even worse off. It can be argued they were fortunate to escape Motherwell with a point last weekend, while Rangers had to play the final half hour against Dundee with 10 men before captain James Tavernier came off the bench to rescue another with his late spot kick.

A “disappointed” Martin admitted: “There was just general lethargy and no speed in the first half.”

After last week’s draw at Fir Park, Martin had questioned the mentality of some of his players, complaining that some “have to drop their ego”, and was delighted with the reaction against Plzen.

This time, he was “pleased with the response of the team when we went down to 10 men and we could’ve won the game in the end, but the mentality has to come from the very first kick of the match”.

Martin accepted some of the blame, admitting: “In hindsight, I should’ve made some changes to inject that energy in the team, but I explained my decision before the game and maybe I could’ve changed that now the game is finished.

“We’re learning about the group all the time, so that’s a lesson learnt today.”

BBC pundit and former Rangers striker Steven Thompson described them as “Jekyll and Hyde” but pointed out that the same happened under the previous two team bosses – Philippe Clement and Barry Ferguson – last season.

‘Maybe not so quickly as everyone wants’

Rangers manager Russell MartinSNS

Saturday’s draw was particularly galling to Rangers fans considering Dundee arrived with a poor start to their season heaping pressure on their new head coach, former Rangers defender Steven Pressley.

Dundee, who managed just two attempts on goal in their opening Premiership defeat at home to Hibernian, had not beaten Rangers in their previous 17 meetings and had lost their latest 19 visits to Ibrox.

The passing style being adopted under Martin meant centre-half John Souttar attempted 131 passes in this game, the highest of any player in the opening two weekends, the team overall attempted 709, again the highest of any team, and their 20 goal attempts were highest too.

Yet they still relied on a penalty to rescue a draw and have now failed to win both of their opening two league matches for the first time since 1989.

Martin could understand the reaction of the home support.

“The fans have lacked the success they want for quite some time, so I understand the frustration,” he said. “I didn’t get too high on Tuesday, so we’re not going to get too low today.

“We are at a point now at this club where something needed to change.

“The ownership has changed, there’s a new coaching staff, there’s new players, there’s hopefully a new way of behaving in the training ground – properly, every single day, regarding standards and what’s expected at this football club. So it’s not a quick fix and this is not me coming out and making excuses.

“I think we change the manager from year to year and nothing really changes.

More egos or fewer?

Former Rangers striker and assistant boss Billy Dodds told BBC Radio Scotland’s Sportsound: “Russell Martin wants the players to put their egos to bed and concentrate on the football.

“But I think they need more egos at the club because egos come with top players.

“It took a man being sent off to get them going, but they deserved that draw in the end because they kept going at it.”

Like last season, Rangers found it difficult to break down a team domestically who sat back to defend their penalty box at Ibrox – and Thompson gave credit to Pressley.

“He has had a lot of stick in the early part of the season, but he got his tactics spot on,” he said.

Right-back Tavernier and midfielder Nicolas Raskin were two of four players dropped in midweek and were again on the bench against Dundee.

However, Tavernier came on to prove his goalscoring worth once more, while Martin admitted that “Raskin was great when he game on. He tackled more than the whole team”.

Meanwhile, centre-half Nasser Djiga is now in line to miss the Old Firm derby through suspension after his last-man red card against Dundee.

It leaves Martin with questions over his personnel as matches come thick and fast.

Former Rangers forward Gordon Smith pointed out that Rangers were better when down to 10 men and were unfortunate that Cyriel Dessers was denied a late winner for offside.

However, he was left pondering: “How can they put that kind of performance in Europe and not in the league?”

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Justin Bieber worries fans as he poses in see-through pants in latest post

Justin Bieber sparked a flurry of comments from his fans after he shared a series of pictures of himself posing in wet Calvin Kleins on a day out at a lake with friends

Justin Bieber looked happy as he posed in his wet pants(Image: Instagram/ @lilbieber)

Justin Bieber sparked concerns from his fans after he shared a series of images on social media wearing just his underwear.

Justin, 31, appeared to have emerged dripping wet from a lake wearing a pair of white Calvin Klein boxer shorts that had turned see-through as he laughed in the pictures with his hand covering his modesty. He wore a pair of chunky ankle boots on his feet and a gold chain around his neck while walking towards the camera.

Justin – who was seen stepping out on a date night with wife Hailey on Friday – displayed his heavily tattooed body in the snaps which also included images of him floating in an inflatable ring while smoking, as a friend passed him a drink balanced precariously on an oar. Justin looked like he didn’t have a care in the world in the snaps, but his fans were not so delighted with his scantily clad display.

Taking to the comments section on Instagram to air their concerns one fan wrote: “Hailey come get your husband.” A second said: “Pretty impressed with how the beers being passed over tbh.”

Justin Bieber
Justin appeared to have been swimming in a lake(Image: Instagram/ @lilbieber)

A third commenter shared: “What is he doing ? He is a married father acting like a teenager on a camping trip with his high school friends.” A fourth social media user commented: “Justin it’s not clocking to you you’re a dad is it?”

A fifth quipped: “Justin. My gf is on this app.” The outing comes after Justin posted on social media to admit that he is a selfish person after he and Hailey recently put on a united front.

He shared a series of images of himself and wrote, “Let’s have a good day, let’s go outside. Get in nature. Thanking Jesus for his patience with me this morning. I can be extremely selfish and impatient yet Jesus always has his arms open toward me.”

Justin recently appeared to admit to having struggles behind-the-scenes with his wife Hailey Bieber on his new album Swag. In the track Walking Away he sings, “Girl, we better stop before we say some s— / We’ve been testing our patience / I think we better off if we just take a break / And remember what grace is.”

Justin Bieber
The singer was seen joking around with friends in his post(Image: Instagram/ @lilbieber)

He continues, “Baby, I ain’t walking away. You were my diamond / Gave you a ring / I made you a promise. I told you, ‘I’d change’ / It’s just human nature / These growing pains / And baby, I ain’t walking away.”

After he has regularly been seen struggling with attention from photographers recently a source told Page Six last month that Justin “doesn’t particularly handle [fame] well.”

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They continued, “Imagine being 14 and famous and people either love you for no reason just because you’re who you are, or they hate you? There’s not a lot of in between. A lot of people wouldn’t deal well with that to begin with. It breaks a lot of people. I’m concerned about him.”

A second source told the publication that Justin “still has underlying issues.”

Rylan Clark treats mum to a sunny Marbella holiday after hospital dash

This Morning presenter Rylan Clark took his mother, Linda, and a few other family members on a sunny holiday to Marbella, Spain, after Linda’s recent hospital dash

Rylan Clark treats mum to a sunny Marbella holiday after hospital dash(Image: Instagram)

Rylan Clark escaped the chaos of work to treat his mum, Linda, to a sunny holiday in Marbella for a couple of days. The This Morning host shared a glimpse into the well-deserved break with his Instagram followers and was seen showing off his pearly whites as he posed with his mum and other family members.

The TV star’s holiday post comes several weeks after he announced that he would be absent from his BBC Radio 2 show because Linda had been rushed to hospital. At the time of the incident, Rylan told fans on Instagram: ‘Mummy Linda isn’t well sadly so I won’t be hosting the show tomorrow.

“Thank you to the emergency team at Princess Alexandra Hospital. Will keep you updated as she’s on the mend. She’s a trooper.” Meanwhile, former This Morning host Holly Willoughby has been letting her hair down in white swimsuit on sun soaked holiday.

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Rylan Clark and family
Rylan took his family on a sunny holiday(Image: Instagram)

Following her trip to the hospital, Rylan, his mum and few more loved ones jetted off to Marbella. In one snap, Rylan posed with his mum by the beach before inviting all the other family members in for another snap.

He also posted a picture of the restaurant they ate at, which saw the waiter bring out giant plates of pasta. He made sure to enjoy a few sweet treats and relaxed by the hotel swimming pool.

Rylan wrote in the caption: “Gorgeous couple of days in Marbella with the mother and the gang.” Friends and fans rushed to the comment section to compliment the family, with one user writing: “So nice to see you and your mum and she is looking so well too.”

Rylan Clark's family sitting at restaurant dinner table
It comes after his mum’s hospital dash(Image: Instagram)

Another added: “Beautiful pictures and making lovely memories with mum.” Meanwhile, after Linda’s hospital trip, Rylan told fans she was permitted to return home in time for her birthday on July 20.

He later branded her a “walking disaster” live on the radio, after she opened up about struggling with another health issue.

The X Factor star was presenting his BBC Radio 2 show when he started talking with his mum on the phone, who informed him that she had sustained an injury to her arms at home.

She said: “I hurt my arms, didn’t I?” To which Rylan replied: “Yeah, I know you hurt your arm and it wound me up! Tell everyone how you hurt your arm.”

Linda explained: “Well, I was looking in the ottoman, and it’s quite heavy, and the lid came down.” Rylan added: “And you’ve cut all your arm.”

“Oh it did hurt”, Linda replied, before admitting: “If it ain’t one thing it’s another, isn’t it?”. In response, Rylan quipped: “That’s why you’re like a walking disaster at the moment,” to which his mum candidly agreed.

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Rapper T-Hood ‘shot dead’ aged 33 as tributes paid to music star

T-Hood has been shot dead at the age of 33. The rapper, whose real name was Tevin Hood, was known for songs like READY 2 GO and Big Booty but allegedly got into an altercation at his home in unincorporated Snellville, Georgia that resulted in him being fatally wounded.

According to TMZ, Gwinnett County police officers responded to reports of a dispute and they have now begun an investigation into the shooting and are treating it as a homicide, but the motives remain unclear. The rapper’s mother Yulanda confirmed the news of her son’s death to the outlet and denied accusations that there had been a party going on at the time of the tragedy.

His music producer Deedotwill led the tributes to the tragic star, as he wrote on Instagram: “We was just on the phone all day I cant believe you are gone. REST IN PEACE T-HOOD I LOVE YOU BROTHER.” Meanwhile, fans soon flooded social media with their own tributes, and one wrote on X: “I just started listening to bro music 🙁 Rip T-Hood”. A second said: “I just woke up to the news man I do not want to believe it,” whilst a third said: “They always take the best ones, your light was too mofo bright for this lame a** world!” It comes after it emerged Whitney Houston spent her tragic final moments ‘feasting on food’ with gravy boat in bathtub.






T-Hood


Rapper T-Hood has died at the age of 33
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T-Hood/YouTube)

At the time of his death, T-Hood was dating Kelsie Frost, the daughter of reality star Kirk Frost, and she took to social media minutes after the news broke to mourn the ‘love of her life’ in the aftermath of the tragedy. She wrote on Instagram: “First off I’ve been advised not to speak up by plenty of parties. I can’t sit back and let this narrative being created go on. The love of my life is GONE. the man I lay with and cuddle every single night…is no longer here.”

“I want to ask for respect and privacy I won’t because I will always defend my baby. I don’t condone this s*** in anyway shape form or fashion. I am sick to my stomach. I don’t wish this on any one. My brain is all over the place, this is a total nightmare but I’m gonna get this off. I don’t even have time to grieve or say my respects in the right manner because i am defending myself, being attacked by people who are creating weird and sick rumors.

“I’m not good at talking but I would love to give insight and let the people who love him in, to get understanding…I don’t have the right words but I wanna keep typing while also respecting his family and loved ones.”

T-Hood came to fame by sharing his music on YouTube, and released several hit albums like Grave Diggerz and Trenchez over the last few years. His final Instgram post came just days before his death. In what became his final photo post to the platform, he shared a throwback image of himself in his youth and wrote: “I swear I thought I was the most futuristic in this era. Tiger stripe Mohawk mf super offset.”

And in one of his final video posts to the platform, he walked around a graveyard dressed as a ghost. He told his followers: “Hello, are you still alive? We are dead down at the cemetery. Come down to the cemetery, I have a spot for you.”

Hauntingly, he added: “All you have to do is die. Just die today. You die today, you get to come and play—come on down.”

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