Coco Gauff defeated Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva in straight sets to march into the semi-finals of the Italian Open.
Gauff, who breezed past Britain’s Emma Raducanu on Monday, continued her impressive run on clay with a 6-4 7-6 (7-5) victory against seventh seed Andreeva.
The 21-year-old American is now guaranteed to become the new number two in the world rankings, overtaking Iga Swiatek.
Gauff will face top seed Aryna Sabalenka, who beat her in the final of the Madrid Open this month, or China’s Zheng Qinwen in the last four.
Former French Open finalist Gauff has hit a rich vein of form on clay, winning nine of her past 10 matches.
“A lot of confidence heading into the semi-finals. I think today some points weren’t played at my best, but I still managed to be successful,” said Gauff, who has reached the semi-finals in Madrid for the third time.
Andreeva let her frustrations boil over at 3-3 in the opening set, hurling her racquet to the floor and waving angrily at her team after sending a forehand into the net.
The 18-year-old recovered to break back immediately as Gauff opened up a 5-3 lead, but she was unable to hold serve again as her opponent wrapped up the set.
She looked in danger of letting the match slip away at the start of the second, dropping serve before regaining her focus to fight back and force a tie-break.
How do you solve a problem like Trent Alexander-Arnold?
With Liverpool’s star right-back set for a summer move to Real Madrid, Arne Slot is tasked with replacing one of the Premier League’s great full-backs.
The England defender has come under criticism from his own supporters for the move but Liverpool have been quick to act in pursuit of a replacement with Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong emerging as a target.
Initial overtures towards a deal with the Netherlands international have begun and continued in recent days.
Passing range vs direct approach
When it comes to going forward, Alexander-Arnold is crucial to everything that Liverpool do.
His 18 goals and 64 assists tell only half the tale of how vital he has been to their success in recent years.
But while Alexander-Arnold relies on his remarkable range of passing to create chances, Frimpong is a far more direct player, instead opting to dribble past his opponent.
A product of Manchester City’s academy, the 24-year-old is regarded as more of a wing-back or right-winger who can drive at a defence rather than a full-back.
“If you can find him quickly and he can approach a full-back, he’s lethal,” the Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman said earlier this year.
Opta
This season, the former Celtic player has recorded more than double the number of dribbles made by Alexander-Arnold but less than half the number of passes.
Opta
Over 190 games for Leverkusen, Frimpong has managed 30 goals and 44 assists, helping them to win the Bundesliga last year.
On average this season he has been involved in more goals than Alexander-Arnold but, while the Liverpool defender has been known to step into midfield for club and country, Frimpong prefers to be positioned on the right.
Could defence still prove to be a concern?
Alexander-Arnold’s defending has often been scrutinised throughout his time at Liverpool, with his ability on the ball being offered up as mitigation for a perceived weakness in defence.
His capabilities have often been called into question with Roy Keane calling his defending “schoolboy” earlier this season while there was a supposed lack of trust from former England boss Gareth Southgate.
Having largely been deployed as an attacking wing-back for Leverkusen, he is not often asked to defend.
After leaving Frimpong out of his Netherlands squad in 2023, Koeman said: “He plays almost as a right winger. My right-back should be able to defend well in the first place and I have my doubts about that.”
Frimpong’s stats suggest a lack of involvement defensively with just 22% of his touches this season coming in his own half, compared to Alexander-Arnold’s 48%.
Opta
What about Conor Bradley?
Many fans will hear of Frimpong’s potential arrival and wonder why it is necessary with Conor Bradley among Liverpool’s ranks.
Slot has said the club “have a lot in confidence” in Bradley being able to step up, with the Northern Ireland international covering Alexander-Arnold’s injury spell last season.
BBC Sport
He has made 17 league appearances this season – starting just five matches – including most recently against Arsenal because Slot said “he needs playing time to be better prepared for next season”.
Bradley also produced an eye-catching display against Real Madrid in the Champions League in November.
Singer Olly Murs shares a heartbreaking revelation while researching his family history as the told the reason behind his great-grandmother leaving her family during World War Two
Olly Murs said ‘it saddens’ as he opened up(Image: Samir Hussein, Samir Hussein/WireImagevia Getty Images)
Olly Murs has shared the poignant tale of his family’s past, revealing why his great-grandmother chose to leave her family during World War Two.
The father-of-one recently journeyed to Latvia to delve into his ancestry for BBC One’s popular genealogy programme Who Do You Think You Are?
During his exploration, Olly discovered that his great-grandmother Veronika was a trapeze artist in a travelling circus and is believed to have had an affair with Eduard Murs Sr, Olly’s great-grandfather.
Eddie, Olly’s grandfather, was born in 1932 before Veronika made the heart-wrenching choice to give him up to his father and his wife Katrine.
In 1944, they travelled to a refugee camp in Germany before finally settling down in Essex in 1948. Meanwhile, Veronika remained in Latvia and never saw her son again, reports OK!.
Speaking last year to TV Times, Olly revealed: “My grandad’s relationship with his mum wasn’t great. Dad told me that Eddie felt she’d abandoned him.
Article continues below
Olly Murs opened up on the family heartbreak
“But her decision to say goodbye to her son changed everything for our family. Without her bravery, my grandad would never have had the life he did in the UK and the wonderful family he created.”
The singer, who hails from Essex, found out that Veronika attempted to reconnect with her son through letters in the 1960s and 1970s. However, Eddie decided not to respond, a choice he reportedly regretted later on.
Veronika died in 1988 and was buried in an unmarked grave by the state. “She cared about Eddie. And it saddens me that she had a son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren at the time of her death, but there was no family around her,” he said.
Olly Murs, who celebrates his 41st birthday today (Wednesday, May 14), has joyfully revealed he’s expecting baby number two with his wife Amelia Tank. The singing sensation, who first found fame on The X Factor, shares a daughter named Madison with his wife, born last April.
Olly Murs is expecting a second child(Image: heart)
The announcement came via an Instagram post on Good Friday, where Olly gushed: “We’re so egg-cited to share this, another baby Murs on the way.”
Their social media update showcased a video clip of the family strolling, with Murs hoisting little Madison – donning a ‘big sis’ tee – onto his shoulders while Tank displayed ultrasound pictures.
Last month on Heart radio, the Troublemaker singer confessed to co-host Mark Wright that leaving his infant child for a tour with Take That brought him to tears. He said: “It was really hard for me because I actually had to leave.”
Article continues below
Olly added: “So, two days after the baby was born, I had to leave and go on tour with Take That, and I didn’t really process it at the time.
Belfast boxer Anthony Cacace says he is “getting better with age” after his latest victory against former two-time world champion Leigh Wood.
The 36-year-old stopped Wood in the ninth round in Nottingham on Saturday to retain his IBO super-featherweight title.
Following wins over the previously undefeated Joe Cordina and Josh Warrington, Cacace has now beaten three two-time champions in succession in the last year and feels there is still more to come.
“I’m surprised at myself, I seem to be getting better with age and I’m delighted to be doing everyone proud back home, there has been a lot of support, and it feels amazing performing like this at 36,” he told BBC Sport NI.
Cacace sets sights on Las Vegas fight
Getty Images
Cacace’s victory over Wood extended his record to 24 wins and one loss from 25 fights and he admits he is “over the moon” with recent performances.
“I’ve been very lucky, and I appreciate it all the last year and a half,” he added.
“I worked extremely hard for 12-14 weeks for the Wood fight, I put my body and mind through hell. It was a very tough camp, but I keep getting the wins and it makes it worth going through these camps.”
In the aftermath of the fight at the Motorpoint Arena, Cacace spoke of his desire for his next bout to be in Belfast amid talk of a possible WBC super-featherweight world title shot against O’Shaquie Foster.
“There has only been one person to win the WBC from Northern Ireland – Wayne McCullough, so it would be another great achievement if I was to go win something like that, even talking about these things blows my mind,” Cacace said, when speaking on Wednesday.
His last three wins have come on the road, and he admitted his dream fight would also be far from home, in Las Vegas against one of America’s top fighters.
“America would be nice, Las Vegas somewhere big like that with a massive name. I believe I deserve it because I have wiped out the whole of the UK scene, all of these top champions have lost against me,” he explained.
“Give me more of these world champions, the likes of Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson who people really don’t fancy you against, I would be real underdog, and I feel when I get put into those positions, I perform my best.
The African Union (AU), in collaboration with the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA), has announced Lagos, Nigeria, as the host city for the 2025 edition of the music awards.
The announcement was made at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by the Head of Culture at the African Union, Angela Martins.
The awards ceremony, along with side events, including the vibrant Music Village Festival, is scheduled to take place from November 25 to 30, 2025.
Martins describes this year’s theme, “Unstoppable Africa,” and the choice of Lagos as its host, as a reflection of the vibrancy, brilliance, and dream of modern African music, which the city represents.
“Music is not merely sound, it is a strategy. From Dar es Salaam to Acrra and other parts of the world, music flows like a river through our culture, and it connects, heals, and moves us forward,” Martins said, explaining the AU’s enduring partnership with AFRIMA.
The AFRIMA 2025 calendar starts with a call for entries on May 20, inviting submissions from African artists across the continent and the diaspora.
READ ALSO: Tinubu’s Budgeting Focuses on Transformation, Not Survival — Shettima
Artists can submit works across various categories and genres as part of this celebration of musical excellence, an initiative aligned with the AU’s Agenda 2063, which champions culture as a driver of development in Africa.
AFRIMA has served as a powerful platform for cultural exchange and continental integration.
AFRIMA’s President, Mike Dada, reiterated this mission, saying that AFRIMA is a rallying point to further integrate the continent.
“This is to ensure we have an enduring platform called AFRIMA to be used as a rallying platform to integrate the continent, for peace, job creation, and for telling our own stories,” Dada said.
Martins during the announcement at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The road to AFRIMA 2025 will also include events in other African countries, including Morocco, Tanzania, and Côte d’Ivoire, and will also make stops in London, UK, and Paris in France.
Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had in April declared the state’s readiness to host Africa and the world for the 2025 edition of the AFRIMA.
Speaking when he received a high-powered delegation from the African Union and the AFRIMA International Committee in his office, Sanwo-Olu stated that Lagos’ acceptance to host AFRIMA 2025 aligned with his administration’s vision to make the creative and tourism industry a major pillar of the state’s development drive.
The governor said, “One of the key pillars of our administration’s development agenda is the creative industry. Since I took office, we’ve been intentional about building a vibrant creative ecosystem supporting film, music, fashion, photography, and cultural tourism.
Nigeria’s Super Falcons are stepping onto the international stage with a bold new look, as Nike officially unveiled the team’s latest home and away kits on Tuesday.
The announcement, which has since gone viral across social media, has been widely praised for celebrating Nigerian heritage while maintaining a sleek, modern edge.
With the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) set to kick off in Morocco this July, the new kits underscore the Nigerian Football Federation’s (NFF) commitment to honouring culture, pride, and performance.
In a statement shared via the NFF’s official Instagram handle, the federation declared, “New kit. Same pride. The Super Falcons’ new jersey is here — bold, fearless, and made for champions.”
READ ALSO:Nigerian Striker Awoniyi Rushed To Hospital For Abdominal Surgery
The home jersey comes in white with bold green brushstroke patterns across the front and sleeves, inspired by traditional Nigerian designs.
The away jersey is dark green with a subtle texture and neon green details, including the Nike logo, the updated NFF crest, and “NAIJA” printed beneath the collar.
The same “NAIJA” text appears on the home kit.
Both kits feature a new NFF logo, showing an eagle on a football with cleaner lines. The circular badge includes “Nigeria Football Federation 1945,” honouring the federation’s founding year.
