GB’s Evans out in first round of Melbourne qualifying

Getty Images

Great Britain’s Dan Evans missed out on the Australian Open main draw for a second successive year as he fell in the first round of qualifying in Melbourne.

The 35-year-old struggled with his serve in a 6-1 6-2 defeat by Japan’s Rei Sakamoto.

Former British number one Evans recorded four double faults and did not create a single break point in a 66-minute defeat.

Evans’ sole Grand Slam appearance last year was at Wimbledon, where he was given a main draw wildcard.

Fellow Britons Jay Clarke and Jack Pinnington Jones also fell in straight sets in the first round of qualifying, while Oliver Crawford lost 6-3 2-6 6-3 to Spain’s Daniel Merida Aguilar.

Arthur Fery and George Loffhagen recorded more positive results, with Fery beating Australia’s Edward Winter 6-2 6-4 and Loffhagen overcoming Germany’s Justin Engel 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2).

Australian Open 2026

18 January-1 February

Listen on Sounds

Cameron Norrie and Jacob Fearnley are already in the men’s main draw, while Emma Raducanu, Francesca Jones and Sonay Kartal will feature in the women’s.

Katie Boulter, who is currently 113th in the world rankings, will no longer have to go through qualifying after several high-profile withdrawals secured her place in the main draw.

Current women’s doubles world number two Taylor Townsend and former US Open champion Sloane Stephens also reached the second round of qualifying on Monday.

Townsend came back from a set down and eventually converted her sixth match point to defeat Japan’s Nao Hibino 6-7 (3-7) 6-0 7-5.

Earlier in the day, former world number three Stephens claimed her first win since Wimbledon 2024 with a 6-1 7-5 victory over Czech Barbora Palicova.

    • 3 hours ago

Elsewhere, Britain’s Norrie continued his Australian Open preparations with a comfortable victory over Hugo Gaston at the Auckland Classic.

Norrie beat the Frenchman 6-3 6-4 to set up a last-16 tie against either Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut or France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

The 30-year-old pulled away from his opponent after breaking serve at 2-2 and 5-3, wrapping the first set up in 34 minutes.

Gaston, ranked 94th in the world, put up more of a fight in the second set, holding serve after eight deuces for 2-2 and recreating his viral mid-match French fry-eating moment with a fan during the break in play.

Related topics

  • Tennis

More on this story

  • Some tennis balls
    • 16 August 2025
    BBC Sport microphone and phone

GB’s Evans out in first round of Melbourne qualifying

Getty Images

Great Britain’s Dan Evans missed out on the Australian Open main draw for a second successive year as he fell in the first round of qualifying in Melbourne.

The 35-year-old struggled with his serve in a 6-1 6-2 defeat by Japan’s Rei Sakamoto.

Former British number one Evans recorded four double faults and did not create a single break point in a 66-minute defeat.

Evans’ sole Grand Slam appearance last year was at Wimbledon, where he was given a main draw wildcard.

Fellow Britons Jay Clarke and Jack Pinnington Jones also fell in straight sets in the first round of qualifying, while Oliver Crawford lost 6-3 2-6 6-3 to Spain’s Daniel Merida Aguilar.

Arthur Fery and George Loffhagen recorded more positive results, with Fery beating Australia’s Edward Winter 6-2 6-4 and Loffhagen overcoming Germany’s Justin Engel 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2).

Australian Open 2026

18 January-1 February

Listen on Sounds

Cameron Norrie and Jacob Fearnley are already in the men’s main draw, while Emma Raducanu, Francesca Jones and Sonay Kartal will feature in the women’s.

Katie Boulter, who is currently 113th in the world rankings, will no longer have to go through qualifying after several high-profile withdrawals secured her place in the main draw.

Current women’s doubles world number two Taylor Townsend and former US Open champion Sloane Stephens also reached the second round of qualifying on Monday.

Townsend came back from a set down and eventually converted her sixth match point to defeat Japan’s Nao Hibino 6-7 (3-7) 6-0 7-5.

Earlier in the day, former world number three Stephens claimed her first win since Wimbledon 2024 with a 6-1 7-5 victory over Czech Barbora Palicova.

    • 3 hours ago

Elsewhere, Britain’s Norrie continued his Australian Open preparations with a comfortable victory over Hugo Gaston at the Auckland Classic.

Norrie beat the Frenchman 6-3 6-4 to set up a last-16 tie against either Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut or France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

The 30-year-old pulled away from his opponent after breaking serve at 2-2 and 5-3, wrapping the first set up in 34 minutes.

Gaston, ranked 94th in the world, put up more of a fight in the second set, holding serve after eight deuces for 2-2 and recreating his viral mid-match French fry-eating moment with a fan during the break in play.

Related topics

  • Tennis

More on this story

  • Some tennis balls
    • 16 August 2025
    BBC Sport microphone and phone

Amanda Seyfried jaw-dropping reaction as she’s ‘robbed’ of Golden Globe win

The Mean Girls actress appeared to grimace after losing out to Rose Byrne for Best Performance by an Actress

A clip of Mean Girls actress Amanda Seyfried has gone viral after cameras caught her in a series of awkward reactions at the Golden Globes.

The actress appeared to grimace and looked visibly disappointed when she lost the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a musical or comedy to Rose Byrne.

The video showed Amanda – who was nominated for The Testament of Ann Lee – pulling a face before forcing a smile and applauding the winner.

Viewers were quick to comment on the star’s reaction on social media, with one commenting that it was “the best thing I’ve seen all night”.

READ MORE: Golden Globes 2026 weirdest moments – Epstein joke to awkward Leonardo DiCaprio

They wrote: “Amanda Seyfried not paying attention and preemptively clapping because she probably didn’t think she’d win is the best thing I’ve seen all night. I love her.”

Another added “my favorite 2x loser Amanda Seyfried,”, while another chimed in: “Amanda Seyfried has been robbed again.”

It was a disappointing night for Amanda, who also lost to Michelle Williams for Best Actress in a limited series.

Cameras appeared to catch her clapping before the winner was even revealed and mouthing what some viewers believed to be ‘she’s not even here’ when Michelle was announced as the winner.

It was an eventful night in Los Angeles. Owen Cooper, star of Netflix hit Adolescence, made Golden Globes history after securing Best Supporting Male Actor – the youngest winner in the award ceremony’s history.

At a mere 16 years old, Cooper shattered a record that had stood since 2010, when Glee star Chris Colfer won the same accolade at age 20.

Taking to the stage at the 83rd annual Golden Globes bash in Los Angeles, the fresh-faced Brit expressed gratitude to his family, friends and castmates – before delving into his remarkable journey from complete unknown to award-winner.

The teen disclosed he’d never acted in anything prior to landing the role, confessing he pushed himself into what he termed “embarrassing” acting classes – where he was the only boy. But he persevered, took a punt on himself, and on Sundaynight found himself standing on a Hollywood stage clutching one of the industry’s most prestigious awards.

As the enormity of the moment sunk in, Cooper paused mid-speech, his voice wavering with emotion. But instead of an awkward silence, the ballroom burst into applause as the industry rallied behind its newest – and youngest – star.

And it wasn’t a walk in the park. Cooper triumphed over some serious competition, including co-star Ashley Walters for Adolescence, Billy Crudup for The Morning Show, Jason Isaac for The White Lotus, Tramell Tillman for Severance, and Walton Goggins for The White Lotus to bag the trophy.

The British Netflix sensation Adolescence also swept up nominations across the board, with nods for Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty, and Best Television Limited Series.

This victory also makes Cooper the second-youngest male Golden Globe winner ever – outdone only by Ricky Schroder, who clinched the award at just nine years old in 1980.

Article continues below

Call the Midwife’s Helen George addresses the issue of her ‘missing’ husband

As the series returns for its 15th run on BBC1, some viewers were left wondering what is really going on with her love life

Helen Geroge has addressed concern about her ‘missing’ husband.

In Call the Midwife, viewers have not seen one glimpse of Trixie’s husband Matthew Aylward since March 2024, when the character moved to New York to try and solve his financial woes.

Since then Helen George’s character has jetted between London and the US to see her long-distance husband and her young stepson Jonty. Now some fans are questioning how it will all pan out, with Helen George having been in the BBC1 series since the very start, in 2012, and actor Olly Rix having left more than two years ago.

And there’s no prospect of him returning. As many viewers know, he is now firmly ensconced within Holby General as Casualty’s Dr Flynn Byron. The writer of Call the Midwife, Heidi Thomas, has already cleverly signalled to viewers that they should not expect to see any sign of Matthew during this 15th series.

READ MORE: French and Saunders hit out over ‘hideous’ comments made to pal Victoria WoodREAD MORE: Steph McGovern lands new BBC series 5 years after quitting for Channel 4

“Matthew has to stay in New York until autumn,” Trixie told her nurse pals around the table at Nonnatus House, as she announced she was also free for midwifery dories. “Jonty’s starting pre-prep in Easter, I needed to get him home and settled.”

So that explains why Trixie is happily living in Poplar, where she is delivering babies, getting stuck in to the Women’s Lib movement and also battling for the future of Nonnatus alongside Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter), white Matthew stays firmly on the other side of the Atlantic.

Asked if it felt weird for her play a character with an absent husband, Helen said she was fine with it. “Look, marriages function in lots of ways and we can all think they’re strange from the outside but they function well from within.”

She says that, in her head, Trixie quite likes the arrangement – even though the couple weren’t even in the same place for Christmas. “I think it gives us space that she can come back to Nonnatus and do what she wants because she’s got this double life of being Lady Aylward but also coming back to the heart of her life and doing the thing that she loves the most, which is midwifery.

“She’s able to put on a fancy hat and go to lovely events with Matthew but then also to be cleaning up sick and baby poo.”

But there are some who feel that Matthew’s absence is growing ever harder to explain for the BBC drama, and must – at some point – reach a conclusion in which the couple live together again or split.

In the storyline, from series 13, Matthew had accumulated company debt of more than £250,000, which saw him stripped of his seat on the board and his salary stopped. For a while they managed on Trixie’s nurses wages alone, but then an old schoolfriend offered Matthew an opportunity in New York, to try and build a business out there.

At the time, Helen said that because it was the 1970s, he felt a huge need to be the main breadwinner and it drove a wedge between them. “Because of the time he feels the pressure and the need to take the responsibility for fiscal responsibility on without including her. And she’s such a collective, community-driven person that she wants to be involved. She wants to be involved in the decisions and has a very modern outlook on this idea of a relationship. He’s very much into the notion of the man solves the problem, I will sort this, and that’s hard.” After that they settled on the current arrangement of her travelling back and forth.

Helen’s own love life has been similarly complicated. She was married to fellow actor Oliver Boot in 2011 but they divorced in 2015. She then had a long-term relationship – and two daughters – with her Call the Midwife co-star Jack Ashton (Reverend Tom Hereward) from 2016 until they separated in 2023.

Article continues below

Now she is a year into a relationship with businessman Dan Innes. Speaking last month she said it was going well, telling a magazine: “It’s a very happy relationship. It’s lovely to be with someone outside the industry. I’m not defined by my job, and I’m really interested in meeting the people he works with.”