Category Sports News

Luke Littler won his first match as world number one to progress at the Players Championship Finals, while Gian van Veen produced a second stunning comeback victory against Luke Humphries in the space of a month.

Less than a month after upsetting Humphries in the final of the European Championship, Van Veen fought back from three legs down to defeat the defending champion 6-5 in Minehead.

Humphries flew out of the traps with checkouts of 145, 40 and 83, but Van Veen came roaring back with finishes of 161 and 81 on bullseye.

The former world number one steadied himself before losing throw at 4-4, before two Van Veen misses allowed Humphries to set up a deciding leg.

Van Veen’s hard work looked to be in vain as he missed five match darts, but Humphries was equally wasteful and fell to a fourth consecutive loss to the Dutchman.

It has not been the best month for Humphries, who earlier this month surrendered his world number one crown to Littler when he lost to ‘The Nuke’ in the Grand Slam of Darts final.

Meanwhile, Littler breezed into the second round with a 6-1 victory against Jeffrey de Graaf.

After being introduced to the crowd as world number one for the first time in his career, Littler averaged 104.46 to continue his hunt for a first Players Championship title.

“It felt absolutely amazing, probably one of the best feelings I’ve had, to be world champion and world number one at the same time – but there is more to come,” Little told ITV Sport.

“This is the title I haven’t won yet. Last year I came up short against Luke Humphries so I want to tick this one off.”

The 18-year-old will face Ross Smith in the second round after the Englishman saw off Ryan Meikle 6-1.

Top seed Gerwyn Price was not at his best against Max Hopp – missing six darts when trying to take a 5-2 lead – but the German failed to capitalise and Price won 6-2.

Stephen Bunting notched a routine 6-2 victory over Ritchie Edhouse, before Nathan Aspinall dispatched Karel Sedlacek 6-3.

Four-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld limped out with a 6-3 defeat by Krzysztof Ratajski.

Rob Cross, Dave Chisnall and Jonny Clayton were all beaten in the afternoon session, with James Hurrell defeating former finalist Clayton with a 99.2 average.

Real Madrid may look at Angelo Stiller, Manchester United might offload Bruno Fernandes to help with the summer rebuild, and Barcelona is interested in Harry Kane and Julian Alvarez.

Bruno Fernandes, 31, a Portugal midfielder and club captain, will be let go by Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim to help pay for the signings of England midfielders Adam Wharton, 21, and Elliot Anderson, 23, from Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest as well as Cameroon’s Carlos Baleba, 21, from Brighton. (Teamtalk)

In a move that will save £31 million in wages, Manchester United will allow Brazil’s Casemiro, 33, and England’s Jadon Sancho to leave the organization next summer. (Sun)

Real summer transfer targets for Barcelona include Bayern Munich‘s 32-year-old England forward Harry Kane and Atletico Madrid‘s 25-year-old Julian Alvarez. (Mundo Deportivo, Spanish)

Angelo Stiller, 24, a 24-year-old from Germany and Angelo Stiller, a 24-year-old from Germany, could help Real Madrid strengthen their midfield. (Fichajes – Spanish)

Rayan, 19, and his fellow Brazilian defender Souza, 19, who have both played at left-back for Santos, are being evaluated by Bayern Munich. (German) (Bild)

Givairo Read, 19, is a 19-year-old Dutch defender, who Manchester City are interested in signing in 2026. The player’s camp has already been in contact with Bayern Munich. (Romano-Fabrizio)

Georgia international Georges Mikautadze, 25, is set to receive a £44 million offer from Tottenham. (Fichajes – Spanish)

Daizen Maeda, 28, will be a target for Everton against Celtic and Japan in January. Football Insider

Chelsea and Bayern Munich‘s top targets Pablo Barrios, 22, will not be sold to Atletico Madrid until they can secure at least £88 million for the midfielder. (Fichajes – Spanish)

Officials at Arsenal met with agent Jorge Mendes in Turin to talk about potential deals for 20-year-old Turkish forward Kenan Yildiz. (Caught Offside)

Argentine international Santiago Castro, 21, is alleged to be making an offer at Everton for him in January. (Teamtalk)

Olivier Boscagli, 28, who has struggled for minutes since joining the Premier League club in the summer, may transfer to Fenerbahce on loan in January. (Fichajes – Spanish)

Real Madrid may look at Angelo Stiller, Manchester United might offload Bruno Fernandes to help with the summer rebuild, and Barcelona is interested in Harry Kane and Julian Alvarez.

Bruno Fernandes, 31, a Portugal midfielder and club captain, will be let go by Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim to help pay for the signings of England midfielders Adam Wharton, 21, and Elliot Anderson, 23, from Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest as well as Cameroon’s Carlos Baleba, 21, from Brighton. (Teamtalk)

In a move that will save £31 million in wages, Manchester United will allow Brazil’s Casemiro, 33, and England’s Jadon Sancho to leave the organization next summer. (Sun)

Real summer transfer targets for Barcelona include Bayern Munich‘s 32-year-old England forward Harry Kane and Atletico Madrid‘s 25-year-old Julian Alvarez. (Mundo Deportivo, Spanish)

Angelo Stiller, 24, a 24-year-old from Germany and Angelo Stiller, a 24-year-old from Germany, could help Real Madrid strengthen their midfield. (Fichajes – Spanish)

Rayan, 19, and his fellow Brazilian defender Souza, 19, who have both played at left-back for Santos, are being evaluated by Bayern Munich. (German) (Bild)

Givairo Read, 19, is a 19-year-old Dutch defender, who Manchester City are interested in signing in 2026. The player’s camp has already been in contact with Bayern Munich. (Romano-Fabrizio)

Georgia international Georges Mikautadze, 25, is set to receive a £44 million offer from Tottenham. (Fichajes – Spanish)

Daizen Maeda, 28, will be a target for Everton against Celtic and Japan in January. Football Insider

Chelsea and Bayern Munich‘s top targets Pablo Barrios, 22, will not be sold to Atletico Madrid until they can secure at least £88 million for the midfielder. (Fichajes – Spanish)

Officials at Arsenal met with agent Jorge Mendes in Turin to talk about potential deals for 20-year-old Turkish forward Kenan Yildiz. (Caught Offside)

Argentine international Santiago Castro, 21, is alleged to be making an offer at Everton for him in January. (Teamtalk)

Olivier Boscagli, 28, who has struggled for minutes since joining the Premier League club in the summer, may transfer to Fenerbahce on loan in January. (Fichajes – Spanish)

The Riyadh Season Snooker Championship was won by world champion Zhao Xintong, who defeated Neil Robertson 5-2 to claim the victory.

For his success in Saudi Arabia, Zhao becomes the 11th individual winner from 11 competitions this year. He also collects £250,000.

Zhao rallied from the opening two frames to take the lead 4-1 after the pair of frames that were shared, compiled superb breaks of 131 and 134.

The 28-year-old from China sealed his victory with a half-century in the seventh frame, despite Robertson crafting a 91 to lessen his arrears.

“I didn’t want to let Neil know that I was anxious.” Because of Neil’s excellent play and desire to play in this final, I was eager to watch this game a lot. Zhao expressed his happiness at this point.

This week has been amazing, I must say. I saw a lot of people there for me when I was there for the first time in Saudi.

For Zhao, who had earlier clinched a dramatic 4-3 victory over Judd Trump in the semi-finals, it ended up being a comfortable win.

Trump had a 2-0 and 3-2 lead in a see-saw match, but Zhao showed his unwavering resolve when he recorded the game’s highest break of the week, a 138 against the Englishman.

Robertson, who defeated Mark Allen 4-1, had been aiming to be the only player this season to win multiple titles, despite looking rejuvenated over the past 18 months.

A few “tired misses” [of Zhao’s] expense, I believe. Robertson said, “He punished me really well because I had shown him very little in the way of getting to the final.”

Following a superb 73 clearance in the fifth frame, the Australian made it past Allen.

The Riyadh Season Snooker Championship was won by world champion Zhao Xintong, who defeated Neil Robertson 5-2 to claim the victory.

For his success in Saudi Arabia, Zhao becomes the 11th individual winner from 11 competitions this year. He also collects £250,000.

Zhao rallied from the opening two frames to take the lead 4-1 after the pair of frames that were shared, compiled superb breaks of 131 and 134.

The 28-year-old from China sealed his victory with a half-century in the seventh frame, despite Robertson crafting a 91 to lessen his arrears.

“I didn’t want to let Neil know that I was anxious.” Because of Neil’s excellent play and desire to play in this final, I was eager to watch this game a lot. Zhao expressed his happiness at this point.

This week has been amazing, I must say. I saw a lot of people there for me when I was there for the first time in Saudi.

For Zhao, who had earlier clinched a dramatic 4-3 victory over Judd Trump in the semi-finals, it ended up being a comfortable win.

Trump had a 2-0 and 3-2 lead in a see-saw match, but Zhao showed his unwavering resolve when he recorded the game’s highest break of the week, a 138 against the Englishman.

Robertson, who defeated Mark Allen 4-1, had been aiming to be the only player this season to win multiple titles, despite looking rejuvenated over the past 18 months.

A few “tired misses” [of Zhao’s] expense, I believe. Robertson said, “He punished me really well because I had shown him very little in the way of getting to the final.”

Following a superb 73 clearance in the fifth frame, the Australian made it past Allen.

After saving seven match points to defeat Belgium’s Zizou Bergs in a dramatic 32-point tie-break, Flavio Cobolli declared it “one of the best days of my life.”

After more than three hours, Cobolli tore off his shirt to celebrate as a party atmosphere erupted among Bologna’s home fans. He won 6-3,6-7, 7-6 (17-15), 6-3,6-7.

In Sunday’s final, two-time defending champions Italy will face either Spain or Germany following the thrilling conclusion, which is the sixth-longest tie-break in the Davis Cup’s 125-year history.

Cobolli comforted Bergs as his angstened opponent sat with his head in his hands on the Belgium team bench.

World No. 22 Cobolli said in an on-court interview that it was “really difficult to say something about this match.”

We fought hard and played for our countries in order to win. I finally realized my dream, and we are now in the final.

Filippo Volandri, the captain of the Italian national team, said: “I have never witnessed anything like that in my five years as captain.”

It was a truly unbelievable match. In the end, I simply stated that 95% heart and 5% tactics were involved. I’m very proud of the man who gave everything.

Matteo [Berrettini, Cobolli’s teammate], lost his voice, saying, “We have an unbelievable bench.

It is not the final game, though. Tonight we celebrate, and then we turn our attention to the competition.

Once more, Berrettini gave Italy the perfect start by dominating Raphael Collignon in straight sets with the support of the majority of the ten thousand-strong crowd.

Italy became the first country to reach three Davis Cup finals in a row since Australia did so in 2001 with Cobolli’s victory.

Italy will now aim to become the first country to win three consecutive Davis Cup titles for the first time in 53 years despite the absence of their top two men’s singles players, world number two Jannik Sinner and eighth-ranked Lorenzo Musetti.

Sinner, a key member of the Italian team that won the Davis Cup’s previous two editions, decided to maximize his recovery at the start of the sport’s brief six-week off-season after winning at the ATP Finals last week.

Discussions about the tournament’s future format have arisen as a result of the presence of just one of the top ten men’s players this year.

Both players discussed the privilege they felt competing for the host nation at the Finals after Berrettini and Cobolli made a statement about the performance for Italy in their quarter-final against Austria.

Both players fed off the enthusiasm of their home fans, who had already won back-to-back 2-0 this week, once more demonstrating that passion.

Bologna’s SuperTennis Arena, which had already become a roaring cauldron after Berrettini’s victory, reached fever pitch as Cobolli scored his match points on Bergs’ serve, but the Belgian twice held on with clutch serving to level at five games apart.

The setting was set for a grand finale, even though few could have anticipated the drama to come because the increasingly enthralled Cobolli had already shut down four break points in the deciding set that moment.

In a thrilling conclusion, Cobolli next had to withstand a number of match points, escaping four of them in just six points.

Despite the high stakes and enthralling crowd, the players kept getting better and maintaining their high standards as the score remained steady.

By the time Collignon lost 6-3, 6-4, Berrettini had again established the standard by setting the bar for his team-mate.

The former Wimbledon runner-up, who is ranked 56th overall, entered the first set after an early break, breaking immediately in set two when Collignon double-faulted twice.

However, when Collignon had his first chance to level at 2-2, his charge to the finish was slowed, and Berrettini, who had a sensational cross-court forehand to stop, was denied a fourth break for a 4-2 lead.