Category News

Wimbledon 2025

Venue: All England Club Dates: 30 June-13 July

Britain’s Alfie Hewett remains on course to defend his Wimbledon title after comfortably beating Zhenxu Ji of China to reach the semi-finals.

The world number two, a 10-time major-winner in singles as well as a 23-time champion in doubles alongside compatriot Gordon Reid, lost just two games as he won 6-1 6-1.

Hewett is certainly looking in good form as he breezed through this match, with his movement on court three and accuracy of his shots too much for Zhenxu.

He twice saved break points in the opening game but then won the next 11 points to move into a 3-0 lead.

The Briton continued to dominate and looked on course to win the opener without losing a game, but Zhenxu got off the mark in the sixth game before Hewett closed out the set.

“I do miss scoring goals, I can’t lie,” Hannah Hampton said two days before England claimed a commanding 4-0 victory over the Netherlands at Euro 2025.

The goalkeeper might not have made it on to the scoresheet at Stadion Letzigrund on Wednesday night, but her sublime defence-splitting pass kickstarted the attack for the Lionesses’ first goal and set the tempo for a statement performance.

Having played as a striker in her youth football days, the 24-year-old’s impressive passing ability, sharp vision and attacking mind-set come as no surprise.

Hampton’s drilled pass to Alessia Russo sliced through the entire Netherlands team, allowing the England striker to drive upfield before slipping the ball to Lauren James for a fantastic left-foot finish.

“The bravery to play that pass in a game like this, for me, says everything you need to know about her mindset,” said former England keeper Karen Bardsley.

Initially a striker, Hampton was part of the Villarreal academy and only made the switch to being a goalkeeper aged 12 at Stoke City after her family had returned to England.

Fast forward to 2025, and she is England’s number one at the European Championship.

However, her position as the Lionesses’ first-choice shot-stopper was not entirely definitive until six weeks ago, with Mary Earps still challenging for the jersey right up until her shock retirement from international duty.

The absence of Earps – the Golden Glove winner at the 2023 World Cup – left questions over Hampton’s ability to cope with the pressure of a major tournament.

The Chelsea keeper’s performance against the Netherlands has now put some of those doubts to rest.

While she had very few saves to make, she impressed with the ball at her feet – helping England get their title defence back on track after their 2-1 defeat by France in their opening game.

“The first task is to prevent goals but if you have a goalkeeper who plays well [with her feet], that’s an added value,” said England boss Sarina Wiegman after the win over her home country.

Former England goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis said she hoped Hampton’s “sublime” performance “builds her confidence”.

“Her distribution was fantastic, she pretty much set up the first goal with that long through-ball,” Brown-Finnis added.

“To produce something like that in your first major tournament as a starter was sensational.”

Only right-back Lucy Bronze, with 12, made more line-breaking passes than Hampton’s six for England against the highly ranked Dutch team.

“That pass for Lauren James’ opening goal was unreal,” ex-Lionesses keeper Siobhan Chamberlain told BBC Radio 5 Live.

As well as her defence-splitting pass for James’ opener, Hampton initiated the build-up for England’s third goal, pinging a long-range ball over the Netherlands’ defence for Russo to run on to before James – after a scramble in the box – fired in.

Having played a key role as Chelsea won a domestic treble last season, her Blues and England team-mate Bronze said it’s well known “how talented Hannah is”.

“Obviously I play with her every single day, so I know that she’s got that ability,” Bronze added.

“She’s still a very young player as well, so she’s still kind of learning the trade. But we can see it in training, the passes she makes.

Summer Test: Fiji v Scotland

Fergus Burke’s game management “is up there with the best 10s”, says head coach Gregor Townsend after opting to give the fly-half his Scotland debut against Fiji.

The 25-year-old New Zealander – who qualifies through his Edinburgh-born grandfather – will win his first cap in Saturday’s summer test in Suva.

And Townsend believes the Saracens player has the skillset to shine.

“He has been excellent this year. I think the most important element is how physical he has been carrying the ball and his defence,” the head coach said.

Burke is one of 14 changes from last Saturday’s 29-26 win over Maori All Blacks, with only lock Marshall Sykes keeping his place.

Townsend admits such sweeping changes for the second game of the Pacific tour brings “an element of risk” but believes history shows it is the right approach.

“You don’t get the continuity but this team has trained together for the last two or three weeks, and trained against the team that played against the Maori,” he said.

“What we will have is fresh team, too. Not many of them played against the Maori and they are raring to go.”

Scotland were commanding 57-17 winners when they played Fiji at Murrayfield eight months ago.

On that day, the tourists were without some of their best players because the game fell outside the international window, while this time it will be the Scots who will be missing big names because of the British & Irish Lions tour.

The Fijians also ran Australia close in a 21-18 defeat last Sunday.

“Their biggest strength is their physicality – they are probably the biggest men and most powerful men in world rugby,” Townsend said.

Scotland: Kyle Rowe, Darcy Graham, Cameron Redpath, Tom Jordan, Kyle Steyn, Fergus Burke, Jamie Dobie; Rory Sutherland, Ewan Ashman, Elliot Millar Mills, Marshall Sykes, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge (capt), Matt Fagerson.