Category Sports News

Barbora Krejcikova’s Wimbledon title defence came to a tearful end as physical struggles hampered her in a three-set defeat by American 10th seed Emma Navarro in the third round.

The Czech, who had come into the tournament after an injury scare, had seemed to be in control of the match but became increasingly distressed after being taken to a third set in a 2-6 6-3 6-4 defeat.

She bent over several times behind the baseline at the end of points and had the trainer on midway through the third set to have her blood pressure taken.

When she was one game from defeat, the 29-year-old leaned against the screen at the back of the court and cried.

Wiping away tears as she held serve to stay in the match, the end came in the following game when she netted as 24-year-old Navarro booked a fourth-round meeting with 18-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva, who is the seventh seed.

Krejcikova was taken to three sets in her first two matches at the All England Club, coming into the match against Navarro having spent almost twice as long on the court as her opponent.

But she had started brightly, using her trademark shot variety to move Navarro around the court in a dominant first set.

She went a break up early in the second but allowed Navarro to get a foothold back in the match with a loose service game – featuring two double faults and a hugely overcooked forehand.

When she lost the second set, she swiftly left the court under a towel while a pumped Navarro stayed on her feet near the scoreboard for much of the break, seemingly keen to keep up the momentum.

Barbora Krejcikova’s Wimbledon title defence came to a tearful end when she ran out of energy “out of nowhere” in a three-set defeat by American 10th seed Emma Navarro in the third round.

The Czech, who had come into the tournament after an injury scare, had seemed to be in control of the match but became increasingly distressed after being taken to a third set in a 2-6 6-3 6-4 defeat.

“First of all, I thought that it was the food, that I ate too early,” she said. “That’s why I started with all the bananas and all the sugars and stuff inside. But I wasn’t really feeling better, I was actually feeling worse and worse with with the time on court.

“It’s very sad for me and very unfortunate. “

Krejcikova bent over several times behind the baseline at the end of points and had the trainer on midway through the third set to have her blood pressure taken.

When she was one game from defeat, the 29-year-old leaned against the screen at the back of the court and cried.

Wiping away tears as she held serve to stay in the match, the end came in the following game when she netted as 24-year-old Navarro booked a fourth-round meeting with 18-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva, who is the seventh seed.

Krejcikova was taken to three sets in her first two matches at the All England Club, coming into the match against Navarro having spent almost twice as long on the court as her opponent.

But she had started brightly, using her trademark shot variety to move Navarro around the court in a dominant first set.

She went a break up early in the second but allowed Navarro to get a foothold back in the match with a loose service game – featuring two double faults and a hugely overcooked forehand.

When she lost the second set, she swiftly left the court under a towel while a pumped Navarro stayed on her feet near the scoreboard for much of the break, seemingly keen to keep up the momentum.

Krejcikova’s difficulties worsened in the third set, when she missed five break points and then dropped serve in the third game.

The 17th seed’s troubles then spilled over into an emotional final few games as she saw her crown slip away.

“All I can say is that in the first half of the match I was definitely enjoying myself on the court and I was feeling quite well,” she added. “But then suddenly out of nowhere I just lost all my energy and I couldn’t really gain it back.

Midfielder Thelo Aasgaard says he “always pictured” himself in a Russell Martin team after completing a deal to join Rangers from Luton Town.

The 23-year-old Liverpool-born Norway cap has agreed a four-year contract with the Scottish Premiership runners-up and arrives for a reported £3. 5m fee.

He becomes the Ibrox club’s fifth new signing this summer after Lyall Cameron, Max Aarons, Joe Rothwell and Emmanuel Fernandez.

“When I heard about Rangers, I was over the moon. I am glad to get it over the line,” Aasgaard told Rangers TV.

“I have played against the manager’s teams a few times and I always pictured myself in his team and to be here now is really good.

“It was an easy decision. I love the number of games here, it is like the EFL and I love playing. The stature and history is enough as well. “

Martin, who takes charge of Rangers for the first time when they welcome Club Brugge to Ibrox for a friendly on Sunday, says Aasgaard has the “necessary qualities to thrive at this club”.

Having spent time in Liverpool’s academy, Aasgaard moved to Wigan Athletic before making his senior debut for them in 2020.

He would go on to make 163 appearances and score 30 times over a five-year period before joining Luton in January.

Having represented Norway – the country of his father – through the age groups, Aasgaard made his full debut in March, scoring in a 5-0 win over Moldova.

What do you make of the signing of Aasgaard?

Is he what Rangers need? And what other business do the club need to do?

British Grand Prix

Venue: Silverstone Date: 6 July Race start: 15:00 BST on Sunday

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pipped McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to pole position at the British Grand Prix with the very last lap of qualifying.

Verstappen beat Piastri by 0. 103 seconds, with McLaren’s Lando Norris just 0. 015secs behind in third and Mercedes’ George Russell a further 0. 019secs adrift in fourth.

Lewis Hamilton, second quickest behind Piastri after the first runs in final qualifying, slipped back to fifth at the end, just ahead of his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Briton Oliver Bearman was an excellent eighth for Haas, but will be demoted to 18th on the grid because of a 10-place penalty for going too fast under red-flag conditions in practice, when he crashed in the pit lane.

In the other Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli was seventh but he has a three-place grid penalty from his crash with Verstappen in Austria.

Verstappen had had a low-key lead up to qualifying but ended up fastest, on a track that on paper should suit the Red Bull, which is at its strongest in comparison to the rest of the field in the sort of high-speed corners that abound at Silverstone.

The Dutchman said: “It was tricky with the wind throughout all qualifying. It was shifting around a bit. And around here with these cars it is extremely sensitive to it.

“The final lap was good enough. This is a proper track, you have to be really committed in the high-speed corners. “

Verstappen said he “had to commit a lot” in the high-speed corners because of the low-downforce set-up the team had chosen, which made the car on edge in the demanding corners.

The low wing levels come with pros and cons – it gives faster speed on the straight but makes the car more difficult through the corners and potentially increases tyre wear.

Piastri was quickest after the first laps of qualifying but he failed to improve on his second lap, at least partly because of a couple of slides of the rear out of the final corner, Club.

The championship leader said: “I was happy with the first lap. It was mega, to be honest. I was trying to think of how I would go faster and I didn’t.

“The second lap was a bit messy but it has been tight all weekend; a little on the table, but we’ll never know if it’s enough. “

Piastri said he was “not that surprised Max is quick here, it’s quite similar speed and conditions to Suzuka”, where Verstappen won from pole.

Norris, who trails Piastri by 15 points going into the race, which marks the halfway point of the season, said: “Good qualifying. I am not going to be unhappy with third, would love to be pole but Max did a good job, a fun qualifying today. Not the top but still a good day.

Russell and Mercedes had not looked competitive for much of qualifying, but a typically strong lap from the Briton on his final run vaulted him ahead of the Ferraris, whose promising pace through the weekend faded when it mattered.

He said a change in weather conditions had helped him improve. “We arranged for those clouds to come in and that made us go about 0. 5secs faster so that was nice,” Russell said.

Hamilton, who topped the second session of qualifying, ended up just 0. 203secs from pole.

The seven-time champion said: “The lap was pretty decent at the end and then I lost a bit of time in the last corner, which probably would have put me on the front row or at least third.

“We’re right on a knife-edge, other than that squeezed everything I could out of the car.

“I definitely feel a lot better in the car this weekend, this track is incredible and the crowd is amazing. But we needed just a little more from the car, another 0. 1secs of performance to nudge us a little bit closer to the front guys. “

Leclerc also said he had made a mistake at the end of his lap.

“Horrible,” he said. “The pace was there for the front row but I didn’t do the job when I needed to. I lost the car in the last two corners and lost a lot of lap time.

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

3. Lando Norris (McLaren)

4. George Russell (Mercedes)

5. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)

6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

7. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes, three-place grid penalty)

8. Oliver Bearman (Haas, 10-place grid penalty)

9. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

10. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

Betfred Super League

Hull FC (0) 6

Tries: Litten Goals: Hardaker

St Helens (8) 13

St Helens held off Hull FC to claim a hard-fought victory at MKM Stadium in week 17 of Super League.

Two tries from Australian winger Kyle Feldt, plus two kicks and a drop goal from captain Jonny Lomax, earned in-form Saints a sixth win from their past seven matches.

Hull centre Davy Litten had given the hosts hope of a comeback when he dived over to score in the second half but they remain without a home win this season.

In the opening exchanges, Curtis Sironen’s line break created an overload on the left wing but terrific scrambling defending from Harvey Barron and Zak Hardaker prevented a certain four points for Saints.

Moments later, after Hull were caught offside, Saints came again and Feldt pirouetted past Aidan Sezer to score for the visitors before Lomax added the extras from the touchline.

After soaking up sustained Saints pressure, the hosts looked to counter-punch but Jed Cartwright – making his first appearance for four months because of injury – was unable to offload to Litten when he was just five yards short of the opposition line.

Perhaps frustrated by not making their 61% first-half possession more telling, Saints allowed ill-discipline to creep in and Moses Mbye could have been sent to the sin bin for a late tackle on Hardaker – but just a penalty was awarded instead.

Five minutes into the second half, Mbye’s high kick to the corner was gathered brilliantly by Feldt, who climbed highest and rolled past two Hull players to claim his second try of the match.

In the 53rd minute, Hull finally clicked into gear when captain Sezer raced through midfield and unselfishly found Litten to finish expertly under pressure from Robertson for the hosts’ only score.

After Hardaker nailed the extras from touch, the home fans attempted to lift their side but time and again handling errors prevented meaningful surges forward.

With just a few minutes left, Sezer’s high kick to Barron in the corner was brilliantly claimed in the air by Saints’ Owen Dagnall, who had passed a head injury assessment not long earlier to return to the field after a worrying collision.

Hull FC: Hardaker; Barron, Rapana, Litten, Martin; Cust, Sezer; Ese’ese, Bourouh, Knight, Ashworth, Chamberlain, Aydin

Interchanges: Briscoe, Cartwright, Fash, Eseh

St Helens: Sailor; Feldt, Robertson, Whitley, Dagnall; Lomax, Mbye; Walmsley, Clark, Lees, Sironen, Wingfield, Knowles

Interchanges: Paasi, Delaney, Stephens, Burns

Jasper Philipsen will wear the yellow jersey for the first time in his career as he won stage one of the 2025 Tour de France.

A sprint finish was expected after a flat stage beginning and ending in Lille, and Alpecin-Deceuninck’s lead-out train delivered the 27-year-old in the perfect position to claim the stage win.

The Belgian rider ended up beating Biniam Girmay by a comfortable margin to claim his 10th stage win on the Tour.

“It’s really amazing,” said Philipsen. “My 10th victory is something I will never forget.

“The team performance was incredible. I think we were there all day. It was very nervous but we knew it could be our day and we have to be at the front and we were there in the split.

“The team did amazing and in the end we could just use our strength and finish it off. “

Philipsen claimed four stage wins in 2023 and finished that edition of the Tour with the green jersey as the points classification leader.