Your Guardian sport weekend: Premier League, Australian Open and NFL title games

Day seven at Melbourne sees some big names in action as Jannick Sinner and Novak Djokovic go in the men’s draw, where one of the game’s veterans is enjoying a last hurrah. The former champion Stan Wawrinka, who will retire at the end of the season, is the first player to reach the third round at a grand slam past his 40th birthday since Ken Rosewall at the same tournament back in 1978. The Swiss next faces the ninth seed, Taylor Fritz of the US. In the women’s draw, Iga Swiatek and fashionista Naomi Osaka are the standouts. Luke McLaughlin hosts our liveblog, while Tumaini Carayol and Jack Snape report

Alex de Minaur sets up enticing last-16 clash with nemesis Bublik at Australian Open

Alex de Minaur has a date with his own nemesis. The Australian defeated Frances Tiafoe in a spectacular three sets on Friday night, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, to again reach the last 16 at his home grand slam.There he will meet Alexander Bublik, the dangerous 10th seed who came back to beat the Australian twice in high-profile matches last year. They were two of a series of agonising, frontrunning defeats that tainted De Minaur’s 2025 season, including one at the ATP Finals against Lorenzo Musetti that prompted him to admit he had become “quite dark”.Against Tiafoe though, there was no late turnaround, even if the American was unfortunate in a tight third set

Patrick Reed unfazed by fines as he hits the front in Dubai Desert Classic

Patrick Reed finds himself in a curious situation. The former Masters champion could prevail this weekend in the Dubai Desert Classic and see a decent chunk of the $1.5m (£1.1m) first prize duly handed back to the DP World Tour in fines. Reed has joked that it will not be particularly easy for him to make a profit on this tour during 2026

The cricket simulator that bowls ‘a million variations’ – and won’t judge batters for fresh-airing a few

Cricket has always held a strange tension between the individual and the team. By design, it demands periods of isolation and mental stamina rarely found in team sports, and so focus tilts towards the solo performance. Yet without the needs of the team, that performance is devoid of meaning.It’s a tenuous relationship that carries through to training. Bowling practice is more finely tuned with a batter down the other end; batting practice necessitates a bowler or thrower

Australian Open 2026: Norrie out, De Minaur and Andreeva advance – as it happened

Cameron Norrie did what he could. Rather than easing into a long best-of-five-sets match, he played at full throttle from the beginning by launching into forehands and forcing himself inside the baseline at all cost. He worked through every shot in his arsenal, frequently sweeping forward to the net. He punctuated each small victory with booming cries of “allez”.In tennis, however, match-ups are king and the past meetings between Norrie and Alexander Zverev have already illustrated how the German’s game is built to outlast and overpower the Briton

The thrill of covering sports lies in a constant hunt for details | Ella Brockway

When I was a kid, I was drawn to stories that involved a good treasure hunt.Favorite movie: National Treasure, the 2004 Nicolas Cage classic. Favorite book series: The 39 Clues. Favorite puzzle: a word search. Dream book project: a hunt for a treasure hidden across Olympic host cities – and naturally, a companion series involving World Cup stadiums