Francesca Jones defeats Venus Williams in Miami for WTA 1000 breakthrough

In her first training session at the ATX Open in Austin last month, weeks after injury put an end to her Australian Open, Francesca Jones found herself in an unusual, delightful situation. Her training partner across the net was none other than Venus Williams, the most successful active female tennis player.Being able to train with such a legendary player was a dream itself, but Jones can now say that she has also defeated her, as she closed out a 7-5, 7-5 win over the 45-year-old seven-time grand slam champion in the first round of the Miami Open. The victory marks Jones’s first WTA 1000 match win in her career, breaking a four-match losing streak.This was an intense battle that Williams, a three-time Miami Open champion between 1998 and 2001, could have won

March Madness: VCU fight back from 19 down to oust UNC in first-round stunner

Terrence Hill Jr made a stepback three-pointer with 15 seconds left in overtime and 11th-seeded VCU erased from a 19-point second-half deficit to stun sixth-seeded North Carolina 82-78 on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.Hill finished 7 for 10 from three-point range and scored 20 of 34 points after halftime as VCU (28-7) won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2016.Nyk Lewis added 16 points, including two clutch free throws, to seal the game for the Rams, who’ll face the winner of No 14 Penn and No 3 Illinois in the second round on Saturday.Henri Veesaar had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Tar Heels (25-8), who went 0-3 after star Caleb Wilson was ruled out for the season with an injury.In overtime, Seth Trimble made 1 of 2 free throws with 35 seconds left to put the Tar Heels up 78-77

Keely Hodgkinson leads British medal hopes at world indoor championships

Due to a fault in their plane’s GPS, the British team for the world indoor championships arrived at their hotel in Torun late on Wednesday night. Perhaps they should have asked Keely Hodgkinson to guide them. After all, she knows this place better than most, and she is absolutely locked on reaching her target – a first world gold medal – in Poland this weekend.“I’m looking forward to it and this last month has been great,” she says on the eve of the championships, which begin on Friday morning. “I couldn’t ask to be in a better position to be honest

Meg Jones to captain England at Women’s Six Nations with Zoe Stratford pregnant

Meg Jones has been chosen to lead England’s world champions in 2026 after the regular Red Roses captain, Zoe Stratford, announced her pregnancy on Wednesday.Jones, who was vice-captain when England beat Canada to lift the World Cup last September, will take over from Stratford for the upcoming Women’s Six Nations. England kick off their campaign against Ireland on 11 April at Twickenham when a tournament-record crowd of more than 60,000 will be in the stands.The 29-year-old centre said: “Firstly, I’m really excited for Zoe and wish her and Strats [Luke, Zoe’s husband] every happiness on their news. It’s a huge honour to have been named captain of the Red Roses

‘The one medal I don’t have’: confident Keely Hodgkinson targets a first world title

Keely Hodgkinson believes she could not be in better shape to win a first world title this weekend having kicked on again after breaking the indoor 800m world record last month.The Olympic champion is the overwhelming favourite for gold at the world indoor championships in Kujawy Pomorze, Poland, and sounded bullish when asked if she had pushed on in training after obliterating Jolanda Ceplak’s record by running 1min 54.87sec in Liévin in February.“Yeah, training’s gone really well,” said Hodgkinson, who starts her competition with heats on Friday morning. “I’m very happy with where I am

Striking gambit: Erling Haaland invests in new world chess championship

Erling Haaland has become a significant investor in a new world chess championship tour that is expected to star his fellow Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, the Guardian can reveal.The deal was agreed shortly before Manchester City played at West Ham last Saturday, with Haaland shown on Sky Sports wearing a Norway Chess cap as he entered the London Stadium – without anyone noticing.Haaland said that his investment in the Total Chess World Championship Tour, which will have an annual prize pool of $2.7m (£2m), was part of his ambition to help chess become a bigger and more spectator-friendly sport.“Chess is an incredible game,” Haaland said