Sinner continues Zverev domination to set up Miami Open final against Lehecka

For one intense, gripping hour inside Miami Open’s stadium court, Alexander Zverev outperformed the modest expectations of his sceptical audience. Under sustained, suffocating pressure from the best returner in the world, he held his own serve and kept Jannik Sinner honest as a competitive second set culminated in a tie-break. Eight points in, nothing could separate them.Things changed abruptly. At 4-4 on his own serve, Zverev set up a routine overhead that would have moved him narrowly ahead

WNBA’s Connecticut Sun will move to Houston after $300m sale to Fertitta family

The Fertitta family, who own the NBA’s Houston Rockets, are purchasing the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun with the intention of moving the team to Houston, PaperCity Magazine and ESPN reported Friday.The upcoming season will be the last the Sun play in Connecticut, their home since 2003, before relocating to Houston ahead of the 2027 season. They will be renamed the Houston Comets after the city’s previous WNBA franchise, according to PaperCity.ESPN reported that the Fertittas purchased the Sun for $300m.The Mohegan Tribe, current owners of the Sun, entertained offers to sell the team last year

Defeat not an option for Saracens’ McCall in crunch Northampton clash

Prestigious Prem matches are scattered across the country on Saturday but none is more significant in the title race than Saracens’ date with Northampton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.By the time Sarries and Saints run out for their evening kick-off in north London, Gloucester will have played Leicester at Villa Park, before Bristol meet Harlequins at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.More than 100,000 fans will attend those three matches alone but when it comes to the destiny of the Prem trophy, table-topping Northampton’s trip to Tottenham is the one to watch – and also promises the most fascinating duel between coaches.Sarries have won plenty under Mark McCall, the long-serving director of rugby who will step down in the summer. But after a frustratingly inconsistent season his side face a fight to make the playoffs, sitting sixth, eight points behind fourth-placed Exeter

Billy Loughnane’s bid to become champion jockey hit by 21-day ban

Billy Loughnane, who will be Britain’s youngest champion jockey on the Flat since Frank Wootton in 1909 if he takes the title this season, has lodged an appeal against a 21-day ban imposed by the stewards at Southwell for riding a horse back to the unsaddling enclosure after it had been scratched from a race on vets’ orders.Loughnane’s mount, Beelzebub, was kicked at the start before the final race on Thursday evening and deemed to be lame following a veterinary examination. Loughnane, who was suspended for improper riding, has appealed against both the finding of the stewards’ inquiry and the penalty.If his appeal is unsuccessful, Loughnane will be on the sidelines from 9 April to 30 April, ruling him out of both the three-day Craven meeting at Newmarket, which includes several Classic trials, and the Greenham Stakes meeting at Newbury.He will return in time for the start of the championship race on 2 May, but a three-week “holiday” in the early weeks of the turf campaign will still be a source of considerable frustration for the 20-year-old, who has made no secret of his ambition to win the title

Mary Rand, first British woman to win Olympic athletics gold, dies aged 86

Rand won gold, silver and bronze medals at Tokyo 1964Mary Peters pays tribute to ‘most gifted athlete ever’Mary Rand, the British track and field athlete who blazed a trail for women by winning three Olympic medals at the Tokyo Games in 1964, has died at the age of 86.Rand was one of the giants of her sport: the epitome of speed, power and grace. Her long jump victory in Tokyo made her Britain’s first female Olympic gold medallist in athletics, and she followed it up with a silver in the pentathlon and a bronze in the 4x100m relay.That supreme talent was also fused with 60s style. She was famously called “Marilyn Monroe on spikes” by one journalist, because of her blonde highlights, while Mick Jagger declared her to be his dream date

F1’s Japanese GP, WSL derbies and international football – follow with us

Mercedes and Ferrari have adapted best to Formula One’s most radical change in power and chassis in more than a decade. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have won each of the first two races, and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have flip-flopped finishing third and fourth. Mercedes and Ferrari are the favorites on Suzuka’s figure-eight, a vastly different circuit from Australia – a street course in Melbourne – and Shanghai. Suzuka is old-school – narrow, twisting with only one major straight for passing. Hamilton has won the Japanese GP five times, four times at Suzuka as he surges back near the top of the standings after two races