Iga Swiatek makes hay on Wimbledon grass after Clara Tauson’s serving skill deserts her

It has not been the best 12 months for Iga Swiatek but the Pole is finally ­finding form on grass, her least favoured surface, after a 6-4, 6-1 win against the world No 22, Clara Tauson, who struggled with illness in her straight sets loss.The win booked Swiatek’s spot in her 12th grand slam quarter-final, becoming the youngest player since Maria Sharapova in 2008 to achieve the feat.It can be easy to forget how young the Pole is, with five grand slam titles to her name at 24 years old. But the past year has shown there is room for growth in her game, with the player admitting she has mentally struggled. She is seeded No 8 here – low for her standards – and her most recent singles title came more than a year ago, at the 2024 French Open

Mirra Andreeva flies into quarter-finals with straight-sets win over Navarro

If being a fast learner is a prerequisite for a potential champion, Mirra Andreeva fits the bill perfectly. Beaten in the first round here a year ago, the 18-year-old Russian defeated Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-3 on Monday to reach the quarter-finals at ­Wimbledon for the first time, with the promise of much more to come.Taking the ball early to deny the American time, she changed the pace, as she loves to do, and manoeuvred her opponent into uncomfortable positions from which mistakes flowed. Andreeva is the youngest player to reach this stage at Wimbledon since the Czech Nicole Vaidisova in 2007 and on her Centre Court debut, with Roger Federer watching from the Royal Box, she was so much in the moment that she didn’t even realise she had won.“It’s something crazy,” said Andreeva, who will now play Belinda Bencic, the Swiss who also reached her first ­Wimbledon quarter-final, having become a mother in April last year

Bumper Royal Ascot payout reopens concerns about Tote betting into own pools

The fourth day of Royal Ascot last month was an afternoon that a lucky handful of punters betting into the Tote’s popular Placepot pool will never forget. The favourite missed the frame in three of the six races that comprise the bet, there were just 18.15 winning units in the pool and the dividend to a £1 stake was an eye-watering £26,420.10.This was a brilliant advertisement for a bet that can be won without finding any of the six winners

Jofra Archer’s return is a risk England must take with India on the march | Ali Martin

Tradition usually dictates that after a batting lineup fails in the manner that England’s largely did on a flat one at Edgbaston – four ducks among the top six, just two men passing 50, 157.4 overs batted to India’s 234 – a bowler or two must pay the price.Given the short turnaround, and with admittedly some merit after shipping more than 1,000 runs in a home Test for just the second time in history, this will come to pass at Lord’s on Thursday. All signs point to Jofra Archer’s return. A risk? Undoubtedly

Cameron Norrie vows to stay vocal as Carlos Alcaraz awaits at Wimbledon

Cameron Norrie said he relishes playing Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Tuesday and will continue to compete with the competitive energy that has driven his success, regardless of what other people think.“I’m excited to play against him and I’m going to have to play my best level, and even better, to have a chance because he’s got such a diverse game,” Norrie said. “I’m going to have to be tough and bring more energy to have a chance.”Norrie reached the quarter-finals by holding his nerve in a bruising five-set battle with the Chilean qualifier Nicolás Jarry on Sunday. Jarry complained afterwards to Norrie about his tendency to cheer loudly after most points

Wimbledon line-call failure came after operator turned cameras off by mistake

Wimbledon’s electronic line-calling failure on Sunday came after an operator unintentionally switched off a set of cameras on Centre Court with one computer click, it is understood.Bosses earlier defended the new system as they continued to blame Sunday’s seven minutes of chaos on human error.Sally Bolton, the chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, rejected the suggestion that human line judges should have been brought back in when the system was “inadvertently deactivated” for six minutes and 49 seconds, missing three calls in one game.It can now be revealed that the embarrassing failure came after an operator unintentionally unticked on a computer screen one set of cameras that monitored a part of Centre Court. The Hawk-Eye technology at the centre of the controversy has now been overhauled so that cameras cannot be turned off when the system is operational