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Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe handed Team World a second successive Laver Cup title after they squeezed past Team Europe duo Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(4) 7-6(5) for a thrilling doubles victory on Sunday.

The Americans, who met earlier this month in the U.S. Open quarter-finals, found their rhythm to wrap up a final-day victory that lifted captain John McEnroe’s team to 13 points and crushed any remaining hopes for Team Europe.

Team World took a 4-0 lead on the first day of competition, and extended it to 10-2 over Team Europe by the end of Saturday.

Team Europe won the first four editions of the tournament but that run came to an end last year in London when Team World finally emerged victorious at a tournament that marked the end of Roger Federer’s career.

This year the Swiss watched on as a spectator as Tiafoe come back to haunt Team Europe with another win.

“Yeah it was very special being part of that last year it was so emotional, for being my first time. Now with Ben it’s a lot of fun and I hope you guys have enjoyed the match,” Tiafoe said.

“It’s been crazy for me, I enjoyed being in a team environment, they did a great job cheering me on all week and I hope I did a good job cheering them on as well,” Shelton said.

Team World will look to retain their title next year when the event is held in Berlin.

Ajax Amsterdam have parted ways with their director of football Sven Mislintat with immediate effect, the Dutch club said on Sunday.

In May, Ajax appointed Mislintat as the successor to Marc Overmars but the association proved to be shortlived.

“Several attempts to restore broad support have not led to the desired outcome. This leads to unrest in and around the club, also due to the disappointing results,” Ajax interim CEO Jan van Halst said in a statement.

Ajax, who finished third last season, are languishing in 14th place in the 18-team Eredivisie with five points from four matches.

They have failed to win a league match since the opening weekend of the season. On Sunday Ajax had to abandon their home Eredivisie game after fans started rioting when champions Feyenoord took a 3-0 lead.

LYON, France : Wales dramatically lifted their performance levels to record a one-sided win over Australia and book a quarter-final berth at the Rugby World Cup, to the delight of their coach Warren Gatland.

Given little chance just months ago after a dismal Six Nations championship, the Welsh are now the first country to advance to the business end of the tournament in France after demolishing the Wallabies in Lyon on Sunday with their 40-6 victory ensuring a top two place in Pool C.

Few would have predicted a record margin of victory for Wales over Australia but Gatland said his side had been showing signs of improvement.

“I thought it would be a close game. In fairness, we had a great week in training in terms of preparation. We’ve put a lot of work in during the last four months that this team has been together and we know we’re a momentum team and we build confidence on performances,” he told reporters.

Gatland, who returned last December as Wales coach, was particularly delighted with his defence.

“The fact they didn’t score any tries. We spoke about some of our line speed at halftime. That was a big focus at halftime. We were more aggressive. I thought Gareth Davies did a fantastic job leading that aspect,” he said of the scrumhalf, who also got the first try that laid the platform for the victory.

“I thought our game management was fantastic, in terms of keeping the scoreboard ticking over. We grew into the game and got better.

“They never really threatened us which was pleasing,” he added.

The Welsh were in crisis earlier in the year amid threats of player strikes and, at the time, any success at the World Cup would have been seen as a long shot.

“There were a lot of things going on before the Six Nations. Contract issues and the frustrations from them over players’ futures. I had to sit back and let things unfold.

“But we’ve been together for four months now. You know you can put the detail and hard work in. We’re such a small nation in terms of playing numbers. Our success is based on hard work and punching above our weight and we build confidence on the back of these results,” Gatland said.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)

LYON, France : Eddie Jones said he remained 100 per cent committed to the task of turning Australian rugby around after his young side were thrashed by Wales to move to the brink of elimination from the World Cup in the pool stage.

Jones was hired on a five-year contract in January but a report in the Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday cited sources as saying he had been interviewed about returning to the Japan job when Jamie Joseph leaves after the World Cup.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, mate,” he said when questioned about the report after the 40-6 loss to Wales.

“I came back to Australia to try to help as much as I can. I’m a proud Australian. I hate to see Australian rugby do as poorly as we’ve been doing, particularly under my reign.

“There’s not only the Wallabies we’ve got to try and improve, we’ve got to improve the whole system of Australian rugby.

“That’s not an excuse. We’ve got to have a really good look at ourselves, and to continue improving and getting better.”

Jones bridled at continuing questioning over the report and threatened to walk out of the post-match press conference.

“I really take umbrage at people questioning my commitment as Australia coach,” he said.

“I’ve been working nonstop since I’ve come in and apologise for the results. But to question my commitment to the job I think is a bit red hot.”

Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh earlier told reporters in Lyon that Jones had assured his employers there was no foundation to the report.

“You just have to take people for their word,” the former Wallabies flanker said.

“He said he hasn’t, and if he has, that’s something that we’ll deal with at the time that becomes evident.”

Jones was previously coach of Japan for three years from 2012 and led the Brave Blossoms to a stunning upset of South Africa at the 2015 World Cup.

The 63-year-old was sacked after seven years as England coach last December and returned to Australia for his second spell as Wallabies coach in January.

Jones proclaimed that Australia would win the World Cup for the third time with a “smash and grab” raid in France but results have failed back up his hyperbole.

After losing all three matches in the Rugby Championship and the second Bledisloe Cup test to New Zealand, the Wallabies were trounced 41–17 by France in their final warm-up.

They opened their tournament with a 35-15 win over Georgia but a first loss to Fiji in 69 years in their second Pool C match last week led to a barrage of criticism of Jones’s decision to trust in youth for the World Cup campaign.

“We’re disappointed, they’re a young team and they’re very disappointed, they tried their hearts out,” he added on Sunday.

“And, of course, at the moment we just don’t have the consistency in our favour to put pressure on teams like Wales.

“The only way you get experience is by playing these games and sometimes you know, games like this have the makings of a good team going forward.”

Olympic champion and two-time World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe took her final bow in international football after the U.S. beat South Africa 2-0 in a friendly on Sunday in the Soldier Field stadium in Chicago.

The relentless 38-year-old striker was crucial to both of her team’s goals, providing the long pass to Alex Morgan that set up Trinity Rodman’s goal and taking the corner that Emily Sonnett headed into the back of the net.

Rapinoe, who won the Golden Boot, Golden Ball, and Ballon d’Or for her role in the U.S. 2019 World Cup campaign, received a heartfelt farewell as she left the field in the 52nd minute to a standing ovation from the crowd, handed the captain’s arm-band to Lindsey Horan and hugged her team-mates.

“It has been such an honour to be able to wear this shirt, play with all these players and live out my childhood dream,” Rapinoe said at the end of the game.

With 203 caps and 63 goals for her national team, the veteran played in four World Cups, winning in 2015 and 2019, and helped the U.S. to claimed the Olympic gold at the 2012 London Games.

Her activism and off-field personality brought her to achieve household fame after supporting causes such as LGBT+ rights, speaking out against racism and standing up for equal pay in women’s soccer.

Rapinoe is scheduled to play her last National Women’s Soccer League regular-season game with OL Reign on Oct. 6 against Washington Spirit in Seattle.

Travis Kelce won his second Super Bowl ring with the Chiefs in February while older sibling Jason ended up on the losing side with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Travis Kelce said this week on ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show that he had invited Swift to attend a game.

“I threw it out there. I threw the ball in her court. You know, I told her, ‘I’ve seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead, you might have to come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead and see which one’s a little more lit,'” he said.

“We’ll see what happens in the near future,” added the 33-year-old Kelce, who is widely considered one of the best tight ends in NFL history.

NEW DELHI: New Delhi cancelled on Friday (Sep 22) a trip by its sports minister to the Asian Games in Hangzhou, saying that Chinese authorities had denied accreditation and entry to Indian athletes from a region claimed by Beijing.

According to Indian media reports, three women martial arts fighters from the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh were approved to take part in the sports extravaganza by the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee.

But the wushu fighters were unable to download their accreditation cards, which act as visas to enter China, the Hindustan Times reported.

The northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh is claimed almost in full by Beijing, which calls it “South Tibet”.

China had discriminated against some of the Indian athletes “in a targeted and pre-meditated manner”, India’s foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said in a statement.

“China’s action violates both the spirit of the Asian Games and the rules governing their conduct, which explicitly prohibits discrimination against competitors from member states,” he added.

A “strong protest” had been lodged in both New Delhi and Beijing against “China’s deliberate and selective obstruction of some of our sportspersons”, he said, and a trip by the sports minister to the event had been cancelled.

Wushu, or kung fu, is a multi-disciplinary martial art originating in China.

The rest of the 10-member Indian squad along with the coaching staff left for the Games in Hangzhou on Wednesday, according to reports.

Before the Indian foreign ministry statement, senior Olympic Council of Asia official Wei Jizhong had insisted that the trio had been issued visas and were not barred.

“I make it very clear: The Chinese government gave them a visa, they can enter China,” he told reporters. “But unfortunately these athletes didn’t accept the visa.”

SUZUKA, Japan : Red Bull’s Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen completed a sweep of Japanese Grand Prix practice on Saturday with McLaren closest on the timesheets and emerging as the main challengers.

The Dutch 25-year-old, who was fastest in both Friday sessions as he bounced back from defeat in Singapore last Sunday, lapped the Suzuka circuit with a best time of one minute 30.267 seconds on the soft tyres.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was second-fastest, 0.240 off the pace, in the final session before qualifying with Australian team mate Oscar Piastri third.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was fourth-fastest and a further half a second behind.

Verstappen, who won in Japan from pole position last year, leads Perez by 151 points after 15 of 22 rounds and could wrap up his third title as early as the next race in Qatar.

Red Bull, unbeaten until Singapore ended Verstappen’s record run of 10 wins in a row and the team’s streak of 15 successive victories dating back to last year, are set to retain their constructors’ title at Suzuka.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who looked Red Bull’s closest challengers on Friday, were fifth and sixth, with the Mercedes pairing of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell seventh and eighth.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was ninth fastest with Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou 10th.

:Defending champions Team World took a 4-0 lead over Team Europe on the opening day of the Laver Cup in Vancouver on Friday, as Ben Shelton, Francisco Cerundolo and Felix Auger-Aliassime all won their singles matches.

The three-day tournament, viewed as tennis’ answer to golf’s Ryder Cup, offering fans a rare opportunity to see the sport’s top players team up, is without the likes of the retired Roger Federer, the injured Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic this year.

But fans got a glimpse of the future at the Rogers Arena, as U.S. Open semi-finalist Shelton beat fellow debutant Arthur Fils of France 7-6(4) 6-1 to hand Team World the opening point of the competition for the first time in its six-year history.

“It’s different pressure, for sure,” said American Shelton, who hit back from 1-4 in the first set tiebreak before switching gears to close out the victory, as tournament co-founder and 20-times Grand Slam champion Federer watched from the stands.

“I love the type of pressure of playing for a team. In the back of your head, it’s always you don’t want to let them down, but also, the win is so much greater when you get to do it for them and Team World, not just for yourself.”

Argentine Cerundolo claimed his first point for Team World with a 6-3 7-5 victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

“We’ve got some new blood. There’s a lot of energy,” Team World captain John McEnroe said.

“I think we’ve always had the team spirit, but there’s a great team feeling. Obviously we’ve come in guns blazing. It’s great to have a lead.”

Home favourite Felix Auger-Aliassime made it a hat-trick of singles wins for Team World with a 6-4 6-3 victory over French veteran Gael Monfils in the evening session.

Americans Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul then completed the clean sweep by defeating Team Europe’s Fils and Andrey Rublev 6-3 4-6 (10-6) in the doubles match.

The first team to reach 13 points will lift the Laver Cup.

While Team World claimed one point for each win on Friday, Team Europe will not lose hope as two points will be on offer for each victory on Saturday and three points for each win on the final day.

GUADALAJARA, Mexico : Caroline Dolehide, ranked 111th in the world, beat former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin on Friday to reach her first WTA final at the Guadalajara Open, where she will face second seed Maria Sakkari of Greece.

Playing in her first career semi-final, the 25-year-old Dolehide fought back from a break down in both sets against Kenin to win the all-American clash 7-5 6-3 in an hour and 25 minutes.

Dolehide, who saved four match points against Martina Trevisan in the quarter-finals, was 4-2 down in the opener before winning three straight games to take a 5-4 lead and taking the set.

She was trailing 3-1 in the second set and won five straight games for victory, saving five break points in the final game before sealing the result on her first match point.

“I’m really proud of myself for getting through that one today, because Sonya is not an easy player to get by,” Dolehide, 25, said before Saturday’s final, using Kenin’s nickname.

“It feels amazing, and I’m so excited for tomorrow.”

World number nine Sakkari reached the Guadalajara final for the second straight year after a 6-3 6-0 win over third seed Caroline Garcia of France.

Sakkari, who lost to Jessica Pegula in last year’s final, has not dropped a set this week and is aiming to win her first title since the WTA 250 tournament in Rabat in 2019.

The 28-year-old has endured a disappointing Grand Slam year as she followed a third-round appearance at the Australian Open with first-round exits at the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

“I said it the first day that I felt like this was the week, this is the place where I was going to overcome a lot of difficult obstacles and difficult emotions,” Sakkari said.

“I don’t want to go back to the US Open because that’s passed, but I’m just so happy to be back in the final and to get to stay until the end of the tournament. I couldn’t have asked for anything better this year.”