Latest - New Zealand tennis player Michael Venus and his German partner Tim Peutz has won the doubles title at the Paris Masters.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The unseeded pair beat French third seeds Nicolas Mahut and Pierre Hugues-Hubert 6-3, 6-7, 11-9 in a quality final lasting an hour and 52 minutes.
It's the 16th career ATP doubles title for the Kiwi and Venus will rise from his current ranking of 17 to 15 with Puetz climbing into the top 20 for the first time at 18 when the official rankings come out later today.
Venus and Puetz have quickly developed into one of the best doubles teams on the circuit and have clinched their second title of the season, but by far the biggest, having won the ATP 500 tournament in Hamburg, the European Open in June shortly after they began playing together.
"We knew we would need to play our best tennis," said Venus. "It was an unbelievable atmosphere today and it made the final very special. It's huge, these are the biggest tournaments for us."
While Venus and Puetz won't be at the ATP Finals next week which have moved from London to Turin this year, they are up to 11th in the race ahead of their final tournament of the year the Stockholm Open this coming week where they are the second seeds.
Novak Djokovic won a record-extending sixth Paris Masters singles title by avenging his U.S Open final defeat against Russian Daniil Medvedev with a 4-6 6-3 6-3 victory
Hammers beat Reds
West Ham United showed that their place in the Premier League's top four was fully warranted as they outmuscled Liverpool for a memorable 3-2 victory at London Stadium.
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Victory for high-flying West Ham ended Liverpool's 25-match unbeaten run in all competitions and lifted them above Juergen Klopp's side into third place in the table.
West Ham have 23 points from 11 games, with Juergen Klopp's side one point behind them.
Arsenal moved up to fifth after a second-half goal from Emile Smith-Rowe gave them a 1-0 home win over Watford in manager Mikael Arteta's 100th league and cup game in charge.
New Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte praised his team's fighting qualities after a scrappy 0-0 draw away to Everton in his first Premier League game at the helm.
Spurs are ninth with 16 points and Everton have 15.
Leeds and Leicester drew 1-1.
-Reuters
Scotland beat Wallabies again
Scotland's replacement hooker Ewan Ashman scored a try on his debut as they won the forward contest to defeat Australia 15-13 in a feisty autumn international clash at Murrayfield.
Loose-forward Hamish Watson also crossed for a try, and flyhalf Finn Russell slotted one penalty and a conversion as the Scots kept up their winning run against Australia with a third successive victory.
Australia, who were beaten at the breakdown and in the scrum, managed a single try through loose-forward Rob Leota as prop Allan Alaalatoa also received a contested yellow card.
Russell landed the winning penalty after 69 minutes as the visitors were penalised at the scrum yet again, much to the delight of the home fans in the 65,700 crowd.
Meanwhile Wallabies' fullback Dane Haylett-Petty announced his retirement after failing to fully recover from the effects of a concussion he suffered last year in a match against the All Blacks.
The concussion, in a collision during a Bledisloe Cup match in October 2020, left Haylett-Petty with lingering headaches. It ruled him out of the 2021 Super Rugby season with the Melbourne Rebels, where he was the team's skipper.
The 32-year-old, who has not played for the Wallabies since the injury, finishes his career with 38 test caps.
-Reuters
Kenyan double in New York
Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir won the 50th running of the New York City Marathon, surviving a thrilling three-way battle before sprinting for the finish line, and fellow Kenyan Albert Korir won the men's race.
Jepchirchir is the first athlete to pick up Olympic gold and win the famed five-borough race in the same year as she crossed the finishing line in two hours, 22 minutes and 39 seconds, with compatriot Viola Cheptoo and Ethiopian Ababel Yeshaneh finishing second and third respectively.
Korir, who finished second in 2019, was trailing 52 seconds behind the leaders at the halfway point but had established a 17-second lead through the 35-kilometre mark.
He leapt into the air as he broke the tape in 2:08:22 in Central Park, with Moroccan Mohamed El Aaraby finishing 44 seconds behind and Italian Eyob Faniel finishing third.
Sunday's race went off 13 weeks after the Tokyo Games and capped a chaotic year for the marathon majors after London and Boston were moved from their traditional April dates to October due to the pandemic.
-Reuters
Bagnaia wins in Portugal
Ducati's pole sitter Francesco Bagnaia produced a near-flawless display at the Algarve Grand Prix to claim his third victory of the season, finishing ahead of Spain's outgoing champion Joan Mir of Suzuki and team mate Jack Miller.
Photo: AFP
Italian Bagnaia, who was starting first on the grid for a fifth straight race, overcame a minor early blip in which he briefly lost the lead before crossing the line in dominant fashion in the penultimate race of the season.
Yamaha's new world champion Fabio Quartararo - who clinched the title at last month's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - began his reign in disappointing fashion as he crashed out with five laps to go in the race.
It was the first time that the consistent Frenchman had not finished a race this season and capped off a disappointing weekend in which he also struggled in qualifying.
The race ended in anti-climactic fashion shortly before the finish with a red flag being waved after a bad crash involving Iker Lecuona of Tech3 and KTM's Miguel Oliveira at turn 13 but both were conscious as they received medical attention.
-Reuters
Villa sack Smith
Aston Villa's Dean Smith became the third Premier League manager sacked this week as the club confirmed his departure after a run of five successive defeats.
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"Aston Villa Football Club can confirm that the club have parted company with head coach Dean Smith," Villa said in a statement two days after a 1-0 defeat at Southampton.
Smith joined Villa in 2018 after a spell in charge of Brentford where he developed a reputation for playing exciting, attacking football.
He guided Villa back to the Premier League via the playoffs in his first campaign with a club record 10-match winning run at the end of the season.
Smith, a Villa fan, then helped his team retain their top-flight status the following season after a relegation battle and came close to silverware when he guided them to the League Cup final in 2020, losing 2-1 to Manchester City.
However, after a solid opening to this season including a win at Manchester United, Villa have fallen away badly and are in 15th place in the table with 10 points from 11 matches.
managers to be sacked this season have been Steve Bruce at Newcastle, Xisco Munoz of Watford and Nuno Espirito Santo at Tottenham.
-Reuters