Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - American Sofia Kenin became the highest women's seed to fall so far at Wimbledon as she suffered a 6-2 6-4 second-round defeat at the hands of compatriot Madison Brengle.

The 2020 Australian Open champion Kenin, seeded four, never got going on a cool Court Two and lasted only 45 minutes against the experienced 31-year-old who has matched her best run there.

Fifth seed Bianca Andreescu and ninth seed Belinda Bencic were beaten.

A day after sister Serena endured a heart-breaking Wimbledon exit after suffering an injury in the first round, Venus Williams also bowed out of the singles.

Venus, aged 41 and playing in her 90th Grand Slam tournament, pushed Tunisian 21st seed Ons Jabeur hard in the opening set but eventually succumbed to a 7-5 6-0 defeat.

It is the first time at least one of the American sisters has failed to reach the third round at Wimbledon since Serena made her debut at the tournament in 1998.

Venus still has interest in the tournament as she will be playing the mixed doubles with Nick Kyrgios. (Reporting by Martyn Herman Editing by Toby Davis)

In the men's draw there were wins for Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios.

-Reuters

Williamson back at number one

Black Caps captain Kane Williamson has reclaimed top spot in the test batting rankings a week after leading New Zealand to the World Test Championship title.

Williamson's knocks of 49 and 52 not out in the low-scoring final against India in Southampton have helped him move 10 ranking points ahead of Australian batsman Steve Smith.

Ross Taylor, who scored an unbeaten 47 in the second innings and partnered in an unbroken 96-run stand with Williamson, has advanced three places to 14th.

New Zealand's fast bowlers have also gained after thriving in the seaming conditions, with player of the match Kyle Jamieson continuing the stupendous start to his test career.

Jamieson's figures of five for 31 and two for 30 have pushed him up to a career-best 13th position, not surprising since no bowler has taken more test wickets at a better average than him since 1900.

Left-armer Trent Boult's figures of two for 48 and three for 39 have lifted him two places to 11th.

Fifita heading to Wasps

The former All Black loose forward Vaea Fifita is heading to Britain to play his rugby.

29 year old Fifita, who has been with the Hurricanes since 2015, is joining English Premiership club Wasps.

Fifita, who had limited game time this season, gained 11 caps for the All Blacks between 2017 and 2019.

He joins Malakai Fekitoa, Brad Shields, Jeff Toomaga-Allen and Jimmy Gopperth at the Coventry club.

Wasps men's head coach Lee Blackett said: "We have been looking for a quality lock and back-rower and Vaea fits the bill perfectly. We are therefore delighted to be able to bring an experienced international forward like him on board for next season.

Midfield backs Ngani Laumape and Vince Aso have also left the Hurricanes in recent weeks.

Samoa won't go to Olympics

Samoa's caretaker of sport has said the country's athletes will not be competing at the Tokyo Olympics.

However, the team has not been officially notified of any withdrawal.

A meeting is scheduled this afternoon to discuss the team's involvement in the Games.

The caretaker Cabinet decided yesterday to prevent Team Samoa from travelling to Japan due to Covid-19.

The caretaker Minister of sport, Afamasaga Rico Tupa'i, said that with reports Japan has a 500 daily infection rate, the Cabinet decided prevention takes precedence.

Afamasaga said the decision was made because the possibility of infection was too high.

Samoan had already selected athletes from several sports including weightlifting, boxing, sailing and athletics, but neither rugby sevens team had qualified.

Pogacar tops TT at Tour de France

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar emerged as the overwhelming Tour de France favourite when he destroyed the field by winning the fifth stage, a 27.2km individual time trial.

The defending champion clocked a best time of 32 minutes between Change and Laval to beat Swiss Stefan Kueng, the European champion in the solo effort against the clock, by 18 seconds.

Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel took fifth place to retain the overall leader's yellow jersey.

"I didn't think I was going to keep the jersey. It was a great day, I'm really happy," said Van der Poel, who is expected to surrender his lead when the race reaches the mountains this weekend.

Pogacar's performance is a massive blow to his rivals for the title as 2018 champion Geraint Thomas ended up one minute 18 seconds behind and last year's runner-up Primoz Roglic finished 44 seconds off the pace.

Pogacar is now second overall, eight seconds behind Van der Poel while Roglic is 10th, 1:40 down on his compatriot and Thomas 12th, a further six seconds behind.

Both Roglic and Thomas suffered nasty crashes in the opening days of racing and are now facing a huge challenge to beat Pogacar.

-Reuters

Benitez joins Toffees

Premier League club Everton named Rafa Benitez as their new manager in a three-year deal despite opposition from some fans to the Spaniard who used to manage arch-rivals Liverpool in the same city.

Everton had been hunting for a new manager since Carlo Ancelotti, who led them to 10th in the league last season, returned to Real Madrid for a second spell.

"I believe this is a club that is going places," said Benitez, 61, praising the Everton hierarchy's ambition.

Benitez irked Everton fans in 2007 when he called them a "small club" while he was managing Liverpool.

When rumours surfaced that he may be taking over at Goodison Park - a stone's throw from Liverpool's home Anfield - some fans hung protest banners outside the Everton stadium.

Benitez becomes the second person to manage both Merseyside clubs after William Edward Barclay, who was Everton's first boss and later ran the breakaway Liverpool club in the late 1800s.

-Reuters

Woman arrested after cause crash on Tour

French police say they have arrested a woman suspected of causing a huge crash during the opening stage of the Tour de France by waving a sign in the riders' path.

The peloton was 45km from the end of the first stage, when her sign clipped German rider Tony Martin.

He fell to the ground and caused dozens of other riders to follow suit, in what was one of the Tour de France's worst ever crashes.

French authorities say the woman, who is French, is in custody in Landerneau.

Video footage of the incident has been shared widely online.

The woman can be seen holding a sign with "granny and granddad" written in German. She is looking away from the peloton coming towards her and does not see them approach, while holding her sign too far into the road.

As a result of the crash, one rider had to pull out of the Tour completely and another eight riders were treated for injuries.

-BBC