Latest - New Zealand's top ranked doubles player Michael Venus and his Australian partner John Peers have won through to the second round of the men's doubles at the US tennis Open in New York.
Peers and Venus Photo: Photosport
Venus and Peers have beaten Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Nicholas Monroe 6-4 6-2 in 1 hour 7. It was a tight opening set with just the one break of serve for Venus and Peers. But they took control early in the second set to complete a comfortable win.
Venus and Peers broke serve three times from four chances in the match and saved two break points against their own serve.
It's the duo's first match win since claiming the Dubai ATP 500 doubles title in February before the Covid-19 shutdown of the sport.
Venus and Peers will play Belgian pair Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen in the second round.
Meanwhile Marcus Daniell and his Austrian partner Philipp Oswald will face America's Christian Eubanks and Mackenzie McDonald in their second round match tomorrow.
American Magic bring second boat to Auckland
America's Cup challenger American Magic's second AC75 racing yacht has arrived in Auckland.
Photo: WILL RICKETSON / AMERICAN MAGIC
The yacht named Patriot will succeed the team's current boat, Defiant, and will be used to compete in the America's Cup World Series in December, the Prada Cup Challenger Finals in January and February and if the American Magic progress, the 36th America's Cup in March.
American Magic was the first to launch a full-size test boat, "the Mule," in October 2018. Eleven months later, they were the first to sail and foil on an AC75 shortly after launching Defiant.
With Patriot being the first "second generation" Challenger AC75 to arrive in Auckland, American Magic will now look to maximize testing time on the water prior to the opening regatta.
After being trucked from Bristol to T.F. Green Airport in Providence, Patriot was strapped into the cargo bay of an AN-124 transport aircraft, one of the largest in the world.
After departing Providence with the AC75, several tons of equipment and American Magic team member Trevor Davidson onboard, the AN-124 made refueling stops in Chicago and Honolulu before landing in Auckland.
American Magic will continue to sail Defiant for several weeks prior to launching Patriot later this year on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour.
-American Magic
Panthers roll on
The Penrith Panthers continued their march towards the NRL minor premiership with a 25-12 victory over an improved Brisbane Broncos, securing their 12th win in a row in the process.
James Tamou Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The win at Suncorp Stadium took Penrith to 31 points on the ladder, five clear of the Melbourne Storm in second position.
The Panthers' winning streak of 12 equals the Roosters (2015) and Storm (2011) in previous seasons and has only been bettered in the NRL era by the 2016 premiership-winning Sharks with 15 consecutive wins, and the Bulldogs of 2002 who chalked up 17 on the trot.
The Broncos became the first team in the club's history to lose 14 games in a season and the first to lose eight regular season matches in a row.
-NRL
No change on le Tour
Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko claimed his maiden victory on the Tour de France when he won the sixth stage, a 191-km trek from Le Teil as the top guns again delayed the fight for the general classification.
Astana rider Lutsenko, a former Under-23 world champion, prevailed from an eight-man breakaway at the top of Mont Aigoual to add to his 2017 Vuelta stage win.
Spain's Jesus Herrada took second place, 55 seconds behind with Belgian Greg van Avermaet in third, 2:15 off the pace.
Briton Adam Yates retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after staying tucked in the main peloton, which crossed the line with a deficit of 2:53.
The seventh stage is a 168-km ride from Millau to Lavaur, which is expected to favour the sprint specialists.
-Reuters
World Rugby to promote women coaches
World Rugby will fund 12 coaching internships for women before the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
Black Ferns Photo: Photosport Ltd 2018
All nations competing in the tournament can nominate one coach to join their staff.
The sport's governing body says the aim of the initiative is to address a lack of female coaches at the elite level of the men's and women's game.
World Rugby has set itself a target of 40% of all coaching staff at the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup being women.
Of the 12 head coaches at the 2017 tournament, only one - or 8% - was female. By comparison, at football's 2019 Fifa Women's World Cup, 37% - nine out of 24 - of the team's managers were women.
The first interns are set to be announced later this month.
The 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup is scheduled to take place between 18 September and 16 October in Auckland and Whangarei.
Nash heads to Brooklyn
NBA basketball Hall of Famer Steve Nash has been named head coach of a Brooklyn Nets squad that will be led by the dominant Kevin Durant next season.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Nash joins the Nets after spending five seasons as a player development consultant with the Golden State Warriors, where he contributed to two NBA championship teams and made four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals.
During an 18-season career with the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers, Nash averaged 14.3 points and 8.5 assists and was one of the best three-pointer shooters in league NBA history, making 42.8% of his threes.
He won back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards in 2005 and 2006 while playing for the Suns, becoming just the 10th player in NBA history to win the award in consecutive seasons.
The 46-year-old Canadian joins a Brooklyn team that fell in the first round of this year's playoffs to the reigning champion Toronto Raptors while Durant and Kyrie Irving sat out injured.
-Reuters