WTA Finals: Iga Swiatek sweeps past Aryna Sabalenka after rain delay to move a step closer to world No 1 sport
At the WTA Finals in Cancun, Iga Swiatek defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals to move a step close to recapturing the world No 1 spot; Swiatek is through to the final against Jessica Pegula; Martina Navratilova calls for WTA leadership to change after troubled tournament.
With her straight sets win over Sabalenka in the WTA Finals, Swiatek has moved a step closer to recapturing the world No 1 spot.
Swiatek, the world No 2, claimed her 67th win of the year and her 10th win in a row in the 6-3 6-2 victory against the current No 1 Sabalenka on Sunday in Mexico.
She will meet world No 5 Jessica Pegula in the final on Monday for a chance to finish the year as the world No 1.
It only took an hour for Pegula to beat her doubles partner and fellow American Coco Gauff on Saturday in a 6-2 6-1 win to continue her exceptional tournament form.
Both Pegula and four-time grand slam winner Swiatek have gone through the tournament undefeated with neither player dropping a single set.
Source: Sky Sports
Tottenham join Liverpool in race to sign Man City midfielder Kalvin Phillips
Tottenham have joined Liverpool in the race to sign out-of-favour Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips in January.
Manchester United are battling to keep highly-rated youngster Omari Forson. Teenager Forson, 19, is regarded as one of the club's best prospects and has already made in-roads towards the first team, having graduated from the academy.
Source: Sky Sports
Paris Masters: Novak Djokovic claims record-extending title after beating Grigor Dimitrov
Novak Djokovic beat Grigor Dimitrov to claim his 40th Masters title; Serb is unbeaten since losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final in July; he will head to ATP finals in Turin next week on an 18-match winning run
Novak Djokovic claimed a record-extending seventh Paris Masters trophy on Sunday after beating Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday.
It's the Serb's 40th Masters title in total and his 97th on the ATP Tour as he beat unseeded Bulgarian Dimitrov 6-4 6-3 in the French capital.
The 36-year-old has picked his sixth title of the year after already winning the Masters trophy in Cincinnati and three Grand Slams.
Djokovic only needed one break to take the first set after Dimitrov hit a backhand into the net to hand his opponent the advantage.
A single break of serve in each set proved decisive as the 36-year-old won in 98 minutes.
Djokovic is unbeaten since losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final in July and will head to the ATP finals in Turin next week on an 18-match winning run.
Source: Sky Sports
VAR in spotlight once again as Liverpool, Arsenal and Wolves all face the harsh side of video technology
Arsenal, Liverpool and Wolves all complained about the refereeing and VAR this weekend; VAR had another weekend under the spotlight; watch former referee Dermot Gallagher analyse the weekend's officiating talking points on Monday at 11.30am on Sky Sports News
Another week, another set of VAR controversy as Liverpool, Arsenal and Wolves all complained about the video technology not getting calls right.
Liverpool felt they should have had a penalty to help put them 1-0 up at Luton when Virgil van Dijk was brought down by Luton's Elijah Adebayo in the box.
VAR took a look at the incident but chose not to award a penalty, leaving Jurgen Klopp so bemused he earned a yellow card for his protestations.
Meanwhile, Newcastle's winner at Arsenal was also deemed controversial. Anthony Gordon's second-half strike was enough to beat Mikel Arteta's side despite a four-minute VAR check to analyse three talking points with the goal - whether the ball went out of play, a potential foul by Joelinton and an offside on Gordon.
Wolves manager Gary O'Neil said Fabio Silva's late foul on George Baldock to award Sheffield United their match-winning penalty on Sunday was not a spot kick, as the club face another questionable call from the video technology.
Seven minutes before Tahith Chong's opener, VAR looked at a possible penalty after Van Dijk was brought down by Elijah Adebayo, but the technology waved the claims away.
Klopp was booked for his protestations over the incident and the Liverpool manager compared the Adebayo foul to wrestling.
"I respect a lot what they do, but the way they defend set pieces defensively, if you watch it back it's wrestling," he said in his post-match press conference. "It's not on the edge, it's the wrong side of it.
"If they don't get punished [in the rules], why should they change it? There's a bit of discussion we had before, not when they scored him, just before, when Virgil's man brought him down. It's a good point scored in wrestling."
Asked about his yellow card, Klopp told Sky Sports: "It's Anthony Taylor who gave me the yellow card, not the ref. I spoke to the linesman and Anthony didn't like that. I was really surprised I got a yellow card. I deserve a lot of cards I get in my life but this one I didn't understand. You have to ask Anthony.
"It was not a handball before the goal, I saw that back. But the situation before, the wrestling in the box. If that's allowed then it's allowed, we cannot change that. The refs have their own view nowadays, so that's it."
Responding to those claims, Luton manager Rob Edwards said: "He [Klopp] had a bit of a word. We have to try and be physical and make sure they don't get a free header. They have big old boys who are coming up for set pieces and we have to get our heads on it. We have to stand up and defend well.
"There's always going to be little bits that he will have a chew about but I'm proud with how we defended those moments.
"It's still a physical game. I'm not saying it's a foul, far from it. But we don't want to say: 'Have a free header Virgil, get on it'. He's a winner, he won't be happy with certain bits. We have to find a way to get a result, it's hard against a team like that."
After the controversial call which saw Newcastle beat his Arsenal team, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta told Sky Sports the awarding of the goal was a "disgrace" and "embarrassing" for the officials.
Arsenal argued the ball had gone out of play in the build-up to the goal and Gabriel was then pushed in the back by Joelinton, who headed the ball down.
Claims for an apparent offside were also not upheld after VAR deemed they could not determine the moment of contact when the ball fell to Gordon.
"It's a disgrace," Arteta told Sky Sports. "It's embarrassing. That's how I feel and that's how everybody feels in that [dressing] room. You cannot imagine the amount of messages we've got saying this cannot continue. It's embarrassing. I'm sorry, embarrassing.
"I feel sick. That's how I feel. I feel sick to be part of this. It is not good enough and we cannot accept that."
On Sunday, Arsenal came out as a club to support the manager. "The Premier League is the best league in the world with the best players, coaches and supporters, all of whom deserve better. PGMOL urgently needs to address the standard of officiating and focus on action which moves us all on from retrospective analysis, attempted explanations and apologies," the statement read. The PGMOL has opted against commenting.
Source: Sky Sports