Sports news of the day: what you need to know

Latest – American Sofia Kenin became the highest seeded women to date at Wimbledon as she suffered a 6-2 6-4 second-round loss at the hands of compatriot Madison Brengle.

2020 Australian Open champion Kenin, seeded four, has never played on a cool two court and only lasted 45 minutes against the experienced 31-year-old who tied her best run there. -low.

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

A day after her sister Serena suffered a heartbreaking outing at Wimbledon after injuring herself in the first round, Venus Williams also retired from the singles.

Venus, 41, competing in her 90th Grand Slam tournament, pushed Tunisia’s 21st seed Ons Jabeur hard in the first set, but ultimately succumbed to a 7-5 6-0 loss.

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

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

In the men’s draw, Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios scored victories.

-Reuters

Williamson back to front row

Black Caps captain Kane Williamson returned to first place in the trial hitter standings a week after leading New Zealand to the World Trials title.

Williamson’s 49 and 52 strikes not eliminated in the low-scoring final against India at Southampton helped him take a 10-point lead over Australian batsman Steve Smith.

Ross Taylor, who scored an unbeaten 47 in the second inning and teamed up with an unbroken 96-point stand with Williamson, moved up three spots to place 14th.

New Zealand’s fast bowlers also won after thriving in couture conditions, with Player of the Match Kyle Jamieson continuing the formidable start to his testing career.

Jamieson’s numbers of five for 31 and two for 30 pushed him to 13th place, his career best ever, which is not surprising since no bowler has taken more try wickets at one. better average than him since 1900.

Left arm Trent Boult’s numbers of two for 48 and three for 39 lifted him two places to 11th place.

Fifita on the way to the wasps

Former All Black striker Vaea Fifita is heading to Great Britain to play rugby.

Fifita, 29, who has been with the Hurricanes since 2015, joins English Premiership club Wasps.

Fifita, who had limited playing time this season, won 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 head coach Lee Blackett said: “We were looking for a quality lock and rear rower and Vaea fits the bill perfectly. So we are delighted to be able to bring an experienced international striker like him on board for the next season.

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

Samoa will not go to the Olympics

Samoa’s sports keeper said the country’s athletes will not compete in the Tokyo Olympics.

However, the team have not been officially informed of any withdrawals.

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

The interim cabinet decided yesterday to prevent Team Samoa from traveling to Japan due to Covid-19.

Acting Sports Minister Afamasaga Rico Tupa’i said that with reports that Japan has a daily infection rate of 500, the Cabinet has decided that prevention has priority.

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

Samoan had previously selected athletes from several sports, including weightlifting, boxing, sailing and track and field, but none of the rugby sevens teams had qualified.

Pogacar leads the TT at the Tour de France

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar became the big favorite in the Tour de France when he destroyed the peloton by winning the fifth stage, a 27.2 km individual time trial.

The reigning champion clocked a best time of 32 minutes between Change and Laval to beat Switzerland’s Stefan Kueng, the European solo time trial champion, by 18 seconds.

The Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel took fifth place to keep the yellow jersey of the leader of the general classification.

“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 give up his lead when the race hits the mountains this weekend.

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

Pogacar is now second in the general classification, eight seconds behind Van der Poel, while Roglic is 10th, 1:40 behind his compatriot and Thomas 12th, six seconds more.

Roglic and Thomas both suffered serious falls in the first few days of racing and now face a huge challenge to beat Pogacar.

-Reuters

Benitez joins Toffees

Premier League club Everton have appointed Rafa Benitez as new manager on a three-year contract despite opposition from some fans to the Spaniard who used to manage big rival Liverpool in the same city.

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

“I think it’s a club that evolves,” said Benitez, 61, welcoming the ambition of the Everton hierarchy.

Benitez angered Everton fans in 2007 when he called them a “little club” while managing Liverpool.

When rumors surfaced that he could take over at Goodison Park – a stone’s throw from Liverpool’s home Anfield – some fans hung protest banners outside Everton Stadium.

Benitez becomes the second person to manage the two Merseyside clubs after William Edward Barclay, who was Everton’s first boss and then led the separatist club Liverpool in the late 1800s.

-Reuters

Woman arrested after causing crash on tour

French police say they arrested a woman suspected of causing a huge accident on the opening stage of the Tour de France by brandishing a sign in the path of the riders.

The peloton was 45 km from the end of the first stage, when its panel cut the German Tony Martin.

He fell to the ground and followed dozens of other riders in what was one of the worst crashes of the Tour de France.

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

Video footage of the incident was shared widely online.

The woman can be seen holding a sign with “granny and grandfather” written in German. She looks away from the peloton coming towards her and does not see them approaching, while holding her sign too far down the road.

As a result of the accident, one rider had to withdraw completely from the Tour and eight other riders were treated for injuries.

-BBC