Andy Murray and Johanna Konta both advance to the Australian Open third round while Geraint Thomas believes he will continue to develop at Team Sky. Here's our review of the last 24 hours.
Andy Murray cruised through to the third round of the Australian Open as he thrashed home favourite Sam Groth 6-0, 6-4, 6-1.
Groth recorded the fastest-ever serve, at 163mph, last year but Murray’s world-class return game rendered that weapon a non-factor as he raced to victory in one hour and 30 minutes.
The Brit, seeded number two, will now face Portugal’s Joao Sousa in the last 32 – a man he has beaten twice in the past three years in Belgium.
In the women’s draw, British No.1 Johanna Konta also eased through as she hammered Zheng Saisai 6-2, 6-3.
Konta had never won a match in the Australian Open main draw before this year but followed her upset of world No.10 Venus Williams in round one with another fine performance as she set up a last-32 clash with Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic, who beat 30th seed Sabine Lisicki.
Murray’s older brother Jamie also recorded a victory in Melbourne on Thursday as he teamed up with Brazil’s Bruno Soares to beat fellow Brit Jonny Marray and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan 6-3, 6-4 in the men’s doubles.
And the British-Swedish pair of Dom Inglot and Robert Lindstedt also advanced in the men’s doubles as they were 6-4, 6-3 victors over Sergey Betov of Belarus and Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia.
Geraint Thomas is confident he remains in the right environment to be the best despite the presence of other leading riders at Team Sky.
Double Olympic track champion Thomas has proved his pedigree on the road in recent years, becoming the first British rider to win Belgium's formidable E3 Harelbeke race in March 2015.
He followed that up with a second-place finish in the Tour de Suisse before recording a career-best finish of 15th in the Tour de France.
This came despite putting most of his energies towards supporting team-mate Chris Froome who went on to claim his second yellow jersey.
Team boss Sir Dave Brailsford has in the past hinted that Thomas could be given the chance to be a Grand Tour leader.
And while Froome will again be favourite to lead the team in this year's Tour de France, Thomas is open-minded about what could happen further down the line.
“Obviously I want the opportunities to try and win those big races, and I'm confident I'll get them,” said Thomas, who is into the final months of his current Team Sky deal.
“I'm in the best place to learn how to prepare and be ready to win a Grand Tour. I think it's perfect for my development.
“If it came to the point where I felt I could compete for the win and being in the same team as Froome was going to jeopardise that, then yes, I would want to explore other options.
“At the same time I wouldn't just go to any random team that can't support you properly. I've been working under Dave Brailsford since I was 18 and it works.”
Great Britain internationals Iain Lewers and Maddie Hinch have seen their efforts over the last 12 months recognised after being named the Hockey Writers' Club men and women's players of the year for 2015.
Defender Lewers and keeper Hinch, both of whom play their club hockey for Kent side Holcombe, were announced as the winners at the Hockey Writers' Club Annual Awards presentation lunch.
They also picked up the Chris Moore and Marjorie Pollard salvers for their performances at the EuroHockey Championships at Lee Valley last summer.
Both will be hoping to play a key role at this year's Rio Olympic Games after helping to qualify the men's and women's side a place last year.
Hinch, who took the HWC Women's Player of the Year award, sponsored by Investec, ahead of fellow internationals Lily Owsley and Alex Danson, was the shootout hero last year, saving three penalties as England women overcame the Netherlands to clinch the EuroHockey Championship title for the first time since 1991.
"It is such a great honour to win both these awards and to be honest I was surprised to hear I had," she told England Hockey.
"It has been a fantastic year for us as a squad with a lot of strong individual performances throughout so these awards cap off a pretty surreal 2015 for me.
"Qualifying for Rio and in the fashion we did it in (unbeaten and conceding only two goals) was a fantastic achievement for us, but the stand out highlight of the year has to be the European Final and beating the Dutch to take the gold medal in front of a home crowd.
"The World League finals recently in Argentina was a good trip for us to try out a few new things and continue our development as a team.
"Having said this, we went out there to do the best we could, taking each game one at a time, so to finish seventh overall was disappointing.
“But with the Olympics very much the main focus, there are plenty of important learnings we can take from Argentina on to Rio."
Lewers picked up the HWC men’s Player of the Year award, sponsored by Mercian, for the second successive year.
He was an integral part of the England and Great Britain defence last year, with his performances in the World League in Antwerp and the European Championships earning him plenty of plaudits. The Team GB Club has now officially launched! Be rewarded for your support and join Team GB on the road to Rio 2016 with our Club – check it out here. Sportsbeat 2016