Andy Murray cruises into the final of the Italian Open with a straight sets win in Rome while Matty Lee and Georgia Ward secure silver to boost Great Britain's impressive medal tally at the European Aquatics Championships in London. Here's our review of the last 24 hours:
Andy Murray made light work of his rain-affected semi-final with Lucas Pouille to cruise into his first-ever Italian Open final where he will face Novak Djokovic. Murray, who next week will return to No.2 in the world, downed French youngster Pouille 6-2, 6-1 in Rome.
Showers all morning prevented from Murray getting out on the practice courts and another downpour saw the players go off for a short delay with Murray 4-2 up in the first set.
The Scot, who will be 29 on Sunday, broke serve four times as he won in 59 minutes.
"It’s actually the first time ever since I've been on the tour when I have not had the chance to hit a ball before I got out on the court," he said.
"It rained pretty much non-stop and they slipped the schedule around and we ended up being on straight away.
"I didn't feel that comfortable coming out on the court – and the break at 4-2 was tricky – but he made quite a few mistakes and I served well today and made it easier for myself."
Matty Lee and Georgia Ward added to Great Britain’s impressive medal tally at the European Aquatics Championships on Saturday, winning silver in the mixed 10m synchro final.
A score of 75.84 in the final secured their podium position, behind Ukrainian pair Iuliia Prokopchuk and Maksym Dolgov, to continue British divers’ best ever performance at the Championships at London Aquatics Centre.
The duo finished just 5.46 points behind top spot, and for Ward, who has now won three medals at the Championships, the week has gone better than she ever could have imagined.
“It’s been crazy and it’s not quite sunk in yet that I’ve won three medals at these Championships,” she told British Swimming.
“We really enjoy this event, we don’t come in looking for medals as we both have our individuals that we like to concentrate on so to away with silver at the European Aquatics Championships is great.”
Earlier in the day, Grace Reid won her second medal of the Championships with a bronze in the women’s 3m springboard final.
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Mallory Franklin was left wanting more despite picking up gold in the women’s Team C1 at the Canoe Slalom European Championships in Slovakia today.
Franklin, along with team-mates Kim Wood and Eilidh Gibson, beat Czech Republic by 40 seconds in the C1.
Franklin had earlier edged out Scotland’s Gibson to claim bronze in the individual C1 Women’s final, an impressive result having suffered with injury for most of last season, but felt she had more to give in that event.
She told after the individual medal: “I am really happy to be on the podium, although I feel I had a better run in me.
“I got a bit off-line in a few places and it was not as good as I would have liked, but I showed I have the speed.”
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Rio-bound fencer James Davis secured bronze at the final men’s foil World Cup of the season in Russia on Saturday.
The European Champion lost 15-11 to Russian Dmitri Rigin, who went on to finish in silver position after suffering defeat to fellow countryman Dmitry Zherebchenko in the final.
Davis had stormed through to the semi-final after a 15-5 victory over Marat Bakirov, as well as wins over fellow Team GB fencer Laurence Halsted and reigning Olympic silver medallist Alaaeldin Abouelkassem of Egypt.
There are two more men’s foil ranking events ahead of the Olympic Games in August – the Shanghai Grand Prix and the European Championships – but Davis’ improvement on last year’s top thirty-two finish here is sure to improve his World ranking.
Speaking yesterday about the results, British Fencing’s Performance Director Alex Newton said: “Today saw another great result from James against world class opposition and he showed great confidence in his fencing.
“His performance, along with that of his teammates, with three in the top 32, shows the continued progression of the squad.”
Great Britain’s rowers will get another chance to fine tune their Rio preparations at the forthcoming World Cup in Lucerne in two weeks time.
Fresh from their European golds last weekend, the men’s four, women’s pair and eight as well as the lightweight men’s pair are all unchanged for the competition in Switzerland.
Another pair they will be joined on Switzerland’s Rotsee lake from 27-29 May by is Richard Chambers and Will Fletcher, 2015 World silver medallists, who will get their first run-out in the lightweight men’s double. Chambers’ recovery from injury meant they were not quite ready to race in Brandenburg.
Chambers said: “Racing in Lucerne is always exciting and special for any international crew. For it to be our first international race of the season is important as we can see where we are after what has been a successful and solid winter’s training in the double.”
England Sevens ended the pool stages on high with a six-try defeat of Brazil at the HSBC World Sevens Series in Paris.
Having earlier lost to Australia and South Africa, England bounced back in style with a 38-12 win over Brazil.
It means they will take on Wales in the Bowl quarter-finals on Sunday with Scotland playing Brazil in another quarter-final.
Sportsbeat 2016