Appleby and Buick eye final step in rare sporting journey to complete Classics set

For both Charlie Appleby and William Buick, membership of one of Flat racing’s most exclusive clubs will be an added incentive when Desert Flower, the 1,000 Guineas winner and favourite, canters to post before the Oaks at Epsom on Friday afternoon.Since the end of the second world war, only eight jockeys and 11 trainers have managed to get their names on the roll of honour for all five English Classics, and both lists are a roll call of racing legends. Vincent O’Brien, Sir Henry Cecil and Aidan O’Brien are among the trainers to have completed the full set, while an even shorter list of riders includes Lester Piggott, Steve Cauthen and Pat Eddery, and, since the turn of the century, only Frankie Dettori and Ryan Moore.And while it is 15 years since Buick’s first Classic victory, aboard Arctic Cosmos in the 2010 St Leger, Appleby could be about to complete the set in only eight. Masar, in the 2017 Derby, was the trainer’s first Classic winner, Hurricane Lane took the St Leger in 2021 and the Guineas victories of Notable Speech, in 2024, and Desert Flower, at Newmarket last month, have now left him with only an Oaks winner to find

Sabalenka ends Swiatek’s reign on clay to set up French Open final against Gauff

After successfully devoting the past few years of her life to becoming a more well-rounded player and mentally durable individual, Aryna Sabalenka arrived on court for her second French Open semi-final certain that she was finally ready for more. No challenge, not even the task of ending an era of total dominance at Roland Garros, felt beyond her.In the face of her greatest rival on the court Iga Swiatek has made her own, Sabalenka converted her phenomenal form and fortitude into one of the most significant victories of her career, as she held her nerve in three delicious, tension-filled sets to topple the four-time French Open champion 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 and reach the final at Roland Garros for the first time.Saturday’s final will be a tussle between the top two players after Coco Gauff, the No 2 seed, put an end to Loïs Boisson’s fairytale run to the semi-finals by ruthlessly dismantling the local wildcard 6-1, 6-2 to reach her second French Open final and third major final overall.Having entered her first grand slam tournament with a wildcard and a modest ranking of No 361, Boisson has produced one of the most surprising grand slam runs in history, defeating the world No 3, Jessica Pegula, and the No 6, Mirra Andreeva, en route to the last four

Lizzie Deignan’s farewell tour off to tricky start on Yorkshire home roads

There was personal celebration but professional frustration for Lizzie Deignan on the opening day of her final Tour of Britain when her Lidl-Trek team failed to stop the Mauritian national champion, Kim Le Court, taking the first stage win and overall race lead in Redcar.Deignan’s valedictory race on ­British roads began with a fast 85.6km opening stage, from Dalby Forest to the beachfront in Redcar, and took in some of her longstanding ­training roads within an hour or so of her home in Otley, West Yorkshire.But although her team had strength in depth in the 20-rider pursuit of the day’s breakaway, they proved unable to close down Le Court and Kristen Faulkner, the Olympic champion, who stayed clear to ­contest the ­seaside finish.“We had a clear plan and executed it exactly as we wanted,” said Le Court, riding for the AG Insurance-Soudal team

French Open semi-finals: Sabalenka dethrones Swiatek, Gauff routs Boisson – as it happened

And here’s Tumaini’s take on today’s action. A bientot!C’est tout! Many thanks for your company today, Daniel will be back tomorrow with coverage of Jannik Sinner v Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz v Lorenzo Musetti.That was a business-like performance from Gauff, who silenced any doubts after her unconvincing quarter-final win over Madison Keys, and well and truly silenced the crowd with the calmest and most mature performance you could see from a 21-year-old playing against 15,000 fans. She didn’t give them – or Boisson – anything to get into. I hope the disappointment doesn’t last too long for Boisson

England line up Jofra Archer return for second Test against India

Jofra Archer is being primed to make a comeback in the second Test against India at Edgbaston – his first appearance in whites for four years – with England’s stable of fast bowlers under strain before the start of this summer’s marquee series.Naming a 14-man squad for the first Test at Headingley that starts on 20 June, Luke Wright, who is part of the selection panel, confirmed Gus Atkinson is ruled out with a hamstring injury. In come Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Jamie Overton, likewise Jacob Bethell to offer competition among the batting spots.But perhaps more eye-catching was the news that Archer is back playing second XI cricket for Sussex with a view to turning out at Durham in the round of County Championship fixtures that begins on 22 June. Get through that game and, like Atkinson, the second Test in Birmingham could be a realistic target for a return

Djokovic has nowhere to hide against relentless Sinner in Paris showdown

‘These kind of matchups and challenges in a way extract the best out of me,” said Novak Djokovic, smiling, as the clock ticked into the early hours of Thursday morning. Djokovic had demonstrated that sentiment in real time as he spectacularly rose to the occasion against the third-best player in the world, utilising the full breadth of his complete, unprecedented game to defeat Alexander Zverev and return to the semi-finals of the French Open, where he will face Jannik Sinner.“Playing best-of-five, late stages of a grand slam against No 1 in the world, you can’t get more motivated than that for me at this age,” said Djokovic.Although this performance had been preceded by a barren run of form on the ATP tour that included numerous early losses, the grand slam tournaments are now the sole source of Djokovic’s motivation. No matter how he performs elsewhere, the 38-year-old has continually shown he still steps up on the biggest stages