US Open tennis day one: Raducanu and Shelton race through, Sabalenka wins – as it happened

We’ll call it a day on the blog. Of course, there’s still Novak Djokovic to come in the evening, up against Learner Tien, the Serbian targeting his first slam in two years. Cheers all for reading this and I’ll be back tomorrow for more.In case you missed it, here’s Tumaini Carayol’s report from Emma Raducanu’s very comfortable first-round win.This is fun, we’re on a final set tie-break between Alexandra Eala and 14th seed Clara Tauson

Olsen-Baker and Leti-I’iga injuries dampen win as New Zealand fly past Spain

New Zealand are up and running in their Rugby World Cup defence with a big win against Spain, but the victory was marred by injuries to Kaipo Olsen-Baker, who was helped off the pitch with a suspected ankle issue, and the star wing Ayesha Leti-I’iga. The Black Ferns finished with 13 players on the pitch.New Zealand’s director of performance, Allan Bunting, had no update on either player after the game as they are waiting for them to be assessed. The lock Alana Bremner said she was proud of how they adapted.Bremner said: “We were talking after and said ‘we didn’t realise we were 13 for a couple of minutes there’

Brazil fans enjoy carnival atmosphere despite World Cup rout by South Africa | Luke McLaughlin

In certain other sports, Brazil’s absence from any World Cup tournament would be regarded as downright bizarre. It’s not quite like that in rugby, and their women’s 15s team created history simply by running on to the turf.The first Brazil team to qualify for a men’s or women’s Rugby World Cup had played only 16 times before this, winning five matches, including a playoff against Colombia that secured qualification. Their prize, if you can call it that, was an intimidating opener against the famously powerful South Africa.“Our first Brazil fan of the day,” one of the friendly volunteers outside Northampton train station declared just before 10am, as supporters began to drift from the platforms towards the venue

Raducanu thrashes Ena Shibahara for first US Open victory since 2021 title

Four years after her three life-changing weeks in New York, Emma Raducanu overcame a significant mental hurdle as she secured her first victory at the US Open since her 2021 title run in impressive fashion, dismantling the qualifier Ena Shibahara 6-1, 6-2 to finally return to the second round.After painful first-round defeats by Alizé Cornet and Sofia Kenin, plus a withdrawal in 2023 during an eight-month injury layoff, Raducanu showed her growth and newfound self-assurance by putting together a solid, clean performance against an inferior opponent.“It has been on my mind,” Raducanu said of her inability to win a match in New York. “It’s been four years, and it’s a very special tournament for me. I did feel different coming into it this year

Fremantle meet the moment as AFL’s final round unfolds in dramatic fashion | Jonathan Horn

I’ve never been one to run with the “let’s just stick to football” line. But every person has their breaking point. Mine came this week when Andrew Dillon – a man who’d spent the previous four days weighing and measuring a slur, and four days negotiating five weeks down to four – carved out a good chunk of his press conference reminding us that Snoop Dogg was “a grandfather and a philanthropist”. A few hours later, footage emerged of a less than grandfatherly and less than philanthropic headline act, accompanied by the headline “Snoop Dogg’s Dig at Gay Parents”. That was it for me

Ireland open with six-try win over Japan to give them hope of making last eight

The shadow of the defending champions, New Zealand, looms over Pool C and on that basis Ireland could not afford to lose. They kicked off their World Cup campaign with a ­fluent win, in which every element of their game functioned well on the immaculate Franklin’s Gardens pitch.Japan won the previous match between these two, a 29-10 victory in 2022, and had they upset the odds it would hardly have represented a sequel to the Miracle of Brighton. But Ireland are a different proposition under Scott Bemand and their ­physicality and accuracy, for the most part, was just too much for their willing opponents. Japan were outclassed and overpowered, but two converted tries gave their impressive supporters something to shout about