Isner reaches Atlanta semis
los angeles: American John Isner showed why he is playing some of the best tennis of his career, beating Mischa Zverev 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 in the quarter-finals of the Atlanta Open. Isner needed one hour and 37 minutes on Stadium Court to oust Zverev and reverse a run of defeats to the German. Zverev had won all three of his matches against Isner last year. But the 33-year-old Isner has been rising up the rankings as he levelled their career head-to-head rivalry at 3-3. "It was a weird match. The balls were bouncing everywhere, it was tough to control. I was happy to get through in three sets," Isner said. The 6-foot-10 Isner is at No 9 in the ATP world rankings. He reached a career-best No 8 last week after making it to the semis of Wimbledon. Isner will next face fourth seed Matthew Ebden, who beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-2.
Guptill smashes 38-ball 102
london: New Zealand's Martin Guptill struck 102 from just 38 balls as Worcestershire thrashed Northamptonshire by nine wickets in English county cricket's Twenty20 Blast. Set a target of 188, visitors Worcestershire won with nearly seven overs to spare, with Joe Clarke making an unbeaten 61 off 33 balls. Clarke and Guptill put on 162 in 10 overs. It did not take long for the experienced Guptill, who hit 12 fours and seven sixes, to get into his stride. He got going in a Richard Gleeson over that cost 22 runs. South Africa's Rory Kleinveldt replaced Gleeson and he too gave up an over costing 22 as Guptill went to fifty in 20 balls.later, he drove Prasanna over long-on for six and wide of long-off for four as Guptill went to 90 before Kyle Coetzer was straight driven for four and flicked over midwicket for six to bring up the batsman's century. But trying to lift Gleeson over mid-on, he was well caught by Josh Cobb but by then the game was almost won.
Neeraj, Hima to star in Continental Cup
new delhi: Seven Indian athletes, including star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and sprint sensation Hima Das, are set to compete in the prestigious IAAF Continental Cup to be held in Ostrava, Czech Republic on September 8-9. The Asian Athletics Association (AAA) selected seven top Indian athletes to represent Asia-Pacific Team in the International Association of Athletics Federation Continental Cup, an event competed among the season's top rankers from the regional associations. Based on current IAAF world rankings, Neeraj (javelin), Muhammed Anas (400m), Jinson Johnson (800m) and Arpinder Singh (triple jump) made it to the AAA list of athletes for Asian-Pacific in men's category while Hima Das (400m), P U Chitra (1500m) and Sudha Singh (3000m Steeplechase) were included in the women's event. In his communication to the Athletics Federation of India, AAA Secretary Maurice R Nicholas said, "The excellent performances of these selected athletes are based on the top lists rankings of IAAF and our statisticians for Asia-Pacific.
Ozil fires Arsenal to big win over PSG
singapore: Mesut Ozil fired Arsenal to a 5-1 friendly win over Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday as he cast aside a turbulent week after quitting Germany's national team claiming racism. Ozil put Arsenal ahead in the 13th minute before Alexandre lacazette's quickfire double and late strikes from Rob Holding and Eddie Nketiah against a youthful PSG side. The International Champions Cup win in Singapore was also a boost for Arsenal's new manager Unai Emery against his former club, now under Germany's Thomas Tuchel. Ozil, named as captain after his torrid week, was quickly into his stride with midfield partner Henrikh Mkhitaryan against a PSG line-up shorn of its World Cup stars. He opened the scoring with a tap-in at the far post after Mkhitaryan released Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in space and the Gabonese forward passed back across the face.