hello, i'm will perry, and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme: the comeback queen petra kivitova storms into the australian open final — she'll face naomi osaka on saturday. rafa nadal‘s into the men's final as he closes in on an open era record. vietnam's fairytale run in the asian cup comes to an end as they fall to four—time champions japan. monaco sack manager thiery henry afterjust 20 games in charge, with his predessesor set to replace him. and it's a dramatic second day in barbados. we'll have the latest from opening test between the west indies and england. hello, and welcome to the programme. we start in melbourne, where petra kvitova and naomi osaka will play for the australian open title this weekend after both won their semifinals on thursday in scorching conditions. the czech was the first to reach the final, beating danielle collins. all the more remarkable given her career nearly ended two years ago after being stabbed in the hand in her own home.

she'll face japan's naomi osaka in saturday's showdown, with the winner also claiming the world number one ranking, as anneka radley reports. danielle collins has had a fairytale run so danielle collins has had a fairytale run so far in this tournament, taking out three seeded players including angelique kerber, but standing in her way was petra kvitova, who was certainly eyeing a third grand slam after the biggest names in the women's draw fell before the semifinals. however, as the action was hotting up on court, play was delayed at four games or to close the roof on the rod laver arena as the temperature approached 100 fahrenheit. the cooler conditions seemed to favour petra kvitova. and after winning a tight first set that included one service break each, the cheque was flying and made it look easy against the american, as she sealed her place in

her first american, as she sealed her place in herfirst grand american, as she sealed her place in her first grand slam final since winning the title of wimbledon in 2014 -- winning the title of wimbledon in 2014 —— czech. winning the title of wimbledon in 2014 -- czech. itjust tastes very great so i am really happy to be there again. to be honest i think not many people believed that i can do that again, stand on the court and play tennis, and play in this level. it just really and play tennis, and play in this level. itjust really thrilled them i think level. itjust really thrilled them ithink and level. itjust really thrilled them i think and i am very happy to have those few around me, which is the best i think. and it definitely feels great hope lee for them as well, for my family and for everybody who was there when i needed it —— hopefully. everybody who was there when i needed it -- hopefully. the stakes we re needed it -- hopefully. the stakes were high for karolina pliskova and naomi osaka as they walked onto court in the second semi. the winner of this match will not only get to face petra kvitova in the final, but will also have the chance to take the world number one spot in addition to the australian open title. and eight sealed the first set for the young japanese player,

but pliskova came through in the second, perhaps try to take over from her game against serena williams. naomi osaka was stronger and produced 16 aces as you ground out a victory over pliskova including a final one at match point that was ruled in herfavour after she challenged. i don't necessarily think i played the best i have ever played, but for me what i take away from this is that i never gave up and that is something that i am really proud of myself for. there we re really proud of myself for. there were moments in a match where i thought this is getting really close. but i just thought this is getting really close. but ijust thought i wouldn't forgive myself if i had a little dip 01’ forgive myself if i had a little dip ora forgive myself if i had a little dip or a moment of accepting defeat. the first of the men's semi—finals also took place on thursday, and was won by rafael nadal, who beat stefanos sitsipas in straight sets. nadal is nowjust one win away from becoming the first man to win all four grand slams at least twice in the open era. the number 14 seed from greece was the man who put out the defending champion

roger federer in round four, but he couldn't pull off another shock against the 2009 champion. sitsipas lost the first set 6—2 injust half an hour. nadal then raced through the next two sets 6—4, 6—0 to reach his fifth final in melbourne. he'll face either novak djokovic or lucas pouille, who play their semi—final on friday. i have to keep doing the thing that iam doing, i have to keep doing the thing that i am doing, that is my feeling, just keep playing the way that i am playing. and let's see. that is my goal i think. doing a lot of things well. so i can't complain much. i am just focused on trying to keep doing the things that i am doing. and then expect to have one of those special days. former champions japan and iran are both through to the semi—finals of the asian cup in the uae. japan, who are bidding

for a record—extending fifth title, squeezed past vietnam in their quarter—final in dubai. the only goal of the game was a penalty awarded for this challenge on ritsu doan early in the second half. and it was doan himself who put away the spot kick to send japan into the last four. they're into the semi—finals for the sixth time in their history. and japan will now face iran who enjoyed a comfortable victory over china in abu dhabi. mehdi taremi opened the scoring after 15 minutes. that was his third goal of the tournament. that put him level with team—mate sardar azmoun, but not for long. by half—time asmoun scored his fourth of the competition to put his side 2—0 up. 3—0 the final score. we know that really the big sharks, they will come for us. really, the

favourites of asian football, japan, korea, they are coming. so we need to be better than what we did against china, it will not be enough. the remaining quarter—finals take place on friday. south korea face qatar. that's followed by the host nation, the uae, against the defending champions australia. two asian teams have a second continental championship to look forward to later in the year. japan and qatar have both been invited to make up the numbers in the copa america, and the draw for that was made in rio on thursday. the host nation brazil will play bolivia in the opening game in sao paulo on 14thjune. they're joined in group a by venezuela and peru. argentina are the seeded team in group b, where they'll face colombia, paraguay and qatar. and uruguay are in group c along with ecuador, japan and the defending champions chile. in europe, thierry henry has been sacked by the french league un side

monaco afterjust 20 games in charge. the club announced on thursday that he'd been suspended, but it's understood that's merely procedural and it's thought henry has already left after just three months in thejob. monaco are in the relegation zone after winning only two of their 12 league games under henry. and last week they were knocked out of the french cup by second division side mess. leonardojardim is expected to return as head coach, just three months after being sacked to make way for henry. there was a brilliant game in england in the second leg of the league cup semi—final between chelsea and tottenham and it's chelsea who are through to the final at wembley, where they'll face manchester city. tottenham had a 1—0 lead from the first leg, chelsea got two goals before halftime thanks to n'golo kante and eden hazard. fernando llorente levelled it on aggregate in the second half. no extra time or away goals in the league cup, so to penalties it went, tottenham's eric dier and lucas moura missed from the spot, david luiz got the winner. in spain, espanyol and real betis

drew 1—1 in the first leg of their copa del rey quarter—final. and sergio ramos scored twice as real madrid came from behind to beat girona 4—2. the second legs are next week. cricket, and the west indies have the upper hand in the first testagainst england, despite losing eight wickets on the 2nd day in barbados. they lost their last two first innings wickets in the morning session, adding 25 runs to their overnight score. the tourists were then bowled out forjust 77 in reply. kemar roach was the pick of the west indies‘ bowlers, with 5for 17. by close, the home side had lost six seconnd winnings wickets. at stumps, the windies 127 for 6, an overall lead of 339. our cricket correspondent jonathan agnew reports from bridgetown. we were intrigued by how the tall

west indian fast bowlers might fare on this pitch and we found out soon enough as england lost nine wickets between lunch and tea to post a lower score by any test them on this ground. finding bounce and movement, holder and joseph ran through the order like the best of all. england failed again, although jennings' order like the best of all. england failed again, althouthennings' 17 was the highest score. as the wickets tumbled the noise in the stadium increased, although it was muted when the west indies lost five wickets for nine runs in their innings. despite that believe should be enough to secure an unexpectedly early victory. and 12 wickets fell on the first day of the first test in brisbane, where the australians are on top against sri lanka. the tourists batted first after winning the toss, and were bowled out for 144, with pat cummins taking 4 for 39. australia will start the 2nd day in a few hours from now on 72 for 2 in reply with marcus harris 40 not out. intriguing test matches to keep dell

might look forward to. you can get all the latest sports news at our website, that's bbc.com/sport. but from me, will perry, and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. —— intriguing test matches to look forward to. hello there. today's the day that our weather is going to turn significantly milder. if we look at the kind of temperatures we had thursday afternoon, low single figures fairly widely, but this afternoon, we will see temperatures pushing up into double figures. for some, it will be a jump in temperatures of around 10 celsius, perhaps even a little bit more than that in one or two places. and the only thing that has the power to lift temperatures so quickly so far at this time of year is a warm front. and there it is, pushing its way eastwards. now, along with the warmer air that will be coming with that warm front, we will see extensive cloud. quite low cloud with some mist and fog patches around at times, particularly across eastern areas

of england and around the coasts and hills in the west as conditions continue to get that bit milder. so as we go through friday morning, certainly a lot of cloud around. there will be a little bit of light, patchy rain pushing its way eastwards across eastern england, followed by extensive cloud with some bits and pieces of light rain and drizzle around our western coasts and hills. some wetter weather getting into western scotland and perhaps at times into north—west england too. now, the far north of scotland in some cool—ish air but central and southern scotland, northern ireland, england and wales all having a mild afternoon — temperatures into double figures. those mild conditions will continue through friday night and into the early hours of saturday as well, but rain will start to move in and turn heavier across northern scotland. so, not a cold night — for most of us, temperatures 7—9 celsius. so it will be a mild start to the weekend as well. we are in a warm sector for saturday, starting behind the cold front, so a lot of cloud around once again. a westerly breeze and through the day, we will see the cloud thickening in the west to bring general outbreaks of rain into northern ireland and the rain at its heaviest in western scotland. it's probably not a bad thing,

to be honest, that we see this wet weather because january has been a very dry month so far. it will be another mild day then with temperatures typically around 8—11 celsius or so, but it is turning colder across the far north of scotland. now, through the second half of the weekend, as our low pressure pushes eastwards, we start to draw down these winds all the way from the arctic so it will be really quite chilly, particularly across western areas where we'll have gales and severe gales bringing in plenty of showers which will turn increasingly wintry across the hills in scotland, potentially also down to some lower levels late in the day. all the while, outbreaks of rain will continue to affect eastern coasts of england, eastern parts of scotland, so a blustery kind of day. and turning noticeably cooler as well — temperatures in the north just around four degrees or so. that's your latest weather. bye for now. welcome to bbc news,

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