sri lanka win a rain—affected world cup match, beating afghanistan in a low—scoring affair in cardiff. and, with the women's football world cup starting on friday, we look at how a national tragedy helped japan's women to win the 2011 tournament. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the tennis news that defending men's champion rafael nadal will meet roger federer in the french open semi—finals, after they both won their respective matches on tuesday. wrapping up that and news from the women's draw is adam wild. rafael nadal went into his quarterfinal match with japan's kei nishikori having lostjust twice since his debut at roland—garros in 2005. he never looked likely to make ita 2005. he never looked likely to make it a third loss, at this years second grand slam, losing just five games en route to victory. the

spanish second seed remains on course for a record 12th men's singles title, despite dealing with the rain affected day in paris. an aduu the rain affected day in paris. an adult will play roger federer, who prevailed in four sets against his swiss compatriot, stan wawrinka. these two met at quarterfinal stage in 2015, the last time the 37—year—old federal prevailed at this event. at that time, it was wawrinka who went on to win the trophy. this time it was the grand slam champion. for me to get to rafael nadal is not simple. it took five matches for me when, for me to get there, and that's why i'm happy to play rafa, because if you want to do or achieve something on the clay, inevitably, at some stage, you will go through rafa, because he is that strong, and he will be there. in the women's draw, great britain's johanna konta wasted little time as

she knocked out sloane stephens 6—1, 6-4. the she knocked out sloane stephens 6—1, 6—4. the 28—year—old entered the tournament having won just three matches in her last six grand slam outings, but she moved through to the semifinals, becoming the first british woman to do so sincejo durie in 1983. i've always said that, whenever i step out onto the court, i'm always going to have a chance, i'm always going to have a shot. i don't think any player onto a can go on court against me and feel like they've definitely got it, so... feel like they've definitely got it, so...i feel like they've definitely got it, so... i definitely back myself and my ability that way. and konta will hope to go one better than durie, when she takes on vondrousova. she went up against petra martic and took the second set 7—5 to move into a first—ever grand slam semi—final. tuesday saw a rain—affected match at the cricket world cup in cardiff. sri lanka did just enough to get past afghanistan, picking up their first win of the tournament,

as patrick gearey reports. no other nation values their place at this world cup like afghanistan. in these players‘ lifetimes, the sport has grown from almost nothing, despite war, invasion, terrorism — despite everything. so there is a spirit in this side that survived sri lanka's fast start, a belief they could recover. the bowler here mohammed nabi, who had been here almost since the beginning of his country's journey, and whose off—breaks turn the game. three times he struck in an over — spin, edge, catch, repeat, sri lanka caught in a loop. by the time thisara perera left, they were thoroughly bedraggled, even before the rain came. that took nearly three hours out of the game, so by the time the ground and the sri lankan tail were mopped up, afghanistan had been set an adjusted target — 187 runs to score, 41 overs to do it in. they sensed a chance. their problem — so did sri lanka, and they moved quickly to seize it.

perera's stunner removed the third batsman out. afghanistan was soon wobbling, now five down, still 130 of their target. gone was the noisy passion, replaced with tension. afghanistan had only won one world cup match before this. every one was an event, but every wicket was a hammer blow, especially the fall of gulbadin. with their captain went much of afg hanistan‘s conviction. from belief, to hope, to the final acceptance. at least malinga made the ending swift. quite some finish to quite some match. south african fast—bowler dale steyn has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament with injury. the 35—year—old missed his side's losses to england and bangladesh with a long—running shoulder problem, and he will be replaced by beuran hendricks. south africa face 2011 champions india in southampton on wednesday, while new zealand take on bangladesh at the 0val. let's bring you up to date with some football news: just days after liverpool became european champions, the club has announced that daniel sturridge

will leave the club. the 29—year—old scored 67 goals in 160 appearances after joining from chelsea over six years ago, while spanish left—back alberto moreno is also leaving anfield. the french world cup—winning squad of 2018 were awarded the legion of honour by president emmanuel macron at a ceremony in paris on tuesday. france won their second world cup in russia last year after beating croatia 11—2 in the final. portugal host switzerland in the opening uefa nations league semi—final on wednesday. the match will played in porto, while manchester city and portuguese midfielder bernardo silva is keen to face england in the final. first of all, we need to be focused on our game first of all, we need to be focused on ourgame of first of all, we need to be focused on our game of the semifinals against switzerland. a game that is very important for us. but then, of course, if we go through it and we play the final against england, it will be special to play again some of my team—mates, against some

players that i've lived and i've shared so many beautiful moments, but as i've said, first of all, we need to win a game against switzerland. that is a very tough game, and it's a very important one for us. the women's world cup starts this week in france. the world governing body, fifa, is hoping once again the tournament can help grow the game across the globe. but there is one success story that will forever go down in women's football history. japan, who scotland and england will face in group d, won the competition in 2011, but the victory came after unspeakable national tragedy. 0ur sports news correspondent chris mclaughlin has been injapan and has the story. the world cup in germany, 2011. against all the odds, japan are crowned champions. a road to glory paved by, even inspired by, tragedy. just a few weeks earlier, this was japan. a huge tsunami follows a massive earthquake. parts of the

country were completely devastated. those who watched as they prepared for the world cup say they almost pulled out. instead, they won it. that when back in 2011 has become as much a part of the culture here as neon lights and karaoke. national identity and pride here are just so important. but i wonder if that moment in time has actually helped grow the game. the japanese fa say yes, attendances and participation, they say, have increased dramatically since the win. we are

110w dramatically since the win. we are now heading north, out of tokyo, to a place called fukushima. and you may have heard of that, because after the earthquake in 2011, there was a nuclear reactor there that leaked. it was the worst nuclear lea k leaked. it was the worst nuclear leak since chernobyl. thousands were evacuated. eight years on, though, fukushima is evacuated. eight years on, though, fu kushima is getting evacuated. eight years on, though, fukushima is getting back to normal, and so is their football. that reactor ca n and so is their football. that reactor can be found around 15 kilometres in that direction. i am told that radiation levels here are com pletely told that radiation levels here are completely back to normal, which is just as well, because this is the japanese national side's training centre. it has 11 full—size pitches, a hotel, even a railway station. but this was the site on 11 march 2011. much of it was washed away. surrounding roads crumpled black ribbons. this man is a former coach of the women's national team. he now ru ns

of the women's national team. he now runs the restoredj village. he talks about the sporting miracle that followed the disaster, but is also looking ahead. japan's women's football story, from underdogs to champions via tragedy. a country that will never forget is now looking to the future. very much looking forward to that tournament. the first game is france against south korea in paris on friday. you can get all the latest sports news at our website. that is bbc.com/sport. 0r or you 0ryou can or you can download the bbc sport app.

but, from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello, most parts of the uk saw some wet weather on tuesday as an area of low pressure pushed its way from south to north. the centre of the low will push increasingly out into the north sea now, as the hours go by, but it will trail weather front behind it, to keep things pretty grey and wet in the north on and off throughout the day. we also have this front to the south, and we'll see more out of that as we look to wednesday evening overnight into thursday. for this morning, it's scotland and northern ireland, though, that sit under the band of cloud and rain, and for much of the day, the prospects will be rather dank. first thing, perhaps a bit of brightness for the north—east of england, some showers to the north—west, a few for north wales. some decent sunshine as we head for the south into england. a few early—morning patches

of mist are possible, but they should be fairly short—lived. and actually, for england and wales on the whole, a lot of fine weather. perhaps a bit of sunshine, as well, just getting into southern scotland later on in the day. just a chance of a few showers forming across the centre of the south—west peninsula, across towards 0xfordshire, through the afternoon. in terms of our temperatures, just 12 there in aberdeen, perhaps up to 20 further south, where we get more in the way of sunshine. then we go through wednesday evening into thursday. remember that front down there across the continent? looks like it's just going to bump some rain up towards the far east of england. now, there is some uncertainty as to how far onshore this pulse of rain will make it. if it does come onshore, it could be very heavy. at the moment, it looks like the majority will sit offshore in the north sea. actually, our wednesday night into thursday does look largely dry, but through thursday daytime, we certainly are expecting that low to track its way further north. but again, the uncertainty is in the detail as to exactly how tight into the east coast it

will come, and how quickly it will move north into scotland. thursday for many will be a pretty decent day, with some bright or sunny spells, but there is a chance certainly on some of those north sea coasts for some heavier pulses of rain at times. and then, late in the day, the heavier, more persistent rain and some pretty blustery winds to make their way into scotland. scattered showers for northern ireland, too. 0ur temperatures still somewhat on the disappointing side. average values at best, perhaps a little below. that low pushes away to the north for friday, but then we're looking at another system firing up from the continent to close out our week, with almost all areas likely to see some heavy rain at some stage, and some strong and gusty winds. again, the timing will be quite difficult, because we're expecting to see these areas of low pressure firing through in quick succession. but certainly wet to the south on friday, still unsettled for the weekend.

welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: 0n the second day of his state visit to the uk, president trump promises a "phenomenal" trade deal with the us, after brexit. there've been anti—trump protests in london, and other cities, but he's dismissed them as "fa ke news. " sudan's security forces crack down on protests, sparking international condemnation. more than 30 people were killed on monday. a health crisis in the democratic republic of congo as ebola cases pass 2,000, doubling injust two months. and, marking the 75th anniversary of the d—day landings, we look back at the world's biggest—ever seaborne attack.