but mertens, who has always been a tough opponent, staged a thrilling comeback, including this defenceto eventually take her to another tie—break. but by then, kerber proved too strong, winning the tie—break 7—1 to claim the match in straight sets. following kerber‘s win, belgium needed a victory to tie the match. and david goffin provided just that, cruising past alexander zverev in straight sets, 6—3, 6—3. the match was decided by a mixed doubles rubber, with zverev and kerber overcoming the belgium duo of goffin and mertens, 4—2, 4—3. to the nba, where isaiah thomas is set to make his cleveland cavaliers debut on tuesday against the portland trail blazers. the all star point guard, sidelined with a hip injury since last season's eastern conference finals, moved to cleveland, as kyrie irving went the opposite way to the boston celtics. it has been a long process for me, a frustrating and tough process. each day i try and get it now. now that there is here. i haven't played in so there is here. i haven't played in so long, but i am happy. i am happy here. i am scoring, so i know how t

before that, it's caroline wozniacki against belgium's elise mertens.ing the sort of form which took her to the top of the world rankings back in 2010. she's still looking to win her first grand slam, having twice been a runner—up at the us open. she now plays the only unseeded player left in the draw, belgium's elise mertens, who still can't quite believe she's made it to the semi—finals. if someone had said to you last monday that this is where you would be, what would you have said to them? laugh a little bit. of course everything is possible in tennis. i mean, if you believe in yourself anything can happen but of course tennis is, wow. got nothing to lose for sure, i've got no points to defend. i guess i'm the underdog. i have a lot of energy left, mentally, physically good. so i'm just going to give it all and we'll see where it ends. the second semi—final features the former champion angelique kerber who plays the world number one simona halep. kerber, who beat madison keys in the quarter—finals, won the title in melbourne two years ago and also w

in the women's draw there was a shock as belgium's elise mertens dispatched ukrainian fourth seed elinain—draw debut in melbourne. more women's quarterfinals overnight. mertens will face caroline wozniacki in the last four after she beat spain's unseeded carla suarez navarro in three sets. wozniacki was cruising after taking the first set 6—0, but was pegged back in the second, before finally emerging 6—2 in the decider. you are right up—to—date with all of the tennis. now football. we have breaking news in the last 40 minutes 01’ breaking news in the last 40 minutes orso, breaking news in the last 40 minutes or so, phil neville had a very distinguished career as a player, a clutch of league and cup trophies with manchester united, and over 50 caps for england. he is now head coach of the england lionesses. joe perry is with me. he says it is going to be an honour and that they are on the verge of something very special. what has he got to do coming to this? a long—awaited announcement has finally happened. ever since it became apparent he was pretty much the only candidate last week. w

earlier on sunday, dries mertens ended a long goal drought to give napoli a 1—0 victory at atalanta,r points clear. lazio scored five goals for the second league game in a row, as they hammered chievo 5—1. milan move up to seventh, after a 2—1win at cagliari. second—placed juventus clash with genoa on monday. harry kane struck his 99th premier league goal to save tottenham with a 1—1 draw against southampton. kane is nowjust a goal away from becoming the 27th member of the 100 club. the result moves spurs to within two points of fourth—placed liverpool, who have a game in hand. mauricio pochettino wasn't happy with the loss of two vital points in the push for a champions league place. we must give the credit to the opponents, but it's true that our performance was in grade. of course iam not performance was in grade. of course i am not happy with our performance. why in particular, mauricio?” i am not happy with our performance. why in particular, mauricio? ithink we need to move the gold digger, and i think we made a lot of mistakes in positions where it is impossible to win the gam

denmark's caroline wozniaki overcame a late bout of nerves to beat unseeded belgian elise mertens and final. the seeded second, saw off the world number 37, 6—3 7—6 to reach her third majorfinal. jose mourinho has committed his future to manchester united after signing a contract extension until 2020. he's been preparaing his team for their fa cup fourth round tie with yeovil tomorrow night. and facing the media today praised the deal done to bring alexis sanchez from arsenal. i got a fantastic player, and they got a fantastic player. alexis change from a fantastic club to a giant club. and mkhitaryan changed but changed also for a fantastic club, so i think it was a great deal for everybody. it's been a ratherfarciacal start to phil neville's tenure as the new england women's manager. forced to apologise for sexist tweets, the fa have come in for serious criticism over their recruitment process. and the woman who led that baroness sue campbell today defended their appointment. he is incredibly thorough, well—planned. the beers are a good, mature group of players who know what they ne

the other women's semifinal, they will both be played overnight in the next fisher hours, a dries mertenszniacki. —— elise merton ‘s. the six nations is almost here. england are looking for a hat=trick of titles and travel to italy a week on saturday but there'll be a big challenges from scotland and ireland. the teams have been congregating in london today for the tournament launch. our sports correspondent joe wilson was there for us. the tournament is selling itself, look, there is conor o'shea, it revolves around these traditional rivalries so what is new this time? england and ireland will play in the final weekend, that could be the decider. wales, with injuries to contend with, face scotland in the opening weekend and that's a resurgent scotland who beat australia twice since the last six nations and they begin this tournament of expectation. that's a bit different. it's pressure, and as captain, ifeel bit different. it's pressure, and as captain, i feel it but it also brings a lot of excitement, we know that if we perform well we can put ourselves in a very good position. but we'r

women's fourth seed elina svitolina, out to maintain her season—opening winning streak against elise mertensslam quarter—final appearance. bulgaria's world number three, grigor dimitrov, is fighting for a semi—final spot against british hope and a9th—ranked kyle edmund. and caroline wozniacki looks to make the last four, after a seven—year gap. nadal, who lost to roger federer in last year's final, has a 5—1 career win record against cilic. but the sixth—seeded croat is a former us open champion, so he will have confidence he can conquer nadal. novak djokovic recognised that reaching the fourth round in melbourne was an achievement after being out of the game for so long. the six—time aussie open champion was defeated by south korean chung hyeon, but the right elbow injury and a new hip problem means djokovic needs to take time out for more recovery. now, i don't know, i have to reassess everything in my team. article ten, coaches and everybody, and you know, c, scan it, see what is the situation like. last couple of weeks i played a lot of tennis, so of weeks i played a lot of tennis, so le

there was also an upset in the women's draw is unseeded belgian elise mertens thrashed fourth seed elinatime she has beaten a top five player and she goes into the last four on a ten match winning strea k the last four on a ten match winning streak and will face caroline wozniacki next. the remaining men's and women's quarterfinals will be played overnight tonight. you can follow that on the bbc sport website. wales injury problems are piling up ahead of the six nations with fly—half dan biggar likely to miss the first three rounds of the tournament against scotland, england and ireland with a shoulder problem he picked up playing for ospreys against clermont at the weekend. wales are without too first choice fly halves with rhys priestland also ruled out —— two ozturk unlikely journey from the streets of moss side to the winter olympics but it is one that bobsleigh pilot lamine diack will be making next month. he was named in the british team today —— lamine dean. this is the fastest run in bobsleigh a man is dean. and a man in control is lamine dean. this morning he was a little more r

in italy's serie a dries mertens scored twice for leaders napoli as they won at home against bologna.oved up three places to 7th with a 2—1 victory at the san siro over third placed lazio while allesandro florenzi missed a penalty for 5th placed roma as 6th placed sampdoria then scored with ten minutes remaining through duvan zapata to hand them all three points. in france's ligue un leaders paris saint—germain are now 11 points clear after bordeaux defeated lyon 3—1 on sunday. the result also moved bordeaux up five places to 9th while reigning champions monaco remain 4th and a point behind 3rd placed marseille after they drew 2—2. ajax lost ground on dutch eredivisie leaders psv eindhoven after they could only draw 0—0 with utrecht. they're now 7 points off the pace. elsewhere reigning champions feyenoord moved up to fourth place in the table with a 3—1 victory over ado den haag. tony vilhena opened the scoring in the second half before steven berghuis made it 2—0. lex immers pulled one back for the visitors 20 minutes from time, only forjens toornstra to restore feyenoord's two—goal

denmark's caroline wozniaki overcame a late bout of nerves to beat unseeded belgian elise mertens andaw off the world number 37, 6—3 7—6 to reach her third majorfinal. it has been a great two weeks so far, i it has been a great two weeks so far, lam really it has been a great two weeks so far, i am really happy and proud of how i have managed to turn things around when things were not going my way, and keep it up whenever it was going my way, so i am just excited, it is another final, it is another great two weeks, and regardless of what happens now, i have done my best, and when you go out there on saturday, you have everything to win. yes, it will be a fantastic match between the pair of them on saturday. it's been a ratherfarciacal start to phil neville's tenure as the new england women's manager. forced to apologise for sexist tweets, the fa have come in for serious criticism over their recruitment process. and the woman who led that baroness sue campbell today defended their appointment. she's been speaking to our sports correspondent richard conway who joins us now. what has she

she won in three sets 6—0, 6—7, 6—2 to face mertens on thursday. that is all the sport for now.ry much indeed. the us attorney—general, jeff sessions, has been interviewed by the office of the special counsel investigating alleged russia meddling in the 2016 presidential election. mr sessions is the first member of president trump's cabinet known to have been questioned by the inquiry, which is being led by the former fbi director robert mueller. a justice department spokesperson confirmed the meeting took place last week. 0ur correspondent gary 0'donoghue is in washington. the president is playing this down. he is. he says he's not worried about the fact that attorney general has been questioned by the special counsel. and guess what else could he say at this stage? whenjeff sessions decided to take himself out of the soil brush enquiry by accusing himself back in the early pa rt accusing himself back in the early part of last year, he made his displeasure with that very, very clear. since then there personal relations have deteriorated substantially. that is the background to

in italy's serie a, dries mertens scored twice for leaders napoli, as they won at home against bologna1 victory at the san siro over third placed lazio, while fifth placed roma are currently hosting sixth placed sampdoria. that is currently goalless. china's li haotong became the first asian player to win the dubai desert classic when he won by a shot from four—time major winner rory mcilroy. li who finished third at last year's open championship also carded a tournament record score of 23—under. the 22—year—old will also become the first man from china to break into the world's top 50 when the latest rankings are released, while for mcilroy it was a case of so near yet so far. that is all we have got time for, back to you. tonight is one of the biggest nights of the year for the music industry — the grammy awards. this year's ceremony takes place in new york, and a number of superstars are expected to perform, including sir elton john, who will duet with miley cyrus. in previous editions, the award has been criticised of racist bias against black artists, but this year it is sexual ha

she beat elise mertens in straight sets to set up a final with world number one, simona halep.ing! you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me, that is your friday sport briefing. all week, we have had a real does from davos. our question on social media for the day is simply this, is it great to hear from the mall or is it great to hear from the mall or is it simply hot air in this climate? we've had one here, from someone who says that davos is a complete waste of money, nothing, all hot air, all mouth, no action. to share in that conversation and we will bring those tweets to you. stay with us here on bbc news. i would back with you in the business briefing injust a moment, thank you for watching. —— i will be back with you. hello. friday will be the coldest day of the week, but with lighter winds, most of us seeing some sunshine at some stage of the day. it will probably be the most pleasa nt it will probably be the most pleasant weather day of the week but weather fronts are coming in so by then, there will be more rain on the

over in italy, dries mertens ended a long goal drought to give napoli a 1—0 victory at atalanta, thataced juventus clash with genoa on monday. harry kane struck his 99th premier league goal to save tottenham with a 1—1 draw against southampton. kane's nowjust a goal away from becoming the 27th member of the ‘100 club'. the result moves spurs to within two points of fourth—placed liverpool, who have a game in hand. mauricio pochettino wasn't happy with the loss of two vital points in the push for a champions league place. we must give credit to the opponent but our performance was not great andi but our performance was not great and i am not happy with our performance. what in particular? in possession we need to move the ball quicker and create more. i think we made a lot of mistaken decisions and it's impossible to win the game when you make many mistakes. watford have appointed javi gracia as their new manager following the sacking of marco silva. silva became the eighth sacking in this premier league season. watford claimed everton's "unwarra nted approach" for silva as their repla

wozniacki came through after beating elise mertens.ract extension with manchester united, keeping him at the club until 2020. he is preparing his side for their fa cup fourth—round tie with yeovil tomorrow. he has been praising the deal done to bring alexis sanchez from arsenal, with henrik mkhitaryan going in the opposite direction, something he feels benefits both clu bs. something he feels benefits both clubs. in the premier league, he has already shown the quality he has. so we got one of the best attacking players in the world. i think united made a fantastic deal. arsenal made a fantastic deal. i got a fantastic player, mr wenger got a fantastic player. alexis has changed from a fantastic club to a giant club. and mkhitaryan has also changed for a fantastic club. so i think it was a great dealfor fantastic club. so i think it was a great deal for everybody. the woman who led the fa's search for the new england women's manager has defended the appointment of phil neville. the former defender was forced to apologise the sexist twee

meanwhile, more shocks in the women's game as belgium's elise mertens thrashed fourth seed elina svitolinatop five player and goes into the semifinal on a 10—match winning streak. she'll take on the winner of this match next — carla suarez navarro and caroline wozniacki are on court. it is one set apiece. wozniacki is serving for the match, currently 5—2 in the third set. arsenal manager arsene wenger says alexis sanchez‘s move to manchester united is right for the player. the deal was a straight swap for midfielder henrikh mkhitaryan a player wenger has long admired and says suits the teams style — speaking this morning wenger outlined why he thought sanchez wanted to leave arsenal for their premier league rivals. 29 years old, will be 30 in 2018 and that was maybe his last contract. from the financial aspect, it's important, he goes to a great club with a great contract and i think his game is based, his attributes, it's a good team attitude as well. aaron lennon has completed his move to burnley from everton. the former england international joins for an undisclosed fee after two and ha

she lost her semi in three sets to defendsing champion elise mertens.n his way out of the club soon. everton boss sam allardyce has confirmed the teams have entered negotiations over the 28—year—old. that is all the sport for now. i will be back just that is all the sport for now. i will be backjust after 11:30am. some lines coming to us from westminster about the decision by donald trump to cancel his uk visit to open the new us embassy, amongst other things. asked if downing street is disappointed about the cancellation of an official spokesman for theresa may said, the state visit has been extended and accepted. no date was confronted for any visit, the opening of the us embassy is a matter for the us any visit, the opening of the us embassy is a matterfor the us —— no date was confirmed. they are one of our oldest and most important allies and our strong and the partnership will endure. and asked if the state visit would go ahead the spokesperson repeated the line but the visit has been accepted but no date has been confirmed. and eat wheat from bor

she missed out on a first wta final in two years, beaten in 3 sets by belgian second seed elise mertenst british bobsleigh are hoping for after a minor stroke ruled bruce tasker out of the upcoming winter olympics. his teammate john jackson says that ‘heartache‘ can help inspire the squad. tasker is expected to make a full recovery and resume his career next season. jackson says although he‘ll be missed, team gb has the ‘strength and depth‘ to step up to the challenge. looking forward to those games in south korea as well. we will be back with more sport later in the hour. when toddler peter connolly, better known as baby p, died in horrific circumstances just over ten years ago, the government said it was essential to learn lessons and restore the public‘s confidence in social services. his death was the highest profile, but by no means the only, case where professionals failed to protect a child. various agencies were urged to talk to each other more and be more vigilant for the signs of abuse. but have things swung too far? new figures from the local government association sure there