it gave rafa nadal one set point which, of course, he converted.t times brutal, marin cilic came back again. in fa ct, marin cilic came back again. in fact, he dominated the fourth and left his opponent flat out in every respect. rafa nadal, now nursing an injury, bravely fought on, but not for too much longer. the underdog's victory was just a matter of time. with a final forehand in the fifth, the retirement came. marin cilic, not only facing rafael nadal head—on, but beating him as well. and you know who will be next. so here of the details of that semi—final. edmund goes for a place in his first grand slam final against the 2016 us open champion marin cilic in the early hours of thursday morning. the croatian is vastly experienced and will be the favourite. but we know what kyle edmund likes doing. you'll be able to hear commentary from melbourne on 5live and the bbc sport website. televeision highlights will follow later in the day. so edmund could go onto become the new british number one with a win against cilic. has been an extraordinary fo

for so long that parhaps and rafa nadal for so long that perhaps we have become spoilad and think theytake such a toll on your body, the impact, the continual impact. take such a toll on your body, the impact, the continual impactl increasingly baliava impact, the continual impactl increasingly believe that these are profassional increasingly believe that these are professional athletes and the huge toll this takes on them, obviously, wa toll this takes on them, obviously, we should not... they are paid a lot of money to do this, but you see a lot of professional athletes in thasa lot of professional athletes in these kinds of very demanding sports, as they get older, they have a lot of physical problems because thay a lot of physical problems because they have been taking such a toll on thair they have been taking such a toll on their bodies for so long. andy murray has been playing tennis sinca ha murray has been playing tennis sinca he was... it is very difficult. let us hope for the best and hope he does recover, and get back onto the big stage and win a few more grand slams. that'

he beats rafa nadal, after rafa nadal was forced to retire with an ankle problem.aroline wozniacki, who withstood a fightback from navarro to book her place in the semifinal. she won in three sets. pin aaron lennon has completed his move to burnley from everton. the former england internationaljoins burnley from everton. the former england international joins for an undisclosed fee after two and a half yea rs on undisclosed fee after two and a half years on merseyside. wales will be without dan biggar for the first three rounds of the six nations. he is out with a shoulder injury. the extent of the damage sustained in the ospreys european defeat by clermont on saturday remains unclear. but he will miss the matches with scotland, england and ireland. it leaves wales without their two leading fly halves, with rhys priestland ruled out with a hamstring injury. that is all other sport for now. olly foster will be back with the latest in the next hour. the nominations for the 90th academy awards have been announced with the shape of water leading the field. guillermo de

the star attraction on court later, is rafa nadal — the world number one, up against leonardo mayer ofentina. our tennis correspondent russell fuller, is in melbourne and we canjoin him now and before nadal, we'll have the british number two, kyle edmund in action... andy murray underwent hip surgery last year. he is up against denis istomin was pakistan. rafael nadal will be on the mainboard labour arena on a hot and sunny day in melbourne in a roundabout two or three hours time up against leonardo meyer of argentina, 52 in the world, and we will get to seek record d ivots rolled and we will get to seek record divots rolled and nick kyrgios, the australian who won the brisbane title in the first week of the year, a big hope for the home crowd. let's talk about the women's draw. caroline wozniacki is the one to watch this wednesday. she will be on the rod labour arena shortly. semifinalist here in 2011, playing the croatian who is making her debut. they will follow another match. the czech republic player is causing her some problems. and a word for the 15—year—old ukrainian, the young

rafa nadal retired hurt from the australian open in the fifth and deciding set against marin cilic.ng the tour should think a little bit about what's going on, you know? too many people getting injured. i don't know if they have to think a little bit about the health of the players not for now, when we are playing, but there is life after tennis. i don't know if we can keep playing in these very harsh ways what will happen in the future with our lives. i am a positive person. i can be positive. but today it's an opportunity lost for me to be in the semifinals of a grand slam to fight for an important title for me. in this tournament it's already happened a couple of times in my life. so really, i don't wa nt to times in my life. so really, i don't want to say frustration, but it's really tough to accept. he's pretty riled up. serena williams pulled out of the australian open before it all began, saying we wasn't ready yet after giving birth to her daughter alexis only five months ago. but serena will be back for the usa as they begin their fed cup defence in february. the americans

coming up on the programme: as the temperatures soar in melbourne, world number one rafa nadal may well be grateful to be under the lights later, in the third road of the australian open. terrific tommy fleetwood leads the way in abu dhabi, looking good to defend his title. and why defending champion ronnie o'sullivan said he was glad to be out of the 2018 masters snooker. welcome the programme. let's begin then in melbourne, where it's day five at the australian open and play is already under way in scorching heat. temperatures could soar past a0 degrees celsius. so let's head live to melbourne park and our reporter gigi salmon. nadal glad to be in the evening session no doubt, no such relief for britain's kyle edmund. he's certainly is. nadal is a player who likes to lay in hot weather, growing up and training in yorker. 42 degrees is the ambient heat. you can add more to that on the court. show court two, where kyle edmund is playing, they have been on court 41 one half hours. it isjust bright sunshine, no shade. it is the ruling gain. edmund is the ranking player. he got up to eight

the star attraction on court later, is rafa nadal — the world number one, up against leonardo mayer offuller, is in melbourne and we canjoin him now and before nadal, we'll have the british number two, kyle edmund in action...

and coming up in the sport on bbc news, kyle edmund will face marin cilic in the semifinal after rafa nadalre with injury, ending their australian open battle. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the foreign secretary borisjohnson has called for millions more in funding for the nhs at this morning's cabinet meeting. it's unusual for a minister to make his views known in this way, —— he was criticised for speaking out of turn by philip hammond and rebuked by theresa may for his demands. she told him it was better to have a conversation about the future of the nhs and private. here our political correspondent chris mason. he certainly knows how to grab headlines. cabinet meetings are meant to be an opportunity for private discussion. instead, boris johnson let his colleagues and eve ryo ne johnson let his colleagues and everyone else know in advance that he wants an extra £5 billion for the nhs in england. do you welcome the foreign secretary's intervention? the health secretary kept quiet about mrjohnson trampling on his turf, but look at this. the chancellor did not exactly l

coming up on the programme: as the temperatures soar in melbourne, world number one rafa nadal may wellr, in the third road of the australian open. terrific tommy fleetwood leads the way in abu dhabi, looking good to defend his title. and why defending champion ronnie o'sullivan said he was glad to be out of the 2018 masters snooker. welcome the programme. let's begin then in melbourne, where it's day five at the australian open and play is already under way in scorching heat. temperatures could soar past 40 degrees celsius. so let's head live to melbourne park and our reporter gigi salmon. nadal glad to be in the evening session no doubt, no such relief for britain's kyle edmund. he's certainly is. nadal is

2017 winner serena williams, who is not in melbourne after becoming a mum. is world number one rafa nadalurgos of the dominican republic. six—times champion novak djokovic is in a tough part of the draw and has american donald young up first. the only british male in melbourne, kyle edmund, faces a tough test against us open finalist kevin anderson of south africa. the new women's world number one simona halep will play destanee aiava of australia. wimbledon champion, garbine muguruza, takes on france'sjessika ponchet. maria sharapova will face tatiana maria of germany. the british players might feel their draws could have been worse — jo konta against american madison brengle, while heather watson has a first round match against kazakhstan‘s yulia putintseva. — so with all the details — here's our tennis correspondent russell fuller from melbourne. johanna konta has won only four of their —— one of theirfour johanna konta has won only four of their —— one of their four matches. she's an awkward opponent, she is 83 places below johanna konta but ifjohanna konta makes progress to the secon

and i'm sorry a small top seed rafa nadal is three into the third round of the australian open while number to see caroline firstly actually survived a major scare to advance in melbourne i. now for the first time in its history the u.n. agency which provides funds for vulnerable palestinian refugees says faces a challenge in meeting its mandate to trump administration is confirmed it's withholding half of the one hundred twenty five million dollars it was going to give the body established in one thousand nine hundred forty nine is the united nation's longest running humanitarian program providing a lifeline for some five million palestinians but money is also distributed beyond the palestinian territory funneled to refugees in jordan lebanon and syria it goes . towards health care and education well the u.s. is under as largest single donor making up nearly thirty percent of its budget the european union the u.k. saudi arabia and germany are the other top donors but even before this latest cut the u.s. contribution was already drastically slashed down from a three hundred fifty mil

rafa nadal tookjust 24 minutes to beat the dominican player with a loss of just three beat the dominicanrer. the runner—up in last's women's single is out. venus williams was beaten in straight sets by belinda bencic, who is 17 years younger than williams. a 16th to win in a row. the 20 rolled dropped to 318 in the world last year due to injury but she is making rapid strides up the rankings again, helped by this win. with serena williams not defending her title in melbourne, it is only the third time in 20 years that neither of the sisters has reached the second round of a grand slam. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in sportsday at 10:30. five months after hundreds of thousands of rohingya refugees began to write in bangladesh, officials met today to discuss the return. but they see that rohingya are still being persecuted in myanmar. but in bangladesh many of them are living in what is now the world's largest refugee camp. four—year—old anwar has just been diagnosed with diphtheria, a respiratory clinic disease that can kill. he was brought in by his mother to this

australian tennis open in melbourne playhouse however continued uninterrupted men's world number one rafa nadal easily reached round four with a straight sets win over damage and meanwhile third seed grigor dimitrov came through and four sets against andre rieu bluff and ran three of the women's singles a fifteen year old ukrainian amata cost you and her dream run ended six two six two by compactor it alina it's alina and to football the point is that it is much day nineteen takes off several hours from now when the hit to berlin and dortmund the buildups been dominated by the future of dortmund stoss striker appear emerick about me i will miss the berlin match with a transfer possibly on the horizon and dortmund will probably have to try and continue their run of good form without him. problem child pm eric obama yang is once again giving his coach a headache with thirteen goals so far this season he's brilliant on the pitch the problem is it's not going on now it's just us a new coach i was in vegas said of verse day that he thinks the twenty eight year old would fit in well in north london.

reaction to kyle edmund's quarterfinal win at the australian open, and he won't have to get past rafa nadal, named after a 19th—century british sailor, are some of the most remote waters in antarctica. for much of the year, the vast area is covered in ice. but beneath it, scientists have discovered unique ecosystems, so rare that they are calling for these waters to be given special protection. our environment correspondent claire marshall has travelled on board a greenpeace ship to the weddell sea off the antarctic peninsula. and she was able to dive down beneath the surface in a submarine, to see for herself what the scientists have found. here's her exclusive report. antarctica, the most remote continent in the world, encased in glaciers thousands of feet thick. it's still largely unexplored and we know even less about the icy seas that ring it. now, machines are making it possible for us to catch a glimpse. a mini—submarine is taking marine biologist, dr susan lockha rt, down into the antarctic deep. above is a land of frigid ice, below is a thriving mass of life. that's really pretty.

world number one and 2009 winner rafa nadal dropped only five games against damir zhumhur of bosnia onound. but the french open champion jelena ostapenko is out — she lost in three sets to anett kontaveit. also coming up in the programme... find out why shaun murphy got more than he bargained thanks to an umwelcome visitor at the masters snooker. rory mcllroy proves the sting could be back in his tail as an eagle puts him in contention in abu dhabi and most do it on skis. we meet the guy taking on the toughest downhill course in the world. ona bike. australia as we know has not been a happy hunting ground for england of late. but forget the ashes ever happened...england have gone 2—0 up in their one day series down under, following a four—wicket victory over in brisbane. johnny bairstow and alex hales both making half centuries as england reached their target of 271 with more than 5 overs to spare. adam wild was watching. after a troubled winter for english cricket, suddenly the scene seems a little more serene. even when faced with batting like this from australia's aaron finch, engla

rafa nadal came through his second round match comfortably.in straight sets against argentina's leonardo mayer. he reaches round 3 for the 12th time in his career. on the women's side of things, former world number one caroline wozniacki had an incredible three set win against jana fett of croatia. she saved two match points and came back from 5—1 down in the deciding set to make it into round three. but what about this for a story — 15—year—old qualifier marta kostyuk is the youngest player to reach the third round at a grand slam in more than 20 years. the world number 521 came past olivia rogowska in straight sets to face her fellow ukranian — the fourth seed elina svitolina in the last 32. that's all the sport for now. i will be back with more in the next hour. you are watching bbc news. much more to come, we will talk about prime minister's questions, where there was so minister's questions, where there was so much talk about carillion. the business news is coming up in a moment with rachel. a reminder of the latest headlines... the gover

world number one seed rafa nadal and women's world number two caroline wozniacki are both through., spaniard javi gracia, who last managed rubin kazan. marco silva was dismissed after only eight months in thejob. everton silva was dismissed after only eight months in the job. everton approach the portuguese in november and they say that is the catalyst for the decision. watford's statement said that without "the unwarranted approach" they would have "continued to prosper under his leadership". the hornets have won just one of their last 11 premier league games. there's one premier league match today. spurs could go fourth with a win at southampton in the 4pm kick—off. spurs beat the saints 5—2 on boxing day but mauricio pochettino is bracing himself for a tough match. i don't have doubt that they are going to success because the club is so strong, great manager, great coaching staff and great players. i have no doubt that they are going to win success, but i hope after sunday because for us it is so important, the three points, but i know it will be very tough because they need thr

don't remember him playing marin cilic, he has played rafa nadal before and lost in three sets on clay that bother him in the sense of it bringing greater expectations on his shoulders? he has always been assured, taking everything in his stride. especially with andy u nfortu nately stride. especially with andy unfortunately being away from the game at the moment, he is in the spotlight. he embraces that, and he likes to keep himself to himself. he does his business every day and he prepares to go out there and played the best tennis. he has been very calm on the court and he plays in big matches. he has played to the best of his ability so far. it is an evening match on thursday, not such an early start! who will you be watching with, a big crowd together to watch the game? it has been me with an ipad in front at fourie! —— at four with an ipad in front at fourie! —— atfour in with an ipad in front at fourie! —— at four in the morning. with leon smith out there, we keep in close contact. there was a lot of support for him, and the family and the support teams. everybody will be glued

rafa nadal, the 16 time grand slam winner, has a knee injury and pulled out of this week's brisbane internationalic hasn't played since wimbledon last summer, due to a long standing elbow injury. and he pulled out of recent events in abu dhabi and qatar. like djokovic, stan wawrinka hasn't played since wimbledon. he's recently had two knee operations but is hopeful of featuring in melbourne at the australian open. and like murray, kei nishikori has already pulled out of the australian open, the world number 22 is struggling with a wrist injury. injury worries for britain's number one female tennis player too — johanna konta— who retired from her quarterfinal at the brisbane international after an injury to her right hip. she needed treatment during the deciding set against elina svitolina and ended the match when serving at 3—2 down. but she says her focus is still on defending her sydney international title in a few days time. i definitely was pleased i was able to start the match off playing the level i wanted to play. credit to elina for hanging in in that second set and pulling through that.

rafa nadal taking on bosnian, damir dzumhur -- third set -- nadal up by two sets the spainard too muchdzumhur nadal up by three games -- match point... nadal with an ace to close it out in three sets the 16-time grand slam winner advances to the fourth round -- the tournament doesn't have too many americans left. unseeded lauren davis taking top ranked simona halep this game was longer than a basketball game... 3 hours and 44 minutes --halep facing three match point gets the point off a serve... tying the set at eleven davis calls a medical timeout... dealing with toe injury --halep up 14-13... davis hits a wide the romanian takes the match... 4-6, 6-4, 15-13 longest game in australian open in open era (weather) coming up i'll have the seven day forecast. forecast.seven day i'll have the coming up (weather) eraopen in open australian open in open era (weather) coming up i'll have the seven day forecast. karnow: we enjoyed a little of everything today. showers, sunshine and even reports of lightning were all part of todays weather. you can see a few showers on the doppler radar but they

we were talking about injury worries, novak djokovic, stan wawrinka, roger federer rafa nadal, but aswer and in turin is needed, 36 is older than you would imagine. very neatly done, very clever. andy murray will not be playing. which british players are? andy murray is recovering from hip surgery. kyle edmund will be the only british man in the singles draw but even he has injury worries, and the possibility ofan ankle injury worries, and the possibility of an ankle problem. in terms of the women, the british number one johanna konta likes the australian open, getting to the semis two years ago and quarterfinals last year, but if she's going to get to that stage again she will have to come up against a former and possibly current world number one. incredibly tough draw if she wants to get to the latter stages of the tournament. and this is our tennis correspondent with the details. the havoc on to have only won one of the former opponents. and brengle is a formidable opponent —— johanna konta has only won one against her former opponent. she could see a former opponent. she could see

factors that are contributing to the declining fitness of top players with no back talk of it and rafa nadal also on the sidelines. i think is a combination of and number of things and in some of the guards at the top of the game getting older and you could always credit recent medical science the fact that they can play the only federer mid thirty's which all into. and they've been carrying engine injuries since the beginning of the year so it's not just about the off season i mean players do also need to look at themselves as religious figure is done and he's managed very well for a long time to realize that they're for the moment. to do marriages for each other when he's ready whether we are christian to try and win the top players have done so well in just about every single player it's so it's being relentless that there is a number of factors that contribute to it it's not just the top male players struggling with their fitness and women as well number two garbin had to pull out of her opening match at the presidential national day to leg cramps the wimbledon champions early exit cost

of factors that are contributing to the declining fitness of top players with novak djokovic and rafa nadal also on the sidelines. i think it's a combination of and number of things and then some of the guards at the top of the game getting older and you could always credit recent medical science to the fact that they can play along the federal mid thirties sorry ditto to which all into the us. they've been carrying engine injuries since the beginning of the year so it's not just about the off season i mean player do also need to look at themselves as religious figure is done and he's managed very well for a long time to realize that before too long to needs to to to manage his body when he's ready whether we are unprecedented time when the top players have done so well in just about every single tool in the planet so it's being relentless that there is a number of factors that contribute to that. manchester city are about to go fifteen points clear at the top of the english premier league their leading watford at home or hand stirling started off the scoring inside the minute mark what for

and far it's all sport news including top seed rafa nadal storms into the fourth round of the off screen you know. hello the gulf crisis has taken a dramatic turn al-jazeera has obtained an audio recording of a qatari royal family member. if any in it he threatens to take his own life as a result of the pressure he said he was put under by saudi arabia and the u.a.e. he was portrayed by saudi arabia and the u.a.e. as the main opposition figure to the cats are a government. is now accusing both countries of fabricating the g.c.c. crisis in order to seize cats ours wealth he also says mohamed bin sandman and hama been ziad the saudi it will be crowned prince says plotted the entire crisis. i mean this is. and is to them. he said. but. i'm. not. also why not. let him out. to. ship. one. let it's a little while it. would be. well the blockade against qatar is now in its seventh month on may the twenty third katz harz state news agency was hacked it reported statements attributed to the emir but despite the government saying the reports were false saudi and immorality backed media continued t

defending champion rafa nadal is yet to drop a set in the tournament.er players, with temperatures expected to reach 40 degrees in melbourne tomorrow. second seed caroline wozniacki found life tougher against jana fett. 5—1 down in the decider, she saved two match points before prevailing 7—5. she said her competitive sporting family kept her going, adding she'd have never heard the end of it if she'd lost. and you can get more reaction and analysis to all of the matches on wednesday on the bbc sport website. bbc.co.uk/tennis. england's rugby union head coach eddie jones has signed a contract extension to stay in the role until 2021. but he won't go on beyond that. jones took overjust over two years ago, and has won 22 of his 23 tests in charge. his original deal was due to end after next year's rugby world cup injapan. four—time major winner rory mcilroy says he feels more energised as he prepares to return to action for the first time in three months. he'll take part in the abu dhabi championship, starting tomorrow morning, after missing the end of la

sports news here's for daring thank you so much we start with the australian open where top seed rafa nadal is three to the last sixteen adele who was runner up last year demi moore izumo her in straight sets earlier he's looking to win the australian open for a second time third seger gordon dimitrov survived a tough task in sweltering heat to reach the last sixteen the ball game andre rieu beloved of russia and four sads to advance the twenty six year old reached the semifinals last year and is yet to make it to a grand slam final. you don't win slams in the first week i mean as simple as that you need to go through those matches and that's. the case right now simple as hard when right now it's. i love it i mean on days that you don't feel the best and those are the matches that count a lot and the the bigger upside is you can only get better. over in the women's draw second seed caroline wozniak he will be in third round action against kiki bert's in the netherlands shortly earlier for seed alina spit lena and it's fifteen year old marta cost jukes a dream run at the australian open in s

williams knocked out on what was a bad day for american women while the men's world number one rafa nadal put aside any doubts over he's fitness as he progressed into round two joanna gash reports. with no will mark tournament before the first slam of the season rafael nadal's performance in melbourne was a hard one to take. the need injury which hampered the end of his two thousand and seventeen campaign was nowhere to be seen the dow answering fitness doubts as he answered every bull from vick to the love bluegrass with confidence and determination i even if deep down the world number one was apprehensive before his six one six one six one victory. and down to be costly because you are not to our advantage because you have respect for you not born and because you have respect for the game. thank you because you don't see that yourself. and label good a man who does have plenty of self-confidence is australian mick carey else who came into this tournament off the back of a win in brisbane in typical curious fashion he collected a code violation for swearing at the crowd but other than ma

rafa nadal has also taken a big step forward as he tries to build fitness for next week's tournaments the spaniard showed glimpses of his best in an event all the time three times in melbourne eight players took part in a first ten points contest and made it to the final where he was beaten by czech thomas burdick who won the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars first prize. a former football manager is dakar rally debut was cut short while a nine time world rally championship winner was forced out of the race during stage five in proof top name and chelsea boss andre withdrew after suffering from back pains when his car crashed he was airlifted out and taken to hospital sebastian loeb was forced to abandon the race after his copilot was injured when their vehicle hit a crater in the sand dunes lopes persia teammates had a handful won the fifth stage to extend his overall lead. now one of the world's most well known athletes will start a new chapter in his career on friday mohamed formally far as in cats are for his first road running events and stepping away from the track so home

aussie open this will come as a blow for the organizers as andy murray has also withdrawn while rafa nadal and novak djokovic are currently doubtful for the tournament in melbourne over in china the world number one simona halep pairs reached a first final of the season the twenty fifteen champion be to remain ian compared to at the reno camilli a big change and on friday a straight sets victory six one six for the school. and a milestone was reached there's been a russian alexander assassin of h. became the first qualifier ever to reach the bruised an international women's final she beat seventh seed anastasio said basta in straight sets seven six six zero zero . on the men's side may curious showed impressive determination to come back against alexander the go below to reach the semifinals in brisbane you're straining went down six one in the opening set but curious came back to take the next two six three and six four he will face either grigor dimitrov or it from me. and at the hopman cup in perth belgium have defeated candidate in group a three no they have a golf fan that was up agai

one example of the issues facing many of the top tennis players heading into twenty eight team rafa nadal is also struggling with his fitness while andy murray is on the comeback trail after five months out with injury. roger federer is fully fit to one two major titles last year but the thirty six year old chose to miss the entire clay court season in a bid to preserve his body former pro player barry cowan says that with the big stars all now in the later stages of their careers it's time for the next generation to step up the getting older they've actually bucked the trend and this is i think it's very important to stress this is not a negative we all talking about said or who many people thought we would retard five years ago because of what he did cheat he's still playing amazing tennis and the go i was hearing five six years ago these are the rough is going to quit a twenty five twenty six roughest applied incredible tennis. jockey rich with what he's won as they're going to be thirty one this year drug abuser mark we are fourteen the best still around and i just think it is normal

cilic made it past rafa nadal in his quesrterfinal, the world number one retiring with a leg injury.ing. it is my first grand slam semifinal, first and playing in one of the biggest court in the world. they are great feelings. you don't play in a semifinal of the grand slam everyday. so, yeah, iwilljust try to enjoy it as much as possible. i knew i was in a good place. there was no reason why i knew i was in a good place. there was no reason why my tennis wasn't good enough to win. it is about going out there and doing it. meanwhile, more shocks in the women's game as belgium's elise mertens thrashed fourth seed elina svitolina to book her place in the semi—final. the world number 37 won 6—4, 6—0, breaking five times and winning 28 of 52 points on the ukranian's serve. it's the first time she's beaten a top five player and goes into the semi final on a 10—match winning streak. she'll face caroline wozniacki who withstood a fightback from spain's unseeded carla suarez navarro to book her place in the semifinal. she won in three sets 6—0, 6—7, 6—2 to face mertens on thursday. that is a

aussie open this will come as a blow to the organizers as andy murray has also withdrawn while rafa nadal and novak djokovic doubtful for the tournament in melbourne. the current world number one simona halep has reached her first final of the season the twenty fifteen champion beat a romanian compared to it even a camillia beguin change in china on friday a straight sets victory six one and six all the school. help will face the defending champion catalina simiane in the final the czech had to deal with five time grand slam champion maria sharapova in friday's semifinal only played eight tournaments in twenty seventeen after returning from a fifteen month suspension for taking a banned substance and she was beaten in three sets here. i am the milestone was reached in brisbane russian alexandra sas novich became the first qualifier ever to reach the tournaments final her opponent in the decider will be ukraine's in the north to the. thousands of omani and morality football fans have flooded into kuwait for the final of the gulf cup which kicks off in the next hour the year's this year's e

we have a fact here yes tennis it's been a day of a surprise at the australian open in melbourne rafa nadal is out he fought hard for more than three hours against modern challenge but retired with a leg injury in the fifth and final set church will next to play unseated kyle edmund the brits stunned third seed to grigor dimitrov and four sets to reach his first ever grand slam semifinal belgium's ellie's matter upset it lasts three to lena ukraine and also secured a final four berth but it didn't debut for the twenty two year old in melbourne. but he on the british media are reporting the dortmund star striker appear america is on the verge of a move to arsenal and he's considered one of the best strikers in the world it was the bones league's top scorer last season with thirty one goals and has been a key figure at dortmund since joining in tied to arsenal manager arsene vanna confirmed that arsenal are in talks to sign him but wouldn't comment on any possible deal. contradict or not contradict i don't know. if the moment you have done. not close to do any deal easy to bomb a young man in

of factors that are contributing to the declining fitness of top players with novak djokovic and rafa nadal also on the sidelines. i think it's a combination of and number of things and some of the guys at the top of the game all getting older and you could always credit you know the recent medical science of the fact that they can play the only federal mid thirty's married adult which all into the thirty's and they've been carrying injured injuries since the beginning of the years it's not just about the off season i mean players you know do also need to look at themselves as roger federer has done and he's managed this schedule very well for a long time to realize that you know for the long term needs to to to manage his body to play when he's ready and then we are unprecedented a time when the top players have done so well in just about every single told player it's so it's being relentless that there's a number of factors that contribute to it and that's all your sport for now more later on from firing off from me for this but i'll be back in a few seconds of the news see the. the sam's

draw alongside now about java virtual face america's donald young in the opening draw top man seed rafa nadal begins his campaign against victor a stellar burgles from the dominican republic simona halep is the top women's. twenty sixteen australian open champion actually kerber has continued her strong start to the season the german advancing to the sydney international semifinals with a straight sets win over dominika kerber has been drawn to play compassionate and spin in melbourne. the same event has seen one of the rising stars of the men's game continue with his flying start pointing to an australian teenager alex the men are beat. in straight sets to reach the semifinals in sydney the eighteen year old world number one hundred sixty seven has also been. around over to this year playing nineteen seed thomas in the first round of the australian open. carlos sainz has won stage six of the dakar rally as the race crossed borders on thursday the persian driver navigated the race with ease as the route entered into bolivia defending champion stefan better hensel who was chasing a record four

he isjoined by the 2009 champion — rafa nadal who had a straight sets victory of his own over argentina's in his career. 0n the women's side of things, former world number one caroline wozniacki had an incredible three set win against jana fett of croatia saving 2 match points and came back from 5—1 down in the deciding set to make it into round three. but what about this for a story — 15 year old qualifier marta kostyuk is the youngest player to reach the third round at a grand slam in more than 20 years. the world number 521 came past 0livia rogowska in straight sets to face her fellow ukranian — the fourth seed elina svitolina in the last 32. and that's a fitting reward for a fantastic performance so far, we could be looking at a serious star of the future. thank you, you. we are going to talk about the nhs again today. at a time when the nhs is under extraordinary pressure, with long waiting times and cancelled operations, it's perhaps no surprise that thousands of nurses are choosing to leave the profession. figures for england given to the bbc show the numbers leaving outnumbered ne

not he'll compete in dubai next month where he could recline the world number one ranking from rafa nadal it's just a lot you know it's a lot trying to get in last year it was more straightforward you know it was just this believe going to believe it happened. there i was waking up with a trophy but i don't know this year seems more surreal i can't believe i was able to defend my title you know after all this after all these years i could do it again and afghanistan's young cricketers have missed out on a place at the under nineteen world cup final after wins over pakistan sri lanka and hosts new zealand it seemed unable to repeat their heroics in this semifinal against australia the three time champion is winning by six wickets and that denied afghanistan a place in efforts of a world final. ok that is only sport for now more later. scares at an austrian resort a trip to remember on the slopes thanks to a broken chair lift all the one hundred people spent several hours in the cold twelve hours and rescue teams with the help of helicopters to get. it is about here's what's all the day's t

first grand slam start on monday and so a series of high profile exits on day one in melbourne but rafa nadal was not one of them his joanna getter of ska. with no wal-mart tournament before the first slam of the season rafael nadal's performance in melbourne was a good one it takes the need three which hampered the end of his two thousand and seventeen campaign was nowhere to be seen the dow answering fitness doubts as he said every bull from vick to the love who goes with confidence and determination even if deep down the world number one was apprehensive before his six one six one six one victory sixty had vowed to be cos you can cause you are not to our advantage because you have respect for you are born and because you have respect for the game and he because you don't see that yourself. and blame all good a man who does have plenty of self-confidence is australian nick carey else who came in to this tournament off the back of a win in brisbane in typical curious fashion he collected a code violation for swearing at the crowd but other than match the number seventeen seed had a little tr

top player fighting injury novak djokovic pulled out of the caps are open while world number one rafa nadal is struggling with his fitness some of the games emerging stars are hoping they can use this opportunity to instil establish themselves further. sure but real so so to last year and then the russians are off for the dominance of the season so nobody really knows what's happening nobody really knows how the big names how they're feeling and how the injuries are going on so it's think it's too early to tell anything about it. now injuries don't just affect players they also have an effect on tennis fans a lot of people taking to social media to discuss a prime of gandhi in mumbai tweeted from being the fittest generation ever players bodies are giving way and is going to create a gap big opportunity dough for younger players to make their mark or p.g. sums up his disappointment saying if twenty eighteen is going to be the same as twenty seven team then i don't even want to bother watching tennis so many injuries and broken players and christie ways and tweeting i think tennis is outgrow

not he'll compete in dubai next month where he could recline the world number one ranking from rafa nadal it's just a lot you know it's a lot trying to get in last year it was more straightforward you know it was just this believe going to believe it happened. there i was waking up with a trophy but i don't know this year it seems more surreal i can't believe i was able to defend my title you know after all this after all these years i could do it again and afghanistan's young cricketers have missed out on a place at the under nineteen world cup final after wins over pakistan sri lanka and hosts new zealand that same unable to repeat their heroics in this semifinal against australia the three time champions winning by six wickets on that day nine afghanistan a place in africa world fine. ok that is always sport for not more lights are added many thanks for the more sports along with the latest news analysis and loads of video at the website you can take a look at al-jazeera dot com. i'll be back in just a few moments with more of the day's news see that. market. the nature of news as it b

cilic, who is seeded 6th made it past rafa nadal in his quarterfinal, the world number1 retiring withe decided over the next couple of nights. manchester city will be favourites to get past bristol city tonight 2—1 up after the first leg but the championship side really impressed at the etihad a fortnight ago. our sports correspondent natalie pirks is at ashton gate. bristol city have been on a terrible run of form but you should expect them to raise their game again. yes, they have not won a game since boxing day. it has seen them dropped to fifth in the league. fans will not care about their league form tonight, they are just here to watch them, hopefully, beat manchester city. the fans at the eddie howe twerk raucous, the most away fans the etihad had ever seen, the so—called cider army in full voice. 28,000 5ives have been put out to try to raise the atmosphere and get it going. leejohnson, the manager, has talked about trying to even better the atmosphere they had when they beat manchester united in the quarterfinals. bristol city had knocked out four premier league teams already