Category: 6. Sports

Jake Libby achieved a career-best unbeaten 228 as Worcestershire compiled the third-highest first-class score in their history.

Stand-in captain Libby batted throughout a 10-hour vigil to secure a second Championship double hundred, while underpinning his side’s vast 679-7 declared – the third biggest total in Worcestershire’s history.

His double century was paired with Adam Hose’s on day one – making it the first time two Worcestershire batters had passed 200 in an innings, while Gareth Roderick’s 80 kept Libby company for much of day two.

The declaration at tea left Hampshire 32 overs until close, and during the evening the hosts managed to lose their top three on a lifeless pitch to end the day on 68-3 – an ominous 611 in arrears.

Aged 21, Libby scored a double ton in Nottinghamshire’s Second XI. On Championship debut, Libby scored a 247-ball century. In 2021, he batted for 681 minutes – two minutes shy of the longest Championship innings – to save a match against Essex.

This innings shouldn’t have come as a shock to anyone, especially when it became clear before lunch on day one that the Hampshire bowlers were in for a torturous time with the pitch and Kookaburra ball.

While Hose scored with abandon, Libby frustrated and accumulated. The pair put on 395 with their contrasting style until Hose’s departure late on the opening day.

Nightwatcher Adam Finch and Ethan Brookes fell in the morning session but Hampshire only managed to pick up one bowling point, with Worcestershire counting the maximum five batting points to reverse their batting woes this season.

Finch edged the three-wicket James Fuller behind, while Brookes left a straight one from Kyle Abbott.

But Libby persisted, passing 150 with his sole six – towering Liam Dawson straight down the ground – and found Roderick a similarly stubborn partner.

Roderick had barely scraped 250 runs together in 16 previous innings this season, but given the perfect batting conditions, upped the price on his wicket.

It wasn’t pretty viewing in the roasting south coast sun, but it kept the scoreboard slowly ticking and the Hampshire bowlers, eight of whom were used in total, toiling.

Roderick’s second fifty of the season came in 114 balls, but it was overshadowed by Libby raising his bat on 200 after 399 deliveries.

Roderick top-edged a sweep to fall for 80 and Matthew Waite was carelessly run out before Tom Taylor added 51 with Libby.

With a new ball ready after tea, Libby decided to put Hampshire’s bowlers out of their misery by concluding his and Worcestershire’s innings, having cleared his previous high of 215.

The 679 was the highest Worcestershire score away from New Road and the highest total by a visiting team to Utilita Bowl – second only to the 714 Hampshire posted against Notts in 2005 overall.

Hampshire’s response was not wholly unsurprising after 160 overs of draining fielding in mercury rising temperatures.

Fletcha Middleton and Ali Orr had already been given lives when chances were shelled in the slips, but didn’t cash in.

Middleton never looked comfortable before a hooping in-swinging from Taylor hit his pads in front, while Orr seemed to find rhythm until shabbily turning Finch to leg slip.

Nick Gubbins followed to give Taylor a second leg-before wicket but Tilak Varma and Ben Brown remained for the last 40 balls of the day.

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ST. PETERSBURG — Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer, a five-time WTA singles champion and former World No.12, played the last singles match of her professional tennis career Monday at Wimbledon. After announcing in May that The Championships would be her final tournament, the 35-year-old bowed out in the first round against Renata Zarazua of Mexico. She remains in doubles contention, alongside Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova.

Wickmayer made her WTA qualifying debut on home soil at Hasselt in 2004. She rose to prominence in 2009, the year she captured her first two singles titles (Estoril, Linz) and advanced to the semifinals of the US Open, where Caroline Wozniacki ended her run. She was the recipient of that season’s WTA Most Improved Player award and went on to attain her career-high ranking on April 19, 2010.

Contesting 11 Tour-level singles finals overall — across all surfaces — Wickmayer’s subsequent titles came at Auckland in 2010, Tokyo [Japan Open] in 2015 and Washington, DC in 2016. She also won three doubles titles, most recently at Warsaw in 2023, partnering Heather Watson — and as the mother of a daughter, Luana, who was born in April, 2021.

Among other highlights, Wickmayer posted nine successive Top 100 seasons (2008-16), registered five wins over Top 10 opponents (including Grand Slam winners Li Na, Petra Kvitova and Marion Bartoli) and holds the Belgian record (jointly with Sabine Appelmans) for most singles wins in Billie Jean King Cup play (25-10).

She leaves the game with a singles win-loss record of 535-373 (all levels) and career prize of more than $6 million. 

Click here for more on Wickmayer’s distinguished career. 

 

Gloucestershire resumed on 279-7 but quickly lost Todd Murphy without scoring and Ajeet Singh Dale for two, as Van der Gugten twice found the edge.

Bracey farmed the strike effectively and punished the odd bad ball with the second batting point coming up in the 104th over, while Archie Bailey finally got his first Championship runs in his fifth match and third innings to earn a few cheers.

Bracey was dropped at deep mid-wicket on 87 off Van der Gugten, and that proved costly as he moved to a third century of the season.

Glamorgan’s frustration grew as fielders moved in and out, Bailey (19 not out) increased in confidence, and Bracey laid about him hitting 13 fours and four sixes, before lofting Crane to long-off.

The economical Ajeet Singh Dale made the first visitors’ breakthrough in scorching afternoon heat as Zain Ul Hassan hooked to fine leg on nine, while Asa Tribe looked in good shape for 35 before edging Bailey to Bracey.

Bailey then induced Kiran Carlson (14) to flick to fine leg, while Sam Northeast (48) seemed on the way to a big score before left-arm spinner Graeme van Buuren got one through his defences to nudge one bail off to the batter’s bewilderment.

At 121-4, Glamorgan had work to do as the ball went soft, after some self-inflicted damage.

Ingram and Kellaway applied themselves studiously in the evening session, despite the dual distractions of hundreds of swooping gulls, and the distant strains of Oasis sound-checking at the nearby Principality Stadium.

Kellaway reached his half-century off 83 balls with seven fours, while Ingram passed the landmark off 103 balls in the final over, but Glamorgan were content to see out the day without too much aggression against some tidy bowling.

Gloucestershire’s James Bracey told BBC Bristol Sport:

“I’ve just got to stay in rhythm and keep contributing with the bat, making the most of favourable conditions this morning, and it’s good to be in a vein of form still.

“It was a really crucial partnership to get us up to 380, we needed that or a few more, and it was good fun batting with Archie.

“I was guiding him through it and he seemed to enjoy it, his batting’s come on so much and the extra 90 runs or whatever come in really handy.

“When the ball goes soft, (the game) becomes a bit slow but that’s where you’ve got to be creative and use your spinners to full effect. Both teams have bowled well so far, hence the slower pace.”

Glamorgan’s Timm van der Gugten told BBC Sport Wales:

“We’re pretty happy with how the day ended though they got a few too many when they batted, we probably dropped a few chances and let a few run-outs go.

“The way Kellers and Colin batted at the end swung it back into a good day at the end.

“I’m not a massive fan of the Kookaburra ball though I get where they’re coming from in introducing them. They play very differently here than they do in Australia though I guess it creates opportunities for different types of bowling.

“Everyone’s in the mix (for promotion), but we’re pretty happy with how we’ve been playing after the first three games. We weren’t at our best at times at Leicester but it feels like we’ve clicked back into it again this week.”

Emma Raducanu’s latest Wimbledon campaign started off without a hitch, as the Grand Slam champion eased past one of her rising compatriots who hopes to follow in her footsteps.

Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws

In an opening-day clash on Court No. 1, former Top 10 player Raducanu moved past 17-year-old wild card Mingge (Mimi) Xu 6-3, 6-3, booking a spot in the second round of her home Grand Slam for the fourth time in her four main-draw appearances.

Raducanu needed 1 hour and 25 minutes to prevail in Monday’s battle of the Britons. It was the first time two British women faced off in the first round of Wimbledon since Anne Keothavong (now the current Billie Jean King Cup captain for Great Britain) defeated Naomi Broady in 2011.

Grand Slam experience pays off: Raducanu knows what it’s like to have career breakthroughs as a teenager. At age 18, she made her Grand Slam main-draw debut here on home soil at 2021 Wimbledon, and raced to the Round of 16.

Her teenage dream reached a fever pitch in her second Grand Slam main draw at the 2021 US Open. There, still only 18 years old, she won 10 straight matches to become the first qualifier in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles title.

World No. 40 Raducanu continues to excel when kicking off majors. She is now 11-2 in Grand Slam first-round matches throughout her young career.

Tale of the match: Raducanu was in charge from the jump on Monday, bookending the first set with service breaks in the first and last games. Raducanu never faced a break point and hit only four unforced errors in the opening frame.

World No. 318 Xu, making her Grand Slam main-draw debut, found more winners in the second set (13, compared to her eight in the first set). Xu broke her more experienced countrywoman two times in that set.

However, Raducanu ended a flurry of five straight breaks with a forehand winner down the line to lead 4-2, and she was untroubled on serve after that.

Raducanu slammed an unreturned serve to close out her first match point and return to the second round. All told, she won three-quarters of her first-service points, and she finished the match with 25 winners to 12 unforced errors.

Vondrousova awaits: Raducanu will face a fellow Grand Slam champion in the second round, and a Wimbledon titlist to boot — 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova.

In one of the trickiest first-round draws of the event, Vondrousova of the Czech Republic ousted No. 32 seed McCartney Kessler of the United States 6-1, 7-6(3) in 1 hour and 25 minutes — the same length as Raducanu’s win.

This was a tough draw because both Vondrousova and Kessler won grass-court titles exactly eight days ago — Vondrousova took the title at WTA 500 Berlin (her first title since 2023 Wimbledon) and Kessler prevailed at WTA 250 Nottingham.

In the clash between grass-court champions, former Top 10 player Vondrousova raced to a 6-1, 5-1 lead before Kessler (seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time) stormed back to force a tiebreak.

Despite her big lead, Vondrousova never had match point until the breaker, but she eventually closed out her first Wimbledon win since she beat Ons Jabeur in the 2023 final.

Rivalry breakdown: Vondrousova leads Raducanu 2-1 in their head-to-head. Interestingly, Raducanu’s win came right here during her breakthrough run at 2021 Wimbledon, when she beat Vondrousova in the second round.

Vondrousova, though, avenged that loss at 2022 Billie Jean King Cup. She then beat Raducanu earlier this year in Abu Dhabi.

More to come…