SPORTS DIGEST
BASKETBALL
The Milwaukee Bucks extended their winning streak to four games with a 107-95 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Giannis Antetokounmpo proved to be too much for the 76ers, with the forward scoring 31 points with 18 rebounds – his 22nd double-double of the season. Antetokounmpo was backed up late in the game by Matthew Dellavedova, who scored all of his 10 points in the last quarter, to put the Bucks on the front foot and give them their fourth win in a row since the sacking of coach Jason Kidd. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks fought an 11-point deficit in the third quarter to claim a narrow win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Kent Bazemore totalled 22 points after making a crucial three-pointer with just over two minutes left on the clock, putting the Hawks in charge of the game to see out the 105-100 victory. The Indiana Pacers, too, left it late in the game to beat the Charlotte Hornets 10596. Both teams looked near to emerging victorious over the first three quarters, but the Pacers never looked backed after Victor Oladipo scored a 19-footer with less than 10 minutes to go. Oladipo scored 25 points overall and Myles Turner added 22 to give the Pacers their second straight win. Charlotte, meanwhile, slowed down too much in the fourth quarter, only stacking up 18 points, making that two losses in a row for the Hornets. The Boston Celtics narrowly avoided another loss, edging the Denver Nuggets 111-110 to claim only their second win in seven games. Kyrie Irving got to work in the final quarter, scoring 10 of his 17 points in the final 12 minutes. The Nuggets, though, tied the game at 108-108 with 43 seconds on the clock and the Celtics were saved by a three-pointer from Jaylen Brown little more than 10 seconds later. Elsewhere, the Phoenix Suns notched up their fifth loss in a row as Tyreke Evans scored 27 points in the Memphis Grizzlies’ 120-109 home win, while the Dallas Mavericks chased a double-digit lead at times by the Miami Heat, who triumphed 95-88 in Texas. NBA: Atlanta Hawks 105 Minnesota Timberwolves 100, Dallas Mavericks 88 Miami Heat 95, Denver Nuggets 110 Boston Celtics 111, Indiana Pacers 105 Charlotte Hornets 96, Memphis Grizzlies 120 Phoenix Suns 109, Milwaukee Bucks 107 Philadelphia 76ers 95.
GOLF
OFFICIAL WORLD RANKINGS: 1 Dustin Johnson (USA) 10.72pts, 2 Jon Rahm (Spa) 9.54, 3 Jordan Spieth (USA) 8.80, 4 Justin Thomas (USA) 8.01, 5 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 7.40, 6 Justin Rose (Eng) 7.39, 7 Rickie Fowler (USA) 6.65, 8 Rory Mcilroy (Nirl) 6.09, 9 Brooks Koepka (USA) 6.00, 10 Jason Day (Aus) 5.80, 11 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 5.66, 12 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 5.59, 13 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 5.43, 14 Marc Leishman (Aus) 5.19, 15 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 4.81, 16 Alex Noren (Swe) 4.75, 17 Paul Casey (Eng) 4.58, 18 Pat Perez (USA) 4.50, 19 Matt Kuchar (USA) 4.44, 20 Brian Harman (USA) 3.83. WOMEN’S WORLD RANKINGS: 1 Shanshan Feng (Chn) 7.59pts, 2 Sung Hyun Park (Kor) 7.28, 3 So Yeon Ryu (Kor) 6.96, 4 Lexi Thompson (USA) 6.90, 5 Anna Nordqvist (Swe) 5.87, 6 In Gee Chun (Kor) 5.75, 7 Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 5.68, 8 In Kyung Kim (Kor) 5.67, 9 Cristie Kerr (USA) 5.15, 10 Lydia Ko (Nzl) 4.83.
TENNIS
Top seed Shuai Peng has been dumped out of the Taiwan Open at the first-round stage. The Chinese player followed her second seeded compatriot Shuai Zhang out of the tournament at the first hurdle after she went down 6-4, 6-1 to Romanian Ana Bogdan. Sam Stosur’s defeat to Nao Hibino means that the top three seeds are all out after the Australian lost 7-6 (8/6), 6-2. Seventh seed Magda Linette beat Xinyun Han 6-2, 6-0 and Pauline Parmentier, seeded eighth, beat Kurumi Nara 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. There were also wins for Eugenie Bouchard, after Zhu Lin retired hurt, Johanna Larsson, Sabine Lisicki and Yafan Wang. WTA TAIWAN OPEN (Taipei City) 1st rd: Ana Bogdan (Rom) bt (1) Shuai Peng (Chn) 6-4 6-1, (8) Pauline Parmentier (Fra) bt Kurumi Nara (Jpn) 1-6 6-4 6-1, (7) Magda Linette (Pol) bt Xinyun Han (Chn) 6-2 6-0, Yafan Wang (Chn) bt Risa Ozaki (Jpn) 6-2 6-4, Nao Hibino (Jpn) bt (3) Samantha Stosur (Aus) 7-6 (8-6) 6-2, Johanna Larsson (Swe) bt Jing-jing Lu (Chn) 6-3 6-1, Sabine Lisicki (Ger) bt Yuxuan Zhang (Chn) 6-3 1-6 7-6 (7-3), Eugenie Bouchard (Can) bt Lin Zhu (Chn) 1-6 7-5 2-0 ret. WTA ST PETERSBURG LADIES TROPHY 1st rd: Elena Rybakina (Rus) bt Timea Bacsinszky (Swi) 6-4 6-3, (5) Julia Goerges (Ger) bt Maria Sakkari (Gre) 6-2 7-6 (7-5), Roberta Vinci (Ita) bt Tereza Martincova (Cze) 6-2 6-2.