SPORTS DIGEST

BASKETBALL

The Toronto Raptors posted their 11th victory in 12 games with a 103-98 triumph over the Charlotte Hornets. Demar Derozan finished with 19 points and eight assists as the Eastern Conference leaders surged to their 26th win at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors have the best record at home in the NBA, having lost just five games. The Sacramento Kings held off a late rally from the New York Knicks to triumph 10299. The Knicks were behind by 19 points early in the fourth quarter, but pulled back to level the match at 97. It was up to the Kings’ Skal Labissiere to knock down a game-winning three-pointer as the clock ticked to zero. Victor Oladipo led the way for the Indiana Pacers, scoring 33 points as his side defeated the Washington Wizards 98-95. The win saw the Pacers overtake the Wizards to take fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The New Orleans Pelicans continued their winning streak as they clinched their eight victory in a row against the Dallas Mavericks. Jrue Holiday finished with his seventh 30-point game of the season in a match which finished 126-109. NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION: Atlanta Hawks 113 Phoenix Suns 112, Dallas Mavericks 109 New Orleans Pelicans 126, LA Clippers 123 Brooklyn Nets 120, Milwaukee Bucks 118 Philadelphia 76ers 110, Sacramento Kings 102 New York Knicks 99, Toronto Raptors 103 Charlotte Hornets 98, Washington Wizards 95 Indiana Pacers 98.

CRICKET

Australia needed just 3.4 overs on the final morning to wrap up a 118-run victory in the first Test over South Africa.after playing out two maidens, Quinton De Kock scored the first run of the morning with a wide drive down to long-on but, could not get back for the two he desired.but after Morne Morkel got off the mark with a thick outside edge through gully for four it was all over next ball with the dismissal of De Kock.josh Hazlewood got one to reverse back into De Kock, striking him on the back pad and, despite the batsman asking for a review, he was given out too see South Africa bowled out for 298. 1st TEST (Durban) Australia 351 (M R Marsh 96, S P D Smith 56, D A Warner 51, K A Maharaj 5-123) & 227 (C T Bancroft 53, K A Maharaj 4-102) v South Africa 162 (A B de Villiers 71 no, M A Starc 5-34) & 298 (A K Markram 143, Q de Kock 83, M A Starc 4-75). Australia beat South Africa by 118 runs.

GOLF

OFFICIAL WORLD RANKING: 1 Dustin Johnson (USA)10.50, 2 Justin Thomas (USA) 9.44, 3 Jon Rahm (Spa) 8.67, 4 Jordan Spieth (USA) 8.24, 5 Justin Rose (Eng) 7.22, 6 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 7.13, 7 Rickie Fowler (USA) 6.35, 8 Brooks Koepka (USA) 5.86, 9 Jason Day (Aus) 5.76, 10 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 5.58, 11 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 5.56, 12 Rory Mcilroy (Nirl) 5.52, 13 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 5.01, 14 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 4.97, 15 Alex Noren (Swe) 4.91, 16 Marc Leishman (Aus) 4.91, 17 Paul Casey (Eng) 4.48, 18 Phil Mickelson (USA) 4.47, 19 Pat Perez (USA) 4.41, 20 Matt Kuchar (USA) 4.30, 21 Rafael Cabrera-bello (Spa) 4.13, 22 Brian Harman (USA) 3.93, 23 Xander Schauffele (USA) 3.52, 24 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 3.47, 25 Charley Hoffman (USA) 3.46,26 Gary Woodland (USA) 3.28, 27 Patrick Reed (USA) 3.24, 28 Branden Grace (Rsa) 3.21, 29 Ross Fisher (Eng) 3.18, 30 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 3.18, 31 Daniel Berger (USA) 3.10, 32 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 3.08, 33 Kevin Kisner (USA) 3.07, 34 Tony Finau (USA) 3.07, 35 Patrick Cantlay (USA) 3.06, 36 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 2.94, 37 Kevin Chappell (USA) 2.84, 38 Bubba Watson (USA) 2.75, 39 Brendan Steele (USA) 2.74, 40 Haotong Li (Chn) 2.73, 41 Thomas Pieters (Bel) 2.61, 42 Webb Simpson (USA) 2.58, 43 Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 2.57, 44 Adam Hadwin (Can) 2.55, 45 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 2.52, 46 Jason Dufner (USA) 2.50, 47 Chez Reavie (USA) 2.47,48 Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 2.43, 49 Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 2.40, 50 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 2.36.

ICE HOCKEY

The Florida Panthers moved into a Stanley Cup play-off spot as they won their sixth-straight game after beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1. Evgenii Dadonov was on top form as he scored two goals for the Panthers, while Aleksander Barkov contributed a goal and an assist. The Panthers moved one point ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes, who suffered a 3-2 defeat to the Winnipeg Jets. Patrik Laine finished with two goals and an assist and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves to keep the Hurricanes at bay and power the Jets to their victory. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Ducks both won their matches to move into third place in their respective divisions. The Wild overcame the Detriot Red Wings 4-1 – with goaltender Devan Dubnyk making 28 saves – to take the number three spot in the Central Division. The Ducks toppled the Chicago Blackhawks 6-3 to move up in the Pacific Division, with Jakob Silfverberg and Corey Perry each scoring a brace. NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE: Anaheim Ducks 6 Chicago Blackhawks 3, Carolina Hurricanes 2 Winnipeg Jets 3, Colorado Avalanche 3 Nashville Predators 4 (OT), Florida Panthers 4 Philadelphia Flyers 1, Minnesota Wild 4 Detroit Red Wings 1, New Jersey Devils 2 Vegas Golden Knights 3, San Jose Sharks 2 Columbus Blue Jackets 4.

TENNIS

ATP RANKINGS 2018: 1 Roger Federer (Swi) 10060pts, 2 Rafael Nadal (Spa) 9460, 3 Marin Cilic (Cro) 4870, 4 Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) 4635, 5 Alexander Zverev (Ger) 4540, 6 Dominic Thiem (Aut) 3810, 7 David Goffin (Bel) 3280, 8 Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) 3200, 9 Kevin Anderson (Rsa) 3080, 10 Jack Sock (USA) 2650, 11 Stan Wawrinka (Swi) 2475, 12 Lucas Pouille (Fra) 2455, 13 Novak Djokovic (Ser) 2380, 14 Pablo Carreno-busta (Spa) 2315, 15 Tomas Berdych (Cze) 2275, 16 Roberto Bautista Agut (Spa) 2255, 17 Diego Sebastian Schwartzman (Arg) 2220, 18 John Isner (USA) 2205, 19 Fabio Fognini (Ita) 2190, 20 Nick Kyrgios (Aus) 2125, 21 Sam Querrey (USA) 2095, 22 Albert Ramosvinolas (Spa) 1745, 23 Adrian Mannarino (Fra) 1715, 24 Kyle Edmund (Gbr) 1642, 25 Kei Nishikori (Jpn) 1595, 26 Hyeon Chung (Kor) 1567, 27 Gilles Muller (Lux) 1535, 28 Filip Krajinovic (Ser) 1503, 29 Andy Murray (Gbr) 1460, 30 Damir Dzumhur (Bih) 1445, 31 Andrey Rublev (Rus) 1433, 32 Feliciano Lopez (Spa) 1340, 33 David Ferrer (Spa) 1325, 34 Pablo Cuevas (Uru) 1310, 35 Jo-wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 1310, 36 Richard Gasquet (Fra) 1305, 37 Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) 1290, 38 Milos Raonic (Can) 1270, 39 Fernando Verdasco (Spa) 1260, 40 Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) 1240, 41 Karen Khachanov (Rus) 1235, 42 Gael Monfils (Fra) 1220, 43 Aljaz Bedene (Slo) 1168, 44 Denis Shapovalov (Can) 1166, 45 Robin Haase (Ned) 1085, 46 Benoit Paire (Fra) 1075, 47 Leonardo Mayer (Arg) 1044, 48 Jared Donaldson (USA) 1038, 49 Borna Coric (Cro) 1026, 50 Peter Gojowczyk (Ger) 1016 WTA RANKINGS: 1 Simona Halep (Rom) 7965pts, 2 Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 7525, 3 Garbine Muguruza (Spa) 6175, 4 Elina Svitolina (Ukr) 5480, 5 Karolina Pliskova (Cze) 5080, 6 Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) 4941, 7 Caroline Garcia (Fra) 4625, 8 Venus Williams (USA) 4277, 9 Petra Kvitova (Cze) 3086, 10 Angelique Kerber (Ger) 3055, 11 Johanna Konta (Gbr) 2930, 12 Julia Goerges (Ger) 2910, 13 Sloane Stephens (USA) 2873, 14 Madison Keys (USA) 1703, 15 Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) 1605, 16 Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 1433, 17 Magdalena Rybarikova (Svk) 1405, 18 Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) 2362, 19 Daria Kasatkina (Rus) 2300, 20 Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) 2295, 21 Ashleigh Barty (Aus) 2189, 22 Elise Mertens (Bel) 2185, 23 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 2125, 24 Elena Vesnina (Rus) 2110, 25 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) 1980, 26 Daria Gavrilova (Aus) 1870, 27 Carla Suarez Navarro (Spa) 1785, 28 Anett Kontaveit (Est) 1765, 29 Kiki Bertens (Ned) 1725, 30 Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) 1610, 31 Shuai Peng (Chn) 1535, 32 Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 1525, 33 Shuai Zhang (Chn) 1500, 34 Lucie Safarova (Cze) 1422, 35 Sorana Cirstea (Rom) 1385, 36 Irina-camelia Begu (Rom) 1345, 37 Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) 1330, 38 Mihaela Buzarnescu (Rom) 1303, 39 Alize Cornet (Fra) 1280, 40 Lesia Tsurenko (Ukr) 1260, 41 Maria Sharapova (Rus) 1247, 42 Timea Bacsinszky (Swi) 1232, 43 Timea Babos (Hun) 1180, 44 Naomi Osaka (Jpn) 1170, 45 Catherine Cartan Bellis (USA) 1140, 46 Samantha Stosur (Aus) 1131, 47 Aleksandra Krunic (Ser) 1128, 48 Katerina Siniakova (Cze) 1105, 49 Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Blr) 1094, 50 Alison Van Uytvanck (Bel) 1089. Selected other: 70 Heather Watson (Gbr) 854.