Sport in brief
Hockey
England’s defence of the EuroHockey Championship title began a resounding 4-1 victory over Ireland in Amsterdam yesterday. England went ahead just before half-time, when Laura Unsworth’s cross was deflected into the goal. Ellie Watton doubled the lead from a penalty corner before Elena Tice replied with a goal for the Irish. Sophie Bray restored England’s two-goal advantage, before Alex Danson completed the rout. Defender Giselle Ansley said: “It was a tough and well-fought game. It’s a good start to our tournament, but now we need to refocus ready for tomorrow’s game against Germany.” In the other game in pool B, Germany beat Scotland 4-1.
Tennis
Nick Kyrgios made short work of top seed Rafael Nadal in a dazzling 6-2, 7-5 victory at the Cincinnati Open. The Australian Kyrgios breezed past the 15-times grand-slam champion in a quarter-final that lasted only one hour and 20 minutes. “He is a tough match always,” Nadal said. “Nick is a great player, but I played poorly. I started the match well and then I played a very bad game in the second set when he broke me. I played some good points. He had some mistakes and I was able to be back in the match. And then I played a terrible game. So it was a bad match for me.” Nadal still returns to top spot in the world rankings, an achievement he described as “unbelievable”. Britain’s Johanna Konta lost her quarter-final against second seed Simona Halep 6-4, 7-6.
Snooker
Ronnie O’Sullivan cruised into the quarter-finals of the Evergrande China Championship with a 5-0 thrashing of Scotland’s Graeme Dott. O’Sullivan, England’s former world champion, needed several chances to win a scrappy opening frame, but followed up with breaks of 78, 75, 62 and 139 as Dott managed to score just 21 points in the one-sided contest. There were groans from the crowd as O’Sullivan turned down the chance to attempt a maximum break early in the fifth frame, but the 41-year-old was soon forgiven as he rattled in a total clearance in a frame lasting less than eight minutes. O’Sullivan will face Luca Brecel in the last eight after the Belgian beat Mike Dunn 5-3 in the morning session, with Shaun Murphy taking on Zhou Yuelong after whitewashing Stephen Maguire.