SPORTS DIGEST

BASEBALL

The Los Angeles Dodgers racked up their 104th victory of the season as they beat the Colorado Rockies 6-3. Three hits from Corey Seager helped the Dodgers extend the best record in baseball ahead of the National League Division Series. The Houston Astros produced a four-run rally in the seventh inning to claim a 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox and strike a psychological blow ahead of the team’s postseason meeting. The New York Yankees went down 2-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees face the Minnesota Twins in the Wild Card round and the Twins geared up for the post-season with a 5-1 win over the Detroit Tigers. MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: Boston Red Sox 3 Houston Astros 4, Chicago Cubs 1 Cincinnati Reds 3, Cleveland Indians 3 Chicago White Sox 1, Colorado Rockies 3 LA Dodgers 6, Kansas City Royals 2 Arizona Diamondbacks 14, LA Angels 6 Seattle Mariners 2, Miami Marlins 5 Atlanta Braves 8, Minnesota Twins 5 Detroit Tigers 1, NY Yankees 1 Toronto Blue Jays 2, Philadelphia Phillies 11 NY Mets 0, San Francisco Giants 5 San Diego Padres 4, St Louis Cardinals 1 Milwaukee Brewers 6, Tampa Bay Rays 6 Baltimore Orioles 0, Texas Rangers 2 Oakland Athletics 5, Washington Nationals 8 Pittsburgh Pirates 11.

CRICKET

FIRST TEST (Potchefstroom) South Africa 247-6 dec (F du Plessis 81, T Bavuma 71) v Bangladesh 320 (Mominul Haque 77, Mohammad Mahmudullah 66) & 90 (K A Maharaj 4-25). South Africa beat Bangladesh by 333 runs. FIRST TEST (Abu Dhabi) Sri Lanka419(LDCh an dim al 155 no, F DMKa run ar at ne 93, DPD N Dick well a83)&138(Ya sir Shah5-51)v Pakistan 422 (Azhar Ali 85, Haris Sohail 76, Shan Masood59,S ami Aslam 51, HMR KB Herath 5-93)&114( HMR KB Herath 6-43). Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 21 runs.

GRIDIRON

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: Seattle Seahawks 46 Indianapolis Colts 18.

TENNIS

ATP CHAMPIONS RANKINGS 2017: 1 Rafael Nadal (Spa) 9465pts, 2 Roger Federer (Swi) 7505, 3 Andy Murray (Gbr) 6790, 4 Alexander Zverev (Ger) 4310, 5 Marin Cilic (Cro) 4155, 6 Novak Djokovic (Ser) 4125, 7 Dominic Thiem (Aut) 3925, 8 Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) 3575, 9 Stan Wawrinka (Swi) 3540, 10 Pablo Carreno-busta (Spa) 2855, 11 David Goffin (Bel) 2855, 12 Milos Raonic (Can) 2825, 13 Roberto Bautista Agut (Spa) 2525, 14 Kei Nishikori (Jpn) 2475, 15 Sam Querrey (USA) 2445, 16 Kevin Anderson (Rsa) 2425, 17 John Isner (USA) 2425, 18 Jo-wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 2375, 19 Nick Kyrgios (Aus) 2245, 20 Tomas Berdych (Cze) 2195, 21 Jack Sock (USA) 2175, 22 Gilles Muller (Lux) 1920, 23 Lucas Pouille (Fra) 1825, 24 Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) 1820, 25 Albert Ramos-vinolas (Spa) 1755, 26 Fabio Fognini (Ita) 1650, 27 Mischa Zverev (Ger) 1627, 28 David Ferrer (Spa) 1615, 29 Diego Sebastian Schwartzman (Arg) 1585, 30 Richard Gasquet (Fra) 1365, 31 Adrian Mannarino (Fra) 1335, 32 Pablo Cuevas (Uru) 1325, 33 Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) 1305, 34 Feliciano Lopez (Spa) 1295, 35 Gael Monfils (Fra) 1285, 36 Damir Dzumhur (Bih) 1191, 37 Benoit Paire (Fra) 1190, 38 Paolo Lorenzi (Ita) 1190, 39 Andrey Rublev (Rus) 1182, 40 Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) 1127, 41 Fernando Verdasco (Spa) 1115, 42 Karen Khachanov (Rus) 1100, 43 Robin Haase (Ned) 1085, 44 Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukr) 1071, 45 Gilles Simon (Fra) 1005, 46 Steve Johnson (USA) 100, 47 Kyle Edmund (Gbr) 992, 48 Jan-lennard Struff (Ger) 968, 49 Ivo Karlovic (Cro) 955, 50 Aljaz Bedene (Gbr) 943. WTA RANKINGS: 1 Garbine Muguruza (Spa) 6245pts, 2 Simona Halep (Rom) 5645, 3 Elina Svitolina (Ukr) 5640, 4 Karolina Pliskova (Cze) 5605, 5 Venus Williams (USA) 4652, 6 Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 4640, 7 Johanna Konta (Gbr) 4435, 8 Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) 4130, 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) 4115, 10 Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) 3330, 11 Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 3250, 12 Angelique Kerber (Ger) 3236, 13 Madison Keys (USA) 3213, 14 Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) 3090, 15 Caroline Garcia (Fra) 2980, 16 Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 2764, 17 Sloane Stephens (USA) 2712, 18 Petra Kvitova (Cze) 2357, 19 Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) 2295, 20 Elena Vesnina (Rus) 2190, 21 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 2190, 22 Daria Gavrilova (Aus) 2135, 23 Ashleigh Barty (Aus) 2035, 24 Serena Williams (USA) 2030, 25 Shuai Peng (Chn) 1860, 26 Shuai Zhang (Chn) 1805, 27 Julia Goerges (Ger) 1740, 28 Magdalena Rybarikova (Svk) 1709, 29 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) 1695, 30 Kiki Bertens (Ned) 1670, 31 Lucie Safarova (Cze) 1660, 32 Mirjana Lucic-baroni (Cro) 1615, 33 Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) 1605, 34 Daria Kasatkina (Rus) 1595, 35 Timea Bacsinszky (Swi) 1587, 36 Anett Kontaveit (Est) 1550, 37 Alize Cornet (Fra) 1382, 38 Elise Mertens (Bel) 1373, 39 Carla Suarez Navarro (Spa) 1366, 40 Catherine Cartan Bellis (USA) 1285, 41 Lauren Davis (USA) 1278, 42 Ana Konjuh (Cro) 1277, 43 Timea Babos (Hun) 1245, 44 Sorana Cirstea (Rom) 1225, 45 Samantha Stosur (Aus) 1176, 46 Donna Vekic (Cro) 1175, 47 Yulia Putintseva (Kaz) 1140, 48 Mona Barthel (Ger) 1123, 49 Katerina Siniakova (Cze) 1120, 50 Maria Sakkari (Gre) 1119. Selected other: 77 Heather Watson (Gbr) 781. ATP & WTA CHINA OPEN (Beijing) Men’s 1st rd: (5) Roberto Bautista Agut (Spa) bt Ze Zhang (Chn) 6-1 6-3, Aljaz Bedene (Gbr) bt Marcel Granollers (Spa) 6-4 6-2, Fabio Fognini (Ita) bt Robin Haase (Ned) 7-6 (7-4) 6-2, Steve Darcis (Bel) bt (4) Pablo Carreno-busta (Spa) 6-0 6-4, Dusan Lajovic (Ser) bt Fernando Verdasco (Spa) 6-1 3-6 6-3, Mischa Zverev (Ger) bt Jan-lennard Struff (Ger) 5-7 6-4 6-4. Women’s 1st rd: Shuai Peng (Chn) bt Shelby Rogers (USA) 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 7-5, Elena Vesnina (Rus) bt Magda Linette (Pol) 6-0 0-0 ret, Christina Mchale (USA) bt (15) Sloane Stephens (USA) 6-3 6-0, (14) Coco Vandeweghe (USA) bt Donna Vekic (Cro) 6-2 6-2, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) bt (1) Garbine Muguruza (Spa) 6-1 2-0 ret, Varvara Lepchenko (USA) bt Lesia Tsurenko (Ukr) 5-7 6-4 6-2, Elise Mertens (Bel) bt (8) Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) 7-6 (7-4) 6-1. Women’s 2nd rd: Alize Cornet (Fra) bt (10) Angelique Kerber (Ger) 6-4 6-4, (5) Caroline Wozniacki (Den) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 6-2 6-2. ATP RAKUTEN JAPAN OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS (Tokyo) 1st rd: Adrian Mannarino (Fra) bt Go Soeda (Jpn) 7-5 7-6 (7-3), Bernard Tomic (Aus) bt Joao Sousa (Por) 6-3 3-6 6-3,(1) Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre) 6-3 6-2, Ryan Harrison (USA) bt Yusuke Takahashi (Jpn) 6-4 4-6 6-4, (5) Kevin Anderson (Rsa) bt Gilles Simon (Fra) 6-2 7-6 (8-6), Jiri Vesely (Cze) bt (7) Albert Ramos-vinolas (Spa) 6-2 2-6 6-3, Yasutaka Uchiyama (Jpn) bt Franko Skugor (Cro) 6-3 3-6 6-1.

SNOOKER

EUROPEAN MASTERS (Lommel, Belgium) 1st rd: Ross Muir (Sco) bt Anthony Hamilton (Eng) w/o, Joe Perry (Eng) bt Soheil Vahedi (Irn) 4-0, Alan Mcmanus (Sco) bt Yuan Sijun (Chn) 4-1, Ben Woollaston (Eng) bt Zhang Yong (Chn) 4-0, Martin O’donnell (Eng) bt Jamie Jones (Wal) 4-3..