SPORTS DIGEST
BASEBALL
The New York Yankees hammered the Tampa Bay Rays 7-1 to close the gap in the American League East to half a game. Masahiro Tanaka gave up only one run over seven innings, with seven strikeouts, while a four-run ninth inning included a Thairo Estrada home run and a two-run double from Gio Urshela.
The Boston Red Sox routed the Seattle Mariners 11-2, capped by JD Martinez’s two-run homer, while the Baltimore Orioles won 5-1 against the Los Angeles Angels.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: Arizona Diamondbacks 3 Atlanta Braves 5, Baltimore Orioles 5 LA Angels 1, Boston Red Sox 11 Seattle Mariners 2, Chicago Cubs 4 Milwaukee Brewers 1, Colorado Rockies 10 San Diego Padres 7, Houston Astros 15 Texas Rangers 5, Kansas City Royals 1 Philadelphia Phillies 6, Los Angeles Dodgers 6 Washington Nationals 0, Minnesota Twins 3 Detroit Tigers 5, Oakland Athletics 3 Cleveland Indians 5, San Francisco Giants 6 Cincinnati Reds 5, St Louis Cardinals 6 Pittsburgh Pirates 10,Tampa Bay Rays 1 New York Yankees 7,Toronto Blue Jays 1 Chicago White Sox 5.
BASKETBALL
Kawhi Leonard hit a buzzer-beating twopointer to lift the Toronto Raptors into the Eastern Conference finals and eliminate the Philadelphia 76ers in a down-to-thewire game seven.
The Raptors advanced to the finals for the second time in four seasons when Leonard’s last-gasp effort from the corner bounced off the rim four times before falling into the basket to euphoric celebrations from the crowd and his team-mates. Jimmy Butler – who finished with 16 points – had levelled the game with 4.2 seconds remaining but was left brokenhearted as Leonard’s game-winning shot earned the Raptors a 92-90 win and 4-3 series victory.
The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Denver Nuggets 100-96 to advance to the Western Conference finals.
CJ Mccollum scored 37 points as the Trail Blazers rallied from 17 points down to clinch the semi-final series 4-3 and book their place in the finals for the first time in 19 years.
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Eastern Conference play-off semifinals: Toronto Raptors 92 Philadelphia 76ers 90 (Toronto win the series 4-3) Western Conference play-off semifinals: Denver Nuggets 96 Portland Trail Blazers 100 (Portland win the series 4-3).
GOLF
OFFICIAL WORLD RANKING: 1 Dustin Johnson (USA) 9.76, 2 Justin Rose (Eng) 9.01, 3 Brooks Koepka (USA) 8.83, 4 Rory Mcilroy (Nirl) 8.10, 5 Justin Thomas (USA) 7.59, 6 Tiger Woods (USA) 7.46, 7 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 7.18, 8 Bryson Dechambeau (USA) 6.82, 9 Xander Schauffele (USA) 6.13, 10 Rickie Fowler (USA) 5.83, 11 Jon Rahm (Spa) 5.75, 12 Paul Casey (Eng) 5.45, 13 Matt Kuchar (USA) 5.24, 14 Jason Day (Aus) 4.91, 15 Tony Finau (USA) 4.84, 16 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 4.74, 17 Patrick Cantlay (USA) 4.54, 18 Bubba Watson (USA) 4.50, 19 Webb Simpson (USA) 4.09, 20 Patrick Reed (USA) 4.08, 21 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 4.03, 22 Phil Mickelson (USA) 3.91, 23 Marc Leishman (Aus) 3.88, 24 Kevin Kisner (USA) 3.71, 25 Gary Woodland (USA) 3.69, 26 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 3.50, 27 Adam Scott (Aus) 3.49, 28 Ian Poulter (Eng) 3.38, 29 Cameron Smith (Aus) 3.30, 30 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 3.29, 31 Matt Wallace (Eng) 3.13, 32 Alex Noren (Swe) 3.07, 33 Eddie Pepperell (Eng) 3.05, 34 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 3.05, 35 Keegan Bradley (USA) 3.03, 36 Rafael Cabrera-bello (Spa) 3.03, 37 Haotong Li (Chn) 2.93, 38 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 2.80, 39 Jordan Spieth (USA) 2.79, 40 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 2.75, 41 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 2.74, 42 Justin Harding (Rsa) 2.67, 43 Billy Horschel (USA) 2.67, 44 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 2.61, 45 Shane Lowry (Irl) 2.60, 46 J.B. Holmes (USA) 2.51, 47 Kyle Stanley (USA) 2.47, 48 Branden Grace (Rsa) 2.46, 49 Kevin Na (USA) 2.37, 50 Jim Furyk (USA) 2.36. WOMEN’S WORLD RANKINGS: 1 Jin Young Ko (Kor) 7.50, 2 Minjee Lee (Aus) 6.72, 3 Sung Hyun Park (Kor) 6.49, 4 Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 5.93, 5 Nasa Hataoka (Jpn) 5.34, 6 Inbee Park (Kor) 5.13, 7 Lexi Thompson (USA) 5.04, 8 Brooke M. Henderson (Can) 4.94, 9 Sei Young Kim (Kor) 4.89, 10 Nelly Korda (USA) 4.71, 11 Carlota Ciganda (Spa) 4.63, 12 So Yeon Ryu (Kor) 4.52, 13 Jessica Korda (USA) 4.21, 14 Amy Yang (Kor) 4.20, 15 Danielle Kang (USA) 4.12, 16 Eun-hee Ji (Kor) 4.04, 17 Jeong Eun Lee (Kor) 4.01, 18 Lydia Ko (Nzl) 3.59, 19 Jiyai Shin (Kor) 3.58, 20 Georgia Hall (Eng) 3.36, 21 Shanshan Feng (Chn) 3.28, 22 Moriya Jutanugarn (Tha) 3.25, 23 InKyung Kim (Kor) 3.23, 24 Hye Jin Choi (Kor) 3.20, 25 Charley Hull (Eng) 3.13.
SPEEDWAY
FIXTURES
Friday: Championship – Edinburgh v Leicester, Glasgow v Eastbourne, Scunthorpe v Somerset (all 7:30).
TENNIS
ATP CHAMPIONS RANKINGS 2019: 1 Novak Djokovic (Ser) 12115pts, 2 Rafael Nadal (Spa) 7945, 3 Roger Federer (Swi) 5770, 4 Dominic Thiem (Aut) 4845, 5 Alexander Zverev (Ger) 4745, 6 Kei Nishikori (Jpn) 3860, 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre) 3790, 8 Kevin Anderson (Rsa) 3755, 9 Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) 3145, 10 Marin Cilic (Cro) 3025, 11 John Isner (USA) 2950, 12 Fabio Fognini (Ita) 2920, 13 Karen Khachanov (Rus) 2720, 14 Daniil Medvedev (Rus) 2625, 15 Borna Coric (Cro) 2445, 16 Gael Monfils (Fra) 1965, 17 Milos Raonic (Can) 1960, 18 Nikoloz Basilashvili (Geo) 1905, 19 Marco Cecchinato (Ita) 1840, 20 Roberto Bautista Agut (Spa) 1645, 21 Guido Pella (Arg) 1495, 22 Denis Shapovalov (Can) 1495, 23 David Goffin (Bel) 1460, 24 Diego Sebastian Schwartzman (Arg) 1440, 25 Lucas Pouille (Fra) 1440, 26 Alex De Minaur (Aus) 1420, 27 Kyle Edmund (Gbr) 1405, 28 Gilles Simon (Fra) 1375, 29 Stan Wawrinka (Swi) 1365, 30 Felix Auger-aliassime (Can) 1349, 31 Dusan Lajovic (Ser) 1316, 32 Laslo Djere (Ser) 1281, 33 Matteo Berrettini (Ita) 1275, 34 Frances Tiafoe (USA) 1255, 35 Christian Garin (Chi) 1243, 36 Nick Kyrgios (Aus) 1225, 37 Marton Fucsovics (Hun) 1205, 38 Fernando Verdasco (Spa) 1200, 39 Richard Gasquet (Fra) 1105, 40 PierreHugues Herbert (Fra) 1053, 41 Hubert Hurkacz (Pol) 1040, 42 Jeremy Chardy (Fra) 1040, 43 Pablo Carreno-busta (Spa) 1030, 44 Radu Albot (Mol) 1006, 45 Cameron Norrie (Gbr) 995, 46 Benoit Paire (Fra) 993, 47 Mikhail Kukushkin (Kaz) 990, 48 Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) 985, 49 Martin Cuevas (Uru) 973, 50 Adrian Mannarino (Fra) 966. Selected other: 83 Daniel Evans (Gbr) 656.