SPORTS DIGEST
BASEBALL
The Washington Nationals moved to within one win of a debut appearance in baseball’s World Series after an emphatic 8-1 defeat of the St Louis Cardinals in game three of their National League Championship Series late on Monday. The Nationals have never trailed during this series, and on their home field they jumped to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Star St Louis pitcher Jack Flaherty had given up only four runs in the whole of September but surrendered that many, with two outs, in this one inning through back-to-back RBIS to Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon.
While Washington’s Stephen Strasburg performed superbly on the mound to give the St Louis batters little to hit, Flaherty was retired after four innings. Washington promptly made it 6-0 after five innings thanks to RBI doubles to Howie Kendrick and Ryan Zimmermann. Kedrick starred with the bat, going three-for-four with three doubles and three RBIS and Strasburg took the win after not allowing a single earned run in seven innings, striking out 12 batters.
ICE HOCKEY
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE: Boston Bruins 4 Anaheim Ducks 2 ,Buffalo Sabres 4 Dallas Stars 0 ,Chicago Blackhawks 3 Edmonton Oilers 1 ,New Jersey Devils 4 Florida Panthers 6 ,New York Islanders 3 St Louis Blues 2 (Ot),ottawa Senators 0 Minnesota Wild 2 ,Washington Capitals 3 Colorado Avalanche 6
SNOOKER
ENGLISH OPEN, CRAWLEY 1ST RD: Thepchaiya Un-nooh (Tha) bt Stephen Maguire (Sco) 4-0, Yuan Sijun (Chn) bt Igor Figueiredo (Bra) 4-0, Ricky Walden (Eng) bt Alex Borg (Mlt) 4-0, David Gilbert (Eng) bt Stuart Carrington (Eng) 4-1, Fergal O’brien (Irl) bt Nigel Bond (Eng) 4-0, Sam Craigie (Eng) bt Luo Honghao (Chn) 4-2, Zhang Anda (Chn) by Lyu Haotian (Chn) 4-1, Elliot Slessor (Eng) bt Ashley Carty (Eng) 4-0, Zhao Xintong (Chn) bt Scott Donaldson (Sco) 4-3, Hossein Vadaei (Irn) bt Simon Lichtenberg (Ger) 4-3, Mark Williams (Wal) bt Jamie Rhys Clarke (Wal) 4-2, Chen Feilong (Chn) bt Thor Leong Chuan (Mal) 4-3, Brandon Sargeant (Eng) bt Jak Jones (Wal) 4-3, Marco Fu (Hkg) bt Ken Doherty (Irl) 4-0, Matthew Selt (Eng) bt Craig Steadman (Eng) 4-0.
TENNIS
ATP RANKINGS: 1 Novak Djokovic (Ser) 9545pts, 2 Rafael Nadal (Spa) 9225, 3 Roger Federer (Swi) 6950, 4 Daniil Medvedev (Rus) 5920, 5 Dominic Thiem (Aut) 5085, 6 Alexander Zverev (Ger) 4425, 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre) 3900, 8 Karen Khachanov (Rus) 2990, 9 Kei Nishikori (Jpn) 2860, 10 Roberto Bautista Agut (Spa) 2575, 11 Matteo Berrettini (Ita) 2545, 12 Fabio Fognini (Ita) 2415, 13 Gael Monfils (Fra) 2410, 14 David Goffin (Bel) 2280, 15 Diego Schwartzman (Arg) 1995, 16 John Isner (USA) 1985, 17 Felix Auger Aliassime (Can) 1681, 18 Stan Wawrinka (Swi) 1670, 19 Lucas Pouille (Fra) 1645, 20 Guido Pella (Arg) 1620, 21 Kevin Anderson (Rsa) 1600, 22 Borna Coric (Cro) 1540, 23 Benoit Paire (Fra) 1528, 24 Nikoloz Basilashvili (Geo) 1485, 25 Marin Cilic (Cro) 1455, 26 Alex De Minaur (Aus) 1440, 27 Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) 1432, 28 Nick Kyrgios (Aus) 1395, 29 Taylor Fritz (USA) 1360, 30 Milos Raonic (Can) 1350, 31 Andrey Rublev (Rus) 1341, 32 Dusan Lajovic (Ser) 1316, 33 Hubert Hurkacz (Pol) 1298, 34 Denis Shapovalov (Can) 1255, 35 Pablo Carreno Busta (Spa) 1252, 36 Jo-wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 1230, 37 Reilly Opelka (USA) 1203, 38 Christian Garin (Chi) 1197, 39 Laslo Djere (Ser) 1181, 40 Fernando Verdasco (Spa) 1160, 41 Jan-lennard Struff (Ger) 1155, 42 Albert Ramos-vinolas (Spa) 1130, 43 Daniel Evans (Gbr) 1120, 44 Adrian Mannarino (Fra) 1111, 45 Pablo Cuevas (Uru) 1088, 46 Radu Albot (Mol) 1057, 47 Gilles Simon (Fra) 1035, 48 Alexander Bublik (Kaz) 1032, 49 Miomir Kecmanovic (Ser) 1023, 50 Sam Querrey (USA) 1020. Selected others: 55 Kyle Edmund (Gbr) 995 61 Cameron Norrie (Gbr) 960.
WTA RANKINGS: 1 Ashleigh Barty (Aus) 7096pts, 2 Karolina Pliskova (Cze) 5940, 3 Naomi Osaka (Jpn) 5621, 4 Elina Svitolina (Ukr) 5495, 5 Bianca Andreescu (Can) 5041, 6 Simona Halep (Rom) 4962, 7 Petra Kvitova (Cze) 4776, 8 Kiki Bertens (Ned) 4495, 9 Serena Williams (USA) 3935, 10 Belinda Bencic (Swi) 3848, 11 Johanna Konta (Gbr) 3063, 12 Sloane Stephens (USA) 2818, 13 Angelique Kerber (Ger) 2775, 14 Madison Keys (USA) 2767, 15 Sofia Kenin (USA) 2615, 16 Aryna Sabalenka (Blr) 2580, 17 Petra Martic (Cro) 2458, 18 Marketa Vondrousova (Cze) 2390, 19 Elise Mertens (Bel) 2290, 20 Alison Riske (USA) 2185, 21 Donna Vekic (Cro) 2185, 22 Qiang Wang (Chn) 1893, 23 Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 1883, 24 Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) 1877, 25 Anett Kontaveit (Est) 1850, 26 Julia Goerges (Ger) 1840, 27 Amanda Anisimova (USA) 1794, 28 Dayana Yastremska (Ukr) 1775, 29 Maria Sakkari (Gre) 1741, 30 Garbine Muguruza (Spa) 1680, 31 Danielle Collins (USA) 1558, 32 Su-wei Hsieh (Tai) 1505, 33 Barbora Strycova (Cze) 1491, 34 Yulia Putintseva (Kaz) 1460, 35 Karolina Muchova (Cze) 1449, 36 Saisai Zheng (Chn) 1435, 37 Daria Kasatkina (Rus) 1425, 38 Ekaterina Alexandrova (Rus) 1385, 39 Caroline Garcia (Fra) 1365, 40 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 1355, 41 Magda Linette (Pol) 1320, 42 Veronika Kudermetova (Rus) 1306, 43 Elena Rybakina (Kaz) 1306, 44 Rebecca Peterson (Swe) 1275, 45 Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) 1235, 46 Shuai Zhang (Chn) 1216, 47 Yafan Wang (Chn) 1185, 48 Alison van Uytvanck (Bel) 1175, 49 Polona Hercog (Slo) 1119, 50 Victoria Azarenka (Blr) 1115. Selected other: 88 Heather Watson (Gbr) 698.