Sport in brief

Motor Racing

British driver George Russell has followed in the footsteps of Lewis Hamilton by winning the Formula Two title. The 20-year-old from King’s Lynn, Norfolk, sealed the feeder championship to Formula One with a race to spare after taking the chequered flag from pole position in Abu Dhabi. The Englishman will join Hamilton, who won the F2 title 12 years ago, in F1 next season after he was confirmed as a Williams driver for 2019. Russell, who also won the GP3 championship last year, is on the books at Mercedes, and was reserve driver for the world champions this season. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal who helped engineer Russell’s move to Williams, was among the spectators at the Yas Marina track.

Golf

Aaron Rai will take a six-shot lead into the final round of the Hong Kong Open after extending his advantage yesterday. The Englishman is closing in on his first European Tour title after following up Friday’s course-record 61 with a 68 to open up a gap between himself and compatriots Tommy Fleetwood and Matthew Fitzpatrick, who are both on 10 under. However, it was not all plain sailing for Rai, who started day three with a four-shot lead but saw it cut to just one shot at the turn after South Korean Hyowon Park made a fast start.

Tennis

France kept their Davis Cup final hopes alive as Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert beat Croatian pair Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 in a tense doubles battle at a raucous Stade Pierre-Mauroy yesterday. Yannick Noah’s champions had their backs against the wall after losing both Friday’s singles but Herbert and Mahut began the fightback, reducing the deficit to 2-1 and ensuring the last Davis Cup in its present guise will stretch into today.

Cricket

Taijul Islam took six wickets in the second innings as Bangladesh defeated West Indies by 64 runs in the first Test in Chittagong. Chasing a target of 204, the visitors were bowled out for 139. Left-arm spinner Islam did the most damage with figures of six for 33 while Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan claimed two wickets apiece. Sunil Ambris top-scored with 43 and Jomel Warrican made 41 as the pair’s 63-run ninth-wicket partnership gave West Indies brief hope.

Rugby Union

The Cheetahs came from behind to beat a depleted Benetton side 31-25 in a thrilling Guinness PRO14 game.