Here's a selection of some of the best international sporting stories from the last weekend, including Liverpool's deal with Alexander Isak, and all the US Open action.
It was another action-packed weekend of sport. Internationally we saw plenty of high-quality action in football, motosport, golf and cycling, among other codes. Here is a selection of the best international sporting action from the weekend.
Formula One
Oscar Piastri powered to victory at an incident-packed Dutch Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday, with home favourite Max Verstappen claiming second place as Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris suffered a dramatic breakdown late in the race.
Piastri led from pole to chequered flag at the Zandvoort circuit in a race that saw the safety car deployed three times to stretch his lead over Norris to 34 points in the championship race.
Racing Bulls’ 20-year-old French rookie Isack Hadjar finished third to become the fifth youngest podium finisher of all time.
It was Piastri’s sixth Grand Prix victory of the season and cemented the Australian’s status as the man to catch in this year’s drivers’ championship.
US Open tennis
Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic powered into the quarter-finals of the US Open on Sunday as reigning women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka kept her title defence firmly on track.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz beat France’s Arthur Rinderknech 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-4 and has not dropped a set to date at the championships.
Djokovic, 38, continued his latest bid for a record 25th Grand Slam singles title with a brisk 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 defeat of unseeded German Jan-Lennard Struff.
He will next play fourth seed Taylor Fritz, who beat Tomas Machat of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
In the women’s draw, Aryna Sabalenka crushed Moldova-born Spaniard Cristina Bucsa 6-1, 6-4 and will next face Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova, the 2023 Wimbledon champion, who upset ninth seed Elena Rybakina 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
In another match, unseeded former French Open and Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova saved eight match points to beat Taylor Townsend 1-6, 7-6 (15/13), 6-3.
Liverpool agree Isak deal
Premier League champions Liverpool have agreed a deal to sign Alexander Isak from Newcastle United for a British record transfer fee.
The Swedish forward is set to join the Reds in a deal worth about £130 million, according to reports by The Athletic and The Telegraph, among other outlets.
The Athletic reported that Isak will undergo a medical on Monday before completing a six-year deal with the Merseyside club.
The fee will set a new Premier League transfer record, exceeding the £106 million that Chelsea paid Benfica for Enzo Fernandez in 2023, the reports said.
Isak, 25, scored 23 goals in the Premier League last season – behind only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah – as Newcastle qualified for the Champions League.
Charlie Woods hits hole-in-one
Charlie Woods, the 16-year-old son of golf star Tiger Woods, fired a hole-in-one at the par-three third hole at TPC Sawgrass on Sunday in the Junior Players Championship.
Woods made his ace at the 177-yard hole in the final round at the Stadium Course, where his famed father won the PGA Tour Players Championship in 2001 and 2013.
Woods, playing the American Junior Golf Association event for the first time, paused after watching the ball, unsure it had gone in the hole until seeing greenside spectators celebrate.
“Oh my God. I got it,” Woods said. “Wow.”
Zampa helps Invincibles win Hundred
Adam Zampa’s marathon 21,000 mile (34,000 kilometre) round trip from Australia just to bowl 20 balls paid dividends as the Oval Invincibles won their third successive final in English cricket’s Hundred with a 26-run victory over the Trent Rockets at Lord’s on Sunday.
Zampa’s near 30-hour journey came about after the 33-year-old, who’s been on international duty with Australia, was summoned as a replacement for fellow leg-spinner Rashid Khan, called up to play for Afghanistan.
Zampa, who had starred in the Invincibles’ previous two title-winning campaigns, took a miserly 1-21 from his maximum 20 balls on Sunday, with the veteran having Rockets dangerman David Willey stumped for 14.
Vingegaard makes Vuelta move
Jonas Vingegaard claimed stage nine victory in the Vuelta a Espana on Sunday with a strong finish which helped him eat away at Torstein Traen’s general classification lead.
The Danish star, favourite to win the Grand Tour, also earned nearly half-a-minute on his likely closest contender Team UAE’s Joao Almeida.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard had said he and his team were saving their legs for the second and third weeks, but took two minutes out of Traen and trails by just 37 seconds overall.
Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard went solo with 10 kilometres remaining following a break-away, chased by Almeida and Briton Tom Pidcock.
Traen crossed the line under two minutes behind Vingegaard and retains the red jersey. Almeida is third overall, one minute 15 behind Traen, while Pidcock is fourth after one of his best climbing performances.
