Tennis

Davis Cup 2023 results: Great Britain beat Switzerland 2-1 to strengthen hopes of Final Eight spot..By Jonathan Jurejko, BBC Sport at Manchester Arena.

Great Britain strengthened their bid to reach the Davis Cup Finals knockout stage as Dan Evans and Neal Skupski secured a tight win over Switzerland.

Evans and Skupski won 6-3 6-3 against Swiss pair Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Stricker in the deciding doubles.

In a best-of-three tie, Andy Murray won in the singles - later revealing he was missing his gran's funeral - before Wawrinka beat Cameron Norrie to level.

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Britain, who play France in their final tie, can clinch progress this weekend.

After also beating Australia in their opening Group B tie on Wednesday, Britain will qualify by beating the French on Sunday and claiming three wins from their three ties.

But Britain could progress before that if the Swiss, who are now eliminated, beat Australia on Saturday.

Asked how far Britain can go, captain Leon Smith said: "Honestly, I think we've only got to get ready for Sunday, it's a massive match.

"[Qualification] will go down to the wire, we need a full house and a lot of noise."

Four nations - Britain, Australia, France and Switzerland - are playing in the group-stage event held at Manchester's AO Arena.

They all play each other once in a round-robin format, with the top two countries going through to the knockout stage - known as the 'Final Eight' - in Malaga in November.

Britain are top of the table with each nation having played twice, having earned their second win of the week against Switzerland on Friday.

Former world number one Murray, 36, fought back to beat Swiss debutant Leandro Riedi 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 6-4 on a difficult day where he became emotional on court when dedicating his win to his gran Ellen.

Murray's win meant Norrie had the chance to seal victory, but the British number one lost 7-5 6-4 to three-time major champion Wawrinka.

However, Evans and Wimbledon champion Skupski played superbly to win the doubles and spark jubilant celebrations in front of an ecstatic home crowd.

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"We're using the whole squad and that's really important - everyone has played their part," Smith added.

"We knew it would be tough today. Andy did a fantastic job in our first match, Stan played incredible against Cam, and I hoped for a quick doubles - that's what we got."


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Davis Cup 2023 results: Great Britain beat France after dramatic doubles decider in Manchester..By Jonathan Jurejko, BBC Sport at Manchester Arena.

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WOW, Great Britain reached the Davis Cup Finals last eight in remarkable fashion as Dan Evans and Neal Skupski saved four match points before winning a nerve-wracking decider against France.

In front of a partisan British crowd in Manchester, Evans and Skupski beat Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (8-6).

Evans won from a set and a break down in the singles but Cameron Norrie lost.

Evans and Skupski, roared on by the home fans, recovered to seal victory.

"It was bonkers. I don't know what we've all sat through for nine hours," British captain Leon Smith said.

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Great Britain will now go on to the knockout phase of the men's team competition - known as the Final Eight - in Spanish city Malaga in November.

Four nations - Britain, Australia, France and Switzerland - played in the round-robin event at Manchester's AO Arena, with the top two countries going through.

Britain, who last won the Davis Cup in 2015, finished as Group B winners and will play Serbia or Italy when the draw is made on Tuesday.

Australia progressed as runners-up, with defending champions Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland and the Netherlands completing the line-up.

But notable absences will be hosts Spain, who failed to make it out of Group C, and 32-time champions the United States, who were stunned by Finland in their final Group D tie.

Davis Cup Finals 2023: Great Britain will take on Novak Djokovic’s Serbia in quarter-finals..By Russell Fuller, BBC tennis correspondent.

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Great Britain have been drawn to play Novak Djokovic's Serbia in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup in Malaga.

The knockout stage of the competition, which GB last won in 2015, will be played between 21st and 26th November.

Dan Evans and Neal Skupski had to save four match points to beat France in a decisive doubles match in Manchester on Sunday to qualify for the last eight.

Djokovic, who won with Serbia in 2010, says the competition is his top priority for the rest of the season.

But the ties will be the best-of-three matches, and Serbia do not have any other singles players in the top 30.

"We've topped this group so we expect to get a kinder draw in the quarter-finals but it's not panned out that way," Great Britain captain Leon Smith told BBC Sport.

"But you know what, we deserve to be there - and we've got a chance against anyone. It doesn't matter if Novak plays for Serbia, or anything else. You've got to win two [singles] rubbers and a doubles and that's what we've proved to be good at."

The winners will play either Italy or the Netherlands in the semi-finals, with Italy able to call on world number seven Jannik Sinner and top-20 player Lorenzo Musetti.

Hosts Spain will be absent from the Final Eight after failing to make it out of Group C, while 32-time champions the United States also miss out after losing to Finland in their final Group D tie.

In the top half of the draw, Canada will continue their title defence against the Finns, who are making their debut in the quarter-finals, while last year's runners-up Australia will play the Czech Republic.

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Emma Raducanu: Former British number one to return next season after injury problems..

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Emma Raducanu's last match was a 6-2 6-1 defeat by Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart in April

Britain's Emma Raducanu says she will make her return to tennis next season after struggling with injuries.

The former world number 10 has missed three of the four Grand Slams this season after undergoing surgery on her ankle and both wrists in May.

On Monday Raducanu dropped outside of the world's top 200 and she will not return to tennis before the season-ending WTA Finals in November.

"Next season I'll be back," the 20-year-old told BBC London.

"This season all the slams were finished so it was difficult to watch them go by but I was trying to stay in my lane as much as possible and keep focused on my recovery."

Raducanu has been hampered by a series of injuries since her stunning US Open title win in 2021.

The former British number one has not gone beyond the second round of any Grand Slam since becoming the first British woman in 44 years to win a major singles title.

Asked about how she deals with criticism, Raducanu said: "The fact they are still talking about me even though I'm not at these events is just a compliment. Someone told me 'worry when they are not talking about you'."

Raducanu returned to the practice court in August for the first time since undergoing surgery and, despite playing just 10 matches in 2023, she is hoping to return to better form and fulfil her Wimbledon dreams.

"Wimbledon is the dream and always has been growing up. It's still the ultimate dream to win Wimbledon," she said.

Chengdu Open: Dan Evans loses to Roman Safiullin in straight sets..

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Dan Evans and Neal Skupski came from behind to secure Great Britain's place in the Davis Cup knockout phase

British number two Dan Evans suffered a straight-set defeat in his opening match at the Chengdu Open in China.

Less than a week after helping Great Britain secure a place in the Davis Cup Finals last eight, Evans lost 6-3 6-3 to Russian Roman Safiullin.

Evans, 33, and team-mate Neal Skupski saved four match points to edge a nerve-wracking decider against France in Manchester on Sunday.

But, having received a first round bye, the fourth seed could not progress.

Ranked 27th in the world, Evans' tournament was ended in 83 minutes by the 55th-ranked Safiullin, who will meet Australian Jordan Thompson in the quarter-finals.

Evans lost serve twice in both sets and was unable to recover after going 4-1 behind in the first and 3-1 in the second - Safiullin clinching victory with a final break, taking his second match point.


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Emma Raducanu tells girls they don't need men to succeed as she reads revised fairy tales which write out Prince Charming in new HSBC ad..

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Emma Raducanu has told girls they don't need men to succeed in an advert that sees her read aloud revised fairy tales that do away with Prince Charming.

The tennis star, 20, read from Fairer Tales by Emma Dodd in a nine-minute-long advert for HSBC's financial education programme.

Dodd's stories revisit Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel with a fresh take, in which Prince Charming is written out as a main character.

In the reimagined tales, Cinderella is a successful businesswoman who designs her own sports shoe, Rapunzel becomes a property mogul by renting out her tower and Sleeping Beauty becomes rich from interest earned during her 100-year-long sleep.

Emma - who is the sixth-highest earning tennis player in the world, in part thanks to numerous sponsorships and advertising deals - praised the women for succeeding without the help of a prince.

She said: 'Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel are all successful young women.

'They have used their brains, imagination and good sense to earn enough money to look after themselves without a Prince Charming in sight.

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Emma Raducanu of GB celebrates with the trophy US Open Championships 2021

In Fairer Tales, Sleeping Beauty takes a more realistic 21st-century approach to men after she eventually wakes up from her sleep to the sound of Prince Charming ringing her doorbell.

Readers are denied the traditional 'happy ever after' fairytale ending when she refuses to kiss him - let alone marry him.

Beauty tells the prince: 'I don’t need a kiss because all your noisy ringing has already woken me up. And I’m certainly not going to marry you, we’ve only just met!'

While in the original version Charming manages to track Cinderella down through her glass slipper, in the new version the heroine gains fortune through her own agency in setting up a shoe business.

Her fairy godmother tells her: 'You shall go to the ball but you don't need to marry a prince to get away from all this.

'You have everything you need for success and happiness right inside of you.'

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She has also teamed up with Porsche to become one of the stylish car's ambassadors

Meanwhile Rapunzel, far from being passively rescued, escapes her tower using her hair and rents it out to others, building up financial security.

Raducanu said: 'Rapunzel is now a free woman, who earns lots of money and is able to live well. She even has some spare money, which she can use to buy a share in Cinderella’s new and exciting sports shoe business.'

The tennis ace won the US Open in 2021 in only the second major tournament of her career when she was just 18 years old.

However, the former British No1 has been dogged by injury since her record-breaking victory.

She was forced to miss out on the recent US Open, French Open and Wimbledon after undergoing operations on her wrists and ankle.

Raducanu fell out of the world's top 100 this week but insisted that she will make her return next season.

She is currently ranked at number 214 but is the sixth-highest earning tennis player with annual takings of around £12.2million, in part thanks to sponsorships including those with HSBC.

She has also worked with the likes of Dior, Tiffany, British Airways and Vodaphone.

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Emma Raducanu has revealed she will be sidelined for the remainder of the year

Traditional fairytales have been given a revisionist spin in recent years and have been criticised for the lack of independence attributed to the female heroines.

Rachel Zegler, who is playing Snow White in the upcoming film, admitted she 'hated' the original movie and described the prince as a 'stalker' and the storyline as 'weird' in a resurfaced clip.

She promised that her version of Snow White is 'not going to be saved by the prince' and said 'she's not going to be dreaming about true love'.

But the 22-year-old star was met with furious backlash online from fans, including one TikToker called Angie who said: 'Criticising Disney Princesses is not feminist.

'Not every woman is a leader, not every woman wants to be a leader, not every woman wants or craves power, and that's OK.'

Zhuhai Championships: Britain's Cameron Norrie loses in quarter-finals to Aslan Karatsev..

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Great Britain progressed in the Davis Cup despite Cameron Norrie losing both his singles matches in Manchester

British number one Cameron Norrie was beaten in straight sets by Russia's Aslan Karatsev in the Zhuhai Championships quarter-finals.

World number 17 Norrie, 28, who was the second seed in China, lost 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) to the world number 63.

Karatsev, 30, who knocked out Andy Murray in the last 16, edged another hard-fought contest on Sunday.

He will face either Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff or Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka in the semi-finals.

After losing the first set, Norrie backed up a break of serve to go 3-1 up in the second and then served for the set at 5-4.

But Karatsev broke back before again edging out Norrie in a tie-break.

Russian top seed Karen Khachanov takes on American Sebastian Korda in the second semi-final.

Norrie was playing in his first singles tournament since reaching the US Open's round of 32 and was part of the team that helped Britain reach the final eight of the Davis Cup last week.

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Zhuhai Championships: Jamie Murray and Michael Venus win men's doubles..

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Murray and Venus will next play in qualifiers for the Nitto ATP Finals in Italy

Britain's Jamie Murray and New Zealander Michael Venus won their fourth men's doubles title of the season at the Zhuhai Championships.

The second seeds beat United States pair Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 6-4 6-4 in China.

It was their fourth title in 2023, following victories in Dallas, in the Bosnian city of Banja Luka at the Srpska Open, and in Geneva.

Victory in China means the pair move to ninth in the ATP doubles team rankings.

In a strong doubles display, Murray and Venus saved all 13 break points they faced against the Americans and dropped just one set.

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Elsewhere in China on Tuesday, British number two Jodie Burrage was knocked out of the Ningbo Open as she lost 6-2 7-6 (7-1) to Tamara Korpatsch of Germany in the last 32.

At the Japan Open, fellow Briton Harriet Dart was defeated by seventh seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 7-6 (7-4).