Hugh Watches Sports: 12th-18th October 2026

Welcome to this week’s edition of Hugh Watches Sports. In this post we will look back on two big tennis tournament’s in Asia, a huge Women’s World Cup qualifier, the final NFL London game of the year, plus a match from the top division of Italian football. Let’s get into it.

WTA WUHAN (TENNIS)

The final WTA1000 event of the season took place this week in Wuhan. Coming into the tournament the main news was sadly withdrawals as defending champion Coco Gauff, world number one Elena Rybakina and recently-crowned Beijing winner Qinwen Zheng chose to miss the event. However there was still a stellar field in Wuhan which included three-time former champion Aryna Sabalenka. As we approach the final few weeks of the regular season on the WTA Tour, this tournament offered players a valuable chance to earn crucial points in the race to qualify for the season-ending WTA Finals. At the start of the week, six of the eight spots were already filled but there is an ongoing intense battle for the remaining two. As the tournament began, the top eight seed’s all received bye’s in round one, however there were still plenty of big names in action. One of those was Elise Mertens who made the semi finals in Beijing last week but she made an immediate exit in Wuhan as she was beaten 6-4 7-5 by Daria Snigur. Elsewhere in the opening round the headlines were being created by the Chinese players on home soil. Wildcard entry Hanyu Guo shocked twelfth seed Sorana Cirstea in three sets, whilst qualifier Han Shi took out thirteenth seed Alexandra Eala. Furthermore, in an all-Chinese battle, Xiyu Wang defeated Xinyu Wang 6-2 6-0. Moving into round two, the big story was the exit of the top two seed’s. First, second seed Jessica Pegula lost 2-6 7-6 6-3 to Jelena Ostapenko after having had three match points during the second set. Then, top seed Sabalenka looked comfortable whilst up a set and a break but was eventually beaten 3-6 6-4 7-6 by Ann Li. There was a further upset when eighth seed Marta Kostyuk, who is still in contention to qualify for the WTA Finals, went down in three sets to Maria Sakkari. Speaking of the WTA Finals, Elina Svitolina’s 6-2 5-7 6-2 win over Liudmila Samsonova saw her clinch qualification to the showpiece event for the fourth time in her career.As for the Chinese trio in the second round draw, Guo progressed into round three with a 6-4 4-6 7-6 triumph over Katie Volynets, although there were defeat’s for Shi and Wang. At the last sixteen stage of the tournament, fifth seed Svitolina ended the involvement of any home player’s in the singles by seeing off Guo in straight sets. Elsewhere in round three, Diana Schnaider edged past sixth seed Karolina Muchova in two tight sets, meanwhile Maja Chwalinska recorded a 6-4 6-1 win over tenth seed Iva Jovic. Moving into the quarter finals, seventh seed Iga Swiatek beat Li 6-4 6-1 to book her spot in the last four. That set up an all-Polish semi final as Chwalinska edged past Sakkari in three sets to progress into her maiden semi final at WTA1000 level. Similarly, Sonay Kartal also reached her first semi final at an WTA1000 with a 6-2 2-6 6-4 triumph over Svitolina in the last eight. In Wuhan’s other quarter final, Ostapenko defeated eleventh seed Schnaider 7-6 6-1 to progress. On Saturday it was time for the two semi finals to be played with Kartal and Ostapenko first on the order of play. After a thrilling opening set in which she came from a break down twice and saved two set point’s, Kartal emerged victorious on a tie-break. The second set then followed a similar pattern as Ostapenko went up an early break before Kartal fought back and forced a tie-break. Ultimately, two tie-break victories saw Kartal move into the biggest final of her career with a 7-6 7-6 triumph. Next on court was the all-Polish semi final as Swiatek faced Chwalinska. Having edged a tight first set 7-5, Chwalinska ran away with the second to clinch a 7-5 6-1 win and progress into her first WTA1000 final. As the final commenced in Wuhan, Kartal took the first set 6-2 before Chwalinska claimed the second 6-4 to level the score. That took us into a decisive third set in which Chwalinska went from strength to strength as she recorded a 2-6 6-4 6-2 victory to seal the biggest title of her career. It was a huge achievement for the Polish player who was a surprise Roland Garros finalist earlier this year and now she became a WTA1000 champion. This success means Chwalinska will reach a new career high ranking and make her debut inside the world’s top twenty when the rankings are next released. Looking ahead, there are two WTA250 tournament’s coming up next week in Ningbo and Tokyo as the WTA’s Asian Swing continues.

ENGLAND WOMEN VS GREECE WOMEN (FOOTBALL)

On Tuesday evening, the Lionesses attempted to move one step closer to qualifying for next summer’s World Cup as they took on Greece. Following a 3-1 victory away from home in the first leg last Friday, England were in a strong position coming into this encounter. Although they had to be wary of the threat of Greece who scored an excellent late goal on Friday to keep themselves competitive in the tie. When the team news was announced, the big story was the inclusion of Lexi Potter who was handed her England debut after an impressive start to the season at club level with Chelsea. As the game kicked off at Leicester’s King Power Stadium, England made the perfect start when Lauren James’ excellent through ball set away Alessia Russo who calmly slotted the ball past Greece goalkeeper Styliani Katergiannaki to open the scoring. It was excellent play from two of the Lionesses’ stand-out players as James and Russo combined to increase their aggregate advantage to 4-1. Moments later, Greece reminded England of their threat when Ioanna Papatheodorou’s shot from the edge of the penalty area forced Hannah Hampton into making a smart save at her near post. It was a lovely start to the game and that continued on sixteen minutes when Maya Le Tissier’s pass was deflected right into the path of James who smashed the ball past Katergiannaki and into the top corner to double England’s lead. Just like after the host’s first goal, Greece provided a swift response once again with an attack down the right hand side from which a cross was initially cleared by Georgia Stanway but only as far as Eleni Saich whose shot was well-saved by Hampton. In the thirtieth minute, England established even greater authority in the tie as Lauren Hemp’s darting run into the penalty area ended with her clipping the ball across for Stanway to head into the net and score their third. Furthermore, this time the Lionesses gave Greece no chance to provide a response as they quickly scored a fourth five minutes later. That came courtesy of James’ second goal of the evening as she superbly guided the ball from Hemp’s cross into the back of the net on the half-volley. That out England 4-0 up in the encounter and 7-1 ahead on aggregate, meaning they were already comfortably heading into the next round of World Cup qualifying with over fifty minutes still to go. Things almost got even better for the hosts as Leah Williamson flicked the ball towards goal from a corner but her attempt was well-stopped by Katergiannaki. In stoppage time at the end of the first half, Potter put the ball in the net on her debut but unfortunately the goal was ruled out for a foul by Stanway in the build-up. Despite that minor disappointment, the Lionesses went into half time 4-0 up and having taken firm control of the match. After the interval, they bought they’d further increased their lead when Stanway excellently controlled Alex Greenwood’s forward pass before striking the ball beyond Katergiannaki but the goal was disallowed after a VAR check due to Stanway being offside. Midway through the second half, manager Sarina Wiegman handed out another England debut as Freya Godrey came onto the pitch to join the attack. With the Lionesses cruising towards victory and Greece seemingly reigned to defeat, the game felt relatively flat throughout the second half. However, it got an injection of energy in the seventy-fifth minute as Keira Walsh’s well-placed pass put Russo in behind Greece’s defence and she showed great composure to round the goalkeeper before converting her second goal of the night. In the closing stages of the encounter, Godfrey went close to marking her debut with a goal when she found herself one-on-one with Katergiannaki on the left hand side of the penalty area but the Greek goalkeeper made a great save to deny her a first England goal. Ultimately though, as the final whistle blew in Leicester, a comprehensive 5-0 win saw England secure their place in the next round of World Cup qualifying. They progressed past Greece 8-1 on aggregate to set up a two-legged tie with Ukraine. Those two matches will be played in December and the winner of that tie will clinch a spot at next summer’s World Cup.

HOUSTON TEXANS @ JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (AMERICAN FOOTBALL)

After winning a dramatic game with a walk-off field goal last weekend, the Jacksonville Jaguars trip to London continued with a divisional match-up against the Houston Texans on Sunday. This marked the last of this season’s three NFL London games and the only one to be held at Wembley Stadium. The Jaguars came into this encounter against their rivals with a 4-1 record so far this season and on a three-game winning streak. In contrast, the Texans have had an underwhelming start to their campaign, beginning with four straight losses. However, they did record a convincing 26-3 victory over the Tennessee Titans last Sunday which they hope will kickstart their season. As mentioned, this is a divisional match-up with both of these teams in the AFC South so that offers extra incentive for the players to find a way to win in London. In the opening quarter of the game, both teams began timidly on offense before a sensational long pass from Texans quarterback CJ Stroud to Nico Collins sparked the game into life. That saw the Texans progress into the red zone and from there Stroud connected with tight end Foster Moreau to score the game’s first touchdown. The extra point was then added by Ka’imi Fairbairn to put the Texans 7-0 up. Moving into the second quarter, the Jaguars worked their way down the field but then saw a touchdown harshly ruled out for a holding penalty, before two down’s later, Trevor Lawrence’s throw into the end zone was intercepted by Calen Bullock to give the ball back to the Texans. However, the Jaguars were able to open their account on their next possession with some neat footwork from Bhayshul Tuten saw him dart through the Texans defense and into the end zone. That, coupled with a successful extra point attempt from Cam Little, drew the score level at Wembley. Next, the Texans quickly got themselves back in front courtesy of a field goal from Fairbairn. As we reached the two minute warning at the end of the first half, the Texans were three points ahead but the Jaguars had the ball. With just under a minute of the half remaining, Lawrence found Tuten with a short pass to put the Jaguars into the lead for the first time in the afternoon. When Little then scored the extra point, they went 14-10 ahead. Although their lead didn’t last long as a swift response from Stroud’s Texans offense saw his pass caught by Moreau for his second touchdown of the game. With just eight seconds left on the clock, Fairbairn kicked the extra point to seal a 17-14 half time advantage for the Texans. Early on in the second half, the Texans extended their lead when Stroud’s thirteen yard pass was caught in the end zone by Jaylin Noel. Once again, Fairbairn was reliable with the extra point to push the Texans ten points ahead of their rivals. It took a while but there was a response from the Jaguars as Nate Boerkircher pulled off a magnificent one-handed catch to score his first touchdown of the day. The extra point from little saw them briefly reduce their deficit to just three points, however it was very brief. On the next possession, Stroud’s fine form with his arm continued as he led his offense down the field before laying the ball off for running back Jawhar Jordan to rush into the end zone from twenty-five yards. That touchdown, plus Fairbairn’s extra point saw the Texans restore their ten point lead at the conclusion of the third quarter. At the start of the pivotal fourth quarter, Lawrence connected with receiver Travis Hunter to score a touchdown which, after Little converted the extra point, saw the Jaguars move back within three points of the Texans. With no more points scored before the two minute warning, we were set for another tense ending to an NFL game in London. As play resumed for the final moments, Little stepped up to send a fifty yard field goal through the uprights and level the score at 31-31. That handed the ball to the Texans with over a minute on the clock to potentially win the game. As the Texans offense gained yards as well as running down the clock, it set up a forty-nine yard field goal attempt for Fairbairn to clinch victory. Under immense pressure, Fairbairn sent his field goal attempt through the uprights to seal a big divisional win for the Texans. It was a thrilling end to another sensational London game as the Texans recorded a 34-31 triumph against the Jaguars. After winning with a walk-off field goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend, the Jaguars lost courtesy of one this weekend at Wembley as the 2026 NFL London games concluded. Elsewhere in week six, the Tennessee Titans finally recorded their first win of the season by beating the Indianapolis Colts 26-20. Meanwhile the Cleveland Browns went top of the AFC North by seeing off divisional rivals the Baltimore Ravens.

ATP SHANGHAI (TENNIS)

This week saw the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 of the year conclude as the world’s top male players competed in Shanghai. Twelve months ago, Valentin Vacherot was the shock winner of this tournament after a remarkable run to the title which started in qualifying. As the event got underway, Vacherot was one of the thirty-two seed’s who received a bye in round one. In the opening round there was delight for the home fans as Chinese trio Yunchaokete Bu, Yi Zhou and Yibing Wu all recorded victories. Elsewhere in round one, Hubert Hurkacz returned to Shanghai for the first time since winning the tournament in 2023 and he opened his 2026 campaign with a 6-3 7-6 triumph over James Duckworth. Meanwhile former semi-finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas saw off Kimmer Coppejans in straight sets to progress into round two. The top seed’s entered the draw at the second round stage led by Alexander Zverev who kicked off his tournament with a 6-4 7-6 victory against Wu. Similarly, second seed Carlos Alcaraz started his campaign with a straight sets win over Juan Manuel Cerundolo. Elsewhere, just two days after their final in Beijing, Novak Djokovic and Alex De Minaur were scheduled to be on court in Shanghai. The draw was brutal for Djokovic as he made an immediate exit after a 6-4 6-3 loss against Hurkacz. In contrast, De Minaur got lucky as his round two opponent Alex Molcan withdrew from the tournament with an injury, allowing the Australian two extra day’s of rest. In terms of the Chinese players on home soil, there was mixed fortunes in round two as Bu joined Wu in exiting the tournament as he went down in two sets against Casper Ruud. However, Zhou recorded the best win of his career by ranking to see off Lorenzo Musetti 7-6 3-6 7-6 in an epic encounter. Moving into round three, Zizou Bergs picked up the biggest win of his career as he defeated Alcaraz in two tight sets. That result was consequential for the world rankings as Alcaraz losing, coupled with Jannik Sinner’s decision to not play again this season, confirmed that Zverev will be the year end world number one. Whilst the German has not yet officially taken top spot in the world rankings, he is certain to across the coming weeks as Sinner’s points from last year fall off. In Shanghai, Zverev saw off Quentin Halys in three sets to progress into round four. Elsewhere in the third round, Vacherot’s title defence was ended by Tommy Paul as the American recorded a 6-4 6-2 win. There was a surprise result for third seed Ben Shelton as he went down in straight sets to Arthur Gea, marking the first top ten win of the Frenchman’s career. Meanwhile, in a battle between the last remaining home player and a former champion, Hurkacz beat Zhou 6-2 3-6 6-3. At the last sixteen stage of the tournament, Zverev came through a tough battle with Alexander Bublik to win 7-6 4-6 7-6. Meanwhile, in a rematch of the recent Chengdu final, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina overcame Hurkacz 1-6 6-3 7-6 to reach the quarter finals of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the fourth time in his career. In the quarter finals in Shanghai, Zverev saw off De Minaur in straight sets. Unfortunately the second quarter final ended in a retirement as Gea stopped due to injury after five games of his match against Davidovich Fokina. Meanwhile, in the bottom half of the draw, twelfth seed Rafael Jodar got past Ruud in three sets. Then, fifth seed Daniil Medvedev defeated Paul 6-3 1-6 6-3 to progress into the last four. On Saturday in Shanghai, the semi finals took centre stage. First up, Zverev faced Davidovich Fokina. After the pair split the first two sets, Davidovich Fokina went up an early break in the third on route to defeating Zverev 5-7 6-4 6-3. That saw Davidovich Fokina move into the second ATP Masters 1000 final of his career. Later in the day, Jodar took on Medvedev for a place in the final. With a commanding performance, Jodar picked up a 6-3 6-4 victory to reach his maiden ATP Masters 1000 final. That confirmed that for the first time in the tournament’s history, we were guaranteed to have a Spanish champion in Shanghai. On Sunday, Jodar made a fast start to the final by winning the first set 6-1 in just twenty-seven minutes. The youngster then went up an early break in the second set, before Davidovich Fokina fought back to level the set and we eventually required a tie-break. With Jodar showing signs of nerves, Davidovich Fokina won the second set 7-6 to force a decider. One break in the third set proved to be enough for Davidovich Fokina as he clinched the biggest title of his career with a 1-6 7-6 6-4 triumph over his compatriot Jodar. This success marked the third title of Davidovich Fokina’s career and his first at ATP Masters 1000 level. Furthermore, he will reach a new career high ranking of thirteen when the rankings are next released. Looking ahead, the ATP Tour returns to Europe with three ATP250 event’s next week in the build-up to the final ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the year which begins in Paris on 2nd November.

JUVENTUS VS LAZIO (FOOTBALL)

Action from Serie A rounded out the weekend as Juventus took on Lazio. So far this season Lazio have been the surprise package of the Italian top division with five wins in their opening six games. Following a disappointing last campaign and a summer of change in both the coaching staff and playing squad, they’ve exceeded many people’s expectations with their positive start to the season. On Sunday evening Lazio faced their biggest test of the season to this point when they travelled to play Juventus. The ‘Old Lady’ came into this encounter eighth in the league table, trailing their visitors by five points. Although they did pick up a morale-boosting last-gasp 2-1 victory over Celta Vigo on Thursday. After a cagey opening twenty minutes, Juventus thought they’d taken the lead when Randal Kolo Muani volleyed the ball into the net from close range but the linesman’s flag was raised and the goal was disallowed for offside. As the game continued to be tense and mostly fought in the midfield, there were few chances for either team to score. However that changed in the thirty-seventh minute as Mattia Zaccagni worked some space for himself on the left and clipped in a wonderful cross which was headed into the bottom corner of the net by Oliver Provstgaard to give Lazio the lead. It was an excellent guided header which left Juventus goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario with no chance of making a save as the ball sailed past him. That marked Provstgaard’s first goal as a Lazio player and it was a significant one as it put them in front in Turin. Just before half time, the visitors went very close to increasing their lead when Nuno Tavares shot from the edge of the penalty area deflected off Gleison Bremer’s leg and looped over the top of Vicario before clipping the crossbar on its way out for a Lazio corner. As referee Davide Massa blew his whistle to signal half time in Turin, Lazio took a one-goal advantage into the second half. After the break, Juventus came out determined to find an equaliser with Jhon Lucumi’s low driven strike drifting just wide of Christos Mandas’s far post. Then, Kolo Muani carried the ball towards goal from the left wing before laying it off to set up Nick Woltemade but the German couldn’t hit the target with his first-time effort and it went wide of the goal. Whilst Juventus began the second half on the front foot, they were undone defensively in the sixty-sixth minute as Gustav Isaksen cut inside of Zeki Celik to create some space for himself on the right hand side of the penalty area and then buried a terrific finish into the far bottom corner of Vicario’s net. It was a brilliant goal from Isaksen as he doubled Lazio’s lead in front of a stunned Allianz Stadium crowd. After the goal, Juventus continued to search for a way back into the game but Lazio were well-organised defensively. The closest Juventus came to getting on the scoresheet was in the eighty-second minute when Woltemade’s cross was headed over the crossbar by Kolo Muani from six-yards out. In the closing moments of the encounter, Lazio added an extra layer of gloss to the scoreline when Fisayo Dele-Bashiru carried the ball forward on the counter-attack all the way into Juventus’ penalty area where he then drilled a superb finish past Vicario to score Lazio’s third goal. That completed a phenomenal away performance and victory for Gennaro Gattuso’s side as they came to Turin and beat Juventus 3-0. Their sixth win of the season see’s Lazio go second in the Serie A table, level on points with league leaders Inter. As for Juventus, they remain in eighth and are already eight points behind Inter and Lazio in mid-October.

Hugh Watches Sports: 5th-11th October 2026

Welcome to this week’s Hugh Watches Sports post. In this edition we will reflect on the conclusion of football’s international break, a huge tennis tournament, a big Prem rugby clash, the latest Formula 1 race, plus the second NFL London game of the season. Let’s get into it.

ENGLAND VS CZECHIA (FOOTBALL)

On Tuesday evening, the extended international break came to an end for England with a match against Czechia. This was the fourth round of matches in the UEFA Nations League, all played during this international window. These two teams were in Group C, alongside Spain and Croatia. So far, England had two wins to their name and one defeat. Having began their campaign with a tight 3-2 loss against Spain, they beat Czechia 2-0 last Tuesday and then thumped Croatia 7-0 on Saturday afternoon. As for Czechia, they were yet to register a point in the group after three straight defeats. Therefore, England were the favourites coming into this encounter and it was a particularly special one for their captain Harry Kane. When the team news was announced, it was confirmed that Kane would make his 125th cap which draws him level with Peter Shilton as England’s all-time most capped player. As the match got underway at Wembley, England had the better of the early exchanges but had to wait until twenty-four minutes for their first clear-cut opportunity to score. That came when a superb pass across the pitch from Jude Bellingham was met by Morgan Rogers who sent in an excellent first-time cross which Kane was close to connecting with but the ball narrowly evaded the England captain. Three minutes later though, the home side went ahead as Trent Alexander-Arnold carried the ball forward and laid it off to Kane on the left wing whose cross was turned into his own net by Czechia defender Vladimir Coufal. It was a great move from England but a disastrous moment for Coufal as his attempted clearance flew past his own goalkeeper and handed England a one-goal advantage. That set the tone for the remainder of the first half as the hosts were dominant in their pursuit of a second goal. In the fortieth minute, a stunning attacking move saw Elliot Anderson’s pass superbly touched by Rogers straight into the path of Kane who provided a trademark finish to score his ninetieth goal for his country. It was a fine goal and it put England firmly in control of the encounter as we reached half time at Wembley. In the second half, Kane went close to scoring his second goal shortly after the break when his shot from outside the penalty area beat the goalkeeper but clipped the top of the crossbar. Inevitably though, Kane did find the back of the net four minutes later as he rose highest at the back post to head Lewis Hall’s corner past Lukas Hornicek for England’s third goal. That marked his ninety-first goal for his country which is an incredibly impressive record for a man making his 125th appearance. With an array of substitutions made and the result as good as decided, the remainder of the match was fairly non-eventful as England cruised towards victory. The closest Czechia came to troubling England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was in the seventy-ninth minute when Roman Macek’s drilled strike from outside the penalty area flew just wide of the near post. Ultimately though, the night belonged to England as they clinched a 3-0 victory and captain Kane picked up two goals on a historic night for him. In the other game in the group which was played at the same time, Spain beat Croatia 2-1 to continue their perfect start to the competition. That means that after four games, Spain top Group C in the Nations League with England three points behind in second, Croatia in third and Czechia bottom. The two remaining rounds of fixtures in the group will be played during the next international break which takes place in the middle of November.

CHINA OPEN (TENNIS)

One of Asia’s biggest tennis tournament concluded this week as the final rounds of the China Open were played out in Beijing. For the women this marked the start of back-to-back WTA1000 event’s, ahead of another in Wuhan next week. Meanwhile, for the male players, Beijing played host to an ATP500 tournament which will be followed by the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 event of the year in Shanghai. In round one of the WTA tournament, the top thirty-two seed’s all received a bye, however there were still some big names in action. Among those was Qinwen Zheng who saw off qualifier Han Shi in three sets. Meanwhile, two former top ten players went head-to-head as Paula Badosa beat Daria Kasatkina 4-6 7-6 6-4. In round two, Elena Rybakina played her first match since becoming world number one although it ended in a shock defeat as she lost 3-6 6-4 6-3 to world number 118 Alina Charaeva. In contrast to the top seed, world number two Aryna Sabalenka opened her campaign with a comfortable 6-1 6-3 triumph over Renata Zarazua. Elsewhere, there were also second round wins for third seed Coco Gauff and fourth seed Mirra Andreeva. Plus, home crowd favourite Zheng continued her tournament by moving past fifteenth seed Anna Kalinskaya. As we reached the third round in Beijing, there was another big upset as second seed Sabalenka was beaten in straight sets by Nikola Bartunkova. Meanwhile, 2023 champion Iga Swiatek looked to be in danger of going out when she trailed Donna Vekic 6-4 5-2 but the eighth seed produced a magnificent comeback to win 4-6 7-6 6-2. In one of the best matches of round three, Zheng saw off Marie Bouzkova 7-5 in the third set to book her place in round four. The third round also saw Gauff and Andreeva cruise through with respective straight sets victories. Moving into round four, Zheng continued to please the crowd with a 6-1 2-6 6-4 triumph against Charaeva to progress into the last eight. The standout match-up of the fourth round saw eighth seed Swiatek face tenth seed Iva Jovic and it was Swaitek who emerged victorious in straight sets. Elsewhere in round four, Elise Mertens took out third seed Gauff with a 6-3 6-3 win. Plus, fifth seed Linda Noskova was beaten 6-2 6-2 by Ekaterina Alexandrova. Also in the last sixteen, Karolina Muchova got past Naomi Osaka in three close set’s to progress into the quarter finals. In the last eight, Zheng saw off sixth seed Elina Svitolina to reach her fourth WTA1000 semi final. She would face Mertens in the last four after the Belgian put in a stunning performance to defeat Swiatek 7-6 6-3. In the bottom half of the draw, the highest remaining seed in the tournament was Andreeva and she reached the semi finals with a 7-6 7-6 triumph over Alexandrova. The other quarter final was an all-Czech affair as Bartunkova beat Muchova in straight sets. On Saturday in Beijing, it was time for the semi finals. First up on court was Andreeva versus Bartunkova and it was the fourth seed who secured her spot in the final with a 6-2 6-2 win. That saw Andreeva progress into her fourth WTA1000 final and guaranteed she would achieve a new career high ranking of world number three at the conclusion of the tournament. Similarly, Bartunkova’s run to the semi finals means she will also achieve a new career high ranking and make her debut in the world’s top thirty. Later on Saturday, Zheng faced Mertens for a place in the final. After a tight first set, Zheng comfortably won the second to defeat Mertens 7-5 6-2 and progress into the final. For Zheng this marked the second WTA1000 final of her career and her first at home in Beijing. As the final commenced on Sunday, Andreeva made the perfect start by going up an early break however Zheng fought back to level the scoreline. In the tenth game, Zheng was forced to save three set points before she eventually held serve for 5-5. That proved crucial in the outcome of the set as Zheng then won the next two games to take it 7-5 and move one set away from victory. A break late on in set two saw Zheng seize control and presented herself with the opportunity to serve for the title. After an hour and forty-three minutes of battle, Zheng defeated Andreeva 7-5 6-4 to win her first WTA 1000 title. In doing so she became the first ever Chinese woman to win the China Open and picked up her first title since 2024. This marked the sixth title of Zheng’s career and it was her biggest on the WTA Tour, alongside winning a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In the men’s ATP500 event, the headline news was the return of Novak Djokovic as the six-time former champion played in Beijing for the first time since 2015. Incredibly, Djokovic arrived at the China Open having never lost a match at this event, holding a 29-0 win-loss record. In his round one clash, the Serbian took on Nuno Borges and he recorded a 6-3 7-6 victory to win his first match since Wimbledon. Meanwhile at the top of the draw was recently-crowned US Open champion Alexander Zverev and he began his campaign with a straight sets triumph over Cameron Norrie. Elsewhere in round one, there was home success for two Chinese players as Juncheng Shang and Yunchaokete Bu picked up victories. Meanwhile, there were immediate exit’s for the second and fourth seeds. A 6-3 6-3 defeat against Karen Khachanov saw second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime eliminated, meanwhile fourth seed Flavio Cobolli went down in two sets against Roman Safiulin. Moving into round two, Djokovic came from a set down to see off Bu, whilst Zverev thumped Shang 6-0 6-3 to end the involvement of both Chinese players in the singles draw. Another stand-out result from the second round saw Francisco Cerundolo edge past eighth seed Jakub Mensik in straight sets. In the quarter finals, Djokovic faced Zverev in a blockbuster encounter. With an incredible performance the twenty-four time grand slam champion beat top seed Zverev 4-6 6-4 6-4 to maintain his perfect record in Beijing. It was a record-breaking display from Djokovic as he became the first man to ever win his first thirty-two matches at a single tournament, surpassing Nadal’s total of thirty-one at Roland Garros. Elsewhere in the last eight, Daniil Medvedev snuck past Cerundolo in two sets to reach the semi finals in Beijing for the fourth time in a row. Meanwhile, Humbert Hurkacz booked his spot in the semi finals with a 7-6 6-2 triumph over Khachanov. The other place in the last four was taken by fifth seed Alex De Minaur as he came back from a set down to defeat Andrey Rublev 1-6 6-2 6-3. In the semi finals, Hurkacz and De Minaur were scheduled to play first and the first set went the way of the Australian. However, unfortunately Hurkacz retired with an injury early in the second set to hand De Minaur a place in the final. Later on in the day’s evening session, Djokovic and Medvedev went head-to-head for the first time since the 2023 US Open final. The pair played out an epic first set which was won 7-5 by Djokovic after seventy-nine minutes. A break late in the second set presented the six-time champion with a chance to serve for the match but unfortunately he was denied that opportunity two points later when Medvedev was disqualified. After losing a point, Medvedev hit the ball into the crowd and it hit a spectator which resulted in an automatic default, bringing the match to an end and putting Djokovic into the final. The tournament concluded with a battle between Djokovic and De Minaur for the title. Whilst Djokovic was aiming to continue his perfect record in Beijing and clinch a seventh title, De Minaur was trying to win this tournament for the first time and secure his fifth ATP500 title. After a thrilling first set which included Djokovic saving a break point with a sensational backhand passing shot down the line, we headed to a tie-break. In the tie-break, Djokovic played the key points better to win it and claim the opening set 7-6. There was then a thirteen minute break between the first set ending and the second beginning as both players took a medical time-out. The timing of De Minaur’s was lengthy because he went off the court to receive treatment. Following just one game in set two, De Minaur opted to retire from the match which meant Djokovic sealed his seventh China Open triumph. It was an underwhelming end to the final but it should not be understated how incredible of an achievement this title was for thirty-nine year old Djokovic. The Serbian stretched his Beijing win-loss record to 34-0 to win his 102nd ATP title. Furthermore, he became the oldest champion of an ATP Tour level event in history and did it in style with three top ten victories. With Zheng and Djokovic being crowned champions, the 2026 China Open in Beijing was a historic edition of the tournament. Now, the players will quickly move on as the WTA Tour heads to Wuhan, meanwhile the ATP Tour continues in Shanghai.

LEICESTER TIGERS VS GLOUCESTER (RUGBY UNION)

After two rounds of the Gallagher Prem, Gloucester are the surprise league-leaders with back-to-back win’s to kick off their campaign. On Friday night, they looked to continue their perfect record when they travelled to face the Leicester Tigers. Having been playoff semi-finalists last season, the Tigers were narrowly beaten 40-38 by Saracens in their opening fixture before bouncing back with a 24-19 triumph over Newcastle Red Bulls last weekend. They came into this encounter against Gloucester sitting fifth in the league table, four points behind their visitors. Therefore, a win with a bonus point for Leicester could see them go top of the table ahead of the rest of the weekend’s fixtures, although Gloucester would be determined to keep hold of top spot with a victory of their own. In addition to league points, this match took on further importance as Leicester and Gloucester competed for the Slater Cup. The trophy, which is named after Ed Slater who played for both of these teams, is on the line each time these teams meet in the Prem so provides an extra incentive for the players and coaches. As the match kicked off, Gloucester had a close-to-perfect opening ten minutes. It started when Leicester’s Billy Searle was shown a yellow card for foul play inside two minutes. From there, the visitors made the most of having an extra player by scoring two tries to race into a 14-0 lead. The first came courtesy of Jac Morgan powering the ball over the try line, before five minutes later some strong work from a line-out saw Dion Bleuer score. With both of those tries backed up by successful conversions from the boot of Caolan Englefield, the league leaders went fourteen points up. The onus was now on Leicester to come up with a response and once Searle returned to the pitch, they delivered that response in some style. On fourteen minutes, a sustained attack on the right hand side ended with Finn Carnduff opening Leicester’s account for the evening with his first ever try in the Prem. After his brief stint on the sidelines, Searle stepped up to add two extra points and close the hosts’ deficit to seven points. As the half continued, Leicester grew more and more into the game as they began to take over. On twenty-eight minutes, a thirteen phase move concluded with Joe Heyes finding his way through Gloucester’s resolute defence to score. When Searle then sent the following conversion through the posts, Leicester drew level at 14-14 on the scoreboard. However they weren’t content with just that and a line-out deep in Gloucester’s territory resulted in a superb maul from Leicester which saw Jamie Blamire carry the ball over the try line to complete the comeback. From 14-0 down, Searle’s duly scored conversion which followed saw Leicester go 21-14 ahead. That was the score at half time as the hosts completed a stunning turnaround after Gloucester had bossed the first ten minutes. After the interval, Leicester’s run of points continued as Searle scored a penalty to add three more to their total. Then, on fifty minutes, things got even better for the hosts as Aaron Wainwright powered through Gloucester’s determined defensive line to score their fourth try of the encounter. Furthermore, an array of fouls in the sequence of play as Gloucester tried to keep Leicester’s attack at bay resulted in Freddie Thomas being shown a yellow card by the referee. Then, Searle stepped up to score the conversion and extend Leicester’s lead to seventeen points. The home side’s run of consecutive points was finally halted ten minutes later as Gloucester put together a sustained eleven-phase attack which saw Will Trenholm eventually dive himself and the ball beyond the try line. With George Barton then adding the extra two points courtesy of a conversion, Gloucester closed to ten points behind their hosts. By this point, it was a really physical encounter which was absorbing to watch. The next try arrived in the sixty-ninth minute as a sweeping passing move from right-to-left saw the ball arrive into the arms of Ollie Hassell-Collins to run in and increase Leicester’s lead. As with every other Leicester try, Searle’s boot successfully provided an extra two points to put them 38-21 up as we entered the final ten minutes. Late on, a resilient Gloucester side secured a potentially crucial bonus point by scoring their fourth try of the evening. It came courtesy of Jack Innard and was backed up with a conversion from Barton. In the closing moments, Barton also scored a penalty to further reduce the deficit but Leicester held on to their lead to reign victorious. As the full time whistle blew to end a frantic and highly-competitive game of Prem rugby, Leicester retained the Slater Cup with a 38-31 triumph over Gloucester. Despite that defeat, Gloucester’s bonus point means they stay at the top of the league table for now, a point ahead of Leicester.

SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX (FORMULA 1)

As we enter the final seven race’s of the year, championship points are more valuable than ever to both the drivers and constructors. This was particularly true this weekend in Singapore where there were extra points on offer because we had a sprint race as well as the main Grand Prix. Coming into the weekend, Kimi Antonelli held a comfortable championship lead over his teammate George Russell. The Singapore race presented a great chance for the Italian to extend his lead too as Russell would have to start the Grand Prix from the back of the grid due to taking a new engine outside of his permitted allocation. That was the result of an engine failure which forced Russell to retire from last Sunday’s race in Malaysia. As the action got underway in Singapore, Max Verstappen was the dominant driver as he won the sprint race from pole position and then secured pole for the main Grand Prix later on Saturday. On the grid for Sunday’s race, Charles Leclerc joined Verstappen on the front row, with his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton lining-up in third. Behind them was Antonelli in fourth, ahead of an all McLaren third row consisting of Lando Norris in fifth and Oscar Piastri in sixth. As the lights went out on Sunday in Singapore, Verstappen held off Leclerc to keep hold of the lead with Hamilton remaining in third. With overtaking difficult at a tight street track, the order remained the same at the front through the opening phase of the race. On lap nine, Gabriel Bortoleto had to stop his Audi on the start/finish straight due to a gearbox problem which meant a virtual safety car was declared, although that didn’t have any impact on the leaderboard as nobody opted to pit. When racing resumed, Verstappen was still out in front and had pulled away from the Ferrari pairing of Leclerc and Hamilton. On lap nineteen, Hamilton came into the pits to change his tyre’s, much earlier than expected. It appeared Ferrari hoped that would provoke a reaction from their rivals and allow Hamilton to gain position’s by under-cutting those around him, but that didn’t materialise. Instead the Brit came back onto the track down in seventh. Two laps later he was able to get past Liam Lawson which saw him move back into the top six. On lap twenty-four, Antonelli made his pit stop from third and dropped to sixth. Then, a lap later, Leclerc came in to pit and re-emerged on track in fourth, narrowly ahead of teammate Hamilton. Out at the front, Verstappen was having a comfortable afternoon and his pit stop saw him keep hold of the lead as the McLaren’s of Norris and Piastri also pit within a lap either side of the Red Bull driver. After one pit stop each, the top six were back to their starting order with Verstappen leading from Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris and Piastri. On lap thirty-one we saw a second retirement from the race as Franco Colapinto retired his Alpine due to an issue. Then, on lap thirty-nine, Lance Stroll joined the list of retiree’s with a brake problem, however he was forced to stop on the track which meant a virtual safety car was required. With less time lost by making a pit stop under VSC conditions, Ferrari headed out into the pit lane but then shocked everyone by being in Leclerc and leaving out Hamilton, despite the Brit being on much older and softer tyre’s. Behind them Antonelli’s also took the chance to stop for a fresh set of tyre’s, although his Mercedes teammate Russell got very unlucky because the VSC ended whilst he was in the pit lane. That saw the Brit, who started at the back of the grid, drop from seventh to tenth, when he likely would’ve been able to get back on the track in seventh if the VSC had remained in place. As racing resumed, Hamilton was now up into second but on notably older tyres than those immediately behind him. On lap forty-six, Leclerc cruised past his teammate to re-take second place. Then, Hamilton came under pressure from Norris and Antonelli. On lap fifty-four, Norris’ attempted overtake on Hamilton at turn one slowed hem both down and opened the door for Antonelli to slip past the McLaren. Inevitably, later that lap, Antonelli made a move to get past Hamilton and take away his place on the podium. At turn ten on the next lap, Norris also overtook Hamilton to move into the top four and further compound the confusion behind the Ferrari’s race strategy. As we entered the last lap, Verstappen continued to cruise to a dominant victory at the front, meanwhile things got even worse for Hamilton as he lost out on fifth place to Piastri. After winning in Malaysia last weekend, Verstappen crossed the finish line to pick up his second race win in a row and completed a very successful weekend. Remarkably, this was his first Grand Prix win in Singapore and that now means he has won at least once at every circuit on the calendar other than Madrid’s, which was only added this year. The Dutchman was joined on the podium by Leclerc and Antonelli. Elsewhere the rest of the point-scoring positions were filled by Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg, Russell and Isack Hadjar. The result of Russell was particularly significant as his ninth-placed finish means that Antonelli could mathematically win the world championship at the next race. That comes in the USA in a fortnight’s time, where Verstappen will be looking to continue his winning run and Antonelli will hope to clinch what seems a now inevitable first world title.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES @ JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (AMERICAN FOOTBALL)

Week five of the NFL season saw the Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars head to London for the fourth international fixture of the year. After the Indianapolis Colts beat the Washington Commanders in the English capital last weekend, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium played host to two different teams this Sunday. The Jaguars are regular visitors to London and will also play their week six game there next week. So far this season, Jacksonville hold a 3-1 record and come to England on a two-match winning streak after beating the New England Patriots and Cincinnati Bengals in their two most recent fixtures. Meanwhile, the Eagles won their first two games but have lost their last two against the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams. Therefore, they would be hoping a change of scenery would lead to a change of fortune as they aim to get back to winning ways. We had immediate drama when the game commenced in London as the Jaguars received kick-off and took it all the way back up the field for a touchdown. However that was ruled out for a number of penalties on the play, which included a brawl in the middle of the field which resulted in Jeremiah Trotter Jr from the Eagles and Bryan Thomas Jr from the Jaguars being ejected from the game by the officials. It was a chaotic opening to the encounter before either quarterback had even had a chance to get a touch of the ball. When they did got on the field it was an underwhelming start for the Eagles offense with two three-and-out’s in the first quarter. In contrast, the Jaguars were able to put themselves ahead when Trevor Lawrence found Parker Washington and he carried the ball beyond the Eagles defenders and into the end zone. With Cam Little successfully adding the extra point, the Jaguars held a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Things changed in the second quarter though as the Eagles began to find their rhythm on both offense and defense. Whilst the defense limited the Jaguars to a pointless quarter, the offense scored two touchdown’s to move in front. The first of those came when running back Will Shipley rushed into the end zone from two yards out to score. Then, on the Eagles next offensive play, quarterback Jalen Hurts’ pass was caught by Darius Cooper who then took the ball all the way to the end zone to score a sixty-two yard touchdown. Both of those touchdown’s were backed up by Jake Elliot kicking an extra point, which meant the Eagles were 14-7 up as we reached half time in London. Moving into the second half and the third quarter was dominated by the defense’s with a thirty-four yard field goal from Little the only points posted on the scoreboard. That meant the Eagles remained in the lead heading into the crucial final fifteen minutes of play. The defense’s remained on top in the early stages of the fourth quarter whilst the offense’s made some sloppy errors. For Jacksonville, they reached the red zone but then saw two of their four down’s end in delay of game penalties, much to the frustration of quarterback Lawrence. Then, the Eagles were forced to punt on their first set of down’s in the next possession and gift the ball back to the Jaguars. With three minutes left on the clock, it looked as if we were set for another offensive slip-up when the Jaguars were taken to fourth down but Lawrence produced a magnificent pass which was spectacularly caught one-handed by Washington for a touchdown. That saw the Jaguars take the lead, although Little’s extra point attempt missed the uprights. As a result, the Eagles got the ball back with just a two-point deficit and could re-take the lead with a field goal. However the ball was quickly gifted back to the Jaguars who then gave it straight back. With twelve seconds to go, the Eagles finally got themselves into field goal range and Elliot stepped up to send a forty-eight yard attempt through the uprights to put them 17-16 ahead. That should’ve won the game for the Eagles but from their kick off, Ammer Abdullah received the ball and managed to run into Eagles territory before he was tackled to the ground. That created the opportunity for Little to attempt a walk-off field goal to steal victory for the Jaguars with just one second left on the clock. It was a terrible tactical miscalculation from the Eagles and now they were at risk of throwing away a win. With the last action of the encounter, Little directed a fifty-seven yard field goal between the uprights to secure a 19-16 triumph for the Jaguars in London. It was a thrilling ending to a game which began with drama and concluded with even more of it. That victory see’s the Jaguars move to 4-1 for the season, whereas the Eagles slip to 2-3 with a third consecutive defeat. Looking ahead, the Jaguars remain in London where they will face the Houston Texans at Wembley, meanwhile the Eagles return home to take on Carolina Panthers. Elsewhere in the NFL on Sunday, we saw our first tie of the season as the New York Giants and Washington Commanders ended 27-27 after overtime. Meanwhile the San Francisco 49er’s continued their perfect start to the season with a 32-29 win over reigning Super Bowl champions Seattle Seahawks in a big divisional match-up. Finally on Sunday night, the late game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Atlanta Falcons required overtime before the Ravens were able to seal a 30-23 victory.

Hugh Watches Sports: 28th September – 4th October 2026

Welcome to the latest edition of Hugh Watches Sports. In this week’s post we will look back on a match-up from round two of Prem rugby, the start of the Asian swing on the ATP Tour, Formula 1’s return to an iconic circuit, one of rugby league’s showpiece events, plus this year’s first NFL London game. Let’s get into it.

BATH RUGBY VS EXETER CHIEFS (RUGBY UNION)

After a thrilling opening weekend of action which featured a record fifty-two tries scored, week two of the season kicked off with Bath Rugby hosting Exeter Chiefs. These two sides contested one of last season’s play-off semi finals in which Exeter emerged victorious by a 27-26 scoreline to book their place in the final. Therefore both side’s would be expecting to be in the hunt to qualify for the playoff’s once again this season. However Exeter didn’t get off to the best start as they lost 45-24 against Gloucester last weekend. In contrast, Bath made a winning opening to their campaign as they defeated Harlequins 33-17. Now they returned home to the Recreation Ground looking to build on last week’s win as well as exact some revenge on Exeter for their playoff defeat back in June. After a tightly-fought opening ten minutes, Bath took the lead in the twelfth as Cameron Redpath intercepted a pass inside his own half and then carried the ball all the way to the try line before diving in to score. With Finn Russell providing the extra two points courtesy of a conversion, the home side went 7-0 up. Five minutes later Bath extended their lead thanks to a try from Bernard Van Der Linde and another conversion from Russell. That left Exeter two tries down and needing a response which duly arrived in the twenty-fifth minute as Stephen Varney forced the ball over the try line after a quick exchange of passes on the left wing. That got Exeter on the scoreboard although they were then caught out by a counter-attack from Bath which ended with Dan Du Preez charging in to score a try and restore the hosts fourteen point advantage. As Exeter grew more and more into the encounter, it became an end-to-end game and the visitors were next to score as some excellent work in the aftermath of a line-out deep in Bath territory saw Jack Yeandle carry the ball over the try line. In the closing moments of the first half, a touch of class from Russell helped Bath to their fourth try of the evening as he dropped his shoulder and faked a pass to trick his way past Exeter’s defence and run beyond the try line. The Scottish star man then stepped up to kick the following conversion through the posts to put Bath 26-10 ahead at the conclusion of the opening forty minutes. Moving into the second half, Exeter came out firing with two tries inside the first ten minutes. First, Josh Iosefa-Scott forced the ball over the try line, before Immanuel Feyi-Waboso finished off a patient cross-field passing move by carrying the ball in to score. With both of those tries successfully converted by Henry Slade, Exeter closed their deficit to just two points at the fifty-minute mark. Remarkably, the visitors’ superb start to the second half continued as in the fifty-fifth minute Will Butt charged through a gap in Bath’s defensive line and then laid the ball off for Feyi-Waboso to run in for his second try. That completed a stunning fifteen minute comeback for the hosts as Slade’s third conversion saw them take a 31-26 lead. On sixty-one minutes, a moment of indiscipline cost Exeter as Varney parried the ball out of the path of Joe Cokanasiga as he looked destined to score, resulting in a penalty try being awarded and Varney being shown a yellow card. Whilst he was off the pitch, Bath made the most of their extra player to go further ahead as Ted Hill powered himself and the ball beyond the try line in the sixty-eighth minute. When Russell then scored the resulting conversion, the home side moved 40-31 up on their visitors. From then on, Bath looked comfortable in holding onto their lead and even after Harvey Skinner scored a late penalty for Exeter, Bath remained in control. In a thrilling encounter under the lights on Friday night, Bath continued their winning start to the new season with a 40-34 triumph. That result means that Exeter remain winless, although they could take confidence from their display in the second half, particularly in its opening fifteen minutes. Looking ahead to round three, Bath travel to face champions Northampton Saints next Saturday, whilst Exeter will host Newcastle Red Bulls on Sunday.

ATP HANGZHOU (TENNIS)

Following the conclusion of the US Open, the ATP Tour heads to Asia for three and a half weeks of tournament’s. First are two ATP250 events in Hangzhou and Chengdu, then two ATP500 tournaments in Beijing and Tokyo, ahead of the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 event of the year taking place in Shanghai. My focus in this post is going to be on the ATP250 tournament in Hangzhou where former world number one Daniil Medvedev was the top seed. This was the third edition of this event with Marin Cilic winning the title in 2024 and Alexander Bublik triumphing twelve months ago. As the 2026 tournament got underway, the top four seed’s received a bye in round one, but there were still some great matches including seventh seed Jaime Faria battling past Terence Atmane in three close sets. Also in the opening round, there was a home success story as Chinese player Yunchaokete Bu defeated Michael Zheng 6-4 6-3. That saw Bu progress into round two where he recorded another victory by beating eighth seed Kamil Majchrzak 7-6 6-7 6-2 to reach the quarter finals. Elsewhere in the second round, the top two seed’s Medvedev and Andrey Rublev opened their campaign’s with respective win’s over Valentin Royer and Rinky Hijikata. Although there were immediate exits for the third and fourth seed’s as Kyrian Jacquet knocked out Tomas Martin Etcheverry, plus Roman Safiulin took out Quentin Halys. Moving into the quarter finals, top seed Medvedev overcame Coleman Wong in three tight sets to reach the last four. Meanwhile, home favourite Bu saw his tournament come to an end at the hands of Safiulin in straight sets. In the bottom half of the draw, Jacquet continued his magnificent week by beating sixth seed Fabian Marozsan 7-6 6-4 which confirmed that he will make his debut in the world’s top 100 when the rankings are next released. In the other last eight encounter, second seed Rublev came back from a set down to defeat Hugo Gaston 6-7 7-6 6-1. As we reached the semi final stage in Hangzhou, the top two seed’s seemed set for a meeting in the final although Safiulin and Jacquet would be hoping to prevent that. First up on court, Rublev took on Jacquet and they played out a tight opening set which was won by Rublev in a tie-break. Then, Rublev comfortably claimed the second set 6-1 to seal his spot in the final. Impressively that marked the 400th singles match win of his career and also saw him progress into his thirty-first ATP final. Next on court were Medvedev and Safiulin in a tight match which was won 7-5 6-4 by Medvedev. That result put Medvedev into his fourth final of the season and the forty-fourth of his career. In the final between the top two seed’s, Medvedev edged a tight first set 7-5 before then taking the second 6-4 to secure the title. It was a closely-fought contest which saw Medvedev hit an impressive twenty-three ace’s on route to picking up the twenty-fourth title of his career. Remarkably, those twenty-four titles have come across twenty-three different tournaments, with Dubai being the only place where he has lifted the trophy more than once. Both Medvedev and Rublev will now head to Beijing for the China Open as they are scheduled to play in the ATP500 event. Elsewhere on the ATP Tour, the ATP250 tournament in Chengdu was played at the same time as the event in Hangzhou. In Chengdu, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina claimed the title with victory over Hubert Hurkacz in the final.

BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX IN MALAYSIA (FORMULA 1)

Yes, you read that title correctly. After being postponed in April due to the conflict in the Middle East, the Bahrain Grand Prix and its organisers have been looking for a way to still stage their race and the solution they settled on was to race in Malaysia. This was an exciting development for a lot of fans because the Petronas Sepang International Circuit was an extremely popular track on the calendar for many years and now we got to see racing there once again. The last time Formula 1 raced in Malaysia, Max Verstappen was victorious and over half of the current driver’s were still yet to make their debut in the sport. Nine years on we returned with Verstappen now a four-time world champion, although it is Kimi Antonelli who leads the way at the top of the driver’s standings this season. The Italian arrived in Malaysia sixty-six points ahead of teammate George Russell in the world championship. In qualifying on Saturday, Verstappen was fastest as he secured his first pole position of the season in an increasingly-competitive Red Bull car. Alongside him on the front row would be Lewis Hamilton, with Antonelli starting third. Initially, Verstappen’s teammate Isack Hadjar had qualified in third but he was demoted to eighth due to a five-place grid penalty for taking new engine parts. On race day, the initial race start was delayed due to heavy rain. Then, when we finally attempted to get going with two formation laps behind the safety car, chaos erupted. An array of drivers experienced problems, particularly in the cars which included Ferrari engine’s. We later learnt this was due to software not working correctly in the cars and for a number of drivers it left them temporarily unable to accelerate. With cars all moving slowly at various points on the circuit, race control had no choice but to abandon the race start and wait for everyone to return to the pit lane. Over an hour later than planned, the race did finally get underway behind the safety car, before it was decided we would see a standing start on lap three. By this point, some of the track had started to dry out from the earlier rain so we had a mix of drivers on intermediate tyre’s and some on slick tyre’s. As the five red lights went out and the cars sped away, the Mercedes’ made an exceptional start as Antonelli took the lead and Russell came from seventh through to second. It was clear immediately that the intermediate tyre’s were the ones to be on as all those on slick’s, including Hamilton, fell to the back of the order. One of the drivers on intermediate tyres was Liam Lawson who got a superb start to rocket up into fourth and even briefly challenged Verstappen for third. By the end of lap one, the leading driver on slick tyre’s was Hamilton and he was down in fifteenth. Out at the front, Antonelli was leading the field with Russell and Verstappen behind him. On lap six, both Red Bull’s moved up a position as Verstappen overtook Russell for second, meanwhile Hadjar got past Lawson to go fourth. Then, on lap nine, Valterri Bottas spun and ended up in the gravel, bringing out a safety car. That arrived at the perfect time for all those on intermediate tyre’s to head into the pit lane and put on slick’s as the track was drying at a rapid rate. The safety car also allowed those who had started on the slick tyre’s and lost a lot of time to catch-up to the back of the field. When racing resumed on lap thirteen, Verstappen immediately applied pressure on Antonelli and then made an incredible overtake around the outside of turn one to take the lead. That move inspired Russell to also try and find a way past Antonelli and he did so to move up into second. Although Antonelli was the quicker Mercedes and by lap twenty-one he was back ahead of his teammate, whilst Verstappen built-up a lead ahead of them. Elsewhere on the track, the progress of Hamilton was drawing attention as he showed his Ferrari had a lot of pace by pulling off a string of overtakes which saw him up into fifth by the end of lap twenty-five. Across the next ten laps, the majority of driver’s made their second pit stops of the race, with Verstappen holding onto his lead, ahead of Antonelli, Russell, Hadjar and Hamilton. On lap forty-three, the out lane became busy once again when Alex Albon reported a gearbox problem in his Williams car and had to stop on the circuit, creating a virtual safety car period which eventually became a full safety car. With less time lost by making a pit stop under safety car conditions, all of the leaders opted to put on some fresh tyre’s to take them to the end of the fifty-five lap race. Despite everyone being behind the safety car, the drama didn’t stop though as a mechanical issue saw Russell have to pull over and retire his car from the race. That saw him lose his third position and meant he would lose further ground on teammate Antonelli in the driver’s championship. Meanwhile, Lando Norris’ new tyre’s weren’t up to temperature and he went wide at turn one behind the safety car, dropping him down the leaderboard having been seventh. When we were finally ready for racing to resume on lap fifty-one, Verstappen was at the front, followed by Antonelli, Hadjar, Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and Liam Lawson. On lap fifty-three, Hamilton’s incredible recovery drive continued as he snuck past Hadjar to move into the podium positions. That overtake was a popular one in the grandstand’s with an audible loud cheer from those in attendance as the seven-time world champion went into third. A lap later, Hamilton’s teammate Leclerc also got past Hadjar to take fourth spot. Out at the front though, there was no troubling Verstappen as he claimed his first Grand Prix victory of the season with a superb drive. Nine years after winning the last race held in Malaysia, the Dutchman made sure he would be standing on the top spot of the podium once again. Behind him came Antonelli in second, who extends his championship lead by eighteen points thanks to Russell’s DNF. Then came Hamilton with a sensational recovery to finish on the podium after having been as low as eighteenth at one point earlier in the race. Rounding out the point-scoring positions on a chaotic day in Sepang were Leclerc, Hadjar, Piastri, Lawson, Fernando Alonso, Norris and Arvid Lindblad. Ultimately though the day belonged to Verstappen as he clinched his seventy-second Grand Prix victory in Formula 1 and won a race for the first time this season. Next up, Formula 1 travels to Singapore next week where there are more crucial championship points to be won with a sprint race as well as the main Grand Prix.

WARRINGTON WOLVES VS WAKEFIELD TRINITY (RUGBY LEAGUE)

The 2026 Betfred Super League champions were crowned this weekend as Warrington Wolves took on Wakefield Trinity in the grand final. After twenty-seven games in the regular season, Warrington finished the season in third place whilst Wakefield came fourth, two points behind them. That saw both teams through to the elimination round of the playoff’s. In that round, Warrington comprehensively beat Hull KR, meanwhile Wakefield saw off Leigh Leopards. Then, in the semi finals, both of these teams pulled off upset’s by defeating the league’s top two teams. First, the Wolves edged a tight 14-12 win over Leeds Rhinos, before Trinity out in a stellar performance to beat Wigan Warriors 33-6. That set up a Super League grand final between two teams who have never previously lifted the trophy. In fact, Wakefield reached the grand final for the first time, whereas Warrington were in their first since 2018. As the game commenced at Old Trafford, Wakefield made a strong start and they thought they’d got ahead in the fifth minute when Tom Johnstone driver over the try line on the left wing. However, after consulting the video ref, the on-field decision of try was overturned as Johnstone was shown to have not fully stayed in play as he hit the ground. Despite that setback, it didn’t take long before Wakefield did officially open the scoring as an excellent passing move ended with Cameron Scott scoring a try on the right hand side. That, coupled with a first successful conversion of the evening from Max Jowitt, put Trinity 6-0 up after twelve minutes. As the game continued, Wakefield looked more likely to score a second try than Warrington did to open their account. In the twenty-fifth minute, Johnstone got up well to collect the ball from a kick forward and then laid it off for Isaiah Vagana to run in and score. With Jowitt on target again with his conversion, Wakefield increased their advantage to twelve points. A dominant first half from Trinity got even better late on when Jazz Tevaga added their third try, Jowitt kicked his third conversion and then Jack Sinfield scored a drop goal to put them 19-0 up at half time. It was a staggering first half display from Wakefield as they showed their quality on one of the biggest stages in rugby league. In contrast, Warrington had struggled to find any way to get into the game as they chased the shadows of their opponents and were now in need of a huge second half comeback. After the break, a high tackle by Wakefield’s Corey Hall saw him shown a yellow card and gave Warrington a boost as they gained the temporary advantage of having an extra player. Five minutes later, they capitalised on that advantage when Aaron Lindop spotted a gap in Trinity’s defence and charged right through it and over the try line. With Ewan Irwin then kicking the conversion between the posts, Warrington finally posted six points on the scoreboard. Although that was all they were able to achieve during their ten minutes with an extra player against a resolute Wakefield defence. When Hall returned to the pitch to level the numbers, Trinity became dominant again and managed to re-establish their three try lead when Johnstone powered in to score down the left wing. By this point, even with twenty minutes still to go, it was clear that the trophy would be in the hands of Wakefield’s players at full time as they moved seventeen points ahead and into a comfortable lead. On seventy-one minutes, a resilient Warrington side set up Lindop to score their second try of the final but it was only a consolation. As the final whistle blew at Old Trafford, Wakefield won the Betfred Super a league for the first time with a comprehensive 23-10 victory against Warrington. It was a historic moment for Trinity as they came through the playoff’s to reach their first grand final and then won it with a stunning display. That kicked off a weekend of celebrations for everyone associated with the team as they took the trophy back to Wakefield to parade to their fans the following day.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS @ WASHINGTON COMMANDERS (AMERICAN FOOTBALL)

October in the NFL means the London games take place with three matches played across the next three weekends in the English capital. First up this year the Washington Commanders came up against the Indianapolis Colts at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Both of these teams arrived in London with a 1-2 record for the season so far which set us up nicely for a tightly-contested match. Furthermore, they both picked up their win last weekend which provided the teams with a timely confidence boost. The Commanders victory last Sunday was particularly impressive as it came against the reigning Super Bowl champions the Seattle Seahawks. Meanwhile, the Colts defeated the Houston Texans 19-17 to get their first win of the campaign. Coming into week four, a victory for either team in London would see them move to 2-2 and continue to build some momentum to take into their upcoming games. As play got underway, the Commanders scored points on their first possession as Drew Stevens sent a thirty-one yard field goal through the uprights. Whilst a touchdown eluded them, Washington extended their lead courtesy of another Stevens field goal later in the first quarter to go 6-0 ahead. With their defense starting strongly and Colts quarterback Daniel Jones looking nervy in the early stages, it was an ideal start for Washington. However, they lost quarterback Marcus Mariota to an injury which meant third-choice quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis was required to replace him. That was a further blow to an already depleted Washington offense that was also missing starting quarterback Jayden Daniels and star receiver Terry McLaurin. Following a quiet start to the second quarter, Jones and the Colts offense finally found some rhythm four minutes before half time to get on the scoreboard. Running back Jonathan Taylor rushed into the end zone from five yards to score the game’s first touchdown. Then Spencer Shrader added the extra point to give the Colts the lead. Having quickly won the ball back, Indianapolis drove down the field again to set up Shrader for a forty-eight yard field goal, which he duly scored to put them 10-6 ahead at the interval. Moving into the second half, the Colts picked up where they left off at the end of the first with a second touchdown of the day for Taylor. That, coupled with Shrader’s extra point, saw them extend their advantage to eleven points. Next came a positive response from Washington as Kaliakmanis showed a glimpse of his quality with an ambitious but well-executed forty-seven yard pass to receiver Treylon Burks to score a touchdown. With Stevens then converting the extra point, the Commanders narrowed their deficit back down to four points. Although a fifty-two yard field goal from Shrader shortly after put the Colts 20-13 ahead. That was the scoreline heading into the fourth quarter as the Colts looked to close out a crucial win. They put themselves in a strong position with an early touchdown scored by quarterback Jones as he opted to run into the end zone on third down and managed to evade the Commanders defense. The extra point from Shrader saw the Colts move into a 27-13 lead and left Washington needing at least two touchdown’s in the remaining minutes. With their offense depleted, Washington struggled to keep hold of the ball and it was soon back with the Colts. They added some extra gloss to the scoreline thanks to a third field goal of the game from Shrader. That closed out the scoring on a superb second half performance from the Colts as they moved to 2-2 for the season with a 30-13 triumph over the Commanders in London. As fans of the other type of football will know it was particularly note-worthy to see a team wearing white win a game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium because that hasn’t happened very often in recent years. Elsewhere in week four of the NFL, the New England Patriots recorded a 29-26 win over the Buffalo Bills in a huge AFC East battle. Meanwhile, in a clash between two potential NFC contender’s, the Los Angeles Rams pulled off a fourth quarter comeback to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles.

Hugh Watches Sports: 21st-27th September 2026

Welcome to this week’s Hugh Watches Sports post. In this edition we will reflect on the start of the Prem rugby season and the UEFA Nations League. We will also look back on a big tennis tournament, the latest Formula 1 race, a huge women’s football derby match-up, plus NFL’s second international fixture of the year. Let’s get into it.

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS VS NEWCASTLE RED BULLS (RUGBY UNION)

A new season of Gallagher Prem rugby kicked off on Friday evening as defending champions Northampton Saints hosted Newcastle Red Bulls at Franklin’s Gardens. This was a battle between the team who topped last season’s league table and the team who finished bottom of it. However an array of changes across both the players and coaching staff meant Newcastle were not to be underestimated as they attempt to have a better campaign this time around. Meanwhile their hosts Northampton headed into the new season looking to successfully retain their title which they won by beating Exeter Chiefs in the Prem Rugby final in May. As the encounter got underway, Northampton picked up where they left off last season with a try inside the opening four minutes to take the lead. It came courtesy of James Pater before the reliable boot of Fin Smith kicked the conversion between the posts to put the champions seven points ahead. Although Newcastle fought back when a run from Werner Kok got them deep into opposition territory before they worked the ball across the pitch for Christian Wade to run in and score on the right wing. When Brett Connon then scored the conversion, Newcastle moved level on the scoreboard. The next notable moment in the game saw Newcastle’s Harrison Obatoyinbo shown a yellow card for a cynical trip on George Hendy after the Northampton man had got past him with some fancy footwork. In the time Obatoyinbo was off the field, Northampton took full advantage of having an extra player by scoring three tries. First, Pater picked up his second try of the evening after a well-worked move from the Saints following an attacking line-out. Next, Hendy opened his account in the new Prem campaign by diving over the try line after breaking through Newcastle’s defence. The home side’s quick-fire trio of tries was completed in the twenty-forth minute when Tommy Freeman got his name on the scoresheet. With one of those tries successfully converted by Smith, the Saints moved 24-7 up. Back to their full compliment of players, Newcastle were able to score their second try of the encounter late in the first half and it was Wade who again carried the ball beyond the try line. The extra two points were then added by Zack Henry to briefly cut the visitors’ deficit. I say briefly though because Northampton ended the first half with their fifth try as a quick exchange of passes opened up space for Alex Coles to score his first of the league season. With Smith stepping up to kick the ball between the posts, the champions held a comfortable 31-14 lead at half time. Moving into the second half, indiscipline proved costly again for Newcastle as Pouri Rakete-Stones received a yellow card. Then, an excellent sweeping move from Northampton set Freeman away on the right hand side and he ran in to score his second try of the evening. Another conversion from Smith further extended the home side’s advantage as they went twenty-four points in front. On fifty-seven minutes, Cam Jordan powered himself and the ball over Northampton’s try line to score on his Newcastle debut, ahead of Henry adding two points with a kick through the posts. However, just like when Newcastle scored their second try, Northampton responded immediately by scoring another of their own three minutes later. This time it was Freeman who carried the ball over the try line after more superb work on the right wing from the home side. That completed his hat-trick and, when Smith backed it up with a conversion, restored the Saints twenty-four point lead. With the champions now as good as assured of victory, they were playing full of confidence and scored two more tries late on to add further gloss to the scoreline. On seventy-three minutes, a loose pass from Newcastle saw the ball land straight into the path of Ollie Sleightholme who carried it to the try line to score. Then, Pater clinched his hat-trick with a dive over the try line. With both of those tries successfully converted by Anthony Belleau, Northampton reached fifty-nine points. In the closing moments of the match, there was a moment of cheer for Newcastle when Kok forced the ball beyond the try line on the left wing to score their fourth try of the game and therefore seal a bonus point. That meant that despite their resounding defeat, Newcastle would at least have a point on the board when they looked at the league table at the end of week one. Ultimately though, the evening belonged to Northampton who began their title defence with a 59-26 triumph on home soil. It was a dominant display from the champions and they will look to back it up on the road next week against the Bristol Bears. Meanwhile, Newcastle will go in search of their first win of the campaign when they host Leicester Tigers next Saturday.

ENGLAND VS SPAIN (FOOTBALL)

In their first match since winning the World Cup in the summer, Spain travelled to Wembley Stadium to take on England. This was the first of six games both teams will play in the group stage of the UEFA Nations League. Joining England and Spain in Group C are Czechia and Croatia who faced off at the same time as the match at Wembley. In the lead-up to this encounter, England have lost a number of star players with Declan Rice and Cole Palmer among those who pulled out of the squad. In contrast, much of Spain’s World Cup winning squad have returned to represent their country. Of the eleven players who started the World Cup final win over Argentina, only Pedro Porro misses out on this squad and that is due to an injury. As the match kicked off at Wembley, we didn’t have to wait long for a goal to arrive as England centre-back Marc Guehi lost possession to Lamine Yamal and the Spaniard took two touches before slotting a calm finish into the net via the inside of the far post. That put the visitors 1-0 ahead inside two minutes and they thought they’d doubled their lead soon after when Ferran Torres diverted Fabian Ruiz’s cross into the net but the goal was ruled out for offside. As the first half went on, Torres was proving difficult for the England defence to handle as he got in behind and one-on-one with goalkeeper James Trafford on two occasions. In the sixteenth minute, Trafford made a good save to deny the Spaniard, before in the twenty-seventh minute Torres’ shot beat Trafford but went wide of the far post. Later in the half, England began to find some rhythm in possession and a build attack’s of their own. However, their equaliser actually came courtesy of a swift counter-attack when Elliot Anderson won the ball on the edge of his own penalty area and played it into Anthony Gordon, whose flick found its way to Jude Bellingham. The England star then carried the ball over the halfway line before playing a great pass back to Gordon who took one touch before burying the ball past Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon to level the score. That goal shifted momentum firmly in England’s favour and they seized it further four minutes later by taking the lead. A cross from Nico O’Reilly from the left hand side was headed towards goal by Harry Kane and deflected off Marc Cucurella on route into the back of the net. It was a superb turnaround from England as their captain Kane scored his eighty-sixth international goal to put them 2-1 up against the world champions. After a thrilling first half, the two teams returned to the dressing rooms at Wembley with the hosts a goal ahead. Early in the second half, England were gifted the opportunity to extend their advantage when they were awarded a penalty. It came as a result of Bellingham being tripped by Rodri in the penalty area, which was initially missed by the referee but the penalty was given after a VAR review. Up stepped Kane but surprisingly his effort bounced off the crossbar. Replays suggested that the England captain slipped as he planted his foot to take the penalty as a huge chance to score a third goal was missed by the hosts. It was also a relief for Spain who had made an uncharacteristically slow start to the second half. Although they soon re-discovered their form in the sixtieth minute as Dani Olmo picked up the ball on the right hand side and found Alex Baena in a central position just outside the penalty area who controlled the ball and then unleashed a superb strike which nestled into the bottom corner of Trafford’s goal. It was an excellent equaliser from Spain as they showed their clinical edge to get themselves back level. At this point, the game was beginning to become an end-to-end encounter with both side’s looking for a third goal. On sixty-six minutes, England’s Bukayo Saka went close as his curling effort from the right side of the penalty area drifted just wide of Simon’s far post. Then, on seventy-four minutes, a stunning incisive move from Spain saw Baena slip the ball through to substitute Mikel Oyarzabal and he provided a cool chipped finish to beat Trafford and put Spain 3-2 up. It was a phenomenal team goal from the world champions as they took the lead with just over fifteen minutes to go in London. From then on, the majority of the rest of the match was played in Spain’s half as England tried to make it 3-3. The closest they came to doing so was in stoppage time as Anderson passed the ball to Bellingham who carried it into the penalty area before firing a shot towards the near post where it was well-blocked by Simon. As referee Davide Massa blew his whistle to end a thoroughly entertaining match at Wembley, Spain clinched a 3-2 victory over England to begin their Nations League campaign. Looking ahead, both of these teams are in action again in this competition on Tuesday evening. Whilst Spain host Croatia, England will travel to Czechia for the second round of matches in Group C.

WTA SINGAPORE (TENNIS)

The Singapore Tennis Open was a brand new addition to the WTA calendar for 2026. Played in the second week of tennis’ Asian swing, the tournament is a WTA500 event which offers players a chance to compete before back-to-back WTA1000 event’s in Beijing and Wuhan begin next week. Headlining the draw in Singapore was this year’s Roland Garros champion Mirra Andreeva, although she and the rest of the top four seed’s had to wait until the second round to play as they received a bye in round one. When the draw came out, the stand-out match-up in the opening round saw seventh seed Maria Sakkari face Linda Fruhvirtova. After winning a tight first set, Sakkari ran away with the second to clinch a 6-4 6-1 win. Elsewhere in round one, Xinyu Wang picked up a big victory by defeating eighth seed Donna Vekic in straight sets. Moving into the second round, top seed Andreeva kicked off her campaign with a 6-2 6-2 triumph over Aliaksandra Sasnovich. However there was a surprise loss for third seed Alexandra Eala as she went down in three sets against Tatiana Prozorova. Elsewhere, fourth seed Elise Mertens reached the quarter finals without playing as she received a walkover in round two when Barbora Krejcikova withdrew from the tournament. As we reached the last eight stage of the event, top seed Andreeva met sixth seed Leylah Fernandez and they played out a thrilling match which was won 6-2 7-5 by Fernandez as she progressed into a WTA semi final for the first time this year. In the last four she would come up against Maja Chwalinska who defeated Mertens 6-2 6-2 to claim a spot in her second career semi final. Meanwhile, in the bottom half of the draw, we saw two more first time WTA semi finalists as Prozorova and Talia Gibson recorded respective wins over Wang and Sakkari. Unfortunately the time between the quarter finals ending and the semi finals beginning included some controversy which came when Prozorova withdrew from the tournament. Although it later emerged that she did not choose to withdraw and the decision was taken by a WTA physio based on concussion protocols, much to Prozorova’s disappointment. After being hit by a ball during her doubles match which was played after her singles quarter final, Prozorova’s forced withdrawal from singles handed Gibson a walkover and saw the Australian progress into her first WTA singles final. On Saturday in Singapore, the semi final between Fernandez and Chwalinska headlined the order of play. With the first set comfortably going the way of Chwalinska, Fernandez then fought back to take the next two and secure her place in the final courtesy of a 1-6 6-4 6-2 victory. In Sunday’s final between Fernandez and Gibson, the opening set was very close and tense. At 5-4 on Fernandez’s serve, Gibson had a set point but it was saved by the Canadian who went on to hold for 5-5. That turned out to be a crucial point in the match as Fernandez won the next two games to take the first set 7-5. With a one-set lead, Fernandez went from strength to strength in the second set as she cruised to the title with a bagel that sealed a 7-5 6-0 triumph. This success marked the sixth WTA title of Fernandez’s career and her second at WTA500 level. It was the perfect preparation for the Canadian as she picked up a top ten win and a title ahead of the upcoming WTA1000 tournament’s. Elsewhere on the WTA Tour this week, Kimberly Birrell won the WTA250 event in Korea by beating fellow Australian Maya Joint in the final.

AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX (FORMULA 1)

We witnessed the rare spectacle of a Grand Prix on a Saturday this weekend as the Formula 1 World Championship headed to Baku. Due to Sunday being Remembrance Day in Azerbaijan, the race was moved forward twenty-four hours. That meant that qualifying took place on Friday and it served up a shock for championship leader Kimi Antonelli as he made contact with the wall, leaving him sixteenth on the grid for Saturday’s race. In contrast, it was a dominant qualifying session for Antonelli’s teammate George Russell as he took pole position with the largest margin between pole and second of the season. Lining up alongside Russell on the front row would be Charles Leclerc, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Isack Hadjar on row two. The top six was rounded out by Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton who lined up fifth and sixth respectively. When the lights went out on Saturday afternoon, Russell made a great start to hold onto the lead, meanwhile Piastri beat Leclerc Down to the first corner and took over second place. Behind them Piastri’s McLaren teammate Norris also gained a position as he snuck past Hadjar at the start. At the end of a very clean first lap with no incidents despite the close walls around the Baku street circuit, Russell was at the front, leading Piastri, Leclerc, Norris, Hadjar, Hamilton and Max Verstappen. As the race began to settle down, the main action came from the Red Bull’s of Hadjar and Verstappen as they showed some exceptional pace. By the end of lap three, they had both overtaken Norris and sat in fourth and fifth respectively. That then became third and fourth when they both found their way past Leclerc. On lap seven, Verstappen the overtook his teammate to move into the top three, gaining five places since starting the race in eighth. Elsewhere on the circuit, we saw our first retirement of the race as Lance Stroll was forced to stop with an issue. Later on in the race he was joined in retiring by his teammate Fernando Alonso on another dismal day for the Aston Martin team. As for championship leader Antonelli, he was making progress from his lowly-starting position although not as quickly as he may have hoped as it took him over sixteen laps before he moved up into the top ten. On lap thirty, an accident for Alex Albon which saw him end up in the wall meant a safety car was required. That gave everyone the perfect opportunity to make their pit stop which they all duly did, however being behind the safety car bunched up the field, which was particularly frustrating for Russell who had built up an eleven second lead. When racing resumed on lap thirty-six, Russell kept hole of the lead but Piastri lost out behind him as Verstappen clinched second spot. Although the most dramatic moment of the race occurred behind them when Franco Colapinto locked up and collided with his teammate Pierre Gasly who then made contact with Norris which sent the reigning world champion into the wall. That incident ended Norris’ race and also ended up costing both Colapinto and Gasly as the damage they sustained meant they were told to pit and retire their car’s by the Alpine team. With plenty of debris on the track, the safety car re-emerged on the track whilst that was cleared. On the race restart on lap thirty-nine, Russell managed to hold off the challenge of Verstappen. Then, a lap later third placed Piastri had a huge lock-up going into turn one and went off the track. When the Australian returned he had slipped down the leaderboard to fifteenth, completing an underwhelming day for McLaren. On lap forty-three, Antonelli further improved his position by overtaking Hamilton to move into the top five. Moving into the final three laps, Verstappen was closing down the gap between himself and Russell to under a second. Their battle for the lead continued into the last lap, although it was briefly disrupted by double-waved yellow flags when Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac collided with the barriers. After passing Bottas, Verstappen raced Russell to the finish line but couldn’t deny the Brit a first Grand Prix win since Austria in June. This victory provided the ideal end to a perfect weekend for Russell as he qualified on pole position and then held top spot from start to finish in the race to secure his eighth race win in Formula 1. Joining Russell on the podium would be Verstappen and Hadjar as Red Bull sealed their first double podium finish in over two years. The point-scoring positions were rounded out by Leclerc, Antonelli, Hamilton, Arvid Lindblad, Esteban Ocon, Ollie Bearman and Carlos Sainz. In terms of the overall championship picture, Russell’s triumph means he closes the gap between himself and leader Antonelli to sixty-six points as we enter the final third of the season. Next up on the Formula 1 calendar is the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend, which is being held in Malaysia due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

CHELSEA WOMEN VS ARSENAL WOMEN (FOOTBALL)

A London derby headlined this weekend’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture list as Chelsea came up against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. Both of these teams were coming off midweek 1-0 wins in the Champions League. So far in the WSL, Chelsea had taken seven points from their opening three games. Meanwhile, Arsenal had only taken five with two underwhelming draw’s against Crystal Palace and Manchester United seeing them drop points. Coming into this fixture, following results earlier in the day, Chelsea sat fourth in the league table with Arsenal in seventh. In the early stages of the game, Arsenal started better and had a greater amount of possession but failed to create any clear-cut opportunities to score. In fact, the first shot on target of the encounter came from Chelsea’s Lauren James in the twenty-fourth minute when her long-range effort was comfortably dealt with by Arsenal goalkeeper Anneke Borbe. Two minutes later, Arsenal created their best chance of the half as Alessia Russo dropped deep to pick up the ball and play it out to Lisa Baum on the right who then found Mariona Caldentey on the far side of the penalty area and her strike hit the outside of the post. From then on, Chelsea began to take over control of the contest and the blues went ahead in the thirty-ninth minute thanks to Alyssa Thompson’s first league goal of the season. It came when a combination of Ellie Carpenter and Melvine Malard won possession on the edge of Arsenal’s penalty area, before Malard laid the ball off to Keira Walsh whose shot was parried by Borbe and Thompson reacted quickest to smash the rebound into the roof of the net. It was an exceptional finish from the American as she kept control over her strike as the ball came at her quickly from close range. Just before half time, Chelsea almost doubled their lead when Carpenter’s pass down the right hand side set Malard in behind Arsenal’s defence although Borbe stood strong to make a crucial save and prevent her side from falling two goals behind. As the half time whistle blew at Stamford Bridge, the home side were 1-0 up despite having less possession. After the interval, Arsenal finally registered a shot on target in the fifty-second minute as Baum’s attempt from a tight angle forced Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton into action. Moving into the final thirty minutes, Chelsea appeared more likely to score a second goal than Arsenal did to find an equaliser with Malard going close twice. Firstly, the Frenchwoman’s flick at the near post from Carpenter’s cross drifted just wide of Borbe’s far post. Then, Lucy Bronze’s pass found Malard on the edge of the penalty area where she took a touch to steady herself before drifting a low effort past Borbe but also past the far post too. Despite attacking substitutions being made by Renee Slegers, Arsenal continued to struggle to provide any threat to Hampton. Whilst the score remained at 1-0, there was always a chance they could get back into the game but in truth Chelsea’s defence always looked comfortable, even in the latter stages of the second half. With a controlled display, Chelsea clinched a 1-0 win over their London rivals to move up to third in the WSL table. This victory continues their unbeaten start to the season and puts them two points behind league leaders Manchester City. As for Arsenal, another underwhelming performance saw them remain seventh, already seven points off the top of the league after four matches. Looking ahead to next weekend, Chelsea travel to West Ham United on Sunday, whereas Arsenal face the tough task of taking on Man City.

BALTIMORE RAVENS @ DALLAS COWBOYS (AMERICAN FOOTBALL)

On Sunday evening, the second NFL International game of the season took place as the Baltimore Ravens played the Dallas Cowboys in Rio. The match was played at the iconic Maracana Stadium which is usually used for hosting a different type of football but this week American Football took over the Brazilian landmark. Following the opening two weeks of the season, both the Ravens and the Cowboys headed to Brazil with a 1-1 record. After a week one win over the Indianapolis Colts, the Ravens suffered a surprise defeat against the New Orleans Saints last time out. In contrast, the Cowboys began their season with a loss to the New York Giants before responding last weekend with a 37-20 triumph over the Washington Commanders. As their week three encounter commenced in Rio, the Cowboys put three points on the board early on thanks to a twenty-eight yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey. Then, on their next possession, quarterback Dak Prescott led his offence down the field before handing the ball off for running back Javonte Williams to run in for the game’s first touchdown. When Aubrey then added the extra point by kicking the ball between the upright’s, the Cowboys went 10-0 up. After a slow start to the encounter, the Ravens offense managed to establish themselves in the game right at the end of the first quarter as running back Derrick Henry spotted a gap in the Cowboys defense and charged through it into the end zone for a touchdown. A first successful kick of the day for Tyler Loop secured the extra point and saw the Ravens reduce their deficit to three points at the conclusion of the opening fifteen minutes. As we moved into the second quarter, the Ravens seized momentum with Henry rushing in for his second touchdown, ahead of Loop adding the extra point. Then, after the Ravens defense won the ball back, the offense drove up the field again to present Loop with a chance to score a field goal from twenty-seven yards out. The kicker duly converted the field goal to put the Ravens 17-10 up after having been 10-0 down. With just eighteen seconds left on the clock in the second quarter, a field goal from Aubrey saw the Cowboys halt their opponent’s run of points and narrow the score to 17-13. At half time in Rio, the Ravens were four points up. Following a vibrant half time show, the third quarter began slowly with the defense’s mostly on top. With the Cowboys offense struggling to make much progress up the field, they opted to bring out Aubrey to attempt an ambitious fifty-nine yard field goal but it was blocked and they conceded possession. Twelve minutes into the second half, the first scoring play of it finally arrived as Lamar Jackson found Chris Moore in the end zone to score the Ravens’ third touchdown. When Loop then converted the extra point, the Ravens extended their lead to eleven points. That gave the ball back to the Cowboys offense who now needed to find a response. After a difficult last few possession’s, quarterback Prescott re-discovered his rhythm and drove his side into the red zone before playing a touchdown pass into the arms of tight end Jake Ferguson. Not content with just one extra point, the Cowboys opted to go for two and they were successful as Prescott found star receiver CeeDee Lamb in the end zone. As we reached the end of the third quarter, the Ravens lead had been cut to three points ahead of a crucial fourth quarter. The opening five minutes of quarter four saw a huge shift in momentum. First, Ravens running back Henry thought he’d scored a touchdown on third down but after a review the officials decided he was just short. Then, on fourth down, Jackson laid the ball to Henry but he was superbly tackled by Cowboys rookie defender Jaishawn Barham to end the Ravens possession without scoring any points. Things then further swung in favour of the Cowboys as a ninety-six yard drive up the field ended with KaVontae Turpin rushing into the end zone to score a touchdown. That put them into the lead for the first time since early in the second quarter and Aubrey’s extra point meant they were four points up with just under ten minutes left on the clock. As we entered the tense final moments of the game, the Ravens offense had the ball at the two minute warning as they searched for a touchdown that would put them back in front on the scoreboard. On 3rd down and goal with ninety seconds left, Jackson threw the ball into the hands of Matt Hibner in the end zone to put the Ravens 30-28 ahead. With Loop then scoring the extra point, the Cowboys got the ball back with a minute and a half to go, trailing by three points. That made things very simple for the Cowboys, they needed a touchdown to win or a field goal to draw level, anything else would see the Ravens clinch victory. With a touchdown proving evasive, Aubrey came out to attempt a twenty-three yard field goal and he scored it to seemingly take the game into overtime. However there were still seven seconds left on the clock and the Ravens offense decided to go big as Jackson threw a stunning pass to Zay Flowers. Incredibly that put the Ravens in field goal range with one second left on the clock, meaning Loop came onto the pitch with a chance to win the game with a walk-off field goal. The Ravens kicker stepped up and sent the ball between the upright’s from fifty-six yards to seal a remarkable 34-31 triumph for his side. It was a thrilling end to a sensational game in Brazil as the Ravens moved to 2-1 for the season in dramatic style. Elsewhere in week three of the NFL, the stand-out result came in Washington as the Commanders stunned reigning Super Bowl champions the Seattle Seahawks by defeating them 33-31. Meanwhile, in a potential Super Bowl match-up, the Denver Broncos secured a 30-26 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.

Hugh Watches Sports: 14th-20th September 2026

Welcome to the latest edition of Hugh Watches Sports. In this week’s post we will look back on football matches from the EFL Cup and the Women’s Super League, a big tennis tournament in Mexico, a key event on the DP World Tour, plus a clash from week two of the NFL. Let’s get into it.

MANCHESTER UNITED VS BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION (FOOTBALL)

Round three of the EFL Cup saw the English teams competing in Europe enter the competition. Two of those, Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion, faced off on Wednesday. After a disappointing derby loss at the weekend where United lost to Manchester City 1-0 despite playing the majority of the game with a player advantage, it was crucial for them to bounce back strongly. Furthermore, they suffered a shock defeat in their opening EFL Cup match last season so would be hoping to avoid a second successive immediate exit. In contrast, Brighton headed to Old Trafford in fine form following a 5-0 victory against Coventry City last weekend. They could also take confidence from knocking United out of the FA Cup last season so they know how to win a cup tie at Old Trafford. As the match kicked off, United made a fast start to race into a 2-0 lead inside the opening ten minutes. The first goal came in the eighth minute when Youri Tielemans passed the ball to Shea Lacey on the right hand side of the penalty area and the United youngster cut inside and fired a low shot past Brighton goalkeeper Jason Steele at his near post. It was a phenomenal moment for Lacey as he scored his first goal for the club and things quickly got even better for United two minutes later as they went 2-0 ahead. This time it was Mason Mount who got his name on the scoresheet when he converted the rebound after Steele had made a good save to deny Marcus Rashford. With a 2-0 lead at home, some would be forgiven for thinking that the cup tie was already as good as over, however Brighton had other ideas. Later in the half, the Seagulls created an excellent chance for Malick Yalcouye but his attempt from just inside the penalty area drifted wide of Karl Darlow’s far post. That was a signal of intent from the visitors and they then managed to get a goal back right at the end of the first half. It came when Jaouen Hadjam’s long ball into the penalty area was met by Charalampos Kostoulas who steered the ball past Darlow at the back post to halve Brighton’s deficit. That left United a goal ahead at half time but also needing to be wary of a potential Brighton comeback. After the interval, Brighton began the second half on the front foot as they went in search of an equaliser. In the sixty-fifth minute, some terrible defending from United allowed Brighton a great opportunity to score which was duly taken by Pascal Gross. A clearance from Diogo Dalot was intercepted by Luka Vuskovic who headed the ball forward to Gross in plenty of space on the edge of the penalty area and he calmly slotted his finish beyond Darlow to level the score. Five minutes later, Brighton completed an unlikely turnaround when Diego Gomez’s pass set away Kostoulas on the right wing and he carried the ball into the penalty area before cutting it back for Maxim De Cuyper and he poked the ball into the back of the net to give Brighton the lead. From 2-0 down, the visitors were now 3-2 ahead as they stunned Old Trafford. Moving into the final twenty minutes, the onus was on United to look for a third goal although Brighton had momentum and were looking comfortable defensively. The best chance United created came late on when Bruno Fernandes slipped the ball in behind Brighton’s defensive line to set Rashford one-on-one with goalkeeper Steele and the Brighton stopper made a superb save to keep their lead intact. That was as close as the home side got to scoring an equaliser as Brighton held on to clinch a 3-2 win. It was a second consecutive defeat for United at home a and saw them crash out of the EFL Cup in their first game for the second year running. In contrast, Brighton’s superb start to the season continued as they reached the fourth round of the EFL Cup with an impressive comeback at Old Trafford. At the conclusion of the match, the draw for the next round of the competition took place and we learnt that Brighton will return to Manchester to face City in round four.

WTA GUADALAJARA (TENNIS)

On the same day that Alexander Zverev was winning the final match of the US Open in New York, tennis was already kicking off elsewhere as the Guadalajara Open began in Mexico. Despite being the week after a grand slam, the WTA500 tournament had a strong line-up which was headlined by top ten player Marta Kostyuk and defending champion Iva Jovic. However as two of the top four seed’s, they both received a bye in round one. On the court in the opening round, two American wildcard’s recorded impressive victories. First, Taylor Townsend defeated Tatjana Maria 6-7 6-3 6-2 just seventy-two hours after winning the US Open women’s doubles title in New York. Then, fellow American Sloane Stephens opened her campaign in Guadalajara with a 6-4 7-6 triumph over Carole Monnet. Elsewhere in round one, fellow wildcard Bianca Andreescu was beaten in straight sets by sixth seed Cristina Bucsa. Moving into round two, top seed Kostyuk was handed a walkover when Townsend was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to injury. Meanwhile, second and third seed’s Jovic and Sara Bejlek kicked off their respective tournament’s with straight set wins. In contrast, fourth seed Diane Parry suffered an immediate exit as she went down 6-2 7-5 against Peyton Stearns. Elsewhere in round two, Stephens saw off fifth seed Janice Tjen 7-6 7-6 in two close sets. Although the most dramatic encounter of the second round came when Liudmila Samsonova beat Kayla Day 7-6 2-6 7-6. On Thursday in Mexico it was time for the quarter finals to be played. In her opening match of the tournament top seed Kostyuk lost out to Samsonova in an incredible battle which was won 4-6 6-2 7-5 by the eighth seed. That put Samsonova into the semi finals where she would face the winner of an all-American last eight encounter between Stearns and Stephens. After two tight sets, Stearns defeated her compatriot to progress into the last four. Meanwhile in the bottom half of the draw, Bucsa moved past Bejlek in straight sets, whilst Jovic continued her title defence with a 6-2 6-1 triumph against Magdalena Frech. As we reached the last four stage of the tournament, Stearns took on Samsonova. After a tight first set which was decided on a tie-break, Stearns ran away with the second to secure her place in the final with a 7-6 6-2 victory. Next on court Jovic aimed to return to the final in Guadalajara for a second successive year as she faced Bucsa. Similarly to the other semi final, Jovic won a close first set snd then cruised to victory in the second as she clinched a 6-4 6-1 win. That set up an all-American final as Stearns and Jovic battled for the trophy. Interestingly, it was the first meeting between the two players on the WTA Tour which only increased the intrigue in the lead-up to the final. As play got going, both players looked comfortable on serve with the opening eight games all going the way of the server. Then the first break of serve came in the ninth game when Jovic seized her opportunity to go 5-4 ahead. The defending champion then served out the opening set to take it 6-4 before going up an early break in the second set to take control of the final. Another break late on in the match helped Jovic clinch victory as she beat Stearns 6-4 6-2 to successfully defend her title. It was the perfect week for the young American as she won her second WTA title at the same location where she won her first twelve months prior. Elsewhere on the WTA Tour this week, Kaitlin Quevedo sealed her first tour-level title by triumphing at the WTA250 event in Sao Paulo.

MANCHESTER CITY WOMEN VS LIVERPOOL WOMEN (FOOTBALL)

Having started their title defence with back-to-back wins, Manchester City aimed to continue their perfect record on Friday when they hosted Liverpool. The Citizens opened their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Birmingham City and then backed that up by beating Aston Villa 4-1 last weekend. Meanwhile Liverpool have also made a positive start to the season with four points from their first two league games. Following a comfortable win over Charlton on the opening day, the Reds played out a 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in week two to remain unbeaten. That set them up nicely as they headed to play the champions knowing that they could go above City if they were able to pull off an upset. As the encounter got underway in the Manchester rain, City were on the front foot with Lauren Hemp the star of the early exchanges. In the fifth minute, Hemp won possession just inside Liverpool’s half and carried it all the way into the penalty area before unleashing a shot which was tipped over the crossbar by Liverpool goalkeeper Khiara Keating. Not long after, a superb pass down the line from Alex Greenwood found Carlotta Wamser on the left wing and she played a pass into the path of Hemp who took one touch to set herself and then buried the ball into the far bottom corner of the net with her second to score. That put the hosts 1-0 up as they made the ideal start to the encounter. Although six minutes later Liverpool found an equaliser to stun their hosts. It came when Greenwood was caught in possession by Beata Olsson and the ball broke kindly for Vivien Endemann who slid an excellent pass into Alice Bergstrom and she provided a neat finish to level the score. It was a great response from the visitors and things got even better for them nine minutes later when a cross from the right caused chaos in City’s penalty area and resulted in Endemann smashing the ball towards goal and although City goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita got a hand to it, the ball ended up in the back of the net. It was a great finish from the Liverpool winger as the visitors completed a superb turnaround to lead 2-1. Inevitably there was a response from the home side and they almost made it 2-2 when Mary Fowler’s pass set away Khadija Shaw who rounded the goalkeeper but her shot from a tight angle hit the post. As we reached the concluding moments of the first half, City continued to pile pressure on Liverpool’s defence and their equaliser arrived in stoppage time with Shaw netting her fourth goal of the season. Once again, Hemp was heavily involved as her shot from inside the penalty area was parried by Keating and Shaw reacted quickly to tap in the rebound. That meant that at the end of a thrilling first half, it was 2-2 at the Joie Stadium. Moving into the second half, the majority of the match was played inside Liverpool’s half as City looked for a third goal which would put them in front. On sixty minutes, Keating made a spectacular save to deny Shaw’s near-post effort from Hemp’s low cross. Then, nine minutes later, an ambitious chip from outside the penalty area by Yui Hasegawa bounced off the crossbar as City got closer and closer to scoring again. The hosts’ search for a winning goal continued all the way until the ninetieth minute when Grace Clinton’s cross from the right was turned into her own net by Liverpool defender Grace Fisk. It was a horrible moment for the Liverpool captain as her attempted clearance flew past Keating at the near post and handed City a 3-2 advantage. With the match now in stoppage time, Liverpool pushed forward to try and equalise. However, that left them open defensively and Hemp exposed that in the ninety-fifth minute when she picked up the ball just inside her own half and sprinted up the field before calmly slotting the ball past Keating to seal a 4-2 victory for City. The score line was tough on Liverpool who matches their hosts in the first half and put up a valiant defensive effort in the second but ultimately the quality of City’s attack enabled them to clinch the three points. That continues the champions perfect start to the season as they sit at the top of the league after the opening three matches.

BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL ROUND (GOLF)

The race to Dubai on the DP World Tour intensified this week with the BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club in Surrey. With just five more events left after this one in the regular season, it was a crucial tournament for players aiming to secure their qualification for the season-ending play-offs in November. Ahead of the tournament there was a star-studded Pro Am on Wednesday which featured multiple celebrities and champions from other sports including footballers Eden Hazard, John Terry and Gareth Bale. Then on Thursday the tournament commenced on Wentworth’s prestigious golf course. At the end of the opening three rounds played between Thursday and Saturday, we had two players tied for the lead as Filippo Celli and Manuel Elvira sat top of the leaderboard with a score of -13. Just behind them on a tight leaderboard came the trio of Johannes Veerman, Alejandro Del Rey and JJ Spaun who were all just one shot down on the leaders. Two shots behind the lead came five golfers, including Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott who would start the final round on -11. As Sunday’s play got going, Aaron Rai put together the stand-out round of the early starter’s as he hit seven birdies to drop his score for the tournament to -15 and take the clubhouse lead. Meanwhile, the pairing of McIlroy and Scott headed onto the course looking to close down the two-shot gap between themselves and the leading pair. Two birdies on the front nine saw McIlory do just that, although Scott remained on -11 at the halfway point of the round. Behind them on the course, Spaun bounced back from a bogey at the first hole with two birdies to join McIlroy on -13 after nine holes. However things weren’t going as smoothly for the pairing of Veerman and Del Rey with the Spaniard dropping two shots across his front nine, whilst Veerman slipped a shot down to -11. Last on the course were the leader’s Celli and Elvira. Three bogey’s on the front nine proved costly for Celli as he dropped a shot to fall behind McIlory and Spaun’s current score. In contrast, Elvira recovered superbly from a nervy bogey at the first hole to record birdies at the fourth and eighth to take the outright lead on -14 at the halfway point of the round. Moving onto the back nine, the duo of Scott and McIlroy were both on a charge with an array of birdies between them. A bogey at the eleventh hole was wiped out by a birdie at the twelfth for McIlory before he also went under par at the fourteenth and seventeenth to end his round -15 for the tournament. Meanwhile, Scott hit four birdies on a magnificent back nine to join McIlroy and Rai as joint clubhouse leader’s. Back on the course, birdies on three straight holes from the fourteenth to the sixteenth thrust Spaun to the top of the leaderboard. The American then ended his round with a birdie at the eighteenth to post a final score of -17, two shots ahead of McIlroy, Rai and Scott’s total. That set the target for the golfers remaining on the course to catch. Neither of Del Rey or Veerman were able to match that as their rounds fizzled out with both finishing the day as they started it on -12. That left just Celli and Elvira as the players who couldn’t prevent Spaun from getting his hands on the trophy. Two birdies on the back nine helped Celli get close but he had to settle for ending the weekend on -15 and joined the trio of McIlroy, Rai and Scott in joint second. Meanwhile, birdies at the tenth and twelfth holes, plus an eagle at the seventeenth put Elvira level with Spaun on -17 as he reached the eighteenth tee. It was set up to be a tense finish for the world number 294 as he went in search of his first title on the DP World Tour. However he got off to an unfortunate start to the hole by finding the bunker with his tee shot and that set the tone for the remainder of the hole. A double bogey at the eighteenth from Elvira confirmed the title for Spaun as the Spaniard fell at the final hurdle. That marked a first title at the Wentworth Club for Spaun as he ended the weekend on -17, two shots ahead of the quartet who ended on -15. A final round score of five under par saw world number twelve Spaun pick up his second DP World Tour title as he triumphed at the end of four days of thrilling golf at Wentworth.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS @ CHICAGO BEARS (AMERICAN FOOTBALL)

One of the headline match-up’s of week two in the NFL was a divisional battle between the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings. Both of these teams began their season’s with a win last Sunday. The Bears were the highest-scoring team in the entire NFL in week one as they out up fifty-nine points against the Carolina Panthers. Similarly, the Vikings were also in fine form offensively as they saw off the Green Bay Packers 39-22. However Minnesota did suffer a setback during that game when starting quarterback Kyler Murray picked up an injury. He was replaced by Carson Wentz and the experienced back-up continued to fill in for Murray this weekend in Chicago. As the clash begun in the rain at Soldier Field, there was a slow start from both offense’s, who were limited to just a field goal each in the first quarter. First, Will Reichard scored from thirty-five yards to out Minnesota ahead, before Cairo Santos’ fifty yard field goal levelled the score. In the second quarter, the defense’s remained in control with both teams struggling to reach the opposition’s red zone. Midway through the second quarter, the Vikings were able to post another three points courtesy of a second field goal from Reichard and that gave them a 6-3 lead as we reached half time. It seemed bizarre after the success both offense’s enjoyed last weekend how little they were able to create but credit must go to both team’s well-organised defense’s. After the interval, the Bears finally managed to get within ten yards of the end zone but a fumble saw them concede possession and ended any chance of a touchdown. That was as close as either side came to registering points in a scoreless third quarter. As we entered a crucial fourth quarter in a game where no touchdowns had yet been scored, the Bears trailed by three points. They looked to be heading for another underwhelming drive when they were still inside their own half on third down but running back D’Andre Swift was able to carry the ball deep into Vikings’ territory to retain possession. As they reached the red zone, what came next was a disastrous few minutes for the home side. First, star quarterback Caleb Williams pulled up with a hamstring injury as he attempted to evade the Vikings’ defense. That ended his game and back-up quarterback Tyson Bagent was required to enter the field. Then, when they opted to go for a field goal Santos’ attempt was blocked by Isaiah Rodgers to preserve the Vikings’ three-point lead. With just six minutes to go, Wentz headed onto the field to lead Minnesota’s latest drive. He was able to get far enough up the field that Reichard was handed the opportunity to kick a thirty-nine yard field goal between the uprights, which he duly did to put the visitors 9-3 ahead. At that point, the Bears got the ball back with just over a minute left on the clock and needing their back-up quarterback to lead the team to a touchdown in order to prevent suffering a defeat. With Bagent attempting deep and ambitious throw’s towards the end zone, Rodgers thought he had won the game when he caught the ball for an interception. However the officials ruled that he landed out-of-bounds and therefore the Bears kept possession. That was on a second down and the third quickly disappeared thanks to an incomplete pass. With just a second left on the clock it was now or never for the Bears. On fourth down, Bagent took too long to throw the ball and was sacked by Vikings linebacker Dallas Turner. It felt very appropriate that the game ended with a superb play from the Vikings defense who had been outstanding for all four quarter’s. They sealed a 9-3 victory to continue their winning start to the new season. In contrast, it had been a terrible day for the Bears as they were beaten at home and star man Williams suffered an injury whilst his offense uncharacteristically struggled to score. They will now look to show a strong response in their week three fixture against the Philadelphia Eagles next week. Meanwhile, the Vikings will hope to move to 3-0 when they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in week three. Elsewhere in the second round of fixtures in the NFL, the Buffalo Bills played their first game at the new Highmark Stadium as they saw off the Detroit Lions 41-31. Another notable result came in the match-up between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Jets where the Packers sealed a 20-17 triumph in overtime. In Sunday’s late game, overtime was also required for the Kansas City Chiefs to to defeat the Indianapolis Colts 33-30 and move to 2-0 for the season.

Hugh Watches Sports: 7th-13th September 2026

Welcome to this week’s Hugh Watches Sports post. In this edition we will reflect on the second week of the US Open, the start of the Champions League, a huge international rugby match-up, the latest Formula 1 race, a big clash from German football, plus the return of NFL. Let’s get into it.

US OPEN WEEK TWO (TENNIS)

Tennis’ grand slam season came to an end this week with the conclusion of the US Open. In last week’s Hugh Watches Sports post, I covered the opening three rounds and all the stories from week one so here is my guide through what happened in week two. As we reached the last sixteen stage of both singles draws, there was a blockbuster match-up in the women’s tournament as second seed Elena Rybakina came up against two-time champion Naomi Osaka. However it proved to be a one-sided contest as Rybakina cruised to a 6-2 6-4 victory. Elsewhere, we lost another former champion as Iga Swiatek was beaten in straight sets by Qinwen Zheng. There were no problems for Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff though as they all secured straight set triumph’s in round four. Similarly, the top two seed’s in the men’s draw progressed from the fourth round with straight sets victories as Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz saw off the respective challenges of Luciano Darderi and Tommy Paul. Meanwhile, 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev lost out 7-6 6-4 7-6 to eleventh seed Frances Tiafoe to further open up the men’s draw. The most dramatic match of round four came on an outside court as Botic Van De Zandschulp came back from two sets down and saved a match point on route to beating Arthur Gea 3-6 6-7 7-6 7-6 6-4 in over five hours. It was an epic encounter as Van De Zandschulp booked his place in the second grand slam quarter final of his career. On Tuesday in New York we were treated to an epic day of tennis as the quarter finals began. First on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court was Sabalenka who defeated Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova 7-6 3-6 7-6 after having been down a break in the third set. That was followed by a dramatic all-American encounter as Tiafoe recovered from a break down in the third and fifth sets to pull off an incredible comeback and beat Alex Michelsen 5-7 3-6 7-5 6-3 7-6. Then in the day’s night session, Pegula got past Emma Navarro in three tight sets, before Alcaraz took on home favourite Ben Shelton. In a thrilling match which featured multiple momentum shifts, Shelton ended Alcaraz’s title defence with a 6-7 6-1 6-3 1-6 7-6 triumph to reach the semi finals. After four incredible matches which all went to either three or five sets, Shelton and Alcaraz’s battle concluded at 3.33am making it the latest finish in US Open history. The next day saw the other four quarter finals take place which also delivered both drama and impactful results. First, Rybakina saw off Zheng in three sets to reach the semi finals which means she will become the new world number one next week. Then, Gauff produced some stunning tennis to defeat fifth seed Mirra Andreeva 2-6 7-6 6-2 after having saved two match points in the second set tie-break. Following that match, Zverev cruised past Van De Zandschulp in straight sets. Then, the last quarter final encounter sadly ended in a retirement as Alexander Blockx pulled out with an injury during the third set against Karen Khachanov. On Thursday night, under the lights, it was time for the women’s semi finals. Interestingly, this was the first time since 1975 that the US Open women’s semi final line-up was made up of the top four seed’s. First on court, Sabalenka faced Pegula in a repeat of the 2025 final. Following a tight first set, Sabalenka ran away with the second to clinch a 7-5 6-2 triumph and progress into the US Open final for the fourth successive year. Then, Gauff and Rybakina contested three tough sets. After splitting the first two, Rybakina looked to be heading for victory when she served for the match at 5-3 on the third but remarkably Gauff broke her serve. However, the joy for the American was short-lived as Rybakina broke her serve in the next game to secure her spot in Saturday’s final with a 3-6 6-4 6-4 win. Less than twenty-four hours later, the men’s semi finals took centre stage with Zverev and Khachanov opening play. After Zverev took the first set 6-3, the next two sets didn’t involve a single break of serve which resulted in two sensational tie-break’s, both won by Zverev. The German clinched his place in a US Open final for the second time in his career by beating Khachanov 6-3 7-6 7-6. Following that match was an all-American encounter as Tiafoe faced Shelton with them both looking to book their place in a maiden grand slam final. Having split the first two sets, Shelton took control of the match by seizing the third on route to securing a 4-6 6-3 6-3 7-5 victory. As we reached final’s weekend in New York, we had two exciting match-up’s ahead. First, top seed and two-time defending champion Sabalenka would take on newly-crowned world number one Rybakina. Then, Shelton would attempt to become the first American man to win a grand slam since 2003 when he faced top seed and Roland Garros champion Zverev. On Saturday, an early break proved enough for Rybakina to win the opening set 6-4. Although Sabalenka fought back to win a high-quality second set 7-5 and force a decider. In the third set, Rybakina’s consistency shone through as she took an early lead and never looked back on route to winning her first US Open title. With a 6-4 5-7 6-2 victory, Rybakina ended Sabalenka’s reign as US Open champion and sealed her third grand slam triumph. It was the perfect end to a phenomenal fortnight for Rybakina as she picked up her second grand slam trophy of the season and the world number one ranking. On Sunday afternoon in New York the tournament concluded with the men’s singles final. As the match got started, Zverev made his intentions clear with an immediate break of Shelton’s serve on route to taking the first set 6-3. With no breaks at all in set two we headed to a tie-break where Zverev emerged victorious to out himself a set away from the title. It looked as if there would be another tie-break as we reached the closing stages of the third set although Shelton had other ideas as he broke Zverev’s serve in the twelfth game to take it 7-5. As we moved into set four, Zverev gained an early break to place himself in a strong position. With a dominant display in the fourth set, Zverev became a two-time grand slam champion as he defeated Shelton 6-3 7-6 5-7 6-2. It was a superb achievement for the world number two who has won half of the grand slam titles available to him this year. That concluded the 2026 US Open as Rybakina and Zverev got their hands on the respective singles trophies in New York for the first time in their career’s.

REAL MADRID VS INTER MILAN (FOOTBALL)

Europe’s premier club competition returned this week with the headline fixture seeing Real Madrid host Inter Milan. Last season both of these side’s exited the competition much earlier than they’d have anticipated so this would be the start of what they hope to be a more successful European campaign. It seemed a very fitting draw for Inter as the last time they won the Champions League in 2010 the final was held at the Bernabeu Stadium, the same arena where this match-up took place. Furthermore, current Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho was Inter’s boss on that occasion and their current head coach Cristian Chivu played in that final. Sixteen years later, Chivu would now come up against his former manager for the first time as a coach. Whilst Real Madrid were marginal favourites heading into this tie, Inter were coming off an incredible 3-2 victory at the weekend in which they came back from 2-0 down to defeat Napoli. Meanwhile, Real Madrid suffered a tight 1-0 loss to Real Betis in their last fixture. When the team news came out on Tuesday night, there was a lot of interest centred around Real Madrid’s midfield as with Bernardo Silva, Arda Guler and Eduardo Camavinga suspended, Mourinho opted to start Trent Alexander-Arnold alongside Federico Valverde. When the match kicked off, Inter had the majority of possession in the early stages however Real Madrid were very well-organised in their pressing game. That organisation paid off for them in the fourteenth minute when Yann Bisseck’s heavy touch was capitalised on by Brahim Diaz who slid in Kylian Mbappe with a first-time pass and the Frenchman placed the ball past Inter goalkeeper Josep Martinez to score. That marked Mbappe’s seventy-first goal in the Champions League, moving him up to fifth on the all-time leaderboard for goals scored in the competition. Nine minutes later, more high pressing from Real Madrid saw them double their lead as Martinez failed to clear the ball quickly enough and he was caught in possession by Valverde who stole the ball and tapped it into an empty net. It was a horrible error from the Inter goalkeeper whilst also being another demonstration of how well-drilled Mourinho has his new side. Later in the half, the hosts almost scored a third goal when Mbappe won the ball on the halfway line and charged towards goal but his shot was saved by Martinez who then got up quickly to spectacularly deny Bellingham from scoring the rebound. A sensational double save from the Inter stopper made up for his earlier error as he prevented his side from going three goals down. That turned out to be the final action in an intriguing first half where Inter had the greater share of possession but Real Madrid created more chances and were 2-0 up at the break. After the interval, Real Madrid continued to create the better chances to score including when Diaz ran into the penalty area and chipped the ball across for Bellingham to control and shoot but his attempt from close range was excellently blocked by Martinez. Soon after, Inter finally managed to turn their possession into testing Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois as Alessandro Bastoni’s low-driven strike from just outside he penalty area was well parried by the Belgian stopper. That began a phase of the match where Inter were on the front foot and on seventy-seven minutes they scored a goal back to set up an exciting ending. It came courtesy of Carlos Augusto who directed captain Lautaro Martinez’s cross into the back of the net with a first-time finish. From then on, Inter went in search of an equaliser although they struggled to create any clear-cut opportunities against Real Madrid’s resolute and well-organised defence. When the full time whistle blew at the Bernabeu, it confirmed that Real Madrid made a winning start to their Champions League campaign as they defeated Inter 2-1. Both teams will now return to domestic league action, before the next round of matches in this competition are scheduled to be played in mid-October.

SOUTH AFRICA VS NEW ZEALAND (RUGBY UNION)

Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour concluded on Saturday as South Africa faced New Zealand for the fourth time in as many weeks. Coming into this encounter, the Springboks held a 2-1 lead in the series after they lost the opening test but bounced back well by winning the most recent two. However they no longer had home advantage for this match as it took place in the United States. More specifically, Baltimore was the host city for the final head-to-head of the tour as South Africa looked to secure a 3-1 series win, whilst New Zealand aimed to salvage a 2-2 draw. With all three of the previous test matches delivering some incredible rugby, excitement was high as the game kicked off. Three minutes in, South Africa took an early lead when they were awarded a penalty for a high tackle which was duly converted by Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Although the lead quickly changed hands five minutes later as a sweeping attacking move from New Zealand took them deep into Springboks territory where Codie Taylor dived over the try line to score five points. The resulting conversion attempt was then successfully taken by Damian McKenzie to put the All Blacks 7-3 in front. As we have seen across this series, the matches have tended to be end-to-end encounters and this was no different as South Africa responded by scoring the next two tries of the game. First, Damian De Allende provided the finishing touches to a sustained Springboks attack, before Morne Van Den Berg dropped his shoulder and then squeezed through a gap in the All Blacks’ defence to force the ball over the try line. Both of those tries were backed up by Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicking the ball between the posts to add an extra four points to South Africa’s total. As the first half continued, the Springboks seemed in relative control of the match however a stunningly quick exchange of passes between New Zealand’s forward line saw them score right at the end of the half. It was a superb move at the end of a relentless thirty-two phase attack which ended with Will Jordan scoring his fourth try of the series. With McKenzie then stepping up to effectively score the conversion attempt, New Zealand narrowed their deficit to just three points at the halfway mark. After half time, South Africa re-gained control of the encounter with two tries in quick succession. In the forty-ninth minute, a maul from a line-out saw the Springboks force the ball across the try line in the arms of Malcolm Marx. Then, three minutes later, Pieter-Steph Du Toit powered through the last line of New Zealand’s defence to score. Those two tries, coupled with one successful conversion from Van Den Berg saw the Springboks extend their lead to 29-14. Unsurprisingly, next came a determined response from New Zealand as they searched for a way to get back into the game. Their resilience was rewarded on sixty-three minutes as Ethan Blackadder dived in to score a try, before McKenzie sent the conversion through the posts. However, eight minutes later, South Africa re-established their cushion on the scoreboard when Kurt-Lee Arendse picked up a loose ball and ran from inside his own half all the way to the try line to score. It was a phenomenal run from Arendse and when his teammate Manie Libbok scored the conversion, the Springboks looked set to record a third consecutive victory. Moments after that, the win was as good as sealed for South Africa as a try from Cameron Hanekom further extended their advantage. When Libbok then scored the conversion attempt, the Springboks reached forty-three points in what was another devastatingly strong performance from their attack. In the closing stages of the match, New Zealand were able to score their fourth try of the encounter albeit it was only a consolation. That came courtesy of Beauden Barrett which, coupled with McKenzie’s fourth conversion of the day, saw them move onto twenty-eight points. At the end of another thrilling head-to-head between the world’s top two nations, the Springboks clinched a 3-1 series win in the 2026 Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour. Following two victories on home soil over New Zealand, South Africa triumphed 43-28 in Baltimore to further enhance their reputation as the best team in world rugby.

SPANISH GRAND PRIX (FORMULA 1)

After a visit to the oldest circuit on the 2026 Formula 1 calendar last week, the world’s best drivers headed to its newest this week. The ‘Madring’ in Madrid is a brand new track which has never been raced on before, which meant there was even more intrigue than usual heading into an F1 weekend. As none of the drivers have ever driven here before, the three practice sessions took on extra importance ahead of qualifying. Additionally the teams came into the weekend with no data from previous race’s to inform ideas about race strategy so everyone was learning on the job in Madrid. On Saturday afternoon, the first competitive session at the Madring saw Lando Norris put together a stunning lap to clinch pole position. The reigning world champion would be joined on the front row for Sunday’s race by current championship leader Kimi Antonelli in second. Directly behind them would be Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, ahead of Charles Leclerc and George Russell on row three. When the lights went out on race day, Norris held onto the lead but Antonelli got ahead of him by going off the track twice during the first lap but rightly gave the position back on both occasions. Behind them, Hamilton snuck ahead of Verstappen on the run to turn one however the Dutchman got back ahead via going off the track however he didn’t immediately give the position back. In fact Verstappen set off after Antonelli and overtook the Italian for second place at the end of the opening lap. Although he was then ordered by his team to give a position back to Hamilton otherwise he would likely receive a penalty for going off the track. Ultimately, that meant Verstappen fell from second to fourth as he let through both Antonelli and Hamilton on lap four. However he wasn’t behind Hamilton for long as the Ferrari driver was forced to retire with a brake problem at the end of the seventh lap. By this point of the race, Norris had built a comfortable five-second lead at the front ahead of Antonelli, Verstappen, Leclerc and Russell. Lap fourteen of the race proved to be pivotal in deciding the outcome when Lance Stroll pulled over on the track to retire with a brake issue. That prompted a virtual safety car period however the VSC was declared just after Norris had driven beyond the pit-entry. Unluckily for the Brit, he would have to complete another lap before making a possible ‘cheap’ pit stop under VSC conditions, meanwhile Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell all came into the pit lane to change tyre’s. As Norris completed his lap and headed in to make his pit stop, the VSC period ended and when he came back onto the track he had fallen down to fifth. Out at the front, our new race leader was Leclerc who opted not to pit during the VSC as he was on hard tyre’s and wanted to go deeper into the Grand Prix before stopping. Behind the Ferrari came Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell in front of Norris. As the race continued to develop, it was becoming evident that some of the fears expressed pre-race that the new circuit provided very few overtaking opportunities were unfortunately accurate. It made for a race where drivers were stuck in their position’s, even when they were lapping faster than the car in front. On lap twenty-nine, Norris moved up a place as Russell made a second pit stop which freed the Brit to chase down Verstappen in third. Elsewhere on the circuit, Sergio Perez retired on lap thirty-three and he would be joined by Carlos Sainz later on in the race as they joined Hamilton and Stroll in not completing the Grand Prix. By lap forty, with seventeen laps remaining, Norris was right behind Verstappen but he couldn’t find a place to make an overtake. That was a battle which would continue right until the chequered flag, meanwhile Leclerc finally made his pit stop on lap forty-eight, which handed Antonelli the race lead. From then on it was a procession to the finish for the championship leader as he cruised to an eighth Grand Prix victory of the season. It was a quiet race for Antonelli but he will not mind that at all as he secured back-to-back race wins and further extended his lead at the top of the driver’s championship. Joining him on the podium would be Verstappen and Norris whose battle for position would’ve been very exciting to watch at a circuit where overtaking was more possible. Rounding out the points-scoring positions in Madrid were Leclerc, Russell, Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto, Oscar Piastri, Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg. Looking ahead, Formula 1 takes a week off before it departs Europe for the next run of races which kick off in Azerbaijan two weeks from now.

UNION BERLIN VS SCHALKE (FOOTBALL)

Having written about matches from the Premier League, Serie A and La Liga in the opening weeks of the new football season, this week I opted to cover a match from Germany’s top division, the Bundesliga. So far this season both Union Berlin and Schalke have taken one point from their opening two games which nicely set up their week three meeting. After beginning the campaign with a thrilling 3-3 draw against Eintrach Frankfurt, Union Berlin were thumped 4-0 by Bayer Leverkusen last weekend, marking a tough start for new manager Mauro Lustrinelli. They would now be looking to bounce back and pick up their first win in the league against newly-promoted Schalke. Similarly, Schalke also had a loss and a draw on their record from the opening two weekend’s action. However, their sole point looks much more impressive as it came against champions Bayern Munich in a hard-fought 0-0 draw. Following a turbulent few years in Gelsenkirchen, things are finally a bit more positive inside one of Europe’s traditionally biggest club’s after they sealed promotion back to the Bundesliga last season. Now their aim is to re-establish themselves amongst the elite teams in German football and a win at Union Berlin would be the ideal next step in that process. As the match got going, it was a tense start with the first real note-worthy opportunity to score coming in the twentieth minute when Adil Aouchiche’s strike from the edge of the penalty area was tipped over the crossbar by Union Berlin goalkeeper Frederick Ronnow. That was the first of a string of attacks from the away side which culminated with a goal from former Union Berlin wing back Robin Gosens. A cross from Soufiane El-Faouzi on the right hand side was flicked away by defender Leopold Querfeld but fell kindly for Gosens at the back post who directed an exceptional volley past Ronnow and into the far corner of the net via a clip off the post. It was a superb finish from the wing back who opted not to celebrate on his return to his former club. Later on in the first half, Schalke almost doubled their lead when Aouchiche was set away down the left hand side and he carried the ball into the penalty area and beat Ronnow with his shot but Tom Rothe got back excellently to clear the ball just before it crossed the goal line. As the referee brought the opening forty-five minutes to an end, Schalke held a deserved 1-0 advantage at the break. Following half time, Schalke made an immediate impact in the second half with a goal inside the first minute. It was a classy team move from the visitors as they won possession on the halfway line before Junior Dina Ebimbe played a lovely clipped pass forward. That was controlled by Aouchiche who played a quick one-two with Junior Adamu before firing a magnificent finish past Ronnow off the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net. Initially the goal was disallowed because the linesman deemed that Aouchiche was offside although after a VAR review the goal was correctly awarded and Schalke celebrated increasing their lead. In the sixtieth minute, we had an unusual delay as the referee picked up an injury and had to be replaced by the fourth official which took around six minutes before the game resumed. After the match re-commenced, Union Berlin began to push forward more as they searched for a goal. In the seventy-fourth minute, Rothe forced Schalke goalkeeper Loris Karius into making a great save at his near post with a drilled shot along the floor. Whilst the majority of the match was being played inside Schalke’s half by this point, they still posed an attacking threat and that was evident when Aouchiche broke into the penalty area and laid the ball into the path of Adamu whose shot towards goal was well-saved by Ronnow. As we entered a lengthy period of stoppage time at the end of the match, Union Berlin managed to briefly halve their deficit as Querfeld’s ball into the penalty area was headed across the six yard box by Rothe and headed into the goal by Tim Skarke. However any hopes of a dramatic late comeback for Union Berlin were quickly quashed by Schalke. The away side put together an exceptional counter-attack in the thirteenth minute of stoppage time to score their third goal of the encounter. It came courtesy of substitute Maximilian Wober who calmly steered the ball into the bottom corner of the net from Hwang Hee-Chan’s cross. That sealed a brilliant 3-1 triumph for Schalke as they defeated Union Berlin away from home to record their first victory back in the Bundesliga. With four points from three games, it now looks like a positive start to the season for Miron Muslic’s team who host SV Eldersberg in their next fixture. In contrast, this was an disappointing loss for Union Berlin who remain winless in their first three league matches. Things don’t get any easier for them either as next week they will travel to Munich to face Bayern.

BUFFALO BILLS @ HOUSTON TEXANS (AMERICAN FOOTBALL)

NFL Sunday’s are back! American Football’s elite returned this weekend and just like last year, I will be writing about at least one match every week all the way through to the Super Bowl on the fourteenth of February. In week one we saw a huge game from two of the AFC’s potential Super Bowl contenders as the Buffalo Bills travelled to the Houston Texans. These are two teams who have never won a Super Bowl however they both head into the season full of optimism. After seven straight years of making the playoffs but never being able to reach the showpiece season finale, the Buffalo Bills fired head coach Sean McDermott in January. That prompted a re-shuffle as offensive coordinator Joe Brady was promoted to head coach and he appointed his replacement as well as a new defensive coordinator. In contrast, the Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans is entering his fourth season in charge. His team have made the playoffs in the last three season’s but just like the Bills have fallen short of reaching the Super Bowl. Last season the Texans had one of the NFL’s best defense’s so they will feel confident that if the offense can find some form in the new campaign, then they are certainly in contention to go deep into the playoffs. Being it back to this fixture, the Texans could take comfort from the fact that they have not lost to the Bills on home soil since 2006. As the teams’ latest meeting got underway, neither team was able to get on the scoreboard in their first possession of the ball. The first points of the game arrived on the Bills second possession as Tyler Bass converted a forty-six yard field goal to put the away side 3-0 up. Next, the Texans responded with a scoring play of their own as David Montgomery provided the game’s first touchdown. With Ka’imi Fairbairn adding the extra point, Houston were 7-3 ahead at the end of the first quarter. Moving into the second quarter and the Bills re-took the lead early on as quarterback Josh Allen couldn’t find a pass so instead ran over twenty yards and into the end zone for a touchdown. It was a classic example of ‘Josh Allen doing Josh Allen things’ as the 2024 MVP put his side 9-7 up, which then became 10-7 when Bass added the extra point. However the lead soon changed hands again when Montgomery rushed eighteen yards to score his second touchdown of the afternoon. The perfect day for kicker’s continued as Fairbairn converted the extra point. On the next possession, Allen led the Bills down the field and ended his drive being pushed into the end zone by his teammates to score. That, coupled with Bass’ extra point, put the Bills back into the lead and they then extended it when Allen found DJ Moore who carried the ball to the end zone to score a touchdown. It was the perfect start at his new team for wide receiver Moore as he scored on his debut. As you’ve probably guessed, Bass then successfully converted the extra point. In the closing seconds of a frantic first half, Texans quarterback CJ Stroud’s pass was caught in the end zone by Nico Collins to narrow the margin on the scoreboard. After Fairbairn had kicked the extra point through the goal posts, the first half concluded with the Bills holding a narrow 24-21 advantage. Following a high-scoring second quarter, there were just three points scored in the third and they were courtesy of a field goal from Bass to increase the Bills lead. As we started the fourth quarter, the Texans were in a strong position on offense and they produced a touchdown when Stroud combined with Montgomery for the running back’s third scoring play of the day. That put the score level at 27-27 which became 28-27 in favour of the home side when Fairbairn converted the extra point. On the next drive, the Texans defense were able to hold the Bills offense to just a field goal from Bass but that was still enough to see the Bills go two points up with ten minutes to go. Similarly, the Texans could only manage a field goal on their next possession as Fairbairn put them back into the lead by a point. With just over five minutes left on the clock, the ball was in the hands of Allen and the Bills were hoping he could produce some trademark fourth quarter magic. As we entered the last two minutes the Bills still had the ball as Allen prepared to receive the ball at third down and eleven. The quarterback spotted the run of wide receiver Josh Palmer down the field and found him with a thirty-four yard pass to score what proved to be the game-winning touchdown. It was a great play from the Bills who opted to go for a two-point attempt rather than kick the extra point. That attempt failed, leaving the, 36-31 up as the Texans got the ball back with 1:36 on the clock. As Stroud led the home side down the field, they reached 1st and goal although that soon become 3rd and goal as the clock ticked down. Ultimately the game was settled on that third down as Stroud fumbled the ball under pressure and it was recovered by the Bills defense to secure victory. It was a huge win for the Buffalo Bills as they triumphed away to the Texans for the first time in twenty years. Starting as they mean to go on, the Bills defeated their hosts 36-31 in a thrilling match to make a winning start to their season. Elsewhere in week one of the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers were victorious in the first intentional game of the year as they beat the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 in Australia. Meanwhile a notable story from Sunday’s games was the Chicago Bears kicking off their season by scoring a staggering fifty-nine points against the Carolina Panthers. The biggest upset of week one came in Los Angeles where the heavily-fancied Chargers were beaten 26-14 by the Arizona Cardinals.

Hugh Watches Sports: 31st August-6th September 2026

Welcome to the latest Hugh Watches Sports post. In this edition we will look back on the start of the new Women’s Super League season, the opening week of tennis at the US Open, the latest Formula 1 race, a monumental international rugby match-up, plus a big fixture from Italian football’s top division. Let’s get into it.

LONDON CITY LIONESSES VS MANCHESTER UNITED WOMEN (FOOTBALL)

On Friday night the new Women’s Super League season got underway with London City Lionesses hosting Manchester United. It’s been a busy summer for both of these teams with an array of changes at each club. The headline news at London City has been the signing of two-time Balon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas from Barcelona. With ambitions to break into the WSL’s top three and qualify for the Champions League this season, the recruitment of Putellas and other big names such as Mapi Leon and Mary Earps has created a lot of hype surrounding the club for the coming season. Meanwhile Manchester United’s big change during the summer came in the dugout as Marc Skinner departed and was replaced by Eva Olid. Similarly to London City, the goal for United this season is to finish in the top three and return to the Champions League after missing out last year. When the team news was announced at Hayes Lane there was a piece of league history made as London City named the first ever starting eleven which didn’t include a single English player in the WSL. As the game kicked off, the home side made a positive start to assert some authority on proceedings. That positivity was rewarded in the ninth minute when a corner whipped into the penalty area from the right was met at the back post by a combination of Alanna Kennedy and Man United’s Julia Zigiotti and sent into the back of the net. It was the perfect opening to the season for London City as they took an early lead through what was later confirmed to be an own goal by Zigiotti. Full of confidence, the star-studded hosts quickly looked to double their lead. First, an excellent cross from Delphine Cascarino seemed destined to be tapped in at the back post by Rosa Kafaji but a superb interception from Jayde Riviere prevented what would’ve been an almost-certain second goal. Then, two minutes later, London City went close to scoring again as Kafaji found Putellas on the edge of the penalty area and she then worked the ball through to Cascarino whose effort was superbly pushed re the crossbar by United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce. Thankfully for United, they managed to weather the storm and keep their deficit down to just one goal as we reached half time but they were being comfortably outplayed by their hosts. After the interval, the pattern of the game remained the same as London City continued to dominate. On forty-nine minutes, Kennedy lined-up a long range shot which was heading towards the bottom corner of the net before Tullis-Joyce got down well to tip it around the post. The United goalkeeper was called into action again moments later to stop Kafaji’s strike from the edge of the penalty area. It seemed remarkable that the score was still only 1-0 but somehow it was and if United could put an attack together then they still had a chance to rescue a draw. On seventy-eight minutes, the visitors finally had their first shot of the encounter when Monica Jusu Bah’s cross found its way to Jess Park on the edge of the penalty area who took two touches before unleashing a strike which went into the near side netting of London City’s goal. Despite missing, it was finally a sign of attacking intent from United after a dismal showing across the previous seventy-eight minutes. It also increased the necessity of London City to find a second goal and one finally arrived for them in eighty-second minute. A well-worked set-piece routine saw Leon play a short corner to Janni Thomsen who slipped the ball in to Cascarino on the right hand side of the penalty area and her low cross was then directed into the far corner of the net by a wonderful back-heeled flick from Danielle Van De Donk. It was a superb goal for the hosts as they moved 2-0 ahead and within touching distance of their first three points of the season. As we played out the added period of stoppage time at the end of the match, United finally had something to celebrate as Ella Toone’s free-kick caused chaos in the penalty area and the ball fell kindly for Simi Awujo to smash into the net for a consolation goal. Overall though, a convincing display from London City Lionesses saw them clinch a 2-1 victory against Manchester United. It was a well-deserved three points for the newly-assembled team as they made a strong start to the season on home soil.

US OPEN WEEK ONE (TENNIS)

This week saw the fourth and final grand slam of the year kick off. In the chaotic and noisy setting of New York, the world’s best tennis players have been competing for the US Open singles title’s and here is my look back on the big stories from the first three rounds. The most notable theme of the opening week has been the exit of a number of the top seeds in the men’s draw. On day one, Novak Djokovic headlined the night session as he took on Mariano Navone. A very out-of-sorts Djokovic lost out in five sets against the gutsy Argentinian as Navone recorded the biggest win of his career. That marked the first time in over twenty years that Djokovic had lost in round one of a grand slam bringing to an end a phenomenal run. Remarkably that wasn’t even the biggest shock in the first round of the men’s draw as recently-crowned Cincinnati champion Arthur Fils found himself on the end of a 4-6 7-6 6-1 6-4 defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas. Elsewhere in round one it looked like we could also lose the top seed as well when Alexander Zverev trailed Lorenzo Sonego by two sets to one, although the German was able to recover and win in five sets. Moving into the second round, two more top ten players suffered early exits from the tournament as Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alex De Minaur went down in their respective encounters against Karen Khachanov and Botic Van De Zandschulp. There was also a surprise defeat for one of the most in-form players coming into the US Open as Brandon Nakashima was beaten 6-3 6-4 6-4 by Alex Michelsen. Just like in the opening two rounds, we lost another two top ten seed’s in the third round. First, fifth seed Flavio Cobolli lost 6-7 6-3 6-0 6-3 to Alexander Blockx. Then there was a shock on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court as former finalist Taylor Fritz went out after having been two sets up. The American was eventually beaten 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 by Francisco Cerundolo as the Argentinian pulled off an exceptional comeback to reach the fourth round. Looking ahead as we enter the second week, there are only four top ten players left in the men’s draw with Zverev the only one remaining in the top half. Meanwhile, the bottom half is headlined by Carlos Alcaraz who has made a smooth comeback from his injury by cruising through the first week. As it stands the Spaniard is the favourite to win the US Open although fellow top ten seeds Daniil Medvedev and Ben Shelton also remain in the bottom half.

In contrast to the men, the women’s top seed’s have been much more reliable throughout the first week in New York. The top four seed’s Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff all started off with straight set victories in their opening matches. In fact the big two stories of the first round featured unseeded players as former champion Sloane Stephens recorded her first grand slam singles main draw win since Wimbledon 2024 when she got past Clara Tauson 6-4 6-1. Meanwhile, two wildcard entries went head-to-head when Venus Williams faced Sofia Kenin in an intriguing match which was won by Kenin 6-2 7-6 after she had saved seven set points during a thrilling end to the second set. In round two, defending champion Sabalenka was in fine form as she beat Polina Iatcenko 6-1 6-1 in just fifty-three minutes. Similarly, there were also two-set triumph’s for fellow top seed’s Rybakina, Pegula and Gauff. At the conclusion of round two, the top ten seed’s all remained in the draw, however that wasn’t the case by the end of the third round. Firstly, seventh seed Karolina Muchova lost 6-3 7-5 against twenty-sixth seed Emma Navarro. Then ninth seed Elena Svitolina went out of the tournament following a three-set loss to Anna Kalinskaya. Elsewhere, tenth seed and last year’s beaten finalist Amanda Anisimova went down 6-2 7-5 in a great match with Anastasia Potapova. Also in round three of the women’s draw we saw one of the best encounters of the tournament so far as Qinwen Zheng came back from 5-0 down in the third set to defeat Madison Keys 1-6 7-6 7-5. Meanwhile, another thrilling match saw third seed Pegula beat former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez 1-6 6-4 6-3 on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court. Looking ahead to week two in the women’s draw, there are a lot of potential exciting match-up’s ahead as the top six seed’s all remain in the tournament, alongside former champions Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka as we head into the final four rounds. Whilst we will definitely crown a US Open champion next weekend, we could also see a new world number one as Rybakina will replace Sabalenka at the top of the world rankings if she makes the semi finals. Whatever unfolds across the next seven days in New York, I look forward to rounding it up in next week’s Hugh Watches Sports post.

ITALIAN GRAND PRIX (FORMULA 1)

Formula 1 headed to one of its most iconic circuits this weekend as Monza hosted round thirteen of the 2026 season. Coming into this race, we had an Italian driver at the top of the championship as Kimi Antonelli led the standings, ahead of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Although due to taking new engine parts outside of his initial allocation, Antonelli would serve a grid penalty and start his home race from the back of the order. In qualifying on Saturday, there was a huge surprise as Pierre Gasly incredibly clinched pole position. It was the first pole position of his career and the first his team had achieved since 2009. Furthermore, this was the first time ever Alpine had been on pole, as the team were still Renault back in 2009 when Fernando Alonso was their pole-sitter. That set up a potentially fascinating race on Sunday as Gasly was joined on the front row by Russell with the heavily-supported two Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Hamilton occupying the second row. Behind them was Verstappen in fifth and Piastri in sixth, with the Australian initially qualifying third but then receiving a three-place grid penalty for impeding. Further back the leaders would also need to be wary of the potential threat of Antonelli as he made his way up through the field. After Alex Albon also took a grid penalty for changing engine parts on his car, plus Fernando Alonso and Liam Lawson opted to start from the pit lane, Antonelli began the race in nineteenth. As the race commenced, Gasly got away well to hold onto his lead with Russell in second, however the two Ferrari’s squabbled through the first chicane which left Hamilton running wide and into the gravel, dropping him down to tenth place. By the end of the opening lap, Russell was right on the back of Gasly and he pulled off a simple overtake to pass the Alpine for the race lead on the start-finish straight. Later on lap two, Verstappen snuck past Leclerc and into third. However the big moment came at the end of the lap when Leclerc went off the racing line to defend his position against Piastri and lost control which sent his Ferrari spinning into the barrier and out of the race. It was a massive collision and thankfully Leclerc quickly reported he was okay and got out of the car. That incident and the subsequent damage caused the race to be red-flagged and all drivers has to return to the pit lane. In the moments between Leclerc’s spin and the red flag being declared, Franco Colapinto had slipped past Piastri which meant two Alpine’s were now running in the top four as we paused the race. Following a thirty minute stoppage, the race resumed with a second tanning start of the day. This time Russell was at the front, with Gasly, Verstappen, Colapinto and Piastri making up the rest of the top five. It should also be noted that after a stunning opening lap, Antonelli was already up to twelfth in the order. As the five red lights went out to begin lap six of the Grand Prix, Russell held onto his lead whilst Colapinto briefly got ahead of Verstappen and into third. A mistake proved costly for the Argentine though as he ran wide and through the gravel which saw him drop down to sixteenth. Further back, an impressive restart from Hamilton had seen him get past both McLaren’s and up into fourth. As the cars of the top teams’ started to find their rhythm and show their strengths, Gasly saw himself passed by Verstappen, Hamilton, Piastri and Antonelli before the end of lap ten. As we crossed the line to start lap twelve, Verstappen sprung an overtaking move on Russell and he pulled it off into turn one to take the lead. Meanwhile, Antonelli continued to gain positions as he and Piastri got past Hamilton which saw the Italian now into the top four. Out in front, Verstappen struggled to shake off the challenge of Russell and within three laps time the Brit cruised past his Red Bull to re-take top spot. A lap later, it was a case of ‘deja vu’ for Verstappen as he saw Antonelli pass him at the exact same place as Russell had on the previous lap. Sensationally, that out Antonelli up into second on lap sixteen, having gained seventeen places in that period and now he was set to chase down his teammate ahead. Two laps later and Antonelli completed the ultimate climb through the field as he squeezed past Russell going into the first chicane to move into first position. That set off a period of ‘yo-yo racing’ between the two Mercedes’ drivers as they frequently swapped positions across the next five laps before Russell was able to get and stay ahead of his teammate on lap twenty-three. Elsewhere, Alonso came into the pit lane to retire from the race after another tough weekend for Aston Martin. On lap twenty-eight, Lance Stroll stopped on track with an issue which turned out to be a crucial moment in the race. The Canadian’s retirement was met with a virtual safety car being declared and it proved perfect timing for Antonelli and Verstappen to sneak in and make a cheap pit stop for new tyre’s. Whilst that initially dropped them down to sixth and seventh respectively, the advantage of having much fresher tyre’s than all those ahead of them was huge in their quest to win the race. As the virtual safety car period ended and racing resumed, Antonelli quickly made his way past Gasly, Lando Norris and Hamilton to move into third before the end of lap thirty-five. Two laps later, he then overtook Piastri for second place meanwhile Verstappen got past Hamilton to return to the top four. By lap forty-four, Antonelli now had his sights firmly set on chasing down his teammate for the win, whilst Verstappen was up into third after seeing off Piastri. The gap between the top two was four seconds with nine laps to go but Russell was losing time due to tyre degradation whereas Antonelli was comfortably quicker on his fresher set of tyres. On lap forty-nine, Antonelli was right behind his teammate and looked to make a move into turn one but a lock up from Russell distracted Antonelli who then ran wide and dipped his tyre into the gravel, allowing the Brit to hold onto the lead. With a clam head, the Italian re-grouped snd when he attempted another move on lap fifty he comfortably breezed past Russell to claim the race lead. As the Italian shot off down the road and even clinched the fastest lap to round off an incredible drive, there was drama between the two McLaren’s as they fought over forth position, which eventually went the way of Norris with an overtake on the last lap. Ultimately though, as the chequered flag was waved in Monza, Antonelli secured victory at his home Grand Prix for the first time and he did it in style having started the race in nineteenth and finished it in first place. It was a remarkable achievement for the twenty year-old who further demonstrated why so many people in the sport believe he is destined to become one of its great’s. On a day when Ferrari couldn’t live up to the hopes of the home fans, Antonelli provided them with a special experience as they witnessed an Italian driver win at Monza for the first time in Formula 1 since 1966. This victory also see’s Antonelli extend his championship lead over Russell to sixty-six points. Looking ahead, Formula 1 heads from its oldest circuit to a brand new one as we go racing in Madrid next weekend.

SOUTH AFRICA VS NEW ZEALAND (RUGBY UNION)

For the third successive week, the two top nation’s in world rugby went head-to-head on the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour. After a victory for New Zealand in the first of four test matches in the series, South Africa bounced back to win last weekend’s second test and level the series score. Therefore this week’s match-up in Johannesburg took on massive importance as both side’s looked to seal a 2-1 lead going into next Saturday’s final test in Baltimore. As the encounter begun, an early yellow card for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu put South Africa temporarily down to fourteen players. Then, moments later, New Zealand took full advantage of that to open the scoring with Ardie Savea powering the ball over the try line. When Ruben Love then duly kicked the resulting conversion attempt between the posts, the All Blacks established a 7-0 lead. Ten minutes after, with the Springboks now back up to their full compliment of players, a quick sequence of passes saw them work the ball out to Kurt-Lee Arendse on the right wing to run in for their first try. However after missing the following conversion attempt, they remained two points behind New Zealand on the scoreboard. That deficit soon increased when the Savea added his second try of the day for the All Blacks. After a sweeping the ball out to Leroy Carter on the left, Savea then picked up the ball when his teammate was tackled before carrying it in to score. In the final minutes of a closely-fought first half there was a key moment as Love was shown a yellow card and then from the resulting scrum, South Africa were awarded a penalty try. The Springboks’ pushed themselves and the ball towards the try line and the referee spotted an infringement. Initially there was a mini-brawl following the award of the penalty try but that all settled down quickly and after the referee confirmed his decision with the TMO, South Africa moved level with their visitors at 12-12 going into half time. Moving into the second half, it was a tense affair and thoroughly absorbing as a viewer. On fifty-three minutes, New Zealand had a chance to take the lead when Love kicked a penalty towards the posts but the ball headed just wide. Albeit they didn’t have to wait too long for another opportunity to get in front as two minutes later, Carter got on the end of a kick over the top of South Africa’s defence and then laid the ball off for Will Jordan to carry beyond the try line. That put the All Blacks 17-12 ahead although their lead didn’t last long. On fifty-eight minutes, a lovely passing move saw the Springboks move the ball from right to left and into the hands of Jesse Kriel who shoved off his marker and charged over the try line. With Feinberg-Mngomezulu then stepping up to send the ball between the posts and score two extra points, South Africa took the lead for the first time in the match. The hosts extended their advantage on the scoreboard soon after with an impressive example of how to make a maul work for your team as they forced themselves and the ball deep into New Zealand territory before Malcolm Marx popped out and dived the ball beyond the try line. When Feinberg-Mngomezulu successfully kicked the resulting conversion, it felt as though the Springboks finally had some breathing space as they went 26-17 up with just under fifteen minutes to go. As we hit the seventy minute mark, another kick from Feinberg Mngomezulu helped increase their margin of comfort as he scored a penalty to add three more points to South Africa’s total. Despite now having a twelve point deficit to their hosts, New Zealand kept pushing to get themselves back into contention to win the game. As we passed eighty minutes, they were awarded a penalty from which Samisoni Taukei’aho opted to tap and charge towards the try line, where, despite a valiant effort from the South Africa defence, he was eventually able to score a consolation try for the visitors. A successful conversion attempt by Damian McKenzie got New Zealand to twenty-four points but they had to settle for defeat in a phenomenal game of rugby. Much to the delight of the home crowd in Johannesburg, South Africa recorded a 29-24 victory to move 2-1 ahead in the series. Next week the two teams will go head-to-head for the fourth and final time on the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour but this time it will be on neutral ground as Baltimore plays host to South Africa and New Zealand.

JUVENTUS VS AC MILAN (FOOTBALL)

Action from Serie A rounded out the sporting weekend as Juventus faced AC Milan in a huge clash. Coming into this encounter both teams had a perfect record in the league with six points from their opening two matches. However this was the first real test against a fellow top team for either of them to really make a significant statement. Following a cagey and very tactical opening phase of the game where both teams were trying to establish themselves in the game, Juventus started to create some opportunities to score. The best of those came in the twenty-fourth minute when Manuel Locatelli stole the ball from Alexis Saelemaekers inside Milan’s half and found Nico Gonzalez who laid the ball out to Francisco Conceicao on the right hand side of the penalty area where he then cut inside and fired a shot towards goal which was well-saved by Mike Maignan. Later in the half, the home side created another chance for their electric winger Conceicao as he got on the end of a superb chipped pass from Douglas Luiz and hit a first-time strike from twelve yards out which was again magnificently stopped by Maignan. Those two opportunities proved to be the most clear-cut chances either side was able to create meaning that, at the end of a tightly-contested first half, the match was goalless. After the break, Juventus came out on the front foot and looking to open the scoring. In the fifty-fourth minute, Conceicao again went close when his direct low strike from twenty-five yards out beat Maignan but struck the far post and bounced away from the goal. Whilst the hosts were searching for a goal, it was clear that Milan had taken a more defensive approach. They were set up in Ruben Amorim’s familiar three-at-the-back system and seemingly their aim was to focus on keeping a clean sheet and attempt to catch out their opponents on the counter-attack. That tactical plan worked perfectly for them in the sixty-eighth minute as Luka Modric won possession from Randal Kolo Muani just inside his own half and then set Milan off on a swift attack which involved Ruben Loftus-Cheek passing the ball out to Samuel Chukwueze on the right wing who carried it forward before sending a pass across to Alphadjo Cisse on the left hand side of the penalty area who beat his defender, cut inside and then buried a superb finish into the far corner of Juventus’ net. It was an exceptional goal from Milan and finished off exquisitely by Cisse as he curled his shot into the far bottom corner, leaving Juventus goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario with no chance of stopping it. From then on the majority of the match was played inside Milan’s half as they looked to hold onto their lead, whereas Juventus were keen to level the score. In their search for an equaliser, Juventus turned to new singing Nick Woltemade who came off the bench to make his debut. On eighty-three minutes, he had a great chance when the ball bounced kindly for him in a busy penalty area in the aftermath of a blocked free-kick but he sent his attempt high and wide of Maignan’s goal. Nevertheless, Juventus kept putting pressure on Milan’s defence and they finally scored an equaliser in the second minute of stoppage time when Teun Koopmeiners cross from the left was met by Federico Gatti who powered a stunning header past Maignan, off the crossbar and into the back of the net. It was a phenomenal finish from the big centre-back who was playing as a striker in the latter stages of the match as he rescued a point for his side. As the full time whistle blew in Turin, a compelling tactical match-up ended with a point apiece as Juventus and Milan drew 1-1. That keeps both teams unbeaten in the league so far this season ahead of tough fixtures next weekend. On Saturday Milan will head to the capital to face Lazio, meanwhile Juventus come up against Sassuolo on Sunday.

Hugh Watches Sports: 24th-30th August 2026

Welcome to this week’s edition of Hugh Watches Sports. In this post we will reflect on a big Premier League clash, a crucial tennis tournament in the lead-up to the US Open, the return of a legend to Real Madrid, a huge rugby match-up and the conclusion of the FedEx Cup. Let’s get into it.

FULHAM VS CHELSEA (FOOTBALL)

Two manager’s who occupied the dugout at Real Madrid last season went head-to-head on Monday night as Alvaro Arbeloa’s Fulham took on Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea. This was the final game in the opening round of matches in the new Premier League season and both side’s would be hoping to make a winning start to the campaign. Under the lights at Craven Cottage, Alonso’s away side made the perfect opening to proceedings when Joao Pedro scored after just thirty-one seconds. A long ball forward by Fulham was headed down into space by Maxence Lacroix where it was picked up by Cole Palmer whose first time pass set Pedro away and the Brazilian provided a cool finish to chip the ball over the dive of Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno and into the net. It was a record-breaking moment as Pedro’s goal was officially the quickest ever scored on matchday one of a Premier League season. Going down a goal so early stunned Fulham but they did begin to grow into the game as we reached the twenty-minute mark. With the home side gaining momentum, they found an equaliser courtesy of Josh King who played a one-two with Timothy Castagne before spotting Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez out of position and capitalising by driving a firm strike into the back of the Spaniard’s net. That got Fulham level but it was a real howler from Sanchez who is somehow beginning a fourth season as the Blues’ first choice goalkeeper. In a first half of momentum swings, Chelsea quickly looked to re-establish a lead with a delightful run down the right by Palmer who then found Pedro in the penalty area and his volley drifted narrowly wide of Leno’s near post. Then, moments later, some neat play between Pedro and Morgan Rogers set up the latter for a shot which was blocked but went straight to Reece James whose effort was then smartly stopped by Leno. On forty-one minutes, the Blues eventually got back in front when Palmer found Lacroix on the right of Fulham’s penalty area and the centre-back produced a great piece of skill before laying the ball across for Rogers to provide a cool finish. That marked the perfect start to Rogers’ Chelsea career as he scored on his debut and ensured that his side went into half time 2-1 up. After the interval, things got better for the visitors when a long ball over the top exposed Fulham’s high defensive line and allowed Pedro in behind where he held the ball up before laying it off for Palmer who slotted it through the legs of Leno for Chelsea’s third goal. With a two-goal lead, Chelsea should’ve been in control of the encounter although another error from Sanchez meant they couldn’t be comfortable. Five minutes after Palmer’s goal, a cross into Chelsea’s penalty area was well controlled by Castagne who then saw his shot parried by Sanchez straight into the path of Gonzalo Garcia to score his first goal for his new club. It was a great moment for the young Spaniard as his goal lifted the energy inside Craven Cottage and gave his side some belief that there was still potential to turn the game around. As the match continued, Chelsea tried to gain some control but failed meanwhile Fulham went in search of an equaliser. Their best opportunity for a third goal came in the seventy-eighth minute when Jorge Cuenca’s long pass drifted over Chelsea’s defence and was met by Antonee Robinson but his chip over Sanchez landed wide of the far post. In fact, the only time we saw the ball end up in the net during the remainder of the game was when Pedro scored for Chelsea but his goal was ruled out for offside. Overall, a highly-entertaining and eventful West London derby ended 3-2 to Chelsea as they made a winning start to life under Xabi Alonso. Looking ahead, both Fulham and Chelsea are in action in the Carabao Cup second round later this week on Thursday.

WINSTON-SALEM OPEN (TENNIS)

The Winston-Salem Open offered a last chance for players on the ATP Tour to fine-tune their game ahead of the US Open. This is an ATP250 tournament which has been on the calendar for many years and is always played in the week directly prior to the final grand slam of the season. Amongst the players in attendance this year were former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev, recent Wimbledon semi-finalist Arthur Fery and former world number three Stefanos Tsitsipas. With the top sixteen seed’s receiving a bye in round one, the big story from the opening round was Cruz Hewitt who recorded his second ATP Tour match win by defeating Sebastian Gorzny in three sets. In round two, top seed Medvedev got his campaign underway but it was a short one as he lost 7-5 6-3 against Martin Damn Jr. In contrast, second seed Luciano Darderi was able to kick off his tournament with a victory as he got past Mattia Bellucci 2-6 6-4 6-2. Elsewhere, Fery returned to the ATP Tour for the first time since Wimbledon with a 6-1 7-5 triumph over Hewitt. Moving into the last sixteen, second seed Darderi was thumped 6-1 6-0 by Botic Van De Zandschulp. Meanwhile Tsitsipas went down in straight sets against Aleksandar Kovacevic. Also in the third round, a former champion of this event Lorenzo Sonego exited the tournament after a 7-5 6-3 defeat to James Duckworth. As we reached the quarter final stage in Winston-Salem, Ignacio Buse was the highest ranked player left in the draw and he faced eighth seed Juan Manuel Cerundolo. After three close sets, Buse moved past Cerundolo to book his place in the semi finals. Elsewhere, fourth seed Fery saw off Kovacevic with a 3-6 7-5 6-3 victory. There was another three-setter quarter final in which Duckworth beat Fabian Marozsan to reach the last four. In the other last eight encounter, Benjamin Bonzi defeated Van De Zandschulp 7-6 6-4. On Friday in Winston-Salem, the semi finals were played with a huge opportunity for the four remaining players to get to an ATP Tour level final. Unfortunately one of the semi finals was decided by injury as Duckworth retired midway through the second set of his encounter against Fery. That saw the Brit progress into the first ATP Tour level final of his career. In the other last four match-up, Buse edged past Bonzi 6-2 4-6 6-1 to reach his second ATP Tour final and his first on a hard court. The Peruvian’s only prior tour-level final came earlier this year on the clay courts of Hamburg where he won the title. On Saturday evening Fery took on Buse for the trophy. After Buse sealed a close first set 6-3, he then cruised through the second to secure his second ATP Tour title with a 6-3 6-2 triumph over Fery. A routine victory in just seventy-seven minutes saw Buse become the youngest champion in tournament history at Winston-Salem. This tournament, coupled with the WTA250 event in Monterrey which was won by Diane Parry, concluded the build-up to the US Open. The fourth and final grand slam of the year begins on Sunday and I have written a preview for that which can be found via this link – https://hbopinions.wordpress.com/2026/08/29/2026-us-open-preview/

REAL MADRID VS REAL SOCIEDAD (FOOTBALL)

4843 days after he last sat in the Real Madrid manager’s seat, Jose Mourinho returned to the Bernabeu to take charge of Los Blancos once again. Following two season’s without winning a trophy, the world’s biggest club has welcomed back Mourinho with the aim of getting them back to winning ways domestically and in Europe. Having kicked off his second reign as manager with a 2-1 win away to Espanyol, Wednesday night saw Mourinho’s team play their first home game of the season. Their opposition would be Real Sociedad who finished tenth in La Liga last season and began this campaign with a 1-0 defeat against Real Betis last Friday. As the match got underway, it was the visitors who had the first big opportunity to score when Takefusa Kubo picked up the ball on the edge of the penalty area and played in Mikel Oyarzabal whose first-time low shot was well-saved by Thibaut Courtois. Ten minutes later, Real Sociedad goalkeeper Alex Remiro was called into action as he got down quickly to block Vinicius’ attempt after the Brazilian was set up by Kylian Mbappe. The first goal of the evening arrived in the fortieth minute and unsurprisingly it was superstar Mbappe who opened the scoring. A surging run through the middle of the pitch from Federico Valverde set Real Madrid on the attack before he passed the ball to Mbappe who took one touch to go across his defender and then buried the ball past Remiro. However the home side didn’t have things all their own way as Real Sociedad quickly got back on level terms four minutes later thanks to Luka Susic. It came from along pass out of defence by Sergio Gomez which set away Job Ochieng on the left wing one-on-one with Ibrahima Konate and the attacker cut inside to unleash a shot, which was blocked by Konate but the ball fell kindly into the path of Susic who directed his finish beyond Courtois from twelve yards out. That impressive response to going a goal down from the away side meant we headed into half time with the score at 1-1. Straight after the break, Real Madrid almost re-took the lead as Mbappe got on the end of a superb pass from Arda Guler inside the penalty area but was denied a second goal by the feet of Remiro. On sixty minutes, the home side got their reward for a positive start to the second half when a stunning quick exchange of passes between Valverde, Mbappe and Jude Bellingham tore through Real Sociedad’s defence and presented Mbappe with the chance to score his second goal which he duly did. It was a phenomenal move and a real moment of quality to put Los Blancos back into a winning position on the scoreboard. A one-goal lead soon became a two-goal one when Bellingham’s shot inside the penalty area was blocked but the Englishman quickly won the ball back and set up Vinicius to tap the ball into the net for Real Madrid’s third goal of the evening. It was magnificent play from Bellingham and his hard work allowed Vinicius to open his goal scoring account for the new season. Whilst the home side were fairly dominant in the second half, Real Sociedad still posed a threat and they almost narrowed their deficit in the seventy-fifth minute when Beñat Turrientes’ strike from outside the penalty area forced Courtois into making a good save to parry the ball away for a corner. After that though, Real Madrid’s control over proceedings resumed and soon got even greater as they added a fourth goal. A wonderful pass from Vinicius on the edge of the penalty area went between the leg’s of a Real Sociedad defender and straight to Mbappe who provided a lovely delicate chipped finish to complete his hat-trick. It was another sensational goal from Mourinho’s side who had responded very well to his half time team-talk. They nearly increased their advantage three minutes later when Valverde carried the ball into the penalty area but his shot was well-stopped by Remiro. Late on in the encounter, the home side had the ball in the net again as Brahim Diaz converted the rebound after Remiro had parried Carlos Espi’s shot, however the goal was disallowed after a VAR review due to an offside in the build-up. Ultimately that didn’t matter too much though as Real Madrid secured an impressive 4-1 victory over Real Sociedad to continue Mourinho’s winning return to the club. Moving forward, both teams have La Liga matches at the weekend as Real Madrid host Malaga, meanwhile Real Sociedad will face Espanyol.

SOUTH AFRICA VS NEW ZEALAND (RUGBY UNION)

Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tour continued this weekend as South Africa and New Zealand went head-to-head for the second successive week. Seven days ago, New Zealand were victorious in the first test match of the four match series, winning 33-16 in Johannesburg. This weekend South Africa would be looking to bounce back and level the series score as Cape Town played host. In contrast, New Zealand would be aiming to pull off another win to pull into a 2-0 lead on the tour. As the match begun, the Springboks made the ideal start with a try inside the opening two minutes which was scored by Jesse Kriel and converted by Cheslin Kolbe. They held onto the lead until the fourteenth minute when a brilliant passing move saw New Zealand create space for Will Jordan to carry the ball into before he laid it off to Cam Roigard to score. That, coupled with a successful conversion from Ruben Love levelled the score at 7-7 after sixteen minutes. Next, South Africa re-took the lead thanks to a penalty scored by Kolbe. That gave the home side some momentum which they were keen to capitalise on although it was proving tough to break through the All Blacks resolute defence. In the twenty-first minute South Africa’s persistence paid off as Damian De Allende was able to force the ball over the try line. Then with Kolbe stepping up to efficiently add the extra two points, South Africa moved 17-7 ahead. Inevitably there was a response from New Zealand as a sweeping move which began with a line-out on the left and ended with a try scored by Damian McKenzie on the right narrowed the deficit between them and their hosts. As Love kicked the ball through the posts, the All Blacks trailed by three points at the thirty-minute mark. In the closing stages of the first half, a scrum deep in New Zealand’s territory was won by South Africa and despite the best efforts of a stubborn All Blacks defence, the Springboks were able to power the ball over the try line. It was Siya Kolisi who was the player that spotted and forced himself through a gap to score his team’s third try of the afternoon. With another successful conversion from Kolbe complete, South Africa were 24-14 up at half time following a thrilling opening forty minutes. Moving into the second half, indiscipline proved costly for New Zealand as Kolbe scored two penalties in the space of four minutes to increase South Africa’s lead. The first try of the half didn’t arrive until the sixty-sixth minute when Leroy Carter flew down the left wing to score for New Zealand. Although the resulting conversion attempt was missed which kept the All Blacks eleven points behind with just under fifteen minutes to go. On seventy-four minutes, another penalty awarded to South Africa and duly scored by Kolbe as good as ended New Zealand’s hopes of a comeback. Having said that, the All Blacks were able to register another try in the final moments when Ardie Savea forced the ball over the try line. That gave Love the opportunity to end his kicking day positively and he did just that to add two points to his side’s total. As the final seconds ticked down, there was a late yellow card dished out by the referee to Lood De Jager for a dangerous tackle. When the full time whistle sounded in Cape Town, South Africa clinched a 33-26 triumph to draw level in the series. For the second week running we had witnessed a highly-entertaining and competitive match between the two highest-ranked nation’s in the world. Next weekend, rugby’s greatest rivalry heads to the FNB Stadium for the third test match of the series where both team’s will be seeking to take a 2-1 lead.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL ROUND (GOLF)

The 2026 FedEx Cup Champion was crowned this weekend at the PGA Tour Championship in Atlanta. This marked the third of three FedEx Cup playoff events which feature a progressive cut, leaving just the top thirty golfer’s on the tour to compete this weekend. Although sadly only twenty-nine golfer’s would tee off on Thursday as J.J. Spaun withdrew from the tournament due to an injury. After the opening three rounds played across Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Viktor Hovland sat at the top of the leaderboard on -15, one shot ahead of Ryan Gerard. Then there was a quartet of players on -12; Ludvig Aberg, Adam Scott, Scottie Scheffler and Chris Gotterup. Coming into Sunday’s final round, it was likely that the champion would come from one of those leading six, which featured two former champions in the shape of Hovland and Scheffler. As the final round of the weekend got underway in Atlanta, Scott and Aberg were paired together and both matched par across the front nine holes to remain on -12 at the halfway mark. Meanwhile, Gotterup hit a double bogey at the fourth hole but then made up for it with back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh to recover to -12 through his opening nine holes. Whilst that trio struggled to make progress on the leaderboard, Scheffler started off his round in fine form with birdies at the second and fourth holes. The world number one then dropped a shot at the seventh hole but immediately recovered it with a birdie at the eighth to move onto -14 at the halfway mark of his round and put pressure on Gerard and Hovland. In the leading pair, Gerard made a disastrous start with a double bogey at the first hole, whilst Hovland also dropped a shot at the opener. A birdie at the eighth saw Hovland return back onto -15 whereas Gerard couldn’t find a way to gain any shots through the remainder of the front nine. That meant with nine holes of the FedEx cup remaining, Hovland held a one shot lead over Scheffler, with Gerard dropping to join Scott, Aberg and Gotterup on -12. Elsehwere on the course, the highlight of the day came from Justin Rose who hit a hole-in-one at the ninth hole. Not only that but it was also a ‘slam dunk’ from Rose as the ball didn’t bounce or roll into the hole, it landed straight into it from his tee shot. Focusing back on the leaders as we moved onto the back nine, three bogey’s put an end to Scott’s hopes of challenging for the title. Similarly, two bogey’s for Gotterup saw him also slip down the leaderboard. With Aberg hitting one birdie but two bogey’s on the back nine, that left just three men potentially in contention for the win. Playing ahead of the final pairing, Scheffler continued his impressive round with birdies at the tenth and thirteenth holes, before dropping a shot at the fourteenth but then making up for it with a birdie at the sixteenth. Whilst those around him struggled, an excellent four-under-par final round saw Scheffler take the clubhouse lead on -16 and set a target for Gerard and Hovland to chase down. Back on the course, Gerard was having an underwhelming day as he couldn’t recover from his early double bogey and ended the round two over par. As for Hovland, he needed a birdie to join Scheffler on -16 however instead he saw his title hopes slip away with a bogey at the thirteenth hole compounded by another at the seventeenth to end his chances. With a total nobody could catch, Scheffler won the Tour Championship and became the 2026 FedEx Cup champion. It seemed fitting that the best player on the PGA Tour this year and the reigning world number one was the man to lift the trophy in Atlanta. This was his second FedEx Cup triumph after previously winning this event in 2024. That meant Scheffler became just the third player ever to win the FedEx Cup on multiple occasions after Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. That concluded the 2026 PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoffs as Scheffler clinched the title, three shots clear of second-placed Hovland.

2026 US Open Preview

It’s time for the fourth and final grand slam of the year as the world’s best tennis players arrive in New York for the US Open. After a season which has produced three new grand slam champion’s as well as an array of great stories, the US Open looks set to provide us with plenty to discuss across the next fortnight. Here is my guide to what has been happening in the build-up, plus who is best placed to challenge for the respective singles titles.

US OPEN BUILD-UP

Following grand slam’s on the clay at Roland Garros and the grass at Wimbledon, the US Open see’s the world’s top players return to playing on hard courts. So far since making the transition from grass, there have been a series of hard court tournaments in America where players have been looking to fine-tune their game. The US hard court season began in Washington where Alexandra Eala put together an incredible run including wins over Naomi Osaka and Jessica Pegula to clinch the women’s title. Meanwhile there was home success in the men’s draw as Taylor Fritz defeated Rafael Jodar in the final to lift the trophy in Washington. From there, attention then switched to Canada with a WTA1000 event in Toronto played alongside an ATP Masters 1000 in Montreal. In Toronto, Iga Swiatek returned to form to clinch her first title of the year, seeing off Elena Rybakina in the final. Across Canada, Ben Shelton successfully defended his title in Montreal by defeating Brandon Nakashima in an all-American battle for the trophy. Next, tennis quickly moved on to Cincinnati where the women and men came together for a joint WTA1000 and ATP Masters 1000 tournament. Just like Swiatek the previous week, Coco Gauff found her best tennis at the right time to win her first title of the year. The world number four beat compatriot Pegula in the final to clinch her second Cincinnati title. Elsewhere, the men’s draw saw a new ATP Masters 1000 champion crowned as Arthur Fils lifted the trophy after a three set victory over Frances Tiafoe in the final. As I write this there is are two ongoing tournaments as some players opt to try and play some extra matches ahead of their arrival in New York. They are an WTA250 event in Monterrey and an ATP250 tournament in Winston-Salem.

THE FIGHT FOR THE TITLE AND TO BE NUMBER ONE

Not only is the US Open title at stake across the next fortnight, but the world number one ranking may also be available. Coming into the tournament, Aryna Sabalenka is the world’s best player and has held that ranking for over two years although with 2000 points to defend having won last season’s US Open, she is under pressure. In fact, if Sabalenka doesn’t win the title this year then she would lose the world number one ranking. In pole position to take over top spot is Elena Rybakina who knows she will be the new world number one if she reaches the final in New York, regardless of Sabalenka’s end result. However, if Rybakina exits the tournament before the semi-final stage then that will open the door for Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff to potentially become the world number one. Although, in order for either American to do that they would need to win the title. Ultimately, Rybakina is best-placed going into the US Open to leave it as world number one as the other three contenders would all need to win the title in order to prevent her from reaching top spot. With all that in mind, let’s look at the current form of the four players and examine their likelihood of departing New York with a new trophy in their bag. In the case of Sabalenka, she is the two-time defending champion at the US Open and also made the final in 2023. However her form coming into this year’s event has been underwhelming by her high standards having not won a title since the Miami Open at the end of March. The top seed went out of both Toronto and Cincinnati at the round of sixteen stage so there are definitely question marks over where her game is at right now. Looking at the draw, she has a fairly kind opening week so that, coupled with the good memories of being back on the court where she has enjoyed a lot of success, may help her re-discover her best form across the next two weeks. At the opposite end of the draw sits second seed Rybakina, albeit there are concerns over her fitness after she pulled out of her quarter final in Cincinnati with an injury. If she is able to take to the court then expect to see her play quite freely given the pressure is on the other top players when it comes to the world number one scenario’s. As for third seed Pegula, she arrives in New York in great form with two final appearances in her last three events. The American is a former finalist at the US Open and this is probably the best she’s been playing since that run to the 2024 final. With a generally comfortable first week draw, she then faces a potentially brutal second week with a projected quarter final against Karolina Muchova followed by a potential semi final meeting with Sabalenka. Elsewhere, the most difficult draw for a top four seed was handed to Gauff who opens her campaign against Zeynep Sonmez, before a potential round three encounter with the in-form Sara Bejlek. Then Gauff could face either talented youngster Iga Jovic or Washington champion Alexandra Eala in the round of sixteen. A potentially good omen for Gauff though is that the only other time she won Cincinnati, she went on to win the US Open a few weeks later. Additionally, her success in Cincinnati shows she is playing excellently and full of confidence at the moment which will serve her well in New York. Meanwhile, some other names to look out for who will be hoping to challenge deep into the second week include Mirra Andreeva, Linda Noskova, Muchova, Iga Swiatek, Amanda Anisimova, Naomi Osaka and Eala.

ALCARAZ RETURNS IN A WIDE OPEN DRAW

This is potentially one of the most unpredictable men’s grand slams in years. For a long time we had the dominance of the big four in which one or more of them were always favourite to win heading into a slam. Then, in the last three season’s we’ve got used to it being either Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz who seemed destined to claim the title. However, with Sinner missing this US Open due to a knee injury and Alcaraz making his comeback from a long time out, the men’s draw feels very open. Given that his name is in the draw, Alcaraz instantly becomes the favourite but nobody really knows how fit he is to compete across two weeks of tennis. The Spaniard has been out since April with a wrist injury which has seen him miss both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, as well as the lead-up event’s to the US Open. Therefore, there are understandably doubts over how his wrist will respond to being back playing again. If he’s able to play healthily then he will definitely fancy his chances of defending the title which he won twelve months ago in New York. In the absence of Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev has climbed the rankings to world number two and will be the top seed at the US Open. In that time Zverev has also picked up his maiden grand slam triumph at Roland Garros. Despite a disappointing showing in Toronto and Cincinnati where he made respective round two and round four exit’s, Zverev has a relatively kind draw in New York so will be hoping to use the first week to play himself into form. As the only grand slam champion in the entire top half of the draw, it would be a surprise if Zverev didn’t at least make the final over the next fortnight. Elsewhere in the draw, Novak Djokovic will continue his search for a twenty-fifth grand slam title. Mostly due to his age, the four-time former US Open winner has struggled with injury at times this year. However he’s also shown that if he is fit then he certainly still has the level of tennis to win big matches. Most notably at the Australian Open when he beat Sinner in four sets. If Djokovic can stay healthy then he is definitely a contender to be lifting the trophy in two weeks time. A potential issue for Djokovic and Alcaraz is that they are in the bottom half of the draw, which appears significantly stronger than the top half. The bottom half includes Montreal champion Ben Shelton, former champion Daniil Medvedev and two in-form American’s in the shape of Frances Tiafoe and Brandon Nakashima. All four of them will fancy their chances of making the final, particularly if Djokovic or Alcaraz suffer defeat in the early rounds. Also in the bottom half of the draw is Cincinnati champion Arthur Fils who seems to be most likely of anyone to disrupt Sinner and Alcaraz’s dominance of the ATP Tour in the coming years. The young Frenchman is full of confidence and playing great tennis so he is certainly a contender to win the title based on current form. Meanwhile, in the top half, if it’s not to be Zverev who makes the final then the next highest seed is Felix Auger-Aliassime who made the semi finals at last year’s US Open. Albeit, the Canadian arrives in New York in poor form so will be hoping returning to the scene of his best grand slam result will help him re-discover his best tennis. Some other names to look out for in the men’s draw are Flavio Cobolli, Taylor Fritz, Rafael Jodar and Jakub Mensik. Finally in this preview, I feel it is appropriate to give a mention to Gael Monfils and Stan Wawrinka. This US Open will be the final grand slam in their career’s and they will both be remembered as legends of the sport. Over the years Monfils has been the great entertainer on the ATP Tour with some exciting and highly enjoyable style of tennis. Meanwhile Wawrinka will be remembered fondly for his incredible performances and how we won three grand slam title’s whilst playing in the era as the big four.

Bringing it all together, we are set for a thrilling fortnight of tennis in New York. There are plenty of stories to be written across the tournament as we follow the race to become the WTA world number one as well as crowning the last two grand slam champions of the year. As always at grand slams, I will be rounding up all the stories and results from the US Open across my Hugh Watches Sports post throughout the tournament.

Hugh Watches Sports: 17th-23rd August 2026

Welcome to this week’s Hugh Watches Sports post. In this edition we will look back on a massive tennis tournament, the start of the new Premier League and Serie A season’s, the return of Formula 1, a huge rugby match and one of the biggest events on the PGA Tour. Let’s get into it.

CINCINNATI OPEN (TENNIS)

The Cincinnati Open is always a crucial tournament in the lead-up to the final grand slam of the year. Taking place just two weeks prior to the US Open, Cincinnati attracts the majority of the world’s top players as they look to find their best form before heading to New York. In fact, nine of the top ten women’s players were in action including last year’s champion Iga Swiatek. Despite the top thirty-two seed’s receiving a bye in round one, there was still a former Cincinnati champion in action as Karolina Pliskova took on compatriot Sara Bejlek. Although it was a tough experience for the 2016 winner as she lost 6-0 6-2. Also in the first round, we saw Venus Williams in action as she was beaten 6-2 6-2 by Emiliana Arango. Moving into the second round, Swiatek began her title defence with a 6-3 6-0 triumph over Arango. Meanwhile, sixth seed Linda Noskova picked up her first singles match win as a Wimbledon champion when she saw off Katie Boulter in straight sets. Elsewhere, 2023 champion Coco Gauff opened her campaign with a tough 2-6 6-4 6-1 victory against Liudmila Samsonova. Perhaps the most dramatic match of round two came when eighth seed Elina Svitolina saved seven match points on route to defeating Tereza Valentova 3-6 7-6 6-0. Although that effort took its toll on the Ukrainian as she withdrew from the tournament before her scheduled round three clash with Xiyu Wang. Elsewhere in the draw during the third round, Swiatek fought off the challenge of Maria Sakkari in three sets to progress into the last sixteen. Meanwhile there were straight set victories for all of the top four seed’s Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Gauff. On a busy Wednesday in Cincinnati, the entire fourth round was played. The big headline came right at the end of the day in the night session where Bejlek produced a stunning performance to defeat world number one Sabalenka 7-6 6-4. Also in the last sixteen, there were two battles between top-ten seed’s as Marta Kostyuk got past Mirra Andreeva in three sets, whilst Amanda Anisimova beat Noskova 6-1 6-4. Moving on to the quarter finals, Bejlek continued her incredible run with a hard-fought 3-6 6-4 7-6 victory against Madison Keys to reach the biggest semi final of her career. Meanwhile, Gauff comfortably defeated Kostyuk 6-2 6-2 to progress into her seventeenth WTA1000 semi final. In the bottom half of the draw, Pegula beat Anisimova 6-4 2-6 7-6 in a highly-competitive all-American encounter. Plus, Swiatek continued her title defence as Rybakina retired with an injury five games into their quarter final battle. On Saturday, the first semi final on court saw Pegula seal her spot in a WTA1000 final for the seventh time as she defeated Swiatek 7-5 4-6 6-4 in three tight sets. Then, Gauff produced an exceptional display to bring Bejlek’s great run in Cincinnati to an end. The American secured her place in an eighth WTA1000 final with a 6-4 6-1 triumph. That meant that for the first time since 1970 the women’s final in Cincinnati would be between two American’s. As the showpiece match commenced, Gauff made a phenomenal start and raced into a 5-0 lead. The fourth seed went on to claim the first set 6-2 and put herself in a great position to win a second Cincinnati title. In a much closer second set, Gauff edged it 6-4 to seal the trophy and her first title of the 2026 season. It was the perfect end to a sensational week for Gauff in a Cincinnati as she deservedly won this tournament for a second time. This success marked the fourth WTA1000 title of her career and sets her up very nicely for the upcoming US Open where she is a former champion.

In the men’s tournament, the draw was incredibly open due to the absence of 2025 champion Carlos Alcaraz and 2024 winner Jannik Sinner who are both currently injured. Normally one of those two would be the overwhelming favourite coming into an ATP Masters 1000 event but with neither of them in Cincinnati, it presented a big opportunity for everybody else. In the opening round there was a battle between two wildcard’s as Rinky Hijikata defeated Gael Monfils 2-6 7-6 6-3 in a highly-entertaining encounter. Meanwhile 2017 champion Grigor Dimitrov lost out in three sets against Sebastian Baez. Moving on to round two, the tournament’s thirty-two seed’s all entered the draw with top seed Alexander Zverev recording a 3-6 6-3 6-3 win over Cameron Norrie. Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic was in action for the first time since Wimbledon although he faced a tough draw against big-hitting Thiago Agustin Tirante. In a lengthy battle that was played in humid conditions, Tirante pulled off a huge victory to see off Djokovic in three sets. Also in round two, recently-crowned Montreal champion Ben Shelton made an immediate exit from Cincinnati as he was beaten 6-4 6-4 by qualifier Jaime Faria. In the third round, Zverev edged past Terence Atmane 7-6 7-6 to continue his tournament. Meanwhile, fourth seed Daniil Medvedev was beaten 6-7 7-6 6-1 by the in-form Brandon Nakashima. Round three was rounded out by a night session match-up between two exciting American’s in which France’s Tiafoe got past Learner Tien in three close sets. In the fourth round, Zverev found himself on the end of a defeat as Tommy Paul came back from match point down to beat the top seed 4-6 7-6 6-4. There was also a round four exit for the second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime as he went down 6-3 6-4 against Tiafoe. Elsewhere, Tirante’s fine form continued as he saw off fourteenth seed Jakub Mensik in three sets to reach the quarter finals of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time. In the last eight, Tirante’s memorable run in Cincinnati came to an end as he lost to twenty-first seed Arthur Fils. Elsewhere in the quarter finals, Flavio Cobolli booked his spot in a first ATP Masters 1000 semi final by defeating Paul 2-6 6-3 6-4. Meanwhile an all-American battle saw Nakashima come back from a break down in the third set to beat sixth seed Taylor Fritz 7-6 4-6 6-3. The semi final line-up was completed by Tiafoe who recorded a 7-6 7-5 victory over tenth seed Lorenzo Musetti. On Saturday in Cincinnati, Fils battled past Cobolli to progress into the first ATP Masters 1000 final of his career with a 6-3 6-4 win. Later on in the day, Tiafoe saved three set points before winning a close first set 7-5 against Nakashima. He then won the second set 6-3 to seal his place in a second ATP Masters 1000 final, both of which have come in Cincinnati. That set up a clash between two of the most exciting to watch players on the ATP Tour as Fils faced Tiafoe with them both searching for a maiden title at this level. As the final got underway, one break of serve was enough to settle the first set and it went the way of Fils as he claimed it 6-3. Next, Tiafoe responded brilliantly to win the second set 6-1 and force a decider. The match was being played at quite a pace with the opening two sets taking just fifty-four minutes. In the decider, an early break of serve for Fils broke Tiafoe’s resolve as the American began to tire. With firm control throughout the third set, Fils clinched the biggest title of his career with a 6-3 1-6 6-0 triumph. It was a well-deserved success for the young Frenchman who became the first player from his country to win an ATP Masters 1000 event since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2014. With Cincinnati now completed, attention switches to the US Open which begins next Sunday where players will compete for the last available grand slam trophy of the calendar year.

ARSENAL VS COVENTRY CITY (FOOTBALL)

Two of last season’s league champions went head-to-head on Friday night to open the new Premier Leahue season. Back in May, Arsenal won the Premier League for the first time in over twenty years, meanwhile Coventry City lifted the EFL Championship trophy. That success saw Frank Lampard’s side promoted to England’s top division after twenty-five years outside of it. Over the summer, both teams had spent money to strengthen their squad’s which meant there were an array of new signings making their league debut’s under the lights at the Emirates Stadium. One of those was Arsenal’s Christos Tzolis who was involved in the game’s opening goal in the fifteenth minute. The Greek winger stole the ball off Milan Van Ewijk on the left hand side and laid it off for Riccardo Calafiori who found Kai Havertz on the edge of the penalty area and the German provided a clinical finish to put Arsenal ahead. It was the perfect start for the champions as they weathered the early enthusiasm of their visitors and then dented it with a goal. Now it was crucial for Coventry to try and establish themselves in the game without going behind further. Although they weren’t able to do that as a strong run through the middle of the pitch from Declan Rice set Arsenal on the attack with the Englishman then playing the ball out to Tzolis whose cross from the left was parried by Coventry goalkeeper Carl Rushworth straight into the path of Bukayo Saka who tucked the ball into the net for Arsenal’s second goal. It was a simple finish for Saka as he, after ending his World Cup by scoring a hat-trick, opened his goal scoring account for the new Premier League season. Despite finding themselves 2-0 down inside twenty-four minutes, Coventry responded positively. First, Ellis Simms did well to get past Arsenal defender Gabriel before he was fouled by the Brazilian, earning Gabriel a yellow card and winning Coventry a free-kick right on the edge of the penalty area. Later in the half, a volley from Loum Tchaouna beat Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya but looped just over the crossbar, landing on top of the net. That meant that as the half time whistle blew at the Emirates Stadium, the home side held a 2-0 lead over their newly-promoted visitors. Any hopes of an unlikely comeback from Coventry were all but ended early in the second half when Martin Odegaard added Arsenal’s third goal. A neat move involving Odegaard, Saka and Ben White ended with the latter cutting the ball back for Odegaard to shoot from ten yards out and, although he scuffed his effort, it found its way beyond Rushworth and into the back of the net. Just like the first half, Coventry weren’t deterred by conceding though and they actually had more possession and were the team on the front foot for the remainder of the match. That made for an enjoyable end-to-end game with Arsenal forcing Rushworth to make some smart saves, meanwhile Coventry also called Raya into action. The visitors best chance to score came in the eighty-sixth minute when Victor Torp’s cross from the left was headed towards goal by substitute Jack Rudoni but Raya was able to deny him what would’ve been Coventry’s first Premier League goal for a quarter of a century. Ultimately though, the opening game of the new league season ended in a comfortable 3-0 triumph for the defending champions. It was a strong start for Arsenal as they looked to send out a message to their competitors that they’re ready to defend their title. In contrast, Coventry’s return to the top division ended in defeat but they could take positives from their performance and be relieved that one of their toughest fixtures of the season was now out of the way.

DUTCH GRAND PRIX (FORMULA 1)

After a three-week summer break, Formula 1 returned this weekend with the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort. Coming into the twelfth round of the world championship, Kimi Antonelli leads the way at the top of the driver’s standings, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. In addition to the regular points scored in Sunday’s Grand Prix, Zandvoort was one of this season’s six sprint weekend’s, meaning there were extra points available for the driver’s and teams on Saturday. In the sprint race, Russell triumphed from pole position with Charles Leclerc finishing second and Lando Norris in third. Later on in the day, qualifying for the Grand Prix took place with Norris clinching pole position for the second consecutive race. He would be joined on the front row by Russell, with Antonelli and Oscar Piastri directly behind them. The third row of the grid belonged to the two Ferrari’s of Hamilton and Leclerc, ahead of home hero Max Verstappen who started in seventh. On race day, there was some rainfall around thirty minutes before the race start which turned out to have an influence on the opening lap. As much as the rain had stopped by the time the racing began, there were still some damp patches on the track. Following a clean start off the line where Norris kept hold of the lead, whilst Antonelli snuck past his teammate Russell for second place, there was a huge crash for Verstappen as he spun in a wet area of track and was sent into the barriers. Thankfully the four-time world champion quickly reported that he was okay after a heavy impact, but it was an unfortunate end to what may be his final Dutch Grand Prix, since Zandvoort is set to leave the F1 calendar next year. That incident understandably caused a red flag and the remaining twenty-one car’s returned to the pit lane. As the race was set to get going again, there was a second retirement from the race as Oliver Bearman stopped his Haas on the formation lap due to an engine problem. When racing finally did resume, we had another standing start although this time Norris had Antonelli alongside him on the front row. As the lights went out for the second time, Antonelli reacted better than Norris and he claimed the inside line at turn one to take the lead of the race. Behind them, Piastri produced a wonderful move to cruise past Russell and up into the top three. In the laps that followed, the race began to settle down with Antonelli leading the field from Norris, Piastri, Russell, Leclerc and Hamilton. That was until lap eighteen when Mercedes opted to pit Russell in an attempt to undercut Piastri and it worked as the McLaren driver’s pit stop on the next lap was slow, allowing Russell to get back ahead of the Australian. On lap twenty-one, the top three of Antonelli, Norris and Leclerc all made their first pit stop’s, which saw Hamilton go through into the race lead. Although that was only temporary as the seven-time world champion pitted on lap twenty-five, allowing Antonelli to re-take top spot on the leaderboard. Whilst the order at the front looked fairly consistent after the first round of pit stops, we witnessed some sensational racing further down the field as Nico Hulkenberg, Arvid Lindblad, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda all squabbled over places nine to twelve with multiple changes in position across a thrilling four laps of wheel-to-wheel action. Eventually Hulkenberg was the driver to make ninth place his own and put some distance between himself and his rivals in that particular battle. On lap thirty-four, Leclerc found a way past Piastri to move up into fourth, before his teammate Hamilton also overtook the McLaren a lap later at turn one. Meanwhile, at the front, Norris was closing the gap between himself and Antonelli with the top two now comfortably ahead of Russell in third. Under pressure from Norris, Antonelli came into pit on lap forty hoping to pull off an undercut, although McLaren didn’t respond as Norris stayed out and built an advantage at the front. Seven laps later, Norris headed into the pits for his final change of tyre’s. Whilst Hamilton now held the lead, having not pitted for a second time yet, Norris was now behind Antonelli but on fresher tyres. In fact, within five laps, the top three of Hamilton, Antonelli and Norris were all within a second of each other on the track with the McLaren driver looking the fastest of the trio. On lap fifty-four, Norris made his move as he pulled off a magnificent overtake around the outside of turn one to sneak past Antonelli, before pulling alongside and past Hamilton on the run into turn eleven. The reigning world champion was now in the lead and he quickly set off down the road to increase his advantage over Hamilton and Antonelli. As we began the next lap, Antonelli overtook Hamilton to move into second place, however the drama wasn’t over as Esteban Ocon stopped on track, bringing out a virtual safety car. That prompted Antonelli, Hamilton, Leclerc and Piastri to head into the pit lane, giving them newer tyres for the remaining seventeen laps of the race. Those pit stops also saw Russell gain positions by staying on track as he now sat in second, albeit on harder and older tyres than those behind him. When racing resumed once again, it was now up to Antonelli on soft tyres to chase down Russell and Norris who remained on the hard compound. Despite being on a slower tyre, Norris actually managed to extend his lead at the front, whereas Antonelli quickly closed down the gap between himself and Russell. Team order’s given by Mercedes saw Russell let his teammate through on lap sixty-six which gave Antonelli six laps to close down an eleven-second deficit to Norris. Remarkably though, that gap grew bigger as Norris was putting in a stunning performance to solidify his position out in front. On lap seventy, a collision between the two Williams’ of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon left debris on the track which required a virtual safety car period. That proved very helpful for Russell as he tried to hold off the challenge of Hamilton in his rear view mirrors. With just over a lap to go, racing got back underway but Hamilton couldn’t find a way past his former teammate. As the chequered flag was waved, Norris secured back-to-back race victories with a sensational drive in Zandvoort. He was followed across the line by Antonelli, ahead of Russell, clinching a double podium for the Mercedes team. Behind them came Hamilton, Leclerc, Piastri, Liam Lawson, Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly in the top ten. Ultimately though the afternoon belonged to Norris who gained the perfect redemption after a DNF at this circuit twelve months ago to stand on the top step of the podium this year. That marked Norris’ thirteenth race win in Formula 1 and he became just the second driver after Antonelli to win consecutive races this season. In terms of the championship, Antonelli remains in top spot, meanwhile Russell moves into joint second as he is now tied with Hamilton on 183 points. Looking ahead, Formula 1 now takes a week off before returning in Monza on the 4th September.

SOUTH AFRICA VS NEW ZEALAND (RUGBY UNION)

A four-test match series between South Africa and New Zealand began on Saturday. Appropriately named the ‘Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tour’, given the two nations are ranked as the top two on the planet, these four matches will see world champions South Africa host the All Blacks in the opening three games, before he fourth takes place in America. Coming into this first encounter, South Africa were slight favourites and they did win the most recent meeting between the two nations last September. As the opening match of the series kicked off at Ellis Park, the hosts got ahead inside the first four minutes thanks to a penalty scored by Cheslin Kolbe. However, they weren’t in front for long, as Will Jordan forced the ball over the try line to earn New Zealand five points. On thirteen minutes, South Africa scored their first try of the afternoon when Andre Esterhuizen spotted a gap in New Zealand’s defence and charged through it to run it for the try. With Kolbe then stepping up to send the resulting conversion attempt between the posts, the Springboks took a 10-5 lead. In a game which featured plenty of swings in momentum, the next scoring play came from the All Blacks as Tupou Vaa’i beat a player on the left wing before laying the ball off for Joshua Moorby to carry in for a try. It was a neat attacking move from the away side which, coupled with a successful conversion attempt from Ruben Love, saw them go 12-10 up. Inevitably, there was an immediate response from South Africa as they won a penalty in a scrum, which Kolbe kicked between the posts to post another three points on the scoreboard. That meant that at half time in the first test match between the world’s top two teams, South Africa were ahead by just one point. Moving into the second half, another penalty scored by Kolbe enabled the hosts to extended their advantage to 16-10. Then, almost straight from the kick-off, Fabian Holland charged down and blocked Grant Williams’ clearance before gathering the ball and carrying it over South Africa’s try line. That narrowed New Zealand’s deficit to one point and then they took the lead when Love directed the following conversion through the posts. Next came a sustained attack from the Springboks but they couldn’t break through New Zealand’s resolute defence who did well to keep them out. On fifty-seven minutes, New Zealand set away on an attack with Damian McKenzie charging into space and as much as he didn’t reach the try line, he did manage to win a scrum deep into South Africa territory. That proved crucial as from the resulting scrum, Luke Jacobson was able to force the ball over the try line to put the visitors further ahead. When Love then stepped up to add the extra two points with a successful conversion, New Zealand moved 25-16 up, giving them some breathing space on the scoreboard for the first time in the afternoon. With twenty minutes to go, the onus was now firmly on South Africa to fight back but they still couldn’t get through the resilient and well-organised defence of their opponents. Then, on seventy minutes, came a pivotal moment in the game as Marco Van Staden was sent to the sin bin for foul play. Furthermore, Cobus Reinach then joined him on the next play when he was also shown a yellow card, this time for a deliberate knock-on. With just thirteen players left on the pitch, South Africa’s chances of victory were rapidly diminishing. A seventy-fourth minute try from Jordan made certain of victory for New Zealand as they used their two-man advantage to create space for him to score a simple try down the left wing. The All Blacks added a further two points courtesy of Love’s conversion to add some extra gloss to a stunning victory. As the full time whistle blew in Johannesburg, New Zealand defeated South Africa 33-16 in the first test match of their tour. It was a phenomenal start to the series for the visitors and they will look to repeat their success next Saturday when the two side’s meet again.

BMW CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL ROUND (GOLF)

Week two of the FedEx Cup Playoffs on the PGA Tour took us to Missouri for the BMW Championship. Following victory for world number one Scottie Scheffler at last weekend’s St Jude Championship, the top fifty players on the PGA Tour moved on to compete in the second of three playoff tournaments. Not only are they fighting for the title at the BMW Championship but they’re also trying to clinch progression into next week’s Tour Championship, where only the top thirty players will be eligible to play. After the opening three rounds of play at the Bellerive Country Club, Wyndham Clark held a five shot lead at the top of the leaderboard. The American was seventeen under par for the tournament coming into Sunday. Behind him in joint second was both Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay who began the final round on -12. They were just one shot ahead of Christopher Gotterup and Gary Woodland on -11, whilst Collin Morikawa was still potentially in contention on -10. As the top six teed off in the final three slot’s of the day, Morikawa and Woodland both opened with two birdies each through the first four holes. Although Morikawa was then tripped up by a costly double bogey at the sixth hole, meanwhile Woodland dropped a shot at the seventh before hitting a double bogey of his own at the ninth. Those came either side of a birdie at the eighth hole, meaning Woodland sat at -12 at the conclusion of his opening nine holes, a shot ahead of playing partner Morikawa, who also picked up a birdie at the eighth. Behind them on the course, Gotterup got off to a mixed start with a bogey at the first hole being balanced off by a birdie at the fourth. Similarly, Cantlay was also trying to find a balancing act between birdies and bogeys by going one under par on four of his front nine holes, but one over on three other’s. That saw him remain second on -13 at the halfway point of his round. In the final leading group, McIlroy gained a shot through his front nine to join Cantlay on -13, whereas Clark struggled and hit two bogey’s which dropped him back to -15. Elsewhere on the course, Morikawa hit three bogey’s on his back nine but recovered with a spectacular eagle at the seventeenth hole. Playing alongside him was Woodland who matched par all the way through to the end of the round to remain on -12. In the middle pairing of the leading trio, a birdie at the eleventh hole helped Gotterup improve to -12, meanwhile a double bogey on the same hole cost Cantlay in his quest to chase down Clark’s lead. Despite that set back, Cantlay recovered well and ended his round with consecutive birdies on the last three holes to take the clubhouse lead with a total of -14 for the tournament. Back on the course, a bogey for Clark at the tenth hole, coupled with a birdie for McIlroy at the eleventh, saw them go joint top on -14 with seven holes left to play. That was still the situation at the top of the leaderboard as we entered the final three holes. Needing a first birdie of the day to become the outright leader, Clark delivered one at the sixteenth hole to move back onto -15. However, it was the seventeenth hole where the tournament was as good as decided as Clark found the hole in four shots, whilst McIlroy needed six. That birdie for Clark, along with McIlroy’s bogey, enabled him to stretch his lead to three shots over his playing partner and two shots over Cantlay’s final score. As the tournament concluded at the eighteenth hole, Clark signed off in style with a third consecutive birdie to clinch the BMW Championship title. The American ended the tournament on -17 with a final round that matched par and handed him victory. It marked a third PGA Tour win of the season for Clark who will now head into the final event of the season next week full of confidence. Behind him on the final leaderboard came Cantlay three shots back, with McIlroy a shot further back in third and the trio of Gotterup, Morikawa and Woodland all tied fourth on -12. Next, the PGA Tour heads to Atlanta for the Tour Championships where the 2026 FedEx Cup champion will be crowned.

TORINO VS AC MILAN (FOOTBALL)

Italy’s premier division got underway this weekend to kick off what is sure to be another fascinating season of Serie A football. On Sunday evening, AC Milan began a new era under head coach Ruben Amorim when they travelled to Torino. Following an underwhelming end to their last campaign where they missed out on qualifying for the Champions League, Milan opted to change coach over the summer. That provided Amorim with a great opportunity to get back into work after his bizarre tenure at Manchester United came to an end in January. Turning our attention to their hosts, Torino also enter the season with a new head coach after a mid-table finish last May. The new man in charge for them is Ignacio Abate, who is a former Torino and Milan defender. As the new season commenced for these two teams, it was a highly tactical encounter with very few chances created in the early stages. The first note-worthy opportunity for either side to score came in the thirtieth minute when Samuel Chukwueze cut in from the right wing and fired a shot towards the near post but it was well-stopped by Torino goalkeeper Diego Mascardi. That proved to be the closest we came to a goal in an evenly-contested first half where both teams preferred to focus on defensive solidarity. After half time, the game finally began to open up, particularly after the introduction of Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot off the Milan bench on fifty-five minutes. The two veteran midfielders provided a spark which helped Milan finally break down Torino’s defensive shape. In the sixty-fourth minute, Rabiot’s deflected cross bounced kindly at the feet of Alphadjo Cisse who excellently controlled the ball with his first touch before directing a half-volley into the roof of the net with his second. It was a moment of quality from the Milan attacker as his neat piece of skill and superb finish saw the visitors go 1-0 up. Three minutes later, Milan then doubled their lead and unsurprisingly the two kid fled maestro’s were involved once again. A pass from Modric found Chukwueze in space on the right hand side and his cross was met at the back post by Rabiot who volleyed the ball past Mascardi for 2-0. Two goals in the space of three minutes sparked the game into life as Torino then began to show some attacking intent of their own. First, Alieu Njie set off on a magnificent run down the left wing which ended with him finding some space in the penalty area and firing a shot which cannoned off the near post. That was followed by a great chance for Pietro Comuzzo as he connected with Kian Fitz-Jim’s exquisite pass but sent his volley sailing over Mike Maignan’s crossbar. As we entered stoppage time at the end of the match, Torino finally got themselves on the scoresheet as Che Adams pulled off an audacious finish to direct Gvidas Gineitis’ free-kick into the net. The Scottish striker met the low cross with his back to goal and hit a volley which looped beyon the reach of Maignan and into the top corner. It was extraordinary finish but it proved to only be a consolation as Milan held on to seal a 2-1 victory. Following a tight first half, the quality of Modric and Rabiot turned out to be game-changing for the visitors as two goals in quick succession ensured they made a winning start to the new Serie A season.