India unveils official Champions Trophy 2025 jersey featuring Pakistan’s name

LOS ANGELES, United States: The Cleveland Cavaliers boosted their NBA-best record with a 142-105 romp past the New York Knicks on Friday, tightening their grip on the Eastern Conference lead with an all-around dominant display.
Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures, connecting on five of seven three-pointers as Cleveland drilled 19 from beyond the arc.
Cleveland out-scored the Knicks 66-38 in the paint and held a 23-6 edge in fast-break points, pushing their lead to as many as 42 on the way to a sixth straight victory.
Evan Mobley added 21 points and Jarrett Allen scored 10 before departing in the third quarter with a right hand injury.
Cleveland guard Darius Garland took a hard fall in the first half, striking his head on the court, but stayed in the game.
Jalen Brunson scored 16 of his 26 points in the first quarter for the Knicks but was held scoreless in the second period as the Cavs roared to a 77-50 halftime lead.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 23 points for New York, who are in third place in the East but fell to 0-6 this season against the three teams with the league’s best records: Cleveland, Boston and Oklahoma City.
“I think the biggest thing was just try to set the tone early,” Mitchell said, adding that the determination to dominate had nothing to do with the Knicks’ first-round playoff win over the Cavs two seasons ago and everything to do with the fact that they could yet meet in this post-season.
“For us, it’s about how do we continue to build and get better – we may see them in the playoffs,” Mitchell said. “So we’re trying to measure ourselves, continue to do what we’ve been doing.”
It came down to the wire in Orlando, where Memphis star Ja Morant drove for a layup that tied it at 104-104 with 1:50 remaining and Desmond Bane delivered the decisive free-throw in the Grizzlies’ 105-104 victory over the Magic.
Morant scored 23 points while Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. added 16 apiece for the Grizzlies, with Jackson blocking a potential game-winner by Orlando’s Paolo Banchero at the buzzer.
Milwaukee’s trade-deadline acquisition Kyle Kuzma scored 19 points to lead the Bucks to a 104-101 victory over his former team, the Washington Wizards.
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was limited by foul trouble and scored 18 points before fouling out with 3:37 left to play.
Khris Middleton, who arrived in Washington in the four-team deal that sent Kuzma to Milwaukee, scored 12 points against his former team in his Wizards debut.
Down by 10 with 4:53 to play, the Wizards cut the deficit to 102-101 on Middleton’s three-pointer with 1:01 remaining.
But Brook Lopez made a pair of free-throws and blocked a Middleton layup, with Middleton coming up empty again on a last-gasp three-point attempt.

DUBAI: Teenager Mirra Andreeva toppled another seed at the Dubai Championships, upsetting Elena Rybakina on Friday to become the youngest player to reach the final of a WTA 1000 tournament.

The Russian 17-year-old fought back from 1-3 down in the deciding set to beat sixth-seeded Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and move into the first WTA 1000 final of her career.

Andreeva is the youngest player to beat multiple Grand Slam champions at a tournament of this level, having ousted Iga Swiatek, Marketa Vondrousova, and now Rybakina, en route to the final.

She will face Clara Tauson in Saturday’s final after the Danish world No. 38 moved past Karolina Muchova 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 in a two-hour 52-minute tussle.

“Honestly, it’s crazy because at first I was not very positive before coming to Dubai. I was like, ‘Okay, well, I’m just going to play’,” said Andreeva.

“As always, when you don’t think about how you’re going to play, you just play your best tennis. In the end, it’s one of your best tournaments.”

Tauson, 22, is enjoying a banner week that saw her knock out world number one Aryna Sabalenka. She is now through to the biggest final of her career, and fifth overall.

Tauson has collected a tour-leading 15 victories so far this season, one more than Swiatek and Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who each have 14.

“Muchova is such a great player. I don’t know what to say, I don’t know how I won today. I tried to keep my cool and play some good tennis,” said Tauson, who was on the receiving end of a stunning tweener lob winner struck by Muchova midway through the deciding set.

In the first semifinal of the day, a punishing backhand return from Andreeva earned her the first break of the match in game five and despite Rybakina’s immediate response, the young Russian got back in front and closed out the opening set on the 46-minute mark.

Having already saved six match points in her win over Paula Badosa in the round of 16, Rybakina looked ready to put up a fight against Andreeva and the second set was a tight affair.

The pair remained neck and neck until Rybakina found an opening when Andreeva double-faulted to face two set points at 4-5. Andreeva bounced the ball off the ground in frustration and received a code violation warning for ball abuse.

Moments later, former Wimbledon champion Rybakina took the match into a decider on a long defensive forehand from her opponent, as Andreeva dropped her first set of the tournament.

Rybakina made the first move in the third, breaking for a 3-1 advantage but Andreeva reacted and swept the next five games to wrap up the win in two hours and 15 minutes.

Andreeva will rise to a career-high No. 11 in the world by virtue of reaching the final and could become the first 17-year-old to break the top 10 since Nicole Vaidisova achieved that feat in 2007 if she lifts the trophy on Saturday.

She made her tour debut less than two years ago but has quickly positioned herself as a star in the making with a great deal of pressure on her shoulders.

“Now I have some kind of pressure that people are expecting some things from me. People are saying, ‘She’s going to be No. 1, she’s going to win the Slams. She’s going to be great’,” explained Andreeva.

She says she’s been working with her psychologist to adopt the right mentality when dealing with such pressure.

“It’s easier for me to think these people are saying this because probably they are afraid of the way I play,” added Andreeva.

“It helps me to go on the court with kind of anger, not to prove to everyone that I really can do it, but to prove myself that I’m strong enough to handle the pressure and to really win these high-quality matches.”