World Sports News in Brief

Zverev eyes first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Roland Garros

Second seed Alexander Zverev will be looking to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final when he faces big-hitting Russian Karen Khachanov in the French Open on Sunday. The German ‘wunderkind’ is heading into the match on the back of two grueling five-set encounters.

Second seed Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros (Photo:: Reuters)
Second seed Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros (Photo:: Reuters)

* Belgium and Portugal drew 0-0 in an evenly balanced friendly on Saturday as each side showed attacking intent ahead of this month's World Cup and Belgium defender Vincent Kompany left the field hurt. Portugal coach Fernando Santos made six changes from the team that started Monday's 2-2 draw with Tunisia and were again without Cristiano Ronaldo, still resting after last weekend's Champions League final.

* England kicked off their World Cup preparations with a 2-1 friendly win over Nigeria on June 2. Gareth Southgate's side swept into a two-goal lead as Gary Cahill and captain Harry Kane netted in a dominant first-half display at Wembley. Alex Iwobi reduced the deficit for Nigeria, who came close to equalising after exposing the flaws in Southgate's three-man defence by repeatedly attacking down the flanks.

* Manuel Neuer looks set to go to the World Cup, but Germany's goalkeeper was unable to prevent his team crashing 2-1 to Austria on his comeback on Saturday. The keeper was powerless to stop second-half goals by Martin Hinteregger and Alessandro Schoepf after Mesut Ozil gave the Germans an early lead.

* Over 7.6 million viewers tuned in to French television's TF1 to see France thump Italy 3-1 in Nice in their second World Cup warm up game, according to figures released on Saturday (June 2). The Friday evening prime time slot featuring a sumptuous goal from Barcelona star Ousmane Dembele only just edged out Monday's viewing figures of 6.9 million who tuned in to watch France beat Ireland 2-0 in a deluge.

* Climbers from around the world got a glimpse of what awaits them at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics during the World Cup event in nearby Hachioji on Saturday. Sport climbing is set to make its Olympic debut in two years’ time after being approved by the International Olympic Committee for inclusion at the Tokyo Summer Games.

Reuters, CNA