World Sports News in Brief

Portugal close in on Euro 2020 with home win

Cristiano Ronaldo scored in Portugal’s 3-0 victory over Luxembourg on Friday (Oct. 11) to keep defending champions on course for the Euro 2020 finals. Portugal are now second in Group B with 11 points from five games, five behind Ukraine who beat Lithuania 2-0 to stay stop.

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - Group B - Portugal v Luxembourg - Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal - October 11, 2019 Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring their second goal. (Reuters)
Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - Group B - Portugal v Luxembourg - Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal - October 11, 2019 Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring their second goal. (Reuters)

* England suffered their first tournament qualifying defeat for 10 years as they lost 2-1 away to the Czech Republic in their Euro 2020 qualifying Group A clash on Friday (Oct 11).

* Olivier Giroud's lack of club action proved no handicap as the Chelsea striker's penalty earned France a 1-0 away win against Iceland to put Les Bleus closer to next year's European Championship finals on Friday (Oct 11).

* Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas battled back from a set down to defeat top seed Novak Djokovic 3-6 7-5 6-3 in the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals on Friday for his first victory over a reigning world number one.

* Germany's fifth seed Alexander Zverev beat a spirited Roger Federer 6-3 6-7(7) 6-3 in a dramatic affair that lasted a little over two hours on Friday to book a place in the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters.

* US teenager Coco Gauff advanced to the first WTA semi-final of her career on Friday (Oct 11) with a 7-6 (7/1), 6-4 defeat of top seed Kiki Bertens at Linz. Next up for Gauff will be Andrea Petkovic who defeated Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-1.

* Feng Tianwei notched a stunning win on Friday (Oct 11) when she beat world number one Chen Meng 4-0 (11-6, 11-2, 11-4, 11-8) in the women’s singles round of 16 at the German Open - in just 31 minutes.

* Russian Nikita Nagornyy clinched the men's all-around title at the gymnastics world championships on Friday (Oct 11), while team mate Artur Dalaloyan took second spot in Stuttgart.

* US swimmer Conor Dwyer, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has been suspended 20 months for doping after an arbitration panel found he had testosterone pellets inserted in his body, the US Anti-Doping Agency said Friday (Oct 11).

Reuters, CNA