Britain's Andy Lapthorne reached his fifth quad singles final in six years at the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships after a superb fightback to beat Dutchman Sam Schroder.

Trailing by a set and 4-0, Lapthorne turned the match around to earn a 2-6 7-5 6-2 victory in Nottingham.

Gordon Reid's bid to reach the singles final ended with a 6-2 3-6 6-2 defeat by world number one Gustavo Fernandez.

Jordanne Whiley reached the women's doubles final with Japan's Yui Kamiji.

Whiley and Kamiji won 6-3 6-1 against another British and Japanese pairing in Lucy Shuker and Momoko Ohtani.

Whiley and Kamiji will meet Dutch top seeds Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot - who they lost to in the Wimbledon semi-finals - for the trophy on Saturday.

World number three Lapthorne plays Niels Vink of the Netherlands in his final on Sunday after his extraordinary comeback in Friday's semi-final.

"Heart and desire is what it's all about this week," Lapthorne said.

"As long as I compete well, that's all I can do. I love winning, I love competing, I love playing those kind of matches.

"Playing matches like that, against a guy that pushes me to my limit and pushes me to dig deep within myself is the reason I play the game."

Despite his singles disappointment, Reid has another chance to win silverware when he partners compatriot Alfie Hewett in the men's doubles final on Saturday.

World number five Alexander Zverev says he was surprised Ivan Lendl decided to announce midway through the Hamburg Open that their partnership has ended.

The announcement came a few days after Zverev claimed eight-time Grand Slam winner Lendl talked more about "golf and his dog" than tennis.

The pair teamed up last year, with the 22-year-old German going on to win the season-ending ATP Finals in November.

"We both felt like we were going different directions," Zverev said.

"I have nothing but respect for him. We worked well for 10 months and it's been very nice having him by my side, winning London.

"It's also about personalities and maybe we didn't fit yet. Maybe it will change but for now it's over."

Lendl, who previously coached Britain's former world number one Andy Murray, said he still has a "lot of belief" that Zverev can fulfil his potential.

"I think that one day he may become a great player, but currently he has some off-court issues that make it difficult to work in a way that is consistent with my philosophy," Lendl said.

Despite the timing of the news, second seed Zverev has still reached the semi-finals of the Hamburg Open - his home tournament - after a gutsy comeback win against Serbia's Filip Krajinovic in the quarter-finals.

Zverev trailed by a set and a break before fighting back to win 2-6 7-5 6-2 in two hours and 20 minutes.

The world number five will play defending champion Nikoloz Basilashvili, who won 6-2 6-3 against France's Jeremy Chardy, in the last four.

Austrian top seed Dominic Thiem lost 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-5) to Russian Andrey Rublev, while another upset saw Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta beat Italian third seed Fabio Fognini 3-6 6-2 7-6 (7-4).

British number two Cameron Norrie reached the Atlanta Open semi-finals after compatriot Dan Evans missed out on a spot in the last four.

Norrie, 23, reached his third semi-final of 2019 with a 7-5 6-4 win over Australian Alexei Popyrin.

Norrie will face either American second seed Taylor Fritz or Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic as he bids to reach the second ATP final of his career.

Evans, 29, suffered a straight-set loss to big-serving American Reilly Opelka.

Opelka, 21, hit 23 aces on his way to a 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 victory.

After edging the first set, Opelka fought back from 15-40 to break world number 55 Evans's serve for a 6-5 lead in the second and served out the match to love.

Opelka, ranked 57th, meets Australian Alex de Minaur in the semi-finals.

De Minaur, 20, progressed after compatriot Bernard Tomic retired as he trailed 6-2 3-0 after just 39 minutes.

Tomic, 26, called for the trainer at the end of the first set - seemingly indicating he felt pain in his torso when serving - and eventually decided he could not continue any more.

Earlier this month, Tomic was fined his full Wimbledon prize money of £45,000 for not meeting the "required professional standard" during his 58-minute first-round defeat by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Exeter aces tee up four titles
By ALAN THATCHER, MARK FULLER and JENNI ASHFORD

Mike Harris clinched a hat-trick of National Racketball titles when he beat Tim Vail in the final at Edgbaston Priory.

Harris’s victory followed his now customary marathon encounter with Nick Mulvey in the semi-finals, a 95-minute battle that left him just three hours to prepare for his final against Vail. Earlier, Harris triumphed in an entertaining quarter-final clash with former world number three squash star Simon Parke.

The Edgbaston Priory Club was packed for the sport’s 36th National Championships, bracketed with Squash 57.

The Men’s Open saw several crowd favourites make early exits. Joseph Blackmur ,the East of England Champion and ¾ seed, was defeated by professional squash player Harry Falconer.

In what was one of the most entertaining matches of the weekend, nine-times Nationals runner-up Ted Jeal was defeated by Chris Bently. The third game was critical going Bentley’s way 14-12.

Squash legend Parke always draws a crowd. This was Parke’s first Racketball Nationals and he was great to watch. A tough draw gave him the #2 seed Mike Harris in the quarter finals and Parke was beaten by the better man on the day. Never one to give up, I’m sure that we will see Parke back and looking for revenge against the man almost 20 years his junior.

This was the biggest Racketball/Squash57 Nationals ever. It was a fantastic weekend and a great advert for a sport that has a new energy behind it and what is increasingly looking like a very bright future.

The weekend saw 240 players competing in 318 matches across 23 grades ranging from Under 13’s through to Over 80’s. This was the sport’s biggest tournament ever in terms of entries, categories and matches played. Squash57 is the only sport ever to host a National Championships for such a wide range of ages over just one weekend. It was great to see such a diverse group of players all coming together to play the game.

The Over 50’s took centre stage over the weekend as the most popular category, filling the full 32 draw and reflecting the successes of the age category in the domestic series throughout the year. This is the most popular grade of the UK-Racketball Series with big Over 50’s competitions taking place right across the UK every month.

The matches did not disappoint with some fantastic encounters and upsets right from the start. The two on form Series players, Dan Fernandez and Marc Thornley, were the event’s #1 and #2 seeds and both lost in early rounds which immediately opened the event up. In the end it was Mark Francis (Huddersfield) who capitalised, defeating Rob Hambrook (East Anglia) in the semi-finals and then Mervyn Davies (Shrewsbury) in the final.

Five grades ran in the Junior Racketball Nationals. The youngest competitors on the day took part in the Boys Under 13s, with Dylan Kalar crowned champion after his victory over Anthony West. The boys Under 19 event was won by Marcus Tranter with a victory over Ollie Cartwright in the final. Marcus’s sister, Jasmine Tranter, completed the family double by taking the Girls Championship with victories over Anya and Meha Shah.

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Duffield’s Lesley Sturgess maintained her amazing run of National Titles which she started in 2007 in the Women’s Over 45’s. Since then she had won 13 titles and added two more this weekend with victories in the Over 55s against Siobhan Garland (Falmouth) and the Over 60s against Jo Robinson (Ebbisham). Bett Dryhust (Barnt Green) was once again victorious in the Women’s Over 70s, taking her to title #31, a run that started back in 1985 when the tournament was into its second year.

It was the strongest field yet in the Women’s Open category. Three times National Champion Natalie Lawrence (Devon and Exeter) was defeated by up and coming Amber Marshall (Broxbourne) 11-6, 12-10, 11-4 in the first of the semi-finals.

Local hero and last year’s Squash57 Champion Deon Saffery came through her semi-final against a determined Roxy Keshavarz (Brighton) in a long three-love encounter.

Amber Marshall has had a great couple of years on the UK-Racketball Series, winning first the National Doubles title in 2018 and then the East of England singles at the start of this year.

This was her first final on the sport’s big stage and up against experienced and two times winner Saffery this was always going to be tough. Marshall got progressively better and almost took the third but eventually lost 11-9 in one of the highest quality games across any grade over the weekend. Saffery claimed her third title on home soil at Edgbaston without dropping a single game throughout the competition.

The men’s final was a match that had been anticipated since before the first ball had been struck. Tim Vail, 10 times National Racketball Champion, was taking on two-times National Squash57 Champion Harris. This was the first competitive meeting of the two champions and it was Vail who made the strong early start, taking the first game 11-8.

The start of the second was tight but at 5-5 some uncharacteristic errors from Vail allowed Harris to pull away and take the game 11-7. The third was tight and proved to be the tournament decider, it could have gone either way but Harris hung on to take it 11-9.

Vail had thrown everything he had at the third and Harris was in no mood to let the 10-times champion back in. A positive start from Harris in the fourth and it was too much for Vail to recover. It finished 11-2 to Harris and a very well-deserved National Title to a fantastic ambassador for the game.

Harris’s victory made it four titles for Exeter Golf and Country Club players. Jo Perriam (playing in her first Nationals) was runner-up in the Women’s Over-45 category, after converting from squash to racketball around 18 months ago.

Teenager Ioan Sharpe took the lead in his own age category of Boys U15, in what was his first Racketball Championship, having found success in squash playing for Wales. Ioan went on to play in the next age group up, and won first place in the U17s as well.

Mike Gregory was playing across two age groups as well, the Men’s Over-40s and Over-45s. He ended up having seven matches across the weekend in two strongly contested draws. He lost out in the semi-finals of the Over-40s to the top seed and eventual winner, Richard Davies from Staffordshire, but managed to regain his Over-45s title. In the semi-finals he took out Jon Gallacher, the number one seed and his Devon team-mate, before then beating second seed James Powley 3-1 in a tough final.

Mike Harris said: “All in all, it was a great weekend for Exeter Golf and Country Club racketball players. It is also worth remembering that Mike Gregory, Jo Perriam, Caroline Wright, Tim Gillingham and myself also played for our very successful Devon senior sides this year, and also the Men’s Racketball team came second in the UK National Club Championships.”

2019 National Racketball Championships (incorporating Squash 57), Edgbaston Priory, (July 5-7).

Open – Mike Harris
Women’s – Deon Saffery
Over 35’s – Craig Chapell
Women’s Over 35’s – Natalie Lawrence
Over 40’s – Richard Davies
Over 45’s – Mike Gregory
Women’s Over 45’s – Larna West
Over 50’s – Mark Francis
Women’s Over 50’s – Sue Gotham
​Over 55’s – Neil Baldwin
Women’s Over 55’s – Lesley Sturgess
Over 60’s – Mike Phillips
Women’s Over 60’s – Lesley Sturgess
Over 65’s – Ian Graham
Women’s Over 65’s – Rosemary Connell
Over 70’s – Rob Welton
Women’s Over 70’s – Bett Dryhurst
Over 75’s – Adrian Groves
Over 80’s – John Bennett
Under 13’s – Dylan Kalar
Under 15’s – Ioan Sharpe
Under 17’s – Ioan Sharpe
Under 19’s Marcus Tranter
Girls – Jasmine Tranter

Pictures courtesy of  UK Racketball. Facebook gallery here

Yorkshire Carnegie will remain in the Championship for 2019-20, the Rugby Football Union have said, provided they meet conditions after entering into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).

However, Carnegie could be handed a 28-point deduction unless all creditors agree to the CVA's terms by 9 August.

Former Bath and Wasps player Martyn Wood was named as the Yorkshire side's new director of rugby on Wednesday.

The financially-troubled side had their CVA approved by creditors in June.

An RFU statement added: "If the club stays up despite the points deduction, or would have been relegated anyway even without the points deduction, then there is a further deduction in the following season.

"The case remains subject to review."

LONG POND, Pa. – After leading the 90-minute practice session earlier in the day, Todd Gilliland earned his first General Tire Pole Award of the year in qualifying for the ARCA Menards Series FORTS USA 150 at Pocono Raceway.

Gilliland, substituting for Joe Gibbs Racing as the team’s usual superspeedway driver Riley Herbst participates in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway, turned a fast lap of 52.255 seconds at 172.232 mph. Gilliland’s lap was two tenths of a second quicker than Christian Eckes, who qualified second with a lap of 52.241 seconds at 171.589 mph.

“That wasn’t a comfortable lap at all,” Gilliland said after qualifying. “It’s really loose out there. The traction compound is going to help a lot of drivers who get up out of the groove but my plan is to keep it down on the inside. It’s a lot shorter down there.”

Chandler Smith, making his first attempt at the 2.5-mile triangular layout, qualified third. Smith enters the FORTS USA 150 with a two-race win streak and wins in four of his previous five starts.

ARCA Menards Series championship leader Michael Self qualified fourth and Corey Heim rounded out the top five.

Despite what some people might think, being a spotter in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is no easy task.

Just like an accountant has to know the latest tax laws, any good spotter has to know the latest rules implemented by NASCAR. From pit-road speed to race procedure and everything in between, spotters have to know the rules like the back of their hands.

They also need to be familiar with the latest rules package and understand how that will change the way the cars drive and how that will affect how another car may attempt to pass. It’s all a vital part of being a spotter.

“With NASCAR, it is ever-changing as far as … now with the new (rules) packages that we have it’s a little different,” explained Tim Fedewa, Kevin Harvick’s spotter. “We’re drafting a lot more with this package. There is always something new that comes along that you might have to change your thought process a little on.”

Another vital part of being a spotter is what they bring with them to the spotters’ stand on race day. Radios are an obvious part of any spotter’s kit, but what else do they bring with them when the head to the roof of a speedway to spot a race?

“I have four radios,” noted Coleman Pressley, the spotter for Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski. “A lot of spotters do it differently. I have each side of my headset … my right side of my headset is Brad. I listen to him and I listen to myself. I listen to myself to make sure my radios are working. If I can hear myself, I know Brad can hear me. Then on my left side is a direct communication with Paul (Wolfe, crew chief) on the pit box and NASCAR.

“You always pack a cooler full of water, which a lot of times I’m lazy on, so luckily I have three teammates who all bring coolers and I just piggyback off of them,” Pressley said. “Some snacks, you’ve got your FanVision, that’s really important — especially at short tracks for reading lap times because there is a lot you can still do there with managing your pace. That’s pretty much my spotter bag.”

The work doesn’t stop when spotters leave the race track.

Fedewa and Pressley are both involved in post-race meetings with their respective drivers and crew chiefs. They also both review film of whatever race is next to see if they can learn anything from the previous event at that particular speedway.

“I have a debrief after the race with Rodney (Childers, crew chief) or Kevin,” Fedewa said. “We kind of just go over things. The week going into the race you try to watch the last race at that particular speedway and just see the characteristics. You try to go over your notes as to what you had there the last time and what transpired. Basically, the same thing a crew chief or driver would do, just try to relive the last race and see if you can do a little better.”

Perhaps the most important part of being a spotter is knowing what the driver needs to be better. According to Pressley, sometimes that means simply being a cheerleader.

“More than anything you’ve got to know what the driver can and can’t see and what he needs in certain situations and what emotion they’re feeling so you know what kind of cheerleader they need on the other side,” Pressley said.