results

Premier League Darts is played across 16 initial weeks in the league stage with quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final each night.

Each of the eight players is guaranteed to face the other seven in the quarter-finals in weeks one to seven and 9-15, with week eight and week 16 fixtures done off the table. It means we will get fourth v fifth in Sheffield on the final league-stage night, with the play-off spots potentially on the line.

Players earn two points per quarter-final win, an additional point if they win their semi-final and five for winning the night.

The top four players after the group stage progress to the play-off night at London’s O2 Arena on 23 May, with first facing fourth and second against third in a best-of-19-leg match. The final, which is the best of 21 legs, follows.

If players are level on points after the 16 weeks then places are decided by nights won and then matches won.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Right-wing candidate from the governing PPSO leads presidential race with 53.01 percent of the vote, early results show.

The right-wing law-and-order candidate, Laura Fernandez, has taken a commanding lead in Costa Rica’s presidential election, according to early results.

With ballots from 31 percent of polling stations counted late on Sunday, Fernandez, of the governing Sovereign People Party (PPSO), had 53.01 percent of the vote, the results showed.

Alvaro Ramos of the centre-left National Liberation Party ‍was in second place ⁠with 30.05 percent, while former First Lady Claudia Dobles was in third place with 3.9 percent.

Fernandez ‌needs at ‌least 40 percent to win the election outright and avoid ‌a run-off on April 5.

The 39-year-old politician is the handpicked successor of incumbent President Rodrigo Chaves, and campaigned on continuing his tough security policies.

The historically peaceful Central American nation’s crime surge in recent years could be a deciding factor for many voters. Some fault Chaves’s presidency for failing to bring the rates down, but many see his confrontational style as the best chance for Costa Rica to tame the violence.

Fernandez was previously Chaves’s minister of national planning and economic policy and, more recently, his minister of the presidency.

Costa Ricans also voted for the 57-seat National Assembly. Chaves’s party is expected to make gains, but perhaps not achieve the supermajority he and Fernandez have called for, which would allow their party to choose Supreme Court magistrates, for example.

Twenty contenders were seeking the presidency, but no candidate other than Fernandez and Ramos reached 5 percent in the preliminary and partial results.

Iga Swiatek’s bid to complete the career Grand Slam at this year’s Australian Open was ended by Kazakh fifth seed Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals.

Reigning Wimbledon champion Swiatek lost 7-5 6-1 as Rybakina used her power to devastating effect.

Swiatek, 24, can already be ranked among the greats, having won six major titles across all three different surfaces.

Mastering the Wimbledon grass last year – a surface considered her weakest – opened the door to attempting in Melbourne to become only the sixth woman in the Open era to win all four Grand Slam events.

Before the tournament, Swiatek acknowledged the achievement would be a “dream come true” but insisted she was blocking out the outside noise about what was at stake.

On the evidence of what she had showed over the opening four rounds, it never truly felt that she would complete the clean sweep this year.

Swiatek’s service game had not been solid, while the quicker courts at Melbourne Park have historically led to problems against aggressive opponents.

That always promised to be a bad combination against 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina, who ruthlessly took advantage in Wednesday’s contest.

Rybakina, 26, could not find rhythm with her serve in a first set which started with the pair exchanging breaks.

A low first-serve percentage of 41% was uncharacteristic, but she had enough pace and aggression in her groundstrokes to rush Swiatek.

That was demonstrated in the crucial 12th game. Rybakina fought back from 0-30 with deep returning – drawing loose sprays from Swiatek – and explosive winners to take the opener.

Momentum stayed with Rybakina as she immediately took control of the second set.

In perfect 22C sunny conditions following Tuesday’s heatwave, her groundstrokes continued to fly through the court and Swiatek was unable to solve the problem facing her.