Slam

For once, the 20,000-odd fans on a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium sat quietly engrossed during points.

The sight of the Williams sisters back on court together at the US Open – possibly for the final time – commanded ultimate respect from a chatty crowd known to let their attention wander.

The siblings changed the face of the sport when they emerged as precocious teenagers in the 1990s, going on to dominate the sport with a combined 30 Grand Slam singles titles and 14 doubles victories as a pair.

Three decades later, the sport remains captivated by them.

Serena, a 23-time Grand Slam women’s singles champion, coming out of retirement this summer sparked excitement among those who saw her in their prime and those too young to have witnessed it.

Seven-time major winner Venus has never “evolved away” from the sport – the words chosen by her younger sister when she last played in 2022 – but instead continued her career with the help of sporadic wildcards.

While that has proved controversial in some quarters, there were few objections about the sisters being invited to play once again at Flushing Meadows.

Their planned return at Wimbledon was scuppered by the knee injury which Serena suffered in her singles match there – ironically a defeat by 20-year-old Joint – before they finally reunited at the WTA event in Cincinnati.

The comeback ended in a match tie-break defeat by Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk and her American partner Peyton Stearns, with the same fate befalling them in New York.

When the Williams sisters last played on Ashe four years ago, they suffered a straight-set defeat by Czech pair Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova in the first round.

It looked like being a similar outcome as they meekly surrendered the first set against Chan and Joint, then batted off four break points in the fifth and seventh games of the second set.

But once Serena upped her level to match her impressive sister, they managed to switch the momentum back in their favour and level the match.

An absorbing contest featuring some sensational points saw the Americans fight back again in the decider, only to falter from a commanding lead in the tie-break.

Overall it was a more than credible performance from the veteran pair. Their solid groundstrokes, sharp movement and never-say-die attitude caused problems for their opponents, who deserve huge credit for staying focused in a partisan environment.

“The atmosphere was surreal,” said Joint.

“It was something we’ve never experienced before, and to play against such legends of the game was super special.”

Sabalenka’s pace and power was too much for world number 160 Iatcenko, who managed just three winners compared to the 24 put away by the top seed.

Iatcenko looked a bundle of nerves in the biggest match of her career, but composed herself to get on the scoreboard for 5-1 and immediately broke out into a relieved smile.

It was merely respite as Sabalenka held to love in less than 90 seconds to clinch the opening set.

Despite only being on court for 24 minutes, Iatchenko decided she wanted a bathroom break to change her kit – but more likely for a mental reset than anything else.

Sabalenka kept loose while she waited by practising her serves and maintained her rhythm as she surged a double break ahead for 3-0 in the second set.

It was not all plain-sailing for Sabalenka as she lost serve in a sloppy fourth game, but reasserted her authority with two more breaks as Iatchenko was taught a harsh lesson.

The Russian can console herself with the knowledge she has gained valuable experience against the world number one on the biggest court on the planet – and a bumper paycheck.

Coming into the US Open, she had earned $300,000 (£220,000) in her career but takes another $190,000 (£140,000) home from New York to reinvest into her future.

Earlier on Wednesday, third seed Pegula continued her quest for a maiden Grand Slam singles title with a comfortable victory over fellow American Sofia Kenin.

Pegula also has a shot of replacing Sabalenka as world number one if she wins the title, as does fourth seed Coco Gauff, and kept her dream alive with a 6-3 6-1 win.

There were also straight-set wins for Wimbledon runner-up Karolina Muchova, two-time major semi-finalist Marta Kostyuk and teenage American sensation Iva Jovic as the patten of few shocks in the women’s draw over the opening two rounds continued.

British qualifier Toby Samuel broke more new ground with a dominant victory over Tomas Machac on his US Open main-draw debut.

The 23-year-old came from a set down in each of his three qualifying matches in New York this week to guarantee a third Grand Slam appearance of the year.

However, he had no such issues against former world number 20 Machac, wrapping up a 6-2 6-3 6-2 victory in just over 90 minutes to register his first win at a Grand Slam.

“It means everything to me. It’s what I dreamt of as a kid watching these big tournaments,” Samuel told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Being able to win my first Grand Slam match is unbelievable.”

Just two years ago, Samuel fell to almost 2,000th in the world rankings as bone bruising in his right arm ruled him out of much of the 2024 season.

He now sits inside the top 100 in the live ATP rankings, along with earning $140,000 (£103,000) in prize money in the biggest payday of his career so far.

Samuel won 36 of 39 matches on the ATP Challenger Tour to return to the top 300 last year, but has reached new heights in 2026.

The Winchester native came through qualifying to make his Grand Slam debut at the French Open, having never previously contested a single match on the ATP Tour.

He continued that momentum with a run to the semi-finals at Eastbourne, a Wimbledon wildcard, and a third Challenger crown of the year on Winnipeg’s hard courts.

Samuel’s new ranking would secure automatic qualification for next January’s Australian Open, completing the set of major appearances a year after making his top-250 debut.

He is joined in the second round in New York by compatriot Katie Boulter, who battled past American wildcard Carol Young Suh Lee 6-4 3-6 6-0.

Pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa hit his first career grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies roared back for a 5-3 victory over the Angels on Friday night.

Sosa connected just two batters after Wade Meckler reached deep into the right field stands to rob Bryson Stott of a three-run homer.

After J.T. Realmuto drew a walk that loaded the bases and chased shaky closer Ben Joyce (0-2), Sosa crushed a low changeup from Sammy Peralta 404 feet to center, far beyond Mike Trout‘s reach.

Alex McFarlane (4-1) pitched the eighth for the Phillies. Jonathan Bowlan got the ninth instead of closer Jhoan Duran, and he put two Angels on base before he struck out Adam Frazier to finish his second save.

Bryce Harper extended his on-base streak to a career-high 30 games with a bunt single in the fourth for Philadelphia, which improved to 2-2 on its nine-game West Coast trip. The Phillies also moved one game behind the Cubs for the top NL wild-card spot.

Reid Detmers yielded one run and eight hits over six resilient innings, but the AL-worst Angels lost their fifth straight with yet another bullpen implosion.

After Alec Bohm and Justin Crawford reached base without a hit off Joyce, Meckler appeared to save the game for the Angels with his spectacular running catch on Stott’s sinking fly, putting his body onto the waist-high wall of the short porch and sticking his glove in among the fans.

Instead, Sosa connected for the Phillies’ first go-ahead grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning since Shane Victorino did it in 2009.

Meckler drove in a run on the first pitch he saw in his return from the concussion injured list during a three-run first inning for the Angels, who managed just three singles — one after the first.

Andrew Painter recovered nicely from that 28-pitch first in which he threw two wild pitches that brought home Trout and Meckler, facing the minimum 15 batters during five hitless innings afterward.

Up next: Phillies All-Star Cristopher Sánchez (16-4, 2.62 ERA) takes the mound Saturday against the Angels’ Ryan Johnson (3-7, 5.75 ERA).

BBC Breakfast viewers were left distracted from the headlines by a major new format change.

BBC Breakfast viewers noticed a major change moments into the programme.

BBC Breakfast returned on Monday, August 24, with Ben Thompson joining Sally Nugent as he stepped in for Jon Kay.

Headlines of the day focused on the Middlesbrough crash on Saturday that left seven people, including two police officers, dead, as well as the return of the Premier League, with a tribute to Kevin Keegan during Newcastle’s match against Liverpool.

However, viewers were left distracted by a BBC Breakfast format change, with the graphics on screen given a major revamp.

Instead of the red timebox and headlines running at the bottom of the screen, the studio background graphics are in blue, while the taglines at the bottom of the screen are now also in a red to blue gradient, and highlighting what is coming up in the show.

“Can’t the producers decide on ONE colour for graphics?” one person fumed. Another said: “These captions are annoying, get rid, if I want captions I will turn the subtitles on.”

“Why have they tried to make the graphics look like a mobile phone? They look ridiculous,” a third seethed. Another replied: “That’s what I thought. And I don’t like it.”

Someone else said: “I can’t concentrate on two things at once so I’m either trying to read that extremely small text or watching the news report.”

“Someone been at the crayons.. what’s with the colour scheme?” yet another said, as someone else wrote: “So weird.”

Another viewer said they “hated” the change, as one person added: “Might just as well watch ITV now they’ve put this s**t on the screen and dumb down completely.”

Someone else called it “really rubbish”, as another fumed: “Ffs – get rid of these annoying captions! They are very distracting & totally unnecessary!”

One added: “#bbcbreakfast have obviously misjudged the demographic of their early morning viewers with this new format.”

This comes after the BBC Breakfast team celebrated National Television Award nominations, during an edition of the show last week.

As two nominations include heartfelt documentaries from the BBC Breakfast team, Jon shared how “honoured” they were.

Meanwhile, BBC Breakfast’s rivals Good Morning Britain have been nominated in the Daytime category alongside James Martin’s Saturday Morning, Loose Women, Scam Interceptors and This Morning.

BBC Breakfast airs daily from 6am on BBC One and iPlayer.