And a warm welcome back to midweek sport.

There’s lots to keep up with as Wimbledon begins tonight, the FIFA Club World Cup continues into the knockout stages, and the second match of the British and Irish Lions Tour kicks off on Wednesday.

60
The number of days it took British endurance athlete Fran Hurndall to run from Perth to Sydney. Hurndall set a new record as the fastest woman to complete the distance on foot, eclipsing the previous record of 76 days held by British runner Nikki Love. Throughout her campaign, Hurndall raised money for RizeUp, a charity supporting families fleeing domestic violence.

"I've worked so hard this year to really put my best foot forward. I've dreamt so much of winning here in Rio, too. I'm a real energetic person, I love the Brazilian energy, and to get a win this year means so much for sure.
Australian surfer Molly Picklum after winning the Rio Pro, a World Surf League (WSL) event held in Saquarema, Brazil. Picklum outscored Brazil’s Luana Silva in the final to win her first title this year and move to the top of the women’s WSL leaderboard, with two events remaining before the Finals in Fiji. American Cole Houshmand won the men’s Rio Pro.

The record for the most free throws missed by an individual player in an NBA game is 23 and was set by Andre Drummond in 2016. Drummond, who was playing for the Detroit Pistons at the time, had 13 successful free throws from 36 attempts.

⚽ The Matildas’ second international friendly against Slovenia in Perth ended in a 1-1 draw. The first half was scoreless, but the Aussies found the back of the net in the 50th minute courtesy of a superb volley from Michelle Heyman. Then, in the 91st minute, Mirjam Kastelec struck back for the away side to bring the scores level. The Matildas will now begin preparation for a two-match series against Panama, which begins this Saturday. New coach Joe Montemurro will continue to make changes to the side as eight players from the Slovenia series, including Ellie Carpenter, Alanna Kennedy, and Kyra Cooney-Cross, will be unavailable for the matches against Panama. 

🏉 The British and Irish Lions scored eight tries against the Western Force to win the opening match of their Australian tour 54-7. The victory came at a cost for the Lions, with Welsh half-back Tomos Williams ruled out of the remainder of the tour with a hamstring injury he sustained scoring his second of two tries. Irish lock Joe McCarthy was named the Player of the Match. Veteran half-back Nic White was the only try-scorer for the Force in front of a record crowd of 46,656. Next, the Lions will take on the Queensland Reds in Brisbane on Wednesday night. 

⚽ The knockout stage of the FIFA Club World Cup began on Sunday morning with 16 of the world’s best football clubs left in the tournament. Four of the eight matches have already been played. Yesterday, Brazilian club Palmeiras beat fellow countrymen Botafogo 1-0, and English club Chelsea defeated Spain’s Benfica 4-1. Palmeiras and Chelsea will meet in the quarter-finals on Saturday. This morning, French club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) beat the U.S.’s Inter Miami 4-0, and German club Bayern Munich beat Brazil’s Flamengo 4-2. PSG and Bayern Munich will meet in the quarter-final on Sunday.

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Oscar Piastri finished second in the Austrian Grand Prix behind McLaren teammate and fellow world championship contender Lando Norris. It marks the British driver’s third win this season and seventh career victory. Norris is now just 15 points behind Piastri in the driver rankings. 

Piastri started the race in P3 behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in P2 and Norris in pole position. Despite briefly leading the race on lap 11, Piastri was unable to successfully overtake his teammate. As Piastri spent the remainder of the race chasing his teammate down, he had two close calls. On lap 20, the Aussie nearly ran into the back of Norris and on lap 54, he was forced off the track by Franco Colapinto of Alpine. 

Ferrari had their best race this season with Leclerc finishing in third and Lewis Hamilton in fourth. 

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was unable to contend for victory after Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli lost control and crashed into the four-time world champion on the opening lap of the race. Antonelli received a three-place grid penalty for the next race following the incident. 

Piastri said: "I tried my absolute best, probably could have done a better job when I just got ahead. A good battle, probably pushed the limits a little far. Close, but not quite enough."

Norris said: “It was a tough race, pushing the whole way through – tricky, hot, tiring – but a perfect result for us as a team.”

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Wimbledon, the third tennis major of the year, gets underway this evening (AEST). 

This year’s men’s and women’s singles draws will feature 17 Australians. It’s the highest number of Aussies in the draw since 1995. 

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the 2025 edition of the grass-court grand slam. 

On the men’s side, there will be 10 Australians in action. The only two seeded players are 11th seed Alex de Minaur and 22nd seed Alexei Popyrin. De Minaur will be hoping to better last year’s performance, which saw him withdraw from a quarter-final against Novak Djokovic because of a hip injury. Popyrin also produced his best-ever Wimbledon performance in 2024, losing to Djokovic in the third round. 

Qualifier Alex Bolt has the toughest opening round match of any Australian man, as he is set to come up against American 10th seed Ben Shelton.

In the women’s singles, there will be seven Australians competing. 16th seed Daria Kasatkina is the only seeded Australian in the women’s singles draw and will face Colombia’s Emiliana Arango in the first round. Kasatkina’s best result at Wimbledon was in 2018 when she reached the quarter-final. This year will be the first time the 28-year-old has represented Australia at Wimbledon after becoming a permanent resident in April. 

19-year-old rising star Maya Joint will also be one to watch. Over the weekend, Joint won the Eastbourne Open, a grass-court tournament on England’s south coast traditionally played in the lead-up to Wimbledon. Joint claimed her second WTA singles title with a victory over the Philippines’ Alexandra Eala in the final. Joint will play 19th seed Liudmila Samsonova in the opening round. 

Carlos Alcaraz is the two-time defending champion at Wimbledon and will kick off his campaign for a third straight title against Italy’s Fabio Fognini. After winning his second consecutive French Open title earlier this month, the 22-year-old Spaniard has maintained his strong form, winning the prestigious Queen’s Club title last week. 

The candidate most likely to challenge Alcaraz is the world number one, Jannik Sinner. The Italian will be looking to bounce back from losing the French Open final to win his first grand slam title outside of the hard-court majors (the U.S. and Australian Open). Other strong contenders for the title include Britain’s number one player, Jack Draper, and 24-time slam winner Djokovic, who at 38 is looking to become the oldest ever slam winner. 

The world’s top two-ranked players, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, are the favourites for the women’s singles draw. Neither player has won a Wimbledon title. Gauff has the edge over Sabalenka after the American beat the Belarusian in the French Open Final earlier this month. 

The women’s singles draw at Wimbledon is never easy to predict. Last year, the Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejčíková began the tournament as the 31st seed before going on to win the title. This year, she is the 17th seed. Krejčíková’s compatriot, Markéta Vondroušová, won the 2023 title as an unseeded player. 2022 champion Elena Rybakina is the 11th seed and will be looking to add a second major title to her resume. 

This year’s tournament is also set to have a strong American contingent, which includes Australian Open champion Madison Keys and world number three Jessica Pegula, who arrives having just beaten Iga Świątek in the final of the Bad Homburg Open - a grass-court tournament in Germany. 

You can watch Wimbledon on the Nine Network and Stan Sport. The opening round will begin tonight at 8:00pm (AEST).