The big news: Venus into last four

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams reached the Australian Open semi-finals with a straight-sets win over Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Williams reached her first semi-final in Melbourne after 14 years as she beat 27th seed Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the quarter-finals.

The 17th seed has never won the title and will face Spain’s Garbine Muguruza or fellow American Coco Vandeweghe in the last four. “Whoever wins I’m just happy I have an opportunity to play again,” said Williams. “That’s all I’m focused on. I’m so excited, today was such a hard-fought match,” she added. “She never let up. It’s wonderful to be here at the start of the year, I want to go further. I’m not happy with this.”

Tennis:

  • Former world No. 1 Rafael Nadal beat Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to enter the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. It will be Nadal’s first appearance in a Grand Slam quarter-final since the 2015 French Open. 
  • India’s Leander Paes and his Swiss partner Martina Hingis beat Australia’s Casey Dellacqua and Matt Reid 6-2, 6-3 to progress to the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles of the Australian Open.
  • India’s Zeel Desai progressed to the girls’ singles pre-quarterfinals of the Junior Australian Open after beating Germany’s Jule Niemeier 6-4, 6-2 in a second-round clash.  

Cricket:

  • Wriddhiman Saha smashed an unbeaten century to take Rest of India to 266/4 at the end of day four in the Irani Cup. ROI need 113 more runs to win with Saha and Cheteshwar Pujara still at the crease.
  • The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the central government and sports federations asking why the recommendations of the Justice Lodha committee should not be implemented in other sporting bodies apart from cricket.        
  • Indian spin duo Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been rested for the upcoming three-match Twenty20 series against England starting from January 26. Spinner Amit Mishra and all-rounder Parvez Rasool have been called in as replacements.
  • Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag has been named Indian Premier League franchise Kings XI Punjab’s Head of Cricket Operations and Strategy for the upcoming season.
  • New Zealand beat Bangladesh by nine wickets to seal yet another 2-0 series win with a Test to spare. Set a target of 109, the Kiwis raced to the score in 18.4 overs.
  • The anti-doping court, which is inspecting whether West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell was guilty after allegedly failing to file his whereabouts three times between January and July 2015, will deliver its verdict on January 31. If found guilty, Russell can be banned for two years.      

Football:

  • India’s national football team were drawn alongside Macau, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar in Group A for final round of qualifiers for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.
  • Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets has been sidelined after spraining his right ankle in Sunday’s 4-0 win at Eibar. However, the club did not set a timeframe for his return.
  • Hull City midfielder Ryan Mason is conscious and has spoken about the clash of heads with Chelsea defender Gary Cahill in which he fractured his skull, the club said in a statement.
  • Everton striker Gerard Deulofeu has joined Italian side AC Milan on loan until the end of the season. The former Barcelona player will hope to get as much game time as possible. 
  • Liverpool striker Lazar Markovic has joined Hull City on loan for the remainder of the season. Markovic agreed to join Sporting Lisbon on loan this season but it was cancelled by mutual consent.      
  • Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was charged for verbal abuse and pushing fourth official Anthony Taylor during Sunday’s game against Burnley, said the Football Association in a statement.       
  • Borussia Dortmund have signed 17-year-old Sweden striker Alexander Isak from Swedish side AIK Solna. 

Formula One

  • Bernie Ecclestone has been removed after 40 years from his position of running Formula One as US giant Liberty Media completed its $8 billion takeover of the sport. Ecclestone has been appointed chairman emeritus and will act as an adviser to the board.