Season-opening Sydney, F3 derbies headline 2026/27 A-League rivalry dates

Former world number one Venus Williams and Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik headline the latest wave of entries confirmed for the revamped 2026 US Open mixed doubles championship. The U.S. Tennis Association announced 13 additional pairings on Monday, bringing the total number of entries to 29 for the event, which will be held during the US Open Fan Week from August 24 to 26. Among the new teams are married couples Elina Svitolin/Gael Monfils and Katie Boulter/Alex de Minaur. Other notable pairings include Karolina Muchova/Jakub Mensik, Emma Navarro/Tommy Paul, Maria Sakkari/Karen Khachanov, Anna Kalinskaya/Lorenzo Musetti and Jelena Ostapenko/Marcelo Arevalo.

 

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The latest additions join an initial entry list announced last week that featured newly crowned Washington Open winner Alexandra Eala partnering Canadian world number four Felix Auger-Aliassime, as well as Aryna Sabalenka/Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek/Casper Ruud, Naomi Osaka/Kei Nishikori, and Jessica Pegula/Jack Draper. The mixed doubles championship adopted its standalone Fan Week format last year in a bid to attract more of the world's leading singles players. Six teams will earn direct entry based on their combined singles rankings after entries close on August 17, while eight wild cards and two qualifying spots will complete the draw. Italian duo Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori return as the two-time defending champions after defeating Swiatek and Ruud in last year's final.

Rafael Nadal congratulated Alexandra Eala after the Filipina captured the first WTA Tour title of her career with a stunning comeback victory at the 2026 Washington Open. The 22-time Grand Slam champion, whose academy in Mallorca helped shape Eala's development from the age of 13, celebrated the 21-year-old's historic achievement on social media following her 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over world number three Jessica Pegula in the final. "Congratulations, Eala! What an incredible week in Washington! A well-deserved trophy for all your hard work. Congratulations as well to the Philippines and the entire Rafa Nadal Academy team!" Nadal wrote. Eala graduated from the Rafa Nadal Academy in 2023 and has maintained a close relationship with the Spanish great, who has repeatedly acknowledged her progress throughout her professional career.

 

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The title win marked another milestone in Eala's rapid rise, making her the first Filipino to win a WTA Tour-level singles title. It also capped a memorable week in Washington, where she defeated Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, defending champion Leylah Fernandez, world number 10 Elina Svitolina and four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka before overcoming Pegula in the rain-delayed final. The latest triumph continued her breakthrough season that included winning the Birmingham Open, reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon and climbing to a career-high 20th in the world. Eala will next continue her North American hard-court swing at the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open before taking on the US Open challenge, where she is entered in the women's singles and will partner Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime in the revamped mixed doubles event.

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MotoGP returns from its summer break this weekend as Silverstone hosts the 2026 British Grand Prix. Ahead of the action, live on SPOTV NOW, here are five things to know.

Closest title race after 11 rounds

The 2026 MotoGP title fight resumes with only 24 points separating the top five riders after the opening 11 rounds. It is the closest championship battle at this stage of the season since the pandemic-affected 2020 campaign, when the leading five were covered by 29 points. By comparison, the gap between championship leader Marc Marquez and second-placed Alex Marquez had already stretched to 83 points at the same stage last year.

 

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Silverstone's streak of different winners

The British Grand Prix has produced 11 different MotoGP winners across its last 11 editions, with Jorge Lorenzo starting the sequence in 2013 before Marco Bezzecchi extended it last season. The next-longest active streak is just six races, shared by Qatar, Barcelona and the Circuit of the Americas, underlining Silverstone's reputation as one of MotoGP's most unpredictable venues.

Winners at Britain's two MotoGP venues

Several riders have won Grands Prix at both Donington Park and Silverstone across different categories, but only three have achieved the feat in the MotoGP class: Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso. Stoner triumphed at Donington in 2007 and 2008 before winning at Silverstone in 2011. Rossi's victory in 2015 came after seven premier-class wins at Donington, while Dovizioso added Silverstone success in 2017 to his maiden MotoGP victory at Donington eight years earlier.

Feast or famine for Marc

Silverstone has rarely produced an ordinary weekend for Marc Marquez. Across 10 MotoGP starts at the circuit since 2013, the Spaniard has claimed four podium finishes, with his sole win in 2014, but also suffered four retirements. He finished fourth in the other two races. In other words, Marquez has stood on the podium, finished just off it or failed to finish altogether in every MotoGP appearance at Silverstone, highlighting the circuit's all-or-nothing nature for the eight-time world champion.

More racing action for fans

The British Grand Prix weekend also features two support championships alongside MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3: the Moto4 British Talent Cup and the Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup. The latter will feature former MotoGP rider Bradley Smith, who has received a wildcard to race in front of his home crowd.

 

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MotoGP returns from its summer break at this weekend's British Grand Prix with the closest championship battle in the modern era. Just 24 points separate the top five riders after 11 rounds, leaving little margin for error and giving Saturday's sprint race an importance that cannot be dismissed as a supporting act. Jorge Martin arrives at Silverstone leading the standings on 208 points, but the Aprilia rider's advantage is only 14 over Trackhouse sensation Ai Ogura, while reigning champion Marc Marquez sits a further four points behind. Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio remain within a race win of the lead, ensuring every point on offer could reshape the title picture.

 

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That is particularly significant in an era where a portion of the points available each weekend is awarded on Saturday. Since sprint races were introduced in 2023, contenders have had to excel over two scoring days instead of one, making consistency across the entire weekend more valuable than outright Grand Prix pace. The current championship leader provided the clearest example in 2024. Although Francesco Bagnaia outscored him by 33 points in Grands Prix, Martin gained 43 more points on Saturdays to overturn the deficit and clinch his maiden MotoGP crown by 10 points. The pattern has re-emerged this season. Marquez has scored only 117 Grand Prix points, the fewest among the top five contenders, yet remains within striking distance of the championship thanks largely to his field-leading 73 sprint points, including four Saturday victories. Martin is the second-best sprint performer with 63 points, while Ogura has built his title challenge on Sunday consistency, scoring the second-highest Grand Prix points of the season so far but only sixth-highest points in sprints. The numbers also reveal contrasting strengths elsewhere. Bezzecchi has amassed 153 Grand Prix points, the most of any rider, but has collected only 33 in sprints, while Raul Fernandez ranks third in sprint scoring with 59 points to help him place sixth overall. With 11 rounds remaining, the sprint race has evolved from a weekend curtain-raiser into a championship-defining contest. In a title fight this close, the points gained on Saturday could ultimately prove just as valuable as those scored on Sunday in deciding who will be crowned MotoGP world champion.

2026 MotoGP Riders' Standings After German Grand Prix

#	Rider	Team	Sprint	Grand Prix	Total
1	Jorge Martin	Aprilia Racing	63	145	208
2	Ai Ogura	SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team	46	148	194
3	Marc Marquez	Ducati Lenovo Team	73	117	190
4	Marco Bezzecchi	Aprilia Racing	33	153	186
5	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team	50	134	184
6	Raul Fernandez	SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team	59	100	159
7	Pedro Acosta	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	105	148
8	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati Lenovo Team	56	87	143
9	Alex Marquez	BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP	32	55	87
10	Luca Marini	Honda HRC Castrol	6	73	79
11	Fermin Aldeguer	BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP	11	65	76
12	Enea Bastianini	Red Bull KTM Tech3	14	62	76
13	Brad Binder	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	11	53	64
14	Fabio Quartararo	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team	13	42	55
15	Diogo Moreira	Pro Honda LCR	4	44	48
16	Franco Morbidelli	Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team	10	36	46
17	Johann Zarco	Castrol Honda LCR	8	26	34
18	Joan Mir	Honda HRC Castrol	7	19	26
19	Alex Rins	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team	0	21	21
20	Jack Miller	Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP	0	19	19
21	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP	0	12	12
22	Maverick Vinales	Red Bull KTM Tech3	0	10	10
23	Iker Lecuona	BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP	0	9	9
24	Augusto Fernandez	Yamaha Factory Racing	0	5	5
25	Cal Crutchlow	Castrol Honda LCR	0	0	0
26	Jonas Folger	Red Bull KTM Tech3	0	0	0
27	Michele Pirro	BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP	0	0	0
28	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia Racing	0	0	0