LONDON- - Michael Olise scored a brace of goals as Crystal Palace completed a league double over Manchester United for the first time in their history with a thumping 4-0 victory at Selhurst Park on Monday that will add to the pressure on Erik ten Hag. A makeshift United defence that included Casemiro at centre-back was easily picked apart by Palace on several occasions as Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell were also on the scoresheet in the impressive win. United remain in eighth place with 54 points from 35 games, two points behind Newcastle United in sixth, with their hopes of European football next season fading fast. Palace are still in 14th with 43 points from 36 matches. United had several injury absentees and were without Bruno Fernandes, the first time in his 230-game Old Trafford career he has missed a match with injury, but the ease with which they were beaten will be a huge concern for everyone at the club. It is the first time in the Premier League era United have lost 13 games in a season and the scoreline might have been worse. Palace have found their groove under new manager Oliver Glasner, but United are limping to the end of a season that cannot finish soon enough for Ten Hag. The home side took the lead inside 12 minutes and it was far too easy. Olise collected a throw and evaded a limp challenge from Casemiro, and with no United player attempting to close him down, was able to unleash a low shot from just inside the box. United had the ball in the back of the net from Casemiro’s header, but the effort was ruled out after contact from Rasmus Hojlund on Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson. It was 2-0 to the home side five minutes before the break as Mateta breezed past United defender Jonny Evans and thrashed the ball into the net for a ninth goal in 11 games since the arrival of Glasner in February. The striker had scored 11 goals in his previous 80 games for Palace before that. United’s makeshift defence was struggling to contain the movement of their hosts and when Diogo Dalot failed to deal with a ball to the back post, Mitchell had a tap-in with home players queuing up to score. Olise’s second goal added more salt to the wound and it could have been worse for the visitors as Odsonne Edouard saw his shot come back off the woodwork late on.
OHIO--Donovan Mitchell scored 39 points to fuel the host Cleveland Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 106-94 victory over the Orlando Magic on Sunday in Game 7 of their first-round series.
BIRKENHEAD- Chelsea's bid to make it five Women's Super League titles in a row suffered a huge setback on Wednesday as they lost a 4-3 thriller to Liverpool, seriously denting the possibility of the Blues giving manager Emma Hayes a winning send-off.
SPAIN-- Top seed Iga Swiatek made light work of Madison Keys as she sprinted into the Madrid Open final with a 6-1 6-3 win on Thursday. Swiatek will face defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in a rematch of last year's final after the Belarussian rallied from a set down to edge fourth seed Elena Rybakina 1-6 7-5 7-6(5). Heading into the contest having won two of their last three meetings, the 22-year-old Swiatek dominated from the start and wrapped up the opening set in just over half an hour against the American 18th seed. The second set was no different with Keys causing little trouble to Swiatek as the world number one broke early and raced into a 5-3 lead before breaking again to secure the win. "I feel really good," Swiatek said. "I wasn't really thinking about what happened last year. But repeating this result is a great thing. "I'll have a chance to play a nice match in two days. So it's really exciting. I'm happy overall with the whole tournament." Swiatek, a four-times Grand Slam champion, is now the youngest player to reach 10 WTA level finals on clay since Swiss Martina Hingis in 2000. In the second semi, Rybakina looked on course for an easy victory after taking the first set for the loss of just one game. But as the 2022 Wimbledon champion was serving for the match, Sabalenka shifted the momentum by breaking the Kazakh's serve and then holding her own to force a decider. After a thrilling third set the match went to a tiebreak where the two-time Grand Slam winner prevailed. "It's definitely going to be a great battle. We're always fighting as hard as we can," Sabalenka said. "It's always incredible matches. I'm really looking forward to this final. I'm gonna do everything I can to get this win."
WISCONSIN--Aaron Judge homered early and then triggered a seven-run sixth inning with a handy slide, propelling the visiting New York Yankees to a 15-5 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday to clinch the three-game series win. With the game tied 4-4 in the sixth, Judge walked to open off reliever Abner Uribe (2-2).
Alex Verdugo hit a tailor-made double-play bouncer to second, but Willy Adames' relay throw hit Judge's upraised hand, allowing Verdugo to reach. Anthony Rizzo walked with two outs and Gleyber Torres singled in Verdugo to make it 5-4. Oswaldo Cabrera walked and Jose Trevino followed with a two-run single. Elvis Peguero relieved and uncorked a run-scoring wild pitch for an 8-4 Yankees lead. Juan Soto added an RBI single and Judge capped the 11-batter inning with a two-run single. The Brewers got one back in the bottom half on a bases-loaded walk, but New York answered with two runs in the seventh on Cabrera's RBI single and Trevino's sacrifice fly.
Anthony Rizzo's two-run homer, his fifth of the season and 300th of his career, put the Yankees up 15-5 in the eighth. Rizzo went 4-for-4 and scored three runs. Ron Marinaccio (1-1) picked up the win, giving up one run on one hit in 1 1/3 innings, with one strikeout and one walk. After dropping the series opener 7-6 in 11 innings, the Yankees scored 30 runs on 37 hits to win the final two games. They had four homers in Saturday's 15-3 rout. Jake Bauers' three-run homer off New York starter Marcus Stroman brought Milwaukee even at 4-4 in the fifth.
Adames doubled in the first run. Anthony Volpe celebrated his 23rd birthday with his third homer, a three-run shot off starter Tobias Myers, in the top half of the fifth to put the Yankees in front 4-0. Judge staked the Yankees to a 1-0 lead with two outs in the first with his sixth homer, sending a 3-2 fastball 441 feet to left-center. Bauers finished with a scoreless ninth, the second consecutive game the Brewers finished with a position player on the mound. Infielder Owen Miller pitched the final two innings of Saturday's 15-3 loss.
