By Nick Harris 6 December 2010 John Higgins celebrated his returned to major action following his six month ban with a 9-6 win over Stephen Lee in the UK Championship in Telford, and faces Graeme Dott next for a place in the quarter-finals. But the Scot has conceded he will never shake off the stigma […]

By Pete Wilson 2 December 2010 Russia won the right to stage the 2018 World Cup today after a Fifa Executive Committee vote sent England crashing out in the first round. Qatar then landed the right to host the 2022 event after four rounds of voting, having led every round. The result means Fifa will […]

By Brian Sears 2 December 2010 Just a week ago we were noting the high number of drawn games in the Premier League this season, and there were another four in the most recent round of matches. Now it’s time to ponder the lack of clean sheets. Up to the beginning of this season, the […]

By Nick Harris in Zurich 2 December 2010 With only Russia still left to make their 2018 World Cup bid presentation, England remain favourites to win the right to host the event, with their odds coming in slightly after a slick presentation here featuring David Beckham, PM David Cameron and Prince William. All the presentations […]

By Brian Sears 2 December 2010 Manchester United’s seven-goal haul against Blackburn last weekend was the fifth occasion that they have scored seven or more goals in a single Premier League game, so they travel to Blackpool this weekend looking for a sixth burst of seven. The odds are against it statistically. Only on 27 occasions […]

By Alexandra Willis 1 December 2010 Kim Clijsters has been awarded the WTA Player of the Year for 2010 for the second time in her career. Tennis fans and the media voted the bubbly Belgian as their player of the year in recognition of her achievement in winning the US Open title for the third […]

By Alexandra Willis at the O2 Arena 27 November 2010 Rafael Nadal defeated Andy Murray in a spectacular three hours and 11 minutes of edge-of-the-seat tennis in the first semi-final at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at London’s O2 Arena. The Brit, competing against the world No.1 for the 13th time, showed no signs […]

ALEXANDRA WILLIS is the former Deputy Editor of ACE Tennis Magazine, and alongside mag work and an affair with social media, has had the dubious honour of sitting in on a few tennis tournaments from time to time as part of her professional duties. If you happen to bump into her court-side, she’ll probably tell you […]

By Alexandra Willis at the O2 Arena 26 November 2010 Andy Murray will meet Rafael Nadal in the first semi-final of the Barclays ATP World Tour at London’s O2 Arena after the world No.1 blistered through his final round robin match against Tomas Berdych. Producing the kind of unrivalled shot-making that we have come to […]

By Brian Sears 26 November 2010 As any statto worth his anorak knows, the Premier League’s draw rate has been high this season, buy how high? And just how many stalemates are we now witnessing involving Fulham, Sunderland, Birmingham, Everton, Bolton and Manchester United? Yep. A lot. . More Brian Sears Sportingintelligence home page