Digest

TENNIS

Clijsters out of Miami but 'not ready to quit'

Former world No 1 Kim Clijsters, who was due to return to competition in 10 days in Miami, pulled out of the tournament on Sunday but said on Twitter that she was "not ready to quit".

The 37-year-old Belgian, who won the Miami tournament in 2005 and 2010, had been handed a wild card to take part in her first official match since Sept 2 when she lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round of the US Open.

The four-time major winner underwent a knee operation in October and then contracted COVID-19 in January, forcing her to revise her plans.

"While the symptoms were mild it did disrupt my training schedule," the mother of three said on Twitter.

"Unfortunately I am not where I need to be especially if I want to compete with the best.

"I'm not ready to quit... I'm going to keep pushing and see what's possible."

Clijsters only played three tournaments and three matches in 2020, beaten each time in the first round.

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

Quarterback legend Brees calls it quits

Drew Brees

Saints quarterback Drew Brees, the NFL's leader in career completions and yards passing, has decided to retire after 20 NFL seasons－the last 15 of which have been with New Orleans.

"Til the very end I exhausted myself to give everything to the Saints organization, my team and the great City of New Orleans," Brees said in a social media post on Sunday. "We shared some amazing moments together, many of which are emblazoned in our hearts and minds and will forever be a part of us.

"I am only retiring from football. I am not retiring from New Orleans," he added. "This is not goodbye."

The post also included a short video in which his four young children exclaimed: "Our dad is finally going to retire so he can spend more time with us!"

The decision comes after the 42-year-old quarterback won nine of 12 regular-season starts while completing 70.5 percent of his passes in 2020, and then won a wild-card round playoff game before New Orleans' season ended with a divisional-round loss to eventual Super Bowl champion the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

SOCCER

United tightens grip on Champions League spot

Manchester United tightened its grip on a return to the Champions League next season with a 1-0 win over West Ham on Sunday, but midfielder Scott McTominay lamented letting Manchester City storm clear at the top of the Premier League.

Victory over the fifth-place Hammers moved United back above Leicester into second in the standings and closed the gap on the runaway leader to 14 points.

Pep Guardiola's City has won 17 of its last 18 league games with its only defeat in that run coming against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men the previous weekend.

But United eased its local rival's route to a third title in four years with a run of just two wins in eight games prior to winning the Manchester derby.

"It's difficult to look at the top four at the minute because we had a time when we were looking at the league," said McTominay, who was the closest United player to Craig Dawson when the West Ham defender headed into his own net for the only goal at Old Trafford.

Despite also having a game in hand on City, the Red Devils are unlikely to haul in Guardiola's men but do now enjoy a nine-point cushion over West Ham in the battle for Champions League places.

ALPINE SKIING

Austria's Schwarz seals World Cup slalom title

Marco Schwarz

Marco Schwarz locked up the men's World Cup slalom title Sunday, finishing seventh in a race won by Clement Noel in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

The result gave Austrian Schwarz an insurmountable lead of 122 points over his only remaining challenger, Ramon Zenhausern, in the discipline standings, with only next week's slalom at the finals in Switzerland coming up.

The Swiss skier finished Sunday's race in third, but needed a win to retain his chance of overtaking Schwarz in the final race.

"This is the nicest seventh place of my career," Schwarz said.

Noel defied heavy snowfall to hold on to his first-run lead and beat Victor Muffat-Jeandet by 0.62 seconds for a French 1-2 finish.

Schwarz's triumph came less than four weeks after he won gold in the combined event at the world championships.

Xinhua - Agencies