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Real Madrid signed Spain defender Dean Huijsen from Bournemouth on Saturday after agreeing to pay his £50 million (approx. Rs 569 crore) release fee. The 20-year-old centre-back has impressed in his one season in the Premier League after joining the Cherries from Juventus in 2024 for £12.8 million. “Real Madrid and Bournemouth have reached a deal for the transfer of player Dean Huijsen, who will be at our club for the next five seasons, from June 1 2025 until June 30, 2030,” said Los Blancos in a statement.

Bournemouth confirmed Madrid had “activated a £50 million release clause”, with reports suggesting Huijsen’s former sides Juventus and Malaga will also profit from the deal.

Madrid moved quickly to sign the defender amid interest from several Premier League clubs for the Spain international.

Huijsen will be available for Real Madrid at the Club World Cup in the United States this summer, with their first game against Al-Hilal on June 18 in Miami.

The defender, born in the Netherlands, moved with his family to Spain aged five and played in Malaga’s youth academy. 

Huijsen made his Spain debut against the country of his birth, helping La Roja defeat the Dutch in March to reach the Nations League final four.

Real Madrid have struggled defensively this season, losing 14 games across all competitions and finishing without a major trophy. 

Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti is departing to take over the Brazil national team and Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso is expected to replace him in a summer of change in the Spanish capital.

Huijsen is set to be joined at the Santiago Bernabeu this summer by England defender Trent Alexander-Arnold at the end of his Liverpool deal.

Carlos Alcaraz set up a potential blockbuster Italian Open final with Jannik Sinner after coming through Friday’s semi-final with home hope Lorenzo Musetti a straight-sets winner, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4). Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz overcame Musetti and windy conditions in just over two hours to reach his fourth final of the season ahead of the French Open which gets underway later this month. Alcaraz now awaits the result of Sinner’s last-four clash with Tommy Paul later on Friday to see if he will get the showdown tennis fans around the world want to see. World number one Sinner is red-hot favourite to beat American Paul after dumping out Madrid Open champion Casper Ruud on Thursday with an astonishing display of tennis.

“Both players are playing great. Everybody saw the game against Casper,” said Alcaraz, who might again have to face down a partisan centre court crowd on Sunday.

“Let’s see. If I’m going to play against Tommy Paul, I have to be ready for that. If I play against Jannick, I have to be ready for that battle, and obviously deal with the crowd.”

Musetti was beaten by Alcaraz in the Monte Carlo final last month and fell to his fifth straight defeat to the Spaniard after a frustrating display.

The 23-year-old gave up three breaks of serve and made 29 unforced errors in the first set, and he was warned by umpire Renaud Lichtenstein after slamming his racket into the clay as his gave up his serve to go a set behind.

Alcaraz gave Musetti an opening when he fired long at break point in the first game of the second set, before the Italian then did the exact same thing in the next game to level it up.

But Musetti fought back with another break of Alcaraz’s serve and then held his with more disciplined tennis to go to 4-3 in the set, even drawing applause from Alcaraz for one spectacular backhand volley he plucked out of the sky.

But Alcaraz broke back in game eight to level the set, sparking a furious reaction from Musetti who was punished with a point for the following game for smashing the ball into the stands.

Alcaraz served that game to love as Musetti continued to fume, and he ended the crowd’s hopes of an all-Italian final by coming through the decisive tie-break.

Earlier, Jasmine Paolini continued her bid to win the women’s singles and doubles titles in Rome after reaching her second final of the week, this time alongside fellow Italian Sara Errani.

Reigning doubles champions Paolini and Errani easily beat Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-4 to book a second straight final in front of delighted fans at the Foro Italico.

The pair will meet either Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens or Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez in the final on Sunday, before which Paolini could already be crowed singles champion.

Late bloomer Paolini takes on Coco Gauff on Saturday aiming for her second 1000 series title at the age of 29 and to become the first Italian women to win in Rome since Raffaella Reggi in 1985.

Rory McIlroy says winning the Masters to complete a long-sought career Grand Slam will change how he feels going into other majors, starting at next week’s PGA Championship. World number two McIlroy defeated England’s Justin Rose last month at Augusta National to capture his fifth major title, and first since 2014, to finally take the green jacket and complete the career Slam. The 36-year-old from Northern Ireland joined Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan with wins in all four major tournaments.

So when McIlroy tees off next week at Quail Hollow, a course where he has won four PGA Tour titles, it will be as a reigning major champion for the first time in 10 years.

“I’m obviously going to feel more comfortable and a lot less pressure, and I’m also going back to a venue that I love,” McIlroy said. “It’s nothing but positive vibes going in there next week with what happened a few weeks ago and then how well I’ve played at Quail.

“Yeah, it probably will feel a little bit different. I probably won’t be quite as on edge as I’ve been the last few years when I’ve been at major championships. I’ll probably be a little bit better to be around… I’ll be a little more relaxed. I think overall it will be a good thing.”

There will be fresh challenges.

World number one Scottie Scheffler, who won nine times last year, took his first title of 2025 at last week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson and tied a PGA Tour 72-hole record low of 253 strokes.

“Scottie won by a million last week and seems to be playing back to his best,” McIlroy said.

“We’ll see who is the best player at the PGA,” Scheffler said. “Rory has been playing some tremendous golf this year.

“I feel like my game is trending in a good direction. I’m excited to start the rest of the season.”

Justin Thomas, a two-time PGA Championship winner, won his first title since the 2022 PGA at last month’s Heritage tournament.

“Rory winning the Masters… Scottie winning last week. Those two deserve all the spotlight and the favoritism they’ll probably have next week,” Thomas said. “We’re playing well and feeling great about everything come next week as well.”

LIV Golf Korea winner Bryson DeChambeau, the reigning US Open champion, was only beaten in last year’s PGA on the 72nd hole before he edged McIlroy a month later on the 72nd hole to win the US Open.

“There’s a lot of star-studded talent out there right now that’s going to be in the PGA Championship. We’re going to be battling it out,” DeChambeau said.

Defending champion Xander Schauffele, who also won last year’s British Open, is motivated to add to his major haul.

“I don’t think it’s motivation to remind people. I think it’s just motivation to play better and to keep working hard,” Schauffele said.

“I feel like I’m putting nice building blocks together to get me back to a place where I feel like I can win every week.”

Spieth eyes career Slam

Hoping to complete his own career Grand Slam is Jordan Spieth, who won the 2015 Masters and US Open and 2017 British Open. He’s just getting over left wrist surgery from last August, shooting a 62 in the Byron Nelson final round.

The American will make his ninth attempt to complete the career Grand Slam at the PGA, on same Quail Hollow course where he had his first chance at finishing the Slam in 2017.

“My ball-striking is coming around at a really nice time,” Spieth said. “I’ve been progressing each week since the surgery.”

Spieth said McIlroy’s emotional Masters victory served as inspiration for his own Slam dream while McIlroy knows the struggle Spieth has endured.

“You’re not just trying to win another tournament, you’re trying to become part of history, and that has a certain weight to it,” McIlroy said. “I’ve certainly felt that at Augusta over the years. I’m sure Jordan has felt that a bit going into each PGA that he’s had a chance to do the same thing.”

India’s dismal run in elite international badminton tournaments continued, as all remaining shuttlers, including world number 10 women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand exited early, ending the country’s campaign at the Thailand Open Super 500 in Bangkok on Thursday. Treesa and Gayatri, returned to action following an injury layoff but fell 20-22, 14-21 to Japan’s Rui Hirokami and Sayaka Hobara in the second round. With Lakshya Sen having bowed out in the men’s singles opening round on Wednesday, Treesa and Gayatri were the last elite Indian players in the fray.

The young Indian shuttlers also couldn’t make an impact with Unnati Hooda, Malvika Bansod, and Aakarshi Kashyap bowing out after straight-game defeats against higher-ranked opponents in the women’s singles second round on Thursday.

Seventeen-year-old Unnati, champion at the 2022 Odisha Masters and 2023 Abu Dhabi Masters, was no match for world No. 2 and top seed Pornpawee Chochuwong, going down 14-21, 11-21 in just 39 minutes.

World No. 23 Malvika, the 2024 Hylo Open runner-up, also struggled against former world champion and local favourite Ratchanok Intanon, losing 12-21, 16-21 in the USD 475,000 event.

Aakarshi Kashyap was similarly outplayed by Thai southpaw Supanida Katethong, succumbing 9-21, 14-21 in a one-sided match that lasted just 34 minutes.

In men’s singles, Tharun Mannepalli – the only Indian to reach the second round – was no match for second-seeded Dane Anders Antonsen, losing 14-21, 16-21 in 42 minutes.

India is yet to make a final appearance in any BWF World Tour event this year, with top singles players including Lakshya Sen, PV Sindhu, and HS Prannoy battling poor form, injuries, and illness

Ahead of the resumption of the Indian Premier League (IPL), former India batter Robin Uthappa has bashed the ugly fan war between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) supporters. Over the past few seasons, the banter between CSK and RCB fans has become ugly at times, with both sets of supporters firing ugly jibes at each other. Even the matches between the two sides have led to a few heated moments. While CSK have enjoyed historical success, RCB have had the edge over them in the last two seasons, winning three out of four contests.

Days before the suspension of the IPL, RCB edged out CSK in a thriller to bolster their chances of qualifying for the playoffs. Prior to the match, RCB fans were seen selling ‘CSK jail’ jerseys, mocking them over the two seasons they were banned from the IPL (2016 and 2017).

However, Uthappa, who represented both the franchises during his IPL career, wasn’t impressed with the RCB fans holding up white T-shirts with black strips to mock CSK supporters.

“It was pretty intense, Outside the stadium, they were mocking the team, the players of the team when the bus was leaving, that was one thing that I saw, which I thought was in bad taste. The other one that I saw were the fans fighting with each other. I saw women being heckled, which felt unsavory, to be very honest. We saw that even in Chennai last year, again, uncalled for. It’s not on whatsoever,” said Uthappa on his YouTube channel.

“It has gotten pretty intense. They are holding up jerseys, white T-shirts marked with black lines, stating the two years that CSK were banned for. They have kind of written MS’ number on it, and Thala under it, depicting that they were in jail for two years, or whatever. It’s getting a little beyond sport which concerns me. Because at the end of the day, this is a sport,” he added.

RCB need a win from their remaining three matches to qualify for the playoffs, while CSK are already out of the top four race.

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