The Morning Sports Briefing

Top seeds keep cool at scorching Wimbledon

It was a scorcher at Wimbledon yesterday but the main seeds in the men's draw kept their cool to advance to the next round.

Roger Federer's progress was serene as he dispatched of Damir Dzumhur 6-1 6-3 6-3, Rafael Nadal bludgeoned Thomaz Bellucci 6-4 6-2 6-3, while Andy Murray needed to work hard to overcome Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4 7-6 6-4 with temperatures touching 41C on Centre Court.

In the women's draw it took Petra Kvitova just 35 minutes to get past Kiki Bertens, but Eugenie Bouchard, who lost to Kvitova in last year's final, was knocked out by qualifier Ting-Ying Duan of China.

Nigel Pearson sacked by Leicester

Nigel Pearson has been sacked by Leicester City, with the club citing a "fundamental difference in perspective" between the owner and the manager.

Meanwhile Shamrock Rovers had Craig Hyland to thank as they held FC Pro Niederkorn of Luxembourg to a 0-0 draw in the away leg of their Europa League qualifier.

Argentina will play Chile in the Copa America final after they routed Paraguay 6-1 in their semi-final, with Angel Di Maria scoring twice.

Justin Gatlin no mouse

In his latest column Andy McGeady looks at Justin Gatlin, who despite being 33 years old continues to run faster and faster.

Smells like team spirit

Westmeath’s famous win over Meath on Sunday will be put down to some by the fantastic team spirit showcased by the victorious underdogs, however, the importance of team spirit has always been overstated and is way down the list of things you need to win the All Ireland, writes Darragh Ó Sé.

Dublin's evisceration of Kildare at the weekend and their dominance of provincial football in general is hardly surprising, however the state of the Leinster Championship as a whole is a cause for concern, writes Sean Moran.

Paul Galvin has been ruled out of Sunday's Munster football final against Kerry in Killarney by brother-in-law Eamonn Fitzmaurice.

Wexford hurler Conor McDonald, not used to being beaten by Kilkenny, believes his side's semi-final defeat at the hands of the Cats will serve them well and drive them forward into their qualifier against Cork.

Kilkenny take on Galway in the Leinster hurling final on Sunday with the Tribesmen's skipper David Collins a major doubt for the game at Croke Park after suffering a hamstring injury in training last Tuesday night.

Anthem Alexander set for Newmarket

Eddie Lynam enjoyed success in the Darley July Cup at Newmarket with Slade Power a year ago, and he is hopinfg for more success in the Group One highlight on Saturday week with three-year-old filly Anthem Alexander.

What to watch out for:

Football

It is 25 (25!!!) years since Ireland made their heroic homecoming from Italia ‘90. To commemorate this milestone and one of the best World Cups of all time, we have spoken to numerous people who were there to give us their memories of the tournament. Keep an eye out today for the thoughts of Tony Cascarino and Kevin Sheedy among others, while Miriam Lord looks back at a time when a whole nation was high as a kite.

Hockey

Ireland take on Australia in their World League quarter final. Sky Sports 1, 12pm.

Tennis

It’s day three of Wimbledon and temperatures are expected to border on the unbearable. Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are both in action on Centre Court, while French Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka takes on Estrella Burgos on Court One. BBC 1, 11.30am-1pm, 1.45-6pm. BBC 2 1-9.30pm. Setanta 11.30am-7.30pm.

ORDER OF PLAY (11.30am start unless stated otherwise):

Centre Court (1pm)

Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) v Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)

Santiago Giraldo (COL) v Kei Nishikori (JPN x5)

Serena Williams (USA x1) v Timea Babos (HUN)

Court One (1pm)

Tommy Haas (GER) v Milos Raonic (CAN x7)

Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) v Heather Watson (GBR)

Stan Wawrinka (SUI x4) v Victor Estrella Burgos (DOM)

Court 2

Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x11) v Steve Johnson (USA)

Maria Sharapova (RUS x4) v Richel Hogenkamp (NED)

Marsel Ilhan (TUR) v Kevin Anderson (RSA x14)

Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) v Venus Williams (USA x16)

Court 3

Liam Broady (GBR) v David Goffin (BEL x16)

Marin Cilic (CRO x9) v Ricardas Berankis (LTU)

Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) v Ana Ivanovic (SRB x7)

Court 4

Nicholas Monroe (USA) & Artem Sitak (Nzl) v Dustin Brown (Ger) & Andreas Haider-Maurer (Aut)

Julia Goerges (Ger) & Carina Witthoeft (Ger) v Hao-Ching Chan (Tpe) & Alison Van Uytvanck (Bel)

Adrian Mannarino (Fra) & Lucas Pouille (Fra) v Lukasz Kubot (Pol) & Max Mirnyi (Blr)

Court 5

Misaki Doi (Jpn) & Stephanie Vogt (Lie) v Johanna Konta (Gbr) & Maria Sanchez (USA)

Timea Bacsinszky (Swi) & Chia-Jung Chuang (Tpe) v Mona Barthel (Ger) & Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukr)

Karin Knapp (Ita) & Roberta Vinci (Ita) v Chin-Wei Chan (Tpe) & Nicole Melichar (USA)

Karolina Pliskova (Cze) & Kristyna Pliskova (Cze) v Monica Niculescu (Rom) & Olga Savchuk (Ukr)

Court 6

Dusan Lajovic (Ser) & Viktor Troicki (Ser) v (11) Daniel Nestor (Can) & Leander Paes (Ind)

Radek Stepanek (Cze) & Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) v Thomaz Bellucci (Bra) & Guillermo Duran (Arg)

Elizaveta Kulichkova (Rus) & Evgeniya Rodina (Rus) v (16) Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spa) & Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spa)

Court 7

Michaella Krajicek (Ned) & Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) v Shuko Aoyama (Jpn) & Renata Voracova (Cze)

Marcus Daniell (Nzl) & Marcelo Demoliner (Bra) v Robin Haase (Ned) & Benoit Paire (Fra)

Madison Keys (USA) & Laura Robson (Gbr) v (2) Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) & Elena Vesnina (Rus)

Court 8

Klaudia Jans-Ignacik (Pol) & Andreja Klepac (Slo) v Kimiko Date Krumm (Jpn) & Francesca Schiavone (Ita)

Zarina Diyas (Kaz) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Blr)

Denis Kudla (USA) v Alexander Zverev (Ger)

Sloane Stephens (USA) v Lauren Davis (USA)

Court 9

Treat Huey (Phi) & Scott Lipsky (USA) v (12) Pablo Cuevas (Uru) & David Marrero (Spa)

Cara Black (Zim) & Lisa Raymond (USA) v Johanna Larsson (Swe) & Petra Martic (Cro)

Jana Cepelova (Svk) & Stefanie Voegele (Swi) v Jocelyn Rae (Gbr) & Anna Smith (Gbr)

Jarmila Gajdosova (Aus) & Ajla Tomljanovic (Cro) v (13) Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) & Jie Zheng (Chn)

Court 10

Jonathan Marray (Gbr) & Frederik Nielsen (Den) v Fabrice Martin (Fra) & Purav Raja (Ind)

(6) Garbine Muguruza (Spa) & Carla Suarez Navarro (Spa) v Alexandra Dulgheru (Rom) & Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spa)

Eric Butorac (USA) & Colin Fleming (Gbr) v Frantisek Cermak (Cze) & Philipp Oswald (Aut)

Court 11

(15) Anastasia Rodionova (Aus) & Arina Rodionova (Aus) v Irina Falconi (USA) & Daria Gavrilova (Rus)

(5) Simone Bolelli (Ita) & Fabio Fognini (Ita) v Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spa) & Malek Jaziri (Tun)

(8) Alexander Peya (Aut) & Bruno Soares (Bra) v Pablo Carreno-Busta (Spa) & Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spa)

Court 12

Urszula Radwanska (POL) v Sam Stosur (AUS x22)

John Millman (AUS) v Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)

Mariana Duque-Marino (COL) v Andrea Petkovic (GER x14)

Sara Errani (ITA x19) v Aleksandra Krunic (SRB)

Court 14

Tereza Smitkova (Cze) & Yi Fan Xu (Chn) v (10) Caroline Garcia (Fra) & Katarina Srebotnik (Slo)

Pablo Andujar (Spa) & Oliver Marach (Aut) v (14) Raven Klaasen (Rsa) & Rajeev Ram (USA)

Steve Johnson (USA) & Sam Querrey (USA) v Aljaz Bedene (Gbr) & Damir Dzumhur (Bih)

Court 16

Kenny De Schepper (Fra) v (21) Richard Gasquet (Fra)

Lesia Tsurenko (Ukr) v (29) Irina-Camelia Begu (Rom)

Fernando Verdasco (Spa) v (32) Dominic Thiem (Aut)

Court 17

(11) Karolina Pliskova (Cze) v Coco Vandeweghe (USA),

Matthew Ebden (Aus) v (17) John Isner (USA),

(24) Leonardo Mayer (Arg) v Marcel Granollers (Spa)

Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) v Kristina Mladenovic (Fra)

Court 18

Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) v Bernard Tomic (AUS x27)

Nick Kyrgios (AUS x26) v Juan Monaco (ARG)

Belinda Bencic (SUI x30) v Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER)

Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) v Victoria Azarenka (BLR x23)

Court 19

Kiki Bertens (Ned) & Alison Riske (USA) v (5) Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) & Abigail Spears (USA)

(4) Jean-Julien Rojer (Ned) & Horia Tecau (Rom) v Martin Klizan (Svk) & Lukas Rosol (Cze)

(10) Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra) & Nicolas Mahut (Fra) v Nicolas Almagro (Spa) & Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (Spa)