PARIS: RC Lens missed the chance to move top of Ligue 1 and put pressure on Paris St-Germain as they slipped to a 2-1 loss at Lorient on Saturday.

Pierre Sage’s side were aiming to go two points clear of PSG at the summit, with the reigning champions not playing this weekend so they can rest for Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 second leg at Chelsea.

But Lens, targeting a second Ligue 1 title and first since 1998, fell to a costly defeat and have now won only one of their last four league matches.

“We had a lot of possession, but we weren’t creative enough to fashion chances,” said Lens coach Sage. “We missed an opportunity.”

Bamba Dieng put Lorient into an 18th-minute lead. The visitors hit back, though, shortly after half-time, as Odsonne Edouard collected the ball inside the Lorient half, carried it to the edge of the box and unleashed a low shot into the bottom corner.

But Lorient regained the advantage in the 65th minute, as Aiyegun Tosin stabbed the ball in from almost on the goal-line after just about controlling Arsene Kouassi’s cross.

Lens piled on the pressure late on with a series of set-pieces but could not force another equaliser.

Lorient climbed to eighth in the table, just four points behind sixth-placed Lille, who have a game in hand, in the race for European qualification.

Elsewhere on Saturday, AS Monaco moved into fifth place with a fifth consecutive Ligue 1 victory as Folarin Balogun scored his 14th goal of the season in all competitions in a 2-0 win over Brest.

Nice won 2-0 at Angers with goals from defender Melvin Bard and Elye Wahi. The striker, a France youth international, joined the Riviera club on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt this winter until the end of the season.

Nice climbed eight points clear of the relegation play-off place and snap a six-game winless run in the league.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2026

INDIAN WELLS: Daniil Medvedev ended Carlos Alcaraz’s perfect start to 2026, stunning the world number one 6-3, 7-6(7/3) on Saturday to book an Indian Wells title clash with Jannik Sinner.

Medvedev avenged losses to Alcaraz in back-to-back Indian Wells finals in 2023 and 2024, using an impressive service display and aggressive play from the baseline to keep the Spanish star on the back foot throughout.

“Super happy to beat someone as strong as he (is),” Medvedev said. “It’s a great feeling.”

He’ll have his work cut out for him again in Sunday’s clash with four-time Grand Slam champion Sinner, who beat fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-4.

Alcaraz, 22, became the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam with his Australian Open triumph this year. He followed with a title in Qatar and took a 16-0 2026 record into Saturday’s contest.

But Medvedev was up to the challenge, last month’s Dubai champion running Alcaraz ragged in the intense desert heat as he pushed his own ATP win streak to nine matches.

“I just felt like the long rallies, especially when you play against Daniil, that the rallies are long, that you have to increase all the power in almost every shot,” Alcaraz said.

“So it feels like you’re wasting extra energy after every shot. And with the heat, sometimes it’s really tricky to deal with all of that.”

After Medvedev needed just one break of serve to pocket an opening set in which he didn’t face a break point himself, Alcaraz made some adjustments broke first in the second for a 3-1 lead.

But Medvedev broke back immediately, and his control in the rallies had Alcaraz gasping after one long point in the ninth game.

“The first set … he just made it that I had to struggle a little bit,” Alcaraz said. “In the second set, I started to feel much better. I realized what I have to do. I realized that I have to suffer, and I accept it.”

Alcaraz hung on to hold serve for a 5-4 lead in the second set, but he was unable to convert a pair of set points in the next game and they went to a tiebreaker that was all Medvedev.

“He’s an amazing player with amazing shots, defense, attack, serve, return, everything,” Medvedev said. “So you need to be at your best — and I was.”

Medvedev’s form, after a disappointing 2025 campaign in which he fell as low as 18th in the world, has caught Sinner’s eye.

“He’s back to very, very high level, very big serve. He’s returning very well, very deep,” Sinner said of the 2021 US Open champion.

The Italian was delighted to finally punch his ticket to the final after falling to Alcaraz in the semis to Alcaraz in 2023 and 2024.

And he was delighted with his play in his sixth straight win over Zverev, the world number four from Germany.

“It was a great performance — very solid from the back of the court,” said Sinner, who saved the only break point he faced in a commanding display of precision and power.

Zverev delivered two impeccable service games before he began to falter.

Sinner broke him twice as the German’s errors began to climb, and Zverev cut a dejected figure after Sinner pocketed the opening set.

Zverev found renewed energy after fending off three break points in the opening game of the second set, but Sinner saved a break point in the sixth game with an ace and broke Zverev in the next game to gain the only advantage he needed.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2026

Bangladesh clinched a three-match series against Pakistan 2-1 as the Green Shirts faced a narrow defeat in the third one-day international (ODI) match at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Sunday.

Chasing a total of 291 runs, Pakistan’s batters fell short by 11 runs as a fighting 106-run knock by Salman Agha went in vain.

Green Shirts lost early wickets as openers Sahizada Farhaan and Maaz Sadaqat went back to the pavilion after scoring just six runs each. Debutant Saad Masood scored 38 runs, while captain Shaheen Afridi added 37 runs to the scoreboard.

Bangladesh’s Taskin Ahmed’s heroic 4-wicket haul was impressive as he also took the key wicket of Salman Agha, who was looking unswerving to outdo the winning mark.

Mustafizur Rehman also grabbed three wickets, while Nahid Rana managed to secure two.

Winning the toss, the visitors decided to bowl first in the series decider.

Bangladesh’s openers provided a sturdy start to the innings with Tanzid Hasan scoring his maiden ODI century, which also earned him the man of the match award.

Towhid Hridoy and Litton Das added 48 and 41 runs, respectively, for Bangladesh, which helped the tally to reach the 290-run mark at the end of 50 overs at a loss of five wickets.

Haris Rauf took three wickets for Pakistan while Afridi and Abrar Ahmed claimed one wicket each.

Green Shirts had made a comeback in the series by defeating the hosts in the second ODI match after a hammering 7-seven wicket loss in the series opener, in which Pakistan’s batting lineup was bundled up at a total of just 114 runs.