• British No 1 defeats defending champion 6-1, 0-6, 6-4
• Draper to face Holger Rune after he beat Daniil Medvedev

Of the four previous times that Jack Draper and Carlos Alcaraz had stood across the net from each other, half of their meetings had ended with a distraught Draper aborting the match due to injury. While Draper attempted to keep up with the most successful player of the new generation, their rivalry underlined the biggest obstacle in Draper’s career: his own physical frailty.

Physically, mentally and in every other category, however, the British No 1 has dramatically improved over the past year as he has established himself as one of the very best players in the world. Amid a fortnight that has showcased the best tennis of his life, Draper held his nerve in a turbulent, chaotic tussle to close out a remarkable 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 win over Alcaraz and reach his first Masters 1000 final at Indian Wells.

From dark cherry to bright tomato, there’s a red to suit everyone. Here are five ways to wear this statement shade

Workout in style, hit the deck (shoes), and get the boho look

The British comedian on being shot into space by Jeff Bezos, his nightmarish run-in with a fan and the thing he loves most about Australia

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Would you rather die at the bottom of the ocean or out in space?

I’ve actually just learned how to dive, so I’m a bit obsessed with being at the bottom of the ocean! But I don’t know that I want to die underwater. It’s very peaceful and serene down there. I think I’d like to be fired out to space in a massive cannon.

Ross Noble is touring his new live show, Cranium of Curiosities, around Australia until September, then the UK from October; check here for all dates. He is also a guest on Memory Bites with Matt Moran on SBS Food.

When Toni fell ill I stopped playing music entirely. Yet every so often I felt the urge to return

The first person who spoke to me on the first day of choir was a woman who’d sat beside me in the crowded alto section. She leaned my way and said a little bashfully, “I’ve never done this before. I don’t know how to sing.”

I wanted to make the same confession to her, but in that moment I figured it’d be better to project something more like reassurance. “We’ll be fine,” I said from a place of certainty that I wasn’t entirely certain about.

The value of Pokémon cards is booming, but for people who gather weekly to trade and battle their Pikachus and Togepis, the cards mean much more than cash

On a sleepy Tuesday night, beneath an arts and crafts store in the heart of Sydney, there are battles raging. Long white tables stretch out under bright lights to the back of the room. Chairs on each side are occupied by hoodies, smart work shirts and pop culture tees as players – mostly men – arch forward in deep focus.

Tonight is a weekly event for trading card games, with two different games to do battle in: a tournament for a fantasy game, known as Flesh and Blood, takes up most of the space. But it’s the other card game I’ve come to watch, Pokémon.

I was a non-swimmer, living miles away from Sydney’s glittering water belt. Taking up ocean racing felt like a badge of not only belonging to, but thriving in, this city of water

It’s 7:45 am on a Saturday and my alarm blares. I am up. My swim bag is already packed; I snap on my one-piece with crisscross back straps that leaves dark slashes of tan. Gulping water and toast, I pass a carrot to Tally – who wags her tail appreciatively but is deeply unimpressed her morning walk will be delayed – and head downstairs.

My ride is my neighbour R, a former life-saver hijabi. We are a well-oiled machine, carpooling for toll and petrol costs. In the quiet morning, Canterbury-Bankstown’s Palestinian flags on cars, manoush bakeries and bro-gyms give way to the skin-cancer clinics, juice bars and women in athleisure of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

As they sprinted towards their train, Megan Holbeck realised Guy’s sense of adventure was magic. Even if they missed it, they’d find a way to make their own fun

• Find more stories from The moment I knew series here

In 1992 I arrived for year 9 as a scholarship kid at a boarding school in the Victorian Alps. I was from Canberra and knew no one. Boring suburbia was replaced by a bush shed shared with 14 girls. We had to chop wood for warmth and hot showers, and spent weekends hiking and skiing. I got tougher, explored my limits (a half marathon and six-day hike by the end of the year) and made lifelong friends.

One of them was Guy. He was in my French class, our desks separated by half the alphabet. A regular in my diary list of “top five boys”, he was witty, genuine and playful. We played pranks and games – table rugby, footsies, hid and stole each other’s stuff – and sent ridiculous notes at supper. Whatever we did, there was laughter.

• Coach believes many have boosted chances for Australia
• Borthwick says Maro Itoje is potential Lions captain

Steve Borthwick believes several of his England players have enhanced their chances of touring with the British & Irish Lions this summer following their record 68-14 demolition of Wales in Cardiff. Borthwick says his team are developing fast and also backed his skipper, Maro Itoje, as a potential Lions captain.

Andy Farrell will not unveil his Lions squad until early May but Borthwick hopes England’s 10-try display has given the former some “good headaches” as he seeks the best mix of talent to face the Wallabies in a three-Test series in July and August.

• France 35-16 Scotland
• Bielle-Biarrey and Ramos also score tries in victory

In the end, no arguments. England may have done all they could to put France under some pressure – and Scotland went on to exert a bit more, testing France as few others can – but Les Bleus can play rugby any which way. They ran through the full gamut in the third quarter, blasting and slashing Scotland with equal facility to take the game away from the visitors and the championship from everyone else.

They are worth it and then some. The Stade de France rang out euphorically, as its darlings returned home after three matches on the road. It was the first of those – in London – that cost France the grand slam they were surely good for. Carelessness blighted their every genius move against England that day, and we wondered if they had it in them, despite it all. But they have been unplayable since and claim a first title since 2022.

• Foster writes ‘the results are not good enough’
• Pair enjoyed US Open triumph together in 2022

Matt Fitzpatrick’s poor start to 2025 has led the former US Open champion to dramatically part ways with the legendary caddie Billy Foster. A post on Foster’s social media account on Saturday confirmed the split, with the bag man implying the decision was Fitzpatrick’s.

Rounds of 78 and 72 meant Fitzpatrick comprehensively missed the cut at the Players Championship. On six events on the PGA Tour in 2025, the Englishman has finished no higher than tied 22nd. Foster was only due to caddie at around half Fitzpatrick’s tournaments this year, including next month’s Masters, but now the relationship has ended abruptly.

Trump had invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport five Venezuelans, but order halted by judge

Donald Trump has invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport five Venezuelan nationals from the US.

The White House issued a presidential proclamation on Saturday targeting Venezuelan members of gang Tren de Aragua, saying: “Tren de Aragua (TdA) is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization with thousands of members, many of whom have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.”

Chaotic weekend sees blizzard warnings in midwest, wildfires in southern plains and dust storms in Texas. At least 26 tornadoes were reported but not confirmed as a low pressure system drove powerful thunderstorms across parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri. The Storm Prediction Center said fast-moving system could spawn twisters and hail as large as baseballs, but the greatest threat would come from straight-line winds near or exceeding hurricane force, with gusts of 100mph (160km/h) possible.

• At least 17 dead as massive storm system sweeps across US south with multiple tornadoes

Diana Șoșoacă’s exclusion follows expulsion of front-runner Călin Georgescu from race amid rising tension around poll

Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Șoșoacă, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll.

Earlier in March, the electoral bureau barred Călin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40% before the rerun election.

• McClaren driver criticises ‘lying’ in popular series
• Producers say they have corrected ‘unintentional errors’

Lando Norris has issued a scathing critique of the new season of the Netflix series Drive to Survive, accusing the producers of falsely portraying drivers for dramatic effect and with “lying” and “fabricated nonsense” to better serve their narrative.

Drive to Survive has been a huge success since it was first aired on the streaming service in 2019 and told the story of each Formula One season since. It has been credited with inspiring the recent rise in popularity of the sport and been welcomed by F1’s owners and, for the most part, by teams and drivers. But questions have been repeatedly raised over the way stories are told and edited by its production company, Box to Box Films.

• France can wrap up title; 8pm (GMT) kick-off
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6 mins. The visitors are not here to shepherd France to victory and FInn Russell get them going with a raking cross-kick that finds van der Merwe on the left. He’s set to turn on the pace but a slip halts his plan. The pace of the game is relentless and possession is traded a couple of times.

4 mins. More possession for France, this time via a massive maul that marches forward fifteen metres and leaves Scotland with little choice but to infringe to stop it’s murderous progress.

Like their rivals, the problem is not the rise in revenue that a new home offers but that so little of it ends up being spent on players

Build it and they will come – but you should be aware that you will be left with significant debt repayments, an element of the story to which Kevin Costner took a characteristically cavalier attitude. Which may be why Field of Dreams was about building a baseball stadium in Iowa for Shoeless Joe Jackson and the ghosts of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox rather than, say, Daniel Levy constructing a football stadium in Haringey for Vincent Janssen and the remnants of the 2019 Tottenham Hotspur team.

In the past week, Manchester United have revealed plans for a new £2bn stadium, capacity 100,000, next to Old Trafford, while Newcastle are reported to be looking to move from St James’ Park to a 65,000-capacity stadium on Leazes Park. Everton will move into a new stadium at Bramley-Moore dock next season. Wrexham are building a 5,500-capacity Kop. New stadiums suddenly are fashionable again after a period in which they came to seem almost an afterthought. That, perhaps, is an unintended consequence of profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).

At least 19 people killed in strikes on Sana’a and Sa’ada on Saturday, says Houthi-run health ministry

Donald Trump said he ordered a series of airstrikes on Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, on Saturday, promising to use “overwhelming lethal force” until Iranian-backed Houthi rebels cease their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor.

The Houthis reported a series of explosions in their territory on Saturday evening. Images circulating online show plumes of black smoke over the area of the Sana’a airport complex, which includes a sprawling military facility. The extent of the damage was not yet clear.

A time when the clubs were old Third Division mainstays may be a distant, chintzy memory now both are upwardly mobile, model organisations but Bournemouth have still not beaten Brentford in the Premier League. For a club with now very different horizons, this was a most costly defeat.

If Thomas Frank’s hopes of taking his team into Europe rely on a collision of coefficients, coincidences and collapses then Bournemouth’s fade is coming at a bad time. Andoni Iraola’s team lost their early flow to be sunk by the set-piece expertise that brought goals for Yoane Wissa and Christian Nørgaard. And a fourth defeat in six.

Hundreds of civilians murdered by militant groups, throwing doubt over new government’s ability to control the country - and US willingness to lift sanctions

When armed men entered Hayan’s house last Friday, he thought he was going to be killed like his neighbours before him. Militants dragged him outside, threw him to the ground and started shooting right above his head, making it so he could no longer hear the insults they lobbed at him for being a member of the country’s minority Islamic Alawite sect.

Hayan was lucky – they chose merely to scare not kill him – but by the time the rampage finally ended, 25 residents of the Alawite town of Salhab, northwest Syria, were dead. They included a 90-year-old local religious figure whom militants killed after forcing him to watch them murder his son.

• Wales 14-68 England
• Henry Pollock scores two debut tries in Cardiff thrashing

There is no cauldron quite like Cardiff on a big match day. On this occasion, though, it was England who ran white hot on the final day of this see-sawing Six Nations season to secure a record-breaking 10-try demolition job, sealed by two eye-catching tries on his debut from the 20-year-old Northampton flanker Henry Pollock.

Any notion of a potentially tight, nervy affair was summarily blown away by Steve Borthwick’s side, who have now won their last four Test matches on the trot. They were 33-7 up by half-time, with the glimpses of attacking promise evident over the past month coalescing into the most impressive and authoritative English display of the season.

Prime minister tells a summit of 29 leaders that the Russian president cannot delay peace talks indefinitely

Keir Starmer accused Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet over agreeing to a ceasefire with Ukraine on Saturday as international pressure grew on the Russian president to enter talks.

The prime minister said there was a limit to the length of time Putin could prevaricate, after he convened a virtual summit with 29 other international leaders who agreed to take plans for a peacekeeping force to an “operational phase”.

Russian leader’s antagonism to Zelenskyy and lack of interest in a ceasefire leaves colossal task for US

• David Lammy: Trump’s right, Putin can take the hard or easy way

On paper, everyone is in agreement: Donald Trump says he wants a ­ceasefire; Kyiv’s ­negotiating team has already agreed to a 30-day ceasefire ­proposal at marathon talks with the Americans in Jeddah; and Vladimir Putin says he accepts the idea, albeit with a few “nuances”.

But Putin’s so-called nuances are bigger than mere wrinkles, and at the end of an intense week of diplomacy around Russia’s war in Ukraine, a ceasefire – never mind a sustainable peace – still looks to be something of a distant prospect.

Carabao Cup final offers Liverpool’s entertaining and erratic forward a chance to write himself into club folklore

The prevailing sensation while watching El Chavo del Ocho is to wonder how this thing ever got made in the first place. It’s a low-budget Mexican sitcom that ran from the 70s to the 90s, centred on an eight-year-old orphan who lives in a barrel in an apartment complex. The boy is played by Roberto Gómez Bolaños, who was in his 40s when the series began and his 60s when it ended. Pretty much all the humour is derived from slapstick: situational farce, physical jokes, people getting their heads trapped in buckets. That kind of thing.

Try to imagine ChuckleVision gone global, to the point where it was a genuine cultural touchstone for hundreds of millions, to the point where Paul and Barry Chuckle have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and are unable to walk through Manhattan without being mobbed. That’s El Chavo. Even today it remains one of the most famous comic creations in the history of television: syndicated across the Americas, enthralling successive generations long after it was decommissioned. Including – at some point in early 2000s Uruguay – a young Darwin Núñez.

Meta’s attempt to silence ex-employee Sarah Wynn-Williams has drawn attention to its work on stifling freedom of expression in China

There’s nothing more satisfying than watching a corporate giant make a stupid mistake. The behemoth in question is Meta, and when Careless People, a whistleblowing book by a former senior employee, Sarah Wynn-Williams, came out last week, its panic-stricken lawyers immediately tried to have it suppressed by the Emergency International Arbitral Tribunal. This strange institution obligingly (and sternly) enjoined Wynn-Williams “from making orally, in writing, or otherwise any ‘disparaging, critical or otherwise detrimental comments to any person or entity concerning [Meta], its officers, directors, or employees’ ”. To which her publisher, Macmillan, issued a statement that could succinctly be summarised thus: “Get stuffed.”

Clearly, nobody in Meta has heard of the Streisand effect, “an unintended consequence of attempts to hide, remove or censor information, where the effort instead increases public awareness of the information”. The company has now ensured that Wynn-Williams’s devastating critique of it [see our review inthe New Review] will become a world bestseller.

The Northern Irish journalist turned author on writing a haunted house novel for the rental age, her trick for capturing dialogue and favourite millennial reads

Róisín Lanigan, 33, grew up in Belfast and studied at Queen’s University Belfast before moving to London to work as a journalist. She previously covered pop culture at i-D magazine, and is now contributing editor at the independent quarterly the Fence. Her absorbing debut novel, I Want to Go Home But I’m Already There (Fig Tree), remakes the haunted house genre for the rental age, following a millennial couple, Áine and Elliott, as they first move in together. Soon, Áine begins to think the flat is against them, and Lanigan incisively tracks her character’s very modern descent into despair.

Up until now you’ve worked as a journalist. Did you always want to be a novelist?
I always wanted to write fiction, but it’s one of those jobs that feels so out of reach. It took me a long time to take it seriously and to believe that I could do it, especially when it comes to making up characters. It’s a strange departure from one where everything is factual and you can’t make up quotes.

I Want to Go Home But I’m Already There by Róisín Lanigan is published by Fig Tree, £16.99. To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

The Russian president has responded to a plan for a 30-day truce with Ukraine by issuing a set of tough conditions

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Launched by Nasa and SpaceX, the Falcon 9 is picking up Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, whose eight days on board the International Space Station became nine months

A long-awaited mission to return stranded US astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore from the International Space Station has been launched by Nasa and SpaceX.

The pair were due to spend eight days on the ISS in June, but technical problems with the experimental spacecraft that took them there have left them stuck on the orbital laboratory for nine months.

Farmers and bikers join students in climax to movement that Aleksandar Vučić labels an ‘imported revolution’

A vast demonstration has been gathering in Belgrade, marking the climax of more than four months of student-led protests and the biggest challenge to President Aleksandar Vučić in the 11 years of his increasingly autocratic rule.

Vučić stoked tensions in the run-up to yesterday’s mass protest, suggesting there would be an attempt to overthrow him by force and calling it an “imported revolution” with the involvement of western intelligence agencies, but he provided no evidence for the claims. The demonstrations against government corruption and incompetence have so far been overwhelmingly peaceful.

• Milan enjoy thrilling 2-1 comeback against Como
• Bayern held to a 1-1 draw away to Union Berlin

Kylian Mbappé scored twice to help Real Madrid fight back to beat Villarreal 2-1 and move top of La Liga overnight.

The hosts opened the scoring in the seventh minute when Álex Baena’s corner was deflected by Aurélien Tchouaméni, allowing Juan Foyth to score from close range. Real Madrid levelled 10 minutes later when Mbappé pounced on Brahim Díaz’s blocked shot and the ball landed at his feet for a close-range finish.

While Donald Trump has no plan beyond halting the gunfire, Russia’s leader does. Peace at any price is no peace at all

A halt to the killing in Ukraine is a highly desirable aim. A permanent end to the war would be a truly wonderful achievement. Who would not welcome an agreement that stopped Russia’s daily slaughter of civilians and its destruction of Ukraine’s cities, and which allowed millions of displaced people to return home? But peace at any price is no peace at all, as history shows and we have repeatedly argued here. In his untutored haste, Donald Trump risks rushing into a bad deal with Vladimir Putin that could set the stage for renewed conflict in Ukraine and other vulnerable countries bordering Russia and for an overall weakening of Europe’s security.

The initial 30-day truce under discussion by US and Russian officials reportedly entails a complete halt to fighting and temporary freezing of the frontlines in eastern Ukraine. It provides for the exchange of prisoners of war, release of civilian detainees and return from Russia of abducted Ukrainian children. The truce could be extended. But Russia’s president is adamant that, before it even begins, many complex, longer-term issues must be addressed, including the most fundamental: Ukraine’s future as an independent, sovereign state.

This showdown of Champions League contenders ended with spoils shared so Manchester City, in fifth place, still lead Brighton, who are seventh, by a point. The draw is a rosy result for Newcastle, as they are sandwiched between them and have played a game fewer so have an opportunity to leapfrog City.

Match day 29 for City and Brighton fired the gun on the final 10 matches and with many teams in the chase for a shot at the European Cup, final-day excitement surely awaits.

• Latest updates from Vitality Stadium (5.30pm kick-off GMT)
• Get in touch: email Barry with your thoughts

Thomas Frank was effusive in his praise for both his own team and Bournemouth during his pre-match press conference. “Bournemouth have been really, really impressive,” the Brentford manager said.

• Principality Stadium hosts 4.45pm kick-off (GMT)
• Get in touch: mail your thoughts to Lee

5 mins. Wales possession in the England half has Mee brought into the attack in midfield but he’s a little isolated and that allows Earl to get to the ball and win a turnover penalty. Fin Smith sends it to touch, but Cowan-Dickie’s throw isn’t straight.

3 mins. It’s a simple peel off the lineout that Tom Curry drives to the line. He is stopped but next up Itoje takes turn and drives over to open the scoring very early and give England a perfect start.

A SpaceX mission was launched to replace two Nasa astronauts who have been stuck at the International Space Station for nine months. The stuck astronauts are scheduled to depart the station on 19 March after the Crew-10 astronauts arrive on 19 March

• Crew lifts off on SpaceX mission to replace stuck Nasa astronauts

Militant group hardening its negotiating position in ceasefire talks amid new violence in territory

The current fragile pause in hostilities in Gaza has come under further threat with Hamas hardening its negotiating positions amid new Israeli airstrikes in the devastated territory.

The first phase of the ceasefire agreement ended two weeks ago but Israel is refusing to implement the scheduled second phase, which is supposed to end with its withdrawal from Gaza, the freedom of all remaining hostages held by Hamas, and a definitive end to the conflict.

The G7 meeting in Canada was a vital show of unity that put the ball firmly in Russia’s court. There’s not a shred of ambiguity about that

In diplomacy, focus is often on where we disagree. But Britain and our partners are stronger when we stand together. Last week’s G7 meeting made that clear.

We arrived in Canada with real momentum. Our Ukrainian and American friends deserve a lot of credit for the breakthrough at Jeddah – with British diplomacy, from the prime minister down, making a big difference behind the scenes.

Sharing secrets is a natural human instinct – and the boom in audio is providing new platforms for the juiciest stories

In the latest series of The White Lotus, childhood best friends Laurie, Kate and Jaclyn arrive at a luxury Thai hotel for a girls’ ­holiday. The trio appears to have a perfect dynamic, but on the first night, two friends descend into a gossiping session about the third, crystallising unspoken tensions in the group.

Gossip drives all kinds of dramas – it’s the central force behind every series of Bridgerton, the beating heart of teen drama Gossip Girl. Where would Jane Austen’s characters, or even Hilary Mantel’s imagining of Thomas Cromwell, be without insider secrets?

After just a few weeks in the White House, the self-appointed peace-giver has stoked war, accelerated the nuclear arms race and alienated US allies

If Robert K Merton, the founding father of American sociology, were alive today, he’d be fascinated by the Donald Trump phenomenon. Scarcely more than 50 days into his second presidential term, hapless Trump provides daily proofs of Merton’s universal “law of unintended consequences”.

Rooted in ignorance, error, wilful blindness and self-defeating prediction, Trump’s rash actions produce contradictory, harmful and often opposite results to those he says he wants. The ensuing chaos characterises what may become the briefest honeymoon in White House history.

For more than a decade, Michigan-based artist Ted Lott has been retro-fitting vintage suitcases and furniture with miniature dwellings. He tailors the architectural elements to the objects: a 1920s suitcase, for example, might become an art deco-style house, while a traditional chair might be made into a neoclassical residence. “I’m drawn to objects that carry a sense of their own history before they arrive in my studio,” he says. The idea of shelter is at the heart of his work, as is migration. “I wanted to embrace the idea of immigration and celebrate the uncertainty, hardship and sacrifice that people have endured over the centuries to build this country.”

• See more at tedlott.com