Football

Pretoria: Colombian Brayan Leon was the match-winner again for Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa on Saturday, April 18, 2026, scoring in a 1-0 CAF Champions League semi-final second leg win over Esperance of Tunisia. The 25-year-old, who joined the Pretoria club from Independiente Medellin three months ago, also notched the only goal of the first leg near Tunis last weekend. His goals gave Sundowns a 2-0 aggregate victory and they will face Moroccan opponents, either FAR Rabat or Renaissance Berkane, in the two-leg final. FAR take a 2-0 lead into the second leg of the other semi-final in eastern Moroccan city Berkane later on Saturday. Seeking a second Champions title, Sundowns will host the first leg of the final in Pretoria on May 15 with the return match in Rabat or Berkane on May 24. Like Sundowns, FAR have been champions once, conquering Africa in 1985 when the premier continental club competition was called the African Cup of Champions Clubs. Berkane are competing in the Champions League for the first time after winning the second-tier CAF Confederation Cup three times and been runners-up twice in seven campaigns. A second leg that attracted a sell-out 40,000 crowd to the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria, which Sundowns share with the Bulls rugby union side, produced few clearcut scoring chances. Esperance goalkeeper Bechir Ben Said made a superb one-hand parry to foil Leon midway through the opening half. When Ben Said later kicked Leon when trying to clear a throw from Ibrahima Keita, the Somali referee pointed to the penalty spot. Ben Said parried the poorly struck spot kick from Leon, but the South American reacted quickest to push the rebound into the net on 35 minutes. Esperance almost levelled as half-time approached when a cross struck the body of French striker Florian Danho and came back off the crossbar. The second half finally came alive after 75 minutes when Ben Said prevented long-range attempts by Chilean Marcelo Allende and Jayden Adams putting Sundowns further ahead. Four-time African champions Esperance introduced teenage attackers Aboubacar Diakite from Mali and Jack Diarra from Burkina Faso, but they failed to trouble Sundowns' defence.

Tennis

Barcelona: Andrey Rublev came from a set down to beat Hamad Medjedovic 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in their semi-final in Barcelona on Saturday. Rublev qualified for the 29th final of his career in front of a lively crowd on the Rafael Nadal centre court after the Serb had edged the first set. The Russian will meet either Frenchman Arthur Fils or the in-form Spaniard Rafael Jodar, who play the other semi-final later Saturday. Fils, who came back from an eight-month injury absence in February, has been in strong form, finishing as runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz in Doha. Jodar, 19, has won all three of his matches this week in straight sets, including against world number 24 Cameron Norrie. World number two Alcaraz withdrew with a wrist injury on Wednesday and on Friday pulled out of next week's Madrid Masters.

Tennis

Munich, Germany: Flavio Cobolli ended top seed Alexander Zverev's Munich Open title defence on Saturday, April 18, 2026, as the Italian breezed past the world number three in straight sets to book his spot in the final. Fourth seed Cobolli downed the home favourite 6-3, 6-3 in just under 70 minutes in their semi-final meeting. The 23-year-old's blistering performance put paid to Zverev's hopes for a record fourth title on the red dirt in Munich. Cobolli will face either American second seed Ben Shelton or Slovak qualifier Alex Molcan in Sunday's final. "One of my best matches ever against one of my biggest friends on tour," Cobolli said. "I'm a little bit shy when I play with a big player but today I played one of my best performances and I'm really happy." Cobolli edged ahead of Zverev when he broke the German to love in the fourth game of the first set. Zverev struggled to make inroads on Cobolli's serve over the course of the match, and when the world number 16 pounced on his opponent's first service game of the second set the writing was on the wall for Zverev. Two punishing crosscourt forehands followed up by a crisp volley to finish off game seven secured Cobolli a double break and gave him the chance to serve for the match. But Zverev hit back immediately as he secured his first break points of the encounter, converting at the second time of asking to halt his opponent. A brilliant forehand on the run handed Cobolli match point in the next game and when Zverev framed a deep return the match was decided. Cobolli advances to his second final of the season, where he will look to add to the title he picked up in Acapulco in February.