Chelsea have regained their five-point lead at the top of the Women’s Super League, while elsewhere Ashleigh Barty secured her place in the Australian Open quarter-finals in convincing fashion.

Harder and Eriksson extend support to the LGBT community

Following Chelsea’s 5-0 victory over Bristol City in the WSL yesterday, Pernille Harder and Magdalena Eriksson took to Twitter to offer guidance to those finding it difficult to open up about their sexuality.

The pair are in a relationship together and have played for Chelsea with one another since Harder joined from Wolfsburg last September for a reported record transfer sum.

Both have helped Chelsea open up a five-point lead over Manchester City in this season’s WSL, and speaking after Sunday’s game, the two invited anyone to get in touch on social media if they were “struggling to come out”.

Erikson wrote: “I’m so lucky to have a relationship with the Woman I love but I know this isn’t the case for everyone, especially in these times. In the LGBT community, these problems can feel even worse, so for the next hours, Pernille Harder and I will open our DM’s for anyone who wants to chat”.

Harder echoed this same sentiment, expressing the need for everyone to accept each other so that the act of coming out feels natural. She stressed: “I’m lucky to have a family who was nothing but happy for me when I came out 7 years ago. I know a lot of people are struggling to tell their friends and families they are gay, which must be the worst feeling I can imagine.”

Beard believes Bristol can still beat the drop

Despite a comprehensive defeat to league leaders Chelsea yesterday, Bristol City interim manager Matt Beard is still confident his side can stay up this season.

Bristol have won just one game in the league this year, and are two points from safety at the bottom of the WSL having played a game more than West Ham who sit 11th, but speaking after the full-time whistle yesterday, Beard was quick to find some positives from the game.

Matt Beard

He told reporters: “I think we can stay up. I’ve seen enough from the group, they’ve got a great togetherness with a great work ethic and I think you can see it from today”.

Bristol City’s next outing after the international break is on Sunday, 7th March 2021 before they face Chelsea again the following week in the FA Women’s League Cup Final.

Ashleigh Barty joins Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka in the Australian Open quarter-finals

Tennis world number one Ashleigh Barty needed little over an hour to triumph over American Shelby Rogers in the fourth round of the 2021 Australian Open today.

The Australian, who is bidding to be the first Aussie ever to win the women’s singles title since the unseeded Christine O’Neil in 1978, won 6-3 6-4 in just 71 minutes to set up a quarter-final against 25th seed Karoline Muchova, who beat Belgium’s Elise Mertens in straight sets.

Ashleigh Barty

Chasing her second Grand-Slam title, Barty is yet to drop a set in Melbourne this year and will be encouraged by the knowledge that the likes of Serena Williams, Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka all sit on the other half of the draw.

Wasps aiming for back-to-back wins to start Netball Superleague season

After last night's 53-34 victory over Severn Stars, Wasps will be hoping to continue their unbeaten start to the 2021 Netball Superleague when they face Loughborough Lightning behind closed doors this evening.

A win would take Wasps level on six points with Team Bath at the top of the table, who saw off Loughborough themselves yesterday with a 48-44 win.

Leeds Rhinos face Saracens Mavericks in tonight's other game after both registered victories over the weekend. The Rhinos convincingly saw off the Celtic Dragons 65-35 while the Mavericks overcame a spirited Surrey Storm side by 54 points to 30.

Saracens awarded victory after Harlequins breach COVID-19 protocols

The much-anticipated clash between Saracens Women and Harlequins Women, the two top teams in the Premier 15’s, has been cancelled after a disputes committee found Harlequins to have breached contract tracing protocols in training.

An appeal from Harlequins Women was heard by an independent panel, but the decision of the committee has been upheld. Saracens have therefore been awarded five league points, with Harlequins receiving none.

Harlequins were ahead of Saracens by one point leading into the weekend’s fixtures, but a narrow 17-20 defeat to Loughborough Lightning on Saturday followed by this cancelled fixture has seen them drop back to third place, one point behind Loughborough and now eight adrift of Saracens.