Desperate to win a trophy to rescue a frustrating campaign, United advanced to the semi-finals with a 2-0 win over Brighton at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Tottenham won 3-0 at Swansea to book their second successive appearance in the last four.

Chelsea, beaten by Arsenal in the final last May, are eyeing a return to the title match after winning 2-1 at Leicester on Sunday.

Alvaro Morata ended a personal goal drought stretching back to December 26 as the Spain forward put Chelsea ahead with a clinical finish in the 42nd minute.

Leicester striker Jamie Vardy poked home from close range in the 75th minute to send the quarter-final into extra time.

But Spain winger Pedro won it for Chelsea in the 105th minute when he punished Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel’s misjudged attempt to punch clear.

Pedro got to the ball before Schmeichel and met N’Golo Kante’s cross with a header that looped into the empty net.

The victory kept alive Chelsea’s last remaining hope of winning silverware at the end of a difficult season.

Chelsea had lost three of their past four matches to fall behind in the race for a top-four finish in the Premier League as well as bowing out of the Champions League against Barcelona.

“I think Leicester played very well, but it was important for us to win,” Chelsea midfielder Kante said.

“It is the only title we can have this season and we have to fight to the end.”

– Ideal start –

Meanwhile, Southampton are back in the semi-finals for the first time in 15 years.

New Saints manager Mark Hughes enjoyed the ideal start to his reign as the Premier League strugglers won 2-0 at Wigan on Sunday.

Hughes was hired this week to replace the sacked Mauricio Pellegrino and the former Southampton striker had an immediate impact on his new team.

Hughes’ main goal is to help Southampton preserve their top-flight status and they dropped into the relegation zone on Saturday.

Nevertheless, a trip to Wembley in the semi-finals could provide a welcome tonic as Hughes tries to make his presence felt.

It was essential Southampton avoided following in the footsteps of Manchester City, West Ham and Bournemouth — top-flight sides who had all perished against third tier giant-killers Wigan in the FA Cup this season.

They achieved that aim thanks to second-half goals from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Cedric Soares.

“It was an important day for the players today. I have been really impressed with the quality of the talent I have,” said Hughes, who was sacked by Stoke earlier this season.

“They have lost a bit of confidence recently but they are good players.

“We stood up to Wigan. It was a statement of intent and a start.

“We have work to do in the Premier League, but we will enjoy this moment.”

The semi-finals will take place over the weekend of April 21-22.

Alvaro Morata’s first goal since Boxing Day put the visitors on course to bounce back from their Champions League exit at the hands of Barcelona in midweek.

However, Chelsea tired after the break and were punished when Vardy forced home his 17th goal of the season from close range after Willy Caballero had parried Vicente Iborra’s initial effort.

Seventh seeded Shi profited from Lin’s lacklustre play to win 21-19, 16-21, 21-9 in Birmingham.

The surprising absence of Lin’s famed attacking skills helped Shi to grow in confidence.

The 22-year-old was able to utilise his speed and hard-to-read overhead attacks without inhibition against one of the sport’s all-time greats.

“I was more patient and controlled my pace, which helped me get the match back,” said Shi, who admitted he was relieved to erase the memory of last year’s final loss to Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei.

Lin would have been the oldest player in 63 years to win the All-England men’s singles title had he prevailed.

But just when he had levelled the match with a burst of delicate drops and sliced smashes, he suddenly lost his rhythm.

“I am 35, so to play at this level is good,” said Lin, seemingly  forgetting that he is actually only 34.

Lin became the first player ever to play in 10 All-England men’s singles finals and made it the first all-Chinese men’s Open final for a decade.

“I feel good about myself and I want to congratulate my younger opponent.”

Both Chen Long, the Olympic champion who lost to Shi in the quarter-finals, and Lin have been nurturing the development of their compatriot.

Earlier, Tai Tzu Ying, the world number one from Taiwan became the first women’s singles player in more than a decade to successfully defend the title.

But she was not happy with her performance after a 22-20, 21-13 win over Akane Yamaguchi, the world number two from Japan, in which Tai had to save a game point in the first game.

“I made a lot of mistakes, and in the end I just had to run with her,” she said.

“I would like to come back again next year and play better.”

Tai ended Yamaguchi’s hopes of becoming the first Japanese player to win the All-England women’s singles title since Hiroe Yuki more than 40 years ago.

But two other Japanese players did make All-England history.

Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino became the first pair from their country ever to win the mixed doubles title.

It was an even bigger upset because they had been unseeded, while the fifth-seeded Chinese pair, Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, whom they beat 15-21, 22-20, 21-16, had been favourites going into the final.

World number 44 Osaka rolled over Kasatkina, breaking her serve four times and winning the battle of the 20-year-old rising stars in just 70 minutes.

Osaka captured the title on her first match point by blasting a backhand into the open side of the court.

The Japanese dynamo improved to 13-4 on the season two days after her biggest previous win, dominating world number one Simona Halep in a straight-sets semi-final victory.

She was only the fourth unseeded player to reach the Indian Wells final, with the most recent before her being Kim Clijsters in 2005.

The loss ends a brilliant run in the California desert by Kasatkina, who was playing in her second final in a row after a runner-up finish in Dubai.

“She was much better today than me, so she really deserved to win,” Kasatkina said. “Of course, we were both nervous at the beginning, because the biggest finals so far.

“But during the match, she was able to manage her nerves and stuff, and I was still a little bit tight during the match. So it is what it is.”

Kasatkina was two points from defeat against Venus Williams in the semi-finals but rallied for the upset triumph.

Kasatkina, who wasn’t even born when Williams was competing at Indian Wells, said she really felt the nerves getting to her on the big stage in the final.

She called her coach to come down from the stands for advice at one point but couldn’t remember after the match what he told her.

“I mean, I already forgot what he told me. I was so nervous, that I really forgot,” she said.

Osaka blasted five aces, made three double faults and won 79 percent of her first-serve points.

Like Osaka, Kasatkina was playing in her first Indian Wells final. This was the first time both Indian Wells finalists were under age 21 since Serena Williams beat Clijsters in 2001.

The opening set was even until Osaka blasted two aces to take a 4-3 lead. She then broke Kasatkina to make it 5-3 and finished it off with another strong service game.

Osaka pounced on Kasatkina from the beginning of the second set, starting with an opening break of serve.

She also broke Kasatkina to go up 4-1 with another precision forehand winner down the line and never looked back.

Osaka was born in Osaka, Japan, but is a dual citizen after living in America since the age of three.

Kasatkina is 1-3 record in WTA singles finals, winning in Charleston last year and finishing runner-up last year in Moscow and this year at Dubai.

The 35-year-old from Vladimir, north of Moscow, crossed the line in 2:37:35 hours to win the category for men aged 18-39, with Thomas Muli of Kenya coming in second with a time of 2:38.06.

“This is by far my biggest win as I had to compete with Kenyan runners,” said Demianov, who had won three shorter events (10K and half-marathon) in Chon Buri, Bangkok and Rayong earlier this year. “Kenyan runners are famous and tough to beat. This is also the first time I have won a full marathon.

“I was only confident that I was going to win during the last 100 metres. He [Muli] was running on the sand but I was running on the wet sand, which was easier.

“In Russia it’s very cold. So I prefer to compete in Thailand where the weather is nice and there are beaches. But today it was like 28 degree out there, which was quite tough for me.

“I know many people in Russia who want to run marathons and I write programs for them.”

Demianov, whose most recent other victory was in Rayong last week, will next week return to the Isaan town and aim for a hat-trick of triumphs in another half-marathon, but is not confident of repeating his success.

“I’m not sure if I can do it.  My legs are a little tired now,” he confessed.

Tarus Dorcasjebotip from Kenya clocked 3:19:16 hours to win the women’s race, followed by Aregay from Ethiopia in 3:23.28.

Halah Alhamrani, 41, runs a gym for women called FlagBoxing — its motto is Fight Like A Girl — in the western Red Sea city of Jeddah, offering fitness classes such as callisthenics, CrossFit, boxing and kickboxing.

Relying on word-of-mouth publicity in a country where exercising in public is culturally deemed unbecoming for women, Alhamrani is working to empower a generation with little to no exposure to sports.

“On a daily basis, women who have never done sports walk into my class, some with their mothers,” Alhamrani told AFP at her gym, which opened in 2016.

“They walk out more confident. Many find their voice. The mothers approach me and say: ‘Thank you for offering such an empowering feeling’.”

– Abayas left in the locker –

At first blush, the gym screams California, not Saudi Arabia.

Wearing headbands and workout attire, women are seen lifting weights, practising sparring techniques and pounding their fists into a punching bag.

Some of them crumple up their abaya gowns and toss them into a locker. They sweat it out over thumping music.

Around 150 women, including Saudis but also other Arabs, share a sense of camaraderie.

A note scribbled on a whiteboard reads: “I can’t wait to come back!”

Another banner on the wall reads “BADASS”.

“It sometimes feels like a tea party — without the tea and cookies,” Alhamrani jokes.

– ‘My husband is unhappy’ –

Women exercising in public were long a potential target for the kingdom’s austere religious police, which has largely been neutered in recent years.

But dramatic social reforms sweeping Saudi Arabia, including a historic decree allowing women to drive from June, have shone the spotlight on figures such as Alhamrani who have long fought isolated battles for basic freedoms.

Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reform plan, the government is seeking to jump-start women’s sports despite the risk of riling conservatives.

Only four Saudi women featured in the Rio Olympics in 2016 after two were named in the team for London in 2012 — the first time the Gulf nation sent female athletes to the Games.

The kingdom has since then been granting more prestige to the idea, appointing prominent princess Reema bint Bandar to oversee women’s sports in the kingdom in 2016.

– Low-profile –

The country is also moving toward compulsory physical education classes for girls after a ban was scrapped in 2014.

Alhamrani is involved in shaping the new public school sports curriculum.

As the daughter of an American mother and Saudi father, she enjoyed a privilege denied most Saudi girls, in that her parents were open-minded and encouraged sports from an early age.

That start has put her on track to become one of the kingdom’s early pioneers of women’s boxing training.

For now, her low-profile gym operates out of a residential complex, behind opaque glass walls with no outdoor signage.

The location is available on her website, but even so, some first-timers have to call to find their way.

– Gym as therapy –

Some clients view the gym sessions as therapy, Alhamrani said. It offers them such a release that she says some of them end up crying.

“I used to be a timid mother who could not look people in the eye,” said a 36-year-old housewife and mother-of-four, and a regular at the gym.

“The gym gave me a voice that I had lost. It gave me strength that I never knew existed.”

But Alhamrani says some women have dropped out after they began “expressing themselves boldly” in a way that sometimes makes male relatives feel threatened.

“My husband is unhappy”, Alhamrani was told among the reasons.

Under the country’s rigid guardianship system, a male family member — normally the father, husband or brother — must grant permission for a woman’s study, travel and other activities.

Also holding back women’s sports is an acute shortage of professional female athletes and coaches.

Women’s gyms are slowly proliferating, but the idea of mixed gender sports remains taboo.

And some female professionals still caution against offending cultural sensibilities.

“Sports is empowerment,” said Lina Almaeena, a member of the kingdom’s advisory Shura Council, and director of Jeddah United, Saudi Arabia’s first women’s basketball team.

“We are not fighting for mixed gender, abaya-less sporting events. Our aim is not to go against our culture. Our goal is mass participation of women in sports.”

Former US Open winner Del Potro improved to 16-3 on the season with his 6-2, 6-3 victory over the hard-serving Canadian Raonic in just 65 minutes.

Del Potro is looking for his 22nd career and second straight ATP title in a row after winning earlier this month in Acapulco where he beat three top eight players in a row.

“I broke his serve quick in both sets and that gave me control of the match,” said Del Potro. “It was an easier match than I expected.”

This is the 29-year-old Argentinian’s second trip to the Indian Wells championship match, where he will face defending champion Federer.

The last time Del Potro and Federer played was last year in the Basel final where Federer won 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3.

“I love to play against him,” Del Potro said. “Everybody was expecting that final, and I will try to enjoy the atmosphere on court.”

Del Potro is back in the final for the first time in five years, having lost to Rafael Nadal in 2013 after beating Novak Djokovic in the semis.

Del Potro now has 400 career match wins, becoming the second Argentine to reach the milestone. But he has a long road to catch the legend Guillermo Villas, who retired with a whopping 929 wins.

Del Potro hit three aces, won 89 percent of his first serve points and broke Raonic’s serve four times.

Raonic, who is coming back from an injury-riddled 2017, blasted six aces but made two double faults.

“Every time you play a little short, he punishes you,” Raonic said. “He served well. He struck the ball well. I just didn’t do what I needed to do.”

World No. 1 Federer extended his season win streak to 17 matches, booking his spot in the Indian Wells Masters final by rallying past Borna Coric 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 earlier on Saturday.

The Swiss superstar survived a stern test from world number 49 Coric but managed to hold on for a 17-0 record this year, surpassing his prior career-best calendar year start in 2006 when he opened with 16 wins.

“It took a while to get the record,” Federer said. “But I’m happy. It was just a fighting match …. It didn’t come easy, so I had to go get it.

“I got a little bit lucky. I hung tough and put a lot of effort into it to get the record.

“The focus has to be the finals right now. But it’s nice to get off to a good start this year, and I hope I can play well again tomorrow.”

The defending champion will be aiming for a record sixth Indian Wells title when he squares off against world number eight Juan Martin Del Potro in Sunday’s championship match.

The 36-year-old Federer said he had to draw on every ounce of experience and mental toughness to pull out the match.

“Margins are slim at the top of the game,” he said. “And I have been there so many times.

“You just hope to take the right decisions along the way, and then it ends up falling your way.

“But for that you need to have a very positive mindset. You need to be match-tough, you need to be confident, have experience, and I think I have a bit of all of that right now.”

Down a set and trailing 4-2 in the second, Federer had to claw his way back from the brink of defeat.

In the third set he fell behind again 4-3 but won the final 11 points of the match to claim the victory.

Federer clinched the match when Coric hit a shot wide. The ball was called out but Coric challenged and after the video review the original call was confirmed.

“Borna was incredibly steady,” Federer said. “Those 10 minutes when I was down a set and a break it was hard for me to accept.

“I got a bit lucky. It was a good match.”

Federer had not dropped a set (8-0) entering the semi-final. But he looked out of sorts in the opening set Saturday as Croatia’s Coric took it handily.

The match was played under difficult conditions with winds swirling around the main stadium. Federer said he had to be conservative with his shotmaking to get back in it.

“At some point you are happy with very little,” Federer said.

The 22-year-old, with five birdies against a lone bogey, carded her third successive 68 for a three day total of 12 under-par-204.

“MY iron was way better than yesterday. I just missed some tee shots. But overall it’s a good round,” said the Thai No 1 who is looking for her first title since winning the CME Group Tour Championship in November.

“When you saw the leaderboard and Inbee hit like 9-under, but I still really want to focus on my game. So don’t think too much ahead.

“Tomorrow I think it’s going to be the same. Just be patient with every hole. You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” the former world no 1 said.

Park fired a nine-under par 63 to seize a one-stroke lead where Britain’s 54-year-old Laura Davies chased a historic triumph.

Park, a seven-time major winner, opened with four birdies and an eagle in the first five holes and vaulted atop the leaderboard at 14-under 202.

That was one stroke ahead of Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe at Wildfire Golf Club in Phoenix, Arizona.

Davies shot a 63 for the first time since 2005 in jumping into a share of fourth with South Korea’s Chella Choi on 205.

The Englishwoman would become the oldest champion in LPGA history by winning Sunday in the first event of the season on US soil.

“I’ll certainly have a crack at it,” Davies said. “I’ve given myself a chance.”

The sizzling start had Park pondering the all-time LPGA record low 18-hole score of 59 fired by Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam in 2001.

“For a little bit I think a 59. I got off to a really good start,” Park said. “On the back nine, it was different, a little bit more boring golf.”

But after the fantastic start, Park only birdied the par-4 ninth and par-5 11th until she closed her bogey-free round with a birdie at 18.

“To finish with a birdie on the back nine was a big relief,” Park said. “The front nine felt great. The back nine I was hitting pretty solid but the putts didn’t drop like they did on the front nine. If they did I would’ve had a 59.”

Park, who has won nine times in 15 prior attempts when leading entering the final round, matched Davies for the day’s low round.

Davies, who has not won since the 2001 Rochester Invitational, would break the oldest LPGA winner mark held by Beth Daniel, who was 46 when she won the 2003 Canadian Women’s Open.

Davies, in her 32nd LPGA campaign, birdied five of the last six holes on the front nine, eagled the par-5 11th and birdied the par-5 15th and par-3 17th holes.

“I hit a lot of fairways and that gives you a chance to get relatively close to the hole,” Davies said.

“I haven’t been holing the putts but today I did. The no bogeys part for me is the biggest key because that is what has been letting me down.

“I know I can still play great golf. My short game is really coming around and a day like this tells me that we are really doing the right things.”

Davies is struggling to walk with a sore left calf and Achilles tendon.

“It’s a struggle,” she said. “It’s just walking. Swinging is fine. I can swing as hard as I want to. But every step is just misery.”

A Thai sporting legend, Paradorn Srichaphan, has indulged in several other passions during his stellar life. Immediately after his retirement in 2010 he raced motorbikes, then attempted a career in golf after breaking both hands and injuring a knee on two wheels.

Now, finally, he has returned to his favourite arena, the tennis court.

This time, though, he is feeding the ball to a group of youngsters who hope to follow in his footsteps as the most successful tennis player in Thai history.

The former world No 9 is now running his own teaching programme, the True Arena Paradorn International Tennis Academy, in Hua Hin.

“After retirement I did several things but in the end I found out tennis is always my thing,” said Paradorn, who spent 3-4 years on local golf tours but he was far from a success, despite receiving his pro status in 2016.

“So I decided to open an international academy with True Arena so that these kids won’t have to travel far to Europe or the US to enter international academy,” added Paradorn, who was forced to quit playing professionally due to wrist injury.

Paradorn Srichaphan is training youngsters in Hua Hin.

The winner of five ATP titles said physical strength was the main focus of his academy, which is designed for those pursuing a career in tennis.

“Strong legs are very important in tennis. But at the same time players need to have strong muscles in the upper part of their bodies as well,” the 39-year-old Paradorn said.

In terms of hitting techniques, the former tennis star said his training programme was intensive but variety would be added to make it fun for the youngsters.

“Enjoying the training is the key so players have a good time on court and pay attention to the instruction,” he said.

As the first Asian man to make the world’s top 10 in 2003 – he had a string of big-name scalps, including former world No 1s Andre Agassi,  Lleyton Hewitt and  Andy Roddick – Paradorn said he wanted to pass on his tour experience to his students so they could benefit form it once they started playing overseas events.

However, his mission comes with a warning: don’t expect the results to show in the short term.

“It will take up to five or maybe 10 years to have the next stars in Thai tennis. Things like this take time,” he said.

“But the kids must have be really committed to intensive training if they want to succeed.”

After Paradorn and Tamarine Tanasugarn, his counterpart on the women’s side,  Thailand has yet to produce a tennis star.

Luksika Kumkhum is Thailand’s top-rated current player at world No 98 but she still has a long way to go before she can be regarded as having achieved as much as her illustrious predecessors.

Paradorn was divorced from his first wife, former Miss Universe Natale Glebova, in 2011 after a three-year marriage.

He is now living with his second wife Nitchapak, with whom he has a three-month-old daughter, Cherlyn.

The 52-year-old carded a closing 69 for a four-round total of 21 under-par-259 that gave him the Thai PGA Tour season-opener by four strokes.

Thanyakorn chased down his more experienced opponent all day and got within two shots after 13 holes but his chance slipped away after hitting two bogeys on the 15th and 17th.

“After he made that error on the 15th, it was over for him. Even though I bogeyed the next hole I was confident I was going to win,” said the Hua Hin-based Prayad.

“As not many top Thai players coming to this tournament, only a few including me stood a great shot at winning. Normally there ar so many on the local tours that I lose count,” added Prayad, who ended his long Thai PGA Tour title drought with victory in Nakhon Nayok in 2016. He also picked up a winner’s cheque for Bt240,000.

Khon Kaen-born Thanyakorn, with a final 68, was runner-up with a total 17 under-par-263 that earned him prize money of Bt132,000.

Amateur Witchayanon Chothirunnrungrueng was alone in third after a final-round 68 gave him a total 15 under-par-265

Prayad and the country’s other leading players will next compete in Thursday’s Bt5 million Singha Masters, an All Thailand Golf Tour event, in Chiang Rai.