tennis

Heather Watson yesterday enjoyed one of the best wins of her career by overcoming Germany's Sabine Lisicki in the opening round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, writes Rob Moir.

Watson, who had not won a match on the main tour since the London Olympics, triumphed 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) in Tokyo. Lisicki, who has slipped to No.30 in the world rankings from a career-high 12 in May, conceded a solitary break of serve in the opening set and was unable to hit back on the four opportunities she created.

A couple of breaks apiece meant the second went to a tie-break which the 20-year-old won to set up a second-round meeting with former world No.1 Maria Sharapova.

Watson was joined in the next round by Marion Bartoli, who had to fight hard to see off Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-1, 6-4.

As well as Bartoli, five other seeded players cruised through, with Ana Ivanovic seeing off the retired Andrea Hlavackova, while Caroline Wozniacki was taken to three sets before getting past Bojana Jovanovski.

Other seeds to taste success were Kaia Kanepi, Lucie Safarova and Nadia Petrova.

athletics

David Weir, the Paralympic quadruple gold medallist, is coming to Glasgow next month as the guest of honour at a special dinner, writes Sam .

Weir will address the scottish-athletics Annual Awards dinner on Saturday, October 27 at the city's Marriott hotel. He will also deliver a Scottish Disability Sport workshop in the afternoon at the Commonwealth Arena as part of the International Festival of Athletics Coaching Conference (IFAC).

curling

Grant Hardie's stunning run against the world's top players did not have a fairytale ending as the Dumfries youngster narrowly failed to reach the Oslo Cup final at the Snaroya Arena on Sunday, writes Lorin McDougall.

The 20-year-old civil engineering student – who skips a rink including cousin Hammy McMillan Jr, and another pair of cousins, Jay McWilliam and Billy Morton – lost his opening round-robin match 10-3 but bounced back to win his next three group games before pipping the previously unbeaten Dane Torkil Svendsgaard 5-4 in the quarter-finals.

He then went head-to-head in the semis with 45-year-old Finnish veteran Markku Uusipaavalniemi.

Hardie led 2-0 and 4-3, but it was all-square going to the final end where the Finns counted two stones to win 7-5.

hockey

First division Clydesdale continue to be one of the most progressive hockey sides in the country, having established an international standard water-based pitch a year ago at their home ground at Titwood, the Glasgow south side club have attracted a new sponsor in PSL Team Sports for the coming season and also successfully applied for a Scottish Hockey full-time coach, writes Craig Madden.

"We are delighted to link up with a new sponsor who is embracing both hockey and cricket, creating a full club sponsorship," said Alistair Bleach, the hockey president.

"We are using the sponsorship to work with the local community, targeting some new state schools and hope to inspire more youngsters to take up hockey."

The sponsorship deal with PSL Team Sports, a Hillington-based sports outlet, is for the next four years.

Meanwhile, Scotland's under-18 side will travel to Vienna for the European Hockey Federation Youth Championships next July.

The Scots are in the top flight, having gained promotion from the second division after beating Austria 2-1 in the final last year.

motor cycling

John McPhee, the Racing Steps Foundation Moto3 rider, will replace the injured Alexis Masbou for the remaining five rounds of the World Championship, starting at Aragon this weekend, writes Chris Scott.

Caretta Technology rider Masbou, who is currently sixth in the Moto3 world standings, broke his femur in a private test at Vallelunga earlier this month and is out for an indefinite period.

McPhee, from Oban, will join the Turin-based Caretta squad at the Spanish circuit on Thursday to acquaint himself with team personnel and prepare for Friday's free practice sessions.

The Scot will compete on his KRP M3-01 chassis which has been reliveried in Caretta Technology colours and is to be fitted with the Italian squad's Geo Technology Grand Prix spec Honda 250.

rowing

Scotland's Imogen Walsh, Claire McKeown and Sam Scrimgeour helped the GB Rowing Team to its best haul of five medals at the European Champion-ships in Italy as the team's develop-ment crews carried on the success of their Olympic and Paralympic team-mates, writes Alec Miller.

Walsh, from Inverness, won bronze in the lightweight women's double scull with Molesey Boat Club's Ruth Walczak, storming through a crew from Poland in the second half of the race for a place on the podium alongside boats from Italy and Greece.

Walsh said: "We were up against Olympic-class crews so it was a great performance considering that. We don't see it as the last race of the season but the start of the next Olympiad."

McKeown, who is based at Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club in Glasgow, won bronze in the women's eight with the final stroke of the race. The British crew were in fifth place with 500 metres to go, but they upped their rate and power output in the closing stages to nick the bronze medal from Belarus.

Forfar's Scrimgeour was competing in the men's lightweight four event and the 24-year-old and his crew were involved in an intense battle the length of the 2000 metre course with a crew from Italy. Leading the six-boat final for the first 1000 metres, the British crew were eventually reeled in by their Italian counterparts in the second half of the race, narrowly missing out on a gold medal by less than a second but well clear of Serbia who finished third.

rugby

There was bad news from France for Scotland coach Andy Robinson, with three players likely to be involved in his squad for the Autumn Test series out of action through injury last weekend, writes Colin Renton.

Max Evans missed Saturday's defeat for his club Castres Olympique away to league leaders Toulon with a rib cartilage problem.

Elsewhere, Agen prop Euan Murray, who damaged his sternum two weeks ago, was an absentee when his side beat Mont de Marsan.

Meanwhile, Mike Blair remained sidelined with a shoulder injury and played no part in Sunday's defeat against Aurillac. The scrum half has started only once for Brive and has played 74 minutes of competitive rugby this season.