Th3 King

Fabio Fognini was delighted after beating world No 1 Andy Murray in straight sets World No 1 Andy Murray was unable to cope with the unstoppable force of Fabio Fognini in front of a fervent atmosphere at the Foro Italico in Rome as his title defence ended with a whimper. Home-favourite Fognini was hoping to capitalise on the mediocre form of Britain's Murray on home soil, and did so with an inspirational 6-2 6-4 win. "I'm really happy about my performance. I played really good tennis against Andy, but of course it's difficult because he's number one in the world and I was 6-2 5-1 up but I was thinking the match might go on because you never know with him," Fognini, who struck 23 forehand winners during the victory,  told Sky Sports . "Andy never stops running and he is the best defender in the world, so I'm really happy to beat him in Rome. "Finally I won a good match because I've not always played my best match here in Rome...

Buffon made the 1,000th appearance of his career in a 2018 World Cup qualifier against Albania in March Gianluigi Buffon said he always thought he would have another chance to win the Champions League, after Juventus reached next month's final in Cardiff. Juve beat Monaco 2-1 in the semi-final second leg to  triumph 4-1 on aggregate. Goalkeeper Buffon, who has made more than 1,000 appearances in his career, was on the losing side as Juve were beaten in the  2003  and  2015  finals. "Two years ago everyone thought it was my last final - but you have to believe in your dreams," said the 39-year-old. With Juve already leading 2-0 from the first leg, goals from Mario Mandzukic and Dani Alves left Monaco needing four goals in 46 minutes to progress. Kylian Mbappe's second-half strike made little difference to the result, but ended Buffon's run of 10 hours of Champions League football without conceding. Read more: How the Old Lady rose from the ashes...