Tytonic Save Rescues Poland

Poland Line-Up: Szczesny, Wasilewski, Perquis, Boenisch, Piszczek, Blaszczykowski (c), Obraniak, Polanski, Murawski, Lewandowski, Rybus (Tyton, 70')
Greece Line-Up: Chalkias, A.Papadopoulos (K.Papadopoulos, 35'), Papastathopoulos, Holebas, Torosidis, Karagounis (c), Maniatis, Katsouranis, Gekas (Fortounis, 68') , Samaras, Ninis (Salpingidis, 45')

A penalty save from substitute goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton saw hosts Poland begin Euro 2012 with a point. The opening game had everything you could want in a match as both teams scored and also had a man sent off.

Poland had much the better start as Greece looked to play extremely defensive. This caused their own downfall when Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski headed a cross home on 17-minutes to send the partisan crowd in hysterics. Greece still had very little to offer throughout the half and would soon get wound up with soft refereeing decisions from the Spanish official. Sokratis Papastathopoulos received a yellow card whilst aerially challenging Lewandowski and seemingly did nothing wrong. Raful Murawski then looked to slip before going over another challenge by the Greek defender and the referee wasted no time in showing a second yellow right before half-time.

The half-time team talk looked to have got Greece going in the second half and the introduction of Dimitris Salpingidis paid dividends. Within six minutes of the kick-off, the substitute took full advantage when Wojiech Szczesny came and failed to collect a cross, allowing the Greek to stab the ball home. Szczesny's night got worse 20-minutes from time when Salpingidis was put through before the keeper brought him down in the box. The Arsenal stopper received a red card for denying a goal stopping opportunity. Second choice keeper, Tyton, had to be brought on and he dramatically saved captain Giorgos Karagounis' penalty to earn the vital point.         

2012 UK Open 3rd Round Draw

Kevin McDine v Adrian Lewis
Andy Smith v Scott Rand
Mervyn King v Gareth Cousins
Kevin Painter v Arron Monk
Ronnie Baxter v Devon Petersen
Roland Scholten v Phil Taylor
Mark Webster v Robert Thornton
Paul Amos v Vincent van der Voort
Gary Anderson v David Dodds
Kevin Dowling v Dennis Priestley
Paul Nicholson v Michael Mansell
Mark Jones v Dennis Smith
Scott Robertson v Justin Pipe
William O'Connor v Michael van Gerwen
Dean Stewart v Denis Ovens
Jason Crawley v Dean Winstanley
Peter Wright v John Part
Peter Hudson v Kim Huybrechts
Dave Chisnall v Mark Layton
Nigel Heydon v Colin Osborne
Ian White v Richie Burnett
Michael Smith v Darren Webster
Raymond van Barneveld v Jelle Klaasen
Wes Newton v Shaun Griffiths
Jamie Caven v Alan Tabern
Mark Hylton v Stuart Kellett
Terry Temple v Simon Whitlock
James Hubbard v Terry Jenkins
Jim Walker v Joe Cullen
James Wade v Colin Lloyd
Richie Howson v Andy Hamilton
Mark Barilli v Brendan Dolan

2012 UK Open: Day One Results

Preliminary Round
Tony West 2-4 Michael Burgoine (q): The first shock the night saw the qualifier Burgoine come from 2-0 down to win 4-2.                      
Steve Beaton 2-4 Jon Jukes (q): The 1996 Lakeside Champion was the subject of a second upset. Beaton missed 15 darts at the double, allowing Jukes to take the win.
Arron Monk 4-3 Paul Boulton (q): The 2011 U21 World Champion saw his 3-1 lead reduced to 3-3 before a 113 check-out secured his passage.
Steve Brown 4-2 Michael Barnard: The Bristol Bomber soared into a 3-0 lead before winning 4-2.
Gino Vos 4-2 Paul Harvey (q)
Ted Hankey 4-0 Danny Dutson (q): The two-time Lakeside Champion made a statement with a two double tops finish in the third leg.
Denis Ovens 4-1 Craig MacCaskill
Steve Farmer 1-4 Jamie Lewis
Gus Santana 2-4 Andy Jenkins
Andrew Cornwall 3-4 John Bowles
John Henderson bye Lee Bryant
Glen Durrant 0-4 Stephen Bunting
Steve Hine 4-3 Jamie Hughes
Adam Smith-Neale 4-3 Rob Hawker
Andy Parsons 3-4 Dean Stewart
Steve Service 1-4 Damien Sherwood
John Scott 2-4 Brian Woods
John Nelson 4-3 Ross Smith
Andy Murray bye Connie Finnan
Mark Lawrence 1-4 Jamie Robinson
Steve Werrett 0-4 Mark Barilli
David Dodds 4-1 Alan Casey
Dyson Parody 4-0 Steve Mason
Mark Layton 4-2 Michael Wiles
Jason Wilson 1-4 Bernd Roith
Adrian Gray 3-4 Steve Evans
Paul Amos 4-0 Gary Ettridge
Nigel Heydon 4-0 Paul Critchley
Ian Gleeson 3-4 Kevin Rimmer
Ben Johnson 0-4 Stuart Daniels
Joey Palfreyman 4-3 Tom Gergory
Marc Dewsbury 3-4 Stephen Hardy
David Pallett 2-4 Jerry Hendriks
Harry Miles 4-0 Andy Melling
Josh Jones 4-0 Mark Spencer
Gareth Cousins 4-0 Ben Burton
Geoff Heath 4-0 Darrin Pugh
Steve Maish 4-2 Dave Solly
Kirk Gordon 0-4 Kevin McDine
Scott Robertson 4-1 Mick Todd
Sam Hill 4-1 Jamie Ellam
Tony Broughton 3-4 Tony Cooper
Tony Littleton 4-2 Nicky Denoon
Kevin Simm 4-0 Mick Hayward
Glen Miller 1-4 Mark Frost
Stuart Anderson 2-4 Joe Murnan
Terry Temple 4-2 Matt Clark
Dan Russell 4-2 Toon Greebe
Scott Taylor 1-4 Lee Russell
Dave Ladley 0-4 Liam Kelly

First Round
Bernd Roith 2-4 Wayne Jones: After going 2-0 down, the Wanderer hit a ton finish in the fifth leg before going onto win 4-2.
Jamie Lewis 4-1 Mark Stephenson: Despite losing, Stephenson took out a 138.
Paul Nicholson 4-2 Harry Miles (q): Nicholson came from 2-1 down to creep through unscathed.
Ted Hankey 4-1 Andy Jenkins
Adam Hunt 4-2 Steve Maish: Young Hunt secured an 81 finish on the bull in fifth leg to take a 3-2 lead after going 2-1 down.
Paul Whitworth 2-4 Steve Evans
Terry Temple 4-0 Mark Kelly
Jon Bott 4-2 Josh Jones
Scott Robertson 4-1 Sam Hill
Jon Jukes 3-4 David Dodds
Gareth Cousins 4-2 Michael Burgoine
Geoff Heath 3-4 Paul Amos
Stephen Hardy 4-2 Ryan Murray
Mark Frost 1-4 Tony Cooper
Lee Russell 1-4 Nigel Heydon
John Nelson 1-4 Denis Ovens
Aaron Monk 4-3 Jerry Hendriks
Andy Murray 4-1 Damien Sherwood
Liam Kelly 4-2 Shayne Burgess
John Henderson 4-3 Joey Palfreyman
Joe Murnan 4-1 Dan Russell
Kevin McDine 4-2 Steve Brown
Jamie Robinson 2-4 Stephen Bunting
Stuart Daniels 0-4 Adam Smith-Neale
Mark Barilli 4-3 Bob Crawley
Andy Roberts 3-4 John Bowles
Dean Stewart 4-1 Brian Woods
Gino Vos 3-4 Mark Layton
Tommy Sanwell 0-4 Steve Hine
Dyson Parody 4-2 Kevin Rimmer
John Farmer 2-4 Anthony Littleton
Jason Crawley 4-1 Kevin Simm

Second Round
Mark Hylton 4-0 Antonio Alcinas
Mark Webster 4-3 Johnny Haines: Despite a 109 finish in the sixth leg, the Spider only hit four doubles in 23 attempts.
Jelle Klaasen 4-3 Dyson Parody
James Wade 4-3 Stephen Bunting (q): The defending champion was three darts away from being ousted on day one. Bunting missed a dart at the bull in leg six before missing three in the final which would have caused the biggest upset this tournament.
James Richardson 1-4 Jim Walker
Mark Walsh 3-4 Jason Crawley
Mervyn King 4-1 Ted Hankey
Alan Tabern 4-0 Co Stompe
Stuart White 2-4 David Dodds
Andy Brown 0-4 Peter Wright
Matthew Edgar 0-4 Kevin McDine
Nigel Heydon 4-1 John Bowles
Jon Bott 2-4 Ronnie Baxter
Keith Stephen 3-4 Scott Robertson
Peter Hudson 4-1 Jamie Lewis
Dean Stewart 4-1 Adam Smith-Neale
Anthony Littleton 3-4 Mark Layton
Stephen Hardy 1-4 William O'Connor
Mareno Michels 2-4 Shaun Griffiths
Alex Roy 2-4 Gareth Cousins
Steve Evans 3-4 Roland Scholten
Andy Murray 3-4 Scott Rand
Liam Kelly 1-4 Stuart Kellett
John Henderson 2-4 Colin Osborne
Steve Hine 1-4 Terry Temple
Devon Peterson 4-0 Andrew Gilding
Arron Monk 4-1 Adam Hunt
Denis Ovens 4-1 Joe Murnan
Darren Johnson 0-4 Michael Mansell
Prakash Jiwa 2-4 Mark Barilli
Paul Nicholson 4-3 Tony Cooper
Wayne Jones 3-4 Paul Amos

Fresh Faces In French Final (Sharapova Number One)

Roland Garros will see two new female faces in a French Open final after Sara Errani and Maria Sharapova won the semi-finals on Ladies' Day. First up was the Italian who took on sixth seed Samantha Stosur. The opening set went down to the wire despite the Australian taking an early 2-0 lead. But Errani battled back to take it 7-5. Stosur roared through the second set, taking it 6-1 to force the match into a deciding set. Errani went off court during the break in between sets. This somehow managed to unsettle Stosur and the Italian went 3-1 up. Stosur did manage to level the set which left many thinking would change the momentum. But Errani dug deep to win the set 6-3 to book her place in her first major final. Another surprise result in the women's draw.

Surprisingly, Sharapova hadn't made it into a French Open final until this year, securing another straight sets victory, this time against fourth seed Petra Kvitova. The Russian took both sets 6-3 to book her place against Errani in the final. Regardless of the result, Sharapova has now regained her number one ranking but would love to celebrate with a win over the 21st seed.

Murray Out

Andy Murray's wait for a major continues after a disappointing four set defeat to David Ferrer. The sixth seed took full control of the clay, the weather and the injury to book his place in the semi-finals. Ferrer took the opening set 6-4 before Murray responded by winning the second set tie-break 7-3.

The Spaniard would then take the third set 6-3 as the rain began to come down on Suzanne Lenglen. This forced a temporary break of play which may have affected Murray more than Ferrer. The damp surface meant the balls got heavier and, along with his niggling back injury, Murray's demeanour continued to grow negatively. Luckily, the rain stopped with enough time for a fourth set but this would only last eight games as Ferrer won it 6-2 to earn his place in the final four.

The sixth seed will face his fellow Spaniard, Rafael Nadal, who overcame a tight opening set to breeze past Nicolas Almagro. The first set went into a tie-break which the world number one took 7-4. From there, Almagro had no reply to Nadal's game and he took the next two sets 6-2 6-3 to book his place against Ferrer.

There were no more shocks in the women's draw today as both Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova made it through to face one another in the semi-finals. Kvitova came from a set down against Yaroslava Shvedova, 3-6, to win the following sets 6-2 6-4, ending the Kazakhstani's impressive run at Roland Garros.

Sharapova was again untested by Estonia's Kaia Kanepi. The Russian won 6-2 6-3 to continue her progress and maintain her favourite status to win her first major in four years, her first in Paris.

Djokovic and Federer Through In Amazing Matches

We've got down to the quarter final stages at Roland Garros and the men's tournament has just blown into action with both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer squeezing into the final four. Grand Slam chasing Djokovic faced home hero, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, while record seeking Federer battle Juan Martin Del Potro in the first two last eight matches and both went the full five sets.

Apart from John Isner's attempt to match his tie-break record with Nicolas Mahut against fellow Frenchman, Paul-Henri Mathieu, which finished 18-16 in the second set, the men's draw was proving rather uneventful. It looked like that was going to continue on Philippe Chatrier when Djokovic thrashed Tsonga 6-1 in the opening set.

But the partisan crowd got behind their new hero and Tsonga managed to win the second and third sets 7-5 to take a 2-1 lead. The fourth set went to 6-5 in the Frenchman's favour with Djokovic serving to stay in the match. Tsonga did get to match point on two occasions at the game went to deuce, but the Serb rallied around to take the game and force a tie-break. This would be as close the previous three sets and again Tsonga found himself at match point occasions but was unable to cement them in front of his home crowd. Djokovic was again able to battle back and take the tie-break 8-6 to move into a final set. Unfortunately, all of Tsonga's energy and fight had been taken in the previous set, allowing Djokovic to romp home 6-1 in the final set. This means his plight to match Rod Laver and Don Budge in scoring a Grand Slam. But full credit to Tsonga who has done his country proud in taking part, and almost winning, what was an epic match.

Meanwhile, on Suzanne Lenglen, Federer was in the midst of an equally epic battle against Del Potro. If Federer got through he would equal the record for the most Grand Slam semi-final appearances, 31, while Del Potro would be nursing a knee injury which he has been doing throughout the tournament.

The ninth seeded Argentine stepped up to the plate and took the first 6-3 before winning the second set 7-4 on the tie-break. But that was when the knee began to start a war against him. Federer knew this and began the charge, taking the third set 6-2 before demolishing Del Potro 6-0 in the fourth.

The fifth and final set would last nine games as Federer won it 6-3 to win a 14th match from which he had been behind. One can only guess whether this would have been the case against a fully fit Juan Martin Del Potro. Federer and Djokovic will now meet in the semi-finals with Andy Murray facing sixth seed David Ferrer and Rafael Nadal taking on fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the other other quarter finals tomorrow.

But once again, the women's tournament has been much more exciting and unpredictable. 12th seed Sabine Lisicki lost in straight sets to American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the opening round. But the biggest shock of the first round came when Serena Williams lost 6-4 6-7 3-6 to home girl Virginie Razzano.

Eighth seed Marion Bartoli lost in the second round in front of her home crowd to Petra Martic 2-6 6-3 3-6.   Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska lost in straight sets to 26th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round. This was followed by 13th seed Ana Ivanovic (losing 6-1 5-7 3-6 to 21st seed Sara Errani) and ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki (losing 1-6 7-6 3-6 to 23rd seed Kaia Kanepi).

Top seed Victoria Azarenka would be the next to fall, in round four, against 15th seed Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets. Reigning champion, Li Na also fell against Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3 2-6 0-6 with number two seed Maria Sharapova coming through in three sets against  Klara Zakupalova.

This left four of the top ten seeds still in the competition at the quarter final stage. Sixth seed Sam Stosur beat Cibulkova today 6-4 6-1. But tenth seed Angelique Kerber lost 3-6 6-7 to Errani. This leaves Sharapova to play Kanepi and fourth seed Petra Kvitova meeting Shvedova in the other two quarter finals tomorrow.

Two Rehearsals, Now It's Showtime

Roy Hodgson has had his two tests before Euro 2012 and, excluding injuries, he has come out of them unscathed.  The only problem is, the two matches were possibly the most boring two matches in the history of international friendlies.

First of all, England travelled to Norway where the only incident saw Ashley Young score a well worked goal. Tonight, England hosted Belgium and again the only real incident saw Danny Welbeck coolly finish with a chip over Simon Mignolet. Other than that, both Guillaume Gillet and Jermaine Defoe hit the post in the second half.

So, the question is, has Roy done enough with the England to warrant any optimism? Probably not. It's all very well going ahead and shutting up shop against teams with no real out and out strikers. But what happens if England go behind or if you play a team with a world class striker.

The big inquisition will come in the first group game against France. They will surely perform better than in South Africa due to the rejuvenation by Laurent Blanc. Karim Benzema will definitely provide a potent threat and would make better attempts on goal than Norway or Belgium did.

With the supply line of Franck Ribery and, possibly, Yohann Cabaye or Hatem Ben Arfa, the defence and midfield will have their strength tested to the limit. There can be no room for passengers amongst the attacking minds of Ashley Young or Theo Walcott when defending, otherwise Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole will get overwhelmed which will give Benzema that needed supply.

Hopefully, Roy's men will look more positive on the main stage against Sweden and Ukraine because a 1-0 scoreline is never usually enough. Plus, if England get pegged back with 20 minutes remaining, can they suddenly turn their attacking heads back on or will they panic and eventually crumble under the pressure?

Well, on June 11th, we'll begin to find out as three weeks of gruelling competition begin for England as the strongest in Europe get separated from the weak.