Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - New Zealand driver Shane van Gisbergen has won both the second and third races in Townsville, comprehensively ending his Supercars drought.

He's stormed to victory from 12th on the grid in race three, after winning race two from third place.

Before today van Gisbergen hadn't won a Supercars race since December.

Compatriot Scott McLaughlin had to settle for third in the finale in Townsville, after finishing second earlier in the afternoon.

McLaughlin still holds a commanding 143 point lead in the championship with three events remaining.

Doubles duo withdrawn at US Open

Top-ranked duo Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos have been dropped from the US Open women's doubles competition.

Mladenovic and Babos were withdrawn just hours before they were due on court after Mladenovic received a COVID-19 quarantine notice from public health officials, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) said.

Mladenovic is one of 10 players who came in contact with France's Benoit Paire, who was pulled out from the men's field at the hardcourt major after testing positive for the new coronavirus.

She had previously complained of living a "nightmare" due to the health protocols at the grand slam after suffering a spectacular meltdown to lose to Russian Varvava Gracheva in her second-round singles match.

The 27-year-old was one of several athletes placed under an "enhanced protocol plan" and had complained saying she felt like she was being treated like a prisoner after she was placed inside a "bubble within a bubble" despite "thirty negative tests".

- Reuters

SBW features in Roosters win

Former All Blacks Sonny Bill Williams has a winning return to the NRL.

The Rugby World Cup winner played 14 minutes as the Sydney Roosters moved closer to securing a top four spot with an 18-6 victory over Canberra on Saturday night.

"It was pretty fast but I expected that," Williams said after his first match since March.

"I think we did three sets of six in a row defensively, so that has definitely changed. I loved being back here, being back involved in the game I love playing."

Earlier, the Wests Tigers produced a stunning late comeback to snatch victory over Manly.

The visitors hopes looked done with Manly in control with a 32-18 lead in the final quarter of the match.

But the Tigers stormed home, scoring three tries in the final 12 minutes to steal a 34-32 win.

The Gold Coast Titans beat the Bulldogs 18-14 in Saturday night's other NRL match.

England edge Iceland

A 90th minute penalty from Raheem Sterling gave England a 1-0 win over Iceland in their Nations League match in Reykjavik after the home side missed a chance to equalise through a stoppage-time penalty.

Sterling got the decisive goal from the spot, after a disappointingly drab game, when Sverrir Ingi Ingason was ruled to have handled the England striker's shot.

Ingason was sent off for the handball, leaving both teams reduced to 10 men after England full-back Kyle Walker was sent off in the 70th minute.

But Iceland, who famously beat England at Euro 2016, had their opportunity to get a draw from their opening League A Group 2 match when Joe Gomez brought down Albert Gudmundsson inside the box.

But Birkir Bjarnason fired his penalty high over the bar to leave Gareth Southgate's side with the three points.

- Reuters

History for Hamilton at Monza

Six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton smashed the Monza track record to take pole position for the Italian Grand Prix with the fastest lap in Formula One history.

Hamilton's lap was simply sensational, a prodigious one minute 18.887 seconds at an average speed of 264.362kph (164mph) to lead Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas in another front row lockout.

It was the 94th pole of Hamilton's stellar career, and his seventh at the 'Pista Magica', and shattered the idea that a clampdown on so-called engine 'party modes' would affect his team's performance.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz, who is joining Ferrari next year, burnished his credentials with an impressive third place on the grid on a sunny afternoon, with Racing Point's Sergio Perez fourth in his 'Pink Mercedes'.

Hamilton's closest championship rival Max Verstappen, 47 points behind after seven races, qualified for Red Bull in fifth place.

Another win for Hamilton on Sunday would be his sixth in eight races and career 90th - one short of former Ferrari great Michael Schumacher's all-time record.

- Reuters

Contenders tested at Le Tour

Some contenders were exposed while others imploded in the first mountain test of the Tour de France as Briton Adam Yates hung on to the overall leader's yellow jersey.

Stage eight winner Nans Peters produced an impressive ride to take out stage eight, a 141-km trek through the Pyrenees.

Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, who was the 'Plan B' in pre-race favourite Primoz Roglic's Jumbo Visma team, could not sustain the pace in the last ascent to the Col de Peyresourde.

On that climb, a 9.7km effort at an average gradient of 7.8 per cent, Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, Roglic's compatriot, attacked repeatedly.

Roglic was in control, as well as Colombian Nairo Quintana, but defending champion Egan Bernal appeared to struggle and had to fight his way back to the favourites' group several times.

Yates led Roglic, still the best placed top contender, by three seconds and France's Guillaume Martin by nine.

- Reuters