Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - New Zealand driver Mitch Evans has finished third in the penultimate race of the Formula E season in Berlin to remain in title contention.

Evans is fourth overall and is just five points behind the championship leader Nyck de Vries of the Netherlands.

The Dutchman failed to score a point on the temporary track around the capital's old Tempelhof airport.

Brazilian Lucas di Grassi won the race ahead of Switzerland's Edoardo Mortara who is second overall, three points behind de Vries and one point ahead of Brit Jake Dennis.

The gap between first and seventh in the championship is only nine points.

With 30 points available in tonight's final race the top 14 drivers remain theoretically in with a shout.

Dixon remains in title contention despite worst weekend of the season

Scott Dixon has slipped to third in the Indy Car championship after battling to a 17th place finish in this morning's race on the road course at Indianapolis.

But the six-time champion has trimmed eight points off the series lead of teammate Alex Palou, after a mechanical issue ended the Spaniard's race.

Dixon is now 34 points behind Palou with four races remaining.

Mexican Pato O'Ward is back up to second overall, 13 points ahead of Dixon, after finishing fifth in Indianapolis.

Australian Will Power won the race , with Frenchman Romain Grosjean finishing second ahead of American Colton Herta.

New Zealand rookie Scott McLaughlin finished 23rd after being penalised for making contact with Dutchman Rinus Veekay.

Waikato fight for last-minute FPC win

Loose forward Mia Anderson scored with the last play of the game as Waikato edged Wellington 34-27 in their Farah Palmer Cup match in Hamilton on Sunday.

Tries to Arian Bayler and Tanya Kalounivale gave Waikato a 17-13 halftime lead, with Wellington's Ayesha Leti-I'iga's try and the boot of Amanda Rasch keeping the visitors in touch.

The two teams traded tries in the second half, Dhys Faleafaga and Leti-I'iga both crossing for Wellington, but Waikato took the win with tries to Kelsey Teneti in the 73rd minute and Anderson in referee's time.

And in Whangarei, Northland completely controlled their match against Taranaki, Tyler Nankivell and Krystal Murray both scoring doubles in the seven-try 41-3 win.

In yesterday's matches, Canterbury continued their unbeaten run with a 26-7 win over Bay of Plenty, Hawke's Bay thumped Tasman 80-55 in Napier, and Manawatu collected a 34-0 win over North Harbour in Palmerston North.

Ko in contention in Scotland

Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Lydia Ko has moved into the top 10 after three rounds of the LPGA Tour's Scottish Open.

Ko has carded a three-under par 69 in her third round to rise into a share of seventh place at five-under.

She is four shots behind the leaders, American Ryann O'Toole, England's Charley Hull and Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand.

Meanwhile, Ryan Fox has slipped out of the top 10 at this week's European Tour tournament in Kent.

Fox has carded a two-under 70 in his third round to now be tied for 11th place at eight-under, six shots behind the runaway leader, Denmark's Rasmus Hojgaard.

Scully fourth in the Vuelta

Primoz Roglic got off the perfect start in his bid to win the Vuelta a Espana for a third consecutive year by winning the opening individual time trial stage in Burgos.

Roglic was in top form after winning the gold medal in the Olympic time trial in Tokyo and set off last, aiming to topple frontrunner Alex Aranburu of Spain.

The reigning Vuelta champion finished the 7.1km course in eight minutes and 32 seconds, beating Aranburu by six seconds to take the red jersey and a healthy early lead on his general classification contenders.

The Slovenian has a lead of 27 seconds over Egan Bernal, the 2019 Tour de France winner who is seen as Roglic's main rival for this Vuelta title and came 46th on the day.

Richard Carapaz, the 2019 Giro d'Italia champion and gold medallist in the Olympic road race, trails Roglic by 25 seconds after coming 35th.

New Zealand rider Tom Scully finished fourth in the time trial, stopping the clock just 10 seconds slower than Roglic.

- Reuters

Title contenders make flying starts to Premier League season

Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea have made flexed their muscle on the first Saturday of the English Premier League football season.

Manchester United have thrashed Leeds United 5-1 at Old Trafford, courtesy of a Bruno Fernandes hat-trick, before Liverpool and Chelsea eased to 3-0 wins over Norwich and Crystal Palace respectively.

Meanwhile, Leicester City got their Premier League campaign underway with a 1-0 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers thanks to a trademark Jamie Vardy goal.

Everton rallied from a goal down to beat Southampton 3-1 as new manager Rafa Benitez enjoyed a winning start to his reign at Goodison Park.

Brighton & Hove Albion's Neal Maupay and Alexis Mac Allister scored superb second-half goals to seal a 2-1 victory over a wasteful Burnley at Turf Moor.

Emmanuel Dennis and Cucho Hernandez scored on their debuts as Watford made a winning return to the Premier League by beating Aston Villa 3-2 in their home season opener.

- RNZ/Reuters

PSG win as Messi watches on

Lionel Messi watched on from the stands as Paris St Germain made hard work of beating Strasbourg 4-2 in Ligue 1 to continue their winning start to the new French football season.

Not yet fully fit, Messi, along with Neymar and fellow new recruits Gianluigi Donnarumma and Sergio Ramos, did not make the match squad, but saw his new club take an early lead through Mauro Icardi at Parc des Princes.

Kylian Mbappe then doubled PSG's advantage in the 25th minute after his shot was deflected home, before the France international's cross was turned in by Julian Draxler two minutes later to put the hosts 3-0 up.

However, second-half goals from Kevin Gameiro and Ludovic Ajorque got the visitors back into the contest, with PSG looking uneasy in possession.

Alexander Djiku's dismissal for two bookable offences let PSG off the hook nine minutes from time, with substitute Pablo Sarabia tapping home at the back post in the 86th minute to make sure of the unconvincing victory for Mauricio Pochettino's side.

Messi took to the field pre-match and spoke to the raucous crowd.

"It has been a very special week for me," he said. "I want to thank everyone for the reception since I arrived in Paris. It has been truly incredible. I feel very happy and excited.

"I hope together we can enjoy this year and make it a great year for us. I am very excited about everything."

- Reuters

Root gives England first innings lead

England captain Joe Root smashed an unbeaten 180 for his second hundred of the series to help his team eclipse India's first innings total of 364 on day three of the second test at Lord's.

England were all out for 391, taking a slender 27-run first innings lead, riding Root's majestic knock on an entertaining day of test cricket.

The 30-year-old became the second English batsman after Alastair Cook to score 9000 test runs. His 22nd test hundred was studded with 18 fours.

It was a significant turnaround for England who were reeling on 23-2 when Root walked out to bat on day two.

Root, who has scored more than 27% of England's runs in 2021, brought up his hundred with a tight single off Jasprit Bumrah.

- Reuters

Dream win battle of the bridge

The Auckland Dream have recorded their first win of the women's National Basketball League, beating the Harbour Breeze 82-73 in the battle of the bridge.

Four Auckland players scored double digits, led by Amanda Wayment and Sharne Robati, who each scored 17 points.

Harbour's Flo Dallow, 17, led all scorers with 23 points.

Earlier, the Waikato Wizards recorded a commanding 91-36 win over the Otago Rold Rush.

Charlisse Leger-Walker scored a game-high 25 points, while sister Krystal Leger-Walker filled the stats sheets with 10 points, six rebounds, seven assists, five steals and a block.