In today's sports news: What you need to know

A horror finish to her second round has left Lydia Ko with work to do at the latest women's golf major.

Ko was third with five holes to play on day two of the Evian Championship in France and, while she bagged another birdie at the 15th, she came home with four dropped shots to fall outside the top 10.

It left the world No 4 at seven-under par, seven shots behind outright leader, Canadian Brooke Henderson.

Meanwhile Steven Alker remained four shots back at the halfway point of the Senior British Open in Scotland.

He fired another two-under par round on day two, with Northern Irishman Darren Clarke the solo leader at eight-under.

After a strong opening round, Daniel Hillier had dropped off the pace at the Euorpean Tour's Cazoo Classic in England.

Hillier just snuck inside the cut-line but his two-over second round has him back at even-par overall, 11 shots off the lead.

Tennis' 'big four' to join forces

Tennis fans are used to seeing Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray fight tooth and nail to beat each other at the Grand Slams but the "Big Four" are set to play together in the same team for the first time at the Laver Cup in London.

Wimbledon champion Djokovic has been named as the fourth member of the six-man Team Europe, the 35-year-old Serb joining his long-time rivals at the fifth edition of the ATP-sanctioned event from September 23-25.

Named after Australian great Rod Laver, the three-day team event pits six of Europe's top players against six from the rest of the world.

"It's the only competition where you can play in a team environment with guys that you're normally competing against and to be joining Rafa, Roger and Andy, three of my biggest all-time rivals, it's going to be a truly unique moment in the history of our sport," Djokovic said in a statement.

Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray have dominated men's tennis over the last two decades, winning 66 Grand Slam titles between them.

Nadal holds a men's record 22 Grand Slam titles with Djokovic, who played in the second edition of the Laver Cup in 2018, one behind.

Team Europe, captained by Bjorn Borg, having won all the previous editions.

"I don't think I could have imagined having these four icons of the sport on one team together," said Borg. "I know they, like I, appreciate the significance of this moment and will be truly up for it.

"Each year our goal is to win. With Rafa, Roger, Andy and Novak on the team, I like our chances."

Team World captain John McEnroe has named Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz and Diego Schwartzman as three members of his team.

- Reuters

French drought broken at Tour

Frenchman Christophe Laporte ended a lengthy home drought at the Tour de France, claiming the 19th stage with a perfectly timed effort to give the local fans something to celebrate for the first time in more than a year.

Laporte, a domestique within the Jumbo-Visma team of yellow jersey holder Jonas Vingegaard and points classification leader Wout van Aert, bridged a small gap with a leading trio in a nail-biting finale before moving clear 300 metres from the line.

Dane Vingegaard was on the wrong side of a late split but the race jury gave the chasing bunch the same time as Philipsen and Dainese, although they crossed the line five seconds off the pace.

Vingegaard still holds a comfortable lead of 3:26 going into the penultimate stage, a 40.7-km time trial between Lacapelle-Marival and Rocamadour.

Laporte, a decent sprinter who had not had an opportunity for a stage victory this year, was given the green light by his sporting directors to go for it and duly delivered, after French riders had gone 38 stages without a Tour win.

They had not won a stage since world champion Julian Alaphilippe, who is not in this year's race as he recovers from injury, prevailed on the opening day last year.

Pogacar, in yet another attempt to catch Vingegaard off guard, attacked in the descent from the Cote de Daunes but he was brought back by Van Aert.

- Reuters

Injury comeback continues for Thiem

Former world number three Dominic Thiem reached his first Tour-level semi-final in 14 months at the Swiss Open in Gstaad, as the Austrian looks to step up his comeback from a wrist injury that sidelined him for nine months.

The 2020 US Open champion had been out of action after injuring his wrist in June 2021 and could not defend his title at Flushing Meadows.

Thiem, who has dropped to 274 in the rankings, defeated qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas 6-4 6-3 at the ATP 250 claycourt event in Gstaad and will face second seed Matteo Berrettini in the semi-finals.

"Tomorrow I can go into the match free, trying to do my best," Thiem said in his on-court interview.

"When I travelled to Bastad last week I didn't expect to reach the quarter-finals there and then the semi-finals here. It is really, really good and I am happy with the progress."

Thiem is aiming to win in Gstaad for the second time following his triumph in 2015.

- Reuters

McIlroy back for BMW Champs

World No 3 Rory McIlroy has committed to play in September's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club in Surrey, England.

The Northern Ireland star won the flagship DP World Tour event in 2014 but skipped the tournament each of the past two years.

"I look forward to competing again at the BMW PGA Championship," said McIlroy, 33. "It's an event I love playing. The West Course has been good to me in the past and the fans are very supportive."

The four-time major winner finished third at The Open Championship last week at St. Andrew's in Scotland.

The BMW PGA Championship runs from September 8-11 and features a prize pool of approximately $7.9 million USD ($12.6 million NZ).

Billy Horschel is the defending champion at Wentworth after finishing at 19 under in 2021, one shot ahead of three players.

- Field Level Media

Ferrari start well in France

Hat-trick chasing Ferrari made a strong start to the French Grand Prix weekend, with penalty-hit Carlos Sainz leading Charles Leclerc in practice on a hot day at Le Castellet.

The Italian Formula One team are chasing a third win in a row and were fastest in both sessions, Leclerc in the first before Sainz set the pace in the second.

The Spaniard will have at least a 10-place grid drop for the race due to exceeding his allocation of power unit components.

Leclerc lapped with a best time of one minute 33.930 seconds on the soft tyres while Sainz managed a 1:32.527 in the second stint.

Red Bull's championship leader Max Verstappen was second, 0.091 slower, in session one when his car's floor was patched up with tape in a makeshift repair, but more than half a second off Sainz's later pace.

Ferrari won the previous race in Austria with Leclerc after Sainz, who suffered a fiery engine failure in Spielberg, triumphed in Britain.

Verstappen is 38 points clear of Leclerc after 11 of 22 races.

George Russell was fourth in both sessions for Mercedes, who were hoping to be closer to Ferrari and Red Bull this weekend but clearly still have work to do.

- Reuters