Brits win around the world – Weekend round-up

A host of different victories at opposite ends of the earth for our plucky Brits abroad today, as Andy Murray sealed arguably the biggest win of his career to date at the Miami Masters, and Jenson Button made it back-to-back victories with an unusual win at the Malaysia GP. Meanwhile in the Grand National Liam Treadwell rode 100-1 outsider Mon Mome to a comfortable win on his debut yesterday, and earlier today Peter Ebdon beat John Higgins 10-8 in the final of the practically ignored China Open. Honorable mention also to Northern Irish golfer Micheal Hoey, who won his first European Tour event in the Estoril Open de Portugal.

Murray triumphed over Novak Djokovic in straight sets (6-2, 7-5) to give further credit to the possibility of overtaking him in the world rankings before the grass court season starts. Trouble is, that plays havoc with my strong desire to see a Murray-Nadal final at Wimbledon, as you’d expect the third and first seeds to play on the same side of the draw. Might be a thunder-stealing semi-final instead…

Button’s win in Malaysia was one of the stranger episodes of Formula 1: the race was ended after 31 laps due to a torrential downpour. After waiting nearly an hour, race director Charlie Whiting decided there was no chance of resuming the race and awarded victory to Button. But, as less than three-quarters of the race had taken place, only half points were awarded. Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock made up the podium finishes, with Lewis Hamilton picking up a point for his seventh-place finish.

In other news: Manchester United came from behind to beat Aston Villa in one of the season’s most exciting matches so far. With so much riding on the game – renewed pressure to compete with Liverpool after Yossi Benayoun’s last-minute goal against Fulham yesterday, as well as the desire to avoid three consecutive league defeats (something that hasn’t happened since 2001) – United were left in the debt of reserve team sensation Federico “Kiko” Macheda as the 17-year old scored an astonishing injury-time goal to complete a 3-2 win. The Quintuple dreams live on!

World Map of Sport

Check out my new google map showing British sporting acheivements across the globe. It’s just a bit of fun, but I thought it would be interesting to see just how far-flung our sportsmen and women are all year round, not just during major events. More additions will follow soon.