Afonso Alves, a Brazilian international, underlined his scoring credentials when he hit seven goals for Heerenveen on Sunday to set a Dutch first division record. The striker hopes his effort in a 9-0 thrashing of Heracles Almelo would have been noted by some of Europe's elite clubs.

Richard Gasquet, the French tennis star, has pulled out of this week's Vienna Open in order to concentrate on securing one of the eight spots at the season-ending Masters Cup tournament.
Gasquet said late on Sunday he would focus on the last two Masters Series tournaments in Madrid and Paris.