In our weekly feature on the ins and outs in women's sport, the United States have retained their Women's World Cup title while Australia are closing in on the Women's Ashes again.

A week in the world of women's sport

A week in the world of women's sport

Cricket

England Women's Ashes hopes are hanging by a thread, a very thin thread, after they lost the ODI series 3-0, going down by 194 runs in the final match at Canterbury.

The first match was a close affair as Australia won by two wickets before they took an unassailable lead with a four-wicket win in the second ODI.

England were hoping to salvage pride in the final ODI, but it wasn't to be as the visitors were ruthless with Elysse Perry leading the way.

After being asked to bat first by their hosts, Australia posted a formidable 269 for seven in their 50 overs with captain Meg Lanning (69) and opener Alyssa Healy (68) providing the bulk of the runs.

All-rounder Natalie Sciver was the best bowler for England with three for 51, but she was outdone by Perry who grabbed career-best figures of seven for 22 - the best by an Australian bowler in ODIs.

Her seven-for meant England were dismissed for a mere 75 with Fran Wilson (17) and Laura Marsh (21) the only batters to reach double figures.

The ODI series victory gives Australia a 6-0 lead in the multi-format series and England will have to win the one-off Test and the three T20 matches to regain the Ashes.

Football

Take a bow the United States of America!

Jill Ellis' team beat the Netherlands 2-0 in the Women's World Cup final to win the tournament for a fourth time. A Megan Rapinoe penalty in the 61st minute and a Rose Lavelle strike eight minutes later took them to glory.

If you missed it, here are the highlights.

England finished fourth after they went down 2-1 against Sweden in the third-place playoff. Kosavore Asllani and Sofia Jacobsson put Sweden in the ascendency before Fran Kirby gave England hope, but it wasn't to be.

Megan Rapinoe won the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards, Lucy Bronze from England the Silver Ball and Lavelle the Bronze Ball.

Golf

Shanshan Feng has won her first title since November 2017 after clinching the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic by one shot from Ariya Jutanugarn.

Feng birdied her final four holes for a final round nine-under-par 63 to finish on 29-under 259.

"I was aiming for 30 under, that was my goal," said Feng after winning her 10th LPGA Tour title. "The last putt was a lot of pressure but I just told myself to make another good putt.

"I was walking up the green and I thought I had it but then I looked up at the scoreboard and realized I have got to make this putt."

Netball

The start of the 2019 Netball World Cup is just days away and England, who will face Uganda in their opener, completed their preparations with a 75-38 win over Superleague champions Manchester Thunder in a warm-up match.

In an interview with The Guardian, defender Eboni Usoro-Brown says England are "underdog favourites" for the tournament in Liverpool, saying: "The expectations for the World Cup, as always, are to win. But I think if you look at the results of the past year we’ve beaten Australia but lost to Jamaica and South Africa, teams ranked below us. Any team could win the tournament on a given day.

"The Roses will go in as underdog favourites. We’ve got eight games in 10 days, which is a gruelling schedule. But for us it’s very much about focusing on the process, winning each quarter to progress."

The Netball World Cup takes place from July 12-21 at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

Rugby

The Women's Rugby Super Series is up and running in San Diego and England have made it two wins from two matches as they edged Canada 19-17 in their second match.

Kelly Smith and Sarah Hunter scored tries for England, who were also awarded a penalty try, while Canada replied with two Paige Farries tries and one from Tyson Beukeboom.

The big story from San Diego so far has come from France as they stunned New Zealand 25-16 to secure their second win in a row over the world champions.

After losing their opening match against Canada, Les Bleues made up for it with a brilliant display against the Black Ferns.

Caroline Boujard and Maelle Filopon (2) scored for France while a late penalty try kept New Zealand in the game, but they never quite managed to complete the comeback.

Up next for Les Bleues are England.

Tennis

The big story from week one at Wimbledon has undoubtedly been the fairytale run of qualifier Coco Gauff. First she became the youngest player to qualify for Wimbledon and now she is in the second week.

In case you missed it, here is the Female First piece on Gauff after her defeat of Venus Williams in the first round.

https://www.femalefirst.co.uk/features/who-is-cori-coco-gauff-defeated-venus-williams-wimbledon-american-qualifiers-1201156.html

As for the rest of the action from the All England Club, you can keep up to date with the news and results on Tennis365.com.

https://www.tennis365.com/wta-tour/


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