Reuters Sports Schedule at 0600 GMT on Tuesday, June 6
Reuters sports schedule at 0600 GMT on Tuesday: TENNIS French Open 'Kiki' set to fire up crowd, Nadal faces Spanish friend PARIS - The French crowd will be rooting for Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic when she takes on Timea Bacsinszky for a spot in the semi-finals, while Rafa Nadal plays his friend and Spanish compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarter-finals as he seeks a 10th title. (TENNIS-FRENCHOPEN/ (PIX), expect throughout, by Ossian Shine, Martyn Herman and Julien Pretot) CRICKET Champions Trophy England v New Zealand - Group A (0930) Hosts England aim for victory to reach semis LONDON - England will reach the semi-finals with a victory over New Zealand, whose opening match with Australia was abandoned due to rain. (CRICKET-CHAMPIONSTROPHY-ENG-NZL/ (PIX), expect by 1700 GMT/1 PM ET, 300 words) RUGBY British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand WELLINGTON - We bring you the latest news from New Zealand as the Lions prepare for Wednesday's clash with Super Rugby side the Auckland Blues. (RUGBY-UNION-LIONS/, expect throughout, 300 words) SOCCER European Leagues hold extraordinary general assembly GENEVA - The umbrella organisation representing Europe's domestic soccer leagues holds an extraordinary assembly to address upcoming changes to the Champions League format which they say will have detrimental side-effects on their competitions. (SOCCER-EUROPE/LEAGUES, by Brian Homewood) European club news We will bring all the latest transfer news from around Europe as teams begin improving their squads for next season. (SOCCER-COUNTRY-TEAM/ expect throughout) Saudis eye return to top table at 2018 World Cup KUALA LUMPUR - For more than a decade, Saudi Arabia's footballers have sat on the sidelines of the World Cup, waiting to add to one of the strongest legacies in Asian football. Now, a return to football's top table looks within their grasp. (SOCCER-WORLDCUP-SAUDI/, expect by 1000 GMT/6 AM ET, by Michael Church, 700 words) Asian Champions League draw Chinese, Japanese and Saudi sides dominate last-eight draw Big-spending Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai SIPG will be hoping to avoid each other when the draw for the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League is made in Kuala Lumpur. Saudi Arabia and Japan also have two teams apiece in the last eight. (SOCCER-ASIA/ACL, expect by 1000 GMT/6 AM ET, 300 words) CYCLING Criterium du Dauphine De Gent expected to stay in yellow as sprinters eye stage Belgian Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) holds the overall leader's jersey gong into the third stage, a 184km ride from Le Chambon-sur-Lignon to Tullins. (CYCLING-DAUPHINE/(TV) expect by 1700 GMT/1 PM ET, (TV), by Julien Pretot, 250 words) NBA Warriors, Cavs prepare for Game Three Members of the top-seeded Golden State Warriors, who lead the NBA Finals 2-0, and defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers talk to the media in Ohio about their preparations for Thursday's pivotal Game Three of the best-of-seven championship series. (BASKETBALL-NBA/FINALS, expect by 2330 GMT/7:30 PM ET, by Frank Pingue, 400 words) BASEBALL Yankees host Red Sox in renewal of rivalry The first-place New York Yankees host AL East rivals the Red Sox in the opener of a three-game series, hoping the struggling Masahiro Tanaka (5-5) can regain his form as Boston sends lefty Drew Pomeranz (5-3) to the mound in one of 15 games on the Major League Baseball schedule. (BASEBALL-MLB-HIGHLIGHTS/, expect by 0530 GMT/1:30 AM ET, by The Sports Xchange, 700 words) NORTH AMERICAN SPORTS Roundups of off-field developments in the major North American professional sports leagues. (Expect by 0000 GMT/8 PM ET, by The Sports Xchange, 500 words) (Asia desk editor: Nick Mulvenney)
