Barcelona president Joan Laporta confirms meeting with Dembele’s agent over new deal scheduled

Emma Raducanu had yet to step on court on Friday night when at least one British winner became guaranteed at the US Open.

Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury will face off in the men’s doubles final on Friday afternoon at 5pm UK time after coming through tight matches with their respective partners Bruno Soares and Rajeev Ram.

Murray has slipped well behind Salisbury in the rankings, down to 22, but will be determined to show why he is already the holder of seven Grand Slam titles, five of them being mixed.

Jamie Murray (right) and Bruno Soares are into the US Open men’s doubles final on Friday 

They’ll meet Joe Salisbury (right) and Rajeev Ram in the final, setting up a British winner 

Were he to repeat his Flushing Meadows triumph of 2016 with the Brazilian, he would become the winner of most majors by a British player, overtaking Virginia Wade.

Salisbury, however, won the pre-pandemic Australian Open in January 2020 and has gone on to be GB’s most consistent performer.

On a foul day in the Big Apple, they followed each other on court under the roof of the Louis Armstrong Stadium.

First the 29-year-old from Putney accompanied American veteran Ram in defeating Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey 7-6, 6-4. Then came Murray versus his former partner, Australian John Peers. Alongside Soares, he beat Peers and Slovakia’s Filip Polasek 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Murray has already won seven Grand Slam titles and is looking for an eighth late in his career 

Novak Djokovic is back on the charge as he stormed into the semi-finals in his Golden Slam bid

For Soares, it has been quite a turnaround. He was taken ill on his flight to the Tokyo Olympics and ended up having his appendix out.

He said: ‘I am surprised to be honest. I couldn’t play the Olympics and played nothing before here.’

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic needs to try to forget his Olympic trauma as he moves to within two matches of tennis’s greatest achievement.

The 34-year-old Serb, within touching distance of doing the calendar Grand Slam, will face Alex Zverev, who ended his gold medal hopes in Tokyo amid embarrassment for the strong favourite.

‘The Olympic Games were a tough ending for me emotionally,’ said Djokovic. ‘He’s in fantastic form. He was a couple points away from his first Slam last year against Dominic.’