Jessica Pegula claimed her her first WTA 1,000 triumph with a straight-sets victory over Maria Sakkari at the Guadalajara Open.

American Pegula needed just 70 minutes to wrap up a 6-2 6-3 win over her Greek opponent, and as a result has risen to number three in the world rankings.

The 28-year-old now has 41 WTA main draw match victories this season, with only world number one Iga Swiatek (62) and Ons Jabeur (46) winning more.

"I'm just super excited, relieved, happy, all the emotions," she said.

"Just a lot of emotions, but super excited just to get a big title next to my name. That was something I really wanted this year, and I kept saying it was one of my goals, so to be able to accomplish it at the end of the year is really cool."

The final marked Sakkari's second match of the day, having earlier completed her rain-delayed semi-final against Marie Bouzkova, which she won 7-5 6-4.

Pegula converted five of eight break points against the 27-year-old world number six, who struggled with unforced errors.

Ahead of the thrilling encounter, Pegula had am impressive run,  beating four Grand Slam champions - Victoria Azarenka, Sloane Stephens, Bianca Andreescu and Elena Rybakina - on her way to the final.

Victor Osimhen scored a beauty of a goal as Serie A leaders Napoli defeated Roma to make it 11 consecutive wins in all competitions.

The Nigerian beat Chris Smalling to a long ball before hitting a brilliant half-volley from a tight angle past Rui Patricio with 10 minutes left of regular time.

The visitors created the best chances and had a penalty award overturned by the video assistant referee.

Patricio brought down Tanguy Ndombele in the first half for a spot-kick but after consulting VAR, the referee changed his mind after seeing the incident again on the pitchside monitor.

Hirving Lozano was denied twice by the Roma keeper either side of the half-time break and Osimhen, making his first start in six weeks, dragged a shot just wide but eventually found the back of the net late on the hand the visitors the win.

Luciano Spalletti's side sit three points above AC Milan at the top of the standings.

Jose Mourinho's Roma - who did not manage a shot on target - remain fifth.

Napoli, Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain are the only unbeaten teams left in Europe's top five leagues.

Robert Lewandowski scored his 12th goal in 11 La Liga games as Barcelona put up a dominant display to claim maximum points against Athletic Bilbao to stay three points behind leaders Real Madrid.

The Poland International striker netted his side's third goal when he drove in an unstoppable drive from Ousmane Dembele's pass.

Lewandowski had previously provided the assist for the opener, lofting the ball for Dembele to head in.

Dembele who put up the player of the match performance expertly picked out Sergi Roberto to make it 2-0 and also set up a late fourth with his third assist of the one-sided affair as Ferran Torres swept in.

It was an impressive display by Barcelona but some of the shine was taken off the win as Roberto went off with a shoulder injury late on.

The win, Barcelona's second in succession, keeps them in touching distance with Real, who defeated Sevilla 3-1 on Saturday.

Real are currently top on 31 points from 11 games, while Barcelona lie in second, 3 points less with 28 points.

Following Thursday's 3-0 Premier League defeat against Fulham, Aston Villa fired manager Steven Gerrard.

Villa have only won twice in the league this season and are only one point above the relegation zone in terms of goals scored.

Aaron Danks, the club's first-team coach, will take command of the team for Sunday's home game against Brentford.

Villa chief executive Christian Purslow stated in a statement on Friday that Gerrard's goals "had not been met."

"The board has come to this decision following a full evaluation of results and performances over the calendar year," he said.

"We were clear when we appointed Steven that we set an objective of continuous improvement but that has not been achieved despite everybody's best efforts and we believe the time is right to make these changes now.

"The process of appointing a new head coach is under way and we will update supporters as soon as possible."

The statement also confirmed that Gary McAllister, Neil Critchley, Tom Culshaw, Jordan Milsom and Scott Mason have also left the club following Gerrard's departure.

Gerrard succeeded Dean Smith as Villa manager in November 2021 after leaving his role at Rangers.

But the former England and Liverpool midfielder, 42, led Villa to only 13 wins from 40 games during his 11 months in charge.