The defending champion Saskatchewan Roughriders take the field for the first time in 2026 when they host the BC Lions on Saturday night in Regina, Sask.

The Roughriders will raise their fifth Grey Cup banner prior to the game against one of the teams they beat during their postseason run.

Trevor Harris threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to the since-departed Tommy Nield with 11 seconds left as Saskatchewan knocked off BC 24-21 in the West Division final. The Roughriders went on to beat the Montreal Alouettes for their first Grey Cup triumph since 2013.

This is the season opener for both squads after Week 1 byes.

The Roughriders are trying to put the 2025 title season behind them and place their focus on the current campaign.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with this year, period,” Saskatchewan coach Corey Mace said of the Grey Cup crown. “We’re a new team. We’ve got to go out there and prove that we’re still a good team.”

Of course, defending a title isn’t easy. But the Roughriders think they can make a run as well as improve on last season’s CFL-best 12-6 regular-season record.

“The sky’s the limit for this group,” said Harris, who was MVP of the Grey Cup. “We’ve just got to make sure that we’re pressing on the gas pedal every day.”

Harris, 40, passed for 4,549 yards and 24 touchdowns against 11 interceptions during the regular season last year.

BC quarterback Nathan Rourke set career highs of 5,290 passing yards, 31 touchdowns and 16 interceptions while winning CFL Most Outstanding Player honors. The passing yardage was a CFL record for a Canadian-born quarterback.

Rourke found it odd to have a bye in Week 1 and he’s itching to get on the field against the Roughriders.

“It was a bit strange,” Rourke said. “Other games were going on, so you want to get going. Especially with a game like this, we’re excited to play a team of the caliber as Saskatchewan.”

The Lions (11-7 last season) know it will be a tough opening test.

“It’s going to be a physical game,” BC coach Buck Pierce said. “They’ll have that place rocking. We need to focus on the things we can control.”

Both teams feature running backs coming off career-best campaigns.

A.J. Ouellette of the Roughriders finished second in the CFL with his career-high 1,222 rushing yards. He had a career-best eight rushing scores.

BC’s James Butler recorded a career-best 1,213 rushing yards and a career-high 11 rushing touchdowns. He was third in the CFL in rushing yardage and tied for the TD lead.

Counting the postseason, Saskatchewan has won five of the past six meetings.

–Field Level Media

Home favorite Katie Boulter continued her run through the HSBC Championships with a pair of wins Friday in London — including a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 defeat of No. 1 seed Elena Rybakina to reach the semifinals.

The British wild card followed a Tuesday upset of No. 8 seed Leylah Fernandez with a 6-1, 6-3 defeat of Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian in her first match of the day. She followed with her second career top-five win against Rybakina, who was also playing her second match of the day after a 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-0 defeat of Germany’s Tatjana Maria.

Boulter secured the only break of the third set at 4-4 against her Kazakhstan competitor, serving out the match from there. She saved 12 of 14 break points and will next face Croatian lucky loser Donna Vekic on Saturday for a spot in the championship. Vekic defeated a pair of Czech opponents on Friday in Marie Bouzkova and Karolina Pliskova.

Boulter’s win wasn’t the only notable upset of Friday’s action. No. 6 Iva Jovic beat No. 2 Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in a battle of Americans to come away with her first career top-five victory. Emma Raducanu from the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova will face off in the final quarterfinal Saturday for the right to face Jovic. Raducanu beat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-2, while Rakhimova bested Britain’s Harriet Dart 5-7, 6-1, 7-5.

Libema Open

Barbora Krejcikova, the only seeded competitor to reach the quarterfinals of what has been an upset-filled event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, advanced to the semis with a convincing 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania.

The eighth-seeded Czech won nearly as many points on Ruse’s serve (26 of 45) as she did her own (28 of 42), holding a dominant 6-1 edge in aces while facing just one break point. She next faces Poland’s Magda Linette, who swept Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez 6-4, 6-2 to reach the semifinals.

Robin Montgomery is through to the other semifinal after a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Ukrainian Daria Snigur. She awaits the winner of Caty McNally and Australian Ajla Tomljanovic’s quarterfinal clash, which was suspended due to rain with Tomljanovic up a set and 4-1 in the second set.

Both won matches earlier in the day on Friday, with McNally ousting Argentina’s Solana Sierra 6-4, 6-3, while Tomljanovic rallied past Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine for a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory.

–Field Level Media

Brand-new PGA Tour member Ben James is showing the veterans how it’s done.

In the second round of his professional debut, James fired a 7-under-par 63 to take the lead at the RBC Canadian Open on Friday in Caledon, Ontario.

James heads to the weekend at 10-under 130 after two rounds at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley’s North course. Sam Burns (67), Jackson Suber (65), Keith Mitchell (64), Haotong Li of China (64) and Jesper Svensson of Sweden (65) are tied for second at 9 under.

James, 23, was awarded a PGA Tour card on June 1 after he finished the college season No. 1 in the PGA Tour University standings, a direct pathway for one collegiate golfer to make the big leagues. He wrapped up a decorated career at the University of Virginia and headed to Canada — stopping Monday in Purchase, N.Y., to qualify for the U.S. Open. He earned one of four spots available at that qualifying site.

He holed a 22-foot eagle putt on the par-5 first hole Friday and went on to make five birdies in a bogey-free round. The 63 is tied for the low round of the tournament, as Bud Cauley also shot a 63 Friday.

Cauley is tied at 8 under with Brooks Koepka (68), England’s Tommy Fleetwood (65), Brice Garnett (67) and defending champion Ryan Fox of New Zealand (66).

The projected cut line stood at 2-under-par with the final few groups finishing Friday evening. On track to miss the cut are PGA champion Aaron Rai of England (1 under), Garrick Higgo of South Africa (1 under), Canadians Corey Conners (even) and Mackenzie Hughes (2 over), Englishman Justin Rose (2 over) and Colombia’s Camilo Villegas (2 over).

–Field Level Media