By Tim Stannard

1) Sister act as Serena & Venus move to Australian Open final

Soccer, schmocker!

It is tennis that is rightfully leading the way in the wide, wide world of sport on Thursday. Knowing that Serena Williams can be a little flaky on occasions, the appearance of the US tennis legend in the Australian Open final is a little eye-opening. But to be facing her sister, Venus, is an occasion that needs dropping jaws to be manually closed shut again.

Overnight on Wednesday, Serena made short shrift of veteran opponent, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, in two sets in a semifinal clash to join Venus who overcame compatriot, Coco Vandeweghe, after being one set down.

The 36-year-old is now in her 15th major final, and has the unenviable job of stopping her sister from a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam win on Saturday, in Melbourne. "She's my toughest opponent, no-one has ever beaten me as much as Venus has," said Serena.

As a side-bar, beIN SPORTS is the new home for WTA tennis, dontcha know, and Venus Williams is set to star in the St. Petersburg Ladies’ Trophy in Russia from Monday.

2) Federer back in grand slam limelight

There is just as much as romance in the men’s side of the draw in Australia with Roger Federer fighting his way through to the final after beating fellow Swiss type, Stan Wawrinka, 7-5 6-3 1-6 4-6 6-3 in an epic clash in Melbourne. "I never ever in my wildest dreams thought I'd come this far in Australia. It's beautiful, I'm so happy," beamed Federer.

The 35-year-old Federer, who last won a major with the Wimbledon 2012 title, is set to face the winner of Friday’s clash between another comeback kid, Rafa Nadal, and Grigor Dimitrov.

3) Barça banana skin in awaits in Copa Camp Nou clash

Real Madrid went through the Copa del Rey ringer on Wednesday. Although the very makeshift team snuck a 2-2 draw against Celta up in the north of Spain it was not enough to keep the capital city side in the tournament. This merely pours more ‘crisis!’ talk over the head of poor coach Zizou whose team now only has one win in five, having gone 40 unbeaten. “A Real disaster!” chirped Barcelona paper, ‘Sport’.

The aforementioned paper may want to be less presumptuous considering Barcelona are in a precarious position in the club’s own Copa quarterfinal second-leg clash, just 1-0 up against a feisty Real Sociedad. You can catch that game on our wonderful Spanish sister service or on beIN CONNECT from 3:15PM ET / 12:15PM PT. Or tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for all the best action of the day.

4) Manchester United look for EFL final berth

It is a tussle between two Portuguese coaches in the big EFL Cup action on beIN SPORTS from 2:30PM ET / 11:30AM PT on Thursday. Jose Mourinho is facing Carlos Silva on their respective Manchester United and Hull City benches in the semifinal second leg clash at the KCOM Stadium.

United currently hold a 2-0 win from the first leg although a newly hair-cropped Mourinho is concerned over a fixture pile-up preventing his team from eventually lifting the trophy.

The aggregate winners of Thursday’s tie will be facing Southampton the final with Claude Puel’s side deservedly dumping Liverpool out of the cup to set a fun Wembley date.

5) Find a home for Jese appeal nears conclusion

Transfer Tracker time! And a new suitor has knocked on the door of PSG to take Jese of their Parisian hands. And that team is Middlesbrough with Aitor Karanka looking for a reunion with the player who shared a club when both at Real Madrid. "Jese is a player I have worked with. I know how good he is," said the former Madrid assistant boss.

Boro are also in the fight for the wonderfully-named Hull City midfielder, Robert Snodgrass, although face a scuffle with both Burnley and West Ham having offers of $12m accepted.

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The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. SB is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.