US OPEN
The fourth round of the U.S. Open wraps up today, with Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka and Daniil Medvedev all in action. Alcaraz has seemed almost unstoppable in his title defense run at Flushing Meadows, and 61st-ranked Italian Matteo Arnaldi will be the next to face that challenge in an afternoon match with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line. Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed, faces 13th-seeded Daria Kasatkina. And Medvedev, the third-seeded man, goes up against No. 13 Alex de Minaur. Also on the Labor Day schedule is a matchup of American women, third-seeded Jessica Pegula against No . 17 Madison Keys.
Coco Gauff has become the first American teenager since Serena Williams more than two decades ago to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals in consecutive years. She got that far this time by beating Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 on Sunday. Gauff asked one of her coaches to stop talking to her as the second set slipped away. She wound up winning the last six games. Gauff is 19. Wozniacki is a 33-year-old mother of two and was playing in just her third tournament since coming out of retirement last month. Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton set up an all-American men's quarterfinal with wins on the hottest day of the event so far.
Iga Swiatek’s U.S. Open title defense has ended with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 loss to Jelena Ostapenko in the fourth round. The loss Sunday night also means Swiatek’s stay at No. 1 in the WTA rankings will end next week. Current No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka will rise to the top spot for the first time. Swiatek’s shots were off-target in Arthur Ashe Stadium and she had a difficult time handling the hard hitting from the 20th-seeded Ostapenko, who won the 2017 French Open. Ostapenko is now 4-0 against Swiatek over their careers. No other player owns four victories against the woman who has led the WTA rankings since April 2022. Ostapenko will face Coco Gauff next.
After a mild start to the U.S. Open, the forecast calls for much higher temperatures in the second week. That is not a surprise: An Associated Press analysis shows the average high temperatures during the U.S. Open and the three other Grand Slam tennis tournaments steadily have grown hotter and more dangerous in recent decades, reflecting the climate change that created record heat waves around the globe this June and July. The maximum temperatures at those tournaments keep climbing. That can keep athletes from playing their best and, worse, increases the likelihood of heat-related illness. And the U.S. Open often is the hottest of the four majors in any given year.
Novak Djokovic has eliminated qualifier Borna Gojo 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals. Djokovic did not encounter any of the sort of trouble he did in his previous match. He needed to come back from a two-set deficit in the third round before eventually winning in five against Laslo Djere. Djokovic played far more cleanly Sunday night and was in control throughout. He finished with only 12 unforced errors, while Gojo made 40. Next up for Djokovic will be a matchup against No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz, a 25-year-old from California. Fritz is the only remaining player in the men’s bracket to not have dropped a set so far.
FIBA BASKETBALL WORLD CUP
Group stage play in the FIBA Basketball World Cup ended Sunday as Lithuania topped the US 110 to 104, and Italy beat Puerto Rico 73-57. Despite the loss, the US advances to the quarterfinals, where it will play Italy Tuesday night. With the loss, Puerto Rico was eliminated from the tournament.
MLB
Pete Alonso homered twice and drove in four runs, reaching 40 homers and 100 RBIs for the second consecutive season as the New York Mets beat the first-place Seattle Mariners 6-3. Jeff McNeil also went deep — after finishing a homer shy of the cycle Saturday night — and New York took two of three games from the Mariners to hand them their first series loss since Aug. 11-13 against Baltimore. Seattle leads the AL West by a game over Texas and Houston. Alonso hit an RBI single in the first inning before his two-run shot in the third made him the fifth player in major league history with at least three 40-homer seasons in his first five campaigns.
Prized rookie Jasson Domínguez hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning to help the New York Yankees to a 6-1 win over the Houston Astros that completed a three-game sweep. It was the second home run in three career games for the 20-year-old Domínguez, who became the youngest Yankees player to go deep in his major league debut Friday night when he hit a two-run shot off Justin Verlander in his first at-bat. Houston’s weekend slide came after a five-game winning streak and it left the Astros a game behind the first-place Mariners and tied for second with the Texas Rangers in a tight AL West race. Gleyber Torres added a solo homer in the ninth for the last-place Yankees.
Masataka Yoshida hit a three-run homer and Adam Duvall had a solo shot to back Chris Sale as the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 7-3. Sale (6-3) didn’t allow a run over five innings, gave up two hits and struck out five while walking two. It was the first time he hasn’t allowed a run in a start since July 12 of last season. The Red Sox have won two straight after losing six of seven coming into the three-game set against the Royals. Zack Greinke (1-14) went 3 2/3 innings allowing three runs on five hits.
Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto opened the seventh inning with back-to-back homers and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 to avoid being swept despite getting held hitless until the sixth. Wade Miley had a no-hitter going for 5 2/3 innings before the Phillies got to him in the seventh. William Contreras and Mark Canha homered for Milwaukee. The NL Central-leading Brewers were attempting to sweep the Phillies for the first time since August 2015. The Phillies snapped a three-game losing streak and maintained their 2 1/2-game lead over the Cubs in a crowded NL wild-card race.
The Los Angeles Dodgers avoided a four-game sweep with a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves to complete their meeting of the NL’s top two teams. Rookie Bobby Miller pitched a career-best seven innings of three-hit ball. Miguel Rojas had an RBI double and Mookie Betts added an RBI single in the fifth for the Dodgers, who prevented Atlanta from sweeping a four-game series at Dodger Stadium for the first time. Matt Olson hit his 44th homer for the Braves in the seventh, pulling even with Shohei Ohtani for the major league lead.
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot had double-doubles and sparked a 22-0 run in fourth quarter to lead the New York Liberty to their sixth straight victory, 86-69 over the Chicago Sky. Stewart finished with 26 points, 14 rebounds and five assists for her 19th double-double of the season for the Liberty (30-7). Vandersloot pitched in with 20 points, 10 assists, six steals and five rebounds against her former team. Betnijah Laney had 17 points and Jocelyn Willoughby scored 10 off the bench. Kahleah Copper scored 23 points to lead the Sky (15-22), who entered play tied with Los Angeles for the final playoff spot. Chicago has the tiebreaker advantage over the Sparks after winning three of four match-ups this season.
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Damion Lowe and Julián Carranza scored second-half goals one minute apart, Kai Wagner had three assists and the Philadelphia Union rallied for a 4-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls. Philadelphia (14-8-4) upped its unbeaten streak to 12 against the Red Bulls in all competitions (8-0-4). It’s the Union’s longest unbeaten run against any opponent. Philadelphia improved to 18-1-2 in its last 21 matches at home. The Union set a record in the post-shootout era (2000) with 17 wins in their first 20 home matches. The Red Bulls (7-12-8) jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Omir Fernandez’s fourth goal of the season, unassisted in the 11th minute.
HORSE RACING
The summer meet at Saratoga Race Course ends today. While the New York Racing Association says more than a million visitors visited the Spa, the 2023 season was marked by a more than a dozen horse deaths, including breakdowns on Whitney Day and Travers Day – at a time when the sport is under intense scrutiny.
NYRA and the federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority conducted reviews of racing surfaces and announced new safety measures including enhanced veterinary screenings during the final week of the meet. NYRA spokesperson Patrick McKenna says officials are considering adding a synthetic racing surface to Saratoga Race Course to increase safety and prevent injuries.
Top action on today’s card includes the Grade I Hopeful Stakes, a $300,000 7-furlong dirt race for two-year-old horses. Muth, ridden by Flavien Prat and trained by Bob Baffert, is the morning line favorite. Other top action includes the Bernard Baruch Stakes, a $150,000 inner turf race for three-year-old and older horses. Wit, ridden by Jose Ortiz and trained by Todd Pletcher, is the morning line favorite.
SOCCER
Lionel Messi had two assists in front of a star-studded crowd as Inter Miami defeated Los Angeles Football Club 3-1. Facundo Farías, Jordi Alba and Leonardo Campana scored for Miami, which is unbeaten in 11 matches across all competitions since Messi joined the club in mid-July. Ryan Hollingshead scored for LAFC, which has dropped its last two. Sunday’s match though will be Messi’s last with Miami for at least the next two weeks. The 36-year-old will be part of Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador on Thursday and Bolivia five days later. Messi has 11 goals and eight assists for Miami, which is eight points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with eight regular-season matches remaining.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Two-way starter Travis Hunter is already living up to all of his self-proclaimed hype. Hunter played 129 snaps for Colorado in its season-opening 45-42 shocker at 17th-ranked TCU. The cornerback-receiver had 11 catches for 119 yards, and an interception near the end zone. Hunter before the season declared himself as No. 1 on the Heisman Trophy watch list. The sophomore says people are now seeing what he can do. Hunter was the nation's top high school football recruit when he signed with FCS team Jackson State in December 2021 to play for coach Deion Sanders as a freshman. They are now at Colorado together.
Jordan Travis accounted for five touchdowns, including three to Michigan State transfer Keon Coleman, and No. 8 Florida State throttled fifth-ranked LSU 45-24 in the most anticipated matchup of college football’s opening weekend. The Seminoles extended their winning streak to seven and established themselves as an early season favorite to make the College Football Playoff. Travis completed 23 of 31 passes for 342 yards and the four TDs. He also ran for a score. Coleman finished with nine catches for 122 yards. LSU's Jayden Daniels completed 22 of 37 passes for 347 yards, with an interception and a 75-yard score in the waning minutes.
NASCAR
Alex Palou is a two-time IndyCar champion with Chip Ganassi Racing following a dominant run Sunday at Portland International Raceway. Palou earned his fifth win of the season to lock up the title with one weekend remaining in the 17-race schedule. It is the first time in IndyCar the championship has been settled before the finale since the late Dan Wheldon won in 2005. Palou only needed to podium Sunday to win his second title in three seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing. Scott Dixon was the only driver who mathematically could beat Palou for the title and Dixon finished third.
Kyle Larson led the final 55 laps to start his latest NASCAR playoff run with a win at the Southern 500, his first career victory at Darlington Raceway. Larson automatically advances to the round of 12 no matter what happens in the opening round's final two races at Kansas and Bristol. Playoff drivers took the first seven spots, with Tyler Reddick in second and followed by Chris Buescher, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace.
PORTLAND CLASSIC
Teenager Chanettee Wannasaen played a five-hole stretch in 6 under early in Sunday's final round and closed with a near-flawless 9-under 63 for a four-stroke victory at the Portland Classic to become the first Monday qualifier to win on the LPGA Tour since 2015. Wannasaen arrived at Portland ranked 367th and having missed nine straight cuts in her rookie season. The 19-year-old from Thailand shattered the tournament scoring record by five strokes with a 26-under 262 total for her first LPGA Tour victory. Third-round leader Megan Khang failed in her bid to win consecutive events, finishing sixth. China's Xiyu Lin (64) was second. American Gina Kim (66), China's Ruoning Yin (64) and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda (67) tied for third another stroke back.
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