US OPEN
Ben Shelton has reached his first major semifinal by beating Frances Tiafoe in four sets at the U.S. Open. It was the first Grand Slam quarterfinal between two African-American men in the professional era. After a victory that ended after midnight on Wednesday, the 20-year-old Shelton will face 23-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic on Friday for a berth in the final. Djokovic reached his record 47th Grand Slam by defeating Taylor Fritz 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 on a steamy Tuesday afternoon. Djokovic improved to 13-0 for his career in quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows — and to 8-0 against Fritz, an American who was seeded No. 9.
On the women’s side, Coco Gauff has reached the U.S. Open semifinals for the first time by eliminating 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 6-2 on a steamy afternoon. Gauff is a 19-year-old from Florida who is the first American teenager to reach the final four at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams in 2001. This was the 16th victory in her past 17 matches for Gauff. She will face No. 10 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic on Thursday with a berth in the final at stake. Muchova beat No. 30 Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-3. Novak Djokovic and Ben Shelton set up a meeting in the men's semifinals.
FIBA BASKETBALL WORLD CUP
The United States is headed to the medal round of the Basketball World Cup after bouncing back from its first loss of the tournament in emphatic fashion. Mikal Bridges scored 14 of his 24 points in the first half and the U.S. was airtight for long stretches defensively on the way to beating Italy 100-63 last night in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. The win ensures the 15th top-four finish for the Americans in 19 World Cups. They’ll play either Germany or Latvia in Friday’s semifinals.
MLB
Giancarlo Stanton smashed his 400th home run, Gerrit Cole burnished his Cy Young Award credentials and the New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 5-1 last night. DJ LeMahieu hit his second leadoff homer in four games and Gleyber Torres had a two-run double for the last-place Yankees, who have won four straight and seven of eight to get back to .500 for the first time since Aug. 15. Stanton’s two-run homer off reliever José Cisnero broke a 1-all tie in the sixth inning. The slugger reached 400 homers in 1,520 career games — fourth-fastest in major league history behind Mark McGwire, Babe Ruth and Alex Rodriguez.
Pete Alonso hit his 42nd homer and Brandon Nimmo went deep twice to back a sharp outing by from José Quintana, and the New York Mets thumped the Washington Nationals 11-5. Francisco Alvarez hit a three-run shot in the first inning, and Francisco Lindor also homered for the Mets. Quintana worked a season-high seven innings. He gave up his only run two batters into the game and didn’t allow a hit after the third. Patrick Corbin allowed a season-worst eight runs while failing to make it through five innings for the first time since opening day. Washington lost its sixth straight, matching its worst skid of the season.
Brandon Lowe hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 8-6. Lowe won it on his 18th homer off Kenley Jansen (3-6), who had his streak of converting 20 consecutive chances end. Luis Urías had an RBI single in the 11th inning that gave Boston a 6-5 lead. Tampa Bay’s Zach Eflin failed to become the AL’s first 14-game winner despite departing with a two-run lead. He gave up three runs and five hits over five-plus innings. Erasmo Ramirez (3-3) got the win.
Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a 431-foot home run into the second deck in left field on his bobblehead night and Pedro Avila earned his first big league victory as the San Diego Padres beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-0. Tatis’ 23rd homer opened the three-run fourth and the Padres added four more in the sixth against Michael Lorenzen. That was more than enough for Avila, who has 14 appearances in parts of four big league seasons, including 10 this year. Making his fourth start of the season, he held the Phillies to two hits in 6 2/3 innings while walking six and striking out one.
Jose Altuve homered his first three times up, starting with a pair off All-Star right-hander Nathan Eovaldi in his return from the injured list, and the Houston Astros pummeled the Texas Rangers 14-1. The third homer was to center field off Dane Dunning, a starter who came out of the bullpen to clear the way for Eovaldi to start coming off a right forearm strain. Martín Maldonado homered twice and Yordan Alvarez connected for his 24th as the Astros set a Globe Life Field record with six long balls.
Major League Baseball has opened an investigation into Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías after he was arrested Sunday on a felony charge of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant. A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman confirmed the charge Tuesday. Urías did not travel with the Dodgers to Miami, where they open a three-game series against the Marlins on Tuesday night. He was scheduled to make his next start Thursday. Urías was arrested late Sunday night by Department of Public Safety officers in Exposition Park, south of downtown Los Angeles. The park is home to BMO Stadium, where Lionel Messi was playing in a Major League Soccer game with numerous celebrities in attendance.
It is next to impossible to replace all that Shohei Ohtani can do when standing on a baseball field, although the Los Angeles Angels did their best for a few minutes Tuesday. With Ohtani unavailable for team photo day, as he continues to be examined for oblique soreness that cropped up Monday, the team put a body double in a No. 17 jersey and lined him up in the outfield with the rest of the players. After the photo was completed, the Ohtani imposter was ushered out of a tunnel beyond the left field wall.
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Breanna Stewart scored 40 points to set the WNBA’s single-season scoring record and the New York Liberty held off the Dallas Wings 94-93 for their seventh straight victory. Stewart became the all-time leader with 861 points after her 15th point of the night. She reached 40-plus points for the fourth time this season and she also had 10 rebounds. New York (31-7) moved within a game of first-place Las Vegas (32-6) — with home games against Los Angeles and Washington remaining. The Aces close the season with a home-and-home series against Phoenix. Dallas (20-18) was seeking to clinch the No. 4 seed with a victory.
Alyssa Thomas had 27 points, 12 rebounds and 14 assists for her sixth triple-double of the season and the Connecticut Sun beat the Los Angeles Sparks 90-76. Thomas also set the single season assist mark, passing Courtney Vandersloot’s record of 300 set in 2019. The Sun’s point-forward has 304 this season. DeWanna Bonner added 25 points and Tiffany Hayes scored 13 for Connecticut (26-12). Azura Stevens and Dearica Hamby each scored 18 points for Los Angeles. Layshia Clarendon and Rae Burrell added 13 points apiece. Nneka Ogwumike (knee) did not play. Los Angeles (16-22) dropped into a tie with the Chicago Sky for eighth in the WNBA standings — with two games remaining.
NFL
New England Patriots defensive back Jack Jones has agreed to serve one year of probation and 48 hours of community service in exchange for prosecutors dropping eight of the nine weapons charges he faced in connection with his June arrest at a security checkpoint at Boston's Logan Airport for allegedly having two loaded guns in his carry-on bag. A court filing shows that the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office dropped all the weapons charges he faced. He received probation for an airport security violation. In a motion stating its decision not to continue the case, the state attorney's office said it determined it couldn’t prove that Jones had knowledge that he possessed the firearms in his bag at the time of the incident.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
No. 21 Duke and No. 22 Colorado have jumped into the Associated Press Top 25 college football poll after scoring the biggest upsets of the opening weekend of the season. No. 4 Florida State also climbed into the top-five with a resounding victory over LSU, which dropped from fifth to No. 14. Georgia remained No. 1 and Michigan held steady at No. 2. No. 3 Alabama moved up a spot and Florida State climbed four places and received three first-place votes. Ohio State dropped two places to round out the top five.
Deion Sanders wants his players reading all about how good they are because the Colorado coach isn’t one to keep his players grounded. He prefers them flying high. After beating heavily favored TCU last weekend, the Buffaloes moved into the AP Top 25 poll at No. 22. The unconventional Sanders is proving to be a master motivator. He’s all about not running from publicity but remembering it. He has his team at the center of the college football universe, at least for now. The 22nd-ranked Buffs will host old rival Nebraska this Saturday in the home debut for Sanders.
NFL
Tight end Travis Kelce hyperextended his knee during the Chiefs’ final practice before their opener against Detroit on Tuesday, leaving his status in question for Thursday night's game. Chiefs coach Andy Reid said the injury occurred during their final full workout Tuesday but provided no other details. The 33-year-old Kelce has not missed a game to injury since his rookie year in 2013, which he had a microfracture procedure to fix a cartilage problem in his knee. He has twice been held out of meaningless games to end the regular season.
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
The coach of Spain’s World Cup-winning women’s soccer team has been fired. The announcement Tuesday came less than three weeks after the victory celebration that led to the suspension of the country’s soccer federation president for kissing a player. The Spanish soccer federation offered no immediate explanation for the dismissal of coach Jorge Vilda. The federation says Vilda was key to the growth of women’s soccer and thanked him for leading the national team to the World Cup title and to No. 2 in the FIFA rankings. Vilda was among those who at first applauded federation president Luis Rubiales when he refused to quit.
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