TENNIS
Frances Tiafoe is getting the rematch he wants, a second shot at Ben Shelton at the U.S. Open. But there won’t be a second straight Grand Slam title for Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova. She was knocked out of the U.S. Open in the second round on Wednesday, defeated by Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-4, 7-5. Ruse advanced to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time and will play No. 26 seed Paula Badosa, who eliminated American Taylor Townsend 6-3, 7-5. Tiafoe and Shelton both won second-round matches and will meet Friday. Shelton beat Tiafoe last year in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
Coco Gauff has overcome some uneven serving early in the second round of the U.S. Open. She stretched her winning streak to nine matches at the site of her first Grand Slam title with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over 99th-ranked Tatjana Maria. Gauff had all sorts of trouble in the first set under the lights at a hot and muggy Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday night. That included seven double-faults. But Gauff played much better in the second set. Gauff will face three-time major semifinalist Elina Svitolina on Friday for a berth in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.
On the men’s side, Defending champion Novak Djokovic has reached the third round of the U.S. Open after his opponent had to stop in the third set of their match with an injury. Djokovic led Laslo Djere 6-4, 6-4, 2-0 on Wednesday night when his Serbian countryman retired. Djere was leading 4-2 in the second set when he appeared to be troubled by pain near his hip and was visited by a trainer later in the set. It was the 90th win at the U.S. Open for Djokovic, allowing him to reach that total at all four Grand Slams. The 24-time major champion will play No. 28 seed Alexei Popyrin on Friday.
It’s nothing new for tennis players to worry aloud about their sport’s overcrowded calendar, too-tough season and too-short offseason. No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek added an additional complaint this week at the U.S. Open: Athletes are not being heard when they express concerns about potential harm to mental and physical health caused by having more tournaments that run longer and new rules that require participation in more events. Swiatek also said players are not being consulted enough by the professional tours.
MLB
Dylan Crews led off the game for the Nationals with his first career homer and later hit an RBI double, and Washington beat the New York Yankees 5-2 to take two of three from the AL’s top team. Crews is the third-ranked prospect in baseball and he debuted on Monday. He lifted a high drive to the bullpen in left-center on Carlos Rodón’s second pitch. Crews' double in the fifth put the Nationals ahead 5-1. Washington kept Aaron Judge in the ballpark for a third straight night. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit his career-best 22nd homer and ninth for the Yankees.
Corbin Carroll hit a go-ahead grand slam off Edwin Díaz in the eighth inning, part of a two-homer night that lifted the Arizona Diamondbacks over the New York Mets 8-5. The Diamondbacks trailed 5-4 heading into the eighth, but staged a two-out rally against the Mets’ closer. Díaz entered with a runner on first and promptly walked pinch-hitter Pavin Smith and Geraldo Perdomo before Carroll smacked his second homer of the game into the right-field seats. It was Díaz’s sixth blown save of the season. New York fell four games behind Atlanta for the final NL wild card. The D-backs — defending National League champions — have won 21 of 27 to keep pace in a torrid NL West race that includes the Dodgers and Padres.
Red Sox righty Brayan Bello delivered the longest outing of his career to beat the Blue Jays 3-0. Bello pitched eight innings of two-hit ball while striking out nine. Bello picked up just his second win in eight starts since the All-Star break. The 25-year-old righty had only pitched into the eighth inning once in his career previously. He had never recorded more than 24 outs. Tyler O'Neill homered for Boston.
Yordan Alvarez hit three home runs and rookie Spencer Arrighetti carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning as the Houston Astros routed the Philadelphia Phillies and Taijuan Walker 10-0 on Wednesday. Arrighetti, a 24-year-old right-hander, shut down the NL East-leading Phillies through seven innings and lost his no-hitter in the eighth inning when leadoff hitter Austin Hays reached on an infield single. Alvarez hit the first of his three homers in the fourth inning off Walker, a two-run, opposite-field shot. He took Mercado out of the park in the seventh and eighth innings to finish with four hits and four RBIs. It was his third career three-homer game. Chas McCormick also went deep for the AL West-leading Astros.
Seth Brown hit a pair of home runs, including a go-ahead three-run shot in the eighth, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-6. The A’s hit four home runs in the game and have homered 166 times this season. Oakland has scored 50.3% of its runs on homers, the highest percentage in the majors. The Reds were trailing 5-0 after six but scored six runs in the seventh to take the lead on Will Benson’s three-run homer. But Brown’s second home run put the A’s ahead to stay. Tyler Ferguson (2-1) pitched the eighth inning for the win and Mason Miller got his 23rd save.
Chris Sale won his major league-leading 15th game with six crisp innings, Jorge Soler homered early and threw out a runner at the plate late, and the resurgent Atlanta Braves beat the struggling Minnesota Twins 5-1 to complete a three-game sweep. Sale continued his comeback season by stretching his streak of allowing two earned runs or fewer to 14 straight starts. He had six strikeouts to match San Diego’s Dylan Cease for the major league lead with 197. That also set a single-season Braves franchise record for a left-hander. The Braves pulled within five games of NL East leader Philadelphia.
Teoscar Hernández hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the third inning, Shohei Ohtani went deep leading off the game on his second bobblehead night and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-4. Ohtani singled and scored in the third and scored again in the fifth, giving the Japanese superstar a career-high 104 runs this season. That betters his old mark of 103 set three years ago with the Angels. Ohtani blasted his 42nd homer and stole his 41st and 42nd bases in pursuit of becoming the first major leaguer in history with 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a season.
Rookie Jhonkensy Noel singled home Josh Naylor with the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and the Cleveland Guardians rallied for a 7-5 win over the Kansas City Royals, reclaiming sole possession of first place in the AL Central. The Guardians trailed 5-2 entering the seventh, but scored four times to take their first lead. Bo Naylor homered off Michael Wacha, while Josh Naylor, Will Brennan and Noel had RBI singles against Lucas Erceg. Eli Morgan pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win. Emmanuel Clase earned his AL-best 39th save — with his career-high 26th straight conversion — and matched Cody Allen’s franchise record with 149.
Victor Robles and Julio Rodríguez each hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning as the Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-2. Randy Arozarena went deep against his former team again and Luis Castillo pitched 5 2/3 solid innings to help the Mariners win two of three in the series. Seattle stayed 3 1/2 games back of first-place Houston in the AL West. It’s the first time the Mariners have won consecutive series since mid-June, when they took three of four games from the Chicago White Sox and followed that with a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers. Robles and Rodríguez both connected with two outs against lefty reliever Tyler Alexander.
Travis Jankowski robbed Andrew Vaughn of a game-winning homer in the ninth inning, and the Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox 4-3 for their second victory of the day against the majors’ worst team. Corey Seager had four hits, including a tiebreaking single in the ninth, as Texas improved to 6-0 against Chicago this season. Seager also had an RBI single as the Rangers beat the White Sox 3-1 hours earlier in the resumption of a game suspended Tuesday after just four pitches. The White Sox have lost six straight and 10 of 11 overall, falling to 31-103. They are 4-32 since the All-Star break.
Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run home run in the second inning and Kerry Carpenter added an RBI single in the third as the Detroit Tigers extended their winning streak to six games with a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. The teams were forced to wait out a lengthy rain delay at the outset for the second straight night. This time, after a delay of 1 hour, 50 minutes, first pitch took place at 8:30 p.m. The Tigers moved two games over .500 at 68-66 for the first time since May 7, when they were 19-17. Los Angeles (54-79) lost its fifth straight game and has dropped 13 of 15.
Christian Bethancourt drove in seven runs, including a go-ahead two-run single in the ninth, as the Chicago Cubs rallied past the Pittsburgh Pirates 14-10. The Cubs trailed by seven through six innings before taking advantage of another shaky performance by Pittsburgh’s bullpen to complete the three-game sweep. Bethancourt hit a two-run homer in the seventh to start the rally. The catcher added a two-run double in the eighth and laced a sharp bases-loaded single to left against Pirates closer David Bednar to finish the comeback. Pirates rookie ace Paul Skenes struck out six in five innings and was in line for his ninth victory before the Cubs rallied.
Nolan Arenado drove in Masyn Winn with two outs in the ninth inning, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres. Winn reached on a single off Robert Suarez (8-2), who came in to pitch the ninth. Rookie Victor Scott II kept the inning alive when he singled Winn to second, before Arenado singled to center. Ryan Helsley (6-4) pitched one inning for the win. San Diego’s Luis Arraez, who had three hits Tuesday, hit two doubles and two singles in five at-bats. It was his major league-leading sixth four-hit game this season. Manny Machado added two hits.
Freddy Peralta pitched six scoreless innings, William Contreras capped a five-run fifth inning with a two-run homer and the Milwaukee Brewers hung on to beat the San Francisco Giants 5-3. Peralta allowed only one hit and two walks through five innings. The Giants threatened in the sixth before Peralta struck out Heliot Ramos and let out a scream as he walked from the mound. Peralta finished with eight strikeouts. San Francisco lefty Kyle Harrison allowed a one-out single in the first inning and then retired 11 of the next 12 batters before the Brewers broke through in the fifth.
Shohei Ohtani has homered leading off the game on his bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium. He sent a 1-2 pitch from Baltimore's Corbin Burnes to right-center shortly after Ohtani and his dog handled first pitch duties. The second Ohtani bobblehead giveaway this season is proving just as popular as the first. Only the first 40,000 fans at Wednesday's game received the bobblehead, which depicts a smiling Ohtani holding his dog named Decoy. Long lines of cars backed up on roads around the stadium five hours before the Dodgers hosted the Orioles. Ohtani carried his dog to the mound for the ceremonial first pitch. They later shared a hand-to-paw high five.
WNBA
Dearica Hamby scored 21 points, rookie Rickea Jackson added 19 and the last-place Los Angeles Sparks beat the WNBA-leading New York Liberty 94-88 to snap a seven-game losing streak. Rae Burrell tied her season high with 18 points for the Sparks. New York has lost two of its last three games following an eight-game winning streak. Breanna Stewart led New York with 32 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, and Sabrina Ionescu added 18 points and six assists. Ionescu has made a 3-pointer in 55 consecutive games, tying Diana Taurasi for the second-longest streak in WNBA history.
Kelsey Mitchell scored 23 points, Caitlin Clark had 19 points, five rebounds and five assists, and the Indiana Fever beat the Connecticut Sun 84-80 to snap an 11-game losing streak in the series. It was Indiana’s first win against Connecticut since July 3, 2021. Clark set a WNBA rookie record for made 3-pointers, passing Rhyne Howard’s 85 in 2022, with a triple in the first quarter. Clark added two more 3-pointers before finishing 3 of 12, giving her 88 on the season.
Stefanie Dolson scored 17 points and Ariel Atkins added 15 points and five assists to help the Washington Mystics beat the Chicago Sky 74-70 on Wednesday night. Washington has won three consecutive games for the first time this season. That winning streak comes on the heels of a five-game skid. The Sky had a 68-61 lead with 4:38 to play, but the Mystics rallied and closed the game on a 13-2 run to clinch their first three-game winning streak since last June.
Kayla McBride scored 19 points and hit three of Minnesota’s 11 3-pointers to help the Lynx beat the Phoenix Mercury 89-76 Wednesday night and extend their winning streak to seven. Courtney Williams scored 16 points with five assists, Napheesa Collier added 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists and Myisha Hines-Allen had 11 for Minnesota. Bridget Carleton finished with nine points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. Minnesota, which is now a half-game ahead of Connecticut for the second-best record in the WNBA at 23-8, built an early edge with a 17-0 run in the first quarter and never looked back.
Jewell Loyd scored 28 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 23.1 seconds left, and the Seattle Storm rallied past the Atlanta Dream 85-81 on Wednesday night despite veteran Tina Charles becoming the 18th player in WNBA history to record a triple-double. Seattle trailed 81-77 with 1:40 remaining but a bucket from Nneka Ogwumike and Loyd’s clutch triple and subsequent free throws allowed the Storm to pull out the victory. Seattle won its eighth straight home game against Atlanta. Charles, the No. 1 overall pick in 2010, secured her triple-double — the first in franchise history for Atlanta — with 1:40 left in the fourth.
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Yaw Yeboah scored his first goal of the season in the 75th minute to help Columbus beat the Philadelphia Union 1-0, the Crew’s sixth win in their last eight games. Columbus (13-4-7) had its six-game unbeaten streak — including five wins — snapped last time out with a 2-1 loss to Atlanta United. Max Arfsten, on the right side of the area, took a pass from Juan “Cucho” Hernández and darted toward the end line before he played an arcing cross to Yeboah, who bounced a header off the grass and inside the back post to give the Crew a 1-0 lead. Patrick Schulte stopped two shots for the Crew. Andre Blake had six saves for the Union.
NFL
The New York Giants are putting their first retired number back into service for sensational rookie receiver Malik Nabers. The Giants announced Wednesday that Nabers will wear No. 1 this season. The number was retired by the Giants in 1935, coinciding with the retirement of end Ray Flaherty. It was first jersey number retired in pro football history. The decision came after talks between Giants co-owner John Mara and Ray Flaherty, Jr., and the family approved the move, the team said. Nabers wore No. 9 in training camp, but it belonged to veteran kicker Graham Gano.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to let Russell Wilson cook. Coach Mike Tomlin has selected the nine-time Pro Bowler as the starting quarterback heading into Week 1. The move ended a largely perfunctory quarterback competition with Justin Fields in which the 35-year-old Wilson held the “pole position” as Tomlin put it for months and did little to cede ground. Wilson is the fourth different quarterback to start Week 1 for the Steelers in the past four years.
San Francisco star receiver Brandon Aiyuk wasn’t at the start of practice despite the team saying he was cleared by doctors to participate. Aiyuk had refused to practice all training camp as he seeks a long-term extension or a possible trade, with coach Kyle Shanahan citing a back injury as the official reason for what is essentially a contract dispute. Both Shanahan and general manager John Lynch said before practice that Aiyuk had been cleared by team doctors and the expectation was that he would practice. But Aiyuk was not on the field during the portion open to reporters and could be subject to fines.
BOXING
The brother of a boxer who had just been awarded a technical knockout punched the trainer of a rival fighter during a chaotic melee in the ring following a televised bout in Sydney. Michael Zerafa received the TKO win on Wednesday night after his opponent Tommy Browne quit with a biceps injury after the first round of their catchweight bout. Zerafa wasn’t happy with his rival retiring and yelled “you quit” to Browne. That led to a heated argument between Zerafa and Browne's trainer, Tommy Mercuri. Then Zerafa’s brother and cornerman, Jason-Manuel Zerafa, entered the ring, moved around behind an official and threw a right to the side of Mercuri's head before retreating behind the boxer. The boxer's brother was later charged with assault by police.
GOLF
Scottie Scheffler is the best player in golf. And now the other 29 players at the Tour Championship are spotting him a two-shot lead. Shane Lowry says he's used to giving his friends a few shots at home. But he says his friends are not named Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele. The Tour Championship and its staggered start depending on FedEx Cup ranking gets underway on Thursday. One change already in place for restored East Lake is to insert interior out-of-bounds stakes left the 18th to keep players from trying to take an easier route down the adjacent 10th fairway.
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