U.S./World Sports category, Page 88
WNBA playoff spots still up for grabs with less than one week left in regular season
There are several playoff spots still up for grabs in the final week of the WNBA’s regular season. Only five teams have clinched berths in the postseason and just one knows its seeding with Connecticut locked in at No. 3. The rest will be decided over the next six days....
Coco Gauff reaches her first U.S. Open semifinal at age 19 by beating Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 6-2
NEW YORK — Coco Gauff dealt just fine with the heat, the humidity, her big-hitting opponent and the task of trying to reach the U.S. Open semifinals for the first time, defeating 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 6-2 on Tuesday. Gauff, a 19-year-old from Florida, is the first...
USA rolls past Italy, 100-63, to reach Basketball World Cup semifinals
MANILA, Philippines — The United States is headed to the medal round of the Basketball World Cup, bouncing back from its first loss of the tournament in emphatic fashion. Mikal Bridges scored 14 of his 24 points in the first half, Tyrese Haliburton added 18 and the U.S. was airtight...
Fan ejected from U.S. Open match after German player said the man used language from Hitler’s regime
NEW YORK — A fan was ejected from a U.S. Open tennis match early Tuesday morning after German player Alexander Zverev complained the man used language from Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime. Zverev, the No. 12 seed, was serving at 2-2 in the fourth set of his match against No. 6...
Column: Alex Palou dominantes IndyCar amid lawsuits and scrutiny of his career decisionsVideo
PORTLAND, Ore. — Alex Palou wore a McLaren papaya-colored shirt at the Miami Grand Prix in May, and a $1 million Richard Mille custom watch adorned his wrist. Given only to McLaren’s F1 drivers, the timepieces are a talking point among the collecting crowd. Simon Pagenaud, himself a Mille ambassador,...
Coach Prime’s matchup with Nebraska’s Matt Rhule will be a contrast in program building methodsVideo
LINCOLN, Neb. — Deion Sanders’ slogan, “We Comin’,” suggests he expects immediate success at Colorado. Nebraska’s Matt Rhule is confident enough to adopt the same motto, except with the caveat that it might take his program a while to arrive. Two of college football’s high-profile building projects are underway, and...
No. 4 Alabama, No. 11 Texas meet in rematch of last year’s down-to-wire gameVideo
Texas gained credibility. Alabama showed vulnerability. But that was last year’s game between the two traditional football powers and soon-to-be SEC opponents. The 11th-ranked Longhorns and No. 4 Crimson Tide meet again Saturday night in Tuscaloosa sporting high rankings and even higher ambitions. “It just presents a new challenge for...
Hendrick, Larson shows strength at Darlington to start the NASCAR playoffsVideo
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Another NASCAR playoff and another show of strength from Hendrick Motorsports. A week after drivers Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman missed out on the 16-team playoffs, the powerhouse organization made a formidable statement about their championship chances with Kyle Larson’s win Sunday in the Southern 500. Larson,...
No. 17 Madison Keys overpowers No. 3 Jessica Pegula to reach U.S. Open quarterfinalsVideo
NEW YORK — Madison Keys overpowered fellow American Jessica Pegula, 6-1, 6-3, in just over an hour Monday to move into the U.S. Open quarterfinals. Keys, the No. 17 seed and 2017 runner-up at Flushing Meadows, converted on 77% of her first-serve points and used powerful ground strokes to keep...
Mark Madden: Early-season mismatches part of college football’s flawed system
College football is stupid. We got reminded of that this past weekend when powerhouses played pushovers to produce scores like 81-7, 73-0, 73-7, 66-14 and 56-3. Even Pitt got to pummel some sacrificial lamb. (Anybody know where Wofford is located? Without using Google.) These mismatches are the progeny of college...
Iga Swiatek’s U.S. Open title defense, stay at No. 1 end with loss to Jelena Ostapenko
NEW YORK — Iga Swiatek arrived at the U.S. Open as its reigning champion, as the winner at three of the past six Grand Slam tournaments and as the owner of the No. 1 ranking for nearly 1 1/2 years. None of that mattered on Sunday night against Jelena Ostapenko,...
Jordan Travis accounts for 5 TDs as No. 8 Florida State thumps No. 5 LSU in marquee matchup
ORLANDO, Fla. — Sitting in his hotel room the night before Florida State’s season opener, Jordan Travis imagined how it would go against LSU. Big plays? Yes. Touchdowns? Sure. A blowout? Absolutely. “I envisioned all of this,” he said. Travis accounted for five touchdowns, including three to Michigan State transfer...
Kyle Larson claims NASCAR’s opening playoff race, gets 1st career win at Darlington
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Kyle Larson had led plenty of laps around Darlington through the years, just not the last one. He finally accomplished that Sunday with victory at the Southern 500. Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champion, came into this event having been in front for 715 career laps at...
Coco Gauff the 1st U.S. teen since Serena Williams to reach consecutive U.S. Open quarterfinalsVideo
NEW YORK — Coco Gauff is the first American teen since Serena Williams more than two decades ago to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals two years in a row, so the 19-year-old from Florida knows her way out of trouble on a tennis court. As the second set slipped away...
U.S. falls to Lithuania at Basketball World Cup but still qualifies for Paris OlympicsVideo
MANILA, Philippines — The U.S. is assured of going to the Paris Olympics. That’s good. It also has a quarterfinal game at the World Cup awaiting Tuesday. That’s also good. Thing is, the only celebrating on Sunday night in Manila was done by the guys in the other locker room....
Prime shocker: Colorado upsets TCU in Deion Sanders’ debut
FORT WORTH, Texas — After nine months of hype, Deion Sanders had Colorado ready for prime time in his much-anticipated debut as Buffaloes coach. Shedeur Sanders, the coach’s son, threw for a school-record 510 yards with four touchdowns — the game-winner a 46-yard catch-and-run by freshman Dylan Edwards with 4...
Top-seeded William Byron looks to kickoff championship chances at DarlingtonVideo
DARLINGTON, S.C. — William Byron understands, with five wins and a high seed for the NASCAR playoffs, the wonderful opportunity he has for a series championship. Byron also knows he doesn’t want to miss his chance to enjoy the ride. He starts the 10-race title chase tied with Martin Truex...
Coach who lost his job for praying on field kneels again in first game after years of legal battles
BREMERTON, Wash. — An assistant high school football coach in Washington state who lost his job during a controversy over his public post-game prayers was back on the field Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court held his practice was protected by the Constitution. Joe Kennedy strode alone to midfield, knelt...
SMU celebrates entrance into ACC, contrast from death penalty days
DALLAS — SMU athletic director Rick Hart shot a small batch of red and blue confetti from a fake champagne bottle before machines showered the stage with plenty more. The scene celebrating the university’s acceptance into the ACC on Friday was quite the contrast to the somber, and eerily silent,...
No spider bite or fainting spell at U.S. Open for Tommy Paul and his family. Just another winVideo
NEW YORK — When Tommy Paul was a kid growing up in Greenville, N.C., his family would drive the 500 or so miles up to New York the week before the U.S. Open to watch qualifying matches — “It was free,” he notes — and catch a glimpse of some...
Spain opens case against soccer chief for World Cup kiss; Luis Rubiales breaks week-long silence
MADRID — Spain’s government began a move to oust suspended soccer chief Luis Rubiales, who ended a week of silence Friday by insisting he was the victim of a smear campaign. Rubiales has come in for a storm of criticism and calls for his resignation for his behavior during and...
Ahead of big sports weekend, dispute with Disney leaves millions of cable subscribers in the dark
A company representing nearly 15 million cable subscribers and The Walt Disney Co. blamed each other Friday for a dispute that has cut off Disney-owned stations to viewers on the eve of a big sports weekend for U.S. Open tennis and college football fans. The dispute between Disney and Charter...
Hugs from MJ: Bubba Wallace eager to show just reaching playoffs not enoughVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bubba Wallace got a big hug from team owner Michael Jordan in the pits at Daytona last week after the racer clinched his first career NASCAR playoff appearance. Now, Wallace is primed to show he and his 23XI Racing team have even more in the tank this...
Column: As Georgia goes for 3-peat, those who’ve done it before provide perspectiveVideo
ATHENS, Ga. — When Larry Farmer walked into UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion for the first time, his gaze quickly turned toward the rafters. It was impossible to miss all those championship banners. “I immediately knew that was the standard,” Farmer recalled Friday. “It was right there in plain sight. Second or...
Oregon State, Washington State face uncertainty in what’s left of Pac-12
Just like that, the Pac-12 has been reduced to the Pac-2. Oregon State and Washington State will be the last two standing in the conference after Stanford and California announced Friday they are bolting for the ACC in 2024. There’s speculation the Beavers and Cougars may join the Mountain West...
