Update on the latest sports
APNASCAR-DAYTONA 500
McDowell wins NASCAR
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Michael McDowell has stunned NASCAR by scoring his first career victory in the Daytona 500. McDowell charged through a crash scene when Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano wrecked racing for the win. McDowell claimed his first win in 358 career starts.
DODGERS-BARNES
Barnes, Dodgers agree to $4.3M, 2-year deal, avoid hearing
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Catcher Austin Barnes and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers avoided a salary arbitration hearing when they agreed to a $4.3 million, two-year contract.
Barnes gets a $300,000 signing bonus and salaries of $1.5 million this year and $2.5 million in 2022.
The 31-year-old hit .244 with one homer and nine RBIs in 86 bats over 29 games during the pandemic-shortened season and batted .325 in the postseason with one homer and three RBIs. Barnes had been set for arbitration on Tuesday and was the last Dodgers player scheduled for a hearing.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Serena Williams in Tuesday’s quarterfinals
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Serena Williams goes up against Simona Halep in the Australian Open quarterfinals. It’s their 12th meeting on tour in a matchup that dates to a decade ago. Williams leads the series 9-2 but Halep won their most recent showdown, 6-2, 6-2 in the 2019 Wimbledon final. The 39-year-old Williams is chasing her record-tying 24th major singles trophy.
Also at the Australian Open:
— Jessica Pegula has reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open by earning her first victory over an opponent ranked in the Top 10. The 61st-ranked American beat No. 5 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in three sets. Pegula now meets No. 22 Jennifer Brady in an all-U.S. matchup with a semifinal berth at stake.
— Naomi Osaka, whose three major championships include the 2019 Australian Open, goes up against (shay soo-WAY’), who at 35 is the oldest woman to make her Grand Slam quarterfinal debut. Hsieh hadn’t won a match against a Top 10 opponent until 2017, but now has seven such victories. Four of their five previous matches have gone three sets; Osaka is 4-1 head-to-head.
— In the men’s quarterfinals, eight-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic (NOH’-vak JOH’-kuh-vich) carries an abdominal muscle injury into his match against 2020 U.S. Open runner-up Alexander Zverev. Djokovic holds a 5-2 edge over Zverev overall, including winning the last four in a row they’ve played. Djokovic seeks his 31st career appearance in a Grand Slam semifinal as he chases title No. 18, which would move him within two of rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
— There will be a one-nation men’s quarterfinal. Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev will play each other after advancing.
— The other men’s match is 18th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov against 114th-ranked Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev.
LAKERS-DAVIS HURT
Lakers F Anthony Davis set for MRI on strained Achilles
DENVER (AP) — Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis will undergo an MRI today after re-aggravating a sore right Achilles late in the first half of a 122-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Davis believes he may have stepped wrong as he drove to the basket and was fouled by Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic.
Davis hobbled to the free-throw line, made both shots and then was subbed out with 2:39 remaining. He gingerly headed toward the locker room with what the team later termed an Achilles strain.
UCF-MALZAHN
AP source: UCF close to hiring ex-Auburn coach Malzahn
UNDATED (AP) — Central Florida is close to a deal to make former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn the Knights’ next head coach.
A person with knowledge of the situation tells The Associated Press that UCF and Malzahn are finalizing an agreement that would bring him to the school a little more than two months after he was fired by Auburn.
Malzahn was 68-35 in eight seasons with the Tigers.UCF lost both its athletic director and football coach to Tennessee last month. UCF hired Terry Mohajir as AD last week. Mohajir was the athletic director at Arkansas State during Malzahn’s one season at the Sun Belt school. UCF has been one of the top teams in the American Athletic Conference since joining the league in 2013.
