Update on the latest sports
APNFL-COWBOYS/BUCCANEERS
Bucs and Cowboys kick off NFL season
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tom Brady and the Super Bowl champion Buccaneers open the 2021 NFL season Thursday with a prime-time matchup against Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys.
Tampa Bay is hoping to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since Brady led the 2003 and 2004 New England Patriots to consecutive crowns. The Bucs return all 22 starters from the squad that finished last season on an eight-game winning streak, including a 31-9 rout of the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
The Cowboys are coming off a 6-10 finish in which they played most of the season without quarterback Dak Prescott. He’s due to play Thursday night for the first time since suffering the severe ankle injury that ended his year last October. He didn’t play in the preseason, either, after straining his right shoulder early in training camp.
TENNIS-US OPEN
Women’s semifinal matches on tap
NEW YORK (AP) — Thursday night’s women’s semifinals at the U.S. Open will feature a teenager in each match and nobody who has won a major title in either.
Nineteen-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez faces No. 2-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the first match under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Then it’s18-year-old qualifier Emma Raducanu (ra-doo-KA’-noo) against No. 17 seed Maria Sakkari (SA’-ka-ree) of Greece.
Raducanu became the first qualifier in the professional era to reach the U.S. Open semifinals by beating Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic (BEN’-chich) 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday. Raducanu hasn’t dropped a set through eight matches.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic (NOH’-vak JOH’-kuh-vich) has moved within two wins of the first calendar-year Grand Slam in men’s tennis since 1969 by beating Matteo Berrettini in a Wednesday night match that stretched into early Thursday. Djokovic’s victory makes him 26-0 in major tournaments this season. That includes trophies at the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon, where he beat Berrettini in the final.
Djokovic will face 2020 U.S. Open runner-up Alexander Zverev in a semifinal Friday. If he can win that match and Sunday’s final, Djokovic will earn his 21st career major singles trophy and break the men’s record he shares with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The other men’s semifinal Friday pits No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, a two-time major finalist, against No. 12 Felix Auger-Aliassime.
MLB-SCHEDULE
Dodgers’ Urías seeks MLB-leading 17th win
UNDATED (AP) — Dodgers lefty Julio Urías (oo-REE’-uhs) tries to add to his major league-leading win total when he pitches at St. Louis Thursday afternoon.
The 25-year-old is 7-0 in his last 12 starts. In that span, he has allowed more than two earned runs just once. The Cardinals are the only Dodgers opponent in the National League that Urías has never started against. He faced St. Louis once in relief, throwing a scoreless inning in 2018.
With a formidable rotation that also includes former Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw and David Price along with star Walker Buehler, the Dodgers are competing with San Francisco for the NL West title. The Cardinals are chasing for a wild-card spot.
Elsewhere in the majors Thursday:
— The White Sox hope Reynaldo López can give their struggling rotation a lift in a start against Oakland. The 27-year-old López shined in the bullpen after being recalled from Triple-A in July, and Chicago is hoping he can replicate that in a starting role with Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito injured and Dallas Keuchel struggling. López has a 0.90 ERA in 10 relief appearances and a 3.32 ERA in five starts this season. He’ll face Oakland left-hander Sean Manaea (mah-NY’-ah).
— The Yankees are monitoring ace Gerrit Cole two days after he left a start with tightness in his left hamstring. Manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday the star right-hander was feeling better about his situation and that the team would know more Thursday or Friday about how to proceed. Boone said Cole was not getting an MRI but also said the team would see “if that’s in the cards.” Cole is 14-7 with a 2.78 ERA. He had been 4-0 with a 0.73 ERA in four starts since missing time following a positive test for COVID-19.
