Update on the latest sports
APTENNIS-AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic among Wednesday’s winners
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Serena Williams has kept her bid for a 24th Grand Slam singles title on track. She made only 11 unforced errors and dropped three games against Nina Stojanovic (stoy-AN’-oh-vihch). But a 21st trip to Melbourne Park ended painfully for her older sister Venus, who rolled her ankle during a loss to Sara Errani (ehr-RAH’-nee).
Second-seeded Simona Halep narrowly averted an early exit, rallying from 5-2 down in the third set to beat No. 72 Ajla Tomljanovic. Naomi Osaka needed only an hour to sweep Caroline Garcia.
Two top 10 players went out of the women’s draw: 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu (an-dree-EHS’-koo), coming back from 15 months out with injury, was beaten by Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and ninth-seeded Petra Kvitova (kuh-VIHT’-oh-vuh), a two-time Wimbledon champion and the 2019 Australian Open runner-up, lost to Sorana Cirstea.
French Open champion Iga Swiatek, seventh-seeded Aryna Sabalenka (ah-REE’-nah sa-bah-LEHN’-kah) and 2020 Australian Open runner-up Garbiñe Muguruza (moo-gah-ROO’-thah),all advanced, along with Ann Li, a 20-year-old American who beat Alize Cornet (uh-LEEZ’ kohr-NAY’).
Eight-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic (NOH’-vak JOH’-kuh-vich) fended off 23-year-old American Frances Tiafoe to reach the third round, where he will play another American, No. 27-seeded Taylor Fritz. Nick Kyrgios (KEER’-ee-ohs) saved two match points in the fourth set before rebounding to beat 29th-seeded Ugo Humbert. The mercurial Australian will meet third-seeded Dominic Thiem (teem) in the third round.
Thiem lost the final at last year’s Australian Open and went on to win the U.S. Open title. Kyrgios is playing in his first major since the 2020 Australian Open. He hasn’t left Australia since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
No. 11 Denis Shapovalov, No. 14 Milos Raonic (ROW’-nihch) and No. 20 Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced, keeping Canadian interest alive, and sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev completed the night session on Rod Laver with a win over American qualifier Maxime Cressy.
MLB-NEWS
Phillies finalize $28M, 2-year deal with Gregorius
UNDATED (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies and shortstop Didi Gregorius (DEE’-dee greh-GOHR’-ee-uhs) have finalized a two-year, $28 million contract.
Gregorius, who turns 31 next week, batted .284 with 10 homers, 40 RBIs and an .827 OPS in 60 games in his first season with the Phillies. He hit .274 and averaged 20 homers and 75 RBIs over four seasons with the Yankees between 2015-18. The left-handed hitter had 16 homers and 61 RBIs in 82 games in 2019 after Tommy John surgery on Oct. 17, 2018, to repair a torn elbow ligament.
The Phillies also agreed to minor league contracts with right-hander Brandon Kintzler and outfielder Matt Joyce, inviting both to spring training as non-roster players. Kintzler had a 2.22 ERA and 12 saves for the Miami Marlins last season. He had 14 strikeouts and 11 walks in 21 1/3 innings. The 36-year-old Kintzler had a career-best 29 saves in 2017.Joyce hit .252 with two homers and 14 RBIs last season for Miami. The left-handed hitting Joyce had a career-high 25 homers with Oakland in 2017.
In other MLB news:
— The Minnesota Twins have finalized their $13 million, one-year contract with designated hitter Nelson Cruz. The deal was agreed to last week, retaining the most valuable player from the AL Central champion teams of the last two seasons. Uncertainty about whether the DH would be used in the NL this year contributed to the delay in signing. Both Cruz and the Twins expressed a mutual desire for him to return all along. Cruz begins his 17th major league season. The 40-year-old led the Twins in home runs in both 2019 and 2020.
— Side-arming reliever Darren O’Day is guaranteed $3.15 million in his contract with the New York Yankees, which has both player and team options for 2022. The 38-year-old right-hander takes the spot vacated when the Yankees traded right-hander Adam Ottavino to Boston, a move that cut $7.15 million from New York’s payroll. O’Day figures to join left-hander Zack Britton and right-hander Chad Green as the primary setup men for closer Aroldis Chapman. O’Day was 4-0 with a 1.10 ERA in 16 1/3 innings over 19 games last year with Atlanta, striking out 22 and walking five while allowing eight hits.
— Free agent right-hander Mike Foltynewicz (fohl-tih-NAY’-vihch) has signed a $2 million, one-year contract with the Texas Rangers. The Rangers announced the deal with the 2018 NL All-Star on Wednesday. Outfielder Adolis Garcia was designated for assignment to make room on the Rangers roster. Foltynewicz made only one start for Atlanta last season, allowing six runs in 3 1/3 innings in a loss at Tampa Bay. He spent the rest of the season in the Braves’ alternate training site. He was originally a first-round draft pick in 2010 by the Houston Astros, and made his big league debut with them in 2014. He was traded the following offseason to the Braves. He has a 44-42 career record and 4.33 ERA in 138 games in his big league career.
NFL-NEWS
More Texans turnover: Team president resigns after 20 years
UNDATED (AP) — Houston Texans President Jamey Rootes has resigned after more than 20 years, the team’s latest move in an offseason of upheaval. An announcement said Rootes was leaving to pursue interests as a writer, public speaker, consultant and professor at the University of Houston.
Rootes was hired in 2000 as the Texans began preparations for their expansion season in 2002. His departure continues the Texans’ offseason turnover. The team hired coach David Culley and general manager Nick Caserio last month. The Texans also face uncertainty on the field with star quarterback Deshaun Watson recently requesting a trade.
Houston finished 4-12 last season.
In other NFL news:
— Washington has re-signed quarterback Taylor Heinicke (HY’-nih-kee) to a two-year, $8.75 million contract. Heinicke was out of football when Washington signed him to the practice squad in December. The 27-year-old impressed in his NFL playoff debut despite losing to the eventual Super Bowl-champion Buccaneers. Heinicke was 26 of 44 for 306 yards, a touchdown pass and an interception against Tampa Bay. He also had six carries for a team-leading 46 yards and a score. The Old Dominion product who bounced around the league for several seasons said afterward he’d like to be back. Heinicke will be in Washington’s QB mix, which remains in flux.
— A person familiar with the situation says the Denver Broncos are releasing cornerback A.J. Bouye after one tumultuous season. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the move hasn’t been announced. Bouye’s injury-riddled season in Denver was cut short when he received a six-game suspension in December for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. His suspension still includes two games next season. The 29-year-old Bouye was plagued by injuries before the suspension. He missed four games with a shoulder injury and another with a concussion, plus parts of two other games when he got hurt. Bouye finished the season with 23 tackles.
— Former New York Jets star running back/kick returner Leon Washington has been hired by new coach Robert Saleh (SAH’-luh) as a special teams assistant. Washington’s hiring was announced by the team. The 2008 All-Pro returner was selected to two Pro Bowls during his playing career, which began in 2006 as a fourth-round pick of the Jets out of Florida State and included stints with Seattle, New England and Tennessee. He is tied for the NFL record with eight kickoff returns for touchdowns. Washington will work with special teams coordinator Brant Boyer, who is expected to be retained by Saleh.
— The Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrated their victory with a boat parade amid continued concern over the coronavirus pandemic. The parade Wednesday afternoon was held on the Hillsborough River near downtown Tampa. At one point, quarterback Tom Brady was captured on video tossing the championship Lombardi Trophy from his boat to his shirtless teammate Rob Gronkowski in another boat. That brought wild cheers from fans and players. Mayor Jane Castor emphasized that people attending the parade must wear masks outdoors and observe social distancing rules.
NBA-NATIONAL ANTHEM
Mavs owner relents on anthem after NBA reiterates policy
DALLAS (AP) — Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban relented Wednesday and the national anthem will be played before home games this season after the NBA reiterated its “longstanding league policy” to include the song.
The league’s initial reaction to Cuban’s decision was to say teams were free to conduct pregame activities as they wished with the unusual circumstances created by the coronavirus pandemic. Most teams don’t have fans at home games.
But the NBA abruptly reversed course with Cuban’s decision reverberating around the country, including a question put to White House press secretary Jen Psaki during her daily briefing. The league announced that “with NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy.”
The Mavericks said they would play the anthem starting Wednesday night against Atlanta.
GOLF-BRITISH OPEN
R&A has ‘cautious optimism’ that British Open will go ahead
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) — British Open organizers said Wednesday they have “cautious optimism” that golf’s oldest major will go ahead at Royal St. George’s in July.
The event was canceled last year — for the first time since 1945 — because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the R&A effectively pushing its schedule back one year. That meant the 149th Open would still be held on the links in Sandwich in southeast England this year and R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said a “rigorous scenario-planning exercise” is underway to ensure it takes place.
Slumbers says planning continues for “a full-scale Championship,” but he says there are also plans in place for a “reduced capacity or behind-closed-doors model.”
There is currently a lockdown in place in England amid the rollout of a vaccination program.
The British Open is scheduled to take place from July 15-18.
OLYMPICS-GYMNASTICS QUALIFYING
Pandemic shakes up Olympic gymnastics qualification
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The United States, Russia and China were each given an extra entry to the Olympic women’s gymnastics competition in Tokyo on Wednesday after the coronavirus pandemic forced a shake-up in qualifying.
The International Gymnastics Federation said it was canceling its all-around World Cup series of events because of the pandemic. Those events were supposed to offer countries one extra spot for the postponed Tokyo Games, helping the top nations to compensate after Olympic teams were reduced in size from five athletes to four.
The federation is going back to 2019 world championship results to determine those places. That means the United States, Russia and China get one extra women’s spot each, and that Russia, China and Japan each receive an extra men’s spot. All those countries had already qualified a four-person team for the men’s and women’s competitions.
Of the four planned all-around World Cup events, only one has taken place, in Milwaukee last year. Events in Germany and Britain were canceled, leaving the series below the minimum number of three events required to be a valid Olympic qualifier.
NBC-TOKYO-OPENING CEREMONY
NBC will air opening ceremony of Tokyo Olympics live
UNDATED (AP) — U.S. Olympic viewers who have long clamored to view the opening ceremony live when it hasn’t been in North America will finally get their wish.
NBC plans to air the opening ceremony from the Tokyo Olympics live on Friday, July 23. With Tokyo 13 hours ahead of New York and 16 ahead of Los Angeles, the opening ceremony will begin at 8 p.m. in Japan, which is 7 a.m. ET and 4 a.m. PT.
Molly Solomon, the executive producer and president of NBC Olympics, said the global significance of gathering in Tokyo during the time of the coronavirus pandemic as well as changing viewing habits were the main factors in deciding to air the opening live in the morning for the first time.
NBC live streamed the opening and closing ceremonies from the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games on its Olympic site before airing delayed coverage of both in the evening.
NBC plans on airing more than 7,000 hours of coverage across its many networks. There will also be live streaming of all sports on its NBCOlympics website.
