U.S./World Sports category, Page 327

TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors are rugged and relentless, capable of punishing teams in transition any time they make a mistake. The Golden State Warriors felt like they were seeing a version of themselves in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, and they have to stop it. No problem, they...

PARIS — Maybe it was the daunting deficit Serena Williams faced in the French Open’s third round. Maybe it was the way her 20-year-old American opponent, Sofia Kenin, was questioning line calls. Either way, as Williams attempted to start a comeback Saturday with a three-ace game, she followed those big...

LONG POND, Pa. — Cole Custer slipped past Tyler Reddick in the final turn and held in to win the Xfinty Series race in overtime at Pocono Raceway. Custer won his third race of the season in the No. 00 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing. Reddick used a sweeping move on...

LONG POND, Pa. — William Byron turned the fast lap at Pocono in the latest sign Hendrick Motorsports might have turned the corner and can stamp itself a NASCAR championship contender. Hendrick Motorsports was long the home of Hall of Famers and champions, from Jeff Gordon to Jimmie Johnson, and...

The year 1969 was known for many epic events. • Man first walked on the moon. • A half-million people descended upon a dairy farm in Bethel, N.Y., to celebrate music at Woodstock. • The Amazin’ Mets turned the baseball world upside down by beating the Baltimore Orioles in the...

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Japan’s Mamiko Higa said she wasn’t nervous holding the first-round lead at the U.S. Women’s Open. Now, she’s given her nerves a much bigger test after Friday’s weather-delayed second round. Higa shot an even-par 71 to maintain her edge in first appearance in the year’s second major....

DUBLIN, Ohio — Two-time major champion Martin Kaymer is tied for the lead going into the weekend at the Memorial, and whether he wins is not what drives him. He knows his game is close enough that he can. Kaymer kept it simple Friday with birdies on all the par...

ST. LOUIS — John Moore is ready for his closeup and the chance to make an impact in the Stanley Cup Final. Moore is expected to replace injured defenseman Matt Grzelcyk in the Boston Bruins’ lineup for Game 3 at the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night. Grzelcyk is in...

Next summer, the Raiders are slated to relocate to Las Vegas and begin playing in a sleek $1.8 billion dome with a transparent roof, a black glass exterior to match their boldest uniform color and retractable doors to frame an 80-foot-tall by 215-foot wide view of the casinos on the...

TORONTO — The path to the best NBA Finals debut in seven years began in Cameroon and has stretched from New Mexico to the suburbs of Toronto. Pascal Siakam had to emerge from small settings before he could reach the big time. That made Siakam’s 32-point performance in Game 1...

Michigan had a multitude of options to replace longtime coach John Beilein. The Wolverines could have gone with a big-name hire, an up-and-coming young coach or a veteran assistant. Instead, athletic director Warde Manuel raised at least a few eyebrows in Ann Arbor and beyond by turning to Juwan Howard...

PARIS — When Serena Williams saw a young U.S. tennis player distraught after a loss at a tournament earlier this season, she did what just felt right. Williams, 37, went over to console 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova, even if that sort of thing doesn’t usually happen on tour. “I really take...

IRVING, Texas — Big 12 revenues are up again and expected to surpass $40 million per school annually before the current media rights deal runs out in about five years. Commissioner Bob Bowlsby says each university was receiving $38.8 million for 2018-19, or a total of $388 million in the...

Ever wanted to take a spin around a NASCAR track? Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro is offering you that chance. This weekend’s Pocono 400 at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond is, for the second straight year, the setting for the AG’s drug take back event. Bring in outdated prescription...

TORONTO — Pascal Siakam scored a playoff career-high 32 points, and the Toronto Raptors won the first NBA Finals game played outside the U.S., beating the Golden State Warriors, 118-109, on Thursday night. The Raptors hardly looked like newcomers to the NBA’s biggest stage, controlling the action most of the...

PARIS — Naomi Osaka screamed “Oh, my God!” after one shanked shot. Mouthed something and clasped her hands together, as if praying, after another. There were plenty of deep sighs and exaggerated eyerolls, too. The No. 1-seeded Osaka got off to a terrible start at the French Open again, never...

DUBLIN, Ohio — Tiger Woods got off to a slower start than he would have liked Thursday at the Memorial. That had more do with a stopwatch than a scorecard. Ryan Moore opened with five birdies in seven holes and never missed a fairway after the first one, posting a...

TORONTO — Sometime in the next couple of weeks, either the Toronto Raptors or Golden State Warriors will proclaim themselves to be world champions. They won’t be true “world” champions, of course. But these NBA Finals have a distinct international feel. Game 1 of the series Thursday night is in...

MADRID — Familiar territory for Liverpool. So very unfamiliar for Tottenham. The second all-English Champions League final in history pits one of Europe’s most successful clubs against a side unexpectedly gatecrashing the continent’s elite. After losing last year’s final to Real Madrid, Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool has another shot at lifting...

Zion Williamson, Ja Morant and RJ Barrett all remained in the NBA Draft through the withdrawal deadline. No surprise there, nor for several other players expected to go in the first round. Numerous other players faced difficult decisions on Wednesday, though, and the outcome of those could have a huge...

IRVING, Texas — TCU coach Jamie Dixon is planning to go home soon to the Los Angeles area to visit his parents. He said he could have been coaching there if that’s what he had really wanted to do. Dixon said Wednesday that he made the decision to stay at...