U.S./World Sports category, Page 347

MELBOURNE, Australia — Sloane Stephens advanced at the Australian Open at the expense of her former doubles partner, Timea Babos, in a second-round match the women’s tour billed as a battle of the so-called “frenemies.” Fifth-seeded Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, dominated the Rod Laver Arena opener 6-3, 6-1...

MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams jumped straight back in where she left off at the Australian Open, returning for the first time since winning the title in 2017 when she was pregnant with her first child. Williams conceded only five points in the first set and was completely clinical in...

DURHAM, N.C. — Tyus Battle scored a season-high 32 points, and Syracuse used its 2-3 zone defense to rattle No. 1 Duke in overtime as the Orange pulled off a 95-91 upset Monday night. With swingman Cameron Reddish out with an illness and point guard Tre Jones suffering a shoulder...

Kyler Murray, the first-round MLB draft pick and Heisman Trophy-winning Oklahoma quarterback, declared himself eligible for the NFL Draft on Monday. Murray announced his decision in a tweet, ending his brief and storied college career. What’s next for the Murray is not known. The Oakland Athletics made the speedy outfielder...

RALEIGH, N.C. — Duke remained firmly entrenched at No. 1 for a fourth straight week in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, which was enough to give its Hall of Fame coach another record. The Blue Devils led an unchanged top 10 in Monday’s AP Top 25 and spent...

MELBOURNE, Australia — If this was it for Andy Murray, if this truly was it, he gave himself — and an appreciative, raucous crowd that included his mother and brother — quite a gutsy goodbye, the type of never-give-in performance he’s famous for. What Murray could not quite do Monday...

MELBOURNE, Australia — Maria Sharapova has the second-best record among active players in first-round matches at the majors, and she gave an illustration of why that’s the case with a ruthless 6-0, 6-0 win over Harriet Dart at the Australian Open. The 2008 Australian Open champion got play started on...

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — J.D. Gibbs, eldest son of Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs, was remembered as the visionary behind the stellar career of several NASCAR stars following his death from complications a long battle with a degenerative neurological disease. He was 49. Joe Gibbs Racing announced Gibbs’...

HONOLULU — Leave it to the oldest rookie to best illustrate how the PGA Tour has become such a young man’s game. Chris Thompson tried for 19 years to reach the highest level of golf, and he finally earned a PGA Tour card when he was 42. With every year...

MELBOURNE, Australia — Rafael Nadal knew it was inevitable that sooner or later the Big Four would become the Big Three. That Andy Murray is the first of the longtime leading four in men’s tennis to signal the end of his career is something Nadal has to keep in perspective....

MELBOURNE, Australia — Andy Murray is still hoping to make it to one more Wimbledon tournament before his problematic hip forces him into retirement. For now, he’s only committing to the Australian Open. In an emotional news conference Friday, when a tearful Murray had to leave the room shortly after...

LAS VEGAS — Cristiano Ronaldo is being asked by police in the U.S. to provide a DNA sample in an ongoing investigation of a Nevada woman’s allegation that he raped her in his Las Vegas hotel penthouse in 2009, the soccer star’s lawyer in Las Vegas said Thursday. Attorney Peter...

BOSTON — Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman says she is recovering from a broken elbow suffered in a fall on the stairs. Raisman in a Twitter post says “I survived two Olympic Games and 19 years of gymnastics without ever breaking a bone … the stairs got me … I fell...

MOSCOW — Russia says World Anti-Doping Agency experts have started copying data from a Moscow laboratory which could implicate numerous Russian athletes in past drug cases. Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov says in televised comments that “work has started with the equipment, setting the equipment up and copying the database.” He...

With each pedal-stroke of his 80- and now 90-year-old legs, Carl Grove sought to show his fellow Americans that old age can be rich and rewarding. His bike is his soapbox. As time caught up with many of his peers, the former United States Navy Band saxophonist, who played for...

Looking to provide some clarification for the sometimes ambiguous targeting rule, coaches taking part in the annual American Football Coaches Association Convention this week have put forth a proposal that would create a two-fold penalty. The concept put forth by the group, which consists of college football coaches from every...

Former St. Francis (Pa.) defensive back Lorenzo Jerome signed an entry-level contract with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders, the reigning Grey Cup champions. Jerome made the San Francisco 49ers’ opening-day roster in 2017 and appeared in four games before being released. This past season, he spent time in camp with the...

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Dabo Swinney won’t be celebrating for long. After leading Clemson to its second national title in three years, the coach is eager to get started on the next one. Swinney will be back in the office Friday — meeting with players, going over the schedule for...

A perfectly reasonable ranking of any college football season in the late 2010s can be summed up as follows: No. 1. Alabama or Clemson No. 2. Alabama or Clemson Nos. 3-roughly 130. Cannon fodder But though the Crimson Tide and the Tigers have traded national titles and met in the...

WWE and Hulk Hogan paid tribute to the late “Mean” Gene Okerlund on the Jan. 7 edition of “Monday Night Raw.” The wrestling legend returned to WWE television for the first time since being fired in July 2015 after racist comments he made in 2006 leaked. Despite some pushback from...

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Clemson finished No. 1 in The Associated Press poll for the third time after routing Alabama in the national championship game. The Tigers received all 61 first-place votes. The Crimson Tide, which was trying to become just the third team to go wire-to-wire as the No....

Alabama coach Nick Saban is famously quick to start focusing on his postseason to-do list, whether the Crimson Tide just won a national championship or fell short. It’s how he’s wired, and there’s plenty of work to do this offseason. Saban needs to regroup from easily the worst beating of...

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Dabo Swinney kissed the championship trophy and proclaimed this Clemson team the greatest of all time. He’s got a case. With stunning ease — and a freshman quarterback — Clemson toppled college football’s greatest dynasty again to become the first perfect playoff champion. Trevor Lawrence passed...

Texas quarterback Vince Young and Notre Dame speedster Raghib Ismail have been selected for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, along with 11 other players and two coaches. Young was the Heisman Trophy runner-up and led the Longhorns to the 2005 national championship with a memorable performance in...