

NEW YORK-- Big-hitting Frances Tiafoe and former finalist Madison Keys did their bit to boost American hopes at the U.S. Open when they both booked their tickets into the third round in convincing fashion on Wednesday. The home stalwarts flew the American flag during the day session at Arthur Ashe Stadium where Keys, the 14th seed, beat Australia's Maya Joint 6-4 6-0 while Tiafoe was leading 6-4 6-1 1-0 when Kazakhstan's Alexander Shevchenko retired.
Tiafoe, who reached the New York semi-finals in 2022 and this year was a runner-up in his final tune-up event, was in complete control when Shevchenko, who had the trainer out after the second set, suddenly called it a day. "Happy to get it done. Hate to win it that way but overall I thought I actually played pretty well today," Tiafoe said after a stress-free victory during which he changed shirts five times.
Tiafoe broke Shevchenko to take the first set and grabbed a 5-1 double-break lead in the second before serving out the one-sided match. Keys, making her 13th main-draw appearance at the U.S. Open, struck first against Joint when she converted on her third break-point opportunity for a 4-3 lead en route to wrapping up the opening set on her serve. The 29-year-old American opened the second with another break and sprinted to the finish line in 62 minutes.
"After the first set I feel like I made a few adjustments on my returns just to put a little bit more pressure on her," said Keys, who retired from her two previous tournaments at Wimbledon and Toronto. "And I felt like once I was able to get a little bit out ahead I really just ran with the moment and was able to close it out really well." Up next for Keys, who lost to fellow American Sloane Stephens in the 2017 U.S. Open final, is a clash with 33rd-seeded Belgian Elise Mertens.
It was not all good news for the American contingent at Flushing Meadows as unseeded American Taylor Townsend fell 6-3 7-5 to Spanish 26th seed Paula Badosa. Other players representing the stars and stripes in action on Wednesday include defending champion and third seed Coco Gauff, who will open the night session on Ashe versus unseeded German Tatjana Maria.
Ben Shelton, who electrified the home crowds last year with a spirited run to the semi-finals, is closing out the day session on Grandstand against Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut with the winner going on to face Tiafoe. World number 12 Taylor Fritz, the highest-ranked American in the men's draw, will cap play in Louis Armstrong Stadium against Italy's Matteo Berrettini.
ST. ANDREWS--Lydia Ko birdied the final hole to finish with a 3-under-par 69 and win the AIG Women's Open at the Old Course at St Andrews on Sunday. Ko, who won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics earlier this month, finished with a 7-under 281 at the historic course in Fife, Scotland. It was her first win in a major since the 2016 ANA Inspiration. On the back nine, the New Zealander fought off rain, wind and a who's who of women's stars to capture her third major and 21st career LPGA victory. "It's been a crazy past few weeks," Ko said. "You know, something that was too good to be true happened and I honestly didn't think it could be any better, and here I am as the AIG Women's Open champion this week. Obviously that being here at the Old Course at St Andrews, it makes it so much more special." Ko entered the final day three shots back of third-round leader Jiyai Shin, a two-time Women's Open champion. And the South Korean was in position for a potential win until a trio of bogeys on the back nine led to a 74 and a 5-under finish. Shin was one of four women tied for second, with China's Ruoning Yin, Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu -- each of them former major winners who have been ranked No. 1 in the world. Ko made three birdies through 14 holes before taking her only bogey of the day at No. 15. At the famed par-4 17th, the "Road Hole," she stuffed her second shot to 20 feet of the cup to set up a crucial two-putt par. "On 15, I thinned my 3-wood into the green and hit into the bunker," Ko said. "So my biggest goal (at 17) is to make solid contact. And honestly it was so windy and rainy, I saw that the ball was heading towards the pin but I had no idea that it was on that second tier (of the green). "... that's probably one of the best, you know, punch shots or shots I've hit coming down the stretch." Ko then stuck her wedge shot at No. 18 close and sank the all-important, left-to-right birdie putt. At that point, the only player with a chance to tie Ko was Vu, who stood 6 under as she hit her tee shot on No. 18. Her drive left her 32 yards to the pin, but her chip shot was off target, giving her a 20-foot putt for a birdie. Her effort was about a foot short, giving Ko the win. Vu missed the short par putt, leading to a bogey, a round of 73 and a spot in the second-place tie. Winning Olympic gold earned Ko the final point necessary to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame. Now with three major championships in tow, it's all but certain Ko will be inducted someday. "I don't think there's a word in the dictionary that can explain what just happened," Ko said. "But somebody put it into perspective before I won the gold, they said, try to think of like getting into the Hall of Fame as like a gas station on the way to my final destination and not like my final destination. I think for a while, that was my goal. I was making it seem like, OK, that was my end point, and I think after hearing that, that put it into perspective of saying, you know, it's not like I'm going to get in the Hall of Fame and say, ‘Bye-bye, golf.' "I'm still planning to play. I think that just make it easier to say, you know, if it's going to happen, it's going to happen, and I'm also going to focus on what's in front of me. I think this past three weeks was kind of like a representation of that scale." Current No. 1 Korda has won six tournaments this season, including the Chevron Championship (the major formerly called the ANA Inspiration). After a disappointing 75 on Saturday following a pair of 68s, Korda found her stroke, firing 3 under through the first 10 holes to take the lead at 8 under. But a double bogey at the par-5 14th led to a four-way tie at 6 under with Ko, Shin and Lilia Vu, and Korda never recovered. After a bogey at No. 17, Korda finished at 72 for the day and 5 under for the tournament. "Overall, I think I putted really well this week. I hit the ball really well with the conditions," Korda said. "It will be interesting to see when I don't play in 30-, 40-mile-an-hour winds what my ball flight is going to be like, finally seeing it go straight." Korda also stumbled on the back nine in Saturday's third round, with three bogeys and a double bogey. "Listen, it's golf. I'm going to mess up and unfortunately I messed up over the weekend twice in two penalizing ways coming down the stretch," she said. "Theoretically that's what kind of cost me the tournament, but I played well. I played solid. I even fought after that. I'm going to take that into the next coming events." Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn shot a 70 and finished alone in sixth at 3 under.
BOSTON-George Springer homered and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run double in the late innings as the visiting Toronto Blue Jays went on to a 4-1 win over the Boston Red Sox in Monday's historic completion of a June 26 suspended game. Boston catcher Danny Jansen made major league history as the first player to appear for both teams in the same game. He was batting for Toronto when the contest was suspended, then traded to the Red Sox on July 27 for three prospects. Jansen was facing an 0-1 count on June 26 when the game was suspended by rain with one out in the top of the second inning. On Monday, Toronto's Daulton Varsho pinch-hit for Jansen in the at-bat, and Jansen was behind the plate for Boston. Jansen was replacing catcher Reese McGuire, who is now at Triple-A Worcester for the Red Sox. Varsho struck out in the second and finished 1-for-4. Jansen also was 1-for-4 for Boston. Springer broke a scoreless deadlock with a towering one-out solo homer to left in the seventh, tagging Boston righty Nick Pivetta (4-5) with the loss. Pivetta fell despite picking up 10 strikeouts over six innings of relief. He allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits, walking none. Zach Pop (1-2) recorded the win after Ryan Yarbrough threw 3 1/3 innings of two-hit, shutout relief. Chad Green struck out three in the ninth, working around a Masataka Yoshida double, to post his third save of the season. Jansen recorded the first of just four Red Sox hits with a fifth-inning single, while Jarren Duran's solo homer with one out in the eighth drove in the lone run for Boston. The Blue Jays added to their lead with a three-run eighth, which began with Brian Serven's one-out single into the left field corner. After an error on Spencer Horwitz's fielder's-choice grounder to first, back-to-back doubles by Guerrero and Addison Barger made it 4-0, with Guerrero's double bringing home Serven and Ernie Clement and Barger's plating Guerrero. Neither team recorded a hit in the one-plus innings that were completed on June 26, though Toronto starter Yariel Rodriguez and Boston counterpart Kutter Crawford combined to issue three walks. Crawford struck out one in the top of the first. Varsho got Toronto in the hit column when he banged a one-out single off the left field wall in the top of the fifth, but Boston right fielder Wilyer Abreu made a spectacular sliding catch to rob Leo Jimenez of a hit two batters later.
LAUSANNE- - Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya inched ever so close to the men's 800 metres world record on Thursday, missing the global mark by two tenths of a second in winning the Lausanne Diamond League with the second fastest time in history. Wanyonyi, who turned 20 during the Paris Olympics, clocked one minute 41.11 seconds to narrowly miss the world mark of 1:40.91 set by Kenya's David Rudisha at the 2012 London Olympics. The young Kenyan ferociously chased the green lights in the inner lane that keep pace with the world record in ideal 25 C conditions, just missing Rudisha's record but matching Wilson Kipketer's 1997 time as second fastest ever run. "I'm so happy to have run the world lead (quickest time this season). I really loved the crowd, and I hope for the best in Silesia," said Wanyonyi, who will take aim at the record again on Sunday in Poland. Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen exacted a small measure of revenge over American Cole Hocker in winning the men's 1,500m in 3:27.83, two weeks after Hocker shocked the Olympic field to win gold in Paris. The American crossed second on Thursday. "It's been almost two weeks since Paris so there was plenty of time to recover," said Ingebrigtsen, who bounced back from his fourth-place finish in the Olympic 1,500m to win the 5,000. "A lot of it has been mental including going home, taking some easy days and then getting back to work. "Tonight's race gave me good answers and I'm looking forward to building on this." Hocker had chopped a whopping three seconds off his best time en route to his Olympic victory in one of the biggest upsets at Stade de France, and it has been a big adjustment for the newly crowned champion. "Considering the overwhelming past two weeks, it was a solid race," Hocker said on Thursday. "Physically I felt comfortable, but mentally, it's a new challenge being announced as Olympic champion." Double world women's shot put champion Chase Jackson of the U.S., who suffered heartbreak in Paris when she did not qualify for the final, hurled the shot 20.64 metres for the victory on Thursday, beating Germany's Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye by more than a metre. "I didn't take any time off after the last event -- I just went straight back to training," Jackson said. "My goal is to win another world title and keep pushing myself. I know I can go further, much further." Jamaica's Rasheed Broadbell handed American Grant Holloway a rare defeat in the men's 110m hurdles. Broadbell, the bronze medallist in Paris, overtook Holloway from the final hurdle to cross in 13.10, while Holloway, who finally added an Olympic gold in Paris to his three world titles, had to settle for second in 13.14. Letsile Tebogo of Botswana blazed to 200m victory in 19.64 on the heels of his Paris victory. American Noah Lyles was missing from the field, having announced this week he was shutting down his season. Two-times Olympic long jump champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece soared 8.06m on his sixth and final jump to overtake Jamaica's Wayne Pinnock, who was second with 8.01. Yaroslava Mahuchikh, the women's high jump world record-holder and Olympic champion from Ukraine, cleared 1.99m for the victory.
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