Sports

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed produced big first-round finishes at the Dubai Desert Classic in what could lead to an intriguing showdown as the competition heads to a Monday conclusion. LIV Golf series players Richard Bland and Ian Poulter were tied atop the leaderboard at 8-under overall when second-round

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona says that defender Marcos Alonso has agreed to extend his contact until the end of the 2023-24 season. Alonso joined Barcelona as a free agent in September after terminating his contract with Chelsea. His initial contract only tied him to Barcelona until the end of this season. The 32-year-old Alonso

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany will host Belgium for a friendly match in March as both teams look to move on from disappointing group-stage exits at the World Cup. Germany is hosting Peru in Mainz on March 25 for its first game since the World Cup. It then welcomes Belgium in Cologne three days later.

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Miami fired offensive coordinator Josh Gattis on Friday, ending the former Broyles Award winner’s time with the Hurricanes after only one season. The Hurricanes went 5-7 in Gattis’ lone season. He was brought in by Miami only a few weeks after winning the 2021

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Tennis Australia says Novak Djokovic’s father decided to stay away from the 21-time Grand Slam champion’s semifinal after getting embroiled in a flap involving spectators who brought banned Russian flags to Melbourne Park. Djokovic wound up beating unseeded American Tommy Paul 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 to

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Tommy Paul says he went into his Australian Open semifinal against Novak Djokovic with a specific game plan. He also says none of it worked because Djokovic wouldn’t let it work. Paul managed to take four games in a row to make the score 5-all

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Of all of his considerable talents, Novak Djokovic’s ability to cast aside whatever appears to stand in his way might be the most valuable. So forget about the potential distraction of his father’s decision to stay away from Rod Laver Arena for Djokovic’s semifinal against

By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — It took four days for the No. 2 Ohio State women to go from unbeaten to second place in the Big Ten. If the Buckeyes don’t find a fix quickly, coach Kevin McGuff knows the slide could accelerate. Here, in perhaps the top women’s basketball

PARIS (AP) — French rugby federation president Bernard Laporte has resigned from his position. The move, confirmed by France’s sports minister, came after Laporte was convicted in a corruption case last month. His stepping down came a day after French rugby clubs voted against accepting Patrick Buisson as interim president. Buisson was nominated by the

SAN JUAN, Argentina (AP) — Three-time world champion Peter Sagan will ride a farewell season of World Tour road races and then target the mountain bike event at the 2024 Paris Olympics before retiring. The Slovakian rider announced his plans on his 33rd birthday at a race in Argentina. He is targeting a last Tour

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina plays in her second final in the past three Grand Slam tournaments when she meets No. 5 Aryana Sabalenka for the Australian Open championship. They are two of the hardest-hitting players in tennis. Saturday’s contest is the first Grand Slam final of Sabalenka’s career. She is 10-0

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Stefanos Tsitsipas had a harder time strictly following all of the rules than he did outplaying his opponent in the early going, then recovered after blowing two match points late in the third set, and eventually reached the final at the Australian Open for the

PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — Azuolas Tubelis had 18 points and 12 rebounds and No. 6 Arizona beat Washington State 63-58 on Thursday night. Kerr Kriisa added 15 points to help Wildcats (18-3, 7-3 Pac-12) split the season series with the Cougars (9-13. 4-7). Washington State beat a Top 5 team on the road for the

HONOLULU (AP) — Ajay Mitchell’s layup with a second left allowed UC Santa Barbara to maintain its hold on first-place in the Big West Conference with a 65-64 win over Hawaii. UC Santa Barbara (17-3) is now 8-1 in conference play, one game ahead of UC Riverside (7-2) and a game-and-a-half ahead of UC Irvine

By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul George scored 35 points, Kawhi Leonard added 27 and the Los Angeles Clippers extended their winning streak to a season high four games with a 138-100 rout of the reeling San Antonio Spurs Thursday night. It was the fifth time this season George has

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Ajax coach Alfred Schreuder has been fired after only half a season at the Dutch powerhouse following a string of seven matches without a victory for the four-time European champions. Schreuder, who took over the team when Erik ten Hag left for Manchester United, was sacked after his team could only draw

SEATTLE (AP) — Keion Brooks scored 22 points and Noah Williams scored 18 points and Washington led most of the way following a sluggish start to beat Arizona State 69-66 in overtime. Williams started overtime with a jump shot and a pair of foul shots wrapped around Brooks’ 3-pointer and the Huskies led all the