July 12, 2019 3:43 am
UNDATED (AP) – James Harden and Russell Westbrook are teammates again. A person with knowledge of the situation says the Oklahoma City Thunder have traded Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul in a shakeup of top point guards. The person adds that the Thunder also are getting first-round picks in 2024 and 2026, plus the right to swap first-rounders in two other seasons. Westbrook and Harden were Thunder teammates, part of a team along with Kevin Durant that went to the 2012 NBA Finals and lost to LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat.
July 11, 2019 3:51 am
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) – The top three men’s seeds have advanced to Friday’s Wimbledon semifinals, which means a 40th meeting between No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 3 Rafael Nadal. Federer knocked off eighth seed Kei Nishikori, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 to become the first player to earn 100 victories at a single Grand Slam event. Federer was broken in his opening service game but didn’t have much trouble after that. Nadal set up a much-anticipated rematch by beating Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. Nadal was broken when serving for the first set at 5-4. But he converted his fourth break point in the next game and saved three break points at 6-5 before finally clinching the set. Nadal is 24-15 all-time against Federer, including a 10-3 mark in Grand Slams. They haven’t met at Wimbledon since the 2008 final, when Nadal won 9-7 in the fifth set as dusk descended. Friday’s other semifinal match will have defending champion and top-ranked Novak Djokovic against No. 23 Roberto Bautista Agut. Djokovic trailed 4-3 in the opening set before winning the next 10 games in a 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 victory over David Goffin. It will be Djokovic’s ninth trip to the semifinals as he seeks his fifth Wimbledon title. Agut reached his first Grand Slam semifinal by beating Guido Pella (PAY’-uh), 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The Spaniard broke Pella in the opening game of the first two sets, and then again for a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Thursday’s women’s semifinals will have Serena Williams versus Barbora Strycova after seventh seed Simona Halep takes on No. 8 Elina Svitolina.
July 11, 2019 3:48 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Penguins center Matt Cullen has retired after a 21-season career that included three Stanley Cup titles. The 42 year-old won a Cup with Carolina in 2006 and then consecutive titles with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017. Cullen had 266 goals, 465 assists and 502 penalty minutes over 1,516 games with Anaheim, Florida, Carolina, the New York Rangers, Ottawa, Minnesota, Nashville and Pittsburgh. He also had 19 goals and 39 assists in 132 career playoff games.
July 10, 2019 3:53 am
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) – Serena Williams had to grind out a tough match against fellow American Alison Riske to reach her 12th Wimbledon singles semifinal. The 23-time Grand Slam champion split her first two sets before pulling out a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over 55th-ranked Riske. The 37-year-old Williams trailed 3-1 in the first set and was tied 3-3 in the third before a service break put her in control. The 11th-seeded Williams next faces Barbora Strycova , who reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at age 33 with a 7-6, 6-1 victory over No. 19 Johanna Konta of Britain.
Williams also teamed with Andy Murray to win their second-round mixed doubles match in straight sets over Fabrice Martin and Raquel Atawo. Seventh seed Simona Halep will take on No. 8 Elina Svitolina in Thursday’s other semifinal match at Wimbledon. Halep defeated Zhang Shuai of China 7-6, 6-1 to get to her second semifinal at Wimbledon. Svitolina will make her debut in that round at any major tournament following her 7-5, 7-4 victory against Karolina Muchova.
July 8, 2019 4:00 am
LYON, France (AP) – The United States has won its record fourth Women’s World Cup title and second in a row. Goals by Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle carried the Americans to a 2-0 win over the Netherlands in Sunday’s final at Lyon, France. The game was scoreless until Rapinoe converted a penalty kick in the 61st minute, eight minutes before Lavelle doubled the lead. Rapinoe’s tally came after a video review showed that Alex Morgan had been fouled with a kick to the shoulder in the penalty area. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced a parade in the team’s honor on Wednesday. The procession will go up a stretch of Broadway that’s hosted many celebratory parades known as the “Canyon of Heroes.”
July 7, 2019 8:12 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Mike Sullivan is sticking around to see if he can add to his Stanley Cup collection with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The club has signed Sullivan to a four-year contract extension that runs through the 2023-24 season. The terms of the new deal will kick in when Sullivan’s current contract expires at the end of the upcoming season. Sullivan became the first coach in nearly two decades to win consecutive Stanley Cups when he guided Pittsburgh to championships in 2016 and 2017.
July 6, 2019 3:58 am
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) – Coco Gauff will be spending the weekend in London. The 15-year-old American has continued her stunning run at Wimbledon, advancing to the fourth round with a 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 victory over Polona Hercog of Slovenia. The youngest Wimbledon women’s singles player since the Open era was able to fight off match points and stay alive in her first-ever Grand Slam tournament. Gauff opened the tournament with a straight-sets win over seven-time Grand Slam champ Venus Williams before ousting Magdalena Rybarikova. Wimbledon officials are loving the story and have given Gauff ample opportunity to showcase her talents, putting her on No. 1 Court for the first two matches before moving her to Centre Court on Friday.
July 6, 2019 3:56 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Mike Sullivan is sticking around to see if he can add to his Stanley Cup collection with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The club has signed Sullivan to a four-year contract extension that runs through the 2023-24 season. The terms of the new deal will kick in when Sullivan’s current contract expires at the end of the upcoming season. Sullivan became the first coach in nearly two decades to win consecutive Stanley Cups when he guided Pittsburgh to championships in 2016 and 2017.
July 4, 2019 3:42 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jung Ho Kang scored on Corey Dickerson’s sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to cap a frantic rally and lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night. Josh Bell hit his 26th home of the season and fourth of the series and added a double to give him 59 extra-base hits, the most ever by a National League player before the All-Star break. The Cubs turned to recently signed closer Craig Kimbrel (0-1) to protect a one-run lead in the ninth and the Pirates pounced. Elias Diaz walked with one out, Kang followed with a double to right field that Chicago’s Willson Contreras couldn’t track down. Diaz beat the throw to the plate from Chicago second baseman Addison Russell on Adam Frazier’s fielders’ choice. Kang followed Diaz home when Dickerson’s fly ball to left field was deep enough to allow Kang to easily beat Kyle Schwarber’s heave. The Pirates have won three straight and 12 of 17 to pull within one game of .500 (42-43). Richard Rodriguez (3-3) earned the win after pitching a scoreless ninth. Starling Marte collected three hits for the Pirates. Melky Cabrera went 3 for 4 and delivered a two-run home run off Chicago starter Yu Darvish but was also thrown out at home by Contreras to end the eighth while trying to score on a single by Colin Moran. Victor Caratini homered from both sides of the plate for the Cubs, including a go-ahead two-run shot in the seventh off Francisco Liriano to give the Cubs a 5-4 lead. Javy Baez added his 22nd home run for Chicago but the Cubs lost their fourth consecutive game. Chicago missed a chance to pull even with Milwaukee for first in the jam-packed NL Central, where all five clubs are separated by 4 1/2 games heading into July 4. No team has been able to take control of the division. Chicago looked like it was ready to in early June, but an 8-19 stretch brought the Cubs back to earth. Pittsburgh starter Chris Archer left his previous start with an aching left hip but took his scheduled turn in the rotation. Archer gave up three runs on five hits with three walks and eight strikeouts.
July 3, 2019 3:49 am
LYON, France (AP) – Alex Morgan celebrated her go-ahead goal with a cheeky tea-sipping motion and Alyssa Naeher stopped a late penalty kick to send the United States into the final at the Women’s World Cup with a 2-1 victory over England on Tuesday night. The top-ranked United States will face the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between the Netherlands and Sweden in the Americans’ third straight appearance in the World Cup title match. Christen Press – who started with Megan Rapinoe out with a hamstring injury – put the United States up early in the match but Ellen White’s goal tied it before 20 minutes had passed. Morgan’s sixth goal of the tournament came before the break and on her 30th birthday. She hadn’t had a goal since she scored five in the team’s 13-0 rout of Thailand to open the tournament.
