Erling Haaland score the only goal of Manchester City’s unconvincing home win against newly promoted Coventry City.
Published On 5 Sep 20265 Sep 2026
Manchester City maintained their winning start to the season to move to the top of the Premier League, but Erling Haaland’s solitary strike against newly promoted Coventry City couldn’t hide the nerves in the Etihad Stadium.
The Enzo Maresca era has started with three consecutive Premier League wins, but it was a far from perfect performance on Saturday as the hosts needed a pair of late saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma to deny Coventry a first top-flight point for 25 years.
Haaland’s header midway through the first half proved decisive for his third goal in as many games this season.
Maresca was able to unleash summer signings Enzo Fernandez and Iliman Ndiaye after their arrivals completed a record outlay by any club of £460 million ($622m) in the transfer market to refresh the City squad after Pep Guardiola’s decade in charge.
Fernandez was supposed to start on the bench after completing his £125 million move from Chelsea to match the Premier League transfer record.
However, an injury to Nico O’Reilly in the warm-up meant the Argentine was thrust into the starting line up.
Ndiaye was also handed his City debut by Maresca alongside Haaland, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki in a fearsome front four.
Coventry had failed to score in three consecutive defeats to mark their return to the top flight after 25 years.
Yet, Frank Lampard’s men could not have come closer to breaking their duck early on thanks to a gift from Donnarumma.
The giant Italian miscontrolled a backpass and recovered to clear off his own line with inches to spare.
Taiwo Awoniyi and Jack Rudoni also missed big chances to give the visitors the lead before City began to find their stride.
Cherki smashed off the post before Fernandez was involved in the opening goal.
His pass fed Semenyo sprinting down the right and his cross was hung up perfectly for Haaland to head home at the back post.
The Norwegian was denied a second by Carl Rushworth before half-time, but City failed to build on their advantage and were left clinging on for the three points.
Donnarumma was needed to produce two huge saves to deny Loum Tchaouna and Ellis Simms an equaliser and a historic moment for Coventry.
Despite another defeat, there was plenty of encouragement for Lampard that Coventry can compete back in the big time.
Maresca will know City will need to be much improved when they travel to local rivals Manchester United next weekend.
But the blue half of the city move to the top of the table ahead of champions Arsenal’s clash against Chelsea on Sunday.
A few months after Mark Walter became the chairman and majority owner of the Dodgers, he was told a fan in one of Dodger Stadium’s upper decks was upset about a mix-up with his tickets.
On most days, that would be an issue for an usher to handle. Not on this day.
Walter and team president Stan Kasten decided to address the problem, climbing the narrow stairwell to the top level where they found the fan and listened to his complaint.
“Obviously the guy was floored just to see me, let alone to see Mark,” Kasten said. “Mark, he’s incredibly comfortable around people. Not just his peers, but average fans. Because he considers himself an average fan.”
The Dodgers’ billionaire owner, hardly an average fan, is under intense scrutiny these days, following the sale of his controlling interest in the Lakers and a federal investigation into his business dealings. The drama has come as a surprise to some who know Walter, who has earned respect for his financial acumen and, despite his purchases of high-profile sports teams, has tended to dodge publicity.
He put together the ownership group that bought the Dodgers in 2012. Since the purchase, the team has played in five World Series, winning three, and finished first in the National League West 12 times in 14 seasons. It’s the greatest sustained run of excellence in baseball in more than a generation.
Walter waves to the crowd during the Dodgers’ ring ceremony in March.
(Jessie Alcheh/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
If the Dodgers win a third straight World Series this fall, they will become the first team to three-peat this century. And much of the credit for that would go to Walter, who has funded a front office that consistently has outspent the rest of Major League Baseball, signing seven players to contracts worth more than $2 billion combined in the last six years alone.
Now Walter faces questions about his future owning the Dodgers. Last month, his companies became the focus of two federal inquiries and a Delaware insurance regulatory review.
He is helping pay off some of his companies’ loans and sold the Lakers at a record valuation of $12.5 billion, a deal Walter’s holding company, TWG Global, says was not forced by the inquiries. Still, the sale raised questions about whether he will sell his ownership stakes in other sports properties, including English soccer club Chelsea, the Cadillac Formula One racing team, the WNBA’s Sparks and the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
Walter declined to comment for this article.
Kasten insists Walter has no plans to divest from the Dodgers. “The sports portfolio is going to remain intact,” Kasten said. “It’s important to Mark. I can’t tell you how important the Dodgers are to him.”
Still, Kasten acknowledges the decision to sell the Lakers to former Disney chief executive Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner just 14 months after agreeing to buy the team “was not a planned thing,” either.
Walter hoists the World Series trophy next to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred last November.
(Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Like most of the middle-class kids in the class of 1978 at Jefferson High in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Walter worked in high school.
“He pumped gas and he played golf,” recalled Cathy Boland Polito, Walter’s date for the senior prom who is now a retired medical technologist living in Oro Valley, Ariz.
Walter hardly stood out in his graduating class of about 350 students. He was athletic but not a stud. He was a good student, especially in math, but not a nerd.
“He was friendly. He was nice,” Polito said. “Everybody sort of knew him.”
Walter talks with Dodgers president Stan Kasten during the playoffs last year. “I can’t tell you how important the Dodgers are to him,” Kasten says.
(Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Walter went to Creighton University , where he studied accounting and business while playing intramural sports and participating in the philosophy society. Three years later, he earned a law degree from Northwestern.
Walter met his wife, Kimbra, in Chicago, where they raised their daughter, Samantha.
After a decade split between a Chicago law firm and First Chicago Capital Markets, a financial services and securities brokerage, Walter founded an investment firm, Liberty Hampshire Co., in 1996. While there he met J. Todd Morley, who connected him with the Guggenheim family fortune. The introduction quickly led to the formation of Guggenheim Partners, an investment and advisory financial services firm that works with insurance services, among other assets, and one that has a Wall Street reputation for being low-key but aggressive.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic closed Guggenheim’s offices, the lobby of the firm’s Chicago headquarters on the 49th floor of the AT&T Center boasted one of Monet’s “Water Lilies” paintings, which hung behind the receptionist’s desk inside a glass case with an alarm. A Picasso brightened another office upstairs.
Walter with Guggenheim Baseball Management partners Peter Guber, left, Stan Kasten and Magic Johnson at Dodger Stadium in 2012 after the group bought the Dodgers for $2 billion.
(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)
A company insider not authorized to speak publicly told The Times in 2012 that Walter was a disciplined, focused and careful investor.
“He is a guy with one of the great financial minds of our time,” the person said.
For Walter, 66, who grew up playing youth baseball about 50 miles from the Iowa cornfield that became Kevin Costner’s “Field of Dreams,” that financial success was all well and good. But the longtime Chicago Cubs season-ticket holder really was a die-hard baseball fan whose dream was to own a sports franchise.
Walter first explored a purchase of the Houston Astros, who eventually were sold to Houston businessman Jim Crane for $615 million ahead of the 2012 season. So Walter pivoted and formed Guggenheim Baseball Management, a group that included Kasten, Lakers Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, movie producer Peter Guber and investors Bobby Patton and Todd Boehly, to buy the Dodgers for $2.15 billion, a record at the time, in March 2012. Part of the money Walter invested in the deal came from the insurers he controlled, although that deal was vetted by state insurance regulators.
MLB engineered the sale of the Dodgers after previous owner Frank McCourt filed for bankruptcy.
“The market drove the price,” Walter told The Times after the sale closed, calling the investment “a multigenerational thing my daughter’s granddaughters will own.” Walter’s daughter, who grew up joining family trips to Los Angeles for Dodgers games, is a marketing manager at TWG Global.
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1.WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 02: U.S. President Joe Biden (C) holds the jersey given to him by Los Angeles Dodgers Chairman Mark Walter during an event with the 2020 World Series champions in the East Room of the White House on July 02, 2021 in Washington, DC. The Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays to win the championship series at the end of an abbreviated season due to the coronavirus. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)2.WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 07: (L-R) Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Los Angeles Dodgers Owner and Chairman Mark Walter pose with a jersey presented to Trump as he hosts the 2024 World Series champions in the East Room of the White House on April 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees with a 7-6 victory in Game 5. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)(Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)
Today, the team is the most lucrative in the sport and is on pace to become just the second this century to draw more than 4 million fans in consecutive seasons. The Dodgers could be sold for a valuation of $10 billion to $13 billion — at the higher end, three times as much as the record sale price for a major league team — an industry source told The Times on the condition of anonymity.
Through it all, Walter mostly has shunned attention. The exception is participating in on-field championship celebrations and joining the team for trips to the White House during the Trump and Biden administrations.
His smooth run was interrupted during the Dodgers’ run to the 2024 World Series when Walter suffered a stroke that kept him from the victory celebration. His recovery reportedly was arduous; Walter struggled to speak clearly for months and didn’t return to public view until the Dodgers’ season-opening series in Japan the following spring.
Walter didn’t publicly step down from any roles after the stroke, holding on to control of a vast portfolio. Since buying the Dodgers, he has invested in European soccer, women’s hockey and basketball, squash and auto racing. He also bought several historic buildings in the resort town of Crested Butte, Colo., where he and his philanthropist wife own a home. In 2013, the couple purchased the Wild Oak Plantation, a 17,000-acre wildlife preserve in northeast Florida, where the Walters now spend most of their time.
Kimbra has served on the boards of Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, OneGoal nonprofit and Goodman Theatre and is active in the family’s charitable organization, TWF Causes, which focuses on social impact and conservation work, including owning or supporting several major conservation and private reserve properties in Africa.
The family has a limited political footprint, with Walter donating to the Democratic National Committee and the campaigns of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama and then-Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel. The majority of their donations, however, run through their family foundation and the Dodgers Foundation.
“For us, my wife and I, and all of my partners believe that corporations have to be corporate citizens, and individuals who benefit from them, or who have built them, need to give back,” Walter told ESPN soon after buying the Dodgers. “You can’t take it with you, and you ought to do something philanthropic with it.”
But while he’s put money into charitable projects, he’s invested his heart and soul in the Dodgers, Kasten said.
“He cares deeply about it,” the Dodgers president said. “He’s living through every play, every out, every at-bat.”
However much longer Walter remains invested in the Dodgers — financially, at least — could come down to math.
Justice Department prosecutors, the Securities and Exchange Commission and a Delaware insurance regulator are investigating whether Walter funneled as much as $21 billion from the portfolios of two insurance companies he owns into private credit for loans to other companies he also controls while reporting just a fraction of the loans’ value. The Wall Street Journal and the Athletic reported Walter used billions of dollars of those insurance premiums to buy sports teams.
Such “related party transactions” are legal, within limits, but are required to be reported to guard against conflicts of interest and to protect clients.
In Walter’s case, the related-party loans f initially were reported at between $1 billion and $1.4 billion when the true total actually was between $16 billion and $21 billion. The reclassification meant the affiliated investments jumped from 2% of one insurer’s portfolio to about 40%, according to Fitch Ratings.
No formal charges have been filed, and TWG Global, the multinational holding company led by Walter, is cooperating in the investigation. Walter has declined to be interviewed or to respond to written questions about the investigation, but his representatives have strongly denied any improper behavior, describing reports of the probe as “substantial speculation and misinformation” advanced by “unnamed sources and self-serving interests.”
“It does not inspire confidence to know that this kind of wild understatement happened,” said Andrew Granato, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in corporate finance and insurance. “It also doesn’t inspire very much confidence in the system of insurance regulation we have, that there could be this big of a mess that was not caught for years.”
Walter hired veteran Goldman Sachs lawyer David Markowitz to be his chief legal officer and reportedly is exploring the sale of his 12.8% stake in the Chelsea soccer club to Clearlake Capital, a Santa Monica-based private-equity firm whose Puerto Rican-born co-founder, José E. Feliciano, recently bought the San Diego Padres.
A source close to Walter not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times he has an interest in selling Chelsea if the terms are right but insisted there is no desire to sell the Sparks, the PWHL, his investment in professional squash or, more prominently, his stake in the Dodgers.
While Kasten and TWG Global officials insist the Dodgers aren’t for sale, uncertainty likely will linger at least until all investigations are completed.
Times staff writer Mirjam Swanson contributed to this report.
Two points from three matches is their worst start since the 2007-08 season, when PSG came close to relegation.
Published On 5 Sep 20265 Sep 2026
Paris Saint-Germain have not had as poor a start to a league season for 19 years, with Friday’s home loss to Monaco leaving them winless after three matches in the Ligue 1 season.
Days before they begin the defence of their Champions League title, however, the Parisians have handed coach Luis Enrique a contract extension until 2030.
“There is no reason to be concerned. I say that honestly. How many shots on target did Monaco have? Two. How many goals? Two. We’ll see at the end of the season whether things balance out,” he said after Friday’s 2-1 setback in which they were ahead at halftime but conceded twice after the break.
“What I want to get across is that you shouldn’t look only at the result,” Luis Enrique added.
“We pressed sensationally, much better than in many matches when we did not concede a goal. But luck was not on our side.
“Monaco know that if they play against us like this 10 times, we win eight, there’d be one draw and we’d lose once. This was that one defeat,” Luis Enrique insisted as PSG look ahead to hosting Slovan Bratislava on Wednesday in their first Champions League group game, chasing a third successive European title.
Two points from three matches is their worst start since the 2007-08 season, when PSG came close to relegation, finishing 16th. In that campaign, Paul Le Guen’s side had to wait until their sixth league game to record a victory and ended up only three points above the relegation places.
This time round, the Parisians are already seven points off the pace.
“It is incredible motivation for my players, for the team and for the club. If you want to bet on who will be champions at the end of the season, we can place a bet. Seven points? OK, we will try to make up that deficit as quickly as possible,” the coach added.
Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes has stepped down and is set to join Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal.
Hughes had only been at the club since June 2024, after moving from a similar position at Bournemouth, and his exit had been expected with his contract set to expire in June 2027.
In the summer he oversaw transfer spending of about £200m, including the signing of Bradley Barcola from Paris St-Germain.
“I’ll always follow and support the club with great affection, and I wish everyone involved nothing but success for this season and beyond,” said Hughes in a statement released by Liverpool.
Hughes, 47, arrived at Anfield after the departure of long-time manager Jurgen Klopp and was instrumental in the appointment of his successor, Arne Slot, who led Liverpool to a 20th Premier League title in his first season as manager.
Hughes oversaw the £125m record signing of Alexander Isak last summer and the £116m arrival of Florian Wirtz.
But Slot was unable to match his initial success and Liverpool finished fifth last season, prompting the Dutch manager’s departure and his replacement by Andoni Iraola, whom Hughes worked with at Bournemouth.
Mike Gordon, president of the Fenway Sports Group which owns Liverpool, said: “We respect Richard’s life choices and wish him and his family well in their next venture.”
Al-Hilal spent almost £180m signing Premier League players in the summer transfer window.
Al-Hilal, who are managed by former Inter Milan boss Simone Inzaghi, also secured the services of Netherlands midfielder Cyrenscio Summerville from West Ham for £60m.
Five-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar will not race again this season after suffering injuries including a neck fracture at the Vuelta a Espana.
The injury, which he suffered last month on the race’s eighth stage, means the Slovenian will miss out on the chance to defend his title at the upcoming World Championships.
He crashed out of the Vuelta from a dominant position as race leader and required surgery on a broken collarbone, suffered a concussion, a “stable” fracture in his neck and multiple abrasions.
The 27-year-old, who was aiming to complete the set of Grand Tour titles, adding the Vuelta to his single Giro d’Italia victory and Tour de France wins, was due to defend his rainbow jersey at the World Championships in Montreal later this month.
“Of course, this isn’t the way I wanted my season to finish,” Pogacar said in a statement released by his team, UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
“Right now, the most important thing is to recover properly and give my body the time it needs.
“It has been a season with many special moments and I’m proud of what we achieved together. Now I’ll focus on getting healthy, supporting the guys from home, and coming back next year ready for what’s ahead.”
In October, Pogacar was due to defend his title at the European Championships in Ljubljana, in his home country, and in the Il Lombardia – the final one-day Monument race of the season.
The team said that the decision not to race again until 2027 would allow him to return to full health “without placing a timeline on his return to competition”.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG also announced their leading rider had agreed to extend his contract by two years, until 2032.
Cheer captain. Student body president. Leader for Shoes for Souls, a nonprofit that gives out shoes to people in need.
Sarah Sobel is one busy teenager at Sierra Canyon High. She knows how to be organized, which her father, David, an assistant athletic director, probably offered some tips to follow.
Sarah took over running Shoes for Souls from her sister, Lindsay, who created the organization in 2016. More than 70,000 shoes have been donated.
High school is a balancing act between academics, school activities and other responsibilities. So far, Sarah is finding time to do all of it.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
The first edition of the remade “60 Minutes” under CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss debuts Sept. 13 with a reliable formula from the venerable newsmagazine’s playbook.
Correspondent Jon Wertheim will lead off the 59th season with an in-depth look at the Los Angeles Rams, the favorite of oddsmakers to win the Super Bowl this season. Wertheim sits down with Rams general manager Les Snead, head coach Sean McVay and veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford. The segment will also explore team owner Stan Kroenke’s investment in technology, including artificial intelligence, to help the team gain an edge on the field.
Jon Wertheim interviews Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay.
(CBS News)
“60 Minutes” has often turned to sports-related segments when a season premiere follows a late afternoon NFL game. Last year, Wertheim profiled Ultimate Fighting Championship Chief Executive Dana White for the 58th season premiere. The program scored more than 10 million viewers and was the most-watched non-sports program of the week. In 2023, Wertheim interviewed University of Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders for the 56th season opener.
CBS News will be under pressure to have “60 Minutes” get off to a strong start in the ratings following the major upheaval at the program earlier this year.
After the completion of a successful season where ratings were up 9% over the previous year, Weiss fired “60 Minutes” correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega — both of whom complained that the executive pushed them to add right-wing talking points to their stories. Weiss also dismissed “60 Minutes” executive producer Tanya Simon and replaced her with screenwriter and documentary filmmaker Nick Bilton, who has no previous experience in TV news.
In response to the firings, longtime correspondent Scott Pelley accused Weiss of “murdering” the program and claimed she was putting “her thumb on the scale” for more favorable coverage of President Trump’s administration. Pelley was shown the door with cause after confronting management at a June 1 meeting. CBS denied the claims.
The discord meant the program spent much of the summer hiring replacement correspondents, including Ross Douthat, a conservative New York Times opinion writer with no experience as a TV journalist.
Weiss, founder of the heterodox digital news site the Free Press, was hired by Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison with a mandate to pull the news division to the political center. The stated goal has put every move by Weiss under heavy scrutiny, as many critics have suggested she is at the network to placate the Trump White House while Paramount pursues its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Other new “60 Minutes” contributors include author and journalist Sebastian Junger, former CNN and Vice News correspondent Gianna Toboni, and Trevor Phillips, a British journalist who joined CBS News earlier this year as a senior global affairs correspondent. They will join correspondents Wertheim, Norah O’Donnell, Bill Whitaker and Lesley Stahl.
The program will also feature stories with CBS News correspondents outside of the core group at “60 Minutes,” such as Seth Doane and Matt Gutman.
The other two segments on the “60 Minutes” premiere, — which could include a significant newsmaker interview, — will be announced sometime next week.
This year’s premiere should get a strong boost, as most of the country will get CBS coverage of a late afternoon match-up between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings, two contenders in the highly competitive NFC North. The network’s pregame show “The NFL Today” is traveling to Green Bay for the telecast.
Fights between players and coaching staff broke out after the Turkish side won the Champions League playoff second leg.
Published On 5 Sep 20265 Sep 2026
Fenerbahce duo Mason Greenwood and Matteo Guendouzi have been suspended and fined for their part in the chaotic scenes after their club’s Champions League playoff second leg against Lyon.
Last month’s 2-1 victory for Fenerbahce in France meant the Turkish side progressed 3-2 on aggregate, and, after the final whistle, Greenwood and Guendouzi, who both previously played for Lyon’s bitter rivals Marseille, were involved in a brawl with players and coaching staff from both sides.
Former Arsenal midfielder Guendouzi has been suspended “for a total of four UEFA club competition matches for which he would otherwise be eligible, for insulting others present at the match, provoking spectators and for violating the basic rules of decent conduct”, UEFA announced in a decision made public on Friday evening.
Two of the matches are subject to a “one-year probationary period”, European football’s governing body added in the statement.
Guendouzi, who was also fined 50,000 euros ($58,000), was found guilty, among other things, of giving the middle finger to Lyon supporters and of provocations that led to a scuffle after the match.
His English teammate Mason Greenwood, formerly of Manchester United, received a one-match suspended ban and was fined 30,000 euros ($35,000) for “violating the basic rules of decent conduct”.
Initially, it seemed Campbell’s time in the gym would serve the sole purpose of learning self-defence before moving to secondary school a couple of years later.
That was until he started competing in amateur competitions, slowly but surely becoming obsessed with his newfound escape from the difficulties he faced at school.
“I was quite a soft kid, in the sense that I didn’t really like the violence or the fighting,” Campbell said.
“I felt like when I did fight, and when I really did go into it, everything changed and I never looked back.”
Aged 15, he won his first international Muay Thai title and started to realise that, with the blessing of his parents, combat sports could become more than just a pastime.
“I was never the cleverest kid. I was always in the bottom sets at school, so I wasn’t really focused,” Campbell said.
“All of the teachers told me, ‘you need to do something else. You have to have a plan B.'”
But for Campbell, who was beginning to attract attention across Merseyside, his unwavering commitment to the sport meant there was no need for a back-up plan.
That included regularly running almost five miles to and from school. There was even one occasion when he missed school while studying for his GCSEs to attend a coaching seminar in Liverpool hosted by John Kavanagh – the coach of former two-weight UFC champion Conor McGregor.
After completing his GCSE exams at the age of 16, Campbell enrolled on a college course that combined studying for a qualification in sport with playing football.
Or at least that was what he was supposed to be doing.
Campbell struck an arrangement with the course leads that allowed him to attend classes before leaving to train in combat sports, while his peers were on the football pitch.
“I was always avoiding anything just for fighting,” Campbell said.
“I really didn’t like school. It wasn’t me. But I made a good few mates there, so you’ve got to take the pros with the cons.”
Defending singles champions Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka have sailed into the last 16 of the US Open as tennis icons Serena and Venus Williams suffered an agonising defeat on their long-awaited return to Grand Slam doubles.
Alcaraz, coming off a four-month injury absence, beat China’s Wu Yibing 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 on Friday to book his place in the fourth round, while Sabalenka was similarly dominant in a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Kamilla Rakhimova.
Alcaraz will face 20th-seeded American Tommy Paul for a place in the quarterfinals after Paul beat 15th-seeded Alexander Bublik 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-3.
“The way he plays is unbelievable, the rhythm he has on every shot – forehand, backhand,” Alcaraz said of Wu. “His balls skid a lot on the court and, for me, it’s really difficult to control sometimes.
“But I think I stayed there. I played aggressive. I played smart in the toughest moments.”
Wu recovered an early break in each of the first two sets, but Alcaraz pocketed both with breaks in the final games, and after saving a pair of break points in the first game of the third, the Spaniard rolled home.
“I think my level is really good,” he said. “I’ve got into the rhythm of the competition. I’m getting there.”
World number one Sabalenka did not face a break point in her dismissal of Rakhimova, firing 29 winners with 10 aces.
The numbers did not tell the whole tale of a match that saw 92nd-ranked Rakhimova challenge Sabalenka in a second-set slugfest.
Sabalenka was also unimpressed by the pervasive smell of marijuana – an increasingly common issue at the US Open – wafting down from the stands during her match.
“It’s a bit tricky to handle that smell while you’re trying to compete at your best,” said Sabalenka, who at one point complained to the umpire about the issue.
Sabalenka, who must repeat as champion to have a chance of remaining number one, next faces Taylor Townsend, the 96th-ranked American who beat 15th-seeded Russian Diana Shnaider 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3.
Williams sisters lose thriller
With Alcaraz and Sabalenka among the early starters, all eyes on the evening session were on the Williams sisters, partnering in a Grand Slam doubles event for the first time since 2022.
The duo returned to the US Open stage comes after 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena came out of a four-year retirement to play at Wimbledon.
But the most famous sister act in tennis – who won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together along with three Olympic gold medals – were beaten 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (10/7) by 14th seeds Chan Hao-ching of Taiwan and Australia’s Maya Joint in a marathon three-hour battle.
The Williams duo had shown flashes of their brilliant best after recovering from losing the first set to level the match after taking the second set on a tie-break.
Momentum and a raucous New York crowd appeared to be carrying them towards victory after they sprinted into a 5-0 lead in the third-set tie-break. But Chan and Joint fought back superbly to erase the deficit before clinching victory.
Serena Williams, right, and her sister Venus shake hands with Chan Hao-ching, left, and Maya Joint after losing their women’s doubles first-round tennis match [Kena Betancu/AFP]
Pegula through, Muchova upset
In other singles action on Friday, third-seeded American Jessica Pegula, one of the players with a chance to knock Sabalenka off her No 1 perch, mounted a desperate fightback to beat Canadian Leylah Fernandez 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a battle of former finalists.
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk beat Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 6-2 and American Emma Navarro upset seventh-seeded Czech Karolina Muchova 6-3, 7-5.
Back in the men’s draw, American 11th seed Frances Tiafoe was a comfortable 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victor over Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot, seeded 22.
Tiafoe’s win earned him a last 16 showdown with Russian seventh seed Daniil Medvedev.
Medvedev was a similarly unfussy winner over French 26th seed Arthur Rinderknech, easing to a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win in just under two hours.
Unseeded former world number three Stefanos Tsitsipas – whose ranking has plummeted to 53 – meanwhile toppled 18th seed Jiri Lehecka, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 to reach the US Open fourth round for the first time.
Tsitsipas will face American eighth seed Ben Shelton in the last 16. Shelton defeated Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 in the late match.
Orange Lutheran High does not have an easy game on its schedule. MaxPreps ranked the school’s schedule as the toughest in the nation, as it faces off against five opponents in the website’s preseason national top 25 rankings.
The first three weeks have been a true gauntlet.
It started with an away game in Florida against Miami Central High, the seventh-best team in the state, according to MaxPreps. Orange Lutheran only lost by one point.
After beating the 15th-best team in California, San Diego Cathedral, last week 38-24, the Lancers faced its biggest test yet: Chandler (Ariz.) Basha, the No. 1 team in Arizona, and ranked 12th nationally. Orange Lutheran is the eighth-ranked team in California and 61st nationally.
A 30-24 loss to Basha last season still hung in the air around Orange Coast College on Friday night, and it looked like Orange Lutheran would be in for another one after Basha senior quarterback and Princeton commit Jake Rogers threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jaden Baldwin on the third play of their first drive.
However, because they didn’t make this season about themselves, Orange Lutheran has a prime directive to make things as hard as possible on opponents. A 23-17 win Friday suggested they followed through on that goal.
After the first quarter, Basha was not able to do anything effective on offense.
Every possession in the third quarter was a three-and-out, with one resulting in a punt out of the end zone. Basha had a bad snap, giving Orange Lutheran two points.
Beyond that, twin brothers and juniors Anhor The Great Johnson and King Rich Johnson swarmed everything that Basha tried to do.
It started with a 75-yard pick-six from King Rich on a snaking sideline return that gave Orange Lutheran a lead they never conceded.
Anhor The Great had so many pass breakups that counting would’ve been a fool’s errand.
Defensive line bat downs and sacks haunted Rogers, who finished the game with 192 yards passing and two touchdowns with two interceptions as well as a less than 50% completion on passes and two interceptions.
Senior lineman Lucas Rhoa got to watch this all unfold from the sidelines, and he was truly in awe after the game.
“One of the best defensive games I’ve seen,” he said. “Really, two big plays and three other points [is all Basha got]. We couldn’t do it without them, because we only put up 23 points.”
The only score given up in the second half was a 30-yard pass from Rogers to senior running back Noah Roberts. It gave the Bears life for the first time since the half. It was also Roberts only big play on a night where he averaged less than two yards per carry.
It was senior night for Orange Lutheran, with emotions flowing around Orange Coast College stadium all night, but it was a sophomore running back who had the most explosive performance.
Ryan Christianson finished with 151 yards rushing and one touchdown on 31 rushes. He was buoyed by Rhoa and a strong offensive line performance.
“Our running back is amazing, he did amazing things,” he said. “I’m proud of the way we played tonight, but there’s so much more we could clean up. So many points were left on the board. If we clean it up we’re going to be very good.”
First year head coach Ray Fenton inherited this insane schedule, but he probably would’ve booked the same battles. Many of his players will be playing Division I football on Saturdays, so why not test them now?
Plus, Orange Lutheran plays in the Trinity League. With highly ranked schools such as St. John Bosco, Mater Dei and Santa Margarita on the schedule, playing weak schools in nonleague games does nothing but harm Orange Lutheran’s talented roster.
“We can’t hide from our league, it’s like the SEC of high school football,” Fenton said.
The siblings changed the face of the sport when they emerged as precocious teenagers in the 1990s, going on to dominate the sport with a combined 30 Grand Slam singles titles and 14 doubles victories as a pair.
Three decades later, the sport remains captivated by them.
Serena, a 23-time Grand Slam women’s singles champion, coming out of retirement this summer sparked excitement among those who saw her in their prime and those too young to have witnessed it.
Seven-time major winner Venus has never “evolved away” from the sport – the words chosen by her younger sister when she last played in 2022 – but instead continued her career with the help of sporadic wildcards.
While that has proved controversial in some quarters, there were few objections about the sisters being invited to play once again at Flushing Meadows.
Their planned return at Wimbledon was scuppered by the knee injury which Serena suffered in her singles match there – ironically a defeat by 20-year-old Joint – before they finally reunited at the WTA event in Cincinnati.
The comeback ended in a match tie-break defeat by Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk and her American partner Peyton Stearns, with the same fate befalling them in New York.
When the Williams sisters last played on Ashe four years ago, they suffered a straight-set defeat by Czech pair Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova in the first round.
It looked like being a similar outcome as they meekly surrendered the first set against Chan and Joint, then batted off four break points in the fifth and seventh games of the second set.
But once Serena upped her level to match her impressive sister, they managed to switch the momentum back in their favour and level the match.
An absorbing contest featuring some sensational points saw the Americans fight back again in the decider, only to falter from a commanding lead in the tie-break.
Overall it was a more than credible performance from the veteran pair. Their solid groundstrokes, sharp movement and never-say-die attitude caused problems for their opponents, who deserve huge credit for staying focused in a partisan environment.
“The atmosphere was surreal,” said Joint.
“It was something we’ve never experienced before, and to play against such legends of the game was super special.”
Ohtani was still considered day to day, and Roberts again teased his possible availability off the bench.
Roberts wasn’t quite as bullish, however, about Ohtani avoiding the injured list.
After describing an IL stint as “unlikely but not impossible” on Thursday, Roberts said Friday that he was “hopeful, but I wouldn’t say confident,” that Ohtani would avoid the IL.
There are a wide range of possibilities for Ohtani as he continues to deal with lingering pain in his right biceps. Though the Dodgers experimented earlier in the season with ways to manage his two-way workload — holding him out of the batting order on the day he pitched, giving him the day off after a start on the mound, or both — this is the first time he has missed two consecutive games. And he hasn’t pitched since July 3.
Roberts described Thursday as a “spa day,” meaning Ohtani rested, watched the game from the dugout and didn’t do any baseball activities. Roberts said Friday was a day to “start getting his body moving a little bit.”
“Let’s stay in communication, and let’s see when the time to give the green light is,” Roberts said.
Roberts said Ohtani has been “very agreeable” with the decision to rest him. Ohtani has declined multiple requests for comment over consecutive days through a team spokesperson.
“I think he wants to be out there, wants to play,” Roberts said, “but he’s understanding.”
An MRI scan of the area around his biceps and neck showed no structural damage, or as Roberts put it “nothing of note at all,” which is a promising sign. But Ohtani’s swings and body language Wednesday signaled that something was clearly wrong, affecting Ohtani’s play.
The fact that the Dodgers have not put Ohtani on the IL yet doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll be out fewer than 10 days — it just means that they can’t rule out an earlier return. Teams can backdate IL moves up to three days. But that hasn’t traditionally served as a hard deadline for the Dodgers to make IL decisions. It isn’t expected to in this case, either.
Shohei Ohtani is hurt. The Dodgers’ rotation is injured. The team is in a fairly long slump and a first round bye isn’t remotely guaranteed.
Although having an injured player take up a roster spot for more than a few days isn’t ideal, it’s easier to cover for the designated hitter spot than other positions. And there is no obvious replacement on the 40-man roster pushing for a call-up through an extended period of outstanding play. Those factors mitigate the urgency to make a move.
In Ohtani’s absence, the Dodgers have started outfielder Alex Call at DH against left-handed pitchers, with Dalton Rushing available off the bench in the later innings.
The setup has afforded Rushing more regular at-bats than initially expected when the Dodgers activated him this week. Because Rushing (elbow) is still working through a throwing program, the original plan was to have him pinch hit one at-bat per game until he was ready to return to catching duties.
The Dodgers also have not officially ruled out Ohtani’s return to pitching, seeing even one or two innings from him as a plus. But the longer he’s out, the less likely it’ll become.
Ohtani’s planned buildup from tossing live batting practice on Aug. 22, to preparing to possibly start a little more than a week later, instead ended with the Dodgers shutting him down from throwing. Ohtani hasn’t even gone through weighted plyo ball drills in “a few days,” according to Roberts.
Asked what that meant for Ohtani’s return-to-pitching timeline, Roberts said it “certainly pushes it back.”
The priority, however, is getting Ohtani back to himself on the offensive side before the postseason — whether that means a couple days off or more than a week.
Roberts described the two-day break from the lineup as not just a physical one, but also a mental reprieve for Ohtani. He recorded just two hits in his last six games (23 at-bats). And over the past four weeks, he has a .703 OPS — compared to his .903 OPS overall this season.
“With a lot of players, when they’re not feeling well physically it adds to the toll mentally and emotionally,” Roberts said. “So I think Shohei is like that, like most players. We’re just kind of balancing how many days is sufficient to then be worth the time to get back, versus running this play out of days off and it not being adequate.”
The Sparks have hired a new general manager from the NBA ranks.
Ariana Andonian will officially join the organization next month, the Sparks said Friday. She replaces Raegan Pebley, who was fired in mid-July after 2½ years.
The Sparks (15-25) are headed toward a sixth consecutive losing season. The organization owns three WNBA championships, but none since 2016.
Andonian, 31, has been general manager of the Delaware Blue Coats, the NBA G League affiliate of the Philadelphia 76ers, while also serving as the 76ers’ vice president of player personnel.
While Pebley had no previous executive experience, Andonian has spent over 10 years working in basketball operations, scouting, player personnel and talent evaluation across the NBA and NBA G League.
“Ariana has distinguished herself throughout her career as an exceptional evaluator of talent and a thoughtful, forward-thinking basketball executive,” Sparks managing partner and governor Eric Holoman said in a statement. “She has earned the respect of some of the best basketball minds in the game, but what stood out to us throughout this process was her vision for building a team and an organization.”
Andonian is a California native who graduated from USC. She earned an MBA from Duke University, where she worked directly with Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski and current head coach Jon Scheyer as a player personnel consultant for the men’s basketball program.
“It was clear to me throughout this process that the Sparks ownership group is committed to delivering for our fans,” she said in a statement. “My goal as GM is to build a culture of excellence centered around great people, strong processes and doing everything within our power to best support our players on and off the court.”
Andonian joined the 76ers in 2024 as vice president of player personnel, where she ran the organization’s professional scouting group and co-led its extended scouting efforts. She was named GM of the Delaware Blue Coats last year.
Andonian began her NBA career with the Houston Rockets in 2015. In four seasons, she worked in basketball operations and scouting, becoming the NBA’s only female scout at the time and ultimately helping coordinate the Rockets’ scouting group.
In 2020, Andonian joined the Memphis Grizzlies, where she spent four seasons and advanced to director of player personnel.
PITTSBURGH — Jared Jones pitched six strong innings, Jake Mangum had an RBI double in the second inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the skidding Angels 1-0 on Friday night.
The MLB-worst Angels (53-88) lost for the 10th time in 11 games. The Pirates have won five of six games.
Jones (3-6) blanked the Angels on three hits to win for the first time in eight starts since beating Cleveland on July 18. He struck out nine, walked one, and threw 63 of 91 pitches for strikes.
Wilber Dotel pitched two innings, and Mason Montgomery worked the ninth to complete the four-hitter and the Pirates’ ninth shutout of the season. Montgomery had his ninth save.
Ryan Johnson (3-8) was the hard-luck loser, giving up one run and four hits over six innings with six strikeouts and two walks. He has a 1.67 ERA in his last six starts and has given up zero or one run in five of those outings.
Prized rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin returned from the injured list for the Pirates and made an immediate impact when he scored the lone run from first base on Mangum’s one-out double to right field in the second inning.
Griffin had been sidelined since July 6 after undergoing surgery to repair a torn tendon in his left ring finger. The Pirates signed the 20-year-old to a nine-year, $140-million contract, the richest in franchise history, in April.
The Angels hit back-to-back singles to open the top of the second, but Jones got Christian Moore to foul out, then struck out Jose Siri and Adam Frazier. The Halos have been shut out 12 times.
Up next: Angels LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-5, 5.65 ERA) faces RHP Braxton Ashcraft (14-5, 3.59) on Saturday night in the middle game of the series.
Alexander Isak was the £125m striker who finally arrived at Liverpool by tormenting Ipswich Town – while Cody Gakpo’s virtuoso performance had them giving thanks he never left.
The nuts and bolts of a comfortable Friday in Suffolk were that Liverpool won 2-0 – thanks to two Isak goals in the first nine minutes, giving them their first Premier League victory of the season and new manager Andoni Iraola’s first since succeeding the sacked Arne Slot.
Liverpool‘s win must be placed in the context of being against a newly promoted Ipswich Town who were game, but who shipped five goals at Manchester United last week and look ripe for the picking against attacking quality.
The wider significance, however, was that Isak finally looked like the player Liverpool broke, at that time, the British transfer record to seal an acrimonious transfer from Newcastle United last summer.
Throw in the added bonus that Bradley Barcola showed flashes of devastating pace in a 26-minute debut display after his £123m arrival from Paris St-Germain, and this was a night that ticked every box for Iraola and Liverpool.
Even Barcola’s bow, however, was overshadowed by Isak.
The Sweden striker looked a lost soul in his first season at Liverpool, arriving out of condition after downing tools to secure his move from Tyneside, then troubled by injuries as he gave the impression of being the most expensive vanity purchase in British football history.
He was outshone by fellow striker Hugo Ekitike, his statistics stark as he suffered along with many others in an astonishing decline amid Liverpool‘s dismal title defence that led to Slot’s sacking only a year after he lifted the Premier League trophy.
Isak played 22 games encompassing 1,033 minutes, scoring four goals at a rate of one every 258 minutes. He played 14 games in the Premier League totalling 703 minutes, scoring only three goals at a rate of one every 234 minutes.
He has already equalled that league tally this season, but it was his demeanour as well as his lethal finishing that will have given Liverpool and Iraola confidence that the Isak code has finally been cracked.
And it was done by utilising Isak at his best – running in behind defenders and pressing with pace. It was what made him such a hot property at Newcastle United, and made everything about his every miserable moment on the pitch with Liverpool last term such a mystery.
Carlos Alcaraz swept Wu Yibing aside to reach the US Open fourth round – and said he is getting better with every match as he continues his return from a long-term injury lay-off.
The Spaniard underlined why he remains a serious contender to defend his title in New York with a 6-3 6-4 6-1 victory over China’s Wu.
The 23-year-old’s opening-round match in Flushing Meadows was his first on a singles court for 139 days after injuring his wrist in April.
Alcaraz came through his opener in straight sets but had to battle back from a set down against Portugal’s Jaime Faria in the second round.
However, Alcaraz continued to build momentum on Friday, needing two hours and 20 minutes on court to beat Wu.
“To be honest, I’m better than I thought,” the seven-time major champion said.
“Physically I thought I was going to be bad after the first match, but I am recovering really well. I am doing great things off the court to be in a good state.
“Right now, I think my level is really good. I think I have caught the rhythm of the competition.
“Every time that I step on the court I give it all. I’m just trying to improve, be better every match and I think I’m getting there.”
American 20th seed Tommy Paul – who Alcaraz has beaten six times in a row – awaits in the fourth round.
Alcaraz’s path to an eighth major title has opened up over the past few days.
French Open champion and Wimbledon runner-up Alexander Zverev heads the men’s draw in the absence of injured world number one Jannik Sinner.
As the second seed, Alcaraz cannot meet Zverev until the final – and the German has been taken to five sets and kept on court until 2am in his two matches so far.
Novak Djokovic suffered a shock first-round exit to Argentine Mariano Navone, while Canadian third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime lost to Karen Khachanov in the second round.
As it stands, American eighth seed Ben Shelton is the only top-10 player that Alcaraz can meet before the semi-finals. He could then face seventh seed Daniil Medvedev in the last four.
Alcaraz has won all three of his meetings with Shelton and has a 6-3 winning head-to-head against Medvedev – although the inconsistent Russian beat him at Indian Wells in March.
Meanwhile, Zverev’s potential pre-final opponents include home hope Taylor Fritz and Italy’s French Open runner-up Flavio Cobolli.
Beau Greaves made darts history by becoming the first woman to win a match on the European Tour.
The 22-year-old, who was edged out 6-5 by Rob Cross on her European Tour debut in Hungary last week, beat Daryl Gurney 6-4 in the Czech Open.
Gurney beat Greaves in a deciding set in their first-round match at the PDC World Championship in December and he moved into a 3-1 lead in Prague.
However, Greaves reeled off three straight legs with 14, 13 and 11-dart finishes to go 4-3 in front and, even though Gurney levelled at 4-4, she went on to take victory and become the first female winner in the European Tour’s 15-year history.
“It feels amazing,” said Greaves, who will play world number two Luke Humphries in the second round on Saturday.
“It’s just so nice to win a game, I was so nervous at the start, I don’t know why. It took me so long to get settled, but luckily I did enough to win the game.
“It means loads to me, the crowd’s fantastic. It’s such a tight stage and you feel so much from the crowd. I’m really enjoying it and loving the experience.”
On facing Humphries, she added: “I’ve played Luke on the big stage before so I know what to expect, he’s world class so I’m going to have to play a lot better than I did tonight.
“What more do you want than on a Euro Tour to play one of the best players in the world? I’ll look forward to it and I’ll be ready.”
The San Francisco 49ers already are on the ground in Melbourne, Australia.
Both teams are preparing for their Sept. 10 opener at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The Rams will depart late Tuesday night, arrive in Melbourne about 16 hours later on Thursday and play Friday (5:30 p.m. PDT Thursday).
Rams coach Sean McVay is aware that if his Super Bowl-favorite team plays well and wins, his travel strategy will be hailed as smart. If the Rams lose, it could be ridiculed.
McVay said Friday that the postgame review will be “circumstantial based on what happens,” and that the Rams make decisions based on what they feel is in the best interest of the players.
“I understand the narratives,” McVay said, adding, “That’s just part of the nature, but what you have to do is be able to separate the actual result for what is actually sound in terms of your process.
“I’m comfortable with that. That’s the world that we live in. … That’s kind of the price of doing business.”
The Rams employed a similar travel strategy last season, when they remained in Baltimore after playing the Ravens, and then traveled to London to play the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Rams arrived the day before the game, and then routed the Jaguars.
The flight to Australia is much longer, but McVay said that “staying in our rhythm and routine” was deemed best by a collective that includes Reggie Scott, the Rams’ senior vice-president for sports medicine and performance.
“The thinking in its simplest form is what do we deem the best for our football players and for them to try and be at their best,” McVay said. “There’s different approaches and theories, but I do have a lot of trust in our group and we’ll see. Hopefully, it works out.”
This will be the first NFL game in Australia, a potential boon for a league eager to expand its global footprint.
“What we try to do is focus on the things we can control,” McVay said, “and then just really abide by clear parameters that guys can follow so that it’s seamless and then they feel as fresh as possible.
“Easier said than done. But when you have the right people, it’s served us well over the years.”
Aaron Donald’s status undecided
Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald walks on the practice field on Aug. 30.
(Greg Beacham / Associated Press)
Aaron Donald rejoined the Rams last week, but the three-time NFL defensive player of the year, who retired in 2023, has yet to go through a full 11-on-11 practice.
Can he play against the 49ers?
“Don’t have that sense quite yet,” McVay said, adding, “This week will be a big week for him in terms of how he feels, and then we’ll just kind of take it a day at a time and see where he’s at.
“If he feels good enough to go — great. If not, I’ve got a lot of confidence in the other guys that will be ready to step up if that’s the case.”
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Future Hall of Fame defensive lineman Aaron Donald officially came out of retirement Sunday to rejoin the Rams for their Super Bowl title push.
Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske, Poona Ford and Tyler Davis are among the interior linemen who have taken reps since training camp began in July.
Last Sunday, after agreeing to terms with the Rams, Donald said he did not want to be given anything — he wanted to earn his role.
“Ain’t rushing,” he said of his timeline, adding, “Just continue to stack them days and see where we at.”
Donald, 35, is playing on a one-year contract that includes $10 million in base salary, and per-game roster bonuses that could total $10 million, according to Overthecap.com. The deal also includes incentives that could make it worth $30 million.
With four void years added, the salary-cap hit for this season is $5.8 million and $17.9 million next season, according to the website.
Defensive end Myles Garrett, who has been sidelined for a few weeks because of a knee issue, and receiver Puka Nacua (groin) are “making really good progress,” McVay said.
On the Rams’ depth chart, Stetson Bennett is listed as quarterback Matthew Stafford’s backup with rookie Ty Simpson third.
“I look at it as a 2a, 2b,” McVay said. “We’ll see how we approach the game.”
