NEW YORK — Playing her first match at the U.S. Open since last year’s loss in a chaotic, controversial final, Serena Williams played nearly perfect tennis and beat Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-1 in a contest devoid of drama Monday night. Williams stretched her winning streak to 19 matches against Sharapova and now leads their head-to-head […]

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Having played for the New England Patriots for nine of his 10 NFL seasons, Patrick Chung is well-versed in how his team addresses potential controversies. It doesn’t. So it came as no surprise when Chung offered no information about a charge of cocaine possession brought against him in New Hampshire while speaking […]

SYDNEY — Order restored. After losing for the first time in nearly 13 years two days earlier, the United States rebounded to outclass Canada 84-68 in a pre-World Cup exhibition basketball game Monday. At the same arena where the Americans won Olympic gold at the Sydney 2000 Games the U.S. never trailed, leading 20-9 after […]

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — For the second straight day, a line drive found the glove of Louisiana shortstop Stan Wiltz and a dogpile ensued in the infield at Lamade Stadium. Stan was fine with all that. Nothing seemed to go wrong for the boys from River Ridge over the last week at the Little League […]

SAN DIEGO  — Manny Machado hit a two-run home run — his first in more than three weeks — and left-hander Joey Lucchesi pitched five decent innings for the San Diego Padres, who beat the Boston Red Sox 3-1 Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep. Machado, the $300 million slugger, drove a pitch from left-hander […]

SAN DIEGO  — Brock Holt liked the first pitch he saw from All-Star closer Kirby Yates so much that he hit it out of the ballpark. Holt’s homer on the first pitch of the ninth inning lifted the Boston Red Sox to a 5-4 victory against the San Diego Padres on Saturday night. The defending […]

INDIANAPOLIS — Andrew Luck watched one last game from the sideline Saturday. Then he said goodbye to the NFL. The Indianapolis Colts quarterback heard boos as he walked away from the field, then walked to the podium and made the surprise decision official. The oft-injured star is retiring at age 29. “I’m in pain, I’m […]

BERWICK — With the first week of the high school football season less than two weeks away, Noble and Sanford faced off in a controlled scrimmage at Noble Middle School on Saturday.  No score was kept and no statistics were taken down, but for Noble head coach Keenon Blindow, the scrimmage served as a unique […]

The U.S. men’s basketball team had never lost to Australia. It had gone nearly 13 years without losing a game with an NBA-stocked roster. It was in the midst of the longest winning streak in team history. Until Saturday. The Americans went Down Under, and went down. Australia beat the U.S. 98-94 before a crowd of […]

SAN DIEGO (AP) — J.D. Martinez had the big game for the Boston Red Sox, hitting two three-run homers and driving in a career-high seven runs. Eduardo Rodriguez had the big moment, reaching base on an error and scoring his first career run to go along with his seven strong innings in Boston’s 11-0 win […]