BASEBALL

The Portland Sea Dogs will open the 2020 season on April 9 in Hartford, Connecticut, before making their Hadlock Field debut on April 16 against the Trenton Thunder, the team announced Wednesday.

The 2020 schedule features just seven home games in April, the fewest since the Sea Dogs’ inaugural season in 1994. There will be 13 home games each in June, July and August. The longest homestand of the year will feature eight games from Aug. 31 to Sept. 7 to conclude the team’s 140-game Eastern League schedule.

Tickets will go on sale at 9 a.m. on Nov. 2 at the Hadlock Field ticket office.

SOCCER

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: No Neymar, no Kylian Mbappe, no problem.

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With two first-half goals from Angel Di Maria and a rare late strike from right back Thomas Meunier, a new-look Paris Saint-Germain – missing its headline stars – brushed aside a flat Real Madrid 3-0 to go to the top of Group A in an impressive start to its European campaign.

Di Maria, a Champions League winner with Madrid in 2014, was rampant against his former club, using phenomenal speed and clever placing to torment a defense sorely missing the suspended Sergio Ramos.

Bayern Munich substitute Thomas Müller provided a late highlight as the German powerhouse beat Red Star Belgrade 3-0 in its Champions League opener.

Manchester City became the only English club to win its opening game, beating Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0.

A blunder from Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky handed Lokomotiv Moscow a 2-1 win.

TENNIS

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PAN PACIFIC OPEN: Top-seeded Naomi Osaka reached the quarterfinals in Osaka, Japan, by beating qualifier Viktoriya Tomova, 7-5, 6-3 .

Osaka, who was broken twice early in the match, is looking to win her first title in her hometown after finishing as runner-up in 2016 and 2018. She will next meet either Yulia Putintseva or Russian qualifier Varvara Flink.

Also, fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber won her first match since Wimbledon, beating American qualifier Nicole Gibbs, 6-2, 6-4.

“The goal now is to finish the year as well as I can, to put all the energy which I have into this run in Asia and to play well in the next few weeks,”  said Kerber. She will next face Madison Keys, who defeated Zarina Diyas, 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.

ST.PETERSBURG OPEN: Mikhail Kukushkin reached the quarterfinals, while Adrian Mannarino was eliminated in the second round.

Kukushkin, the St. Petersburg champion in 2010, recovered from 4-2 down in the first set to win 7-6 (2), 6-2 against 2017 champion Damir Dzumhur, who saved four match points before he was finally beaten. The sixth-seed will play either Karen Khachanov or Joao Sousa in the quarterfinals.

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The seventh-seeded Mannarino was beaten 6-3, 6-1 in just over an hour by qualifier Egor Gerasimov, who last reached a tour-level quarterfinal in October 2018.

GOLF

SUSPENSION UPHELD: Danish golfer Thorbjorn Olesen will remain suspended from the European Tour until at least December after being charged with sexual assault and being drunk on an aircraft.

Olesen, 29, appeared in court in London on Wednesday in relation to the charges. No pleas were entered at a short hearing, with a plea hearing due to be held Dec. 13.

Olesen was arrested July 29 while returning to London from an event in Tennessee. He has also been charged with assault by beating.

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