GOLF
Jeff Cole and Garrett Olson advanced to the finals of the Match Play Invitational on Tuesday at the Falmouth Country Club in Portland.
Cole, who plays out of the Brunswick Golf Club, advanced with a 3 and 2 win over James Frost of the Fox Ridge Golf Club. Olson, who also plays out of the Brunswick Golf Club, advanced with a 7 and 5 win over Kevin Byrne of the Waterville Country Club.
Earlier Tuesday, Cole beat Ronald Kelton in the semifinals 4 and 3, while Frost beat Derek Devereaux 2 and 1. Olson advanced with a 5 and 3 win over Armand Ouellette, while Byrne advanced with a 4 and 2 win over Tim Desmarais.
The tournament started on Monday with the first and second round. The finals will take place on Wednesday.
BASEBALL
NECBL: The Vermont Mountaineers scored six runs in the bottom of the second inning on their way to an 8-3 win in the first game of the NECBL semifinal series against the Sanford Mainers in Montpelier, Vermont.
The teams will meet in the second game of the best-of-three series at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Sanford. If the Mainers win, the Mountaineers would host the deciding Game 3 on Thursday.
David Bermudez was 2 for 4 with a solo home run for Sanford. Jake Rainess also had a solo homer for Sanford.
BASKETBALL
NBA: The Chicago Bulls and guard Goran Dragic finalized a one-year, $2.9 million contract.
The Bulls tweeted a welcome message in announcing the deal about a month after the two sides reached an agreement.
The 36-year-old Dragic has averaged 13.7 points and shot 36.2% on 3-pointers over 14 seasons with Phoenix, Houston, Miami, Toronto and Brooklyn. From Slovenia, he made an All-Star team with the Heat during the 2017-18 season and helped them advance to the 2020 NBA finals.
WNBA: Alyssa Thomas posted her second triple-double in less than two weeks and the Connecticut Sun beat the Phoenix Mercury 87-63 on in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Thomas, who recorded the franchise’s first triple-double in a win over the Minnesota Lynx on July 22, finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. The No. 4 pick overall in the 2014 draft, the 6-foot-2 Thomas is just the fifth WNBA player with multiple triple-doubles and joined Candace Parker (Chicago Sky) and Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty) as the only players with more than one this season.
• Sabrina Ionescu scored 31 points on 11-of-16 shooting, Natasha Howard had 24 points and 11 rebounds and the New York Liberty beat the Los Angeles Sparks 102-73 in New York in the first of back-to-back games between the teams.
The Liberty (12-18) and Los Angeles (12-18), who play again Wednesday in New York, are tied with the Atlanta Dream for the eighth and final playoff spot with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, a half-game behind the Phoenix Mercury (13-18) and a half-game ahead of the 11th-place Minnesota Lynx (12-19).
• Natasha Cloud scored 16 points and had nine assists, Shakira Austin added 15 points and eight rebounds and the Washington Mystics beat Las Vegas 83-73 in Washington to snap the Aces’ four-game win streak.
Ariel Atkins added 13 points for the Mystics (20-12). Elena Delle Donne scored five points on 1-of-7 shooting but grabbed 11 rebounds and had five assists.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: Oscar Piastri said he won’t drive for Alpine next season, mere hours after the Formula One team promoted the Australian reserve driver to replace Fernando Alonso.
Alonso surprised the team Monday when he informed Alpine he’ll move to Aston Martin next year. Alpine needed just one day to announce it would promote its 21-year-old budding talent to race alongside Esteban Ocon in 2023.
But the Melbourne native said that’s not happening.
“I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year,” he wrote on Twitter.
SOCCER
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP: The U.S. women’s national team is set to face England at Wembley Stadium, the first of two European matches as the United States prepares to defend its title at the 2023 World Cup.
But there’s a catch: The Oct. 7 match is contingent on England securing its spot in the World Cup in qualifying games in September.
England is coming off a 2-1 overtime victory Sunday over Germany in the women’s European Championships final. The match at Wembley drew a tournament-record 87,192 fans.
SPANISH LEAGUE: Barcelona cleared more salary cap space by selling defender Óscar Mingueza to Celta Vigo.
Barcelona is trying to meet the Spanish league’s financial fair play rules and register newly signed players Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Koundé.
The club had already made up some space with the loans of defender Clément Lenglet to Tottenham and striker Francisco Trincão to Sporting Lisbon.
• EA Sports will become the title sponsor of the Spanish league beginning in 2023-24.
The league said the videogaming company will replace Spain-based bank Santander, which is entering its final season as the main sponsor of the second-richest European domestic league.
The league and EA Sports signed a multi-year contract, though further details on the deal were not immediately released.
MLS: Goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina was acquired by Chelsea from the Chicago Fire, then loaned back to the Major League Soccer team for the rest of 2022.
Chelsea said he had signed a six-year contract.
Chicago claimed the transfer fee for the 18-year-old was its club record, but did not announce the amount. The Fire said they will receive a percentage of future transfer fees.
WORLD CUP: Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay soccer executives and political leaders launched their joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
Uruguay President Luis Lacalle Pou hosted the leaders seeking to bring another World Cup final to the same Centenário Stadium in Montevideo where it was played in the first edition of the tournament in 1930. Then, Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2.
Alejandro Domínguez, the president of South American soccer body CONMEBOL, said in a press conference that the candidacy “is the dream of the continent.”
TENNIS
CITI OPEN: Nick Kyrgios beat American Marcos Giron in Washington, the Australian’s first singles match since reaching the Wimbledon final.
Less than a month since reaching his first Grand Slam final before losing to Novak Djokovic, Kyrgios defeated Giron 6-2, 6-3. It won’t help him get over falling short at Wimbledon, which has not been easy. But, winning more may boost his confidence.
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