U.S. OPEN
Third day of play
NEW YORK (AP) β Once again the majority of matches involving seeded players are being played this evening in New York at the U.S. Open. Among those playing dayside with a higher seed are women’s No. 5 Maria Sharapova (shah-rah-POH’-vah) and 21st-seed Sloane Stephens of the U.S. For the men the lone seeded player in action today is sixth Tomas Berdych (TOH’-mahs bur-DEEK’).
On the evening portion of the card women’s second-seed Simona Halep (HAL’-ehp) leads the way with No. 19 Venus Williams also in action as well. Two of her seven Grand Slam titles have come in the Open, but she hasn’t gotten past the second round since 2010. For the men third-seed Stan Wawrinka (vah-VINK’-ah) has his second round match.
MLB-SCHEDULE
Wainwright back for No. 16
UNDATED (AP) β Two day games are on the baseball schedule with St. Louis playing at Pittsburgh and Seattle hosting Texas. The first game has a direct bearing on the National League Central race as well as the wild card as St. Louis starts the day 1 Β½ games back of the first-place Brewers in the division while the third-place Pirates are five back. In the National League Wild Card race the Cardinals currently are holding down the first berth with the Pirates just 1 Β½ games back of the Giants for the second.
Adam Wainwright is on the rubber for the Cards and he is looking to become the first 16-game winner in baseball.
In the American League Seattle is in the thick of things for a Wild Card as the Mariners start the day holding the second and final spot.
If Wainwright fails to get No. 16 this afternoon Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers will get his chance this evening. The first-place Dodgers of the National League West are on the road for a game with the Diamondbacks.
The tightest race in baseball is the American League West as the Angels top the Athletics by just a game. Tonight the Angels are home to the Marlins while the A’s are visiting Houston.
The AL Central is tight as Kansas City leads Detroit by just 1 Β½ games. The Royals continue their home stand with a game against the Twins tonight while the Tigers are home to the Yankees.
Washington’s National have the biggest lead in any division, 7 Β½ games over Atlanta in the National League East. This evening the Nats are in Philadelphia while the Braves are in New York to play the Mets.
The rest of tonight’s schedule has Tampa Bay at Baltimore, the Jays home to the Red Sox, Chicago’s Cubs at Cincinnati, the White Sox hosting Cleveland, Milwaukee at San Diego and Colorado at San Francisco
INDYCAR
Crescent City lands IndyCar race
NEW ORLEANS (AP) β The IndyCar series has committed to an April 12 race date next season for the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana. A person close to the situation told The Associated Press about the race on condition of anonymity because the date has not been publicly announced. The IndyCar series confirmed in May that it planned to bring a race to New Orleans for the first time in 2015, but the race calendar for next season had not been set at that time.
BOXING
Heavyweight title fight reschedule
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) β Wladimir Klitschko’s (VLAD’-uh-meer KLICH’-kohs) management says his heavyweight title defense against mandatory International Boxing Federation challenger Kubrat Pulev has been rescheduled for Nov. 15 in Hamburg. The fight was originally slated for Sept. 6 but had to be postponed after Klitschko tore a bicep in sparring and was forced to miss four weeks of training. Klitschko’s record is 62-3, including 53 KOs. It will be his 26th title fight.
