PARIS (AP) — Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva was already a tennis phenom at age 15. At 19 she’s a Grand Slam champion. The eighth-ranked Andreeva has ended the run of 114th-ranked Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska with a 6-3, 6-2 victory in the French Open final. Andreeva became the youngest player to win the women’s singles title since Monica Seles, who was 18 when she landed her third straight French Open in 1992. Chwalinska was attempting to become the first qualifier to capture the Roland Garros title. Alexander Zverev plays Flavio Cobolli in the men’s final on Sunday to conclude the wildest Grand Slam in recent memory.
It was April 23, or 6 1/2 weeks ago. The New York Knicks had just endured their second consecutive one-point loss to the Atlanta Hawks, and this one left them trailing 2-1 in their Eastern Conference first-round series. Signs of trouble were everywhere. The mood in New York was abysmal. Mike Brown’s future as coach was a hot topic. The Knicks are 13-0 since. And Brown is now part of the two longest single-season playoff winning streaks in NBA history.
ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — Iran’s World Cup soccer team is traveling from Turkey to their training base in Mexico. Some members of the Iranian Football Federation haven't yet received U.S. visas. Iranian state television reports that key officials are among those waiting for visas before matches in Los Angeles and Seattle. The team’s participation is complicated by the Iran war. Visa issues have already forced Iran to move its training base from Arizona to the Mexican city of Tijuana. All players have been approved for visas, but some staff members have been rejected. The team has been training in the Turkish city of Antalya.
The World Cup fields cover so much ground they’ll be hard to ignore. The crews that put them there would prefer if fans didn’t notice them at all. While it took a herculean effort to engineer the right grass for the different stadiums and to make sure it’s in pristine condition for the duration of the tournament, the goal is that it never really draws attention. After all, there’s nothing worse than uneven patches, divots and worn spots that can affect a player's footing when the focus should be on the games themselves.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Golden Knights goalie Carter Hart faces mixed reactions in the Stanley Cup Final. In Games 1 and 2 at Carolina, he was targeted by boos and chants. Now back in Vegas, he receives strong support from fans. Hart's performance has been crucial to the Golden Knights reaching the championship series. The series is 1-1. The chants relate to Hart's acquittal in a 2018 sexual assault case. Despite defensive lapses, Hart has been defended by coach John Tortorella. The team aims to regroup for Game 3 on Saturday.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Go crazy, New York. Or, perhaps more accurately, crazier. The red-hot Knicks are going home, two wins away from an NBA championship that the capital of the world has been waiting to see for generations. Jalen Brunson hit a go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds left after a turnover by Victor Wembanyama moments earlier, then Wembanyama missed a jumper at the end of New York’s 105-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night for a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Brunson and Mikal Bridges each scored 20 for the Knicks — who have now won 13 straight, the second-longest streak by any team in NBA playoff history.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama described himself in a rather unusual way when Game 2 of the NBA Finals was over on Friday night. “Very blurry,” Wembanyama said. As such, the San Antonio Spurs’ situation is very clear. They’re in trouble. Big trouble. And Wembanyama pointed the finger of blame squarely at himself. The Spurs had an epic comeback and an epic disaster in the same fourth quarter, falling to the New York Knicks 105-104 — after a finish that Wembanyama likely won’t be able to forget anytime soon.
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump says he will attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday at Madison Square Garden — and says he doesn't have much sympathy for ordinary Americans who can't afford the sky-high ticket prices. Speaking Friday to reporters on Air Force One, Trump suggested that fans priced out of attending the game in person can watch it on television instead. The president, a longtime Knicks fan, praised the team’s performance in Game 1 against the San Antonio Spurs. He said he thinks Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is a promising player but ducked the chance to weigh in on Wembanyama crossing his arms during the national anthem prior to Game 1.
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bears are looking to build a stadium in Northwest Indiana after a proposal to provide financial incentives for the NFL team to build its new home in Illinois stalled in the state legislature. The Bears’ board of directors voted Thursday to move forward with a stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana. The team had been doing its due diligence on a tract of land near Wolf Lake, but it says an exact site has not been selected. The Bears say in a team statement that a stadium in Northwest Indiana "will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.” Indiana Gov. Mike Braun welcomed the team’s announcement.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Freddie Freeman homered leading off the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Angels 1-0 on Friday night in the Freeway Series opener. Freeman hit a 3-2 pitch from former Dodger reliever Kirby Yates over the wall in deep center leading off the ninth inning. The Dodgers were on the losing end of a walk-off homer in Arizona on Thursday. Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki struck out a career-high 10 over seven scoreless innings. Angels starter Reid Detmers gave up two hits over six innings. Angels slugger Mike Trout was hitless in four at-bats with three strikeouts. Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.
Finals
INTERLEAGUE
Final Philadelphia 8 Chicago White Sox 6
Final Tampa Bay 6 Miami 0
Final L.A. Dodgers 1 L.A. Angels 0
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Detroit 7 Seattle 3
Final Boston 5 N.Y. Yankees 3
Final Baltimore 13 Toronto 3
Final Minnesota 5 Kansas City 3
Final Houston 5 Athletics 1
Final Texas 3 Cleveland 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final San Francisco 18 Chicago Cubs 3
Final Atlanta 6 Pittsburgh 3
Final St. Louis 10 Cincinnati 3
Final Milwaukee 9 Colorado 7
Final N.Y. Mets 5 San Diego 0
Final Washington 14 Arizona 1
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS