U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff overcame hard-hitting Czech teenager Barbara Fruhvirtova 6-3, 6-0 and extended her winning start to the year and Auckland Classic defense to the quarterfinals on Thursday.

The 16-year-old Fruhvirtova came out hitting harder than any player at the tournament so far, generating enormous power off both hands. She troubled Gauff at first and broke the American's serve to love in the third game.

When Rafael Nadal faced three break points while serving for a commanding first set, a voice in the crowd at the Brisbane International yelled out to Jason Kubler: "You've got him worried now!"

It was a fleeting concern for the 22-time major winner on Thursday in his second match back from a year-long injury layoff.

Kylian Mbappé gave Paris Saint-Germain a glimmer of hope he might stay by insisting he has not yet decided on his future.

Mbappé's contract runs out in June, and last year he caused a stir by refusing to sign a 12-month contract extension, meaning he can leave on a free transfer at the end of this season. The France star is also authorized to talk to clubs in January and sign a pre-contract agreement.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 36 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder snapped Boston’s six-game winning streak with a 127-123 victory on Tuesday.

A heavyweight clash between two of the league's top teams lived up to its billing as Oklahoma City's youthful line-up went toe-to-toe with the Celtics, who lead the NBA's Eastern Conference.

Poland became the first team through to the United Cup semifinals with a dominant 3-0 win over China in Perth on Wednesday after France completed a sweep of Italy in Sydney to progress to the quarterfinals.

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek beat No. 14 Zheng Qinwen 6-2, 6-3 in the women's singles to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead after Hubert Hurkacz's 6-3, 6-4 win over Zhang Zhizhen in the men's singles.

Luke Littler reached the final of the world darts championship at the age of 16 on Tuesday, extending one of the most unlikely stories in the history of the sport.

Littler, an unseeded player from Runcorn in northwest England who started throwing darts as a toddler, beat 2018 champion Rob Cross 6-2 to get into Wednesday's title match against Luke Humphries.

Algerian international footballer Youcef Atal was handed an eight-month suspended sentence by a French court Wednesday for inciting religious hatred in a social media post about the conflict in Gaza.

The 27-year-old defender, who plays for Ligue 1 French side Nice, must also pay a fine of 45,000 euros ($49,000) for sharing a video calling for a "black day for the Jews", the Nice criminal court ruled.

England great Wayne Rooney was fired as the manager of second-tier club Birmingham on Tuesday after 15 games.

Rooney earned only two wins since his controversial appointment in October. Birmingham was sixth in the Championship when he started, and has fallen to 20th.

Mohamed Salah headed off to the Africa Cup of Nations on the back of a starring role for Liverpool in its 4-2 win over Newcastle that opened up a three-point lead in the English Premier League on Monday.

An individual performance that started with his latest failure from the penalty spot ended with Salah scoring Liverpool's first and last goals and having a hand in the other two for his team in a chaotic game in wet and wild conditions at Anfield. All of the goals came in an end-to-end second half.

Rafael Nadal showed no signs of rust from his year off the tour, winning his return match over former No. 3-ranked Dominic Thiem 7-5, 6-1 at the Brisbane International on Tuesday.

The 22-time major winner hadn't played a singles match at the elite level since a second-round exit at the Australian Open last January.