President Joe Biden has honored NCAA basketball champs South Carolina and Connecticut with White House celebrations to mark the programs' latest title runs. Biden at a Tuesday morning celebration credited South Carolina for sparking a surge of interest in women’s sports. It was the tenth women’s program in NCAA history to go undefeated and head coach Dawn Staley’s third championship with the Gamecocks since 2017.  South Carolina’s unblemished year came even after Staley lost all five starters from her 2023 team. Later in the day, Biden feted UConn coach Dan Hurley’s men’s team that went 37-3 in winning its second straight title.

Joey Logano raced his way into the second round of NASCAR's playoffs by winning the opener in overtime at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Logano is the only two-time Cup Series champion in the 16-driver playoff field. He earned an automatic berth into the next round of races. His victory came in the 11th race of this season to end in overtime — a tie for the record set in the 2017 season. Ryan Blaney finished second in a 1-2 sweep for Team Penske and Ford. Blaney lined up behind Logano and gave him the pushes he needed to deny Daniel Suarez the victory.

Joey Logano raced his way into the second round of NASCAR's playoffs by winning the opener in overtime at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Logano is the only two-time Cup Series champion in the 16-driver playoff field. He earned an automatic berth into the next round of races. His victory came in the 11th race of this season to end in overtime — a tie for the record set in the 2017 season. Ryan Blaney finished second in a 1-2 sweep for Team Penske and Ford. Blaney lined up behind Logano and gave him the pushes he needed to deny Daniel Suarez the victory.

Justin Fields stepped in to lead the Steelers to a 18-10 victory over the Atlanta Falcons with Russell Wilson’s Pittsburgh debut put on hold by a calf injury. He got a big assist from Chris Boswell’s strong right leg. Boswell booted six field goals, three of them longer than 50 yards, and the Steelers made life miserable for Kirk Cousins in his first game as Atlanta’s big-money quarterback. Boswell connected from 57, 56, 51, 44, 40 and 25 yards to account for all the Steelers’ scoring. Pittsburgh kept the play-calling close to the vest under new coordinator Arthur Smith, who was fired in January after three seasons as Atlanta’s head coach. Cousins passed for just 155 yards and was picked off twice in Raheem Morris' first game as Falcons coach.

Sean Murphy’s infield ground ball with the bases loaded scored a sliding Eli White in the 11th inning, and the Atlanta Braves rallied for a gritty 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Braves now have 12 extra-inning wins, which leads the big leagues. They took two of three games from the Blue Jays and are tied with the New York Mets for the final wild card in a tight National League playoff race. Atlanta got another brilliant outing from left-hander Chris Sale, who pitched six shutout innings.

Jannik Sinner has defeated Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 with a relentless baseline game to win the U.S. Open men’s championship less than three weeks after being exonerated in a doping case. The No. 1-ranked Sinner is a 23-year-old from Italy whose victory Sunday gave him the second Grand Slam trophy of his nascent career. The other was at the Australian Open in January. Sinner also prevented No. 12 Fritz from ending a major title drought for American men that has lasted 21 years. Andy Roddick’s triumph at Flushing Meadows in 2003 was the last Slam title for a man from the United States.

Jannik Sinner has defeated Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 with a relentless baseline game to win the U.S. Open men’s championship less than three weeks after being exonerated in a doping case. The No. 1-ranked Sinner is a 23-year-old from Italy whose victory Sunday gave him the second Grand Slam trophy of his nascent career. The other was at the Australian Open in January. Sinner also prevented No. 12 Fritz from ending a major title drought for American men that has lasted 21 years. Andy Roddick’s triumph at Flushing Meadows in 2003 was the last Slam title for a man from the United States.

This time it really is au revoir. A summer sporting bonanza which started under pouring rain on July 26 with a remarkable opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics on the Seine River ended Sunday with the Paralympics closing ceremony at a rain-soaked Stade de France. It lowered the curtain on successful back-to-back Games that captivated fans and raised the bar high for others to follow, including Los Angeles in 2028. As the stadium was lit up in the colors of the French flag a trumpet player played the national anthem “La Marseillaise” and Paralympic flagbearers made their way into the stadium. Later on famed French electronic music composer Jean-Michel Jarre closed out the ceremony with a giant open-air dance party.

Derek Carr passed for three touchdowns and the New Orleans Saints scored on their first nine possessions in a 47-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers. Alvin Kamara and Jamaal Williams each ran for touchdowns and Blake Grupe kicked four field goals in an extraordinary debut for new Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. The season opener could not have gone much worse for new Carolina coach Dave Canales. Second-year quarterback Bryce Young was 13 of 30 passing for 161 yards, was intercepted twice and sacked four times. Carr's first TD pass was a 59-yarder to Rashid Shaheed on the game's first series.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Quinn Ewers threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 3 Texas beat No. 10 Michigan 31-12 on Saturday.

The best year of Daniel Suarez’s life began in February when he won the NASCAR Mexico race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, an event essentially staged with Suarez as the star. Later that month came the closest finish in NASCAR history, a photo-finish victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway that locked Suarez into the playoffs after a one-year absence. In the six or so months since, Suarez became an American citizen, got married, built a house and was the guest of honor in Mexico City last week when NASCAR said it would race there next year in the first international Cup Series event of the modern era. And now it is back to Atlanta, where NASCAR’s 10-race playoffs begin with Suarez back in the championship hunt after missing the field a year ago.

Taylor Fritz can end a Grand Slam drought for American men by beating Jannik Sinner in the U.S. Open men's final on Sunday. The last major singles title for a man from the United States was won by Andy Roddick at Flushing Meadows in 2003. Roddick was also the last U.S. man to appear in the final in New York, in 2006, and the last to participate in any Slam final, in 2009. The 12th-seeded Fritz is a 26-year-old from California. The No. 1-ranked Sinner is playing in his second major title match of the season after winning the Australian Open in January.

Jessica Pegula will take on Aryna Sabalenka in the U.S. Open women's final on Saturday. It is the sixth-seeded Pegula's first Grand Slam title match. The second-seeded Sabalenka is seeking her third major title after winning the past two trophies at the Australian Open. Sabalenka also reached the final at Flushing Meadows last year before losing to Coco Gauff. Pegula is 30, making her the oldest American woman to reach her first Slam final in the Open era. Sabalenka is a 26-year-old from Belarus. Pegula has won 15 of her most recent 16 matches, all on hard courts. The lone loss in that span came against Sabalenka.

Whit Merrifield got lucky. He wasn’t seriously injured when a 95-mph fastball struck him in the head. Still, the Atlanta Braves second baseman is downright livid about the state of pitching in the big leagues, saying it’s only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or even killed. Merrifield says there must be some ramifications for hard-throwing pitchers who "don’t care where the ball goes.” Merrifield was struck behind the right ear with a pitch from Jeff Criswell in the seventh inning of Atlanta’s 3-0 victory. Fortunately, the ball appeared to catch a bit of Merrifield’s helmet, though he was still forced to leave the game.

Tyler Reddick was so ill at Darlington Speedway that he was desperate to expel his stomach virus during the race because he didn’t think he could make it the 500 miles to the finish. But the regular-season title was on the line with a bonus worth 15 playoff points. So Reddick was determined to stay in the car even if it meant getting sick in his firesuit or his helmet. He did neither, completing the race and beating Kyle Larson by one point for the regular-season title.

Frances Tiafoe has reached the U.S. Open semifinals for the second time in three years when his quarterfinal opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, stopped playing because of an injury in the fourth set. Tiafoe was leading 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-1 Tuesday night when Dimitrov retired from the match. Tiafoe advances to an all-American semifinal against Taylor Fritz, guaranteeing the United States a representative in the men’s final. Fritz eliminated No. 4 Alexander Zverev in four sets earlier Tuesday to get to a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time.

Florida State has fallen out of The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll after starting the season 0-2. The Seminoles are just the third team to go from preseason top 10 to unranked in the first regular-season poll since the rankings expanded to 25 in 1989. Georgia and Ohio State reamin 1-2 after comfortable wins to open the season. No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama each moved up a spot, putting three Southeastern Conference teams in the top four along with Georgia. Notre Dame moved up to No. 5.

Top-seeded Jannik Sinner has reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals by beating No. 14 Tommy Paul 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-1. Sinner shook off a slow start Monday night and came through in the clutch at the end of tiebreakers that decided the first two sets. Sinner is two weeks removed from being cleared in a doping case stemming from two positive tests in March. He moved into a showdown against 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev, the last past winner at Flushing Meadows still in the men’s field. Sinner is a 23-year-old from Italy who claimed his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January by defeating Medvedev in the final in five sets after dropping the first two.

Jessica Pegula is back in the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open after a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Diana Shnaider. Monday's win put Pegula in her seventh Grand Slam quarterfinal. Now comes the hard part: Pegula is 0-6 at that stage over her career, and she plays No. 1 Iga Swiatek on Wednesday. The No. 6-seeded Pegula is on quite a run at the moment, having won 13 of her past 14 matches, all on hard courts. That included her second consecutive title in Canada and an appearance in the final at the Cincinnati Open, where she lost to No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka. Also reaching the quarterfinals were Karolina Muchova, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev, Alex de Minaur and Jack Draper.

Chase Briscoe went three-wide to pass Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain for the lead, then outran two-time series champion Kyle Busch to win the Southern 500 and make the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Briscoe pulled away on a final restart with 17 laps in the regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway and held off Busch, who like Briscoe needed a victory to reach the postseason. Briscoe gave Stewart-Haas team a final chance to compete for a title. The program announced its closure this season.

Scottie Scheffler has polished off the best year in golf in nearly two decades with the biggest prize. He had a few nervous moments at the Tour Championship until running off three straight birdies around the turn at East Lake and pulling away from Collin Morikawa. That made Scheffler the FedEx Cup champion with its $25 million bonus. Scheffler won seven times on the PGA Tour and an Olympic gold medal. The eight victories are the most since Tiger Woods won eight times in 2006. The FedEx Cup bonus pushed his season earnings to just over $62.2 million.

Scottie Scheffler has polished off the best year in golf in nearly two decades with the biggest prize. He had a few nervous moments at the Tour Championship until running off three straight birdies around the turn at East Lake and pulling away from Collin Morikawa. That made Scheffler the FedEx Cup champion with its $25 million bonus. Scheffler won seven times on the PGA Tour and an Olympic gold medal. The eight victories are the most since Tiger Woods won eight times in 2006. The FedEx Cup bonus pushed his season earnings to just over $62.2 million.

Grigor Dimitrov withstood Andrey Rublev’s comeback attempt and returned to the U.S. Open quarterfinals with a 6-3, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory. The No. 9 seed started fast Sunday in the first meeting of top-10 seeds in this year’s tournament against Rublev, who smashed his racket against his left hand in the first set, then required medical attention from a trainer. Dimitrov won the final six points of the second-set tiebreaker before Rublev, the No. 6 seed, charged back in the third and fourth sets. Then, with Serena Williams watching from inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, Dimitrov regained control to reach his eighth Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Helmet communication has come to major college football, with one player — the quarterback on offense, typically the on-field play-caller on defense — being able to hear voice instructions from the sideline until 15 seconds remains on the play clock. It’s a new option for this season after being experimented with for bowl games a year ago, and in theory it’ll replace signs being sent in from the sideline through hand signals. In Week 1, the returns were mixed, with many liking the new toys and others frustrated by bugs in the system.