Sports News Roundup: Hat-trick of stage victories for Demare; King Nadal downs Schwartzman to reach 13th French Open final and more

Negatives in New England, Nashville positive for NFL Week 5 Zero positive COVID-19 results from Thursday testing indicate Week 5 will move forward with an adjusted schedule, according to multiple reports Friday. The 25-year-old American, a three-time World Cup overall champion who last raced in January, said she tweaked her back skiing last week.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Hat-trick of stage victories for Demare on Giro d'Italia

French champion Arnaud Demare claimed his third stage win in this year's Giro d'Italia when he prevailed at a canter in the seventh stage, a 143-km ride between Mantera and Brindisi on Friday. Demare, who had already won the fourth and sixth stages, benefitted from a perfect lead-out by his Groupama-FDJ team mates to beat triple world champion Peter Sagan by a bike length.

King Nadal downs Schwartzman to reach 13th French Open final

Rafael Nadal moved within one win of a record-equalling 20th Grand Slam title by reaching the French Open final with a comfortable 6-3 6-3 7-6(0) victory over Diego Schwartzman on Friday. Nadal was beaten by the 12th seed a little over two weeks ago on the claycourts in Rome but the 12-time French Open champion showed he was still the undisputed king of Roland Garros as he notched up a 10th win in 11 meetings over the Argentine.

Tokyo marathon 2021 postponed until after Olympics due to COVID-19 concerns

Next year's Tokyo marathon has been rescheduled from March to until after the delayed Olympics due to the ongoing concerns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, organisers said on Friday https://www.marathon.tokyo/en/news/detail/news_001791.html. The race was originally scheduled to take place on March 7 and was expected to allow around 38,000 runners to participate.

Negatives in New England, Nashville positive for NFL Week 5

Zero positive COVID-19 results from Thursday testing indicate Week 5 will move forward with an adjusted schedule, according to multiple reports Friday. There are potential snafus to the NFL's Week 5 lineup.

MLB playoff roundup: Dodgers, Braves, Astros advance

Will Smith had a Dodgers playoff-record five hits and drove in three runs as Los Angeles routed the San Diego Padres 12-3 on Thursday in Arlington, Texas, to complete a three-game sweep in their best-of-five National League Division Series. The Dodgers will face the Atlanta Braves, who completed a three-game sweep of the Miami Marlins earlier Thursday, in the best-of-seven NL Championship Series starting Monday in Arlington.

Jets close facility after presumptive positive test

The New York Jets sent players and coaches home and closed their practice facility on Friday after a presumptive positive COVID-19 test, multiple outlets reported. The person with the presumptive positive is believed to be a player. He is being tested again to verify the result.

Teenager Swiatek's handling of pressure key in Paris final

Recent history in women's Grand Slam finals suggest that Iga Swiatek's lack of experience might not be a problem when she takes on Sofia Kenin in the French Open final, yet Roland Garros can be tough on the youngsters. Naomi Osaka beat Serena Williams in the 2018 U.S. Open final, then Petra Kvitova at the 2019 Australian Open with Simona Halep beating Williams in last year's Wimbledon showdown.

China's CCTV sports channel to show NBA games from Saturday: state media

Chinese state television said on Friday that it will resume airing National Basketball Association (NBA) games on its sports channel on the morning of Oct. 10, almost a year after it halted broadcasts of the competition following a diplomatic spat. The broadcaster stopped showing NBA games last October after a Houston Rockets executive tweeted support for Hong Kong protesters last year.

Alpine skiing-Shiffrin to miss World Cup season opener with back issue

Double Olympic gold medallist Mikaela Shiffrin said on Friday she will miss next week's World Cup season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria with a back injury. The 25-year-old American, a three-time World Cup overall champion who last raced in January, said she tweaked her back skiing last week.

COVID and ice hockey: outbreaks chill Nordic national pastime

Health authorities in Sweden and Finland are looking into a series of COVID-19 outbreaks on ice hockey teams that are believed to be one of the drivers of a sharp increase in new cases in the two hockey-loving countries. The day after Swedish ice hockey team BIK Karlskoga defeated Vasteras in a game in late September, one of its players complained of a fever. Three days later, half of Karlskoga's players and staff had tested positive for COVID-19 along with six players on Vasteras.