Reuters Sports News Summary

Swiatek, who won her 50th match of the year in the previous round, saved four match points but was far from her best as she again exited a second tournament in the U.S. swing at the last-16 stage after last week's Canadian Open. Basketball-MVP candidate Wilson gunning to become WNBA's 'unguardable' threat The Las Vegas Aces' defensive force of nature A'ja Wilson said on Thursday that a brand-new mindset helped her to the best season of her career, as she rolls through the WNBA playoffs a leading candidate in the MVP race.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

MLB roundup: Josh Donaldson's 10th-inning slam rescues Yanks

Josh Donaldson hit a game-ending grand slam in the 10th inning and the New York Yankees came back to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-7 Wednesday night to avoid a three-game sweep. Donaldson won it when he lifted an 0-1 97 mph fastball from Jalen Beeks (2-2) to right field to complete New York's second comeback of the night and 13th walk-off win of the year.

Soccer - FIFA sells 2.45 million tickets for Qatar World Cup

Organisers have sold 2.45 million tickets for this year's World Cup in Qatar, world soccer governing body FIFA said on Thursday, with more than half a million of them sold in the last sales period from July 5-16. FIFA said the biggest number of allocated tickets were for group stage matches like Cameroon v Brazil, Brazil v Serbia, Portugal v Uruguay, Costa Rica v Germany and Australia v Denmark.

Tennis-Nadal not discouraged by losing on return, says will be ready for US Open

Rafa Nadal was not too downhearted by defeat at the Cincinnati Open on Wednesday after the Spaniard lost 7-6(9) 4-6 6-3 to Borna Coric on his return from a six-week injury layoff. Nadal, who will aim for a record-extending 23rd Gram Slam title at the U.S. Open, had not played a competitive match since pulling out of his Wimbledon semi-final against Nick Kyrgios due to an abdominal injury in early July.

Tennis-Medvedev grinds down Shapovalov in Cincinnati

World number one Daniil Medvedev wore down Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-5 7-5 on Thursday to reach the Cincinnati quarter-finals ahead of his U.S. Open title defence. Russian Medvedev suffered a jarring early exit from the Canadian Masters this month but overcame early mistakes at the tune-up tournament for the year's final major, trading breaks with Shapovalov before breaking him again in the 11th game.

Russia engaging in 'quiet' diplomacy with U.S. on Griner prisoner swap, official says

Russia's foreign ministry said on Thursday it was engaged in "quiet diplomacy" with the United States regarding a potential prisoner swap that would include basketball star Brittney Griner. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) star, was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia on drug charges on Aug. 4 in a ruling U.S. President Joe Biden called "unacceptable".

U.S. college sports league Big Ten strikes multi-year TV deals

College sports league The Big Ten Conference said on Wednesday it has struck multi-year television rights deals for its football, basketball and other intercollegiate games. The agreements with CBS, FOX, NBC and NBCUniversal's Peacock give The Big Ten, which includes football powerhouses Ohio State and University of Michigan, a solid lead in the race to capitalize on surging interest in collegiate football.

NFL - Browns' Watson to serve 11-game suspension

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will be suspended 11 games without pay and fined $5 million for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy, the league said on Thursday, a harsher punishment than the six-game ban previously recommended. An independent disciplinary officer found this month that Watson had violated league policy in "various ways". It decided he should be suspended six games but did not hand him a fine.

Tennis-Keys upsets Swiatek in Cincinnati, Kvitova ousts Jabeur

Madison Keys shocked Iga Swiatek 6-3 6-4 on Thursday to move into the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals, further disrupting the world number one's preparations for the U.S. Open. Swiatek, who won her 50th match of the year in the previous round, saved four match points but was far from her best as she again exited a second tournament in the U.S. swing at the last-16 stage after last week's Canadian Open.

Basketball-MVP candidate Wilson gunning to become WNBA's 'unguardable' threat

The Las Vegas Aces' defensive force of nature A'ja Wilson said on Thursday that a brand-new mindset helped her to the best season of her career, as she rolls through the WNBA playoffs a leading candidate in the MVP race. Averaging 19.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game in the regular season, the 2020 MVP is gunning to bring home a maiden WNBA title for the Ace, after focusing on a singular personal goal - becoming "unguardable".

Boxing-Usyk the favourite ahead of Joshua rematch

Ukraine's defending champion Oleksandr Usyk is attracting the money ahead of his "Rage on the Red Sea" heavyweight world title rematch with Britain's Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. British bookmaker William Hill had Usyk as the 4/7 favourite, with 80% of customers backing the Ukrainian to win by knockout or stoppage. Joshua was down as a 13/8 underdog, with a draw at 16/1.