Sports News Roundup: Tennis-Sabalenka says WTA doing its best to support players amid tensions due to war; Motor racing-'No grouch' if Hamilton looks elsewhere in future, says Wolff and more

Former U.S. Open champion Raducanu, now ranked 77th in the world, reached the last 16 at Indian Wells this week where she lost to world number one Iga Swiatek. Women's NCAA roundup: South Florida tops Marquette in OT Elena Tsineke's jumper with 31.2 seconds left lifted eighth-seeded South Florida to a 67-65 overtime win over ninth-seeded Marquette in the first round of the NCAA Tournament's Greenville 1 Regional on Friday in Columbia, S.C.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

NCAA Tournament roundup: Fairleigh Dickinson makes history against Purdue

For just the second time in 152 tries, a No. 16 wore the slipper perfectly against a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Sean Moore scored 19 and Grant Singleton added eight points, six rebounds, five assists, and three steals as No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson shocked No. 1 Purdue 63-58 on Friday night in an East Region first-round game in Columbus, Ohio.

Spring training roundup: Nats score 8 in ninth to beat Astros

Darren Baker hit a game-tying grand slam in the ninth inning as the Washington Nationals roared back with eight runs to beat the Houston Astros 11-7 on Friday in a spring training game in West Palm Beach, Fla. Houston entered the top of the ninth up 7-3, with Jeremy Pena earlier slugging two home runs and going 3-for-3 with three RBIs.

Tennis-Sabalenka says WTA doing its best to support players amid tensions due to war

World number two Aryna Sabalenka said the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) was doing a good job of supporting players from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus amid tensions in the locker room following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year. Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko withdrew from her match with Belarusian Sabalenka at Indian Wells due to what she said was a panic attack triggered by a chat with WTA Chief Executive Steve Simon about tennis's response to Russia's invasion.

Tennis-Raducanu out of Britain's Billie Jean King Cup squad

Emma Raducanu will not be part of Britain's Billie Jean King Cup squad to face France in the qualifiers with captain Anne Keothavong saying on Friday that the British number one was "unavailable". Former U.S. Open champion Raducanu, now ranked 77th in the world, reached the last 16 at Indian Wells this week where she lost to world number one Iga Swiatek.

Women's NCAA roundup: South Florida tops Marquette in OT

Elena Tsineke's jumper with 31.2 seconds left lifted eighth-seeded South Florida to a 67-65 overtime win over ninth-seeded Marquette in the first round of the NCAA Tournament's Greenville 1 Regional on Friday in Columbia, S.C. "What a way to start the NCAA Tournament," South Florida coach Jose Fernandez said.

Motor racing-'No grouch' if Hamilton looks elsewhere in future, says Wolff

Lewis Hamilton wants to stay at Mercedes but team boss Toto Wolff said on Friday he would have "no grouch" if the seven times Formula One world champion felt a need to look elsewhere in future. The 38-year-old Briton is out of contract at the end of the 2023 season and has not won a race since his record 103rd in December 2021, with Mercedes struggling to provide a competitive car.

Tennis-Rybakina knocks out defending champion Swiatek to reach Indian Wells final

Elena Rybakina knocked out defending champion Iga Swiatek with a 6-2 6-2 semi-final victory at Indian Wells on Friday to set up a clash against Aryna Sabalenka in the final. Two months after Rybakina knocked Swiatek out of the Australian Open in the fourth round, the Wimbledon champion once again put in an impressive display against the world number one.

Tennis-Djokovic to miss Miami Open over vaccine status, tournament director says

Novak Djokovic will miss next week's Miami Open after the Serbian was denied an exemption that would have allowed him to enter the U.S. despite not being vaccinated against COVID-19, tournament director James Blake said on Friday. "We tried to get Novak Djokovic to be allowed to get an exemption, but that wasn't able to happen," Blake told Tennis Channel.

Olympics-Keep Russian, Belarusian athletes banned-German Olympic Committee

Germany's Olympic committee (DOSB) said on Friday it was in favour of maintaining a ban of Russian and Belarusian athletes but opposed any plans to boycott the Paris 2024 Olympics over their participation. Ukraine has spearheaded a call to ban athletes from Russia and its close ally Belarus from the Paris Games next year after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in January said it was open to including them as neutrals.

Soccer-Canada's 'heartbroken' Beckie to miss World Cup after ACL injury

Canada and Portland Thorns forward Janine Beckie will miss this year's Women's World Cup after she confirmed on Friday that she has torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee. In a statement on their website, reigning National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) champions Thorns said Beckie will miss the remainder of the 2023 season and added that she will "have surgery in the coming weeks to repair the injury."

(With inputs from agencies.)