Reuters Sports News Summary

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs. Wide receiver Brown denies report of pending deal to Bills

The Pittsburgh Steelers might be ready to trade wide receiver Antonio Brown to the Buffalo Bills. Or maybe not. Osaka a Barbie girl, in a tennis world

Naomi Osaka, whose meteoritic rise to the top of the tennis world over the past year has included two Grand Slam titles and the world number one ranking, on Thursday said the newly unveiled Barbie in her likeness was another big honor. The 21-year-old told reporters she played with the famous Mattel dolls as a child and was proud to be part of the company's 60th anniversary campaign, which includes a more racially diverse set of figurines. Tennis: Venus overcomes illness to advance at Indian Wells

Venus Williams played through illness to win a seesaw opening round match against German Andrea Petkovic 6-4 0-6 6-3 at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday. Williams, who said she was not feeling 100 percent, saved her best tennis for the biggest moments, breaking Petkovic for a sixth time in the final game to make up for a dismal second set. Sports writing legend Dan Jenkins, author of 'Semi-Tough,' dies at 89

Dan Jenkins, who specialized in covering golf and football on the pages of Sports Illustrated and in making readers laugh with satirical sports novels such as "Semi-Tough" and "Dead Solid Perfect," has died at the age of 89. Jenkins' literary agent, Esther Newberg, told Reuters in an email on Friday that Jenkins' death on Thursday was a result of him falling and breaking his hip last week at his home in Fort Worth, Texas. NHL roundup: Wild snap Lightning's home win streak

Minnesota goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 25 saves and Jason Zucker scored a hat trick as the visiting Wild cooled off Tampa Bay in a 3-0 win on Thursday, breaking the Lightning's eight-game home winning streak. Dubnyk recorded his second shutout this season and the 31st of his career and improved to 6-0-1 in his last seven starts for the Wild. The Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots and saw his 10-game winning streak end. Maradona to legally recognize three children he has in Cuba: Argentine lawyer

Argentina's 1986 World Cup soccer winning captain Diego Maradona has three children in Cuba and will travel to the country to legally recognize them, his lawyer told Argentine media. Maradona, 58, now a technical director at Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa, has five children from other relationships with different women. Tennis: Stephens swatted aside by Vogele at Indian Wells

Swiss qualifier Stefanie Vogele stunned world number four Sloane Stephens with a 6-3 6-0 win in their second-round match at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday as the American struggled amid gusting winds in the Southern California desert. Vogele needed just over an hour to dispatch the fourth-seeded Stephens and push her overall record to 4-1 against the 2017 U.S. Open champion, who failed to make it past the tournament's third round last year. NHL: Mobile games company Playtika becomes partner of Canadiens

Leading mobile games company Playtika has become a partner of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens, the company announced. Playtika also is the main sponsor of the Spanish soccer club Sevilla FC. World champion U.S. women's soccer players sue federation for gender discrimination

The U.S. women's national soccer team sued the U.S. Soccer Federation on Friday with allegations of gender discrimination just three months before they open their World Cup title defense in France. All 28 members of the United States squad were named as plaintiffs in federal court in Los Angeles on International Women's Day and the lawsuit includes complaints about wages and nearly every other aspect of their working conditions. NBA: Former Air Force Lieutenant flying high as head of NBA referees

Retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Michelle Johnson has reached the upper echelons of two very different but equally male-dominated fields and credits her decorated military career with helping her serve as the NBA's head of referee operations. Johnson, who was the first woman to lead the U.S. Air Force Academy and one of the top women’s basketball players in school history, had no previous NBA experience when the league named her senior vice president and head of referee operations in 2017