Harris stuns top-seeded Thiem in Dubai opener
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — South African qualifier Lloyd Harris stunned U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-4 in the Austrian’s opening match at the Dubai Championships on Tuesday.
More tennis: Rafael Nadal withdrew from next week’s Miami Open because of a bad back . ... Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova eased into the second round of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy 6-4, 6-4 as teenager Clara Tauson’s 13-match winning streak came to a halt.
Autos: Bill Lester, one of only a handful of Black drivers to ever race full-time in NASCAR, will return to competition 14 years after his last start. Lester, 60, will drive for David Gilliland Racing on Saturday in the Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Hockey: Defenseman and team captain Timur Faizutdinov ,a 19-year-old Russian player, has died after being struck in the head by the puck during a playoff game. He was wearing a helmet.
Cycling: Tadej Pogacar won the weeklong Tirreno-adriatico race by a comfortable margin after placing fourth in the concluding time trial.
Sailing: Team New Zealand, the America’s Cup defender, finished 30 seconds ahead of Italian challenger Luna Rossa to take a 6-3 in the first-to-seven-win series.
Soccer: Zlatan Ibrahimovic has come out of international retirement at the age of 39 and is set to play for Sweden for the first time since the European Championship in 2016 for the team’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers . ... Neymar will miss Paris Saintgermain’s match against Lille in the French Cup on Wednesday while he continues to recover from a left thigh injury . ... Kevin De Bruyne’s blistering strike set Manchester City on its way to a 2-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach and a place in the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the fourth straight season . ... Real Madrid defeated Atalanta 3-1 to return to the Champions League quarterfinals after two consecutive eliminations in the last 16.
Tobias Harris scored 30 points, Seth Curry had 20 and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the New York Knicks 99-96 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight win.
The Sixers (28-12) maintained their grip atop the Eastern Conference standings in large part because Harris got hot in the final minutes. He scored seven straight points, including the tying bucket from 3 feet out and a go-ahead layup that made it 96-92. He then walked off the court yelling “I’m an All-star!” Harris believed he should have joined teammates Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid in Atlanta.
Simmons had 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Julius Randle had 19 points and 16 rebounds for the Knicks, and RJ Barrett scored 17 points.
Jazz 117, Celtics 109: Donovan Mitchell had eight of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and Utah hit 19 3-pointers to beat Boston. Boston led by as many as 11 in the first half before fading down the stretch. Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 29 points and Jaylen Brown added 28.
Hawks 119, Rockets 107: Danilo Gallinari scored 20 of his 29 points in the first half and Atlanta beat Houston, dealing the Rockets a franchise recordtying 17th straight loss. Shenendehowa graduate Kevin Huerter added 16 points for the Hawks.
Heat 113, Cavaliers 98:
Jimmy Butler had 28 points and 12 rebounds, Bam Adebayo returned from a knee issue and finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and the Heat eased past Cleveland.
Bulls 123, Thunder 102: Zach Lavine scored 40 points on 15-for-20 shooting, and Chicago got its second straight win.