Serena in quick win at French
Serena Williams dominated for stretches against 11th-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany, playing cleanly right from the start of a 6-3, 6-4 tour de force at the French Open that lasted a mere 75 minutes Saturday and lacked much in the way of theatrics.
Waiting for Williams as she competes in a major tournament for the first time in 16 months — and since giving birth in September — will be a familiar foe, Maria Sharapova.
The 36-year-old Williams set up that showdown by making only three unforced errors in the opening set against Goerges, 12 in all. She won 12 consecutive points on her serve during one run.
The most anticipated matchup for a quarterfinal spot at Roland Garros will pit 23-time major champion Williams against five-time major champion Sharapova on Monday.
Sharapova advanced Saturday with a similarly lopsided win hours earlier, beating 2016 U.S. Open runner-up Karolina Pliskova, 6-2, 6-1.
NYCFC BOOTS ORLANDO
Ismael Tajouri-Shradi scored two goals to lead New York City FC to a 3-0 win over Orlando SC at Yankee Stadium.
The Libyan winger took a pass from Anton Tinnerholm in space, cut the ball to his left foot and tucked it inside the far post to make it 1-0 in the 35th minute.
Tajouri-Shradi added an insurance goal in the 79th minute by threading a free kick through a crowd of defenders.
Teal Bunbury scored his eighth goal of the season at the 78th minute off Cristian Penilla’s cross to send New England past the Red Bulls, 2-1. Bradley Wright-Phillips gave the Red Bulls a quick 1-0 lead in the eighth minute on a header.
LIBERTY WINS
Kia Nurse scored a career-high 34 points and Tina Charles added 23 and grabbed 10 rebounds and the Liberty held off a late Indiana rally with an 87-81 overtime road win.
KISON DEAD
Bruce Kison, a former relief pitcher who won a pair of World Series titles with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1970s and later became a coach and a scout, has died. He was 68.
Kison, who had been battling cancer, was a right-hander who pitched for the Pirates from 1971 to ’79, winning the World Series in his first and final seasons with the team.