Tuesday Sports in Brief

TENNIS

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Top-ranked Ash Barty was upset by Karolina Muchova in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open.

Seeded No. 25, Muchova earned her first semifinal berth in a Grand Slam. Her 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 comeback win ended Barty’s bid to become the first Australian woman to win the title in Melbourne since Chris O’Neil in 1978.

Muchova’s next opponent will be Jennifer Brady. The 22-seeded Brady reached her second consecutive Grand Slam semifinal by beating fellow American and good friend Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

MLB

A five-person panel of Major League Baseball players, coaches and executives discussed ways to get more Black people involved at all levels of the sport.

The conversation was streamed Tuesday on MLB.com. The group talked about ways to make current Black MLB players more visible in communities. They also talked about ways to make MLB more diverse at the sport’s upper levels, including managers and executives.

The number of Black players in MLB has been dwindling for years, hovering around 8% of the league in recent seasons.

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Bullpen coach Matt Wise will serve as the Los Angeles Angels’ interim pitching coach, replacing the suspended Mickey Callaway.

Manager Joe Maddon announced his plan Tuesday. New Angels executive Dom Chiti will fill in as Maddon’s bullpen coach while the investigation of Callaway is concluded.

Callaway, the former New York Mets manager and Cleveland pitching coach, is being investigated by Major League Baseball over allegations of inappropriate behavior toward several women who work in sports media.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Former All-Star center fielder Odubel Herrera was among 31 non-roster players the Philadelphia Phillies have invited to spring training.

Herrera, who will earn $10 million this season, hasn’t played for the Phillies since 2019 when he was suspended under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.

The charges against Herrera were dismissed but he was removed from the team’s 40-man roster last year and wasn’t part of the 60-player pool for the shortened season.

NBA

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota Timberwolves point guard D’Angelo Russell will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and be sidelined for four to six weeks, the team announced Tuesday.

Russell, who has missed the last three games due to soreness in his left leg, was diagnosed with a loose body in his knee. The procedure will take place Wednesday.

Russell is averaging 19.3 points and 5.1 assists this season on 42.6% shooting.

NEW YORK (AP) - New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson will be out until after next month’s All-Star break after having surgery Tuesday to repair a broken right hand.

The Knicks said Robinson had the procedure at the Hospital for Special Surgery and would be reevaluated after the All-Star break, which is scheduled for March 5-10.

Robinson was hurt last Friday in Washington when he banged his hand trying to block a shot.

NFL

MIAMI (AP) - Kicker Jason Sanders, the Dolphins’ leader in career field goal percentage, signed a $22 million extension through 2026. The deal announced Tuesday includes $10 million guaranteed.

Sanders was chosen All-Pro after tying the franchise’s single-season points record with 144 in 2020. His 36 field goals made ranked second in the NFL and second in Dolphins history, and his field goal rate of 92% was a team record.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - The Carolina Panthers are releasing two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kawann Short, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the team has not announced the decision, which does not come as a surprise.

Short has played in just five games over the last two seasons due to injuries to both shoulders, which twice landed him on injured reserve.

Before the injuries, the 32-year-old Short was a force in the middle, with 270 tackles and 32 1/2 sacks in his first six seasons with the Panthers.

AUTO RACING

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Longtime racing announcer Bob Jenkins said he plans to scale back his work at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this May as he undergoes radiation and chemotherapy treatment for brain cancer.

The 73-year-old Jenkins made the announcement Tuesday near the end of a 24-minute video posted on the speedway’s YouTube account.

In it, Jenkins explained how he woke up with a severe headache on Christmas night and drove to a hospital. Doctors initially thought Jenkins had suffered a stroke, but a further examination revealed two malignant tumors in his right temple.

OLYMPICS

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - A global boxing qualifying tournament for the Tokyo Olympics has been canceled and a European event was postponed from April to June.

The International Olympic Committee said Tuesday plans were changed because of “current challenges to international travel and related restrictions in many countries” during the coronavirus pandemic.

Boxers worldwide were to compete for 53 places in the Tokyo lineup at a tournament in Paris in June. Those places will now be allocated equally across continents by world rankings based on results since 2017, the IOC said.

COURTS

CLEVELAND (AP) - The Black owner of 14 McDonald’s franchises says the company has shown more favorable treatment to white owners and denied him the opportunity to buy restaurants in more affluent communities, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Youngstown.

The lawsuit filed by Herbert Washington, a former Michigan State track star who played for parts of two seasons with the Oakland Athletics in the mid-1970s, said the Chicago-based company’s discriminatory practices has led to a $700,000 sales gap between Black-owned franchises and those owned by white people.

Franchises in low-income neighborhoods cost more to operate, have higher employee turnover and are not as profitable, the lawsuit said.

GENEVA (AP) - Prosecutors in Switzerland have appealed against federal court verdicts that cleared former FIFA official Jérôme Valcke of bribery and acquitted Qatari soccer and broadcasting executive Nasser al-Khelaïfi on a lesser charge.

The Swiss attorney general’s office said Tuesday it appealed to the Court of Appeal of the Federal Criminal Court against a ruling given in October.

Al-Khelaïfi, the president of Champions League runner-up Paris Saint-Germain and a member of UEFA’s executive committee, had denied a single charge of inciting Valcke to commit aggravated criminal mismanagement while FIFA’s secretary general.

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