THE Zamboanga City MLV Valientes will finally experience playing for a professional homegrown league in the Philippines.

It was clear from the outset that Naomi Osaka planned to stay in the bubble environment at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the entire fortnight. As she prepped for the 2020 United States (US) Open, she strove to embrace its uniqueness; she pledged to wear a mask,  bearing the name of a victim of police brutality to every match. Certainly, it showed her willingness to flex her muscles off the court, first made evident when she sat out the semifinal of the Western & Southern Open the week before to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake. More importantly, it underscored her self-assurance in likewise making a difference with a racket in hand; the fact that she brought seven masks with her meant she believed she would be able to stick around all the way to the final.

OG ANUNOBY nailed a go-ahead 3-pointer with 57.5 seconds left in double overtime as the Toronto Raptors held on to beat the Boston Celtics 125-122 Wednesday night to force Game 7 in their Eastern Conference semifinal series near Orlando.

WHEN Maharlika Football Club plays its maiden season in the Philippines Football League expect it looking to make things happen both on and off the field, anchored on its vision of putting to the fore the love for the sport.

THE National Basketball Association’s return to local television is proving to be a success as it reported a significant increase in TV ratings in the Philippines.

THE productive partnership between Januarius Holdings, Inc. and the University of the Philippines (UP) men’s basketball team is further shored up after the parties recently extended their linkup for the next two years.

NEW YORK — Second seed Dominic Thiem delivered a sublime performance to dismantle Australian Alex de Minaur 6-1 6-2 6-4 on Wednesday and canter into the semi-finals of the US Open.

FORMER NBA Finals MVP Chauncey Billups is a candidate for the Indiana Pacers coaching job, ESPN reported Wednesday night.

The Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers of the Philippines, Inc. (IIEE) is hosting the first online chess tournament dubbed as “N1 IIEE Chess Olympiad 2020” on Sept. 11 to Oct. 30 using LiChess Team Battle and results to be posted in chess-results.com. The tournament will be played by 20 teams from all over the Philippines and six team from Middle East Asia.

A LOOSE and confident Victoria Azarenka overpowered Elise Mertens 6-1 6-0 on Wednesday to advance to the semi-finals of the US Open where she will face a familiar foe in Serena Williams.

To argue that the Celtics went all in yesterday would be an understatement. They most definitely wanted to put the game away. Up three to two in their semifinal round series, they understood the importance of taking advantage of the opportunity they had to advance to the conference finals on their first try. Even as they had a cushion, they knew all bets were going to be off with a loss. Being forced to prevail in a Game Seven against the gritty Raptors was a risk they did not want to take. And so they put everything on the line — so much that they went the final 22 minutes and 23 and a half seconds of the set-to without a substitution.

JIMMY Butler totaled 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and the fifth-seeded Miami Heat used stingy defense to knock the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks out of the playoffs with a 103-94 Game 5 victory Tuesday night to win its Eastern Conference semifinal series 4-1 at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando.