Sports
Casper Ruud advances to elusive title match at Italian Open
Casper Ruud smiles after a point over Carlos Alcaraz during their fourth-round match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., Wednesday, March 11, 2026. Norway’s Casper Ruud has finally earned a spot in the Italian Open finals.
After getting knocked out in the semis in 2020, 2022 and 2023, the clay court specialist overwhelmed Italy’s Luciano Darderi, 6-1, 6-1 in only 65 minutes on Friday in Rome.
But Ruud will have to wait until Saturday to learn his opponent’s identity. The second semifinal, between Italy’s No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner and seventh-seeded Russian Danill Medvedev, was postponed after heavy rains would not relent.
The match was halted at a dramatic moment, with Sinner leading 6-2, 5-7, 4-2, but Medvedev holding a deuce advantage on his serve. Officials waited 75 minutes until 11:00 p.m. local time before postponing the match. It will resume on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
There was also a rain delay of an hour and 59 minutes in Ruud’s win.
Ruud, seeded 23rd, will vault back up into the Top 20 after Sunday’s finals. He will climb to No. 15 with a win or No. 17 with a setback.
Darderi, the 18th seed, was clearly feeling the effects of a grueling, three-hour quarterfinal win over Spain’s Rafael Jodar on Wednesday. He did not hold serve in three opportunities in the first set and only won 40% of his first serves in a 27-minute sprint by Ruud.
The second set was more of the same, although the Italian finally held serve on his sixth service game of the match and forced Ruud to play 24 points to win the final two games.
“It feels great,” Ruud said. “I am a bit sorry for Luciano, playing at home and not with the most energy, but it is understandable, he finished at 2:30 am the other night. What a tournament he has had and luckily for me, I was done much earlier that day and had a little more time to recover.
“It is my 10th semi-final at a 1000 and his first, so you try to use that experience to your advantage and I think I did well today.”
Ruud recorded 20 winners and made 16 unforced errors, compared to nine and 23 by Darderi. He won 29 of 48 points (60%) on his opponent’s serve.
Ruud became the sixth active player to reach the finals of all three ATP events played on clay. He competed in the 2024 finals in Monte-Carlo and the 2025 title match in Madrid, where he defeated Great Britain’s Jack Draper.
He lost Italian Open semifinals to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (2020, 2022) and Denmark’s Holger Rune (2023).
Ruud has never beaten Sinner (0-4) and is 1-3 versus Medvedev.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Jackson Chourio leads way as Brewers edge Twins
May 16, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins center fielder James Outman (30) slides into third base for a triple against the Milwaukee Brewers in the seventh inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images Jackson Chourio doubled and hit a go-ahead solo shot for his first home run of the season, and the Milwaukee Brewers held on for a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday evening in Minneapolis.
Chourio had the only extra-base hits for Milwaukee, but it was all the team needed to win for the third straight game and the eighth time in their past nine games. The Brewers will look to finish off a three-game sweep over the Twins on Sunday afternoon.
Trevor Larnach hit a solo home run for Minnesota. Kody Clemens finished 2-for-4 with a double, and James Outman hit his first triple of the season.
Brewers right-hander Logan Henderson (1-1) allowed one run on six hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out seven.
Twins left-hander Connor Prielipp (1-2) took the hard-luck loss despite limiting the Brewers to two runs (one earned) on three hits in six innings. The rookie from Tomah, Wis., walked two and fanned eight against the team from his home state.
Brewers reliever Chad Patrick earned his first career save. He replaced Henderson and fired four scoreless innings, walking none and striking out three.
The Twins opened the scoring in the bottom of the third. Larnach stepped to the plate with two outs and ripped a line-drive home run over the wall in right field to make it 1-0.
Teammates pumped their fists from the dugout as Larnach circled the bases. It was Larnach’s first game in four days after he sat out because of tightness in his upper back.
The Brewers evened the score at 1-all in the top of the fourth. Brice Turang knocked a leadoff single and later came home to score on a fielding error by Twins third baseman Royce Lewis.
Milwaukee grabbed the lead in the top of the sixth. Chourio belted the first pitch he saw 400 feet to left-center field to put the Brewers on top 2-1.
The solo shot marked Chourio’s first home run in 10 games this season after he started the year on the injured list. Chourio hit 21 homers in each of his previous two seasons.
-Field Level Media
Sports
Munetaka Murakami, White Sox blast way past Cubs
May 15, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami (5) reacts before a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images Munetaka Murakami hit two home runs to lead a five-homer barrage and right-hander Davis Martin delivered six strong innings as the host Chicago White Sox defeated the Chicago Cubs 8-3 on Saturday.
The White Sox regrouped from Friday’s 10-5 loss to even the crosstown series at one game apiece while improving to 6-2 on a nine-game homestand.
Murakami, in his first major league season, highlighted the power display with his first career multi-homer game. Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery each went deep for the second straight night while Andrew Benintendi contributed his first round-tripper since April 23.
Miguel Amaya had two hits for the Cubs, including a solo homer. Pete Crow-Armstrong capped the scoring with a two-run blast in the ninth.
Vargas vaulted the White Sox to an early lead with a three-run shot in the first, jumping on a 1-1 pitch from Cubs starter Jameson Taillon.
Murakami drilled a solo shot to center with one out in the third. Montgomery followed with a solo home run two batters later.
Murakami stretched the advantage to 7-0 with a two-run blast in the fifth, his American League-leading 17th home run of the season. Benintendi chased Taillon from the game with a solo shot to open the sixth.
Martin (6-1) retired the first nine Cubs before Nico Hoerner singled to lead off the fourth. Amaya led off the sixth with a solo shot and the Cubs put two men in scoring position with one out before Martin escaped further trouble with strikeouts of Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki.
Martin spaced one run and five hits in six innings with zero walks and seven strikeouts.
Taillon fell to 2-3 after allowing a career-high five homers. He yielded eight runs on eight hits in five innings with one walk and two strikeouts.
Alex Bregman and Amaya both had two hits for the Cubs, who left seven men on base.
Sam Antonacci, Murakami and Benintendi had two hits each for the White Sox.
The game was delayed 13 minutes in the bottom of the fourth after home-plate umpire Brian O’Nora took a Jarred Kelenic foul ball off the mask near his jaw. O’Nora left the game to undergo further testing. Erich Bacchus took his place behind the plate.
–Field Level Media
Sports
NYCFC, Red Bulls play to draw in Hudson River Deby
Jun 27, 2021; Harrison, New Jersey, USA; New York City FC forward Thiago Andrade (8) plays the ball against D.C. United defender Donovan Pines (23) before scoring his goal during the second half of a game between D.C. United and NYCFC at Red Bull Arena. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images In a hotly contested Hudson River Derby, host New York Red Bulls and New York City FC battled to a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
Jorge Ruvalcaba scored for the Red Bulls (5-5-4, 19 points), and Andres Perea scored on a header off a free kick by Nicolas Fernandez for New York City (5-5-4, 19 points).
In the 44th minute, Ronald Donkor played a pass wide to Davi Alexandre, whose cross drew three defenders to Julian Hall. The pass was deflected to Ruvalcaba, who cleaned up the loose ball for a 1-0 lead.
New York City leveled the match in the 52nd minute on a set piece when Perea headed Fernandez’s free kick inside the back post.
The rivalry match heated up in the 22nd minute when twin yellow cards were issued. Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty and Agustin Ojeda collided while both tracking a soaring pass.
When Marshall-Rutty stood, he hovered over Ojeda, who sprang up and was shoved by the Red Bulls defender. Players from both clubs quickly gathered, and yellow cards were issued to Marshall-Rutty and Raul Gustavo after he joined the fray.
Second-half substitute Malachi Jones quickly made his presence felt, slicing a shot from the penalty area over the crossbar in the 47th minute.
Jones pressed again in the 59th minute, blasting a right-footed shot that forced Ethan Horvath into a diving save. Moments later, a long pass sent Jones into a 1-on-1 with Horvath, who punched away a sizzling shot.
Nicolas Fernandez’s free kick sailed through traffic in the 72nd minute. Horvath jumped into the mixer and was knocked down as the ball struck the post before being cleared.
The Red Bulls threatened in the 78th minute as Adri Mehmeti’s chip shot clipped the crossbar. Matt Freese handled Hall’s close-range shot in the 89th minute.
Horvath had five saves for the Red Bulls, while Freese was credited with three for NYCFC.
NYCFC veteran midfielder Maxi Moralez exited the match on a stretcher in the 35th minute with an apparent knee injury.
–Field Level Media
Jackson Chourio leads way as Brewers edge Twins
Moon phase today: What the Moon will look like on May 17
