Fourth seed Osaka, who won the first of two consecutive Grand Slam titles two years ago in New York, fired 35 winners and had 17 unforced errors as steady rain pounded on the roof of an otherwise quiet Arthur Ashe Stadium. Osaka will play either third seed Serena Williams or former world number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the final.
* Lionel Messi can play in Argentina's opening World Cup qualifier next month because the statute of limitations has run out on the ban he was given during last year's Copa America, the president of the Argentine Football Association said on Thursday.
* Croatia's Mate Pavic and Brazil's Bruno Soares captured the US Open men's doubles crown with a 7-5 6-3 win over eighth seeds Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Nikola Mektic of Croatia on Thursday.
* French champions Paris St Germain, missing several players who tested positive for COVID-19, lost 1-0 at RC Lens in their first Ligue 1 game of the season on Thursday after a terrible error by goalkeeper Marcin Bulka. PSG were without several players due to positive tests for the virus including world record signing Neymar and France striker Kylian Mbappe.
* Brazilian daredevil Maya Gabeira has improved her own world record for the biggest wave surfed by a woman, riding a 22.4m giant at Portugal's Nazare and overshadowing the top male surfers in the process.
* Seven-times MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi has dismissed speculation he will be retiring from the sport at the end of the season, saying he is on the verge of signing a new deal with Petronas Yamaha. Rossi, 41, will leave the Yamaha factory team at the end of the season but is poised for a seat at the satellite Petronas Yamaha outfit in a straight swap with young Frenchman Fabio Quartararo.
* Britain's former undisputed world middleweight champion Alan Minter has died at the age of 69, the British Boxing Board of Control said on Thursday.
* Borussia Dortmund have committed to launching a new women's team for the 2021-22 season, the German Bundesliga club said on Thursday. Dortmund hope to lay the foundations for their women's program over the next few months, and will start the 2021-22 season at the Kreisliga B level, the eighth tier of German women's football.
* After two agonising near misses, Swiss Marc Hirschi finally claimed his maiden Tour de France win, and his first as a professional, when he completed a solo break to take the 12th stage on Thursday.
* Moto2 Championship contender Jorge Martin is among two individuals who have returned positive tests for COVID-19, organisers said on Thursday. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider is self-isolating and will miss this weekend's Misano round of the second-tier championship, in line with the protocols set by the race organisers.
* Four new tournaments were added to the provisional ATP calendar for the remainder of the 2020 season while the WTA added an event in the Czech Republic in October, the men's and women's tours announced on Thursday.
* This year's edition of Asia's second-tier AFC Cup club competition has been cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the continent's governing body for soccer said in a statement on Thursday.
* Napoli president and owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has tested positive for COVID-19, the Serie A club said in a statement on Thursday. The club said he returned a positive result in a test carried out on Wednesday, but gave no further details.
* Four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel will race for Aston Martin, the new name for the Canadian-owned Racing Point team, on a multi-year deal after leaving Ferrari at the end of the season. The 33-year-old German replaces Mexican Sergio Perez, whose departure at the end of the 2020 season was announced on Wednesday.
