SHANGHAI, China — Novak Djokovic went down in straight sets to Hubert Hurkacz on Friday, exiting the Shanghai Masters in his first match after memorably winning the China Open this week. Big-serving Hurkacz, the 2023 champion in Shanghai, won 6-4, 6-3 as the 39-year-old former world No. 1 faltered against an opponent a decade his junior. “I didn’t feel myself on the court,” the Serbian veteran said afterward. “It’s a super-quick surface, completely different from Beijing. If you lose your serve, it’s enough to lose a match.” Djokovic was playing three days after winning the title in Beijing, where he has still never lost a match on the professional Tour. He hunched over and squatted down between points on a cool evening in Shanghai while a lively Hurkacz refused to give much away. Djokovic was broken in the fourth game of the second set as he double-faulted to give Hurkacz a 3-1 lead. The Pole held his serve to see out the win and will face either Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti or Chinese wildcard Zhou Yi in the third round. “It’s very difficult to return his serve, almost impossible,” Djokovic said of his opponent, who sent down 13 aces across the one-hour-and-28-minute match. Hurkacz had advanced to the Beijing semifinals but ended his match early due to a strained muscle. It was his first-ever victory against Djokovic in nine meetings on the Tour. Earlier, top seed Alexander Zverev churned out a win over Chinese wildcard Wu Yibing, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), and will next play Quentin Halys of France. A dive left the German world No. 2 grimacing and grabbing his left ankle during the 11th game of the second set, with Wu, ranked 113th, going 6-5 up. But the 29-year-old held serve and forced a tiebreak, capitalizing on a series of errors to win on his second-match point when the home hope fired long. Zverev is on track to end the year at No. 1 after Jannik Sinner announced he was ending his season due to injury. A gritty Ben Shelton beat Germany’s Daniel Altmaier, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), and will play France’s Arthur Gea in the third round. It was a fitting present for the American third seed, who turned 24 on Friday, though he hinted he may go easy on the celebrations, telling an on-court interviewer: “I hate cake.”

RIYADH — Cristiano Ronaldo returned to club soccer action on Friday after a controversial international break with Portugal and scored the opening goal as Al-Nassr beat Diriyah, 3-0, in the Saudi Pro League. The victory put the defending champions level on points behind leader Al-Qadsiah on goal difference in the eighth round. During the international window, the 41-year-old Ronaldo walked out of the Portugal squad, for which he has scored 146 goals in 234 appearances. In a long statement posted on Tuesday, Ronaldo said recently hired coach Jorge Jesus hadn’t been true to his word about when he would play the striker in the Nations League. Ronaldo won the Saudi Arabia title in May with Jesus as Al-Nassr coach and opened the scoring on Friday midway through the first half. Kingsley Coman’s shot from outside the area was blocked by goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah and Ronaldo was there to shoot home the rebound from close range for goal No. 980 in his career. Samu Costa added a second for Al-Nassr, coached by former Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou, just before the break and Coman sealed the win with 13 minutes remaining. Al-Qadsiah earlier thrashed Al-Kholood, 5-0, with Dutch international Tijjani Reijnders opening the scoring and Italy’s Mateo Retegui and Mexico’s Julian Quinones also finding the target.

LOS ANGELES, California — The Milwaukee Brewers believe they have what it takes to squash the Los Angeles Dodgers’ World Series three-peat bid when they take on the West Coast powerhouse in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) for a second straight year. By some measures, it’s a David versus Goliath matchup of the Brewers, with their $154-million payroll, against the Dodgers’ cast of superstars, who earn $432 million. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts rejects that characterization. “Absolutely not,” Roberts said on Friday (Saturday in Manila). “They have the best record in baseball if I remember rightly,” Roberts said of the 103-win Brewers. “They have that for a reason. They’ve got home field advantage. We’ve got to be ready to play our best baseball. “They are certainly not afraid of us.” The Dodgers unceremoniously swept the Brewers in four games in the NLCS last year. But after posting the most wins in Major League Baseball (MLB) for a second straight year, the Brewers are confident they can go the distance this time around. “We’re going to be more ready than we were last time, I believe,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after Milwaukee beat the San Diego Padres, 3-1, in their best-of-five National League Division Series (NLDS). The Brewers snapped a 12-game postseason road losing streak with their clinching victory in San Diego on Wednesday — further evidence, Murphy said, that the team has evolved from being a regular-season juggernaut that can’t contend in the playoffs. “A lot of people have said we’re not built for the postseason because we’ve done so well in the regular season [without] many stars,” Murphy said. “I think we’re proving that, no, we still can win in the postseason because good baseball is good baseball.” Roberts concurred, saying the fact that the Brewers don’t rely on a lineup of power hitters doesn’t make them less dangerous. “They pitch, they defend, they run the bases well,” Roberts said. “They don’t strike out much. They put the ball in play ... they play baseball ... that’s a tough brand of baseball to prepare for.” The Brewers will host the 100-win Dodgers in Game 1 on Sunday, with Milwaukee’s flame-throwing Jacob Misiorowski set to take the mound against two-time reigning Cy Young Award-winner Tarik Skubal.

NEW YORK — Jon Rahm is quitting LIV Golf due to “unacceptable” terms, the star’s lawyer said, dealing a significant blow to the divisive breakaway tour as it attempts to relaunch itself after declaring bankruptcy. Along with Bryson DeChambeau, double major winner and former world number one Rahm was arguably the most prominent golfer to defect from the PGA Tour and join the free-spending Saudi-backed league. But LIV filed for bankruptcy protection last month after its deep-pocketed Middle Eastern backers pulled the plug. The tour is trying to relaunch next year with new investors as “LIV 2.0”. Retaining popular stars like Rahm was widely seen as critical to its prospects. “Mr. Rahm has independently reviewed the proposed terms of LIV 2.0, as the parties have been referring to it, and has determined that those terms are unacceptable as to him, and he will not be participating going forward in LIV 2.0,” his lawyer John Beck told a US Bankruptcy Court of New Jersey hearing on Wednesday. Beck said that “advanced discussions for a consensual separation agreement of Mr. Rahm and LIV” are ongoing, according to a courtroom audio recording verified by AFP. That agreement is expected to be presented before the court next month, he added. “If the parties, for whatever reason, are unable to reach a consensual separation agreement, Mr. Rahm intends to press his objection” through legal channels, said Beck. LIV Golf did not respond to an AFP request for a comment. Launched in 2022, LIV Golf’s emergence led to bitter divisions throughout the sport as several of golf’s top names left the PGA Tour after signing big-money deals. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) poured an estimated $5 billion into the tour, before abruptly pulling the plug earlier this year. Documents from bankruptcy filings show that LIV owes between $500 million and $1 billion in estimated liabilities to at least 1,000 creditors, including star players. Rahm, DeChambeau and fellow golfer Dustin Johnson hold the largest unsecured claims against the tour, totaling more than $5 million each in immediate past-due payments, per the bankruptcy filing. Still, new lead investor BC Partners Credit has pledged an initial funding commitment of a potential $300 million to help LIV relaunch in 2027. Tour officials have outlined a shorter schedule and reduced prize money with tournaments across five continents, in locations including Australia, South Africa, Mexico, England, Hong Kong and the US. Representatives for Rahm did not respond to an AFP request for a comment on the 31-year-old’s future plans. Widespread reports have recently linked several LIV stars with potential returns to the US-based PGA Tour. The PGA Tour has said that it currently has no plans to offer LIV players a pathway back. Rahm continues to play on the DP World (European) Tour, though he announced on Tuesday that he would skip the upcoming Spanish Open to attend the birth of his fourth child.

MADRID — There were many unknowns when Patrick Reed decided not to renew his contract with LIV Golf and start the long road back to the PGA Tour. One thing he was sure of, though, was that he wanted to let his “clubs do the talking” and earn his way back instead of having a spot given to him. And in a “huge year” on the European tour, Reed is closer to completing his comeback and achieving his goal. “The biggest thing for me at the start of the year when I decided not to re-sign with LIV was to try to make my way back to the PGA Tour,” he said Tuesday ahead of this week’s Spanish Open in Madrid. “The way to do that I felt was to try to play our way on. “To be able to have the start of the season I did and to basically earn my way back to the PGA Tour meant a lot to me.” The 36-year-old American split victories in Dubai and Qatar with a runner-up finish in Bahrain in February. He enters the final stretch of the year leading Rory McIlroy in the season-long Race to Dubai. The leading 10 players from the European tour are not already exempt from earning PGA Tour cards for 2027. “This was a huge year to me,” Reed said. “Not just for my career but also for my family, because I had to go earn my spot back, and to be able to go out there and earn it back and play the way I’ve been playing means a lot. And to hopefully play well these last couple of events, and hopefully hold everyone off and win the Race to Dubai, would mean a lot.”

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Australia’s Min Woo Lee moved within three shots of the lead after a “gritty” second-round performance at the US PGA Tour’s Baycurrent Classic in Japan on Friday. Lee hit six birdies and two bogeys to card a 4-under-par 67 at Yokohama Country Club, taking him to 8-under overall. Americans Keith Mitchell and Jacob Bridgeman topped the leaderboard heading into the weekend at 11-under par, two shots ahead of the chasing pack. Lee said he was “hanging in there” in a field that also includes multiple major winners: Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth. “It was pretty scrappy, but on the scoreable holes I did really well,” said Lee, who is looking for his second win on the PGA Tour. “I’m pretty happy with the way it went. It was gritty, which was good.” Defending champion Schauffele was on 3-under overall after finishing 2-under for the day. Playing partner Morikawa was one shot further back on 2-under after a disastrous end to his round that saw him hit five bogeys on the last six holes. Spieth, who is looking for his first win on the tour since April 2022, heads into the weekend on 4-under. Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama was on 3-under. Lee headed to Japan after playing at the President’s Cup last month at Medinah. His Internationals team lost after a stunning rally by the United States, but Lee said he had “learned a lot” from the tournament. “There were some times when I didn’t feel like I contributed enough, but also I felt like I did hit some really good shots and hole some good putts,” he said. “Every hole counts; you don’t want to let your team down.”

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Double major winner Collin Morikawa said that LIV Golf players have to make “a business decision” about their futures, after Jon Rahm’s lawyer said the Spanish star was quitting the breakaway tour. Rahm’s decision to leave LIV due to “unacceptable” terms deals a significant blow to the divisive tour as it attempts to relaunch itself after declaring bankruptcy. Along with Bryson DeChambeau, double major winner and former world number one Rahm was arguably the most prominent golfer to defect from the PGA Tour and join the free-spending, Saudi-backed league. But LIV filed for bankruptcy protection last month after its deep-pocketed Middle Eastern backers pulled the plug. The tour is trying to relaunch next year with new investors as “LIV 2.0”. Retaining popular stars like Rahm has been widely seen as critical to its prospects. Morikawa, in Japan, to play the PGA Tour’s Baycurrent Classic, told AFP that “everyone has their own choice to make.” “It’s a business decision; it’s a decision that a lot of guys aren’t going to take lightly,” said Morikawa. “Are you able to go to sleep at night, keep waking up motivated, doing what you love, going out and achieving your goals and whatever those goals might be? “It’s whatever platform that’s going to be best set at,” he added. Rahm’s lawyer John Beck told a US Bankruptcy Court of New Jersey hearing on Wednesday that the player would “not be participating going forward in LIV 2.0”. Beck said that “advanced discussions for a consensual separation agreement of Mr. Rahm and LIV” are ongoing, according to a courtroom audio recording verified by AFP. Morikawa said he did not know where Rahm would play in the future and added that “you don’t get many second chances in life.” “I don’t know if this is a second chance; I don’t know what opportunities they’re going to have but, at the same time, I think you’re going to see a lot of them play on the DP World,” he said. “I don’t know about the top guys, but you’re going to see a lot of them potentially go over there. “It’s going to strengthen world golf.” The PGA has no plans to offer LIV players a pathway back, chief executive officer Brian Rolapp said in August. While the PGA Tour offered a temporary path back for some LIV players — five-time major winner Brooks Koepka in January took advantage, paying financial penalties — no repeats are planned, said Rolapp. Morikawa said that “a lot of the LIV guys are trying to figure out what’s next.” “Hopefully, we can all step forward and forget about what has happened and go out and enjoy golf for what it is again,” he said.

Gillingham fought back from a goal down to thrash Rotherham United on Saturday.

SHANGHAI — Novak Djokovic was knocked out of the Shanghai Masters after a shock second-round loss to Hubert Hurkacz on Friday. The 39-year-old great was beaten 6-4, 6-3 in a match that lasted just 87 minutes. The 24-time major champion Djokovic’s defeat came after victory in the China Open final in Beijing earlier this week.