MON EIGHT

Coco Gauffcame through an unexpectedly difficult match against Tereza Valentová to win 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday,becoming the youngest player in 17 yearsto reach the third round of theFrench Openfor five consecutive years. The 21-year-old failed to hold her serve four times during the second set but broke back on five occasions to round off a topsy-turvy run and take the victory over her Czech opponent, who was last year's girls' champion in Paris. Two-time French Open winnerMaria Sharapovawas also 21 when she reached the third round at Roland-Garros for the fifth straight year in 2008. "I think overall it was fine. I think towards the end of the second set I could have been much more aggressive on the serve. The return game was pretty good," said Gauff after her win, perrolandgarros.com. "She's obviously a great young player, I knew it was going to be a tough match today. "Definitely going to practice (tomorrow) and work on things I feel I could have done a lot better today." The world No. 2 won just 19% of her second serve points and had six double faults to her opponent's three. Nonetheless, she has now won 12 of her last 14 matches as part of a run which has seen her reach the final of both the Madrid Open and Italian Open. She will face Valentová's compatriot Marie Bouzková in the third round on Saturday. Elsewhere, Jessica Pegula claimed a confident 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Ann Li to record her 30th match-win of the year; only world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka has more. In Gauff and Pegula, the US has two of the top three seeds at the French Open for the first time since Venus and Serena Williams in 2010, and Pegula put up a performance worthy of her ranking. The 31-year-old dropped the first two games to her compatriot, but then won six of the next seven to breeze into a 1-0 lead. In the second set, Pegula had to fend off two break points for Li and won the tiebreak with a deep backhand. "It was a really tough match today," Pegula said afterward, per theWTA. "Ann has been playing some really good tennis this year and had a lot of close matches with good players. It was tricky with the wind. She was slicing a lot, kind of making me earn a lot of points. "I felt like it was a pretty physical match, a lot of long points and long games. But happy I was able to kind of hold on to that second set there definitely." Pegula will play Markéta Vondroušová in the third round on Saturday. Later on Thursday, Madison Keys, who is playing in her first grand slam since she won the Australian Open in January, eased to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Katie Boulter. In doing so, the 30-year-old became the oldest woman to win nine consecutive grand slam matches since Angelique Kerber in 2018, per the WTA. Keys will face another former Australian Open winner, Sofia Kenin, on Saturday. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Fiorentina says coach Raffaele Palladino has left the Serie A club "by mutual consent" after only one season in charge. It was reported earlier this week that Palladino had handed in his resignation but that the club was trying to convince the 41-year-old coach to stay. "Fiorentina can confirm that Raffaele Palladino's contract, as well as those of his backroom team, has today been terminated by mutual consent," the Italian club said Friday ina brief statement. Palladino coached Fiorentina to a sixth-placed finish in Serie A and a Conference League spot. It was regarded as a successful season, so his reported resignation had caught club management off guard. Fiorentina also reached the semifinals of the Conference League. It had lost in the final of that competition in each of the previous two seasons, under Vincenzo Italiano. Less than a week after the season ended,the Serie A coaching carouselis ramping up.Massimiliano Allegri returned to AC Milanon Friday and a number of other changes are expected. ___ AP soccer:https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

HOUSTON (AP) — Soon after Lance McCullers Jr.'s family received online death threats following a tough start by the Houston Astros' pitcher, his 5-year-old daughter, Ava, overheard wife Kara talking on the phone about it. What followed was a painful conversation between McCullers and his little girl. "She asked me when I came home: 'Daddy like what is threats? Who wants to hurt us? Who wants to hurt me?'" McCullers told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "So, those conversations are tough to deal with." McCullers is one of two MLB pitchers whose families have received online death threats this month as internet abuse of players and their families is on the rise. Boston reliever Liam Hendriks took to social media soon after the incident with McCullersto call out people who were threatening his wife's life and directing "vile" comments at him. The Astros contacted MLB security and the Houston Police Department following the threats to McCullers. An police spokesperson said Thursday that it remains an ongoing investigation. McCullers, who has two young daughters, took immediate action after the threats and hired 24-hour security for his family. "You have to at that point," he said. Abuse increasing with rise in sports gambling Players from around the league agree that online abuse has gotten progressively worse in recent years. Milwaukee's Christian Yelich, a 13-year MLB veteran and the 2018 NL MVP, said receiving online abuse is "a nightly thing" for most players. "I think over the last few years it's definitely increased," he said. "It's increased to the point that you're just: 'All right, here we go.' It doesn't even really register on your radar anymore. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. You're just so used to that on a day-to-day, night-to-night basis. It's not just me. It's everybody in here, based on performance." And many players believe it's directly linked to the rise in legalized sports betting. "You get a lot of DMs or stuff like that about you ruining someone's bet or something ridiculous like that," veteran Red Sox reliever Justin Wilson said. "I guess they should make better bets." Hendriks has had enough Hendriks, a 36-year-old reliever whopreviously battlednon-Hodgkin lymphoma, said on Instagram that he and his wife received death threats after a loss to the Mets. He added that people left comments saying that they wished he would have died from cancer among other abusive comments. He later discussed the issue and his decision to speak out about it. "Enough is enough," he said. "Like at some point, everyone just like sucking up and dealing with it isn't accomplishing anything. And we pass along to security. We pass along to whoever we need to, but nothing ends up happening. And it happens again the next night. And so, at some point, someone has to make a stand. And it's one of those things where the more eyes we get on it, the more voices we get talking about it. Hopefully it can push it in the right direction." What teams are doing Both the Astros and the Red Sox are working with MLB security to take action against social media users who direct threats toward players and their families. Red Sox spokesperson Abby Murphy added that they've taken steps in recent years to make sure player' families are safe during games. That includes security staff and Boston police stationed in the family section at home and dedicated security in the traveling party to monitor the family section on the road. Murphy said identifying those who make anonymous threats online is difficult, but: "both the Red Sox and MLB have cyber programs and analysts dedicated to identifying and removing these accounts." The Astros have uniformed police officers stationed in the family section, a practice that was implemented well before the threats to McCullers and his family. Abandoning social media For some players, online abuse has gotten so bad that they've abandoned social media. Detroit All-Star outfielder Riley Greene is one of them, saying he got off because he received so many messages from people blaming him for failed bets. "I deleted it," he said of Instagram. "I'm off it. It sucks, but it's the world we live in, and we can't do anything about it. People would DM me and say nasty things, tell me how bad of a player I am, and say nasty stuff that we don't want to hear." Criticism is part of the game, threats are not The 31-year-old McCullers, who returned this year after missing two full seasons with injuries, said dealing with this has been the worst thing that's happened in his career. He understands the passion of fans and knows that being criticized for a poor performance is part of the game. But he believes there's a "moral line" that fans shouldn't cross. "People should want us to succeed," he said. "We want to succeed, but it shouldn't come at a cost to our families, the kids in our life, having to feel like they're not safe where they live or where they sit at games." Houston manager Joe Espadawas livid when he learned about the threats to McCullers and his familyand was visibly upset when he addressed what happened with reporters. Espada added that the team has mental health professionals available to the players to talk about the toll such abuse takes on them and any other issues they may be dealing with. "We are aware that when we step on the field, fans expect and we expect the best out of ourselves," Espada said this week. "But when we are trying to do our best and things don't go our way while we're trying to give you everything we got and now you're threatening our families and kids — now I do have a big issue with that, right? I just did not like it." Kansas City's Salvador Perez, a 14-year MLB veteran, hasn't experienced online abuse but was appalled by what happened to McCullers. If something like that happened to him he said it would change the way he interacts with fans. "Now some fans, real fans, they're gonna pay for that, too," he said. "Because if I was him, I wouldn't take a picture or sign anything for noboby because of that one day." McCullers wouldn't go that far but admitted it has changed his mindset. "It does make you kind of shell up a little bit," he said. "It does make you kind of not want to go places. I guess that's just probably the human reaction to it." Finding a solution While most players have dealt with some level of online abuse in their careers, no one has a good idea of how to stop it. "I'm thankful I'm not in a position where I have to find a solution to this," Tigers' pitcher Tyler Holton said. "But as a person who is involved in this, I wish this wasn't a topic of conversation." White Sox outfielder Mike Tauchman is disheartened at how bad player abuse has gotten. While it's mostly online, he added that he's had teammates that have had racist and homophobic things yelled at them during games. "Outside of just simply not having social media I really don't see that getting better before it just continues to get worse," he said. "I mean, I think it's kind of the way things are now. Like, people just feel like they have the right to say whatever they want to whoever they want and it's behind a keyboard and there's really no repercussions, right?" ___ AP Baseball Writer Mike Fitzpatrick and AP Sports Writers Jimmy Golen, Kyle Hightower, Larry Lage and Steve Megargee contributed to this report. ___ AP MLB:https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

It's patently fair to think that both theKansas City ChiefsandSan Francisco 49erswill be among the leading contenders to win Super Bowl 60 at the end of the 2025 NFL season. Both teams have star-studded rosters. They've combined for 11 appearances in conference title games over the past seven seasons – K.C. qualifying each of those years – a period when no other club has made it that far more than twice. And, of course, the Chiefs and Niners have met on two of the past six Super Sundays. Yet Thursday seemed to illustrate a – maybethe– major difference between these proud franchises and might even be the reason that Kansas City beat San Francisco in those Super Bowls while winning another and appearing in five overall since the start of the 2019 campaign. Chiefs quarterbackPatrick Mahomes,a three-time Super Bowl MVP, was asked about the challenge of resetting and resuming the relentless football grind after a Super Bowl defeat –February's blowout lossto thePhiladelphia Eaglespreventing Kansas City from becoming the first team to capture three successive Lombardi Trophies. "I feel like I focus every year, because I know how special of a run that we're on and how many years left I'll have with all these great players and a great team," said Mahomes. "And every team is different and you don't want to miss an opportunity. "When you lose a Super Bowl, I think there's sometimes in those workouts – you might be a little tired – (but) you have that extra, added motivation to finish even harder or finish even stronger." NFL POWER RANKINGS:Where teams stand post-draft It was the latest insight into the mindset of Mahomes and his dynasty – and both might have a case as the greatest in league history by the time their runs conclude – especially in the face of their rare setbacks. And let's not forget, the 2024 Chiefs somehow won a franchise record 15 regular-season games and, then, the conference – even though they couldn't protect Mahomes (sacked a career-high 36 times), couldn't consistently run the ball and lost No. 1 wideout Rashee Rice to a season-ending knee injury in Week 4. Compare that to the 2024 49ers, who followed up their overtime loss to Kansas City in Super Bowl 58 with a 6-11 campaign – their worst since 2018, when the team was forced to use three starting quarterbacks. And, yes, last season's Niners were stripped of several key players – Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, Dre Greenlaw, Javon Hargrave – due to injuries for most of the year. Yet coach Kyle Shanahan, who previously signaled his most recent outfit was out of sorts from training camp on, admitted Thursday, "I felt guys weren't ready to come back. And I understood that. But I told them how I won't really understand it this year." The dreaded Super Bowl hangover, emotional debilitation or whatever you want to call it felt like the latest excuse for an organization that's had several as its championship drought now extends beyond three decades. There was former quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo's fourth-quarter overthrow of wide open Emmanuel Sanders in Super Bowl 54, a game the 49ers probably win if the connection is made. There was safety Jaquiski Tartt's dropped interception in the fourth quarter of the 2021 NFC championship game – and if he hangs on, San Francisco (not the Los Angeles Rams) almost surely reaches Super Bowl 56. Then there was the late defensive collapse and Shanahan's controversial decision to receive the opening kickoff of overtime in Super Bowl 58 –which actually might have been the right call regardless– which Kansas City ultimately claimed 25-22 on a game-ending touchdown. The Niners have also been occasionally sideswiped by major injuries in recent seasons and always seem to be in the midst of significant contractual issues every summer – though that shouldn't be the case in 2025, especially now that Brock Purdy is no longer on the quarterbacking version of welfare. Still, funny how that stuff never seems to affect the Chiefs, who will reach the league's version of the final four no matter what roadblocks are thrown in front of them. Coach Andy Reid attributes much of it to his veteran leaders, players like Mahomes who don't skate during or skip out on the team's offseason program. "All the good leaders have been here," Reid said. "It's good to have them there. When they're there, it's a certain energy that comes with it. Expectations from all the … new guys – free agent type or the college kids – and they set a tempo with that." Meanwhile, Shanahan's just glad to have perfect attendance for a change after so many years of having the spring and summer sidetracked in some capacity by financial standoffs between players and the front office. "I thought the coolest thing was everyone being there on the first day," Shanahan said in reference to the start of this year's offseason program. "We had every guy show up and I didn't have to call anyone and beg them, which said a lot." Sure does, even if Shanahan intended it as a compliment to his current crew after several expensive veterans were purged in recent months as the team cleared room for Purdy's five-year, $265 million extension. Tight end George Kittle, who was extended along with Purdy and linebacker Fred Warner, says having the business side of football resolved should help on the field. "I'm glad they decided to do that," said the six-time Pro Bowler. "That's awesome for us because now we have everybody in the building that's just focused on playing football and focusing on just getting a little bit better every single day. "It's good for football because now all we're focused on is football." San Francisco's stars paid, the teamdrawing the league's easiest schedule(the Niners' 2025 opponents had a collective winning percentage of .415 last season), McCaffrey apparently back to 100% and after an atypically long offseason to rest and recover, Shanahan knows this year's squad has little to rationalize. "The year before last year coming off the '23 season was one of the shorter breaks that we've had, having that tough loss in the Super Bowl and coming back really just like six weeks later," he said. "It's never fun to have January off, but those extra five weeks add up a lot, and I think guys were itching to get back this time, excited to get back, ready to go for the first day, and it's been a lot more fun that way." As for the Chiefs, saddled with another tough first-place schedule full of prime-time games plus a Week 1 pilgrimage to Brazil, they'll turn the adversity of an embarrassing Super Bowl showing into their own fun. "I think it'll be good for us at the end of the day," said Mahomes. "I mean, obviously looking back you want to win the game, but a lot of those (younger teammates) hadn't lost one – hadn't ended a season on a loss that are on this team now. So I'm sure they'll be motivated to go back out there and try to find a way to get to the Super Bowl and win it this year." A lesson the current 49ers have yet to learn and a goal they have yet to reach. All NFL news on and off the field.Sign upfor USA TODAY's 4th and Monday newsletter. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:49ers should learn from Chiefs and stop making Super Bowl excuses

PARIS (AP) — For the fourthFrench Openin a row, tournament director Amélie Mauresmo was asked about a lack of women's matches during the tournament's night sessions — there was one in2022, onein 2023, zeroin 2024and, as of Friday, zero in 2025. And for the fourth French Open in a row, Mauresmo dismissed the issue, saying at a news conference Friday, when she also was pressed about placing women's matches in the noon slot at Court Philippe-Chatrier, when attendance tends to be sparse: "The funny thing is that it's the same questions, year after year." At the other Grand Slam tennis tournaments that sell separate tickets for night sessions, the U.S. Open and Australian Open, the main stadiums tend to feature two singles matches for that part of the daily schedule, one involving women and one involving men. Wimbledon has an 11 p.m. cutoff for competition and doesn't sells tickets for a night session. Roland-Garros added night sessions starting three years ago and the French federation has a contract with a streaming service for viewers in the home country that calls for one daily match in European primetime for the first 1 1/2 weeks of the event. Only two of the 36 contests at night in that stretch were women's matches. Mauresmo, a former player who was ranked No. 1 and won two Grand Slam titles,took over as tournament directorahead of the 2022 tournament. She repeatedly has offered similar explanations for why the night match has almost always been a men's match, including that their best-of-five-set format is likely to offer more time on court for ticket-buyers than the best-of-three setup for women. In recent years, some female players have argued that's a mistake and hurts the growth of their sport, although Mauresmo said Friday that no current or former athletes have complained to her about it or offered their thoughts. Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, was asked about the topic this week and called the current setup "a shame." "It's still sad that we are still seeing this," Jabeur said. "In Europe, in general, it's unfortunate for women's sports. ... Not for tennis, but in general. ... Whoever is making the decision, I don't think they have daughters, because I don't think they want to treat their daughters like this." "It's a bit ironic," Jabeur added. "They don't show women's sport, they don't show women's tennis, and then they (say), 'Mostly, (fans) watch men.' Of course they watch men more, because you show men more." Iga Swiatek, the three-time defending champion in Paris, said it doesn't bother her. "Every year, we talk about it. My position didn't change: I like playing days, so I'm happy that I'm done and I can have a longer rest," she said. Mauresmo said that having just one night match hasn't changed, "So for me, the message is not changing, and has never been that the girls are not worthy to play at night." When a reporter tried to return to matters such as night matches and scheduling women first in Chatrier, asking Mauresmo how big a deal she considers those matters, she replied: "You know what? I would like to change the subject." ___ Howard Fendrich has been the AP's tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here:https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis:https://apnews.com/hub/tennis