Reuters Sports News Summary

The six-times champion, one of the world's highest paid athletes, has won five of seven races in a rescheduled season that started only in July due to the pandemic.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs. Cilic back on U.S. Open radar

For a former champion Marin Cilic has flown under the U.S. Open radar but the Croatian with the booming serve was again making noise on Thursday, advancing to the third round with a 6-3 1-6 7-6(2) 7-5 win over Norbert Gombos. With Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal not at Flushing Meadows, former winners Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have grabbed the spotlight but Cilic, the 2014 champion, is back in the third round for the seventh straight year. England's men's and women's teams receive equal pay, says FA

England's men's and women's national soccer teams are being paid the same appearance fee to represent their country, the Football Association said on Thursday. In a statement released to British media, the FA revealed parity on match fees had been in place since January. Exclusive: U.S. threat to pull WADA funding could leave Americans out of Olympics

America's top athletes could be banned from the Olympics and other major international sporting events if the United States follows through on its threat to withdraw funding from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), anti-doping leaders told Reuters. The U.S. threat has sent shockwaves through the anti-doping community and prompted several governments to urge WADA to introduce legislation that would find the U.S. non-compliant with the WADA Code, effectively barring American athletes from international competition. Kazakhstan's Lutsenko wins Tour de France stage six

Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko won the sixth stage of the Tour de France, a 191-km trek from Le Teil on Thursday. The Astana rider prevailed from an eight-man breakaway at the top of the Mont Aigoual. A's RHP Mengden tests positive for coronavirus

Oakland Athletics right-hander Daniel Mengden is quarantining at his home in Houston after testing positive for the coronavirus. A's general manager David Forst told reporters on a conference call Thursday that Mengden is asymptomatic and "feels good." Tennis: Keys continues Flushing Meadows sprint

American Madison Keys once again wasted no time on court at Flushing Meadows, defeating Spain's Aliona Bolsova 6-2 6-1 in less than an hour in the U.S. Open second round on Thursday. Keys, runner-up in 2017 and a semi-finalist in 2018, won the first three games against her unseeded opponent, who broke her serve after a pair of unforced errors late in the first set but was unable to catch up. Birthday boy Thiem dominates Nagal to breeze into third round

Second seed Dominic Thiem celebrated his 27th birthday with a commanding 6-3 6-3 6-2 victory over India's Sumit Nagal on Thursday to move into the third round of the U.S. Open. Austrian Thiem, seeking his maiden Grand Slam title, won an overwhelming 74% of his first serve points and fired seven aces past the inexperienced Nagal, breaking him seven times in the two-hour contest. Report: NFL further limits size of traveling party

The NFL will limit its teams to a traveling party of 70 staff members in the 2020 season, the Sports Business Journal reported Thursday. That includes coaches, medical personnel and necessary support staff. Two weeks ago, the league announced a maximum of 110 and now has reduced that number by 36 percent. Motor racing: Hamilton opens up about difficult days and loneliness

Formula One world championship leader Lewis Hamilton spoke on Thursday of loneliness and the "difficult days" of racing in a COVID-19 bubble, but said it was important to be open about it. The six-times champion, one of the world's highest paid athletes, has won five of seven races in a rescheduled season that started only in July due to the pandemic. Brooklyn Nets name Hall of Famer Nash as head coach

Basketball Hall of Famer Steve Nash has been named head coach of a Brooklyn Nets squad that will be led by the dominant Kevin Durant next season, the NBA team said on Thursday. Nash joins the Nets after spending five seasons as a player development consultant with the Golden State Warriors, where he contributed to two NBA championship teams and made four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals.

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