American and women’s 10th seed Madison Keys cruised into the second round of the Australian Open, but former No. 1 Maria Sharapova was a 6-3, 6-4 loser to No. 19 Donna Vekic. No. 12 Johanna Konta suffered her earliest Australian Open exit with a first-round loss to Tunisian Ons Jabeur, 6-4, 6-2 at Melbourne Park. Second-seeded Karolina Pliskova and No. 6 Belinda Bencic (BEHN’-chihch) each won in straight sets, and men’s No. 1 Rafael Nadal had a 6-2, 6-3, 6-0 win over Hugo Dellien.
UNDATED (AP) — Baylor earned a victory just hours after climbing to the top of The Associated Press men’s basketball poll. MaCio Teague had 16 points and the Bears improved to 16-1 with their 15th consecutive win, 61-57 against Oklahoma. In last night’s other Top-25 game, No. 14 West Virginia reeled off a 20-0 run that gave them a 43-15 lead in a 97-59 trouncing of Texas.
DENVER (AP) — Nazem Kadri (NA’-zehm KA’-dree) and Nathan MacKinnon scored 1:54 apart early in the second period to put the Colorado Avalanche ahead to stay in a 6-3 win against the struggling Detroit Red Wings. Kadri tied it with a power-play goal 62 seconds into the period before MacKinnon netted his 27th goal of the season. Kadri and MacKinnon also tallied in Colorado’s four-goal third period. The Avalanche went 3-0-2 on their five-game homestand and are six points behind the division-leading Blues.
ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Braves have signed six All-Star selection and the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league camp. Hernandez is coming off his worst major league season, going 1-8 with a 6.40 ERA in 15 starts for the Mariners. The right-hander would get a $1 million, one-year contract if added to Atlanta’s 40-man roster.
ATLANTA (AP) — Chandler Parsons’ attorneys say the Atlanta Hawks forward sustained career-threatening injuries in a car wreck last week. The attorneys say the injuries in Wednesday’s accident include a traumatic brain injury, disc herniation and a torn labrum. Parsons was leaving practice when hit by a driver the attorneys say was charged with driving under the influence.