EASTBOURNE, England (AP) — Karolina Pliskova and Angelique Kerber reached the quarterfinals at Eastbourne on Wednesday.

The second-seeded Pliskova had 24 winners in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Elise Mertens, setting up a quarterfinal match against either Jelena Ostapenko or Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Kerber beat Rebecca Peterson 7-6 (4), 6-0, while Johanna Konta lost to Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-2.

In the men’s draw, top-seeded Gustavo Pella lost to Taylor Fritz 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Sam Querrey beat fourth-seeded Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-3.

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LONDON — There’s no place like home, so Joey Mellows was ready for this unique turn in the baseball schedule.

And a proper cup of tea.

“I think some of my best mates don’t even know what I’m doing,’’ Mellows said recently at Yankee Stadium. “They probably think I’m still in China.’’

Over 100 days and 41 ballparks into his self-funded journey to witness 162 games this year, the 34-year-old Mellows — ‘Baseball Brit’ to 25,000 Twitter followers — will witness the first MLB games played in Europe this weekend.

“Maybe we do have a thriving underground baseball community,’’ Mellows told NorthJersey.com and USA TODAY Network, with a hint of trepidation added to his enthusiasm leading up to Yankees-Red Sox at London Stadium.

“I hope the (MLB) fans aren’t expecting it to be perfect because it’s our first attempt.’’

Game 76: @Astros vs @Yankees

Justin Verlander pitched well in my final game before heading home…

And this feels oddly appropriate! 😉 pic.twitter.com/CpRGDpGYWD

— Joey Mellows (@BaseballBrit) June 24, 2019

Start of a journey

On his Twitter page, Mellows describes himself as a “cheerful British chap on a 162-game mission to promote interest in baseball.’’

Before he ever “decided to do this weird trip,’’ Mellows says he began using Twitter and social media “just to see if there were other British baseball fans out there.’’

There’s also “Bat Flips and Nerds,’’ a website that provides “a British take on baseball’’ to its legion of online followers. And there are several UK baseball fan clubs.

Mellows, who left the UK at 29 for a teaching job in Seoul, had never given baseball a thought until one night in Japan in 2015.

In this Thursday, March 21, 2019, image from video, Joey Mellows from Portsmouth, England, watches the Seattle Mariners’ batting practice before Game 2 of the Major League Baseball opening series between the Mariners and the Oakland Athletics at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo. Mellows, better known by his Twitter feed “Baseball Brit,” has quit his job to watch an entire season of Major League Baseball games. Some may see it as a frivolous pursuit but others are impressed by his free spirit. (SNTV via AP) (Photo: The Associated Press)

Accompanied by his parents, visiting from their Portsmouth, England home, Mellows attended a game between the Orix Buffaloes and Chiba Lotte Marines and a spark was lit.

He went back on his own the next night, then became a regular attendee of KBO games, the Korean professional league.

“That’s where my enthusiasm and passion began,’’ Mellows says of the Korean fans. “It’s fun and it’s accessible. It’s families and always as many women as men,’’ a dynamic he hadn’t seen growing up watching English football.

Plus, “I like the fact you can talk, you can think,’’ during a three-hour game. “You have this intense action on the field and then you have those moments of pause and reprieve in between.’’

The Show and more

Mellows’ 162-game journey began with MLB’s opening series in Tokyo, taking in Ichiro Suzuki’s final game as the Seattle Mariners played the Oakland Athletics.

It was fitting, personally, to return to the country where he’d seen his first game, recalling “all these numbers’’ on the scoreboard “and I didn’t even know what they meant.’’

Living in South Korea, Texas Rangers games were regularly televised because of Shin-Soo Choo and Los Angeles Dodgers games were available, bringing the big leagues to life for Mellows.

In this Thursday, March 21, 2019, image from video, Joey Mellows from Portsmouth, England, looks at the spectators’ stand during the Seattle Mariners’ batting practice before Game 2 of the Major League Baseball opening series between the Mariners and the Oakland Athletics at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo. Mellows, better known by his Twitter feed “Baseball Brit,” has quit his job to watch an entire season of Major League Baseball games. Some may see it as a frivolous pursuit but others are impressed by his free spirit. (SNTV via AP) (Photo: The Associated Press)

But MLB’s Commissioner’s Office isn’t subsidizing this trip.

Mellows, who is single, is using 10 years of personal savings “and it’s going down every day and it terrifies me,’’ he says. “It’s going to be a real test of mettle as to whether I can last 162.’’

Mellows is looking forward to seeing Wrigley Field and Dodger Stadium for the first time, but this journey has taken many off ramps from The Show, including the College World Series.

Today I am attempting to drive farther than I ever have in my life… pic.twitter.com/AJ0IJbzJcG

— Joey Mellows (@BaseballBrit) June 20, 2019

One of the first dates on his schedule was to North Carolina to see the High Point Rockers of the independent Atlantic League play its inaugural game.

“I wanted to see what it means to build a ballpark in a city that hasn’t had baseball for a long time, to be there on opening night,’’ Mellows said. “You see the community come together and they suddenly have this entertainment, this focal point.’’

In this Thursday, March 21, 2019, image from video, Joey Mellows from Portsmouth, England, checks baseball caps sold at a Major League Baseball shop before Game 2 of the MLB opening series between the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics held at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo. Mellows, better known by his Twitter feed “Baseball Brit,” has quit his job to watch an entire season of Major League Baseball games. Some may see it as a frivolous pursuit but others are impressed by his free spirit. (SNTV via AP) (Photo: The Associated Press)

That basic love-of-the-game experience extended to the field as well.

“They’re chasing unfulfilled dreams,’’ Mellows says of the spirit of the independent league player. “Dreams that maybe won’t be realized.’’

Coming home

Barbecue has become as big a passion as baseball for Mellows, but by Day 99 he was looking forward to a home-cooked meal and seeing his family again before resuming his journey.

“I just want to see baseball grow in the UK, ideally,’’ Mellows says. “And my hope is that people in the USA don’t take it for granted as much.’’

I made it HOME… 🤗 pic.twitter.com/hq7KIw6vkb

— Joey Mellows (@BaseballBrit) June 24, 2019

With the London Series just beginning as a possible annual event between select MLB clubs, “it’s all brand new and shiny’’ in the UK, Mellows says. Yet, “I’m hearing baseball is dying’’ with complaints about pace of play and changes that need to be made.

Mellows just wants this weekend to be a celebration as well as a reminder that “you’ve got a great game’’ back in the States.

How well do you know Wimbledon, where play begins Monday? Give this quiz a try:

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1st Round: How many women won at least one of the first 18 WTA tournaments this season?

a.) 8

b.) 12

c.) 16

d.) 18

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2nd Round: Tiebreakers will be played at the All England Club in the third sets of women’s matches and fifth sets of men’s matches for the first time this year. When will those tiebreakers be used?

a.) 6-all

b.) 9-all

c.) 12-all

d.) 15-all

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3rd Round: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have combined to win the past 10 Grand Slam titles. What is that trio’s longest such streak of consecutive major championships?

a.) 18

b.) 20

c.) 22

d.) 24

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4th Round: Who was Roger Federer’s partner when he made his Grand Slam doubles debut at Wimbledon in 1999? (Bonus: To whom did they lose?)

a.) Stan Wawrinka

b.) Andre Agassi

c.) Lleyton Hewitt

d.) Pete Sampras

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Quarterfinal: Who holds the record for youngest Wimbledon champion in singles, doubles or mixed doubles?

a.) Boris Becker

b.) Martina Hingis

c.) Bjorn Borg

d.) Jennifer Capriati

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Semifinal: How many times has Serena Williams played in the Wimbledon singles final?

a.) 8

b.) 9

c.) 10

d.) 11

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Final: Wimbledon was first contested in 1877. What was the first year that the defending champion needed to win more than one match to retain the title?

a.) 1882

b.) 1892

c.) 1912

d.) 1922

e.) 1932

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ANSWERS

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1st Round. d. The 18-champs-at-18-events was the longest such streak to begin a WTA season. It wasn’t until Petra Kvitova, a two-time winner at Wimbledon, took the trophy at Stuttgart, Germany, in April that the women’s tour had a two-time champion in 2019.

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2nd Round. c. The 26-24 fifth set won in last year’s semifinals by Kevin Anderson against John Isner — he of 70-68 fame — moved the All England Club to add first-to-seven, win-by-two-points final-set tiebreakers at 12-12 for this year’s tournament. The Australian Open also finally added tiebreakers in deciding sets in January, but those were first-to-10, played at 6-all. Until this year, only the U.S. Open used last-set tiebreakers, doing so at 6-all. The French Open is now the only Grand Slam tournament that eschews a tiebreaker in the fifth set for men or third set for women.

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3rd Round. a. Their longest run started with Nadal’s victory at the French Open in 2005 and ended with Federer’s at Wimbledon in 2009. In that stretch, Federer won 11 major titles, Nadal six and Djokovic one. This time, it’s Nadal with four, and Federer and Djokovic with three apiece.

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4th Round. c. Back before Federer won any of his 20 Grand Slam singles titles, or Hewitt collected either of his two, they were partners at the All England Club, reaching the third round before losing a five-setter to Pat Rafter and Jonas Bjorkman 20 years ago.

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Quarterfinal. b. Hingis was 15 years, 282 days old when she won the 1996 Wimbledon women’s doubles title with Helena Suková. That’s three days younger than Lottie Dod was when she won the 1887 singles championship. Becker was 17 when he won Wimbledon for the first time in 1985, making him the tournament’s youngest men’s singles champion. Borg (17 in 1973) and Capriati (14 in 1990) were the youngest seeded players in men’s and women’s singles.

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Semifinal. c. Williams has won the singles trophy at Wimbledon seven times, most recently in 2016. She was the runner-up three times, most recently last year. Martina Navratilova holds tournament records of 12 appearances in a singles final and nine singles titles.

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Final. d. Until 1922, the previous year’s champion at the All England Club automatically advanced to the championship match, facing the winner of what was known as the All Comers’ Event.

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With the Rocket Mortgage Classic debuting at Detroit Golf Club this week, there’s an army of tournament workers, officials and volunteers behind the effort.

The inaugural PGA Tour stop in Detroit has a purse of $7.3 million and has attracted big names such as U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson.

“There’s never been a PGA Tour event ever to be held in the city limits of Detroit,” Rocket Mortgage Classic executive director Jason Langwell  said. “This community loves golf, but more than that they love their city. It takes a village to put a PGA Tour event together.”

Take a look inside Langwell’s “Inner Circle” as he describes what it takes to bring the world’s best golfers to Detroit for this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil doesn’t have fond memories of Paraguay in the Copa America.

The last two times Brazil met its southern neighbor in the continental competition, the “Seleção” endured demoralizing eliminations. It happened in the quarterfinals in 2011 and in 2015, both times in penalty shootouts.

Brazil will face Paraguay in the last eight again on Thursday, this time under even more pressure at home.

As in the previous encounters, Brazil will be considered the favorite to advance. Despite struggling in its first two matches, drawing boos from the local fans, it ended the group stage with a convincing 5-0 rout of Peru that boosted the team’s confidence entering the knockout stage.

“We want to repeat the performance from the game against Peru,” said Philippe Coutinho, one of the nine players returning from the squad eliminated by Paraguay in 2015. “We hope we can improve from that game (against Peru), use that as a reference going forward for the rest of the competition.”

Coutinho converted one of the penalties in the shootout loss four years ago. In 2011, none of the Brazilian players scored from the penalty spot, including current defender Thiago Silva, one of the two returning players from that team, along with Dani Alves.

Paraguay has five players back from the 2015 squad, including Derlis Gonzalez, who converted the deciding penalty in the shootout at the time.

Paraguay barely survived the group stage this year, advancing with only two points as one of the best third-place finishers from the three groups. But the team led by Argentine coach Eduardo Berizzo played better than the results showed, letting victory escape against Argentina after a missed penalty by Gonzalez when the game was 1-1.

Paraguay depended on other teams to advance, but it made it after Ecuador and Japan drew in their final group match in what was the only result that could have avoided its elimination.

The Paraguayans have been resilient in the Copa America in recent years. Despite having won only one of its last 18 matches in the tournament, Paraguay managed to finish runner-up in 2011 and reached the semifinals in 2015, taking advantage of shootout wins.

Both Paraguay and Brazil failed to make it out of the group stage in the 2016 Copa America. A two-time champion, Paraguay lost the 2011 final to Uruguay. Brazil is seeking a ninth continental title, and first since 2007.

Paraguay’s solid defensive system will be tested by a Brazilian attack which will likely include Gabriel Jesus and Everton, the two forwards who made it to the starting lineup for the first time against Peru and revitalized the squad. David Neres and Richarlison will likely stay on the bench again.

Brazil will be without defensive midfielder Casemiro because of a yellow card suspension, with Fernandinho taking over his place to play alongside Arthur and Coutinho in the midfield. Roberto Firmino is set to stay in the attack.

Casemiro also was suspended when Brazil was eliminated by Belgium in the quarterfinals of last year’s World Cup.

The game will be played in Porto Alegre at the Arena Gremio, which has been criticized by several coaches and players, including Lionel Messi, because of its poor field conditions.

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HAUGHTON, La. – Amari Cooper says Dak Prescott is different.

The Cowboys quarterback feels the same way about his lead receiver.

Chalk it up to each’s desire to be great, the two Dallas stars told USA TODAY Sports this week.

“It’s his competitive nature, his will to win,” Cooper said of Prescott. “He’s literally putting his body on the line to get a first down because winning is the most important thing to him.

“You don’t really see every quarterback willing to do that.”

Prescott said he “may second” Cooper’s assessment of his greatest strength. But Cooper chases greatness in atypical ways, too. Already the receiver has taught himself chess, to solve a Rubik’s Cube and now to speak Spanish in pursuit of “practicing being great at things you can’t do overnight.” That desire to learn and grow knows no bounds, Prescott said Wednesday from his high school cafeteria in Haughton, Louisiana, minutes after he was inducted into the Northwest Louisiana Walk of Stars.

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Take the Cowboys’ home-run derby in May, Prescott said. Cooper was competing in the charity bash for the first time. He whiffed an at-bat and tipped a second before putting a third in play, Prescott remembered.

It was Cooper’s reaction that struck the quarterback.

“As we’re leaving, he got the pitching coach’s number and said ‘I’ll be back. I’ll be back to train because I’m going to be better next year,’” Prescott told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday. “I think that sums it up: a guy who went out there and didn’t do very well and said, ‘OK, I know how to do well. I’m going to get this guy’s number,’ and took the measures to go to do it.”

With the Cowboys, Cooper has taken similar proactive measures. He wanted to be closer to Prescott in team meeting rooms this offseason, so he spoke up and moved his seat directly next to his quarterback. He wanted to better understand how to run a slant against a press, so he suggested three options to Cowboys receivers coach Sanjay Lal, who approved and added a fourth. In Cooper’s best game of 2018 – a three-touchdown, 217-yard explosion in Week 14 to beat the Eagles in overtime – he told Prescott before one snap that he thought the opposing defensive back was sitting on a stop route.

“It was obvious to me that we should run a go and so I just spoke my mind,” Cooper said. “At first, Dak didn’t agree with me. … And then for some reason at the tail end, right before he said ‘hike,’ he just changed it to a go route. And it was a touchdown.”

Dallas Cowboys receiver Amari Cooper (19) celebrates a 75-yard fourth quarter touchdown pass with quarterback Dak Prescott (4) against the Philadelphia Eagles at AT&T Stadium. (Photo: Matthew Emmons, USA TODAY Sports)

The Cowboys needed each in the 29-23 overtime win. Prescott aims never to leave those opportunities, on the field or in life, behind, he said. Better to exhaust all resources and know he tried.

“Simple, I just want to be great,” Prescott said. “I want to be great in everything I do and I don’t want to leave anything to chance. Never want to have those ‘if’ words [to show] regrets, obviously something left undone, something you didn’t take a chance on. I don’t ever want to be able to use that word.”

Prescott delivered that message to 240 campers at his high school on Wednesday. Don’t settle for good; be great. No dream is too big, he told them, because look how he launched from the field they sat on to quarterback of the Cowboys.

After three seasons and two NFC East titles, Prescott readies for the megacontract extension his agents and the Cowboys are in the process of negotiating. Even camp coaches poked at the deal on the horizon and asked the camp’s “first overall draft pick,” a 5-year-old named Milo, how much compensation he wanted as additional funds are poised to arrive for Prescott. Prescott laughed before explaining that the contract will better enable him to give back to the Haughton community. But the money “will never change me,” he said. “The way I was raised, my mom, being here, seeing all these people and just seeing their love for me and their love for me hasn’t changed.”

Nor will the long-term implications alter his sense of urgency on the field, the all-in-to-win mindset Cooper admires or his ability to live in the moment. Losing his mother, Peggy, in 2013 drove that message home, Prescott said Wednesday, visibly emotional as he pointed to mom’s seat for a decade at Haughton’s 50-yard line, beneath a rippling Buccaneers flag.

“Every rep is special,” Prescott said. “Life is short. Life isn’t fair. It’s not for us to try to figure out or figure out why but it’s for us to take advantage of each and every rep, each and every opportunity.”

Consider opportunities with Cooper in 2019 included. What’s the ceiling for Prescott and the receiver he calls a “renaissance man”?

“The potential is unbelievable,” Prescott said.

Contributing: Trysta Krick

The International Boxing Association has been told it cannot participate in the 2020 Olympics after years of financial chaos and allegations of corrupt judging.

While boxing remains on the program, the IOC will organize the competition itself.

Here is a timeline of AIBA’s problems inside and outside the ring:

2006 — Taiwanese architect C.K. Wu, an IOC member since 1988, beats then-83-year-old AIBA president Anwar Chowdhry by four votes in a hard-fought contest. Chowdhry had faced criticism over unusual refereeing decisions and butted heads with the IOC prior to his defeat.

2007 — AIBA drops the word “amateur” from its name, becoming simply the International Boxing Association, as Wu looks to push the organization into the professional ranks.

2010 — AIBA launches its first pro competition, the World Series of Boxing, with amateur fighters paid salaries to compete for franchises around the world. Despite millions of dollars in AIBA funding and a $10 million loan from Azerbaijani company Benkons, the WSB struggles to gain spectator interest in a crowded market. Money-losing franchises and the Benkons loan soon start to strain AIBA finances.

2012 — Women’s boxing debuts at the Olympics, with Nicola Adams of Britain winning the first gold medal. The men’s competitions are plagued by controversial decisions. One AIBA referee is expelled after an Azerbaijani fighter wins a bout despite falling to the canvas six times, and another referee is suspended after disqualifying an Iranian boxer.

2014 — The once strictly amateur AIBA is now a promoter for professionals after launching the AIBA Pro Boxing brand. The events offer Olympic spots but fail to win much of an audience. AIBA quietly drops the scheme in June 2016.

2016 — Olympic boxing erupts in controversy in Rio de Janeiro, with Irish fighter Michael Conlan accusing AIBA of corruption after losing a decision to a Russian. AIBA suspends all referees and judges involved in the Olympic tournament and says some decisions were “not at the level expected,” but the results stand. Pro boxers fight in the Olympics for the first time after AIBA rushes through rule changes, but none comes close to a medal.

2017 — AIBA’s board members rebel against Wu after details emerge of runaway spending and mounting debts. After a bitter power struggle which briefly causes staff to be locked out of AIBA’s own headquarters, Wu resigns in November. Concerned by the infighting and opaque finances, the IOC stops payments to AIBA, worsening its financial crisis.

2018 — Uzbekistani businessman Gafur Rakhimov becomes interim AIBA president in January after Franco Falcinelli steps aside. Vowing to clear AIBA’s debts, he runs for and wins the presidency in November despite repeated IOC warnings. The IOC objects to Rakhimov because he is under sanctions imposed by the United States Treasury over his alleged ties to heroin trafficking. Rakhimov denies any wrongdoing.

2019 — Rakhimov steps aside in March, but keeps the right to return later in the year. An IOC inquiry flags AIBA’s large debts, “serious governance issues” and boxers’ “lack of confidence” in judges. AIBA executive director Tom Virgets warns the federation faces bankruptcy. On June 26, the IOC removes AIBA from any role running boxing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

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LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — More than 100 “strong cases” of suspected Russian doping are being prepared using data retrieved from the Moscow testing laboratory.

World Anti-Doping Agency president Craig Reedie said Wednesday it is “packaging evidence” for sports governing bodies to prosecute the highest priority cases.

Only data for “suspicious cases” is being provided, Reedie said, adding he expects more than 100 files in the “first wave of strong cases against those we suspect of cheating.”

Data and samples were eventually retrieved this year from the Moscow lab covering drug testing up to 2015 — a period when Russian officials routinely covered up cases.

Reedie said all priority cases will have been investigated by the end of this year.

“Significant progress continues to be made,” said the outgoing WADA president, who leaves office in November.

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The sport of breakdancing moved one step closer towards inclusion in the 2024 Olympic Games on Tuesday when the International Olympic Committee voted in favor of bringing it to Paris.

Breakdancing, competitive climbing/bouldering, skateboarding and surfing are all proposed to be included in 2024, although the other three are making their debuts at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Breakdancing has not yet been finalized as a sport for 2024 and will require vetting before officially being added to the Paris roster for a final vote in December 2020. In the meantime, that gives Paris the opportunity to find a venue that’d fit the parameters to hold the event.

“It’s important for us in our concept to put sports out of the stadiums and in the heart of the city,” Tony Estanguet, the Paris Olympics 2024 president, said in a statement.

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The Olympic rings installed on the Esplanade du Trocadero near the Eiffel tower following the Paris’ nomination as host for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. – France Télévisions has obtained the broadcast rights to broadcast the 2024 Summer Olympics taking place in Paris it was announced on April 22, 2019, by France Television President Delphine Ernotte on Twitter. (Photo: LUDOVIC MARIN, AFP/Getty Images)

“Our aim from the outset has been to highlight what has been the strength of the Games for 32 Olympiads now — the diversity of the sports and the excitement that comes with performance — while also taking the opportunity afforded by the IOC to enhance the program and offer a new dimension.”

Called breaking in Olympic circles, its medal debut was last October at the Buenos Aires Youth Summer Games. The street dance competitions will have 16 athletes in each of the men’s and women’s medal events in Paris.

IOC members formally endorsed requests from Paris officials in February and their own executive board in March to provisionally add breakdancing to the program.

Contributing: The Associated Press. 

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former pro football player and his girlfriend have been indicted on murder and 20 felony child abuse charges in the death of the woman’s 5-year-old daughter, court officials said Tuesday.

Former NFL and Canadian Football League running back Cierre Marcelle Wood, 28, and Amy Taylor, 26, are accused of killing Taylor’s daughter, La’Rayah Davis, who was found lifeless on April 9 in Wood’s apartment.

Taylor and her daughter had moved in with Wood and his young daughter less than two weeks earlier.

A judge who heard evidence last month against Wood said it was clear that La’Rayah suffered before she died and that Wood and Taylor were responsible for her death.

The judge cited photos of numerous external bruises from what were described as finger-pokes to the girl’s abdomen, back, arms and legs. Autopsy findings showed La’Rayah had 20 newly broken ribs, internal bleeding, a lacerated liver and bruises to her heart, diaphragm and connective tissue.

Taylor told police she sat on the girl while disciplining her about a week before her death, according to court documents.

Wood told police he used exercise as discipline, and had La’Rayah do physical activities including running sprints in the apartment. On the day she died, La’Rayah fell backward while doing sit-ups and hit her head on the carpeted floor, he said.

Taylor told police she was at a grocery store at the time.

A scheduled bail hearing for Wood was called off after the indictment, filed June 14, moved the case to state court for trial with Taylor on charges that could get each of them life in prison if they’re convicted.

Wood plans to plead not guilty at his arraignment July 2, his lawyer Thomas Ericsson said.

Taylor’s public defender, Sarah Hawkins, declined to comment.

Wood played for the University of Notre Dame before NFL stints with Houston, New England and Buffalo.

He was released last year by the Montreal Alouettes in Canada. Ericsson said Wood worked in Las Vegas as a health care associate.