Alcaraz’s bid for 3-peat still on track

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INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 10: Carlos Alcaraz of Spain celebrates after his straight sets victory against Denis Shapovalov of Canada in their third round match during the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 10, 2025 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

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FILE - West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez walks the sideline late in the second half during a 13-9 loss to Pittsburgh in a college football game, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007 in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner, File)

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Barcelona’s Raphinha celebrates after scoring his side’s opening goal during the Champions League round of 16 first leg soccer match between SL Benfica and FC Barcelona at the Luz stadium in Lisbon, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

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Alcaraz’s bid for 3-peat still on track

Carlos Alcaraz kept his Indian Wells three-peat campaign going with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the third round on Monday. Alcaraz, the No. 2 seed, won the first five games against Shapovalov, sending over 10 winners in the first set alone. The 21-year-old four-time Grand Slam champion from Spain never faced a break in a nearly flawless second set and he held to love in the final game. “I knew at the beginning of the match that I had to be really focused. I had to start the match really strong, knowing it was going to be a really tough battle,” said Alcaraz, who wants to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the only men to win three straight titles at the Masters 1000 tournament. Women’s world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka used her powerful serve to wallop Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-2, bringing her best form to the tournament after suffering early exits at the Qatar Open and in Dubai. Americans Coco Gauff, Madison Keys, Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton gave the fans in California plenty to cheer about with compelling third-round victories on Monday.

Rodriguez bans dancing on TikTok

West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez, like all football coaches, wants his players to show up on time, work hard and play their best. Oh, and another thing: Don’t dance on TikTok. “They’re going to be on it, so I’m not banning them from it,” he said Monday. “I’m just banning them from dancing on it. It’s like, look, we try to have a hard edge or whatever, and you’re in there in your tights dancing on TikTok ain’t quite the image of our program that I want.” Making TikTok dance videos is a popular activity among high school- and college-age users of the social media platform. Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, Boise State star Ashton Jeanty and Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola are among college football players who have posted dance videos. Rodriguez, 61, is beginning his second stint as Mountaineers coach. He said banning TikTok dancing is something he can do. “... I can have rules,” he said. “Twenty years from now, if they want to be sitting in their pajamas in the basement eating Cheetos and watching TikTok or whatever, they can go at it, smoking cannabis, whatever. Knock yourself out.”

Barcelona makes UCL quarterfinals

Raphinha scored twice and Lamine Yamal once as Barcelona advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League with a 3-1 win over Benfica on Tuesday. The Catalan club advanced 4-1 on aggregate score after last week’s 1-0 road victory and will play either Borussia Dortmund or Lille in the quarterfinals. Those clubs are scheduled to play a second leg on Wednesday, along with Arsenal vs. PSV Eindhoven, Aston Villa vs. Club Brugge and Atlético Madrid vs. Real Madrid. The double by Raphinha, above, makes him the leading scorer in the Champions League this season with 11 goals. He had scored the lone goal last week in Lisbon. The Brazil forward put Barcelona ahead in the 10th, then assisted in Yamal’s 27th-minute goal before adding his second in the 42nd. In other second legs Tuesday, Bayern Munich beat host Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 to advance 5-0 on aggregate and Inter Milan moved on past visitor Feyenoord with a 2-1 win to advance 4-1 on aggregate. Paris Saint-Germain traveled to Liverpool but that game went to a penalty shootout and ended too late for this edition. —News services