Wrexham earns another promotion

Wrexham is one step from the Premier League. The Welsh soccer team’s remarkable rise under celebrities Ryan Reynolds, pictured, and Rob McElhenney continued when it sealed promotion to English soccer’s second tier on Saturday. A 3-0 win against Charlton ensured Wrexham will go up as the third division runner-up behind champion Birmingham. It means that from next season it will be playing one level below the Premier League — something that was unthinkable just four years ago when it was a struggling non-league team. Reynolds and McElhenney were part of a full house of nearly 13,000 fans packed into the club’s historic Racecourse Ground to celebrate a third consecutive promotion. Who knows what’s next for a team that has defied the odds since the actors bought it for $2.5 million in 2021 and turned it into a household name around the world. Raucous celebrations greeted the final whistle, but the party began much earlier after promotion rival Wycombe lost to Leyton Orient 1-0. Wrexham just needed victory then to clinch the second promotion place in League One.

Djokovic drops 1st match in Madrid

Novak Djokovic cupped his ear to demand more applause from the crowd after the 24-time major winner chased down an apparently lost ball and won an improbable point. Instead of sparking a comeback, it turned out to be Djokovic’s last gasp as he fell in straight sets to Matteo Arnaldi in his first match of the Madrid Open on Saturday. The 37-year-old Djokovic has lost three matches in a row; including losing the Miami final, and his opener to Alejandro Tabilo at the Monte Carlo Masters two weeks ago as he struggles at the start of the clay-court swing ahead of the French Open next month. Arnaldi won 6-3, 6-4, delaying Djokovic’s search for a career 100th title. The Serb was undermined by 32 unforced errors to his opponent’s 18 and had his serve broken three times. It was the first meeting between Djokovic and 44th-ranked Arnaldi of Italy. “He’s my idol, he’s always been,” Arnaldi said of Djokovic. “To play him at a stage like this was already a victory for me. He’s not at his best right now, so I came on court to try to play my best tennis and win and it happened.”

Doncic struggles with stomach issue

Last spring, Luka Doncic led the Mavericks past the Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals with a series-ending victory at Target Center. This trip to Minnesota for Doncic in the NBA playoffs is off to an awfully rough start. Doncic managed to play 40 minutes with a stomach illness in the Wolves’ 116-104 victory over the Lakers on Friday night in Game 3 of the first-round series, finishing with just 17 points on 6-for-16 shooting with a team-high five turnovers. Doncic, who had eight assists and seven rebounds, was clearly not himself from the start. Lakers coach J.J. Redick said Doncic was vomiting all afternoon before the late game that tipped off at 8:54 p.m. Doncic didn’t start the second half, checking in during the first minute of the third quarter. A little after that, he had the ball poked out of his hands by Rudy Gobert in the backcourt, beginning a fast break the Wolves finished with a three-point play thanks to a foul on Doncic during one of several sloppy sequences for him. “He gave everything he had tonight,” said Austin Reaves, who had 20 points for the Lakers. —AP