Halfway to its goal of gold, the U.S. has the No. 1 seed going into the medal round at the Paris Olympics.

And now the real games start.

Anthony Edwards scored 26 points, six players reached double figures for the U.S. and the Americans wrapped up the top spot coming out of group play by rolling past Puerto Rico 104-83 on Saturday. A huge second-quarter run was the difference for the U.S., which is trying to medal for the 20th time in 20 Olympic appearances.

“I think we got done what we wanted to accomplish, winning all three games and securing the top seed,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “We know we have to play better.

Part of this tournament is it gets harder as you go. Our goal is just to try to get better each game.”

The Americans — 3-0 in these Olympics, 8-0 so far this summer — will see Brazil in the win-or-go-home quarterfinals in Paris on Tuesday.

“We better be ready to go,” U.S. forward LeBron James said.

Joel Embiid scored 15 points for the U.S. Kevin Durant scored 11 points for the U.S. to get within five of matching Lisa Leslie for the all-time Olympic scoring record for the U.S.; he’s at 483, and Leslie finished her career with 488 in Olympic play.

James finished with 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds in 18 minutes. Jayson Tatum had 10 points and 10 rebounds while Anthony Davis scored 10 for the U.S., which sat Jrue Holiday for precautionary reasons.

Lyles closes strong to advance in 1st round of the 100:

Noah Lyles finished second in his opening heat of the Olympic 100 meters Saturday but still advanced and kept alive his hopes for the sprint double.

The American got off to a sluggish start and finished in 10.04 seconds, which was .06 behind Louie Hinchliffe, a British sprinter being trained by Carl Lewis. The second place finish means Lyles, the reigning world champion at 100 and 200 meters, won’t have the premier lane choice when he races in the semifinals Sunday. If he advances from that, he’ll race for the gold medal later in the evening.

“It is difficult,” he said. “I downplayed my competitors for sure.”

Qinwen wins China’s first tennis singles gold: Right before Zheng Qinwen delivered the very first serve of a victory that would deliver China’s very first Olympic tennis singles gold medal, loud shouts of “Jia You!” in Mandarin rang out from all sections of Philippe Chatrier on Saturday as fans waved red-and-yellow flags.

It’s a phrase that literally means “Add oil!” — in other words, “Hit the gas!” — and is loosely equivalent to “Let’s go!” Those yells resumed right after Zheng’s opponent in the 2024 Paris Games women’s final, Donna Vekic of Croatia, put her return into the net. And they were heard over and over again whenever things went Zheng’s way throughout the proceedings on a breezy, cloudy afternoon.

Which was rather often.

The 21-year-old Zheng defeated Vekic 6-2, 6-3 by displaying the same powerful serves and groundstrokes she used to eliminate No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals and now has the biggest title of her career.

“It’s just unreal,” Zheng said after signing several autographs for members of the crowd. “All my country will be proud of me. I will be proud of myself.”

Algerian boxer Khelif clinches medal: Boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria clinched a medal at the Paris Olympics in an emotional fight Saturday that followed days of sharp scrutiny and online abuse as misconceptions about her gender exploded into a larger clash about identity in sports.

Khelif defeated Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary 5:0 in the quarterfinals of the women’s 66-kilogram division.

Khelif will win at least a bronze medal after she comfortably earned the second victory of her tumultuous second trip to the Olympics.

Khelif faced outcry fueled by claims from the International Boxing Association, which has been banned from the Olympics since 2019, that she failed an unspecified eligibility test to compete last year over elevated levels of testosterone.

Richardson’s comeback halted by Alfred: Sha’Carri Richardson’s comeback story hit a brick wall Saturday when Julien Alfred romped to the 100-meter title in 10.72 seconds to blow away the field and bring the first Olympic medal to her island country of Saint Lucia.

Racing one lane to the left of Richardson, and with rain puddling on the purple track in the Stade de France, Alfred got off to a fantastic start and beat Richardson by .15 seconds — about three body lengths.

Richardson’ training partner, Melissa Jefferson, finished third in 10.92.

Schauffele and Rahm share lead: Double major winner Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm share the 54-hole lead in Olympic men’s golf, setting the stage for a big finish.

This is a big crowd watching some big stars go for the medals. Schauffele had a 68 and Rahm a 66 to share the lead. They are one shot ahead of Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood.

Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark tied the course record with a 62 and is three behind. So is Hideki Matsuyama.