Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

NHL roundup: Bruins clip ‘Canes without Rask

Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves in a surprise appearance, while Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand each had a goal and an assist as the Boston Bruins overcame a roster change to win 3-1 in Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon in Toronto. Sean Kuraly supplied Boston’s other goal as the Bruins took a 2-1 series lead. David Krejci posted two assists. Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Monday night.

Motorcycling: Ducati’s Dovizioso wins Austrian GP after horror crash halts race

Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso won an action-packed Austrian Grand Prix which was halted for 20 minutes after Franco Morbidelli’s Yamaha collided with the Avintia Ducati of Johann Zarco in Spielberg on Sunday. The red flag came out immediately when Morbidelli and Zarco came together at turn three, with their cartwheeling bikes missing Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales by inches as the two Yamahas navigated the turn.

Basketball: Stojakovic steps down as Kings assistant GM

Sacramento Kings assistant general manager Peja Stojakovic has stepped down from his role, the NBA franchise said on Saturday, a day after Vlade Divac resigned as general manager following their failure to reach the 2019-20 season’s playoffs. Stojakovic, who held the job for the past two seasons, played for the Kings from 1998–2006, guiding them to the Western Conference Finals in 2002.

Bencic latest to withdraw from U.S. Open

World number eight Belinda Bencic has withdrawn from this year’s U.S. Open, joining a growing list of players who have decided to skip the tournament amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Bencic on Saturday announced her decision on Twitter where she also said she would skip the Western & Southern Open which is being held in New York this year instead of Cincinnati as a lead-up to the Aug. 31-Sept. 13 U.S. Open.

Tennis: Halep beats Mertens to win Prague title

Top seed Simona Halep claimed her second successive title, albeit six months apart, as she comfortably beat Elise Mertens to win the Prague Open on Sunday. The Romanian world number two, playing her first event since winning in Dubai in February, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic forced tennis to shutdown, won 6-2 7-5.

Nine football players at University of Oklahoma test positive for COVID-19

Nine football student-athletes from the University of Oklahoma tested positive for COVID-19, head coach Lincoln Riley said on Saturday, amid fierce national debate over the viability of a fall college football season. Oklahoma’s Big 12 Conference said this week it would move forward with the fall football season, a cultural ritual for millions of Americans, after two of its fellow “Power Five” conferences said they would postpone play.

MLB roundup: Cardinals sweep DH vs. White Sox in return

Playing for the first time since July 29 because of a COVID-19 outbreak that ravaged the roster, the St. Louis Cardinals swept the host Chicago White Sox in a doubleheader on Saturday. Taking the field with 10 players on the COVID-19 list, including catcher Yadier Molina and shortstop Paul DeJong, the Cardinals got a five-inning start from Adam Wainwright (2-0), who earned his 164th victory to move past Bob Forsch for third in franchise history, in beating the White Sox 5-1 in the opener.

Braekhus suffers first pro defeat as McCaskill takes titles

Norwegian boxing trailblazer Cecilia Braekhus suffered the first defeat of her professional career on Saturday, losing her WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO welterweight titles in a majority decision loss to underdog Jessica McCaskill in Tulsa, Oklahoma. With 36 wins and nine knockouts to her name, 38-year-old Braekhus has dominated boxing since turning pro in 2007. But McCaskill, a 33-year-old investment banker from Chicago who spent a period of homelessness as a child, poured on the punches to edge the victory.

Yale’s COVID-19 saliva test used in NBA gets FDA OK for emergency use

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Saturday granted emergency use authorization to Yale School of Public Health’s saliva test to detect COVID-19, after a trial on National Basketball Association players and staff. SalivaDirect, the fifth saliva test approved by the FDA for the disease, requires no swab or collection device and uses spit from people suspected of having the coronavirus, the agency said. (https://bit.ly/3fZyX30)

Bruins’ goalie Rask opts out of season, says needs to be with family

Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask opted out of the National Hockey League (NHL) season on Saturday, saying he needed to be with his family. The announcement came hours before Game 3 of the Bruins’ Eastern Conference first-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes in Toronto, one of two Canadian “hub cities” where the NHL is completing the remainder of its coronavirus-delayed season.