Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

WTA roundup: Top three seeds hold serve in Transylvania

Top seed Simona Halep, No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit and No. 3 seed Emma Raducanu all won in straight sets on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Transylvania Open at Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Playing in her homeland of Romania, Halep defeated Russia’s Varvara Gracheva 6-4, 6-2 after overcoming a back injury to win 26 of her 32 first-service points (81.3 percent). Halep will face countrywoman Jaqueline Cristian in the next round.

U.S. senators propose adding boycott of China’s Winter Olympics to defense bill

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Thursday proposed an amendment to an annual defense policy bill that would impose a diplomatic boycott of China’s Winter Olympics – less than 100 days away – amid accusations of rights abuses by Beijing. The amendment, led by Republican Senator Mitt Romney, mirrors language included in sweeping China-related legislation the Senate passed in June, and would prohibit the secretary of state from spending federal funds to “support or facilitate” the attendance of U.S. government employees at the Games.

ATP roundup: Frances Tiafoe upsets No. 1 Stefanos Tsitsipas in Vienna

After falling behind 3-0 in the deciding set, American qualifier Frances Tiafoe battled back to take down No. 1 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 Thursday in the second round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Austria. Tiafoe saved three of four break points in the third set and broke Tsitsipas’ serve twice en route to winning five straight games to make it 5-3. Tsitsipas smashed 11 aces in the match but committed six double faults along the way.

NHL-Panthers coach Quenneville resigns amid Blackhawks sexual assault investigation fallout

Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville resigned on Thursday after an independent report found that his former team, the Chicago Blackhawks, failed to act on allegations of sexual assault made by a former player against a coach in 2010. The report released on Tuesday said Blackhawks President John McDonough was aware of the allegations that former video coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulted a player during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs, while Quenneville was coach, but did not want the negative publicity.

NHL roundup: Hurricanes off to franchise-best 6-0-0 start

Frederik Andersen made 33 saves for his first shutout of the season, helping the Carolina Hurricanes get off to the best start in franchise history thanks to a 3-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Thursday in Raleigh, N.C. The Hurricanes are 6-0-0, extending their winning streak one game longer than the club mark that was previously set at the beginning of the 2019-20 season.

Olympics-IOC to make decision on weightlifting and boxing ‘as soon as possible’

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will make a decision as early as possible on whether boxing and weightlifting will be at the Paris 2024 Games, president Thomas Bach said on Thursday. “We are quite concerned because in these two federations there are problems of good governance and that is why we are currently monitoring them very closely,” Bach told French sports daily L’Equipe.

Tennis-‘Entertainer’ Tiafoe scripts biggest career win against Tsitsipas

The result is sometimes insignificant to Frances Tiafoe as long as he has given everything and entertained the crowd, but the American was nonetheless delighted to pick up the biggest win of his career against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday. Tiafoe, ranked 49th in the world and a qualifier at this week’s ATP 500 event in Vienna, came back from 0-3 down in the deciding set to stun world number three and top-seed Tsitsipas 3-6 6-3 6-4 and book a spot in the quarter-finals.

Cricket-Unfazed by uncertainty, Afghans chase T20 Cup semis dreams

Afghanistan players are not fretting over what the future may hold for the team and are instead pre-occupied with the task of making the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup, spinner Rashid Khan said on Thursday. The governing International Cricket Council (ICC) will meet next month to discuss the game’s future in the south Asian country under the Taliban rule.

NBA roundup: Knicks barely hold off Bulls

Kemba Walker scored 21 points and RJ Barrett added 20 as the visiting New York Knicks withstood a late rally from the previously unbeaten Chicago Bulls in a 104-103 win on Thursday. The Knicks moved ahead 104-91 with 2:59 to play on Randle’s basket before Chicago closed the game on a 12-0 run.

Baseball-PETA wants to see pitchers warm-up in the arm barn, not bullpen

As baseball fans get ready for Game Three of the World Series, PETA has called on Major League Baseball to use the term ‘arm barn’ instead of ‘bullpen’, which the animal rights group says mocks “the misery of sensitive animals”. The area where relief pitchers warm-up before entering a game is known as the bullpen but PETA said the term also refers to the “holding area where terrified bulls are kept before slaughter”.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)