NEW YORK -- In the most buzzed-about matchup thus far at the US Open, defending champion and world No. 1 Naomi Osaka took on 15-year-old tennis prodigy Coco Gauff in a third-round clash Saturday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium. It was the first meeting between the two, and while it wasn't exactly the best match, it set the scene for what could be a tremendous rivalry and friendship for years to come.

With Rod Laver, Gayle King, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks among the notable fans in attendance, Osaka reminded the crowd why she's the top-ranked player and a two-time Grand Slam champion, winning 6-3, 6-0 in just over an hour. (Watch replay of the match here.)

Osaka will next face Belinda Bencic, who advanced via walkover, in the fourth round on Monday (full coverage on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN App). Before we start thinking about that match, let's look at the biggest takeaways from Saturday night's win.

The crowd

There are loud, enthusiastic crowds and then there's the one that showed up on Saturday night. It seemed like virtually every one of the 23,771 seats were filled, and to say they were into the action on the court would be an understatement.

As of Saturday morning, there wasn't a ticket on the secondary market for the night session for less than $199. It was an excited audience, and it seemed they were largely behind Gauff -- roars were heard every time she earned a point or closed out a game. When she won her first game of the night,the stadium erupted into "Let's go, Coco, let's go!"

While it was clear the collective loyalties lied with the young American, the fans were encouraging of Osaka as well and gave her a loud ovation at the end. It will be hard to imagine she won't be the crowd favorite for every match she plays at the tournament going forward.

After the match, Osaka remarked on the atmosphere: "The energy tonight was crazy," she said before laughing. "Even though it wasn't for me."

The fatigue

Gauff has had some tough (and impressive) matches this week. Unfortunately for her, it showed on Saturday. In addition to two hard-fought three-set singles matches, she is also is playing doubles with fellow American teen Caty McNally, and the two played their opener in the peak of the 88-degree afternoon heat on Friday.

Simply put, Gauff had logged a lot more minutes than Osaka entering Saturday's clash. The 15-year-old spent 351 minutes -- or just under six hours -- on court this week compared to just 219 for the 21-year-old Osaka in two matches.

Gauff is accustomed to playing daily matches on the junior level but not against this level of competition, and certainly not against the No. 1 player in the world. In the second set in particular, she seemed to have few answers against Osaka and couldn't keep up at times.

The nerves

Gauff played on Centre Court at Wimbledon earlier this summer, but she had never played on Arthur Ashe before. There is likely nothing in the sport that can quite prepare you for the size, scope and noise of that ocurt. It is the biggest tennis stadium in the world, after all.

McNally, Gauff's friend and doubles partner, said Ashe was "the most insane atmosphere" she had ever played on after her second-round match against Serena Williams, and Gauff would likely agree.

The rising American star notched 18 double faults in her previous two singles matches -- the third-most among the women in the tournament -- she added another seven in the third round. For comparison, Osaka had just one in the match. Gauff was only able to win two of five break points, where Osaka took six of seven.

The two players entered the clash with similar numbers in regards to their strong serves -- Osaka had 10 aces in her first two matches, compared to Gauff's nine. Both have blistering fast serve speeds -- Gauff came in with the fifth-best mark on the tournament at 118 miles per hour, and Osaka not far behind with a 116. While Gauff had the fastest mark of the night at 119, it was Osaka that had five aces (versus just one for Gauff). Osaka had a 73 percent win percentage on her first serve, compared to an uncharacteristically low 43 percent for Gauff.

The sportsmanship (for the win!)

After all the hype, the match wasn't all that compelling. What everyone will remember for YEARS to come was the incredible display of sportsmanship after the match. Gauff walked to her chair immediately following the loss, clearly about to cry, when Osaka walked over and gave her a huge hug and told her how well she played and understood what she was feeling. She then asked her to do the on-court interview with her, and it was one of the more heartwarming things you'll ever see in sports as they traded compliments and shed more than a few tears.

In a decade when these two are battling for their latest Grand Slam title, we'll still be watching this clip in adoration.

CHICAGO -- The Cubs have activated Ben Zobrist from the restricted list to help with their postseason push.

Zobrist, 38, has been out since May 8 while going through a divorce. The 2016 World Series MVP is batting .241 with 10 RBIs in 26 games this year.

Infielder David Bote was optioned to Triple-A Iowa on Saturday night. Outfielder Mark Zagunis was designated for assignment to create a spot on the 40-man roster.

Zobrist is a .266 career hitter with 166 homers and 761 RBIs in 1,630 games. He won the World Series in 2015 with Kansas City and 2016 with Chicago. He played 12 minor league rehab games, hitting .189 with two homers across four levels.

The Minnesota Twins broke the major league record by hitting their 268th home run of the 2019 season.

The Twins hit six home runs in Saturday night's 10-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mitch Garver, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, C.J. Cron and Nelson Cruz all hit home runs, with Cruz's 450-foot blast to center in the top of the eighth inning tying the record. Garver hit the record-setting homer in the top of the ninth, his second of the game.

The New York Yankees had set the record last season when they hit 267 home runs.

Polanco's home run was his 20th of the season, setting another record for the Twins. Minnesota now has eight players with 20-plus home runs this season, the most by any team in major league history. The Twins also matched the 2000 Houston Astros' MLB record of five games with six or more home runs in a season.

Saturday's game marked Minnesota's 11th this season with five or more home runs, extending their major league record, but it's the first time in franchise history the Twins have loss such a game. They had been 49-0 in such games entering Saturday.

ESPN's Stats & Information contributed to this report.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Defending AFT Twins presented by Vance & Hines champion Jared Mees made it three for three on the Miles in American Flat Track competition this year with a last-corner victory in Saturday’s Springfield Mile I.

Mees and 2018 Springfield Mile I winner Jeffrey Carver Jr. transformed the race into a two-rider duel for the win from the start. The pair immediately broke free from the pack, and subsequently waged a 25-mile test of skill and tactics.

Carver seemed content to plant himself on the rear wheel of Mees over the opening half of the AFT Twins Main Event. However, the home-state hero brought the fans lining the grandstands to their feet by driving underneath the defending champ on lap 13.

Mees regrouped and reassumed his position at the front in short order. Carver made two more attempts to wrestle away the lead, and it appeared he finally succeeded for good when he powered by with three laps remaining. However, Mees ducked under Carver entering turn three on the final lap, only to see Carver slide back up the inside as the worked through turn four.

Mees was ready for the move, and perfectly positioned himself for the decisive sprint to the flag; he stole the advantage back on exit and held it to the flag by .239 seconds.

“I knew going out there if I got the holeshot, I wanted to press the pace right away and create some separation,” Mees said. “I think Jeffrey knew exactly what I was doing because he was just pacing me. I looked back a couple times, and right there was the 23 (Carver).

“He was basically just riding my tail and at one point I rolled out of it and let him go by. I wanted to know where he was stronger, and he had a really good line in three and four. I saw that he tried it a couple times, and he did the exact same thing in the heat. On the last lap, when I felt him dive-bomb the bottom, I had a good counter for his move. I think he blew the corner a little bit coming off of it, and that allowed me to have a big gap out of turn four.”

While Mees made up some ground in the title fight as a result of claiming his fifth win this year, it probably wasn’t by quite as much as he may have anticipated when he took the checkered flag.

Championship leader Briar Bauman was forced to use a provisional start to advance into the Main Event after suffering a mechanical issue in his Semi.

Despite starting from dead last, Bauman somehow carved his way into seventh by the conclusion of lap one and established himself as one of five riders embroiled in a race-long battle for the final spot on the podium. Indeed, Bauman ultimately won that battle, finishing in third, 0.122 seconds ahead of brother and teammate Bronson Bauman.

Bauman now holds a 30-point advantage over Mees (260-230) with four races remaining.

Bryan Smith finished fifth, another 0.016 seconds in arrears, with Stephen Vanderkuur and Brandon Robinson fractionally behind in sixth and seventh, respectively.

Fresh off his clutch victory in Friday night’s Springfield Short Track, Dalton Gauthier steamrolled the competition in Saturday’s AFT Production Twins Main Event at the Springfield Mile I.

Gauthier’s arcing high lines may have allowed his rivals to keep him relatively contained during the opening stages of the 15-lap Main Event, but once he finally stretched open enough of an advantage to prevent his opponents from blocking his preferred path, those same lines made him simply unstoppable.

The triumph was not just his second of the weekend, it was also his second in succession in the AFT Production Twins class; he delivered the XG750R a second win in the first possible opportunity after scoring its historic maiden win last time out in the Sacramento Mile.

“I have to thank Jarod Vanderkooi for telling me to go there (to the high line) after the Semi, so shout out to him,” Gauthier said. “After the second or third lap I went up there and I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s hooking up. So I stayed up there and tried to ride consistent laps and break away and that’s what happened.

“I have to thank everybody at Harley-Davidson, Black Hills Harley-Davidson, Vance & Hines and everyone else who has gotten this bike working this great. It’s been awesome, and I’m having a lot of fun.”

Kolby Carlile and Chad Cose emerged from a multi-rider pack to battle for second place. The two actually managed to cut into Gauthier’s lead while waging their duel, which came down to the race’s final corner. Carlile sailed past Cose to open the last lap, but Cose switched-up his opponent driving through turns three and four.

However, the Estenson pilot managed a counter of his own while they streaked down the start/finish straight, nipping Cose by 0.101 seconds at the flag to finish as the race’s runner-up.

Second-ranked Ryan Varnes continued his consistent AFT Production Twins title campaign with his fifth top-five result of the year by taking fourth. Kevin Stollings was 0.002 seconds back of Varnes to round out the top five.

Championship leader Cory Texter took the checkered flag in ninth. As a result, he now leads Varnes by 22 points (133-111) with Carlile (100) and Gauthier (96) looking increasingly threatening in third and fourth, respectively.

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Cole Custer may not have been able to get past Denny Hamlin on the final restart of Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts/VFW 200, but he still walked out of Darlington Raceway with the trophy.

Custer was the beneficiary of a ride-height infraction on Denny Hamlin’s No. 18 Toyota Supra that disqualified the apparent winner at the 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval from the final results.

Though Custer crossed the finish line .602 seconds behind Hamlin at the checkered flag, following the confirmation of technical inspection, it was the Ladera Ranch, Calif., native who received the spoils of victory at The Track Too Tough To Tame.

Hamlin had come from the last row of the grid – 37th, to be exact – and passed Ryan Blaney for the lead with 27 to go after a Friday practice crash sent him to a backup car and seemingly out of contention.

But Hamlin methodically worked his way through the field throughout the day, finally finding himself inside the top five with a shot when the final stage went green with 50 laps to go.

It took him around 20 of those laps for the speed in his car to show as the run drug on, but when the 30 to go benchmark ticked up on the scoreboard, Hamlin hit the jets and took off. He disposed of Custer to take second before driving inside Blaney on the approach to turn one on lap 121, quickly driving away.

However, a caution with 15 laps left closed the field back up and made for a scramble to the checkered flag, after Josh Williams spun exiting turn four, clipped Landon Cassill’s nose and tapped the inside wall.

That led to a final round of pit stops for fresh tires and a 10-lap shootout to the checkered flag, where Custer could stay with Hamlin by running the middle groove of the race track but could not get enough momentum to fully pull alongside the five-time Darlington Xfinity Series winner.

Hamlin’s disqualification erased that defeat, however, and elevated Custer to his sixth win of the year.

“It’s a wild ending, for sure. It’s one way to win it; it’s just not the way you want to win it,” said Custer, who carried a Buckshot Jones throwback scheme on his No. 00 Ford Mustang on Saturday. “It’s a strange feeling, definitely I wish I could have passed him, because him being low is not why he won that race. That’s the rules that we live by, though, and everyone plays by the same rulebook.

“You’ve seen several guys this year get bitten by it, so of course we’ll take this one,” he added. “We needed some additional momentum and some more playoff points and this certainly gave us that.”

Hamlin becomes the first Xfinity Series winner to have his victory stripped since Dale Jarrett, who was triumphant at Michigan Int’l Speedway in 1995 before an illegal carburetor was discovered in tech.

After coming in and going through what he thought was the customary winner’s press conference, the news filtered out and Hamlin quickly reacted to the disqualification on social media.

Car was a handling mess and had to put a boatload of rounds in RR to help it. This is the result. Damnit!! Nice job @ColeCuster

— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) August 31, 2019

Tyler Reddick, who originally finished third, rose to the runner-up position in the adjusted results.

Ryan Blaney, who led 50 laps down the stretch, Christopher Bell and Dale Earnhardt Jr. filled out the top five.

Joe Gibbs Racing has the option to appeal the disqualification, and must make the decision whether they will do so or not by Monday.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.

DUQUOIN, Ill. – Ken Schrader became the oldest pole winner in the history of the ARCA Menards Series with his 22nd General Tire Pole Award in qualifying for Saturday’s Southern Illinois 100 on the Magic Mile at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.

Schrader’s lap of 33.621 seconds at 107.076 mph was three hundredths of a second quicker than Christian Eckes’ fastest lap.

“I told (crew chief) Donnie (Richeson) that the car felt pretty good when I went out for qualifying,” the 64-year-old Schrader said. “I said the new tires felt a lot better than those 20 lap tires we had on in practice. He told me “well they should feel better because those tires were from last year.”

Illinoisan Kelly Kovski was third fastest at 33.747 seconds and 106.676 mph. Carson Hocevar was fourth and Springfield winner Michael Self rounded out the top-five.

Will Kimmel, Riley Herbst, Bret Holmes, Ryan Unzicker and defending event winner Logan Seavey rounded out the top-10 in qualifying.

LINCOLN, Calif. – Fifteen months ago Steven Tiner and Kyle Hirst joined forces to open a racer-oriented shop in Chico, Calif.

The 2,100 square foot location, named Tiner Hirst Enterprises, resulted from more than three years of discussion between the sprint car drivers.

Hirst is a third generation racer following his grandfather, Joe Hill, and father, Rick Hirst into the world of open wheel racing. He first raced a quarter midget when he was 4 at Prairie City, but quickly moved on after a half season because passing on the outside was not allowed. A nearby dirt track raced outlaw karts and Hirst had found his training ground.

Discovering Red Bluff and Cycleland, Hirst continued racing outlaw karts until turning 16, a point at which strapping into a sprint car was done for the first time.  He recalls his debut was at Chico in a 410 and hitting an infield tire in hot laps.  That moment is credited with causing his father’s hair to start turning gray.

Now 31, Hirst figures he had around 80-100 outlaw kart wins and approximately 100 sprint car wins. He only ran for a track title once as a rookie and thinks he finished third in points, earning the rookie of the year award.

His first win came as a 17-year-old at Santa Maria and since has won four NARC titles plus he has collected the championship for the first two years of the Sprint Car Challenge Tour.  Hirst has the current point lead in the SCCT series with two race remaining.

With the new business being a little more than five months old, Hirst, wife Amy and daughter Emma had their lives turned upside down when the disastrous Camp Fire destroyed most of their hometown of Paradise. On Nov. 8, 2018 at approximately 6:30 a.m. the Camp Fire started and became the deadliest in California history with at least 51 fatalities from Paradise and destroyed the majority of structures in the city.

The Hirst family was out of their home for nine months, just returning to Paradise in August.  They stayed in the shop at first, then with a brother in Placerville, before being able to rent a place in Chico, conveniently owned by a co-worker of Amy.

A house on one side of the Hirst home as well as his were not burned, but all others in the neighborhood were destroyed.  He did lose his shop just 10 feet from their home but suffered no damage to their house, a vivid example of how wildfires defy any explanation of their behavior.

“If we can get through this we can do anything,” Hirst noted.

When they were able to return to their home with a  six-month-old son, Klayton, it meant they rushed out of Paradise a family of three and returned as a family of four.

Hirst thanks everyone who supported them during the nine months away from their home, including  the racing community and overseas support from New Zealand when he raced there in the winter.

Steven Tiner has a similar background as Hirst, lifelong involvement in racing and learning the skills along the way to fabricate and fix race car parts. Tiner is a fourth generation driver, coming from an extended family of racing relatives and is married to Paige.

His great-grandfather was Johnny Tiner, his grandfather was Johnny Tiner Jr., and his father Rich Tiner, a two time Marysville champion, formed the first three generations of drivers.  Steven first raced an outlaw kart in the box stock but after an eight-race career that ended due to financial issues.  Instead, Tiner learned how to build and work on race cars until age 16 when he strapped into his Uncle Rod’s sprint car.

His uncle Randy won many races around Northern California while Rod became well known as a car owner, collecting multiple Trophy Cup championships, as well as being someone who could work his magic on a sprint car.

After a few years racing Rod’s car, Tiner moved east, first to Missouri and then Benton, Ark. This was when Hooker Hood’s daughter put him in touch with the late Shorty Chambliss, a car owner who provided Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with his first ride.  Tim Crawley hired Tiner to work on his cars, which was done during the week and Tiner raced a Chambliss car on the weekend.

Tiner also worked for Danny Lasoski during this period of Midwestern living before returning to California in 2008 to work at BR Motorsports.  When on the road with Lasoski he got into buying and selling used parts, cleaning and fixing as needed to provide a quality used product.  His time at BR Motorsports led to meeting Bob Wyman, someone who Tiner credits with being very supportive and a big influence in his life.

Tiner also worked for Wright Process, which does stainless welding in the food industry and prepared the sprint cars owned by the company.  His racing career was not as busy as Hirst but he figures he has 30+ wins with one title at Placerville and two at Hanford, one coming in a shortened season at Kings Speedway.

Tiner’s years of learning the nuts and bolts of building and working on sprint cars led to the car he races occasionally now, one that he designed and built, including the sheet metal. He became friends with Hirst and that eventually led to the next phase in racing for both of them.

Three years of talking about opening a shop led to a June 1, 2018 opening of Tiner Hirst Enterprises, close to Silver Dollar Speedway. There they provide such things as used and new parts, rear end repair, plumbing engines, building bodies, frame repair  and new and repaired wings.

Tiner always raced on a tight budget and sees the benefit or turning used parts into usable items and repairing a wing at a fraction of the cost of a new one.  Hirst races more than Tiner but both have a significantly reduced schedule as the business comes first.

Their driver development program provides a car for Coalinga driver, Ben Worth, which is a ride identical to the house car driven mostly by Hirst.

It has been a busy 15 months for Tiner Hirst Enterprises but the high level of work ethic shown by these two men have their efforts off to a good start.

WEST HAVEN, Vt. – Tim LaDuc being in victory lane at Devil’s Bowl Speedway is usually no surprise.

The surprise came in the circumstances: Mired in the toughest season of his career, the Orwell, Vt., driver was eligible to compete in the Casella Waste Systems Ron Casey Memorial Shootout for non-winners, dominating the 20-lap race to open the Interstate All Battery Center Vermont 200 Weekend.

The race was part of a full five-division card of action on Saturday that also saw Johnny Bruno, Scott FitzGerald, Shawn Moquin and Evan Roberts earn wins.

The Ron Casey Memorial had another longtime Pepsi Sportsman Modified campaigner – Vince Quenneville – on the pole position, but a mechanical failure on the pace lap put Quenneville in the pits and moved visiting racer Jon Miller to the top spot.  Miller led the first four laps, but LaDuc got by him and sailed off to the 53rd feature win of his Devil’s Bowl career.  After destroying his primary car three weeks ago, LaDuc dedicated his win to a group of friends and volunteers who helped him piece together a new (used) chassis.

Marty Kelly III matched his career-best finish in second place, and rookie Joey Roberts had an impressive drive from 12th to third.  Ron Proctor and Brian Whittemore rounded out the top five finishers.

Sixteen-year-old Johnny Bruno won the 25-lap “Win & You’re In!” feature for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Limited Sportsman division, fending off a committed outside-lane drive by Matt Bilodeau.  Austin Chaves had his best effort of the season by leading the first 10 laps, but a restart bunched the field up and allowed Bruno to charge past into the lead.

Bilodeau chased Bruno down and the duo waged a see-saw battle in the final eight laps.  Bruno beat Bilodeau by a car length to win and earn a guaranteed starting spot in Sunday’s Vermont 200, but deferred the opportunity to Bilodeau, who will race.  Chaves held on for third place with Anthony Ryan fourth and Marty Hutchins fifth.

Super Stock point leader Scott FitzGerald won his fifth race of the season in a 30-lap special feature and unofficially clinched the championship with two races remaining.  FitzGerald and Chris Murray battled for the lead before Murray took over with 10 laps left, but Murray had a flat tire on lap 25 and had to pit.  After the restart, FitzGerald scooted away with the lead and sealed the win.

Curtis Condon had his best run of the year in the runner-up position and Murray – who was driving a car borrowed from Josh Bussino after problems with his own ride in hot laps – recovered for third place.  Bill Duprey and Garrett Given completed the top five.

Shawn Moquin continued the trend of borrowed cars performing well by winning the 20-lap Mini Stock feature in a car loaned to him by Chris Conroy; Moquin’s car was badly damaged in a crash last week.  Rookie David Sartwell-Cornell scored his fifth consecutive top-two finish in second place.  P.J. Bleau was third ahead of Jake Barrows and Craig Kirby.

Evan Roberts continued his impressive rookie season with his eighth Friend Construction 500cc Mini Sprint victory.  The Fletcher, Vt., 13-year-old won both 12-lap halves of the scored two-segment race for a perfect low total score of two points.  Twin brothers Shawn McPhee and John McPhee Jr. finished second and third overall, respectively; Shawn McPhee placed third and second in the segments for five points, and John McPhee Jr. was seventh and third for 10 points.  Kamden Duffy and Cody O’Brien, each with 10 points, rounded out the overall top five.

Barcelona have given up their pursuit of Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar but will make a renewed effort to sign the Brazilian superstar next summer, sources have told ESPN FC.

Sources close to the Ligue 1 champions also confirmed on Saturday that the deal is off and that Neymar will be staying in Paris.

Following weeks of negotiations with Paris Saint-Germain, Barca have been unable to strike a deal to bring Neymar back to Camp Nou.

However, sources at Barca have told ESPN FC that they don't view this as the end of the saga. The club have not ruled out returning with another offer next summer for a player they consider to be a "strategic" signing -- someone who brings the club as much on the pitch as he does off it.

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The hierarchy at the club has appreciated the part played by Neymar during the negotiations with PSG, according to sources, with Barcelona saying he had expressed a desire to come back and exerted pressure on the French club to let him go.

Speaking on Friday, PSG's sporting director Leonardo said the club were still open to selling the Brazilian if Barca made an acceptable offer, but that none had arrived. Now with 48 hours to go until the window shuts, that is looking improbable.

Despite PSG's apparent openness to sell, sources at Barca claim that a deal this summer became impossible when faced with the Ligue 1 side's reluctance to reduce their asking price for the forward, who they signed for €222 million from the Catalans in 2017.

Barca have been working on the viability of doing a deal for two months but they cannot put the club's financial health at risk. Matching PSG's demands would signify a huge initial outlay in addition to another huge salary on the books.

ESPN FC first revealed on June 17 that Barca believed it would be possible to sign both Antoine Griezmann and Neymar. Therefore, once they bought the French forward from Atletico Madrid for €120m in July, they began to work on a deal for Neymar.

"It's difficult but complicated," a club source told ESPN FC at the time, but the Spanish champions have been unable to get PSG to budge.

Barca made three offers in the end, with all of them rejected. The first bid included Philippe Coutinho, Ivan Rakitic and cash between the value of €80m and €100m. PSG were keen on Coutinho being included, so his loan move to Bayern Munich set the talks back.

Barca later returned with an offer to take Neymar on loan this season with an option to sign him next summer which was also declined.

The third and final offer was based on a figure of €170m, with Rakitic and Jean Clair Todibo plus the loan of Ousmane Dembele included to bring the money part of the transfer down to around €130m.

However, none of the three players were keen on being included in the deal.

Real Madrid and Juventus have also been linked with Neymar throughout the summer, but Leonardo said on Friday that Barcelona were the only side who PSG had held talks with.

ESPN FC's Julien Laurens contributed to this story.