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BC-AP Sports Preview Digest

Some of the sports stories The Associated Press is covering Friday. A full Sports Digest will be sent by about 3 p.m. All times EDT:

- NEW YORK - Past champions Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Marin Cilic play in the third round at the U.S. Open. Seventeen-year-old American CiCi Bellis takes on No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber at night.

- Three Top 25 college football games Friday night: No. 8 Stanford vs. Kansas State (9 p.m.); No. 12 Michigan State vs. Furman (7 p.m.); No. 23 Baylor vs. Northwestern State (7:30 p.m.).

- ARLINGTON, Texas - Top-ranked and defending champion Alabama opens Saturday against No. 20 USC at the home of the Dallas Cowboys. Coach Nick Saban is beginning his 10th season with the Tide.

- ATLANTA - No. 18 Georgia starts anew under coach Kirby Smart, the longtime Alabama defensive coordinator. The Bulldogs open Saturday against No. 22 North Carolina.

- AUBURN, Ala. - Star quarterback Deshaun Watson and No. 2 Clemson begin their bid for what they hope will be a national title, going on the road to play Auburn on Saturday.

- CHICAGO - Jon Lester, 4-0 in his past six starts, is on the mound for the Cubs against the Giants. Chicago has the best record in baseball. San Francisco is two games out of first in the NL West. Game starts 2:20 p.m.

- BALTIMORE - The Orioles, four games out of first in the AL East, plays a New York Yankees team that is surprisingly in the playoff mix and going for its third straight win. Baltimore has lost five of seven. Game starts 7:05 p.m.

- Dwyane Wade assails what he calls weak gun laws in Chicago, urging officials in his hometown to enact changes to help citizens and police. A cousin of the Bulls star was fatally shot on a Chicago street last week.

- SAN JOSE, Calif. - A former Stanford swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman outside a fraternity house is released from jail after serving half a six-month sentence critics denounced as lenient.

- CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. will miss the rest of the season - 18 races total - while he recovers from a concussion. NASCAR's most popular driver plans to return in February for the season-opening Daytona 500.

- WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - IndyCar returns to Watkins Glen International after a five-year break, with the season title is still up for grabs with two races left.

- NORTON, Mass. - The second FedEx Cup playoff begins at the Deutsche Bank Championship, where Rickie Fowler is the defending champion.

- CAMBRIDGE, Ontario - South Korea's Chella Choi leads by a stroke entering the second round of the LPGA Manulife Classic. Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn is four strokes back.

- The U.S. can reach the final round of World Cup qualifying with a win at St. Vincent and the Grenadines and a victory by Trinidad and Tobago at home against Guatemala on Friday night. Game starts 3:30 p.m.

- BEIJING - China is mobilizing under President Xi Jinping's drive to overhaul soccer across the country and turn its top team from a national embarrassment into a World Cup winner by 2050.

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