BASEBALL

Jayden Murphy and Jacob Landers combined on a two-hitter and also totaled five RBI as Middleboro, Massachusetts, earned a spot in the Little League World Series with a 10-1 win Thursday over Bangor East in the championship game of the New England Regional in Bristol, Connecticut.

Patrick Guite drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth inning to force home the only run for Bangor, which was trying to become the first Maine team to reach the World Series since Westbrook in 2005.

TENNIS

NATIONAL BANK OPEN: Tenth-seeded Coco Gauff outlasted sixth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (4) in windy conditions in Toronto to reach the quarterfinals.

Gauff will face Romania’s Simona Halep in the quarterfinals. Halep, the 2016 and 2018 tournament winner in Montreal, beat Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann, 6-2, 7-5.

Also, seventh-seeded Jessica Pegula of the United States topped Camila Giorgi of Italy, 3-6, 6-0, 7-5, and Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil beat Iga Swiatek of Poland, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

• Fourth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway advanced to the National Bank Open quarterfinals in Montreal, beating No. 14 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Ruud is the highest seed left in the singles draw after No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas dropped out Wednesday.

BASKETBALL

WNBA: Skylar Diggins-Smith will miss Phoenix’s final two regular-season games because of personal reasons, putting the Mercury’s playoff bid in jeopardy.

Diggins-Smith leads the Mercury with 19.7 points and 5.5 assists per game as they try to secure one of the final two WNBA playoff spots. The Mercury are tied with Minnesota, Atlanta and New York at 14-20 heading into Thursday night’s games.

GOLF

EUROPEAN TOUR: Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson set the course record at Galgorm Castle Golf Club with a 9-under 61 to open a four-shot lead after the first round of the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

Ferguson chipped in for eagle on the 10th and 18th and added five birdies in his flawless opening day at Galgorm Castle, one of two courses used for the event that features men’s and women’s tournaments taking place simultaneously.

Richard Bland of England, Felix Palson of Sweden and Spain’s Borja Virto were all 5 under.

COLLEGES

MEN’S BASKETBALL: Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo has a new contract valued at $6.2 million per season, giving him about $2 million more each year.

The school announced the deal Thursday, saying that the five-year rollover contract will need to be approved by its board next month.

Izzo, 67, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016, won a national championship in 2000 and leads all active coaches with eight Final Four appearances. He led Michigan State to a Big Ten-record 24th straight NCAA Tournament last season.

HOCKEY

NHL: Vegas Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner will require hip surgery and is expected to miss the upcoming season, the team said.

Lehner, 31, has three years remaining on a contract that carries a $5 million annual cap hit. The team said no timeline for his recovery has been determined yet.

He also also underwent shoulder surgery during the offseason.

Lehner started 44 games for the Golden Knights last season and finished 23-17-2.

SOCCER

WORLD CUP: FIFA formally moved the World Cup start up by one day, giving host nation Qatar an exclusive Sunday evening slot with a global audience.

Qatar will play Ecuador in Doha on Nov. 20, stretching the World Cup to 29 days from the 28 agreed seven years ago after a June-July tournament was pushed back to avoid the searing desert heat in midsummer.

The surprise late switch was signed off by a FIFA committee comprising its president, Gianni Infantino, and presidents of the six continental soccer bodies. FIFA said the vote was unanimous.