TENNIS

Rafael Nadal became only the fourth man to reach 1,000 match wins when he beat fellow Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the second round of the Paris Masters on Wednesday.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion joined Jimmy Connors (1,274), Roger Federer (1,242) and Ivan Lendl (1,068) as the only male players to reach the 1,000-win mark since the Open era began in 1968.

No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev, No. 4 Alexander Zverev, No. 5 Andrey Rublev, No. 6 Diego Schwartzman, No. 10 Milos Raonic and No. 12 Stan Wawrinka also advanced.

Zverev again denied accusations of domestic abuse made by a former girlfriend who said the German tennis player tried to strangle her with a pillow before last year’s U.S. Open.

“I have said everything on my Instagram. There is nothing else I can add right now. I’m here to play tennis. I mean, the relationship, as I said, has been over for a very long time,” Zverev said. “I’m enjoying my time on court. I have said everything. They (the allegations) are not true, and there is nothing more I can say right now.”

BASEBALL

MLB: Trevor Bauer’s agent says the pitcher is rejecting the Cincinnati Reds’ $18.9 million qualifying offer, making him a free agent.

Bauer was 5-4 with a National League-leading 1.73 ERA, striking out 100 and walking 17 in 73 innings.

COLLEGES

FOOTBALL: Louisville has paused all football activities, and its Saturday game at Virginia has been postponed at least a week because of a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Louisville Athletic Director Vince Tyra told reporters that the program has 10 players who have tested positive for COVID-19 and five others who are in quarantine because of contact tracing. Five support staff members also tested positive and two others are in quarantine.

• Utah Coach Kyle Whittingham signed a four-year contract extension through the 2027 season.

Whittingham, the reigning Pac-12 coach of the year, has a 131-64 record, going 11-3 in bowl games.

HOCKEY

NHL: Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin will need about five months of rehabilitation and recovery after surgery to repair the torn labrum in his hip that he played with during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Goaltender Ben Bishop, who played in college at UMaine, is facing a similar recovery time following his second knee surgery.

The Stars said Seguin had surgery Monday in New York. Bishop had surgery Oct. 21 in Missouri to repair torn meniscus in his right knee, about five months after a previous procedure.

Seguin led the team with 50 points (17 goals, 33 assists) in the regular season. The six-time All-Star had two goals and 11 assists in 26 playoff games, with no goals and six assists the last 15 games.

Bishop didn’t play after a first-round playoff game against Colorado on Aug. 31 because he never fully recovered from a previous knee surgery in May during the season’s 4 1/2-month pause because of the coronavirus pandemic. Bishop has three years left on his $29.5 million, six-year contract.

• The New York Islanders and restricted free agent defenseman Ryan Pulock agreed to terms on a two-year deal Wednesday, avoiding an arbitration hearing.

Pulock had 10 goals and 25 assists in 68 games last season. The first-round draft pick in 2013, he added two goals and eight assists in 22 playoff games as the Islanders made it to the Eastern Conference final.

Pulock led Islanders defensemen in scoring the past two seasons. He has 31 goals and 77 assists in 234 NHL games.

SOCCER

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Two of the wealthiest and proudest clubs in Europe – Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain – lost in embarrassing fashion.

United’s 2-1 loss at Istanbul Başakşehir included a defensive lapse that gifted the Turkish team its first-ever goal in the Champions League.

PSG finished its 2-1 loss at Leipzig with nine men after Idrissa Gueye and Presnel Kimpembe were sent off in the second half.

• Borussia Dortmund got three first-half goals – two from Erling Haaland – in a 3-0 win at Club Brugge.

• Timo Werner scored two first-half penalties for Chelsea in a comfortable 3-0 win over Rennes.

• Lionel Messi converted a penalty in the fifth minute, and Barcelona keeper Marc-André ter Stegen made several excellent saves as his first game of the season was a 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kyiv.

• Cristiano Ronaldo’s first Champions League game this season, after a COVID-19 infection, was an easy 4-1 win for Juventus at Ferencvaros.

SETTLEMENT: France defender Mamadou Sakho won a financial settlement and apology from the World Anti-Doping Agency on Wednesday for defamation arising from his doping case in 2016 that was later dropped.

Sakho, 30, who is now with Crystal Palace but was then playing for Liverpool, was suspended by UEFA while it investigated a suspected positive test after a Europa League game. He missed the 2016 Europa League final and was not selected for the European Championship by host France.

However, UEFA later closed the investigation and said the substance higenamine – found in weight-loss supplements – was not specifically on WADA’s prohibited list. Sakho had sought a reported $21.7 million at a London court in damages from WADA for its comments about the case.

SKIING

WORLD CUP: A lack of snow and mild temperatures in Austria have forced organizers to postpone the upcoming races in Lech/Zuers for almost two weeks.

The Austrian ski federation said the parallel event for women had been rescheduled for Nov. 26, followed by the men’s the next day. It added that snow control by the International Ski Federation was set for Nov. 18.

The postponement of the races means two slaloms in Levi on Nov. 21-22 will be the next races on the women’s calendar. Double Olympic champion and three-time overall World Cup winner Mikaela Shiffrin is planning her comeback at those events in Finnish Lapland.

Shiffrin, who hasn’t raced since Jan. 26, skipped the Oct. 17 season-opener in Soelden after hurting her back.

HORSE RACING

BAFFERT: Two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert, who has had multiple horses test positive for medication violations, is taking steps to “do better,” including hiring outside oversight, saying Wednesday that he is “very aware” of the incidents involving his horses and the impact that it’s had on his family, the sport and himself.

“Given what has transpired this year, I intend to do everything possible to ensure I receive no further medication complaints,” he said.

Baffert said he has hired veterinarian Dr. Michael Hore of the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Kentucky, to add an extra layer of protection to ensure the well-being of his horses and rule compliance. Hore’s primary focus is digital radiography, sales work, angular limb deformities and lameness, according to the clinic’s website.

Hore is licensed in four states and Europe, according to the website, but not in California, where Baffert’s stable is based. Baffert plans to increase training and awareness of his employees involving proper protocols. He is also increasing his oversight and commitment to “running a tight ship” and being careful that protective measures are in place.

CYCLING

SPANISH VUELTA: Tim Wellens won his second stage of this year’s, and defending champion Primoz Roglic kept his overall lead over Richard Carapaz.

Wellens, who had also won the fifth leg, sprinted to victory ahead of Michael Woods and Zdenek Stybar in an unusually fast 14th stage that took riders 126 miles through hilly Galician terrain. Wellens, the Belgian rider of team Lotto Soudal, dominated on the uphill finish after staying in the breakaway group for most of the stage.

The overall leaders finished together in the peloton, crossing the line almost four minutes behind Wellens. Slovenian rider Roglic maintained a 39-second lead over Carapaz entering the final stages of the three-week race. Hugh Carthy stayed third, 47 seconds off the pace.