World number one Carlos Alcaraz cruised into the last 16 of the Miami Open with victory over Dusan Lajovic.

Alcaraz, who has won 16 of 17 matches this year and has not dropped a set in his last two tournaments, needs to win the title to stay top of the rankings.

Elsewhere, women's ninth seed Belinda Bencic was beaten 7-6 (10-8) 6-3 by 18th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

But after a number of upsets on Saturday, there were straightforward wins for men's seeds Andrey Rublev, Holger Rune and Taylor Fritz.

Russian sixth seed Rublev beat Serbia Miomir Kecmanovic 6-1 6-2, while Rune, the seventh seed from Denmark, won 6-4 6-2 against Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.

Rune will play Fritz in the next round after the American ninth seed beat Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-4 6-4.

In the women's draw, Elena Ryabkina edged out Paula Badosa 3-6 7-5 6-3, Bianca Andreescu beat Sofia Kenin 6-4 6-4, but 17th seed Karolina Pliskova lost 6-1 6-2 to fellow Czech Marketa Vondrousova.

Los Angeles Kings forward Blake Lizotte received a one-game suspension from the NHL on Sunday for cross-checking Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey.

Lizotte had a hearing with the league's Department of Player Safety earlier Sunday. The suspension means he is ineligible to play in Sunday night's home game against the St. Louis Blues.

He was assessed a five-minute major and a match penalty after hitting Morrissey in the face with 5:50 left in the second period of the Kings' 4-1 home victory Saturday.

Morrissey told reporters that he received multiple stitches on his chin.

"My reaction is it hurts a lot and I needed to get off the ice. It was a careless play. I thought we were going to [fight] and I took a cross-check to the chin. It could have been my teeth, so thankfully not," Morrissey said.

Lizotte, 25, has recorded career-high totals in assists (20), points (30) and penalty minutes (54) in 72 games this season. His 10 goals match a personal best, set in 2021-22.

Lizotte has totaled 87 points (29 goals, 58 assists) in 249 career games with the Kings.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- David Pastrnak eclipsed the 50-goal mark, scoring twice, and the Boston Bruins won their seventh game in a row, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in a shootout Sunday.

A day after Boston secured the Atlantic Division crown with a home win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, Charlie Coyle and Jake DeBrusk scored in the shootout in a matchup of Eastern Conference division leaders.

Jakub Lauko also scored for the Bruins, who earned their 57th victory. Coach Jim Montgomery's club is now five wins shy of matching the NHL record with nine regular-season games to play. Charlie McAvoy had two assists and Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves.

"We've had a lot of character wins in a lot of different fashions," Montgomery said.

Swayman concurred.

"It shows the depth that we have," Swayman said. "I think all of us thrive on the energy in a building like this."

Jack Drury, Brady Skjei and Sebastian Aho scored for the Hurricanes, who won three of their previous four games. Brett Pesce had two assists and Frederik Andersen stopped 35 shots.

"This wasn't our best game, but I thought, third period, we certainly came on," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "It's one of those games where you say that's probably a good point to get out of it."

50 SERVINGS OF PASTA ? pic.twitter.com/QzprKmeeFj

— NHL (@NHL) March 26, 2023

Pastrnak's 50th goal of the season came 4:43 into the game. He received pass from McAvoy and skated half the length of the ice on a breakaway to beat Andersen.

After the win, Pastrnak, carrying the milestone puck, said he "may have a beer or two" to celebrate the achievement.

Drury, set up in the slot, scored his second goal of the season off a pass from Jalen Chatfield at 7:44 of the second.

Just 1:28 later, Pastrnak's second goal came on a power play when he blasted a shot from the left side just inside the post. Lauko's fourth goal extended the lead at 11:46 of the second.

Carolina pulled even at 3-3 when Skjei and Aho scored in the first four minutes of the third period.

"Obviously, you want to get two points," Skjei said. "But proud of the way we came back in the third period."

With the division secured, the Bruins sat some important players. Defenseman Hampus Lindholm and forwards Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand were scratches with what the team called nagging injuries. The trio has accounted for 57 goals this season.

"With Bergeron and Marchand back at home, you can see his leadership skills really come out," Montgomery said of Pastrnak. "I think he put the team on his back and played the right way."

Carolina's only significant lineup adjustment came with center Paul Stastny in the lineup in place of Jesse Puljujarvi, who had played in eight straight games since making his debut with the Hurricanes. Puljujarvi arrived in a trade from Edmonton in late February.

As part of their "Heritage Night," the Hurricanes wore their Hartford Whalers-inspired jerseys, honoring the city where the franchise began before relocation in 1997.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

As we wave goodbye to the WGC-Dell Match Play, it’s fair to wonder when match play will ever return to the PGA Tour calendar.

Sure, the format has its drawbacks, and many Tour players have been vocal about it not being their favorite. But after this five-day, going-away party at Austin Country Club, there’s no doubt that the excitement – sans a championship-match rout by Sam Burns of Cam Young – and change of pace still satisfies the appetites of golf fans.

Which brings me to this crazy – maybe not-so-crazy – idea: The PGA Tour should add a match-play event back to the schedule for 2024, and it should be a designated event.

But not just any designated event.

Match play should decide … the Tour Championship.

Now, take a deep breath, and think about it. Let’s get rid of the polarizing staggered start, expand the field at East Lake by two players to the top 32 in the FedExCup following the BMW Championship, and have the Tour’s best go head-to-head, mano a mano, for the $18 million first-place prize.

The Final Fore? It could be electric.

Sure, critics will argue that match play, for all its fickleness, shouldn’t decide a season-long champion – or perhaps more importantly, a $75 million event. But is giving the points leader a head start, including 10 shots on the last players in the field, much better? There’s a reason some people playfully call the playoff finale the “PGA Tour’s Net Championship” and joke about the "shadow leaderboard," referring to the gross scores recognized by the Official World Golf Ranking.

The PGA Tour is sacrificing drama for confusion.

If bracket play is good enough for every other major sport’s playoffs, it should be good enough for golf's biggest tour. So what if Scottie Scheffler wins 10 times in a season and loses in his first match at East Lake? Those other sports don’t seem to care that their best teams could get bounced early.

An NFL team can go 17-0 and lose in the divisional round.

An NBA team can go 82-0 and get swept by the eighth seed.

An MLB team can go 162-0 and bow out after just three postseason games.

Novak Djokovic, while unlikely, could get upset in the first round of Wimbledon, or any of tennis' majors.

Just weeks ago, for the just the second time ever, one of four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Basketball Tournament lost to a 16th seed. Also, have you seen this year's Final Four teams? (Go FAU!)

And even sticking with golf, both men’s and women’s NCAA titles are ultimately decided via, you guessed it, match play. Same goes for the U.S. Amateur, the USGA's oldest championship.

People love seeing stars. But they also adore upsets, bracket busters, Cinderella stories. Match play provides all of that, and in an easily recognizable format for the average viewer. And with so much money and importance on the line, few will care if the weekend's matches don't feature Rory McIlroy or Jon Rahm.

Even the players bowing out after one round, a big critique of the old single-elimination WGC days, shouldn't care. They can start their offseasons early, and with nearly $600,000 in their pockets. (I wouldn't be opposed to a consolation ladder, either.)

Who wouldn't get excited about watching Sahith Theegala and Scott Stallings, the bottom two finishers last year at East Lake, play a match for $18 million and the FedExCup? That's way better than a potential runaway by a guy staked two shots on the field.

And then sometimes we'll get Rory vs. Scottie for all the marbles.

Maybe this golf writer has lost his, and turning the Tour Championship into a match-play event is a terrible idea.

But then again, what if it's not?

AUSTIN, Texas – It’s curious, the amount of pearl clutching around the swansong WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. While many argue that the format is a refreshing change of pace from the week-to-week stroke-play grind on the PGA Tour, they seem to conveniently forget that this event has never been right.

Social media, of course, was the preferred outlet for virtual handwringing in the waning days of the Match Play, fueled by inspired play Saturday by Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, and clutch performances by Sam Burns and Cameron Young during Sunday’s semifinals.

How could the Tour allow such a jewel to fade like the other World Golf Championships? What is the circuit thinking, getting rid of this format? When will it come to its senses?

While genuine, the “Save the Match Play” thinking is as short-sighted as it is misplaced. Forgotten by all those who took to Twitter to complain, is a format that has never really worked, despite the circuit’s best efforts, a string of unmemorable venues and a decidedly poor record of delivering the matchups that matter.

It's not as though the Tour didn’t try to get it right, yet for each “fix” it only seemed to create different problems.

In the earliest days, straight knockout match play made television and corporate executives anxious that the vagaries of the format would rob the event of its stars far too early. Officials would spend Match Play Wednesday praying to the golf gods that top-seeded players wouldn’t get bounced on Day 1. It happened to Tiger Woods three times, which, if we’re counting, is three times too many for those who pay the bills.

The answer was group play the first three days, which only annoyed players, watered down Wednesday and Thursday, and created far too many complicated scenarios for fans to figure out. It also created uncomfortable Fridays for those who had been mathematically eliminated the first two days. Twenty players began this Friday’s matches with little to prove and likely wishing they were already home.

And then there was the format. While fans will profess an affinity for match play, the capriciousness of it all led to far too many uninspired Sundays. FAU advancing to the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament might be a good headline, but given the option, how many fans would trade the Owls for Purdue, Kansas, Houston or Alabama, this year’s four No. 1 seeds that didn’t make it?

Instead, the tournament had a tendency to deliver Jeff Maggert, Andrew Magee, John Huston and Steve Pate, the final four at the first Match Play in 1999. Although all four were fine players, they were the 24th, 50th, 27th and 61st seeded players that week, respectively.

In fact, just once in the 24-year odyssey of the Match Play did we get chalk, way back in 2004 when top-seeded Woods defeated third-seeded Davis Love III in a final that wasn’t particularly close, 3 and 2.

More often than not, the tournament produced a Burns-Young final, which wasn’t helped by Burns’ lopsided 6-and-5 rout. Both are great players facing limitless futures but not exactly the headliners most would hope for, as evidenced by a gallery that seemed to have more interest in the consolation match between Scheffler and McIlroy.

And then there were the courses. La Costa Resort in Southern California hosted seven of the first eight Match Plays and was regularly challenged by poor weather, while Dove Mountain in Arizona hosted the next eight championships and was isolated and unimaginative.

Austin Country Club, which first hosted the event in 2016, was the best of the bunch with an abundance of risk-reward holes and a rabid fan base - and according to various sources, LIV Golf is considering filling the void left by the Tour - but few are lamenting its loss from the Tour schedule. It's noted as a good "match-play course," which isn't exactly a compliment.

Fans on social media, however, aren’t the only ones with short memories. Even some players lamented the passing of the Match Play, while conveniently overlooking its warts.

“I would love to have it back,” said Scottie Scheffler, who beat No. 29 seed Kevin Kisner in last year's final and lost to McIlroy in Sunday's consolation match. “I think match play is a good change of pace. Commercially, I don't know how well it works when it comes to TV and only having so many guys on the golf course on the weekend.”

But then the commercial viability of the Match Play doesn’t seem to have been the problem. According to various accounts, Dell Technologies didn’t want out and the Austin stop has proven to be one of the most financially successful WGC events. But the Match Play, and the World Golf Championships, are going away because the Tour is moving in a different direction, to use corporate jargon.

“We all enjoy it, some more than others. Some enjoy the old format better than this format,” Billy Horschel said. “But if you look at the game of golf, we want things that are different. I’m sad to see it go.”

Fine, be sad that the Match Play has joined two of the three other World Golf Championships in the heap of abandoned Tour stops, but don’t rewrite history to match the narrative.

If the Match Play was such a gift, why had it become a scheduling victim in recent years? Last year, McIlroy skipped the event to play the follow week's Texas Open and this year both Justin Thomas and Justin Rose opted out. With the Masters looming in two weeks, it was becoming increasingly easy for some players to skip what can be a grueling week.

You can even miss the concept of the event, but don’t make this out to be a tragedy for the ages. The Tour is in the entertainment business and if the Match Play was as entertaining as everyone seems to think, it would still be on the schedule.

In theory, a match-play event slotted amid the clutter of stroke-play stops makes perfect sense, and perhaps the event’s future hasn’t fully been written yet, but in practice, it’s impossible to ignore 24 years of evidence to the contrary.

AUSTIN, Texas – Sunday moved fast for Rory McIlroy. Less than an hour after dropping his semifinal match to Cameron Young, he was back on the first tee to play Scottie Scheffler in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play consolation bout. Shortly after closing out the world No. 1, 2 and 1, the Northern Irishman’s attention turned to the next task.

“I feel really good,” McIlroy said. “I’m a lot more confident going into Augusta than I was last year and last year was my best-ever finish (runner-up). The one thing about Augusta is, you can’t go in too over-confident.”

Despite his semifinal loss, McIlroy was dominant at Austin Country Club thanks to his transition to a slightly shorter shaft in his driver (44 inches, from 44.5) and a return to a Scotty Cameron putter similar to the model he used to win the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA Championship.

McIlroy said he will examine his statistics from the Match Play, where he was third in the field in strokes gained: off the tee but lost shots to the field from the fairway, and tailor his preparation to the demands of Augusta National and the year’s first major.

“I feel like I’m driving the ball better, I’ve got a driver I’m more comfortable with, and my putting really progressed as the week went on here,” he said. “Augusta has become more of a driving course as the years have gone on and it didn’t used to be, but approach play is still the big key at Augusta and I felt like I hit my irons and wedges well this week.”

McIlroy said his plan is to travel to Augusta, Georgia, for the Masters next Sunday, but he’s considering a one-day trip next week to get an early look at the course.

“I always feel the most confident when I feel the most prepared, so for me it’s about just making sure I do the right things next week so I know I’m ready to go,” he said.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – David Toms fired a 7-under 65 Sunday for a four-stroke, wire-to-wire win at The Galleri Classic to become the first two-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions this season.

Toms closed out his second win in three starts and fourth Champions victory with an eight-birdie, one-bogey performance at Mission Hills Country Club to claim the $330,000 winner’s share.

Steven Alker of New Zealand used a round of five birdies — four on the back nine — to finish alone in second after a closing 67.

Retief Goosen had a final-round 65 and tied Paul Stankowski (66) for third at 11 under. Vijay Singh (68), Padraig Harrington (68), Miguel Angel Jiménez (68), Steve Stricker (69) and Mario Tiziani (67) were at 10 under.

Toms added the Galleri title to his win at the Cologuard Classic earlier this month for his first multiple-win season on the over-50 tour since joining in 2017. The win vaulted him into first place in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.

“I’ve just enjoyed playing good golf right now, off to a good start,” the 56-year-old Toms said. “I haven’t really been part of the Charles Schwab Cup at the end, haven’t even been close, so that’s kind of my goal this year is to try to get close, give myself a chance late in the season.”

The inaugural event was contested on the same Mission Hills layout where the LPGA formerly contested its first major of the season for 50 years. Chevron has taken over as the title sponsor of that event and moved the major to Houston.

Toms found the par-72, 7,112-yard course to be a tough layout that put a premium on accuracy off the tee.

“It was a really good test, you had to keep the ball in the fairway, which was very difficult,” said Toms, who ranked first in driving accuracy by hitting 33 of 42 fairways and led the field with 20 birdies. “Just enough rough to make you think.

“Greens got firm, so you really need to be in the fairway. Fortunate for me, I kept it in the fairway for the most part. If not, I always had a shot where I had an open green or something, and the putter felt really good the last few days.”

Bernhard Langer, who was trying to win his record 46th title on the PGA Tour Champions, finished in a tie for 20th at 6 under after a final-round 69.

GOLD CANYON, Ariz. – Celine Boutier of France beat Georgia Hall of England with a birdie on the first playoff hole Sunday to win the LPGA Drive on Championship.

Boutier forced a playoff by making a testy birdie putt at the par-5 18th to close out a 4-under 68, matching Hall (65) at 20-under 268 in the LPGA’s first full-field event of the season.

Playing the 18th hole again, neither golfer found the green with their second shot of the playoff. Boutier, chipping from nearly the same spot as she did in regulation, short and right of the green, pitched to about 4 feet. Meanwhile, Hall hit her second shot into a greenside bunker, blasted beyond the hole and failed to convert her birdie effort. That set the stage for Boutier’s winning birdie putt.

Boutier had mixed feelings about squaring off in a playoff against — and beating — Hall, a former Solheim Cup teammate.

“I was honestly not looking forward to it,” Boutier said. “It’s a bittersweet feeling because you obviously want to win, but at the same time I really think she’s an amazing player. ... She is a really good friend of mine. So I feel like it’s not always easy, but also I’m a little bit competitive, so I feel like I definitely want to win as well. But it’s not the greatest feeling.”

With the victory, the 29-year-old Boutier claimed her third LPGA victory and became the winningest French player on tour, moving past Patricia Meunier-Lebouc and Anne-Marie Palli. She had previously won the 2019 ISPS Handa Vic Open and 2021 ShopRite Classic.

Boutier posted two early birdies at Nos. 2-3 and gave a stroke back with bogey at the sixth. On the back nine, she made a move with birdies at 11 and 13, and none more important than the clutch birdie putt at the 18th, her 72nd hole.

“I was a little bit nervous, but not as much as I expected or I thought I was going to be,” she said. “I feel like I was just really focused. I had a really tough chip from the right with a break from right to left, so I was just trying to get as close as I could. Then the 5- or 6-footer was definitely a little bit of pressure.”

After three birdie-filled rounds at Superstition Mountain Golf Club, the final round started with 17 players within three shots of the lead and stayed to form.

Hall made the most of her fourth round, posting one of three 7-under-par scores, including going 6 under on the back nine to take a clubhouse lead, finishing about an hour ahead of Boutier.

Hall, who was looking for her first win since the 2020 Cambia Portland Classic, which followed a victory at the Women’s British Open in 2018, tried to find some consolation in her near-miss. “Obviously fantastic to get to the position I was in,” the 26-year-old major winner said. “I knew I had to shoot low today, and obviously gutted about the playoff.”

Japan’s Ayaka Furue closed with a 65 and finished third at 19 under. Na Rin An of South Korea was alone in fourth at 18 under with a closing 67, while American Ally Ewing (67) and South Korea’s Jin Young Ko (68) were another stroke back in fifth.

Mexico topped CONCACAF Nations League Group A with a 2-2 draw against Jamaica at a wet and wild Azteca Stadium on Sunday night.

An early golazo from Jamaica's Bobby De Cordova-Reid and an Edson Alvarez own goal was offset by Orbelin Pineda's tidy finish and a Hirving Lozano penalty for Mexico in a back-and-forth first half that ended 2-2.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

The result -- following a scoreless second half -- puts Mexico through to the CNL semifinals after finishing with eight points from four matches in the group. Diego Cocca's side had already booked a spot in this summer's Gold Cup, which takes place between June 16 and July 16 with the final being played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

After Cordova-Reid opened the scoring for the visitors with a beautiful swerving attempt from outside the area, Mexico got back on level terms when Lozano slipped in behind the Reggae Boyz defense and cut a cross back in front of goal that found Pineda, who squared his hips and slipped a shot past Jahmali Waite to make it 1-1.

Alvarez could not get out of the way of a corner kick Mexico had conceded against the run of play and the ball bounced off his thigh and past Guillermo Ochoa to give Jamaica the lead shortly before the players were removed from the field for a weather delay in the 34th minute.

When play resumed, Lozano rattled the crossbar from distance just before half-time, then converted from the spot to equalize after Ravel Morrison's clumsy challenge on Henry Martin earned Mexico a penalty.

Cocca went to his bench just after the hour, bringing on Wolves forward Raul Jimenez for Martin and Tigres attacker Diego Lainez for Pineda as Mexico looked to put the game away.

The match remained deadlocked as full-time approached and Jimenez should have done better when he flashed a shot from the top of the area wide of Waite's goal before Lainez struck a beautiful swerving effort from the right side off the crossbar.

The last three semifinalists will be decided as CNL play wraps up on Monday and Tuesday ahead of the finals from June 15 to 18 at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders.

Gareth Southgate said Bukayo Saka has developed a "ruthless" streak that has helped take his game to new heights this season.

The 21-year-old made England's first goal and scored a sublime second as they beat Ukraine 2-0 at Wembley on Sunday to maintain their 100 percent start to Euro 2024 qualifying in Group C after Thursday's 2-1 win against Italy.

- Olley: England take control of tricky Euro qualifying group
- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

Harry Kane netted his 55th international goal from Saka's clever cross before the Arsenal winger collected Jordan Henderson's pass to curl a fine effort into the top corner from outside the box.

Saka has scored 17 goals for club and country this season and has seven from his last 12 international starts. It is a marked improvement on his previous form and Southgate said: "That is the ruthless part he has added to his game in the last 18 months or so. There were times you weren't sure he was going to finish, but now he has that confidence in front of goal.

"I just think when he's in front of goal now, he plays with real belief. That is evident with his club and it is evident in the games with us. You are expecting him to score now when he goes through and that's been a mentality shift as much as anything technical. He's always had the technique.

"I think he knows to be a really top wide player you need the number of goals and assists and without a doubt he has delivered that all season.

"His hunger, his humility is what has got him on a good path. He has all the attributes to continue to improve and learn because that's how he's wired and I don't see that changing with how he is and how his family are.

"He's got great support around him and all those things are important for a young player. I'm not going to get drawn into where he sits in world football because that would then be starting to put him in danger of doing all the things we shouldn't be doing with him. He's progressing brilliantly, he's a joy to work with and we should leave it at that."

Saka will return to Premier League leaders Arsenal in a game against Leeds United on Saturday as they try to hold off Manchester City in the title race.

"Football is fun and it's always fun. I just hope the happiness can continue to the end of the season," said Saka, who has rebounded magnificently from missing a decisive penalty in the shootout in the Euro 2020 final after which he was subjected to racist abuse.

England are back together for European Championship qualification in June with matches against Malta and North Macedonia and a clear path to the finals in Germany next summer.

But Saka said nothing will be taken for granted: "I think we've been really mature. We can't just look past these games and magically be in the Euros. We have to qualify first."

Information from Reuters was used in this report.