Fifth seed Sloane Stephens moved into the quarter-finals of the ATX Open as one of only three seeds remaining after a straight-sets win over Heather Watson on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old American triumphed 6-4 6-4 over Watson in one hour and 27 minutes in Austin.

The 2017 US Open champion firmed into favouritism in Austin with third seed Anastasia Potapova knocked out by USA's Katie Volynets in a thrilling three-set encounter.

Volynets came from a set down and also 5-0 down in the third frame, needing two hours and 19 minutes to get past Potapova, winning 5-7 6-2 7-5.

Potapova's exit follows top seed Magda Linette's first-round defeat, while second seed Zhang Shuai withdrew due to illness on Tuesday.

Stephens has seven career WTA titles to her name, the last coming in February last year at the Abierto Zapopan in Mexico.

Varvara Gracheva defeated Anna Blinkova 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-1, while American wild card and Texas local Peyton Stearns beat Mirjam Bjorklund 6-3 7-5.

At the Monterrey Open in Mexico, third seed Donna Vekic progressed to the quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Emma Navarro.

Fifth seed Zhu Lin accounted for Rebecca Marino in three sets, while Ysaline Bonaventure also needed three frames to beat Kamilla Rakhimova.

The Indianapolis Colts appear ready to improve their fourth overall pick in this year's NFL Draft with general manager Chris Ballard leaving that idea wide open.

The Colts have endured four difficult years in the quarterback spot since Andrew Luck's departure in 2019, finishing the 2022 campaign with a 4-12-1 record.

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young looms large as an early pick prospect, but the Colts would likely need to trade up from their No.4 pick to get access to him.

"I know all the speculation out there," Ballard told reporters at the NFL scouting combine. "To move up, there's got to be a guy worthy of it.

"Everybody has just automatically stamped that you've got to move up to one to get it right. I don't know if I agree with that. But that's going to be the narrative, and that's OK.

"If, when we meet as a staff and we say, 'OK, this is what we need to do. This is the guy for the next 10 to 15 years and we think he's the right guy,' we'll do it. But who's to say we won't get one at four?"

Ballard was clear when asked what it would take for the Colts to take an aggressive approach to acquire a QB like Young, replying: "That we were just convicted that this is no freaking doubt the guy."

During the post-Luck era, the Colts have never been better positioned to acquire a QB to solve their dilemma with the role.

Jacoby Brissett, Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz and veteran Matt Ryan have been their most used starting QBs over the past four seasons respectively.

"It took a lot of freaking pain to get there," Ballard said in reference to earning the No.4 pick. "But when you're there, you need to take advantage of it."

The Colts will be led by new head coach Shane Steichen in the 2023 season, coming in from the Philadelphia Eagles where he was offensive coordinator to replace interim boss Jeff Saturday.

The PGA Tour has confirmed plans to introduce designated events with limited fields and no cuts from 2024, in a bid to fend off competition from the rival LIV Golf circuit.

The tour has seen several household names – including Lee Westwood, Cameron Smith and Phil Mickelson – defect to the controversial Saudi Arabia-backed series since its launch last year.

On Wednesday, reports suggested a radical overhaul of the PGA calendar was on the agenda, with some events refashioned in the format of LIV Golf's no-cut, limited-field structure, while others would offer exemptions to players with strong ranking positions.

Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has now outlined the changes, with the 2024 season to contain eight events with fields of 70-78 players competing for elevated purses and FedEx Cup points.

"These smaller, designated event fields will not only deliver substantial, can't-miss tournaments to our fans at important intervals throughout the season, but they will also enhance the quality of full-field events," Monahan said.

"Together, this approach provides a schedule that is cohesive, compelling, consequential and with clarity for fans, players and sponsors alike."

The tour said eligibility criteria for the events will "reward top performers" while still providing opportunities for players to qualify, with the FedEx Cup standings largely used to determine entry.

The announcement attracted the ire of LIV Golf, with the official account of the breakaway tour tweeting: "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Congratulations PGA Tour. Welcome to the future."

Earlier on Wednesday, LIV Golf player Westwood took to social media to accuse the PGA of hypocrisy, saying: "I've spent the last year reading how good full fields and cuts are!"

Anthony Davis will join LeBron James on the sidelines and miss the Los Angeles Lakers' game with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday due to a foot injury.

The Lakers said Davis had a right foot stress injury, which is an issue that has caused him to miss 20 games earlier this season.

Darvin Ham's 29-33 side are already without James (ankle) and D'Angelo Russell (foot) as they look to launch a charge to qualify for the playoffs. Entering Wednesday's slate of games, the Lakers are 12th in the Western Conference.

Wednesday's game was the second of a back-to-back for LA, having lost 121-109 to the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday.

Joel Embiid will also not play on Wednesday due to a sore foot, missing the Philadelphia 76ers' clash with the Miami Heat.

The 76ers said it was left foot soreness, forcing him to miss a game for the 13th time this season.

Mikel Arteta challenged his Arsenal players to be relentless in their bid for the Premier League title after they moved five points clear of Manchester City, declaring: "We're not going to stop".

Gabriel Martinelli's brace, coupled with goals from Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, helped Arsenal crush struggling Everton 4-0 in their game in hand over rivals City on Wednesday.

While Arsenal started slowly against Sean Dyche's side, they eventually turned on the style to win their third league game in a row – and claim their 100th league victory against Everton.

The Gunners' commanding win puts daylight between them and second-placed City – who briefly overhauled them at the summit following a 3-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium last month.

Asked whether Arsenal's thrashing of Everton made them title favourites, Arteta said: "You know my answer there! 

"What I like is that everybody has the enthusiasm to do it, and we're not going to stop that – we have to promote that.

"But the way to promote that is by looking at this game and understanding that we have to do a lot of things better, especially in the first half. 

"We can play better and make sure we prepare really well against Bournemouth, because that's going to be a tough game."

Asked how Arsenal could find the mental strength required to beat City to the title, Arteta said: "It is something that we have to train and discuss and build. 

"It is not easy, but a lot of time it happens through experiences and most of the time they are experiences that you don't want to go through, but the calendar and fixtures are going to give that. 

"Sometimes you are where we are now, sometimes it is three points [difference], two points, minus two – it is going to happen and we have to live with that."

Arsenal take on relegation-threatened Bournemouth in their next game on Saturday, before switching their attentions to a Europa League last-16 tie against Sporting CP.

The Baltimore Ravens are "fervently hopeful" that a deal with Lamar Jackson will get done.

Jackson's future with the Ravens remains uncertain ahead of Tuesday's franchise tag deadline, with the quarterback yet to sign a long-term contract.

The Baltimore signal-caller, who represents himself rather than employing an agent, reportedly wants a fully guaranteed deal, but the Ravens are reluctant to offer that, meaning talks have been deadlocked.

"You can't win in this league without a strong quarterback. I mean, that's been proven," Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said.

"We want Lamar here. We think he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league. He's certainly one of our best players, and we want him back.

"We understand that living in a world without a quarterback is a bad world to live in."

DeCosta voluntarily said that few teams have made more trades than the Ravens since he became GM four years ago but had no plans to offload Jackson.

"I covet great players. I covet quarterbacks. And I love Lamar," DeCosta said. "That has not factored in one time with me. We want to do what's best for the club. We try to do what we can for Lamar. We want to make everybody happy."

The Ravens can place the franchise tag on Jackson before Tuesday's deadline, but would have to create more room in their salary cap to fit the QB's tag under the cap.

The exclusive tag is projected to cost Baltimore $45.2million, while a non-exclusive tag would be around $32m, but the latter opens him up to offer sheets from rival clubs.

"Both understand the urgency of the situation," added DeCosta, before reiterating he remains "positive" on agreeing a new deal.

"I've seen a lot of deals happen when things look bleak, or I haven't seen deals when I would've thought it was a slam dunk," he said. "It takes two people to do it. I remain positive. I have no reason not to remain positive."

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said he was "200 per cent" that 2019 MVP Jackson wanted to remain with Baltimore.

"He's my quarterback, he's my guy," Harbaugh said. "I love him. As a coach, I'm looking forward to seeing it get done but it's not easy. It's the business part of it but I'm fervently hopeful and excited.

"We've been texting back and forth here and there ever since the season was over. I feel like 'Mar is doing really well. It's just part of the business, it's what you expect when you have a great quarterback."

Jackson threw 17 touchdown passes with a 62.3 per cent completion rate across 12 starts in the 2022 regular season, which was cut short due to a knee injury. His 2021 campaign was also impacted by an ankle injury, Jackson again making only 12 starts.

Stephen Curry has stepped up his recovery from a leg injury amid suggestions the two-time NBA MVP could return during the Golden State Warriors' three-game road stretch next week.

Curry has missed the Warriors' last nine games after suffering the injury in a collision with McKinley Wright IV against the Dallas Mavericks last month.

Scans subsequently revealed Curry had sustained tears to his superior tibiofibular ligaments and interosseous membrane, as well as a contusion to his lower left leg.

While Curry initially planned to return "after the All-Star break" without setting a specific date, the team confirmed last Thursday he was to sit out at least one more week.

On Wednesday, however, a report from ESPN claimed the Warriors were optimistic Curry could feature in their upcoming road trip, which begins against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday before taking them to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies.

The team then released an update regarding the four-time NBA champion, revealing he had increased his workload in practice and would soon be reassessed.

"Stephen Curry, who has missed the last nine games due to injury, is making good progress and has recently increased his on-court workload to include scrimmaging," a statement on the team's Twitter account read.

"His return to play will be based on his continued progress and response to full practice and scrimmages."

The Warriors are 32-30 for the season and sit fifth in the Western Conference, having made it three consecutive wins with Tuesday's 123-105 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Mohamed Haouas will play no part in the rest of France's Six Nations campaign after he was banned for a collision with Scotland's Ben White.

The prop made head-on-head contact with White while trying to clear out the Scotland scrum-half in the 10th minute of France's 32-21 win at the Stade de France on Sunday.

Haouas also received a red card against Scotland in the 2020 edition of the competition, being given a three-week ban for punching Jamie Ritchie.

He has received a four-week suspension on this occasion, meaning he will miss France's matches with England and Wales as his team bid to retain the Six Nations.

A widely reported statement from Six Nations said: "French prop Mohamed Haouas appeared before an independent judicial committee via video link having received a red card for an act of foul play in the Guinness Six Nations match between France and Scotland on Sunday.

"After reviewing all the evidence, the committee applied World Rugby's mandatory minimum mid-range entry point for foul play resulting in contact with the head. This resulted in a starting point of a six-week suspension.

"Having acknowledged that there were no aggravating factors and accepted mitigating factors including the player's early acknowledgement that the incident warranted a red card; the lack of intent and premeditation and clearly expressed remorse, the committee reduced the six-week entry point by two weeks, resulting in a sanction of four weeks."

The suspension leaves head coach Fabien Galthie with a headache ahead of Saturday's meeting with England at Twickenham, with first-choice prop Uini Atonio also unavailable following his ban for a tackle in the loss to Ireland.

Sipili Falatea looks to be the favourite to deputise against England, though Atonio could return for the clash with Wales should he complete a tackle coaching intervention program.

Harry Maguire and Wout Weghorst continue to impress Erik ten Hag, with the Manchester United manager praising the duo for their performances against West Ham.

The duo started Wednesday's FA Cup fifth round victory at Old Trafford, playing their part in a 3-1 comeback just days after lifting the EFL Cup against Newcastle United.

Club captain Maguire, who only featured for the final few minutes at Wembley, has been down the pecking order behind Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez under Ten Hag.

But the centre-back delivered an authoritative display that pleased the Dutch coach at Old Trafford, with Ten Hag happy to see him adapt to a right-sided role instead of his usual left.

"My way of playing, it is better," he said. "I prefer to have players with a lot of intensity [and] he had a good performance. He took the initiative in and out of possession.

"He was demanding the ball [and] he had some really good moments.I showed him a video [of his performances and of other players] on how to outplay opponents.

"[He must discover] how to have more of an impact. His skills are really high. For a centre-back, he has so many skills, and he has to use that."

Weghorst, who did start at Wembley and provided an assist for Marcus Rashford on Sunday, has come under fire for his own lack of goals since his arrival on loan from Burnley.

But the striker's work off the ball continues to please Ten Hag, having had a hand in all three of United's goals on Wednesday, including Nayef Aguerd's own goal and Alejandro Garnacho and Fred's late efforts.

"He was one of the best players on the pitch," he added. "He was involved and forced the own goal from the opponent. [With] Garnacho's goal, he was pressing. With the third goal, he [made] a good press and Fred scores.

"He is doing a very good job for the team. At the start of the season, Marcus Rashford didn't score every game, but I know that [the goals] will come for him. When he has the first goal, more will come."

Virgil van Dijk hailed "an important win" for Liverpool as they beat Wolves 2-0 at Anfield ahead of welcoming Manchester United on Sunday where he says they will "need a big atmosphere".

Van Dijk scored the opener as the Reds finally broke down their resolute opponents in the 73rd minute on Wednesday, heading in a Diogo Jota cross before Mohamed Salah made the points safe with a second four minutes later.

Liverpool move up to sixth in the table, while the Dutchman has now scored 20 goals in the Premier League, the most of any central defender in the competition since he joined Southampton from Celtic in 2015.

"An important win, so it's time to recover and focus on the next one," Van Dijk told Premier League Productions. "Of course [we had to be patient]. I think we see the games we played against them this season, they have been quite tough and today it wasn't any different so we had to be patient and wait for the moment."

Liverpool face an in-form United at home on Sunday, and Van Dijk is in no doubt as to how difficult the game will be, which is why they will need the fans' help.

"I think we need a big atmosphere on Sunday," he said. "I think today obviously it was quite nervous and hopefully on Sunday we can get everyone in their best – including us, because we obviously have to do the hard work on the pitch against an in-form Man United. So, we will recover now and we will be ready for Sunday of course."

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp also looked forward to Sunday's game, saying: "I think Man United is the team in form at the moment, maybe together with Arsenal and [Manchester] City are [also] doing well.

"The teams up there are all in a pretty good moment and I didn’t see yet the line-up [for United’s FA Cup win over West Ham] but maybe they changed quite a few? That means some of them will be a bit fresher than us, but it's a home game and it's Anfield.

"I thought Anfield proved a point tonight again, it was super, super-enjoyable. It felt like a proper unit, we were all together – I loved that. That's what we need again on Sunday, but of course it will be difficult.

"Again, if you face United at the weekend whichever result you've had before, either way you have to strike back or whatever, but now we have to use it for our general situation. We have to build on the performance and on the result – and we try everything to do exactly that."

Klopp was also pleased with the performance of Van Dijk, as well as the rest of his team's defensive showing as they recorded a fourth clean sheet in a row in the league.

"Yeah, we all need that [performance] and [Van Dijk] needs that as well and it's obviously a really good one, in a tough game for defenders," Klopp said. "I thought we performed tonight, we played a really good game in general.

"But I really think the centre-halves and Fabinho together, how they covered that area, how they denied the counter-attacks, how they defended into midfield, which is very important against a team who play with one striker. I thought they did really well."

Ivan Toney hit out at "disturbing" speculation over the Football Association's (FA) intended ban for his alleged breaches of betting rules.

The Brentford striker has been charged with 262 alleged violations by English football's governing body, which took place over a four-year period.

There has been no official FA update on the matter but reports, initially by The Daily Mail on Tuesday, claimed Toney has pleaded guilty to the majority of charges and could face a six-month ban.

Those reports suggested the 26-year-old has also denied some of the violations, though Toney was left bewildered by reported leaks within the FA.

He posted on Instagram on Wednesday: "I was shocked and disappointed to see press speculation yesterday and today about the FA investigation process concerning me after I have been told by the FA that it is a confidential process until any decision has been made.

"It is especially disturbing for me to read that the FA is saying I shall be banned from football for six months before there has even been a hearing and it does make me worried about the process."

Toney earned a first England call-up in September but was left out of Gareth Southgate's squad for the World Cup.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham stated that the forward's omission from the squad in Qatar was decided on "footballing grounds".

Toney plans to challenge the FA after a second instance of reported leaks.

He added: "My lawyers will be writing to the FA to request that they conduct a leak inquiry, as this is the second time stories have appeared in the newspapers – the last time was just before the selection for the England World Cup squad.

"As I continue to be told the investigation is meant to be confidential, I am unable to provide any further comment and shall continue to concentrate on my football."

Mikel Arteta hailed Arsenal's ability to solve problems after they overcame a hesitant start to thrash Everton 4-0 at the Emirates Stadium, moving five points clear at the Premier League summit.

Arsenal were kept quiet for 40 minutes on Wednesday by Sean Dyche's Toffees – who inflicted a surprise 1-0 defeat on the Gunners less than a month ago, but the floodgates opened with a quickfire double before the break.

Bukayo Saka hammered home the opener before Gabriel Martinelli got the second, with both men reaching double figures for Premier League goals this term to put Arsenal in control.

Skipper Martin Odegaard then added a third before Martinelli clinched his brace late on, dealing Everton their heaviest league defeat since they were thrashed 5-1 on the same ground last season.

The comprehensive victory saw Arsenal put daylight between themselves and second-placed Manchester City, and Arteta was delighted by the way his team grew into the game.

"I'm happy, we won in a convincing way after 20 or 25 minutes in the first half where we had some difficulties attacking that block, with the really good organisation they have," Arteta told Sky Sports.

"We were getting a little bit frustrated and allowed them to run in transition in a few moments.

"But afterwards we got control of the game, we scored two goals in perfect time, I would say, just before the break.

"Then the second half was really convincing, the way we attacked them, the composure in the box to score the goals that we wanted… I'm really happy.

"Everton posed some real questions – especially with how we could attack against that block, as they are really good at that.

"But we also had to not give them a licence to grow into the game, to play close to our goal and produce set-pieces, and I think we did that really well."

Arsenal's victory made them the first team in English league history to record 100 wins against a specific opponent, while they have also hit four or more goals in 12 separate Premier League fixtures against Everton – more than any other team has done against another.

Jurgen Klopp was pleased to see Liverpool recover from their "knock" against Real Madrid as they beat Wolves 2-0 at Anfield.

The Reds blew a two-goal lead at home to lose 5-2 against the Spanish giants in their Champions League last-16 first leg last week, but kept their fourth clean sheet in four Premier League games on Wednesday.

Second-half goals from Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah secured three points that send Liverpool up to sixth in the table, and six points off the top four.

Liverpool have kept a clean sheet in four or more consecutive games in the Premier League for the first time since February-April last year (five).

"We knew it would be a difficult game, we controlled the game in a lot of periods," Klopp told BBC Sport after the victory. "There were situations rather than chances, we got in a rush in these moments. We got our rhythm back in the second half, we just had to be solid defensively and keep making chances.

"In general we did defensively well tonight, Diogo [Jota] in the 10 was really important, the midfield was together, defensively we had a high line and won decisive challenges. Ali [Alisson] didn't have spectacular saves to make which was good.

"We had a knock against Real Madrid, we played a really good first half then we started the second really bad. We looked a lot more stable today, we have to carry that on."

It could have been a frustrating night for Liverpool, who were kept at bay for large periods by Wolves, and Darwin Nunez was denied the opener just after the hour when referee Paul Tierney reviewed the goal and decided Diogo Jota had committed a foul in the build-up.

"For the boys on the pitch it was a clear goal, but you have to stay focused. We forced the first goal and the second was wonderful," Klopp said.

Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui conceded that the hosts deserved to win, saying he was pleased with his team's first-half efforts but acknowledged they had been unable to keep it up in the second.

"Maybe we could have disrupted their rhythm," he told Premier League Productions. "We weren't able to do much damage in the space. We put Adama [Traore] on but didn't find the moment, they were aggressive on the press. In the first half we overcome some moments on this press, in the second half no.

"When you have this type of match, you have to keep the ball and be calm. In the first half we did this, we matched them, but in the second we did not have these chances."