Stanford women reach golf semis

Stanford’s Albane Valenzuela won three of her last four holes to close out her match on the 17th hole, and the Cardinal took the first step toward reaching the title match for the third straight year in the NCAA women’s golf championship.

Stanford, which beat Baylor in 2015 to win its first NCAA women’s golf title, advanced with a 3-2 victory over the Bears.

The Cardinal were scheduled to play Arizona State in a Tuesday afternoon semifinal at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., but bad weather delayed the start of the match.

Arizona State senior Monica Vaughn, who rallied over the final holes to win the NCAA individual title Monday, led the Sun Devils to a 5-0 victory over Florida.

In the other quarterfinals, top-seeded Northwestern, the host school, overcame a rugged start to beat Kent State 3-2 and USC knocked out Ohio State 3-1-1.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway will replace Chicagoland Speedway as the opening event in the 10-race playoff series.

Charlotte Motor Speedway’s playoff race will be run on the venue’s 13-turn, 2.4-mile road course instead of its 1.5-mile oval.

Fourth-seeded Nick Kyrgios was upset by qualifier Nicolas Kicker, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round at the Lyon (France) Open, hampering the Australian’s French Open preparations.