Spanish star Rafael Nadal and world number one Novak Djokovic remained on course Wednesday for a mouth-watering Indian Wells semi-final, while Swiss Stan Wawrinka exited in a match he described as a no-brainer.

World number five Nadal survived a scare from Alexander Zverev, rallying to beat the German teenager 6-7 (8/10), 6-0, 7-5 and reach the quarter-finals.

Stephen Curry scored 34 points to power the Golden State Warriors to a record 50th consecutive home victory Wednesday, while the Cleveland Cavaliers showed they could win without LeBron James.

Curry hit 12-of-20 from the floor, including 8-of-13 from beyond the 3-point arc, as the Warriors beat New York 121-85, improving to 32-0 at home this season with a 50-game overall home win streak.

Formula One's new rule changes are unnecessary and have made driving less fun heading into the 2016 season, former world champion Fernando Alonso said Thursday.

F1 bosses have approved yet another new format for qualifying for this year's world championship, despite reservations from some drivers.

The head of Spain's La Liga said the cashed-up Chinese Super League wasn't far from becoming one of the world's top football competitions -- but he hopes Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo aren't headed there just yet.

Speaking in Singapore, La Liga president Javier Tebas also told AFP that he welcomed China's burgeoning interest in football, which includes investments in Spain's Atletico Madrid and Espanyol.

Bayern Munich's stunning four-goal fightback to beat Juventus had the “wow” factor for Pep Guardiola as the Bavarians reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the fifth season in a row.

Substitutes Thiago Alcantara and Kingsley Coman scored extra-time goals as Bayern roared back to beat Juve 4-2 in their last-16, second-leg tie and seal a 6-4 aggregate victory.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday blamed Russian sports officials for failing to warn athletes that meldonium was being banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Putin told a government meeting that officials "did not update our stop-lists and inform our athletes, trainers and other specialists in time about the WADA decision to ban individual drugs."

Manchester City's players trudged off the field. Many fans left early. The final whistle was greeted with only a smattering of cheers.

It was hardly the way the English club envisaged marking progress to the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time in its history.

Atletico Madrid beat PSV Eindhoven 8-7 in a penalty shootout on Tuesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the third straight season.

Juanfran scored the decisive penalty for Atletico after Luciano Narsingh struck the crossbar in the previous attempt.

This weekend's Formula One season-opening grand prix in Australia should, in theory, be an unpredictable affair.

Along with the standard first-race technical glitches with new components, the usual churn of rule changes, and drivers becoming reacquainted with racing, this year will also add a new qualifying system and reduced aid to drivers from the pit wall.

The Asian Football Confederation has ruled that matches between clubs from Saudi Arabia and Iran must be played at neutral venues.

The AFC's competition committee had given both football federations until March 15 to resolve an impasse created by Saudi government restrictions prohibiting any nationals traveling to Iran. It agreed to delay matches between Saudi and Iranian clubs until later in the Asian Champions League.