LONDON: Buddy Hield and the Bahamas are a step closer to the Paris Olympics. Luka Doncic and Slovenia are now facing an uphill battle to get there.

Hield scored 24 points, Valdez Edgecombe Jr. added 20 and the Bahamas beat Finland 96-85 on Tuesday in the first game of the Olympic qualifying tournament at Valencia, Spain.

“We grinded it out. Grinded out a win today,” Hield said. “Staying together, figuring it out. Game of basketball is a game of runs. First half, we didn’t quite figure it out.”

The tournaments in Spain and Greece were two of four that started on Tuesday to determine the last four spots in the men’s basketball field for the Paris Olympics. Other tournaments are being held in Latvia and Puerto Rico, both of them also starting on Tuesday. Group play at all four sites continues through Thursday, with semifinal games Saturday and four games with Olympic berths on the line set for Sunday.

The Bahamas closed the game on a 44-21 run over the final 17 minutes, erasing what was a 12-point second-half deficit.

But for Slovenia, there was no comeback. At Piraeus, Greece, Croatia led by as many as 29 points and rolled to a 108-92 win. Doncic had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for Slovenia, while Croatia had a its own triple-double — 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists — from Dario Saric, along with 21 points from Goran Filipovic and 18 points in 19 minutes from Ivica Zubac.

Croatia can qualify for the semifinals on Wednesday with a win over New Zealand. Slovenia must beat New Zealand on Thursday to have any chance of keeping their Olympic hopes alive.

“Croatia played great,” Doncic said. “They outplayed us. ... I’ve got to play way better than this and we’ve got to play with way better energy.”

Doncic was dealing with injuries during the NBA Finals when Dallas lost to Boston, and he was clearly laboring at times on Tuesday as well. But he insisted he would keep going.

“It’s an honor for me to play for my country,” Doncic said. “A lot of times, there’s going to be injuries. But I just see a big honor for me to play for my country. We’re 2 million people and to represent my country, it means everything to me.”

Deandre Ayton scored 19 and Eric Gordon added 16 for the Bahamas, who can advance to the qualifier’s knockout round by beating Poland on Wednesday. It is an interesting mix for the Bahamas; three starters are NBA players, but the starting point guard is Lourawls Nairn — a former Michigan State player and now the associate head coach at Bowling Green.

“He’s a coaches’ dream and I think the players love playing with him,” Bahamas coach Chris DeMarco said. “He definitely belongs and he could be doing this for a living, but he pursued a different career.”

Mikael Jantunen and Edon Maxhuni each scored 20 for Finland, which faces Poland on Thursday.

Spain 104 Lebanon 59

At Valencia, host Spain rolled behind 17 points from Santi Aldama, 15 from Usman Garuba and 14 from Jaime Pradilla. Spain can wrap up a spot in the semifinals with a win over Angola on Wednesday.

Youssef Khayat scored 20 for Lebanon, which faces Angola on Thursday.

Brazil 81 Montenegro 72

At Riga, Latvia, Brazil trailed for most of the game but outscored Montenegro 29-16 in the fourth quarter to pull off the comeback.

Bruno Caboclo had 25 points and nine rebounds for Brazil, while Marcelinho Huertas added 17 points.

Nikola Vucevic led Montenegro with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Montenegro must beat Cameroon on Wednesday to keep hopes of reaching the semifinals alive. Brazil faces Cameroon on Thursday.

Latvia 83 Georgia 55

At Riga, host Latvia outscored Georgia 28-11 in the second quarter to take complete control and rolled to the opening win.

Arturs Strautins scored 18 points on 5-for-5 shooting to lead a balanced Latvian scoring attack, while Mareks Mejeris scored 11 (also shooting 5-for-5) and Rolands Smits finished with 10.

Sandro Mamukelashvili led Georgia with 14 points.

Latvia can clinch a semifinal spot by beating the Philippines on Wednesday. Georgia and the Philippines play on Thursday to close the group round.

Dominican Republic 90 Egypt 77

At Piraeus, Jean Montero scored 17 points, and the Dominican Republic used a 14-0 run spanning the end of the second quarter and start of the third quarter to pull away.

Chris Duarte scored 14 points, Victor Liz had 12 and Angel Nunez finished with 11 for the Dominican Republic.

Ahmed Metwaly led Egypt with 24 points.

The Dominican Republic can clinch a semifinal spot if they beat Greece on Wednesday. Egypt play Greece on Thursday and must win to have any hope of advancing to the semifinals.

Italy 114, Bahrain 53

At San Juan, Puerto Rico, Danilo Gallinari and Nicolo Melli each scored 14 points and Italy finished with seven players in double figures.

Ahmed Hajji scored 12 points to lead Bahrain, which gave up the game’s final 19 points.

Bahrain must beat Puerto Rico on Wednesday to have any shot at the semifinals. Italy play Puerto Rico on Thursday.

LONDON: Not many players can boast victories over Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner but British rookie Jacob Fearnley has notched up that impressive double and now looks for a third in the shape of Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.

Fearnley’s wins over reigning Wimbledon champion Alcaraz and world No. 1 Sinner came in his junior days.

Since then, their career paths have taken radically different directions — Alcaraz and Sinner are winning Grand Slams and banking millions of dollars while Fearnley headed to university in the US.

“I played Alcaraz when he was maybe 14, I was 17. Sinner, I played him maybe when we were 15,” said 22-year-old Fearnley on Tuesday.

“Obviously the strides they’ve taken in their games have been a lot more than myself. The way they’re playing, it’s unbelievable.

“I don’t think I can really take anything from those victories.”

Fearnley won his first Grand Slam match on debut on Tuesday; it was also his first win of any kind on the main tour.

Before seeing off Spain’s Alejandro Moro Canas 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (14/12), his only professional match on the ATP tour came in Eastbourne last week where he was a first-round loser.

The week before, however, he illustrated his prowess on grass courts by coming out of qualifying to win a second-tier Challenger event in Nottingham.

“It’s a bit crazy,” said Fearnley, the world No. 277.

He was referring to a month which also saw him help Texas Christian University win the national championships in the US at the end of his five-year college career.

Fearnley has already faced one Wimbledon giant in his time — at the 2018 tournament, he was drafted in as a hitting partner for Roger Federer.

“That was really cool. He’s a super nice guy. Obviously a really, really special player. I learned a lot of things from those brief practice sessions,” he said.

Now he faces comfortably one of the most daunting tasks in the sport — trying to defeat seven-time Wimbledon champion Djokovic in the second round on Thursday.

“I have no idea,” said Fearnley when asked how he planned to author a seismic victory over a man who has won 24 Grand Slam titles.

“I’ve watched so many videos of him. It doesn’t look like there’s many flaws in his game. I’m going to just try and enjoy it, put my game out on the court and see what happens.”

Djokovic admitted he knows absolutely nothing about Fearnley.

“I haven’t seen him hit. So I’ll have to do my homework,” said the Serb.

Earlier Tuesday, Djokovic started his bid to capture a record-equalling eighth Wimbledon men’s title with a straight-sets win over Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva in his first match since undergoing knee surgery.

Djokovic eased to a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory in a shade under two hours on Center Court against his 123rd-ranked rival.

The 37-year-old did not face a break point in the entire match, which he sealed with three aces.

Djokovic, chasing a record 25th Grand Slam title, wore a grey support on his right knee after undergoing surgery on a torn meniscus, which had forced him to withdraw from the French Open after the fourth round last month.

“It was very good. I was very pleased with the way I moved on the court today,” said Djokovic after taking his Wimbledon first-round record to 19-0.

“Obviously coming into Wimbledon this year, it was a little bit of a different circumstance for me because of the knee.

“I didn’t know how everything was going to unfold on the court really.

“Practice sessions are quite different to official match play, so I’m just extremely glad about the way I played and the way I felt today.”

Djokovic added that his grey knee support had passed the All England Club’s stringent rules over all-white playing gear.

“Of course, we did check in the days prior if we have a permission. We’re trying to find a white one, trust me,” he explained.