And hello, long weekend. We’ll be off Monday, but look out for a special Labor Day themed Scroll on Sunday.

• First things first, though: our regularly scheduled sports news programming. Much to discuss…

The GIST: Cancel your career tributes and your Friday night plans. As mentioned, Serena Williams is through to the US Open third round after topping world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit in three epic sets. We are witnessing greatness.

The impact: From record-setting crowds (featuring plenty of celebs) to massive spikes in TV viewership to utterly dominating the Twitter-sphere, the Serena Effect is real, and it’s only building as her magical run continues. As it should.

Third round preview: Serena's journey continues tonight at 7 p.m. ET, when she’ll face Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. Tomljanovic’s had a similar path to the third round — she took care of first round business in two sets before grinding out a hard-fought three-set win on Wednesday.

• And while she’s unranked in the tournament, the Aussie has played well as of late, reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and at the recent Western & Southern Open.

• The key to success for Williams will once again be her crushing serve, especially after she notched 11 aces during Wednesday’s victory. That and doing what she does best, “just” being Serena.

Elsewhere: While you wait for the legendary Williams, catch world No. 31 American Shelby Rogers take on No. 5 Ons Jabeur at 11 a.m. ET before an all red, white and blue showdown between No. 20 Madison Keys and No. 12 Coco Gauff at 2 p.m. ET.

The GIST: Fire up the grill and pull out your best game day ’fit because, after last week’s Week 0 soft launch, college football is officially back, with a stacked lineup of Week 1 showdowns on deck.

How it works: The sport’s best squads compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which includes 131 schools across 10 conferences. Of those 10 conferences, the Power Five — the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC — generally house both future NFLers and College Football Playoff (CFP) contenders.

• Each school will play 12 regular-season games over the next 13 weeks. Then a 13-member-committee will determine which four squads qualify for the CFP based on a combo of records, strength of schedule and rankings. Yes, it gets pretty complicated.

• The CFP semifinals (aka the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl) will kick off on New Year’s Eve before the reason for the season, the National Championship, takes place on January 9th.

The favorites: To no one’s surprise, perennial contenders Alabama (last year’s runner-up), Ohio State and Georgia (the reigning national champs) make up the preseason top three.

• And, as always, ’Bama is particularly stacked, boasting 2021 Heisman winner Bryce Young at quarterback (QB) along with linebacker Will Anderson Jr. — the likely No. 1 NFL draft pick in 2023. Let the good times roll.

Tomorrow’s top games: Lucky for us, Week 1 is starting off with a bang, featuring not one, not two, but three (!!!) top 25 matchups. First, No. 23 Cincinnati — last year’s Cinderella story — faces No. 19 Arkansas and No. 11 Oregon travels to Georgia to take on the defending champs, both at 3:30 p.m. ET tomorrow.

• Then cap off the night with a top five showdown: No. 5 Notre Dame vs. Heisman Trophy favorite QB C.J. Stroud and No. 2 Ohio State at 7:30 p.m. ET.

ICYMI: we launched a three-times weekly college sports newsletter last week. Sign up here for a dedicated email about all things NCAA.

The GIST: The home teams took their Game 1 losses personally, bouncing back with big Game 2 wins to even each series at one apiece on Wednesday. With all four games decided by single digits, hold off on that mani before Sunday’s Game 3s.

No. 2 Chicago Sky vs. No. 3 Connecticut Sun: Chicago’s Candace Parker once again led the way with 22 points in her squad’s 85–77 Game 2 win. The difference from Game 1? She had a little help from her friends as all five Sky starters scored in double figures. Teamwork makes the dream work.

• Now the series shifts to Connecticut for Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET Game 3. After Sun stars DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas combined for just nine points in Game 2, they’ll need the homecourt crowd behind them as they respond to the defending champs.

No. 1 Las Vegas Aces vs. No. 4 Seattle Storm: Queue up the Jonas Brothers because after a quiet Game 1, MVP candidate A’ja Wilson was burnin' up on Wednesday, dropping 33 points and 13 rebounds to lead her Aces to a 78–73 Game 2 dub.

• The other top MVP candidate, Seattle’s Breanna Stewart, put up 32 points of her own, but the Storm will need to tighten up the defense as they head home for Sunday’s pivotal 3 p.m. ET Game 3.

Together With

🏀 WNBA: Playoff payoff

🏒 IIHF Women’s Worlds semifinal: Team USA vs. Team Czechia — Tomorrow at 8 a.m. ET — NHL Network

• Hilary Knight notched her 87th Women’s Worlds point yesterday, making her the tourney’s all-time leader in points. Now, Knight and the squad have some semifinal action to prepare for. Just the beginning.

⛳ LPGA: Dana Open — Today through Sunday — Golf Channel

• Carlota Ciganda, Ruoning Yin and Hye-Jin Choi lead the pack after yesterday’s first round. The closest Americans to the top? Lexi Thompson and Lauren Stephenson, currently sitting in T4. A tight race.

⚽ USWNT: Team USA vs. Team Nigeria — Tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET — Fox

• Preparations for the 2023 Women’s World Cup continue as the red, white and blue kick off the first of their two-game friendly series. LFG.

🏎 F1: Dutch Grand Prix — Sunday at 9 a.m. ET — ESPN

• Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso made up after last week’s on-course spat, and now the entire field will attempt to disrupt Red Bull’s Max Verstappen’s three-race win streak. More like Ver-stop-him.