BASKETBALL

DeWanna Bonner and Courtney Williams each scored 19 points to help the Connecticut Sun rout the Chicago Sky 104-80 on Tuesday night and force a decisive Game 5 in their WNBA semifinal series.

Alyssa Thomas added 17 points for Connecticut, which will travel to the second-seeded Sky for the winner-take-all game on Thursday night.

It’s the second consecutive playoff series for each team that has gone the distance. Chicago and Connecticut had to go on the road in the third game of their opening-round series and win to reach the semifinals because of the new playoff format that saw the higher seeded team host the first two games of that best-of-three set.

The Sun raced to a 22-6 lead, scoring 10 of the first 12 points. Thomas was a big reason with seven points, four rebounds and two assists in the first five minutes.

AMERICUP TOURNAMENT: Halftime took two days, which was about the only challenging part for the U.S. in its final game of group play at the AmeriCup tournament on Tuesday in Recife, Brazil.

Everything else seemed easy.

Craig Sword scored 19 points, Anthony Lamb added 15 and the U.S. rolled into the AmeriCup quarterfinals by topping Venezuela 101-49 in a game that started Sunday, was interrupted because of leaks caused by rain, then resumed 48 hours later – with both teams playing a separate game in between.

The U.S. lead was 48-21 when play was stopped Sunday; the Americans then beat Panama on Monday, and Venezuela defeated Mexico. And on Tuesday, to win a three-team tiebreaker atop Group C with Mexico and Venezuela, all the U.S. needed was to finish off a victory by seven points.

The Americans won by 52 instead.

For the U.S., the 52-point margin was its biggest in an AmeriCup game since a 123-59 victory over the Virgin Islands in 2007. That team featured NBA players – Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd among them – prepping for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

This AmeriCup team is composed mostly of G Leaguers and players who have been or will continue to play internationally this coming season.

TENNIS

WTA FINALS MOVED: The women’s professional tennis tour will hold its season-ending 2022 WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, moving the event out of China for the second year in a row.

The Florida-based WTA announced on Tuesday that Dickies Arena will be the site for the Oct. 31 to Nov. 7 tournament for the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams in the rankings. The 2021 WTA Finals originally were supposed to be held in Shenzhen, China, but were moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Then, late last year, the tour said that it would not have any tournaments in China in 2022 – and possibly beyond – because of concerns about the safety of Peng Shuai, a Grand Slam doubles champion who accused a former government official in that country of sexual assault. As part of Tuesday’s announcement, the WTA called the Fort Worth plans part of a “one-year agreement” and said the year-ending event is “thereafter due to return to Shenzhen.”

DOPING: Juan-Carlos Osorio Hernández of Ecuador has been provisionally suspended for failing a doping test at a competition, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said Tuesday.

The 39-year-old Osorio Hernández tested positive for methasterone, which is an anabolic steroid, while competing at a tournament in his home country in June, the ITIA said.

The unranked Osorio Hernández is suspended from playing or attending events while the case is prosecuted.

SOCCER

U.S. WOMEN: Rose Lavelle scored the go-ahead goal and the U.S. women’s national team won its 13th straight match with a 2-1 victory over Nigeria  at Washington.

The United States also benefited from an own goal to extend the team’s unbeaten streak on American soil to 71 games.

Both teams are preparing for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: United States international Gio Reyna set up two goals and Borussia Dortmund opened its Champions League campaign with a convincing 3-0 win over Copenhagen in Dortmund, Germany.

After Copenhagen’s Carlos Zeca hit the post in the opening minute, Dortmund captain Marco Reus and Raphaël Guerreiro scored in quick succession toward the end of the first half. England teenager Jude Bellingham added another late in the second half.

Reus finished off a counterattack for his 22nd goal in 57 Champions League matches, then Guerreiro completed a give and take with Reyna seven minutes later. The 19-year-old Bellingham found the target following a series of swift passes, with the final cross coming from Reyna.

• Mislav Orsic ran from the halfway line and produced a deft finish in the 13th minute to lead Dinamo Zagreb to a surprising 1-0 win over visiting Chelsea.

• Eden Hazard scored a goal and set up two others after replacing injured Karim Benzema as Madrid began defense of its Champions League title with a comfortable 3-0 win at Celtic.

• Benfica defeated Maccabi Haifa 2-0, getting off to a strong start in its quest to repeat its good run from a season ago.

Rafa Silva scored with a volley in the 49th minute and Alejandro Grimaldo with a booming long-rage shot into the top corner in the 54th to give the hosts the opening win.

• Kylian Mbappe scored two superb goals as Paris Saint-Germain started its Champions League campaign with a dominant display in a 2-1 win over Juventus.

• Erling Haaland scored his 12th goal in seven competitive games in hist season for Manchester City after his double in a 4-0 win over Sevilla.

NORWAY: Norway’s soccer federation has excluded midfielder Mathias Normann from national selection this month because he is joining a new club in Russia.

Norwegian sports have taken a strong line on Russian issues since the invasion of Ukraine in February, including refusing to accept the country’s skiers at races last season.

Normann returned to Russia with his former club Rostov after playing last season in the English Premier League at Norwich, and is reportedly set to join Dynamo Moscow.

Norwegian federation president Lise Klaveness said on Monday she and coach Ståle Solbakken agreed Normann could not be selected because of his decision to join a new club in Russia.

The 26-year-old Normann has played 12 games for Norway since making his debut in 2019.

MLS: Paulo Nagamura was fired as coach of Houston Dynamo and Dynamo 2 Coach Kenny Bundy was promoted to senior team interim coach for the rest of the season.

The Dynamo have eight wins, 16 losses and five draws, last in the 14-team Western Conference with 29 points. Among the league’s 28 teams, only D.C. United has fewer points with 26.

•  Atlanta United’s Miles Robinson was arrested at a suburban bar Saturday on a misdemeanor theft charge.

Robinson, 25, was arrested at The Battery Atlanta – the development surrounding the Atlanta Braves’ baseball stadium – by Cobb County police, according to a Cobb County jail booking record.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Robinson is accused of taking a shot of liquor from a waitress and declining to pay for it. A spokesperson for the Cobb County Police Department did not immediately respond to an email and phone call seeking a copy of the arrest report.

Robinson was released Saturday on $150 bail, records show. It’s unclear if he has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

CYCLING

SPANISH VUELTA: Primoz Roglic crashed with the finish line in sight in the Spanish Vuelta on Tuesday but still gained ground on Remco Evenepoel after the overall leader had a puncture a few kilometers from the end.

Neither rider lost time because of their mishaps as they benefitted from a 1.8-mile protection zone at the end of the stage.

Roglic was bleeding from his right shoulder, arm and leg as he crossed the line in the 16th stage. The three-time defending champion was going for the victory but went down hard with 75 meters to go while trying to catch up to the leading breakaway group of four riders.

Mads Pedersen won the stage for his second victory with team Trek-Segafredo in this year’s Vuelta. He prevailed over Pascal Ackermann and Danny van Poppel.

Roglic, seeking an unprecedented fourth straight Vuelta title with team Jumbo-Visma, had his preparation for the final Grand Tour race of the season hindered by a crash at the Tour de France.

The Slovenian would have been at least fifth in the stage. He ended finishing 35th but was given the time of the leading group. Evenepoel also didn’t lose time because of his puncture in the final kilometers, losing only eight seconds to Roglic, who now is 1 minute, 26 seconds back entering the decisive final stages. Enric Mas is more than two minutes behind Evenepoel in third place.

BOXING

HEAVYWEIGHTS: World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has parked a potential unification fight with Oleksandr Usyk and moved his sights toward fellow British heavyweight Anthony Joshua.

In a video published on social media, Fury – the WBC champion – said he was willing to offer Joshua 40% of the purse for a title fight before the end of the year.

The unbeaten Fury appears to have gone back on his decision to retire in the wake of beating another British fighter, Dillian Whyte, in front of around 90,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium in April.

Fury’s hopes of landing a fight with Usyk, who retained the WBA, WBO and IBF belts by beating Joshua in Saudi Arabia last month, were dashed when the Ukrainian said he did not intend to fight again this year.

GOLF

PRESIDENTS CUP: Trevor Immelman used five of his six captain’s picks on Presidents Cup rookies to fill out an International team decimated by defections to Saudi-funded LIV Golf.

British Open champion Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann of Chile signed with the rival league after qualifying had ended. They played their first LIV Golf event last week, making them ineligible for the Presidents Cup.

The only captain’s pick with any experience is Si Woo Kim of South Korea. He played on the 2017 team at Liberty National that was beat so badly the match was nearly decided before singles.

The only pick from the top 50 in the world is K.H. Lee of South Korea – only one other was available, Ryan Fox of New Zealand, who plays on the European tour and was overlooked by Immelman.

The other picks were Cameron Davis of Australia, Sebastian Munoz of Colombia, Taylor Pendrith of Canada and Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa.

The six qualifiers were Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, Adam Scott of Australia, Sungjae Im and Tom Kim of South Korea, Corey Conners of Canada and Mito Pereira of Chile.

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