OpTic Texas finished with the best record at 10-1, including a win on Sunday in the conclusion of Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major qualifying.

The 12 Call of Duty League teams were playing a full qualifying round robin to determine seeding for the second major of the season, to be held March 27-29 in Marston Green, England, as part of the DreamHack Birmingham event.

First place in the standings was worth 100 CDL points for OpTic Texas, who along with the next five teams will head straight into the Stage 2 Major playoffs. The teams in seventh through 10th place will compete in a play-in round.

Boston Breach and Cloud9 New York, which finished 11th and 12th, did not advance.

The Stage 2 Major champion will receive $150,000 and 100 Call of Duty League points. The runner-up will get $90,000 and 75 CDL points.

On Sunday, the Vancouver Surge outlasted the Riyadh Falcons 3-2. Vancouver opened with a 250-237 win on Scar Hardpoint and 6-4 win on Raid Search and Destroy. But the Falcons drew even with wins on Scar Overload (6-3) and Exposure Hardpoint (250-83). The Surge captured the last map, Colossus Search and Destroy, 6-2, for the win.

Kenyen “Capsidal” Sutton of the United States was match MVP with 105 kills to 101 deaths as the only Surge player in positive numbers.

The Los Angeles Thieves went the distance to down Paris Gentle Mates 3-2. The Thieves started fast with a 250-107 win on Den Hardpoint and 6-4 win on Colossus Search and Destroy. PARIVISION rallied with a 5-3 win on Exposure Overload and 250-176 victory on Colossus Hardpoint. Los Angeles took the match with a 6-2 win on Raid Search and Destroy.

Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez of France was match MVP with 90 kills and a plus-6 kill-death differential for Los Angeles.

The Miami Heretics swept Boston Breach, winning 250-157 on Den Hardpoint, 6-4 on Exposure Search and Destroy and 6-2 on Exposure Overload.

Diego “SupeR” Escudero of Spain was match MVP with 59 kills and a plus-15 differential for Miami.

OpTic Texas closed out the week with a sweep of Toronto KOI, winning 250-216 on Den Hardpoint, 6-3 on Raid Search and Destroy and 5-4 on Scar Overload.

Brandon “Dashy” Otell of Canada was match MVP, pacing OpTic with 64 kills and a plus-18 differential.

Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major qualifying final standings (match record, map differential, CDL points)

1. OpTic Texas, 10-1, +21, 100

2. Miami Heretics, 7-4, +11, 70

3. Los Angeles Thieves, 7-4, +9, 70

4. GS Minnesota, 6-5, 0, 60

5. Riyadh Falcons, 6-5, +6, 60

6. FaZe Vegas, 6-5, +3, 60

7. Carolina Royal Ravens, 6-5, 0, 60

8. Toronto KOI, 5-6, -1, 50

9. Vancouver Surge, 4-7, -1, 40

10. Paris Gentle Mates, 4-7, -4, 40

11. Boston Breach, 3-9, -13, none

12. Cloud9 New York, 2-9, -20, none

–Field Level Media

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka won 10 of the last 12 games in dispatching Caty McNally 6-4, 6-2 in one hour, 25 minutes in a third-round match on Sunday night at the Miami Open.

Sabalenka of Belarus, coming off the BNP Paribas Open championship at Indian Wells, Calif., is defending her title in Miami Gardens, Fla.

It wasn’t all that easy, as Sabalenka blew a 4-2 lead in the first set for 4-4, then needed six deuces to hold serve — despite a 15-30 start — before breaking McNally’s serve for the third time to win the set.

Sabalenka converted 5 of 8 break points in the match, to 2 of 3 for McNally, and won 67.4% of her first serve points (29 of 43), to 55.3% (21 of 38) for her American opponent.

Next up for Sabalenka is No. 23 Qinwen Zheng of China, who had a much tougher match in beating 15th-seeded Madison Keys of the United States 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in two hours, 17 minutes.

“The ball was just like a bomb for me at the beginning,” Zheng said of the early going against Keys. “I couldn’t react. I haven’t had this speed of match in a long time.”

Zheng would catch up, finishing with 31 winners — 23 in the last two sets — to Keys’ 15. Zheng had more aces (11-4) and fewer double faults (3-5). She converted four of 13 break-point opportunities, but Keys succeeded on just 2 of 12.

Sabalenka won the first six meetings against Zheng, who won two of the next three of nine total.

“I’ll focus on myself. I’ll focus on my game. I’ll try to stay focused from the first point ‘til the last,” Sabalenka said of playing Zheng. “She’s an incredible player. We played a lot of matches. I have a good record against her, but it doesn’t say anything. It’s always tough battles. I’m always looking forward to play her. It’s always a fight and I really enjoy it.”

Third-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan defeated No. 27 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4. No. 5 Jessica Pegula downed No. 26 Leah Fernandez of Canada 6-2, 6-2.

Other high seeds didn’t make it out of the round. No. 7 Jasmine Paolini of Italy was knocked out by No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 5-7, 6-2, 7-5. No. 9 Elina Svitolina of Ukaine fell to American Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 7-5. No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia was eliminated by No. 34 Jaqueline Cristian of Romania 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (5).

Australia’s Talia Gibson, coming off of a quarterfinal run at Indian Wells where she earned her first three top-20 wins, notched her fifth on Sunday. Gibson, who beat Naomi Osaka in straight sets on Saturday, downed 18th-seeded Iva Jovic of the United States 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday.

Gibson did not face a break point while converting four of eight.

–Field Level Media

In mid-January, the Ottawa Senators were in the initial stages of their bid to return to playoff contention when they scored eight goals in a game against the New York Rangers.

In the midst of a competitive Eastern Conference playoff chase, the Senators will return to the site of their most prolific offensive performance of the season when they visit the Rangers on Monday night.

Ottawa (36-24-9, 81 points) endured a 2-6-1 stretch from Dec. 23 to Jan. 10, and the rough patch left them seven points out of the second-wild card spot.

The Senators, however, swept a back-to-back set by rolling to a six-goal lead and an 8-4 victory against the Rangers on Jan. 14. It was the second win in Ottawa’s current 16-5-4 stretch.

Even with the improvement, Ottawa is four points behind the conference’s second wild-card team, the New York Islanders, entering its 70th game. The Senators are attempting to win three straight games for the third time in their surge after following Thursday’s 3-2 home victory over the Islanders with a 5-2 triumph over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

The Senators scored the first three goals and set a season high with 43 shots on goal.

“It was a massive win,” said Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle, who scored his 32nd goal of the season and 13th in a barrage that began with a tally against the Rangers.

“Nobody underestimated them. We came out hard, and we didn’t really like the first 10 minutes, then we just settled in. There was a lot to like about our game.

The Senators had 11 players produce at least one point on Saturday.

“It was a great game,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “We stuck with it and didn’t change. The first period was choppy, and I felt like there wasn’t a lot of flow to our game. I really like how we got our game in the second period and didn’t change the rest of the way.”

New York (28-33-9, 65 points) is using several younger players in its lineup, including Tye Kartye and goalie Dylan Garand. Kartye scored a goal and Garand made 35 saves in his NHL debut in Sunday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets, a result that sent the Rangers to their fourth straight loss.

Garand was called up because backup goalie Jonathan Quick has an upper-body injury for the Rangers, who likely will start Igor Shesterkin on Monday. Shesterkin was a week into his injury when the Senators dominated the previous meeting.

Mika Zibanejad continued to be a bright spot for the Rangers by scoring a power-play goal Sunday. He enters his 1,000th career game after getting his 30th goal, marking the former Senators’ first-round pick’s fourth 30-goal season with the Rangers and first since 2022-23.

“I think Mika has been arguably our best forward all year,” New York coach Mike Sullivan said. “Not just with how he’s scoring goals, but with how he’s playing the game. As far as his goal-scoring ability, I think it’s on display every night. The puck comes off his stick differently than most, the way he shoots the puck, and that for me, is a sign of a true goal-scorer.”

–Field Level Media