Elina Svitolina recovered from a second-set tie-breaker loss and went on to defeat Coco Gauff, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 on Saturday to win her third Italian Open championship in Rome.

The 31-year-old Ukrainian became the second woman age 30-plus to take the WTA 1000 title in the Italian capital. Serena Williams won three after she turned 30 in 2013-14 and 2016.

Svitolina, who was seeded seventh in the tournament, won back-to-back Italian Open titles in 2017-18 and her win on Saturday was the 20th in her career.

“It’s very hard to believe that it’s been eight years since I held this trophy,” said Svitolina on-court after the match. “Very, very pleased with the two weeks here. I want to say congrats to Coco for a great tournament and for your team as well. You’re such a great champion. Hopefully we’ll have more battles in the future.”

“I want to thank my team. I had a tough loss in the final in Dubai this year. It was my 19th title and I was aiming for 20. I told my coach it would be nice before I finish my career to have a round number.”

The third-seeded Gauff broke her foe’s serve out of the gates and led, 4-2, before Svitolina rallied to win the next four games to capture the set. She saved 8-of-10 break points, while Gauff conceded all three break points on her shaky service.

The two women held serve for the first ten games of the second set. Then, there were back-to-back breaks, with Gauff failing to hold at 6-5. But she won all five points on serve during the tie-breaker and tallied the final six points to send the match to a decider.

The Floridian had one break point chance at 2-1, but Svitolina responded and captured 17 of the next 24 points of the match to take a 5-2 lead.

Ever the fighter, Gauff dug in, earning three break points and fending off two match points before Svitolina won her first WTA 1000 title since 2018.

She defeated the No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina (quarterfinals) and No. 4 seed Iga Swiatek (semifinals) to reach the big stage in Rome.

Ukrainian women swept the clay court WTA 1000 events in 2026, as Marta Kostyuk captured the 2026 title in Madrid last month.

–Field Level Media

Minnesota Lynx guard Courtney Williams is aware of the doubters.

Yes, the Lynx lost a few key players to free agency and the WNBA expansion draft during the offseason. Yes, the Lynx have lost others to injuries to start the season.

No, Williams and the Lynx do not plan to go away quietly.

“We know what we’ve got,” Williams said. “We don’t worry about what those folks got to say. They’re just going to have to see what we do.”

Minnesota (2-1) will go for its third win in a row when it tips off against the Chicago Sky (2-1) on Sunday evening in Minneapolis.

The contest will mark the Lynx’s first home game since their season opener against the Atlanta Dream. They squandered a lead to lose that game 91-90, but they bounced back on the road with back-to-back four-point wins over the Phoenix Mercury and Dallas Wings.

Defense is the key to the team’s recent success, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said.

“We couldn’t have played any worse defensively in the first half (of our most recent game),” Reeve said. “We really committed at halftime to play like we know how to play. … We just stuck with it. That’s what I appreciate about this group.”

Chicago also is off to a good start this season.

The Sky started off with back-to-back wins over the expansion Portland Fire and the second-year Golden State Valkyries. They lost 91-83 to the Mercury in their most recent contest.

Rickea Jackson leads the Sky with 22 points per game to go along with 6.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.0 blocked shots per contest. She is in her first season with Chicago after spending the previous two seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks.

Sky coach Tyler Marsh said Jackon’s skill-set on offense was impossible to ignore. Jackson scored 29 points in her last game and tried to lead a second-half comeback.

“We were communicating with her to stick with it, we’re going to keep finding you the ball, because that’s what her ability commands,” Marsh said. “That’s who she is for us. We were able to get her some clean looks, and sometimes she was able to make things happen.”

Behind Jackson, Kamilla Cardoso ranks second on the Sky with 12.3 points and a team-high 9.7 rebounds per game. Skylar Diggins rounds out the top three scorers with 12.0 points per contest, but her status is uncertain after she was hit in the face against Phoenix and needed to leave the game.

Minnesota’s top scorer is rookie guard Olivia Miles, the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft. The TCU product is averaging 16.3 points and 7.0 assists in her first three games.

Natasha Howard and Williams are tied for second with 15.3 points per game. Kayla McBride is not far behind with 15.0 points per game.

The Lynx will play their first game since losing rookie Emma Cechova to injury. Cechova injured her knee against Dallas, and subsequent tests showed that she suffered a torn ACL.

In three games, Cechova averaged 8.3 points and 3.7 rebounds.

–Field Level Media

Kyle Leahy’s strong start led the host St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday afternoon.

Alec Burleson knocked in two for the Cardinals, and Victor Scott II and Masyn Winn also added RBIs. St. Louis will go for the series sweep in Sunday’s finale after beating Kansas City 5-4 in 11 innings on Friday.

Leahy (5-3) got his third win in his last four starts, throwing six innings of one-run ball. He walked three and gave up five hits, working out of a bases-loaded jam in the second.

It’s been a week to forget for the Royals, who have lost six straight and eight of their last 10.

All three of St. Louis’s runs off Royals starter Noah Cameron (2-3), who took the loss, came on plays where Kansas City recorded an out.

Jac Caglianone hit his fifth home run of the year for Kansas City. Vinnie Pasquantino went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

After retiring Masyn Winn to begin his day, Cameron was challenged by the heart of the Cardinals order. Ivan Herrera hit a ground-rule double, Jordan Walker followed with a single and Burleson brought home Herrera with a sac fly for the first run of the game.

Maikel Garcia snapped an 0-for-12 stretch at the plate with a one-out double in the fifth, and Pasquantino smacked a single into center field to tie the game.

Thomas Saggase broke his 0-for-29 rut with a leadoff single in the bottom of the frame. When Church doubled him over to third in the next at-bat, St. Louis had their best scoring opportunity, and they took full advantage.

The Cardinals retook the lead on Scott II’s RBI groundout. Winn then hit the Cardinals’ second sac fly of the game to double their advantage to 3-1.

Burleson spoiled Bailey Falter’s return from the injured list with an RBI single in the eighth. Falter had been out since April 1 with left elbow inflammation.

Caglianone’s solo shot led off the ninth against George Soriano. The tying run came to the plate when Isaac Collins singled, but Soriano forced Kyle Isbel to ground into a game-ending double play.

The game was delayed approximately 45 minutes from its scheduled start time of 2:15 local because of inclement weather in the area.

–Field Level Media