ATLANTA — Enzo Fernandez changed England’s weekend plans and Lautaro Martinez booked Argentina in the World Cup final with the game-winner seven minutes later in another dramatic comeback and 2-1 win for the defending world champs at Atlanta Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

Two possessions after he fired a rising missile deflected over the net by England keeper Jordan Pickford, Hernandez used a Lionel Messi assist for a replay of almost the same shot, but planted this one into the left corner of the net in the 85th minute. In the first two minutes of extra time, Martinez settled in front of Pickford at the left edge of the goal and headed a Messi pass by Pickford to cap a stirring rally.

The reigning World Cup champions, Argentina meet Spain on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J., with a chance to claim a fourth title.

Messi has eight goals and four assists in this World Cup and a tournament-record 12 career assists after two on Wednesday.

For more than 80 minutes, all signs were pointing to England getting its first World Cup championship bid in decades.

With Argentina’s defense backpedaling, Anthony Gordon broke the deadlock in the 55th minute.

He tallied the game’s first goal on a brilliant assist from Morgan Rogers, who was fed by Declan Rice. Rogers recovered the ball outside the box right of the goal and found Gordon streaking ahead of defenders to deflect the pass with the side of his right foot for the score.

Moments later, England defender Djed Spence caught up to Giuliano Simeone, who had space and pace behind coverage on what would have been a clean shot from close range. The maligned Spence delivered one of the tackles of the tournament, covering significant distance to dislodge the ball inside the box.

Before a hydration break as the 70th minute approached, Pickford made his own bid for England’s gold star defensive play of the game. He got his right hand on a ball sailing for the right corner of the goal to make a deflection and diving save to his right, keeping the score 1-0. Only inches spared the Three Lions and Pickford from the equalizer courtesy of Alexis Mac Allister in the 76th minute when he met a cross from Rodrigo DePaul near the penalty spot but the shot cannoned off the right post.

La Scaloneta tested Pickford immediately out of the halftime break. Julian Alvarez ripped two shots approaching from Pickford’s left to spike the energy and decibel level in the dome, but missed both. The second sank into the outside of the net.

Messi and Argentina also threatened late in the first half, first when Messi danced free of Harry Kane near midfield and drew a yellow card on midfielder Elliot Anderson. The possession nearly ended in a goal by Fernandez, who tallied the decisive quarterfinal goal to eliminate Egypt last week in the round of 16. His clean strike from outside the box whizzed over the top right corner of the bar in the 39th minute and the first half ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

Neither team threatened a legitimate attempt in a physical opening 19 minutes highlighted by contested defense and restraint from referee Ismail Elfath, allowing grinding defense to turn into grass stains instead of scoring chances. Elfath helped separate England’s Jude Bellingham and Messi when the match opened with a no-call on a forearm from Fernandez to the back of Anderson’s head, one of multiple chest-thumping exchanges between the teams in the first half.

England missed three chances in the first half. The initial shot could’ve been confused for a pass. It came when right back Reece James one-touched a pass from Rogers and looked for his first score of the World Cup. His low, soft try from right of the penalty area was easily smothered at ankle height by Emiliano Martinez.

Before the late onslaught Messi, playing in his sixth World Cup and 206th international match for Argentina, had a clean look outside the box in the 83rd minute but pushed it wide left.

Argentina finished with 15 attempts on goal to five for England, which squares off with France in the third-place match in Miami on Saturday.

Spain can break a tie with Italy with a victory. La Roja carries a 37-match unbeaten streak — 30 wins, seven draws — into the championship match, vying to win the World Cup for the second time (2010).

–Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media

Fourth-seeded Maria Sakkari won 76.9% of her first-serve points (20 of 26) on Wednesday en route to an easy 6-1, 6-2 victory over Great Britain’s Harriet Dart in the second round of the Athens Open in Greece.

The Greek won seven straight games at one point in the match. Sakkari will next face Alycia Parks, who rallied for a 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-5 victory over Japan’s Mai Hontama.

No. 5 seed Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic sailed to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Lilli Tagger of Austria. Also, China’s Zheng Qinwen registered a 6-4, 6-1 triumph over Australia’s Elena Micic.

UniCredit Iasi Open

Tamara Zidansek delivered seven aces while outlasting No. 7 seed Anna Bondar of Hungary 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-5 in a second-round match in Romania.

Bondar led 3-2 in the third set before Zidansek won five of the last seven games to win it. Zidansek will next face No. 2 seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia. Marcinko defeated Armenia’s Elina Avanesyan 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5).

Clara Burel sailed to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over No. 8 and fellow Frenchwoman Elsa Jacquemot. Also, Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan knocked off Armenia’s Alina Charaeva 6-3, 6-3.

–Field Level Media

World No. 9 and top-seeded Flavio Cobolli of Italy made an early exit from the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag after Roman Andres Burruchaga stunned him 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday in the second round in Croatia.

The Argentine earned the first top-10 victory of his career by converting four of seven break points and winning 78.1% of his first-serve points. Cobolli was playing his first match since reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Burruchaga will next face countryman Camilo Ugo Carabelli, the seventh seed who rallied past Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Spain’s Daniel Merida delivered another upset by eliminating No. 3 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina 7-5, 6-4. Second-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain avoided a similar fate with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Argentina’s Marco Trungelliti, while No. 4 Matteo Arnaldi of Italy defeated Argentine qualifier Federico Agustin Gomez 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alex Molcan of the Slovak Republic and France’s Titouan Droguet also advanced.

Nordea Open

Former champion Nuno Borges swept Bulgarian wild card Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals in Bastad, Sweden.

The fifth-seeded Portuguese needed just 65 minutes to move on. Borges, whose only ATP Tour title came by defeating Rafael Nadal at Bastad in 2024, will next face defending champion Luciano Darderi of Italy.

The second-seeded Darderi beat Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 6-4, 6-4. Two other seeds were eliminated, with fellow Italian Stefano Travaglia dispatching No. 4 Mariano Navone of Argentina 6-4, 6-2, and Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo rallying past sixth-seeded Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4). Vallejo became the first Paraguayan to reach a tour-level quarterfinal since Ramon Delgado in 2006.

EFG Swiss Open Gstaad

No. 4 seed Arthur Rinderknech of France saved two match points before outlasting qualifier Clement Tabur 6-7 (9), 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the second round at Gstaad, Switzerland.

Rinderknech needed 3 hours, 21 minutes to escape the all-French matchup, extending the match after Tabur moved within two points of victory in the second-set tiebreaker. Rinderknech finally secured the deciding break late in the third set to reach the quarterfinals.

Third-seeded Valentin Vacherot of Monaco made a successful return from a foot injury, recovering to beat Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in his first match since the French Open. No. 7 Raphael Collignon of Belgium defeated Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5). The match between Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and Swiss wild card Jerome Kym was suspended because of darkness with the third set tied 5-5 after they split the first two sets.

–Field Level Media