Sports
LGD, Team Liquid, Rune Eaters stay alive at Esports World Cup Dota event
YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year. LGD Gaming, Team Liquid and Rune Eaters won their opening matches of the survival stage Tuesday to move one win away from the Dota 2 playoffs at the Esports World Cup in Paris.
LGD blanked MOUZ 2-0, while Team Liquid rallied 2-1 past Xtreme Gaming and Rune Eaters did the same against Virtus.pro. MOUZ, Xtreme and Virtus.pro were eliminated.
There’s one more Round 1 match in the survival stage slated for Wednesday morning, pitting Vici Gaming against PlayTime, before Round 2 commences featuring four teams that received first-round byes.
The Dota 2 event at the Esports World Cup is the final championship of the ESL Pro Tour, now in its fourth season. The tournament has a $2 million prize pool, with $750,000 and 1,000 club points going to the first-place team.
The format consists of three phases: a group stage of 24 teams that competed in a round robin, a survival phase (Tuesday-Wednesday) formatted into a single-elimination bracket that will see four teams advance, then a final playoff stage (Thursday-Sunday), which is single elimination.
The four group winners advanced directly to the playoffs. Teams finishing second in their groups received byes into Round 2 of the survival stage, while third- and fourth-place teams began the survival stage in Round 1.
All matches in Phase 1 were two games, while the matches in Phases 2 and 3 are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final.
On Tuesday, LGD prevailed in 35 minutes against MOUZ before winning a marathon second map in 63 minutes, playing both times on red.
Team Liquid and Xtreme Gaming had a far longer affair. Xtreme took the opening map in 69 minutes on green, then Liquid grinded out a 94-minute result on green before closing out the match in 41 minutes, again on green.
Virtus.pro opened with a 46-minute victory on red, but Rune Eaters responded with a 64-minute triumph on green and sealed their advancement with a 39-minute win, also on green.
The Esports World Cup features competition in 25 titles and a $75 million prize pool. Other upcoming events include League of Legends, PUBG, EA Sports FC, Call of Duty: Warzone, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Rocket League, Counter-Strike 2 and Fortnite.
Wednesday’s schedule:
–Vici Gaming vs. PlayTime (Round 1)
–BetBoom Team vs. LGD Gaming (Round 2)
–Team Spirit vs. Team Liquid (Round 2)
–Aurora Gaming vs. Rune Eaters (Round 2)
–1w vs. Vici Gaming/PlayTime (Round 2)
Dota 2 Esports World Cup payouts (prize money, club points)
1. $750,000, 1,000 — TBD
2. $340,000, 750 — TBD
3. $200,000, 500 — TBD
4. $120,000, 300 — TBD
5-8. $70,000, 200 — TBD
9-12. $40,000, 0 — TBD
13-16. $20,000, 0 — MOUZ, Xtreme Gaming, Virtus.pro, one team TBD
17-20. $10,000, 0 — GamerLegion, Level UP, REKONIX, OG
21-24. $7,500, 0 — Poor Rangers, L1 Team, Team Nemesis, Inner Circle x Insanity
–Field Level Media
Sports
WTA roundup: Paula Badosa earns upset win in Romania
Jun 30, 2026; London, United Kingdom; Paula Badosa (ESP) hits a backhand against Emma Navarro (USA) (not pictured) on day two of The Championships Wimbledon 2026 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images Paula Badosa of Spain knocked out fourth-seeded Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina 6-3, 6-1 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the UniCredit Iasi Open in Romania.
Kalinina committed eight double faults and held serve just twice across the two sets. Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse also made an early exit, with Spain’s Kaitlin Quevedo eliminating the sixth seed 6-3, 6-1. Quevedo saved 12 of the 14 break points she faced and broke Ruse six times.
Third-seeded Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine survived two tiebreakers to beat Turkish lucky loser Ipek Oz 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5), while No. 5 seed Panna Udvardy of Hungary outlasted Spain’s Leyre Romero Gormaz 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. French No. 8 seed Elsa Jacquemot and No. 9 seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan also advanced in straight sets.
Other winners included Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek, Armenia’s Elina Avanesyan, Mayar Sherif of Egypt, Alevtina Ibragimova and Elena Pridankina of Russia and Poland’s Katarzyna Kawa.
Athens Open
Top-seeded Clara Tauson of Denmark recovered from a slow start to defeat Japanese qualifier Nao Hibino 7-5, 6-4 in the opening round in Greece.
Tauson fell behind by a break in the first set but worked her way back, eventually converting four break points for the match while limiting Hibino to two. No. 2 seed Ann Li had a more comfortable afternoon, sweeping Maria Timofeeva of Uzbekistan 6-2, 6-1 in 79 minutes.
Third-seeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic also advanced in 79 minutes, beating Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova 6-3, 6-3. Seventh-seeded Czech Tereza Valentova cruised past Belgium’s Sofia Costoulas 6-1, 6-2. Italian lucky loser Miriana Tona earned her first WTA main-draw victory by beating Greek wild card Sapfo Sakellaridi 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2 in a match lasting three hours, eight minutes. France’s Carole Monnet, Russia’s Alina Korneeva and Belarus’ Aliaksandra Sasnovich also won their matches.
–Field Level Media
Sports
ATP roundup: Stan Wawrinka bids farewell to Gstaad
Jun 30, 2026; London, United Kingdom; Stan Wawrinka (SUI) hits a forehand against Matteo Berrettini (ITA) (not pictured) on day two of The Championships Wimbledon 2026 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images Portugal’s Jaime Faria held off Stan Wawrinka 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday in the first round of the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad, marking the 41-year-old’s final match on the clay in his homeland.
Wawrinka has said he will retire after this season. The three-time Grand Slam champion was presented with a gift of new skis by tournament organizers after his nearly two-hour, 38-minute affair, in which he smashed 16 aces but went 0-for-6 in break-point chances.
Greek veteran Stefanos Tsitsipas took down Peruvian No. 5 seed Ignacio Buse 6-4, 6-4, winning 37 of his 48 service points (77.1%) along the way. No. 6 seed Juan Manuel Cerundolo rallied past Zdenek Kolar of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, while Frenchman Quentin Halys, German Yannick Hanfmann, Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Shevchenko and Swiss wild card Jerome Kym also advanced.
Nordea Open
No. 8 seed Sebastian Baez dropped the first set before charging past Swedish hopeful Max Dahlin 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in Bastad, Sweden.
The other seeded players in action all held firm, as No. 5 seed Nuno Borges of Portugal beat French wild card Moise Kouame 6-4, 6-2; No. 6 Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands beat Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel 7-6 (0), 6-4; and No. 7 Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina eliminated Austria’s Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4.
Other winners included Germany’s Daniel Altmaier, Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili, Bulgarian wild card Grigor Dimitrov, Argentina’s Lautaro Midon, Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo and Italians Andrea Pellegrino and Stefano Travaglia.
Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag
France’s Titouan Droguet won 11 of the final 12 games of his match to steamroll No. 5 seed Alexander Blockx of Belgium 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 in Umag, Croatia.
No. 7 seed Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina avoided a similar fate as Blockx when he rallied from down a break in the second set to edge German qualifier Marko Topo 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Also advancing were Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Daniel Merida, Argentines Roman Andres Burruchaga and Federico Agustin Gomez, Alex Molcan of Slovakia and Juan Carlos Prado Angelo of Bolivia.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Streaking Valkyries bring 7-game win streak to Caitlin Clark, Fever
Jul 12, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) dribbles the ball during the first quarter of a WNBA basketball game against the Las Vegas Aces at Michelob Ultra Arena. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images Riding a club-record seven-game winning streak, the Golden State Valkyries are the hottest team in the WNBA.
They could still face a daunting road task against the surging Indiana Fever on Wednesday night in Indianapolis.
Entering play Tuesday, the Valkyries (17-7) were tied for the second-best record in the WNBA. On Friday, Golden State posted a 79-64 victory over Connecticut and set a WNBA record for the fastest expansion team to reach 40 wins, doing so in 68 contests.
Playing without injured star Gabby Williams (back contusion), the Valkyries trailed 19-17 after one quarter, then held the Sun to 45 points the rest of the way and shot 51.7% overall.
“We find different ways to win, and we just rely on every single person on this team,” said Golden State’s Veronica Burton, who had game highs of 17 points and six assists.
“Everyone can step up and contribute.”
It’s uncertain if Williams (15.0 ppg) will be available Wednesday for the Valkyries, who have held their last seven opponents to an average of 68.4 points and will try for a fifth consecutive road victory. A winner in 11 of its past 13, Golden State lost 90-82 at Indiana (14-9) on May 22. Burton (12.3 ppg) scored 25 and recorded five blocks during a 90-88 home win over the Fever six days later.
Indiana star Caitlin Clark had a combined 38 points while going 6-for-15 from 3-point range, with 15 assists in the season’s two previous meetings with Golden State. With her minutes restricted due to a lingering back issue, Clark recorded 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 24 minutes during Indiana’s 109-75 rout of Las Vegas on Sunday.
The win was the Fever’s fourth in five games, completing a 3-1 road stretch. They’ve scored at least 109 points three times in the past six contests.
“We’re building consistency to these types of efforts,” said Fever coach Stephanie White, whose team shot 55.9% overall and 15-for-31 from beyond the arc against the Aces.
“Just really proud of this group and how connected we continue to grow into.”
Fellow Indiana star Kelsey Mitchell (22.7 ppg) scored 27 on Sunday and has averaged 27.1 points across the past seven games. The Valkyries held her to 33 total points on a combined 9-of-23 shooting in the previous 2026 meetings.
–Field Level Media
