Lynx end Mercury’s 8-game run

Cambage helps Wings rout Sparks 101-72

PHOENIX, June 23, (AP): Maya Moore scored 23 points and the Minnesota Lynx beat Phoenix 8372 on Friday night to end the Mercury’s eight-game winning streak.

Lindsay Whalen added 15 points for Minnesota (6-6), Seimone Augustus had 14, and Sylvia Fowles finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The defending champions Lynx have won three in a row after losing five of six.

Diana Taurasi scored 23 points for Phoenix (10-4), and Brittney Griner had 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Whalen scored six points during McBride made 4 of 5 from 3-point range.

Wilson converted a 3-point play to give the Aces a 10-8 lead midway through the first quarter, and they never again trailed. New York (4-7) tied it three times in the fourth quarter before McBride scored 10 points in the final seven minutes to help Las Vegas pull away for good.

Tina Charles led New York with 14 points, Kia Nurse scored 13 and Amanda Zahui B. added 12 points — her most since scoring 15 in the season opener.

Aces coach Bill Laimbeer — who coached the Liberty from 2013-2017, including a trip to the 2015 Eastern Conference Finals — improved to 2-0 against his former team. Las Vegas won 78-63 at New York on June 13.

Wings 101, Sparks 72 In Arlington, Texas, Liz Cambage scored 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting and Aerial Powers had 16 points and eight rebounds to help the Dallas Wings beat the Los Angeles Sparks 101-72 on Friday night.

Allisha Gray scored 15 points, Azura Stevens added 13 and Skylar Diggins-Smith, who finished with a season-low six points, had 11 assists — one shy of her career best set in

Moore

2014 — for Dallas (6-5).

Nneka Ogwumike led Los Angeles (9-3) with 17 points. The Sparks had won five in a row.

Dream 75, Sun 70 In Atlanta, Angel McCoughtry scored 25 points, Layshia Clarendon hit two free throws with 9.4 seconds left and Atlanta overcame a 13-point second-half deficit to beat Connecticut.

Brittney Sykes scored 13 points, Damiris Dantas added 11, and Elizabeth Williams had 10 rebounds and three blocks for Atlanta (7-6). Alex Bentley (7-5) led the Sun with 18 points, and Chiney Ogwumike had 16.

Mystics 93, Sky 77 In Chicago, Elena Delle Donne scored 22 of her 30 points in the first half in Washington’s victory over Chicago.

Delle Donne added 10 rebounds, six assists and two blocks. Kristi Tolliver scored 13 points — all in the first half — and Monique Currie added 11 for the Mystics (8-5).

Allie Quigley scored 21 points for Chicago (3-9). The Sky have lost six in a row.

Storm 72, Fever 63 In Seattle, Jewell Loyd had 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting and Natasha Howard had 11 points, nine rebounds and four blocks to help Seattle beat Indiana.

Breanna Stewart scored 15 points for the Storm (9-4).

Candice Dupree led Indiana (112) with 15 points. Kyrgios.

In Halle, Germany, defending champion Roger Federer will play 21-year-old Borna Coric in the Gerry Weber Open final as he chases his 99th career singles title on Sunday.

Federer reached his 12th final in Halle after beating qualifier Denis Kudla 7-6 (1), 7-5 on Saturday.

Coric advanced after fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut retired injured in their semifinal. The Spaniard was leading 3-2 in the first set.

Federer fired 12 aces and saved six of the seven break points he faced to end Kudla’s 10-set winning streak in Halle. The American had three break points when he was leading 4-3 in the second set, but Federer fought back and finished the set with two successive aces.

The 25-year-old Kudla had saved 20 of 21 break points on his way to the semifinals at the grass-court tournament.

Federer, who saved two match points against Benoit Paire in the second round on Thursday, is going for a record-extending 10th title in Halle. It will be his second final in as many weeks.

The Swiss great, who won his 18th grass-court title in Stuttgart on Sunday, is just two match wins away from matching Jimmy Connors’ all-time record of 174 victories on grass.

After skipping the entire clay-court season for the second year in a row, Federer extended his grass-court winning streak to 20 matches, including Stuttgart and last year’s titles in Halle and Wimbledon. The revitalized 36-year-old only had a longer streak on the surface once before, when he won 65 consecutive matches on grass between 2003 and 2008.

In Birmingham, England, Magdalena Rybarikova, the grass-court expert whose career was in danger of ending after wrist and knee surgeries, overcame Barbora Strycova 7-6 (1), 6-4 Saturday to reach the final of the Birmingham Classic for a second time.

It was further proof of a remarkable recovery for the Slovak from a ranking of 453 early last year, which has been followed by a Wimbledon semifinal and a chance of regaining a title she won nine years ago.

Strycova, the top 30 Czech who ousted Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza in the second round, had won their last four meetings.

But Strycova had her chances this time as well. She broke serve to lead 5-3 in the first set, and then broke again to lead 4-3 in the second. On each occasion she reached 30-15 on her serve before committing errors, though this was still an impressive display between two players fully comfortable on the surface. Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts after defeating Denis Kudla from the US in their match at the ATP tennis tournament in Halle, western Germany on June 23. (AFP)

Atlanta Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk admitted that his NBA draft strategy one night earlier was altered by a leaked media report during trade talks, leading to him backing out of a proposed trade with the Milwaukee Bucks.

During a radio interview on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, the Hawks GM explained that a tipped news report helped him avoid dealing away additional draft picks to the Bucks, who picked No. 17 overall in the first round Thursday -- two spots ahead of the Hawks at No. 19.