Wickens to have surgery on spine
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — IndyCar driver Robert
Wickens will have surgery for a spinal injury suffered in a crash at Pocono Raceway.
IndyCar said in a statement the 29-year-old Canadian was scheduled for surgery Monday night in an Allentown hospital. He was airlifted there after the crash in the opening laps of Sunday’s race at Long Pond, Pa.
Wickens has injuries to his lower extremities, right arm and spine and a pulmonary contusion.
His car sailed into the fence at Pocono when he and Ryan Hunter-Reay made slight contact. Hunter-Reay’s car spun and Wickens’ car launched over it and into the fence. A large hole was torn into the fence, and the race was delayed two hours as repairs were made.
Rockets sign forward Caboclo
The Rockets signed free-agent forward Bruno Caboclo.
The 6-9 Caboclo spent most of last season in the G League, playing 36 games with the Raptors 905 and the Reno Bighorns. He averaged 14.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks. He also averaged 2.4 3-pointers made.
Caboclo, 22, originally was drafted 20th overall by Toronto in 2014 and was traded to Sacramento in February.
Last week, the Rockets waived shooting guard R.J. Hunter.
Sparks, Lynx again face off
The WNBA playoffs are set to begin Tuesday night and, as expected, the Los Angeles Sparks and Minnesota Lynx will meet in the postseason for a third consecutive year. But this time, it is in the first round.
The two-time WNBA finalists finished a surprising sixth and seventh, respectively, in the regular season and will face off at Los Angeles.
Phoenix will host Dallas, which earned the final playoff spot Friday night despite losing 10 of its last 11 games, in the other firstround elimination game.
Seattle and Atlanta earned byes to the semifinals by finishing first and second. Washington and Connecticut earned firstround byes.
Halep to pass up Connecticut Open
Top-ranked Simona
Halep withdrew from the Connecticut Open, citing a sore right Achilles tendon.
The Romanian was scheduled to play Tuesday in the New Haven, Conn., tournament but said in a statement her Achilles was sore from “two weeks of many matches and I need to recover in time for the U.S. Open.”
Halep won the Rogers Cup at Montreal on Aug. 12 and advanced to the final at Cincinnati, losing in three sets to Kiki Bertens at the Western & Southern Open on Sunday.
The New Haven tournament also lost American
CoCo Vandeweghe to injury. She withdrew with a sore right ankle while leading in the third set of her first-round match with
Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.
In other news: • Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulled out of the U.S. Open because of an injured left knee. It is the third consecutive Grand Slam tournament the Frenchman will miss. He has played six matches in 2018. He has been ranked as high as No. 5 but is currently 64th.