Lynx one win away from WNBA title

Seimone Augustus scored 20 points and Lindsay Whalen had 14 points and five assists to push the Minnesota Lynx to the brink of their second title in three seasons with an 88-63 victory over the Atlanta Dream in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals at Minneapolis.

Rebekkah Brunson had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Maya Moore chipped in 14 points and eight boards for the Lynx, who lead the best-of-five series, 2-0.

Angel McCoughtry scored 15 points for the Dream, but she made only five of 18 shots and was in foul trouble for most of the game.

Game 3 is Thursday at Atlanta.

Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez was forced to withdraw from the U.S. national team for its final two World Cup qualifiers because of a left hip strain suffered in Sunday’s Major League Soccer victory over Chivas USA. The U.S. has called up Orange County product Michael Orozco, currently playing for Puebla of Mexico’s Liga MX, to replace Gonzalez for games against Jamaica on Friday and at Panama next week.

The Americans, ranked No. 13 in the latest FIFA world rankings, have already qualified for next summer’s World Cup in Brazil. Gonzalez is the only player to have played the full 90 minutes in all of the first eight qualifiers for the U.S. But he came out of Sunday’s Galaxy game at halftime for what was later diagnosed as a hip strain.

Ana Ivanovic began her bid for a third Generali Ladies title by defeating Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium, 6-2, 6-4, at Linz, Austria. Sloane Stephens overcame a slow start to beat Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, 6-3, 6-1, in the first round.

Richard Gasquet was dealt a setback in his bid to qualify for the season-ending ATP Finals, losing to Vasek Pospisil of Canada, 6-3, 6-4, in the first round of the Shanghai Masters.