Swiatek wins in San Diego for 8th title of year

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek overcame a challenge from qualifier Donna Vekic on Sunday to win the San Diego Open title with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 victory.

Swiatek earned her tour-leading 64th victory of the season heading into the WTA Finals that begin Friday in Fort Worth, Texas. The event features the tour's top eight singles and doubles teams.

The 21-year-old won the French Open and U.S. Open earlier this year.

“I've worked hard with my coach and my psychologist to keep focused on those moments that make it easier to close the match,” Swiatek said. “I just wanted to be proactive in making my shots.”

Speaking in her native Polish, Swiatek thanked the vocal Polish contingent that exhorted her with chants of “Iga! Iga!”

“I wanted to be the one who hit the last ball in, use my patience more and not think too much,” said Swiatek, who ascended to world No. 1 some seven months ago following the surprise retirement of Australia's Ash Barty.

Swiatek was awarded a winner's check of $116,340 along with a yellow surfboard.

After Vekic won the second set, Swiatek left no doubt about her dominance in the final set with her array of topspin cross-court forehands and looping shots that flustered her tiring opponent.

“I managed to win the second set, but in the third I just hit the Iga wall,” said Vekic, who came into the first-year WTA event as an unseeded qualifier, winning seven matches in eight days.

“She played out of this world,” the Croatian added. “She showed why she's definitely the best player in the world right now.”

An unlikely finalist, Vekic, ranked 77th, reached the finals only a few hours before her match with Swiatek, claiming a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (2) semifinal win over unseeded Danielle Collins of the U.S.

Spread over two days due to Saturday night's two lengthy rain delays, the Vekic-Collins match totaled three hours, including Sunday's 32-minute finish. Collins re-started with a 4-2 edge in the third set, but Vekic battled back to earn the finals berth.

• Top-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime won the Firenze Open with his 11th ace of the day, beating American J.J. Wolf 6-4, 6-4 in Florence, Italy.

Auger-Aliassime lost his first service game but broke his opponent's serve either side of that and did not face another break point in the final.

The Canadian secured his second ATP tour title. Wolf was playing in his first ATP final.

“I had a good start first game and then a bit of a tight first service game,” Auger-Aliassime said. “But then after I felt like I was playing really good tennis, serving unbelievable.”

Auger-Aliassime dropped only one set all week at the indoor, hard-court tournament.

“There's no magic. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,” he said. “I was the favorite in all of my matches on paper. It's never an easy position, so to come out and win my four matches with confidence and conviction, it's really good for my confidence.”

The win will boost Auger-Aliassime's hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals in Turin next month.

Austin advances in MLS playoffs over Real Salt Lake

Brad Stuver stopped two tries in penalty time, a third one sailed high over the crossbar, and Austin advanced past Real Salt Lake 3-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the MLS Cup Playoffs in Austin.

Austin, the second seed in the Western Conference, was victorious in its first playoff appearance and advanced to face either No. 3 Dallas or No. 6 Minnesota in the conference semifinals. Dallas and Minnesota play today.

Austin rallied from an early 2-0 deficit, tying the score on a pair of goals by Sebastián Driussi, who also scored in the penalties. Diego Fagúndez and Emiliano Rigoni also scored as Austin went 3-for-3 against RSL's Zac MacMath.

RSL took an early 2-0 lead when Sergio Córdova scored in the third minute and added a penalty kick in the 15th. Driussi, who scored 22 goals in the regular season, answered in the 31st minute and RSL went on to lead 2-1 at intermission.

Early in the second half, Salt Lake's Rubio Rubin drew the first red card of his career and RSL played a man short for 67 minutes. The man advantage led to a 38-11 advantage in shots for Austin, with 11 shots on goal to four. MacMath made nine saves. While RSL was down a man, MacMath allowed only Druissi's game-tying penalty kick in the 94th minute.

Austin advances in the playoffs for the first time despite a lateseason slump that resulted in only four wins in the final 16 matches and one win in the last seven — a 3-0 victory over Real Salt Lake.

• Ismaël Koné scored the goahead goal, Djordje Mihailovic converted a penalty kick late in second-half stoppage time and host Montreal defeated Orlando 2-0 in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

• Richarlison faces a race to be fit for the World Cup after suffering a calf injury in Tottenham's win against Everton on Saturday.

The Brazil international was tearful as he admitted his “dream” of playing in Qatar was now in serious jeopardy.

The forward was forced off in the 52nd minute of Tottenham's 2-0 win in the Premier League and was later seen on crutches.

“It's kind of hard to say because it's close to the realization of my dream,” Richarlison told ESPN Brazil. “I've already suffered a similar injury to this but I hope it can heal as soon as possible.

“The last time when I was at Everton, I was out of action for about two months.”

Richarlison was expected to be part of Brazil head coach Tite's squad for the World Cup, which will be named at the beginning of November.

• Five years since Neymar put a tumultuous end to his career at Barcelona, the Brazil forward will be tried in Spain to determine whether he and others committed fraud when he joined the Catalan club from Santos back in 2013.

In a trial starting today in Barcelona, Neymar, his father, and the former leaderships of both Barcelona and Brazilian club Santos face charges of fraud and unfair competition. They are accused of hiding the real cost of his transfer with the goal of not paying money that DIS, a private Brazilian company, says it is owed as the rightful owners of 40% of Neymar's player rights.

DIS is asking for Neymar, his father, also called Neymar and who acts as his agent, and former Barcelona executives Sandro Rosell and Josep Bartomeu to be jailed for five years. All the accused have denied any wrongdoing.

The trial is expected to last until the end of October, with the World Cup opening on Nov. 20 in Qatar. Neymar will be obliged to attend unless the judge grants him permission to miss a session.

The lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that DIS only received its due percentage from the 17 million euros ($16.5 million) that Barcelona and Santos initially announced as the transfer fee between the clubs, while the real cost was some 82 million euros ($79.7 million).