Diana Taurasi has been hailed as one of the greatest players in the history of the WNBA.

Taurasi, who is the WNBA's all-time scoring leader, has eluded that the curtain may have closed on her glittering 20-year stint in the sport.

It means she may have played her last game in the Phoenix Mercury's 101-88 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday. 

The 42-year-old has had a storied basketball career at all levels that she has competed at, winning three NCAA National Championships at UConn early in her career. 

She then triumphed in three WNBA Championships with the Mercury and earned six Olympic gold medals, winning at every Games since 2004 in Athens. 

Taurasi has also racked up several records along the way for points (10,646), free throws made (2,517), field goals made (3,341) and three-pointers made (1,447) in a career. 

After she fouled out of Wednesday's contest, Taurasi, who finished with 10 points, left the court to a standing ovation.

A potential departure from the sport saw her teammates laud her impact in the WNBA, with Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts thankful for his time with her.

"We'll see what she decides to do," Tibbetts said. 

"It's kind of been her approach the whole way, but personally, I'd just like to thank her [as] a new coach coming into a new league. 

"The way that she welcomed me and helped me through this season. What an opportunity for me to coach the greatest ever, and I'm super thankful for that."

Taurasi still proved that age is just a number, becoming the first player in WNBA history to score 20-plus in a playoff game after the age of 40 in Game 1. 

"I've never seen somebody come in, day in, day out, do the exact same thing and add to it so she can stay on this court," Mercury’s Brittney Griner said.

"I've always said I credit a lot of my game to the way I read it, the way I can see things developing on the court, to [Taurasi].

"But I'm also lucky to take away life lessons from [Taurasi], too."

Natasha Cloud added: "[Taurasi] is one of the GOATs of this game. She will forever go down as one of the greatest to ever touch this ball."

Defending champion Jannik Sinner came from a set down to advance to the last 16 of the China Open, beating Chilean Nicolas Jarry in three sets on Thursday. 

Sinner needed an hour and 55 minutes to edge past the world number 28, eventually prevailing 4-6 6-3 6-1 in Beijing. 

Despite starting the contest with a love game, the Italian was broken in the seventh, with Jarry able to hold his serve to take a surprise lead. 

However, the world number one responded emphatically to take the encounter the distance, despite facing four aces from his opponent. 

Sinner continued his momentum in the decider, racing into an early lead after a break of serve before Jarry sent a ball long to seal the Italian's progression. 

Up next for Sinner is either Roman Safiullin or Stan Wawrinka, who face each other on Friday. 

Data Debrief: Sinner fights back again

Sinner is now 8-2 at on the ATP Tour in 2024 after losing the first set, with one loss coming to Stefanos Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo, who went on to win the tournament, and the other against Andrey Rublev in Montreal. 

But the Italian faced a stern test from Jarry. The Chilean served 12 aces compared to Sinner's one, though the latter did ultimately save four of the five break points he faced to drag himself over the line.

Caitlin Clark believes she is only "scratching the surface" after the Indiana Fever lost 87-81 to Connecticut Sun to end her hopes of finishing her rookie year with a WNBA Championship title. 

In the season-ending loss to the Sun, Clark scored 25 points, adding nine assists and six rebounds, becoming the first rookie to have pulled off a 25-5-5 game in the postseason. 

However, she was powerless to stop the Sun from clinching the best-of-three contest 2-0, despite the Fever leading the contest in the final quarter. 

But led by 19 points and 13 assists from Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut retook the lead late on to seal their progression to the semi-finals. 

Clark set regular-season records throughout the year for assists (337), points by a rookie (769) and three-pointers by a rookie (122) in her debut campaign.

Despite the season ending in disappointment, Clark has vowed to return even stronger next season. 

"The fun part is I feel like I'm just scratching the surface, and I'm one that's nit-picking every single thing I do," said Clark.

"I know I want to help this franchise get even better, help my team-mates get even better, and I know there's a lot of room for me to continue to improve.

"I feel like I could continue to get a lot better, and before we know it, I'm sure we'll all be back here and ready for the next year."

The Sun will face the Minnesota Lynx in the play-off semi-finals while Clark will begin her off-season.

Mikel Arteta showered praise on Ethan Nwaneri after scoring a brace for Arsenal against Bolton Wanderers but cautioned him over making a start in the Premier League. 

Nwaneri struck either side of half-time in a game that saw the Gunners' youngsters star at the Emirates to help them advance to the fourth round of the EFL Cup. 

Jack Porter (16), Josh Nichols (18) and Myles Lewis-Skelly (18) also made their full debuts, while fellow teenagers Maldini Kacurri (18) and Ismeal Kabia (18) came off the bench to play their part. 

Goals from Declan Rice, Raheem Sterling - who scored his first Arsenal goal on his first start for the club - and Kai Havertz also contributed to the comfortable triumph. 

Arteta's side will face Preston North End in the next round, the stage they reached last season before being beaten 3-1 by West Ham at the London Stadium. 

But the Arsenal head coach was quick to laud his young players, particularly Nwaneri, who became the youngest player to appear in the Premier League against Brentford in 2022 at the age of 15 years and 181 days old. 

Now 17, Nwaneri has made four first-team appearances for the Gunners, with Arteta explaining that the teenager has surpassed his early expectations. 

"On the second one I was really happy for him because he scored. I'm very happy because I know the reaction of his teammates if he wouldn't," Arteta said. 

"So, I think overall, again, I think he was really good. I think it was a really strong performance for him. I think it really feels part of us.

"You can tell that he's playing with that confidence, that belief and the understanding of what he needs to do on the pitch.

“To start in the Premier League is another step. In his journey with the first team, he is always ahead of what everybody expected and I expected too.

"He deserves that, and he is part of us, so he will have the minutes. So, very impressed."

But it was also a positive night for one of Arsenal's senior players, with Sterling opening his account for his new club on his first start for the Gunners. 

Sterling contributed an expected goals (xG) tally of 0.85 to Arsenal's 3.03 total, with his three shots on target more than anyone for the hosts. 

With Arsenal's next assignment a home game against Leicester in the Premier League, Arteta believes Sterling is making the right steps in pushing for a first league start. 

"Yeah, it was very good. I think he's getting better and better. I think physically you can tell that he's making steps," Arteta continued. 

"The moment the game opened up a little bit, you know what he can do, how he can deliver. He was involved in a few goals, so a very positive night for him."

Erik ten Hag questioned Manchester United's mentality after starting their Europa League campaign with a 1-1 draw against FC Twente on Wednesday. 

Christian Eriksen's stunning opener was cancelled out by Sam Lammers' 68-minute strike, with United's Danish midfielder losing possession cheaply in the build-up. 

It means the Red Devils have now failed to win their opening major European match in each of the last four seasons, losing in 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 and now drawing on Wednesday.

Ten Hag's side have also struggled when scoring the first goal in Europe, winning just one of their last six matches in the Champions League and Europa League when opening the scoring. 

It was a contest dominated by the hosts, with United recording 19 shots to their opponents' seven, but the Red Devils ultimately lacked the clinical edge in the final third. 

Twente, albeit second best, took their chance in Wednesday's game when it came their way, and Ten Hag accepted the opposition went the extra yard.

“It was the game of their life, they fought for every yard, and we didn’t,” Ten Hag said, as quoted by The Athletic.

“Ninety-nine per cent is not enough, you have to give 100 per cent, you have to kill the game and finish it off.

"We are leading 1-0, but you have to go for the second goal, then you kill the game.

“We have to be more clinical in such situations. I don’t think tonight was the only problem. We have to keep going, being consistent. That is also a question of mentality.

“[The] mentality is very good from this team. I saw how in many games how high our work rate is, but today I have some criticism.

“But it is not only the team, I have to look in the mirror as well. I am part of it.”

Goalscorer Eriksen, who endured an indifferent game on his 100th European appearance, also had some stern words for his team-mates after the final whistle. 

The Dane questioned United's desire in their underwhelming display, suggesting that Twente "wanted it more" at Old Trafford. 

“Mostly disappointed as a team, I think obviously we wanted more but in the end it was far from good enough,“ Eriksen said.

“They looked like they wanted it more than us and that can’t be right.“

“Everyone is professional footballers, they know what to do and know what can’t happen and a game like today, obviously we don’t lose, but it feels like a loss.

"That’s something that, at home, against Twente can’t happen.“

Despite Barcelona maintaining their perfect start to the LaLiga season with a 1-0 win over Getafe on Wednesday, head coach Hansi Flick insisted they can improve.

Robert Lewandowski's 19th-minute strike was enough to secure the win for the Blaugrana, but the hosts should have won by a more comfortable scoreline. 

At the end of the contest, Barca accumulated an expected goals (xG) total of 1.92 from their 15 shots, but only four of those were on target. 

But Flick, who became the third Barca coach to win his first seven LaLiga games after Gerardo Martino in 2013 and Ernesto Valverde in 2017, insisted his side were still very much a work in progress. 

"To get seven wins is perfect, but we have to do some things better," Flick said. 

"Today we had a very good mentality. For me it's a good starting point to improve. 

"I've been told that it's always like that against Getafe, they are very good in defence, but I'm very proud of my players and how they fought for 95 minutes."

The result saw Barca extend their lead to rivals Real Madrid at the summit of the standings to four points ahead of facing Osasuna this weekend. 

It was also a straightforward game for the hosts' stand-in goalkeeper Inaki Pena, who kept a clean sheet and was forced to make just one save during the contest. 

Pena replaced Marc-Andre ter Stegen between the sticks after the German international came off injured during Barca's 5-1 win over Villarreal last week. 

The extent of Ter Stegen's injury was confirmed shortly after, with the 32-year-old undergoing knee surgery on Monday and he is now expected to miss the rest of the season. 

Reports suggest that Barca are considering welcoming Wojciech Szczesny as an emergency back-up, despite the Pole calling time on his career earlier this year. 

However, Flick refused to discuss those rumours linking Szczesny to a shock move to the Camp Nou. 

"I only speak of the players we have in the team. Inaki Pena is our number one goalkeeper and I'm happy. This is what it's worth," Flick said.

"We have Inaki Pena who is 25-years-old but the rest of the goalkeepers are very young, so if something happens we have to have experience."

Shohei Ohtani singled in the go-ahead run before stealing his 56th base of the season in the sixth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-3 on Wednesday night to move within a victory of clinching the NL West.

The Dodgers increased their lead over the second-place Padres to three games with four to play and reduced their magic number to two. Los Angeles needs a win in Thursday's series finale to earn its 11th division title 12 years.

The Padres' five-game winning streak ended a night after they celebrated making the postseason with a game-ending triple play on their biggest rival's field.

Ohtani's two-strike, two-out single to center off Adrián Morejón scored Will Smith, who drew a leadoff walk, and made it 4-3. Ohtani stole second, but Mookie Betts followed with a popup to end the inning.

With two outs in the ninth, Michael Kopech walked Jake Cronenworth to put the tying run aboard, but Donovan Solano struck out.

Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a 448-foot homer – the longest by a Padres player this season – to tie the game at 3 in the fifth.

Tigers defeat Rays to stay red hot

Parker Meadows and Spencer Torkelson homered, and the surging Detroit Tigers strengthened their bid for an AL wild card with a 7-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Detroit moved 10 games over .500 with its fourth consecutive victory. It is tied with Kansas City (84-74) for second in the wild-card standings behind Baltimore.

The Tigers play the Rays on Thursday before finishing the season with three home games against the lowly Chicago White Sox.

Detroit is 29-11 since Aug. 10, thanks to ace Tarik Skubal, one of the favourites for the AL Cy Young Award, and a cast of young pitchers. On Wednesday, rookie Keider Montero pitched 2 2/3 innings of one-run ball before five relievers combined for 6 1/3 scoreless innings.

Jackson Jobe, Detroit's best pitching prospect, worked the ninth in his major league debut.

Orioles hold off Yankees as Judge homers again

Gunnar Henderson had three of Baltimore's 12 hits in the first four innings, and the Orioles again prevented the New York Yankees from clinching the AL East title by holding on for a 9-7 victory despite another home run from Aaron Judge.

Colton Cowser drove in three runs for the playoff-bound Orioles, who tagged substitute starter Marcus Stroman early and improved to 8-4 against New York with one matchup left in their season series.

Judge went deep for the fourth game in a row, connecting on his major league-leading 57th homer in a four-run ninth inning. The three-run shot off Matt Bowman upped Judge's total to 142 RBIs, also most in the majors, and shaved New York's deficit to 9-7.

Keegan Akin entered and retired the next two batters for his third career save and first this year.

Juan Soto also homered and knocked in three runs for New York, which could have wrapped up the AL East race with a victory over the Orioles either of the past two nights.

Baltimore moved within four games of the Yankees in the division with four remaining as it tries to lock down the top AL wild card. Cedric Mullins went 3 for 4 with a walk, three runs scored and two stolen bases.

Stroman was a late replacement for injured left-hander Nestor Cortes and gave up six straight singles to begin the game as the Orioles grabbed a 3-0 lead.

The Phoenix Mercury’s season ended Wednesday night with a 101-88 loss to the Minnesota Lynx in Game 2 of a first-round WNBA play-off series.

The loss may have also ended the illustrious career of Diana Taurasi.

The 42-year-old hasn’t officially said she will retire, but she alluded to retirement while addressing Mercury fans after the team’s regular-season finale last Thursday.

“If it is the last time, it felt like the first time,” she said from centre court.

If this was her final game, it caps one of the most decorated careers by an American basketball player.

As the winner of an incredible six Olympic gold medals, Taurasi secured her first gold at the 2000 Athens Games and her most recent at this summer’s Paris Games.

She also won three straight American collegiate national championships at UConn in 2002, 2003 and 2004, another three WNBA titles in 2007, 2009 and 2014, and six Euroleague championships.

Her entire WNBA career was spent with Phoenix after being selected first overall in the 2004 draft.

She made an immediate impact, winning rookie of the year honours in 2004 and was named league MVP for the 2009 season.

A 10-time all-WNBA first-team selection, Taurasi was named to her 11th WNBA All-Star Game this past season and would have almost certainly been chosen to more, but there were no All-Star Games in 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016 or 2020.

She’s the WNBA’s all-time leader in points scored – about 3,000 more than the next-closest player in Tina Charles – the top scorer in the WNBA play-offs, and is the league’s all-time record holder in 3-pointers made.

Despite concluding her 20th season in the WNBA, she is still playing at a high level.

She averaged 14.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists in the regular season before scoring 21 points on 5-of-10 shooting from 3-point range in Monday’s 102-95 loss in Game 1.

Taurasi had 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting with four rebounds and three assists before fouling out with 2:34 remaining in Game 2.

She left to a standing ovation from the Minnesota crowd before Napheesa Collier, who tied a WNBA playoff record with 42 points for the Lynx, came over to the Mercury bench for a brief handshake with her fellow UConn star.

If Taurasi ultimately decides to call it a career, she’ll be remembered as one of the greatest women’s basketball players in history.

Arne Slot is "still learning" about his Liverpool players day by day as they prepare for Saturday's Premier League clash with Wolves at Molineux.

The Reds suffered a shock 1-0 home loss to Nottingham Forest earlier this month, but they have otherwise impressed with four wins from five.

Add an away win at AC Milan in the Champions League into the mix and Slot has made a near seamless start since succeeding Jurgen Klopp.

The Dutchman has been pleased with the mentality of his players, who he is still getting to know in the early stages of his tenure.

"Before the [Bournemouth] game I actually told the players that I am still learning from them day by day," he told the club website.

"I had already seen their reaction to the defeat against Nottingham Forest and this was very positive, but reacting to a big win against one of Europe’s most historical clubs is also a test in its own way.

"We had faced a similar situation after beating Manchester United and we followed that up with the loss to Forest so it was very pleasing to see us cope with these kind of challenges the way we did."

Liverpool are second in the Premier League with 12 points from five matches, while Saturday's opponents Wolves are bottom with one point.

The pressure is growing on boss Gary O'Neil following a fourth defeat in five outings at the hands of Aston Villa last weekend.

Not helped by news of defender Yerson Mosquera being ruled out for the season, Wolves now face a daunting test against Liverpool.

And O'Neil wants to see his players put on a fighting display in order to claw themselves off the foot of the table.

"We're not going to dominate games against Aston Villa and Liverpool," he said. 

"We need to behave and act like a team scrapping for everything. We have to make sure we are better when it gets tough."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Wolves - Matheus Cunha 

Cunha gave Wolves a lead they squandered against Villa last time out for his second goal in five Premier League appearances this season.

Indeed, eight of his past 13 goals have either put his side ahead (twice) or drawn them level (six times), while his 21 goal involvements since the start of 2023-24 is the most of any Wolves player in the Premier League.

Liverpool - Luis Diaz

Diaz has hit a rich patch of form for Liverpool, having scored five goals and assisted another in his last four Premier League appearances.

That includes a multiple-goal haul in two of his last three games, which is one more than he managed across his first 69 games in the competition.

MATCH PREDICTION - LIVERPOOL WIN

Wolves head into this contest badly out of form and have lost more Premier League games against Liverpool than they have any other opponent (16).

In fact, they have lost 14 of their past 15 such encounters, the exception being a 3-0 home win in February 2023.

Liverpool have kept a clean sheet in 65 per cent of their Premier League games against Wolves (13/20) and will fancy their chances of registering another shutout this weekend.

The Reds have kept a clean sheet in five of their past six league games stretching back into last season, which follows a run of conceding in each of their previous 10.

The opposite is true for Wolves as they are on the joint-longest run without a clean sheet in the division, failing to keep out the opposition in each of their past 17 top-flight games, level with Southampton.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Wolves - 15.4%

Liverpool - 65.6%

Draw - 19%

Liverpool's squad revel in the competition that quality players bring, so says Arne Slot.

The Reds ran riot to beat West Ham 5-1 in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, teeing up a fourth-round meeting with Brighton.

Slot, who has won all but one of his seven matches in charge of Liverpool, made plenty of changes for the tie, and though his team fell behind, they responded in emphatic fashion.

Diogo Jota scored twice to turn the match on its head, with Mohamed Salah slamming home a third before West Ham capitulated following Edson Alvarez's red card – Cody Gakpo netting a late double.

And Slot believes his players are only charged up by the competition within the squad.

He told Sky Sports: "Players like to play, especially if you're winning. They like to be part of a winning group.

"You know if you play at Liverpool, you play with quality players. It fires them to get the best out of each other."

Liverpool finished with 2.55 expected goals (xG) to West Ham's 0.57, getting 21 of their 11 shots on target and creating six big chances.

Reflecting on his side's display, Slot said: "If you're facing a team like West Ham, with a lot of quality, you know they can threaten you as well, they scored from a set-piece, they threatened us from set-pieces. Every [Premier League] team has quality players, it's never as easy as the scoreline shows.

"In the end, we got numbers in our own 18-yard box, we did it really well. 

"I do feel we had control. We had a large part of the possession, we had a few chances before we made it 3-1 through Mo, which was a great team goal, and he was so eager to score that he played the ball across and then followed the run and scored a great goal, then it was Cody time."

Gakpo had a team-leading six shots, and Slot was thrilled with his compatriot's performance.

"He deserved that, like the others deserved it as well," the Dutchman added. 

"It was good to see – Cody has such a fantastic shot, we have to get him in those situations. Apart from that, he had an important clearance in our box, that's what I like to see – quality with the ball, work rate without the ball."

Girona coach Michel said his side deserved more after they drew 0-0 with Rayo Vallecano in LaLiga.

Winless in four consecutive games in all competitions, last year's surprise challengers Girona dominated proceedings with over 70% of possession but were wasteful, missing several clear chances.

Indeed, Girona had three big chances (defined by Opta as an opportunity from which a player would reasonably be expected to score), and accumulated 2.22 expected goals (xG).

Michel said: "Football is about goals and we didn't score. But the team was fine out there, we were able to push Rayo back against the ropes and played a very good game.

"The team deserved to win, I approve of the team's performance today. I have no doubts. We lacked quality and determination up front, but we generated enough to win today.

"They didn't put us under pressure, they didn't steal from us and we had three or four very clear chances to score. On Saturday's 2-0 loss against Valencia we weren't good, we didn't generate anything and I was worried.

"Today we did, perhaps not as much for what we could have had, but we did spend a lot of time in the attacking zone. With the flow of play we had, we should have shot 25 times, not only 12."

Girona are 12th in the standings on eight points, 13 behind leaders Barcelona. They visit ninth-placed Celta Vigo on Sunday before hosting Feyenoord in the Champions League next week.

Tottenham's clash with Manchester City is the pick of the bunch from the EFL Cup fourth-round draw.

City sealed their progress from round three by beating Watford 2-1 at home on Tuesday, while Spurs overcame Coventry City last week.

The Premier League heavyweights will go head-to-head for a place in the quarter-finals, while holders Liverpool face a tough trip to in-form Brighton.

Manchester United, who were in Europa League action on Wednesday, were drawn against Leicester City. Chelsea will face the winner of AFC Wimbledon's postponed match with Newcastle United, which will take place at St James' Park next week.

Aston Villa and Crystal Palace will face off in another all-Premier League encounter, while Southampton and Brentford were drawn at home against Championship opposition in Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke City respectively.

Arsenal, 5-1 victors over Bolton Wanderers, will visit Preston North End.

Fourth-round draw in full:

Brentford v Sheffield Wednesday

Southampton v Stoke City

Tottenham v Man City

AFC Wimbledon / Newcastle United v Chelsea

Man Utd v Leicester City

Brighton v Liverpool 

Preston North End v Arsenal 

Aston Villa v Crystal Palace