BASKETBALL

Indiana Fever beat Chicago Sky to win WNBA’s Eastern Conference semifinals

Tamika Catchings scored 27 points and Shenise Johnson added 22 to help the Indiana Fever beat the Chicago Sky 100-89 in the decisive game of the WNBA Eastern Conference semifinals on Monday night at Chicago.

The Fever advance to face top-seeded New York or fourth-seeded Washington. Those teams conclude their semifinal Tuesday in New York.

Elena Delle Donne led second-seeded Chicago with 40 points, two short of the league’s playoff record set by Angel McCoughtry in 2010.

TENNIS

OPEN DE MOSELLE: Gilles Muller of Luxembourg advanced to the second round at Metz, France, with a 6-3, 6-4 win over British player Aljaz Bedene.

Top-seeded Stan Wawrinka will open his campaign later this week in the second round.

TORAY PAN PACIFIC OPEN: Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat American Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the second round at Tokyo.

Defending champion Ana Ivanovic and top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki have first-round byes.

HOCKEY

NHL: The days of one-dimensional, seldom-used players on the fourth line just to throw punches or protect the stars are waning.

According to STATS, there were 0.63 fighting majors per game last season, the seventh straight year in which there was a decline. And, the number of forwards who play 10-plus minutes has been trending up for years.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says the league’s competitive balance has forced teams to focus on having skilled players to keep up.

SOCCER

FIFA: The chief organizer of South Africa’s 2010 World Cup was one of two senior soccer officials named in a criminal complaint alleging corruption in the FIFA vote to decide the tournament host.

Former World Cup head Danny Jordaan and former South African Football Association President Molefi Oliphant are under scrutiny for a payment of $10 million by South Africa to Jack Warner, a former FIFA executive indicted by United States authorities on charges of bribery and racketeering and now facing extradition.

CYCLING

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Chloe Dygert and Emma White kept the U.S. soaring at the road cycling world championships in Richmond, Virginia.

Dygert captured the gold medal and White won the silver in the junior women’s time trial, the first individual event of the championships.

• British sprint specialist Mark Cavendish had surgery on his left shoulder following a crash that ruled him out of the road cycling world championships. Cavendish, who won the road race world title in 2011, injured his left shoulder when he crashed during the Tour of Britain on Sept. 11.

– From news service reports

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