THE EVE EDITION
FIRST BLUSH | SAT OCT 24
Atlanta is two wins from the first championship in franchise history, and the next chance comes at home this afternoon. The Dream lead the WNBA Finals 2-1 after a 97-71 win on Wednesday, and Game 4 tips off at 1:00 PM at State Farm Arena. A win sends the series back to San Francisco with Atlanta needing one more on Monday night; a loss makes it a best-of-three with Golden State holding home court.
Ningbo and Rotterdam fill the morning. Elena Rybakina, the world #1 and defending champion, plays for a place in Sunday’s final before most of the country is up, and the first apparatus finals at the World Championships start at 8:00 AM with the new all-around champion in two of them.
The night goes west. Angel City can clinch a playoff place at home against Bay FC, and the LPGA’s final round starts in Haenam at 10:00 PM with the two-time major winner of the summer in the hunt.
Golden State Valkyries at Atlanta Dream
Atlanta has won two straight since losing Game 1, and Wednesday’s 97-71 rout was built inside. The Dream outscored Golden State 44-20 in the paint, turned 19 Valkyries turnovers into 22 points and put five players in double figures. Angel Reese led everyone with 21 points and 12 rebounds, two games after scoring 30 to even the series. Gabby Williams scored 15 and is the only Golden State starter in double figures in all three games, and the Valkyries’ bench scored 38, the one part of their game that worked in Atlanta. Game 5, if it is needed, is Monday night in San Francisco.
EVE’s Edge: Atlanta to win, 84-76. Golden State will clean up the turnovers, but nobody in this series has found an answer for Reese around the basket. (Atlanta leads 2-1)
#1 Elena Rybakina vs. #6 Diana Shnaider
Rybakina needed three sets to get past qualifier Katarzyna Kawa on Friday, winning 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 after Kawa broke her three times in the second. She still hit eight aces and won 81 percent of her first-serve points. Shnaider came back from 3-0 down in the first set to beat #4 seed Iva Jovic 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 and closed it with her fourth ace. She is 10-3 in Ningbo, where she reached the final in 2023 and the semifinals last year. Rybakina has won both of their meetings in straight sets, in Stuttgart and Cincinnati. Shnaider has not won a title since Monterrey in 2025.
EVE’s Edge: Rybakina to win, 6-4, 6-3. Shnaider has the form and a court she likes, but Rybakina has never dropped a set to her, and her first serve carried her on Friday.
Women’s Vault and Uneven Bars Finals in Rotterdam
Kaylia Nemour qualified first on bars with 14.933 and has a night to make up for. In Friday’s all-around final she mistimed her first vault, landed it with no twists and lost 1.4 points of difficulty. Helen Kevric of Germany qualified second at 14.766 and Elena Colas of France third, and Alena Glotova, who led the all-around final after one rotation, also made it. Rebeca Andrade leads the vault final with a 14.533 average, ahead of Korea’s Yeo Seo-jeong and Claire Pease. Skye Blakely, the new all-around champion, made both finals, eighth on bars and fifth on vault.
EVE’s Edge: Kaylia Nemour to win bars and Rebeca Andrade to win vault. Nemour has the hardest set in the field and qualified well clear, and Andrade has the best two vaults.
Bay FC at Angel City FC
Angel City has gone eight matches without a loss, and its 3-2 comeback win at Denver left it fifth with two games to play. A win could clinch the club’s first playoff place since 2023. Sveindís Jónsdóttir and Maiara Niehues have nine goals each, and Gisele Thompson set up two at Denver. Bay FC leads the series 3-2 and won the first three meetings between the clubs, all by shutout, but Angel City has taken the last two, including a 3-1 win at PayPal Park in March. Kennedy Fuller faces her former club for the first time.
EVE’s Edge: Angel City to win, 2-1. Bay FC came from behind against Portland last week, but Angel City has everything to play for at home and two nine-goal scorers to finish its chances.
LPGA Final Round in Haenam
Haeran Ryu took a two-shot lead into the third round after a bogey-free 64 with eagles on the 2nd and 6th holes, and she had hit all but one green in 36 holes. Min-sun Kim, a two-time KLPGA winner this year in her second LPGA start, and Lauren Coughlin played with her in the final group on Saturday, and Hye-Jin Choi was among those pressing late in the third round. A Kim win would earn her LPGA membership. Ryu won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June and the Evian Championship in a playoff in July. Rain was in the forecast for the weekend at Pine Beach Golf Links.
EVE’s Edge: Haeran Ryu to win in Haenam. Her irons have barely missed a green all week, and she has already closed out two majors this summer, one in a playoff.
UNBUCKLING THE BELT
WTA. Leylah Fernandez is already through to the Ningbo final and plays the winner of Rybakina and Shnaider for the title on Sunday.
NCAAW Hockey. #1 Ohio State hosts #8 Colgate again at 3:00 PM in Columbus, going for a sweep of the weekend series.