INDIANAPOLIS — Tamika Catchings had 14 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists as the Indiana Fever moved within one victory of the WNBA championship Sunday with an 86-85 win over the Phoenix Mercury in Game 3 of the Finals.
The Mercury’s Tangela Smith missed a jumper from the foul line as time expired.
The Fever took a 2-1 lead in the series and can clinch its first championship with a win at home Wednesday night. Ebony Hoffman led the Fever with 18 points. Briann January scored 17 and Katie Douglas added 15.
Cappie Pondexter led Phoenix with 23 points and Le’Coe Willingham added 17. Diana Taurasi, the league’s MVP, scored 18 points but shot only 6-for-16 from the field.
Vettel wins F1 race
SUZUKA, Japan — Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won Formula One’s Japanese Grand Prix to revive his championship hopes.
Vettel finished ahead of Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. Drivers’ championship leader Jenson Button of Brawn GP was eighth, a place below teammate Rubens Barrichello. Brawn GP needs just one point in the remaining two races to clinch the constructors’ championship.
In the drivers’ championship, Button’s lead over Barrichello was cut by one point to 14, with Vettel just two points further back.
• Rain forced NHRA officials to postpone the O’Reilly NHRA Mid- South Nationals eliminations in Millington, Tenn., until today.
Larry Dixon (top fuel), Robert Hight (funny car), Mike Edwards (pro stock) and Hector Arana (pro stock motorcycle) topped the qualifying.
Davydenko in straight sets
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Top-seededed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia defeated Spain’s Fer- nando Verdasco 6-4, 7-5 to win the Malaysia Open.
Davydenko extended his record to 6-1 over Verdasco and gave him a third title this year.
• Gilles Simon of France won the Thailand Open in Bangkok, defeating Serbia’s Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-3 for his first ATP title of the year and sixth overall.
Footnotes.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has two 2-year-olds who showed promise in their Grade 1 races at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif. Lookin at Lucky won the $300,000 Norfolk Stakes for 2-year-old colts by 1 3/4 lengths, while Always a Princess finished second in the $300,000 Oak Leaf Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. Both earned berths in the next month’s Breeders’ Cup.
• Sea the Stars made history by winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Longchamp, France, becoming the first horse to win three of Europe’s top races, the other two being the 2,000 Guineas and the Epsom Derby.
• The Houston Dynamo clinched a Major League Soccer playoff berth and moved into a tie atop the Western Conference despite blowing a second-half lead in a 1-1 tie with the Kansas City Wizards.
• An MRI revealed that Golden State Warriors forward Brandan Wright has damage to the capsule in his left shoulder that will require surgery.
