TENNIS

Iga Swiatek earned her first WTA Finals title and the year-end No. 1 ranking by overwhelming Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-0 on Monday in the latest in a series of dominant performances, at Cancun, Mexico.

From 1-all at the outset, Swiatek seized complete control, collecting the next 11 games with her high-quality baseline game, rarely making an unforced error and repeatedly pressuring Pegula into mistakes.

Swiatek, a 22-year-old from Poland, went 5-0 at the tour’s season-closing championship, winning all 10 sets she played and ceding a total of just 20 games. That’s the fewest by the tournament’s winner since 2003, when it returned to a round-robin format; the previous low in that span was the 34 games dropped by Justine Henin in 2007.

Swiatek is also the youngest WTA Finals champion since Petra Kvitova was 21 in 2011.

This victory allows her to return to No. 1, a spot Swiatek held from April 2022 until this September, when she relinquished it to Aryna Sabalenka.

SOCCER

PREMIER LEAGUE: Tottenham’s players lost their heads and the remaining unbeaten record in the English Premier League.

A late hat trick by Nicolas Jackson sealed a 4-1 victory for Chelsea in a chaotic London derby featuring two red cards — to Tottenham defenders Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie — five disallowed goals and a maverick tactical approach by Spurs Manager Ange Postecoglou in his unlikely bid to survive with nine men.

Jackson broke the resistance of Tottenham with his three goals from the 75th minute, settling a frantic game that defied logic at times as hosts survived for a while despite playing a high defensive line following the sending-offs of Romero in the 33rd and Udogie in the 55th.

Dejan Kulusevski gave Tottenham a flying start by scoring off a deflected shot in the sixth minute, only for the derby to turn fiery amid a blaze of wild challenges and crazy incidents.

Amidst all the madness, Cole Palmer equalized from the spot after Romero conceded a penalty — and earned a fourth red card in 2 1/2 years at Tottenham — for a dangerous lunge on Argentina teammate Enzo Fernandez.

And when Udogie collected a second yellow card, Tottenham faced an uphill battle to preserve its undefeated start to the season.

Chelsea initially failed to get past Tottenham’s brave but possibly naïve high line but did so eventually to devastating effect.

Jackson’s final two goals came deep into stoppage time to clinch a memorable win for visiting Manager Mauricio Pochettino on his return to the club he coached from 2014-19 and led to a Champions League final.

MLS: The Portland Timbers named former Inter Miami coach Phil Neville as the team’s new head coach through the 2026 season.

Neville replaces Giovanni Savarese, who was let go by the Timbers in August after more than five seasons with the club. Portland went to the playoffs in four of those seasons and reached the MLS Cup title game in 2018 and 2021.

The 46-year-old Neville, who had a long professional career playing for Manchester United and Everton, coached Inter Miami from 2021 until this June when he was dismissed. He was 35-42-13 as coach of David Beckham’s MLS club.