Two clubs on the rise are squaring off, as No. 8 Seattle visits No. 13 Louisville with both sides looking to further ignite late-season pushes in tonight’s Racing Louisville vs Seattle Reign clash. 

Seattle arrives on a four-match unbeaten run, averaging two goals per game over its last six behind Maddie Mercado’s four tallies — including Friday’s 1-0 game-winner against No. 16 Chicago.

Louisville counters with a three-game winning streak, taking 13 points off its last five fixtures after Saturday’s 4-1 rout of No. 14 Boston.

Racing’s Kayla Fischer and Emma Sears have combined for 11 goals and eight assists this season, while the Reign’s Ainsley McCammon has emerged as a top creator with four assists.

Seattle holds a 5-1-6 head-to-head advantage over Louisville, losing just once to the 2021 NWSL expansion team at the 2023 Challenge Cup.

“I think they’re beginning to click,” Reign midfielder Angharad James-Turner said of tonight’s opponent. “For us, it’s concentrating on what we’ve been good at the last few weeks and being aware of threats that they have — and they have a few threats.”

Louisville hosts Seattle tonight at 6:30 PM ET (NWSL+).

WNBA All-Star is heading west, as the league announced 2025 expansion team Golden State will host next year’s All-Star Game in San Francisco.

The nod comes one day after the No. 2 Valkyries clinched a playoff berth for the second straight season. Golden State downed No. 8 Dallas in front of a packed Chase Center.

“From Day 1, the Bay Area has shown up for this team in a way that’s redefined what’s possible in women’s basketball,” said Golden State President Jess Smith. “We can’t wait to put that same energy on display for the entire league.”

The Valkyries have sold out every home game since the team’s inception. Today, they’re climbing the 2026 WNBA standings after last season’s historic postseason run.

“The Golden State Valkyries have brought incredible energy and excitement,” WNBACommissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “Valkyries fans have embraced this team with an extraordinary level of passion and enthusiasm.”

The WNBA Live, 3-Point Contest, and Shooting Stars events return in 2027. The league will reveal the full All-Star schedule in the coming months.

No. 6 New York rides momentum into Chicago tonight, gearing up to settle the regular-season Liberty vs Sky series with the struggling No. 10 Chicago.

New York arrives hot off bouncing No. 14 Connecticut from playoff contention. The win rights a recent rocky stretch behind Breanna Stewart’s 20.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per night.

“We have to just continue to play through adversity,” Stewart said Saturday. “We don’t want to be high when it’s high and low when it’s low. We want to be pretty steady.”

With guard Skylar Diggins sidelined (knee), Chicago has leaned on center Kamilla Cardoso’s 56.4% effort from the field to stay afloat amid a 4-6 skid. 

New York took the first two meetings. The record includes a July 22nd 94-95 nail-biter, where now-injured Sky guard Sydney Taylor drop 31 points.

The Liberty are battling their own staffing concerns. On Saturday, stars Sabrina Ionescu (foot), Leonie Fiebich (foot), and Satou Sabally (head) sat out against the Sun.

New York tips off against Chicago tonight at 9 PM ET (WNBA League Pass).

No. 2 Golden State is postseason-bound, as the 2025 expansion team clinched a second consecutive playoff berth — and secured a sixth straight win — in last night’s 78-70 Wings vs Valkyries victory.

Veteran Gabby Williams dropped a game-high 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds, helping the Valkyries convert 16 Wings turnovers into 20 points. 

Star guard Paige Bueckers led No. 8 Dallas with 21 points but committed a game-worst seven turnovers, as the shorthanded Wings dropped to 20-16 on the season.

Golden State joins No. 1 Minnesota and No. 3 Las Vegas as early postseason locks, shifting the WNBA title odds as No. 4 Indiana, No. 5 Atlanta, and No. 6 New York jockey for positioning.

The Lynx remain the team to beat at -105 across the board, while DraftKings puts the Aces at +450 to win the championship and the Valkyries at +850 — up from 45-1 in the preseason.

The Dream (+900) and Fever (+950) lurk close behind, while the up-and-down Liberty tumbled from +220 early-season favorites to +1400 despite winning eight of their last 10 games.

The Williams sisters are back, as Serena and Venus kick off their 2026 Cincinnati Open doubles run against local favorite Peyton Stearns and world No. 11 Marta Kostyuk.

Tonight’s reunion marks Serena’s first Cincinnati appearance since 2022. It furthers her recently launched comeback trail, after teaming up with No. 17 Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club and joining No. 7 Karolína Muchová in Berlin. 

The match is also the sisters’ first pairing since the 2022 US Open, after a knee injury suffered in her first-round Wimbledon loss to Maya Joint saw Serena withdraw from July’s doubles competition in London.

The doubles draw is stacked with star power, splitting up 2025 Miami Open champs Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider while putting Barbora Krejčíková on a collision course with ex-teammate Kateřina Siniaková. 

The younger Williams skipped the WTA 1000 tournament’s singles path, while Venus fell to Spain’s Emiliana Arango in her first-round match.

“I’m back in Cincinnati. Don’t ask me why or how, but I love this place,” Serena said on Cincinnati Open social media. “When I decided to play a few tournaments, I said, ’You know what, Cincinnati Open is one place I would never miss.’”

The sisters open their 2026 Cincinnati Open doubles run tonight at 7 PM ET (Tennis Channel).

Sam Kerr returned to the record books, becoming the first player in NWSL history to reach 80 regular-season goals as she lifted No. 1 Gotham FC over No. 7 Kansas City 2-1 on Friday.

After Midge Purce equalized an early Current chip, Kerr redirected Jaedyn Shaw’s 41st-minute pass past keeper Marisa Jordan, netting her franchise-record 31st tally. The win stretches Gotham’s unbeaten run to eight games.

“We have the talent across the board,” said Gotham coach Shaun Harris. “Sam is only just getting started. We haven’t seen the best of her yet.”

Purce joined Kerr and Esther González as the only Gotham players with 20+ regular-season goals, with all three of her 2026 contributions coming inside the opening 15 minutes.

The win also marked Gotham FC’s first-ever regular-season victory over Kansas City, while cementing the club’s seven-point cushion atop the NWSL table.

The Current now falls to 9-8-3 on the season, as the 2025 Shield winner fights to stay above the postseason cutoff line.

Gotham returns Sunday, facing No. 9 Angel City at 8 PM ET (ION).

No. 2 Golden State’s magic number is down to one, hosting No. 8 Dallas with a ticket to the 2026 WNBA playoffs on the line.

The 2025 expansion side rides a five-game winning streak into tonight’s Wings vs Valkyries clash. They blew past last year’s victory total behind balanced shooting and battle-tested depth.

“We just know our roles,” said veteran guard Tiffany Hayes. “Whether you’re starting that game, whether you’re coming off the bench… We just know how to move with each other.”

Dallas arrives humbled from Friday’s 98-87 loss to No. 4 Indiana. The Wings have won just three of its last 10 games as stars Azzi Fudd and Jessica Shepard deal with injuries.

Golden State took both of the pair’s prior meetings, including August 7th’s 94-76 rout fueled by Veronica Burton’s 22 points and seven assists.

“We don’t think being down people is an excuse,” Wings guard Paige Bueckers said Friday. “We have a really good team and really good players coming off the bench and a deep team. We want to get these wins, regardless.”

Golden State hosts Dallas tonight at 10 PM ET (Peacock).

The Canadian Open comes down to this, as Iga Świątek and Elena Rybakina advance to tonight’s hard-court final via twin three-set showdowns.

World No. 8 Świątek outlasted No. 9 Elina Svitolina 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, pouncing as the Ukrainian double-faulted on triple-break point in the decider to reach her first final of 2026.

Surging No. 2 Rybakina stormed back to beat No. 4 Coco Gauff 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, securing her second straight comeback after ousting No. 13 Naomi Osaka.

Rybakina is chasing her third 2026 title, nearing No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka’s top WTA ranking — with Toronto’s 1,000 points just enough to get her there.

The finalists enter on a 6-6 head-to-head record, after Rybakina most recently upset the Polish star in the Australian Open quarterfinals.

“It’s going to again be a very difficult match, and we know each other so well,” she said of Świątek. “I feel it’s more about the recovery after so many hours on the court, and bring as much energy as I can.”

The Canadian Open final starts tonight at 6 PM ET (Tennis Channel).

Chicago is shaking up its sideline, as the last-place Stars parted ways with head coach Martin Sjögren and assistant Anders Jacobson on Wednesday.

With just one win since May, Sjögren exits on a 4-1-13 record and minus-24 goal differential. Assistant Karina Báez subsequently takes over as interim coach for the rest of the season.

Nicole Lukic comes on as Chicago’s new assistant coach. She joins the NWSL after stints with USL Super League side Spokane Zephyr and USL-W’s Minnesota Aurora.

The Stars are also bringing back former boss Lorne Donaldson as interim director of coaching. It’s a surprising move given Donaldson’s abrupt midseason dismissal last year.

“We are determined to make our club a serious contender in the NWSL and have a plan in place to do so beginning now and leading into the 2027 season,” President Karen Leetzow said in a team statement.

Chicago returns tomorrow, facing No. 9 Seattle at 10 PM ET (NWSL+).

Golden State is proving its worth, as the No. 2 Valkyries tallied a team-record 16 steals in last night’s 91-71 rout of No. 12 Chicago. The Sky vs Valkyries matchup marked the team’s fifth straight win.

Five Golden State shooters finished in double-digits, taking advantage of Chicago’s 17 turnovers despite missing starters Kiah Stokes (concussion) and Janelle Salaün (knee).

“Communication has really stepped up,” guard Tiffany Hayes said after posting a game-high 22 points off the bench. “We have a bunch of principles that we have to stick to — that’s really Valkyries basketball. I think we did a lot of that tonight.”

Despite struggling with injury, the 2025 expansion side is 24-9 on the season, already surpassing last year’s record 23 wins with 11 games to go.

“Next man up mentality, and that’s been us since the beginning,” guard Veronica Burton said. “Whoever we have available is who we’re rocking with, and we trust every single person on this roster.”

The Valkyries now sit three games behind the No. 1 Lynx, with two more regular-season trips to Minnesota on the books.

Golden State returns Monday against No. 7 Dallas at 10 PM ET (Peacock).