The Las Vegas Aces are silencing the competition, shooting to No. 2 in the WNBA standings following an 81-75 take-down of the now-No. 3 Atlanta Dream on Wednesday night.

Defending WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson led Las Vegas with 34 points, while guard Jackie Young posted a triple-double.

The Aces have now won 12 straight games, claiming a meteoric rise from No. 8 to No. 2 in under a month as Wilson sits Top-5 league-wide in points, rebounds, and blocks per game.

"Don't call me 'Curry,'" Wilson joked, referencing all-time NBA three-point leader Steph Curry after tying her season-high of two made-threes in Wednesday's matchup.

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Las Vegas's unbeaten streak dates back to August 2nd's 53-point blowout loss to the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx, with Wednesday's statement win over a fellow postseason favorite cementing the 2023 WNBA champions' newfound effectiveness.

"This is our eighth game in 15 days. I was very concerned with our legs coming into this game," said Aces head coach Becky Hammon. "When you talk about gears and that ability to kick it up an extra notch, we really have been able to do that on the defensive end — and it's winning us games."

While Las Vegas already clinched a playoff berth, the path to a third franchise title won't be easy, as the Aces will look to avenge their 0-3 head-to-head record against the Lynx in the pair's final 2025 regular-season meeting next week.

How to watch the Las Vegas Aces in this week's WNBA slate

After a successful but jam-packed August, the No. 2 Aces are now on an eight-day rest, returning to the court to tangle with the No. 1 Lynx next Thursday, September 4th.

The top-table clash will tip off at 10 PM ET, with live coverage airing on Prime.

The 2025 US Open is putting the WTA's best to the test, with some top-ranked players battling in three-set epics in the annual Grand Slam's first round.

World No. 6 Madison Keys suffered the first major upset of the tournament on Monday, committing 89 unforced errors across three hours and 10 minutes of play to fall to Mexico's No. 82 Renata Zarazúa 6-7 (10), 7-6 (3), 7-5.

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No. 3 Coco Gauff also found herself locked in a three-set battle, narrowly defeating Australia's No. 79 Ajla Tomljanović 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5 in her own three-hour endurance trial on Tuesday.

"This is the match that I needed," Gauff said afterwards. "I don't think it can get any more stressful than this."

Meanwhile, other top talents have seen smoother rides, with No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 2 Iga Świątek, and No. 4 Jessica Pegula all dispatching their opponents with relative ease.

Fan favorite No. 24 Naomi Osaka also cruised through her first-round matchup against No. 106 Greet Minnen, downing the Belgian in straight sets on Tuesday to meet US star No. 47 Hailey Baptiste on Thursday's second-round court.

A dramatic finish in Wednesday's second-round play also dominated headlines, as popular US contender No. 139 Taylor Townsend — the current world No. 1 doubles player — served Latvia's No. 26 Jeļena Ostapenko a 7-5, 6-1 upset loss in singles play, with the pair's heated post-match exchange causing a stir.

"[Ostapenko] told me I have no class and no education and to see what happens when we get outside the US," Townsend relayed in her on-court interview.

How to watch the 2025 US Open

The US Open's second-round play concludes on Thursday before the third round kicks off on Friday.

Live coverage of the New York Grand Slam airs across ESPN platforms.

UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd, Olympic gymnast Suni Lee, and more college talents struck a pose this week, teaming up with Kansas City Chiefs tight end — and newly minted fiancé — Travis Kelce to launch his new "Tru Kolors" American Eagle collection on Wednesday.

The Tru Kolors campaign highlights rising, current, and former NCAA athletes, with Fudd and Lee joined by UNC tennis commit Anna Frey as well as a trio of standouts in men's basketball and football.

"I'm inspired by where I come from and the people around me. That's why we chose six incredible athletes — Anna, Azzi, Drew, Kiyan, Suni, and Jeremiah — who stay true to themselves while changing the game," Kelce said in Wednesday's press release.

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"Each athlete shares Travis's beliefs of staying true and living life beyond boundaries," the statement continues, describing reigning national champion Fudd as one of "college basketball's most resilient and dynamic players."

Lee is the only former collegiate icon featured in the campaign, with the Auburn alum departing NCAA competition to add three more medals to her six Olympic hardware total at the 2024 Paris Games.

College phenoms like Fudd and Lee have been able to funnel their athletic success into increasingly high-profile NIL deals.

Fudd has had a particularly lucrative year off the court, with this latest venture closely following a collab with Meta earlier this month.

How to buy the Travis Kelce American Eagle collection

Items from the initial Tru Kolors run hit shelves on Wednesday, with the rest of the 90-piece collection dropping on September 24th.

All pieces will be available to buy online at American Eagle.

The NWSL quietly updated its heat delay policy this week, after extreme temperatures delayed the August 16th match between the Kansas City Current and Orlando Pride — causing ongoing controversy.

According to The Guardian, the league's rules and regulations now omit a previously instated clause allowing on-site staff the discretion to stop the match when temperatures rise to one degree below the official delay threshold of 92.3°F.

The NWSL Players Association later stated that the NWSL did not seek approval or even make the athletes union aware of the rule change.

The specific discretionary scenario occurred amid the many delays in Kansas City on August 16th, with staff attributing a brief temperature dip below the official threshold to a cloud passing overhead.

Minutes later, the temperature reading rose more than three degrees above the 92.3°F barrier — justifying the on-site officials' call to wait for a second reading instead of immediately calling for the match to begin.

Calling it a break in protocol, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman reportedly threatened to fine the Current after that decision process caused the teams to miss their national CBS broadcast slot.

Player safety concerns lie at the heart of the rift, with the heat delay saga becoming just the latest in a series of NWSL protocol issues dating back to the handling of Angel City defender Savy King's mid-match medical event in May.

"It was too hot to play… and there's a lot of confusion and lack of communication as well on what the next steps were," Orlando head coach Sebastian Hines said after the 0-0 draw. "It's brutal, three o'clock, sun's beaming. We have to have the best interest for everyone who's involved here at the stadium."

As another NWSL transfer window shutters, big-name trades, transfers, and loans are reshaping rosters ahead of the 2025 regular-season's home stretch.

On Wednesday, No. 10 Angel City announced that the LA club is transferring Australian defender Alanna Kennedy and English midfielder Katie Zelem to the WSL, with billionaire multi-team owner Michele Kang's newly promoted London City shelling out undisclosed transfer fees to add the pair to the Lionesses' roster.

Zelem joined Angel City in August 2024, while Kennedy was an even more recent 2025 offseason addition to the LA side.

Also joining the NWSL transaction fray this week is Racing Louisville, with the No. 7 club hoping to add to their firepower by picking up versatile forward Makenna Morris from the No. 2 Washington Spirit for $115,000 in allocation funds.

In her debut season, Morris notably tied teammate and Rookie of the Year Croix Bethune for the most goals from first-year players in 2024, with each attacker scoring five times despite missing multiple months due to injury.

While this year's secondary transfer window is over, teams are still able to make deals for intra-league trades and loans until the October 9th roster freeze — as well as sign upcoming free agents anytime before the end of the 2025 NWSL regular season.

Many top talents remain unattached for 2026, including a trio of USWNT vets in Spirit star Trinity Rodman, Chicago Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, and Gotham forward Midge Purce.