Two-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini capped a breakthrough season by leading Italy to its first Billie Jean King Cup title since 2013 on Wednesday, defeating Rebecca Sramkova 6-2, 6-1 to seal a 2-0 victory over Slovakia in the final of the women’s team competition.

When Paolini’s win ended, she was joined on court by her teammates, and they embraced each other, then danced and sang along as the Gypsy Kings’ version of “Volare” blared on the loudspeakers.

The No. 4-ranked Paolini was the runner-up at the French Open in June and at Wimbledon in July, making her the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to get to the title matches at Roland Garros and the All England Club in the same season. Before this year, Paolini, who is 28, had lost in the first or second round in all 16 career appearances at majors.

She also teamed with Sara Errani to win a doubles gold medal at the Paris Olympics in August. They were lined up to play in the concluding match against Slovakia, but it wasn’t needed because Italy clinched the best-of-three series by sweeping the two singles matches.

Italy, which eliminated Iga Swiatek and Poland in the semifinals, earned its fifth championship a year after finishing as the runner-up to Canada.

The triumph adds to what’s been quite a recent run for Italy in tennis, including two Grand Slam trophies in 2024 and the No. 1 men’s ranking for Jannik Sinner, who helped his country claim last year’s Davis Cup. Sinner and Italy meet Argentina in the men’s quarterfinals Thursday.

This is the first time the two premier International Tennis Federation team events are being held at the same site, although the women’s matches are being played in a much smaller venue. They are using a temporary court set up under a white tent, with a capacity of 4,000; the men are playing in a permanent arena with 9,200 seats that were full Tuesday for Rafael Nadal’s last match before retirement in Spain’s loss to the Netherlands.

Baseball

MLB to test Robot umpires >> Major League Baseball will test robot umpires as part of a challenge system during spring training at 13 ballparks hosting 19 teams, which could lead to regular-season use in 2026.

MLB has been experimenting with the automated ball-strike system in the minor leagues since 2019 but is still working on the shape of the strike zone.

An agreement for big league use would have to be reached with the Major League Baseball Umpires Association, whose collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1.

Guardians trade reliever to Cubs >> The Cleveland Guardians traded a piece of their powerful bullpen, sending right-hander Eli Morgan to the Chicago Cubs for minor league outfielder Alfonsin Rosario.

Morgan went 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA in 32 appearances last season for the AL Central champions, who had the best bullpen in the majors in 2024.

Hockey

Ovechkin placed on IR >> Alex Ovechkin is on injured reserve, and the Washington Capitals are coming to grips with playing without their superstar captain for the coming weeks.

Ovechkin is considered week-to-week with a lower left leg injury, and going on IR rules him out for at least the next three games. The absence puts a pause on his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record and takes the best pure scorer of this generation off the ice until further notice.

Ovechkin was injured in a shin-on-shin collision with Utah’s Jack McBain on Monday night. The 39-year-old winger went down in obvious pain, then tried to skate and test out the leg minutes later before limping down the tunnel.

Coach Spencer Carbery confirmed it was not a season-ending injury and expects a more specific diagnosis and timeframe to be available Thursday after further evaluation by doctors.

Golf

LPGA sets record prize for 2025 >> The LPGA Tour will play for $127.5 million in official prize money in 2025, another record for the circuit that has worked independently of the PGA Tour for 75 years.

The schedule announced at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida, has a few moving parts that include new tournaments in Utah and Mexico, the end of a 40-year run in Ohio and its Founders Cup merging into a previous tournament.

The official prize money does not include the $2 million International Crown, held every two years as the only team event in golf where countries compete against each other; and the $2 million Grant Thornton Invitational, a mixed team event with the PGA Tour.

Soccer

Costa Rican team could take legal action to get into Club World Cup >> The winningest team in Costa Rica is asking FIFA for a spot in next summer’s Club World Cup and says it is willing to take legal action if denied.

Alajuelense, which has won 30 league titles, wants FIFA to enforce the rule that forbids clubs from the same ownership to participate in the tournament.

The FIFA-run competition has been expanded from seven teams to 32 and will be staged in the United States from June to July next year. FIFPRO, however, said a players’ strike can’t be ruled out.

The players’ union has concerns about the physical and mental impact on players as a result of an increasingly congested schedule.

Teams that qualified expect to earn millions in FIFA prize money at the tournament.