Denis Bouanga scored in the 73rd minute to propel Los Angeles FC to a 2-1 victory over host FC Cincinnati on Saturday night, clinching his club a spot in the postseason.

Bouanga found the net for the 18th time this season for LAFC (15-8-7), which became the only team in league history to record at least 50 points with postseason appearances in three straight seasons. Bouanga is second in the league to the 21 goals of D.C. United’s Christian Benteke.

LAFC grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute and took it into halftime on the third goal of the season by 18-year-old rookie midfielder David Martínez.

Rookie Luca Orellano took a pass from Luciano Acosta and scored in the 61st minute to pull Cincinnati (17-9-5) even. It was the 10th goal of the season for Orellano and the 19th assist for Acosta, matching his career high set in 2022.

Hugo Lloris, tied with FC Cincinnati’s Patrick Schulte for the league lead with 12 clean sheets this season, finished with five saves for LAFC.

LAFC returns home to host St. Louis City on Wednesday.

WADA appeals ruling in Sinner steroid case

Top-ranked Jannik Sinner rallied to beat Roman Safiullin 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the China Open in Beijing and learned afterward that his steroid case is far from over.

While Sinner was on court in Beijing, the World Anti-Doping Agency announced it was seeking a ban of one to two years for the U.S. Open champion who tested positive twice for an anabolic steroid in March but was not suspended in a decision by an independent tribunal announced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency on Aug. 20 because the ITIA determined he was not to blame.

WADA indicated that it does not plan to backdate an eventual suspension — which would mean that Sinner could keep his second Grand Slam title even if he is found guilty.

Sinner’s fate will now be determined by the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport after WADA said it filed an appeal on Thursday.

“Obviously, I’m very disappointed and also surprised of this appeal, to be honest, because we had three hearings,” Sinner said at a press conference after his match. ”All three hearings came out very positively for me.

“You know, I was not expecting it. I knew it couple of days ago, that they were going to appeal, that today it’s going to go official. But yeah, it’s surprise,” the Italian added.

Sinner’s accepted explanation was that the banned performance-enhancer entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, who had used a spray containing the steroid to treat his own cut finger.

“It is WADA’s view that the finding of ‘no fault or negligence’ was not correct under the applicable rules,” WADA said in a statement. “WADA is seeking a period of ineligibility of between one and two years. WADA is not seeking a disqualification of any results, save that which has already been imposed by the tribunal of first instance.”

Almirola wins Xfinity playoffs opener

Aric Almirola crashed Victory Lane in the NASACAR Xfinity Series playoff opener at Kansas Speedway for his second victory of the season.

Almirola, the 40-year-old former Cup driver running a limited Xfinity schedule for Joe Gibbs Racing, has six career Xfinity victories, also winning at Martinsville in April. He won three Cup races.

Almirola, Cole Custer, and Chandler Smith dueled over the final 40 laps, with Smith leading most of the way. Custer passed Smith for the top spot with 10 laps to go, and Almirola made the final pass with three laps left.

Custer was second, his first top-10 finish at Kansas Speedway. Smith was third, followed by Connor Zilisch and playoff driver Sheldon Creed.

Regular-season champion Justin Allgaier started the race atop the points standings. He left with his season in jeopardy after a wreck on Lap 70. He spun out exiting Turn 2, slid down the race track and hit the inside wall hard. Allgaier tried to return to the race, but a flat left front tire and loss of brakes ended his day in 36th place. It was the fourth straight race that Allgaier was involved in an accident.

• Christopher Bell won the pole for the third straight NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, giving him the best possible starting position as he tries to advance through the second round of the playoffs.

Bell turned a blistering, balanced lap of 179.336 mph in the pole shootout. That put him on the front row for today’s race with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs, who was eliminated from the postseason a week ago.

“We showed up with probably the best Kansas car we’ve ever had,” said Bell, who has finished in the top 10 in the past two races at Kansas but never has turned one of those brilliant starting positions into a win.

Tyler Reddick, the defending Kansas playoff race winner, will start third alongside Kyle Busch, the only other non-playoff driver to advance through the first round of qualifying. Reddick held off Denny Hamlin to win in overtime last fall.

“Practice was a little bit of a struggle for us, but I thought we made some good adjustments,” Reddick said. “We were going to have to go quite a ways to get the pace we needed to out of qualifying ... but I’ll definitely take it.”

The rest of the top 10 consisted of drivers who are starting the round of 12 still alive in the playoffs. William Byron was fifth with Hamlin, whose four wins at Kansas are the most of any driver, starting sixth. Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe round out the top 10.

Kopecky defends title in women’s road race

Lotte Kopecky successfully defended her title at the women’s road race at the cycling world championships in Zurich, beating her rivals in a six-way sprint finish. The Belgian timed her attack to perfection in the last 100 meters to fend off American Chloé Dygert and Italian Elisa Longo-Borghini.