Sports briefs

WNBA

Liberty ends with win

Plenette Pierson scored 15 points and Anna Cruz added 10 last night as the Liberty ended its season by beating the visiting Indiana Fever, 73-61. The Liberty (15-19) finished tied with Chicago for the final playoff spot but lost the tiebreaker because it was swept by the Sky.

"When I first came to New York, I envisioned bringing a title here," Cappie Pondexter said. "I'm upset. I don't think it's acceptable to not make the playoffs two years in a row. Fortunately, we're going in the right direction to end the season."

"They worked very hard this year," coach Bill Laimbeer said. "They can look back at themselves and realize the opportunity missed. We're one game out of second. Pretty strange."

Maggie Lucas scored 17 points to lead the Fever (16-18).

TENNIS

Federer, Serena win

Roger Federer got his unprecedented sixth title in Cincinnati, beating David Ferrer, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, to win the Western & Southern Open. Serena Williams needed only 62 minutes to beat Ana Ivanovic, 6-4, 6-1 . . . Former NCAA champion Bradley Klahn beat Wake Forest freshman Noah Rubin of Rockville Centre, 6-2, 0-6, 7-6 (5), in the first round of the Winston-Salem Open in North Carolina. Klahn, who won the 2010 title at Stanford, will face top-seeded John Isner in the second round.

AUTO RACINGGordon gets 3rd of year

Jeff Gordon raced to his third NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of the year, holding off Kevin Harvick for his first win at Michigan International Speedway since 2001. Gordon broke the track qualifying record Friday when he took the pole at 206.558 mph. He followed that up with his third Cup victory at MIS. After a series of cautions, Gordon came off the final restart well and led with 16 laps remaining. He fought off a challenge from Joey Logano and maintained a comfortable margin over Harvick, winning the 400-mile race by 1.4 seconds in his No. 24 Chevrolet. Harvick was second, followed by Logano.-- AP