Nadal, Spain end US hopes of repeating

The US reign as Davis Cup champion ended yesterday in Madrid, with a commanding performance by a player having a commanding year. Buoyed by the cheers of a home crowd in a bullring, Rafael Nadal played the role of accomplished matador to the fullest, defeating Andy Roddick, 6-4, 6-0, 6-4, to send Spain to the final for the sixth time. Spain will play for the title in November against Argentina, which defeated Russia, 3-2, in a semifinal in Buenos Aires. In the finale before 20,000 fans at Las Ventas arena, Feliciano Lopez defeated Sam Querrey, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), to complete a 4-1 victory. Playing in Spain for the first time since capturing the top ranking, Nadal picked Roddick apart with an array of shots. "I don't think you could draw up a tougher scenario than playing Nadal in front of this crowd," said Roddick, who fell to 0-7 on clay against top-10 players, 0-5 in must-win Davis Cup matches, and 0-4 against players ranked higher than he is. Argentina earned its place in the final after Juan Martin del Potro defeated Igor Andreev, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1, to secure the 3-2 win. In the first reverse singles, Russia's Nikolay Davydenko evened the score at 2-2 when he beat David Nalbandian, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-0 . . . Dinara Safina will move up to No. 3 in the world rankings after dominating Russian compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-1, 6-3, to win the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo . . . Vera Zvonareva won her seventh WTA Tour singles title, beating Peng Shuai, 6-7 (4-7), 6-0, 6-2, in the Guangzhou International final in China.

A day after blowing a lead with a triple bogey on the final hole, Will MacKenzie birdied the par-5 18th three straight times to win the PGA Viking Classic in a playoff in Madison, Miss., for his second PGA Tour victory. MacKenzie rallied to beat Marc Turnesa on the second playoff hole after Brian Gay dropped out on the first extra hole. MacKenzie birdied three of the last four holes of regulation for a 4-under 68 to match Turnesa (70) and Gay (68) at 19-under 269. The Viking Classic was the opening event of the Fall Series in which players have seven tournaments to improve their standing on the tour and attempt to finish in the top 125 money winners to secure playing privileges for next year. MacKenzie, who was 178th with $235,997, jumped to 97th with $883,997. Turnesa moved into a tie for 130th . . . Four New Englanders advanced to match-play qualifying at the US Senior Amateur championships. Joseph Keller of Osterville (74 -148), Paul Murphy of Arlington (70 -150), and Alistair Catto of South Hadley (74 -151) advanced out of the men's competition in Fort Worth. Kibbe Reilly of Providence (78-161) made the cut in the women's event in Tulsa, Okla.

Tamika Catchings had 27 points and 10 rebounds and the Indiana Fever beat the Detroit Shock, 89-82, in overtime in Auburn Hills, Mich., to force a decisive third game in the Eastern Conference playoff series. Game 3 is tomorrow night in Auburn Hills . . . Sue Bird scored 20 points and the host Seattle Storm beat the Los Angeles Sparks, 64-50, to force a decisive Game 3 in the Western Conference semifinal series. The final game will be played tomorrow night in Seattle when the Storm will try to avoid losing in the opening round of the playoffs for the fourth straight year . . . The Connecticut Sun will try to advance to the Eastern Conference finals when they take on the New York Liberty tonight in Uncasville in Game 3 of their series. Asjha Jones scored 16 points to help the Sun force the deciding game with a 73-70 win Saturday night.

Olympic bronze medalist Nick Willis of New Zealand outleaned American Olympian Bernard Lagat to win the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile in New York. Willis finished in 3 minutes 50.5 seconds to edge Lagat by a 10th of a second. On the women's side, Britain's Lisa Dobrisky beat American Shannon Rowbury to become the race's first British champion since Paula Radcliffe in 1997 . . . Yirefu Birhanu edged countryman Terefu Zwedie by 1 second to lead a 1-2-3 sweep by Ethiopian men at the Philadelphia Distance Run, a half-marathon. Liliya Shobukhova of Russia beat six-time winner Catherine Ndereba of Kenya in the women's race . . . Kenya's Julius Maritim (2:19.01) won his fourth straight Sydney Marathon, finishing five minutes ahead of countryman Benson Mbithi. Australia's Lisa Flint (2:47:43) won the women's division.

Alberto Contador of Spain won the Spanish Vuelta, completing a sweep of cycling's three major races after capturing this year's Giro d'Italia and the 2007 Tour de France. He achieved the feat in a record 15 months, beating Bernard Hinault's previous mark of 26 months. Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, and Felice Gimondi also won cycling's three top races . . . Los Angeles Angels lefty Joe Saunders's ongoing problems with a kidney stone will cause him to miss tomorrow night's scheduled start against Seattle. Angels manager Mike Scioscia said Saunders will probably be held back until next weekend . . . San Jose Sharks center Torrey Mitchell will be out at least two months after breaking his left leg during practice. The Sharks also announced they have hired former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Ferguson Jr. to be their director of pro scouting . . . NASCAR has fired two officials who had been suspended during an internal investigation into claims made in a $225 million racial discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit against stock car racing's sanctioning body. Tim Knox and Bud Moore were fired last week, NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Potson said, but he declined to discuss the reasons for their dismissal. Knox and Moore are accused in Mauricia Grant's lawsuit of exposing themselves to her, and making graphic and lewd jokes. She worked for NASCAR's Nationwide Series from 2005-07 . . . Jeff Cunningham scored two goals and had an assist to lead FC Dallas to a 4-1 win over the host Chicago Fire in an MLS game.