Federer Defends Title, Wins Sixth of the Year

Top-ranked Roger Federer defeated teenager Richard Gasquet, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (4), Sunday to defend his Hamburg Masters title and win a tour-leading sixth championship of the year.

By avenging one of only two losses this year, Federer stretched his Open-era record -- he has won 19 consecutive finals he has played since October 2003.

Federer is 41-2 this year. Going back to the beginning of last year’s U.S. Open, he is 57-2.

Federer lost to Gasquet last month in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters. On Sunday in Germany, Federer took early control and never relinquished it.

“Once you’ve won once or twice here, you come into the tournament with confidence,” said Federer, who didn’t drop a set in winning his 28th title.

Gasquet, 18, looks like a younger version of Federer: Both use big groundstrokes and one-handed backhands, cover the court well and can hit winners from both sides.

Federer was just steadier when it came to the big points. In the first set, he won his first -- and only -- break point to go up 2-0. That break proved decisive.

In the second set, Federer went up 6-5 and closed out the set with an ace.

Neither player faced a break point in the final set, and Federer was helped by a double fault from Gasquet at 3-2 in the tiebreaker.

Federer had more winners, 38 to 24, but also had more unforced errors -- 40 to 27.

Gasquet could have become the youngest Hamburg winner.

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Top-seeded Dinara Safina defeated Zuzana Ondraskova, 7-6 (2), 6-3, to win the Prague Open in the Czech Republic.

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The U.S. lost to Germany, 2-1, in the World Team Cup after dropping both singles matches at Duesseldorf, Germany. Tommy Haas topped Vincent Spadea, 6-2, 6-4, and Nicolas Kiefer beat Jeff Morrison, 6-2, 6-2. But the Americans got one point in doubles when Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan defeated Haas and Alexander Waske, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 7-5.

Defending champion Chile topped the Czech Republic, 2-1.

The eight-nation field is split into two groups, with the winners going to the final Saturday.

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Motorsports

Bobby Hamilton edged defending race winner Jack Sprague in a two-lap shootout in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ UAW/GM Ohio 250 at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway in Mansfield, Ohio.

Hamilton, the defending series champion, became the first two-time winner this season and regained the points lead.

Hamilton’s Dodge beat Sprague’s Chevrolet by 0.169 of a second after the 13th caution extended the scheduled 250-lap distance by four laps. Hamilton averaged a track-record 65.907 mph.

Shane Hmiel finished third in a Chevrolet.

Hamilton took a 45-point lead over Ted Musgrave, who entered with a 13-point advantage. Musgrave finished 12th after his Dodge caromed off Deborah Renshaw’s spinning Dodge.

John Force extended his NHRA-record 116th victory, beating teammate and son-in-law Robert Hight in the funny-car final in the rain-delayed Summit Racing NHRA Southern Nationals at the Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga.

Force, who took the series lead with the victory, edged Hight by 0.0021 of a second with a quarter-mile run of 4.772 seconds at a top speed of 325.61.

Australia’s Mat Mladin swept the weekend AMA Superbike Championship series races at Infineon Raceway, beating fellow Suzuki rider Aaron Yates by 13.024 seconds in Sonoma, Calif.

Mladin, the defending series champion, has six victories this year to increase his career total to 38.

He leads teammate Ben Spies by 16 points in the series standings. Spies finished third Sunday.

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Arena Football

Steve Videtich kicked a 20-yard field goal with 26 seconds remaining, and the visiting Columbus Destroyers (2-13) ended an 11-game losing streak with a 55-52 victory over the Philadelphia Soul (6-9). Philadelphia’s Tim Seder missed a 43-yard field goal attempt to the left as time expired.

Shane Stafford threw seven touchdown passes and ran for another score to help the Tampa Bay Storm (9-6) beat the visiting New York Dragons (9-6), 61-58.

Michael Bishop threw four touchdown passes -- two each to Anthony Hines and Dialleo Burks -- to lead the visiting Grand Rapids Rampage (3-12) to a 51-40 victory over the Chicago Rush (8-7).

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Miscellany

Three-time Olympian Leon Taylor of Britain scored 489.57 points over his six dives to win the gold medal in the men’s platform competition at the FINA diving Grand Prix in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Taylor finished 0.15 of a point better than China’s Feng Qi. Chinese divers won golds in two other events. Wu Minxia won the women’s three-meter final (350.97) and Yang Jinghui and Hu Jia teamed to win the men’s platform synchronized (374.04).

France won the Beach Soccer World Cup, defeating Portugal, 1-0, on penalties in Rio de Janeiro. Thierry Ottavy scored the only goal in the shootout.

Portugal rallied to tie the score, at 3-3, at the end of regulation on two goals by Nuno Belchior in the final two minutes. Anthony Mendy netted all three goals for France.

Syracuse’s 22-year streak of reaching the semifinals of the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament ended with a 16-15 first-round loss at Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass.

Syracuse won nine national titles during its run, including last year.

Taylor Klosowski tied a career high with four hits and drove in two runs and Barry Enright pitched six strong innings as Pepperdine (33-19, 19-8) defeated visiting Santa Clara (26-27, 9-18), 5-2, to move into a tie for first place with San Francisco in the West Coast Conference’s West Division.