Nadal Tops Federer Again With 53rd in a Row on Clay

Rafael Nadal still has the edge against Roger Federer. The gap is closing, though.

In a showdown between the world’s top two players, Nadal beat Federer in a fifth-set tiebreaker Sunday to successfully defend his Rome Masters title and tie Guillermo Vilas’ record 53-match winning streak on clay in the open era.

Nadal, a 19-year-old Spaniard ranked No. 2, won, 6-7 (0), 7-6 (5), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5), in 5 hours 5 minutes. He improved to 5-1 against the No. 1-ranked Swiss.

Federer dropped to 39-3 this year, with his only losses coming to Nadal. Nadal also won a matchup at Dubai in March.

In the Monte Carlo final last month, Nadal beat Federer in a fourth-set tiebreaker. Both tournaments are clay-court warmups for the French Open, which starts in two weeks. Another of Nadal’s wins over Federer came in the semifinals at Roland Garros last year.

“Obviously I would have liked to win, but I already knew after Monaco I was extremely close,” Federer said. “I think this is another step closer.”

Federer led, 4-1, in the fifth set, and the top-ranked Swiss wasted two match points at 6-5, both with errant forehands.

“I should have won,” Federer said. “He caught me right at the finish line.”

Nadal has won nine straight tournaments on clay. His 16th title also tied him with Bjorn Borg for most titles won as a teenager.

“It’s very difficult to win every tournament, 53 matches is a lot of matches,” Nadal said.

Nadal can break the record with a win against Tommy Haas in the first round of the Hamburg Masters next week.

Nadal also won a fifth-set tiebreaker in last year’s final, beating Guillermo Coria in 5:14 -- the longest final of the open era.

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Second-seeded Nadia Petrova won her third straight clay-court title, beating third-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, in the German Open final in Berlin.

Petrova, who ran her clay-court winning streak to 15 matches, fought back and leg injuries in a match lasting nearly three hours.

Petrova, who had won only one event before this year, also took clay-court titles at Charleston, S.C., and at Amelia Island, Fla., last month.

Last year, Henin-Hardenne defeated Petrova in the final to win her third German Open title. Sunday’s loss was the Belgian’s first defeat at the event since she was beaten by Jennifer Capriati in 2001.

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Shahar Peer won her second WTA Tour title, beating Samantha Stosur, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, in the Prague Open final in the Czech Republic.

Top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo and No. 3 Maria Sharapova withdrew from this week’s Italian Open.

Mauresmo, the two-time defending champion, said she had a cold and fever. Sharapova has a bruised right ankle.

COLLEGES

UCLA, Pepperdine Advance in Tennis

The defending NCAA champion UCLA men advanced to the round of 16 of the NCAA championships, 4-0, over Colorado, with Haythem Abid and Chris Surapol clinching the doubles point with an 8-4 victory over Geoffrey Chizever and Chad Tsuda at L.A. Tennis Center.

UCLA will play Illinois on Saturday at Stanford.

Pepperdine also advanced, defeating Texas Christian, 4-0, in Malibu. The Waves will play Florida on Saturday.

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UCLA senior Chelsea Johnson finished an impressive Pacific 10 career by setting a collegiate record in the pole vault with a jump of 15 feet 1 inch at the conference track and field championships at Eugene, Ore.

USC won the men’s title with 140 points as Philip Francis won the 100 meters in 10.25 seconds and the 200 meters in 20.39 seconds.

Defending champion Oregon was second with 133.50 points, and Arizona was third with 122.

Arizona State won its first women’s team title with 154 points, edging Stanford with 151.50 and USC with 112. UCLA was fourth with 103 points.

Johnson, the 2005 champion, broke the record of 15-0 set by Lacy Janson of Florida State. She tried but failed to clear 15-3.

Johnson also broke the Pac-10 meet record set by Becky Holliday in 2003 (14-6) and the Pac-10 record (14-8), also set by Holliday in 2003. Johnson also has the third-best mark in the world this year.

USC senior Virginia Powell defended her title in the 100-meter hurdles in 12.64, the best time in the world this year. Powell’s personal best is 12.61.

Powell also won the 100-meter dash, becoming the first woman in the conference to win the two events in consecutive years since Gail Devers in 1987 and 1988.

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Junior right-hander Tyson Brummett went the distance, and the UCLA offense scored three runs in an inning four times to beat USC, 12-1, at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

UCLA improved to 27-21 overall and 10-8 in the Pac-10. USC fell to 25-25, 11-10.

Senior Chris Jensen was four for four with a double, four runs and three RBIs.

HOCKEY

Czech Republic Hands Canada Its First Loss

Jaroslav Balastik’s fluke goal broke a third-period tie and gave the unbeaten Czech Republic a 6-4 victory over previously perfect Canada at the World Hockey Championship in Riga, Latvia.

Both teams had already clinched quarterfinal spots from Group E along with Finland and the United States.

Olympic champion Sweden also lost for the first time, falling 5-2 to Slovakia.

Earlier, Russia beat Switzerland, 6-3, and Finland stayed perfect by beating Norway, 3-0.

MISCELLANY

Texas Running Back Arrested on Drug Charge

Texas running back Ramonce Taylor, who scored a touchdown in the Longhorns’ Rose Bowl victory over USC, was arrested in Austin by sheriff’s deputies who said they found about five pounds of marijuana in a backpack in his car.

Deputies also found a live .40-caliber round of ammunition in the console of the vehicle, Sheriff Dan Smith said.

Bell County prosecutors charged Taylor, 20, with state jail felony drug possession of marijuana, pending lab results to determine the total weight of the drug, the sheriff’s office said.

If it weighs more than five pounds, the charge will be upgraded to a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in jail and $10,000 in fines.

A state jail felony carries up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

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After an 11-month absence amid doping allegations, Marion Jones made an impressive return to competition.

Jones ran the second-fastest women’s 100 meters of the season while winning Saturday night at the Gala Banamex Veracruz in Mexico. Her time of 11.06 seconds was .02 of a second off the fastest of the season, set in mid-April by Allyson Felix.

Jones led a U.S. sweep of the race. Torri Edwards was second in 11.30, and Laverne Jones was third in 11.48.

Jones said it was a great return and called the atmosphere for the meet at 4,900 feet “perfect.”

Jones has a personal best of 10.65 in the 100. She finished fourth in the Gala Banamex in 11.4 in June 2005, the last time she had raced.