China Stuns U.S. Women in Gymnastics

China knocked off the heavily favored U.S. women in the team gymnastics world championship finals Wednesday in Aarhus, Denmark, an upset that came courtesy of a mistake-filled evening that stunned and perplexed the Americans and the team that beat them.

“Totally, totally unexpected,” U.S. team coordinator Martha Karolyi said of China’s first world title.

A team that dominated in qualifying two nights earlier barely looked the same with the medals on the line.

Chellsie Memmel, the defending all-around champion, fell off the uneven bars, landing face down with a ghastly thump. Jana Bieger had trouble on her vault landing.

The Chinese scored 182.2 points, 0.85 more than the Americans.

TENNIS

Nadal Is Sharp; Blake’s Streak Ends

Defending champion Rafael Nadal beat Mardy Fish, 6-4, 6-2, in his opener at the Madrid Masters on a day when James Blake and five other seeded players fell.

Blake, who had won his last two tournaments, had his 14-match winning streak stopped when he squandered 3-1 and 6-5 leads in the final set in losing to Kristof Vliegen, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5).

Third-ranked Ivan Ljubicic and No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko, both winners last week, lost their second-round matches. Ninth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, 2003 winner Juan Carlos Ferrero and No. 12-seeded Mario Ancic also were ousted.

Ljubicic, last year’s runner-up, was undone by Andy Murray, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, and Davydenko fell to Joachim Johansson, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3.

The 2004 champion, Marat Safin, ousted Baghdatis, 6-4, 6-3, and the 16th-seeded Ferrero lost to Robin Soderling, 6-3, 6-2. Robby Ginepri beat Ancic, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5).

Top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo, recovering from a sore shoulder, offset Samantha Stosur’s strong serve to win, 7-6 (4), 6-3, and reach the quarterfinals of the Zurich Open in Switzerland.

Fifth-seeded Martina Hingis, playing in a tournament in her home country for the first time in six years, defeated Nathalie Dechy, 6-3, 6-3.

Four combined mandatory tennis events offering equal prize money for men and women are probable by 2009, said Larry Scott, chairman and chief executive of the WTA Tour.

Excluding the four Grand Slams, only two such events exist now.

Scott said the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami already fit the bill and the Indian Wells tournament could also qualify. The two others would probably be in Asia or Europe, he said.

MISCELLANY

Bill Would Ban Aluminum Bats

A proposal to make New Jersey the first state to outlaw non-wooden bats from youth baseball and softball leagues where players are under the age of 18 will be considered by a committee of the state’s Assembly.

The bill was proposed after 12-year-old pitcher Steven Domalewski was put in a coma when his heart stopped after he was hit in the chest with a line drive off an aluminum bat in June.

Angels pitching coach Bud Black spent Wednesday afternoon in Arizona interviewing with San Francisco Giants General Manager Brian Sabean and player personnel director Dick Tidrow for the team’s managerial job.

“It was a nice baseball conversation,” said Black, who in past years declined opportunities to interview for managerial openings with the Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians. “The timing for me is good, on a lot of different levels.”

Among the other candidates are San Diego Manager Bruce Bochy, Giants bench coach Ron Wotus and New York Mets coaches Manny Acta and Jerry Manuel.

Black, who just completed his seventh season with the Angels, is also expected to be a candidate for the Oakland managerial job.

-- Mike DiGiovanna

Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso, implicated in a Spanish doping investigation and barred from this summer’s Tour de France, left his Danish cycling team CSC with two years remaining on his contract. He said he is considering new offers.

Horse Greeley, the Del Mar Futurity winner who ran poorly in his next race, is scheduled to have a bone chip removed from his ankle Saturday, trainer Richard Mandella said.

Salvador Cabanas scored on a penalty kick in the 75th minute to give Club America of Mexico City a 2-1 exhibition victory over Flamengo of Rio de Janeiro at the Coliseum. Claudio Lopez also scored for Club America.