Federer eases past Nadal to reach Shanghai final

Top-ranked Roger Federer was sharp in dominating second-ranked Rafael Nadal, 6-4, 6-1, Saturday at Shanghai to advance to the Masters Cup final against sixth-ranked David Ferrer, who beat fifth-ranked Andy Roddick, 6-1, 6-3.

Nadal was 8-5 against Federer and played well early in the match, but Federer found another gear while serving at 4-4 in the first set. After Nadal pulled ahead, 15-30, the defending champion ran off 20 of the next 21 points, including 15 in a row during an 11-minute span.

Nadal won only three points in the first five games of the second set. He finally held at love to break Federer’s streak of seven games.

Serving at 5-1, Federer hit an overhead winner to set up match point, and Nadal netted a backhand to finish it off in 59 minutes -- 13 minutes less than Federer needed to beat Roddick, 6-4, 6-2, on Friday.

GOLF

Final eight players set for $1 million payoff

Christina Kim hit a seven-iron that stopped two feet behind the 18th hole for a birdie to claim the eighth and final spot in the final round of the ADT Championship at West Palm Beach, Fla., giving her just as much of a chance as anyone to win the $1 million prize.

Lorena Ochoa played bogey-free for a six-under-par 66 to tie for the day’s low round with Paula Creamer, who was helped by a wedge she holed out for eagle on the par-five 15th.

Karrie Webb, whose 50-foot birdie putt Friday enabled her to avoid a playoff, shot a 68. The other qualifiers were U.S. Women’s Open champion Cristie Kerr, Natalie Gulbis, Sarah Lee and Mi Hyun Kim, who had the best turnaround of all.

Mi Hyun Kim was at five under with five holes to play and still in good shape after bogeys at the 14th and 16th.

But she caught a plugged lie in the bunker on the 18th that led to double bogey, and minutes later, she was in a playoff starting on the 17th tee. She hit a hybrid five-iron to seven feet for birdie to earn a spot in the final round.

SWIMMING

Veldhuis, Nystrand set short-course records

The Netherlands’ Marleen Veldhuis and Sweden’s Stefan Nystrand broke world records at the short-course Arena World Cup in Berlin.

Veldhuis clocked 23.58 seconds to lower the women’s 50-meter freestyle record by 0.01, edging American Dara Torres and former world record-holder Therese Alshammar of Sweden.

The 40-year-old Torres finished in 23.82 to better the U.S. record for the second time within hours. Alshammar was third in 24.05.

Torres had clocked a 23.87 in her heat for her first American record at the event, bettering the 24.21 Kara Lynn Joyce swam on March 18, 2004.

Nystrand finished in 45.83 in the men’s 100 freestyle to break the mark of 46.25 shared by American Ian Crocker and Roland Schoeman of South Africa.

BASEBALL

Report: Buffett advised Rodriguez

Investor Warren Buffett advised Alex Rodriguez to approach the New York Yankees and go around agent Scott Boras, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

The newspaper cited a person familiar with the matter, whom it did not identify.

“A-Rod really loves being a Yankee,” Buffett was quoted as saying. He wouldn’t comment on the substance of any discussions with the player. The two became friends several years ago.

Colby Rasmus homered leading off the bottom of the first inning, and the U.S. beat the Netherlands, 5-0, to advance to the final of the World Cup at Taipei, Taiwan. The Americans will play today against Cuba, which defeated Japan, 5-3.

MISCELLANY

WADA elects Fahey to replace Pound

Dick Pound is going out the way he wanted -- with an elected leader to replace him as the world’s top anti-doping enforcer and a tougher set of rules in place to fight drug cheats in sports.

After eight years as president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Pound marked his farewell by ushering in former Australian politician John Fahey as his successor and securing ratification of a revised code to fight performance-enhancing drugs.

WBO junior-welterweight champion Joan Guzman remained undefeated with a unanimous decision over Humberto Soto at Atlantic City, N.J.

Guzman (28-0 used his slick style and strong defense to gain a 12-round, unanimous decision over Soto (43-6-2).

Foxy Danseur beat Champagne Eyes by two lengths in the $107,100 Sharp Cat Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Hollywood Park.