Rafael Nadal rallies to give Spain the Davis Cup win

Rafael Nadal recovered from a terrible start and beat Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (0), Sunday at Seville to give Spain its fifth Davis Cup title with a 3-1 victory.

Spain’s players swarmed their teammate after he had dropped to the ground in celebration, while Del Potro exited the clay surface in tears for the second time in three days after losing Friday’s singles to David Ferrer.

“Today is one of the most emotional days of my career,” said Nadal, a 10-time major champion who won the title for the third time in his career. “After such a difficult year, this was a spectacular finale to the season. To win a final this way is very special.”

Nadal stretched his record on clay to 16-0 with a 20th straight Davis Cup victory as Spain won its third title in four years and Argentina remained the only nation to play in four finals and never win one.

ETC.

USC men win water polo title

USC won its fourth consecutive NCAA championship in men’s water polo, defeating UCLA, 7-4, at Berkeley.

The second-seeded Bruins scored first, but the top-seeded Trojans reeled off five goals in a row to take command. USC is the first school to win four consecutive titles and now has seven championships in all.

Coach Jovan Vavic has 10 national titles, seven with the Trojans men and three with the women’s team.

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Rory McIlroy rallied to win the Hong Kong Open, holing out from a greenside bunker on the final hole for a five-under-par 65 and a two-stroke victory.

The 22-year-old U.S. Open winner from Northern Ireland, three strokes behind Alvaro Quiros entering the final round at Hong Kong Country Club, finished at 12-under 268 on the Fanling Course.

France’s Gregory Havret also closed with a 65 to finish second. Quiros, from Spain, had a 73 to tie for seventh at seven under.

England’s Lee Westwood won the Nedbank Golf Challenge for the second straight year, closing with a one-over 73 for a two-stroke victory over Sweden’s Robert Karlsson at Sun City, South Africa.

Westwood, seven strokes ahead after a 62 on Saturday, had a 15-under 273 total on the Gary Player Country Club course.

Karlsson finished with a 68.

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Christine Song of Fullerton, after leading the tournament for four rounds, shot a two-over-par 74 to finish second in the LPGA Final qualifying tournament at Daytona Beach, Fla., to earn her full tour membership for 2012. Stephanie Kono, an All-American at UCLA, finished tied for ninth and turned pro, giving up her senior season with the Bruins.

Also, rookie pro Lizette Salas of Azusa birdied all three holes in a playoff to secure the 20th spot, earning full exemption on the tour for next year.

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Marco Dawson shot a four-under 68 on PGA West’s TPC Stadium Course to take a three-stroke lead into the final round of the PGA Tour qualifying tournament at La Quinta.

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Major League Baseball and the players’ association are working on an agreement to cut Manny Ramirez’s drug suspension from 100 games to 50 because he already sat out most of last season, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press.

The person spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity because the agreement was still being drafted.

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Lindsey Vonn won the super-G at Lake Louise, Canada, to complete a sweep of the weekend’s World Cup races.

The American also won both downhills at the mountain resort west of Calgary. The only other woman to sweep all three World Cup races at Lake Louise was Germany’s Katja Seizinger in 1997.