Briefs | Nadal absorbs his most lopsided loss in 3 years

Tennis

Nalbandian beats Nadal: Spain's Rafael Nadal, playing in his first tournament after a five-week layoff because of ailing knees, lost to David Nalbandian of Argentina 6-1, 6-2 Friday in the Madrid Masters quarterfinals in Spain.

It was Nadal's most lopsided defeat in three years.

Nalbandian's semifinal opponent is Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Djokovic beat Mario Ancic of Croatia 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.

Top-ranked Roger Federer of Switzerland downed Feliciano Lopez of Spain 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to set up a matchup against German Nicolas Kiefer, who beat Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.

Nadal had five winners and 29 unforced errors. "It's hard to play worse, which makes it a lot easier to go forward from this," Nadal said.

Henin reaches semifinals — as usual: Justine Henin of Belgium reached the Zurich Open semifinals in Switzerland by defeating Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-2.

Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and a tearful Marion Bartoli of France withdrew because of injuries.

Henin, who is 56-4 this season, has reached the semifinals in every tournament she has entered since April 2006. She will next play Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic, who defeated Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko 6-1, 6-4.

Francesca Schiavone of Italy advanced when Kuznetsova retired with an ailing right shoulder while trailing 6-3, 3-3.

Tatiana Golovin of France made it to the semis when Bartoli quit with a sore left knee and Golovin leading 5-4 in the first set.

Safin rules himself out of Davis Cup Final: Marat Safin, who helped Russia win Davis Cup titles last year and in 2002, will miss this year's Davis Cup Final against the United States after cutting his season short.

The United States and Russia play from Nov. 30 through Dec. 2 in Portland.

College basketball

Franklin High graduate Phillips has stress fracture: Nevada forward Richie Phillips, a graduate of Franklin High School in Seattle, will be out from four to six weeks with a stress fracture in his left leg, Wolf Pack coach Mark Fox said.

The 6-foot-7, 220-pound sophomore has been hampered by injuries since he came to Nevada and took 2005-06 as a redshirt season. Last season, he was slowed by offseason surgery on his right leg and missed more time in January and February after tearing a tendon in a finger. He ended up playing in 11 games and had totals of eight points and eight rebounds.

"We are extremely disappointed for Richie," said ex-Washington assistant Fox. "He has made progress as a player but has faced a number of setbacks due to injuries in his short time at Nevada."

Nevada hosts Seattle Pacific in an exhibition Nov. 3.

Pepperdine dismisses Costain: Senior guard Kingsley Costain, Pepperdine's top returning scorer, has been dismissed from school for a violation of university policy.

Rugby

World Cup final is today: South Africa is favored to beat defending champion England in today's Rugby World Cup final in Saint-Denis, France.

International sports

IOC, FIFA officials welcome new EU treaty: Soccer federations and Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, said they consider the new European Union treaty "historic" because of a sports exemption that is likely to give sporting federations more autonomy.

Skiing

Lalive suffers season-ending injury: A comeback by three-time Olympian Caroline Lalive, 28, was cut short when she suffered a season-ending knee injury when she crashed during a training run Tuesday in Austria. She will have surgery Tuesday, said Richard Quincy, U.S. Ski Team medical director.

Extreme sports

Bestwick takes title: Britain's Jamie Bestwick won his third Dew Cup season title in a row. He finished second in the BMX vert in Orlando, Fla.

Beach volleyball

May-Treanor nets more awards: Misty May-Treanor swept the AVP Tour women's postseason awards, including her third consecutive most-valuable-player trophy and team-of-the-year honors with partner Kerri Walsh.

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