Spain sweeps up a Davis Cup title

Spain, showing again that its tennis talent extends beyond Rafael Nadal, won its second consecutive Davis Cup on Saturday in Barcelona.

Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco beat Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7), 7-5, 6-2 on clay and gave the Spaniards an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Spain captured its fourth title since 2000 and is the first repeat winner since Sweden 11 years ago.

Nadal, the four-time French Open champion, beat Berdych in Friday's singles. He missed last year's final victory at Argentina on a carpet designed to stop the Spanish mastery of clay.

"First thing, you have to have good players," Nadal said, referring to his team's prowess. "In Spain, we have a lot."

Champs reign in Grand Prix final World champions Evan Lysacek of the United States and Kim Yu-na of South Korea won the men's and women's Grand Prix final in Tokyo.

Lysacek, who was second entering the free skate, received a season's best 249.45 points. Nobunari Oda of Japan was second, and Johnny Weir of the United States was third.

Kim, who was second after the short program, landed four triple jumps and finished with 188.86 points. Japanese skater Miki Ando was second and teammate Akiko Suzuki third.

Fridley golfer leads Q-school event Troy Merritt of Fridley shot 4-under-par 68 and was tied for the lead with J.P. Hayes after three rounds of the PGA Tour qualifying tournament in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Hayes shot 63 Saturday, and he and Merritt had totals of 204.

Former Gopher Bronson LaCassie shot a third-round 70 and is at 213.

Woods' stand-in stands out

Graeme McDowell, who was the replacement when Tiger Woods withdrew from his own tournament, shot 6-under 66 and shared the lead with Y.E. Yang going into the final round of the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Woods withdrew after an auto accident and amid allegations of extramarital affairs.

Elsewhere, Adam Scott shot a 5-under 67 and took a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Australian Open in Sydney, and Retief Goosen extended his lead to two strokes with a 5-under 67 in the Nedbank Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

U.S. athlete breaks new ground Tim Burke won the first medal by an American biathlete in a World Cup sprint competition, finishing third in the 10-kilometer race in Ostersund, Sweden. It comes two days after Burke matched the best U.S. finish in any biathlon event with a silver in the 20-kilometer.

On Saturday, Burke finished behind winner Ole Einar Bjorndalen of Norway, who finished in 23 minutes, 30.1 seconds. Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway was second.

Burke is the first American to reach the biathlon podium twice in the same week.

"It's a very, very big deal for us," said Max Cobb, U.S. Biathlon's executive director. "It's just so much fun to see this Olympic season begin this way."

Luge: Felix Loch of Germany won his first World Cup luge event, in Altenberg, Germany, and Tony Benshoof of White Bear Lake had the best showing for the Americans, finishing 10th. Andre Florschutz and Torsten Wustlich won in doubles.

NFL: Green Bay Packers tackle Chad Clifton practiced Saturday and is likely to play Monday against Baltimore. He hasn't worked out since injuring a hamstring Nov. 26.

Bobsledding: Americans Shauna Rohbock and Michelle Rzepka won the women's two-man bobsled World Cup race in Cesana Pariol, Italy, and the U.S. team of Steven Holcomb and Curtis Tomasevicz placed third in the men's event, won by Beat Hefti and Thomas Lamparter in Switzerland II.

Skiing: Carlo Janka won a second consecutive World Cup race, edging Swiss teammate Didier Cuche in a downhill in Beaver Creek, Colo. American Bode Miller finished fourth.

Boxing: Amir Khan retained his WBA light-welterweight title in Newcastle, England, knocking down unbeaten challenger Dmitriy Salita three times before the fight was stopped after only 76 seconds. Khan is 22-1, Salita 31-1-1.

NEWS SERVICES