Federer falls in final at Madrid Masters

Top-ranked Roger Federer made 38 unforced errors in losing to David Nalbandian 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the Madrid Masters final at Madrid, Spain.

The 25th-ranked Argentine moved Federer around the court with a variety of groundstrokes.

Federer fell to 6-4 in finals this season. He was playing in his first tournament since winning his fourth straight U.S. Open six weeks ago.

It was Federer’s first loss on indoor hard courts since Nalbandian rallied to beat him at the Masters Cup in Shanghai nearly two years ago.

Nalbandian, who beat No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Novak Djokovic to reach the final, broke Federer three times and became the second player this year to beat the top-three players en route to winning a title.

Djokovic also did it, 13 years after Boris Becker had been the last to do it.

•Justine Henin won her ninth tournament of the season, beating 19-year-old Tatiana Golovin of France 6-4, 6-4 at the Zurich Open in Zurich, Switzerland.

Both players saved break points early in the match, before the hard-hitting Golovin converted the second of two break opportunities when Henin’s backhand went wide.

The top-ranked Belgian rebounded to win the final five games of the first set en route to her 19th consecutive win in 13 tournaments this season.

Basketball

Nuggets’ Smith accused

Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith, suspended by the team for the first three games of the regular season, was issued a summons on charges including assault after an incident at a night club Oct. 13, court records show.

The team announced Saturday that Smith was suspended “for conduct detrimental to the team,” but no details were released. Nuggets officials have declined to comment further.

Denver County Court records show Smith, whose full name is Earl J. Smith, was issued a summons on charges of assault, disturbing the peace, and destruction of private property for the incident.

Last year, Smith served a 10-game suspension for his role in a fight with the New York Knicks. Last summer, he was cited for failure to stop at a stop sign and improper passing in a car crash in New Jersey that killed his friend, Andre Bell, 21.

Miscellany

U.S. rowing rolls

The U.S. national rowing teams dominated the marquee events at the Head of the Charles Regatta, winning the championship eights at Cambridge, Mass.

U.S. Rowing’s eight-man crew posted the second-fastest time – 14 minutes, 3.71 seconds – in the event’s 43-year history, to beat Wisconsin by 26.3 seconds and fall 4 seconds short of breaking its own record, set in 1997.

The women’s national team finished in a course-record 15:26.57 to win its third consecutive title, defeating Canada’s national team, the London Training Center, by 13 seconds.

An estimated 174,000 spectators watched the race – billed as “the world’s largest two-day rowing event” – from the banks and bridges along the Charles River.

More than 8,200 rowers from 17 countries and 39 states navigated mostly flat waters along the 3-mile course.

•Marion Kreiner beat Austrian teammate Heidi Neururer in the parallel giant slalom final at Soelden, Austria, for her first snowboarding World Cup victory.

After crashing in the first run, Neururer started the second run 1.5 seconds behind and could not make up the difference.

•Kenya’s Christopher Kiprotich won the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon in 2 hours, 15 minutes, 14 seconds.

Kenya’s Hillary Lelei was second in 2:18:17.

Ukraine’s Anzhelika Averkova won the women’s race in 2:34:50.