Nadal wins Barcelona; 72nd straight on clay

Rafael Nadal won his third straight Open Seat Godo championship Sunday at Barcelona, Spain, defeating Guillermo Canas of Argentina 6-3, 6-4 for his 72nd consecutive victory on clay.

Nadal hasn’t dropped a set on clay since top-ranked Roger Federer won the first set of their French Open final last year. He credited a more aggressive style for his recent success.

“I’ve had some difficult moments like when I went eight months without winning a tournament,” the top-seeded Spaniard said. “Since Dubai (in March) I made a change in my game and the victory at Indian Wells was really important for my confidence.”

Four players – Nadal, Mats Wilander, Roy Emerson and Manuel Orantes – have won three times at Barcelona. Nadal tied Wilander’s 23-year-old record of three straight championships.

“To win here at my club for the third straight year is a dream,” Nadal said. “When I won the first it felt incredible, so just imagine how it must feel to win a third.”

The day was not a complete success for the No. 2-ranked player. He and Bartolome Salva-Vidal of Spain lost the doubles final, beaten 6-3, 7-6 (1) by Andrei Pavel of Romania and Alexander Waske of Germany.

Nadal improved to 3-0 against Canas, who reached his second straight final after losing to Novak Djokovic at the Sony Ericsson Open this month.

•At Casablanca, Morocco, Paul-Henri Mathieu of France beat Albert Montanes of Spain 6-1, 6-1 to win the Grand Prix Hassan II and end a five-year wait for his third career title.

Mathieu’s previous titles came in 2002 at Lyon and Moscow, and his previous final was in 2003, at Palermo.

Montanes has lost all four of his career finals.

Hockey

U.S. in second round

Lee Stempniak scored twice to lead the United States to a 5-1 victory over Belarus that put it in the second round of the hockey world championships at Mytischi, Russia, along with the Czech Republic, Finland and Russia.

The Czechs got two goals and an assist from Jaroslav Hlinka in a 6-1 victory over Austria, defenseman Petteri Nummelin netted two power-play goals in Finland’s 6-2 win over Denmark, and Alexei Morozov’s hat trick and two assists led Russia past Ukraine 8-1.

The Americans and Czechs are 2-0 in Group B, and Finland and Russia are 2-0 in Group D.

Cycling

New doping allegations

Former Tour de France winners Jan Ullrich and Bjarne Riis are among cyclists accused of doping in a book written by a massage therapist who worked for Team Telekom from 1992-1996.

Jef d’Hont, a Belgian convicted of being an accomplice in the Festina team doping case in 2000, claims in his upcoming book that former team manager Walter Godefroot organized systematic doping on Telekom, now called T-Mobile.

Der Spiegel released samples of excerpts to be published in today’s magazine.