Henin rallies past Sharapova in Madrid

Justine Henin won the Sony Ericsson Championships on Sunday at Madrid, Spain, rallying past Maria Sharapova 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in the longest three-set final in tournament history.

Henin captured her 25th straight match and her 10th title of the year. The Belgian is the sixth player to successfully defend her title at the WTA’s season-ending championship.

She saved five of Sharapova’s six break chances in the final set, and 14 of 18 overall. Henin won on her fifth match point, breaking after Sharapova netted a drop shot. The match lasted 3 hours, 24 minutes.

•At Shanghai, China, Rafael Nadal had some doubts. David Ferrer exuded confidence from the start.

The two Spaniards, friends off the court, took different paths to victory Sunday as round-robin play began at the Masters Cup, the season-ending tournament for the top eight men’s singles players and doubles pairs.

Second-ranked Nadal looked susceptible to an upset by France’s Richard Gasquet – the last player to make the field was seeking his first victory in four matches against the Spaniard – before rallying to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on a day of Gold Group play.

Then, with Nadal watching from the players’ box, sixth-ranked Ferrer came out hot, breaking No. 3 Novak Djokovic’s powerful serve in the first game and never letting up for a 6-4, 6-4 triumph.

Top-ranked Roger Federer, the defending champion, opens play today in the Red Group against Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, who will be trying to give the Swiss star his first consecutive losses in 4 1/2 years. Federer is coming off a third-round loss at the Paris Masters to David Nalbandian, who isn’t here because he is only ninth in the rankings.

Andy Roddick faces Nikolay Davydenko in the other Red Group match.

Women’s Hockey

Defending champion Canada defeats U.S.

Defending champion Canada defeated the United States 2-0 in the final of the Four Nations Cup, at Leksand, Sweden.

Jennifer Botterill scored at 10:21 of the first period and Hayley Wickenheiser had an empty-net goal with 4 seconds left. Goalie Shannon Szabados had 22 saves.

Finland beat Sweden 1-0 for the bronze medal.

Auto racing

Bourdais wins Mexico Grand Prix

Sebastien Bourdais won the Mexico Grand Prix in the Champ Car season finale at Mexico City, completing a fourth straight championship year before heading to Formula One.

Despite a penalty and a yellow flag that erased most of his late-race lead, Bourdais held off pole-sitter Will Power for his 31st career victory in 73 career starts. Oriol Servia finished third.

Bourdais is leaving the Newman-Haas-Lanigan team to drive for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One.

Miscellany

Swiss Gini wins slalom for first World Cup win

Marc Gini of Switzerland won his first World Cup event, at Reiteralm, Austria, capturing the slalom despite poor visibility because of heavy snowfall.

Having led after the first run, Gini finished in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 53.49 seconds on the Gasselhoehe course, edging Kalle Palander of Finland by 0.28 seconds. Manfred Moelgg was third in 1:53.99.

American Jimmy Cochran, fifth after the first run, dropped to 14th overall.

•At Kumamoto, Japan, Logan Tom had 19 points, leading the United States to a 25-21, 25-19, 25-23 win over South Korea to remain undefeated at the volleyball Women’s World Cup.

•At Taipei, Taiwan, Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Andy LaRoche hit two two-run homers, powering the U.S. team to a 12-2 win over Spain at the Baseball World Cup.