Sports briefs

Nadal takes 5th straight Barcelona title

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Rafael Nadal won his fifth straight Barcelona Open title on Sunday, beating fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 7-5.

Top-ranked Nadal exploited Ferrer's inconsistent service game to take the first set and then overcame his own erratic play in the second set to win the Godo trophy at Ferrer's expense for the second straight year.

Nadal was coming off a record fifth straight Monte Carlos Masters title and improved to 24-1 in clay court finals in picking up his fourth title of the season.

The four-time defending French Open champion goes into the Rome Masters on a 25-match unbeaten run with only three defeats in his last 133 matches on clay.

Nadal and Ferrer traded breaks in the first two games before Ferrer's service game became erratic — he hit four double faults — and Nadal broke him twice more to take a 5-1 lead.

Tied at 5-5, Ferrer sailed a forehand wide to hand Nadal a triple-break chance. Nadal missed the first two tries but converted his sixth break point of the game when Ferrer netted.

Nadal won for the 35th time in 44 finals.

U.S., Italy advance in Fed Cup tennis

LONDON (AP) — The United States and Italy reached the Fed Cup final on Sunday, with the Americans saving a match point in the decisive match of the best-of-five series and the Italians eliminating defending champion Russia.

The Americans, who have won a record 17 Fed Cup titles but none since 2000, beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in Brno to reach their first final since 2003. Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands saved a match point before defeating Iveta Benesova and Kveta Peschke 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1.

Francesca Schiavone earned the winning point for Italy, giving the host team an unbeatable 3-1 lead over Russia by defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-2. The Russians had won four of the last five Fed Cup titles, with Italy taking the other title in 2006.

The 2009 final, which will be in Italy, is set for Nov. 7-8.

Manchester United's Giggs player of year

LONDON (AP) — Manchester United stalwart Ryan Giggs has been voted player of the year by his fellow English league professionals for the first time at the age of the 35.

The top PFA accolade was the one prize that had eluded him since making his United debut in March 1991.