Nadal tops Djokovic in Madrid

Rafael Nadal is near his best again, and he showed it with an emphatic win over a rival he hadn’t beaten in three years. Nadal ended his seven-match winless streak against Novak Djokovic with a 6-2, 6-4 win that put him in the Madrid Open final.

Nadal overpowered Djokovic, and converted on his third match point to earn his first victory against the second-ranked Serb since the 2014 French Open final. Nadal had lost 15 straight sets against Djokovic, and won only one of the last 12 matches against him in four years.

Nadal will face Dominic Thiem, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Pablo Cuevas.

On the women’s side, Simona Halep of Romania won her second straight Madrid title by defeating Kristina Mladenovic of France 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 in nearly three hours, becoming the first player to successfully defend the title since Serena Williams in 2013.

Top-seeded UCLA will face No. 2 Stanford for the NCAA women’s water polo championship Sunday in Indinapolis after the Bruins defeated California 14-11 and the Cardinal edged No. 3 USC 11-10 in a rematch of last year’s title match.

Forward Mallory Pugh, who is leaving UCLA to pursue a pro career, has been acquired by the Washington Spirit of the National Women’s Soccer League.

The 19-year-old Pugh recently became an allocated U.S. Soccer player. The federation allocates national team players throughout the league and pays their salaries, and the Spirit had the top spot in the distribution order.

Benfica routed Vitoria Guimaraes 5-0 to win a club-record fourth straight Portuguese soccer league title.

Switzerland came from two goals down to end Canada’s perfect start to the ice hockey world championship with a 3-2 win in overtime at Cologne, Germany.

Earlier, the United States fought back from two goals down to defeat Latvia 5-3 and Russia routed Slovakia 6-0 to reclaim the lead in Group A.