Sports briefs for March 29, 2004

Monday, March 29, 2004 | 9:24 a.m.

Spanish teenager stuns Federer

With a brilliant variety of shotmaking, Spain's 17-year-old Rafael Nadal surprised Roger Federer 6-3, 6-3 at the Nasdaq-100 in Key Biscayne, Fla., and became the first teenager to beat a top-ranked man since 18-year-old Andy Roddick upset Gustavo Kuerten in August 2001 at Montreal.

Federer, the reigning Wimbledon and Australian Open champion, lost for only the second time in 25 matches this year.

The nephew of a professional soccer player, Nadal did everything but kick the ball over the net. He smacked winners from both sides, won 13 points at the net and closed out one game with a nifty crosscourt drop shot.

In women's play, top-seeded Serena Williams cleared another hurdle in her comeback from an eight-month layoff by beating Elena Likhovtseva 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Three-time champion Venus Williams struggled early but played a flawless tiebreaker and beat No. 27 Daniela Hantuchova 7-6 (0), 6-2. Williams, seeded second, could meet her younger sister in the final Saturday.

Minnesota women win

U.S. Olympian Natalie Darwitz scored three goals to lead Minnesota (30-4-2) to its first Women's Frozen Four championship with a 6-2 victory against Harvard (30-4-1) at Providence, R.I.

Rebels improve to 7-0

A 7-0 victory at home against Air Force gave UNLV (19-7) a 7-0 record in Mountain West Conference play. Senior right-hander David Seccombe pitched seven shutout innings to improve his record to 3-1 and Matt Minor closed out the game with three strikeouts.

Cascata saluted

Cascata, the exclusive course opened by Caesars Entertainment Inc. near Boulder City, was named today by Golf Magazine as one of the top 20 courses built in the United States since 1959.

UNLV falls to No. 1

Top-ranked Arizona swept a doubleheader against visiting UNLV, 11-3 and 6-4, at Tucson. The Lady Rebels are 17-21.