How Swede it is: Flyer a world champ

FLYERS DEFENSEMAN Erik Gustafsson scored to help Sweden become the first home team to win the world hockey championships in 27 years, beating Switzerland, 5-1, yesterday in Stockholm for its ninth title.

Vancouver Canucks star Henrik Sedin had two goals and an assist, and Buffalo Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth made 26 saves to help Sweden become the first team to win the title on home ice since the Soviet Union in 1986. Switzerland earned its first medal in 60 years.

"It was a tight game," Sedin said. "It could have gone either way, I felt. It was lucky we got our first two goals pretty quickly after their first one. After we scored our third, it felt pretty calm on the bench."

Also scoring for Sweden were Simon Hjalmarrson and Dallas' Loui Eriksson. Roman Josi had the lone goal for Switzerland.

"It's an unbelievable feeling. You can't put it into words," New Jersey's Henrik Tallinder said. "As soon as we got our legs and got that first goal, I thought we controlled the game pretty well."

Switzerland had dominated throughout the tournament, winning all nine of its games before the final.

In the third-place game, the United States beat Finland, 3-2, in a shootout for its first medal in 9 years. Montreal's Alex Galchenyuk scored consecutive goals in the shootout for the Americans.

"After I scored the first one, I was pretty confident and I wanted to go at it one more time," Galchenyuk said. "We [coach Joe Sacco and Galchenyuk] kind of looked at each other, and I was like: 'I want to go,' and I'm happy that he let me. When you win a game for your country . . . it's unbelievable."

Penn's softball team was eliminated in the NCAA Tournament by Arizona, 3-2, in eight innings in the College Station (Texas) Regional on Saturday. In the first round of the double-elimination regional, Penn lost to Texas A&M, 12-0.

In the 30th meeting between tennis greats Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Nadal controlled the final from the start and won, 6-1, 6-3, for his seventh Italian Open title in Rome. In the women's final, Serena Williams won her fourth consecutive title of the year, beating Victoria Azarenka, 6-1, 6-3. Williams will enter the French Open, which starts next Sunday, on a career-best 24-match winning streak.

* Paris Saint-Germain soccer coach Carlo Ancelotti wants to leave the club and says Real Madrid is a possible destination. The Italian had a meeting to discuss his future with club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and sporting director Leonardo yesterday. But it's believed the recently crowned French league champions are reluctant to release him a year before his contract expires.

* Andrew Gemmell and Haley Anderson won the men's and women's 5-kilometer races at the U.S. open water national championships in Santa Clarita, Calif., to earn berths at this summer's world meet in Barcelona, Spain.

* Dani Pedrosa won the French Grand Prix for his second victory of the season and took over the MotoGP championship lead from Marc Marquez.