Sports in Brief | U.S. team out of America's Cup field

There will be no American entry in the America's Cup.

Luna Rossa of Italy clinched a berth in the Louis Vuitton Cup final yesterday by beating American entry BMW Oracle Racing off the coast of Valencia, Spain. The American entry flopped despite the highest budget in the America's Cup challenger series at $270 million.

The Italians beat the Americans by 33 seconds to win the best-of-nine semifinal series, five races to one, and advance to the final against either Desafio Espanol or Emirates Team New Zealand. The Spaniards trail that series by four races to two after beating the Kiwis by 15 seconds.

"The racing was much harder than the score line reflects," Luna Rossa skipper Francesco de Angelis said. "Now we need to recharge the batteries a bit."

The winner of the June 1-11 Louis Vuitton Cup final will sail against defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland in the America's Cup from June 23 to July 4.

Roger Federer

beat

Rafael Nadal

, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0, in the final of the Hamburg Masters in Germany to win his first clay-court title in two years. He also snapped out of a slump during which he failed to win a title in four events. Nadel had won 81 straight matches on clay.

Jelena Jankovic beat Svetlana Kuznetsova, 7-5, 6-1, to win the Italian Open in Rome.

Jermain Taylor

beat

Cory Spinks

by a split-decision victory Saturday night in Memphis and attention quickly turned to the middleweight champion's next fight. It could involve

Kelly Pavlik

(31-0).

Two judges scored it 117-111 and 115-113 for Taylor (27-0-1). The third judge had it 117-111 for Spinks (36-4).

On the undercard, Pavlik stopped Edison Miranda in the seventh round.

New York Jets cornerback

Justin Miller

was arrested early yesterday and charged with third-degree misdemeanor assault after he was accused of punching a woman in a New York City nightclub, ESPN.com reported.

Miller was apprehended after a police chase at 4:20 a.m. Police said he had been swinging at a man but hit the woman after the man ducked. The woman had a cut on her face and swelling and pain in her knee, according to police.

Former Detroit Lions lineman John Gonzaga died Thursday at age 74 at his home in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield Township, Mich.

On the morning after

Curlin

edged

Street Sense

by a head in the Preakness, trainer

Carl Nafzger

reiterated that he is leaning against running Derby winner Street Sense in the Belmont on June 9.

"There's not really any reason to go there right now," Nafzger said yesterday.

The New York Liberty opened their WNBA season with an 83-72 victory over the Chicago Sky at Madison Square Garden.

Erin Thorn

scored a career-high 28 points for the winners. Second-year pro

Candice Dupree

, a former Temple star, scored 12 points for Chicago.

Kara Lawson scored 19 points for Sacramento in the Monarchs' 74-64 win over the Minnesota Lynx in Minneapolis.

Meseret Defar

of Ethiopia won the women's two-mile run with a world-record time at the Adidas Track Classic in Carson, Calif. Pole vaulter

Jenn Stuczynski

and javelin thrower

Breaux Greer

set American records.

Defar, the Olympic 5,000 champion, won in 9 minutes, 10.47 seconds, lowering the mark of 9:11.97 set by American Regina Jacobs in 1999.

Stuczynski won the women's pole vault at 15 feet, 101/2 inches, taking down Stacy Dragila's three-year-old mark of 15-10.

Greer lowered his own American mark in the javelin on his first throw of 297-7.

Olympic swimming champion

Michael Phelps

lost for the first time in six individual finals at the Eric Namesnik Memorial Grand Prix in Ann Arbor, Mich., finishing second to Club Wolverine teammate

Erik Vendt

in the 1,500 freestyle.

Vendt won in 15:31.29; Phelps finished in 15:34.18.

Maykel Galindo

scored for Chivas USA and

Landon Donovan

tallied for the Los Angeles Galaxy as the teams tied, 1-1, in an MLS game in Carson, Calif.

Chris Gbandi scored the winning goal in the 82d minute to give FC Dallas a 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake in an MLS game in Frisco, Texas.