Sports briefs 3/29/04

Tennis

Roger Federer could only watch 17-year-old Rafael Nadal celebrate. With a brilliant variety of shotmaking, the big-swinging left-hander from Spain beat the top-ranked Federer 6-3, 6-3 in the third round of the Nasdaq-100 Open. Federer, the reigning Wimbledon and Australian Open champion, lost for only the second time in 25 matches this year. The loss was an upset but no fluke: Nadal has been touted as a future top-10 player and showed himself worthy of the hype. 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. Williams' next opponent will be 16-year-old Russian Maria Sharapova, who beat No. 13 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi 7-5, 6-2.

-- From wire report