Novak Djokovic overpowered Rafael Nadal, 6-2, 6-3, yesterday to reach the Paris Masters final for the first time.

The Serb will face Gael Monfils of France today. He advanced to the final with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over Radek Stepanek.

Djokovic is 3-0 overall against Monfils.

"He is one of the players who is very unpredictable," Djokovic said. "He can play really, really fast. And with a big serve, he can do a lot of damage to opponents."

The third-ranked Djokovic was dominant from the start and didn't face a single break point en route to the victory over Nadal. Winning 83 percent of first-serve points, Djokovic also had 31 winners.

"I felt so good on the court that all the shots I hit transformed into winners," said Djokovic, who reached his 10th final of the year. "It was perfect, exactly the way I wanted."

FIGURE SKATING

KIM, LYSACEK WIN FREE SKATE TITLES

From Kim Yu-na's record-setting performance to Evan Lysacek's powerful free skate, it was a great night for world champions at Skate America at Lake Placid, N.Y.

A couple hours after South Korea's Yu-na did about everything but carve 007 into the ice with her world-record 76.28 points in the women's short program, Lysacek won his first crown at this event, besting Canada's Shawn Sawyer. Lysacek hit seven triple jumps and finished with some fancy footwork and an impressive combination spin.

His 237.72 points were nearly 29 better than Sawyer.

SOCCER

BRAZIL TOPS ENGLAND IN DOHA, QATAR, 1-0

Nilmar scored on a header in the 47th minute, and Brazil defeated England, 1-0, yesterday at Doha, Qatar, in an exhibition between two of the favorites to win next year's World Cup.

England was missing many of its regular starters due to injuries.

In addition, David Beckham stayed in California and his free kick set up the first goal Friday night as the Los Angeles Galaxy beat Houston, 2-0, to advance to the MLS Cup final.

U.S. FALLS TO SLOVAKIA IN EXHIBITION, 1-0

In its first warmup match for next year's World Cup, the U.S. was missing key starters and lacked sharpness in a 1-0 loss to Slovakia yesterday at Bratislava, Slovakia.

Marek Hamsik converted a penalty kick in the 26th minute after Austrian referee Stefan Messner called defender Jonathan Bornstein for pushing Vladimir Weiss — the son of Slovakia's coach — in the penalty area. Hamsik sent a low shot to the right corner, with goalkeeper Brad Guzan diving in the opposite direction.

"Tonight's a frustrating loss for us. We feel we at least deserved a draw tonight," U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra said. "We created some good combinations in the first half, created some good opportunities, but they didn't go in tonight."

REAL SALT LAKE WILL PLAY FOR MLS CUP

Real Salt Lake advanced to its first MLS Cup final by beating the Chicago Fire, 5-4, on penalty kicks after 120 scoreless minutes in the Eastern Conference final last night at Bridgeview, Ill.

Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando made three saves in the shootout after stopping six shots through overtime.

RSL, which joined the league in 2005, will meet Los Angeles in the MLS Cup final Nov. 22 at Qwest Field in Seattle.

SKIING

RIESCH WINS WORLD CUP OPENING SLALOM

Maria Riesch of Germany won the opening women's World Cup slalom yesterday at Levi, Finland, edging Lindsey Vonn of the United States by 0.08 seconds.

Riesch, the defending world slalom champion, finished with a two-run time of 1 minute, 48.71 seconds on the Black Course at the World Cup circuit's northernmost venue above the Arctic Circle.

Tanja Poutiainen of Finland was 1.16 behind in third place and kept the overall World Cup lead. Poutiainen won the opening giant slalom race of the season last month in Austria.

SWIMMING

PHELPS FINISHES FIFTH AT WORLD CUP MEET

Michael Phelps finished fifth in the 200-meter butterfly yesterday at a short-course World Cup meet in Berlin that featured six world records.

Nikolay Skvortsov of Russia, who had the fastest qualifying time, won the final in 1:50.58.

The American star, who won eight gold medals at last year's Beijing Olympics, finished in 1 minute, 52.26 seconds in the final. Phelps is competing in an old-style swimsuit that will become the standard on Jan. 1.

Phelps has yet to win a race on his European tour.