SPAIN

Spanish top seed Rafael Nadal battled back from two sets down to beat Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) at the â,¬2,1-million Madrid Masters on Sunday. The dramatic match took nearly four hours, with the French Open champion notching up his 11th title of the season.

Male models will be used as ballboys at the 2006 WTA Tour Championships, officials announced in Madrid on Friday. With female models into their second year of similar duties at this week’s men’s ATP Madrid Masters, the Spanish organisers believe they are on to a good thing.

Andy Roddick blew a match point in the second set and lost 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) to Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in the Madrid Masters’ second round on Wednesday. It was Roddick’s first tour match since the United States Open’s first round in August, and Karlovic’s first win over the American after two defeats this year.

Seve Ballesteros endured a nightmare return to the European Tour after a two-year absence on Thursday when he carded a six-over-par 77 in the first round of the Madrid Open. The 48-year-old Spaniard, who gave fans a taste of his old magic when he hit one shot on his knees, never recovered from a horror start.

Hundreds of would-be immigrants mounted a fresh assault on Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla on Wednesday, and 65 of them succeeded in breaking through its defences to what they hope will be a better life. Recent months have seen a sharp increase of such incidents.

David Beckham said on Monday that Real Madrid are interested in extending his contract. ”The club have said they want to talk to me about signing a new deal and I am very happy to do that,” Beckham said. ”My life here is perfect and I’m happy at Real Madrid, so of course I want to stay as long as I can.”

Real Madrid coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo insists the team mustn’t panic in the face of a dismal start to the season that continued with a 3-0 Champions League defeat to Lyon. The thrashing at Stade Gerland on Wednesday came four days after the team’s 3-2 home loss against newly promoted Celta Vigo in the Spanish league.

It is said to be the world’s largest tomato battle. Tens of thousands of people hurled truckloads of tomatoes at each other on Wednesday, sending knee-deep rivers of tomato sauce down the streets of the small Spanish town of Buñol during its annual food fight, the Tomatina.

Rivers run low, crops wither, livestock starve to death and wildfires rage on the Iberian peninsula in the grip of a devastating drought that makes it look like the Sahara is reaching out across the Mediterranean. The peninsula’s fiercest drought in 60 years is seen as a further sign of desertification in the region.

The football world has obviously become too small for Real Madrid, with the Spanish giants now planning to open theme parks in the United States and China. Real president Florentino Perez told Friday’s AS newspaper that the club have already had talks with officials in Miami and Beijing.

Hooded protesters destroyed a bus and a bomb damaged offices in northern Spain overnight on Thursday after an alleged member of the Basque separatist group ETA died during a police chase, officials said. The explosion at about 2am local time on Friday extensively damaged the offices of a building company in Guernica.

Spanish champion FC Barcelona drew 0-0 with Real Sociedad on Saturday in their final league match of the season. Barcelona, who lacked five of their title-winning team, including Ronaldinho and Deco, gave a relaxed display at Sociedad’s Anoeta stadium. The champions were applauded by their opponents before the match.

A powerful car bomb slightly injured three people in the Spanish capital, Madrid, on Wednesday, and officials blamed the armed Basque separatist group ETA. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero last week won controversial parliamentary backing for a plan to open talks with ETA if the group agrees to disband.

England skipper David Beckham said he is ”amazed” and finds it ”incredible” that his family’s former nanny sold a story making claims about his marriage to a Sunday tabloid newspaper. The Real Madrid player and his wife, Victoria, have already admitted they plan to sue the former nanny Abbie Gibson for breach of confidence

Spain’s Lower House of Parliament approved the Socialist government’s gay marriage Bill on Thursday, a major step toward making Spain the third European country to legalise same-sex marriages. Belgium and The Netherlands are the only two other European countries that have legalised gay marriages.

A meteorite that residents described as a ”huge ball of fire” was spotted on Wednesday over the eastern Spanish regions of Catalonia and Valencia, according to astronomers in the region. ”We received scores of calls from witnesses, who at first thought it was an asteroid flashing past,” said a spokesperson for an astronomers’ association.