Top-ranked Roger Federer downed French qualifier Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-3 on Wednesday to cruise into the third round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.
Benneteau held serve in three games in each set as Federer did nothing flashy but seemed to rattle his opponent whenever he chose to go to the net.
"It was a solid match today, and I was happy the way I hit the ball," Federer said. "My slice stayed low. I really hit it well, and my serve was solid, too."
Federer said it was a continuation of the way he played last week in Montreal.
"It was a pity I didn't win it," he said of the Rogers Cup. "I really did play well throughout the week."
Rafael Nadal -- his right knee wrapped and his left wrist aching -- retired in the second set of his match against Juan Monaco of Argentina while fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic, who beat Andy Roddick, Nadal and Federer en route to winning the Rogers Cup -- the first time anyone beat the world's top three in a tournament since Boris Becker did it in 1994 at Stockholm -- fell to Carlos Moya 6-4, 6-1.
"I didn't feel nothing when I touched the racket," Nadal said. "I didn't have power in the legs. It was a strange feeling."
Indeed, he never looked comfortable in the early going, barely managing to hold serve twice. He failed to win even a point in his third service game.
Nadal had been bothered by a sore right knee since his Wimbledon final loss to Federer. He said nothing before Wednesday's match indicating any problem with his wrist or arm.
Nadal began to look like his usual self in the eighth game, serving well and dominating. He then broke Monaco to get back on serve, running Monaco from side to side and scoring on two brilliant passing shots, one of which sent Monaco diving to the court in a wild attempt to save a point.
Nadal seemed to be in complete control -- until the tiebreaker. After losing that, he took an injury timeout to have his left wrist and forearm massaged and ice applied to try to relieve the cramping.
When play resumed, Nadal did not win a point in failing to hold serve, and failed to hold again in the fifth game, weakly hitting game point into the net.
Trailing 4-1, he retired, saying it was "stupid to continue playing."
Federer was surprised Nadal and Djokovic were gone so soon, but said their departure doesn't improve his chances of winning his 50th tournament later this week.
"It really doesn't matter who's in the draw, to me," Federer said. "Usually towards the end of the tournament you'll always have the best guys that week in there. If there's a top guy or not, it actually doesn't matter, because the danger is always to be knocked out.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite