Top seed Roger Federer moved smoothly into the last 16 at the French Open on Saturday.
Federer outplayed close friend Mario Ancic of Croatia, winning 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in cool, rainy, evening conditions on the Philippe Chatrier Center Court
In men’s third round action, the main upset came when back-to-form Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia battled from two sets down to oust fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
It was, he said, his “biggest victory ever, especially coming back from two sets down to beat Nikolay,” and came after “a very dark period for me the last 12 months” when he was mentally worn out.
“I’ve been feeling well since the first tournament on clay and it was just a matter of time,” he said. “I was feeling that something positive was going to happen.”
The 26-year-old Federer, who is looking to win in Paris the only Grand Slam title that has eluded him, broke Ancic in the fourth game of the first set to set the tone for what turned out to be a one-sided contest.
Ancic, who is climbing back up the world rankings after missing most of last season through illness and injury, simply had no answer to the Swiss star’s command of the exchanges, either from the baseline or at the net.
“I struggled a little bit early on, but once I got the break I started to play better and more freely,” Federer said. “I am happy with my performance — not losing much energy in the first week is always a good sign.”
Federer went through for a fourth round match-up with Frenchman Julian Benneteau, who had two points against him in a tie-break to go two sets down before hitting back to defeat Robin Soderling of Sweden 1-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-0, 6-1.
The French flag was flying also for former world junior champion Gael Monfils, whose superior fitness helped him see off Jurgen Melzer of Austria 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.
Fifth-seed David Ferrer of Spain also slugged it out over five sets with Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt before winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, but Davydenko became the highest seed to fall in the tournament with his loss to Ljubicic.
Ferrer will next take on the much-improved Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, whose unpredictable game was too much for Spanish clay court specialist Tommy Robredo, winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.
Robby Ginepri became the first American player to reach the fourth round since Andre Agassi in 2003 with an impressive 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 trouncing of Florent Serra of France.
He moved through to take on Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, who also fought back from two sets down to beat ninth seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
In the second round of the women’s doubles Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung defeated Rossana De Los Rios and Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB