Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal moved to within one win each of a third successive Wimbledon final showdown after cruising through their quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Federer kept up his flawless record at the All England Club this year by dispatching unseeded Croatian Mario Ancic 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 to reach his 17th consecutive Grand Slam semi-final.
Nadal followed Federer on Centre Court and produced an even more intimidating display to destroy Andy Murray 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
PHOTO: AFP
Federer faces former world No. 1 Marat Safin, who defeated Feliciano Lopez 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/1), 6-3, while Nadal takes on either Arnaud Clement or Rainer Schuettler.
Clement had just taken the second set 7-5, after losing the first set 6-3, when fading light on Court One halted play for the day. The unseeded veterans were to return yesterday to finish their match.
If the world’s two best players can win those matches they will collide in a Grand Slam final for the sixth time and the 14th in all tournaments.
PHOTO: AP
Nadal’s confidence is sky-high after his three-set thrashing of Federer in the French Open final last month, but he has yet to get the better of the world No. 1 on grass, losing to the Swiss in two successive Wimbledon finals.
Federer was never seriously tested by Ancic, the last man to beat him on grass at Wimbledon in 2002, as he extended his unbeaten run on grass to 64 matches in just one hour and 42 minutes.
Safin beat Federer the last time they met in a Grand Slam semi-final at the 2005 Australian Open, so the defending champion has no intention of underestimating his next opponent.
“I never looked at Marat like No. 89 in the world. That’s ridiculous. He knows that himself,” five-time Wimbledon champion Federer said. “He’s finally showing again what he can do. It’s just quite surprising he does it here at Wimbledon in some ways, because he used to dislike playing on this surface.”
Murray had shown off his biceps after beating Richard Gasquet in the last round, but Nadal is a real heavyweight and he swatted aside the British No. 1 to leave the host nation still waiting for a first men’s singles success since Fred Perry’s triumph in 1936.
Safin reached his first Grand Slam semi-final for three years after recovering from a typically temperamental start against Lopez.
Safin looked in danger of imploding when he was given a warning for ball abuse and dropped the first set, but he kept his cool to brush aside the Spanish 31st seed.
The world No. 75 will be a huge underdog against Federer, who beat him at Wimbledon last year, but he climbed the sixth-highest mountain in the world in Nepal last year, so even taking on the Swiss won’t seem an impossible task.
“I want to believe I’m back. I have gone up a few steps in the rankings, back in the top 50, which is great. No matter what I do against Roger it has been a great two weeks,” Safin said.
TAIWANESE
Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and partner Daniel Nestor of Canada lost 6-4, 7-5 to Jamie Murray of Britain and Liezel Huber of the US in the mixed doubles quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Andrew Thomas of Australia defeated second-seeded Yang Tsung-hua of Taiwan 6-3, 6-2 in the third round of the boys’ singles.
Later in the afternoon, Yang teamed up with compatriot Hsieh Cheng-peng to defeat Hiroki Moriya of Japan and Peerakit Siributwong of Thailand 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the first round of the boys’ doubles.
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