Roger Federer suffered a stunning collapse and Rafael Nadal’s creaky knees weren’t strong enough to carry him into the semi-finals as the world’s top two players crashed out of the Montreal Masters on Friday.
With the world’s eight top-ranked players featuring in the quarter-finals of an ATP Tour event for the first time since official rankings began in 1973, ticket-holders looked forward to a spectacular day of tennis at Stade Uniprix and were not disappointed.
Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s dramatic 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 7-6 (7/3) comeback win over Swiss world No. 1 Federer set the pace, before towering Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro ended Nadal’s Montreal title defense with a clinical 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 win.
PHOTO: AP
Apart from losing the match and the championship, the Spaniard may yet lose his world No. 2 ranking tomorrow if Briton Andy Murray, who cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 quarter-final victory over Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, can reach the final.
With Federer playing his first tournament since lifting a record 15th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon and Nadal back in action after being sidelined for more than two months with knee tendonitis, there was already little hope the two could renew their great rivalry on the Canadian hard courts.
Seventh-ranked Tsonga ended any chance of a dream final early in the day, coming back from 5-1 down in the third set to hand the Swiss world No. 1 one of his most stunning defeats.
After winning five consecutive games to force the set to a tie-break, the big-hitting Frenchman triumphed 7-3 in the decider to snap a 21-match winning streak for Federer and leave the capacity center court crowd stunned.
“It happens in tennis, it’s never over until it’s over and it showed today,” Federer told reporters. “I think I should have won the first and he completely lost his game for an hour there. That’s what Jo does. He doesn’t make a return for three hours, then he puts in a few and then all of a sudden he’s back in the match. I never should have allowed it, but it did happen.”
Third seed Murray awaits Tsonga in the semi-finals, the Scotsman needing just 82 minutes under a broiling Canadian sun to dismiss eighth-ranked Russian Davydenko.
Playing his first event since falling to Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon semi-finals, Murray has quickly shaken off his vacation rust to reach the semi-finals without dropping a set and surrendering his serve only once.
A battling Nadal fought Del Potro through a marathon first set that took 78 minutes to complete and ended with the Argentine coming back from 5-2 down in the tie-break to win 7-5.
The drained Spaniard offered little resistance in a one-sided second set as Del Potro moved on to face Roddick, who booked his spot in the final four with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) win over fourth seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set