Roger Federer blazed past Fernando Verdasco after an early stumble on Sunday while Andy Murray marked the start of London’s five-year hosting of the ATP Tour Finals with a three-set victory over Juan Martin del Potro.
Federer dug himself out of trouble to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 after losing his opening service game to love and spraying 15 errors in the first set.
He then survived a crisis at 5-5, 0-30 in the second set, breathing a sigh of relief as Verdasco went agonizingly wide with a forehand — a near-miss confirmed by a Hawkeye replay accompanied by a thumping heartbeat sound effect, which was just part of the razzmatazz enjoyed by the 17,500 crowd.
Crisis over, Federer broke serve for the first time in the match in the following game to take the set and then raced away to victory.
Federer said he was impressed with the venue and the lighting, which leaves the crowd in virtual darkness as the players duel on a vivid blue court.
Murray withstood a ferocious comeback by Del Potro to claim a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory.
Del Potro, who lost the first five games, hit some big forehand winners but was finally undone by the world No. 4, who soaked up everything the Argentine threw at him.
London’s O2 Arena is more used to welcoming the world’s greatest pop stars, and there was plenty of glitz as the event got under way.
Led Zeppelin blared out of the sound system and spotlights punctured the eerily-lit arena as Murray and Del Potro walked out.
Del Potro arrived at the venue by boat and looked all at sea in the first set.
Del Potro broke serve twice in the second set and after softening up Murray with some punishing inside out forehands he leveled the match with an unstoppable crosscourt effort.
As quickly as it had sparked into life, however, Del Potro’s challenge withered and Murray won the third set surprisingly comfortably after breaking in the second game.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was