Robin Soderling denied Andy Murray a return trip to the Indian Wells Masters 1000 final on Friday, ousting the Scot in straight sets to set up a semi-final showdown with Andy Roddick.
Sixth-seeded Soderling defeated Murray 6-1, 7-6 (7/4), his booming serves and powerful ground strokes giving the Scot no chance to work his way into the match.
Roddick, seeded seventh, continued his dominance of Tommy Robredo, advancing 6-3, 7-5 as he notched his 11th victory over the Spaniard in as many meetings.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Soderling steamed through the first set against Australian Open runner-up Murray in 36 minutes, taking a 5-0 lead before an out-of-sorts Murray managed to hold serve.
“He played very well to start, and I didn’t,” Murray said, who fell in the final last year to Rafael Nadal. “I didn’t move particularly well. I was hitting the ball really short and he’s obviously got a big game and he was able to dictate all of the points. So from my side it was poor, but he hit the ball really big from the back of the court and served well when he needed to.”
Soderling said his level in the opening set was “really good.”
“I didn’t make any mistakes at all, I think. I was moving pretty well, serving well, and I went for my shots and in the right moments,” Soderling said.
Soderling was on his way with a break for a 2-1 lead in the second set, but Murray fought off three match-points against his own serve in the ninth game — two of them with service winners and one with a backhand drop shot that the Swede couldn’t handle.
Serving for the match in the next game, Soderling instead surrendered the break as Murray belted a backhand winner down the line.
That seemed to give Murray new life and he fired three of his 10 aces in the next game to hold serve.
“I was a little bit nervous going out serving for the match at 5-4,” Soderling said. “I got up to 30-love and then I don’t think I really did anything wrong. So all credit to him, because he played well where he needed it the most.”
In the tiebreaker, however, Soderling took control quickly, taking a 3-1 lead. He gave himself a fourth match-point with a backhand down the line for 6-4 and Murray netted a service return to end it.
Soderling, who stunned four-time defending champion Nadal to reach the final of the French Open last year, has reached the semi-finals of a prestigious Masters 1000 event for the first time.
Roddick, meanwhile, reached the semi-finals here for the fourth time, having lost to eventual champion Nadal in the semis last year.
The American has made it to the quarter-finals or better in five events this season, opening the year by winning the title in Brisbane, making the quarters at the Australian Open and reaching the final of an ATP event in San Jose, California, last month.
Roddick broke Robredo in the penultimate game of each set and served out each with a love game. Five of his six aces came in the second set and he didn’t face a break-point in the entire match.
The semi-finalists in the other half of the draw were decided on Thursday, as third-seeded Nadal and Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic advanced with quarter-final wins.
■WOMEN’S SINGLES
INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA
Second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki downed good friend Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-3 on Friday to book a final showdown with former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic at the BNP Paribas Open.
By reaching the final, Wozniacki is projected to reach a career-high No. 2 in the world next week, up two spots from her current No. 4.
“Right now, I’m just happy about my result here,” the 19-year-old Dane said. “I’m thinking about this tournament and that’s the most important thing for me right now.”
After the two traded breaks in the fifth and sixth games of the second set, Wozniacki gained the upper hand for good with a break in the seventh game courtesy of a forehand cross-court winner.
She saved a break-point in the next game, then closed it out with one more service break as Radwanska hooked a forehand wide on match point. The final will be the first of the year for both Wozniacki and Jankovic.
“I feel great. I’m so happy to be in the finals for the first time here,” Jankovic said, whose previous best performance at Indian Wells was a semi-final loss to eventual champion Ana Ivanovic in 2008.
Stosur, the eighth seed who came into the tournament ranked a career-high 11th in the world, is projected to break into the top 10 tomorrow by virtue of reaching the semis.
She saved one match-point on her own serve in the ninth game of the second set and held to make Jankovic serve it out.
Jankovic had to fend off two break-points, but finished it off with a serve that Stosur could only swipe 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
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