Top seed Roger Federer was to carry a 35-match win streak against Germans into yesterday’s final at the Stockholm Open when he faced what was surely to be a nervous challenge from Florian Mayer.
The powerful Swiss No. 2 put himself into position for a 64th trophy as he defeated longtime rival Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 in their semi-final. Mayer, ranked 47th and without a title, was to play his third career final after a fighting 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) defeat of Finn Jarkko Nieminen. The Swiss--German Federer last lost to a German player when Nicolas Kiefer beat him in Halle in June 2002. Federer was trying to lift a trophy in an 18th different country as he played in Scandinavia for the first time in a decade.
“I’d love to win, I’ve never won a title in Sweden, that would be something special. But it’s good to win one in any case. It’s a good feeling to walk off court as a winner,” he said.
PHOTO: AFP
Federer, who has won only two of six finals this year, would love to start lifting that average as he enters the final stretch of the current campaign.
“It would be nice a to win a third title, another would be great. I’ve had an amazing run in the past winning 24 straight finals. Maybe this can be the start of another streak,” he said.
Challenger Mayer was seeking a huge upset when he faced Federer standing 0-2 in their series.
“The confidence is obviously in my favor,” Federer said. “But he has nothing to lose. He will come out aggressive. I’ve played him a few times and managed to beat him.”
Federer improved his record against Ljubicic, his good friend from Croatia, to 13-3 and has won their last ten meetings.
“It’s been good all week,” Federer said. “I started with a first win in under an hour and they just got tougher since that. I’ve only had three matches so far and there’s not been a lot of tennis played.”
Ljubicic admitted there was little he could do once the Swiss got up a head of steam.
“I played OK, but trying to come back in the second set was tough. He relaxed once he won the first set and just played better, it got a lot tougher for me,” Ljubicic said.
Mayer admits he faces a huge deficit in the final.
“I have nothing to lose. I was a little tired today, physically and mentally,” Mayer said. “But I fought hard, I played for the line on match point and had a bit of luck. After losing the second set I was able to come back in the third.”
SAMSUNG CUP
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA, SEOUL
Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun won the Samsung Securities Cup in Seoul, South Korea yesterday by trouncing Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
After defeating Florent Serra of France 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-finals the previous day, Lu, currently ranked No. 39 in the world, downed Anderson in straight sets. Anderson is the world No. 66.
The 27-year-old Lu climbed to No. 39 in the world — the highest ranking of his career — after picking up valuable points in the Shanghai Masters in China earlier this month.
The Samsung Securities Cup is on the Challenger Tour of the ATP and is played on outdoor hard courts. The tournament has been held annually in Seoul since 2000.
KREMLIN CUP
AFP, MOSCOW
Fourth seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus performed a dramatic comeback in the third set to oust unheralded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/2) on his way to the final of the Kremlin Cup on Saturday.
Baghdatis started with an immediate break, keeping his narrow lead throughout the first set to lift himself one set up.
No big serves were made in the second set, which went to a tiebreak. Istomin, 24, was just a bit more accurate to level at 1-1 after 1 hour, 35 minutes.
In the third, Baghdatis suddenly lost his nerve and produced a catalogue of errors, allowing Istomin to break twice from the start.
The 25-year-old Cypriot fought tooth and nail and broke back twice to pull the scores level, forcing a tiebreak, which he won to make his third final this season.
“I started the third set pretty bad ... but fought up to the end,” Baghdatis said. “Fortunately, I won. I’m happy and I’ll try to play better tomorrow.”
In the earlier semi-final, Viktor Troicki of Serbia saw off Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 on his way to the final.
The opponents traded breaks from the start, before the 24-year-old Serbian broke in the sixth game to gain a one-set advantage.
In the second set, Troicki moved up a gear to take three consecutive games from the seventh to win the set, the match and a pass into his first ATP final of the year.
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