Novak Djokovic equaled Ivan Lendl’s 1986 record of a 29-0 winning start to a season on Thursday, when he reached the Madrid Masters quarter-finals.
The Serb second seed cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez that took less than an hour to extend his overall winning streak to 31, stretching back to the two Davis Cup final singles he won in December last year.
The record for a winning start to a season remains 42 matches, set by John McEnroe in 1984, with Bjorn Borg, who had 33 straight wins in 1980, in second spot.
Photo: Reuters
“I was winning my service games really comfortably and that’s something that I’m happy about, it’s a very encouraging fact for my upcoming matches,” Djokovic said. “It’s important for me to see that I raised the level of performance today for the quarter-finals.”
Top-seeded holder Rafael Nadal went through to the last eight without lifting a racquet as opponent Juan Martin del Potro retired before their third-round match with hip pain.
Unseeded Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, who is making a recovery this season after missing more than eight months of play last year after suffering a wrist surgery, had been bothered by the problem since reaching the Estoril semi-finals at the weekend.
“I have experience with injuries, and I decided not to play,” Del Potro said as he prepared to fly home to Buenos Aires for medical checks.
The Argentine will not play the Rome Masters starting tomorrow and could well be in doubt with the French Open starting on May 22.
“The pain was very strong,” the Argentine said.
Third seed Roger Federer got past Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-4, 6-3 after a late-night struggle on Wednesday against Feliciano Lopez that went three hours.
“It was a quick turnaround,” the two-time champion said. “Mentally, it was tough, I had to be ready to play a different kind of match [from the night before]. I didn’t have high expectations, I just wanted to play a good match. I was able to do that.”
Thomaz Bellucci profited from his first meeting with Scot fourth seed Andy Murray, securing a 6-4, 6-2 win in 90 minutes. Murray’s temper boiled over with the seed warned for audible obscenities from early on in the proceedings as Bellucci won the last four games to advance to the last eight.
However, the British player wasn’t too downhearted with his form.
“I’ve got to look more at the week as a whole, I was coming back from an injury that wasn’t serious, but an elbow injury isn’t easy for tennis players,” Murray said. “You need to be quite cautious and not do too much too soon because then you take a step back, but I think I’ve judged it pretty well.”
Fifth seed Robin Soderling, twice a Roland Garros finalist, defeated slumping Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (10/8), 7-5.
In the women’s event, world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki lost to Germany’s Julia Goerges for the second time in little more than a week, while French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and Roland Garros runner-up Samantha Stosur also went out.
Goerges, who saw off Wozniacki in the Stuttgart final last week, enjoyed a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win and next plays Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who upset Stosur 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
The US’ Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated third seed Schiavone 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, but there were no problems for fourth seed Victoria Azarenka, who overcame Spain’s Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-0, 6-3.
Sixth seed Li Na of China, the Australian Open finalist, moved into the last eight thanks to a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Italian Roberta Vinci, who won in Barcelona last week.
“The first set was good for her, then I started thinking about hitting it more to her slice backhand,” Li said. “After Melbourne, I wasn’t winning any matches, so it’s exciting I’ve now won three matches on clay. Things are going fantastic. Since my new coach joined my team, I’m happier. I have more good energy now.”
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