Rafael Nadal made sure he retained his world No. 1 status at the French Open after cruising past Croat Marin Cilic 6-1, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters on Friday.
Nadal showed no signs of the fever that had brought him to the brink of pulling out on Thursday in a typically clinical display, hammering the world No. 23 to set up a semi-final against Richard Gasquet.
Second seed Novak Djokovic stretched his unbeaten run for the year to 35 matches after dispatching fifth-seed Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-0. The Serb will meet Andy Murray, who became the first British player in the tournament’s professional era to reach the final four after outlasting unseeded German Florian Mayer 1-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Champion for five of the past six years, Nadal raced into a 4-0 lead, breaking Cilic’s serve with a ferocious forehand top spinner and backhand crosscourt before taking the first set.
The Croat, who had won one of his previous two meetings against Nadal, stayed with the Spaniard until the seventh game of the second set when the top seed moved up an extra gear to break twice more, bringing his overall win-loss run in Rome to 30-1.
After losing his opening service game against Soderling, Djokovic stormed back, making the decisive break in the eighth game with a screaming crosscourt backhand to take the set.
The second set was an ordeal for the big Swede as Djokovic moved him around the court with a combination of dainty drop shots and flashing strokes to win the set to love.
Murray began his match with Mayer in ragged fashion, dropping the first set before storming to victory against the world No. 27 having never got beyond the third round in six previous visits.
Gasquet followed up his third-round defeat of Roger Federer by knocking out seventh-seed Tomas Berdych 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
In the women’s matches French Open champion and home favorite Francesca Schiavone lost in the quarter-finals as Samantha Stosur gained revenge for defeat in last year’s Roland Garros final.
Second seed Schiavone had no answer to the Australian’s powerful game as she lost 6-2, 6-4 to the disappointment of the fans inside the Foro Italico.
Stosur next faces China’s Li Na, while world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki battled past Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to set up a semi-final with Russian Maria Sharapova.
At one set down and 3-3 there were signs that Schiavone was beginning to find some inspiration, but there was to be no repeat of her fightback against Daniela Hantuchova in the third round as sixth seed Stosur broke in the ninth game.
The Australian said she was looking ahead to playing fourth seed Li, who ousted Hungarian Greta Arn 6-3, 6-1.
Wozniacki reached the semi--finals in Rome for the first time, but had to come through a mighty scrap against twice former champion Jankovic.
The 20-year-old, who is yet to win a Grand Slam tournament, said she is beginning to find her feet on clay.
After a cautious start Wozniacki broke in the fifth game of the first set before going on to clinch the set in solid style.
Jankovic, a finalist in three of the past four years, clawed her way back with some flashing returns to take a 3-0 before breaking serve twice more to level the match.
When the Serbian recovered from 0-40 to take the sixth game and level the decider at 3-3 it seemed Wozniacki might rue the missed opportunity.
However, with some aggressive tennis, which she is often accused of lacking, she reeled off the last three games.
Sharapova progressed after her opponent Victoria Azarenka retired with an arm injury at 3-0 down in the second set after taking the first set.
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
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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