Frenchman Gael Monfils set up a return date with Finn Jarkko Niemimen after downing Milos Raonic 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday to reach the Stockholm Open final.
World No. 10 Monfils, bidding for a place in the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals next month in London, solidified his position as he rallied past the 29th-ranked Canadian, who is only three tournaments into a comeback following hip surgery in July.
Nieminen defeated two-time champion James Blake 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 6-2 and will hope to make it third time lucky after losing trophy bids here in 2001 and 2006. A second career title for the 30-year-old will be on the line against Monfils, who beat him in the Bangkok quarter-finals three weeks ago. Nieminen won his only title to date in Auckland five years ago, but has lost five finals since, including at the hands of Blake in Stockholm in 2006.
Monfils dropped the first set against Raonic in a tiebreaker and was down a break in the second before making his move. The top seed, making his Stockholm debut, leveled at 4-4 and broke two games later to breathe new life into the contest.
The Frenchman went up 4-2 in the third set after Raonic saved a pair of break points, then pounded out a love game for 5-2 before serving out the victory after two hours and nine minutes on court. Monfils advanced to the final with 56 winners and three breaks of serve.
“My game plan [moving Raonic around] worked,” he said. “It’s never easy to make a comeback, but I stuck to my plan. I got a bit angry in the tiebreaker, but steadied after that. I thought the match was good from my side. He was getting tired at the end. The final will be tough, Jarkko’s a big fighter. I will have to review what I did in Bangkok and improve on it. I’m expecting a tough battle form the baseline.”
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