Tomas Berdych finished off Nicolas Mahut of France with his 14th ace in a 6-3, 6-4 victory on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Open Sud de France.
The top seeded Czech outplayed Mahut in the first set, hitting 18 winners and making only two unforced errors.
Mahut fought back in the second, but double faulted to give the 2010 Wimbledon finalist a 4-3 lead.
Berdych will next face Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who edged fourth-seeded Richard Gasquet 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Kohlschreiber hit 18 aces, taking a 3-0 lead in the final set to play his second semi-final this season after reaching the last four of the Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand, last month.
Meanwhile, second seeded Gilles Simon outlasted French wild card Guillaume Rufin 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, and will meet compatriot and defending champion Gael Monfils, who cruised past Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 6-3.
Simon won the all-French match when a backhand from Rufin sailed long.
Rufin was let down by his serve in the final set, double faulting five times and landing only 38 percent of his first attempts.
Third seeded Monfils broke serve twice to win the first set when Nieminen sent a backhand volley into the net.
Monfils did not face any break points and clinched victory when Nieminen netted a backhand return.
ZAGREB INDOORS
AP, ZAGREB, CROATIA
Lukas Lacko of Slovakia beat seventh seeded Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of the Zagreb Indoors on Friday.
Lacko, who earlier ousted second-seeded Alex Bogomolov Jr of Russia, will now face Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who advanced after defeating defending champion Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-4, 7-5.
Sixth seeded Baghdatis ousted fourth seeded Dodig with little trouble, leaving host country Croatia without representatives in the semi-finals or finals for the first time since 2006.
Germany’s Michael Berrer also advanced after defeating Austria’s Jurgen Melzer 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Berrer — a finalist in 2010 and last year — rallied after failing to convert five break points in the first set.
Berrer will play against third seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, who defeated another, eighth seeded Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (12/10), 3-6, 7-6 (8/6).
VINA DEL MAR VTR OPEN
AP, VINA DEL MAR, CHILE
Top seeded Juan Monaco and No. 2 Juan Ignacio Chela both overcame one-set deficits to win their quarter-finals at the Vina Del Mar VTR Open on Friday, giving Argentine players three of the four semi-final berths.
Monaco of Argentina defeated fifth seeded Albert Montanes of Spain 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, while compatriot Chela downed Joao Souza of Brazil 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 6-1.
Monaco’s victory sets up a semi-final against Jeremy Chardy of France, who beat Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) in the clay-court event.
Chela’s semi-final opponent will be countryman Carlos Berlocq, who defeated another Argentine, Federico Delbonis, 6-3, 6-4.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite