Roger Federer climbed back to world No. 2 in the rankings after rallying to beat Tomas Berdych 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 and win the Madrid Open for a third time on Sunday.
Earlier, Serena Williams overpowered top-ranked Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-3 to win the women’s final.
While Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal had blamed the new blue-clay court for their early exits, Federer’s biggest obstacle was to overcome an opponent who had beaten him in three of their previous five meetings.
Photo: Reuters
“It is amazing to win here again,” said Federer, who will overtake Nadal as the second-ranked player behind Djokovic. “It has been a tough tournament. Tough to move, but you’ve got to try to make the most of it. Here there was some good tennis and some bad tennis, but you see that in all tournaments.”
Berdych hit 14 winners and made just two unforced errors in a dominant first set, but Federer finally found his ground game and broke Berdych twice to even the score and force the decisive third set, where he secured victory after Berdych had saved three championship points.
The sixth-seeded Berdych jumped out to a 3-0 lead after hitting a cross-court return to take Federer’s first service game.
Photo: AFP
Federer, who won in Madrid in 2006 and 2009, saved two set points, before Berdych clinched the first set with a big serve that the Swiss star could only knock back into the net.
Federer continued to struggle with his shot-making, but the 16-time Grand Slam winner leveled the match by breaking twice in the second set, including when Berdych hit a double fault on set point.
“It was a tough tournament and a brutal draw. Tomas played very well,” Federer said. “I’m sure we will see each other many more times and they will be quality matches like this one.”
Berdych, who had carried the initiative through most of the match, became erratic as the pressure grew in the decider.
Serving to send the match to a tiebreaker, he fell behind 0-40 and then rallied back to force deuce, only to hit long and then net his final volley to end the match in a little more than two-and-a-half hours.
The former top-ranked Federer has not been higher than world No. 3 since March last year.
“I want to congratulate Roger. He showed that he is really the star,” Berdych said.
In a clash of two of the WTA Tour’s heaviest hitters, Williams battered Azarenka around the court with her big serve and vicious return to take the first four games and she never looked back.
Williams served 14 aces on her way to her 41st career title and her second of the season, as she remained unbeaten in her past 13 matches on clay.
The loss ended Azarenka’s run of winning her last four tournaments.
“I can still do better,” Williams said when asked if she had found her best form following her return from a lengthy absence due to illness last year. “This is really good. I have been working hard. I had some tough battles and really unfortunate circumstances, so I really love this.”
Williams broke Azarenka’s first service game when the Australian Open winner could only stab her powerful return into the stands.
Williams’ strong start left Azarenka shaken and she hit three double faults to cede her serve again and trail 3-0.
The flustered Azarenka netted a forehand after Williams had fallen on the slick surface and left the entire court open. She then produced another double fault to cap a disastrous first set.
Williams kept the momentum going, hitting her fifth and sixth aces to hold to love at the start of the second set.
As her frustration boiled over, Azarenka smashed her racket into the ground moments before Williams blasted a return by her to break her yet again.
The 13-time Grand Slam winner sealed the victory in 1 hour, 4 minutes with her final ace.
“She was so much better than me today,” Azarenka said. “I have to give her credit, she’s been showing great tennis the whole week.”
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was