Czech Tomas Berdych snapped a run of 11 consecutive defeats by world No. 1 Novak Djokovic to reach the semi-finals of the Rome Masters, before Rafael Nadal was stretched to the limit against David Ferrer on Friday.
Berdych clawed his way back from a 6-2, 5-2 deficit to stun the Serbian top seed 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 and set up a semi-final meeting with Nadal, who for the second week running outlasted compatriot Ferrer in a fierce clay-court scrap.
Nadal won 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 for his ninth consecutive victory over Ferrer, who hit the Mallorcan with every weapon in his locker, but still came up short as he did in Madrid last week.
“It was an extremely tough match, David always takes you to the limit,” Nadal, looking for his sixth title in eight tournaments since returning from injury, told reporters.
“I am extremely happy. I think I made a huge effort both in the second set when I was 4-0 down and in the third to get past a fantastic opponent,” he added.
Frenchman Benoit Paire dropped just one game against Marcel Granollers of Spain to reach his first Masters Series semi-final where he is to play second seed Roger Federer. The Swiss overcame Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).
After easing through the first set, Federer survived a scare when he was broken in the opening game of the second, but after clawing his way back to 5-5, he took the tiebreak for the loss of just two points.
Berdych had not tasted victory over Djokovic since the 2010 Wimbledon semi-finals and was on the brink of a 12th straight loss to the Serb before an amazing transformation.
The clean-hitting world No. 6 won five games in a row to level the match and then dominated the deciding set to leave Djokovic with food for thought before the French Open.
“It’s a special victory. I was on 11 defeats in a row [against Djokovic] and it had to stop,” said Berdych, who did not even create a break point until the top seed served for the match at 5-3 in the second set.
Djokovic, who also lost early in the Madrid Open last week, said he had let Berdych back into the match.
“It was a very weird match,” he told reporters. “I lost concentration and I started to play too defensively, and did not convert my opportunities and I lost this match on my own.”
“I need to make sure that I don’t have highs and lows. I’m sure that I will be ready for [the French Open in] Paris,” he added.
In the women’s event, world No. 1 Serena Williams pulverized Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-0 to reach the last four, but there will be no re-run of last week’s Madrid final after Maria Sharapova was forced to withdraw from her quarter-final because of illness.
Fifteen-time Grand Slam champion Williams is enjoying the longest winning streak of her illustrious career, her rout of Suarez-Navarro stretching her run to 22.
“I guess this is the best period in my career, but I don’t really think about it,” Williams said.
Next in her sights is Romanian qualifier Simona Halep who beat twice former champion Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 6-0, 7-5.
Meanwhile, Sharapova said the thought of not recovering in time to defend her French Open title had prompted her to pull out of the Rome Open before her quarter-final.
Sharapova, a two-time winner and the world No. 2, had been due to play Italy’s Sara Errani, who she defeated in last year’s French Open final.
However, the Russian announced her withdrawal on Friday morning, citing sickness and claiming she had run a temperature overnight.
“I’ve a lot on my schedule and they all mean a lot for me, and obviously with the French Open coming up it is important to make smart decisions,” Sharapova said.
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