Roger Federer shrugged off dropping the first set against journeyman Denis Istomin on Thursday before hitting back to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and reach the Swiss Indoors quarterfinals.
It was the top seed and five-time champion’s 53rd career win at his hometown event, the place where he got his start in the sport as a ballboy two decades ago.
He now stands at a perfect 6-0 over world No. 55 Istomin, who gave Federer plenty of trouble during their 1 hour, 48-minute meeting.
Photo: EPA
Federer’s win kept up the pressure on Novak Djokovic as the Swiss takes aim at a possible return to the year-end world No. 1 ranking held by the Serb.
Federer, who won his first-round match in 45 minutes, lost the opening set on a break as Istomin landed a return at his feet for a crucial 4-2 lead.
The second-set momentum finally turned for Federer, who fired three love games and lost just two points on serve as he leveled with a forehand winner to the corner on set point.
In the third, the Swiss was frustrated by stubborn Istomin defense, with Federer missing on four break points in the opening game before finally breaking for 2-1 on the eighth break point of the set, a passing winner.
Federer completed his comeback with a sixth ace on match point to advance into a quarter-final against fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Canadian Vasek Pospisil, a semi-finalist last year, 6-2, 6-2.
Canadian fourth seed Milos Raonic continued his winning tournament debut with 22 aces as he overcame the US’ Donald Young 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7-2) in nearly 2.5 hours.
Croatian eighth seed Ivo Karlovic needed to go the distance to beat Kenny De Schepper 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 6-3.
German Benjamin Becker advanced when Mikhail Kukushkin, who beat Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka in the first round, retired with a shoulder injury at 0-4 in the final set.
Croatian teenager Borna Coric reached the last eight with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Andrey Golubev.
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