Clay king and world No. 3 Rafael Nadal thwarted a determined challenge on Thursday from fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta to reach the quarter-finals of the Rio Open.
Top seed Nadal, determined to kick-start his season on clay as he targets a 10th French Open crown at Roland Garros, won 7-5, 6-3 against world No. 55 Carreno Busta to advance to a meeting with Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas, ranked 23.
Cuevas saw off Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-2.
Photo: AFP
Fourteen-time Grand Slam champion Nadal missed three set points in the opener and had to dig deep as his rival fought tigerishly to keep pace with his decorated rival, who is bidding to retain the title he won in Rio 12 months ago.
“It was pretty humid and he is a tough young cookie. I am very happy to be through to the quarters,” Nadal said. “It was a tough match. I was glad to get the break back when he got to 3-2. At 5-4 I made a couple of mistakes, then in the second set I was a bit tired from the first to begin with and sought to bring my serve through. At 3-2 I tried to get the break and it didn’t come off, but the next one did,” he said.
“For me every win is important — and especially on clay,” he added.
In the host city for next year’s Olympics, 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medal winner Nadal improved his record to 16-0 on Brazilian soil, having won titles at Costa do Sauipe in 2005, Sao Paulo in 2013 and Rio last year.
The left-hander has made a tentative start to this year after a slew of injury problems last season.
He lost in the first round in Doha and then at the Australian Open he made a surprise exit against Tomas Berdych.
Carreno Busta has trained with Nadal in Mallorca and the 23-year-old had clearly learned something along the way as he produced a gutsy showing in hot conditions at the Jockey Club in downtown Rio de Janeiro, where total prize money of US$1.5 million is on offer.
In other matches, Argentine Federico Delbonis saw off eighth seed Martin Klizan in straight sets to book a contest with Italian Fabio Fognini, seeded four, after the latter eased past Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-3, 6-2.
Brazilian fans cheered a success in the women’s singles competition when Beatriz Haddad Maia emphatically ousted Slovenian seventh seed Polona Hercog 6-1, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals.
Top seeded Sara Errani of Italy also reached the quarters, beating Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez 6-0, 7-5. She next faces Haddad Maia.
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