Defending champion Roger Federer and former winners Andy Roddick, Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt advanced on Sunday at the US Open on a day when two-time winner Andre Agassi bowed out for good.
Between them they and Agassi (1999) have captured six of the last seven US Open titles. The lone champion missing from that stretch is Pete Sampras (2002) who retired after his final US Open appearance.
Safin, who won six years ago in New York, continued his domination over David Nalbandian, upsetting the fourth seeded Argentinean 6-3, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6) in a second-round match.
PHOTO: AP
"Of course, every time you come back after you have won it, you want to get closer to the final," Safin said.
"These days it is a different story. A lot of good players left and some others came in. The young ones are hungry and anybody can beat anybody. It is not as easy as it used to be," he said.
No doubt Agassi -- bad back and all -- will second that. The eight-time Grand Slam winner and two-time US Open champ lost to unheralded Benjamin Becker of Germany 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-5 to bring down the curtain on his career.
Andy Roddick, whose lone major title came in New York in 2003, reached the fourth round with a 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2 victory over Fernando Verdasco of Spain.
Roddick will attempt to avenge Agassi's defeat when he faces Becker next for a place in the quarter-finals.
The 2001 champion, Hewitt, reached the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 victory over world number 23 Novak Djokovic.
Two-time defending champion Federer crushed American Vince Spadea 6-3. 6-3, 6-0 in an evening match.
Federer will play unseeded Marc Gicquel of France for a place in the quarter-finals. Gicquel came through a tough five-setter against former French Open winner Gaston Gaudio of Argentina.
It was the Swiss star's 17th straight win at Flushing Meadows and moves him another step closer to becoming just the third man in the Open era after John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl to win a hat-trick of US Open titles.
The unseeded Safin has booked a date with Olivier Rochus of Belgium for a place in the fourth round. Safin, who has 15 career singles titles, is currently ranked 104th in the world, his lowest since 1998.
But the 26-year-old Russian continued his solid play as he comes back from a left knee injury and improved his career record against Nalbandian to 6-1.
Former women's champ Lindsay Davenport survived her first real test of the US Open on Sunday by digging deep to beat Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik.
Davenport fought off two match points against world number 23 Srebotnik to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) and also reach the fourth round.
The 10th seed Davenport will next play seventh seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland who also rallied to beat France's Marion Bartoli 0-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Also on the women's side, the unseeded Serena Williams raced into the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over 18-year-old Ana Ivanovic.
Williams will now play top seed Amelie Mauresmo of France who beat Italy's Mara Santangelo 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Williams goes into the match brimming with confidence knowing she has a 9-1 career won-loss record against Mauresmo.
Kylian Mbappe struck from the penalty spot as Real Madrid beat a dogged CA Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday to make a winning start in Spanish La Liga under new coach Xabi Alonso. The France striker, last season’s European Golden Shoe winner, scored early in the second half, after he was fouled in the area by Osasuna defender Juan Cruz. It was enough to seal the points in Alonso’s first game in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Madrid now unbeaten in their opening fixture of a league campaign since 2008. “You can see that Kylian wants to do even more
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the
FIGHTBACK: Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Jiang Xinyu of China rallied from a set down to advance to the final of the women’s doubles at the Tennis in the Land Russian second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on Thursday beat defending champion Linda Noskova 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-2 at the Monterrey Open to secure her place in the semi-finals of the US Open tune-up event. Alexandrova, 14th in the world rankings, started the decider brightly after two tightly contested sets and while Czech Noskova fought back to level at 2-2, the Russian regained control to seal the victory in just over two hours at the WTA 500 event. “I’m really glad that I could make it through, even in three sets, because it was difficult today — she served so well, she hit so
RSS