French Open champion Rafael Nadal lost for the first time ever here as he was beaten 7-5, 6-1 in the second round of the Rome Masters by Juan Carlos Ferrero on Wednesday.
It was also the world No. 2’s first defeat on clay since losing the Hamburg final to Roger Federer, just under a year ago.
The Spanish king of clay, bidding for his fourth straight title in Rome, was clearly hampered by blisters on his right foot in the second set and former world No. 1 Ferrero showed a ruthless streak in dismissing the second seed. It was Ferrero’s first win on clay against Nadal and only his second victory in eight meetings, avenging a defeat by an almost identical score in Monte Carlo last month.
PHOTO: EPA
“It’s a very important win for me, it feels very special and I’ve not felt this special for a long time,” Ferrero said.
Nadal put his defeat down to his injured foot.
“Today I didn’t play my best tennis and the truth is that I didn’t feel very good on court,” he said.
Serbia’s Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic cruised into the third round following a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Belgian Steve Darcis.
The world No. 3 has had a sensational start to the season, winning the first Grand Slam of the year and then also claiming the Indian Wells Masters title.
He currently leads the ATP champions race and is closing in on the world’s top two — Federer and Nadal — above him in the rankings.
Eighth seed James Blake of the US overcame a slow start to finally click into gear and dismiss home hope Andrea Seppi 7-6, 3-6, 6-1.
It was plain sailing for fourth seed Russian Nikolay Davydenko as he thrashed Croatian wild-card Mario Ancic 6-2, 6-2. Olympic doubles champion Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, the 12th seed, was equally ruthless as he dismissed Russian Evgeny Korolev 6-3, 6-2.
But it was a bad day for some of the other seeds as David Ferrer, David Nalbandian, Andy Murray and Juan Monaco all crashed out.
Spaniard Ferrer, seeded fifth, had a good start against Czech Radek Stepanek, but then saw his game collapse as he went down 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Argentina’s former Wimbledon finalist Nalbandian, seventh, came unstuck against clay specialist Nicolas Almagro of Spain, losing 6-4, 7-5. British 16th seed Murray went down 6-2, 7-6 to Swiss Stanislaw Wawrinka, while 13th seed Monaco lost in three sets to Russian Igor Andreev.
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title. The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead
RSS