Third-seeded Roger Federer advanced to the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over Michael Llodra of France on Thursday, while No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych edged Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4.
Top-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain, second-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia and fourth-seeded Andy Murray of Britain also posted victories to move on to the final eight.
Llodra picked up a souvenir after shaking hands with the two-time champion, asking Federer for his pink tennis shirt.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“Roger is a legend,” Llodra said. “It’s a good present for my kids.”
In the second set, Llodra tried to put off Federer with a rare underhand serve.
“It’s the first time I got an underarm serve,” Federer said with a laugh. “The third time somebody asked me for the shirt.”
Llodra put spin on it, causing the ball to go sideways when it hit the court. Federer seemed ready to swat a forehand winner, but instead barely got his racket on the ball, sending it well wide.
“I just wanted to make something special,” Llodra said.
Federer appeared comfortable throughout the match. He said he enjoyed the change of pace.
“This is how [the game] used to be played,” Federer said. “You rather hit a volley than a passing shot. And he’s a good volleyer, a good athlete at the net and that’s why you want to try to move forward early on in the point.”
The top two seeds posted straight-set victories as Djokovic downed Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-3, 6-4, while Nadal beat South African qualifier Kevin Anderson 6-2, 7-6 (6).
Murray held off Gael Monfils of France 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final with David Nalbandian, who stretched his winning streak to 11 matches with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over fifth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden.
Nalbandian withstood 14 aces and served eight double-faults. He won his 11th career title in Washington last weekend.
Jeremy Chardy of France scored an upset with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over sixth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Germany’s Phillipp Kohlschreiber defeated Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-0.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS