Japan’s Kei Nishikori claimed his second consecutive Barcelona Open title on Sunday with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 over Spaniard Pablo Andujar.
Andujar had upset Rafael Nadal’s conquerer Fabio Fognini and David Ferrer on his route to the final and made the perfect start by breaking the world No. 5’s serve in the first game.
However, Nishikori broke straight back and then sealed the set by breaking once more in the 10th game.
Photo: AFP
The second set followed a similar pattern as Andujar moved into a 4-2 lead, but Nishikori then upped his level to race through the final four games to seal his ninth career title.
“Finally yes, I am the champion, but in the beginning [of the week], I was just playing one match at time with so many tough players and all the Spanish players playing here,” Nishikori said. “I tried to do my best and I am very happy. The second set was very hard and to be honest, I don’t know how I was able to win it.”
Victory continued Nishikori’s love affair with the Spanish clay-court season, having also reached the final of last year’s Madrid Masters when he took the first set off Nadal before having to retire with an injury.
Photo: AFP
The injury ended up writing off the rest of his season on clay as he missed the Rome Masters and suffered a shock first-round exit at the French Open to Martin Klizan, who he swept aside in Saturday’s semi-final.
The US Open finalist should be a far bigger threat in Paris this year and Andujar recognized that he had been made to pay for not taking his chance to force the match into a deciding set.
“I think Nishikori deserved to win the first set, but not the second,” he said. “But when you play against players of this caliber — that are capable of getting into a great rhythm — if you don’t take your chances, you end up losing.”
NASTASE TIRIAC TROPHY
AFP, BUCHAREST
Spanish veteran Guillermo Garcia-Lopez won his fifth ATP title on Sunday with a 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (13/11) victory over young Czech Jiri Vesely in the Bucharest clay-court final.
The 31-year-old fifth seed thwarted his 21-year-old opponent’s bid to win a second career trophy after his maiden crown at Auckland in January.
“I feel like I’m doing the right things to improve my game and my ranking,” Garcia-Lopez said.
“When you work hard, there is always a reward, not only in tennis, but in life in general,” he added.
Spain are the favorites to win the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, but star player Aitana Bonmati’s illness ahead of the tournament raises another question mark around a side which, despite their obvious quality, are not unstoppable. Having claimed the last two Ballon d’Or awards, Barcelona midfielder Bonmati is the game’s biggest star at present, so her absence in the final days before the start of Euro 2025 is a major setback. The 27-year-old came down with a fever in training last week, and was subsequently hospitalized and diagnosed with viral meningitis. Bonmati was discharged on Sunday and joined up with
HSIEH ADVANCES: In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei was to play in the second round last night, but Taiwan’s Ray Ho exited in the men’s doubles It is more than 10 years since Grigor Dimitrov reached his sole Wimbledon semi-final and back then it still seemed a reasonable bet that the Bulgarian once dubbed “Baby Federer” would win a Grand Slam title. There were semi-final runs at the US Open and Australian Open after that, but it has never quite happened and despite him still being ranked No. 21, it most likely never will. Dimitrov, 34, remains one of the most stylish players on the circuit though, with his elegant single-handed backhand and smooth all-court game a rare reminder of how tennis was before the power merchants turned
TAIWANESE WIN: Chan Hao-ching and Wu Fang-hsien and their partners won their first-round matches in the women’s doubles at the All England Lawn Tennis Club Late-night finishes and five-set matches are becoming a habit for Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon this year. On Wednesday, he wrapped up his win over Gabriel Diallo before the match was suspended — making sure the fifth-seeded American would not have to come back on court for a fourth straight day. Fritz overcame a bloodied elbow to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/0), 4-6, 6-3 on No. 1 Court a day after he finished off another five-set win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a match that was halted on Monday at about 10:15pm after Fritz forced a fifth set with Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew looming. He
Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post. Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down. Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest. Sabitzer turned
RSS