Pablo Cuevas and Guido Pella are set to face off in the final of the Rio Open after beating highly favored opponents in the semi-finals to get there.
Cuevas upset Rafael Nadal — who used to be unbeatable on clay — 6-7 (6), 7-6 (3), 6-4 on Saturday. It was the Uruguayan’s first victory over Nadal in three attempts, and he finished off the match with an ace.
Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam winner, was also beaten in the semi-finals in Buenos Aires a week ago, also on his favorite clay surface.
Photo: EPA
“I am really happy because Rafa is a great player,” Cuevas said. “I came out here thinking I could win, and I knew I had to stay relaxed, which I was able to do for almost the entire match.”
Pella won over rising Austrian star Dominic Thiem 6-1, 6-4.
Thiem won a tournament in Buenos Aires a week ago, beating Nadal in the semi-finals, and had won eight straight matches before the loss.
Photo: EPA
Pella and Thiem played in heavy wind during the first set. Then the match was delayed for an hour in the second set by a downpour. None of it fazed the Argentine.
“The first set was terrible to play, but I was raised in a place where the wind was as bad or worse, so I was used to playing in conditions like this,” said Pella, who grew up in the port city of Bahia Blanca in Buenos Aires Province.
He said that he just tried to hit for center of the court, and aimed sparingly for the edges.
Thiem, the youngest player in the ATP’s top 20, played singles and doubles on Friday. The doubles match finished about 1:30am — and it showed.
“Of course it was strange in the beginning, but he had the same conditions and just handled it better than me,” Thiem said.
Thiem overpowered Spain’s David Ferrer in the quarter-finals 6-3, 6-2, but he was a shadow of himself against Pella.
“Everything I had was a couple percent less than I had the last days and the last matches,” he said. “On this level when you do not have these last couple percent, you just go down immediately.”
In the women’s semi-finals, Shelby Rogers of the US defeated Sorana Cirstea of Romania, 6-4, 6-4, and Francesca Schiavone of Italy won over Petra Martic of Croatia, 6-3, 6-3. Rogers and Schiavone were scheduled to meet in yesterday’s final.
After letting another big lead slip with an error-strewn performance at the French Open on Wednesday, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka felt like getting as far away from the courts as possible. “Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said after wasting a lead of a set and two breaks in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider in the women’s singles quarter-finals. “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.” Sabalenka’s wait for a first French Open title continues despite the four-time major winner leading 4-1 in the second set and being two points from victory while
BIG NAMES GONE: Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title, reaching semi-finals for the fifth time in six years and finishing second on three occasions Alexander Zverev on Tuesday breezed past Rafael Jodar to stay on course for an elusive Grand Slam title at the French Open, while Jakub Mensik halted Joao Fonseca’s scintillating run in the quarter-finals. Zverev, the highest-ranked player left in the men’s draw, put an end to Spanish teenager Jodar’s impressive Roland Garros debut, easing into the semi-finals with a 7-6, (7/3), 6-1, 6-3 win. The 29-year-old Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title. He has finished runner-up on three occasions, including at the 2024 French Open. “I want to win the matches that are ahead of
For some, Cristiano Ronaldo remains the essential spearhead for Portugal’s FIFA World Cup bid, while others believe his presence would prevent Roberto Martinez’s strong side from flourishing. The debate around the five-time Ballon d’Or winner rages on, as it did at UEFA Euro 2024 and four years ago in Qatar — yet Ronaldo endures, ready to play in a record sixth World Cup. The 41-year-old remains a global superstar despite swapping the European elite for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr, and is the leading men’s international goalscorer with 143 strikes. With 25 of those coming in 30 games under Martinez, the coach
Taiwanese sprinter Chen Yi-cen on Friday won the silver medal in the women’s 400m final at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong, with a time of 53.16 seconds. Chen, 15, was the youngest among the eight finalists, and her performance also met the qualifying standard of 53.50 seconds for the Nagoya Asian Games in Japan in September and October. Chen first made her mark at the National Games in Tainan in 2023, at the age of 13, winning the women’s 400m final in 55.55 seconds to become the youngest gold medalist in the history of the event. Meanwhile,
RSS