US Open champion Stan Wawrinka and Czech Tomas Berdych both cruised into the St Petersburg Open semi-finals on Friday.
Top seed Wawrinka beat Serbia’s Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-2 to set up a meeting with Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in the final.
Third seed Berdych, currently ninth in the race to the London ATP Finals — which features the year’s top eight players — also advanced past Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi 6-4, 6-3.
Photo: EPA
Wawrinka, the world No. 3, recorded his sixth win over seventh seed Troicki in as many meetings, breaking in the 12th game for a one-set lead.
Wawrinka, 31, underlined his supremacy on the hardcourt surface in the second with two more breaks to close out in 64 minutes.
Earlier, Bautista Agut, 28, rallied from a set down to see off Portuguese eighth seed Joao Sousa 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
“He is a great player, a great fighter,” Wawrinka said of his next opponent, who won the last of his four ATP titles on hardcourt in Sofia in February last year.
“He likes this kind of surface and I am looking forward to an interesting match,” Wawrinka added.
Berdych, who has won 12 ATP titles most recently in Stockholm and Shenzhen last year, took the opening set in 35 minutes with a break in the 10th game, breaking early in the second.
“My game is improving day by day,” said Berdych, who next plays German teenager Alexander Zverev, who whipped home favorite Mikhail Youzhny, the 2004 champion, 6-2, 6-2.
“The match was much harder than the scoreline shows,” Zverev said. “I played really tough matches with Berdych earlier this year, but if I play like I did today I think I have a good chance tomorrow [yesterday].”
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barca secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barca a 2-0 win over
RSS