Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep on Sunday advanced to the finals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia as fans returned to the stands at the Foro Italico for the first time.
World No. 1 Djokovic beat Norway’s Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-3 and was to play Argentine Diego Schwartzman for his fifth Rome title.
Top women’s seed Simona Halep reached a third final where she was to face defending champion Karolina Pliskova for a trophy the Romanian narrowly missed out on in 2017 and 2018.
Photo: Reuters
Djokovic had been on a collision course for another showdown with Nadal a week before the French Open at Roland Garros, but Schwartzman eliminated the nine-time Rome winner in the quarter-finals and booked his ticket to the final with a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7/4) win over Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
“Of course, you know, with Nadal in the finals and without Nadal in the finals makes a big difference,” said Djokovic, who has played five of his nine Rome finals against Nadal. “So it’s going to be strange not facing him, but at the same time, I won’t underestimate anybody that steps on the court against me tomorrow.”
The Serb could win a record 36th Masters title. He is tied on 35 with Nadal.
Of his four titles in Rome his last was in 2015, with three lost finals in 2016, 2017 and last year.
World No. 2 Halep ousted Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to meet second seed Pliskova, who eased past fellow Czech Marketa Vondrousova 6-2, 6-4.
“Thank God I don’t play [Elina] Svitolina, because I lost two times against her,” Halep said of the Ukrainian she twice fell to in the final.
Halep extended her winning streak this season to 13 matches, with her last defeat coming against Muguruza in the Australian Open.
The Italian government from Sunday allowed up to 1,000 spectators at open-air sports events for the first time since the COVID-19 lockdown.
“That definitely was nice to have some people out there,” Pliskova said. “It felt super empty, like super lonely.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB