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 me, that is my goal, that is my aim,” said Zverev, who has only dropped one set en route to the last four.
Photo: AFP
It is the fifth time in six years he has made it to this stage in Paris.
“I’m happy to be in the semi-finals, for now,” he added.
For Jodar, the grind of back-to-back five-setters appeared to take its toll as he struggled to cope after blowing a 5-2 lead in the opening set under the roof on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The 19-year-old Jodar was featuring at just his second major. He was ranked 707th in the world this time last year.
Zverev will next play Czech youngster Mensik after the 20-year-old upstaged Brazilian sensation Fonseca in the night match. Mensik beat the 19-year-old Fonseca 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) to extend his best run at a Grand Slam.
“It was one of my best performances so far,” said Mensik, who needed seven match points to see off the stubborn Fonseca. “I knew it was going to be a tough one.”
It was the youngest Roland Garros men’s quarter-final since a 20-year-old Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in 2006. Djokovic was 19 at the time.
Fonseca offered a glimpse of his vast potential with wins over Djokovic and Casper Ruud, but ran out of steam against an opponent who could rival him for the game’s biggest prizes in years to come.
“Coming from a little injury and not having any expectation for this tournament and doing a great run... It’s a positive week,” said Fonseca, who had been bothered by a wrist issue before Roland Garros.
“This tournament gives me more conviction and more confidence to keep going,” he added.
Marta Kostyuk and Mirra Andreeva are to meet today for a place in the women’s final.
The in-form Kostyuk held her nerve to withstand a comeback from compatriot Elina Svitolina in the first all-Ukrainian women’s quarter-final at a Grand Slam in the Open era, prevailing 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
The 23-year-old Kostyuk extended her unbeaten run on clay this season to 17 matches to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final.
“I’m very happy I found a way. It was very difficult in the first two sets,” said Kostyuk, who dedicated her victory to Ukrainians.
The country was hit by hundreds of Russian drones and dozens of missiles early Tuesday, killing at least 23 people.
“We had another difficult night in Ukraine, especially in Kyiv where so many people died, so I want to give this match to Ukraine,” Kostyuk said.
Svitolina, 31, fell at the quarter-final stage at Roland Garros for the sixth time. It is the only major where she has not reached the last four.
Kostyuk has been an outspoken supporter of Ukraine during the ongoing war with Russia. Her next opponent is Russian teenager Andreeva, whom she beat in the Madrid Open final last month.
“I usually never care who is on the other side of the net. I’m there to play tennis and do my job, and that’s it,” Kostyuk said.
Andreeva breezed into her second French Open semi-final with a 6-0, 6-3 rout of Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, who plans to retire at the end of the season.
The eighth seed needed less than an hour to dispatch the 36-year-old Cirstea, appearing in the last eight in Paris for the first time since 2009.
“I’m super happy that I’m going to be playing in semis again,” Andreeva said. “I felt like it was one of my best matches so far this tournament.”
Andreeva atoned for last year’s disappointment of her quarter-final loss to French outsider Lois Boisson as rain and strong winds arrived in Paris after last week’s heatwave.
“I was just trying to have flashbacks only about the weather and only about the court with closed roof, not about how I played. I’m happy that I could turn it around,” she said.
Real Madrid yesterday apologized to China for star striker Kylian Mbappe’s comments poking fun at Mao Zedong, after the star striker’s remarks sparked a social media storm and saw Spanish soccer yanked off state TV. Mocking former leader Mao — blamed by historians for millions of deaths — is taboo in China, and Mbappe’s remarks saw him become the latest foreign sports figure to anger Beijing. In a clip of a video interview with French show The Bridge — since taken down — Mbappe talked about being amused by an Internet meme of his face photoshopped onto “some guy, think he’s a
INFIELD DUO: Cheng Tsung-che has a long road ahead to match Lee Hao-yu’s MLB hitting records, while a dispute over a salary cap plan might postpone the schedule Cheng Tsung-che of Taiwan has been traded to the Detroit Tigers, raising the possibility of an all-Taiwanese middle-infield pairing in next year’s MLB season, although a player strike is threatening to disrupt the calendar. The Boston Red Sox traded Cheng to Detroit on Thursday, a transaction log on the MLB Web site showed. The Red Sox received cash considerations in return, US media reported. Cheng would join infielder Lee Hao-yu of Taiwan on the Tigers roster, but while Lee established himself as a legitimate major league hitter this year, Cheng still has to prove himself. The 25-year-old made his MLB debut with the Pittsburgh
DOMINANT: Mercedes was named the Series’ Most Valuable Player after winning two games and allowing only one earned run over 14 innings, for a 0.64 ERA Cristopher Mercedes yesterday pitched eight scoreless innings and Jiang Shao-hong hit a two-run homer as the Wei Chuan Dragons shut out the CTBC Brothers 6-0 in Game 6 of the Taiwan Series at the Taipei Dome to clinch their sixth CPBL title. The Taipei-based Dragons won the best-of-seven series 4-2. Dragons starter Mercedes struck out six and allowed just two walks and two hits, both by Brothers catcher Kao Yu-chieh. After securing a 1-0 lead in the third inning, the Dragons erupted in the bottom of the eighth with five runs off five hits, including catcher Jiang’s two-run homer. The Brothers brought in
The pounding of shoes echoed through a Singapore shopping mall as runners desperate to train take refuge from choking haze. Smoke from wildfires in neighboring Indonesia has sent air quality in the city-state plummeting to its worst levels in more than a decade in the past few weeks, canceling outdoor activities. Those seeking exercise, including runners training for international events, have found an unconventional alternative: air-conditioned shopping malls. On Saturday, more than 80 runners turned the corridors of the Marina Square shopping center into makeshift running tracks, clocking laps past storefronts on two floors before shops opened for business. There are strict rules. “No sprinting,
RSS