Roger Federer takes the confidence of a 6-0 career record over Feliciano Lopez into his semi-final at the Swiss Indoors as the top seed kept up his bid for a home trophy hat-trick on Friday.
Federer eased past Italian Simone Bolelli, claiming his 61st victory of the season, 6-2, 6-3 in their quarter-final. Dubai finalist Lopez upset American fourth seed James Blake 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) as the Spaniard went through on his fourth match point, leaving Blake’s effort to qualify for the Masters Cup in Shanghai stalled.
The American missed on all eight of his break point chances. Final jockeying for positions at the eight-man year-end Masters Cup will take place next week as the regular ATP season ends at the Paris Masters.
PHOTO: EPA
Federer, who began his career at his local event, recovered well after a testing second round clash with Jarkko Niemimen, as 42nd-ranked Bolelli failed to pose any major problems.
Bolelli rallied briefly in the penultimate game, saving three match points before the Swiss superstar secured victory with two aces and a service winner to wrap it up in just over an hour.
“Bolelli’s difficult, so I had to stay alert,” Federer said of the Munich finalist. “But when I got settled in this was the optimum result for me.”
Second seed David Nalbandian reached the semis for the fourth time in seven appearances to set up a showdown with Davis Cup teammate Juan Martin Del Potro.
Second seed Nalbandian, the 2002 champion, is fresh from a loss to his talented 20-year-old compatriot last week in the Madrid Masters third round. Del Potro, 20, and ranked ninth in the world to Nalbandian’s eighth, beat Russian Igor Andreev 6-4, 7-5, while Nalbandian accounted for German qualifier Benjamin Becker 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.
Nalbandian is devoting all of his energy toward the Nov. 21 to Nov. 23 Davis Cup final in Mar del Plata against Spain, uninterested in qualifying for the Masters Cup and refusing this year to make a trip across the Pacific. Del Potro, young and eager at age 20, is keen to make it to both Shanghai, where he stands seventh in the race for one of three remaining spots, and the Davis Cup final.
Del Potro moves from strength to strength as he won his 35th match from his last 38, including a run to four straight titles over the summer. He also finished runner-up in Tokyo, then reached his first Masters Series quarter-final at Madrid, where he lost to Federer. The youngster now stands 44-11 on the season with a 1-1 record against his senior compatriot.
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946