Top seed Gael Monfils of France continued his relentless march toward the South African Open title with a straight-sets quarter-final triumph over Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun on Friday.
The world No. 13 gave his best performance so far in the ATP tournament at Montecasino Entertainment Centre and needed only 54 minutes to complete a 6-1, 6-4 win over a brave, but often outclassed Lu.
Monfils will face third seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain in the semi-finals, while second seed David Ferrer meets Stephane Robert in another Franco-Spanish showdown.
PHOTO: EPA
“Perfect,” was the verdict of crowd favorite Monfils on his display after he claimed a third consecutive straight-sets victory in an event won last year by fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The 23-year-old Paris-born son of Caribbean parents, who loves soccer and supports Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain, took just 23 minutes to win the first set after twice breaking Lu’s service.
Nicknamed Randy because his American high school teachers could not pronounce his full name, Lu improved dramatically to win his first two service games in the second set and lead 2-1, before threatening to break Monfils. After building a 40-15 advantage, however, the Taiwanese ranked 96 in the world squandered his big chance with two unforced errors and lost the game by over-hitting a deep return.
Monfils then broke service to take a 3-2 lead when he could easily have been trailing 4-1 and the next five games were won by the server to put Monfils in the semis.
Ferrer reached the semi-finals for the second consecutive year with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over young Indian Somdev Devvarman and will hope for better luck than last year when he suffered a shock loss to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Lopez won 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 against Rajeev Ram of the US and Robert eliminated Jamaican giant Dustin Brown 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 in another tight contest to secure a place beside the top three seeds.
■MOVISTAR OPEN
AP, SANTIAGO
Top-seeded Fernando Gonzalez barely kept alive his hopes of a fifth hometown Movistar Open title when he scraped past unseeded Marcel Granollers of Spain 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (11/9) in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Gonzalez could never get on a roll against Granollers, who matched the Chilean star break for break in a match which lasted 2 hours, 17 minutes.
Gonzalez will play third-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, who outserved Eduardo Schwank of Argentina 6-4, 6-4.
Argentina’s Juan Monaco overcame Peter Luczak of Australia 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to be only a win away from making the Movistar Open final for the second time in three years.
Monaco will play Brazilian qualifier Joao Souza, who has advanced to the last four in his debut on the main ATP Tour.
Souza ousted three-time Tour winner Alberto Martin of Spain 6-2, 6-4 for his sixth win in seven days, including in qualifying.
■ZAGREB INDOORS
REUTERS, ZAGREB
Top seed Marin Cilic of Croatia battled to a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over compatriot Ivo Karlovic to stay on course for his second consecutive Zagreb Indoors title.
Cilic now faces Austrian third seed Juergen Melzer, who got past Ukrainian Illya Marchenko 3-6, 6-0, 7-5.
Germany’s Michael Berrer reached the last four of an ATP Tour event for the first time since October 2007 after upsetting fourth seed Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-3 in 84 minutes.
World No. 65 Berrer faces countryman Philipp Petzschner, who beat Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko 6-7 (1/7), 6-2, 6-2.
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Donovan Mitchell on Wednesday scored 26 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers punched their ticket to the NBA playoffs with a hard-fought 112-107 victory over the Miami Heat. A seesaw battle in Cleveland saw the Heat threaten to end the Cavs’ 11-game unbeaten streak after opening up a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs clawed back the deficit in the closing minutes to seal their 12th straight victory and a place in the post-season. The Cavaliers improved to 52-10, maintaining their stranglehold on the Eastern Conference with 20 games of the regular season remaining. Mitchell was one of six Cleveland
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Manchester United on Thursday settled for a 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie. United led on Joshua Zirkzee’s goal in the 58th minute, but the hosts equalized 12 minutes later after Bruno Fernandes’ hand ball and Mikel Oyarzabal sent Andre Onana the wrong way from the penalty spot. The Europa League could be a way for United to finish the season with a trophy after crashing out of the FA Cup on Sunday. A spot in the quarter-finals is to be on the line at Old Trafford in the second leg on Thursday next
RSS