Andy Murray hailed his Davis Cup teammate, Kyle Edmund, as the future of British tennis on Friday after subduing a robust challenge from his potential young successor to reach the semi-finals of the Aegon Championships.
The class of world No. 2 Murray told in the third set as he eased away to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win in the first singles quarter-final of an ATP tour event to feature two British men since Tim Henman beat Greg Rusedski in Adelaide in 2002.
Yet Murray had seen enough of the 21-year-old, who helped Britain win the Davis Cup last season, to tell the crowd during an on-court interview afterward: “Obviously Kyle’s the future of the game in this country.”
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“It is important that he is given time to develop at his own rate and that too much pressure is not put on him. If he is given time and a little bit of space to keep developing, he can go very far,” Murray added.
Edmund, the world No. 85, who said Murray has been the inspiration in his development, produced a tremendous second set to illustrate his promise, but Murray moved up another gear to continue his assault on a record fifth Queen’s Club title.
With Wimbledon a little more than a week away, Murray had one scare when he slipped on the wet grass and fell awkwardly, but said afterward: “It was a bit of a shock at first, but I am fine.”
Murray now faces Croatia’s former Queen’s winner Marin Cilic, who beat American Steve Johnson 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-4.
Milos Raonic’s new coaching link-up with John McEnroe took another smooth step forward, as the Canadian overpowered Spain’s Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-1, 6-4 to set up the other semi-final against Bernard Tomic, who beat Gilles Muller 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-2.
GERRY WEBER OPEN
Reuters
Roger Federer delivered what he called his best match yet since returning from injury, as he eased to a 6-1, 7-6 (12/10) win over Belgium’s David Goffin to reach the semi-finals of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, on Friday.
The Swiss great, who is seeking a ninth title in his traditional Wimbledon grass-court warm-up event, was to ensure he features in his 11th Halle final if he beat rising German talent Alexander Zverev later yesterday in their semi-final clash.
The top-seeded Federer, who is returning to fitness after missing the French Open with a back injury, raced away with the first set against the fifth seed, but completed victory in 1 hour, 21 minutes after saving five set points in the second.
“I thought it was my best match thus far,” Federer said. “It is a good win for me and I am clearly very happy to be in the semis.”
The 19-year-old Zverev continued his breakthrough season with a 7-6 (11/9), 6-3 win over Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.
Federer was impressed with his young opponent, saying: “He has got a big serve, he has got a nice backhand, he is improving his forehand and he is moving forward. He is going to be a tough player in the future, no doubt about it.”
The other semi-final was to see third-seeded Austrian sensation Dominic Thiem, who is seeking his fifth title of the season, against German Florian Mayer, who beat Italian Andreas Seppi 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in his quarter-final.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier