Casper Ruud racked up a tour-leading 26th win of the season on Thursday by reaching the Barcelona Open quarter-finals.
The world number six from Norway eased past Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-1, 6-4 to move clear of Jannik Sinner for most wins this year.
Ruud, the runner-up to Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Monte Carlo Masters last weekend, raced into a 5-0 lead against Thompson.
Photo: EPA-EFE
He then clinched a break in the seventh game of the second set before moving onto victory in just 73 minutes.
Ruud is to next face Matteo Arnaldi after the Italian world number 40 defeated Argentine Marco Trungelliti 6-3, 6-0.
Seventh-ranked Tsitsipas clinched a 7-5, 6-3 triumph against Roberto Carballes Baena as the Greek extended his winning streak to eight matches.
“It’s good to be on a streak like this,” said Tsitsipas, whose title run in Monte Carlo was his first of this season.
“It tends to get tougher, the more you proceed. To maintain it is the most difficult part, so to have that number so far is good. It adds confidence to me, I really like to be on a streak like this,” he added.
British Cameron Norrie defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-3 to make the last eight and record his 200th tour-level win.
“It’s a big tournament with a lot of historic past champions, so I want to try and win this tournament,” said Norrie of the Spanish clay-court event.
On Wednesday, Spanish veteran Bautista Agut had won his 400th career match by seeing off Andrea Vavassori in the second round.
“I know that yesterday Roberto got 400, so I’m halfway to his. To get 400 wins is impressive and I’ll take that, a 200th win against a top player,” Norrie said.
The Briton next faces Argentine 13th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry for a place in the semi-finals.
With Bautista Agut and Carballes Baena defeated, the tournament has no Spanish players left with 12-time winner Rafael Nadal having exited on Wednesday.
Australian fourth seed Alex de Minaur, the man who knocked out Nadal, was himself defeated on Thursday, losing to world number 36 Arthur Fils of France 7-5, 6-2.
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
BACK-TO-BACK: The League One club, which is owned by stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is sparing no expense to clinch promotion to the Championship Hollywood endings are pricey, even in England’s third division. In pursuit of their third straight promotion, Wrexham AFC splashed some cash at League One rival Reading to secure the services of striker Sam Smith. The Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old Smith on Friday. He is one of the top scorers in the third division. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but British media widely reported it to be about ￡2 million (US$2.48 million) — not extravagant, but a hefty price at this level and it would be about the same figure that
Less than a week after splashing out a world-record fee for Naomi Girma, Chelsea has spent big again to bring England midfielder Keira Walsh back to the English Women’s Super League. Walsh left European champions Barcelona after more than two years to join Chelsea for a reported ￡400,000 (US$496,000) on Friday. Walsh was the world’s most expensive player for two years after moving to Barcelona from Manchester City for a reported ￡400,000 in 2022. That status now belongs to Girma, the US defender who cost Chelsea a reported ￡900,000 to sign from the San Diego Wave. Still, it means 27-year-old Walsh — a technically
Ousmane Dembele on Wednesday scored a hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain romped to a 4-1 win at VfB Stuttgart and qualified for the UEFA Champions League knockout stages. PSG were at risk of elimination after a disappointing league stage, with three losses and a draw, but were utterly dominant against an outclassed Stuttgart side as they confirmed their place in the playoffs. With six minutes gone, Bradley Barcola headed PSG in front after Desire Doue stood a cross up at the back post following a corner. Stuttgart probed for an equalizer, but PSG hit on the counterattack, Dembele tapping a Barcola pass into an
RSS