Bublik Ball Tricks Entertain Aptos Crowd 2017
Bublik Ball Tricks Entertain Aptos Crowd 2017
Aug122017
Sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki beat Karolina Pliskova 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 in a rain-hit match at the Rogers Cup for her first win over a world number one.
Wozniacki was 5-1 down in the first set and 4-2 down in the third but recovered to beat the Czech after three hours.
The Dane, 27, will play either American Sloane Stephens or Czech Lucie Safarova in the semi-finals in Toronto.
Simona Halep faces Caroline Garcia and Garbine Muguruza plays Elina Svitolina in the remaining quarter-final matches.
“Almost every tournament I’ve played this year there has been a rain delay, so at this point I just have to laugh because I feel like it is following me,” said Wozniacki.
“Every time this year when it has been raining I’ve had a great tournament, so I thought this must be luck.”
Roger Federer extended his winning streak to 15 matches as he beat Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the Rogers Cup semi-finals in Montreal.
The 36-year-old Swiss won 6-4 6-4 in 68 minutes to set up a meeting with unseeded Dutchman Robin Haase.
Federer is aiming for the third Rogers Cup win of his career and sixth title of a remarkable 2017 season.
Denis Shapovalov plays Adrian Mannarino and Alexander Zverev faces Kevin Anderson in the other quarter-finals.
Federer secured the decisive first break at 4-4 in the opening set, then got the better of three consecutive breaks early in the second.
The 19-time Grand Slam champion has now won all 16 sets in his seven matches against Bautista Agut.
Haase, ranked 52nd in the world, fought back to beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 4-6 6-3 6-3.
Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram advanced to their second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final of the season on Friday, beating Frenchmen Fabrice Martin and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 5-7, 7-5, 10-8 at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal.
The South African and American pairing hit 10 aces and claimed 87 per cent of their first-serve points to move into the last four. They also reached the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where they won their first Masters 1000 title (d. Kubot/Melo).
The sixth seeds will next face Indian Rohan Bopanna and Croatian Ivan Dodig, who beat another French team in Gael Monfils and Benoit Paire 6-2, 7-5. Bopanna/Dodig saved three of four break points to advance in 74 minutes.
Fifth seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut escaped two tight sets against fourth seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6(5), 7-6(11) to reach their third Masters 1000 semi-final of the season. The Frenchmen fell in the semi-finals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. to Lopez/Lopez) and won the Internazionali BNL d’Italia title in Rome (d. Dodig/Granollers).
They will face top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers or Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in the last four.
World No. 52 making deep run in Canada
Robin Haase dared to dream and delivered on Friday when he booked a spot in the Coupe Rogers semi-finals, his first at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.
Haase extended his perfect record to 5-0 against Argentinean Diego Schwartzman in a hard-fought 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 quarter-final victory over two hours and four minutes.
The Dutchman, competing at his 35th tournament at the Masters 1000 level, will next face Swiss second seed and two-time former champion Roger Federer or No. 12 seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain. Haase’s previous best result had been one quarter-final exit at the 2012 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. to Djokovic).
Schwartzman played aggressively from the outset, pouncing on any half chance in the opener, but lapses in concentration coupled with tiredness – after three straight three-setters – let Haase back into the match. While Haase tightened up and let slip a 3-0 lead in the decider, from 3-3 he lost only six points for his 24th match win of the year.
“The week for me was very good, but I am now disappointed as I don’t think I played well in the second and third sets,” Schwartzman told ATPWorldTour.com. “I didn’t play too well from the baseline, but Haase served better to get back into the match.”
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Former world number one Victoria Azarenka has pulled out of the Cincinnati Open next week because of “a family matter”.
The 28-year-old from Belarus only returned to tennis in June after giving birth to her son, Leo, in December.
Azarenka reached the fourth round of Wimbledon before withdrawing from last month’s WTA event in Stanford, California, with a viral illness.
Defending champion Marin Cilic is also out of the Cincinnati Open.
The Croat has pulled out with the adductor injury which has sidelined him since Wimbledon, where he lost to Roger Federer in the final.
“I still don’t feel at 100% to compete at the top level and to defend my title,” said Cilic, who beat Andy Murray to win the Cincinnati title last year.
The US Open – the final Grand Slam tournament of the year – gets under way in New York on 28 August.
Croatian star aiming for quick return
World No. 6 Marin Cilic announced on Friday that he has been forced to withdraw from the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, where he is the defending champion, due to an abductor injury.
“I was really eager to play in Cincinnati, where I won my first-career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 singles title last year and where I’ve had some of the best performances during my career, but I still don’t feel at 100 per cent to compete at the top level and to defend my title there,” said Cilic.
“I had already started with my preparation and the progress is going well, but there isn’t enough time for me to prepare for Cincinnati and to be completely ready to play there. I feel very confident that I will be back in action very soon.”
The 28-year-old Cilic suffered the injury last month at Wimbledon, where he lost to Roger Federer in the final on 16 July.
Rafael Nadal fell to a shock defeat by 18-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Wildcard Shapovalov came from a set down to beat top seed Nadal 3-6 6-4 7-6 (6-4) and become the youngest player to reach a Masters 1000 quarter-final.
Nadal’s loss means Andy Murray remains world number one, but only until next week’s Cincinnati Masters, where Nadal or Roger Federer will replace him.
Federer also progressed to the last eight, with victory over David Ferrer.
The Swiss world number three, 36, came from a set behind to beat the Spaniard 4-6 6-4 6-2 and next faces Roberto Bautista Agut, also of Spain, who defeated Frenchman Gael Monfils 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (6-2).
World number 143 Shapovalov, the 2016 Wimbledon junior champion, plays 29-year-old Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
In the other quarter-finals, Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who beat Australian Nick Kyrgios 6-4 6-3, will play South African Kevin Anderson, who saw off American Sam Querrey 6-4 6-1 in the last 16.
And Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman will face Robin Haase of the Netherlands. Haase beat Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (6-3) 4-6 6-1, while Schwartzman defeated American Jared Donaldson 0-6 7-5 7-5.
Two unseeded opponents – a World No. 143, the other No. 42 in the Emirates ATP Rankings – were all that stood between Rafael Nadal and a return to No. 1 in Montreal by Thursday night. Defeat to the unheralded NextGenATP wild card Denis Shapovalov before a raucous Coupe Rogers crowd, however, means the Spaniard will now turn his sights to Cincinnati.
There the 30 year old will enter a two-horse race at the Western & Southern Open, where he and Roger Federer will bid to take over No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) loss to the 18 year old Canadian was difficult to take as a subsequent victory over the No. 42-ranked Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the quarter-finals would have returned Nadal to top spot for the first time in more than three years.
“It probably is the worst lose of the year, without a doubt, for me,” Nadal said. “He played well. I played really bad. When this kind of thing happens, the only thing you can do is wish the opponent the best.
“It is probably my worst loss of the year because I lost against a player with a lower ranking. At the same time, because of the opportunity I had here to come back to No. 1. Always tough, but the draw was not that impossible after all the matches that were happening. So it was an important mistake from me.”
In a gruelling deciding set in the battle of the two lefties, Nadal failed to convert on six break points. He later relinquished a 3-0 lead in the deciding tie-break. It marked his fourth straight deciding-set tie-break defeat.
“He played well on the breakpoints. He hit some lines. One with 15-30, he hit the second serve ace wide. Then a good return for me, forehand winner down the line, not easy,” Nadal said. “[Despite] all these kind of things, I made too many mistakes on important points.”
Shapovalov became the youngest player to beat at Top 2 opponent (in a completed match) since a 17-year-old Nadal beat top-ranked Federer in the 2004 ATP Masters 1000 Miami third round. Nadal, for one, was not surprised his teenage opponent’s nerves did not crack.
“He has nothing to lose. It is win-win for him,” Nadal said. “If he lost playing a good match, it was good for him. If he lost in straight sets, already he played a good tournament. If he won, he’s amazing. Just well done for him. It’s a great story.”
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