Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic 6-3 7-6 to reach the semi-finals of the Toronto Masters.
The eighth-seeded Scot stunned the defending champion in an hour and 44 minutes and will now face Rafael Nadal.
"This is the best I've played, he's always beaten me badly," said the satisfied Murray, now 1-4 against his rival from junior days.
"He really played good, he made me run, but I defended well. It was awesome to play in this atmosphere of a packed house.
"He's one of the best players, you can't make many errors against him and expect to win," added Murray, who saved a set point in the 10th game of the second set.
"If he had converted that, the momentum could have changed."
The Serbian third seed was from his best, committing more than 30 unforced errors in an effort which left him looking far from a threat for the summer hardcourt season.
Murray twice gave back breaks in the second set before finally squeezing into a tie-breaker, which he dominated to claim the victory on his third match point.
"It's a big win mentally for me, the last three times I played him I lost pretty badly," Murray said.
"Nadal is always going to be a big win. It gives you confidence, especially when you've lost to him three or four times beforehand.
"I want to try and keep this sort of form."
Nadal recovered after a marathon tie-break setback to seal a high-tension triumph over France's Richard Gasquet.
Spain's Wimbledon and French Open champion overcame 10th-seeded Gasquet 6-7 (12-14) 6-2 6-1 but required two hours and 14 minutes to claim his 59th victory of the season.
Nadal roared back after losing the 75-minute opening set, which Gasquet claimed on his sixth set point after saving two set points for Nadal.
"It was a very tough first set," Nadal said. "I had chances, I was up a a break twice.
"But Richard played well to beat me in the set. In the second I had to stay positive and concentrated."
Showing posts with label tennis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tennis. Show all posts
Saturday, 26 July 2008
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Swiss won't miss Olympics, but football takes first place
(CNN) -- Yes, we have Roger. Yes, we developed the "Bird's nest" Olympic stadium. But in Switzerland, the 2008 Summer Olympics are still far away -- and not just geographically.
For once, the Olympics are in second place.
Things will probably be different when the Olympics are almost upon us. But for the moment, the Swiss are focusing on another major sporting event taking place in 2008.
With its neighbour Austria, Switzerland is hosting the European football championship, Euro 2008.
Euro 2008 is the most important European sports event there is. It takes place in June, just two months before the Olympics. Switzerland has never hosted such a large-scale competition before. So it's Euro 2008 first, Olympics second.
Compared with other Olympic years, the Games aren't a big issue yet. Nobody doubts that this will change once the football is history.
The month of July will give weary sports fans (and sports journalists) time to recover. In August, everybody should be ready for the next big party, the Olympics.
But until then, we're taking one day at a time. The Summer Games play nothing like the same role in Switzerland as the Winter Games do. With Switzerland being an alpine country, winter sports are very popular.
The most important alpine downhill skiing races always get the best TV ratings of all sports events. When there are the races in Wengen around noon on Saturday or Sunday in the middle of January, Switzerland stands still.
In the Winter Games -- to be held next in Vancouver in 2010 -- Switzerland has medal hopes in every second or third competition, not just in downhill skiing, but also in bobsleigh, figure-skating and curling, to name just a few.
At the Summer Games, tiny Switzerland faces much greater competition, and medal hopes are scarcer. In any event, Switzerland is sure to bring two big stars to the Summer Games.
One of them is already there: the famous "Bird's nest," the all-new national stadium which will host the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the track and field competitions.
The "Bird's nest" was designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. They won the Pritzker Prize, one of the most important awards in architecture, in 2001, and are well-known for their conversion of the Tate Modern in London.
Jacques Herzog and Pierre De Meuron were both born in Basel in 1950. Quick quiz: Which sportsman was born 31 years later in the same town? It's easy for the Swiss, but maybe not for everybody else. Did you guess Roger Federer? Correct!
The four-time World Sportsman of the Year has won nearly every title in tennis, except the French Open, the Davis Cup and an Olympic gold medal.
In Sydney in 2000, a young Federer lost the bronze medal to Frenchman Arnaud Di Pasquale. In Athens in 2004, an early loss against a then almost-unknown Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic came as a huge shock.
Roger Federer has stated on several occasions that the Summer Games are one of this year's main goals. It will be a tough summer for him, starting with the French Open, followed by Wimbledon, the Games and the US Open.
Can he win all four of them? If anyone can, he can -- although he faces tough competition, led by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Lucky in love, unlucky at cards? Or is it the other way round? At the Olympic Games, Roger hasn't been too lucky on court. It's a different story off court, though. It was in Athens in 2000 that he met and fell in love with Mirka Vavrinec, who represented Switzerland in the women's tournament.
And did you know that Switzerland has its own Chinese gold medal winner? Gymnast Donghua Li left China in 1988 -- another sportsman to fall in love with a Swiss woman. He competed for his new country at Atlanta in 1996 and took home the gold medal in the pommel horse
For once, the Olympics are in second place.
Things will probably be different when the Olympics are almost upon us. But for the moment, the Swiss are focusing on another major sporting event taking place in 2008.
With its neighbour Austria, Switzerland is hosting the European football championship, Euro 2008.
Euro 2008 is the most important European sports event there is. It takes place in June, just two months before the Olympics. Switzerland has never hosted such a large-scale competition before. So it's Euro 2008 first, Olympics second.
Compared with other Olympic years, the Games aren't a big issue yet. Nobody doubts that this will change once the football is history.
The month of July will give weary sports fans (and sports journalists) time to recover. In August, everybody should be ready for the next big party, the Olympics.
But until then, we're taking one day at a time. The Summer Games play nothing like the same role in Switzerland as the Winter Games do. With Switzerland being an alpine country, winter sports are very popular.
The most important alpine downhill skiing races always get the best TV ratings of all sports events. When there are the races in Wengen around noon on Saturday or Sunday in the middle of January, Switzerland stands still.
In the Winter Games -- to be held next in Vancouver in 2010 -- Switzerland has medal hopes in every second or third competition, not just in downhill skiing, but also in bobsleigh, figure-skating and curling, to name just a few.
At the Summer Games, tiny Switzerland faces much greater competition, and medal hopes are scarcer. In any event, Switzerland is sure to bring two big stars to the Summer Games.
One of them is already there: the famous "Bird's nest," the all-new national stadium which will host the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the track and field competitions.
The "Bird's nest" was designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. They won the Pritzker Prize, one of the most important awards in architecture, in 2001, and are well-known for their conversion of the Tate Modern in London.
Jacques Herzog and Pierre De Meuron were both born in Basel in 1950. Quick quiz: Which sportsman was born 31 years later in the same town? It's easy for the Swiss, but maybe not for everybody else. Did you guess Roger Federer? Correct!
The four-time World Sportsman of the Year has won nearly every title in tennis, except the French Open, the Davis Cup and an Olympic gold medal.
In Sydney in 2000, a young Federer lost the bronze medal to Frenchman Arnaud Di Pasquale. In Athens in 2004, an early loss against a then almost-unknown Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic came as a huge shock.
Roger Federer has stated on several occasions that the Summer Games are one of this year's main goals. It will be a tough summer for him, starting with the French Open, followed by Wimbledon, the Games and the US Open.
Can he win all four of them? If anyone can, he can -- although he faces tough competition, led by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Lucky in love, unlucky at cards? Or is it the other way round? At the Olympic Games, Roger hasn't been too lucky on court. It's a different story off court, though. It was in Athens in 2000 that he met and fell in love with Mirka Vavrinec, who represented Switzerland in the women's tournament.
And did you know that Switzerland has its own Chinese gold medal winner? Gymnast Donghua Li left China in 1988 -- another sportsman to fall in love with a Swiss woman. He competed for his new country at Atlanta in 1996 and took home the gold medal in the pommel horse
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Roger Federer
© Paul Zimmer
ATP - ROGER QUALIFIES FOR MASTERS
The first three players have qualified for the Masters Cup in Shanghai. Roger, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are already in for the battle for the title in November (9-19).Only eight singles players and eight doubles teams are invited to the tournament. Roger is headed to his seventh consecutive Masters Cup, which he won in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. He clinched his first two titles in Houston and then added another two in Shanghai. He was defeated by David Nalbandian in a dramatic final in 2005.Roger could draw level with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras this year by winning a fifth Masters title.
ATP - ROGER QUALIFIES FOR MASTERS
The first three players have qualified for the Masters Cup in Shanghai. Roger, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are already in for the battle for the title in November (9-19).Only eight singles players and eight doubles teams are invited to the tournament. Roger is headed to his seventh consecutive Masters Cup, which he won in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. He clinched his first two titles in Houston and then added another two in Shanghai. He was defeated by David Nalbandian in a dramatic final in 2005.Roger could draw level with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras this year by winning a fifth Masters title.
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (IPA: [rafaˈel naˈðal]) (born June 3, 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player, who has won five Grand Slam singles titles. He has won the French Open in four consecutive years (2005–08), and Wimbledon in 2008. He is currently ranked world number two, a position he has held for a record 156 consecutive weeks.[1]
From April 2005 to May 2007, Nadal won a record 81 consecutive clay court matches before being defeated by Roger Federer in the 2007 Hamburg Masters final. This is the longest winning streak of any male player on a single surface in the open era. Nadal is undefeated at the French Open, having won all 28 matches and four single titles he has played. These achievements have led some to regard Nadal as the greatest clay-court player in the history of the sport.[2]
Nadal has a storied rivalry with Roger Federer, most notably for defeating the world number one at the French Open in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, so far denying Federer a Career Grand Slam. At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, Nadal defeated Federer in the final, ending the latter's run of five consecutive wins, with Nadal becoming the first player since Björn Borg in 1980 to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. He is also only the second male Spaniard to win the Wimbledon title and the first in 42 years.
From April 2005 to May 2007, Nadal won a record 81 consecutive clay court matches before being defeated by Roger Federer in the 2007 Hamburg Masters final. This is the longest winning streak of any male player on a single surface in the open era. Nadal is undefeated at the French Open, having won all 28 matches and four single titles he has played. These achievements have led some to regard Nadal as the greatest clay-court player in the history of the sport.[2]
Nadal has a storied rivalry with Roger Federer, most notably for defeating the world number one at the French Open in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, so far denying Federer a Career Grand Slam. At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, Nadal defeated Federer in the final, ending the latter's run of five consecutive wins, with Nadal becoming the first player since Björn Borg in 1980 to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. He is also only the second male Spaniard to win the Wimbledon title and the first in 42 years.
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