Tennis: Europe tops World in Laver Cup openers

PRAGUE - Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev won their opening singles to put Team Europe ahead of Team World after day one of the inaugural Laver Cup in Prague on Friday.

Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock then handed Team World their first point by beating Tomas Berdych and world number one Rafael Nadal in the day's closing doubles rubber to round off the score at 3-1 for Europe.

"I'm happy the way the day went, we had a couple of wins that were super close and we could lose," said Roland Garros and US Open champion Nadal.


"We have a good result for our team. Happy to go to back to bed with 3-1 and tomorrow is another day."

With four matches a day -- three singles and a doubles, the players can earn a point for each win on Friday, two on Saturday and three on Sunday.

World number five Cilic beat 72nd-ranked Frances Tiafoe, a replacement for the injured Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/0) in the tournament opener.

The big-serving Croat and the 19-year-old American held on to their serves in the first set before earning a break apiece in the second, with Cilic showing better nerves in both tie-breakers.

Seventh-ranked Austrian Thiem then put Europe 2-0 ahead, beating world number 17 John Isner 6-7 (15/17), 7-6 (7/2), 10/8.

Isner offered his regular dose of aces as both held on to their serves throughout the rubber, taking it to the 10-point super tie-break used to decide games tied after two sets.

Isner went 4-0 up in the super tie-break, but the patient Austrian came back to win the rubber.

In a clash of the teams' youngest players, the 20-year-old world number four, Zverev, overpowered 18-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5) in another rubber without breaks.

In the doubles, Berdych lost his serve halfway through the first set as off-court friends Kyrgios and Sock seemed far more comfortable on the black court of Prague's O2 Arena.

Berdych and Nadal regained some momentum in the second set, but the Team World duo grabbed the super tie-break.

Skippering Team Europe, Bjorn Borg decided to rest world number two Roger Federer on Friday while John McEnroe decided not to use his highest-ranked player, 16th-ranked Sam Querrey.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Djokovic crashes at Wimbledon ending Slam dream

LONDON -- Two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic was sent crashing out of Wimbledon by big-serving Sam Querrey on Saturday, shattering his dreams of securing the first calendar Grand Slam in 47 years.

The world number one, bidding for a fourth Wimbledon title and 13th major, suffered his earliest loss at a Slam since the 2009 French Open.

The 7-6 (8/6), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) third round defeat also ended Djokovic's Open era record run of 30 successive wins at the majors and his streak of having reached 28 consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals.

"Sam played a great match. His game was brutal and I was overpowered," said the Serb, who added that he "wasn't 100 percent healthy".

Djokovic, who completed a career Grand Slam at the French Open, refused to dwell on failing to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win a calendar Grand Slam having won in Melbourne and Paris already this year.

"I managed to win four Grand Slams in a row. I want to try to focus on that rather than on failure," he added.

"Coming into Wimbledon, I knew that mentally it's not going to be easy to kind of remotivate myself."

Djokovic added that he would not be playing in the Davis Cup quarter-final against Andy Murray's Great Britain in Belgrade in two weeks' time.

- Fate sealed -

America's Querrey, the world number 41, built only his second win in 10 meetings with Djokovic on an epic-serving performance over two days after the tie had been suspended with him two sets to the good on Friday.

The 28-year-old sent down 31 aces -- 15 in the fourth set alone -- and saved 14 of 17 break points while unleashing 56 winners.

His reward is a last-16 clash with 34-year-old Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

"It's incredible, especially to do it here at Wimbledon. I'm so ecstatic right now and so happy," said Querrey.

Rain had saved 29-year-old Djokovic on Friday. On the resumption Saturday, the US, Australian and French Open champion took the third set 6-3.

In the fourth, he squandered 11 break points before finally breaking through at the 12th time of asking for a 5-4 lead.

But he couldn't convert with the American hitting straight back for 5-5 and holding for 6-5 when the rain returned to cause a second suspension of the day on Court One.

Djokovic served to take the set into the tiebreak and was ahead at 2/0 and 4/3 but Querrey clawed his way to two match points.

The top seed saved the first, but ballooned a forehand wide and his fate was sealed.

- Murray cruises through -

Djokovic's defeat was good news for second seed Murray who lost to his long-time rival in the Australian and French Open finals this year.

The 2013 champion responded by making the last-16 with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Australia's John Millman under the Centre Court roof.

"What Novak's done in the last 18 months, I don't think we'll see again for a long time. The level of consistency he's had is amazing, but it's impossible to win every match," said Murray.

Murray will play Australian 15th seed Nick Kyrgios or Spain's Feliciano Lopez for a place in the quarter-finals.

That tie was suspended due to bad light at one set apiece.

Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori beat Andrey Kuznetsov 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 to set up a last-16 clash with Marin Cilic, the Croatian ninth seed who eased past Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

That will be a repeat of the 2014 US Open final won by Cilic.

In-form American Steve Johnson reached the fourth round of a major for the first time by defeating former semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 6-2.

The world number 29 faces seven-time champion Roger Federer for a place in the last-eight.

Canadian sixth seed Milos Raonic, a 2014 finalist, defeated America's Jack Sock 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 7-6 (7/1) and next faces Belgium's David Goffin.

Due to the rain-hit first week, two-time champion Petra Kvitova only finished her second round match at 5:30pm (1630 GMT).

The Czech 10th seed, with 43 unforced errors, lost 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) to Russia's Ekaterina Makarova.

Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the 2012 runner-up, enjoyed a 6-3, 6-1 win over Katerina Siniakova and next plays Dominika Cibulkova, the 19th seed from Slovakia.

German fourth seed and Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber also reached the last-16 with a 7-6 (13/11), 6-1 win over compatriot Carian Witthoeft.

A semi-finalist in 2012, Kerber will next face Japan's Misaki Doi.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Nishikori marches on in Memphis

WASHINGTON, United States - Top seed Kei Nishikori moved closer to a fourth straight ATP Memphis title on Friday, saving all five break points he faced in a 6-2, 6-4 quarter-final victory over Mikhail Kukushkin.

Japan's world number seven, who has now won all five of his meetings with Kazakhstan's Kukushkin, reached his first ATP semi-final since Tokyo in October.

He'll face fourth-seeded American Sam Querrey in a rematch of their semi-final clash here last year.

Querrey ended the dream run of Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-4.

Although he emerged with the straight-sets win, Querrey said it wasn't easy against the Japanese left-hander.

"We had a lot of close games, it was a tough match," said Querrey, who served up 11 aces and saved both break points he faced to win in 72 minutes -- ending Nishioka's dream of facing compatriot Nishikori.

In Saturday's other semi-final, 18-year-old American Taylor Fritz will battle Lithuania's Ricardas Berankis.

Fritz, ranked 145th in the world, upset second-seeded Steve Johnson on Thursday and followed up with a hard-fought 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5) victory over Germany's Benjamin Becker.

Becker served for the match at 6-5 in the third set, but Fritz broke him to force the tie-breaker.

"It's incredible, I can't believe it," Fritz said. "To come back in that way, with him serving for the match, I'll never forget that."

Fritz fired 13 aces and saved six of the 11 break points he faced in the two-hour, 20-minute duel.

Berankis, ranked 102nd in the world, advanced with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 victory over third-seeded American Donald Young.

"Maybe it wasn't Young's best day today," said Berankis, who reached his second career ATP semi-final. "He didn't really have a plan B and thought I would put myself in trouble with fast shots and mistakes, but it didn't work out for him."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com