Nadal beats Federer to enter semis
Mason(Ohio): Rafael Nadal advanced to the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win over long-time foe Roger Federer on Friday, in a vintage match that will give both players encouragement heading toward the U.S. Open. Nadal improved to 21-10 against his top rival, including wins all of their three matches this year. A close match came down to a few key points, and Nadal got most of them. The Spaniard’s chances of taking this Masters series title improved markedly, as both Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray were beaten. Djokovic again failed in his quest to win Cincinnati — the only Masters event he has yet to claim — as he was beaten 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5 by big-serving American John Isner. Reigning Wimbledon champion Murray was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Tomas Berdych, who will meet Nadal in the semifinals.
Third pole on trot for Narain in Auto GP
Nurburgring (Germany): Indian racer Narain Karthikeyan clinched his third consecutive pole position as his side, Super Nova International, locked the front row for the Nurburgring race in the Auto GP World Series, here. Narain secured pole position with a lap time of 1:18.330, while his Italian teammate Vittorio Ghirelli was two-tenths behind at the Nurburgring Circuit. In the sole 45-minute practice session preceding qualifying, Narain and his Super Nova team worked on sorting the balance on both medium and soft Kumho compounds allocated for the weekend. “We were the first cars out on the track in practice and the circuit was extremely green. But even as the session went on, we weren’t quite able to nail the balance on the medium compound,” said Narain, recounting the proceedings of the morning practice session.
Bopanna winner in battle of Indians
Cincinnati: Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin knocked out leander Paes and Radek Stepanek to advance to the semifinals of the ATP Cincinnati Masters, here. Eighth seeded Indo-French team eked out a 6-3 6-7(3) 10-8 win over the fourth seeded Indo-Czech combination. Bopanna is now seeking his second consecutive Cincinnati final when he and Roger-Vasselin face the Spanish duo of Marcel Granollers and Marc lopez. Granollers and lopez, currently No. 3 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings standings, dispatched Poles Mariu
Jr paddlers bag 17 medals at El Salvador
New Delhi: Anirban Ghosh and Sreeja Akula won their maiden singles titles in boys and girls categories, respectively at the ITTF El Salvador Junior and Cadet Open table tennis championships as Indian paddlers finished on a high with seven gold, six silver and four bronze medals. Moumita Dutta won the cadet girls’ title, while Arjun Ghosh lost in the final of cadet boys’ event yesterday. India also clinched cadet boys’ and cadet girls’ doubles gold medals. Indian paddlers had earlier won both the team titles in the cadet sections. last year’s quarter-finalist, Anirban defeated teammate Birdie Boro in the final 12-10, 11-9, 8-1, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9 in a see-saw encounter. While Anirban’s win was a bit of surprise for many, the success recorded by Sreeja in the junior girls’ singles event against a much-known, No. 2 seed Sagarika Mukherjee, stunned everyone.
Advani, Aditya crash out of Bluebell Wood
New Delhi: India’s leading cueists, Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta, bowed out of the third European Players Tour Championship (PTC) of the season — the Bluebell Wood Open — after suffering defeats in their respective round matches at the Doncaster Dome in Sheffield. Cali World Games gold medallist Aditya did show some glimpses of his famed potting prowess but lacked consistency as he lost 0-4 against four-time world champion John Higgins of Scotland in the second round of the championship. Advani went down to two-time world champion Mark Williams 0-4 in the pre-quarterfinals.
Indians win 2 bronze on first day of AYG
Nanjing (China): M Kavita Devi and T lalchhanhima opened India’s medal account in the 2nd Asian Youth Games with a bronze medal each in girl’s judo and boy’s weightlifting respectively on the first day of the competition here on Saturday. Kavita, participating in the multi-sporting event as an Independent Olympic Athlete following India’s ban from International Olympic Committee, beat Karchayeva Aida of Kazakhstan in bronze medal contest of the girl’s 44kg category. The judoka from Manipur was beaten by lin Wan Chu of Chinese Taipei in the third round but claimed the bronze via the repechage round after her victor reached the final. In the boys 55kg, Vikas Kharb lost to Sithisane Soukphaxay of laos in the first round. PNS/Agencies