The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Djokovic floored by Ferrer, Berdych hangs on
- Koo–Tan brace for another meeting with Korean nemesis
- Rashid takes a three-stroke lead after firing seven birdies
| Djokovic floored by Ferrer, Berdych hangs on Posted: 23 Nov 2011 03:58 PM PST LONDON (Reuters): David Ferrer, the lesser known Spaniard in the ATP World Tour Finals, burst out of Rafa Nadal's shadow to reach the last four of the ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday with a demolition job on world number one Novak Djokovic at the O2 Arena. While Nadal's place in the semi-finals is still in doubt after his thrashing at the hands of Roger Federer on Tuesday, world number five Ferrer made sure he will be around at the weekend with a 6-3 6-1 defeat of the year's outstanding player. In the day's other match, Czech Tomas Berdych saved a match point against Djokovic's fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic to seal a 2-6 6-3 7-6 victory which means the calculators may be needed to decide who finishes runner-up in Group A on Friday. The complications mean Djokovic could beat Davis Cup team mate Tipsarevic, a stand-in for injured Briton Andy Murray, and still fail to go through while a defeat, providing Ferrer beats Berdych, would see him survive. Whatever the maths, Djokovic said he would need to play "50 percent" better in his next match. "I have no words to explain this match," Djokovic, who went on a 41-match winning rampage at the start of the year and claimed three of the year's four majors, told reporters. "Nothing was going well. I don't play at least 50 percent better than I did tonight, I don't think I'll have any chance. You always hope that tomorrow will bring something better." In front of another sell-out crowd in the 17,500-capacity arena, Djokovic began solidly enough as the first six games of the match went with serve. However, when the terrier-like Ferrer raced across court on break point to whip a forehand down the line that caught his opponent flat-footed at the net, the match ceased to become a real contest as the 29-year-old from Valencia ran way with it. He broke the Djokovic serve again to win the opening set and he needed nothing spectacular in the second set as Djokovic offered little resistance. The Serb's mounting unforced error tally spoke volumes. "I'm embarrassed to look at the stats," Djokovic, who made 33 unforced errors, said. "All credit to my opponent, he played a great match but, you know, I wasn't there." SKEWED VOLLEY World number nine Tipsarevic, one of the year's most improved players, can no longer reach the semi-finals after his defeat by Berdych although he can content himself with his $70,000 fee for being an alternate and the $120,000 participation fee after replacing the injured Andy Murray. He should also have banked another $120,000 (77,300 pounds) for a round-robin victory but a skewed volley on match point in the deciding set tiebreaker proved extremely costly. Berdych looked set for a second consecutive defeat, after his three-set loss to Djokovic on Monday, when Tipsarevic turned the breaker round to lead 6-5 on serve. He struck lucky though as Tipsarevic let him off the hook. First the bearded Serb's backhand volley went inches wide of the sideline on match point. He followed that with a crazy double fault and the match ended painfully when he stumbled over trying to return a Berdych serve. In trying to get to his feet he fell again and ended up in a heap as a relieved Berdych played the ball away into an empty court. Tipsarevic hobbled off after whacking his knee on the court although he said he would be okay to play Djokovic. "If I have gotten the chance one more time, I would still take that ball early and go to the net and play the volley," said the Serb who began the year ranked 49th in the world. "I am not honestly at all disappointed because of the way I played on the match point. "My feeling now is that I will be ready for practice tomorrow afternoon." Berdych was just happy to still be in with a shout. "I was a bit unlucky on Monday but I got luckier here," he said. "There is still a good chance to qualify and go through. So we will see." In Group B Federer has already guaranteed a top-two place and he will be joined in the semis by the winner of Nadal and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who face off on Thursday evening. Frenchman Tsonga is expecting a backlash from Nadal after his humiliating 6-3 6-0 defeat by Federer. "Rafa is a champion, he has pride," Tsonga told Reuters. "Such a defeat will be stuck in his throat. He's hit but not sunk. It's like when you hunt. If you miss the boar, you just run away." Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Koo–Tan brace for another meeting with Korean nemesis Posted: 23 Nov 2011 03:33 PM PST PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's top doubles shuttlers Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong have been under the observation of Malaysia's South Korean coach Yoo Yong-sung for the last two weeks. He did not train them but he has sent them off to Shanghai with some valuable pointers to end their losing streak against South Korea's second best pair Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong in the China Open, which started yesterday. Yesterday, Kien Keat-Boon Heong and Sung-hyun-Yeon-seong won their respective first round matches in convincing fashions to keep alive a possible meeting in the quarter-finals. World No. 5 Kien Keat-Boon Heong blew away India's Rupesh Kumar-Sanave Thomas 21-12, 21-14 while the Koreans accomplished their job with a convincing 21-10, 21-17 win over compatriots Kim Ki-jung-Shin Baek-cheol. A meeting between these two pairs is possible if they beat Germany's Ingo Kindervater-Johannes Schoettler and Taiwan's Chen Hung-ling-Lin Yu-lang respectively today. These two pairs have played five times with the Koreans winning all. In fact, during their last encounter in the quarter-finals of the World Championships in Wembley in August, Kien Keat-Boon Heong ran out of steam against the Koreans after a brilliant start. Meanwhile, in the men's singles, world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei easily cleared his opening round hurdle with a 21-11, 21-8 win over Poland's Wacha Prezemyslaw. He will be out to keep his winning streak against Japanese Kenichi Tago when they cross swords in the second round today. Malaysia's mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying did well to make the second round with a 21-17, 21-16 win over Chris Adcok-Imogen Bankier of England and Scotland. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Rashid takes a three-stroke lead after firing seven birdies Posted: 23 Nov 2011 03:33 PM PST SEREMBAN: Mohamed Rashid Ismail, winner of the PGM Johor Classic, made seven birdies and two bogeys to finish five-under 67 and take over the lead after the third round of the PGM Seremban Classic at Seremban International Golf Course yesterday. Rashid now leads with 11-under 205 for the tournament, three ahead of joint overnight leader Shaaban Hussin, who only carded a one-under 71 for a three-day total of eight-under 208. Rashid said: "I am putting well again. "My backache is also gone, I am swinging and putting well now. I made seven birdies but was spoilt by bogeys at the par-3 second and par-4 14th. "I must keep my cool. Three shots advantage is not big." "I am not too happy today because I had another out-of-bound at the par-5 third, luckily I managed to recover for a bogey, then I had a double bogey at par-4 16th. "Still I am still in contention. I won't change anything, I will just play my normal game," said Shaaban. Third placed M. Sasidaran, whose putter had gone cold a little bit yesterday, also carded a one-under 71 and is six-under 210 as he heads into the final day of the tournament with the title still in his sights. Sharing third place with Sasidaran is Jeremiah Kim, who was red hot during the first two days and even shared the lead with Shaaban after two rounds. Yesterday, Jeremiah's birdies were cancelled by dropped shots on the back nine to return a one-over 73 and six-under 210 for the tournament. Jeremiah said: "On the back nine I felt a little tired. So far I have played 13 rounds of golf non-stop. "Before coming here I played in the Penang and Malacca amateur Opens. "I had three consecutive birdies in the front nine but they were cancelled out by three bogeys at the par-4 6th, par-4 10th, par-3 15th and par-4 16th," he added. Meanwhile, the only lady professional to tee off in this event, Ainil Johani Bakar, who made the halfway cut, had a two-over 74 for an 11-over 227. Ainil said overall she was happy with her game as she hit most the fairways and greens. "Due to the wet ground the ball didn't run much so I lost some distance. "Anyway I hope I can maintain the momentum for one more day," said Ainil, who played alongside Abdul Samat Abu and Al Malik Faisal. The RM125,000 PGM Seremban Classic is the penultimate event in the PGM Tour 2011 calendar. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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