Category: Tennis

LONDON: The unseeded Australian Tennis player Nick Kyrgios carried on his astounding Wimbledon run as he thumped Cristian Garin in a straight-set victory 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 to qualify for the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time.

The Australian after dropping his serve in the opening game roared back and went on to display a contrasting performance for the rest of the match to seal a comprehensive victory over Garin.

Kyrgios utilized his service skills to the fullest as he claimed a straightforward second set to move within one from the victory.

Fuelled with momentum, the Australian soon pulled ahead in the third set with a dominant early lead of 6-3 to leave himself on the verge of semi-final qualification. Garin, however, did not give up and sealed the next three games to force the match into the tiebreaker.

The Chilean then could not continue his astounding comeback and failed to claim the tiebreaker, allowing Kyrgios to run away with the victory and earned his semi-final spot for the first time.

The Australian will now face the winner of Rafael Nadal and Taylor Fritz’s quarter-final.

READ: Asif, Asjad included as list of WST players for upcoming season revealed

LONDON: Rafael Nadal reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the eighth time on Monday with a straight-sets defeat of Botic van de Zandschulp.

Nadal, who has already won the Australian and French Opens to stand halfway to the first calendar Grand Slam since 1969, triumphed 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (8/6).

Next up for the 36-year-old Spaniard is a clash against American 11th seed Taylor Fritz, who beat him in the Indian Wells final earlier in the year.

“To be back in the quarter-finals after not being here for three years is amazing,” said the 2008 and 2010 champion.

“I expect a very tough match against Taylor — he won his first Masters title this year against me in the final.

“The quarter-finals of a Slam are always very tough.”

Nadal had already defeated Van de Zandschulp in straight sets at the French Open and he was hardly troubled Monday until a third set blip.

He broke the world number 25 Dutchman in the 10th game to secure the opening set.

The 22-time major winner backed it up with a double break in the second set.

Van de Zandschulp managed to stem the bleeding, retrieving a break in the third to get to a tiebreak.

He saved three match points before his challenge ended with a wild smash.

READ: Tomljanovic beats Cornet to reach Wimbledon last eight

LONDON: Ajla Tomljanovic reached her second straight Wimbledon quarter-final on Monday, beating French veteran Alize Cornet 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Both players struggled to win their service games in a match featuring 16 breaks of serve.

Cornet, who ended top seed Iga Switek’s 37-match winning streak in the previous round, took the first set.

But Australia’s Tomljanovic, ranked 44, levelled the match and broke four times in the decider to seal the win, setting up a quarter-final against Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina.

Cornet, ranked 37, was playing in her 62nd consecutive Grand Slam main draw, equaling Ai Sugiyama’s record on the WTA women’s tour.

READ: Djokovic downs Rijthoven, advances to Wimbledon quarters

LONDON: The defending champion Novak Djokovic avoided the scare in his fourth-round match as he defeated Tim Van Rijthoven 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 to qualify for the Wimbledon 2022 quarter-finals.

Djokovic, who enjoyed a near-perfect run in the ongoing tournament thus far, had to fight hard this time around as he sank the wildcard entrant Rijthoven despite dropping the second set.

The Serb displayed sheer dominance in the opening set as he pulled ahead with an early lead of 4-1, the Dutch, however, managed to claim his second game in the next two, only for Djokovic to claim the sixth to seal the set.

The second set then returned a contrasting result as the unseeded Dutch player Ritjhoven stunned Djokovic from 1-2 down to claiming the second set and levelled the match.

Ritjhoven’s astounding comeback in the second set forced Djokovic to be more efficient in the third set by 6-1 to reclaim control.

The fourth set then followed the same pattern as the defending champion did not let the youngster force another comeback and ran away with a comprehensive victory to secure a quarter-finals berth.

Djokovic will play Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals after the Italian thumped Carlos Alcaraz in four sets.

READ: KPK Police appoints Shaheen Shah Afridi as a goodwill ambassador 

LONDON: The Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz carried on his wonderful in the ongoing Wimbledon as he outclassed his German opponent Oscar Otte 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 to storm into the fourth round of the marquee event.

In the third-round clash, Alcaraz displayed sheer dominance over Otte and made sure to improvise his Wimbledon by storming into the fourth round for the first time.

Following his qualification in the last 16, Alcaraz has also become the youngest to reach that stage in the iconic event since Bernard Tomic reached the 2011 quarter-finals at the age of 18.

The Spaniard will now lock horns with the 10th seed Jannik Sinner in a bid to qualify for the quarters for the first time.

In his one of the most perfect matches, Alcaraz left no chance for the 32nd seed Otte and dominated in all three sets before running away with the victory in one hour and 38 minutes.

Following his powerful and precise hitting, the teenager finished with 37 winners and just eight unforced errors, winning 88 per cent (35/40) of his first-serve points.

READ: Bumrah overtakes Brian Lara to score most runs in an over in Test cricket

LONDON: Former World No.1 Novak Djokovic displayed sheer dominance over his countrymate Miomir Kecmanovic in the third round of Wimbledon 2022 to reach the last 16 in pursuit of his title defence.

In a one-sided clash between the two Serbs, Djokovic displayed brilliance as he sealed the third victory of the tournament 6-0 6-3 6-4 to move into the last 16.

The defending champion was unplayable in the opening set as he did not let Kecmanovic open his account before running away with it in 24 minutes.

Kecmanovic, seeded 25, finally found himself in the contest as he scored his first point in the second set – 35 minutes into the match, by taking a long service game.

Djokovic, however, seemed unaffected by the youngster’s brief comeback and soon claimed the second set to move within a set to victory.

The third set then followed the same pattern as the top seed maintained his dominance and claimed his scintillating victory over Kecmanovic to reach the last 16.

In a bid to advance to the quarterfinals, the defending champion will now face Dutch player T. van Rijthoven in a Round of 16 match.

READ: Zaheer Abbas towards recovery, removed from ventilator

LONDON: Women’s World number two Ons Jabeur has revealed that she started to follow Real Madrid because of Cristiano Ronaldo while claiming to be his huge fan. 

Tunisia’s Jabuer, who has reached Wimbledon’s round of sixteen and will lock horns against France’s Diane Parry on Friday, disclosed in a BBC Sport column that the Portuguese star was her favorite footballer and called him an inspiration.

“I love watching football and I’m a huge Cristiano Ronaldo fan. He’s a great athlete and just an inspiration for me,” she said.

The Tennis star stated that she had been following Real Madrid because of Ronaldo and felt dejected when he left the club.

“I became a Real Madrid fan thanks to Cristiano, I was pretty sad when Cristiano left but I’m always following him, as well as still following Real,” she added 

Meanwhile, she also claimed to be a Manchester United fan too since her favorite footballer had joined the club and vowed to continue her support for Ronaldo wherever he moves.

“So now I’m a Manchester United fan too and if he goes anywhere else then I will support that team for sure,” she maintained.

She further expressed her wish to witness a Real Madrid match because of her passion for the club while claiming that she felt connected with Real’s striker Karim Benzema because of her Arab Heritage.

“It’s on my bucket list to go and see a Real Madrid match, When I’m playing at the Madrid Open I always want to go to the Bernabeu to watch a match and I especially wanted to go this year because Real had a massive Champions League game against Manchester City,” she added.

“That Champions League game was the night when Karim Benzema scored the winning goal – I love him too. He’s of Algerian heritage so there is an Arabic connection for me,” she concluded.

READ: Lyon, Head storm Sri Lanka as Australia clinch first Test within three days

LONDON: The fifth-ranked Tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas wriggled out of a shocker to claim his first triumph in the Wimbledon 2022 by defeating Alexander Ritschard 7-6(1) 6-3 5-7 6-4.

The newcomer Ritschard started his Wimbledon campaign on a high and enjoyed a delightful first 15 minutes as he pulled ahead with a 4-1 lead in the first set.

The Greek seemed to have agitated by himself and after a brief prep talk with himself produced an astounding recovery by winning the next four games to lead for the first time in the match.

The Swiss Ritschard’s survival skills then let him down in the tiebreaker and allowed the veteran to claim the first set.

Following a hard-fought first set, the second remained a formality for the Greek as he displayed sheer dominance over the 188th-ranked opponent and moved within one to the victory.

The third set again witnessed a see-saw battle between the two but it was the Swiss this time around as he held his nerves calm to claim his first set after blasting a forehand down the line to take the contest into a fourth.

Ritschard’s celebration, however, was cut short by Tsitsipas as he sealed another dominant set to claim his first-round victory in the Wimbledon.

READ: Michael Vaughan steps down from commentary role amid racism scandal 

LONDON: Serena Williams was defeated in her first singles match for a year on Tuesday, going down 7-5, 1-6, 7/6 (10/7) to unseeded Harmony Tan in the first round of Wimbledon.

“For my first Wimbledon it’s wow — just wow,” said Tan.

Seven-time champion Williams was cheered as she walked onto Centre Court for the evening match, but she looked rusty and was broken in her first service game.

Williams, far below her imperious best and apparently lacking fitness, bounced back, breaking in the fourth game to level at 2-2, buoyed by a supportive crowd at the All England Club.

The pair swapped further breaks but Tan, ranked 115th, broke again in the 11th game and held her nerve to close out the set 7-5.

Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, broke after a mammoth second game of the second set and went on to level the match 6-1.

The American was first to break in the decider but Tan leveled at 3-3.

Williams broke again in the ninth game, throwing her arms into the air in jubilation but faltered as she served for the match.

She faced a match point on her own serve in the 12th game but saved it with a forehand volley, taking the contest into a third-set tie-break.

Williams stepped up a gear, winning the first four points as the match, under the Wimbledon roof, ticked past three hours.

But still her French opponent was not down and out, winning the next five points to edge ahead.

Williams, looking out of breath, could not find inspiration netting when facing a second match point.

“I’m so emotional now,” said Tan. “She’s a superstar. When I was young, I was watching her so many times on the TV.

“When I saw the draw, I was really scared. She’s such a legend. I thought if I can win one game, two games, that would be really good for me.”

Twelve months ago, Williams quit her Wimbledon first-round match in tears after suffering an injury and she had not played singles tennis since until Tuesday.

Doubts had been growing about whether the former world number one — who has slumped to 1,204th in the rankings after her period of inaction — would return to the sport.

But she warmed up by teaming up with Ons Jabeur in the doubles at Eastbourne last week.

Williams, 40, won the last of her seven Wimbledon singles titles six years ago but reached the final in 2018 and 2019.

The American, who was given a wildcard for this year’s tournament, remains stuck on 23 Grand Slam singles wins — agonisingly one short of Margaret Court’s all-time record.

READ: Pakistan to participate in upcoming Azlan Shah Hockey Cup after 9 years

LONDON: World number one Iga Swiatek racked up her 36th successive victory to reach the Wimbledon second round on Tuesday, equalling the winning streak of Monica Seles in 1990.

French Open champion Swiatek defeated Croatian qualifier Jana Fett 6-0, 6-3 to remain undefeated since February.

The 21-year-old Pole will face Dutch lucky loser Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove for a place in the last 32.

READ: Feijen thumps Sanchez Ruiz 9-4 to claim his 11th Euro Title