Federer regains No 1 spot
Swiss star defeats Kyrgios to reach Stuttgart final, takes over top spot from Nadal
STUTTGART, GERMANY: Roger Federer will be back as world No 1 in the new rankings next week after coming from behind to beat Nick Kyrgios 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-6(5) in the semifinals of the ATP Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.
The 36-year-old Swiss will play Canada’s Milos Raonic in Sunday’s final.
Federer, who has won 15 successive matches on grass since being beaten in his opening match in Stuttgart last June, knew he had to win on Saturday to topple Rafael Nadal from the top of the rankings. He will begin a record-extending 310th week at the top on Monday.
But he was made to work hard for the honour as Kyrgios, playing in his first tournament after two months out with an elbow injury, refused to buckle in a contest that lasted just short of two hours.
Over their three career matches, eight of their nine sets have now gone to tiebreak and there was little to separate them in Stuttgart where Federer conceded first, forced his way back into the match and then was taken all the way in the third.
In the other semi-final, Raonic beat defending champion Lucas Pouille 6-4 7-6(3) to reach his first final since 2017 Istanbul Open.
The seventh-seeded Canadian has not won a title since the 2016 Brisbane International.
MURRAY TO PUT HIP TO TEST AT QUEEN’S
LONDON : Former world No 1 Andy Murray will return to competitive action after almost a year’s hiatus at next week’s Queen’s ATP tournament, organisers announced on Saturday.
The 31-year-old Scot has not played a competitive match since he was knocked out of the Wimbledon quarter-finals last July, a hip injury ending his season.
Murray, who had targeted the grass court season for his return as he seeks a third Wimbledon title, underwent surgery on it in Australia in January after pulling out of the Australian Open.
He has been practising regularly for the past fortnight and a final workout on Friday at Queen’s Club with fellow Briton world number 79 Cameron Norrie convinced him to return.
“Andy Murray has confirmed that he will play in the Fevertree Championships,” the tournament said on its official Twitter account.
Murray, whose only other Grand Slam win was the 2012 US Open having lost five Aussie Open finals and once in the French Open final, faces temperamental but talented Australian Nick Kyrgios in the first round. Despite the Briton having won the tournament five times, his tricky draw is due to his world ranking having dropped to 157.
Murray’s half of the draw includes two former Wimbledon finalists.
Croatia’s top seed Marin Cilic, who lost in the 2017 Wimbledon final to Roger Federer, and Canadian Milos Raonic, who Murray beat in the 2016 final, in what is Queen’s strongest line-up in years.
Novak Djokovic, albeit seemingly not the force of old after his own return from injury problems, could await Murray in the final as he is in the other half of the draw whilst the likes of Stan Wawrinka and mercurial Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov are among those lining up.
JEEVAN FINISHES AS RUNNER-UP AGAIN
NEWDELHI: Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan ended a runner-up on the ATP Challenger Tour for the fourth time this season after he and Austin Krajicek frittered away a solid start to lose the Nature Valley Open final to Frederik Nielsen and Joe Salisbury in Nottingham.
Playing his fifth final of the season, the Chennai boy and his American partner lost 6-7(5) 1-6 to their unseeded opponents in the Euro 127,000 grass court event.
Nedunchezhiyan had won the Dallas Challenger with Christopher Rungkant, beating Leander Paes and Joe Salisbury early in the season.
But he ended runner-up at Lille (with Purav Raja), at Tallahassee (with Enrique Lopez Perez in April) and at Savannah (with Lopez Perez).
After racing to 4-1 lead following a break in the second game, Krajicek dropped serve while serving for the set at 5-3.
That break of serve shifted the momentum. Jeevan and Krajicek earned 75 points each and split 4570 euro. GROS ISLET, SAINT LUCIA: Play got underway two hours late on the third day of the second Test between the West Indies and Sri Lanka after the tourists initially refused to take the field in the wake of an apparent ball-tampering controversy.
Following concerns raised by umpires Aleem Dar and Ian Gould about the condition of the ball nearing the end of the second day, the Sri Lankans were advised before the start of Saturday’s play that they could not continue with the existing ball.
This resulted in Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal refusing to lead his team onto the field with the West Indies set to continue their innings at 118 for two in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 253.
Animated discussions then ensued involving match referee Javagal Srinath and the Sri Lankan pair of coach Chandika Hathurusingha and team manager Asanka Gurusinha.