Nadal storms into final of Aus Open warm-up event
MELBOURNE: Rafael Nadal said his game needed more consistency after his return from injury as the Spaniard reached the final of the Melbourne Summer Set 1 on Saturday, but added that he was delighted with the attitude he had shown this week.
The 20-times Grand Slam winner was made to toil by the aggressive Finn Emil Ruusuvuori in a 6-4, 7-5 win at the Rod Laver Arena.
“Of course I need to do a lot of things better on court, but the only thing that I am not missing is that positive attitude; don’t get frustrated when things are not going the way I wanted,” said Nadal, playing his first competitive tournament since August.
“It’s normal that I’m having mistakes. It’s normal that sometimes I am a little bit slower than usual. But it’s a process, and I always believed in the process during all my tennis career, and victories help.”
Nadal faces qualifier Maxime Cressy in Sunday’s final after the American knocked out Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 7-5, 7-6(9).
Bopanna-ramkumar pair reaches Adelaide final
ADELAIDE: India’s Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan upstaged fourth seeds Tomislav Brkic and Santiago Gonzalez in straight sets to reach the final of the Adelaide International here on Saturday. The unseeded Indian duo ousted the Bosnian-mexican combination 6-2, 6-4 in the doubles semi-finals.
The Indians, playing together on the Tour for the first time, will lock horns with top seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Brazilian
Marcelo Melo in the summit clash of the ATP 250 event.
Red-hot Barty sweeps past Swiatek
ADELAIDE: Australia’s Ashleigh Barty continued her excellent form this week when she dismantled fifth seed Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals of the Adelaide International.
Barty, the world No. 1, dominated her Polish opponent to win 6-2, 6-4 and show why she will go into this month’s Australian Open as a firm favourite.
She will take on Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina in the final after the seventh seed beat Japanese player Misaki Doi 6-4, 6-3 in the first match on centre court.
Body in shock: Osaka pulls out before semis
MELBOURNE: Naomi Osaka pulled out of a warm-up tournament for the Australian Open on Saturday, saying her “body got a shock” after playing her first matches for four months.
Osaka, the reigning Australian Open champion, hit the court this week for the first time since her tearful early exit at the US Open, after which she took a long break to deal with personal matters. She played three matches in quick succession but withdrew before her semi-final against Russian Veronika Kudermetova.
“Sad to withdraw due to injury from my match today, my body got a shock from playing back to back intense matches after the break I took,” she said.
Canada stun Spain to enter ATP Cup final
SYDNEY: Felix Auger-aliassime and Denis Shapovalov stunned defending champions Russia in a decisive doubles rubber to send Canada storming into an ATP Cup final against Spain.
Their showdown went to the wire after Shapovalov neutralised Roman Safiullin 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the opening singles match.
But world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev then thrashed 11th-ranked Auger-aliassime 6-4, 6-0 to level it up with a flawless performance in an ominous warning ahead of the Australian Open later this month.