Rublev stuns Nadal at Monte Carlo Masters
MONACO — Andrey Rublev produced an audacious display of attacking tennis to hand record 11-time champion Rafael Nadal a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 defeat on clay in the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals on Friday.
The sixth-seeded Russian might have won even more convincingly, with Nadal saving break points at 3-1 down in the second set.
Nadal clawed his way back to win that set and seemed to have settled down, but Rublev broke him immediately at the start of the decider in which the 34-year-old Nadal looked very tired.
Rublev’s next opponent is unseeded 22-year-old Norwegian Casper Ruud, who also beat a former champion by knocking out 2019 winner Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-4, 6-3.
More Tennis: Unseeded Dan Evans beat 11th-seeded David Goffin 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the first Masters semifinal of his career. It will be against fourthseeded Stefanos Tsitsipas ,a French Open semifinalist last year. The big-serving Greek led 7-5 against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina when the unseeded Spaniard abandoned with a thigh injury.
Soccer: The U.S. Open Cup will not be held this spring because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, a decision that follows the tournament’s cancellation last year.
College Basketball: Jimmy Boeheim is going home. Poised to graduate from Cornell in May and with one year of college eligibility left, Jim Boeheim’s oldest son announced that he’s transferring to Syracuse. He will play as a graduate student for his father and alongside his younger brother Buddy after three seasons with the Big Red . ... Forward Theo John says he’s transferring from Marquette to Duke . ... Alabama’s leading scorer guard Jaden Shackelford announced that he was entering the draft but wouldn’t hire an agent, leaving the door open for a return to the university.