Top seed Ferrer falls to Baghdatis
NOTTINGHAM, United Kingdom: Top seed David Ferrer suffered a Wimbledon warm-up headache on Tuesday, losing to Marcos Baghdatis at the Nottingham ATP tournament.
The Spanish world number seven emerged from his first outing on grass this year with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) defeat to the unseeded Cypriot.
Baghdatis bagged his first win against a Top 10 player in two years by firing nine aces and converting over 70 percent of his service points.
The 33-year-old Ferrer, winner of three ATP titles this season, was making his first appearance at Nottingham in 11 years.
Ferrer, a French Open finalist in 2013, lost to Andy Murray in the quarter-finals of the Roland Garros Grand Slam at the start of the month.
He progressed to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2013, where he came unstuck against Juan Martin del Potro.
While Ferrer heads off to the practice courts to continue his preparations for the All England club, Baghdatis can look forward to a third round date with German teenager Alexander Zverev.
The 18-year-old progressed after ousting Brazilian 13th seed Thomaz Belluci 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 25 minutes.
Elsewhere Tuesday, Taylor Fritz enjoyed a memorable ATP World Tour debut, the 17-year-old American defeating Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1, 6-4 in the first round.
Fritz is the top-ranked junior after reaching the Roland Garros boys’ singles final and was awarded a wild card into the main draw at Nottingham. - AFP
Japan to keep stadium design despite cost, criticism
TOKYO: Japan has decided to push ahead with the construction of a controversial and costly main showpiece venue for the 2020 summer Olympics, reports said Wednesday, despite stringent criticism from architects.
The sports ministry has reached a deal with two construction firms to build the new national stadium in Tokyo for an estimated cost of 250 billion yen ($2 billion), according to the Nikkei business daily.
That marks a 90-billion-yen price rise since the sleek, futuristic design by IraqiBritish architect Zaha Hadid originally won an international competition in 2012, up from 162.5 billion yen, according to the Nikkei and the Asahi Shimbun.
But officials have adjusted the design as they attempted to cut cost, to eliminate aspects of the design that are difficult to realise, and to shorten the construction time.
The stadium’s retractable roof will be built after the Olympics. The number of permanent seats will be reduced to 65,000 from the original 80,000, local media said.
The ministry declined to comment on the reports.
Construction will begin in October, and officials hope it will be finished by the spring of 2019, in time for the Rugby World Cup, the Asahi said.