DJOKER IN SEMIS
Kei Nishikori thought he was playing well. Then he played Novak Djokovic.
The top-ranked Serb never gave Nishikori a chance in a 6-2, 6-0 rout of the home favorite from Japan to reach the semifinals of the tennis tournament at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.
“He was defending amazing today — everything deep — and I was trying to stay with him but I couldn’t,” Nishikori said. “I thought I was playing OK but my serving was bad today and he was attacking every [time].”
The dominant per- formance advanced Djokovic into the medal rounds and — more importantly — moved him one step closer to finishing off this segment of his Golden Slam bid.
In the women’s tournament, 12th-ranked Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and 2019 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic will meet in the gold-medal match.
Bencic beat Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3 and Vondrousova — who eliminated Naomi Osaka in the third round — defeated fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1.
Bencic also reached the doubles final with partner Viktorija Golubic.
Djokovic — who is in his third
Olympic semifinal but has never made it to the gold-medal match — will next face Alexander Zverev of Germany, who beat Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-1.
The other semifinal will feature Karen Khachanov of ROC against Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain.
Israel loses baseball opener
Most of the Olympics is a competition among the best in each sport. Israel’s fate in its baseball debut came down to a pitcher whose last professional game was nearly 23 months ago. It didn’t work out. Jeremy Bleich forced in the game-ending run by hitting batters with consecutive pitches in the 10th inning, giving defending champion South Korea a 6-5 victory Thursday night in Yokohama, Japan.
The 34-year-old left-hander has been working as a front office assistant for the Pittsburgh Pirates, focusing on defensive shifting and positioning. His last professional game was Sept. 1, 2019, for Triple-A Rochester at Syracuse.
“I don’t think rust had anything to do with it,” Israel manager Eric Holtz said. “Jeremy has been working hard throughout. The Pirates organization has been
wonderful with him. And he’s been throwing live to batters two to three times a week. So I don’t think there was any rust. I think the ball just got away.”
The United States opens Group B on Friday against Israel (0-1) and plays South Korea (1-0) on Sunday.
Anger at Russian dopes
Russia is not allowed to officially send athletes to the Olympics after a state-sponsored doping scheme, but Russian athletes are still competing under a neutral flag under the “Russian Olympic Committee” moniker.
As could perhaps be expected, several athletes are frustrated with those athletes’ success. American rower Megan Kalmoe expressed her frustration with the Russian tandem of Vasilisa Stepanova and Elena Oriabinskaia after they took home silver in the rowing A final.
“Seeing a crew who shouldn’t even be here walk away with a silver is a nasty feeling,” Kalmoe wrote on Twitter. “Really disappointing overall and I feel for the other athletes in the A Final. Big love to all my friends and frenemies who gave it everything out there.”
U.S. rowers slump to fourth
Canada won the rowing women’s eight gold medal, ending American dominance in the event. The U.S. had won three consecutive Olympic gold medals but fell to fourth at the Sea Forest Waterway.
New Zealand took second for the silver medal, and China finished third for bronze.
BMX crash scare
Reigning BMX racing gold medalist Connor Fields of the United States was carried off on a stretcher after crashing in the third semifinal heat at the Tokyo Olympics.
Fields was fourth after his opening two heats and landed hard off a jump heading into the first turn in the third run. The 28year-old from Las Vegas slammed into the turn and lay on the track as medical personnel rushed out to help him.